大学英语四级模拟试题（4）4

Questions 71 to 75 are based on the following passage：

It was very late before Guglielmo followed his brother up to bed, foran extraordinary idea had come to him. If a sparkcould cause ether wavesto travel to another machine across a room and make that machine spark,why couldn't a bigger

spark make waves travel a longer distance and causeanother spark, say, a mile away？ And, by using long and short sparks,

whycouldn't this be used to send messages by Morse Code？ Indeed, why shouldn'tmessages be sent this way over great

distances, using the ether instead ofwires？

The elder man found his young brother poor company during the rest ofthat holiday, for Guglielmo was so interested inhis idea that he couldnot take his thoughts off it.

At last they arrived home at their father's mansion outside Bjologna,and young Marconi hurried to his laboratory to starthis experiments.Assisted by his brother Alfonso, who, although nine years his senior, was not ashamed to work under this

brilliant young scientist, he struggled formonths testing his idea. At last, to their joy, they got the instrument atthe other end of

the room to give its answering spark.

Marconi now decided to show his father that there really was somethingin this idea of his, for Signor Marconi, who hadmade a large fortune inbusiness, had not a great deal of faith in his youngest son's science.

At last the apparatus was ready, and Guglielmo invited his father andmother to come to the laboratory.

Signor Marconi entered, his good-humoured face beaming.“What is thisnew toy you have made, my boy？”he asked.

“Listen.” the young inventor said, and he pressed a switch. Faintly, in the lower part of the big house, an electric bellrang.“Well？”his father inquired.“There are no wires running to that bell. Don't you see what it means.Father？ Messages can

be sent through space without wires to carry them.”

But Signor Marconi was not convinced.“Let me take one of your machinesdown to the lawn. Then, if you can send me asignal, I'll believe you.”he said.

Marconi took him at his word. A little later he was back in the lab, hishand on the morse key. Through the window hecould see his father at thereceiver. The young man's heart thumped as he tapped ？- the test signal, S,which telegraphists

use. He could tell by the expression on his father'sface that the message had got through.

That evening Signora Marconi talked to her husband and on the followingday Guglielmo was overjoyed to receive fromhis father 5,000 lire —— about？？250 —— to help with his experiments.

71. According to Gaglielmo _______. A） any spark could send ether waves to wherever it wanted B） ether wavescould be used to operate machines C） messages could be sent by ether instead of wires D） bigger sparks could travel a

mile and send messages

72. In Guglielmo's opinion, the distance ether waves travel depends on _______. A） the force of a spark B） the size ofthe room C） the type of the machine D） the way the machine is operated

73. Guglielmo was so taken up with the idea that _______. A） he decided to put an end to his holiday B） stayed uplate wondering about it C） he paid little attention to anything else D） he didn't want to stay with his brother

74. His father didn't see the point of his invention till _______. A） he heard the bell ring B） he saw the apparatus C）he listened to his son's explanation D） he received the signal himself with the machine

75. What is implied in the passage？

A） Guglielmo was better than his brother in science. B） His father was so fascinated by his invention that he proposedto join them. C） Guglielmo discovered that a spark can make other waves travel. D） Morse Code was invented by the

Marconi brothers.

Questions 76 to 80 are based on the following passage：

Yellow fever is a disease of warm lands that is found mainly along theshore of the Atlantic Ocean. It was first noticed inthe Americas, but maywell have come form Africa and reached the New World with or soon afterColumbus. Until about fifty

years ago, yellow fever was still one of themost feared diseases in the United States, where many died in repeated out-

breaks. An outbreak which was to lead to surprising developments was onethat happened in Cuba during the Spanish-

American War.

As a result, an army group under Major Walter Reed was sent there inJune, 1900 with orders “to give special attention toquestions concerningthe cause and prevention of yellow fever”。 In a daring group of experimentsusing human beings,

Major Reed proved the truth of an idea advanced in 1881by a Cuban doctor, that the city type of mosquito passed on the

disease.

The successful result of these experiments gave birth to another andstill more important idea： kill off the city type ofmosquitoes and therewill be no more yellow fever. Fortunately these mosquitoes are one of theeasiest types to destroy. They