1、2016 年 12 月大学英语四级考试真题(第 3 套)Part IWriting(30 minutes)Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay. Suppose you have twooptions upon graduation: one is to work in a state-owned business and the other in ajoint venture. You are to make a choice between the two. Write an essa
2、y to explain thereasons for your choice.You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180words.Part IIListening Comprehension(25 minutes）说明：由于 2016 年 12 月四级考试全国共考了 2 套听力，本套真题听力与前 2 套内容完全一样，只是顺序不一样，因此在本套真题中不再重复出现。Part Reading Comprehension (40 minutes）Section ADirections: In this section, ther
3、e is a passage with ten blanks. You are required to select one wordfor each 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
4、 each item on AnswerSheet 2 with a single line through the centre. You may not use any of the words in thebank more than once.Questions 26 to 35 are based on the following passage.Many men and women have long bought into the idea that there are “male“ and “female“ brains,believing that explains just
5、 about every difference between the sexes. A new study26that belief,questioning whether brains really can be distinguished by gender.In the study, Tel Aviv University researchers27for sex differences throughout the entirehuman brain.And what did they find? Not much. Rather than offer evidence for28b
6、rains as “male“ or“female,“ research shows that brains fall into a wide range, with most people falling right in themiddle.Daphna Joel, who led the study, said her research found that while there are some gender-based29, many different types of brain cant always be distinguished by gender.While the
7、“average“ male and “average“ female brains were30different, you couldnt tell itby looking at individual brain scans. Only a small31of people had “all-male“ or “all-female“characteristics.Larry Cahill, an American neuroscientist ( 神经科学家), said the study is an important addition toa growing body of re
8、search questioning32beliefs about gender and brain function. But hecautioned against concluding from this study that all brains are the same,33of gender.“Theres a mountain of evidence34the importance of sex influences at all levels of brainfunction,“ he told The Seattle Times.If anything, he said, t
9、he study35that gender plays a very important role in the brain-“ evenwhen we are not clear exactly how. “A.abnormalB.appliedC.brieflyD.categorizingE.challengesF.figureG.percentageH.provingI.regardlessJ.searchedK.similaritiesL.slightlyM.suggestsN. tastes0.traditionalSection BDirections：In this sectio
10、n，you are going to read a passage with ten statements attached to it. Eachstatement contains information given in one of the paragraphsIdentify the paragraphfrom which the information is derivedYou may choose a paragraph more than onceEach paragraph is marked with a letterAnswer the questions by mar
11、king thecorresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2Can Burglars Jam Your Wireless Security System?A.Any product that promises to protect your home deserves careful examinationSo it isnt surprising thatyou11 find plenty of strong opinions about the potential vulnerabilities of popular homesecurity systems
12、B.The most likely type of burglary(人室盗窃)by far is the unsophisticated crime of opportunity，usuallyinvolving a broken window or some forced entryAccording to the FB1crimes like these accounted forroughly twothirds of all household burglaries in the US in 2013The wide majority of the rest were illegal
13、unforced entries that resulted from something like a window being left openThe odds of a criminal usingtechnical means to bypass a security system are so small that the FBI doesnt even track those statisticsC.One of the main theoretical homesecurity concerns is whether or not a given system is vulne
14、rable to beingblocked from working altogetherWith wired setups，the fear is that a burglar(人室盗贼)might be ableto shut your system down simply by cutting the right cableWith a wireless setupyou stick batterypowered sensors up around your home that keep an eye on windows。doors，motion，and moreIf theydete
15、ct something wrong while the system is armedtheyll transmit a wireless aleft signal to a base station that will then raise the alarmThat approach will eliminate most cordcutting concerns-but what abouttheir wireless equivalent，jamming?with the fight device tuned to the fight frequency，whats to stop
16、athief from jamming your setup and blocking that alert signal from ever reaching the base station?D.Jamming concerns are nothing new，and theyre not unique to security systemsAny device thats built toreceive a wireless signal at a specific frequency can be overwhelmed by a stronger signal coming in o
17、n thesame frequencyFor comparison1ets say you wanted to“jam”a conversation between two people-allyoud need to do is yell in the listeners earE) Security devices are required to list the frequencies they broadcast onmat means that a potential thief canfind what they need to know with minimal Googling
18、They willhoweverneed to know what systemtheyre looking forIf you have a sign in your yard declaring what setup you use，thatd point them in theright direction，though at that point，were talking about a highly targeted，semisophisticated attack，andnot the sort of forcedentry attack that makes up the maj
19、ority of burglariesIts easier to find and acquirejamming equipment for some frequencies than it is for othersF)Wireless security providers will often take steps to help combat the threat of jamming attacksSimpliSafe，winner of our EditorsChoice distinctionutilizes a special system thats capable of se
20、parating incidental RFinterference from targeted jamming attacksWhen the system thinks its being jammed，itll notify you viapush alert(推送警报)From there，its up to you to sound the alarm manuallyG)SimpliSafe was singled out in one recent article on jamming，complete with a video showing the entiresystem
21、being effectively bypassed with handheld jamming equipmentAfter taking appropriate measures tocontain the RF interference to our test lab，we tested the attack out for ourselves，and were able to verify that its possible with the right equipmentHoweverwe also verified that SimpliSafes anti-jammingsyst
22、em worksIt caught us in the act，sent an alert to my smartphone，and also listed our RF interferenceon the systems event logThe team behind the article and video in question make no mention of thesystem，or whether or not it detected themH)We like the unique nature of that software It means that a thie
23、f likely wouldnt be able to Google how thesystem worksthen figure out a way around itEven if they could，SimpliSafe claims that its system isalways evolving，and that it varies slightly from system to system，which means there wouldnt be auniversal magic formula for cracking itOther systems also seem c
24、onfident on the subject of jammingTheteam at Frontpoint addresses the issue in a blog on its site，citing their own jam protection software andclaiming that there arent any documented cases of a successful jam attack since the company began offeringwireless security sensors in the l980sI)Jamming atta
25、cks are absolutely possibleAs said beforewith the fight equipment and the right knowhow，its possible to jam any wireless transmissionBut how probable is it that someone will successfully jam their way into your home and steal your stuff?J)Lets imagine that you live in a small home with a wireless se
26、curity setup that offers a functional antijamming systemFirst，a thief is going to need to target your home，specifically Then，hes going to needto know the technical details of your system and acquire the specific equipment necessary for jamming yourspecific setupPresumably，you keep your doors locked
27、at night and while youre away，so the thief willstill need to break inThat means defeating the lock somehow，or breaking a windowHe11 need to be jamming you at this point，as a broken window or opened door would normally release the alarmS0，too，would the motion detectors in your home，so the thief will
28、need to continue jamming once hes inside andsearching for things to stealHoweverhe11 need to do so without tripping the anti-jamming system，thedetails of which he almost certainly does not have access toK)At the end of the day，these kinds of systems are primarily designed to protect against the sort
29、 ofopportunistic smashandgrab attack that makes up the majority of burglariesTheyre also only a singlelayer in what should ideally be a manysided approach to securing your home，one that includes commonsense things like sound locks and proper exterior lighting at nightNo system is impenetrable， and n
30、one canpromise to eliminate the worst case completelyEvery one of them has vulnerabilities that a knowledgeablethief could theoretically exploitA good system is one that keeps that worstcase setting as improbable aspossible while also offering strong protection in the event of a less-extraordinary a
31、ttack36It is possible for burglars to make jamming attacks with the necessary equipment and skill37 Interfering with a wireless security system is similar to interfering with a conversation38A burglar has to continuously jam the wireless security device to avoid triggering the alarm，both inside and
32、outside the house39SimpliSafe provides devices that are able to distinguish incidental radio interference from targeted jamming attacks40Only a very small proportion of burglaries are committed by technical means41It is difficult to crack SimpliSafe as its system keeps changing42Wireless devices wil
33、l transmit signals so as to activate the alarm once something wrong is detected43Different measures should be taken to protect ones home from burglary in addition to the wireless security system44SimpliSafes device can send a warning to the house owners cellphone45Burglars can easily get a security
34、devices frequency by Internet searchSection CDirections：There are 2 passages in this sectionEach passage is followed by some questions orunfinished statementsFor each of them there arefour choices marked A，B，CandDYou should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on AnswerSheet 2
35、 with a single line through the centrePassage OneQuestions 46 to 50 are based oil the following passageAs a person who writes about food and drink for a living。I couldnt tell you the first thing aboutBill Perry or whether the beers he sells are that greatBut I can tell you that I like this guyThatsb
36、ecause he plans to ban tipping in favor of paying his servers an actual living wageI hate tippingI hate it because its an obligation disguised as an optionI hate it for the postdinner math it requires of meBut mostlyI hate tipping because I believe l would be in a better place if pay decisionsregard
37、ing employees were simply left up to their employers，as is the custom in virtually every otherindustryMost of you probably think that you hate tipping，tooResearch suggests otherwiseYou actuallylove tipping!You like to feel that you have a voice in how much money your server makesNo matterhow the mat
38、h works out，you persistently view restaurants with voluntary tipping systems as being abetter value，which makes it extremely difficult for restaurants and bars to do away with the tippingsystemOne argument that you tend to hear a lot from the pr0tipping crowd seems logical enough：theservice is bette
39、r when waiters depend on tips，presumably because they see a benefit to successfullyveiling their contempt for youWellif this were truewe would all be slipping a few l00-dollar bills toour doctors on-the way out their doors，tooBut as it turns out，waiters see only a tiny bump in tipswhen they do an ex
40、ceptional job compared to a passable oneWaiters，keen observers of humanity thatthey areare catching on to this；in one poll，a full 30said they didnt believe the job they did hadany impact on the tips they receivedSo come on， folks：get on board with ditching the outdated tip systemPay a little more up
41、frontfor your beer or burgerSupport Bill Perrys pub，and any other bar or restaurant that doesnt ask youto do drunken math46 、hat can we learn about Bill Perry from the passage?A.He runs a pub that serves excellent beerB.He intends to get rid of the tipping practiceC.He gives his staff a considerable
42、 sum for tipsD.He lives comfortably without getting any tips47What is the main reason why the author hates tipping?A. It sets a bad example for other industriesB. It adds to the burden of ordinary customersC. It forces the customer to compensate the waiterD.It poses a great challenge for customers t
43、o do math48Why do many people love tipping according to the author?A.They help improve the quality of the restaurants they dine inB. They believe waiters deserve such rewards for good serviceC.They want to preserve a wonderful tradition of the industryD.They can have some say in how much their serve
44、rs earn49What have some waiters come to realize according to a survey?A.Service quality has little effect on tip sizeB. It is in human nature to try to save on tipsC.Tips make it more difficult to please customersD.Tips benefit the boss rather than the employees50What does the author argue for in th
45、e passage?A.Restaurants should calculate the tips for customersB.Customers should pay more tips to help improve serviceC.Waiters deserve better than just relying on tips for a livingD.Waiters should be paid by employers instead of customersPassage TwoQuestions 5l to 55 are based on the following pas
46、sageIn the past，falling oil prices have given a boost to the world economy，but recent forecasts forglobal growth have been toned downeven as oil prices sink lower and lowerDoes that mean the linkbetween lower oil prices and growth has weakened?Some experts say there are still good reasons to believe
47、 cheap oil should heat up the worldeconomyConsumers have more money in their pockets when theyre paying less at the pumpTheyspend that money off other things，which stimulates the economyThe biggest gains go to countries that import most of their oil like ChinaJapanand IndiaButdoesnt the extra money
48、in the pockets of those countries consumers mean an equal loss inoil-producing countries, cancelling out the gains? Not necessarily, say economic researcher SaraJohnson. “Many oil producers built up huge reserve funds when prices were high, so when prices fallthey will draw on their reserves to supp
49、ort government spending and subsidies (补贴) for theirconsumers.But not all oil producers have big reserves. In Venezuela, collapsing oil prices have sent itseconomy into free-fall.Economist Carl Weinberg believes the negative effects of plunging oil prices are overwhelming thepositive effects of cheaper oil. The implication is a sharp decline in global trade, which has plungedpart
