大学英语四级考试二模试题.doc

免费？宅在家学英语？怎么报名？最牛英语口语培训模式：躺在家里练口语，全程外教一对一，三个月畅谈无阻！ 洛基英语，免费体验全部在线一对一课程：/ielts/xd.html（报名网址）Passage TwoQuestions 16 to 20 are based on the following passage:In California the regulators, the utilities and the governor all want the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to cap spot (现货的) market prices. The Californians claim it will rein in outrageous prices. Federal regulators have refused. The battle is on.Governor Gray Davis says, “Im not happy with the Federal Regulatory Commission at all. Theyre living in an ivory tower. If their bills were going up like the people in San Diego, they would know that this is a real problem in the real world.”As part of deregulation, price caps were removed to allow for a free market. Timing is everything; natural gas prices had already skyrocketed. Demand was high from Californias booming economy. No new power plants had been built here in ten years, and power producers had the right to hike prices along with demand. And hike them they did.Loretta Lynch of the Public Utilities Commission says, “This commission and all of California was beating down the door of federal regulators to say help us impose reasonable price caps to help to keep our market stable.”Federal regulators did ask for longer-term contracts between power producers and the utilities to stabilize prices. The federal commission, unavailable for comment on this story, released a recent statement defending its position not to re-regulate.Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Dec. 15, 2000: “The commissions intention is to enable the markets to catch up to current supply and demand problems and not to reintroduce command and control regulation that has helped to produce the current crisis.”Some energy experts believe that, without temporary price caps, the crisis will continue.Severin Borenstein of the U.C. Energy Institute says, “Some federal regulators have a blind commitment to making the market work and I think part of the problem is they really dont understand whats going on.”Gary Ackerman of the Western Power Trading Forum says, “Hes dead wrong about that. The federal regulators understand far better than any individual state that, though it might be painful and it certainly is painful in California, price caps dont work. They never work.”16. The battle between Californians and federal regulators is about _.A. control over the price of powerB. necessity of removing price capsC. hiking the energy prices in CaliforniaD. a regulation concerning power supply17. Governor Gray Davis was dissatisfied with the Federal Regulatory Commission because _.A. they did not know what the real problem wasB. they were living an easy life in an ivory towerC. they could not experience the life in San DiegoD. they turned a blind eye to the situation in California18. The Federal Commission uncapped the energy price with the intention to _.A. help Californias economy booming steadilyB. prevent power price from going up any furtherC. enable the market to deal with supply and demand problemsD. have contracts signed between power producers and the utilities19. To help keep prices from going higher, people and groups in California _.A. imposed reasonable price capsB. beat down the door of federal regulatorsC. urged the federal authorities to take actionD. struggled against federal policy to hike prices20. Energy experts against price caps believe that _.A. the present situation in California will continue unless there is price controlB. the current crisis is partly attributed to previous command and control policyC. price caps can temporarily solve energy problems an individual state meets withD. they do understand what is going on in California and will take proper measuresPassage ThreePassage ThreeQuestions 31 to 35 are based on the following passage:In Western countries people have been using the installment plan since the first half of the twentieth century. Today, a large number of families in Great Britain buy furniture, household goods and cars by installments. In the U.S., the figure is much higher than in Great Britain, and people there spend over 10 percent of their income on the installment plan. The price of an article bought on installments is always higher than the price that would be paid by cash. There is a charge for interest. The buyer pays one quarter or one third of the price as a down payment when the goods are delivered to him. He then makes regular payments, weekly or monthly, until the full price is paid up. The legal ownership of the goods remains with the seller until the final payment has been made.Installment buying has advantages and disadvantages. It can help couples with small incomes to furnish their homes and start housekeeping. It increases the demand for goods, and in this way helps business and employment. There is, however, the danger that when business is bad, installment buying may end suddenly, making business much worse. This may result in a great increase in unemployment. If the people on the installment plan lose their jobs, they will probably not be able to make their payments. If great numbers of people are not able to pay their installment debts there is a possibility that businessmen cannot collect their debts and will therefore lose money. If businessmen lose money or fail to make a satisfactory profit, it becomes more likely to have a depression. This is why, in some countries, the government controls the installment plan by fixing the amount of the down payment and installments to discourage people from buying more than they can pay for on the installment plan.31. Which of the following is NOT true about the installment plan?A. A lot of British families use the installment plan.B. More than 10 percent American families buy things on installments.C. Americans depend more on installment than British people do.D. Americans spend one tenth of their income on installment buying.32. Goods bought on installments are more expensive than goods bought by cash because _.A. the buyer has to pay extra money as interestB. the delivery of the goods charges extra moneyC. the buyer has to pay a down paymentD. the service offered by installment plan charged extra money33. What will happen to a buyer if he fails to make the full payment for an item bought on installments?A. He might lose his job.B. He will stop owning the item he has bought.C. He will have to sell what he has bought.D. He will go into debt.34. The advantage of installment buying might include all the following EXCEPT that _.A. purchasing power is strengthenedB. employment might be increasedC. people develop a good habit of saving moneyD. young couples are able to furnish their homes35. In some countries, the governments control the installment plan to _.A. increase employmentB. avoid depressionsC. ensure that businesses make good profitsD. ensure that people can pay for what hey buyPassage FourQuestions 36 to 40 are based on the following passage:Its very necessary for Canada to set up effective transportation system because of its enormous size with its sparsely populated distribution. It is also very difficult to make transportation construction on the surface of the country due to its harsh long winter and its mountainous terrain. Its really amazing for this country to set up a transcontinental railroad since last century. Until 1990, the route length was more than 86,880 kilometers. Most of the countrys freight are transported by Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway. But nowadays fewer and fewer people travel by train.Water transportation was very important before railway construction. Although passenger travel by water is less important than before, waterways remain important for cargo transporting. Waterways include lakes, rivers and sea coastlines. One of the most significant water transportation system is St. Lawrence seaway from the Atlantic Ocean to the west of Lake Superior.Because of the increasing number of automobiles, Canadas road transportation develops very quickly. In 1991, road length has been more than 849,400 kilometers. Road system is becoming more and more important. Trucks carry nearly half of the total freight transported in Canada. Early in 1962, Canada had Trans-Canada Highway with the length of more than 7.7 kilometers, extending from St. Johns, New Brunswick to Victoria, British Columbia.With the development of transportation, airplanes became another necessary vehicles since aeroplanes could be the only access to some areas of the far northern region. Canadian transportation system develops very quickly with the increasingly advanced science and technology. The aim of the transportation is to use substitute fuels and to produce more efficient transportation facilities.36. Despite its _, Canada no