2015年12月英语四级考试真题试卷【第二套】

1、2015年12月英语四级考试真题试卷（第二套）Part I Writing (30 minutes)Part I Writing (30 minutes)Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay commenting on the saying Learning is a daily experience and a lifetime mission. You can cite examples to illustrate the importance of lifelong learning

2、. You should write at least 120words but no more than 180words.注意：此部分试题在答题卡1上_1.A) They admire the courage of space explorers.B) They were going to watch a wonderful movie.C) They enjoyed the movie on space exploration.D) They like doing scientific exploration very much.2.A) In a school library.B) A

3、t a gift shop.C) In the office of a travel agency.D) At a graduation ceremony.3.A) He used to work in the art gallery.B) He does not have a good memoiy.C) He is not interested in any part-time jobs.D) He declined a job offer from the art gallery.4.A) He will be unable to attend the birthday party.B)

4、 The woman should have informed him earlier.C) He will go to the birthday party after the lecture.D) Susan has been invited to give a lecture tomorrow.5.A) Set a deadline for the staff to meet.B) Assign more workers to the project.C) Reward those having made good progress.D) Encourage the staff to w

5、ork in small groups.6.A) Where she can leave her car.B) The rate for parking in Lot C.C) How far away the parking lot is.D) The way to the visitors parking.7.A) He regrets missing the classes.B) He has benefited from exercise.C) He plans to take the fitness classes.D) He is looking forward to a bett

6、er life.8.A) How to select secretaries.B) How to raise work efficiency.C) The responsibilities of secretaries.D) The secretaries in the mans company.Questions 9 to 11 are based on the conversation you have just heard. 9.A) It is used by more people than English.B) It is more difficult to learn than

7、English.C) It will be as commonly used as English.D) It will eventually become a world language.10.A) Its popularity with the common people.B) The effect of the Industrial Revolution.C) The influence of the British Empire.D) Its loan words from many languages.11.A) It has a growing number of newly c

8、oined words.B) It includes a lot of words from other languages.C) It is the largest among all languages in the world.D) It can be easily picked up by overseas travellers.Questions 12 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard. 12.A) To place an order.B) To apply for a job.C) To return s

9、ome goods.D) To make a complaint.13.A) He works on a part-time basis for the company.B) He has not worked in the sales department for long.C) He is not familiar with the exact details of the goods.D) He has become somewhat impatient with the woman.14.A) It is not his responsibility.B) It win be free

10、 for large orders.C) It depends on a number of factors.D) It costs 15 more for express delivery.15.A) Make inquiries with some other companies.B) Report the information to her superior.C) Pay a visit to the saleswoman in charge.D) Ring back when she comes to a decision.Passage One Questions 16 to 18

11、 are based on the conversation you have just heard. 16.A) No one knows for sure when they came into being.B) No one knows exactly where they were first made.C) No one knows for what purpose they were invented.D) No one knows what they will look like in the future.17.A) Measure the speed of wind.B) G

12、ive warnings of danger.C) Pass on secret messages.D) Carry ropes across rivers.18.A) To find out the strength of silk for kites.B) To test the effects of the lightning rod.C) To prove that lightning is electricity.D) To protect houses against lightning.Passage TwoQuestions 19 to 22 are based on the

13、passage you have just heard.19.A) She was born with a talent for languages.B) She was trained to be an interpreter.C) She can speak several languages.D) She enjoys teaching languages.20.A) They want to learn as many foreign languages as possible.B) They have an intense interest in cross-cultural int

14、eractions.C) They acquire an immunity to culture shock.D) They would like to live abroad permanently.21.A) She became an expert in horse racing.B) She learned to appreciate classical music.C) She was able to translate for a German sports judge.D) She got a chance to visit several European countries.

15、22.A) Take part in a cooking competition.B) Taste the beef and give her comment.C) Teach vocabulary for food in English.D) Give cooking lessons on Western food.Passage ThreeQuestions 23 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard.23.A) He had only a third-grade education.B) He once threatened

16、 to kill his teacher.C) He often helped his mother do housework.D) He grew up in a poor single-parent family.24.A) Stupid.B) Active.C) Brave.D) Careless.25.A) Watch educational TV programs only.B) Write two book reports a week.C) Help with housework.D) Keep a diary.When you look up at the night sky,

17、 what do you see? There are other _26_ bodies out there besides the moon and stars. One of the most _27_ of these is a comet (彗星).Comets were formed around the same time the Earth was formed. They are _28_ ice and other frozen liquids and gases. _29_ these dirty snowballs begin to orbit the sun, jus

18、t as the planets do.As a comet gets closer to the sun, some gases in it begin to unfreeze. They _30_ dust particles from the comet to form a huge cloud. As the comet gets even nearer to the sun, a solar wind blows the cloud behind the comet, thus forming its tail. The tail and the _31_ fuzzy (模糊的) a

19、tmosphere around a comet are _32_ that can help identify this _33_ in the night sky.In any given year, about a dozen known comets come close to the sun in their orbits. The average person cant see them all, of course. Usually there is only one or two a year bright enough to be seen with the _34_ eye

20、. Comet Hale-Bopp, discovered in 1995, was an unusually bright comet. Its orbit brought it _35_ close to the Earth, within 122 million miles of it. But Hale-Bopp came a long way on its earthly visit. It wont be back for another four .【参考答案】26. heavenly27. fascinating28. made up of29. Now and then30.

21、 combine with31. generally32. characteristics33. phenomenon34. naked35. relativelyPartIII 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 followi

22、ng 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 onceQue

23、stions 36 to 45 are based on the following passage. Questions 36 to 45 are based on the following passage. For many Americans, 2013 ended with an unusually bitter cold spell. Late November and December _36_ early snow arid bone-chilling temperatures in much of the country, part of a year when, for t

24、he first time in two _37_ , record-cold days will likely turn out to have outnumbered record-warm ones. But the U. S. was the exception; November was the warmest ever _38_ , and current data indicates that 2013 is likely to have been the fourth hottest year on record.Enjoy the snow now, because _39_

25、 are good that 2014 will be even hotter, perhaps the hottest year since records have been kept. Thats because, scientists are predicting, 2014 will be an El Nino year.El Nino, Spanish for the child , _40_ when surface ocean waters in the southern Pacific become abnormally warm. So large is the Pacif

26、ic, covering 30% of the planets surface, that the _41_ energy generated by its warming is enough to touch off a series of weather changes around the world. El Ninos are _42_ with abnormally dry conditions in Southeast Asia and Australia. They can lead to extreme rain in parts of North and South Amer

27、ica, even as southern Africa _43_ dry weather. Marine life may be affected too: El Ninos can _44_ the rising of the cold, nutrient-rich (营养丰富的) water that supports large fish _45_ , and the unusually warm ocean temperatures can destroy coral (珊瑚).A) additionalB) associatedC) boreD) chancesE) communi

28、catedF) decadesG) experiencesH) globallyI) logically J) occurs K) populations L) realize M) reduce N) saw O) specific参考答案：NFHDJ ABGMKHow to Eat WellA) Why do so many Americans eat tons of processed food, the stuff that is correctly called junk (垃圾) should really carry warning labels?B) Its not becau

29、se fresh ingredients are hard to come by. Supermarkets offer more variety than ever, and there are over four times as many farmers markets in the U. S. as there were 20 years ago. Nor is it for lack of available information. There are plenty of recipes (食谱), how-to videos and cooking classes availab

30、le to anyone who has a computer, smartphone or television. If anything, the information is overwhelming.C) And yet we arent cooking. If you eat three meals a day and behave like most Americans, you probably get at least a third of your daily calories (卡路里) outside the home. Nearly two-thirds of us g

31、rab fast food once a week, and we get almost 25% of our daily calories from snacks. So were eating out or taking in, and we dont sit down-or we do, but we hurry.D) Shouldnt preparing-and consuming-food be a source of comfort, pride, health, well-being, relaxation, sociability? Something that connect

32、s us to other humans? Why would we want to outsource(外包) this basic task, especially when outsourcing it is so harmful?E) When I talk about cooking, Im not talking about creating elaborate dinner parties or three-day science projects. Im talking about simple, easy, everyday meals. My mission is to e

33、ncourage green hands and those lacking time or money to feed themselves. That means we need modest, realistic expectations, and we need to teach people to cook food thats good enough to share with family and friends.F) Perhaps a return to real cooking neednt be far off. A recent Harris poll revealed

34、 that 79% of Americans say they enjoy cooking and 30% love it ; 14% admit to not enjoying kitchen work and just 7% wont go near the stove at all. But this doesnt necessarily translate to real cooking, and the result of this survey shouldnt surprise anyone: 52% of those 65 or older cook at home five

35、or more times per week; only a third of young people do.G) Back in the 1950s most of us grew up in households where Mom cooked virtually every night. The intention to put a home-cooked meal on the table was pretty much universal. Most people couldnt afford to do otherwise.H) Although frozen dinners

36、were invented in the 40s, their popularity didnt boom until televisions became popular a decade or so later. Since then, packaged, pre-prepared meals have been whats for dinner. The microwave and fast-food chains were the biggest catalysts (催化剂), but the big food companieswhich want to sell anything

37、 except the raw ingredients that go into cookingmade the home cook an endangered species.I) Still, I find it strange that only a third of young people report preparing meals at home regularly. Isnt this the same crowd that rails against processed junk and champions craft cooking? And isnt this the g

38、eneration who say theyre concerned about their health and the well-being of the planet? If these are truly the values of many young people, then their behavior doesnt match their beliefs.J) There have been half-hearted but well-publicized efforts by some food companies to reduce calories in their pr

39、ocessed foods, but the Standard American Diet is still the polar opposite of the healthy, mostly plant-based diet that just about every expert says we should be eating. Considering that the governments standards are not nearly ambitious enough, the picture is clear: by not cooking at home, were not

40、eating the right things, and the consequences are hard to overstate.K) To help quantify (量化) the costs of a poor diet, I recently tried to estimate this impact in terms of a most famous food, the burger (汉堡包). I concluded that the profit from burgers is more than offset (抵消) by the damage they cause

41、 in health problems and environmental harm.L) Cooking real food is the best defensenot to mention that any meal youre likely to eat at home contains about 200 fewer calories than one you would eat in a restaurant.M) To those Americans for whom money is a concern, my advice is simple; Buy what you ca

42、n afford, and cook it yourself. The common prescription is to primarily shop the grocery store, since thats where fresh produce, meat and seafood, and dairy are. And to save money and still eat well you dont need local, organic ingredients; all you need is real food. Im not saying local food isnt be

43、tter; it is. But there is plenty of decent food in the grocery stores.N) The other sections you should get to know are the frozen foods and the canned goods. Frozen produce is still produce; canned tomatoes are still tomatoes. Just make sure youre getting real food without tons of added salt or suga

44、r. Ask yourself, would Grandma consider this food? Does it look like something that might occur in nature? Its pretty much common sense; you want to buy food, not unidentifiable foodlike objects.O) You dont have to hit the grocery store daily, nor do you need an abundance of skill. Since fewer than

45、half of Americans say they cook at an intermediate level and only 20% describe their cooking skills as advanced, the crisis is one of confidence. And the only remedy for that is practice. Theres nothing mysterious about cooking the evening meal. You just have to do a little thinking ahead and redefi

46、ne what qualifies as dinner. Like any skill, cooking gets easier as you do it more; every time you cook, you advance your level of skills. Someday you wont even need recipes. My advice is that you not pay attention to the number of steps and ingredients, because they can be deceiving.P) Time, I real

47、ize, is the biggest obstacle to cooking for most people. You must adjust your priorities to find time to cook. For instance, you can move a TV to the kitchen and watch your favorite shows while youre standing at the sink. No one is asking you to give up activities you like, but if youre watching foo

48、d shows on TV, try cooking instead.46. Cooking benefits people in many ways and enables them to connect with one another.47. Abundant information about cooking is available either online or on TV.48. Young people do less cooking at home than the elderly these days.49. Cooking skills can be improved

49、with practice.50. In the mid-20th century, most families ate dinner at home instead of eating out.51. Even those short of time or money should be encouraged to cook for themselves and their family.52. Eating food not cooked by ourselves can cause serious consequences.53. To eat well and still save m

50、oney, people should buy fresh food and cook it themselves.54. We get a fairly large portion of calories from fast food and snacks.55. The popularity of TV led to the popularity of frozen food.参考答案：DBFOG EJMCHPassage OneQuestions 56 to 60 are based on the following passage.The wallet is heading for e

51、xtinction. As a day-to-day essential, it will die off with the generation who read print newspapers. The kind of shopping-where you hand over notes and count out change in return-now happens only in the most minor of our retail encounters, like buying a bar of chocolate or a pint of milk from a corn

52、er shop. At the shops where you spend any real money, that money is increasingly abstracted. And this is more and more true, the higher up the scale you go. At the most cutting-edge retail stores-Victoria Beckham on Dover Street, for instance-you dont go and stand at any kind of cash register when y

53、ou decide to pay. The staff are equipped with iPads to take your payment while you relax on a sofa.Which is nothing more or less than excellent service, if you have the money. But across society, the abstraction of the idea of cash makes me uneasy. Maybe Im just old-fashioned. But earning money isnt

54、 quick or easy for most of us. Isnt it a bit weird that spending it should happen in half a blink (眨眼) of an eye? Doesnt a wallet-that time-honoured Friday-night feeling of pleasing, promising fatness-represent something that matters?But Ill leave the economics to the experts. What bothers me about

55、the death of the wallet is the change it represents in our physical environment. Everything about the look and feel of a wallet-the way the fastenings and materials wear and tear and loosen with age, the plastic and paper and gold and silver, and handwritten phone numbers and printed cinema tickets-

56、is the very opposite of what our world is becoming. The opposite of a wallet is a smartphone or an iPad. The rounded edges, cool glass, smooth and unknowable as a pebble (鹅卵石). Instead of digging through pieces of paper and peering into comers, we move our fingers left and right. No more counting out coins. Show your wallet, if you still have one. It may not be here much longer.56. What is happening to the wallet?A) It is disappearing. B) It is being fattened. C) It is becoming costly.D) It is changing in style.57. How are business transactions done in big modern stores?A) Indivi