2014年下半年大学英语四级预测模拟试卷(二)_第4页

　　Section A

　　Directions:In this section,there is a passage with ten blanks.You are required 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.

　　There’s no question that the Earth is getting hotter. The real questions are: How much of the warming is our fault, and are we47 to slow the devastation by controlling our insatiable48 for fossil fuels?

　　Global warming can seem too49 to worry about, or too uncertain—something projected by the same computer50 that often can’t get next week’s weather right. On a raw winter day you might think that a few degrees of warming wouldn’t be such a bad thing anyway. And no doubt about it: Warnings about51 change can sound like an environmentalist scare tactic, meant to force us out of our cars and restrict our lifestyles.

　　Comforting thoughts, perhaps. Unfortunately, however, the Earth has some discomforting news.

　　From Alaska to the snowy peaks of the Andes the world is heating up right now, and fast. Globally, the52 is up 1°F over the past century, but some of the coldest, most remote spots have warmed much more. The results aren’t pretty. Ice is53 , rivers are running dry, and coasts are54 , threatening communities.

　　The55 are happening largely out of sight. But they shouldn’t be out of mind, because they are omens of what’s in store for the56 of the planet.

　　Section B

　　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.

　　My father’s reaction to the bank building at 43rd Street and Fifth Avenue in New York city was immediate and definite: “You won?t catch me putting my money in there!” he declared, “Not in that glass box!”

　　Of course, my father is a gentleman of the old school, a member of the generation to whom a good deal of modern architecture is upsetting, but I am convinced that his negative response was not so much to the architecture as to a violation of his concept of the nature of money.

　　In his generation money was thought of as a real commodity(实物) that could be carried, or stolen. Consequently, to attract the custom of a sensible man, a bank had to have heavy walls, barred windows, and bronze doors, to affirm the fact, however untrue, that money would be safe inside. If a building?s design made it appear impenetrable, the institution was necessarily reliable, and the meaning of the heavy wall as an architecture symbol dwelt in the prevailing attitude toward money.

　　But the attitude toward money has, of course, changed. Excepting pocket money, cash of any kind is now rarely used; money as a tangible commodity has largely been replaced by credit. A deficit(赤字) economy, accompanied by huge expansion, has led us to think of money as product of the creative imagination. The banker no longer offers us a safe: he offers us a service in which the most valuable element is the creativity for the invention of large numbers. It is in no way surprising, in view of this change in attitude, that we are witnessing the disappearance of the heavy?walled bank.

　　Just as the older bank emphasized its strength, this bank by its architecture boasts of imaginative powers. From this point of view it is hard to say where architecture ends and human assertion(人们的说法) begins.

　　57. The main idea of this passage is that .

　　A) money is not as valuable as it was in the past

　　B) changes have taken place in both the appearance and the concept of banks

　　C) the architectural style of the older bank is superior to that of the modern bank

　　D) prejudice makes the older generation think that the modern bank is unreliable

　　58. How do the older generation and the younger one think about money?

　　A) The former thinks more of money than the latter.

　　B) The younger generation values money more than the older generation.

　　C) Both generations rely on the imaginative power of bankers to make money.

　　D) To the former money is a real commodity but to the latter the means of producing more money.

　　59. The word “tangible” (Line 2, Para. 4 ) refers to something .

　　A) that is preciousB) that is usable

　　C) that can be touchedD) that can be reproduced

　　60. According to this passage, a modern banker should be .

　　A) ambitious and friendlyB) reliable and powerful

　　C) sensible and impenetrableD) imaginative and creative

　　61. It can be inferred from the passage that the author’s attitude towards the new trend in banking is .

　　A) cautiousB) regretfulC) positiveD) hostile

　　Passage Two

　　Questions 62 to 66 are based on the following passage.

　　Sixteen years ago, Eileen Doyle?s husband, an engineer, took his four children up for an early morning cup of tea, packed a small case and was never seen or heard of again. Eileen was astonished and in a state of despair. They had been a happy family and, as far as she knew, there had been nothing wrong with their marriage.

　　Every day of the year a small group of men and women quietly pack a few belongings and without so much as a note or a good—bye close the front door for the last time, leaving their debts, their worries and their confused families behind them.

　　Last year, more than 1,200 men and nearly as many women were reported missing from home—the highest in 15 years. Many did return home within a year, but others rejected the past completely and are now living a new life somewhere under a different identity.

　　To those left behind this form of desertion is a terrible blow to their pride and self?confidence. Even the finality of death might be preferable. At least it does not imply rejection or failure. Worse than that, people can be left with an unfinished marriage, not knowing whether they will have to wait seven years before they are free to start a fresh life.

　　Clinical psychologist Paul Brown believes most departures of this kind to be well planned rather than impulsive. “It’s typical of the kind of personality which seems able to ignore other people’s pain and difficulties. Running away, like killing yourself, is a highly aggressive act. By creating an absence the people left behind feel guilty, upset and empty.”

　　62. When her husband left home, Eileen Doyle .

　　A) could not forgive him for taking the children

　　B) had been expecting it to happen for some time

　　C) could not understand why

　　D) blamed herself for what had happened

　　63. Most people who leave their families behind them .

　　A) do so without warningB) do so because of their debts

　　C) come back immediatelyD) change their names

　　64. Some people would even prefer the death to the running away of their spouse(配偶) because .

　　A) their spouse would feel no pain during the death

　　B) their spouse death would not blow their pride and confidence

　　C) a desertion would not bring a feeling of rejection or failure

　　D) their spouse death would make them feel less painful

　　65. The man or woman left behind with an unfinished marriage usually .

　　A) admits responsibility for the situationB) wishes the person who has left were dead

　　C) comes back within a yearD) will have no legal marriage life for seven years

　　66. Paul Brown regards leaving home in such circumstances as .

　　A) an act of despair B) an act of selfishness

　　C) the result of a sudden decisionD) the result of the enormous sense of guilt