1、2016 年 12 月大学英语四级考试真题(第 2 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 take a job in a company and the other to go to agraduate school. You are to make a choice between the two. Write an es
2、say to explain thereasons for your choice. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180words.Part Listening Comprehension (25 minutes )Section ADirections: In this section, you will hear three news reports. At the end of each newsreport, you will hear two or three questions. Both the new
3、s report and thequestions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question, you mustchoose the best answer from the four choices marked A, B, C and D .Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet I with a single linethrough the centre.Questions 1 and 2 are based on the news report you have
4、just heard.1. A. To satisfy the curiosity of tourists.B. To replace two old stone bridges.C. To enable tourists to visit Goat Island.D. To improve utility services in the state.2. A. Countless tree limbs. B. A few skeletons.C. Lots of wrecked boats and ships.D. Millions of coins on the bottom.Questi
5、ons 3 and 4 are based on the news report you have just heard.3. A. It suspended diplomatic relations with Libya.B. It urged tourists to leave Tunisia immediately.C. It shut down two border crossings with Libya.D. It launched a fierce attack against Islamic State.4. A. Advise Tunisian civilians on ho
6、w to take safety precautions.B. Track down the organization responsible for the terrorist attack.C. Train qualified security personnel for the Tunisian government.D. Devise a monitoring system on the Tunisian border with Libya.Questions 5 to 7 are based on the news report you have just heard.5. A. A
7、n environment-friendly battery.B. An energy-saving mobile phone.C. A plant-powered mobile phone charger.sD. A device to help plants absorb sunlight.6. A. While sitting in their schools courtyard. B. While playing games on their phones.C. While solving a mathematical problem.D. While doing a chemical
8、 experiment.7. A. It increases the applications of mobile phones.B. It speeds up the process of photosynthesis.C. It improves the reception of mobile phones.D. It collects the energy released by plants.Section BDirections: In this section, you will hear two long conversations. At the end of each con
9、versation,you will hear four questions. Both the conversation and the questions will be spoken onlyonce. After you hear a question, you must choose the best answer from the four choicesmarked A, B, C and D. Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1with a single line through the centre.Que
10、stions 8 to 11 are based on the conversation you have just heard.8. A. He visited the workshops in the Grimsby plant.B. He called the woman and left her a message.C. He used stand-ins as replacements on all lines.D. He asked a technician to fix the broken production line.9. A. It is the most modern
11、production line. B. It assembles super-intelligent robots.C. It has stopped working completely.D. It is going to be upgraded soon.10. A. To seek her permission.B. To place an order for robots.C. To request her to return at once.D. To ask for Toms phone number.11. A. She is on duty.B. She is having h
12、er day off.C. She is on sick leave.D. She is abroad on business.Questions 12 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard.12. A. He saved a baby boys life. B. He wanted to be a superhero. C. He prevented a train crash.D. He was a witness to an accident.13. A. He has a 9-month-old boy.B. H
13、e is currently unemployed.C. He enjoys the interview.D. He commutes by subway.14. A. A rock on the tracks. B. A misplaced pushchair.C. A strong wind.D. A speeding car.15. A. She stood motionless in shock.B. She cried bitterly.C. She called the police at once.D. She shouted for help.Section CDirectio
14、ns: In this section, you will hear three passages. At the end of each passage, you will hearthree 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 markedA, B, C and D. Then mark the corresp
15、onding letter on Answer Sheet I with asingle line through the centre.Questions 16 to 18 are based on the passage you have just heard.16. A. She inherited her family ice-cream business in Billings.B. She loved the ice-cream business more than teaching primary school.C. She started an ice-cream busine
16、ss to finance her daughters education.D. She wanted to have an ice-cream truck when she was a little girl.17. A. To preserve a tradition. B. To amuse her daughter. C. To help local education.D. To make some extra money.18. A. To raise money for business expansion. B. To make her truck attractive to
17、children.C. To allow poor kids to have ice-cream too.D. To teach kids the value of mutual support.Questions 19 to 21 are based on the passage you have just heard.19. A. The reasons for imposing taxes.B. The various services money can buy.C. The various burdens on ordinary citizens.D. The function of
18、 money in the modem world.20. A. Educating and training citizens.B. Improving public transportation.C. Protecting peoples life and property. D. Building hospitals and public libraries.21. A. By asking for donations.B. By selling public lands.C. By selling government bonds.D. By exploiting natural re
19、sources.Questions 22 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard.22. A. It is located at the center of the European continent.B. It relies on tourism as its chief source of revenues.C. It contains less than a square mile of land.D. It is surrounded by France on three sides.23. A. Its beauty i
20、s frequently mentioned in American media.B. Its ruler Prince Rainier married an American actress.C. It is where many American movies are shot.D. It is a favorite place Americans like to visit.24. A. Tobacco. B. Potatoes. C. Machinery. D. Clothing.25. A. European history. B. European geography.C. Sma
21、ll countries in Europe.D. Tourist attractions in Europe.Part Reading Comprehension (40 minutes)Section ADirections: In this section, there 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 thepassag
22、e through carefully before making your choices.Each choice in the bank isidentified by a letter. Please mark the corresponding letter for 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 f
23、ollowing passage.The ocean is heating up. Thats the conclusion of a new study that finds that Earths oceans now26heat at twice the rate they did 18 years ago. Around half of ocean heat intake since 1865 hastaken place since 1997, researchers report online in Nature Climate Change.Warming waters are
24、known to27 to coral bleaching (珊瑚白化) and they take up more spacethan cooler waters, raising sea28While the top of the ocean is well studied, its depths are moredifficult to 29The researchers gathered 150 years of ocean temperature data in order to get abetter30 of heat absorption from surface to sea
25、bed. They gathered together temperature readingscollected by everything from a 19th century31 of British naval ships to modem automated oceanprobes. The extensive data sources,32 with computer simulations ( 计算机模拟), created atimeline of ocean temperature changes, including cooling from volcanic outbr
26、eaks and warming fromfossil fuel33About 35 percent of the heat taken in by the oceans during the industrial era now resides at a34 of more than 700 meters, the researchers found. They say theyre35whether the deep-seawarming canceled out warming at the seas surface.A. absorbB. CombinedC. ContributeD.
27、 depthE. emissionsF. excursionG. exploreH. floorI. heightsJ. indifferentK. levelsL. mixedM. pictureN. unsureO. voyageSection 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 t
28、he 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 Secret to Raising Smart KidsA) I first began to investigate the basis of human motivation-
29、and how people persevere aftersetbacks-as a psychology graduate student at Yale University in the 1960s. Animal experiments bypsychologists at the University of Pennsylvania had shown that after repeated failures, most animalsconclude that a situation is hopeless and beyond their control. After such
30、 an experience an animaloften remains passive even when it can effect change-a state they called learned helplessness.B) People can learn to be helpless, too. Why do some students give up when they encounter difficulty,whereas others who are no more skilled continue to strive and learn? One answer,
31、I soondiscovered, lay in peoples beliefs about why they had failed.C) In particular, attributing poor performance to a lack of ability depresses motivation more than doesthe belief that lack of effort is to blame. When I told a group of school children who displayedhelpless behavior that a lack of e
32、ffort led to their mistakes in math, they learned to keep tryingwhen the problems got tough. Another group of helpless children who were simply rewarded fortheir success on easier problems did not improve their ability to solve hard math problems. Theseexperiments indicated that a focus on effort ca
33、n help resolve helplessness and generate success.D) Later, I developed a broader theory of what separates the two general classes of learners-helplessversus mastery-oriented. I realized these different types of students not only explain their failuresdifferently, but they also hold different “theori
34、es“ of intelligence.The helpless ones believeintelligence is a fixed characteristic: you have only a certain amount, and thats that. I call this a“fixed mind-set (思维模式). “ Mistakes crack their self-confidence because they attribute errors toa lack of ability, which they feel powerless to change. The
35、y avoid challenges because challengesmake mistakes more likely. The mastery-oriented children, on the other hand, think intelligence isnot fixed and can be developed through education and hard work. Such children believe challengesare energizing rather than intimidating (令人生畏); they offer opportunit
36、ies to learn. Studentswith such a growth mind-set were destined (注定) for greater academic success and were quitelikely to outperform their counterparts.E) We validated these expectations in a study in which two other psychologists and I monitored 373students for two years during the transition to ju
37、nior high school, when the work gets more difficultand the grading more strict, to determine how their mind-sets might affect their math grades. At thebeginning of seventh grade, we assessed the students mind-sets by asking them to agree or disagreewith statements such as “Your intelligence is somet
38、hing very basic about you that you cant reallychange. “ We then assessed their beliefs about other aspects of learning and looked to see whathappened to their grades.F) As predicted, the students with a growth mind-set felt that learning was a more important goal thangetting good grades. In addition
39、, they held hard work in high regard. They understood that evengeniuses have to work hard. Confronted by a setback such as a disappointing test grade, studentswith a growth mind-set said they would study harder or try a different strategy. The students whoheld a fixed mind-set, however, were concern
40、ed about looking smart with less regard for learning.They had negative views of effort, believing that having to work hard was a sign of low ability.They thought that a person with talent or intelligence did not need to work hard to do well.Attributing a bad grade to their own lack of ability, those
41、 with a fixed mind-set said that they wouldstudy less in the future, try never to take that subject again and consider cheating on future tests.G) Such different outlooks had a dramatic impact on performance. At the start of junior high, the mathachievement test scores of the students with a growth
42、mind-set were comparable to those ofstudents who displayed a fixed mind-set. But as the work became more difficult, the students witha growth mind-set showed greater persistence. As a result, their math grades overtook those of theother students by the end of the first semester-and the gap between t
43、he two groups continued towiden during the two years we followed them.H) A fixed mind-set can also hinder communication and progress in the workplace and discourage orignore constructive criticism and advice. Research shows that managers who have a fixed mind-setare less likely to seek or welcome fe
44、edback from their employees than are managers with a growthmind-set.I) How do we transmit a growth mind-set to our children? One way is by telling stories aboutachievements that result from hard work. For instance, talking about mathematical geniuses whowere more or less born that way puts students
45、in a fixed mind-set, but descriptions of greatmathematicians who fell in love with math and developed amazing skills produce a growth mind-set.J) In addition, parents and teachers can help children by providing explicit instruction regarding themind as a learning machine. I designed an eight-session
46、 workshop for 91 students whose mathgrades were declining in their first year of junior high.Forty-eight of the students receivedinstruction in study skills only, whereas the others attended a combination of study skills sessionsand classes in which they learned about the growth mind-set and how to
47、apply it to schoolwork. Inthe growth mind-set classes, students read and discussed an article entitled “You Can Grow YourBrain. “ They were taught that the brain is like a muscle that gets stronger with use and thatlearning prompts the brain to grow new connections. From such instruction, many stude
48、nts beganto see themselves as agents of their own brain development. Despite being unaware that there weretwo types of instruction, teachers reported significant motivational changes in 27% of the childrenin the growth mind-set workshop as compared with only 9% of students in the control group.K) Re
49、search is converging (汇聚) on the conclusion that great accomplishment and even genius istypically the result of years of passion and dedication and not something that flows naturally from agift.36. The authors experiment shows that students with a fixed mind-set believe having to work hard is an indication of low ability.37. Focusing on effort is effective in helping children overcome frustration and achieve success.38. We can cultivate a growth mind-set in children by telling success stories that emphasize hard work and love of learning.39. Students belief about the ca
