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淘宝店铺：光速考研工作室
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2020 年 12 月英语四级第 1 套
Part I Writing (30 minutes)
Directions: For this part,you are allowed 30 minutes to write on the topic Changes in the Way of
Education.You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.
Part II Listening Comprehension (25 minutes)
Section A
Directions: In this section, you will hear three news reports. At the end of each news report, you will hear two or
three questions. Both the news report 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 Answer Sheet 1 with a single line through the center.
Questions 1 and 2 are based on the news report you have just heard.
1. A) Many people have been attacked by Devil Firefish.
B) The Mediterranean is a natural habitat of Devil Firefish.
C) Invasive species are driving away certain native species.
D) A deadly fish has been spotted in the Mediterranean waters.
2. A) It could badly pollute the surrounding waters.
B) It could pose a threat to other marine species.
C) It could disrupt the food chains there.
D) It could add to greenhouse emissions.
Questions 3 and 4 are based on the news report you have just heard.
3. A) Cars will not be allowed to enter the city.
B) Pedestrians will have free access to the city.
C) About half of its city center will be closed to cars.
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D) Buses will be the only vehicles allowed on its streets.
4. A) The unbearable traffic noise.
B) The worsening global warming.
C) The ever-growing cost of petrol.
D) The rising air pollution in Paris.
Questions 5 to 7 are based on the news report you have just heard.
5. A) His house was burnt down in a fire.
B) Many of his possessions were stolen.
C) His good luck charm sank into the sea.
D) His fishing boat got wrecked on a rock.
6. A) Change his fishing locations.
B) Find a job in a travel agency.
C) Sell the pearl he had kept for years.
D) Spend a few nights on a small island.
7. A) His pearl could be displayed in a museum.
B) His monstrous pearl was extremely valuable.
C) The largest pearl in the world weighs 14 pounds.
D) A New York museum has the world’s biggest pearl.
Section B
Directions: In this section, you will hear two long conversations. At the end of each conversation, you will hear
four questions. Both the conversations 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 Answer Sheet 1 with a single line through the center.
Questions 8 to 11 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
8. A) It boasts a fairly long history. C) It has 75 offices around the world.
B) It has over 50 business partners. D) It produces construction materials.
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9. A) It was started by his father. C) It is over 100 years old.
B) It has about 50 employees. D) It is a family business.
10. A) Outdated product design. C) Shortage of raw material supply.
B) Loss of competitive edge. D) Legal disputes in many countries.
11. A) Introducing innovative marketing strategies.
B) Seeking new ways to increase its exports.
C) Providing training for its staff members.
D) Conducting a financial analysis for it.
Questions 12 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
12. A) She is a real expert at house decorations.
B) She is really impressed by the man’s house.
C) She is well informed about the design business.
D) She is attracted by the color of the sitting room.
13. A) From a construction businessman.
B) From his younger brother Greg.
C) From home design magazines.
D) From a professional interior designer.
14. A) The cost was affordable.
B) The style was fashionable.
C) The effort was worthwhile.
D) The effect was unexpected.
15. A) She’d like him to talk with Jonathan about a new project.
B) She’d like to show him around her newly-renovated house.
C) She wants to discuss the house decoration budget with him.
D) She wants him to share his renovation experience with her.
Section C
Directions: In this section, you will hear three passages. At the end of each passage, you will hear three or
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four questions. Both the passages 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 Answer Sheet 1 with a single line through the center.
Questions 16 to 18 are based on the passage you have just heard.
16. A) Paying hospital bills for emergency cases.
B) Doing research on ear, nose and throat diseases.
C) Removing objects from patients’ noses and ears.
D) Providing routine care for small children.
17. A) Children aged one to four are often more curious than older children.
B) Five-to nine-year-olds are the most likely to put things in their ears.
C) Many children like to put foreign objects in their mouths.
D) Many children like to smell things they find or play with.
18. A) They want to attract attention.
B) They tend to act out of impulse.
C) They are unaware of the potential risks.
D) They are curious about these body parts.
Questions 19 to 21 are based on the passage you have just heard.
19. A) It gave her a used bicycle.
B) It paid for her English lessons.
C) It delivered her daily necessities.
D) It provided her with physical therapy.
20. A) Expanding bike-riding lessons.
B) Providing free public transport.
C) Offering walking tours to visitors.
D) Asking local people for donations.
21. A) It is a sports club.
B) It is a language school.
C) It is a counseling center.
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D) It is a charity organization.
Questions 22 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard.
22. A) How animals deal with lack of gravity.
B) How mice interact in a new environment.
C) How low gravity affects the human body.
D) How mice imitate human behavior in space.
23. A) They found the space in the cage too small to stay in.
B) They found it difficult to figure out where they were.
C) They were not used to the low-gravity environment.
D) They were not sensitive to the changed environment.
24. A) They continued to behave as they did in the beginning.
B) They already felt at home in the new environment.
C) They had found a lot more activities to engage in.
D) They tried everything possible to escape from the cage.
25. A) They changed their routines in space.
B) They began to eat less after some time.
C) They behaved as if they were on Earth.
D) They repeated their activities every day.
Part Ⅲ Reading Comprehension (40 minutes)
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.
Trust is fundamental to life.If you can't trust anything,life becomes intolerable. You can't have
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relationships without trust, let alone good ones.
In the workplace, too, trust is _ 26 _. An organization without trust will be full of fear and 27 _.
If you work for a boss who doesn't trust their employees to do things right,you’ll have a 28 time.They'll
be checking up on you all the time,correcting”mistakes”and 29 reminding you to do this or that.
Colleagues who don't trust one another will need to spend more time 30 their backs than doing any
useful work.
Organizations are always trying to cut costs. Think of all the additional tasks caused by lack of
trust. Audit（审计）departments only exist because of it. Companies keep large volumes of 31
because they don’t trust their suppliers, their contractors or their customers. Probably more than half of
all administrative work is only there because of an ever-existing sense that “you can’t trust anyone
these days.” If even a small part of such valueless work could be_32__, the savings would run into
millions of dollars.
All this is extra work we 33 onto ourselves because we don't trust people—the checking,
following through,doing things ourselves because we don't believe others will do them 3 4 —or at all.
If we took all that away, how much extra time would we suddenly find in our life? How much of our
work_35__ would disappear?
A) constantly I) proprely
B) credible J) records
C)essential K) removed
D)exploring L) stacks
E) gather M) suspicion
F) load N) tracked
G) miserable O) watching
H)pressure
Section B
Directions：In this section, you are going to read a passage with ten statements attached to it. Each statement
contains information given in one of the paragraphs. Identify the paragraph from which the information is
derived. You may choose a paragraph more than once. Each paragraph is marked with a letter. Answer the
questions by making the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2.
The Place Where the Poor Once Thrived
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This is the land of opportunity. If that weren’t already implied by the landscape—rolling green hills,palm
trees,sun-kissed flowers—then it’s evident in the many stories of people who grew up poor in these sleepy
neighborhoods and rose to enormous success. People like Tri Tran,who fled Vietnam on a boat in
1986,showed up in San Jose with nothing,made it to MIT,and then founded the food-delivery start-up
Munchery, which is valued at $ 300 million.
Indeed, data suggests that this is one of the best places to grow up poor in America. A child born in the
early 1980s into a low-income family in San Jose had a 12.9 percent chance of becoming a high earner as an
adult,according to a landmark study released in 2014 by the economist Raj Chetty and his colleagues from
Harvard and Berkeley. That number—12.9 percent—may not seem remarkable, but it was：Kids in San Jose
whose families fell in the bottom quintile（五分位数）of income nationally had the best shot in the country
at reaching the top quintile.
By contrast, just 4.4 percent of poor kids in Charlotte moved up to the top; in Detroit the figure was5.5
percent.San Jose had social mobility comparable to Denmark’s and Canada's and higher than other
progressive cities such as Boston and Minneapolis.
The reasons kids in San Jose performed so well might seem obvious. Some of the world’s most innovative
companies are located here, providing opportunities such as the one seized by a 12-year-old Mountain View
resident named Steve Jobs when he called William Hewlett to ask for spare parts and subsequently received a
summer job. This is a city of immigrants—38 percent of the city's population today is foreign-born—and
immigrants and their children have historically experienced significant upward mobility in America. The city
has long had a large foreign-born population (26.5 percent in 1990), leading to broader diversity,,which,the
Harvard and Berkeley economists say,is a good predictor of mobility.
Indeed,the streets of San Jose seem,in some ways,to embody the best of America. It's possible to drive in a
matter of minutes from sleek（光亮的）office towers near the airport where people pitch ideas to
investors,to single-family homes with orange trees in their yards,or to a Vietnamese mall. The libraries here
offer programs in 17 languages,and there are areas filled with small businesses owned by Vietnamese
immigrants,Mexican immigrants,Korean immigrants,and Filipino immigrants, to name a few.
But researchers aren’t sure exactly why poor kids in San Jose did so well. The city has a low prevalenceof
children growing up in single-parent families,and a low level of concentrated poverty, both factors that
usually mean a city allows for good intergenerational mobility. But San Jose also performs poorly on some of
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the measures correlated with good mobility.It is one of the most unequal places out of the 741 that the
researchers measured，and it has high degrees of racial and economic segregation（隔离）. Its schools
underperform based on how much money there is in the area,said Ben Scuderi,a predoctoral fellow at the
Equality of Opportunity Project at Harvard,which uses big data to study how to improve economic
opportunities for low-income children. “There’s a lot going on here which we don't totally understand,” he
said. “ It’s interesting, because it kind of defies our expectations.”
G) The Chetty data shows that neighborhoods and places mattered for children born in the San Jose areaof
the 1980s.Whether the city still allows for upward mobility of poor kids today, though, is up for debate.
Some of the indicators such as income inequality,measured by the Equality of Opportunity Project for the
year 2000, have only worsened in the past 16 years.
H) Some San Jose residents say that as inequality has grown in recent years,upward mobility has become
much more difficult to achieve. As Silicon Valley has become home to more successful companies, the flood
of people to the area has caused housing prices to skyrocket.By most measures,San Jose is no longer a place
where low-income,or even middle-income families,can afford to live.Rents in San Jose grew 42.6 percent
between 2006 and 2014,which was the largest increase in the country during that time period. The city has a
growing homelessness problem,which it tried.to address by shutting down “The Jungle,” one of the largest
homeless encampments （ 临 时 住 地 ） in the nation, in 2014. Inequality is extreme. The Human
Development Index—a measure of life expectancy,education and per capita（人均的）income—gives East
San Jose a score of 4.85 out of 10，while nearby Cupertino, where Apple’s headquarters sits, receives a
9.26. San Jose used to have a happy mix of factors—cheap housing,closeness to a rapidly developing
industry,tightly-knit immigrant communities—that together opened up the possibility of prosperity for even
its poorest residents. But in recent years,housing prices have skyrocketed, the region's rich and poor have
segregated,and middle-class jobs have disappeared. Given this, the future for the region's poor doesn't look
nearly as bright as it once did.
I) Leaders in San Jose are determined to make sure that the city regains its status as a place where even poor
kids can access the resources to succeed. With Silicon Valley in its backyard, it certainly has the chance to do
so. “ I think there is a broad consciousness in the Valley that we can do better than to leave thousands of
our neighbors behind through a period of extraordinary success,” San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo said.
J) But in today’s America—a land of rising inequality，increasing segregation，and stagnating（不增长
的）middle-class wages—can the San Jose region really once again become a place of opportunity?
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K) The idea that those at the bottom can rise to the top is central to America's ideas about itself. That such
mobility has become more difficult in San Jose raises questions about the endurance of that foundational
belief. After all, if the one-time land of opportunity can't be fixed,what does that say for the rest of America?
36. According to some people living in San Jose,it has become much harder for the poor to get ahead due to
the increased inequality.
37. In American history,immigrants used to have a good chance to move upward in society.
38. If the problems of San Jose can’t be solved, one of America’s fundamental beliefs about itself can be
shaken.
39. San Jose was among the best cities in America for poor kids to move up the social ladder.
40. Whether poor kids in San Jose today still have the chance to move upward is questionable.
41. San Jose’s officials are resolved to give poor kids access to the resources necessary for success in life.
42. San Jose appears to manifest some of the best features of America.
43. As far as social mobility is concerned,San Jose beat many other progressive cities in America.
44. Due to some changes like increases in housing prices in San Jose, the prospects for its poor people
have dimmed.
45. Researchers do not have a clear idea why poor children in San Jose achieved such great success several
decades ago.
Section C
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 46 to 50 are based on the following passage.
Three children in every classroom have a diagnosable mental health condition. Half of these are
behavioural disorders,while one third are emotional disorders such as stress,anxiety and depression, which
often become outwardly apparent through self-harm. There was an astonishing 52 per cent jump in hospital
admissions for children and young people who had harmed themselves between 2009 and 2015.
Schools and teachers have consistently reported the scale of the problem since 2009.Last year, over half
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of teachers reported that more of their pupils experience mental health problems than in the past. But
teachers also consistently report how ill-equipped they feel to meet pupils’ mental health needs,and often
cite a lack of training，expertise and support from the National Health Service（英国国家医疗服务体系）.
Part of the reason for the increased pressure on.schools is that there are now fewer ‘early intervention
（干预）’and low-level mental health services based in the community. Cuts to local authority budgets
since 2010 have resulted in a significant decline of these services, despite strong evidence of their
effectiveness in preventing crises further down the line.
The only way to break the pressures on both mental health services and schools is to reinvest in early
intervention services inside schools.
There are strong arguments for why schools are best placed to provide mental health services. Schools
see young people more than any other service,which gives them a unique ability to get to hard-to-reach
children and young people and build meaningful relationships with them over time. Recent studies have
shown that children and young people largely prefer to see a counsellor in school rather than in
an.outside environment. Young people have reported that for low-level conditions such as stress and
anxiety,a clinical setting can sometimes be daunting（令人却步的）.
There are already examples of innovative schools which combine mental health and wellbeing
provision with a strong academic curriculum. This will,though,require a huge cultural shift.
Politicians, policymakers,commissioners and school leaders must be brave enough to make the leap
towards reimagining schools as providers of health as well as education services.
46. What are teachers complaining about?
A) There are too many students requiring special attention.
B) They are under too much stress counselling needy students.
C) Schools are inadequately equipped to implement any intervention.
D) They lack the necessary resources to address pupils’ mental problems.
47. What do we learn from the passage about community health services in Britain?
A) ) They have deteriorated due to budget cuts.
B) They facilitate local residents’ everyday lives.
C) They prove ineffective in helping mental patients.
D) They cover preventative care for the local resident.
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48. Where does the author suggest mental health services be placed?
A) At home. B)At school. C) In hospitals. D) In communities.
49. What do we learn from the recent studies?
A) Students prefer to rely on peers to relieve stress and anxiety.
B) Young people are keen on building meaningful relationships.
C) Students are more comfortable seeking counselling in school.
D) Young people benefit from various kinds of outdoor activities.
50. What does the author mean by a cultural shift (Line 2, Para. 6)?
A) Simplification of schools’ academic curriculums.
B) Parents’ involvement in schools’ policy-making.
C) A change in teachers’ attitudes to mental health.
D)A change in the conception of what schools are.
Passage Two
Questions 51 to 55 are based on the following passage.
Picture this: You’re at a movie theater food stand loading up on snacks. You have a choice of
a small, medium or large soda. The small is $3.50 and the large is $5.50. It’s a tough decision:
The small size may not last you through the whole movie,but $5.50 for some sugary drink seems
ridiculous. But there’s a third option,a medium soda for $5.25. Medium may be the perfect amount
of soda for you, but the large is only a quarter more.If you’re like most people, you end up
buying the large(and taking a bathroom break midshow).
If you’re wondering who would buy the medium soda, the answer is almost.no one.In fact,
there’s a good chance the marketing department purposely priced the medium soda as a decoy（诱
饵），making you more likely to buy the large soda rather than the small.
I have written about this peculiarity in human nature before with my friend Dan Ariely, who
studied this phenomenon extensively after noticing pricing for subscriptions （ 订 阅 ） to The
Economist. The digital subscription was $59, the print subscription was $125, and the print plus
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digital subscription was also $125. No one in their right mind would buy the print subscription
when you could get digital as well for the same price,so why was it even an option? Ariely ran an
experiment and found that when only the two"real"choices were offered,more people chose the less-
expensive digital subscription. But the addition of the bad option made people much more likely to
choose the more expensive print plus digital option.
Brain scientists call this effect “asymmetric dominance” and it means that people gravitate
toward the choice nearest a clearly inferior option. Marketing professors call it the decoy
effect,which is certainly easier to remember. Lucky for consumers,almost no one in the business
community understands it.
The decoy effect works because of the way our brains.assign value when making choices. Value
is almost never absolute; rather,we decide an object's value relative to our other choices. If more
options are introduced, the value equation changes.
51. Why does the author ask us to imagine buying food in the movie theater?
A) To illustrate people's peculiar shopping behavior.
B) To illustrate the increasing variety of snacks there.
C) To show how hard it can be to choose a drink there.
D) To show how popular snacks are among movie fans.
52. Why is the medium soda priced the way it is?
A) To attract more customers to buy it.
B) To show the price matches the amount.
C) To ensure customers drink the right amount of soda.
D) To make customers believe they are getting a bargain.
53. What do we learn from Dan Ariely’s experiment?
A) Lower-priced goods attract more customers.
B) The Economist’s promotional strategy works.
C) The Economist’s print edition turns out to sell the best.
D) More readers choose the digital over the print edition.
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54. For what purpose is “the bad option” (Line 7, Para.3)added?
A) To cater to the peculiar needs of some customers.
B) To help customers to make more rational choices.
C) To trap customers into buying the more pricey item.
D) To provide customers with a greater variety of goods.
55. How do we assess the value of a commodity, acording to the passage?
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A) By considering its usefulness.
B) By comparing it with other choices.
C) By taking its quality into account.
D) By examining its value equation.
Part IV Translation (30 minutes)
Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to translate a passage from Chinese into English. You
should write your answer on Answer Sheet 2. 淘宝店铺：光速考研工作室
生活在中国不同地区的人们饮食多种多样。北方人主要吃面食，南方人大多吃来饭。在沿海地区，
海鲜和淡水水产品在人们饮食中占有相当大的比例，而在其他地区人们的饮食中，肉类和奶制品更为常
见。四川、湖南等省份的居民普遍爱吃辛辣食物，而江苏和浙江人更喜欢甜食。然而，因为烹任方式各
异，同类食物的味道可能会有所不同。
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2020 年 12 月英语四级第 2 套
Part I Writing (30 minutes)
Directions: For this part , you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay on the topic Changes in the
way of Transportation. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.
Part II Listening Comprehension (25 minutes)
Section A
Directions: In this section, you will hear three news reports. At the end of each news report, you will hear two or
three questions. Both the news report 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 Answer Sheet 1 with a single line through the center.
Questions 1 and 2 are based on the news report you have just heard.
1. A) He wanted to buy a home. C) He lost a huge sum of money.
B) He suffered from a shock. D) He did an unusual good deed.
2. A) Invite the waiter to a fancy dinner. C) Give some money to the waiter.
B) Tell her story to the Daily News. D) Pay the waiter’s school tuition.
Questions 3 and 4 are based on the news report you have just heard.
3. A) Whether or not to move to the state’s mainland.
B) How to keep the village from sinking into the sea.
C) Where to get the funds for rebuilding their village.
D) What to do about the rising level of the seawater.
4. A) It takes too long a time. C) It has to wait for the state’s final approval.
B) It costs too much money. D) It faces strong opposition from many villagers.
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Questions 5 to 7 are based on the news report you have just heard.
5. A) To investigate whether people are grateful for help.
B) To see whether people hold doors open for strangers.
C) To explore ways of inducing gratitude in people.
D) To find out how people express gratitude.
6. A) They induced strangers to talk with them.
B) They helped 15 to 20 people in a bad mood.
C) They held doors open for people at various places.
D) They interviewed people who didn’t say thank you.
7. A) People can be educated to be grateful. C)Most people have bad days now and then.
B) Most people express gratitude for help. D) People are ungrateful when in a bad mood.
Section B
Directions: In this section, you will hear two long conversations. At the end of each conversation, you will hear
four questions. Both the conversations 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 Answer Sheet 1 with a single line through the center.
Questions 8 to 11 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
8. A) To order a solar panel installation. C) To enquire about solar panel installations.
B) To report a serious leak in his roof. D) To complain about the faulty solar panels.
9. A) He plans to install solar panels. C） He saves $ 300 a year.
B) ) He owns a four-bedroom house. D) He has a large family.
10.A) The service of the solar panel company. C) The maintenance of the solar panels.
B) The cost of a solar panel installation. D) The quality of the solar panels.
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11.A)One year and a half. C) Roughly six years.
B) Less than four years. D) About five years.
Questions 12 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
12.A) At a travel agency. C) At an airline transfer service.
B) At an Australian airport. D) At a local transportation authority.
13.A) She would be able to visit more scenic spots.
B) She wanted to save as much money as possible.
C) She would like to have everything taken care of.
D) She wanted to spend more time with her family.
14.A) Four days. C) One week.
B) Five days. D) Two weeks.
15.A) Choosing some activities herself. C) Driving along the Great Ocean Road.
B)Spending Christmas with Australians. D) Learning more about wine making.
Section C
Directions: In this section, you will hear three passages. At the end of each passage, you will hear three or
four questions. Both the passages 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 Answer Sheet 1 with a single line through the center.
Questions 16 to 18 are based on the passage you have just heard.
16.A) Bring their own bags when shopping. C) Dispose of their trash properly.
B) Use public transport when traveling. D) Pay a green tax upon arrival .
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17.A) It has not been doing a good job in recycling.
B) It has witnessed a rise in accidental drowning.
C) It has not attracted many tourists in recent years.
D) It has experienced an overall decline in air quality.
18.A) To charge a small fee on plastic products in supermarkets.
B) To ban single-use plastic bags and straws on Bali Island.
C) To promote the use of paper bags for shopping.
D) To impose a penalty on anyone caught littering.
Questions 19 to 21 are based on the passage you have just heard.
19.A) It gives birth to several babies at a time.
B) It is the least protected mammal species.
C) Its breeding grounds are now better preserved.
D) Its population is now showing signs of increase.
20.A) Global warming. C) Commercial hunting.
B) Polluted seawaters. D) Decreasing birthrates.
21.A) To mate. C) To escape hunters.
B) To look for food . D) To seek breeding grounds.
Questions 22 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard.
22.A) They prefer to drink low-fat milk. C) They consume less milk these days.
B) They think milk is good for health. D) They buy more milk than the British.
23.A) It is not as healthy as once thought. C) It benefits the elderly more.
B) It is not easy to stay fresh for long. D) It tends to make people fat.
24.A) They drink too many pints every day. C)They lack the necessary proteins to digest it.
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B) They are sensitive to certain minerals. D) They have eaten food incompatible with milk .
25.A) It is easier for sick people to digest. C) It is healthier than other animal products.
B) It provides some necessary nutrients. D) It supplies the body with enough calories.
Part Ⅲ Reading Comprehension (40 minutes)
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.
When my son completes a task, I can’t help but praise him. It’s only natural to give
praise where praise is due, right? But is there such a thing as too much praise?
According to psychologist Katherine Phillip, children don’t benefit from 26 praise as
much as we’d like to think. “Parents often praise, believing they are building their child’s
self-confidence. However, over-praising can have a 2 7 effect,” says Phillip. “When we use
the same praise 28 , it may become empty and no longer valued by the child. It can also
become an expectation that anything they do must be 2 9 with praise. This may lead to the
child avoiding taking risks due to fear of 3 0 their parents.”
Does this mean we should do away with all the praise?Phillip says no.“The key to healthy
praise is to focus on the process rather than the 31 . It is the recognition of a child’s
attempt, or the process in which they achieved something, that is essential,”she says. “Parents
should encourage their child to take the risks needed to learn and grow.”
So how do we break the 32 of praise we’re all so accustomed to? Phillip says it’s
important to 33 between “person praise” and “process praise”. “Person praise
is 34 saying how great someone is. Its a form of personal approval. Process praise is
acknowledgement of the efforts the person has just 35 . Children who receive person praise
are more likely to feel shame after losing,” says Phillip.
18淘宝店铺：光速考研工作室
A) choose I) pattern
B) constant J)plural
C) disappointing K) repeatedly
D) distinguish L) rewarded
E) exhausting M) separately
F) experienced N) simply
G) negative O) undertaken
H) outcome
Section B
Directions：In this section, you are going to read a passage with ten statements attached to it. Each statement
contains information given in one of the paragraphs. Identify the paragraph from which the information is
derived. You may choose a paragraph more than once. Each paragraph is marked with a letter. Answer the
questions by making the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2.
Poverty Is a Story About Us, Not Them
A) Too often still, we think we know what poverty looks like. It’s the way we’ve been taught, the
images we’ve been force-fed for decades. The chronically homeless. The undocumented immigrant.
The urban poor, usually personified as a woman of color, the“ welfare queen” politicians still too often
reference.
B)But as income inequality rises to record levels in the United States, even in the midst of a record
economic expansion, those familiar images are outdated,hurtful, and counterproductive to focusing
attention on solutions and building ladders of opportunity.
C) Today’s faces of income inequality and lack of opportunity look like all of us. Its Anna Landre, a
disabled Georgetown University student fighting to keep health benefits that allow her the
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freedom to live her life.It’s Tiffanie Standard, a counselor for young women of color in
Philadelphia who want to be tech entrepreneurs—but who must work multiple jobs to stay
afloat. It’s Ken Outlaw, a welder in rural North Carolina whose dream of going back to school
at a local community college was dashed by Hurricane Florence—just one of the extreme
weather events that have tipped the balance for struggling Americans across the nation.
D) If these are the central characters of our story about poverty, what layers of perceptions,
myths,and realities must we unearth to find meaningful solutions and support? In pursuit of
revealing this complicated reality, Mothering Justice, led by women of color, went last year to
the state capital in Lansing, Michigan, to lobby on issues that affect working mothers.One of
the Mothering Justice organizers went to the office of a state representative to talk about the
lack of affordable childcare—the vestiges(痕迹) of a system that expected mothers to stay home
with their children while their husbands worked. A legislative staffer dismissed the activists
concerns, telling her“my husband took care of that—l stayed home.”
E) That comment, says Mothering Justice director Danielle Atkinson,“was meant to shame” and
relied on the familiar notion that a woman of color concerned about income inequality and
programs that promote mobility must by definition be a single mom, probably with multiple
kids. In this case,the Mothering Justice activist happened to be married. And in most cases in
the America of 2019, the images that come to mind when we hear the words poverty or
income inequality fail miserably in reflecting a complicated reality: poverty touches virtually all
of us. The face of income inequality, for all but a very few of us, is the one we each see in
the mirror.
F) How many of us are poor in the U.S.? It depends on who you ask. According to the
Census Bureau, 38 million people in the U.S. are living below the official poverty thresholds.
Taking into account economic need beyond that absolute measure,the Institute for Policy Studies
found that140 million people are poor or low-income. That’s almost half the U.S. population.
G) Whatever the measure,within that massive group, poverty is extremely diverse. We know
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that some people are more affected than others, like children, the elderly, people with
disabilities, and people of color.
H) But the fact that 4 in 10 Americans can’t come up with $ 400 in an emergency is a
commonly cited statistic for good reason: economic instability stretches across race, gender,and
geography. It even reaches into the middle classes, as real wages have stagnated (不增长)for all
but the very wealthy and temporary spells of financial instability are not uncommon.
I) Negative images remain of who is living in poverty as well as what is needed to move out
of it. The big American myth is that you can pull yourself up by your own efforts and change
a bad situation into a good one.The reality is that finding opportunity without help from
families, friends, schools, and community is virtually impossible. And the playing field is
nothing close to level.
J) The FrameWorks Institute, a research group that focuses on public framing of issues, has
studied what sustains stereotypes and narratives of poverty in the United Kingdom.“People view
economic success and wellbeing in life as a product of choice,willpower，and drive,”says Nat
Kendall-Taylor, CEO of FrameWorks. “When we see people who are struggling,” he says,
those assumptions “lead us to the perception that people in poverty are lazy, they don’t care,
and they haven’t made the right decisions.”
K) Does this sound familiar?Similar ideas surround poverty in the U.S. And these assumptions
give a false picture of reality. “When people enter into that pattfern of thinking,”says Kendall-
Taylor, “it’s cognitively comfortable to make sense of issues of poverty in that way. It creates
a kind of cognitive blindness—all of the factors external to a person’s drive and choices that
they’ve made become invisible and fade from view.”
L) Those external factors include the difficulties accompanying low-wage work or structural
discrimination based on race,gender, or ability.Assumptions get worse when people who are poor
use government benefits to help them survive. There is a great tension between “the poor”
and those who are receiving what has become a dirty word: “welfare.”
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M) According to the General Social Survey,71 percent of respondents believe the country is
spending too little on “assistance to the poor”.On the other hand, 22 percent think we are
spending too little on “welfare” : 37 percent believe we are spending too much.
N)“Poverty has been interchangeable with people of color—specifically black women and black
mothers,”says Atkinson of Mothering Justice. It’s true that black mothers are more affected by
poverty than many other groups, yet they are disproportionately the face of poverty.For
example, Americans routinely overestimate the share of black recipients of public assistance
programs.
O) In reality, most people will experience some form of financial hardship at some point in
their lives. Indeed, people tend to dip in and out of poverty, perhaps due to unexpected
obstacles like losing a job, or when hours of a low-wage job fluctuate.
P) Something each of us can do is to treat each other with the dignity and sympathy that is
deserved and to understand deeply that the issue of poverty touches all of us.
36.One legislative staffer assumed that a woman of color who advocated affordable childcare must be a
single mother.
37.People from different races, genders and regions all suffer from a lack of financial security.
38.According to a survey, while the majority believe too little assistance is given to the poor, more than
a third believe too much is spent on welfare.,
39.A research group has found that Americans who are struggling are thought to be lazy and to have
made the wrong decisions.
40.Under the old system in America, a mother was supposed to stay home and take care of her children.
41. It was found that nearly 50% of Americans are poor or receive low pay.
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42.Americans usually overestimate the number of blacks receiving welfare benefits.
43. It is impossible for Americans to lift themselves out of poverty entirely on their own.
44.Nowadays, it seems none of us can get away from income inequality.
45.Assumptions about poor people become even more negative when they live on welfare.
Section C
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 46 to 50 are based on the following passage.
Boredom has, paradoxically, become quite interesting to academics lately. In early May,
London’s Boring Conference celebrated seven years of delighting in dullness. At this event,
people flocked to talks about weather , traffic jams and vending-machine sounds, among other
sleep-inducing topics.
What, exactly, is everybody studying? One widely accepted psychological definition of
boredom is“the distasteful experience of wanting, but being unable, to engage in satisfying
activity.” But how can you quantify a person’s boredom level and compare it with someone
else’s? In 1986,psychologists introduced the Boredom Proneness Scale,designed to measure an
individual’s overall tendency to feel bored.By contrast,the Multidimensional State Boredom
Scale, developed in 2008, measures a person’s feelings of boredom in a given situation.
Boredom has been linked to behavior issues including inattentive driving, mindless snacking,
excessive drinking, and addictive gambling. In fact,many of us would choose pain over
boredom. One team of psychologists discovered that two-thirds of men and a quarter of women
would rather self-administer electric shocks than sit alone with their thoughts for 15 minutes.
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Researching this phenomenon, another team asked volunteers to watch boring, sad, or neutral
films, during which they could self-administer electric shocks. The bored volunteers shocked
themselves more and harder than the sad or neutral ones did.
But boredom isn’t all bad. By encouraging self-reflection and daydreaming, it can spur
creativity. An early study gave participants abundant time to complete problem-solving and
word-association exercises. Once all the obvious answers were exhausted, participants gave more
and more inventive answers to combat boredom.A British study took these findings one step
further, asking subjects to complete a creative challenge (coming up with a list of alternative
uses for a household item). One group of subjects did a boring activity first,while the others
went straight to the creative task. Those whose boredom pumps had been primed were more
productive.
In our always-connected world, boredom may be a hard-to-define state, but it is a fertile
one.Watch paint dry or water boil, or at least put away your smartphone for a while, and you
might unlock your next big idea.
46. When are people likely to experience boredom, according to an accepted psychological
definition?
A) When they don’t have the chance to do what they want.
B) When they don’t enjoy the materials they are studying.C)When they experience something
unpleasant.
D) When they engage in some routine activities.
47. What does the author say boredom can lead to?
A) Determination.
C)Mental deterioration.
B) Concentration.
D) Harmful conduct.
48. What is the finding of one team of psychologists in their experiment?
A) Volunteers prefer watching a boring movie to sitting alone deliberating.
B) Many volunteers choose to hurt themselves rather than endure boredom.
24淘宝店铺：光速考研工作室
C)Male volunteers are more immune to the effects of boredom than females.
D) Many volunteers are unable to resist boredom longer than fifteen minutes.
49. Why does the author say boredom isn’t all bad?
A ) It stimulates memorization.
C) It may promote creative thinking.
B) It allows time for relaxation.
D) It may facilitate independent learning.
50. What does the author suggest one do when faced with a challenging problem?
A) Stop idling and think big.
C) Look around oneself for stimulation.
B)Unlock one’s smartphone.
D)Allow oneself some time to be bored.
Passage Two
Questions 51 to 55 are based on the following passage.
Forests in countries like Brazil and the Congo get a lot of attention from environmentalists,and it is
easy to see why. South America and sub-Saharan Africa are experiencing deforestation on an enormous
scale: every year almost 5 million hectares are lost. But forests are also changing in rich Western
countries. They are growing larger, both in the sense that they occupy more land and that the trees in
them are bigger. What is going on?
Forests are spreading in almost all Western countries,with the fastest growth in places that
historically had rather few trees. In 1990 28% of Spain was forested;now the proportion is 37%. In both
Greece and Italy, the growth was from 26% to 32% over the same period.Forests are gradually taking
more land in America and Australia.Perhaps most astonishing is the trend in Ireland. Roughly 1% of
that country was forested when it became independent in 1922. Now forests cover 11% of the land,and
the government wants to push the proportion to 18% by the 2040s.
Two things are fertilising this growth. The first is the abandonment of farmland, especially in high,
dry places where nothing grows terribly well. When farmers give up trying to earn a living from
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farming or herding,trees simply move in. The second is government policy and subsidy. Throughout
history, governments have protected and promoted forests for diverse reasons,ranging from the need for
wooden warships to a desire to promote suburban house-building. Nowadays forests are increasingly
welcome because they suck in carbon pollution from the air. The justifications change, the desire for
more trees remains constant.
The greening of the West does not delight everyone.Farmers complain that land is being taken out
of use by generously subsidised tree plantations.Parts of Spain and Portugal suffer from terrible forest
fires. Others simply dislike the appearance of forests planted in neat rows.They will have to get used to
the trees, however. The growth of Western forests seems almost as unstoppable as deforestation
elsewhere.
51. What is catching environmentalists’ attention nowadays?
A) Rich countries are stripping poor ones of their resources.
B)Forests are fast shrinking in many developing countries.
C)Forests are eating away the fertile farmland worldwide.
D)Rich countries are doing little to address deforestation.
52.Which countries have the fastest forest growth?
A) Those that have newly achieved independence.
B) Those that have the greatest demand for timber.
C) Those that used to have the lowest forest coverage.
D) Those that provide enormous government subsidies.
53. What has encouraged forest growth historically?
A) The government’s advocacy. C) The favourable climate.
B) The use of wood for fuel. D) The green movement.
54. What accounts for our increasing desire for forests?
A) Their unique scenic beauty. C) Their capability of improving air quality.
B) Their use as fruit plantations. D) Their stable supply of building materials.
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55. What does the author conclude about the prospects of forestation?
A) Deserts in sub-Saharan Africa will diminish gradually.
B) It will play a more and more important role in people’s lives.
C) Forest destruction in the developing world will quickly slow down.
D) Developed and developing countries are moving in opposite directions.
Part IV Translation (30 minutes)
Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to translate a passage from Chinese into English. You
should write your answer on Answer Sheet 2. 淘宝店铺：光速考研工作室
春节前夕吃团圆饭是中国人的传统。团圆饭是一年中最重要的晚餐,也是家庭团聚的最佳时机,家人
生活在不同地方的家庭尤其如此。团圆饭上的菜肴丰富多样,其中有些菜肴有特殊含义。例如,鱼是不可
缺少的一道菜,因为汉语中的“鱼”字和“余”字听上去一样。在中国的许多地方,饺子也是一道重要的
佳肴,因为饺子象征着财富和好运。
27淘宝店铺：光速考研工作室
2020 年 12 月英语四级第 3 套
Part I Writing (30 minutes)
Directions: For this part , you are allowed 30 minutes to write on the topic Changes in the
Way of Communication. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.
Part II Listening Comprehension (25 minutes)
特别说明
六级考试每次仅考两套听力，第三套听力试题同第一套或第二套试题一致
Part Ⅲ Reading Comprehension (40 minutes)
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.
The things people make,and the way they make them, determine how cities grow and
decline,and influence how empires rise and fall. So, any disruption to the world’s factories 2 6
.And that disruption is surely coming. Factories are being digitised, filled with new sensors and
new computers to make them quicker, more 2 7 , and more efficient.
Robots are breaking free from the cages that surround them, learning new skills and new
ways of working.And 3D printers have long 28 a world where you can make anything,
anywhere, from a computerised design. That vision is _ 29 _ closer to reality. These forces
will lead to cleaner factories, producing better goods at lower prices, personalised to our
individual needs and desires. Humans will be 30 many of the dirty，repetitive,and
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dangerous jobs that have long been a 3 1 of factory life.
Greater efficiency 3 2 means fewer people can do the same work. Yet factory bosses in
many developed countries are worried about a lack of skilled human workers—and see 33
and robots as a solution. But economist Helena Leurent says this period of rapid change in
manufacturing is a 34 opportunity to make the world a better place. “ Manufacturing is
the one system where you have got the biggest source of innovation, the biggest source of
economic growth, and the biggest source of great jobs in the past. You can see it
changing.That’s an opportunity to 35 that system differently, and if we can, it will have
tremendous significance.”
A) automation I)interaction
B) concerns J)leaning
C) enormously K) matters
D) fantastic L) moving
E)fascinated M)promised
F)feature N)shape
G) flexible O) spared
H) inevitably
Section B
Directions：In this section, you are going to read a passage with ten statements attached to it. Each statement
contains information given in one of the paragraphs. Identify the paragraph from which the information is
derived. You may choose a paragraph more than once. Each paragraph is marked with a letter. Answer the
questions by making the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2.
The History of the Lunch Box
A) It was made of shiny, bright pink plastic with a Little Mermaid sticker on the front, and I carried it
with me nearly every single day. My lunch box was one of my first prized possessions, a proud
statement to everyone in my kindergarten:“l love Mermaid-Ariel on my lunch box.”
B) That bulky container served me well through my first and second grades, until the live-action
29淘宝店铺：光速考研工作室
version of 101 Dalmatians hit theaters, and I needed the newest red plastic box with characters like
Pongo and Perdita on the front. I know I’m not alone here—I bet you loved your first lunchbox, too.
C) Lunch boxes have been connecting kids to cartoons and TV shows and super-heroes for decades.
But it wasn’t always that way.Once upon a time,they weren’t even boxes. As schools have changed in
the past century, the midday meal container has evolved right along with them.
D) Let’s start back at the beginning of the 20th century—the beginning of the lunch box story, really.
While there were neighborhood schools in cities and suburbs，one-room schoolhouses were common
in rural areas. As grandparents have been saying for generations, kids would travel miles to school in
the countryside (often on foot).
E) “You had kids in rural areas who couldn’t go home from school for lunch, so bringing your
lunch wrapped in a cloth, in oiled paper,in a little wooden box or something like that was a
very long-standing rural tradition,” says Paula Johnson, head of food history section at the
Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.
F) City kids, on the other hand, went home for lunch and came back.Since they rarely carried
a meal, the few metal lunch buckets on the market were mainly for tradesmen and factory
workers.
G) After World War ll, a bunch of changes reshaped schools—and lunches.More women joined
the workforce. Small schools consolidated into larger ones, meaning more students were farther
away from home.And the National School Lunch Act in 1946 made cafeterias much more
common. Still, there wasn’t much of a market for lunch containers—yet.Students who carried
their lunch often did so in a re-purposed bucket or tin of some kind.
H) And then everything changed in the year of 1950.You might as well call it the Year of the
Lunch Box, thanks in large part to a genius move by a Nashville-based manufacturer，Aladdin
Industries.The company already made square metal meal containers, the kind workers carried,
and some had started to show up in the hands of school kids.
30淘宝店铺：光速考研工作室
I) But these containers were really durable, lasting years on end. That was great for the
consumer, not so much for the manufacturer. So executives at Aladdin hit on an idea that
would harness the newfound popularity of television. They covered lunch boxes with striking
red paint and added a picture of TV and radio cowboy Hopalong Cassidy on the front.
J) The company sold 600,000 units the first year. It was a major “Ah-ha!” moment, and a
wave of other manufacturers jumped on board to capitalize on new TV shows and movies.
“The Partridge Family, the Addams Family, the Six Million Dollar Man, the Bionic Woman—
everything that was on television ended up on a lunch box,”says Allen Woodall.He’s the
founder of the Lunch Box Museum in Columbus, Georgia.“It was a great marketing tool
because kids were taking that TV show to school with them, and then when they got home
they had them captured back on TV,” he says.
K) And yes, you read that right: There is a lunch box museum, right near the Chattahoochee
River. Woodall has more than 2,000 items on display. His favorite? The Green Hornet lunch
box, because he used to listen to the radio show back in the 1940s.
L) The new trend was also a great example of planned obsolescence, that is, to design a
product so that it will soon become unfashionable or impossible to use and will need replacing.
Kids would beg for a new lunch box every year to keep up with the newest characters, even
if their old lunchbox was perfectly usable.
M) The metal lunch box craze lasted until the mid-1980s,when plastic took over. Two theories
exist as to why. The first—and most likely—is that plastic had simply become cheaper. The
second theory—possibly an urban myth—is that concerned parents in several states proposed
bans on metal lunch boxes,claiming kids were using them as “weapons” to hit one another.
There’s a lot on the internet about a state-wide ban in Florida, but a few days worth of
digging by a historian at the Florida State Historical Society found no such legislation. Either
way,the metal lunch box was out.
31淘宝店铺：光速考研工作室
N) The last few decades have brought a new lunch box revolution, of sorts. Plastic boxes
changed to lined cloth sacks, and eventually,globalism brought tiffin containers from India and
bento boxes from Japan. Even the old metal lunch boxes have regained popularity. “I don’t
think the heyday( 鼎 盛 时 期 ) has passed,” says D.J.Jayasekara, owner and founder of
lunchbox.com, a retailer in Pasadena, California. “I think it has evolved. The days of the
ready-made, ‘you stick it in a lunchbox and carry it to school’ are kind of done.”
O) The introduction of backpacks changed the lunch box scene a bit, he adds. Once kids
started carrying book bags，that bulky traditional lunch box was hard to fit inside.“But you
can’t just throw a sandwich in a backpack ,” Jayasekara says. “It still has to go into a
container.”That is, in part,why smaller and softer containers have taken off—they fit into
backpacks.
P) And don’t worry—whether it’s a plastic bento box or a cloth bag, lunch containers can still
easily be covered with popular culture.“We keep pace with the movie industries so we can
predict which characters are going to be popular for the coming months,”Jayasekara says. “
You know, kids are kids.”
36. Lunch containers were not necessary for school kids in cities.
37.Putting TV characters on lunch boxes proved an effective marketing strategy.
38.Smaller lunch boxes are preferred because they fit easily into backpacks.
39.Lunch boxes have evolved along with the transformation of schools.
40.Around the beginning of the nineteen fifties, some school kids started to use metal meal containers.
41 . School kids are eager to get a new lunch box every year to stay in fashion.
42.Rural kids used to walk a long way to school in the old days.
32淘宝店铺：光速考研工作室
43.The author was proud of using a lunch box in her childhood.
44.The most probable reason for the popularity of plastic lunch boxes is that they are less expensive.
45.The durability of metal meal containers benefited consumers.
Section C
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 46 to 50 are based on the following passage.
A growing number of U.S. bike riders are attracted to electric bikes for convenience, health
benefits and their fun factor. Although ebikes first appeared in the 90s, cheaper options and longer-
lasting batteries are breathing new life into the concept.
Established bike companies and startups are embracing ebikes to meet demand. About 34 million
ebikes were sold worldwide last year, according to data from eCycleElectric Consultants. Most were
sold in Europe and China,where the bikes already have exploded in popularity.Recently, the U.s. market
has grown to 263,000 bikes, a 25% gain from the prior year.
The industry is benefiting from improved batteries as suppliers over the years developed
technology for laptops, smartphones and electric cars. In 2004, the price of batteries used on ebikes fell,
spurring European sales.
But lower cost options are emerging, too. This month, three U.S. bikeshare companies, Motivate,
LimeBike and Spin, announced electric bicycles will be added to their fleets. New York-based Jump
Bikes is already operating an electric bikeshare in Washington，D.C.， and is launching in San
Francisco Thursday. Rides cost $ 2 for 30 minutes.
The system works like existing dockless bikeshare systems,where riders unlock bikes through a
smartphone app.“This is the beginning of a long-term shift away from regular pedal(踏板) to electric
bikes,”said Jump Bikes CEO Ryan Rzepecki. “When people first jump on an ebike, their face lights
up. It’s exciting and joyful in a way that you don’t get from a regular bike.”
33淘宝店铺：光速考研工作室
Two years ago, CEO Chris Cocalis of Pivot Cycles,which sells high-end mountain bikes,found that
U.S. bike shops weren’t interested in stocking ebikes. Some retailers warned Cocalis that they’d drop
the brand if it came out with an electric bike.
Now that sales are taking off,the vast majority of bike dealers are asking Cocalis when he’ll make
an ebike available. “There’s tremendous opportunity to get a generation of people for whom suffering
isn’t their thing,” Cocalis said. “Ebike riders get the enjoyable part of cycling without themassive
suffering of climbing huge hills.”
46. What do we learn from the passage about ebikes?
A) Their health benefits and fun values outweigh their cost.
B) They did not catch public attention in the United States until the 1990s.
C) They did not become popular until the emergence of improved batteries.
D) Their widespread use is attributable to people’s environmental awareness.
47. What brought about the boost in ebike sales in Europe at the beginning of the century?
A) Updated technology of bike manufacture.
B) The falling prices of ebike batteries.
C) Changed fashion in short-distance travel.
D) The rising costs for making electric cars.
48. What is the prospect of the bike industry according to Ryan Rzepecki?
A) More will be invested in bike battery research.
B) The sales of ebikes will increase.
C) It will profit from ebike sharing.
D) It will make a difference in people’s daily lives.
49. What prevented Chris Cocalis from developing ebikes sooner?
A) Retailers’ refusal to deal in ebikes.
B) High profits from conventional bikes.
C) Users’concern about risks of ebike riding.
D) His focus on selling costly mountain bikes.
50. What makes Chris Cocalis believe there is a greater opportunity for ebike sales?
34淘宝店铺：光速考研工作室
A) The further lowering of ebike prices.
B) The public’s concern for their health.
C) The increasing interest in mountain climbing.
D) The younger generation’s pursuit of comfortable riding.
Passage Two
Questions 51 to 55 are based on the following passage.
The terms “ global warming” and “ climate change” are used by many, seemingly
interchangeably. But do they really mean the same thing?
Scientists shaped the history of the terms while attempting to accurately describe how
humans continue to alter the planet. Later, political strategists adopted the terms to influence
public opinion.
In 1975，geochemist Wallace Broecker introduced the term “climate change” in an article
published by Science. In 1979, a National Academy of Sciences report used the term “global
warming” to define increases in the Earth’s average surface temperature, while “ climate
change” more broadly referred to the numerous effects of this increase，such as sea-level rise
and ocean acidification(酸化).
During the following decades,some industrialists and politicians launched a campaign to sow
doubt in the minds of the American public about the ability of fossil-fuel use, deforestation and
other human activities to influence the planet’s climate.
Word use played a critical role in developing that doubt. For example,the language and
polls expert Frank Luntz wrote a memo encouraging the use of “climate change” because the
phrase sounded less scary than “global warming,” reported the Guardian.
However, Luntz’s recommendation wasn’t necessary.A Google Ngram Viewer chart shows
that by 1993 climate change was already more commonly used in books than global warming.
By the end of the next decade both words were used more frequently, and climate change was
used nearly twice as often as global warming.
NASA used the term “climate change” because it more accurately reflects the wide range
of changes to the planet caused by increasing amounts of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
The debate isn’t new. A century ago, chemist Svante Arrhenius started one of the first
debates over the potential for humans to influence the planet’s climate. Arrhenius calculated the
capability of carbon dioxide to trap heat in the Earth’s atmosphere, but other chemists
35淘宝店铺：光速考研工作室
disagreed. Some argued that humans werent producing enough greenhouse gases,while others
claimed the effects would be tiny. Now, of course, we know that whatever you call it, human
behavior is warming the planet, with grave consequences ahead.
51. Why did politicians use the two terms “global warming” and “climate change”?
A) To sway public opinion of the impact of human activities on Earth.
B) To more accurately describe the consequences of human activities.
C)To win more popular votes in their campaign activities.
D) To assure the public of the safety of existing industries.
52.As used in a National Academy of Sciences report, the term “climate change” differs from
“global warming” in that .
A) it sounds less vague
B) it looks more scientific
C) it covers more phenomena
D) it is much closer to reality
53. What did industrialists of the late 20th century resort to in order to mislead Americans?
A)Made-up survey results.
C) False research findings.
B) Hired climate experts.
D) Deliberate choice of words.
54. Why did NASA choose the term “climate change”?
A) To obtain more funds.
B) For greater precision.
C) For political needs.
D) To avoid debate.
55. What is the author’s final conclusion?
36淘宝店铺：光速考研工作室
A) Global warming is the more accurate term.
B) Accuracy of terminology matters in science.
C)Human activities have serious effects on Earth.
D) Politics interferes with serious scientific debate.
Part IV Translation (30 minutes)
Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to translate a passage from Chinese into English. You
should write your answer on Answer Sheet 2. 淘宝店铺：光速考研工作室
鱼是春节前夕餐桌上不可或缺的一道菜,因为汉语中“鱼”字的发音与“余”字的发音相同。正由于
这个象征性的意义,春节期间鱼也作为礼物送给亲戚朋友。鱼的象征意义据说源于中国传统文化。中国人
有节省的传统,他们认为节省得愈多,就感到愈为安全。今天,尽管人们愈来愈富裕了,但他们仍然认为节
省是一种值得弘扬的美德。
37
