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2013 年 12 月大学英语四级考试阅读真题(第 1 套)
PartⅢ Reading Comprehension (40minutes)
SectionA
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
anyof thewordsinthebank morethanonce.
Questions36to 45are basedon thefollowing passage.
What does it take to be a well-trained nurse ? The answer used to be two-year associate’s of
four-year bachelor’s degree programs．But as the nursing shortage _36_，a growing number of
schools and hospitals are establishing“ fast-track programs”that enable college graduates with no
nursing _37_tobecome registered nurses with onlya year orso of_38_training .
In 1991，there were only 40 fast-track curricula ; now there are more than 200. Typical is
Columbia University’s Entry to Practice program. Students earn their bachelor of science in nursing
in a year . Those who stay on for an _39_ two years can earn a master’s degree that _40_ them
as nursepractitioners (执业护士)orclinical nurse specialists．
Many students are recent _41_ ; others are career switchers．Rudy Guardron，32，a 2004
graduate of Columbia’s program, was a premedical student in college and then worked for a
pharmaceutical (药物的) research company . At Columbia , he was _42_ as a nurses practitioner .
“I saw that nurses were in high _43_ and it looked like a really good opportunity，”he
says．“Also，I didn't want to bein school for thatlong.’’
The fast-track trend fills a need，but it’s also creating some _44_ between newcomers and
veterans.“Nurses that are still at thebedside_45_these kidswith suspicion，”says Linda Pellico，
who has taught nursing at Yale University for l8 years.“They wonder, howcan they doit quicker?”
Theanswer is they don’t.
A) additional I) promote
B) applied J)qualifies
C) demand K)specialized
D) excessive L) tension
E) experience M)trained
F) explores N) view
G) graduates O) worsens
H) operations
SectionB
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 marking
thecorresponding letter onAnswer Sheet 2.
Theriseof thesharingeconomy
A) Last night 40,000 people rented accommodation from a service that offers 250,000 rooms in
30,000 cities in 192 countries. They chose their rooms and paid for everything online. But
their bed were provided by private individuals，rather than a hotel chain. Hosts and guests
were matched up by Airbnb , a firm based in San Francisco. Since its launch in 2008 more
than 4 million people have used it—2.5 million of them in 2012 alone. It is the most
prominent example of a huge new “sharing economy”, in which people rent beds，cars , boats
and otherassets directly from each other ,co-ordinated viatheinternet.
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timeshare (分时度假房) or participating in a car pool. But technology has reduced transaction
costs, making sharing assets cheaper and easier than ever——and therefore possible on a
much larger scale. The big change is the availability of more data about people and things，
which allows physical assets to be divided and consumed as services. Before the internet,
renting a surfboard , a power tool or a parking space from someone else was feasible，but was
usually more trouble than it was worth Now websites such as Airbnb，RelayRides and
SnapGoods match up owners and renters ; smartphones with GPS let people see where the
nearest rentable car is parked ; social networks provide a way to check up on people mad build
trust；and onlinepayment systems handlethebilling.
What’smine isyours，forafee
C) Just as peer-to-peer businesses like eBay allow anyone to become a retailer , sharing sites let
individuals act as all ad hoc (临时的) taxi service，car-hire firm or boutique hotel (精品酒
店) as and when it suits them. Just go online or download an app. The model works for items
that are expensive to buy and are widely owned by people who do not make full use of them.
Bedrooms and cars are the most obvious examples, but you can also rent camping spaces in
Sweden, fields in Australia and washing machines in France. As advocates of the sharing
economy liketo putit ,access trumps(胜过) ownership.
D) Rachel Botsmam , the author of a book on the subject, says the consumer peer-to-peer rental
market alone is worth $26 billion. Broader definitions of the sharing economy include peer-
to-peer lending or putting a solar panel on your roof and selling power back to the grid (电
网). And it is not just individuals: the web makes it easier for companies to rent out spare
offices and idle machines, too. But the core of the sharing economy is people renting things
from each other.
E) Such “collaborative” (合作的) consumption is a good thing for several reasons. Owners
make money from underused assets. Airbnb says hosts in San Francisco who rent out their
homes do so for an average of 58 nights a year, making $9,300. Car owners who rent out
their vehicles to others using RelayRides make an average of $250 a month ; some make
more than $1,000. Renters, meanwhile, pay 1ess than they would if they bought the item
themselves, or turned to a traditional provider such as a hote1 or car-hire firm. And there are
environmental benefits , too: renting a car when you need it, rather than owning one, means
fewer cars are required and fewer resources mustbe devoted tomaking them.
F) For sociable souls, meeting new people by staying in their homes is part of the charm.
Curmudgeons (倔脾气的人) who imagine that every renter is a murderer can still stay at
conventional hotels. For others, the web fosters trust. As well as the background checks
carried out by platform owners, online reviews and ratings are usually posted by both parties
to each transaction, which makes it easy to spot bad drivers, bathrobe-thieves and surfboard-
wreckers. By using Facebook and other social networks, participants can check each other
out and identify friends (or friends of friends) in common. An Airbnb user had her
apartment trashed in2011.But the remarkable thing ishow well thesystem usually woks.
Peering into thefuture
G) The sharing economy is a little like online shopping, which started in America 15 year ago.
At first, people were worried about security. But having made a successful purchase from,
say, Amazon, they felt safe buying elsewhere. Similarly, using Airbnb or a car-hire service
for the first time encourages people to try other offerings. Next, consider eBay. Having
started out as a peer-to-peer marketplace, it is now dominated by professional “power seller”
(many of whom started out as ordinary eBay users). The same may happen with the sharing
economy, which also provides new opportunities for enterprise. Some people have bought
cars solely to rent them out, for example.
H) Existing rental businesses are getting involved too. Avis, a car-hire firm, has a share in a
sharing rival. So do GM ad Daimler, two carmakers. In future, companies may develop
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space) on peer-to-peer renta1 sites. In the past, new ways of doing things online have not
displaced the old ways entirely. But they have often changed them. Just as internet shopping
forced Wal-mart and Tesco to adapt, so online sharing will shake up transport, tourism,
equipment-hireand more.
I) The main worry is regulatory uncertainty. Will room-renters be subject to hotel taxes, for
example? In Amsterdam officials are using Airbnb listings to track down unlicensed hotels.
In some American cities, peer-to-peer taxi services have been banned after lobbying by
traditional taxi firms. The danger is that although some rules need to be updated to protect
consumers from harm, existing rental businesses will try to destroy competition. People
who rent out rooms should pay tax, of course, but they should not be regulated like a Ritz-
Carlton hotel. The lighter rules that typically govern bed-and-breakfasts are more than
adequate.
J) The sharing economy is the latest example of the internet's value to consumers. This
emerging model is now big and disruptive (颠覆性的) enough for regulators and companies
to have woken up to it. That is a sign of its immense potential. It is time to start caring
about sharing.
46. Sharingitems such as cars does good totheenvironment.
47. Airbnb's success clearly illustrates the emergenceof ahuge sharing economy.
48. Themajorconcern about thesharing economy is howthegovernment regulates it.
49. Themostfrequently shared items are thoseexpensiveto buybut notfully used.
50. The sharing economy has apromising future.
51. Onlinesharing will change theway business isdoneintransportation, travel, rentals, etc.
52. Airbnb is awebsitethat enables owners and renters to complete transactions online.
53. Thesharing economy is likelyto go theway ofonlineshopping.
54. One advantage of sharing is that owners earn money from renting out items not made full use
of.
55. Sharingappeals to thesociable inthat they canmeet new people.
SectionC
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 2withasinglelinethrough thecentre.
Passage One
Questions56to 60are basedon thefollowing passage.
In recent years, a growing body of research has shown that our appetite and food intake are
influenced by a large number of factors besides our biological need for energy, including our eating
environment and our perception ofthefood infront of us.
Studies have shown, for instance, that eating in front of the TV (or a similar distraction ) can
increase both hunger and the amount of food consumed. Even simple visual cues, like plate size
and lighting, have been shown toaffect portion sizeand consumption.
A new study suggested that our short-term memory also may play a role in appetite. Several
hours after a meal, people's hunger levels were predicted not by how much they'd eaten but rather
by now much food they'd seen in front of them---in other words, how much they remembered
eating.
This disparity(差异) suggests the memory of our previous meal may have a bigger influence
on our appetite than the actual size of the meal, says Jeffrey M. Brunstrom, a professor of
experimental psychology at theUniversity ofBristol.
“Hunger isn't controlled solely by the physical characteristics of a recent meal. We have
identified an independent role for memory for that meal,” Brunstrom says. “This shows that the
relationshipbetween hunger and food intakeis more complex thanwe thought. “
These findings echo earlier research that suggests our perception of food can sometimes trick
our body's response to the food itself. In a 2011 study, for instance, people who drank the same
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related hormones ( 荷尔蒙 ), depending on whether the shake's label said it contained 620 or 140
calories. Moreover, the participants reported feeling more full when they thought they'd consumed
ahigher-calorie shake.
What does this mean for our eating habits ? Although it hardly seems practical to trick
ourselves into eating less, the new findings do highlight the benefits of focusing on our food and
avoidingTV and multitasking whileeating.
The so-called mindful-eating strategies can fight distractions and help us control our appetite ,
Brunstromsays.
56．Whatis said to beafactoraffecting ourappetite and foodintake?
A)Howwe perceive thefood we eat. C)When we eat ourmeals.
B) Whatingredients the foodcontains. D) Howfast we eat ourmeals.
57．Whatwould happen at meal timeifyou remembered eating alot in theprevious meal?
A)You would probably bemore picky about food．
B) You would not feel likeeating the samefood．
C)You would havea good appetite．
D)You would not feel so hungry．
58．Whatdowe learn from the2011study?
A)Foodlabels maymislead consumers in theirpurchases．
B) Foodlabels may influence ourbody’s response tofood．
C)Hungerlevels dependonone’s consumption ofcalories．
D)Peopletend to take ina lotmore calories than necessary．
59.Whatdoes Brunstrom suggest we dotocontrol ourappetite?
A)Trick ourselves into eating less. C)Concentrate onfood while eating．
B) Choosefood withfewer calories. D) Pickdishes ofthe right size．
60.Whatis themain ideaof thepassage7
A)Eating distractions often affect ourfood digestion．
B) Psychological factors influence ourhungerlevels．
C)Ourfood intake isdetermined by our biological needs.
D)Good eating habits will contributeto our health．
Passage Two
Questions61to 65are basedon thefollowing passage.
As a society we might want to rethink the time and money spent on education , so that these
resources can benefit a greater percentage of the population. Ideally，both high schools and
colleges can prepareindividuals for theever-changing roles that are likely to beexpected ofthem.
High school degrees offer far less in the way of preparation for work than they might, or than
many other nations currently offer，creating a growing skills gap in our economy．We encourage
students to go on to college whether they are prepared or not，or have a clear sense of purpose or
interest ,and nowhave thehighest college dropout rate in theworld．
We might look to other countries for models of how high schools can offer better training，as
well as the development of a work ethic ( 勤奋工作的美德 ) and the intellectual skills needed for
continued learning and development. I recommend Harvard's 2011 “Pathways to Prosperity ” report
for more attention to the“forgotten half” ( those who do not go on to college) and ideas about how
toaddress this issue．
Simultaneously，the liberal arts become more important than ever. In a knowledge economy
where professional roles change rapidly and many college students are preparing for positions that
may not even exist yet，the skill set needed is one that prepares them for change and continued
learning.
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and knowing how to do research are all solid background skills for a wide variety of roles，and
such training is more important than any particular major in a liberal arts college. We need to
continueto valuebroad preparation in thinkingskillsthat will serve for alifetime.
Students also need to learn to work independently and to make responsible decisions. The
lengthening path to adulthood appears exacerbated (恶化) by parental involvement in the college
years. Given the rising investment in college education，parental concern is not surprising，but
learning where and when to intervene ( 干预 ) will help students take more ownership of the
outcomes oftheseincreasingly costly educations .
61. Whatkind ofeducation does theauthor think is ideal?
A) It benefits thegreat majorityof thegeneral population.
B) It prepares students to meet thefuture needs ofsociety.
C) It encourages students tolearn throughout theirlives.
D) It ensures that students' expectationsare successfully fulfilled.
62. Whatdoes theauthor say is theproblem with present highschool education?
A) Ignoring theneeds ofthosewho don't go tocollege.
B) Teaching skillsto beused right after graduation only.
C)Givinglittleattention to thosehavingdifficultylearning.
D)Creating thehighest dropout rate in thedeveloped world.
63. Whatcharacterizes aknowledge economy according to thepassage?
A) Peoplehave to receivehigher education to qualifyforaprofessional position.
B) Studentsmajoring in liberal arts usuallyhavedifficulty securing ajob.
C)Newpositions areconstantly created that require people to keep learning.
D)Colleges find it hard to teach students howtocope withthe changing economy.
64. Whatdoes theauthor think aliberal arts collegeshould focus on?
A)Solidbackground knowledge in aparticular field.
B) Practical skillsurgently needed in current society.
C)Basic skills neededfor change and lifelong learning.
D)Useful thinkingskillsfor advanced academic research.
65.Whatsuggestion does theauthor offer to parents?
A)Rethinkingthe valueofhigher education.
B) Investing wisely intheir children's education.
C)Helping theirchildren tobring their talent intofull play.
D)Avoiding toomuch intervention in theirchildren's education.
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