全国公共英语等级考试四级真题

全国公共英语等级考试四级真题 Section I Listening Comprehension,Part AYou will hear a recording of a conversation between Mary and John about the Hilton Hotel and the Hotel Rossiya. Listen to it and fill out the table with the information youve heard for questions 1-5. Some of the information has been completed for you. Write not more than 3 words in each numbered box. You will hear the recording twice. You now have 25 seconds to read the table below. Information about the Hilton Hotel and the Hotel Rossiya The Hilton Hotel The Hotel Rossiya Number of Bedrooms 1 3,200 Number of Employees 2 3,000 Number of Restaurants 12 3 Number of Elevators 4 Country of Location U.S. 5 Tapescript: M: Hi, Mary. Hows everything?W: Fine. You know, John, Im planning to go to Las Vegas for a holiday and would like to stay in a large hotel. Anything to recommend?M: Er? the Hilton Hotel there is quite a large one. It has ? er ? 3,174 bedrooms.It also has 12 restaurants and about 125,000 square feet of convention space. Therere a 10-acre recreation deck and a stage show dining hall. Over 3,600 people now work for it.W: Oh, great! Is it the largest hotel in the U.S.?M: Yes, it is. But it may not be the largest in the world. Er ? as far as I know, the Hotel Rossiya in Moscow is larger than Hilton. It is a 12-story building that has 3,200 rooms. It can provide accommodation for 6,000 guests. It takes nearly 8 years and a half to spend one night in each room. Besides, theres a 21-story Presidential tower in the central courtyard. It has 15 restaurants and 93 elevators. And it employs about 3,000 people. The ballroom is known as the worlds largest. Russians are not allowed to live in that hotel. And foreigners are charged 16 times more than the very low rate charged Russian officials.W: Its unbelievable ?fade out Now you will hear the recording again. (The recording is repeated.) That is the end of Part A. Part BYou will hear a radio weather forecast. Answer questions 6-10 while listening. Use not more than 5 words for each answer. You will hear the recording twice. You now have 40 seconds to read the questions. When will showers reach south-west England and the southern coast of Wales? 6 What will the minimum temperature be in the south during the night? 7 On what day of the week do you think this weather forecast was given? 8 What will be the general feeling about the weekend in the Netherlands? 9 What part of England will be cloudy and dry over the weekend? 10 Tapescript W: Hello. Its been another warm and fine day for most of us. Temperatures in south-east England reached twenty-six degrees Centigrade by mid-afternoon, and Brighton had fifteen hours of lovely sunshine. But already the weather is beginning to change, Im afraid, and during the night showers will slowly move in from the Atlantic to reach south-west England and the southern coast of Wales by early morning.The rest of the country will have a very mild, dry night with minimum temperatures no lower than fifteen degrees in the south, a little cooler ? eleven degrees or so ? in the north. Any remaining showers in northwest Scotland will pass quickly, to leave a mild, dry night there too.And now, the outlook for Friday and the weekend. Well, southern Europe will once again get the best of the weekend weather, and if your holiday starts this weekend, then southern Spain is the place to go, with temperatures of thirty-four degrees along the Mediterranean coast. At the eastern end of the Med,too, you can expect uninterrupted sunshine and temperatures of up to thirty-two degrees Centigrade in Greece and south-east Italy, but further north the weathers not so settled. Much of France, Belgium and the Netherlands will be cloudy with occasional rain and maximum temperatures will be around twenty-two degrees ? very disappointing for this time of the year.Scotland and Northern Ireland will have heavy rain for much of the weekend and temperatures will drop to a cool seventeen degrees. Across most of England the weather will be cloudy but mainly dry with sunny periods. And when the sun does come out temperatures could rise to a maximum of twenty-three degrees. Now you will hear the recording again. (The recording is repeated.) That is the end of Part B. Part CYou will hear three dialogues or monologues. Before listening to each one, you will have time to read the questions related to it. While listening, answer each question by choosing A, B, C or D. After listening, you will have time to check youranswer. You will hear each piece once only.Questions 11-13 are based on the following talk introducing Emily Dickinson, a well-known American poet. You now have 30 seconds to read questions 11-13. 11. How long did Emily Dickinson live in the house where she was born?A almost all her lifeB less than half her lifeC until 1830D before 1872 12. Which of the following is true of Emily Dickinson?A She was not a productive poet.B She saw many of her poems published.C She was not a sociable person.D She had contact only with a few poets. 13. When was Emily Dickinson widely recognized?A after Henry James referred highly to herB after seven of her poems were publishedC after her poems became known to othersD after she was dead for many years Tapescript: M: Emily Dickinson is one of the greatest American poets. She was born in a typical New England village in Massachusetts on December 10, 1830. She was the second child of the family. She died in the same house fifty-six years later. During her life time she never left her native land. She left her home state only once. She left her village very few times. And after 1872 she rarely left her house and yard. In the last years of her life she retreated to a smaller and smaller circle of family and friends. In those later years she dressed in white, avoided strangers, and communicated chiefly through notes and poems even withintimates. The doctor who attended her illness was allowed to examine her in another room, seeing her walk by an openeddoor. She was thought of as a strange figure in her home village. When she died on May 15, 1886, she was unknown to the rest of the world. Only seven of her poems had appeared in print.But to think Emily Dickinson only as a strange figure isa serious mistake. She lived simply and deliberately. She faced the essential facts of life. According to Henry James, a famous American novelist, she was one of those on whom nothing was lost. Only by thus living could Dickinson manage both to fulfill her obligations as a daughter, a sister, and a housekeeper and to write on the average one poem a day.She read only a few books but knew them deeply. Her poems are simple but remarkably rich. Not until 1950s was she recognized as one of thegreatest American poets. Section II Use of EnglishRead the following text. Choose the best word for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D onANSWER SHEET （ 1） .During the 1980s, unemployment and underemployment in some countries was as high as 90 per cent. Some countries did not 1 enough food; basic needs in housing and clothing were not （ 2） . Many of these countries looked to the industrial processes of the developed nations （ 3） solutions. （ 4） , problems cannot always be solved by copying the industrialized nations. Industry in the developed nations is highly automated and very （ 5） . It provides fewer jobs than labor-intensive industrial processes, and highly （ 6） workers are needed to （ 7） and repair the equipment. These workers must be trained, （ 8） many nations do not have the necessary training institutions. Thus, the （ 9） of importing industry becomes higher. Students must be sent abroad to （ 10） vocational and professional training. （ 11） , just to begin training, the students must （ 12） learn English, French, German, or Japanese. The students then spend many years abroad, and （ 13） do not return home.All nations agree that science and technology （ 14） be shared. The point is: countries （ 15） the industrial processes of the developed nations need to look carefully （ 16） the costs, because many of these costs are （ 17） . Students from these nations should （ 18） the problems of the industrialized countries closely. （ 19） care, they will take home not the problems of science and technology, （ 20） the benefits. 1. Agenerate Braise Cproduce Dmanufacture 2. Aanswered Bmet Ccalculated Dremembered 3. Afor Bwithout Cas Dabout 4. AMoreover BTherefore CAnyway DHowever 5. Aexpensive Bmechanical Cflourishing Dcomplicated 6. Agifted Bskilled Ctrained Dversatile 7. Akeep Bmaintain Cretain D protect 8. Asince Bso Cand Dyet 9. Acharge Bprice Ccost Dvalue 10. Aaccept Bgain Creceive Dabsorb 11. AFrequently BIncidentally CDeliberately DEventually 12. Asoon Bquickly Cimmediately Dfirst 13. Asome Bothers Cseveral Dfew 14. Amight Bshould Cwould Dwill 15. Aadopting Bconducting Creceiving Dadjusting 16. Ato Bat Con Dabout 17. Aopaque Bsecret Csealed Dhidden 18. Atackle Blearn Cstudy Dmanipulate 19. AIn BThrough CWith DUnder 20. Aexcept Bnor Cor Dbut Section III Reading ComprehensionPart ARead the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. Text 1 It was 3:45 in the morning when the vote was finally taken. After six months of arguing and a final 16 hours of hot parliamentary debates, Australias Northern Territory became the first legal authority in the world to allow doctors to take the lives ofincurably ill patients who wish to die. The measure was passed by the convincing vote of 15 to 10. Almost immediately word flashed on the Internet and was picked up, half a world away, by John Hofsess, executive director of the Right to Die Society of Canada. He sent it on via the groups on-line service, Death NET. Says Hofsess: We posted bulletins all day long, because of course this isnt just something that happened in Australia. Its world history.The full import may take a while to sink in. The NT Rights of the Terminally Ill law has left physicians and citizens alike trying to deal with its moral and practical implications. Some have breathed sighs of relief; others, including churches, right-to-life groups and the Australian Medical Association, bitterly attacked the bill and the haste of its passage. But the tide is unlikely to turn back. In Australia ? where an aging population, life-extending technology and changing community attitudes have all played their part ? other states are going to consider making a similar law to deal with euthanasia. In the U.S. and Canada, where the right-to-die movement is gathering strength, observers are waiting for the dominoes to start falling.Under the new Northern Territory law, an adult patient can request death ? probably by a deadly injection or pill ? to put an end to suffering. The patient must be diagnosed as terminally ill by two doctors. After a cooling off period of seven days, the patient can sign a certificate of request. After 48 hoursthe wish for death can be met. For Lloyd Nickson, a 54-year-old Darwin resident suffering from lung cancer, the NT Rights of Terminally Ill law means he can get on with living without the haunting fear of his suffering: a terrifying death from his breathing condition. Im not afraid of dying from a spiritual point of view, but what I was afraid of was how Id go, because Ive watched people die in the hospital fighting for oxygen and clawing at their masks, he says. 1. From the second paragraph we learn thatA the objection to euthanasia is diminishing in some countries.B physicians and citizens have the same view on euthanasia.C technological changes are chiefly responsible for the new law.D it takes time to appreciate the significance of laws passed. 2. By saying that observers are waiting for the dominoes to start falling, the authormeans thatA observers are taking a wait-and-see attitude towards the future of euthanasia.B there is a possibility of similar bills being passed in the U.S. and Canada.C observers are waiting to see the movement end up in failure.D the process of the bill taking effect may finally come to a stop. 3. When Lloyd Nickson is close to death, he willA undergo a cooling off period of seven days.B experience the suffering of a lung cancer patient.C have an intense fear of terrible suffering.D face his death with the calm characteristic of euthanasia.4. What is the authors attitude towards euthanasia?A Hostile.B Suspicious.C Approving.D Indifferent.5. We can infer from the text that the author believes the success of the right-to-diemovement isA only a matter of time.B far from certain.C just an illusion.D a shattered hope. Part BRead the following text carefully and then translate the underlined segments into Chinese. Your translation should be written clearly on ANSWER SHEET 2. Do animals have rights? This is how the question is usually put. It sounds like a useful, ground-clearing way to start. 61) Actually, it isnt, because it assumes that there is an agreed account of human rights, which is something the world does not have.On one view of rights, to be sure, it necessarily follows that animals have none. 62) Some philosophers argue that rights exist only within a social contract, as part of an exchange of duties and entitlements. Therefore, animals cannot have rights. The idea of punishing a tiger that kills somebody is absurd; for exactly the same reason,so is the idea that tigers have rights. However, this is only one account, and by no means an uncontested one. It denies rights not only to animals but also to some people ? for instance, to infants, the mentally incapable and future generations. In addition, it is unclear what force a contract can have for people who never consented to it: how do you reply to somebody who says I dont like this contract?The point is this: without agreement on the rights of people, arguing about the rights of animals is fruitless. 63) It leads the discussion to extremes at the outset: it invites you to think that animals should be treated either with the consideration humans extend to other humans, or with no consideration at all. This is a false choice. Better to start with another,more fundamental, question: is the way we treat animals a moral issue at all?Many deny it. 64) Arguing from the view that humans are different from animals in every relevant respect, extremists of this kind think that animals lie outside the area of moral choice. Any regard for the suffering of animals is seen as a mistake ? a sentimental displacement of feeling that should properly be directed to other humans.This view, which holds that torturing a monkey is morallyequivalent to chopping wood, may seem bravely logical. In fact it is simply shallow: the confused center is right to reject it. The most elementary form of moral reasoning ? the ethical equivalent of learning to crawl ? is to weigh others interests against ones own. This in turn requires sympathy and imagination: without which there is no capacity for moral thought. To seean animal in pain is enough, for most, to engage sympathy. 65) When that happens, it is not a mistake: it is mankinds instinct for moral reasoning in action, an instinct that should be encouraged rather than laughed at. Section IV WritingWidespread tobacco consumption has led to grave consequences, yet the tobacco companies are still claimingthat they make a valuable contribution to the world economy.Write an essay 1) criticizing their view and 2) justifying your stand.In your essay, make full use of the information provided in the pictures printed below.You should write approximately 160 ? 200 words on ANSWER SHEET 2. ORAL TESTPart AInterlocutor:1， Good morning/afternoon. Could I have your mark sheets, please? Thank you.(Hand over the mark sheets to the Assessor)2， My name is .and this is my colleague . He/she is just going to be listening to us. So, you are . and .? Thank you.3， First of all wed like to know something about you, so Im going to ask some questions about yourselves.(Select one or more questions from each of the following categories as appropriate.) Hometown1， Where are you from?2， How long have you lived there?3， Whats it like living there? Family What can you tell me about your family?Work / Study Can you tell me something about your work or studies?(To a student) What do you specialize in? What do you enjoy most about your studies? What subject(s) do you like best? Have you ever worked during the vacation? What kind of job did you do? How did you like it?(To an adult who already has a job) What job do you do? Do you like it? And why? What qualifications did you need in order to get your job?Leisure Do you have any hobbies? How did you become interested in (whatever hobby the candidate enjoys)? Which do you prefer, watching TV or going to the cinema? What sort ofprogram / film do you like to watch? What kinds of sports are you interested in? Why? What kinds of music do you enjoy most? Why? How do you usually spend your holidays? Is there anywhere you would particularly like to visit? Why?Future Plans What do you hope to do in your professional life in the next few ye