专四阅读+详解
星期4 Thursday
Business is the salf of life.事业是人生的第一需要。
Despite all the progress toward wo men’s equality, women who work full time are still earning only 75 cents on average to every dollar earned by men.
Driving home that point, the National Committee on Pay Equity has chosen April 16 this year, to remind Americans that all women would need to work at least an extra two days in a workweek to earn almost as much as all men do in one normal workweek.
Why does such a wage gap still persist?
Economists differ in their explanations. And yet this income disparity is seen as a key indicator of how women are treated — in both the workplace and at home.
Fortunately, the women’s movement and civil rights enforcement have ended most gender discrimination in setting wages. Now advocates are focused on ensuring that working women have female advisers and role models, while they try to remove subtle discrimination in promotions —the “glass ceiling” (指职业女性在职务提升时遇到的无形阻力)that accounts for so few women being in top management.
Many economists, however, say many women have lower-paying jobs because of choices made in their home life, such as taking time out to raise children. Or women take part-time, low-wage jobs for the flexibility. When they do reenter the workforce full time, they’re often behind their working peers in pay and promotions.
But as more women feel empowered to make career choices, their pay rises.
Another explanation is that women d on’t r eally make the choice to drop off the career ladder or to stay at a lower job rung. They may, for example, accept the expectations of others to take traditional jobs for women, such as nursing, which have low market wages. They must often take jobs that do n’t account for the unpredictability of families. Working moms may find their income can’t pay for day care, or day care doesn’t su it their child. If they are married, they may realize their husbands are not inclined to child rearing (or house chores), so they either quit work or go part time.
So as their life choices seem to become a life burden, wo men’s income slips behi nd men’s. No matter what the explanation, much progress has been made in reducing the pay gap. While government still has a major role, employers can do more. Many have found a market advantage in supporting working mothers or putting women in management. And in the home, men and women are getting smarter in defining their marital relationships, often before tying the knot.
Just as women now outnumber men in college, perhaps someday their average pay will surpass men’s —and that may make up for lost wages.
1. April 16 has been chosen
[A] to show the organization’s attitude towards equal pay.
[B] to define the day as pay day for women who are not equally paid.
[C] to make it clear that women working full time are earning less than men.
[D] to remind women to work longer hours to earn as much as men.
2. How can women raise their salary?
[A] By going out for work instead of staying at home.
[B] By asking their employer to raise their salary.
[C] By sending their child to the kindergarten.
[D] By having the ability to choose their jobs.
3. Which of the following is NOT a traditional job for women?
[A] Nurse. [B] Teacher.
[C] Economist. [D] Typist.
4. Which of the following statement is NOT true?
[A] Wage gap servers as a key indicator of how women are treated.
[B] Many women have lower-paying jobs because of house chores.
[C] Some working mothers earn less than their children’s day care.
[D] Many employers have already done enough to support working mothers.
5. Who are expected to contribute more to narrowing the pay gap?
[A] Women themselves.
[B] Employers.
[C] The government.
[D] Men.
Text B
If sustainable competitive advantage depends upon work force skills, American firms have a problem. Human-resource management is not traditionally seen as central to the competitive survival of the firm in the United States. Skill acquisition is considered an individual responsibility. Labor is simply another factor of production to be hired —rented at the lowest possible cost — much as one buys raw materials or equipment.
The lack of importance attached to human-resource management can be seen in the corporate hierarchy. In an American firm the chief financial officer (CFO) is almost always second in command. The post of head of human-resource management is usually a specialized job, off at the edge of the corporate hierarchy. The executive who holds it is never consulted on major strategic decisions and has no chance to move up to Chief Executive Officer (CEO). By way of contrast, in Japan the head of human-resource management is central — usually the second most important execut ive, after the CEO, in the firm’s hierarchy.
While American firms often talk about the vast amounts they spend in training their work forces, in fact, they invest less in the skills of their employees than do either Japanese or German firms. The money they do invest is also more highly concentrated on professional and managerial employees. And the limited investments that are made in training workers are also much more narrowly focused on the specific skills necessary for the next job rather than on the basic background skills that make it possible to absorb new technologies.
As a result, problems emerge when new breakthrough technologies arrive. If American
workers, for example, take much longer to learn how to operate new flexible manufacturing stations than in Germany (as they do), the effective cost of those stations is lower in Germany than it is in the United States. More time is required before equipment is up and running at capacity, and the need for extensive retraining generates costs and creates bottlenecks that limit the speed with which new equipment can be employed. The result is a slower pace of technological change. And in the end the skills of the bottom half of the population affect the wages of the top half. If the bottom half can’t effectively start the processes that have to be operated, the management and professional jobs that go with these processes will disappear.
6. In an American firm, the executive of human-resource management
[A] has a position directly under the chief financial executive.
[B] is one of the most important executives of the firm.
[C] has no say in making important decisions of the firm.
[D] is unimportant when new technologies have been introduced.
7. The money most American firms put in work force training mainly goes on
[A] technological and managerial staff.
[B] workers who will run new equipment.
[C] workers who lack basic background skills.
[D] top executives.
8. Technological change in American firms is slower because
[A] new equipment in America is more expensive.
[B] they don’t pay enough attention to the job training of their workers.
[C] they are less responsive to technological changes.
[D] their professional staff are less paid and so less creative.
9. Which of the following applies to the management of human resources in American companies?
[A] They hire people at the lowest cost regardless of their skills.
[B] They see the gaining of skills as their employees’ own business.
[C] They attach more importance to workers than equipment.
[D] They only hire skilled workers because of keen competition.
10. According to the passage, the decisi ve factor in maintaining a firm’s competitive advantage is
[A] the introduction of new technologies.
[B] the improvement of worker’s basic skills.
[C] the rational composition of professional and managerial employees.
[D] the attachment of importance to the bottom half of the employees.
Text C
Despite the fact that comets are probably the most numerous astronomical bodies in the solar system aside from small meteor(流星) fragments and the asteroids (小行星), they are largely a mystery. Scientists don’t know exactly what comets are or where they come from. Educated guesses are the best we have in hand.
Considering the role of comets in lore, legend, and the memory of man, it is remarkable that we still know so little, relatively, about them. The most famous comet of all, Halley’s Comet (named for the man who predicted its return), was first sighted by the Chinese in 240 B.C., and it has returned to terrify the people of the world on a regular basis ever since then (last scheduled
return: 1986). The ancients considered it an object of ill omen. By mysterious coincidence, the arrival of Halley’s Comet coincided with such events as t he battle of Hastings in 1066, the Jewish revolt of 66 A.D., and the last battle of Attila the Hun against the Romans. Nor is it the only comet to fill man with awe, but merely the most famous in a rich aristocracy of blood-freezers.
Comets are even more fascinating to amateur astronomers than to professionals, because this is one area where amateurs can (and do) make major discoveries. Comet Ikeya Seki, one of the brightest comets to appear in last century was discovered in 1965 by a pair of Japanese amateurs, Ikeya and Seki. The person who discovers a new comet gets his (or her) name put on it. And amateurs have a head start in the race to discover new comets; the shorter focal lengths on their smaller telescopes give them a positive advantage over the huge telescope such as Mount Wilson which is built to scan for galaxies, not comparatively of short distances.
Most scientists tend to agree with the astronomer Fred T. Whipple that a comet is really a large mushy snowball of frozen ices and gases (ammonia, methane, possibly carbon dioxide) with a few bits of solid particles stuck inside. But no one is sure how comets are created in the first place.
Scientists believe that comets don’t exhibit their characteristic tail while they lurk far out in space away from the warmth of the sun but, rather, wander in the form of frozen lumps, like icebergs. This is the core of the comet. Only when the comet approaches the heat of the sun, does the ice begin to melt and stream away in the form of visible gases. The tails of the comet stream out behind for, literally, astronomical distances. Halley’s Comet had a tail of 94 million miles long when it visited here in 1910. The Great Comet of 1843 had a tail of 186 million miles long.
11. At the beginning of the passage, the author indicates that
[A] comets are the most commonly seen astronomical bodies.
[B] comets, meteor fragments and the asteroids are mysterious.
[C] not much is known about comets.
[D] nothing do we know about comets except guesses.
12. Halley’s Comet is mentioned in paragraph 2
[A] to introduce some famous historical events.
[B] to explain some traditional beliefs about comets.
[C] to demonstrate the harm it has done to man.
[D] to show its significance to human history.
13. We learn from the passage, amateur astronomers
[A] began their discovery earlier than the professionals .
[B] tend to be the leaders in the area of astronomy.
[C] have some advantages in discovering new comets.
[D] established some theories on how comets come into being.
14. The core of a comet
[A] has no solid form.
[B] wanders like a frozen lump when it’s far out in space.
[C] requires the warmth of the sun to survive.
[D] is always followed by a long tail.
15. Which of the following about comets is INCORRECT?
[A] They are great in number.
[B] Their arrivals used to frighten human beings.
[C] They are named after their discoverers.
[D] They are large mushy snowballs of frozen ices and gases.
Text D
Around the world, hearts were broken when news came that the conjoined Bijani twins had died on the operating table. Having lived in tortured unity for 29 years, they traveled form their native Iran to Singapore for the surgery meant to set them free. The doctors who performed it were distressed. When you lose a patient, particularly when the patient dies at your own hand, the heartbreak mixes with unbearable guilt. The doctors are asking themselves the same question everyone else is asking: Should they have done it?
The doctors certainly knew the risk. They knew that with the women’s shared circulatory systems, the risk was great. They might have underestimated the technical challenges, but they did not deceive their patients. The sisters, highly educated and highly motivated, knew full well the risk of never waking up from the surgery.
Indeed, they never did. Should the surgeons have attempted such a risky procedure on patients who were not dying, and, in fact, were not even sick?
For all the regrets and second guesses, it is hard to see how the answer could have been anything but yes. The foundation of the medical vocation is that the doctor is servant to the patient’s will. Not always, of course. There are times when the doctor must say no. This was not such a time.
Consider those cases in which outside values trump(占据上风) the patients-expressed desire. The first is life. Even if the patient asks you to, you may not kill him. In some advanced precincts(地区) —Holland and Oregon, for example —this is thought to be a quaint(奇怪的)idea, and the state permits physicians to perform “assisted suicide”. That is a terrible mistake, for the state and for the physician. And not only because it embarks us on a slippery slope where putting people to death in the name of some higher humanity becomes progressively.
Even if there were no slippery slope, there is a deeply important principle at stake: doctors are healers, not killers. You cannot eliminate the subject you are supposedly serving — it is not just a philosophical absurdity, it constitutes the most fundamental violation of the Hippocratic oath. You are not permitted to do any harm to the patient, let alone the ultimate harm.
There are other forms of self-immolation, less instantaneous and less spectacular, to which doctors may not contribute. Drug taking, for example. One could say, the patient wants it, and he knows the risks —why not give him what he wants? No. The doctor is there to help save a suffering soul from the ravages of a failing body. He is not there to ravage a healthy body in the service of a sick and self-destructive soul.
The patient is sovereign and the physician’s duty is to be the servant, which is why the doctors in Singapore were right trying to separate the twins. They were not seeking self-destruction; they were seeking liberation. And they were trying to undo a form of impairment imposed on them by nature. The extraordinary thing about their request was that it was so utterly ordinary. They were asking for nothing special, nothing superhuman, nothing radically enhancing of human nature. They were only seeking to satisfy the most simple and pedestrian of desires: to live as single human being.
16. At the beginning of the passage, the author sounds towards the doctors.
[A] indifferent. [B] pitiful. [C] accusing. [D] objective.
17. Why do es the author say “this was not such a time” in Para. 4?
[A] Because the twin sisters are conjoined.
[B] Because the twin sisters know the risks very well.
[C] Because the operation is the twin sisters’ expressed desire.
[D] Because the twin sisters are seeking liberation, not self-destruction.
18. We can infer from Para. 6 that “Hippocratic oath” is
[A] a philosophical conception.
[B] an oath for all common citizens.
[C] about the doctors’ responsibilities to the patients.
[D] the doctors’ oath to serve the patients’ expressed desires.
19. The author pointed out all the following facts EXCEPT that
[A] the doctors do not have any responsibility for the failure of the twin sisters’ operation.
[B] it is correct for the Singapore doctors to do the operation, although it failed in the end.
[C] the twin sisters’ desire is different from the desire of those who want drugs or suicide.
[D] doctors should decide whether the patient is attempting self-destruction before serving his desire.
20. Which would be the best title for the passage?
[A] The Conjoined Sisters from Iran.
[B] Should They Have Made the Attempt?
[C] On Patients’Self-immolation.
[D] Doctors and Patients.
语境词汇
Text A
1. Driving home把…讲得透彻明白
2. disparity n.不同，不等
3. indicator n.指示者，指示器；指示牌
4. enforcement n.实施，执行；强制，强迫
5. subtle a.微细的，微妙的；精巧的；敏锐的
6. reenter vt.重新加入，再加入
7. empower vt.授权，准许
8. rear vt.抚养，养育；饲养，栽培n.后部，背面
9. tie the knot 结婚
Text B
1. sustainable a.持续的；能维持的；支撑得住的
2. acquisition n.取得，获得；得到的东西
3. hierarchy n.等级制度，阶层
4. specific a.特定的；明确的n.特效药；详情
5. extensive a.大规模的，广阔的；全面的，彻底的
6. bottleneck n.瓶颈，障碍；窄路段，交通阻塞点
Text C
1. astronomical a.天文的
2. aside from 除了…之外(尚有)
3. educated a.根据知识或经验的；有教养的
4. remarkable a.不平常的，值得注意到
5. on a regular basis 定期地
6. focal a.焦点的：focal length焦距
Text D
1. conjoin v.使联合，使连接：conjoined twins 连体双胞胎
2. underestimate v.低估
3. trump v.占据上风
4. precinct n.区域；近郊
5. quaint a.奇怪的；古怪的
6. at stake 濒临危险
7. absurdity n.荒谬，违背常理
8. ravage n.蹂躏，饱受折磨
9. pedestrian a.平常的；徒步的；缺乏想象的n.行人
难句突破
Text A
1. Now advocates are focused on ensuring that working women have female advisers and role models, while they try to remove subtle discrimination in promotions —the “glass ceiling” that accounts for so few women being in top management.
【分析】复合句。while引导时间状语从句，主句中，ensuring…是动名词短语作宾语，其中包含that引导宾语从句；破折号后的the “glass ceiling”对discrimination in promotion进行解释说明；后面的that 引导定语从句，修饰the “glass ceiling”。
【译文】如今倡导者们试图消除职业女性在晋升方面的隐性歧视——即消除导致高层管理者中女性廖廖无几的无形阻力，同时他们还致力于确保要有女性顾问和榜样。
2. If they are married, they may realize their husbands are not inclined to child rearing or (house chores), so they either quit work or go part time.
【分析】复合句。if引导条件状语从句，主句中so是连词，连接了两个并列分句。在状语从句中，their husbands… (or house chores)是省略that的宾语从句，作realize的宾语。
【译文】如果她们已经结婚，她们可能意识到丈夫无心照料孩子（或做家务），因此她们就得要么辞掉工作要么做兼职。
Text B
1. And the limited investments that are made in training workers are also much more narrowly focused on the specific skills necessary for the next job rather than on the basic background skills that make it possible to absorb new technologies.
【分析】复合句。主句主干为investments are focused on …skills rather than on …skills。
that are made in training workers为定语从句，修饰investments；necessary for the next job 为specific skills的后置定语；that make it possible to absorb new technologies也为定语从句，修饰skills，其中it是形式宾语，真正的宾语是to absorb new technologies。
【译文】而用于培训工人的有限的投资也更多地集中在培训那些做下一步工作可能要用到的特定技能，而不是培训为了接受新技术而需要的基本技能。
2. More time is required before equipment is up and running at capacity, and the need for extensive retraining generates costs and creates bottlenecks that limit the speed with which new equipment can be employed.
【分析】并列复合句。and连接的两个并列分句：在第一个分句中，before引导时间状语从句，主句是more time is required；在第二个分句中，that引导定语从句，修饰bottlenecks；在这个定语从句中，又嵌套一个which引导的定语从句，修饰speed，先行词speed与with 构成固定搭配，故which前加介词with。
【译文】设备的建设和正常运行所需的时间更多,而且因为需要进行大规模的再培训而会导致成本增加并造成各种“瓶颈”制约，以致限制了新设备的使用速度。
Text C
1. Comets are even more fascinating to amateur astronomers than to professionals, because this is one area where amateurs can (and do) make major discoveries.
【分析】复合句。because引导原因状语从句，主句中含有比较结构more… than…；原因状语从句中又包含where引导的定语从句，修饰area。
【译文】彗星对业余天文爱好者的吸引力要比对专业的天文学家更大，因为这是个业余爱好者能够（而且确实已经）取得重大发现的领域。
2. Most scientists tend to agree with the astronomer Fred T. Whipple that a comet is really a large mushy snowball of frozen ices and gases (ammonia, methane, possibly carbon dioxide) with a few bits of solid particles stuck inside.
【分析】复合句。Fred T. Whipple是the astronomer的同位语；that引导的从句，作agree的宾语，其中，括号内的内容是对gases的补充说明；With…stuck inside是“with+名词+过去分词”的复合结构作伴随状语。
【译文】很多科学家同意天文学家福瑞德·劳伦斯·惠普尔提出的彗星其实是一团由冰和冰块状的气体（氨，甲烷，可能还有二氧化碳）组成的大大的“脏雪球”，里面可能还夹杂了一些别的固体。
Text D
1. Around the world, hearts were broken when news came that the conjoined Bijani twins had died on the operating table.
【分析】复合句。句子主干是hearts were broken。when引导时间状语从句，从句中又嵌套一个that引导的同位语从句解释说明news。
【译文】连体姐妹拉丹和拉蕾·比詹尼在手术台上没能生还，消息传来，世界各地的人们陷入了深深的哀痛之中。
2. The patient is sovereign and the physician’s duty is to be the servant, which is why the doctors in Singapore were right trying to separate the twins.
【分析】复合句。主句由两个并列的简单句构成，which引导的非限定性定语修饰前面整个主句；在定语从句中，why引导的从句充当定语从句的表语。
【译文】病人的要求是至高无上的，医生的职责就是提供服务。这就是新加坡的医生竭尽全力分离连体姐妹的做法是正确的原因。
英语专业四级阅读理解练习四附答案解析
PART Ⅱ READING COMPREHENSION ［25 MIN.］ In this section there are four passages followed by fifteen questions or unfinished statements, each with four suggested answers marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that you think is the correct answer.Mark your choice on your ANSWER SHEET. TEXT A As many as one thousand years ago in the Southwest, the Hopi and Zuni Indians of North America were building with adobe－sun baked brick plastered with mud. Their homes looked remarkably like modern apartment houses. Some were four stories high and contained quarters for perhaps a thousand people, along with storerooms for grain and other goods. These buildings were usually put up against cliffs, both to make construction easier and for defense against enemies. They were really villages in themselves, as later Spanish explorers must have realized since they called them “pueblos”, which is Spanish for town.The people of the pueblos raised what are called “the three sisters”—corn, beans, and squash. They made excellent pottery and wove marvelous baskets, some so fine that they could hold water. The Southwest has always been a dry country, where water is scarce. The Hopi and Zuni brought water from streams to their fields and gardens through irrigation ditches. Water was so important that it played a major role in their religion. They developed elaborate ceremonies and religious rituals to bring rain. The way of life of less settled groups was simpler and more strongly influenced by nature. Small tribes such as the Shoshone and Ute wandered the dry and mountainous lands between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. They gathered seeds and hunted small animals such as small rabbits and snakes. In the Far North the ancestors of today’s Inuit hunted seals, walruses, and the great whales. They lived right on the frozen seas in shelters called igloos built of blocks of packed snow. When summer came, they fished for salmon and hunted the lordly caribou. The Cheyenne, Pawnee, and Sioux tribes, known as the Plains Indians, lived on the grasslands between the Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi River. They hunted bison, commonly called the buffalo. Its meat was the chief food of these tribes, and its hide was used to make their clothing and covering of their tents and tipis. 16. What does the passage mainly discuss? A. The architecture of early American Indian buildings. B. The movement of American Indians across North America. C. Ceremonies and rituals of American Indians. D. The way of life of American Indian tribes in early North America. 17. It can be inferred from the passage that the dwellings of the Hopi and Zuni were ___ A. very small B. highly advanced C. difficult to defend D. quickly constructed TEXT B Most earthquakes occur within the upper 15 miles of the earth’s surface. But earthquakes can and do occur at all depths to about 460 miles. Their number decreases as the depth increases. At about 460 miles one earthquake occurs only every few years. Near the surface earthquakes may run as high as 100 in a month, but the yearly average does not vary much. In comparison with the total number of earthquakes each year, the number of disastrous earthquakes is very small.[JP] The extent of the disaster in an earthquake depends on many factors. If you carefully build a toy house with an erect set, it will still stand no matter how much you shake the table. But if you build a toy house with a pack of cards, a slight shake of the table will make it fall. An earthquake in Agadir, Morocco, was not strong enough to be recorded on distant instruments, but it completely destroyed the city. Many stronger earthquakes have done
英语专业四级考试阅读理解考前最后冲刺技巧上
英语专业四级考试阅读理解解题步骤 1．浏览试题，明确目标 在进行阅读之前，首先浏览短文后面的题目。看完试题题干和四个选项后，分析掌握每道试题考查的内容和题型（如是主旨大意题、细节理解题，还是推理分析题等），以便带着问题有目标地阅读短文，按照相应的解题技巧寻找正确答案。 2．略读全文，掌握大意 有效的阅读是先掌握全局，再寻求细节。略读（skimming）又称跳读（reading and skipping）或浏览(glancing)，是一种专门而实用的快速阅读方法，主要特点是选择性地阅读。拿到一篇500字左右的文章时，应先用30秒左右的时间进行略读，其目的一是：以尽可能快的速度获取文章主旨大意或中心思想；二是辨识文章体裁，掌握结构（如果是记叙文，就需要了解故事发生的时间、地点、背景和人物活动等主要线索；如果是议论文，就要弄清文章的中心论点以及论述内容）。略读完成后就去看题干，这时有关文章主旨大意题已经有了答案，而对细节题要根据题目的具体要求回到文章中再进行快速扫读以找到相应的信息。 【真题示例】（2009） Nowadays, a cellphone service is available to everyone, everywhere. Probably thousands of people have already been using it, but I just discovered it, so I’m going to claim it and also name it: Fake Foning. The technology has been working well for me at the office, but there are infinite applications. Virtually in any public space. Say you work at a big university with lots of talky faculty members buzzing about. Now, say you need to use the restroom. The trip down the hall will take approximately one hour, because a person can’t walk into those talky people without getting pulled aside for a question, a bit of gossip, a new read on a certain line of Paradise Lost. So, a cellphone. Any cellphone. Just pick it up. Don’t dial. Just h old that phone to your face and start talking. Walk confidently down the hall engaged in fake conversation, making sure to tailor both the topic and content to the person standing before you whom you are trying to evade. For standard colleague avoidance, I suggest fake chatting about fake business: “Yes, I’m glad you called, because we really need to hammer out the details. What’s that? Yes, I read Page 12, but if you look at the bottom of 4, I think you can see the problem begins
2007英语专业四级阅读理解答案及详解
TEXT A If you like the idea of staying with a family, living in house (guest house 1. 小旅馆2. （大房子旁供客人居住的）客房) might be the answer.[81]Good landladies (a woman from whom you rent a room, a house, etc. 女房东；女地主; a woman who owns or manages a pub or a guest house （酒吧或招待所的）女店主，老板娘)---those who are superb cooks and launderers (洗衣工. thunderer 怒喝的人大声说话的人. blunderer 犯大错的人), are figures as popular in fiction as the bad ones who terrorize（to frighten and threaten people so that they will not oppose something or will do as they are told 恐吓；恫吓；威胁）their guest and overcharge （to make somebody pay too much for something 多收（某人的）钱）them at the slightest opportunity. The truth is probably somewhere between the two extremes. If you are lucky, the food will be adequate, some of your laundry may be done for you and you will have a reasonable amount of comfort and companionship. For the less fortune, house rules may restrict the freedom to invite friends to visit, and shared cooking and bathroom facilities can be frustrating and row-provoking (/ra?/ a serious disagreement between people, organizations, etc. about something 严重分歧；纠纷; a noisy argument between two or more people 吵架；争吵) if tidy and untidy guest (a person who is staying at a hotel, etc. 旅客；房客) are living under the same roof. // [82]The same disadvantages can apply to flat sharing, with the added difficulties that arise from deciding who pays for what, and in what proportion. One person may spend hours on the phone, while another rarely makes calls. If you want privacy with guest, how do you persuade the others to go out; how do you persuade them to leave you in peace, especially if you are student and want to study? [83]Conversely, flat sharing can be very cheap, there will always
专四阅读理解练习
专四阅读理解练习1 As many as one thousand years ago in the Southwest, the Hopi and Zuni Indians of North America were building with adobe－sun baked brick plastered with mud. Their homes looked remarkably like modern apartment houses. Some were four stories high and contained quarters for perhaps a thousand people, along with store rooms for grain and other goods. These buildings were usually put up against cliffs, both to make construction easier and for defense against enemies. They were really villages in themselves, as later Spanish explorers must have realized since they called them "pueblos", which is Spanish for town. The people of the pueblos raised what are called"the three sisters" - corn, beans, and squash. They made excellent pottery and wove marvelous baskets, some so fine that they could hold water. The Southwest has always been a dry country, where water is scarce. The Hopi and Zuni brought water from streams to their fields and gardens through irrigation ditches. Water was so important that it played a major role in their religion. They developed elaborate ceremonies and religious rituals to bring rain. The way of life of less settled groups was simpler and more strongly influenced by nature. Small tribes such as the Shoshone and Ute wandered the dry and mountainous lands between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. They gathered seeds and hunted small animals such as small rabbits and snakes. In the Far North the ancestors of today’s Inuit hunted seals, walruses, and the great whales. They lived right on the frozen seas in shelters called igloos built of blocks of packed snow. When summer came, they fished for salmon and hunted the lordly caribou. The Cheyenne, Pawnee, and Sioux tribes, known as the Plains Indians, lived on the grasslands between the Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi River. They hunted bison,
专四阅读详解 2
星期2 Tuesday Happiness is nearly always a rebound from hard work.辛勤工作的报酬几乎总是幸福。 Beauty is a curious phenomenon, one of permeable, shifting boundaries. We may think we understand it, since we sense it effortlessly. In fact, it is a bundle of mysteries researchers are still uncovering. Consider the ancient proverb: beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Until about 30 years ago it seemed too obvious for scientists to bother with. When they finally tested it, their results startled them. On the one hand, the maxim is false. Facial beauty is the same throughout the world. In every tribe and culture, individuals will consider Marilyn Monroe, say, an attractive woman. It goes further. Males can identify good-looking men, and females charming women. Old and young, rich and poor, learned and ignorant, all agree on who is beautiful. So do people of every class and personality type. We don’t learn this response. We’re born with it. In one recent study, babies just 20 hours old recognized attractive faces and preferred them. So beauty is in our DNA. The eye of the beholder doesn’t matter. On the other hand, and this is where it gets interesting, the facial shell is just the foundation of beauty. We see the self in the face, every day, all the time, and we can’t distinguish the two. This blurring means that we gift the attractive with a large number of virtues. They seem more competent, likeable, happier, blessed with better lives and personalities. In one experiment, people predicted happier marriages and better jobs for them, and rated them lower on only one aspect: their caliber as parents. Another study found people consider them more amiable, happy, flexible, pleasure-seeking, serious, candid, outspoken, perceptive, confident, assertive, curious and active. They exert more control over their destiny, subjects felt, while the homely endure the world’s sudden change. It is calle d the “beautiful is good” stereotype, and it grants the attractive a parade of boons. Teachers consider them smarter and give them higher grades. Bosses promote them faster. In one tale in The Thousand and One Nights, a thief steals a coin-bag, and when the victim accuses him, people protest: “No, he’s such a handsome youth. He wouldn’t steal anything!” In fact, attractive people can shoplift with greater ease, since witnesses are less likely to report them. And when they do stand before the court, juries acquit them more readily and judges give them lighter penalties. 1. The proverb “beauty is in the eye of beholder” means [A] that beauty can only be admitted when most people recognize it. [B] whether somebody is beautiful depends on the person who is looking.
英语专业四级英语阅读的技巧
书山有路勤为径，学海无涯苦作舟英语专业四级英语阅读的技巧 一段文章的中心思想常常由主题句(Topic Sentence)表达。主题句常 常位于段首或段尾处，间或出现在段落中间。同样，一篇文章的中心思 想也常常在开始或结尾段点出。因此在阅读中，我们要特别注意文章的 开头或结尾。例四： English is clearly an international language.It is spoken by pilots and airport control operators on all the airways of the world.Over 70 percent of the worlds radio programs are in English. 本段主题句为首句，其后的内容句均说明首句。例五： Some students prefer a strict teacher who tells them exactly what to do.Others prefer to be left to work on their own.Still others like a democratic discussion type of class.No one teaching method can be devised to satisfy all students at the same time. 本段中心思想在结尾句得到体现，它是此段内容的结论。例六： For adults a cold is not that serious.However，this is not the case for children.Cold symptoms in children may be signs of more serious diseases and should be given prompt medical attention. 本段主题句为第二句，因为在however 后面才是作者真正的看 法，并在下文中进一步作了说明。 然而，我们也常常发现，有的主题思想并非直接由一、二个句子 表述，而是在文中间接暗示着。这就需要读者根据文中细节进行概括与 归纳，找出主题思想。 tips:感谢大家的阅读，本文由我司收集整编。仅供参阅！
专四阅读理解
4) For a long time, researchers have tried to nail down just what shapes us--or what, at least, shapes us most. And over the years, they've had a lot of exclamation moments. First it was our parents, particularly our mothers. Then it was our genes. Next it was our peers, who show up last but hold great sway. And all those ideas were good ones--but only as far as they went. Somewhere, there was a sort of temperamental dark matter exerting an invisible gravitational pull of its own. More and more, scientists are concluding that this unexplained force is our siblings. From the time we are born, our brothers and sisters are our collaborators and co-conspirators, our role models and cautionary tales. They are our scolds, protectors, goads, tormentors, playmates, counselors, sources of envy, objects of pride. They teach us how to resolve conflicts and how not to; how to conduct friendships and when to walk away from them. Sisters teach brothers about the mysteries of girls; brothers teach sisters about the puzzle of boys. Our spouses arrive comparatively late in our lives; our parents eventually leave us. Our siblings may be the only people we'll ever know who truly qualify as partners for life. "Siblings," says family sociologist Katherine Conger, "are with us for the whole journey." Within the scientific community, siblings have not been wholly ignored, but research has been limited mostly to discussions of birth order．Older sibs were said to be strivers；younger ones rebels；middle kids the lost souls．The stereotypes were broad，if not entirely untrue，and there the discussion mostly ended． But all that’s changin9．At research centers in the U．S．，Canada，Europe and elsewhere，investigators are launching a wealth of new studies into the sibling dynamic，looking at ways brothers and sisters steer one another int0—or away from--risky behavior how they form a protective buffer(减震器)against family upheaval；how they educate one another about the opposite sex；how all siblings compete for family recognition and come to terms--or blows--over such impossibly charged issues as parental favoritism． From that research，scientists are gaining intriguing insights into the people we become as adults．Does the manager who runs a harmonious office call on the peacemaking skills learned in the family playroom? Does the student struggling with a professor who plays favorites summon up the coping skills acquired from dealing with a sister who was Daddy’s girl? Do husbands and wives benefit from the inter—gender negotiations they waged when their most important partners were their sisters and brothers? All that is under investigation．“Siblings have just been o ff the radar screen until now，”says Conger．But today serious work is revealing exactly how our brothers and sisters influence us．1．The beginning of the passage indicates that A．researchers have found out what shapes us．B．our peer is the last factor influencing us． C．what researchers found contributes in a limited way． D．what researchers found is good and trustworthy．2．In the third paragraph, the author tries to demonstrate that our siblings A．offer us much useful information． B．have great influences on us． C．are the ones who love us completely． D．accompany us throughout our life． 3．In scientific community, previous research on siblings A．mostly focused on the sibling order． B．studied the characteristics of the kids． C．studied the matter in a broad sense． D．wasn’t believable and the discussion ended． 4．Which of the following is NOT sibling dynamic? A．A brother cautions his sister against getting into trouble． B．Sisters have quarrels with each other． C．Siblings compete for parental favoritism． D．Older kids in a family try hard to achieve． 5．From the last paragraph，we can conclude that A．managers learned management skills from the family playroom． B．spouses learned negotiation skills from their siblings． C．studies on siblings are under the way。 D．studies on siblings need thorough investigation． 5) What comes to mind when you hear the word--diversity? Issues of race or gender may spring to mind．Equal rights? Or minority issues? I encourage people to look at a much wider definition of the word．1 would tend to say diversity is “differentness” in any form．A good example of this kind of diversity has been experienced by every person who ever left behind the comforts of home and moved into uncharted territory．Issues of diversity are informed not only by your cultural background and context，but also by your religion，age，field of work，family situation，personality，and countless other factors that make us unique．Diversity affects everyone．
2008年专四阅读详解
PART V READING COMPREHENSION [25 MIN] In this section there are four passages followed by questions or unfinished statements, each with four suggested answers marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that you think is the best answer. Mark your answers on your answer sheet. TEXT A 1 When the sun is up in Amsterdam, the largest city in the Netherlands sits quietly on the Amstel River. You can rent a bicycle, visit the Van Gogh or Anne Frank museum, or take a water taxi. 2 But when the sun goes down, the partying begins. In the big clubs and in coffee shops, tourists gather to hang out, talk politics and smoke. 3 Several areas of the city clearly show the two worlds that rule Amsterdam. And they're all within a short cab ride of each other. 81. At the beginning of the passage, the author indicates that A. Amsterdam is generally known as a quiet city. B. parties go on all day long in Amsterdam, C. Amsterdam presents two different pictures. D. Amsterdam attracts many daytime visitors. Notice the linking word “but” to indicate the contrast “When the sun is up” and “when the sun goes down”. 梵高美术馆或安妮弗兰克博物馆，酒吧和咖啡馆 81. C. (Paras.1~2)可见阿姆斯特丹给人的感觉是，白天夜晚完全不同，故选C。 4 For example, Dam Square attracts daytime sightseers to its festivals, open markets, concerts and other events. Several beautiful and very popular hotels can be found there. And there is the Royal Palace and the Magna Plaza shopping mall. 5 But as evening descends on Dam Square so do the party-seekers. Hip pop or funk music begins blaring嘟嘟声，巨响from Club Paradiso and Club Melkweg. These are two of the most popular clubs in Europe. So if you come, be ready to dance. The clubs don't shut down until 4 am. 82. Which tourist attraction is cited for elaboration in Paragraphs Four and Five? A. Royal Palace. B. Dam Square. 大坝广场 C. Club Paradiso. 天堂篇，神曲中的一篇 D. Magna Plaza. 82. Ｂ. (Paras.4~5) For example, Dam Square attracts daytime sightseers to its festivals, open markets, concerts and other events. But as evening descends on Dam Square so do the party-seekers. 在这两段中，作者着力阐述Dam Square具有两重娱乐性。 6 And while you are there, check out the various inexpensive ways to tour the city. Don't worry about getting lost. Although Dutch is the official language, most people in Amsterdam speak English and are happy to help you with directions. 7 And you'll notice that half the people in the streets are on bicycles. They rent for US$17 to $20 for a whole day. 83. According to the passage, the local people have all the following characteristics EXCEPT A. they are party goers. B. they show hospitality. C. they can speak English. D. they are fond of cycling.