2003年9月大学英语四级真题试卷及答案

2003年9月大学英语四级(CET-4)真题试卷

Part I Listening Comprehension (20 minutes)

Section A

Directions: In this section, you will hear 10 short conversation. At the end of each conversation, a question wilt be asked about what was said. Both the

conversation and the question will be spoken only once. After each

question there will be a pause. During the pause, you must read the four

choices marked A), B), C) and D). and decide which is the best answer

Then mark the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet with a single line

through the centre.

Example:

You will hear:

You will read:

A) At thee office.

B) In the waiting room.

C) At the airport.

D) In a restaurant.

From tile conversation we know that the two were talking about some work they had to finish in the evening. This conversation is most likely to have taken place at the office. Therefore, A) “At the o ffi ce” is the best answer You should choose [A] on the Answer Sheet and mark it with a single line through the centre.

Sample Answer [A] [B] [C] [D]

1. A) Give Bob a phone call.

B) Go and pick Bob up.

C) Go look for Bob.

D) Wait for Bob.

2. A) She is working in the city.

B) Life in the suburbs is lonely.

C) Jobs are easier to find in the city.

D) It’s less expensive living in the city.

3. A) In a printing shop.

B) At a publishing house.

C) At a bookstore.

D) In a library.

4. A) The woman be more careful next time.

B) They try to think of a solution.

C) The woman find a spare key.

D) They come downstairs.

5. A) Sending an e-mail.

B) Working in an office.

C) Talking on the phone.

D) Doing spelling practice.

6. A) Buy something for the picnic.

B) Go shopping with the man.

C) Go for a ride around town.

D) Have a picnic.

7. A) The woman misplaced her class permit for biology.

B) The woman arrived for registration too early.

C) The woman missed registration for the biology course.

D) The woman got a wrong class permit.

8. A) The woman likes the weather in New York very much.

B) The woman will stay in New York a long time.

C) The man is planning to visit New York.

D) It’s qui te cold in New York now.

9. A) The old lady sitting next to the couple likes toys very much.

B) An old lady took the couple’s suitcase for her own.

C) The coupl e’s s uitcase was stolen in the restaurant.

D) The man forgot to put the toys in their suitcase.

10. A) She’s flying to Hong Kong.

B) She’s goi ng to buy an air ticket.

C) She’s going to say good-bye to Bill.

D) She’s leaving for Hong Kong with Bill.

Section B

Directions: In this section, you will hear 3 short passages. At the end of each passage,

you will hear some 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 marked A), B), C) and D). Then mark the

corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet with a single line through the

centre.

Passage One

Questions 11 to 13 are based on the passage you have just heard.

11. A) They him only retired workers.

B) They each do jobs they are good at.

C) They close the hotel during low seasons.

D) They employ as few workers as possible.

12. A) Staff training.

B) Book-keeping.

C) Cleaning and washing up.

D) Gardening and flower arranging.

13. A) They have their hotel beautifully decorated.

B) They provide delicious food.

C) They make their guests feel at home.

D) They give parties regularly for their visitors.

Passage Two

Questions 14 to 17 are based on the passage you have just heard.

14. A) To withdraw his deposit.

B) To cash a cheek.

C) To rob the bank.

D) To get his prize.

15. A) A radio announcer

B) A bank employee.

C) A car mechanic.

D) A movie actor.

16. A) They let him do what he wanted to.

B) They helped him find large bills.

C) They pressed the alarm.

D) They called the police.

17. A) He was afraid that be would be caught on the spot.

B) Large bills were not within his reach.

C) The maximum sum allowed was 55,000.

D) He was limited by time and the size of his pockets.

Passage Three

Questions 18 to 20 are based on the passage you have just heard.

18. A) A rescuer on the Golden Gate Bridge.

B) A professional diver.

C) A telephone operator.

D) A guard on the Golden Gate Bridge.

19. A) Someone ham fallen off the bridge.

B) Someone on the bridge is being attacked.

C) Someone is threatening to destroy the bridge.

D) Someone on the bridge is attempting to kill himself.

20. A) Call the mother to come fight away.

B) Try to communicate with them first.

C) Help them to get out of their misty.

D) Remind them that they have children to take care of.

Part II Reading Comprehension (35 minutes)

Directions: There are 4 passages in this part. 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 the Answer Sheet with a single ling through the

centre.

Passage One

Questions 21 to 25 are based on the following passage.

A recent study, published in last week’s Journal of the American Medical Association, offers a picture of how risky it is to get a lift from a teenage driver, Indeed, a 16-year-old driver with three or more passengers is three times as likely to have a fatal accident as a teenager driving alone, By contrast, the risk of death for drivers between 30

and 59 decreases with each additional passenger.

The authors also found that the death rates for teenage drivers increased dramatically after 10 p.m., and especially after midnight, with passengers in the car, the driver was even more likely to die in a late-night accident.

Robert Foss, a scientist at the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center, says the higher death rates for teenage drivers have less to do with “really stupid behavior” than with just a lack of driving experience. “The basic issue.” Be says, “is that adults who are responsible for issuing licenses fail to recognize how complex and skilled a task driving is.”

Both he and the author of the study believe that the way to mitigate (使…缓解) the problem is to have states institute so-called graduated licensing systems, in which getting a license is a multistage process. A graduated license requires that a teenager first prove himself capable of driving in the presence of an adult, followed by a period of driving with night of passenger restrictions, before graduating to full driving privileges.

Graduated licensing systems have reduced teenage driver crashes, according to recent studies. About half of the states now have some sort of graduated licensing system in place, but only 10 of those states have restrictions on passengers, California is the strictest, with a novice (新手) driver prohibited from carrying any passenger under 20 (without the presence of an adult over 25) for the first six months.

21. Which of the following situations is most dangerous according to the passage?

A) Adults giving a lift to teenagers on the highway after 10 p.m.

B) A teenager driving after midnight with passengers in the car.

C) Adults driving with three or more teenage passengers late at night.

D) A teenager getting a lift from a stranger on the highway at midnight.

22. According to Robert Foss. The high death rate of teenage drivers is mainly due to

________.

A) their frequent driving at night

B) their improper way of driving

C) their lack of driving experience

D) their driving with passengers

23. According to Paragraph 3. which of the following statements is TRUE?

A) Teenagers should spend more time learning to drive.

B) Driving is a skill too complicated for teenagers to learn.

C) Restrictions should be imposed on teenagers applying to take driving lessons.

D) The licensing authorities are partly responsible for teenagers’ d riving accidents.

24. A suggested measure to be taken to reduce teenagers’ driving accidents is that

________.

A) driving in the presence of an adult should be made a rule

B) they should be prohibited from taking on passengers

C) they should not be allowed to drive after 10 p.m.

D) the licensing system should be improved

25. The present situation in about half of the states is that the graduated licensing

system ________.

A) is under discussion

B) is about to be set up

C) has been put into effect

D) has been perfected

Passage Two

Questions 26 to 30 are based on the following passage.

If you know exactly what you want, the best route to a job is to get specialized training. A recent survey shows that companies like graduates in such fields as business and health care who can go to work immediately with very little on-the-job training.

Tha t’s especially true of booming fields that are challenging for workers. At Cornell’s School of Hotel Administration, for example, bachelor’s degree graduates get an average of four or five job offers with salaries ranging from the high teens to the low 20s and plenty of chances for rapid advancement. Large companies, especially, like a background of formal education coupled with work experience.

But in the long run, too much specialization doesn’t pay off. Business, which has been flooded with MBAs, no longer considers the degree an automatic stamp of approval. The MBA may open doors and command a higher salary initially, but the impact of a degree washes out after five years.

As further evidence of the erosion (销蚀) of corporate (公司的) faith in specialized degrees, Michigan State’s Scheetz cites a pattern in corporate hiring practices, although companies tend to take on specialists as new hires, they often seek out generalists for middle and upper-level management. “They want someone who isn’t constrained (限制) by nuts and bolts to look at the big picture, “says Scheetz.

This sounds suspiciously like a formal statement that you approve of the liberal-arts graduate. Time and again labor-market analysts mention a need for talents that liberal-arts majors are assumed to have: writing and communication skills, organizational skills, open-mindedness and adaptability, and the ability to analyze and solve problems, David Birch claims he does not hire anybody with an MBA or an engineering degree, “I hire only liberal-arts people because they have a less-than-canned way of doing things,”says Birch. Liberal-arts means an academically thorough and strict program that includes literature, history, mathematics, economics, science, human behavior—plus a computer

course or two. With that under your belt, you can feel free to specialize, “A liberal-arts degree coupled with an MBA or some other technical training is a very good combination in the marketplace,” says Scheetz.

26. What kinds of people are in high demand on the job market?

A) Students with a bachelor’s d egree in humanities.

B) People with an MBA degree front top universities.

C) People with formal schooling plus work experience.

D) People with special training in engineering.

27. By saying “... but the impact of a degree washes out after five years” (Line 3, Para,

3), the author means ________.

A) most MBA programs fail to provide students with a solid foundation

B) an MBA degree does not help promotion to managerial positions

C) MBA programs will not be as popular in five years’ time as they are now

D) in five people will forget about the degree the MBA graduates have got

28. According to Scheetz’s sta tement (Lines 4-5. Para. 4), companies prefer ________.

A) people who have a strategic mind

B) people who are talented in fine arts

C) people who are ambitious and aggressive

D) people who have received training in mechanics

29. David Birch claims that he only hires liberal-arts people because ________.

A) they are more capable of handling changing situations

B) they can stick to established ways of solving problems

C) they are thoroughly trained in a variety of specialized fields

D) they have attended special programs in management

30. Which of the following statements does the author support?

A) Specialists are more expensive to hire than generalists.

B) Formal schooling is less important than job training.

C) On-the-job training is, in the long run, less costly.

D) Generalists will outdo specialists in management.

Passage Three

Questions 31 to 35 are based on the following passage.

About six years ago I was eating lunch in a restaurant in New York City when a

woman and a young boy sat down at the next table, I couldn’t help overhearing parts of their conversation. At one point the woman asked: “So, how h ave you been?” And the boy—who could not have been more than seven or eight years old—replied. “Frankly, I’ve been feeling a little depressed lately.”

This incident stuck in my mind because it confirmed my growing belief that children are changing. As far as I can remember, my friends and I didn’t find out we were “depressed” until we were in high school.

The evidence of a change in children has increased steadily in recent years. Children don’t seem childlike anymore. Children speak more like adults, dress more like adults and behave more like adults than they used to.

Whether this is good or bad is difficult to say, but it certainly is different. Childhood as it once was no longer exists, Why?

Human development is based not only on innate (天生的) biological states, but also on patterns of access to social knowledge. Movement from one social rote to another usually involves learning the secrets of the new status. Children have always been taught adult secrets, but slowly and in stages: traditionally, we tell sixth graders things we keep hidden from fifth graders.

In the last 30 years, however, a secret-revelation (揭示) machine has been installed in 98 percent of American homes. It is called television, Television passes information, and indiscriminately (不加区分地), to all viewers alike, be they children or adults. Unable to resist the temptation, many children turn their attention from printed texts to the less challenging, more vivid moving pictures.

Communication through print, as a matter of fact, allows for a great deal of control over the social information to which children have access. Reading and writing involve a complex code of symbols that must be memorized and practices. Children must read simple books before they can read complex materials.

31. According to the author, feeling depressed is ________.

A) a sure sign of a psychological problem in a child

B) something hardly to be expected in a young child

C) an inevitable has of children’s mental deve lopment

D) a mental scale present in all humans, including children

32. Traditionally, a child is supposed to learn about the adult world ________.

A) through contact with society

B) gradually and under guidance

C) naturally and by biological instinct

D) through exposure to social information

33. The phenomenon that today’s children seem adult like is attributed by the author to

________.

A) the widespread influence of television

B) the poor arrangement of teaching content

C) the fast pace of human intellectual development

D) the constantly rising standard of living

34. Why is the author in favor of communication through print for children?

A) It enables children to gain more social information.

B) It develops children’s int erest in reading and writing.

C) It helps children to memorize and practice more.

D) It can control what children are to learn.

35. What does the author think of the change in today’s children?

A) He feels amused by chair premature behavior.

B) He thinks it is a phenomenon worthy of note.

C) He considers it a positive development.

D) He seems to be upset about it.

Passage Four

Questions 36 to 40 are based on the following passage.

“Opinion” is a word that is used carelessly today. It is used to refer to matters of taste, belief, and judgment. This casual use would probably cause little confusion if people didn’t attach too much importance to opinion. Unfortunately, most to attach great importance to it. “I have as much right to my opinion as you to yours,” and “Everyone’s entitled to his opinion,” are common expressions. In fact, anyone who would challenge another’s opinion is likely to be branded intolerant.

Is that label accurate? Is it intolerant t o challenge another’s opi nion? It depends on what definition of opinion you have in mind. For example, you may ask a fri end “What do you think of the new Ford cars?” A nd he may reply, “In my opinion, they’re ugly.” In this case, it would not only be intolerant to challenge his statement, but foolish. For it’s obvious that by opinion he means his personal preference, a matter of taste. And as the old saying goes, “It’s pointless to arg ue about matt ers of taste.”

But consider this very different use of the term, a newspaper reports that the Supreme Court has delivered its opinion in a controversial case. Obviously the justices did not shale their personal preferences, their mere likes and dislikes, they stated their considered judgment, painstakingly arrived at after thorough inquiry and deliberation.

Most of what is referred to as opinion falls somewhere between these two extremes. It is not an expression of taste. Nor is it careful judgment. Yet it may contain elements of both. It is a view or belief more or less casually arrived at, with or without examining the evidence.

Is everyone entitled to his opinion? Of course, this is not only permitted, but

guaranteed. We are free to act on our opinions only so long as, in doing so, we do not harm others.

36. Which of the following statements is TRUE, according to the author?

A) Everyone has a right to hold his own opinion.

B) Free expression of opinions often leads to confusion.

C) Most people tend to be careless in forming their opinions.

D) Casual use of the word “opinion” often br ings about quarrels.

37. According to the author, who of the following would be labored as intolerant?

A) Someone who turns a deaf ear to oth ers’ opinions.

B) Someone wh o can’t put up wi th oth ers’ tas tes.

C) Someone who values only their own opinions.

D) Someone whose opinion harms other people.

38. The new Ford cars are cited as an example to show that ________.

A) it is foolish to criticize a famous brand

B) one should not alw ays agree to others’ opinio ns

C) personal tastes are not something to be challenged

D) it is u nwise to express one’s likes and dislikes in public

39. Considered judgment is different from personal preference in that ________.

A) it is stated by judges in the court

B) it reflects public like and dislikes

C) it is a result of a lot of controversy

D) it is based on careful thought

40. As indicated in the passage, being free to act on one’s opinion ________.

A) means that one can ignore other people’s critic ism

B) means that one can impose his preferences on others

C) do esn’t mean that one has the right to do things at will

D) doesn’t mean that one has the right to charge others without evidence

Part III Vocabulary and Structure (20 minutes)

Directions: There are 30 incomplete sentences it: this part. For each sentence there are four choices marked A), B), C) and D). Choose cite ONE answer that best

completes the sentence. Then mark the Corresponding letter on the Answer

Sheet with a single line through the centre.

41. The beam that is ________ by a laser differs in several ways from the light that

comes out of a flashlight.

A) emitted

B) transported

C) motivated

D) translated

42. We booked rooms at the hotel ________ we should find no vacancies on our arrival.

A) whenever

B) if

C) since

D) lest

43. Modern forms of transportation and communication have done much to ________

the isolation of life in Alaska.

A) break through

B) break down

C) break into

D) break out

44. We know through painful experience that freedom is never by the oppressor; it must

be ________ by the oppressed.

A) demanded

B) commanded

C) required

D) requested

45. Color and sex are not relevant ________ whether a person is suitable for the job.

A) on

B) for

C) to

D) with

46. ________ the enormous flow of food from the entire globe, these countries have for

many years not felt any population pressure.

A) Thanks to

B) By means of

C) In line with

D) With regard to

47. Research universities have to keep up with the latest computer and scientific

hardware ________ price.

A) on account of

B) regardless of

C) in addition to

D) not to mention

48. Three university departments have been ________ $600,000 to develop good

practice in teaching and learning.

A) promoted

B) included

C) secured

D) awarded

49. The rapid development of communications technology is transforming the

________ in which people communicate across time and space.

A) mood

B) mission

C) manner

D) vision

50. Mr. Jones holds strong views against video games and ________ the closing of all

recreation facilities for such games.

A) assists

B) acknowledges

C) advocates

D) admits

51. Workers in the fine arts ________ thoughts and feelings through their creative

works.

A) transmit

B) elaborate

C) convey

D) contribute

52. Small as it is, the ant is as much a creature as ________ all other animals on earth.

A) are

B) do

C) is

D) have

53. The policeman declared that the blow on the vic tim’s head ________ from behind.

A) should have been made

B) must have been made

C) would have been made

D) ought to have been made

54. Finding a job can be ________ and disappointing, and therefore it is important that

you are prepared.

A) exploiting

B) frustrating

C) profiting

D) misleading

55. It British government often says that furnishing children with ________ to the

information superhighway is a top priority.

A) procedure

B) protection

C) allowance

D) access

56. Louis Herman, at the University of Hawaii, has ________ a series of new

experiments in which some animals have learned to understand sentences.

A) installed

B) equipped

C) devised

D) formatted

57. Researchers at the University of Illinois determined that the ________ of a father

can help improve a child’s grades.

A) involvement

B) interaction

C) association

D) communication

58. We can accept your order ________ payment is made in advance.

A) in the belief that

B) in order that

C) on the excuse that

D) on condition that

59. Many in the credit industry expect that credit cards will eventually ________ paper

money for almost every purchase.

A) exchange

B) reduce

C) replace

D) trade

60. Any donation you can give will help us ________ the suffering and isolation of the

homeless this New Year.

A) lift

B) patch

C) comfort

D) ease

61. In India more than one hundred languages are spoken, ________ which only

fourteen are recognized as official.

A) of

B) in

C) with

D) within

62. Techniques for ________ sleep would involve learning to control both mind and

body so that sleep can occur.

A) cultivating

B) promoting

C) pushing

D) strengthening

63. It is important to ________ between the rules of grammar and the conventions of

written language.

A) determine

B) identify

C) explore

D) distinguish

64. It is too early to say whether IBM’s competitors will be able to ________ their

products to the new hardware at an affordable cost.

A) adapt

B) stick

C) yield

D) adopt

65. This research has attracted wide coverage in the ________ and has featured on BBC

television’s Tomorrow’s World.

A) data

B) source

C) message

D) media

66. I had just posted the letter when I remembered that hadn’t ________ the cheque.

A) imposed

B) involved

C) enclosed

D) contained

67. She had a tense expression on her face, ________ she were expecting trouble.

A) even though

B) as though

C) even as

D) now that

68. They were ________ admission to the military exhibition because they were

foreigners.

A) denied

B) declined

C) deprived

D) rejected

69. It gave me a strange feeling of excitement to see my name in ________.

A) prospect

B) print

C) process

D) press