1、2015年9月公共英语四级考试真题及答案1-20 略Part ADirections:Read the following text and fill each of the numbered spaces with ONE suitable word. Write your answers on the ANSWER SHEET.In the years after World War II, Americans typically assumed the full responsibilities of adulthood by their late teens or early 20s.
2、 Most young men had (21 )_ school and were working full-time, and most young women were (22)_ and raising children. People who grew (23) _in this era of growing affluence were economically serf-sufficient and able to take care of others by the time they had weathered adolescence. Today, adulthood no
3、 longer (24) _ when adolescence ends.Social scientists are beginning to recognize a new phase of life: early adulthood. Some features of this stage resemble coming of age (25) _ the late 19th and early 20th centuries,(26)_ youth fingered in a state of semi-autonomy, waiting (27)_ they were sufficien
4、tly well-off to marry, have children and establish an independent (28) _ However, there are important differences (29)_ how young people today define and achieve adulthood from those of both the recent and the more distant past.This new stage is not merely an extension of adolescence, (30) _ has bee
5、n maintained in the mass media. Young adults are physically mature and often (31) _ impressive intellectual,social and psychological skills. Nor are young people today reluctant to accept adult responsibilities. Instead, they are busy (32) _ up their educational credentials and practical skills in a
6、n ever more demanding labor market. Yet, many have not become fully adult, (33) _ they are not ready, or perhaps not permitted, to do (34) _ . For a growing number, this will not happen until their late 20s or even early 30s. In (35) _, American society will have to revise upward the “normal” age of
7、 full adulthood, and develop ways to assist young people through the ever-lengthening transition.【答案解析】21completedfinished【精析】本题考查句意推断。由上下文以及人生成长阶段的常识可知，此句要表达的意思是大多数年轻男性在二十岁左右已经完成学业，开始工作了，故填completedfinished均可。22married【精析】本题考查句意推断。由后文的raising children可知，此句要表达的是多数年轻女性已结婚生子，故填married。23up【精析】本题考查动词词组
8、的搭配及用法。根据句意不难理解，此句的主语是在这个黄金发展时代成长起来的人们，grow up意为“成长，长大”，故填up。24beginstartscommences【精析】本题考查前后文的结构对照。句中将“成年期”与“青年期”对照，后半句说的是青年期的结束，由推测可知，前半句应为成年期的开始。整句表达的是，成年期并不随着青春期的结束而开始，故填 beginsstartscommences均可。25in【精析】本题考查介词的用法。在十九世纪末二十世纪初，用介词 in，故填in。26when【精析】本题考查关系副词的用法。此句为when引导的非限制性定语从句，修饰前面表示时间的先行词“十九世纪末
9、二十世纪初”，故：填when。27untiltill【精析】本题考查句意推断及连词的用法。由上下文得知，此句表达 的是年轻人要等到足够富有了才结婚生子，故填untiltill均可。28familyhouseholdhome【精析】本题考查句意推断。由上下文可推断，此处要表达的意思是建立一个独立的家庭，故填familyhouseholdhome均可。29in【精析】本题考查句意理解及介词的用法。此句要表达的是如今的 青年人在定义与实现成年期问题上与过去的人有很大不同。表达“在方面”应用介词in，故填in。30which【精析】本题考查非限制性定语从句。前面主句中的“an extension of
10、 adolescence”为先行词。此句意为“这个新阶段并不像大众媒体所坚持认为的那样是青少年时期的延伸”，故填which。31haveownpossess【精析】本题考查句意理解及句型结构。此句由and连接两个并列谓语，意为“年轻的成年人生理发育成熟，常常拥有惊人的智慧、社交技能和心理承受技能”，故填haveownpossess均可。 I 32buildingstrengthening【精析】本题考查动词短语的搭配及用法。整句句意为“年轻人忙于加强他们的教育背景，提升实践技能”。buildingstrengthening意为 “建立，增进，加强”，又因为be busy(in)doin9的固定
11、搭配，故填buildingstrengthening均可。33becauseforsince【精析】本题考查逻辑关系。此句意为“很多年轻人还没有完全成年是因为他们还没有准备好”，故填becauseforsince均可。34sothis【精析】本题考查句意理解。很多年轻人没有完全成年因为他们还没有准备好这样做。sothis指代前面的“become fully adult”，故填so /this均可。35factreality【精析】本题考查介词短语：in factin reality“事实上，实际上”，故填 factreality 均可。Part BDirections:Read the fol
12、lowing three texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET.Text 1In the last 30 years, science and technology have had a truly dramatic impact on sports. There are three major reasons for this. First, new artificial materials have appeare
13、d and been used inmany sports-sometimes to revolutionary effect. Second, our design expertise has improved, partly through the development of computers and other technical tools. We know more and can plan and predict more accurately in many critical areas. The third reason why science and technology
14、 have had an increasing impact is that there is now the money and the motivation for them to do so. In a variety of ways, sport has become very big business, and in the matter of winning or losing, very large amounts of money may be at stake.Technology has influenced specific sports in many ways. Wh
15、erever a commercial mass market is involved, technical change may be promoted largely for the sake of change, to make this seasons product seem different from that of last season. An example of this trend is in the endless search for the perfect sports shoe. Anatomically precise support for the heel
16、 and ankle, air sacs for extra spring and comfort each year bring apparent new refinements. Even in retirement, basketballs Michael Jordan remains one of sports biggest earners because of the deal he signed endorsing the Air Jordan shoe; and one of the richest sportspeople of all, though his winning
17、s these days are minimal, is the veteran golfer Arnold Palmer, thanks to his endorsements of the latest in golf technology.More significant still in modem sports have been more general effects of technological advance. It has provided the means for timing athletes to thousandths of a second-and the
18、means of replaying an event to check who won or to see if a break-rule occurred. It has put sport on television, so millions can watch without moving from their own homes. It has provided the means for testing for illegal drugs. It has also, for better or worse, given sportsmen and women a new attit
19、ude towards their own bodies encouraged also by the high stakes, the sponsorship and the fevered media attention. Technology helps them plan the best diet and exercise regimes; it has created heart and lung monitors that measure stress and oxygen intake; and it allows athletes to keep a constant che
20、ck on their own physical problems and progress. In terms of nutrition (fuel) and training (maintenance), the modem sportsperson is treated-and treats himself or herself-like a machine.36. According to the author, sport has become very big business in the sense thatA it needs high-tech materials.B it
21、 requires business management.C it involves the wide use of computers.D it seems a matter of big money.37. The example of sports shoes suggests that the technological advances in modem sports areA encouraged by commercial interests.B supported by famous sportspeople.C attributed to basketball perfor
22、mance.D subjected to computer technology.38. The text suggests that some of the rich sportsmenA cooperate with companies to develop high-tech sports products.B are interested in promoting the development of science and technology.C are selfishly earning money by promoting new sports products.D play
23、a positive role in promoting high-tech sports products.39. By saying “the modern sportsperson is.like a machine”, the author emphasizes the sense ofA rigidity.B inhumanity.C preciseness.D automation.40. The statement that best summarizes the text isA sportspeople seek high-tech products for better p
24、erformance.B science and technology have played a significant role in sports.C science and technology have helped improve the sports environment.D some sportspeople have benefited financially from new technology.Text 2Most of us Americans have a vague, uneasy sense of wicked wastefulness. We throw o
25、ut the never-opened pack of food thats past its sell-by date before answering a call on the fourth mobile phone we have had in five years. We gaze around our living space groaning at the sheer quantity of little-used clothing, blocking it up like a blood clot in an arterial vein.Our despair is genui
26、ne at the way we are running out of the earths resources and at the fact that we have so much when two-thirds of the worlds population only just get enough to eat and drink. Yet we feel completely powerless to do anything about it, too busy, irritable and tired to focus on practical steps.For the pr
27、oblem goes even deeper than material wastefulness: We know we are wasting our time, our being, our lives. We have compromised in our choice of career, lovers, friends ; we put on a face to meet the faces that we meet. Trapped in marketing characters, not only in our office politics but in our intima
28、te relationships, too, we play too many games.Deep down, we know that its time to get a life, to stop being distracted by pointless consumerism, unreal relationships, and Affluenza-infected career ambitions.The first step to salvation is to understand how much it is not your fault. If you read Vance
29、 Packards 1958 book about the advertising industry, The Hidden Persuaders, it proves that long ago retailers were devising ways to deliberately deceive us into confusing mixed wants with true needs in order to keep the consumption bandwagon rolling. In recent years, manufacturers have intention- all
30、y speeded up the rate at which electronic goods become obsolescent and instead of the proper re- pair customer services that used to exist, there are merely expensive help-lines, When your toaster or printer or MP3 music device breaks down after only a year, it is no accident that there is no one wh
31、o will repair them- itd cost more than buying a new one, love.So this is a selfish capitalist system which is designed to maximize profits through rapid turn- over of newer, better goods that break down sooner and are designed to be irreparable. Its not your fault !What you can do is withdraw as muc
32、h as possible from the consumption game. Every time you are about to buy something ask yourself, do I need this, or do I just want it.?41. Most Americans, according to the author, feel uneasy aboutA depending too much on modern technology.B failing to solve problems in their lives.C having too littl
33、e living space.D wasting too many resources.42. By saying we play too many games, the author wants to showA we are wasting our lives.B we make too many mistakes.C we do not take our life seriously.D I we are too busy enjoying ourselves.43. To make ourselves feel better, we should firstA figure out w
34、hom to blame for our excessive consumption.B avoid making unnecessary purchases in our daily life.C pick out misleading messages in the advertisement.D exercise caution when making a big purchase.44. We learn from Paragraph 5 thatA the quality of goods is getting worse recently.B customers are more
35、often misled nowadays.C we are deceived into making a purchase.D advertisers have become very clever.45. The author advises us to buyA more than we need.B only what we want.C more than we want.D only what we need.Text 3Susan Baroness Greenfield is a British institution. In a country that perceives i
36、ts scientists as white-coated eccentrics, and probably male, Lady Greenfield is fashionable, extravagant, and female. At least, that is the image she has sought to project as a populariser of science. She is accused, though, of bringing another British institution, the Royal Institution (RI), to the
37、 verge of bankruptcy. The RI, of which she was director from 1998 until last Friday (January 8th), has made her job redundant. She says she plans to respond with a suit for sexual discrimination.Lady Greenfield, a neuroscientist at Oxford University, was recruited to shake up the two century old ins
38、titution because she had made a name for herself, particularly on television, as one of the popular faces of science. The RI is, in part, a members club famous for its Christmas lectures adapted to a juvenile audience, which are broadcast on television every year, and its Friday evening discourses (
39、black ties, please, gentlemen), in which prominent scientists chat about their work for precisely an hour-no more and no less-before everyone is served tea and chocolate cake. But it is also a serious research laboratory (one of the longest-established in the world), looking into things like the med
40、ical applications of nanotechnology.Lady Greenfields offence, if offence it be, was to modernize the RIs headquarters in May- fair, one of the most stylish parts of London, without proper cost control. The redecoration included a high-class bar and restaurant that are open to the general public. Sad
41、ly, these opened for business in October 2008-the least favorable moment imaginable for such a venture.The redecoration, which cost 22m, much of which was raised by selling the institutions shares of property, has left the RI 3m in debt, and the trustees have decided that one way to cut costs is to
42、cut the job of director. Lady Greenfield, the first female director in a line that stretches back through Michael Faraday to Humphry Davy, seems to suspect that financial considerations were not the only ones when this decision was made.Instead of a director, the RI is to be led by a newly-invented
43、chief executive officer, in the person of Chris Rofe. Mr. Rofe, who was appointed in April 2009, has a degree in business administration, not science. Given the debt, though, perhaps an alchemist, a person who devotes himself to turning ordinary metals into gold, would be the most appropriate person
44、 for the job.46. By saying Lady Greenfield is a British institution, the author meansA she is well-known in Britain.B she owns a British association.C she is suing a British institution.D she is accused by a British institution.47. Which of the following is true of the RI?A It provides one-hour-long
45、 club activities for famous scientists.B It offers special annual Christmas lectures for young people.C It enjoys a long history of scientific research in medicine.D It makes a name for popularizing science on television.48. Lady Greenfield was blamed forA misunderstanding the significance of the RI
46、s modernization.B misjudging the RIs business opportunities in London.C mismanaging the costs for the RIs redecoration.D mistiming the opening of the redecorated RI.49. It can be learned from Paragraph 4 thatA the RI has sold all its property for redecoration.B the redecoration has undermined the RI
47、s reputation.C the RI fired Lady Greenfield to cut redecoration costs.D Lady Greenfield thought her dismissal unfair.50. How does the author feel about the prospects of the RIs getting out of financial trouble?A Confident.B Suspicious.C Optimistic.D Cautious.【参考答案】Text 136D 37A 38D 39C 40BText 241D 42A 43A 44B 45DText 346A 47B 48C 49. D 50BPart CDirections:In the following text, some sentences have been removed, For Questions 51 -55, choose the most suitable one from
