B) Advancement to a higher position
C) A better-paying job in another company
D) Improvement in the company’s management
【答案】B)Advancement to a higher position.
32 What do we learn about Kim from the passage?
A)She has more self-confidence than Chris.
B)She works with Chris in the same division.
C)She has more management experience than Chris.
D) She is competing with Chris for the new job.
【答案】D) She is competing with Chris for the new job.
Passage Three
Proverbs, sometimes called sayings, are examples of folk wisdom. They are little lessons which older people of a culture pass down to the younger people to teach them about life. Many proverbs remind people of the values that are important in the culture. Values teach people how to act, what is right, and what is wrong. Because the values of each culture are different, understanding the values of another culture helps explain how people think and act. Understanding your own culture values is important too. If you can accept that people from other cultures act according to their values, not yours, getting along with them will be much easier. Many proverbs are very old. So some of the values they teach may not be as important in the culture as they once were. For example, Americans today do not pay much attention to the proverb “Haste makes waste”, because patience is not important to them. But if you know about past values, it helps you to understand the present and many of the older values are still strong today. Benjamin Franklin, a famous American diplomat, writer and scientist, died in 1790, but his proverb “Time is money” is taken more seriously by Americans of today than ever before. A study of proverbs from around
the world shows that some values are shared by many cultures. In many cases though, the same idea is expressed differently.
【听力点睛】这篇文章是一篇说明文。从科学客观的角度讲述了Proverb谚语的一些知识。包括它的定义-----是老一辈人传给后代的生活经验，生活价值观。不同国家，不同文化中的谚语往往可以揭示不同的价值观。如果能够理解其他文化的谚语，价值观，那么会在跨文化交际中避免很多麻烦。
作者又提到，一些谚语年代久远。其中包含的价值观随着时代的变迁可能重要性也发生了改变。并且举了Haste makes waste. 和Time is money. 这样两个例子。
作者最后再次表明，通过学习不同国家的谚语，会发现一些国家会有相同或者相似的价值观，只是有可能表达的方式有所不同而已。
这篇说明文对考生的要求在于快速划分出作者想说明的几个点。一般通常写说明文章的顺序都是先说明要点，然后用一些事实来进一步说明。
Questions 32- 35 are based on the passage you have just heard.
33. Why are proverbs so important?
A) They help us see the important values of a culture.
B) They guide us in handling human relationships.
C) They help us express ourselves more effectively.
D) They are an infinite source of human knowledge.
【答案】A）They help us see the important values of a culture.
34. According to the speaker what happens to some proverbs with the passage of time?
A)Their wordings may become different.
B) The values they reflect may change.
C)Their origins can no longer be traced.
D) They may be misinterpreted.
【答案】B) The values they reflect may change.
35. What do we learn from the study of proverbs from around the world?
A)
B)
C)
D)
【答案】
Section A
47 growth
48 stable
49 challenges
50 certainly
51 role
52 combined
53 significant
54 included
55 comprise
56 solutions
【解析】
这是一篇讨论能源资源的说明文，话题是考生比较熟悉的能源问题，不断增长的人口与可再生资源的矛盾该如何解决。文中指出能源的一些可替代形式如生物能源、风能太阳能等可再生资源将在未来发挥越来越重要的作用。但是专家指出，即使这些资源储备量惊人，但是到2050年也只能满足世界30%的需求。文章最后两段探讨了各能源在市场上的需求，以及解决未来能源需求的其他方案。
总体来说，这篇文章理解难度不大，填空难度适中，所选词汇也都是四级考纲的词汇。选项较具有干扰项，多为c和s开头的单词，考生在考试时要特别注意。
Section B Passage One
57, C encourage boys to express their emotions freely
58, A perform relatively better
59, C It fails to give boys the attention they need
60, A teaching can be tailored to suit the characteristics of boys
61, C They have sharper vision
【解析】这篇文章针对传统的男女生一起上学，一起接受教育提出了质疑。作者从文章一开头就表明了自己的看法：对于男生而言，单性教育，即男生们一起上学会对男生的身心发展更为有利。文中出现一个短语，received wisdom，即是“人们普遍的看法，公认的看法”。也是作者所批判的一种观点。传统观点认为，男生和女生混合教育会对男生发展更有利。
但是作者认为单性教育对男生有以下几个好处：可以让男生们更自由地表达自己的情感，可以学习自己感兴趣的艺术，舞蹈，音乐等学科。不用去遵守人们在传统印象中对男生的期盼。而且单性教育可以针对男生的身心发展特点而制定学习计划。
并且作者觉得，目前英国教育把女生当做关注重点，忽视了对男生的重视。
Passage Two
62. C . It makes all the hard work worthwhile.
63. D. Disputes over money may ruin a relationship.
64. A. conflicts between couples tend to rise
65. D. men and women view money in different ways.
66. C. discuss money matters to maintain a healthy relationship.
【解析】这是一篇关于金钱对夫妻关系的影响的文章。文中第一段主要通过度假这件事来体现不同人对待金钱的不同态度。作者认为人只能活一次，如果不能去度假的话，那么工作再努力也没有意义。第二段主要谈到了大萧条时期，不太良好的经济状况常常会影响夫妻关系，可能会导致争吵，甚至会导致离婚或者分居的成本增加，对夫妻感情造成伤害。第三段讲了Kim Stephenson，一个心理学家的观点，即男人和女人对待金钱的态度是不一样的，男人把金钱看作是得到社会地位的途径，看作向父母展现自己成功的一种方式。第四段，作者建议夫妻可以对金钱持有不同的观点，但是不可以对它采取回避的态度，避而不谈。
相对来说，这篇文章的难度比较大。文章看懂并不难，但是题目中，推理题和大意题比较多，需要在充分理解作者意图，了解文章主旨的基础上，才能选出正确答案。
Part V Cloze
Employers fear they will be unable recruit students with the skills they need as the economic recovery kicks in, a new survey 67.reveals.
Nearly half of organizations told researchers they were already struggling to find 68.staff with skills in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM), 69.while even more companies expect to experience 70.shortages of employees with Stem skills in the next three years.
The Confederation of British Industry and the vocational qualifications body EDI 71.surveyed 694 organizations across the public and 72.private sectors, which together employ 2.4 million people.
2011年12月英语四级真题及答案解析完整版
