2013年 6月大学英语四级考试真题

D) Someone willing to work beyond regular hours. 24. A) Travel opportunities. B) Handsome pay.

C) Prospects for promotion. D) Flexible working hours.

25. A) It depends on the working hours. B) It’s about 500 pound a week.

C) It will be set by the Human Resources. D) It is to be negotiated.

Section B

Directions: In this section you will hear 3 short passages. At the end of each passage, you will hear some questions. Both the passage 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 2 with a single line through the centre.

Passage One

Questions 26 to 29 are based on the passage you have just heard. 26. A) To give customers a wider range of choices.

B) To make shoppers see as many items as possible. C) To supply as many varieties of goods as it can. D) To give space for more profitable products. 27. A) On the top shelves. B) On the bottom shelves.

C) On easily accessible shelves. D) On clearly marked shelves.

28. A) Many of them buy things on impulse. B) A few of them are fathers with babies. C) A majority of them are young couples. D) Over 60% of them make shopping lists.

29. A) Sales assistants promoting high margin goods. B) Sales assistants following customers around. C) Customers competing for good bargains. D) Customers losing all sense of time. Passage Two

Questions 30 to 32 are based on the passage you have just heard. 30. A) Teaching mathematics at a school. B) Doing research in an institute. C) Studying for a college degree. D) Working in a high-tech company.

31. A) He studied the designs of various choices. B) He did experiments to different materials. C) He bought an alarm clock with a pig face.

D) He asked different people for their opinions.

32. A) Its automatic mechanism. B) Its manufacturing pattern. C) Its way of waking people up. D) Its funny-looking pig face.

Questions 33 to 35 are based on the passage you have just heard. 33. A) It’s often caused by a change of circumstances. B) It usually doesn’t require any special attention. C) It usually appears all of a sudden. D) It usually lasts for several years. 34. A) They can’t mix well with others.

B) They emotionally receive their friends. C) They depend severely on family members. D) They share similar interests with friends. 35. A) They lack consistent support from peers. B) They doubt their own popularity.

C) They were born psychologically weak.

D) They focus too much attention on themselves.

Section C

Directions: In this section, you will hear a passage three times. When the passage is read for the first time, you should listen carefully for its general idea. When the passage is read for the second time, you are required to fill in the blanks numbered from 36 to 43 with the exact words you have just heard. For blanks numbered from 44 to 46 you are required to fill in the missing information. For these blanks you can either use the exact words you have just heard or write down the main points in your own words. Finally when the passage is read for the third time, you should check what you have written.

There was a time when any personal information that was gathered about us was typed on a piece of paper and (36) ________ away in a file cabinet. It could remain there for years and, often (37) ________, never reach the outside world.

Things have done a complete about-face since then. (38) ________ for the change has been the astonishingly (39) ________ development in recent years of the computer. Today, any data that is

(40) ________ about us in one place or another — and for one reason or another — can be stored in a computer bank. It can then be easily passed to other computer banks. They are owned by (41) ________ and by private businesses and corporations, lending (42) ________, direct mailing and telemarketing firms, credit bureaus, credit card companies, and government (43) ________ at the local, state, and federal level.

A growing number of Americans are seeing the accumulation and distribution of computerized date as a frightening invasion of their privacy. (44) ___________ _________________________________________________________ as the computer becomes

increasingly efficient, easier to operate, and less costly to purchase and maintain. In 1970, a national survey showed that (45) ___________________________________________________ _________________. Seven years later, 47 percent expressed the same worry. (46) ____________ ________________________________________________________.

Part IV Reading Comprehension (Reading in Depth) (25 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.

Questions 47 to 56 are based on the following passage.

Walking, if you do it vigorously enough, is the overall best exercise for regular physical activity. It requires no equipment, everyone knows how to do it and it carries the 47 risk of injury. The human body is designed to walk. You can walk in parks or along a river or in your neighborhood. To get 48 benefit from walking, aim for 45 minutes a day, an average of five days a week.

Strength training is another important 49 of physical activity. Its purpose is to build and 50 bone and muscle mass, both of which shrink with age. In general, you will want to do strength training two or three days a week, 51 recovery days between sessions.

Finally, flexibility and balance training are 52 important as the body ages. Aches and pains are high on the list of complaints in old age. The result of constant muscle tension and stiffness of joints, many of them are 53 , and simple flexibility training can 54 these by making muscles stronger and keeping joints lubricated (润滑 ). Some of this you do whenever you stretch. If you watch dogs and cats, you’ll get an idea of how natural it is. The general 55 is simple: whenever the body has been in one position for a while, it is good to 56 stretch it in an opposite position. A) allowing F) helping K) prevent B) avoidable G) increasingly L) principle C) briefly H) lowest M) provoke D) component I) maintain N) seriously E) determined J) maximum O) topic Section B

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 57 to 61 are based on the following passage.

Junk food is everywhere. We’re eating way too much of it. Most of us know what we’re doing and yet we do it anyway.

So here’s a suggestion offered by two researchers at the Rand Corporation: Why not take a lesson from alcohol control policies and apply them to where food is sold and how it’s displayed?

“Many policy measures to control obesity（肥胖症）assume that people consciously and rationally choose what and how much they eat and therefore focus on providing information and more access to healthier foods,” note the two researchers.

“In contrast,” the researchers continue, “many regulations that don’t assume people make rational choices have been successfully applied to control alcohol, a substance — like food — of which immoderate consumption leads to serious health problems.”

The research references studies of people’s behavior with food and alcohol and results of alcohol restrictions, and then lists five regulations that the researchers think might be promising if applied to junk foods. Among them:

Density restrictions: licenses to sell alcohol aren’t handed out unplanned to all comers but are allotted（分配）based on the number of places in an area that already sell alcohol. These make alcohol less easy to get and reduce the number of psychological cues to drink.

Similarly, the researchers say, being presented with junk food stimulates our desire to eat it. So why not limit the density of food outlets, particularly ones that sell food rich in empty calories? And why not limit sale of food in places that aren’t primarily food stores?

Display and sales restrictions: California has a rule prohibiting alcohol displays near the cash registers in gas stations, and in most places you can’t buy alcohol at drive-through facilities. At supermarkets, food companies pay to have their wares in places where they’re easily seen. One could remove junk food to the back of the store and ban them from the shelves at checkout lines. The other measures include restricting portion sizes, taxing and prohibiting special price deals for junk foods, and placing warning labels on the products.

57. What does the author say about junk food?

A) People should be educated not to eat too much. B) It is widely consumed despite its ill reputation. C) Its temptation is too strong for people to resist. D) It causes more harm than is generally realized.

58. What do the Rand researchers think of many of the policy measures to control obesity? A) They should be implemented effectively. B) They provide misleading information. C) They are based on wrong assumptions. D) They help people make rational choices.

59. Why do policymakers of alcohol control place density restrictions? A) Few people are able to resist alcohol’s temptations. B) There are already too many stores selling alcohol. C) Drinking strong alcohol can cause social problems. D) Easy access leads to customers’ over-consumption.

60. What is the purpose of California’s rule about alcohol display in gas stations? A) To effectively limit the density of alcohol outlets.

B) To help drivers to give up the habit of drinking. C) To prevent possible traffic jams in nearby areas. D) To get alcohol out of drivers’ immediate sight.

61. What is the general guideline the Rand researchers suggest about junk food control? A) Guiding people to make rational choices about food. B) Enhancing people’s awareness of their own health. C) Borrowing ideas from alcohol control measures.

D) Resorting to economic, legal and psychological means. Passage Two

Questions 62 to 66 are based on the following passage.

Kodak’s decision to file for bankruptcy（破产）protection is a sad, though not unexpected, turning point for a leading American corporation that pioneered consumer photography and dominated the film market for decades, but ultimately failed to adapt to the digital revolution.

Although many attribute Kodak’s downfall to “complacency(自满) ,” that explanation doesn’t acknow-ledge the lengths to which the company went to reinvent itself. Decades ago, Kodak anticipated that digital photography would overtake film — and in fact, Kodak invented the first digital camera in 1975 — but in a fateful decision, the company chose to shelf its new discovery to focus on its traditional film business.

It wasn’t that Kodak was blind to the future, said Rebecca Henderson, a professor at Harvard Business School, but rather that it failed to execute on a strategy to confront it. By the time the company realized its mistake, it was too late.

Kodak is an example of a firm that was very much aware that they had to adapt, and spent a lot of money trying to do so, but ultimately failed. Large companies have a difficult time switching into new markets because there is a temptation to put existing assets into the new businesses.

Although Kodak anticipated the inevitable rise of digital photography, its corporate（企业的） culture was too rooted in the successes of the past for it to make the clean break necessary to fully embrace the future. They were a company stuck in time. Their history was so important to them. Now their history has become a liability.

Kodak’s downfall over the last several decades was dramatic. In 1976, the company commanded 90% of the market for photographic film and 85% of the market for cameras. But the 1980s brought new competition from Japanese film company Fuji Photo, which undermined Kodak by offering lower prices for film and photo supplies. Kodak’s decision not to pursue the role of official film for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics was a major miscalculation. The bid went instead to Fuji, which exploited its sponsorship to win a permanent foothold in the marketplace.

62. What do we learn about Kodak? A) It went bankrupt all of a sudden. B) It is approaching its downfall.

C) It initiated the digital revolution in the film industry. D) It is playing a dominant role in the film market.

63. Why does the author mention Kodak’s invention of the first digital camera? A) To show its early attempt to reinvent itself.