-
2019
年
12
月英语四级真题第一套
(
含听力原文及答案 ）
Part I
Writing
(30 minutes)
Directions:
For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write
a letter to a foreign friend who wants to teach
English in China. Please recommend a city to him.
You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180
words.
Part Ⅱ
Listening Comprehension
(25 minutes)
Section A
Directions:
In this section, you will hear three news reports. At the end of each news report, you will hear two
or
three
questions.
Both
the
news
report
and
then
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 1with a single line through the centre.
Questions l and 2 are based on the news report you have just heard.
1. A) Many facilities were destroyed by a wandering cow.
B) A wandering cow knocked down one of its fences.
C) Some tourists were injured by a wandering cow.
D) A wandering cow was captured by the police.
2. A) It was shot to death by a police officer.
B) It found its way back to the park’s zoo.
C) It became a great attraction for tourists.
D) It was sent to the animal control department.
Questions 3 and 4 are based on the news report you have just heard.
3. A) It is the largest of its kind.
B) It is going to be expanded.
C) It is displaying more fossil specimens.
D) It is staring an online exhibition.
4. A) A collection of bird fossils from Australia.
B) Photographs of certain rare fossil exhibits.
C) Some ancient wall paintings from Australia.
D) Pictures by winners of a wildlife photo contest.
Questions 5 to 7 are based on the news report you have just heard.
5. A) Pick up trash.
B) Amuse visitors.
C) Deliver messages.
D) Play with children.
6. A) They are especially intelligent.
B) They are children’s favorite.
C) They are quite easy to tame.
D) They are clean and pretty.
7. A) Children may be harmed by the rooks.
B) Children may be tempted to drop litter.
C) Children may contract bird diseases.
D) Children may overfeed the rooks.
Section B
Directions:
In this section, you will hear two long conversations. At the end of each conversation, you will hear
four questions. Both the conversation 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 1 with a single line through the centre.
Questions 8 to 11 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
8. A) It will be produced at Harvard University.
B) It will be hosted by famous professors.
C) It will cover different areas of science.
D) It will focus on recent scientific discoveries.
9. A) It will be more futuristic.
B) It will be more systematic.
C) It will be more entertaining.
D) It will be easier to understand.
10. A) People interested in science.
B) Youngsters eager to explore.
C) Children in their early teens.
D) Students majoring in science.
11. A) Offer professional advice.
B) Provide financial support.
C) Help promote it on the Internet.
D) Make episodes for its first season.
Questions 12 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
12. A) Unsure.
B) Helpless.
C) Concerned.
D) Dissatisfied.
13. A) He is too concerned with being perfect.
B) He loses heart when faced with setbacks.
C) He is too ambitious in achieving goals.
D) He takes on projects beyond his ability.
14. A) Embarrassed.
B) Unconcerned.
C) Miserable.
D) Resentful.
15. A) Try to be optimistic whatever happens.
B) Compare his present with his past only.
C) Always learn from others’ achievements.
D) Treat others the way he would be treated.
Section C
Directions:
In this section, you will hear three passages. At the end of each passage, you will hear three or
four 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 1 with a single line through the centre.
Questions 16 to 18 are based on the passage you have just heard.
16. A) They have a stronger sense of social responsibility.
B) They are more likely to succeed in the humanities.
C) They are more likely to become engineers.
D) They have greater potential to be leaders.
17. A) Praise girls who like to speak up frequently.
B) Encourage girls to solve problems on their own.
C) Insist that boys and girls work together more.
D) Respond more positively to boys’ comments.
18. A) Offer personalized teaching materials.
B) Provide a variety of optional courses.
C) Place great emphasis on test scores.
D) Pay extra attention to top students.
Questions 19 to 21 are based on the passage you have just heard.
19. A) It often rains cats and dogs.
B) It seldom rains in summer time.
C) It does not rain as much as people think.
D) It is one of the most rainy cities in the US.
20. A) They drive most of the time.
B) The rain is usually very light.
C) They have got used to the rain.
D) The rain comes mostly at night.
21. A) It has a lot of places for entertainment.
B) It has never seen thunder and lighting.
C) It has fewer cloudy days than any other coastal city.
D) It has mild weather both in summer and in winter.
Questions 22 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard.
22. A) It occurs when people are doing a repetitive activity.
B) It results from exerting one’s muscles continuously.
C) It happens when people engage in an uncommon activity.
D) It comes from staining one’s muscles in an unusual way.
23. A) Blood flow and body heat increase in the affected area.
B) Body movements in the affected area become difficult.
C) They begin to make repairs immediately.
D) They gradually become fragmented.
24. A) About one week.
C) About ten days.
25. A) Apply muscle creams.
C) Have a hot shower.
B) About two days.
D) About four weeks.
B) Drink plenty of water.
D) Take pain
-
killers..
Part Ⅱ
Reading Comprehension
(40 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 26 to 35 are based on the following passage.
When
travelling
overseas,
do
you
buy
water
in
plastic
bottles
or
take
your
chances
with
tap
water?
Imagine you are wandering about on a Thai island or
26
the ruins of Angkor. It’s hot so you grab a bottle
of water from a local vendor. It’s the safe, sane thing to do, right? The bottle is
27
, and the label says
“pure water”, but maybe what’s inside is not so
28
. Would you still be drinking it if you knew that more
than 90 percent of all bottled water sold around the world
29
microplastics?
That’s
the
conclusion
of
a
recently
30
study,
which
analyzed 259
bottles
from
11
brands
sold
in
nine countries,
31
an average of 325 plastic particles per liter of water. These microplastics included a
32
commonly
known
as
PET
and
are
widely
used
in
the
manufacture
of
clothing
and
food
and
33
containers. The study was conducted at the State University of New York on behalf of Orb Media, a journalism
organization. About a million bottles are bought every minute, not only by thirsty tourists but also by many of
the 2.1 billion worldwide who live with unsafe drinking water.
Confronted
with
this
34
,
several
bottled
-
water
manufacturers
including
Nestle
and
Coco
-
Cola
undertook their own studies using the same methodology. These studies showed that their water did contain
microplastics, but far less than the Orb study suggested. Regardless, the World Health Organization has now
launched a review into the
35
health risks of drinking water from plastic bottles.
A) adequate
F) instant
K) released
B) admiring
G) liquid
L) revealing
C) contains
H) modified
M) sealed
D) defending
I) natural
N) solves
E) evidence
J) potential
O) substance
Section B
Directions
:
In this section, you are going to read a passage with ten statements attached to 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.
The Quiet Heroism of Mail Delivery
[A] On Wednesday, a polar wind brought bitter cold to the Midwest. Overnight, Chicago reached a low of 21
degrees Fahrenheit below zero, making it slightly colder than Antarctica, Alaska, and the North Pole. Wind
chills were 64 degrees below zero in Park Rapids, Minnesota, and 45 degrees below zero in Buffalo, North
Dakota,
according
to
the
National
Weather
Service.
Schools,
restaurants,
and
businesses
closed,
and
more
than 1,000 flights have been canceled.
[B]
Even
the
United
States
Postal
Service
(USPS)
suspended
delivery
temporarily.
“Due
to
this
arctic
outbreak and concerns for the safety of USPS employees,” USPS announced Wednesday morning, “the Postal
Service is suspending delivery Jan. 30 in the following 3
-
digit ZIP Code locations.” Twelve regions were listed
as unsafe on Wednesday; on Thursday, eight remained.
[C]
As
global
surface
temperatures
increase,
so
does
the
likelihood
of
extreme
weather.
In
2018
alone,
wildfires, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, mudslides, and other natural disasters cost at least $$49 billion in the
United
States.
As
my
colleague
Vann
Newkirk
reported,
Puerto
Rico
is
still
confronting
economic
and
structural
destruction
and
resource
scarcity
from
2017’s
Hurricane
Maria.
Natural
disasters
can
wreck
a
community’s infrastructure, disrupting systems for months or years. Some services, however, remind us that
life will eventually return, in some form, to normal.
[D] Days after the deadly 2017 wildfires in Santa Rosa, California, a drone caught footage of a USPS worker,
Trevor Smith, driving through burned homes in that familiar white van, collecting mail in an affected area. The
video is striking: The operation is familiar, but the scene looks like the end of the world. According to Rae Ann
Haight,
the
program
manager
for
the
national
-
preparedness
office
at
USPS,
Smith
was
fulfilling
a
request
made
by
some
of
the
home
owners
to
pick
up
any
that
was
left
untouched.
For
Smith,
this
was
just
another day on the job. “I followed my route like I normally do,” Smith told a reporter. “As I’d come across a
box that was up but with no house, I checked, and there was mail—outgoing mail—in it. And so we picked
those up and carried on.”
[E]
USPS
has
sophisticated
emergency
plans
for
natural
disasters.
Across
the
country,
285
emergency
-
management
teams
are
devoted
to
crisis
control.
These
teams
are
trained
annually
using
a
framework known as the three
Ps: people, property, product. After mail service stops due to weather, the
agency’s top priority is ensuring that employees are safe. Then it evaluates the health of infrastructure, such
as
the
roads
that
carriers
drive
on.
Finally,
it
decides
when
and
how
to
re
-
open
operations.
If
the
destruction is extreme, mail addressed to the area will get sent elsewhere. In response to Hurricane Katrina in
2005, USPS redirected incoming New Orleans mail to existing mail facilities in Houston. Mail that was already
processed
in
New
Orleans
facilities
was
moved
to
an
upper
floor
so
it
would
be
protected
from
water
damage.
[F]
As
soon
as
it’s
safe
enough
to
be
outside,
couriers
start
distributing
accumulated
on
the
still
-
accessible routes. USPS urges those without standing addresses to file change
-
of
-
address forms with their
new
location.
After
Hurricane
Katrina
hit
in
2005,
facilities
were
set
up
in
dozens
of
other
locations
across the country in the two weeks that USPS was unable to provide street delivery.
[G] Every day, USPS processes, on average, 493.4 million pieces of mail—anything from postcards to Social
Security checks to medicine. Spokespeople from both USPS and UPS told me all mail is important. But some
mail can be extremely sensitive and timely. According to data released in January 2017, 56 percent of bills are
paid online, which means that just under half of payments still rely on delivery services to be completed.
[H] It can be hard to identify which parcels are carrying crucial items such as Social Security checks, but USPS
and
UPS
try
their
best
to
prioritize
sensitive
material.
They
will
coordinate
with
the
Social
Security
Administration
to
make
sure
that
Social
Security
checks
reach
the
right
people
in
a
timely
fashion.
After
Hurricane Florence and Hurricane Michael last fall, USPS worked with state and local election boards to make
sure that absentee ballots were available and received on time.
[I] Mail companies are logistics companies, which puts them in a special position to help when disaster strikes.
In a 2011 USPS case study, the agency emphasized its massive infrastructure as a “unique federal asset” to be
called
upon
in
a
disaster
or
terrorist
attack.
“I
think
we’re
unique
as
a
federal
agency,”
USPS
official
Mike
Swigart told me, “because we’re in literally every community in this country … We’re obligated to deliver to
that point on a daily basis.”
[J]
Private
courier
companies,
which
have
more
dollars
to
spend,
use
their
expertise
in
logistics
to
help
revitalize damaged areas after a disaster. For more than a decade, FedEx has supported the American Red
Cross
in
its
effort
to
get
emergency
supplies
to
areas
affected
by
disasters,
both
domestically
and
internationally.
In
2012,
the
company
distributed
more
than
1,200
MedPacks
to
Medical
Reserve
Corps
groups in California, and donated space for 3.1 million pounds of charitable shipping globally. Last October,
the
company
pledged
$$1
million
in
cash
and
transportation
support
for
Hurricanes
Florence
and
Michael.
UPS’s charitable arm, the UPS Foundation, uses the company’s logistics to help disaster
-
struck areas rebuild.
“We
realize
that
as
a
company
with
people,
trucks,
warehouses,
we
needed
to
play
a
larger
role,”
said
Eduardo
Martinez,
the
president
of
the
UPS
Foundation.
The
company
employs
its
trucks
and
planes
to
deliver food, medicine, and water. The day before I spoke to Martinez in November, he had been touring the
damage from Hurricane Michael in Florida with the American Red Cross. “We have an obligation to make sure
our communities are thriving, prosperous,” he said.
[K] Rebuilding can take a long time, and even then, impressions of the disaster may still remain. Returning to
a sense of normalcy can be difficult, but some small routines—mail delivery being one of them—may help
residents remember that their communities are still their communities. “When they see that carrier back out
on the street,” Swigart said, “that’s the first sign to them that life is starting to return to normal.”
36. The United States Postal Service has a system to ensure its employees’ safety.
37.
One
official
says
USPS
is
unique
in
that
it
has
more
direct reach
to
communities
compared with
other
federal agencies
38. Natural disasters can have a long
-
lasting impact on community life.
39. Mail delivery service i$$ still responsible for the completion of almost half of payments.
40. The sight of a mailman on the street is a reassuring sign of life becoming normal again.
41. After Hurricane Katrina interrupted routine delivery, temporary mail service points were set up.
42. Postal service in some regions in the U.S. was suspended due to extreme cold weather.
43. Private postal companies also support disaster relief efforts by distributing urgent supplies.
44. A dedicated USPS employee was on the job carrying out duties in spite of extreme conditions.
45.
Postal services work hard to identify items that require priority treatment.
Section C
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 46 to 50 are based on the following passage.
Professor Ashok Goel of Georgia Tech developed an artificially intelligent teaching assistant to help handle
the enormous number of student questions in the online class, Knowledge Based Artificial Intelligence. This
online course is a core requirement of Georgia Tech’s online Master of Science in Computer Science program.
Professor
Goel
already
had
8
teaching
assistants,
but
that
wasn’t
enough
to
deal
with
the
overwhelming
number of questions from students.
Many students drop out of online courses because of the lack of teaching support. When students feel
isolated or confused and reach out with questions that go unanswered, their motivation to continue begins to
fade. Professor Goel decided to do something to remedy this situation and his solution was to create a virtual
assistant named Jill Watson, which is based on the IBM Watson platform.
Goel and his team developed several versions of Jill Watson before releasing her to the online forums. At
first, the virtual assistant wasn’t too great. But Goel and his team sourced the online discussion forum to find
all 40,000 questions that had ever been asked since the class was launched. Then they began to feed Jill the
questions
and
answers.
After
some
adjustment
and
sufficient
time,
Jill
was
able
to
answer
the
students’
questions correctly 97% of the time. The virtual assistant became so advanced and realistic that the students
didn’t know she was a computer. The students, who were studying artificial intelligence, were interacting with
artificial intelligence and couldn’t tell it apart from a real human being. Goel didn’t inform them about Jill’s
true identity until April 26. The students were actually very positive about the experience.
The
goal
of
Professor
Goel’s
virtual
assistant
next
year
is
to
take
over
answering
40%
of
all
questions
posed by students on the online forum. The name, Jill Watson, will of course, change to something else next
semester. Professor Goel has a much rosier outlook on the future of AI than say, Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking,
Bill Gates or Steve Wozniak.
46. What do we learn about Knowledge
-
Based Artificial Intelligence?
A) It is a robot that can answer students’ questions.
B) It is a course designed for students to learn online.
C) It is a high
-
tech device that revolutionizes teaching.
D) It is a computer program that aids student learning.
47. What problem did Professor Goel meet with?
A) His students were unsatisfied with the assistants.
B) His course was too difficult for the students.
C) Students’ questions were too many to handle.
D) Too many students dropped out of his course.
48. What do we learn about Jill Watson?
A) She turned out to be a great success.
B) She got along pretty well with students.
C) She was unwelcome to students at first.
D) She was released online as an experiment.
49. How did the students feel about Jill Watson?
A) They thought she was a bit too artificial.
B) They found her not as capable as expected.
C) They could not but admire her knowledge.
D) They could not tell her from a real person.
50. What does Professor Goel plan to do next with Jill Watson?
A) Launch different versions of her online.
B) Feed her with new questions and answers.
C) Assign her to answer more of students’ questions.
D) Encourage students to interact with her more freely.
Passage Two
Questions 51 to 55 are based on the following passage.
Thinking small, being engaging, and having a sense of humor don’t hurt. Those are a few of the traits of
successful science crowdfunding efforts that emerge from a recent study that examined nearly 400 campaigns.
But having a large network and some promotional skills may be more crucial.
Crowdfunding,
raising
money
for
a
project
through
online
appeals,
has
taken
off
in
recent
years
for
everything from making movies to building water
-
saving gadgets. Scientists have tried to tap Internet donors,
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