2012年12月英语四级真题及答案
Part Ⅰ Listening Comprehension (20 minutes) Section A
Directions：In this section,you will hear 10 short conversations. At the end of each conversation,a question will be asked about what was said. Both the conversation and the question will be spoken only once. After each question there will be a pause. During the pause,you must read the four choices marked A),B),C)and D),and decide which is the best answer. Then mark the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet with a single line through the centre.
Example:
You will read: A) At the office. B) In the waiting room. C) At the airport. D) In a restaurant.
From the conversation we know that the two were talking about some work they had to finish in the evening. This conversation is most likely to have taken place at the office. Therefore,A)“At the office” is the best answer. You should choose A) on the Answer Sheet and mark it with a single line through the centre.
Sample Answer ［A］［B］［C］［D］
1. A) The fourth floor. B) The fifth floor. C) The sixth floor. D) The seventh floor.
2. A) John bought a cheap computer. B) John bought Morris a computer. C) Morris bought a computer from John. D) Morris bought a new computer. 3. A) Recognize Jane first. B) Tell the woman why.
C) Go on a diet. D) Feel at ease. 4. A) The white one. B) The brick one. C) The prettier one. D) The better one.
5. A) The summer this year is terribly hot. B) Last summer was even hotter.
C) Hot weather helps lose weight. D) Light was stronger this morning. 6. A) No one on the bus was injured. B) Everyone on the bus was injured. C) Only one student on the bus was injured. D) More than one student on the bus was injured. 7. A) Drawing some money. B) Opening a deposit account. C) Saving much money. D) Putting money in the bank.
8. A) They have too little patience. B) They are not strict with students.
C) They are very hard on students. D) They are more hardworking than before.
9. A) The woman is very worried. B) The man doesn’t like thinking. C) The man has done something wrong. D) The woman can do nothing for the man.
10. A) Because the waist was a bit too tight. B) Because there wasn’t any of her size. C) Because she didn’t look good in the dress. D) Because the style was not what she liked.
Section B Compound Dictation
注意：听力理解的B节（Section B）为复合式听写（Compound Dictation），题目在试卷二上。
现在请取出试卷二。
A supermarket club card is a new way for people to save money on items they buy. People used to cut out coupons (赠券)to(S1) save money. Now they use a card that looks like a(S2)credit card when they pay for items. Only people with cards can get the(S3)lower price.
To get a card, people must give out their name, address, and other(S4)personal information. Everything club card-users buy is (S5)stored on a computer in a file with their name on it. In the coupon days, no one kept (S6)track of the things people bought. Now, computers allow huge(S7)amounts of information to be saved.
In order to save money with the cards, people could lose privacy. So far, the information, or data, is private. But that could change. There are many companies who might be interested in knowing what people buy. For instance, (S8)an insurance company might want to know if their clients buy healthy food, or if people buy a lot of medicine from the store.
A California Senator, Debra Bowen, wants to make sure there are laws to protect data kept on computers. She says,“(S9)The laws that govern privacy really haven’t caught up with technology. ”
Stores that use club cards have promised to keep the information private. (S10)Some people are afraid the stores might change their minds if companies offered enough money. Some people say the information is worth as much as treasure.
Part Ⅱ Reading Comprehension(35 minutes)
Directions: There are 4 passages in this part. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A),B),C)and D). You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet with a single line through the centre.
Passage One
Questions 11 to 15 are based on the following passage.
The predictability of our mortality rates is something that has long puzzled social scientists. After all, there is no natural reason why 2,500 people should accidentally shoot themselves each year or why 7,000 should drown or 55,000 die in their cars. No one establishes a quota for each type of death. It just happens that they follow a consistent pattern year after year.
A few years ago a Canadian psychologist named Gerald Wilde became interested in this phenomenon. He noticed that mortality rates for violent and accidental deaths throughout the Western world have remained oddly static throughout the whole of the century, despite all the technological advances and increases in safety standards that have happened in that time. Wilde developed an intriguing theory called “risk homeostasis”. According to this theory, people instinctively live with a certain level of risk. When something is made safer, people will get around the measure in some way to reassert the original level of danger. If, for instance, they are required to wear seat belts, they will feel safer and thus will drive a little faster and a little more recklessly, thereby statistically canceling out the benefits that the seat belt confers. Other studies have shown that where an intersection is made safer, the accident rate invariably falls there but rises to a compensating level elsewhere along
the same stretch of road. It appears, then, that we have an innate need for danger.
In all events, it is becoming clearer and clearer to scientists that the factors influencing our lifespan are far more subtle and complex than had been previously thought. It now appears that if you wish to live a long life, it isn’t simply a matter of adhering to certain precautions ? eating the right foods, not smoking, driving with care. You must also have the right attitude. Scientists at the Duke University Medical Center made a 15-year study of 500 persons personalities and found, somewhat to their surprise, that people with a suspicious or mistrustful nature die prematurely far more often than people with a sunny disposition. Looking on the bright side, it seems, can add years to your life span.
11. What social scientists have long felt puzzled about is why . A) the mortality rate can not be predicted B) the death toll remained stable year after year
C) a quota for each type of death has not come into being D) people lost their lives every year for this or that reason 12. In his research, Gerald Wilde finds that technological advances and increases in safety standards .
A) have helped solve the problem of so high death rate
B) have oddly accounted for mortality rates in the past century C) have reduced mortality rates for violent and accidental deaths D) have achieved no effect in bringing down the number of deaths 13. According to the theory of “risk homeostasis”, some traffic accidents result from .
2012年12月英语四级真题及答案
