1、2019年12月四级第一套Part I Writing (30 minutes)Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a letter to a foreign friend who wants to teach English in China. Please recommend a city to him. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.Part Listening Comprehension (25 min
2、utes)Section ADirections: In this section, you will hear three news reports. At the end of each news report, you will hear two or three questions. Both the news report and then questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question, you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked
3、 A), B), C) and D).Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1with a single line through the centre.Questions l and 2 are based on the news report you have just heard.1. A) Many facilities were destroyed by a wandering cow.B) A wandering cow knocked down one of its fences.C) Some tourists w
4、ere injured by a wandering cow.D) A wandering cow was captured by the police.2. A) It was shot to death by a police officer.B) It found its way back to the parks zoo.C) It became a great attraction for tourists.D) It was sent to the animal control department.Questions 3 and 4 are based on the news r
5、eport you have just heard.3. A) It is the largest of its kind.B) It is going to be expanded.C) It is displaying more fossil specimens.D) It is staring an online exhibition.4. A) A collection of bird fossils from Australia.B) Photographs of certain rare fossil exhibits.C) Some ancient wall paintings
6、from Australia.D) Pictures by winners of a wildlife photo contest.Questions 5 to 7 are based on the news report you have just heard.5. A) Pick up trash.B) Amuse visitors.C) Deliver messages.D) Play with children.6. A) They are especially intelligent.B) They are childrens favorite.C) They are quite e
7、asy to tame.D) They are clean and pretty.7. A) Children may be harmed by the rooks.B) Children may be tempted to drop litter.C) Children may contract bird diseases.D) Children may overfeed the rooks.Section BDirections: In this section, you will hear two long conversations. At the end of each conver
8、sation, you will hear four questions. Both the conversation 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 Sheet 1 with a single line through the centr
9、e.Questions 8 to 11 are based on the conversation you have just heard.8. A) It will be produced at Harvard University.B) It will be hosted by famous professors.C) It will cover different areas of science.D) It will focus on recent scientific discoveries.9. A) It will be more futuristic.B) It will be
10、 more systematic.C) It will be more entertaining.D) It will be easier to understand.10. A) People interested in science.B) Youngsters eager to explore.C) Children in their early teens.D) Students majoring in science.11. A) Offer professional advice.B) Provide financial support.C) Help promote it on
11、the Internet.D) Make episodes for its first season.Questions 12 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard.12. A) Unsure.B) Helpless.C) Concerned.D) Dissatisfied.13. A) He is too concerned with being perfect.B) He loses heart when faced with setbacks.C) He is too ambitious in achieving
12、goals.D) He takes on projects beyond his ability.14. A) Embarrassed.B) Unconcerned.C) Miserable.D) Resentful.15. A) Try to be optimistic whatever happens.B) Compare his present with his past only.C) Always learn from others achievements.D) Treat others the way he would be treated.Section CDirections
13、: In this section, you will hear three passages. At the end of each passage, you will hear three or four 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 co
14、rresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1 with a single line through the centre.Questions 16 to 18 are based on the passage you have just heard.16. A) They have a stronger sense of social responsibility.B) They are more likely to succeed in the humanities.C) They are more likely to become engineers.D) Th
15、ey have greater potential to be leaders.17. A) Praise girls who like to speak up frequently.B) Encourage girls to solve problems on their own.C) Insist that boys and girls work together more.D) Respond more positively to boys comments.18. A) Offer personalized teaching materials.B) Provide a variety
16、 of optional courses.C) Place great emphasis on test scores.D) Pay extra attention to top students.Questions 19 to 21 are based on the passage you have just heard.19. A) It often rains cats and dogs.B) It seldom rains in summer time.C) It does not rain as much as people think.D) It is one of the mos
17、t rainy cities in the US.20. A) They drive most of the time.B) The rain is usually very light.C) They have got used to the rain.D) The rain comes mostly at night.21. A) It has a lot of places for entertainment.B) It has never seen thunder and lighting.C) It has fewer cloudy days than any other coast
18、al city.D) It has mild weather both in summer and in winter.Questions 22 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard.22. A) It occurs when people are doing a repetitive activity.B) It results from exerting ones muscles continuously.C) It happens when people engage in an uncommon activity.D) I
19、t comes from staining ones muscles in an unusual way.23. A) Blood flow and body heat increase in the affected area.B) Body movements in the affected area become difficult.C) They begin to make repairs immediately.D) They gradually become fragmented.24. A) About one week.B) About two days.C) About te
20、n days.D) About four weeks.25. A) Apply muscle creams.B) Drink plenty of water.C) Have a hot shower.D) Take pain-killers.Part Reading Comprehension (40 minutes)Section ADirections: In this section, there is a passage with ten blanks. You are required to select one word for each blank from a list of
21、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 Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre. You may not use any of the
22、 words in the bank more than once.Questions 26 to 35 are based on the following passage.When travelling overseas, do you buy water in plastic bottles or take your chances with tap water? Imagine you are wandering about on a Thai island or 26 the ruins of Angkor. Its hot so you grab a bottle of water
23、 from a local vendor. Its the safe, sane thing to do, right? The bottle is 27 , and the label says “pure water”, but maybe whats inside is not so 28 . Would you still be drinking it if you knew that more than 90 percent of all bottled water sold around the world 29 microplastics?Thats the conclusion
24、 of a recently 30 study, which analyzed 259 bottles from 11 brands sold in nine countries, 31 an average of 325 plastic particles per liter of water. These microplastics included a 32 commonly known as PET and are widely used in the manufacture of clothing and food and 33 containers. The study was c
25、onducted at the State University of New York on behalf of Orb Media, a journalism organization. About a million bottles are bought every minute, not only by thirsty tourists but also by many of the 2.1 billion worldwide who live with unsafe drinking water.Confronted with this 34 , several bottled-wa
26、ter manufacturers including Nestle and Coco-Cola undertook their own studies using the same methodology. These studies showed that their water did contain microplastics, but far less than the Orb study suggested. Regardless, the World Health Organization has now launched a review into the 35 health
27、risks of drinking water from plastic bottles.A) adequate F) instant K) releasedB) admiring G) liquid L) revealingC) contains H) modified M) sealedD) defending I) natural N) solvesE) evidence J) potential O) substanceSection BDirections: In this section, you are going to read a passage with ten state
28、ments attached to 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 Sh
29、eet 2.The Quiet Heroism of Mail DeliveryA On Wednesday, a polar wind brought bitter cold to the Midwest. Overnight, Chicago reached a low of 21 degrees Fahrenheit below zero, making it slightly colder than Antarctica, Alaska, and the North Pole. Wind chills were 64 degrees below zero in Park Rapids,
30、 Minnesota, and 45 degrees below zero in Buffalo, North Dakota, according to the National Weather Service. Schools, restaurants, and businesses closed, and more than 1,000 flights have been canceled.B Even the United States Postal Service (USPS) suspended mail delivery temporarily. “Due to this arct
31、ic outbreak and concerns for the safety of USPS employees,” USPS announced Wednesday morning, “the Postal Service is suspending delivery Jan. 30 in the following 3-digit ZIP Code locations.” Twelve regions were listed as unsafe on Wednesday; on Thursday, eight remained.C As global surface temperatur
32、es increase, so does the likelihood of extreme weather. In 2018 alone, wildfires, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, mudslides, and other natural disasters cost at least $49 billion in the United States. As my colleague Vann Newkirk reported, Puerto Rico is still confronting economic and structural des
33、truction and resource scarcity from 2017s Hurricane Maria. Natural disasters can wreck a communitys infrastructure, disrupting systems for months or years. Some services, however, remind us that life will eventually return, in some form, to normal.D Days after the deadly 2017 wildfires in Santa Rosa
34、, California, a drone caught footage of a USPS worker, Trevor Smith, driving through burned homes in that familiar white van, collecting mail in an affected area. The video is striking: The operation is familiar, but the scene looks like the end of the world. According to Rae Ann Haight, the program
35、 manager for the national-preparedness office at USPS, Smith was fulfilling a request made by some of the home owners to pick up any mail that was left untouched. For Smith, this was just another day on the job. “I followed my route like I normally do,” Smith told a reporter. “As Id come across a bo
36、x that was up but with no house, I checked, and there was mailoutgoing mailin it. And so we picked those up and carried on.”E USPS has sophisticated emergency plans for natural disasters. Across the country, 285 emergency-management teams are devoted to crisis control. These teams are trained annual
37、ly using a framework known as the three Ps: people, property, product. After mail service stops due to weather, the agencys top priority is ensuring that employees are safe. Then it evaluates the health of infrastructure, such as the roads that mail carriers drive on. Finally, it decides when and ho
38、w to re-open operations. If the destruction is extreme, mail addressed to the area will get sent elsewhere. In response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, USPS redirected incoming New Orleans mail to existing mail facilities in Houston. Mail that was already processed in New Orleans facilities was moved
39、to an upper floor so it would be protected from water damage.F As soon as its safe enough to be outside, couriers start distributing accumulated mail on the still-accessible routes. USPS urges those without standing addresses to file change-of-address forms with their new location. After Hurricane K
40、atrina hit in 2005, mail facilities were set up in dozens of other locations across the country in the two weeks that USPS was unable to provide street delivery.G Every day, USPS processes, on average, 493.4 million pieces of mailanything from postcards to Social Security checks to medicine. Spokesp
41、eople from both USPS and UPS told me all mail is important. But some mail can be extremely sensitive and timely. According to data released in January 2017, 56 percent of bills are paid online, which means that just under half of payments still rely on delivery services to be completed.H It can be h
42、ard to identify which parcels are carrying crucial items such as Social Security checks, but USPS and UPS try their best to prioritize sensitive material. They will coordinate with the Social Security Administration to make sure that Social Security checks reach the right people in a timely fashion.
43、 After Hurricane Florence and Hurricane Michael last fall, USPS worked with state and local election boards to make sure that absentee ballots were available and received on time.I Mail companies are logistics companies, which puts them in a special position to help when disaster strikes. In a 2011
44、USPS case study, the agency emphasized its massive infrastructure as a “unique federal asset” to be called upon in a disaster or terrorist attack. “I think were unique as a federal agency,” USPS official Mike Swigart told me, “because were in literally every community in this country Were obligated
45、to deliver to that point on a daily basis.”J Private courier companies, which have more dollars to spend, use their expertise in logistics to help revitalize damaged areas after a disaster. For more than a decade, FedEx has supported the American Red Cross in its effort to get emergency supplies to
46、areas affected by disasters, both domestically and internationally. In 2012, the company distributed more than 1,200 MedPacks to Medical Reserve Corps groups in California, and donated space for 3.1 million pounds of charitable shipping globally. Last October, the company pledged $1 million in cash
47、and transportation support for Hurricanes Florence and Michael. UPSs charitable arm, the UPS Foundation, uses the companys logistics to help disaster-struck areas rebuild. “We realize that as a company with people, trucks, warehouses, we needed to play a larger role,” said Eduardo Martinez, the president of the UPS Foundation. The company employs its trucks and planes to deliver food, medicine, and water. The day before I spoke to Martinez in November, he had been touring the d
