四级考前最新命制试卷三
Part I
Writing (30 minutes)
Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay entitled On the Tide of Immigration
following the outline given below. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.
1. 近年来越来越多的人移民国外 2. 出现这一现象的原因 3. 我对这一现象的看法和建议
On the Tide of Immigration
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________
Part II Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning) (15 minutes)
Directions: In this part, you will have 15 minutes to go over the passage quickly and answer the questions on
Answer Sheet 1. For questions 1-7, choose the best answer from the four choices marked A), B), C) and
1
D). For questions 8-10, complete the sentences with the information given in the passage.
The Overworked, Networked Family
Bring up work-and-family balance at a neighbor?s barbecue, and the conversation immediately turns toward tales of rushing out of meetings at breakneck (飞快的) speed to shuttle the kids to soccer practice or struggling to tear ourselves away for a decent vacation. Complaints about time pressure are so common that they have become a common cultural vocabulary. Everybody, it seems, is stressed out about time, and achieving “balance” has become the Holy Grail (圣杯) of middle-class family life.
But maybe balance is the wrong image. Instead, think transformation. Just as businesses are shifting from Industrial Age to networks, so, too, is the American family undergoing a parallel social revolution. Parents and children are no longer on the same schedule — unlike the way things were a generation ago. With many educated mothers and fathers working longer hours, they are linked to their kids by a web of cell phones and e-mails. At the same time, kids are taking the initiative to pursue more activities and are using information technologies to nurture their own electronic networks of relationships, from friends at school to cousins in distant cities. The networked economy is leading to far different standards and expectations of what it means to be a parent and a child. It?s not simple enough for the young to get an education. Instead, the goal is to raise children to be creative and adaptable, able both to compete successfully and to collaborate with their peers from all over the world. “We have an economy whose functioning depends for the first time on the enhancement of human capability,” says Richard Florida, professor of public policy at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.
How can the typical overworked white-collar American — bombarded (轰炸) by e-mails, troubled with late-night meetings, and confronted with unexpected business trips — at the same time manage at high speed and cope with the new challenges at home? Gradually, a new body of shared rules-of-thumb (经验做法) is emerging, passed along at playgrounds and in offices. Among them: transform technology from an oppressor into a liberator.
Others have mastered the art of interweaving work obligations and home life in a way that was not possible before, answering an e-mail from work one minute and helping with homework the next. And the younger members of the family — already far more sophisticated at multitasking and networking than their parents — are getting a chance to see what approaches work and what falls flat. Historically, the organization of the family has mirrored, to some degree, the organization of the workplace. Take the classic middle-class family of the 1950s and ?60s, the “Golden Age” economy of strong productivity growth and abundant gains in real wages. With a secure corporate job, Dad could afford to work not much more than 40 hours a week and Mom could stay at home to raise the children. The family of that era did many things together. The classic example is eating dinner every evening at the kitchen table. The kids also followed their parents when Mom and Dad visited friends. In essence, a family acted like a single unit, with a hierarchy (等级制度) that mirrored the top-down management of factories or large industrial organizations of the day.
Fast-forward to the 2000s. Today, both Mom and Dad are more likely to have careers. The combined workweek of a husband and wife in their prime working years with children is 68 hours, up from 59 hours in 1979, according to calculations by the Economic Policy Institute. The better educated the couple, the more hours they put in. At the same time, their jobs have changed. The rote (生搬硬套) work is either being done by computers or is in the process
2
of being outsourced to foreign countries. Instead, what?s left are the more complicated and creative tasks that can?t be easily reduced to a set of instructions.
At home, standards for a healthy, emotionally rich family life are a lot higher than they used to be. Schedules during “leisure hours” are filled with music lessons and play dates for the kids, exercise classes for Mom, and occasional golf times for Dad. Parents are aware that colleges and universities look more favorably on high school students with a demonstrated ability to do many things well, not unlike the skills they will need in the workplace.
To achieve these goals, families are learning to turn technology to their advantage. Many time-pressed workers now realize that technology creates greater possibilities for busy families to stay in touch and, at the same time, increase family time. When Ruder went to the work on Saturdays and Sundays, he doesn?t long for “the good old days”. “Because of technology, I probably spend more time working on the weekend now, but it?s easier on me because I can work at home, then take a run, and go out to brunch with friends,” he says.
But just as excessive e-mails and conference calls fill up time on the job, there?s temptation to use the technology to stuff too much in at home as well. Other busy people have found that it?s important to maintain fairly strict boundaries between work and home.
It?s important to note that there?s no one-size-fit-all solution for the problem of reconciling long hours at work with a healthy family life. What?s more, individuals can accomplish only so much acting on their own. Schools and other major community institutions still behave as though the 40-hour workweek were the rule rather than the exception. And corporations are still loading new responsibilities and commitments onto managers and professionals, without taking away any of the old ones. Nevertheless, what?s fascinating about the current focus on managing work and family time is that it?s rooted in an abundance of possibilities. Through trial and error, with many troubles along the way, the networked family is starting to figure out how to take advantage of the many opportunities available today. And that?s progress.
1. We learn from the first paragraph that ______. A) middle-class families take achieving balance as the Holy Grail B) time pressure makes it hard for people to balance work and family
C) people are too busy to share the interesting things in their life with each other D) complaints about time pressure have become ever more common among people
2. According to the passage, one aim of the networked economy is to ______. A) make children creative and adaptable B) let children get the best education in their life C) raise children to be imaginative and independent D) get children to compete with their peers
3. According to Richard Florida, what determines the operation of our economy? A) The transforming of businesses.
4. One approach the typical overworked white-collar American use to cope with the new challenges at home is to ______.
3
C) The pursuing of more new knowledge. D) The strengthening of human capability.
B) The using of information technologies.
A) give up some extra work obligations B) spend as much time with families as possible C) change the role technology plays in their life D) discuss with others to get solutions
5. What is the typical example of the things families did together in the “Golden Age”? A) Always playing games together. B) Always going to cinema together.
6. In the 21st century, the amount of time parents put in companying their children depends on ______. A) parents? education level
7. Parents realize that to gain skills to be needed in the workplace, high school students should to go ______. A) Companies and schools.
8. Today, many time-pressed workers realize that ______________________________ can increase family time.
9. As people spend more time working at home, some busy people find it important to keep ____________________ ____________ between work and home.
10. According to the passage, today?s managers and professionals are undertaking more _______________________ from companies.
C) Foreign countries. B) Colleges and universities. D) Offices and schools.
C) children?s academic record D) children?s age
B) parents? working location
C) Taking a walk together every evening. D) Having dinner together every evening.
Part III Listening Comprehension (35 minutes)
Section A
Directions: In this section, you will hear 8 short conversations and 2 long conversations. At the end of each
conversation, one or more questions will be asked about what was said. Both the conversation and the questions 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 Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.
11. A) She is told to give up the apartment. B) She doesn?t plan to move.
4
C) She is still looking for an apartment. D) She wants to move out of the dorm.
12. A) Mary wanted to invite the man to dinner. B) Mary planned to see the man next year. C) Mary didn?t want to have a dinner with the man. D) Mary hoped to come for dinner next time.
13. A) New York.
14. A) Jim is at a meeting now.
15. A) Ask the woman to be his coach. B) Have a talk with the account director. C) Do the health and fitness training program. D) Talk about fitness with the woman in detail.
16. A) Pay a visit to the man.
17. A) Try it on.
18. A) He likes the current temperature.
Questions 19 to 21 are based on the conversation you have just heard. 19. A) She is not sure how to use a credit card. B) She doesn?t know how to fix her faucet. C) She is not sure which credit card to choose. D) She is not sure whether to get a credit card or not.
20. A) She can keep track of her finances. B) She will know how much she can overdraw. C) She is charged nothing until that date onwards. D) She will be charged at a higher rate after the grace period.
21. A) Compare a range of options. B) Find out more from research.
C) Find out more by talking to the bank staff. D) Take some time before actually making a decision.
5
B) Denver.
C) Phoenix. D) Chicago.
C) Jim will take his girlfriend to the meeting. D) Jim is with his girlfriend now.
B) Jim will attend the meeting later.
C) Make a distance call to the man. D) Invite the man to have a dinner. C) Hammer a nail with it. D) Exchange it for a hammer. C) He likes cooking food. D) He thinks he will like the food. B) Ask for some advice from the man.
B) Throw it away.
B) He wishes the weather would get warmer.