2016年大学英语四级模拟试题备考强化卷(六)

　　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.

　　Questions 21 to 25 are based on the following passage:

　　Increasingly, over the past ten years, people—especially young people—have

　　become aware of the need to change their eating habits, because much of the food they eat, particularly processed foods, is not good for health. Consequently,there has been a growing interest in natural foods: foods which do not contain chemical additives and which have not been affected by chemical fertilizers widely used in farming today.

　　Natural foods, for example, are vegetables, fruit and grain which have been

　　grown in soil that is rich in organic matter.In simple terms, this means that the soil has been nourished by unused vegetable matter, which provides it with essential vitamins and minerals. This in itself is a natural process compared with the use of chemicals and fertilizers, the main purpose of which is to increase the amount but not the quality of foods grown in commercial farming areas.

　　Natural foods also include animals which have been allowed to feed and move

　　freely in healthy pastures. Compare this with what happens in the mass production

　　of poultry: there are battery farms, for example, where thousands of chickens live crowded together in one building and are fed on food which is little better than

　　rubbish. Chickens kept in this way are not only tasteless as food; but also produce eggs which lack important vitamins.

　　There are other aspects of healthy eating which are now receiving increasing

　　attention from experts on diet. Take, for example, the question of sugar. This is

　　actually a nonessential food! Although a natural alternative, such as honey, can

　　be used to sweeten food if this necessary, we can in fact do without it. It is

　　not that sugar is harmful in itself. But it does seem to be additive: the quantity

　　we use has grown steadily over the last centuries and in Britain today each person consumes an average of 200 pounds a year! Yet all it does is provide us with energy, in the form of calories. There are no vitamins in it, no minerals and nofiber.

　　

　　It is significant that nowadays fiber is considered to be an important part

　　of a healthy diet. In white bread, for example ,the fiber has been removed. But

　　it is present in unrefined flour and of course in vegetables. It is interesting

　　to note that in countries where the national diet contains large quantities of unrefined flour and vegetables, certain diseases are comparatively rare. Hence the emphasis is placed on the eating of whole meal bread and more vegetables by modern experts on “healthy eating”.

　　 21.Which statement best expresses the main idea of this article?

　　 A) People should eat any food to keep themselves healthy and strong.

　　 B) People should eat natural foods to keep themselves healthy and strong.

　　 C) People should eat fiber foods to keep themselves healthy and strong.

　　 D) People should eat vegetables to keep themselves healthy and strong.

　　 22.“Particularly processed foods” means ____.

　　 A) foods which are particularly processed by adding chemical additives

　　 B) foods which are particularly made by commercial farms

　　 C) foods which are specially produced by commercial factories

　　 D) foods which are not specially made by adding anything

　　 23.Natural foods means ____.

　　 A) foods good for health

　　 B) foods not good for health

　　 C) foods such as vegetables, fruit and grain from rich organic matters soil

　　 D) crops from rich organic matters soil and meats of animals from healthy

　　pastures

　　 24.There are no vitamins, no minerals and no fibers in ____.

　　 A) natural foods C) sugar

　　 B) animal meats D) fruit

　　25.“Yet all it does is provide us with energy, in the form of calories.” It means ____.

　　 A) processed food provides us with energy

　　 B) natural food furnishes us with vitamins and minerals

　　 C) sugar gives us enough energy in the form of calories

　　 D) fiber helps us to digest food

　　Questions 26 to 30 are based on the following passage:

　　With a tremendous roar from its rocket engine, the satellite is sent up into

　　the sky. Minutes later, at an altitude of 300 miles, this tiny electronic moon begins to orbit about the earth. Its radio begins to transmit an astonishing amount

　　of information about the satellite's orbital path, the amount of radiation it

　　detects, and the presence of meteorites. Information of all kinds races back to

　　the earth.No human being could possibly copy down all these facts, much less remember and organize them. But an electronic computer can.

　　The marvel of the machine age, the electronic computer has been in use only

　　since 1946. It can do simple computations—add,subtract, multiply and divide—with

　　lighting speed and perfect accuracy. Some computers can work 500,000 times faster

　　than any person can.

　　Once it is given a “program” — that is, a carefully workedout set of in

　　structions devised by a technician trained in computer language — a computer ca

　　gather a wide range of information for many purposes. For the scientist it can

　　get information from outer space or from the depth of the ocean. In business and industry the computer prepares factory inventories, keeps track of sales trends and production needs, mails dividend checks, and makes out company payrolls. It can keep bank accounts up to date and make out electric bills. If you are planning a trip by plane, the computer will find out what to take and what space is available.

　　Not only can the computer gather facts, it can also store them as fast as they are gathered and can pour them out whenever they are needed. The computer is really a highpowered“memory” machine that “has all the answers”—or almost all.Bes

　　ides gathering and storing information, the computer can also solve complicated problems that once took months for people to do.

　　At times computers seem almost human. They can “read” handprinted letters,

　　play chess, compose music, write plays and even design other computers. Is it any

　　wonder that they are sometimes called “thinking” machines?

　　Even though they are taking over some of the tasks that were once accomplished by our own brains, computers are not replacing us at least not yet. Our brain

　　has more than 10 million cells. A computer has only a few hundred thousand parts.

　　For some time to come, then, we can safely say that our brains are at least 10,

　　000 times more complex than a computer.How we use them is for us, not the computer, to decide.

　　 26.In the first paragraph, the author thinks an electronic computer can ____.

　　 A) copy down all the facts

　　 B) remember all the facts

　　 C) organize the facts and everything

　　 D) copy down, remember and organize all the facts

　　 27.“Program” means ____.

　　 A) a plan of what is to be done

　　 B) a complete show on a TV station at a fixed time table

　　 C) a scheduled performance

　　 D) series of coded instructions to control the operations of a computer

　　 28.The computer is a high powered “memory” machine, which ____.

　　 A) has all the ready answers — or almost all to any questions

　　 B) can remember everything

　　 C) can store everything and work for you

　　 D) has all the answers — or almost to all the information that has been

　　stored

　　 29. “Thinking” machines suggest that ____.

　　 A) they can “read” hand printed letters etc

　　 B) they really can think and do many other jobs

　　 C) they even design other computers

　　 D) they can't think, but can do something under human control

　　 30.Can computers do whatever they want to do?Why?

　　 A) Yes, because some computers can work 500,000 times faster than any person can.

　　 B) No, because they normally have a few hundred thousand parts.

　　 C) No, because human brains are at least 10000 times more complex than any computers.

　　 D) No, because how a computer works is decided by human.

　　

　　Questions 31 to 35 are based on the following passage:

　　No one expressed this attitude more strongly than Noah Webster (17581843).

　　Born near Nartford, Connecticut, he received his education at Yale College and later began to practise law. But business in this profession was slow, and he was forced to turn to teaching. As a teacher, he soon discovered that the English school

　　books then in use were unsatisfactory, and the American Revolution reduced the supply of such books as there were. Webster therefore began to work on three simple

　　books on English, a spelling book, a grammar, and a reader, and these were the first books of their kind to be published in this country. The success of the first

　　part was surprisingly great. It was soon issued again under the title THE AMERICAN SPELLING BOOK, and in this form about 80 million copies were sold during the

　　next hundred years. From a profit of less than one cent a copy, Webster got most of his income for the rest of his life. Not only did the little book have great influence on many generations of school children, but it also had the effect or turning its author's attention to questions of language. In 1806 he produced a small dictionary,and this was followed by his greatest work, AN AMERICAN DICTIONARY OF

　　THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, published in two volumes in1828. In both of these works and in many smaller writings he had one purpose: to show that the Englsih language

　　in his country was a truly American thing, developing in its own special way and deserving to be considered from an independent, American point of view. As he

　　himself wrote,“ It is not only important, but in a degree necessary, that the people of this country should have an AMERICAN DICTIONARY of the English language; for, although the body of the language is the same as in England…some differences exist…. No person in this country will be satisfied with the English definitions of the words congress, senate, assembly, court, and so forth, for although these are words

　　used in England, yet they are applied in this country to express ideas which they do not express in that country.” By giving American meanings and American pronunciation, by adopting a number of American spellings, and especially by introducing quotations from American authors beside those from English literature, he was able, to a great extent, to justify the title of his work. If, after a hundred

　　years, some people still doubt the existence of a separate American language,

　　his efforts, nevertheless, have left a lasting mark on the language of his country.

　　 31.Webster first tried to earn his living in the field of ____.

　　 A) education C) law

　　 B) journalism D) medicine

　　 32.Webster earned most of his money from the sale of his ____.

　　 A) dictionary of 1828 C) grammar

　　 B) spelling book D) reader

　　 33.Apparently Webster published his first books while he was a

　　____.

　　 A) teacher C) lawyer

　　 B) student D) doctor

　　 34.This article could be entitled ____.

　　 A) Noah Webster and American English Spelling

　　 B) Noah Webster, the author of An American Dictionary of the English Lan

　　guage

　　 C) Noah Webster

　　 D) Noah Webster and American English Grammar

　　 35.According to the article, Webster ____.

　　 A) had created American English and its usages

　　 B) had discovered American English and improved it

　　 C) had tried his best and left a milestone on the language of his country

　　 D) had left a language which was not used in England.

　　Questions 36 to 40 are based on the following passage:

　　 Once upon a time, the United States seemed to have plenty of land to go around. Plenty of rivers to dam and plenty of rural valleys left over. Plenty of space for parks and factories. Plenty of forests to cut and grasslands to plow. But

　　that was once upon a time. The days of unused land are over.Now the land has been

　　spoken for, fenced off, carved up into cities and farms and industrial parks, put to use.

　　

　　At the same time, the population keeps growing. People need places to work and places to play. So we need more sites for more industries, more beaches for

　　more sunbathers, and more clean rivers for more fishers. And it isn't just a matter

　　of population growth. Our modern technology has needs that must be met, too. We

　　need more coal for energy, and we need more power plants; cars must have highways

　　and parking lots, and jets must have airports.

　　

　　Each of these land uses swallows up precious space.Highways and expressways

　　alone take some 200,000 acres each year. And urban sprawl — the spreading out of

　　cities — is expected to gobble up vast areas of land by the year 2,000. But there

　　is only so much land to go around. It is always hard to decide. Take, for example, a forest. A forest can be a timber supply. It can provide a home for wildlife.

　　It is scenery and a recreation area for man. It is soil and watershed protection.

　　 36.“…the United States seemed to have plenty of land to go around ”

　　means that ____.

　　 A) the United States seemed to have vast land for its people to walk around

　　 B) the United States seemed to have enough land for sharing with everyone

　　 C) the United States could provide whatever its inhabitents' needs

　　 D) the United States was not able to allow its people to do what they wanted to

　　 37.The sentence of “Plenty of rivers to dam and plenty of rural

　　valleys left over” suggests that ____.

　　 A) the United States had a lot of rivers to dam and many rural valleys,

　　too

　　 B) the rivers could be damed later

　　 C) rural valleys would be considered in the future

　　 D) people needn't think of the rivers and valleys

　　 38.“Now the land has been spoken for, …” tells us that ____.

　　 A) today, land has shown its values

　　 B) now, people have said something about land

　　 C) nowadays, land has been claimed by human beings

　　 D) recently, people spoke for the land

　　 39.The phrase of “swallows up” informed us that ____.

　　 A) these usages of land have good results

　　 B) these lands must be used totally

　　 C) the precious space was taken completely

　　 D) the precious space were eaten up

　　 40.The word “sprawl” indicates that ____.

　　 A) cities are developing very fast to meet the people's demands

　　 B) urban areas are diminishing smoothly

　　 C) urban areas are enlarging steadily in a planned way

　　 D) cities are spreading out without any plans