20. A) They are expensive to make. B) They are extremely accurate. C) They were first made in space.
D) They were invented in the 1970s.
Questions 19 to 21 are based on the passage you have just heard.
21. A) Everything was natural and genuine then. B) People had plenty of land to cultivate then. C) It marked the beginning of something new. D) It was when her ancestors came to America.
20. A) They were known to be creative.
B) They enjoyed living a living a life of ease. C) They had all kinds of entertainment. D) They believed in working for goals.
21. A) Chatting with her ancestors.
B) Doing needlework by the fire. C) Furnishing her country house. D) Polishing all the silver work.
Questions 22 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard.
22. A) Sit down and try to calm yourself.
B) Call your family or friends for help. C) Use a map to identify your location. D) Try to follow your footprints back.
23. A) You may end up entering a wonderland.
B) You may get drowned in a sudden flood.
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C) You may expose yourself to unexpected dangers. D) You may find a way out without your knowing it.
24. A) Walk uphill.
B) Look for food. C) Start a fire. D) Wait patiently.
25. A) Check the local weather.
B) Find a map and a compass. C) Prepare enough food and drink. D) Inform somebody of your plan.
Part Ⅲ
Section A
Reading Comprehension (40 minutes)
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.
Questions 26 to 35 are based on the following passage.
We all know there exists great void（空白）in the public educational system when it comes to (26)_______ to STEM（Science,Technology,Engineering Mathematics）,One educator named Dori Roberts decided to do something to change this system. Dori taught high school engineering for 11 years.She noticed there was a real void in quality stem education at all (27)_______ of the public educational system. she said,“I started Engineering for kids (EFK)after noticing a real lack of math, science and engineering programs to (28)_______ my own kids in.”
She decided to start an after school program where children (29)_______ in STEM-based
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competitions.The club grew quickly and when it reached 180 members and the kids in the program won several state (30)_______ . she decided to devote all her time to cultivating and (31)_______ it The global business EFK was born.
Dori began operating EFK out of her Virginia home, which she then expanded to (32)_______ recreation centers. Today, the EFK program (33)_______ over 144 branches in 32 states within the United States and in 21 countries. Sales have doubled from $5 million in 2014 to $10 million in 2015,with 25 new branches planned for 2016. the EFK website states, “Our nation is not (34)_______ enough engineers. Our philosophy is to inspire kids at a young age to understand that engineering is a great (35)_______ .”
注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。
A) attracted E) developing I) feeding M) local
B) career F) enroll J) graduating N) operates C) championships G) exposure K) interest O) participated D) degrees H) feasible L) levels 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 marking the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2.
Why aren’t you curious about what happened?
[A] “You suspended Ray Rice after our video，” a reporter from TMZ challenged National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell the other day. “Why didn’t you have the curiosity to go to the casino （赌场）yourself ?” The implication of the question is that a more curious commissioner would have found a way to get the tape.
[B] The accusation of incuriosity is one that we hear often, carrying the suggestion that there is something wrong with not wanting to search out the truth,” have been bothered for a long time about the
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curious lack of curiosity,” said a Democratic member of the New Jersey legislature back in July, referring to an insufficiently inquiring attitude on the part of an assistant to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie who chose not to ask hard questions about the George Washington Bridge traffic scandal. “Isn’t the mainstream media the least bit curious about what happened?” wrote conservative writer Jennifer Rubin earlier this year, referring to the attack on Americans in Benghazi, Libya.
[C] The implication, in each case, is that curiosity is a good thing，and a lack of curiosity is a problem. Are such accusations simply efforts to score political points for one’s party? Or is there something of particular value about curiosity in and of itself?
[D] The journalist Ian Leslie, in his new and enjoyable book Curious: The Desire to Know and Why Your Future Depends on It, insists that the answer to that last question is ‘Yes’. Leslie argues that curiosity is a much-overlooked human virtue, crucial to our success, and that we are losing it.
[E] We are suffering, he writes, from a “serendipity deficit.” The word “serendipity” was coined by Horace Walpole in an 1854 letter, from a tale of three princes who “were always making discoveries, by accident, of things they were not in search of.” Leslie worries that the rise of the Internet, among other social and technological changes, has reduced our appetite for aimless adventures. No longer have we the inclination to let ourselves wander through fields of knowledge, ready to be surprised. Instead, we seek only the information we want.
[F] Why is this a problem? Because without curiosity we will lose the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship. We will see unimaginative governments and dying corporations make disastrous decisions. We will lose a vital part of what has made humanity as a whole so successful as a species.
[G]Leslie presents considerable evidence for the proposition that the society as a whole is growing less curious. In the U.S. and Europe, for example, the rise of the Internet has led to a declining consumption of news from outside the reader’s borders. But not everything is to be blamed on technology. The decline in interest in literary fiction is also one of the causes identified by Leslie. Reading literary fiction, he says, makes us more curious.
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[H] Moreover, in order to be curious, ‘\place.'' Although Leslie perhaps paints a bit broadly in contending that most of us are unaware of how much we don’t know, he’s surely right to point out that the problem is growing: “Google can give us the powerful illusion that all questions have definite answers.”
[I] Indeed, Google, for which Leslie expresses admiration, is also his frequent whipping boy (替 罪羊)? He quotes Google co-founder Larry Page to the effect that the “perfect search engine” will “understand exactly what I mean and give me back exactly what I want.” Elsewhere in the book, Leslie writes: “Google aims to save you from the thirst of curiosity altogether.”
[J]Somewhat nostalgically (怀旧地)，he quotes John Maynard Keynes's justly famous words of praise to the bookstore: “One should enter it vaguely, almost in a dream, and allow what is there freely to attract and influence the eye. To walk the rounds of the bookshops, dipping in as curiosity dictates, should be an afternoon’s entertainment.” If only!
[K] Citing the work of psychologists and cognitive (认知的）scientists，Leslie criticizes the re-ceived wisdom that academic success is the result of a combination of intellectual talent and hard work. Curiosity, he argues, is the third key factor—and a difficult one to preserve. If not cultivated, it will not survive: “Childhood curiosity is a collaboration between child and adult. The surest way to kill it is to leave it alone.”
[L] School education, he warns, is often conducted in a way that makes children incurious. Children of educated and upper-middle-class parents turn out to be far more curious, even at early ages, than children of working class and lower class families. That lack of curiosity produces a relative lack of knowledge, and the lack of knowledge is difficult if not impossible to compensate for later on.
[M] Although Leslie’s book isn't about politics, he doesn't entirely shy away from the problem. Political leaders, like leaders of other organizations, should be curious. They should ask questions at crucial moments. There are serious consequences, he warns, in not wanting to know.
[N] He presents as an example the failure of the George W. Bush administration to prepare properly for the after-effects of the invasion of Iraq. According to Leslie, those who ridiculed former Defense
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2017年12月英语四级真题试卷及详细答案(第一套)详细版
