大学四级短文理解.doc

大学四级短文理解1.The first English window was just a narrow opening in the wall. It was cut long, so that it would let in as much light as possible, and narrow, to keep out the bad weather. However, the opening let in more wind than light. This is why it was called “the winds eye”. The word window itself comes from two old Norse words for wind and eye.Before windows were used, the ancient halls and castles of northern Europe and Britain were dark and smoky. Their great rooms were high, with only a hole in the roof to let out the smoke from torches and cooking fires. As time went on, people wanted more light and air in their homes. They made the winds eyes wide so as to admit air and light. 1.What did the word “window” mean? 2.Why did the window get its name? 3.How did smoke go out in the ancient castles? 2Most Americans dont like to get advice from members of their family. When they need advice, they usually dont ask people they know. Instead, many Americans write letters to newspapers and magazines which give advice on many different subjects, including family problems, sex, the use of language, health, cooking, child care, clothes, and how to buy a house or a car. Most newspapers regularly print letters from readers with problems. Along with the letter, there are answers written by people who are supposed to know how to solve such problems. Some of these writers are doctors, others are lawyers or educators. But two of the most famous writers of advice are women without special training for this kind of work. One of them answers letters addressed to “Dear Abby”. The other is addressed as “Dear Ann Landers”. Experience is their preparation forgiving advice. 4.According to the passage, from whom do most Americans get advice? 5.According to the passage, why do Americans write to newspapers or magazines? 6.According to the passage, who are Abby and Ann Landers? 3The train I was traveling on was already half an hour late. I had planned to arrive in Chicago at 7:00 in time to catch the 7:50 train to St. Louis, but there was no hope of that now. I explained the situation to the conductor who advised me to get off before Union Station and take a taxi. When the time came, he even helped me with my language. He wished me a good luck as I jumped off, and a few minutes later I was going towards the Union Station in a taxi. It was almost 7:50 when we stopped outside the station, I paid the driver quickly, carried my bags and hurried inside.“The St. Louis train ?” was all I had time to say to the first porter I saw. You can imagine my disappointment when he pointed to a train that was just moving out the station. 7.When did the train he was travelling on arrive in Chicago? 8.What did the conductor think it was better or the traveler to do? 9.What happened to the writer then? 10.What is the best title for the passage? 4A strange thing happened to Henry yesterday. He was on a bus and waited to get off. So he stood up and rang the bell. To make sure the driver hear him, he rang it twice, but the bus didnt stop , and the conductor came and shouted at him. The conductor was so annoyed and spoke so fast, that Henry didnt understand a word. The bus stopped at the next bus stop and Henry got off. As he got off he heard someone say, I think hes a foreigner.When henry got home, he told his landlady about the incident. “How many times did you ring the bell?” “Twice, “said Henry”. Well, thats the signal for the driver to go on,” his landlady explained, “Only the conductor is allowed to ring the bell twice. Thats why he got so annoyed.” Henry nodded “I see,” he said. 11.How did Henry indicate to driver that he wanted to get off? 12.What did the bus do after Henry rang the bell twice? 13.Why did the conductor get so annoyed? 5We cannot feel speed. But our senses let us know that we are moving. We see things moving past us and feel that we are being shaken. We can feel acceleration, an increase in speed. But we notice it for only a short time. For instance, we feel it during the takeoff run of an airplane. We feel the planes acceleration, because our bodies do not gain speed as fast as the plane does. It seems that something is pushing us back against the seat. Actually, our bodies are trying to stay in the same place, while the plane is carrying us forward.Soon the plane reaches a steady speed. Then, because there is no longer any change in speed, the feeling of forward motion stops. 14.How do you explain that we are moving? 15.How do you feel during the takeoff run of a plane? 16.Why do we feel the planes acceleration? 17.When does the feeling of forward motion stop? 6Jack worked in an office in a small town. One day his boss said to him, “Jack, I want you to go to Manchester, to an office there, to see Mr. Brown. Heres the address.”Jack went to Manchester by train. He left the station, and thought” the office isnt far from the station. Ill find it easily.” But after an hour he was still looking for it, so he stopped and asked an old lady. She said, “Go straight along the street, turn to the left at the end, its the second building on the right.” Jack went and found it. A few days later he went to the same city, but again he did not find the office, so he asked someone the way. I t was the same old lady! She was very surprised and said , “Are you still looking for that place?” 18.What did Jacks boss want him to do? 19.Where was the office? 20.Why was the old lady surprised? 7The horse is far superior to the camel for every kind of work except travelling through a desert. The shape of the camels feet enables it to walk over the sand of the desert without sinking as deeply as a horse would. Also, a camel can go without water for a period of time in which a horse would die of thirst. The horse is loving and loyal to its owner, but the camel is deceiving and often dangerous. It also has the reputation of being very stupid. On ground which is not soft sand, the horse is faster than the camel. The camel has one valuable characteristic: its hair can be made into tents and clothing. Camels hair is far more useful than horses hair and comes off in such a way that it can be easily gathered. 21.What does the speaker say about the camel? 22.What makes the camel the best animal for desert travel? 23.How can the camels hair be used? 8The prisoner had waited many months for help, but none had come. Now he felt he would do anything to gain his liberty, to be free again to go about the world as he wished. But he could think of no means of escape.He spent many hours thinking of his life before he was captured, regretting the mistakes he had made. Then one night the guard who sat just outside the prisoners door fell asleep. He noticed this. Perhaps he could steal the keys while the guard was dozing. Silently the prisoner moved toward the guard. Very gently he lifted the ring of keys from the guards belt. Then he turned and crept toward the door. Could he work the lock from the inside? The key turned and the door swung open. Within two minutes he had crossed the yard and climbed the wall. Then he ran away, free at last. 24.What was the prisoner sorry for? 25.What idea did occur to him when he saw the guard fall asleep? 26.What did the prisoner succeed in? 9More than seven hundred years ago, the Prince of Wales had a very big and brave dog, Gelert.One day the Prince wanted to go hunting with his men. He told his dog to stay at home and look after his baby son. The baby was in a wooden cradle, which is like a small bed. When the Prince came back from hunting, Gelert ran out to meet his master. Then the Prince saw blood on Gelerts jaws and head. “What have you done?” The Prince said. He rushed into his home and looked for his baby son. The cradle was lying on its side on the floor. The clothes were torn and there was blood on them. “So you killed my son !” the Prince said angrily. “You unfaithful dog!” He took out his sword and killed the dog. Just as Geleert was dying, he managed to bark for a moment. Then the Prince hear a baby call to the dog.The Prince ran out of the house and saw his son lying on the ground unhurt. Near him was a dead woof. Then the Prince knew that Gelert had defended the baby and killed the wolf. The Prince ran back into the house but he was too late. Gelert was dead. The Prince was very sad indeed. Tears ran down his face when he realized he had killed his faithful friend. After this, the Prince never smiled again. Every morning at dawn, he walked up the mountain so that he could stand by the dogs grave for a few minutes. 27Whose dog was Gelert? 28.What did the Prince tell his dog to do when hes leaving? 29.Where was the Prince surprised to see blood? 30.Which of the following is true? 10Over 2,000 years ago, Rome was the center of a large empire. The Romans needed a way to move their large armies quickly so they could protect their huge country. They needed land trade routes. So they joined all the parts of their empire by a network of roads.Beginning in 300 B. C. the Romans built roads in Europe, Asia, and North Africa. By A. D. 200, they had built 50,000 miles of almost straight highways. To build their roads, the Romans sometimes had to dig tunnels through mountains. They did not have explosives to cut through rock. They heated the rock with fire and then threw cold water over it. When the rock cracked, they dug it out with hand tools. Roman soldiers and slaves built the roads without powerful machinery. They had only simple tools. Yet the roads were so well built that they were used for hundreds of years. 31.Why did the Romans build so many roads? 32.What did the Romans do to dig tunnels for mountain roads? 33.What conclusion can we make from the passage? 11Man has a big brain. He can think, learn and speak. Scientists once thought that men are different from animals because they can think and learn. They know now that animals can learndogs, rats, birds can learn. So scientists are beginning to understand that men are different from animals because they can speak. Animals can not speak. They make noises whey they are afraid, or angry, or unhappy. Apes can understand some things more quickly than humans, one or two have learned a few words. But they are still different from us. They cant join words and make sentences. They cannot think like us because they have no language.They can never think about the past or the future. Language is a wonderful thing. Man has been able to build a modern world because he has language. Every child can speak his own language very well when he is four or five - but no animal learns to speak. How do children learn? Scientists do not really know. What happens when we speak? Scientists do not know. They only know that man can speak because he has a big brain. 34.In what way are men different from animals? 35.Which of the following is not true according to the passage? 36.What do scientists now know? 12It was 4:45 a . m. The Rockfort Express, travelling at about 15 m. p. h, rolled onto the 600 ft long bridge across the Mavudayer River. About an hour earlier a powerful bomb had exploded under the far end of the span, which tore the track. The engineers of the train was unable to stop. Then eight of 17 carriages were derailed.At the time of the accident, many of the 1,000 or so passengers were asleep. It was reported that 25 were killed and 214 injured, 139 seriously. At weeks end police arrested a man , 28, who confessed to complicity in the bombing for a political purpose. 37.Whats the length of the bridge across the Mavudayer River? 38.What was the time of the accident? 39.How many passengers were on the train? 40.What were the casualties according to the report? 13My father woke me up early one morning when I was fourteen and announced “Get up, you are going with me to cut grass.“ I felt proud and excited because my father thought I was responsible enough to help him in his business. Still, that first day was very hard. From sunrise to sunset, my father, my younger brother and I cut and t very large yards in well-to-do part of the city. By the end of the day I was exhausted, but I felt good. I put out a hard days labor and earned six dollars. One day, my father spotted some weeds I have miss cutting and pulled me inside. “Cut that section again!“ he said firmly “and dont make me have to tell you again.” The message was very clear. Today I stress the importance of doing the job right the first time. Every job I have held from cutting lawns to wash dishes to working a machine on the construction site. I have learned something that help me in my next job. If you work hard enough, you can learn from any job you do. 41 Q: How did the speaker feel when his father asked him to help cut grass? 42 Q: What did his father do when the speaker missed cutting some leaves? 43 Q:What did the speak want to tell us in this passage? 14I am living in a small village in the country. My wife and I run a village shop. We have a very peaceful live, boring some my say. But we love it. We know all the people in the village. They have plenty of time to stop and chat. I have plenty of time for my hobbies too-gardening, fishing, walking in the country side. I love the outdoor life. It wasnt always like this though I used to have a really stressful job, working so late in the office every evening. I often bring work home at the weekends. The advertising world is very competitive. And when I look back, I cant imagine how I stood it. I have no private life at all. No time for the really important things in life. Because of the pressure of the job, I used to smoke and drink too much. The crisis came when my wife left me. She complaint that she never saw me and I had no time for family life. This made me realize what is really important to me. I talked things through with her and decided to get back together and started a new and better life together. I gave up tobacco and alcohol and searched for new hobbies. Now I am afraid of looking back since the past life seemed like a horrible dream. 44 What did the speaker do for a living? 45 What do we know about the speakers life in the past? 46 What made the speaker change his life style? 15“Where is the university?“ is the question many visitors to Cambridge ask. But no o