2008年大学英语四级考试AB卷真题及答案（三）

  听力

  Part IV Reading Comprehension (Reading in Depth) (25 minutes) 25%
  Section A  5%（10×0.5%）

  Directions: In this section, there is a passage with ten blanks. You are requested to select one word for each blank from a list of 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 words in the bank more than once.

  Questions 47 to 56 are based on the following passage.

  Some years ago I was offered a writing assignment that would require three month of travel though Europe's had been aboard a couple of times, but I could hardly claim to know my way around the continent. Moreover, my knowledge of foreign languages was limited to a little college French.

  I hesitated. How would I, unable to speak the language, totally unfamiliar with local geography or transportation systems, set up interviews and do research? It seemed impossible, and with considerable news. I sat down to write a letter begging off. Halfway through, thought ran through my mind: you can't learn if you don't try. So I accepted the assignment.

  There were some bad moments. But by the time I had finished the trip I was an experienced traveler. And ever since, I have never hesitated to head for even the most remote of places, without guides or even advanced bookings, confident that somehow I will manage.

  The point is that the new, the different, is almost by definition scary. But ach time you try something, you learn, and as the learning piles up, the world opens to you.

  I've learned to ski at 40, and flown up the Rhine River in a balloon. And I know I'll go on doing such things. It's not because I'm braver or more daring than others. I'm not, but I'll accept anxiety as another name for challenge and I believe I can accomplish wonders.

  注意：此部分试题请在 答题卡 2 上作答。

  A) accomplish                              I) manufacture

  B) advanced                                 J) moments

  C) balloon                                   K) news

  D) claim                                      L) reduced

  E) constantly                                M) regret

  F) declare                                    N) scary

  G) interviews                               O) totally

  H) limited 

   Section B  20%（10×2%）

  Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A), B), C) and D). You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.

  Passage One

  Questions 57 to 61 are based on the following passage.

  Global warming may or not be the great environmental crisis of the 21st century, but regardless of weather it is or isn't -- we won't do much about it. We will argue over it and may even, as a nation, make some fairly solemn-sounding commitments to avoid it. But the more dramatic and meaningful these commitments seem, the less likely they are to be observed.

  Al gore calls global warming an "inconvenient truth," as if merely recognizing it could put us on a path to a solution. But the real truth is that we don't know enough to believe global warming, and -- without major technological breakthroughs -- we can't do much about it.

  From 2003 to 2050, the world's population is projected to grow from 6.4 billion to 9.1 billion, a 42% increase. IF energy use per person and technology remain the same, total energy use and greenhouse gas emissions (mainly, CO2) will be 42% higher in 2050. But that's too low, because societies that grow richer use more energy. We need economic growth unless we condemn the world's poor to their present poverty and freeze everyone else's living standards. With modest growth, energy use and greenhouse emissions more than double by 2050.

  No government will adopt rigid restrictions on economic growth and personal freedom (limits on electricity usage, driving and travel) that might cut back global warming. Still, politicians want to show they're "doing something." Consider the Kyoto protocol. It allowed countries that joined to punish those that didn't. But it hasn't reduced CO2 emissions (up about 25% since 1990), and many signatories didn't adopt tough enough policies to hit their 2008-2012 targets.