专四真题：2016年英语专业四级考试真题-完整版

TEST FOR ENGLISH MAJORS (2016)

—GRADE FOUR—

TIME LIMIT: 130 MIN

PART I  DICTATION                                                [10 MIN]

Listen to the following passage. Altogether the passage will be read to you four times. During the first reading, which will be done at normal speed, listen and try to understand the meaning. For the second and third readings, the passage will be read sentence by sentence, or phrase by phrase, with intervals of 15 seconds. The last reading will be done at normal speed again and during this time you should check your work. You will then be given 2 minutes to check through your work once more.

Please write the whole passage on ANSWER SHEET ONE.

PART II  LISTENING COMPREHENSION                        [20 MIN]

SECTION A  TALK

In this section you will hear a talk. You will hear the talk ONCE ONLY. While listening, you may look at the task on the ANSWER SHEETONE and write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each gap. Make sure what you fill in is both grammatically and semantically acceptable. You may use the blank sheet for note-taking.

You have THIRTY seconds to preview the gap-filling task.

Now, listen to the talk. When it is over, you will be given TWO minutes to check your work.

SECTION B  CONVERSATIONS

In this section, you will hear two conversations. At the end of the conversion, five questions will be asked about what was said. Both the conversation and the questions will be spoken ONCE ONLY. After each question there will be a ten-second pause. During the pause, you should read the four choices of A, B, C and D, and mark the best answer to each question on ANSWER SHEET TWO.

You have THIRTY seconds to preview the questions.

Now, listen to the conversations.

Conversation One

Questions 1 to 5 are based on Conversation One.

1. A. To tell the man that he has been shortlisted for interview.

B. To ask the man a few questions about his interview.

C. To tell the man the procedure of the interview.

D. To explain to the man how to make a presentation.

2.  A. Questions related to the job.

B. General questions about himself.

C. Specific questions about his CV.

D. Questions about his future plan.

3.  A. Questions from the interviewers.

B. Questions from the interviewee.

C. Presentation from the interviewee.

D. Requests from the interviewee.

4.  A. Educational and professional background.

B. Problems he has faced and solved.

C. Major successes in his career so far.

D. Company future and his contribution.

5.  A. 11 a.m., next Tuesday.

B. 11 a.m., next Thursday.

C. 9 a.m., this Tuesday.

D. 9 a.m., this Thursday.

Conversation Two

Questions 6 to 10 are based on Conversation Two.

6.  A. How college students pay for their education.

B. How to handle the problem of college loans.

C. The disadvantage of college loans.

D. Government financing in college education.

7.  A. It has increased by 6 to 8%.

B. It has increased by 8 to 10%.

C. It has decreased by 6 to 8%.

D. It has decreased by 8 to 10%.

8.  A. Student’s family income.

B. First year salary after graduation.

C. A fixed amount of 30, 000 dollars.

D. Payment in the next ten years.

9.  A. Students can borrow money first.

B. Students pay no tax on savings.

C. Students pay less tax after graduation.

D. Students withdraw without paying tax.

10.  A. Giving up charitable or volunteer work.

B. Neglecting their study at college.

C. Giving up further education.

D. Neglecting high salary in job-seeking.

PART III  LANGUAGE USAGE                                    [10 MIN]

There are twenty sentences in this section. Beneath each sentence there are four words or phrases marked A, B, C and D. Choose one word or phrase that best completes the sentence. Mark your answers on Answer Sheet Two.

11.     How can I concentrate if you __________ continually __________ me with silly questions?

A. have… interrupted               

B. had… interrupted                   

C. are… interrupting               

D. were… interrupting

12.     Among the four sentences below, Sentence __________ express the highest degree of possibility.

A. It may take a long time to find a solution to the problem.    

B. It might take a long time to find a solution to the problem.           

C. It could take a long time to find a solution to the problem.           

D. It should take a long time to find a solution to the problem.

13.     She is a better speaker than __________ in the class.

A. all the girls

B. the other boys

C. other any girl

D. any boy

14.     Nobody heard him sing, __________?

A. did they

B. did he

C. didn’t they

D. did one

15.     I can’t put up with __________.

A. that friend of you               

B. that friend of yours           

C. the friend of you           

D. the friend of yours

16.     There has been an increasing number of __________ in primary schools in past few years.

A. man teacher

B. men teacher

C. man teachers

D. men teachers

17.    This is one of the issues that deserve __________.

A. mentioning

B. being mentioned

C. to mention

D. for mention

18.    The audience __________ excited on seeing__________ favorite star glide onto the stage.

A. were… its

B. were… their

C. was… their

D. was… one’s

19.    __________ your advice, I would have made the wrong decision.

A. Hadn’t it been for

B. Had it not been for

C. Had it been for

D. Had not it been for

20. The sentence I wish I had been more careful in spending money express the speaker’s __________.

A. hope   

B. joy

C. regret

D. relief

21.    The Attorney General ordered a federal autopsy of Brown’s body, seeking to __________ the family and community there would be a thorough investigation into his death.

A. ensure

B. assure

C. insure

D. ascertain

22.    The police department came under strong criticism for both the death of an unarmed and its handling of the __________.

A. consequence

B. outcome

C. result

D. aftermath

23.     The Foreign Secretary tried to __________ doubts about his handling of the crisis.

A. dispel

B. expel

C. repel

D. quell

24.     Mutual funds are thus best for investors who don’t want to take the time to study stocks in detail or who __________ the resources to build a portfolio.

A. deprive

B. lack

C. yearn

D. attain

25.     Chris ran __________ John at a sporting-goods trade show and the two quickly struck __________ an easy rapport.

A. into…up           

B. on…into               

C. across…on           

D. against…into

26.     “I’m leaving the country soon,” he told a __________ convened group of reporters.

A. especially           

B. particularly           

C. specially       

D. specifically

27.     Israel and Hamas had reached a deal on extending the __________ ceasefire by an extra 24 hours until Tuesday at midnight.

A. contemporary               

B. makeshift           

C. spontaneous           

D. temporary

28.     __________ to unplugging the alarm clock and trusting your ability to wake on time on your own, you should probably ease yourself into the new arrangement by keeping a very regular schedule for several weeks.

A. Due                       

B. Prior

C. Related                   

D. Thanks

29.     If you are an athlete, strong abdominal muscles help you ensure a strong back and freedom from injury during __________upper-body movement.

A. valiant            

B. variable           

C. vigorous           

D. vigilant

30.     Finning is a cruel __________ in which the shark’s fins are lopped off, and the live shark is thrown back to sea.

A. reality           

B. truth           

C. skill           

D. practice

PART IV  CLOZE                                                [10 MIN]

Decide which of the words given in the box below would best complete the passage if inserted in the corresponding blank. The words can be used ONCE ONLY. Mark the letter for each word on ANSWER SHEET TWO.

Imagine a world without writing. Obviously there would be no books: no novels, no encyclopedias, no cookbooks, no textbooks, no telephone books, no scriptures, no diaries, no travel guides. There would be no ball-points, no typeswriters, no computers, no Internet, no magazines, no movie credits, no shopping lists, no newspapers, no tax returns. But such __________ (31) of subjects almost miss the point. The world we live in has been indelibly marked by the written word, __________ (32) by the technology of writing over thousands of years. Ancient kings proclaimed their authority and __________ (33) their laws in writing. Scribes administered great empires by writing, their knowledge of recording and retrieving information essential to governing complex societies. Religious traditions were passed on through __________ (34), and spread to others, in writing. Scientific and technological progress was achieved and __________ (35) through writing. Accounts in trade and commerce could be kept because of writing. Nearly every step of civilization has been mediated through writing. A world without writing would bear __________ (36) resemblance to the one we now live in. Writing is a __________ (37) necessity to the societies anthropologists call civilizations. A civilization is distinguished from other societies by the complexity of its social organization, by its construction of cities and large public buildings, and by the economic specialization of its members, many of whom are not __________ (38) involved in food procurement or production. A civilization, with its taxation and tribute systems, its trade, and its public works, requires a __________ (39) system of record keeping. And so the early civilizations of Egypt, China, and (probably) India all developed a system of writing. Only the Peruvian civilization of the Incas and their predecessors did not use writing but __________ (40) invented a system of keeping records on knotted color-coded strings known as quipu. 

PART V  READING COMPREHENSION                            [35 MIN]

SECTION A MUTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS

In this section there are three passages followed by ten multiple choice questions. For each multiple choice question, there are four suggested answers marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that you think is the best answer. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET TWO.

PASSAGE ONE

(1) When I was twenty-seven years old, I was a mining-broker’s clerk in San Francisco, and an expert in all the details of stock traffic, I was alone in the world, and had nothing to depend upon but my wits and a clean reputation; but these were setting my feet in the road to eventual fortune, and I was content with the prospect. My time was my own after the afternoon board, Saturdays, and I was accustomed to putting it in on a little sail-boat on the bay. One day I ventured too far, and was carried out to sea. Just at nightfall, when hope was about gone, I was picked up by a small ship which was bound for London. It was a long and stormy voyage, and they made me work my passage without pay, as a common sailor. When I stepped ashore in London my clothes were ragged and shabby, and I had only a dollar in my pocket. This money fed and sheltered me twenty-four hours. During the next twenty-four I went without food and shelter.

(2) About ten o’clock on the following morning, dirty and hungry, I was dragging myself along Portland Place, when a child that was passing, towed by a nurse-maid, tossed a big pear——minus one bite——into the gutter. I stopped, of course, and fastened my desiring eye on that muddy treasure. My mouth watered for it, my stomach craved it, my whole being begged for it. But every time I made a move to get it some passing eye detected my purpose, and of course I straightened up then, and looked indifferent and pretended that I hadn’t been thinking about the pear at all. This same thing kept happening and happening, and I couldn’t get the pear.

(3) I was just getting desperate enough to brave all the shame, and to seize it, when a window behind me was raised, and a gentleman spoke out of it, saying: “ Step in here, please.”

(4) I was admitted by a man servant, and shown into a sumptuous room where a couple of elderly gentlemen were sitting. They sent away the servant, and made me sit down. They had just finished their breakfast, and the sight of the remains of it almost overpowered me. I could hardly keep my wits together in the presence of that food, but as I was not asked to sample it, I had to bear my trouble as best as I could.

(5) Now, something had been happening there a little before, which I did not know anything about until a good many days afterwards, but I will tell you about it now. Those two old brothers had been having a pretty hot argument a couple of days before, and had ended by agreeing to decide it by a bet, which is the English way of settling everything.

(6) You will remember that the Bank of England once issued two notes of a million pounds each, to be used for a special purpose connected with some public transaction with a foreign country. For some reason or other only one of these had been used and canceled; the other still lay in the vaults of the Bank. Well, the brothers, chatting along, happened to get to wondering what might be the fate of a perfectly honest and intelligent stranger who should be turned adrift in London without a friend, and with no money but that million-pound bank-note, and no way to account for his being in possession of it. Brother A said he would starve to death; Brother B said he wouldn’t. Brother A said he couldn’t offer it at a bank or anywhere else, because he would be arrested on the spot. So they went on disputing till Brother B said he would bet twenty thousand pounds that the man would live thirty days, anyway, on that million, and keep out of jail, too. Brother A took him up. Brother B went down to the Bank and bought that note. Then he dictated a letter, which one of his clerks wrote out in a beautiful round hand, and then the two brothers sat at the window a whole day watching for the right man to give it to.

(7) I finally became the pick of it.

41.    In Para. 1, the phrase “set my feet” probably means __________.

A. put me aside

B. start my journey

C. prepare me

D. let me walk

42.     It can be concluded from Para. 2 that __________.

A. the man wanted to maintain dignity though starved

B. the man could not get a proper chance to eat the pear

C. The man did not really want the pear since it was dirty

D. it was very difficult for the man to get the pear

43.     Compared with Brother A, Brother B was more __________ towards the effect of the 

one-million-pound bank-note on a total strange.

A. neutral

B. negative

C. reserved

D. positive

PASSAGE TWO

(1) The concept of peace is a very important one in cultures all over the world. Think about how we greet people. In some language, the phrases for greetings contain the word for peace. In some cultures we greet people by shaking hands or with another gesture to show that we are not carrying weapons --- that we come in peace. And there are certain symbols which people in very different cultures recognize as representing peace. Let’s look at a few of them.

The dove

(2) The dove has been a symbol of peace and innocence for thousands of years in many different cultures. In ancient Greek mythology it was a symbol of love and the renewal of life. In ancient Japan a dove carrying a sword symbolized the end of war.

(3) There was a tradition in Europe that if dove flew around a house where someone was dying then their soul would be at peace. And there are legends which say that devil can turn himself into any bird except for a dove. In Christian art, the dove was used to symbolized the Holy Ghost and was often painted above Christ’s head.

(4) But it was Pablo Picasso who made the dove a modern symbol of peace when he used it on a poster for the World Peace Congress in 1949.

The rainbow

(5) The rainbow is another ancient and universal symbol, often representing the connection between human beings and their gods. In Greek mythology it was associated with Iris, the goddess who brought messages from the gods on Mount Olympus. In Scandinavian mythology the rainbow was a bridge between the gods and the earth. In the Bible a rainbow showed Noah that the Biblical flood was finally over, and that God had forgiven his people. In the Chinese tradition, the rainbow is a common symbol for marriage because the colours represent the union of yin and yang. Nowadays the rainbow is used by many popular movements for peace and the environment, representing the possibility of a better world in the future and promising sunshine after rain.

Mistletoe

(6) This plant was sacred in many cultures, generally representing peace and love. Most people know of the tradition of kissing under the mistletoe at Christmas time, which probably comes from Scandinavian mythology. The goddess Freya’s son was killed by an arrow made of mistletoe, so, in honour of him, she declared that it would always be a symbol of peace. It was often hung in doorways as a sign of friendship.

(7) The ancient Druids believed that hanging mistletoe in your doorway could protect you from evil spirits. Tribes would stop fighting for a period of time if they found a tree with mistletoe. But you will never see mistletoe in a Christian church - it is banned because of its associations with pagan religion and superstition.

The olive branch

(8) The olive tree has always been a valuable source of food and oil. In Greek mythology, the goddess Athena gave the olive tree to the people of Athens, who showed their gratitude by naming the city after her. But no one knows for sure when or why it began to symbolize peace. There is probably a connection with ancient Greece. Wars between states were suspended during the Olympics Games, and the winners were given crowns of olive branches. The symbolism may come from the fact that the olive tree takes a long time to produce fruit, so olives could only be cultivated successfully in long periods of peace. Whatever the history, the olive branch is a part of many modern flags symbolizing peace and unity. One well-known example is the United Nations symbol.

The ankh

(9) The ankh is an ancient symbol which was adopted by the hippie movement in the 1960s to represent peace and love. It was found in many Asian cultures, but is generally associated with ancient Egypt. It represented life and immortality. Egyptians were buried with an ankh, so that they could continue to live in the “afterworld”. The symbol was also found along the sides of the Nile, which gave life to the people. They believed that the ankh could control the flow of the river and make sure that there was always enough water.

44. Which of the following is the best title for the passage?

A. Concept of Peace.

B. Origin of Peace Symbols.

C. Popular Peace Symbols.

D. Cultural Difference of Peace.

45. The rainbow represents the connection between human beings and their gods in all the

following countries EXCEPT __________.

A. Sweden

B. Greece

C. Finland

D. China

46. In North Europe mistletoe was often hung in doorways to indicate __________.

A. friendship

B. love

C. kinship

D. honour

47. The origin of the ankh can date back to __________.

A. the Nile

B. the “afterword”

C. the hippie movement

D. ancient Egypt 

PASSAGE THREE 

(1) Two sides almost never change: That you can manipulate people into self-sufficiency and that you can punish them into good citizenship.

(2) The first manifests itself in our tireless search for the magical level at which welfare grants are big enough to meet basic needs but small enough to make low-paid work attractive. The second has us looking to the criminal justice system to cure behavior that is as much as anything the result of despair.

(3) The welfare example is well known. We don’t want poor people to live in squalor or their children to be malnourished. But we also don’t want to subsidize the indolence of people who are too lazy to work. The first impulse leads us to provide housing, food stamps, medical care and a cash stipend for families in need. The second gets us to think about “workforce”.

(4) We’ve been thinking about it for two reasons: the “nanny” problems of two high-ranking government officials (who hired undocumented foreigners as household helpers, presumably because they couldn’t find Americans to do the work) and President Clinton’s proposal to put a two-year limit on welfare.

(5) Maybe something useful will come of Clinton’s idea, but I’m not all that hopeful. It looks to me like one more example of trying to manipulate people into taking care of themselves.

(6) On the criminal justice side, we hope to make punishment tough enough to discourage crime but not so tough as to clog our prisons with relatively minor offenders. Too short a sentence, we fear, will create contempt for the law. Too long a sentence will take up costly space better used for the violent and unremorseful.

(7) Not only can we never find the “perfect” punishment, our search for optimum penalties is complicated by our desire for fairness: to let the punishment fit the crime. The problem is that almost any punishment --- even the disgrace of being charged with a crime --- is sufficient to deter the middle class, while for members of the underclass, probation may be translated as “I beat it”.

(8) So how can you use the system --- welfare or criminal justice --- to produce the behavior we want? The answer, I suspect is: You can’t.

(9) We keep trying to use welfare and prison to change people --- to make them think and behave the way we do --- when the truth is the incentives work only for those who already think the way we do: who view today’s action with an eye on the future.

(10) We will take lowly work (if that is all that’s available) because we believe we can make bad jobs work for us. We avoid crime not because we are better people but because we see getting caught as a future-wrecking disaster. We are guided by a belief that good things will happen for us in the future if we take proper care of the present. Even under the worst of circumstances, we believe we are in control of our lives.

(11) And we have trouble understanding that not everybody believes as we believe. The welfare rolls, the prison and the mean street of our cities are full of people who have given up on their future. Without hope for the future, hard work at a low-paid job makes no sense. Working hard in school, or pleasing a boss, or avoiding pregnancy makes no sense. The deadly disease is hopelessness. The lawlessness and poverty are only the obvious symptoms.

(12) I’m not advocating that we stop looking for incentives to move poor people toward self-sufficiency or that we stop punishing people for criminal behavior. There will always be some people who need help and some who deserve to be in jail.

(13) All I’m saying is that the long-term answer both to welfare and the crime that plagues our communities is not to fine tune the welfare and criminal justice systems but to prevent our children from getting the disease of despair.

(14) If we encourage our young people to believe in the future, and give them solid evidence for believing, we’ll find both crime and poverty shrinking to manageable proportions.

48. What is the author’s attitude towards Clinton’s proposal to welfare?

A. Pessimistic.

B. Optimistic.

C. Suspicious.

D. Sarcastic.

49.     It can be inferred from Para. 7 that optimum penalties are __________ to the underclass.

A. useless

B. hopeless

C. frightening

D. humiliating

50.     Which of the following is the most appropriate title for the passage?

A. Lawlessness and Poverty.

B. Criminal Justice System.

C. Welfare Grants.

D. Disease of Despair.

SECTION B  SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS

In this section, there are five short answer questions based on the passages in Section A. Answer the questions with NO more than TEN words in the space provided on ANSWER SHEET TWO.

PASSAGE ONE

51. In Para. 4, what does the man mean by saying “I had to bear my trouble”?

52. What can be inferred from the last sentence of the passage?

PASSAGE TWO

53. Why does the UN use the olive branch in its symbol?

PASSAGE THREE

54. According to the author, what balance should we keep in welfare?

55. What does the author mean by saying “Even under the worst of circumstances, we believe 

we are in control of our lives” (Para. 10)?

PART VI  WRITING                                                [45 MIN]

Read carefully the following excerpt on term-time holiday arguments in the UK, and then write your response in NO LESS THAN 200 words, in which you should:

·summarize the main message of the excerpt, and then

·comment on whether parents should take children out of school for holiday during term 

time in order to save money.

You should support yourself with information from the excerpt.

Marks will be awarded for content relevance, content sufficiency, organization and language quality. Failure to follow the above instructions may result in a loss of marks.

Term-time holidays will be banned

Parents are to be banned by Michael Gove, UK’s Education Secretary, from taking their children out of school to save money on holidays.

He is to abolish the right of head teacher to “authorise absence” from the classroom, which has been used to let families take term-time breaks, and will warn them they face fines for their children not being at school.

“Any time out of school has the potential to damage a child’s education,” a senior source at the Department for Education said this weekend. “That is why the government will end the distinction between authorised and unauthorised absence.”

“This is part of the government’s wider commitment to bring down truancy levels in our schools. There will also be stricter penalties for parents and schools.”

The tough measures on truancy are part of a wider attempt by Mr. Gove to make education more academically rigorous and to tackle a culture in the educational establishment which he believes has accepted “excuses for failure”.

Russell Hobby, the general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said the measure would discourage parents from trying to put pressure on heads to sanction term time holiday. “ The high cost of holidays outside of term time is still an issue but ultimately a child’s education is more important than a holiday,” he said.

—THE END—

  A. The kind of people suitable for the trip.

B. Interests and hobbies of the speakers.

C. Recruitment of people for the trip.

D. Preparation for the trip to Mars.

.....

Conversation Two

Write your response on ANSWER SHEET THREE.

—— THE END ——

ANSWER SHEET 1(反面)

PART II LISTENING COMPREHENSION

What is Grit?

My questions

Why isn’t I.Q. the only difference between students?

  What is the key to(1) ______?                                          (1)______

My Research

investigation of all kinds of (2)______: including:                          (2)______

— West Point Military Academy

—(3) _______                                                      (3)______

— private companies

My finding: grit as predictor of success

  Grit is(4) ______ for a very long-term goals                                (4)______

  Grit is working hard for years to make (5)______                            (5)______

Grit is living your life like a(6) _____                                        (6)______

My survey

  High school juniors took grit questionnaires

(7)______ kids were more likely to graduate                                (7)_____

Grit-building

little is known about how to build grit in students

data show grit is unrelated to (8)_______                                    (8)____

growth mindset is the belief that the ability to learn is (9) _______                (9)____

kids with grit believe failure is(10) ______                                    (10)____

Conclusion

We need to be gritty about getting our kinds grittier.

TEM 4 SCRIPT

PARTⅠDICTATION                                           

Listen to the following passage. Altogether the passage will be read to you four times. During the first reading, which will be done at normal speed, listen and try to understand the meaning. For the second and third readings, the passage will be read sentence by sentence, or phrase by phrase, with intervals of 15 seconds. The last reading will be done at normal speed again and during this time you should check your work. You will then be given 1 minute to check through your work once more. Please write the whole passage on ANSWER SHEET ONE.

Now listen to the passage.

Are you confident or insecure in a difficult situation?

Do you react positively or negatively?

The answer may depend in part on whom you are around.

A study found that negative thinking can be contagious in some cases.

For example, the researchers studied 103 college roommates.

They measured each roommate’s tendency towards negative thinking.

It was found that thinking patterns can be contagious.

Students with a negative-thinking roommate became more depressed themselves. And students with more positive thinking roommates were more likely to become more positive as well.

The second and third readings. You should begin writing now.

The last reading.

Now, you have two minutes to check through your work. (a two-minute interval)

That is the end of PartⅠ Dictation.