2015年6月英语四级考试真题及答案(第2套)

2015年6月大学英语四级考试真题(第2套)Part I Writing (30 minutes)Directions：for this part，you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay based on the picture belowYou should start your essay with a brief description of the picture and then comment on this kind of modern lifeYou should write at least l20 words but no more than l80words Part lI Listening Comprehension(30 minutes)Section A Directions：In this section，you will hear 8 short conversations and 2 long conversationsAt the end of each conversation，one or more questions will be asked about what Was saidBoth the conversation and the questions will be spoken only onceAfter each question there will be a pauseDuring the pause，you must read thefour choices marked A.，B)，C)and D) and decide which is the best answerThen mark the corresponding letter on AnswerSheet l with a single line through the centre1A.He is pleased to sit on the committeeB.He iS willing to offer the woman a handC.He will tell the woman his decision laterD.He would like to become a club member2A.Their planned trip to Vancouver is obviously overpricedB.They should borrow a guide book instead of buying oneC.The guide books in the library have the latest informationD.The library Can help order guide books about Vancouver3A.He regrets having taken the history courseB.He finds little interest in the history booksC.He has trouble finishing his reading assignmentsD.He has difficulty writing the weekly book report4A.The man had better choose another restaurantB.The new restaurant is a perfect place for datingC.The new restaurant caught her fancy immediatelyD.The man has good taste in choosing the restaurant5A.He has been looking forward to spring B.He has been waiting for the winter sale C.He will clean the woman，s boots for springD.He will help the woman put things away6A.At a tailors B.At Bobs homeC.In a clothes storeD.In a theatre7A.His guests favor Tibetan drinks B.His water is quite extraordinaryC.Mineral water is good for healthD.Plain water will serve the purpose8A.Report the result of a discussion B.Raise some environmental issuesC.Submit an important documentD.Revise an environmental reportQuestions 9 t0 12 are based on the conversation you have just heard9A.They pollute the soil used to cover them B.They are harmful to nearby neighborhoodsC.The rubbish in them takes long to dissolveD.The gas they emit is extremely poisonous10A.Growing population B.Packaging materialsC.Changed eating habitsD.Lower production cost11A.By saving energyB.By using less aluminumC.By reducing poisonous wastesD.By making the most of materials12A.We are running out of natural resources soonB.Only combined efforts can make a differenceC.The waste problem will eventually hurt all of usD.All of us can actually benefit from recyclin9Questions l3 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard13A.MiamiB.Vancouver C.Belling hamD.Boston14A.To get information on oneway tickets to CanadaB.To inquire about the price of“Super Saver”seatsC.To get advice on how to fly as cheaply as possibleD.To inquire about the shortest route to drive home15A.Join a tourist group B.Choose a major airlineC.Avoid trips in public holidaysD.Book tickets as early as possibleSection BDirections：n this section，you will hear 3 short passagesAt the end of each passage，you will hear some questionsBoth the passage and the questions will be spoken only onceAfter 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 l with a single line through the centrePassage OneQuestions l6 t0 18 are based on the passage you have just heard16A.There are mysterious stories behind his worksB.There are many misunderstandings about himC.His works have no match worldwideD.His personal history is little known17A.He moved to Strat fordonAvon in his childhoodB.He failed to go beyond grammar sch001C.He was a member of the town councilD.He once worked in a wellknown acting company18A.Writers of his time had no means to protect their worksB.Possible sources of clues about him were lost in a fireC.His works were adapted beyond recognitionD.People of his time had little interest in himPassage TwoQuestions l9 to 21 are based on the passage you have just heard19A.It shows you have been ignoring your healthB. It can seriously affect your thinking processC.It is an early warning of some illnessD.It is a symptom of too much pressure20A.Reduce our workload B.Control our temperC.Use painkillers for reliefD.Avoid masking syrup toms_21A. Lying down and having some sleep B.Rubbing and pressing ones backC.Going out for a walkD.Listening to light musicPassage ThreeQuestions 22 t0 25 are based on the passage you have just heard22A.Depending heavily on loans B.Having no budget plans at allC.Spending beyond ones meansD.Leaving no room for large bills23A.Many of them can be cut B. All of them have to be coveredC.Their payment cannot be delayedD.They eat up most of the family income24A.Rent a house instead of buying one B. Discuss the problem in the familyC.Make a conservation planD.Move to a cheaper Place25A.Financial issues plaguing a family B.Difficulty in making both ends meetC.Family budget problems and solutionsD.New ways to boost family incomeSection C Directions：In this section，you will hear a passage three timesWhen the passage is read for the first time,you should listen carefully for its general idea When the passage Its read for the second time,you are required to fill in the blanks with the exact words you have just heardFinally，when the passage is read for the third time，you should check what you have writtenPerhaps because going to college is so much a part of the American dream，many people go for no 26 reason Some go because their parents expect it，others because its what their friends are doing.Then，there，s the belief that a college degree will27 ensure a good job and high pay.Some students 28 through four years，attending classes，or skipping(逃课)them as the case may be，reading only what cant be avoided，looking for less 29courses，and never being toucned or changed in any important way For a few of these people，college provides no 30，yetBecause of parental or peer pressure，they cannot voluntarily leaveThey stop trying in the hope that their tea。chers will nmke the decision for them by 31 themTo put it bluntly (直截了当地)，unless youre willing to make your college years count，Y0u might be32 doing something else Not everyone should attend college，nor should everyone who doeSattend begin right after high schoolMany college students 33 taking a year or so 0ff.A year out m the world helps some people to 34 their priorities and goalsIf youre really going to get something out of going to college，you have to make it mean something，and to do that you must have some idea why youre there，what you hope to get out of it，and35 even what you hope to become.Part HI Reading Comprehension(40 minutes) Section A Directions：n this section，there is a passage with ten blanksYou 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 choicesEach choice in the bank is identified by a letterPlease mark the corresponding letterfor each item on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centreYou may not use any of the words in the bank more than onceQuestions 36 t0 45 are based on the following passageIts our guilty pleasure：Watching TV is the most comtion everyday activity，after work and sleep， in many parts of the worldAmericans view five hours of TV each day，and while we know that spending so much time sitting36 can lead to obesity(肥胖症)and other diseases，researchers have now quantified just how 37 being a couch potato can be In an analysis of data from eight large 38 published studies，a Harvardled group reported in the that for every two hours per day spent channel 39 ，the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes Journal of the American Medical Association(糖尿病)rose 20over 85 years，the risk of heart disease increased l5over a 40 ，and the odds of dying prematurely 41 13during a seven year followupAll of these 42 are linked to a lack of physical exerciseBut compared with other sedentary(久坐的)activities，like knitting，viewing TV may be especially 43 at promoting unhealthy habitsFor one，the sheer number of hours we pass watching TV dwarfs the time we spend on anything elseAnd other studies have found that watching ads for beer and popcorn may make you more likely to 44 themEven sothe authors admit that they didnt compare different sedentary activities to 45 whether TV watching was linked to a greater risk of diabetes，heart disease or early death compared with，say，readingA.climbedB.consumeC.decadeD.determine E.effectiveF.harmfulG.outcomesH.passivelyI.previously J.resumeK.suffered L.surfing M.term N.terminals0.twistingSection BDirections：n this section，you are going to read a passage with ten statements attached to it.Each statement contains information given in one of the paragraphsIdentify the paragraph from which the information is derivedYou may choose a paragraph more than onceEach paragraph is marked with a letterAnswer the questions by marking the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2EssayGrading Software Offers Professors a BreakA.Imagine taking a college exam，and，instead of handing in a blue book and getting a grade from a professor a few weeks later，clicking the“send”button when you are done and receiving a grade back instantly，your essay scored by a software programAnd then，instead of being done with that exam，imagine that the system would immediately let you rewrite the test to try to improve your gradeB.EDX，the nonprofit enterprise founded by Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT)to offer courses on the Internet，has just introduced such a system and will make its automated(自动的)software available free on the Web to any institution that wants to use itThe software uses artificial intelligence to grade student essays and short written answers，freeing professors for other tasksC.The new service will bring the educational consortium(联盟)into a growing conflict over the role of automation in educationAlthough automated grading systems for multiplechoice and truefalse tests are now widespread，the use of artificial intelligence technology to grade essay answers has not yet received widespread acceptance by educators and has many critics.D.Anant Agarwal，an electrical engineer who is president of EDX，predicted that the instantgrading software would be a useful teaching tool enabling students to take tests and write essays over and over and improve the quality of their answersHe said the technology would offer distinct advantages over the traditional classroom system，where students often wait days or weeks lor grades“There is a huge value in learning with instant feedback，”DrAgarwal said“Students are telling us they learn much better with instant feedback”E.But skeptics(怀疑者)say the automated system is no match for live teachersOne longtime critic， Les Perelman，has drawn national attention several times for putting together nonsense essays that have fooled software grading programs into giving high marksHe has also been highly critical of studies claiming that the software compares well to human gradersF.He is among a group of educators who last month began circulating a petition(呼吁)opposing automated assessment softwareThe group which calls itself Professionals Against Machine Scoring of Student Essays in HighStakes Assessment，has collected nearly 2，000 signatures，including some from famous people like Noanl ChomskyG“Lets face the realities of automatic essay scorin9，”the groups statement reads in part. “Computers cannotreadThey cannot measure the essentials of effective written communication：accuracyreasonin9，adequacy of evidence，good sense，ethical(伦理的)position，convincing argument，meaningful organization，and clarity，among others”H)But EdX expects its software to be adopted widely by schools and universitiesIt offers free online classes from HarvardMIT and the University of CaliforniaBerkeley；this fall，it will add classes from Well esleyGeorgetown and the University of TexasIn all，12 universities participate in EDX，which offers certificates for course completion and has said that it plans to continue to expand next year，including adding international schoolsI.The EDX assessment tool requires human teachers，or graders，to first grade l00 essays or essay questionsThe system then uses a variety of machinelearning techniques to train itself to be able to grade any number of essays or answers automatically and almost instantlyThe software will assign a grade depending on the scoring system created by the teacher，whether it is a letter grade or numerical(数字的)rankJ . EDX is not the first to use the automated assessment technology，which dates to early computers in the l960sThere is now a range of companies offering commercial programs to grade written test answers，and four states-Louisiana，North Dakota，Utah and West Virginia-are using some formof the technology in secondary schoolsA fifth，Indiana，has experimented with itIn some cases the software is used as a“second reader”to check the reliability of the human gradersK.But the growing influence of the EDx consortium to set standards is likely to give the technology aboostOn Tuesday，Stanford announced that it would work with EDX to develop a joint educational system that will make use of the automated assessment technologyL.Two startupsCoursera and Udacity，recently founded by Stanford faculty members to create“massive open online courses，”0r MOOCs，are also committed to automated assessment systems because of the value of instant feedbackIt allows students to get immediate feedback on theirworkso that learning turns into a game，with students naturally gravitating(吸引)toward resubmitting the work until they get it right，”said Daphne Koller，a computer scientist and afounder of CourseraMLast year the Hewlett Foundation， a grantmalting organization set up by one of the Hewlett Packard founders and his wifesponsored two$100，000 prizes aimed at improving software that grades essays and short answersMore than l50 teams entered each categoryA winner of one of the Hewlett contestsVik Paruchuri，was hired by E(to help design its assessment softwareN“One of our focuses is to help Mds learn how to think critically，”said Victor Vuchic，a program officer at the Hewlett Foundation“Its probably impossible to do that with multiplechoice tests The challenge is that this requires human graders，and so they cost a lot more and they take a lot more time“OMark DShermis，a professor at the University of Akron in Ohi0supervised the Hewlett Foundations contest on automated essay scoring and wrote a paper about the experimentIn his view，the technology-though imperfect-has a place in educational settingsPWith increasingly large classes，it is impossible for most teachers to give students meaningful feedback on writing assignments，he saidPlus，he noted，critics of the technology have tended to come from the nations best universities，where the level of teaching is much better than at n lost schoolsQ)“Often they come from very famous institutions where，in fact，they do a much betterjob of providing feedback than a machine ever could，”DrShermis said“There seems to be a lack of appreciation of what is actually going on in the real world”46Some professionals in education are collecting signatures to voice their opposition to antomated essay grading47Using software to grade students essays saves teachers time for other work48The Hewlett contests aim at improving essay grading software49Though the automated grading system is widely used in multiplechoice testsautomated essay grading is still criticized by many educators50Some people dont believe the software grading system can do as good a job as human graders51Critics of automated essay scoring do not seem to know the true realities in less famous universities52 Critics argue many important aspects of effective writing cannot be measured by computer rating programs53As class size grows，most teachers are unable to give students valuable comments aS to how to improve their writin954The automated assessment technology is sometimes used to double check the work of human graders55Students find instant feedback helps improve their learning considerablySection CDirections：There are 2 passages in this sectionEach passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statementsFor 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 Answe，Sheet 2 with a single line through the centrePassage OneQuestions 56 t0 60 are based on the following passageThe endless debate about“worklife balance”often contains a hopeful footnote about stay at home dadsIf American society and business wont make it easier on future female leaders who choose to have children，there is still the ray of hope that increasing numbers of fulltime fathers willBut based on todays socioeconomic trends，this hope is，unfortunately，misguidedIts true that the number of men who have left work to do their thing as fulltime parents has doubled in a decade，but its still very small：only 08of married couples where the stayathorne father was out of the labor force for a yearEven that percentage is likely inflated by men thrust into their caretaker role by a downsizingThis is simply not a large enough group to reduce the social stigma(污名)and force other adjustments necessary to supporting men in this decisioneven if onlywork more than their familyEven shorter times away from work for working fathers are already difficultA study found that 85of new fathers take some time off after the birth of a childbut for all but a fewits a week or two at mostMeanwhile，the average for women who take leave is more than lo weeksSuch choices impact who moves up in the organizationWhile youre away，someone else is doing your work，making your sales，taking care of your customersThat cant help you at workIt can only hurt youWomen，of course，face the same issues of returning after a long absenceBut with many more women than men choosing to leave the workforce entirely to raise families，returning from an extended parental leave doesnt raise as many eyebrows as it does for menWomen would make more if they didnt break their earning trajectory(轨迹)by leaving the workforce，or if higher-paying professions were more family friendlyIn the foreseeable future，Stay at home fathers may make all the difference for individual familiesbut their presence wont reduce the numbers of high potential women who are forced to choose between family and career56What gives women a ray of hope to achieve work life balance?A.More men taking an extended parental leaveB.Peoples changing attitudes towards familyC.More women entering business managementD.The improvement of their socioeconomic status57Why does the author say the hope for more fulltime fathers is misguided?A.Women are better at taking care of childrenB.Many men value work more than their familyC.Their number is too small to make a differenceD.Not many men have the chance to s