2023年大学英语四级考试真题及答案第一套

2023年12月大学英语四级考试真题（第一套）Part I Writing （30 minutes）Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay based on the picture below. You should start your essay with a brief account of the impact of the Internet on the way people communicate and then explain whether electronic communication can replace face-to-face contact. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.“Dear Andy How are you? Your mother and I are fine. We both miss you and hope you are doing well. We look forward to seeing you again the next time your computer crashes and you come downstairs for something to eat. Love, Mom and Dad.”Part II Listening Comprehension （30 minutes）Section ADirections: In this section, you will hear 8 short conversations and 2 long conversations. At the end of each conversation, one or more questions will be asked about what was said. Both the conversation and the questions will be spoken only once. After each question there will be a pause. During the pause, you must read the four choices marked A）, B）, C） and D）, and decide which is the best answer. Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1 with a single line through the centre.1.A） The woman is now working in a kindergarten. B） The man will soon start a business of his own. C） The man would like to be a high school teacher.D） The woman is going to major in child education.2.A） The furniture has to be rearranged. B） The sound equipment has to be set up. C） The conference room has to be cleaned.D） The video machine has to be checked.3.A） She is exhausted. C） She cannot finish work in time.B） She is near-sighted.D） She cannot go straight home.4.A） The woman is too particular about food. B） He would rather have a meal an hour later. C） The woman should order her food quickly.D） He usually prefers ice-cream to sandwiches.5.A） He is not a good mechanic. C） He spends his spare time doing repairs.B） He doesnt keep his promises. D） He is always ready to offer help to others.6.A） Sam has a big family to support. B） Sam is not interested in traveling. C） The pay offer by the travel agency is too low.D） The work hours in the travel agency are too long.7.A） International trade. C） Financial consulting.B） Product development.D） Domestic retailing.8.A） Go on a business trip. C） Make a ticket reservation.B） Look for a job in Miami. D） Take a vacation.Questions 9 to 11 are based on the conversation you have just heard.9.A） It is located on Route 18. C） It is a beautiful little town.B） It has an interesting museum. D） It lies seven miles east of Newton.10.A） They are in opposite directions. C） They are quite close to each other.B） They are fifty-five miles apart.D） They are a long drive from Norwalk.11. A） They are connected by Route 7. C） They have lots of old houses.B） They are crowded with tourists. D） They have many rare plants.Questions 12 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard.12.A） Bring him up to date on the current situation in Milan.B） Inform him of the arrangements for his trip in Italy.C） Fetch the documents signed by Mr Gartner.D） Accompany Mr Gartner to the Linate airport.13.A） About 8:30. C） About 5:30.B） About 6:30.D） About 4:15.14. A） Mr Gartner from Milan. C） The companys sales representative.B） Gianni Riva at Megastar. D） Gavin from the Chamber of Commerce.15.A） Travel agent. C） Secretary.B） Business manager.D） Saleswoman.Section BDirections: In this section, you will hear 3 short passages. At the end of each passage, you will hear some questions. Both the passage and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question, you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A）, B）, C） and D）. Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1 with a single line through the centre.Passage OneQuestions 16 to 19 are based on the passage you have just heard.16.A） She had a desire to help others. C） She needed some overseas experience.B） She wanted to find out more about it. D） She was interested in farming.17.A） Carry out a cultural exchange program. C） Learn Portuguese.B） Work on an agricultural project. D） Teach English.18.A） She found it difficult to secure a job in her own country.B） She wanted to renew her contact with the Peace Corps.C） She was invited to work as an English teacher.D） She could not get the country out of her mind.19.A） By teaching additional English classes. B） By writing stories for American newspapers. C） By working part time for the Peace Corps.D） By doing odd jobs for local institutions.Passage TwoQuestions 20 to 22 are based on the passage you have just heard.20.A） Time spent exercising. C） Time spent on leisure activities.B） Time spent working. D） Time spent with friends and family.21.A） Reading. C） Eating out.B） Surfing the Web. D） Watching TV.22.A） Driving. C） Going to the pub.B） Gardening. D） Visiting friends.Passage ThreeQuestions 23 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard.23.A） The car driver was trying to avoid hitting a rabbit.B） The car driver was partly responsible for the accident.C） McLaughlin was talking to his manager while driving.D） McLaughlins carelessness resulted in the collision.24.A） He crashed into a car parked there.C） He tore down the companys main gate.B） He knocked down several mailboxes.D） He did serious damage to a loaded truck.25.A） He will lose his job. C） He will be fined heavily.B） He will have to pay damages. D） He will receive retraining.Section CDirections: In this section, you will hear a passage three times. When the passage is read for the first time, you should listen carefully for its general idea. When the passage is read for the second time, you are required to fill in the blanks with the exact words you have just heard. Finally, when the passage is read for the third time, you should check what you have written.When Captain Cook asked the chiefs in Tahiti why they always ate （26） _, they replied, “Because it is right.” If we ask Americans why they eat with knives and forks, or why their men wear pants （27） _ skirts, or why they may be married to only one person at a time, we are likely to get （28） _ and very uninformative answers: “Because its right.”“Because thats the way its done.”“Because its the （29） _.” Or even “I dont know.” The reason for these and countless other patterns of social behavior is that they are （30） _ by social normsshared rules or guidelines which prescribe the behavior that is appropriate in a given situation. Norms （31） _ how people “ought” to behave under particular circumstances in a particular society. We conform （遵守） to norms so readily that we are hardly aware they （32） _. In fact, we are much more likely to notice （33） _ from norms than conformity to them. You would not be surprised if a stranger tried to shake hands when you were introduced, but you might be a little （34） _ if they bowed, started to stroke you, or kissed you on both （35） _. Yet each of these other forms of greeting is appropriate in other parts of the world. When we visit another society whose norms are different, we quickly become aware that things we do this way, they do that way.Part III Reading Comprehension （40 minutes）Section ADirections: In this section, there is a passage with ten blanks. You are required to select one word for each blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage. Read the passage through carefully before making your choices. Each choice in the bank is identified by a letter. Please mark the corresponding letter for each item on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre. You may not use any of the words in the bank more than once.Questions 36 to 45 are based on the following passage.To get a sense of how women have progressed in science, take a quick tour of the physics department at the University of California, Berkeley. This is a storied place, the _36_ of some of the most important discoveries in modern sciencestarting with Ernest Lawrences invention of the cyclotron （回旋加速器） in 1931. A generation ago, female faces were _37_ and, even today, visitors walking through the first floor of LeConte Hall will see a full corridor of exhibits _38_ the many distinguished physicists who made history here, _39_ all of them white males.But climb up to the third floor and youll see a _40_ display. There, among the photos of current faculty members and students, are portraits of the _41_ head of the department, Marjorie Shapiro, and four other women whose research _42_ everything from the mechanics of the universe to the smallest particles of matter. A sixth woman was hired just two weeks ago. Although theyre still only about 10 percent of the physics faculty, women are clearly a presence here. And the real _43_ may be in the smaller photos to the right: graduate and undergraduate students, about 20 percent of them female. Every year Berkeley sends its fresh female physics PhDs to the countrys top universities. That makes Shapiro optimistic, but also _44_. “I believe things are getting better,” she says, “but theyre not getting better as _45_ as I would like.”A） circumstanceI） honoringB） confidenceJ） hopeC） coversK） presentlyD） currentL） rareE） dealsM） realisticF） differentN） site G） exposingO） virtuallyH） fastSection BDirections: In this section, you are going to read a passage with ten statements attached to it. Each statement contains information given in one of the paragraphs. Identify the paragraph from which the information is derived. You may choose a paragraph more than once. Each paragraph is marked with a letter. Answer the questions by marking the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2.Is College a Worthy Investment?A）Why are we spending so much money on college? And why are we so unhappy about it? We all seem to agree that a college education is wonderful, and yet strangely we worry when we see families investing so much in this supposedly essential good. Maybe its time to ask a question that seems almost sacrilegious （大不敬的）: is all this investment in college education really worth it?B）The answer, I fear, is no. For an increasing number of kids, the extra time and money spent pursuing a college diploma will leave them worse off than they were before they set foot on campus.C）For my entire adult life, a good education has been the most important thing for middle-class households. My parents spent more educating my sister and me than they spent on their house, and theyre not the only ones. and, of course, for an increasing number of families, most of the cost of their house is actually the cost of living in a good school district. Questioning the value of a college education seems a bit like questioning the value of happiness, or fun.D）The average price of all goods and services has risen about 50 percent. But the price of a college education has nearly doubled in that time. Is the education that todays students are getting twice as good? Are new workers twice as smart? Have they become somehow massively more expensive to educate?E）Perhaps a bit. Richard Vedder, an Ohio University economics professor, says, “I look at the data, and I see college costs rising faster than inflation up to the mid-1980s by 1 percent a year. Now I see them rising 3 to 4 percent a year over inflation. What has happened? The federal government has started dropping money out of airplanes.” Aid has increased, subsidized （补贴的） loans have become available, and “the universities have gotten the money.” Economist Bryan Caplan, who is writing a book about education, agrees: “Its a giant waste of resources that will continue as long as the subsidies continue.”F）Promotional literature for colleges and student loans often speaks of debt as an “investment in yourself.” But an investment is supposed to generate income to pay off the loans. More than half of all recent graduates are unemployed or in jobs that do not require a degree, and the amount of student-loan debt carried by households has increased more than five times since 1999. These graduates were told that a diploma was all they needed to succeed, but it wont even get them out of the spare bedroom at Mom and Dads. For many, the most visible result of their four years is the loan payments, which now average hundreds of dollars a month on loan balances in the tens of thousands.G）Its true about the moneysort of. College graduates now make 80 percent more than people who have only a high-school diploma, and though there are no precise estimates, the wage premium （高出的部分） for an outstanding school seems to be even higher. But thats not true of every student. Its very easy to spend four years majoring in English literature and come out no more employable than you were before you went in. Conversely, chemical engineers straight out of school can easily make almost four times the wages of an entry-level high-school graduate.H）James Heckman, the Nobel Prize-winning economist, has examined how the returns on education break down for individuals with different backgrounds and levels of ability. “Even with these high prices, youre still finding a high return for individuals who are bright and motivated,” he says. On the other hand, “if youre not college ready, then the answer is no, its not worth it.” Experts tend to agree that for the average student, college is still worth it today, but they also agree that the rapid increase in price is eating up more and more of the potential return. For borderline students, tuition （学费） rise can push those returns into negative territory.I）Everyone seems to agree that the government, and parents, should be rethinking how we invest in higher educationand that employers need to rethink the increasing use of college degrees as crude screening tools for jobs that dont really require college skills. “Employers seeing a surplus of college graduates and looking to fill jobs are just adding that requirement,” says Vedder. “In fact, a college degree becomes a job requirement for becoming a bar-tender.”J）We have started to see some change on the finance side. A law passed in 2023 allows many students to cap their loan payment at 10 percent of their income and forgives any balance after 25 years. But of course, that doesnt control the cost of education; it just shifts it to taxpayers. It also encourages graduates to choose lower-paying careers, which reduces the financial return to education still further. “Youre subsidizing people to become priests and poets and so forth,” says Heckman. “You may think thats a good thing, or you may not.” Either way it will be expensive for the government.K）What might be a lot cheaper is putting more kids to work. Caplan notes that work also builds valuable skillsprobably more valuable for kids who dont naturally love sitting in a classroom. Heckman agrees wholeheartedly: “People are different, and those abilities can be shaped. Thats what weve learned, and public policy should recognize that.”L）Heckman would like to see more apprenticeship-style （学徒式） programs, where kids can learn in the workplacelearn not just specific job skills, but the kind of “soft skills,” like getting to work on time and getting along with a team, that are crucial for career success. “Its about having mentors （指导者） and having workplace-based education,” he says. “Time and again Ive seen examples of this kind of program working.”M）Ah, but how do we get there from here? With better public policy, hopefully, but also by making better individual decisions.”Historically markets have been able to handle these things,” says Vedder, “and I think eventually markets will handle this one. If it doesnt improve soon, people are going to wake up and ask,Why am I going to college?”46. Caplan suggests that kids who dont love school go to work.47. An increasing number of families spend more money on houses in a good school district.48. Subsidized loans to college students are a huge waste of money, according to one economist.49. More and more kids find they fare worse with a college diploma.50. For those who are not prepared for higher education, going to college is not worth it.51. Over the years the cost of a college education has increased almost by 100%.52. A law passed recently allows many students to pay no more than one tenth of their income for their college loans.53. Middle-class Americans have highly valued a good education.54. More kids should be encouraged to participate in programs where they can learn not only job skills but also social skills.55. Over fifty percent of recent college graduates remain unemployed or unable to find a suitable job.Section CDirections: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A）, B）, C） and D）. You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.Passage OneQuestions 56 to 60 are based on the following passage.A recent global survey of 2,000 high-net-worth individuals found that 60% were not planning on a traditional retirement. Among U.S. participants, 75% expected to continue working in some capacity even after stepping away from full-time jobs. “Many of these people made their wealth by doing something theyre passionate （有激情的） about,” says Daniel Egan, head of behavioral finance for Barclays Wealth Americas. “Given the choice, they prefer to continue working.” Barclays calls these people “nevertirees.”Unlike many Americans compelled into early retirement by company restrictions, the average nevertiree often has no one forcing his hand. If 106-year-old investor Irving Kahn, head of his own family firm, wants to keep coming to work every day, whos going to stop him? Seventy-eight-year-old Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburgs job security is guaranteed in the Constitution.It may seem that these elderly people are trying to cheat death. In fact, they are. And its working. Howard Friedman, a professor at UC Riverside, found in his research that those who work hardest and are successful in their careers often live the longest lives. “People are generally being given bad advice to slow down, take it easy, stop worrying, and retire to Florida,” he says. He described one study participant, still working at the age of 100, who was recently disappointed to see his son retire.“Were beginning to see a change in how people view retirement,” says George Leeson, co-director of the Institute of Population Ageing at Oxford. Where once retirement was seen as a brief reward after a long struggle through some miserable job, it is now akin （近似） to being cast aside. What Leeson terms “the Warren Buffett effect” is becoming more broadly appealing as individuals come to “view retirement as not simply being linked to economic productivity but also about contribution.”Observers are split on whether this is a wholly good thing. On the one hand, companies and financial firms can benefit from the wisdom of a resilient （坚韧的） chief. On the other, the new generation can find it more difficult to advancean argument that typically holds little sway to a nevertiree.56. What do we learn about the so-called”nevertirees”?A） They a