2016年英語四級備考沖刺模擬試題二

　　Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay entitled Excessive Packaging following the outline given below. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.

　　1.目前許多商品存在過度包裝的現(xiàn)象

　　2.出現(xiàn)這一現(xiàn)象的原因

　　3.我對這一現(xiàn)象的看法和建議

　　On Excessive Packaging

　　On Excessive Packaging

　　Nowadays the phenomena of excessive packaging of goods are prevailing in our society: clothes swathed in tissue paper, placed in cardboard box and finally wrapped in well-designed plastic bags, imported bottles of grape wine packed in wooden boxes, fruits put in hand-woven baskets, to name but a few.

　　There are several causes of excessive packaging. The first reason is that a large number of companies believe that they can attract customers’ attention and stimulate their purchasing desire by over-packaging their goods, thus gaining more profits. On the other hand, quite a number of consumers mistakenly hold that the more delicate the package is, the better the quality will be, thus encouraging excessive packaging.

　　In my point of view, excessive packaging has disastrous consequences, including the loss of precious resources, excessive consumption of water and energy, and unnecessary extraction of scarce land for landfill.

　　To solve the problem, it’s necessary to take the following measures. First, laws and regulations must be made to restrict excessive packaging of companies. In addition, we need to raise consumer’s awareness that excessive packaging doesn’t equal to high quality and advocate packaging recycling.

　　Directions: In this part, you will have 15 minutes to go over the passage quickly and answer the questions on Answer sheet 1. For questions 1-7,choose the best answer from the four choices marked A)，B)，C)and D). For questions 8-10,complete the sentences with the information given in the passage.

　　Small Schools Rising

　　This year's list of the top 100 high schools shows that today, those with fewer students are flourishing.

　　Fifty years ago, they were the latest thing in educational reform: big, modern, suburban high schools with students counted in the thousands. As baby boomers(二戰(zhàn)后嬰兒潮時期出生的人) came of high-school age, big schools promised economic efficiency. A greater choice of courses, and, of course, better football teams. Only years later did we understand the trade-offs this involved: the creation of excessive bureaucracies(官僚機構)，the difficulty of forging personal connections between teachers and students.SAT scores began dropping in 1963;today,on average,30% of students do not complete high school in four years, a figure that rises to 50% in poor urban neighborhoods. While the emphasis on teaching to higher, test-driven standards as set in No Child Left Behind resulted in significantly better performance in elementary(and some middle)schools, high schools for a variety of reasons seemed to have made little progress.

　　Size isn't everything, but it does matter, and the past decade has seen a noticeable countertrend toward smaller schools. This has been due ,in part ,to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has invested $1.8 billion in American high schools, helping to open about 1,000 small schools-most of them with about 400 kids each with an average enrollment of only 150 per grade, About 500 more are on the drawing board. Districts all over the country are taking notice, along with mayors in cities like New York, Chicago and San Diego. The movement includes independent public charter schools, such as No.1 BASIS in Tucson, with only 120 high-schoolers and 18 graduates this year. It embraces district-sanctioned magnet schools, such as the Talented and Gifted School, with 198 students, and the Science and Engineering Magnet,with383,which share a building in Dallas, as well as the City Honors School in Buffalo, N.Y., which grew out of volunteer evening seminars for students. And it includes alternative schools with students selected by lottery(抽簽)，such as H-B Woodlawn in Arlington, Va. And most noticeable of all, there is the phenomenon of large urban and suburban high schools that have split up into smaller units of a few hundred, generally housed in the same grounds that once boasted thousands of students all marching to the same band.

　　Hillsdale High School in San Mateo, Calif, is one of those, ranking No.423-among the top 2% in the country-on Newsweek's annual ranking of America's top high schools. The success of small schools is apparent in the listings. Ten years ago, when the first Newsweek list based on college-level test participation was published, only three of the top 100 schools had graduating Classes smaller than 100 students. This year there are 22. Nearly 250 schools on the full ,Newsweek list of the top 5% of schools nationally had fewer than 200 graduates in 2007.

　　Although many of Hillsdale's students came from wealthy households, by the late 1990 average test scores were sliding and it had earned the unaffectionate nickname (綽號) "Hillsjail. " Jeff Gilbert. A Hillsdale teacher who became principal last year, remembers sitting with other teachers watching students file out of a graduation ceremony and asking one another in astonishment, "How did that student graduate?"

　　So in 2003 Hillsdale remade itself into three "houses," romantically named Florence, Marrakech and Kyoto. Each of the 300 arriving ninth graders are randomly(隨機地) assigned to one of the houses. Where they will keep the same four core subject teachers for two years, before moving on to another for 11th and 12th grades. The closeness this system cultivates is reinforced by the institution of "advisory" classes Teachers meet with students in groups of 25, five mornings a week, for open-ended discussions of everything from homework problems to bad Saturday-night dates. The advisers also meet with students privately and stay in touch with parents, so they are deeply invested in the students' success."We're constantly talking about one another's advisers," says English teacher Chris Crockett. "If you hear that yours isn't doing well in math, or see them sitting outside the dean's office, it's like a personal failure." Along with the new structure came a more demanding academic program, the percentage of freshmen taking biology jumped from 17 to 95."It was rough for some. But by senior year, two-thirds have moved up to physics," says Gilbert "Our kids are coming to school in part because they know there are adults here who know them and care for them."But not all schools show advances after downsizing, and it remains to be seen whether smaller schools will be a cure-all solution.

　　The Newsweek list of top U.S. high schools was made this year, as in years past, according to a single metric, the proportion of students taking college-level exams. Over the years this system has come in for its share of criticism for its simplicity. But that is also its strength: it's easy for readers to understand, and to do the arithmetic for their own schools if they'd like.

　　Ranking schools is always controversial, and this year a group of 38 superintendents(地區(qū)教育主管)from five states wrote to ask that their schools be excluded from the calculation."It is impossible to know which high schools are 'the best' in the nation, "their letter read. in part. "Determining whether different schools do or don't offer a high quality of education requires a look at man different measures, including students' overall academic accomplishments and their subsequent performance in college. And taking into consideration the unique needs of their communities."

　　In the end, the superintendents agreed to provide the data we sought, which is, after all, public information. There is, in our view, no real dispute here, we are all seeking the same thing, which is schools that better serve our children and our nation by encouraging students to tackle tough subjects under the guidance of gifted teachers. And if we keep working toward that goal, someday, perhaps a list won't be necessary.

　　注意：此部分試題請在答卡1上作答.

　　1. Fifty years ago. big. Modern. Suburban high schools were established in the hope of __________.

　　A) ensuring no child is left behind

　　B) increasing economic efficiency

　　C) improving students' performance on SAT

　　D)providing good education for baby boomers

　　2. What happened as a result of setting up big schools?

　　A)Teachers' workload increased.

　　B)Students' performance declined.

　　C)Administration became centralized.

　　D)Students focused more on test scores.

　　3.What is said about the schools forded by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation?

　　A)They are usually magnet schools.

　　B)They are often located in poor neighborhoods.

　　C)They are popular with high-achieving students.

　　D)They are mostly small in size.

　　4.What is most noticeable about the current trend in high school education?

　　A)Some large schools have split up into smaller ones.

　　B)A great variety of schools have sprung up in urban and suburban areas.

　　C)Many schools compete for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation funds.

　　D)Students have to meet higher academic standards.

　　5.Newsweek ranked high schools according to .

　　A)their students' academic achievement

　　B)the number of their students admitted to college

　　C)the size and number of their graduating classes

　　D)their college-level test participation

　　6.What can we learn about Hillsdale's students in the late 1990s?

　　A)They were made to study hard like prisoners.

　　B)They called each other by unaffectionate nicknames.

　　C)Most of them did not have any sense of discipline,

　　D)Their school performance was getting worse.

　　7.According to Jeff Gilbert, the "advisory" classes at Hillsdale were set up so that students could .

　　A)tell their teachers what they did on weekends

　　B)experience a great deal of pleasure in learning

　　C)maintain closer relationships with their teachers

　　D)tackle the demanding biology and physics courses

　　8.________is still considered a strength of Newsweek's school ranking system in spite of the criticism it receives.

　　9.According to the 38 superintendents, to rank schools scientifically, it is necessary to use________.

　　10.To better serve the children and our nation, schools students to take________.

　　參考答案：

　　1. D) providing good education for baby boomers.

　　2. D) Students’ performance declined.

　　3. D) They are mostly small in size.

　　4. D) Some large schools have split up into smaller ones.

　　5. C) their college-level test participation.

　　6. B) Their school performance was getting worse.

　　7. A) maintain closer relationships with their teachers.

　　8. Simplicity

　　9. different measures

　　10. tough subjects　One in six. Believe it or not, that's the number of Americans who struggle with hanger To make tomorrow a little better, Feeding Action Month. As part of its 30 Ways in 30 Days program, It's asking 48 across the country to help the more than 200 food banks and 61,000 agencies in its network provide low-income individuals and families with the fuel they need to 49 .

　　It's the kind of work that's done every day at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in San Antonio, People who 50 at its front door on the first and third Thursdays of each month aren't looking for God-they're there for something to eat, St. Andrew's runs a food pantry(食品堂)that 51 the city and several of the 52 towns. Janet Drane is its manager.

　　In the wake of the 53 .the number of families in need of food assistance began to grow. It is 54 that 49 million Americans are unsure of where they will find their next meal What's most surprising is that 36% of them live in 55 where at least one adult is working."It used to be that one job was all you needed." says St. Andrew's Drane."The people we see now have three or four part-time jobs and they're still right on the edge 56 ."

　　注意：此部分試題請在答題卡2上作答。

　　A)survive I)formally

　　B) surrounding J)financially

　　C)serves K)domestic

　　D)reviewed L)competition

　　E)reported M)communities

　　F)recession N)circling

　　G)households O)accumulate

　　H)gather

　　參考答案：

　　47. E. domestic

　　48. C. communities

　　49. O. survive

　　50. H. gather

　　51. M. serves

　　52. N. surroundings

　　53. J. recession

　　54. K. reported

　　55. I. households

　　56. F. financiallyTeaching children to read well from the start is the most important task of elementary schools. But relying on educators to approach this task correctly can be a great mistake. Many schools continue to employ instructional methods that have been proven ineffective. The staying power of the “l(fā)ook-say” or “whole-word” method of teaching beginning reading is perhaps the most flagrant example of this failure to instruct effectively.

　　The whole-word approach to reading stresses the meaning of words over the meaning of letters, thinking over decoding, developing a sight vocabulary of familiar words over developing the ability to unlock the pronunciation of unfamiliar words. It fits in with the self-directed, “l(fā)earning how to learn” activities recommended by advocates (倡導者)of “open” classrooms and with the concept that children have to be developmentally ready to begin reading. Before 1963, no major publisher put out anything but these “Run-Spot-Run” readers.

　　However, in 1955, Rudolf Flesch touched off what has been called “the great debate” in beginning reading. In his best-seller Why Johnny Can’t Read, Flesch indicted(控訴)the nation’s public schools for miseducating students by using the look-say method. He said – and more scholarly studies by Jeane Chall and Rovert Dykstra later confirmed – that another approach to beginning reading, founded on phonics(語音學), is far superior.

　　Systematic phonics first teachers children to associate letters and letter combinations with sounds; it then teaches them how to blend these sounds together to make words. Rather than building up a relatively limited vocabulary of memorized words, it imparts a code by which the pronunciations of the vast majority of the most common words in the English language can be learned. Phonics does not devalue the importance of thinking about the meaning of words and sentences; it simply recognizes that decoding is the logical and necessary first step.

　　36. The author feels that counting on educators to teach reading correctly is _____________.

　　A) only logical and natural B) the expected position

　　C) probably a mistake D) merely effective instruction

　　37. The author indicts the look-say reading approach because _________________.

　　A) it overlooks decoding B) Rudolf Flesch agrees with him

　　C) he says it is boring D) many schools continue to use this method

　　38. One major difference between the look-say method of learning reading and the phonics method is _______________.

　　A) look-say is simpler B) Phonics takes longer to learn

　　C) look-say is easier to teach D) phonics gives readers access to far more words

　　39. The phrase “touch-off” (Para 3, Line 1) most probably means _____________.

　　A) talk about shortly B) start or cause

　　C) compare with D) oppose

　　40. According to the author, which of the following statements is true?

　　A) Phonics approach regards whole-word method as unimportant.

　　B) The whole-word approach emphasizes decoding.

　　C) In phonics approach, it is necessary and logical to employ decoding.

　　D) Phonics is superior because it stresses the meaning of words thus the vast majority of most common words can be learned.

　　參考答案：

　　36. C)本題的線索是第一段的第二句話，其中的relying on educators與題干中的counting on educators 完全是同樣的意思。

　　37. A) 作者先在第一段的最后一句說“l(fā)ook-say”或“whole-word”的閱讀教學方法是失敗的，第二段分析了這種方法失敗的原因，是因為它“stresses the meaning of words over the meaning of letters, thinking over decoding…”

　　38. D) 文章在最后一段談到了phonics method的特點和好處，本題線索見該段的第二句話“Rather than building up a relatively limited vocabulary of memorized words, it imparts a code by which the pronunciations of the vast majority of the most common words in the English language can be learned”，可見這種方法能使學習者獲得更大的詞匯量。

　　39. B) 本題要求利用上下文猜測單詞的意思。根據第二段的最后一句，在1963年以前，出版的東西都是教授使用whole-word的方法的，緊接著用了轉折詞however，說在1955年，Rudolf Flesch“touched off”一場爭論，因此此處的touch off必然是“引起”的意思。

　　40. C) 本題要求有較好的綜合能力才能做得既快又準。從第二段中綜合出whole-word閱讀方法的特點：強調單詞的意思、沒有decoding;由此即可知B)、D)是錯的;在文章的最后一句話，作者指出Phonics does not devalue the importance of thinking about the meaning of words and sentences，所以A)也是不對的。　41. Word had come from the manager ____________ a new transaction would be concluded.

　　A) who

　　B) that

　　C) which

　　D) when

　　42. There was a traffic jam, but she ____________ get to the destination in time.

　　A) could

　　B) might

　　C) ought to

　　D) was able to

　　43. "Do you think ____________ I should attend the lecture?" she asked me.

　　A) that

　　B) whether

　　C) if

　　D) when

　　44. Their room was on the third floor, its window ____________ the sports ground.

　　A) overlooks

　　B) overlooking

　　C) overlooked

　　D) to overlook

　　45. On no account ____________ to anyone who works in the company.

　　A) my name must be mentioned

　　B) my name must mention

　　C) must my name be mentioned

　　D) must my name mention

　　46. Jim knows little of mathematics, ____________ of chemistry.

　　A) and still less

　　B) as well as

　　C) no less than

　　D) and still more

　　47. The man denied ____________ any thing at the supermarket when he was questioned by the police.

　　A) to have stolen

　　B) to steal

　　C) having stolen

　　D) having been stealing

　　48. Did he tell you what ____________ if he had a chance?

　　A) was he going to do

　　B) he would do

　　C) be had done

　　D) had to do

　　49. The results were to ____________ yesterday, but we have heard nothing.

　　A) reveal

　　B) have revealed

　　C) be revealed

　　D) have been revealed

　　50. Calculations, which are astronomically exact, have been made ____________ with the use of computers.

　　A) possible

　　B) it possible

　　C) possibly

　　D) to be possible

　　51. To handle the delicate situation, you must ;be____________

　　A) more than careful

　　B) more carefully

　　C) carefully enough

　　D) enough carefully

　　52. The governess agreed to teach the temperamental child ____________ she was given complete authority.

　　A) whether

　　B) for

　　C) that

　　D) provided

　　53. According to the periodic table, ____________ still some elements undiscovered.

　　A) there seem to be

　　B) it seems to be

　　C) it seems that

　　D) here seem

　　54. The farmer used wood to build a house ____________ to store grain.

　　A) with

　　B) in which

　　C) which

　　D) where

　　55. A beam of light will not bend round the corners unless ____________ to do so with the help of a reflecting device.

　　A) being done

　　B) made

　　C) to be made

　　D) having made　56. ____________, the more severe the winters are.

　　A) The more north you go

　　B) The farther you go the north

　　C) The more you go north

　　D) The farther north you go

　　57. Vicky has been sad recently, for her plan to go to college ____________ at the last moment.

　　A) fell out

　　B) fell behind

　　C) fell through

　　D) fell off

　　58. You had better ____________ teasing these newcomers, for that will hurt their feeling.

　　A) leave out

　　B) leave for

　　C) leave off

　　D) leave behind

　　59. Don't lose heart! You should _____________ your courage and overcome the difficulty.

　　A) hold up

　　B) set up

　　C) pull up

　　D) pluck up

　　60. He ____________ a sum of money every month to help the two orphans.

　　A) sets aside

　　B) sets up

　　C) sets along

　　D) sets in

　　61. His debts had to be _____________ after he committed suicide with his rifle.

　　A) laid off

　　B) written off

　　C) turned off

　　D) put off

　　62. The gentleman ____________ a cherub with his letter.

　　A) combined

　　B) included

　　C) kept

　　D) enclosed

　　63. At the meeting both sides exchanged their views on a wide ____________ of topics they were interested in.

　　A) extent

　　B) number

　　C) collection

　　D) range

　　64. His ____________ has changed but he has kept the fine qualities of a scientific researcher.

　　A) state

　　B) status

　　C) station

　　D) statue

　　65. She can speak French and German, to ____________ nothing of English.

　　A) say

　　B) speak

　　C) talk

　　D) tell

　　66. If you play with electricity, you may get an electric ____________

　　A) strike

　　B) beat

　　C) shock

　　D) knock

　　67. It was a wonderful play with a ____________ of over fifty actors and actresses.

　　A) list

　　B) group

　　C) bunch

　　D) herd

　　68. A ____________change in policy is needed if relations are ever to improve.

　　A) strict

　　B) wide

　　C) ever

　　D) radical

　　69. Please give my best ____________ to your family.

　　A) notice

　　B) attention

　　C) regards

　　D) cares

　　70. They bought the land with a ____________ to build a new office block.

　　A) purpose

　　B) view

　　C) goal

　　D) reason參考答案：

　　41. B) 空格及其后的內容作word的同位語，表示經理所說的話的內容。

　　42. D) 本題主要是A)和D)的辨析，be able to 與can的主要區(qū)別在于前者表示客觀的能力，后者主觀更多色彩更濃。本題根據時態(tài)及全句的內容，看出這是個客觀的事實，因此應選D)。

　　43. A) 此處是由that引導的賓語從句。

　　44. B) 分詞的獨立主格結構，window與overlook的關系是主動的，故要用現(xiàn)在分詞。

　　45. C) 倒裝。狀語on no account中含有否定詞，故要用倒裝。

　　46. A) less與little才是遞進的關系。

　　47. C) 在deny之后要用動名詞。

　　48. B) 在tell you的后面是一個賓語從句，而在這個賓語從句中用的是虛擬語氣，看清這一點后，再看看if狀語從句中的時態(tài)就能做出正確答案了。

　　49. D) 首先，我們知道結果是要“被公布”的，所以動詞部分必須用被動語態(tài)，去掉A)、B)。再由句子的意思判斷，結果本來要被公布的，但是我們沒有聽到什么消息，隱指消息未被公布，所以這是個虛擬的。

　　50. A) 這是一個固定句型。由make … possible變化而來。

　　51. A) 如果知道m(xù)ore than的特殊用法，本題即可順利做答。解答本題的另一個方法是看句子成份，要填的空中是作be的表語，根據常識，副詞是不能用作表語的，所以B)、C)、D)可被自然排除。

　　52. D) provided是一個特殊的連詞，相當于if，可引導狀語從句。

　　53. A) there be句型的變化。如果對其它的選項有疑問的話，可分析一下句子的成份。

　　54. B) 帶介詞的定語從句。農民蓋房子的目的是要用房子來盛糧食，也就是說，要把糧食放在房子中，所以選B)。

　　55. B) 省略了主語和系動詞的分詞狀語結構。

　　56. D) the more … the more 句型。在這個句型中，the more不是死的，只是表示一個比較級。

　　57. C) fall through的意思是“失敗、破產”。fall out爭吵, 吵架, 鬧翻, 結果是, 離隊;fall off 下降, 跌落, 減少, 衰退, 離開;落在...的后面, 拖欠。

　　58. C) leave off相當于stop。leave out省去, 遺漏, 不考慮;leave for動身去某地;leave behind將……落下

　　59. D) pluck up振作, 拔起。hold up舉起, 支撐, 繼續(xù)下去, 阻擋, 攔截;set up 設立, 豎立, 架起, 升起, 裝配, 創(chuàng)(紀錄), 提出, 開業(yè);hold up舉起, 支撐, 繼續(xù)下去, 阻擋, 攔截

　　60. A) set aside .留出, 不顧, 取消, 駁回;set up 設立, 豎立, 架起, 升起, 裝配, 創(chuàng)(紀錄), 提出, 開業(yè);set along 無此短語; set in開始, 到來, 上漲, 插入, 嵌入。

　　61. B) write off 注銷, 勾銷, 取消;lay off解雇, 停止工作, 休息, 劃出;turn off 關掉, 避開, 使轉變方向, 生產, 制造, 用車床加工出, 使厭煩, 變成;put off 推遲, 拖延, 搪塞, 使分心, 使厭惡, 扔掉, 脫掉, 勸阻。

　　62. D) enclose指郵寄信件時附上其它東西。

　　63. D) 選項中只有range能被wide修飾。

　　64. B) status指身份, 地位, 情形, 狀況;sate指狀態(tài);statue則是雕象。

　　65. A) to say nothing of 是一個固定短語，意思是“更不用說……了”。本題不要做成詞義辨析題。 66. C) 本題同樣沒有必要辨析四個選項的意思，只要知道“電擊”是electric shock就夠了。

　　67. B) 表示人的量詞用group。

　　68. D) 常用radical修飾change，表示根本的的變化。

　　69. C) 表示向某人致意用regard。

　　70. A) 此處應選“目的”一詞。C)表示具體的目標，不通。

　　1.But,for a small group of students, professional training might be the way to go since well-developed skills, all other factors being equal, can be the difference between having a job and not.

　　2. Declaring that he was opposed to using this unusual animal husbandry technique to clone humans, he ordered that federal funds not be used for such an experiment-although no one had proposed to do so--and asked an independent panel of experts chaired by Princeton President Harold Shapiro to report back to the White House in　90 days with recommendations for a national policy on human cloning.

　　3. In a draft preface to the recommendations, discussed at the 17 May meeting, Shapiro suggested that the panel had found a broad consensus that it would be "morally unacceptable to attempt to create a human child by adult nuclear cloning".

　　參考答案：

　　1.但是，對一個小部分學生來說，職業(yè)教育也是條可取的路徑。因為在其他因素相同的情況下，技能的嫻熟是得到工作與否的關鍵。

　　2.他宣布自己反對使用這種非同尋常的畜牧繁殖技術來克隆人類，并下令.不準聯(lián)邦政府基金用于做此類試驗--盡管還沒有人建議這么做--他還請一個以普林斯頓大學校長哈羅得?夏皮羅為首的獨立的專家組在90天內向白宮匯報關于制定有關克隆人的國家政策的建議。

　　3.在5月17日的會議上所討論的這份建議書的序言草案中，夏皮羅提出，專家組已經達成廣泛共識，那就是"試圖通過成人細胞核克隆來制造人類幼兒的做法在道德上是不可接受的"。