2015年12月英语四级真题及答案

2015年12月英语四级真题及答案第三套Part Ⅰ Writing ( 30 minutes)Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay commenting on the saying"Never go out there to see what happens, go out there to make things happen." You can citexamples to illustrate the importance of being participants rather than mere onlookers inlife.You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.Part Ⅱ Listening Comprehension ( 30 minutes)Section ADirections : In this section, you will hear 8 short conversations and 2 long conversations.At the end ofeach conversation, one or more questions will be asked about what was said.Both theconversation and the questions will be spoken only once.After each question there will bea pause.During the pause, you must read the four choices marked A, B, Cand D,and decide which is the best answer. Then mark the corresponding letter on AnswerSheet 1 with a single line through the centre.1.A.Children should be taught to be more careful.B.Children shouldn't drink so much orange juice.C.There is no need for the man to make such a fuss.D.Timmy should learn to do things in the right way.2.A.Fitness training.B.The new job offer.puter programming.D.Directorship of the club.3.A.He needs to buy a new sweater.B.He has got to save on fuel bills.C.The fuel price has skyrocketed.D.The heating system doesn't work.mitting theft.B.Taking pictures.C.Window shopping.D.Posing for the camera.5.A.She is taking some medicine.B.She has not seen a doctor yet.C.She does not trust the man's advice.D.She has almost recovered from the cough.6.A.Pamela's report is not finished as scheduled.B.Pamela has a habit of doing things in a hurry.C.Pamela is not good at writing research papers.D.Pamela's mistakes could have been avoided.7.A.In the left-luggage office.B.At the hotel reception.C.In a hotel room.D.At an airport.8.A.She was an excellent student at college.B.She works in the entertainment business.C.She is fond of telling stories in her speech.D.She is good at conveying her message.Questions 9 to 11 are based on the conversation you have just heard.9.A.Arranging the woman's appointment with Mr.Romero.B.Fixing the time for the designer's latest fashion show.C.Talking about an important gathering on Tuesday.D.Preparing for the filming on Monday morning.10.A.Her travel to Japan.B.The awards ceremony.C.The proper hairstyle for her new role.D.When to start the make-up session.11.A.He is Mr.Romero's agent.B.He is an entertainment journalist.C.He is the woman's assistant.D.He is a famous movie star.Questions 12 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard.12.A.Make an appointment for an interview.B.Send in an application letter.C.Fill in an application form.D.Make a brief self-introduction on the phone.13.A.Someone having a college degree in advertising.B.Someone experienced in business management.C.Someone ready to take on more responsibilities.D.Someone willing to work beyond regular hours.14.A.Travel opportunities.B.Handsome pay.C.Prospects for promotion.D.Flexible working hours.15.A.It depends on the working hours.B.It is about 500 pounds a week.C.It will be set by the Human Resources.D.It is to be negotiated.Section BDirections..In this section, you will hear 3 short passages.At the end of each passage, you will hearsome questions.Both the passage and the questions will be spoken only once.After youhear a question, you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A., B,Cand D..Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1 with a single linethrough the center.Passage OneQuestions 16 to 19 are based on the passage you have just heard.16.A.To give customers a wider range of choices.B.To make shoppers see as many items as possible.C.To supply as many varieties of goods as it can.D.To save space for more profitable products.17.A.On the top shelves.B.On the bottom shelves.C.On easily accessible shelves.D.On clearly marked shelves.18.A.Many of them buy things on impulse.B.A few of them are fathers with babies.C.A majority of them are young couples.D.Over 60% of them make shopping lists.19.A.Sales assistants promoting high margin goods.B.Sales assistants following customers around.C.Customers competing for good bargains.D.Customers losing all sense of time.Passage TwoQuestions 20 to 22 are based on the passage you have just heard.20.A.Teaching mathematics at a school.B.Doing research in an institute.C.Studying for a college degree.D.Working in a hi-tech company21.A.He studied the designs of various clocks.B.He did experiments on different materials.C.He bought an alarm clock with a pig face.D.He asked different people for their opinions.22.A.Its automatic mechanism.B.Its manufacturing process.C.Its way of waking people up.D.Its funny-looking pig face.Passage ThreeQuestions 23 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard.23.A.It is often caused by a change of circumstances.B.It actually doesn't require any special treatment.C.It usually appears all of a sudden.D.It generally lasts for several years.24.A.They cannot mix well with others.B.They irrationally annoy their friends.C.They depend heavily on family members.D.They blame others for ignoring their needs.25.A.They lack consistent support from peers.B.They doubt their own popularity.C.They were born psychologically weak.D.They focus too much on themselves.Section CDirections: In this section, you will hear a passage three times.When the passage is read for the firsttime, you should listen carefully for its general idea.When the passage is read for thesecond time, you are required to fill in the blanks with the exact words you have justheard.Finally, when the passage is read for the third time, you should check what youhave written.There was a time when any personal information that was gathered about us was typed on a pieceof paper and26 in a file cabinet.It could remain there for years and, often27, never reachthe outside world.Things have done a complete about-face since then.28 the change has been the astonishingly29 development in recent years of the computer.Today, any data that is 30 about us in oneplace or another--and for one reason or another--can be stored in a computer bank.It can then beeasily passed to other computer banks.They are owned by individuals and by private businesses andcorporations, lending 31 , direct mailing and telemarketing firms, credit bureaus, credit cardcompanies, and32 at the local, state, and federal level.A growing number of Americans are seeing the accumulation and distribution of computerized dataas a frightening33 of their privacy.Surveys show that the numberof worried Americans has beensteadily growing over the years as the computer becomes increasingly 34, easier to operate, andless costly to purchase and maintain.In 1970, a national survey showed that 37 percent of the people35felt their privacy was being invaded.Seven years later, 47 percent expressed the same worry.Arecent survey by a credit bureau revealed that the number of alarmed citizens had shot up to 76percent.Part Ⅲ Reading Comprehension(40 minutes)Section ADirections: In this section, there is a passage with ten blanks.You are required to select one word foreach blank from a list of choices given, in a word bank following the passage.Read thepassage through carefully before making your choices. Each.choice in the bank isidentified by a letter.Please mark the corresponding letter for each item on Answer Sheet2 with a single line through the center.You may not use any of the words in the bankmore than once.Questions 36 to 45 are based on the following passage.Children do not think the way adults do.For most of the first year of life, if something is out ofsight, it's out of mind.If you cover a baby's36toy with a piece of cloth, the baby thinks the toyhas disappeared and stops looking for it.A 4-year-old may 37 that a sister has more fruit juicewhen it is only the shapes of the glasses that differ, not the38 of juice.Yet children are smart in their own way.Like good little scientists, children are always testingtheir child-sized39 about how things work.When your child throws her spoon on the floor for thesixth time as you try to feed her, and you say, "That's enough! I will not pick up your spoon again!"the child will 40 test your claim.Are you serious? Are you angry? What will happen if she throwsthe spoon again? She is not doing this to drive you41; rather, she is learning that her desires andyours can differ, and that sometimes those42 are important and sometimes they are not.How and why does children's thinking change? In the 1920s, Swiss psychologist Jean Piagetproposed that children's cognitive (认知的) abilities unfold 43, like theblooming of a flower,almost independent of what else is44in their lives.Although many of his specific conclusions havebeen45 or modified over the years, his ideas inspired thousands of studies by investigators all overthe world.A.advocateB.amountC.confirmedD.crazyE. definiteF. differencesG. favoriteH. happeningI. ImmediatelyJ. NaturallyK. ObtainingL. PrimarilyM. ProtestN. RejectedO. theoriesSection BDirections: In this section, you are going to read a passage with, ten statements attached to it.Eachstatement contains information given in one of the paragraphs.Identify the paragraphfrom which the information is derived.You may choose a paragraph more than once.Each paragraph is marked with a letter. Answer the questions by marking thecorresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2.The Perfect EssayA.Looking back on too many years of education, I can identify one truly impossible teacher.Shecared about me, and my intellectual life, even when I didn't.Her expectations were high--impossibly so.She was an English teacher.She was also my mother.B.When good students turn in an essay, they dream of their instructor returning itto them in exactlythe same condition, save for a single word added in the margin of the finalpage : "Flawless." Thisdream came true for me one afternoon in the ninth grade.Of course, I had heard that genius couldshow itself at an early age, so I was only slightly taken aback that I had achieved perfection at thetender age of 14.Obviously, I did what any professional writer would do; I hurried off to spread thegood news.I didn't get very far.The first person I told was my mother.C.My mother, who is just shy of five feet tall, is normally incredibly soft-spoken, but on the rareoccasion when she got angry, she was terrifying.I am not sure if she was more upset by my hubris(得意忘形) or by the fact that my English teacher had let my ego get so out of hand.In any event,my mother and her red pen showed me how deeply flawed a flawless essay could be.At the time,I am sure she thought she was teaching me about mechanics, transitions (过渡), structure, styleand voice.But whatI learned, and what stuck with me through my time teaching writing atHarvard, wasa deeper lesson about the nature of creative criticism.D.First off, it hurts.Genuine criticism, the type that leaves a lasting mark on you as a writer, alsoleaves an existential imprint (印记) on you as a person.I have heard people say that a writershould never take criticism personally.I say that we should never listen to these people.E. Criticism, at its best, is deeply personal, and gets to the heart of why we write the way we do.Theintimate nature of genuine criticism implies something about who is able to give it, namely,someone who knows you well enough to show you how your mental life is getting in the way ofgood writing.Conveniently, they are also the people who care enough to see you through thispainful realization.For me it took the form of my first, and I hope only, encounter with writer'sblock--I was not able to produce anything for three years.F. Franz Kafka once said: "Writing is utter solitude (独处), the descent into the cold abyss (深渊) ofoneself." My mother's criticism had shown me that Kafka is right about the cold abyss, and whenyou make the introspective (内省的) descent that writing requires you are not always pleased bywhat you find.But, in the years that followed, her sustained tutoring suggested that Kafka might bewrong about thesolitude.I was lucky enough to find a critic and teacher who was willing to makethe journey of writing with me."It is a thing of no great difficulty," according to Plutarch, "toraise objections against another man's speech, it is a very easy matter; but to produce a better in itsplace is a work extremely troublesome." I am sure I wrote essays in the later years of high schoolwithout my mother's guidance, but I can't recall them.What I remember, however, is how shetook up the "extremely troublesome" work of ongoing criticism.G. There are two ways to interpret Plutarch when he suggests that a critic should be able to produce "abetter in its place." In a straightforward sense, he could mean that a critic must be more talentedthan the artist she critiques (评论).My mother was well covered on this count.But perhapsPlutarch is suggesting something slightly different, something a bit closer to Marcus Cicero's claimthat one should "criticize by creation, not by finding fault." Genuine criticism creates a preciousopening for an author to become better on his own terms--a process that is often extremely painful,but also almost always meaningful.H. My mother said she would help me with my writing, but first I had to help myself.For eachassignment, I was to write the best essay I could.Real criticism is not meant to find obviousmistakes, so if she found any--the type I could have found on my own--I had to start from scratch.From scratch.Once the essay was "flawless," she would take an evening to walk me through myerrors.That was when true criticism, the type that changed me as a person, began.I. She criticized me when I included little-known references and professional jargon (行话).She hadno patience for brilliant but irrelevant figures of speech."Writers can't bluff (虚张声势) their waythrough ignorance." That was news to me--I would need to freed another way to structure my dailyexistence.J. She trimmed back my flowery language, drew lines through my exclamation marks and argued forthe value of restraint in expression."John," she almost whispered.I leaned in to hear her:"I can'thear you when you shout at me." So I stopped shouting and bluffing, and slowly my writingimproved.K. Somewhere along the way I set aside my hopes of writing that flawless essay.But perhaps I missedsomething important in my mother's lessons about creativity and perfection.Perhaps the point ofwriting the flawless essay was not to give up, but to never willingly finish.Whitman repeatedlyreworked "Song of Myself' between 1855 and 1891.Repeatedly.We do our absolute best with apiece of writing, and come as close as we can to the ideal.And, for the time being, we settle.Incritique, however, we are forced to depart, to give up the perfection we thought we had achievedfor the chance of being even a little bit better.This is the lesson I took from my mother: Ifperfection were possible, it would not be motivating.46.The author was advised against the improper use of figures of speech.47.The author's mother taught him a valuable lesson by pointing out lots of flaws in his seeminglyperfect essay.48.A writer should polish his writing repeatedly so as to get closer to perfection.49.Writers may experience periods of time in their life when they just can't produce anything.50.The author was not much surprised when his school teacher marked his essay as "flawless".51.Criticizing someone's speech is said to be easier than coming up with a better one.52.The author looks upon his mother as his most demanding and caring instructor.53.The criticism the author received from his mother changed him as a person.54.The author gradually improved his writing by avoiding fancy language.55.Constructive criticism gives an author a good start to improve his writing. Section CDirections: There are 2 passages in this section.Each passage is followed by some questions orunfinished statements.For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C.andD .You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on AnswerSheet 2 with a single line through the center.Passage OneQuestions 56 to 60 are based on the following passage.Could you reproduce Silicon Valley elsewhere, or is there something unique about it?It wouldn't be surprising if it were hard to reproduce in other countries, because you couldn'treproduce it in most of the US either.What does it take to make a Silicon Valley?It's the right people.If you could get the right ten thousand people to move from Silicon Valley toBuffalo, Buffalo would become Silicon Valley.You only need two kinds of people to create a technology hub (中心) : rich people and nerds (痴迷科研的人).Observation bears this out.Within the US, towns have become star,up hubs if and only if theyhave both rich people and nerds.Few startups happen in Miami, for example, because although it's fullof rich people, it has few nerds.It's not the kind of place nerds like.Whereas Pittsburgh has the opposite problem: plenty of nerds, but no rich people.The top USComputer Science departments are said to be MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, and Carnegie-Mellon.MITyielded Route 128.Stanford and Berkeley yielded Silicon Valley.But what did Carnegie-Mellon yield inPittsburgh? And what happened in Ithaca, home of Cornell University, which is also high on the list?I grew up in Pittsburgh and went to college at Cornell, so I can answer for both.The weather isterrible, particularly in winter, and there's no interesting old city to make up for it, as there is inBoston.Rich people don't want to live in Pittsburgh or Ithaca.So while there're plenty of hackers (电脑迷) who could start startups, there's no one to invest in themDo you really need the rich people? Wouldn't it work to have the government invest in the nerds?No, it would not.Startup investors are a distinct type of rich people.They tend to have a lot ofexperience themselves in the technology business.This helps them pick the right startups, and meansthey can supply advice and connections as well as money.And the fact that they have a personal stakein the outcome makes them really pay attention.56.What do we learn about Silicon Valley from the passage?A.Its success is hard to copy anywhere else.B.It is the biggest technology hub in the US.C.Its fame in high technology is incomparable.D.It leads the world in information technology.57.What makes Miami unfit to produce a Silicon Valley?ck of incentive for investment.ck of the right kind of talents.ck of government support.ck of famous universities.58.In what way is Carnegie-Mellon different from Stanford, Berkeley and MIT?A.Its location is not as attractive to rich people.B.Its science departments are not nearly as good.C.It does not produce computer hackers and nerds.D.It does not pay much attention to business startups.59.What does the author imply about Boston?A.It has pleasant weather all year round.B.It produces wealth as well as high-tech.C.It is not likely to attract lots of investors and nerds.D.It is an old city with many sites of historical interest.60.What does the author say about startup investors?A.They are especially wise in making investments.B.They have good connections in the government.C.They can do more than providing money.D.They are rich enough to invest in nerds.Passage TwoQuestions 61 to 65 are based on the following passage.It's nice to have people of like mind around.Agreeable people boost your confidence and allow youto relax and feel comfortable.Unfortunately, that comfort can hinder the very learning that can expandyour company and your career.It's nice to have people agree, but you need conflicting perspectives to dig out the truth.Ifeveryone around you has similar views, your work will suffer from confirmation bias (偏颇).Take a look at your own network.Do your contacts share your point of view on most subjects? Ifyes, it's time to shake things up.As a leader, it can be challenging to create an environment in whichpeople will freely disagree and argue, but as the saying goes: From confrontation comes brilliance.It's not easy for most people to actively seek conflict.Many spend their lives trying to avoidarguments.There's no need to go out and find people you hate, but you need to do some self-assessment to determine where you have become stale in your thinking.You may need to start byencouraging your current network to help you identify your blind spots.Passionate, energetic debate does not require anger and hard feelings to be effective.But it doesrequire moral strength. Once you have worthy opponents, set some ground rules so everyoneunderstands responsibilities and boundaries.The objective of this debating game is not to win but to getto the truth that will allow you to move faster, farther, and better.Fierce debating can hurt feelings, particularly when strong personalities are involved.Make sureyou check in with your opponents so that they are not carrying the emotion of the battles beyond thebattlefield.Break the tension with smiles and humor to reinforce the idea that this is friendly discourseand that all are working toward a common goal.Reward all those involved in the debate sufficiently when the goals are reached.Let your sparringpartners (拳击陪练) know how much you appreciate their contribution. The more they feelappreciated, the more they'll be willing to get into the ring next time.61.What happens when you have like-minded people around you all the while?A.It will help your company expand more rapidly.B.It will create a harmonious working atmosphere.C.It may prevent your business and career from advancing.D.It may make you feel uncertain about your own decisions.62.What does the author suggest leaders do?A.Avoid arguments with business partners.B.Encourage people to disagree and argue.C.Build a wide and strong business network.D.Seek advice from their worthy competitors.63.What is the purpose of holding a debate?A.To find out the truth about an issue.B.To build up people's moral strength.C.To remove misunderstandings.D.To look for worthy opponents.64.What advice does the author give to people engaged in a fierce debate?A.They listen carefully to their opponents' views.B.They show due respect for each other's beliefs.C.They present their views clearly and explicitly.D.They take care not to hurt each other's feelings.65.How should we treat our rivals after a successful debate?A.Try to make peace with them.B.Try to make up the differences.C.Invite them to the ring next time.D.Acknowledge their contribution.Part Ⅳ Translation( 30 minutes )Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to translate a passage from Chinese intoEnglish.You should write your answer on Answer Sheet 2.今年在长沙举行了一年一度的外国人汉语演讲比赛.这项比赛证明是促进中国和世界其他地区文化交流的好方法.它为世界各地的年轻人提供了更好地了解中国的机会.来自87个国家共计126位选手聚集在湖南省省会参加了从7月6日到8月5日进行的半决赛和决赛.比赛并不是唯一的活动.选手们还有机会参观了中国其他地区的著名景点和历史名胜.2015年12月大学英语四级考试真题答案与详解(第3套)Part ⅠWriting这是一篇四级考试中常见的议论文.话题围绕“Never go out there to see what happens，go out there tomake things happen.”这句话展开，要求考生进行评论，同时在题目要求中也明确给出了作文主题the importanceof being participants rather than mere onlookers in life.考生应该明确这一主题，并围绕其展开论述.一、点明主题：不做看客，要做实践者(being participants instead of onlookers in life)二、分析原因三、提出问题和建议主题词汇put…into practice将……付诸实践carry out执行；实现gain获得accumulate积累gradually逐渐地make a progress取得进步theory理论action行动would rather…than比起……更情愿……stand by袖手旁观句式拓展1.For some people, watching what happens to others is goodenough to learn a lesson, while for others, only practicingby themselves can finally make them get the real skills in对一些人而言，看发生在别人身上的事情足以让他们吸取教训，而对于其他人而言，他们只有亲身实践才能最终得到生活中的真正技能.2.No matter how many authentic theories you've got before,nothing will happen until you put them into practice.无论你曾经接受了多少权威的理论，若不付诸实践，一切都无济于事.Part ⅡListening ComprehensionM: I don't know what to do with Timmy.This morning I found orange juice spilled all over the kitchenfloor.W: Don't be so hard on him.He's only four.Q: What does the woman mean?C.四个选项中出现了children，careful，juice和Timmy等词，故推测本题考查的内容与孩子的行为相关.对话中，男士抱怨说他都不知道该拿蒂米怎么办了，今天早上，他发现桔子汁在厨房洒了一地，而女士则说，别对蒂米太严厉了，他才四岁.由此可见，女士认为男士不用小题大做，故答案为C..2.W: Excuse me, sir.I would like to know about the fitness training program in your club.M: I'll have you speak with the director in charge of new accounts.Q: What is the woman interested in?A.四个选项均为名词短语，且出现了fitness，job，computer和club等词，故推测本题考查的内容与健身或者工作相关.对话中，女士向男士询问俱乐部健身锻炼的事情，男士则说他会带着女士去找专门负责新会员的经理.由此可知，女士是对俱乐部健身锻炼感兴趣，故答案为A..3.W: It's really cold in this apartment.Can we turn up the heat a little bit? M: Sorry.I've run out of money and can hardly pay the fuel bill.Maybe you'd better put on a sweater.Q: what does the man mean?B.四个选项中出现了sweater，save，fuel bills和heating等词，故推测本题考查的内容与寒冷天气以及取暖相关.对话中，女士说她觉得很冷，问能不能把暖气开大一点，而男士则表示抱歉，说自己没钱了，都快付不起燃料费账单了，建议女士穿上毛衣.由此可知，男士想要节省燃料费，故答案为B.4.M: I'm sorry, Miss.But you have to come with me to the security office.The video cameras in our shophave recorded everything you did.W: No, no.I...I didn't do anything.I'll call the police if you dare insult me. Q: What does the man think the woman was doing?A.四个选项均为动名词短语，且出现了theft，pictures，shopping和camera 等词，故推测本题考查的内容与商店里发生的事情相关.对话中，男士要将女士带到保安室去，并说商店里的摄像头已经把女士所做的事都录下来了，而女士则表示自己什么都没有做，如果男士敢侮辱她的话，她就报警.由此可知，男士认为女士偷了商店里的东西，故答案为A.5.M: I think you ought to see a doctor right away about that cough.W: Well, I'll wait a few more days.I'm sure I'll get over it soon.Q: What do we learn about the woman?B.选项均以she开头，且出现了medicine，doctor和cough等词，故推测本题考查的内容与女士的健康状况相关.男士说女士应该马上去看医生，而女士则说再等几天，她相信自己的咳嗽很快就会好的.由此可知，直到本对话发生时，女士都还没有去看医生，故答案为B..6.M: I've heard that Pamela made quite a few mistakes in her lab report.W: Well, she wouldn't have if she hadn't been in such a hunt to get it done. Q: What does the woman imply?D.四个选项均提到了Pamela，且出现了report，hurry，writing和mistakes 等词，故推测本题考查的内容与帕米拉的报告相关.对话中，男士说他听说帕米拉的实验报告出了很多错，而女士则说，如果她不是那么急着做完的话，就不会出这么多的错.由此可知，帕米拉实验报告中的错误本来是可以避免的，故答案为D..7.M: We'd better check out before 12 o'clock, Marry.And now there are only 30 minutes left.W: Let's hurry up.You go pay the bill and I'll call the reception to have our luggage taken downstairs.Q : Where did this conversation most probably take place?C.四个选项均是表示地点的介词短语，故推测本题考查的内容与对话发生的地点相关.对话中，男士说他们最好能在中午l2点之前退房，现在只剩半小时了，女士建议加快速度，并让男士去付账，她自己给前台打电话，叫人把行李送到楼下.由此可知，对话发生的时候，两人还没有开始办理退房手续，还在宾馆的房间里，故答案为C..8.W: Have you ever heard this speaker before?。

2015年12月大学英语四级考试真题及解析(卷二) Part I Writing1.【题干】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. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.Part II Listening ComprehensionPartⅢReading ComprehensionSection AScholars of the information society are divided over whether social inequality decreases or increases in an information-based society. However, they generally agree with the idea that inequality in the information society is_____(37)different from that of an industrial society. As informatization progress in society, the cause and structural nature of social inequality changes as well.It seems that the information society_____(38)the quantity of information available to the members of a society by revolutionizing the ways of using and exchanging information. But such a view as a_____(39)analysis based on the quantity of information supplied by various forms of the mass media. A different_____(40)is possible when the actual amount of information_____(41)by the user is taken into account. In fact, the more information_____(42)throughout the entire society, the wider the gap becomes between "information haves" and "information have-nots," leading to digital divide.According to recent studies, digital divide has been caused by three major_____(43): class, sex, and generation. In terms of class, digital divide exists among different types of workers and between the upper and middle classes and the lower class. With_____(44)to sex, digital divide exists between men and women. The greatest gap, however, is between the Net-generation, _____(45)with personal computers and the Internet, and the older generation,_____(46)to an industrial society.37.【题干】_____【选项】A.accustomed习惯的通常的B.acquired 取得C.assembly 集合D.attribute 把…归于E.champions 冠军F.elements 原理，元素G.expands 扩大H.familiar 熟悉的I.flows 流动J.fundamentally 从根本上地K.interpretation 解释L.passive 被动的M.regard 把..看作，与…有关N.respectively 分别地O.superficial 表面的，肤浅的【答案】J38.【答案】G39.【答案】O40.【答案】K 41. 【答案】B 42.I 43.F 44.M 45.A 46.DSection BJoy：A Subject Schools LackBecoming educated should not require giving up pleasureA)When Jonathan Swift proposed, in 1729, that the people of Ireland eat their children, he insisted it would solve three problems at once: feed the hungry masses, reduce the population during a severe depression, and stimulate the restaurant business. Evan as a satire(讽刺), it seems disgusting and shocking in America with its child-centered culture. But actually, the country is closer to his proposal than you might think.B)If you spend much time with educators and policy makers, you'll hear a lot of the following words: "standards,""results,""skills,""self-control,""accountability," and so on. I have visited some of the newer supposedly "effective" schools, where children shout slogans in order to learn self-control or must stand behind their desk when they can't sit still.C)A look at what goes on in most classrooms these days makes it abundantly clear that when people think about education, they are not thinking about what it feels like to be a child, or what makes childhood an important and valuable stage of life in its own right.D)I'm a mother of three, a teacher, and a developmental psychologist. So I've watched a lot of children-talking, playing, arguing, eating, studying, and being young. Here's what I've come to understand. The thing that sets children apart from adults is not their ignorance, nor their lack of skills. It's their enormous capacity for joy. Think of a 3-year-old lost in the pleasures of finding out what he can and cannot sink in the bathtub, a 5-year-old beside herself with the thrill of putting together strings of nonsensical words with her best friends, or an 11-year-old completely absorbed in a fascinating comic strip. A child's ability to become deeply absorbed in something, and derive intense pleasure from that absorption, is something adults spend the rest of their lives trying to return to.E)A friend told me the following story. One day, when he went to get his 7-year-old son from soccer practice, his kid greeted him with a downcast face and a sad voice. The coach had criticized him for focusing on his soccer drills. The little boy walked out of the school with his head and shoulders hanging down. He seemed wrapped in sadness. But just before he reached the car door, he suddenly stopped, crouching(蹲伏)down to peer at something on the sidewalk.His face went down lower and lower, and then, with complete joy he called out," Dad. Come here. This is the strangest bug I've ever seen. It has, like a million legs. Look at this. It's amazing." He looked up at his father, his features overflowing with energy and delight. "Can't we stay here for just a minute? I want to find out what he does with all those legs. This is the coolest ever."F)The traditional view of such moments is that they constitute a charming but irrelevant byproduct of youth-something to be pushed aside to make room for more important qualities, like perseverance(坚持不懈), obligation, and practicality. Yet moments like this one are just the kind of intense absorption and pleasure adults spend the rest of their lives seeking. Human lives are governed by the desire to experience joy. Becoming educated should not require giving up joy but rather lead to finding joy in new kinds of things: reading novels instead to playing with small figures, conducting experiments instead of sinking cups in the bathtub, and debating serious issues rather than stringing together nonsense words, for example. In some cases, schools should help children find new, more grown-up ways of doing the same things that are constant sources of joy: making art, making friends, making decisions.G)Building on a child's ability to joy, rather than pushing it aside, wouldn't be that hard. It would just require a shift in the education word's mindset(思维模式). Instead of trying to get children to work hard, why not focus on getting them to take pleasure in meaningful, productive activity, like making things, working with others, exploring ideas, and solving problems? These focuses are not so different from the things in which they delight.H)Before you brush this argument aside as rubbish, or think of joy as an unaffordable luxury in a nation where there is awful poverty, low academic achievement, and high dropout rates, think again. The more horrible the school circumstances, the more important pleasure is to achieving any educational success.I)Many of the assignments and rules teachers come up with, often because they are pressured by their administrators, treat pleasure and joy as the enemies of competence and responsibility. The assumption is that children shouldn't chat in the classroom because it hinders hard work; instead, they should learn to delay gratification(快乐)so that can pursue abstract goals, like going to college.J)Not only is this a boring and awful way to treat children, it makes no sense educationally, Decades of research have shown that in order to acquire skills and real knowledge in school, kids need to want to learn. You can force a child to stay in his or her seat, fill out a worksheet, or practice division. But you can't force the child to think carefully, enjoy books, digest complex information, or develop a taste for learning. To make that happen, you have to help the child find pleasure in learning-to see school as a source of joy.K)Adults tend to talk about learning as if it were medicine: unpleasant, but necessary and good for you. Why not instead think of learning as if it were food-something so valuable to humans that they have evolved to experience it as a pleasure?L)Joy should not be trained out of children or left for after-school programs. The more difficult a child's life circumstances, the more important it is for that child to find joy in his or her classroom. "Pleasure" is not a dirty word. And it doesn't run counter to the goals of public education. It is, in fact, the precondition.47.【题干】It will not be difficult to make learning a source of joy if educators change their way of thinking.【答案】G【解析】Building on a child's ability to joy, rather than pushing it aside, wouldn't be that hard. It would just require a shift in the education word's mindset(思维模式).48.【题干】What distinguishes children from adults is their strong ability to derive joy from what they are doing.【答案】D【解析】The thing that sets children apart from adults is not their ignorance, nor their lack of skills. It's their enormous capacity for joy49.【题干】Children in America are being treated with shocking cruelty.【答案】A50.【题干】It is human nature to seek joy in life.【答案】F【解析】Human lives are governed by the desire to experience joy.51.【题干】Grown-ups are likely to think that learning to children is what medicine is to patients.【答案】K【解析】Adults tend to talk about learning as if it were medicine: unpleasant, but necessary and good for you.52.【题干】Bad school conditions make it all the more important to turn learning into a joyful experience.【答案】L【解析】The more difficult a child's life circumstances, the more important it is for that child to find joy in his or her classroom.53.【题干】Adults do not consider children's feelings when it comes to education.【答案】C【解析】A look at what goes on in most classrooms these days makes it abundantly clear that when people think about education, they are not thinking about what it feels like to be a child, or what makes childhood an important and valuable stage of life in its own right.54.【题干】Administrators seem to believe that only hard work will lead children to their educational goals.【答案】I【解析】Many of the assignments and rules teachers come up with, often because they are pressured by their administrators, treat pleasure and joy as the enemies of competence and responsibility.55.【题干】In the so-called "effective" schools, children are taught self-control under a set ofstrict rules.【答案】B【解析】I have visited some of the newer supposedly "effective" schools, where children shout slogans in order to learn self-control or must stand behind their desk when they can't sit still.56.【题干】To make learning effective, educators have to ensure that children want to learn.【答案】J【解析】You can force a child to stay in his or her seat, fill out a worksheet, or practice division. But you can't force the child to think carefully, enjoy books, digest complex information, or develop a taste for learning. To make that happen, you have to help the child find pleasure in learning-to see school as a source of joy.Passage OneQuestions 57 to 61 are based on the following passage.When it's five o'clock, people leave their office. The length of the workday, for many workers, is defined by time. They leave when the clock tells them they're done.These days, the time is everywhere: not just on clocks or watches, but on cell-phones and computers. That may be a bad thing, particularly at work. New research shows that clock-based word schedules hinder morale(士气)and creativity.Clock-timers organize their day by blocks of minutes and hours. For example: a meeting from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m., research from 10 a.m. to noon, etc. On the other hand, task-timers have a list of things they want to accomplish. They work down the list, each task starts when the previous task is completed. It is said that all of us employ a mix of both these types of planning.What, then, are the effects of thinking about time in these different ways? Does one make us more productive? Better at the tasks at hand? Happier? In experiments conducted by Tamar Avnet and Anne-Laure Sellier, they had participants organize different activities-from project planning, holiday shopping, to yoga-by time or to-do list to measure how they performed under "clock time" vs "task time". They found clock timers to be more efficient but less happy because they felt little control over their lives. Task timers are happier and more creative, but less productive. They tend to enjoy the moment when something good is happening, and seize opportunities that come up.The researchers argue that task-based organizing tends to be undervalued and under-supported in the business culture. Smart companies, they believe, will try to bake more task-based planning into their strategies.This might be a small change to the way we view work and the office, but the researchers argue that it challenges a widespread characteristic of the economy: work organized by clock time. While most people will still probably need, and be, to some extent, clock-timers, task-based timing should be used when performing a job that requires more creativity. It'll make those tasks easier, and the task-doers will be happier.57.【题干】What does the author think of time displayed everywhere?【选项】A.It makes everybody time-conscious.B.It is a convenience for work and life.C.It may have a negative effect on creative work.D.It clearly indicates the fast pace of modern life.【答案】C【解析】2 New research shows that clock-based word schedules hinder morale(士气)and creativity.58.【题干】How do people usually go about their work according to the author?【选项】A.They combine clock-based and task-based planning.B.They give priority to the most urgent task on hand.C.They set a time limit for each specific task.D.They accomplish their tasks one by one.【答案】A【解析】3 They work down the list, each task starts when the previous task is completed. It is said that all of us employ a mix of both these types of planning. It is said that all of us employ a mix of both these types of planning.59.【题干】What did Tamar Avnet and Anne-Laure Sellier find in their experiments about clock-timers?【选项】A.They seize opportunities as they come up.B.They always get their work done in time.C.They have more control over their lives.D.They tend to be more productive.【答案】D【解析】They found clock timers to be more efficient but less happy because they felt little control over their lives. Task timers are happier and more creative, but less productive.60.【题干】What do the researchers say about today's business culture?【选项】A.It does not support the strategies adopted by smart companies.B.It does not attach enough importance to task-based practice.C.It places more emphasis on work efficiency than on workers' lives.D.It aims to bring employees' potential and creativity into full play.【答案】B【解析】The researchers argue that task-based organizing tends to be undervalued and under-supported in the business culture.61.【题干】What do the researchers suggest?【选项】A.Task-based timing is preferred for doing creative work.B.It is important to keep a balance between work and life.C.Performing creative jobs tends to make workers happier.D.A scientific standard should be adopted in job evaluation.【答案】D【解析】最后段the researchers argue that it challenges a widespread characteristic of the economy: work organized by clock time. While most people will still probably need, and be, to some extent, clock-timers, task-based timing should be used when performing a job that requires more creativity. It'll make those tasks easier, and the task-doers will be happier.Passage TwoQuestion 62 to 66 are based on the following passage.Martha Stewart was charged, tried and convicted of a crime in 2004. As she neared the end of her prison sentence, a well-known columnist wrote that she was "paying her dues," and that "there is simply no reason for anyone to attempt to deny her right to start anew."Surely, the American ideal of second chances should not be reserved only for the rich and powerful. Unfortunately, many federal and state laws impose post-conviction restrictions on a shockingly large number of Americans, who are prevented form ever fully paying their debt to society.At least 65 million people in the United States have a criminal record. This can result in severe penalties that continue long after punishment is completed.Many of these penalties are imposed regardless of the seriousness of the offense or the person's individual circumstances. Laws can restrict or ban voting, access to public housing, and professional and business licensing. They can affect a person's ability to get a job and qualification for benefits.In all, more than 45,000 laws and rules serve to exclude vast numbers of people from fully participating in American life.Some laws make sense. No one advocates letting someone convicted of pedophilia(恋童癖)work in a school. But too often collateral(附随的)consequences bear no relation to public safety. Should a woman who possessed a small amount of drugs years ago be permanently unable to be licensed as a nurse?These laws are also counterproductive, since they make it harder for people with criminal records to find housing or land a job, two key factors that reduce backsliding.A recent report makes several recommendations, including the abolition of most post-conviction penalties, except for those specifically needed to protect public safety. Where the penalties are not a must, they should be imposed only if the facts of a case support it.The point is not to excuse or forget the crime. Rather, it is to recognize that in America's vast criminal justice system, second chances are crucial. It is in no one's interest to keep a large segment of the population on the margins of society.62.【题干】What does the well-known columnist's remark about Martha Stewart suggest?【选项】A.Her past record might stand in her way to a new life.B.Her business went bankrupt while she was in prison.C.Her release from prison has drawn little attention.D.Her prison sentence might have been extended.【解析】第一段a well-known columnist wrote that she was "paying her dues," and that "there is simply no reason for anyone to attempt to deny her right to start anew."63.【题干】What do we learn from the second paragraph about many criminals in America?【选项】A.They backslide after serving their terms in prison.B.They are deprived of all social benefits.C.They receive severe penalties for committing minor offenses.D.They are convicted regardless of their individual circumstances.【答案】B【解析】第二段Unfortunately, many federal and state laws impose post-conviction restrictions on a shockingly large number of Americans, who are prevented form ever fully paying their debt to society.64.【题干】What are the consequences for many Americans with a criminal record?【选项】A.They remain poor for the rest of their lives.B.They are deprived of all social benefits.C.They are marginalized in society.D.They are deserted by their family.【答案】C【解析】第四段Many of these penalties are imposed regardless of the seriousness of the offense or the person's individual circumstances. Laws can restrict or ban voting, access to public housing, and professional and business licensing. They can affect a person's ability to get a job and qualification for benefits.65.【题干】What does the author think of the post-conviction laws and rules?【选项】A.They help to maintain social stability.B.Some of them have long been outdated.C.They are hardly understood by the public.D.A lot of them have negative effects on society.【答案】D【解析】倒数第二段These laws are also counterproductive, since they make it harder for people with criminal records to find housing or land a job, two key factors that reduce backsliding.66.【题干】What is the author's main purpose in writing the passage?【选项】A.To create opportunities for criminals to reform themselves.B.To appeal for changes in America's criminal justice system.C.To ensure that people with a criminal record live a decent life.D.To call people's attention to prisoner's conditions in America.【解析】呼吁美国司法体系的改革。

2015年12月英语四级考试真题试卷（第三套）Part I Writing(30minutes)Directions:For this part,you are allowed30minutes to write an essay commenting on the saying "Never go out there to see what happens,go out there to make things happen."You can cite examples to illustrate the importance of being participants rather than mere onlookers in life.You should write at least120words but no more than180words.注意：此部分试题在答题卡1上_______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ PartⅡListening Comprehension(30minutes)Section ADirections:In this section,you will hear8short conversations and2long conversations.At the end of each conversation,one or more questions will be asked about what was said.Both the conversation and the questions will be spoken only once.After each question there will be a pause.During the pause,you must read the four choices marked A,B,C,and D.and decide which is the best answer.Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer.Sheet I with a single line through the center.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)At 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 memory.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)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 work 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 visitor's 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 better life.8.A)How to select secretaries.B)How to raise work efficiency.C)The responsibilities of secretaries.D)The secretaries in the man's company. Questions9to11are 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 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 coined 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.Questions12to15are based on the conversation you have just heard.12.A)To place an order.B)To apply for a job.C)To return some 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 for large orders.C)It depends on a number of factors.D)It costs￡15more 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.Section BDirections：In this section,you will hear3short passages.At the end of each passage,you will hear some questions.Both the passage and the questions will be spoken only once.After you hear a question,you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A,B,C.and D.Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet1with a single line through the center.Questions16to18are 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)Give 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 TwoQuestions19to22are based on the 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 interactions.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.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 ThreeQuestions23to25are based on the passage you have just heard.23.A)He had only a third-grade education.B)He once threatened 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.Directions:In this section,you will hear a passage three times.When the passage is read for the first time,you should listen carefully for its general idea.When the passage is read for the second time,you are required to fill in the blanks with the exact words you have just heard.Finally,when the passage is read for the third time,you should check what you have written.When you look up at the night sky,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,just 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) atmosphere 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 can't see them all,of ually there is only one or two a year bright enough to be seen with the__34__et Hale-Bopp,discovered in1995,was an unusually bright comet. Its orbit brought it__35__close to the Earth,within122million miles of it.But Hale-Bopp came a long way on its earthly visit.It won't be back for another four thousand years or so.PartⅢReading Comprehension(40minutes)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 following 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 Sheet2with a single line through the center.You may not use any of the words in the bank more than once.Questions36to45are based on the following passage.Children do not think the way adults do.For most of the first year of life,if something is out of sight,it's out of mind.If you cover a baby's__36__toy with a piece of cloth,the baby thinks the toy has disappeared and stops looking for it.A4-year-old may__37__that a sister has more fruit juice when it is only the shapes of the glasses that differ,not the__38__of juice.Yet children are smart in their own way.Like good little scientists,children are always testing their child-sized__39__about how things work.When your child throws her spoon on the floor for the sixth time as you try to feed her,and you say,"That's enough!I will not pick up your spoon again!"the child will__40__test your claim.Are you serious?Are you angiy?What will happen if she throws the spoon again?She is not doing this to drive you__41__;rather,she is learningthat her desires and yours can differ,and that sometimes those__42__are important and sometimes they are not.How and why does children's thinking change?In the1920s,Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget proposed that children's cognitive(认知的)abilities unfold__43__,like the blooming of a flower, almost independent of what else is__44__in their lives.Although many of his specific conclusions have been__45__or modified over the years,his ideas inspired thousands of studies by investigators all over the world.A)advocate B)amount C)confirmed D)crazy E)definiteF)differences G)favorite H)happening I)immediately J)naturallyK)obtaining L)primarily M)protest N)rejected O)theoriesSection BDirections:In this section,you are going to read a passage with ten statements attached to it.Each statement contains information given in one of the paragraphs.Identify the paragraph from which the information is derived.You may choose a paragraph more than once.Each paragraph is marked with a letter.Answer the questions by marking the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet2.The Perfect EssayA)Looking back on too many years of education,I can identify one truly impossible teacher.She cared about me,and my intellectual life,even when I didn't.Her expectations were high-impossibly so.She was an English teacher.She was also my mother.B)When good students turn in an essay,they dream of their instructor returning it to them in exactly the same condition,save for a single word added in the margin of the final page:" Flawless."This dream came true for me one afternoon in the ninth grade.Of course,I had heard that genius could show itself at an early age,so I was only slightly taken aback that I had achieved perfection at the tender age of14.Obviously,I did what any professional writer would do;I hurried off to spread the good news.I didn't get very far.The first person I told was my mother.C)My mother,who is just shy of five feet tall,is normally incredibly soft-spoken,but on the rare occasion when she got angry,she was terrifying.I am not sure if she was more upset by my hubris(得意忘形)or by the fact that my English teacher had let my ego get so out of hand.In any event,my mother and her red pen showed me how deeply flawed a flawless essay could be.At the time,I am sure she thought she was teaching me about mechanics,transitions(过渡), structure,style and voice.But what I learned,and what stuck with me through my time teaching writing at Harvard,was a deeper lesson about the nature of creative criticism.D)First off,it hurts.Genuine criticism,the type that leaves a lasting mark on you as a writer,also leaves an existential imprint(印记)on you as a person.I have heard people say that a writer should never take criticism personally.I say that we should never listen to these people.E)Criticism,at its best,is deeply personal,and gets to the heart of why we write the way we do. The intimate nature of genuine criticism implies something about who is able to give it,namely, someone who knows you well enough to show you how your mental life is getting in the way of good writing.Conveniently,they are also the people who care enough to see you through this painful realization.For me it took the form of my first,and I hope only,encounter with writer's block-I was not able to produce anything for three years.F)Franz Kafka once said:"Writing is utter solitude(独处),the descent into the cold abyss(深渊) of oneself."My mother's criticism had shown me that Kafka is right about the cold abyss,and when you make the introspective(内省的)descent that writing requires you are not always pleased by what you find.But,in the years that followed,her sustained tutoring suggested that Kafka might be wrong about the solitude.I was lucky enough to find a critic and teacher who was willing to make the journey of writing with me."It is a thing of no great difficulty,"according to Plutarch,"to raise objections against another man's speech,it is a very easy matter;but to produce a better in its place is a work extremely troublesome."I am sure I wrote essays in the later years of high school without my mother's guidance,but I can't recall them.What I remember,however,is how she took up the"extremely troublesome"work of ongoing criticism.G)There are two ways to interpret Plutarch when he suggests that a critic should be able to produce"a better in its place."In a straightforward sense,he could mean that a critic must be more talented than the artist she critiques(评论).My mother was well covered on this count. But perhaps Plutarch is suggesting something slightly different,something a bit closer to Marcus Cicero's claim that one should"criticize by creation,not by finding fault."Genuine criticism creates a precious opening for an author to become better on his own terms-a process that is often extremely painful,but also almost always meaningful.H)My mother said she would help me with my writing,but first I had to help myself.For each assignment,I was to write the best essay I could.Real criticism is not meant to find obvious mistakes,so if she found any-the type I could have found on my own-I had to start from scratch. From scratch.Once the essay was"flawless,"she would take an evening to walk me through my errors.That was when true criticism,the type that changed me as a person,began.I)She criticized me when I included little-known references and professional jargon(行话)?She had no patience for brilliant but irrelevant figures of speech."Writers can't bluff(虚张声势)their way through ignorance."That was news to me-I would need to find another way to structure my daily existence.J)She trimmed back my flowery language,drew lines through my exclamation marks and argued for the value of restraint in expression."John,"she almost whispered.I leaned in to hear her:"I can't hear you when you shout at me."So I stopped shouting and bluffing,and slowly my writing improved.K)Somewhere along the way I set aside my hopes of writing that flawless essay.But perhaps I missed something important in my mother's lessons about creativity and perfection.Perhaps thepoint of writing the flawless essay was not to give up,but to never willingly finish.Whitman repeatedly reworked"Song of Myself'between1855and1891.Repeatedly.We do our absolute best with a piece of writing,and come as close as we can to the ideal.And,for the time being,we settle.In critique,however,we are forced to depart,to give up the perfection we thought we had achieved for the chance of being even a little bit better.This is the lesson I took from my mother.. If perfection were possible,it would not be motivating.46.The author was advised against the improper use of figures of speech.47.The author's mother taught him a valuable lesson by pointing out lots of flaws in his seemingly perfect essay.48.A writer should polish his writing repeatedly so as to get closer to perfection.49.Writers may experience periods of time in their life when they just can't produce anything.50.The author was not much surprised when his school teacher marked his essay as"flawless".51.Criticizing someone's speech is said to be easier than coming up with a better one.52.The author looks upon his mother as his most demanding and caring instructor.53.The criticism the author received from his mother changed him as a person.54.The author gradually improved his writing by avoiding fancy language.55.Constructive criticism gives an author a good start to improve his writing.Section CDirections:There are2passages in this section.Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements.For each of them there are four choices marked A,B,C.And D.You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on Answer.Sheet2with a single line through the center.Passage OneQuestions56to60are based on the following passage.Could you reproduce Silicon Valley elsewhere,or is there something unique about it?It wouldn't be surprising if it were hard to reproduce in other countries,because you couldn't reproduce it in most of the US either.What does it take to make a Silicon Valley?It's the right people.If you could get the right ten thousand people to move from Silicon Valley to Buffalo,Buffalo would become Silicon Valley.You only need two kinds of people to create a technology hub(中心):rich people and nerds(痴迷科研的人)Observation bears this out.Within the US,towns have become startup hubs if and only if they have both rich people and nerds.Few startups happen in Miami,for example,because although it's full of rich people,it has few nerds.It's not the kind of place nerds like.Whereas Pittsburgh has the opposite problem:plenty of nerds,but no rich people.The top USComputer Science departments are said to be MIT,Stanford,Berkeley,and Carnegie-Mellon.MIT yielded Route128.Stanford and Berkeley yielded Silicon Valley.But what did Cainegie-Mellon yield in Pittsburgh?And what happened in Ithaca,home of Cornell University,which is also high on the list?I grew up in Pittsburgh and went to college at Cornell,so I can answer for both.The weather is terrible,particularly in winter,and there's no interesting old city to make up for it,as there is in Boston.Rich people don't want to live in Pittsburgh or Ithaca.So while there're plenty of hackers (电脑迷)who could start startups,there's no one to invest in them.Do you really need the rich people?Wouldn't it work to have the government invest in the nerds? No,it would not.Startup investors are a distinct type of rich people.They tend to have a lot of experience themselves in the technology business.This helps them pick the right startups,and means they can supply advice and connections as well as money.And the fact that they have a personal stake in the outcome makes them really pay attention.注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。

2015年12月大学英语四级真题试卷（二）(题后含答案及解析)题型有：1. Writing 2. Listening Comprehension 3. 4. Reading Comprehension 5. TranslationPart I Writing1．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. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.正确答案：Learning Should Be a Lifelong Process It is often said that learning is a daily experience and a lifetime mission. The saying indicates the importance of lifelong learning, which we have been lectured over and over again. Lifelong learning is crucial to our life and career in modern society. Living in the Information Age, we have to keep pace with the times through ceaseless learning: otherwise, we’ll be too outdated to seize any opportunities. For example, a taxi driver who learns to use a Taxi App such as Didi can make much more money than those who don’t: a housewife who opens a shop online can even out-earn a white-collar worker. All of their success can be attributed to their constant learning in addition to the progress of technology. As an old saying goes, it is never too old to learn. Thus, learning is an attitude regardless of age. Only through learning ceaselessly can we achieve our potential and live a better life in this rapidly developing society.Part II Listening ComprehensionSection A听力原文：W: Hello, Mr. Harrison, thanks for calling. Now, when would it be good for you to visit our company? M: Well. In fact, I can come almost any time next month. And probably toward the end of a week would be best for me. Q: What are the speakers talking about?2．A．The agenda for the board of directors’ meeting.B．The details of the meeting to be held next week.C．The reason for the man’s absence from the meeting.D．The time for the man’s visit to the woman’s company.正确答案：D解析：女士询问男士什么时候方便到她所在的公司参观，男士说下个月几乎任何时间都行，可能接近周末的时间最好。