1992年6月大学英语四级考试阅读附试题和答案

　　Part II Reading Comprehension (35 minutes)
Passage One
Questions 21 to 25 are based on the following passage.

Looking back on my childhood, I am convinced that naturalists are born and not made.
Although we were all brought up in the same way, my brothers and sisters soon abandoned their pressed flowers and insects. Unlike them, I had no ear for music and languages. I was not an early reader and I could not do mental arithmetic.
Before world I we spent our summer holidays in Hungary. I have only the dim memory of the house we lived in, of my room and my toys. Nor do I recall clearly the large family of grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins who gathered next door. But I do have a crystal-clear memory of the dogs, the farm animals, the local birds and, above all the insects.
I am a naturalist, not a scientist. I have a strong love of the natural world, and my enthusiasm has led me into varied investigations. I love discussing my favorite topics and enjoy burning the midnight oil while reading about other people’s observations and discoveries. Then something happens that brings these observations together in my conscious mind. Suddenly you fancy you see the answer to the riddle (谜), because it all seems to fit together. This has resulted in my publishing 300 papers and books, which some might honour with the title of scientific research.

But curiosity, a keen eye, a good memory and enjoyment of the animal and plant world do not make a scientist: one of the outstanding and essential qualities require is self-discipline, quality I lack. A scientist requires not only self-discipline but all training, determination and a goal. A scientist, up to a point, can be made. A naturalist is born. If you can combine the two, you get the best of both worlds.

21. The first paragraph tells us that the author ________.
A) was born to a naturalist’s family
B) lost his hearing when he was a child
C) didn’t like his brothers and sisters
D) was interested in flowers and insects in his childhood（A）

22. The author can’t remember his relatives clearly because ________.
A) he didn’t live very long with them
B) he was fully occupied with observing nature
C) he was too young when he lived with them
D) the family was extremely large（D）

23. It can be inferred from the passage that the author was ________.
A) no more than a born naturalist
B) a naturalist but not a scientist
C) a scientist as well as a naturalist
D) first of all a scientist（C）

24. The author says that he is a naturalist rather than a scientist probably because he thinks he ________.
A) lacks some of the qualities required of a scientist
B) has a great deal of trouble doing mental arithmetic
C) just reads about other people’s observations and discoveries
D) comes up with solutions in a most natural way（B）

25. According to the author, a born naturalist should first of all be ________.
A) full of ambition
B) full of enthusiasm
C) knowledgeable
D) self-disciplined（D）
　　Passage Two
Questions 26 to 30 are based on the following passage.

Sporting activities are essentially modified forms of hunting behaviour. Viewed biologically, the modern footballer is in reality a member of a hunting group. His killing weapon has turned into a harmless football and his prey (猎物) into a goalmouth. If his aim is accurate and he scores a goal, he enjoys the hunter’s triumph of killing his prey.

To understand how this transformation has taken place we must briefly look back at our forefathers. They spent over a million years evolving (进化) as cooperative hunters. Their very survival depended on success in the hunting-field. Under this pressure their whole way of life, even their bodies, became greatly changed. They became chasers, runners, jumpers, aimers, throwers and prey-killers. They cooperated as skillful male-group attackers.

Then about ten thousand years ago, after this immensely long period of hunting their food, they became farmers. Their improved intelligence, so vital to their old hunting life, was put to a new use—that of controlling and domesticating their prey. The hunt became suddenly out of date. The food was there on the farms, awaiting their needs. The risks and uncertainties of the hunt were no longer essential for survival.

The skills and thirst for hunting remained, however, and demanded new outlets. Hunting for sport replaced hunting for necessity. This new activity involved all the original hunting sequencer but the aim of the operation was no longer to avoid starvation. Instead the sportsmen set off to test their skill against prey that were no longer essential to their survival, to be sure, the kill may have been eaten, but there were other, much simpler ways of obtaining a meaty meal.

26. The author believes that sporting activities ________.
A) are forms of biological development
B) are essentially forms of taming the prey
C) have actually developed from hunting
D) have changed the ways of hunting（B）

27. For over a million years, our forefathers were basically ________.
A) any member of the opposing team
B) the goal-mouth
C) the goal keeper
D) the football（C）

28. For over a million years, our foregathers were basically ________.
A) co-operating hunters,
B) successful farmers
C) runners and jumpers
D) skillful sportsmen（B）

29. The word “operation” (Para. 4, Line 4) refers to ________.
A) domesticating animals
B) hunting
C) prey killing
D) sports activities（B）

30. Which of the following best summarizes the main idea of the passage?
A) It is farming that gives human beings enough leisure time for sporting activities.
B) Farming is very important in human civilization because it saves human beings from risks and uncertainties of hunting for survival.
C) It is hunting that provides human beings with much simpler ways of obtaining meaty meals.
D) Sporting activities satisfy the desire of modern man to exercise hunting skills which his forefathers developed for
survival.（D）