2014年12月英语四级冲刺全真模拟试题二

　　Section III Reading Comprehension (60 minutes)

　　Part A

　　根据以下资料，回答41-60题：

　　The demoralizing environment，decrepit(老朽的)building and minimal materials make the high school experience for these children an uphill battle.Merely graduating from such a high school is difficult，much less becoming a high-caliber science or engineering student.Schools with students from a higher socioeconomic level would not tolerate the obstacles I encountered daily. improvements need to be made efficiently and made soon，or the divisions among people in this country will only become more extreme.

　　Of course，there are things that concerned citizens can do to help.Get involved with a school.especially one in a poor area.Volunteer to give a presentation or just to spend time with the children. My students were excited to talk to an insurance salesperson who came to give a career exploration lecture.They not only were genuinely interested in the opportunities he described but also were amazed that such a mall would donate an afternoon to them.

　　Although those measures can help，they are not enough.For teaching to be effective.the en-tire environment of the inner city needs to be changed.Teaching someone the difference between Velocity and acceleration is irrelevant if the person is hungry and scared.Programs that educate parents in child-rearing，organize low-income groups into cooperative units.fight drug trafficking and help to clean up the ghettos physically will improve the life in me community.

　　The small alterations and"new"proposals currently filling the newspapers are certainly not strong enough to transform a decaying and demoralized school structure that has been disintegrating for decades. Inner-city schools need so much more，and the children deserve so much more than our society is willing to give.Like many other people，I entered the teaching profession eager to investigate change and found many institutionalized obstacles in my way.It should not be so difficult to make a difference.

　　41、By saying"an uphill battle"，the author means_______.

　　A.a tough task

　　B.a easy job

　　C.an upgrade class

　　D.climbing a hill

　　42、 We can learn from the text that______.

　　A.the political circle will offer the help to the high schools

　　B.giving a presentation is beneficial to students

　　C.teaching methods have to be changed

　　D.students are afraid to talk to strangers

　　43、 The author believes that______.

　　A.the divisions among people result from their property

　　B.a high-caliber science student graduates from a ordinary high school

　　C.me small alterations should be done immediately

　　D.the society's help to inner-city schools is inadequate

　　44、 It is the author's opinion that______will improve the life of inner city people.

　　A.offering more education programs to students

　　B.helping to clean up the ghettos physically

　　C.taking measures to help extreme poor students

　　D.bringing up more engineering students

　　45、 It can be concluded from the author's remarks that______.

　　A.we should educate more high schools students

　　B.me obstacles in teachers'way should be moved away

　　C.the decaying school buildings should be reconstructed

　　D.we should build up more high schools in our city

　　根据以下资料，回答46-65题：

　　Many phrases used to describe monetary policy，such as"steering the economy to a soft landing"or"a touch on the brakes"，makes it sound like a precise science.Nothing could be further from me truth.The relation between interest rates and inflation is uncertain.And there are long， variable lags before policy changes have any effect on the economy.Hence the analogy that likens the conduct of monetary policy to driving a car with a blackened windscreen，a cracked rear view mirror and a faulty steering wheel.

　　Given all these disadvantages，central bankers seem to have had much to boast about.Average inflation in the big seven industrial economies fell to a mere 2.3%one year.close to its lowest level in 30 years.before rising slightly t0 2.5%the next July.This is a long way below the double-digit rates which many countries experienced in the 1970s and early l980s.

　　It is also less than most forecasters has predicted.In late l994 the panel of economists which The Economist polls each month said that America's inflation rate would average 3.5%in l995.In fact.it fell t0 2.6%in August，and is expected to average only about 3%for the year as a whole. In Britain and Japan inflation is running half a percentage point below the rate predicted at the end of last year.This is no flash in the pan;over the past few years，inflation has been continually lower than expected in Britain and America.

　　Economists have been particularly surprised by favorable inflation figures in Britain and the United States，since conventional measures suggest that both economies，and especially that of America, have little productive slack.America's capacity utilization，for example，hit historically high levels earlier this year，and its jobless rate(5.6%in August)has fallen below most estimates of the natural rate of unemployment--the rate below which inflation has taken off in the past.

　　Why has inflation proved so mild? The most thrilling explanation is，unfortunately，a little defective.Some economists argue that powerful structural changes in the world have up-ended the old economic models which were based upon the historical link between growth and inflation.

　　46、According to the text, making monetary policy changes________.

　　A.is comparable to driving a car

　　B.is similar to carrying out scientific work

　　C.will not influence the economy immediately

　　D.will have an immediate impact on the inflation rate

　　47、 From the text we learn that________.

　　A.there is a clear relationship between inflation and interest rates

　　B.the economy always follows particular trends

　　C.the current economic problems are entirely predictable

　　D.the present economic situation is better than expected

　　48、 The text suggests that________.

　　A.the previous economic models are still applicable

　　B.an extremely low jobless rate will lead to inflation

　　C.a high unemployment rate will result from inflation

　　D.interest rates have an immediate effect on the economy

　　49、 By saying"This is no flash in the pan"(Para3)，the author means that"________".

　　A.the low inflation rate will continue

　　B.the inflation rate will rise again

　　C.inflation will disappear entirely

　　D.there is no inflation at present

　　50、 How does the author feel about the present situation?

　　A.Tolerant.

　　B.Indifferent.

　　C.Disappointed.

　　D.Surprised.

　　根据以下资料，回答51-70题：

　　Proper arrangement of classroom space is important to encouraging interaction.Most of US have noticed how important physical setting is to efficiency and comfort when we work.Today's corporations hire human engineering specialists and spend a great deal of time and money to make sole that the physical environments of buildings are fit to the activities of their inhabitants.

　　Similarly，college classroom space should be designed to encourage the activity of critical thinkin9.We will move into the twenty-first century，but step into almost any college classroom and you will step back in time at least a hundred years.Desks are normally in straight rows. So students can clearly see the teacher but not all their classmates.The assumption behind such an arrangement is obvious：everything important comes from the teacher.

　　With a little imagination and effort，unless desks are fixed to the floor，the teacher call correct this situation and create space that encourages interchanges among students.In small or standard-sized classes，chairs，desks and tables can be arranged in different ways：circles，U-shapes，0r semicircles.The primary goal should be for everyone to be able to see everyone else.Larger classes，particularly those held in lecture halls，unfortunately，allow much less flexibility.

　　Arrangement of the classroom should also make it easy to divide students into small groups for discussion or problem-solving exercises.Small classes with moveable desks and tables present no problem.Even in large lecture halls，it is possible for students to turn around and form groups of four to six.Breaking a class into small groups provides more opportunities for students to interact with each other，think out hard，and see how other students' thinking processes operate-all these are the most important elements in developing new modes of critical thinking.

　　In courses that regularly use a small group format，students might be asked to stay in the same small groups throughout the course.A colleague of mine allows students to move around during the first two weeks，until they find a group they are comfortable with.He then asks them to stay in the same seat，with the same group，from then on.This not only creates a comfortable setting for interaction but helps him learn students' names and faces.

　　51、The expression "step back in time at least a hundred years"(Para2)is intended to con-vey the idea that_______.

　　A.college classrooms often remind people of their college life

　　B.critical thinking was encouraged even a century ago

　　C.a hundred years a90，desk arrangement in a classroom was quite different

　　D.there is not much change in the college educational idea over the past hundred years

　　52、 The primary purpose of desk rearrangement is_______.

　　A.for the teacher to divide students into small groups

　　B.to make it possible for students to interact with each other

　　C.for the teacher to find out how students think

　　D.to give students more opportunities to practice speaking

　　53、 The greatest advantage in allowing each student to find his own group might be that_______.

　　A.the teacher saves the trouble in doing that

　　B.learning is made comfortable in this way

　　C.the teacher can easily remember students'names and faces

　　D.brighter students can help slower ones

　　54、 Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?

　　A.New kind of desks and chairs should be made.

　　B.Many companies are trying to improve the working settings for their employees.

　　C.Classroom interaction between students is essential to the training of critical thinking.

　　D.A comfortable environment leads to higher working efficiency.

　　55、 Which of the following arrangements of the classroom can bring about the best teaching effect?

　　A.Arranging the desks in straight rows and providing every minute for the students to listen to the teacher.

　　B.Breaking a class into small groups and letting the students find the group they prefer to stay in.

　　C.Putting the students in larger classes and allowing them to discuss.

　　D.Breaking a class into small groups and asking the students to stay in the fixed groups as the teacher arranges.