2012年6月大学英语四级考试真题及答案

　　Part III 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 36 to 45 are based on the following passage.

　　One in six. Believe it or not, that’s the number of Americans who struggle with hunger. To make tomorrow a little better, Feeding America, the nation’s largest ___36___ hunger-relief organization has chosen September as Hunger Action Month. As part of its 30 Ways in 30 Days program, it’s asking ___37___ across the country to help the more than 200 food banks and 63,000 agencies in its network provide low-income individuals and families with the fuel they need to___38___.

　　It’s the kind of work that’s done every day at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in San Antonio. People who ___39___ at its front door on the first and third Thursdays of each month aren’t looking for God—they’re there for something to eat. St. Andrew’s runs a food pantry (食品室) that ___40___ the city and several of the ___41___ towns. Janet Drane is its manager.

　　In the wake of the ___42___, the number of families in need of food assistance began to grow. It is ___43___ that 49 million Americans are unsure of where they will find their next meal. What’s most surprising is that 36% of them live in ___44___ where at least one adult is working. “It used to be that one job was all you needed,” says St. Andrew’s Drane. “The people we see now have three or four part-time jobs and they’re still right on the edge ___45___.”

　　[A] survive[D] reviewed [G] households [J] financially [M] communities

　　[B] surrounding [E] reported [H] gather [K] domestic [N] circling

　　[C] serves [F] recession [I] formally [L] competition [O] accumulate

　　Section B

　　Directions: In this section, you are going to read a passage with ten statements attached to it. 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.

　　Six Secrets of High-Energy People

　　A) There’s an energy crisis in America, and it has nothing to do with fossil fuels. Millions of us get up each morning already weary over what the day holds. “I just can’t get started,” people say. But it’s not physical energy that most of us lack. Sure, we could all use extra sleep and a better diet. But in truth, people are healthier today than at any time in history. I can almost guarantee that if you long for more energy, the problem is not with your body.

　　B) What you’re seeking is not physical energy. It’s emotional energy. Yet, sad to say, life sometimes seems designed to exhaust our supply. We work too hard. We have family obligations. We encounter emergencies and personal crises. No wonder so many of us suffer from emotional fatigue, a kind of utter exhaustion of the spirit.

　　C) And yet we all know people who are filled with joy, despite the unpleasant circumstances of their lives. Even as a child, I observed people who were poor, or disabled, or ill, but who nonetheless faced life with optimism and vigor. Consider Laura Hillenbrand, who despite an extremely weak body, wrote the best-seller Seabiscuit. Hillenbrand barely had enough physical energy to drag herself out of bed to write. But she was fueled by having a story she wanted to share. It was emotional energy that helped her succeed. Unlike physical energy, which is finite and diminishes with age, emotional energy is unlimited and has nothing to do with genes or upbringing. So how do you get it? You can’t simply tell yourself to be positive. You must take action. Here are six practical strategies that work.

　　1. Do something new.

　　D) Very little that’s new occurs in our lives. The impact of this sameness on our emotional energy is gradual, but huge: It’s like a tire with a slow leak. You don’t notice it at first, but eventually you’ll get a flat. It’s up to you to plug the leak—even though there are always a dozen reasons to stay stuck in your dull routines of life. That’s where Maura, 36, a waitress, found herself a year ago.

　　E) Fortunately, Maura had a lifeline—a group of women friends who meet regularly to discuss their lives. Their lively discussions spurred Maura to make small but nevertheless life altering changes. She joined a gym in the next town. She changed her look with a short haircut and new black T-shirts. Eventually, Maura gathered the courage to quit her job and start her own business. Here’s a challenge: If it’s something you wouldn’t ordinarily do, do it. Try a dish you’ve never eaten. Listen to music you’d ordinarily tune out. You’ll discover these small things add to your emotional energy.

　　2. Reclaim life’s meaning.

　　F) So many of my patients tell me that their lives used to have meaning, but that somewhere along the line things went stale. The first step in solving this meaning shortage is to figure out what you really care about, and then do something about it. A case in point is Ivy, 57, a pioneer in investment banking. “I mistakenly believed that all the money I made would mean something,” she says. “But I feel lost, like a 22-year-old wondering what to do with her life.” Ivy’s solution? She started a program that shows Wall Streeters how to donate time and money to poor children. In the process, Ivy filled her life with meaning.

　　3. Put yourself in the fun zone.

　　G) Most of us grown-ups are seriously fun-deprived. High-energy people have the same day-to-day work as the rest of us, but they manage to find something enjoyable in every situation. A real-estate broker I know keeps herself amused on the job by mentally redecorating the houses she shows to clients. “I love imagining what even the most run-down house could look like with a little tender loving care,” she says. “It’s a challenge—and the least desirable properties are usually the most fun.”We all define fun differently, of course, but I can guarantee this: If you put just a bit of it into your day, your energy will increase quickly.

　　4. Bid farewell to guilt and regret.

　　H) Everyone’s past is filled with regrets that still cause pain. But from an emotional energy point of view, they are dead weights that keep us from moving forward. While they can’t merely be willed away, I do recommend you remind yourself that whatever happened is in the past, and nothing can change that. Holding on to the memory only allows the damage to continue into the present.

　　5. Make up your mind.

　　I) Say you’ve been thinking about cutting your hair short. Will it look stylish—or too extreme? You endlessly think it over. Having the decision hanging over your head is a huge energy drain. Every time you can’t decide, you burden yourself with alternatives. Quit thinking that you have to make the right decision; instead, make a choice and don’t look back.

　　6. Give to get.

　　J) Emotional energy has a kind of magical quality: The more you give, the more you get back. This is the difference between emotional and physical energy. With the latter, you have to get it to be able to give it. With the former, however, you get it by giving it.

　　K) Start by asking everyone you meet, “How are you?” as if you really want to know, then listen to the reply. Be the one who hears. Most of us also need to smile more often. If you don’t smile at the person you love first thing in the morning, you’re sucking energy out of your relationship. Finally, help another person—and make the help real, concrete. Give a massage (按摩) to someone you love, or cook her dinner. Then, expand the circle to work. Try asking yourself what you’d do if your goal were to be helpful rather than efficient. After all, if it’s true that what goes around comes around, why not make sure that what’s circulating around you is the good stuff?

　　46. It is emotional energy, not physical energy that most people these days tend to seek.

　　47. The author believes that emotional energy is limitless and not inherited and genetically determined.

　　48. Ivy filled her life with meaning by launching a program to help poor children.

　　49. Like a tire with a slow leak, the same old routine in life has a gradual but huge impact on people’s emotional energy.

　　50. Emotional energy is in a way different from physical energy in that the more you give, the more you get back.

　　51. People holding on to sad memories of the past will find it difficult to move forward.

　　52. Laura Hillenbrand is an example cited to show how emotional energy can contribute to one’s success in life.

　　53. Even small changes you make in your life can help increase your emotional energy.

　　54. When it comes to decision-making, you should make a quick choice without looking back.

　　55. The real-estate broker the author knows finds funs in her job by redecorating the houses she

　　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 56 to 60 are based on the following passage.

　　In times of economic crisis, Americans turn to their families for support. If the Great Depression is any guide, we may see a drop in our skyhigh divorce rate. But this won’t necessarily represent an increase in happy marriages. In the long run, the Depression weakened American families, and the current crisis will probably do the same.

　　We tend to think of the Depression as a time when families pulled together to survive huge job losses. By 1932, when nearly one-quarter of the workforce was unemployed, the divorce rate had declined by around 25% from 1929. But this doesn’t mean people were suddenly happier with their marriages. Rather, with incomes decreasing and insecure jobs, unhappy couples often couldn’t afford to divorce. They feared neither spouse could manage alone.

　　Today, given the job losses of the past year, fewer unhappy couples will risk starting separate households. Furthermore, the housing market meltdown will make it more difficult for them to finance their separations by selling their homes.

　　After financial disasters family members also tend to do whatever they can to help each other and their communities. A 1940 book, The Unemployed Man and His Family, described a family in which the husband initially reacted to losing his job “with tireless search for work.” He was always active, looking for odd jobs to do.

　　The problem is that such an impulse is hard to sustain. Across the country, many similar families were unable to maintain the initial boost in morale (士气). For some, the hardships of life without steady work eventually overwhelmed their attempts to keep their families together. The divorce rate rose again during the rest of the decade as the recovery took hold.

　　Millions of American families may now be in the initial stage of their responses to the current crisis, working together and supporting one another through the early months of unemployment.

　　Today’s economic crisis could well generate a similar number of couples whose relationships have been irreparably(无法弥补地) ruined. So it’s only when the economy is healthy again that we’ll begin to see just how many broken families have been created.

　　56. In the initial stage, the current economic crisis is likely to _______.

　　[A] tear many troubled families apart [C] bring about a drop in the divorce rate

　　[B] contribute to enduring family ties [D] cause a lot of conflicts in the family

　　57. In the Great Depression many unhappy couples chose to stick together because _______.

　　[A] starting a new family would be hard

　　[B] they expected things would turn better

　　[C] they wanted to better protect their kids

　　[D] living separately would be too costly

　　58. In addition to job losses, what stands in the way of unhappy couples getting a divorce?

　　[A] Mounting family debts. [C] Difficulty in getting a loan.

　　[B] A sense of insecurity. [D] Falling housing prices.

　　59. What will the current economic crisis eventually do to some married couples?

　　[A] It will force them to pull their efforts together.

　　[B] It will undermine their mutual understanding.

　　[C] It will help strengthen their emotional bonds.

　　[D] It will irreparably damage their relationship.

　　60. What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

　　[A] The economic recovery will see a higher divorce rate.

　　[B] Few couples can stand the test of economic hardships.

　　[C] A stable family is the best protection against poverty.

　　[D] Money is the foundation of many a happy marriage.

　　Passage Two

　　Questions 61 to 65 are based on the following passage.

　　People are being lured (引诱) onto Facebook with the promise of a fun, free service, without realizing they’re paying for it by giving up loads of personal information. Facebook then attempts to make money by selling their data to advertisers that want to send targeted messages.

　　Most Facebook users don’t realize this is happening. Even if they know what the company is up to, they still have no idea what they’re paying for Facebook, because people don’t really know what their personal data is worth.

　　The biggest problem, however, is that the company keeps changing the rules. Early on, you could keep everything private. That was the great thing about Facebook—you could create your own little private network. Last year, the company changed its privacy rules so that many things—your city, your photo, your friends’ names—were set, by default (默认), to be shared with everyone on the Internet.

　　According to Facebook’s vice-president Elliot Schrage, the company is simply making changes to improve its service, and if people don’t share information, they have a “less satisfying experience.”

　　Some critics think this is more about Facebook looking to make more money. Its original business model, which involved selling ads and putting them at the side of the page, totally failed. Who wants to look at ads when they’re online connecting with their friends?

　　The privacy issue has already landed Facebook in hot water in Washington. In April, Senator Charles Schumer called on Facebook to change its privacy policy. He also urged the Federal Trade Commission to set guidelines for social-networking sites. “I think the senator rightly communicated that we had not been clear about what the new products were and how people could choose to use them or not to use them,” Schrage admits.

　　I suspect that whatever Facebook has done so far to invade our privacy, it’s only the beginning. Which is why I’m considering deactivating (撤销) my account. Facebook is a handy site, but I’m upset by the idea that my information is in the hands of people I don’t trust. That’s too high a price to pay.

　　61. What do we learn about Facebook from the first paragraph?

　　[A] It is a website that sends messages to targeted users.

　　[B] It makes money by putting on advertisements.

　　[C] It profits by selling its users’ personal data.

　　[D] It provides loads of information to its users.

　　62. What does the author say about most Facebook users?

　　[A] They are reluctant to give up their personal information.

　　[B] They don’t know their personal data enriches Facebook.

　　[C] They don’t identify themselves when using the website.

　　[D] They care very little about their personal information.

　　63. Why does Facebook make changes to its rules according to Elliot Schrage?

　　[A] To render better service to its users. [C] To improve its users’ connectivity.

　　[B] To conform to the Federal guidelines. [D] To expand its scope of business.

　　64. What does Senator Charles Schumer advocate?

　　[A] Setting guidelines for advertising on websites.

　　[B] Banning the sharing of users’ personal information.

　　[C] Formulating regulations for social-networking sites.

　　[D] Removing ads from all social-networking sites.

　　65. Why does the author plan to cancel his Facebook account?

　　[A] He is dissatisfied with its current service.

　　[B] He finds many of its users untrustworthy.

　　[C] He doesn’t want his personal data abused.

　　[D] He is upset by its frequent rule changes.

　　Part IV Translation (30 minutes)

　　Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to translate a passage from Chinese into English. You should write your answer on Answer Sheet 2.

　　2月14日是西方的情人节， 而中国也有关于爱情的节日， 那就是七夕。关于七夕有一个牛郎与织女的神话传说。据说这对恋人被分隔在银河(Milky Way)两岸， 每年七月初七， 一群喜鹊(magpie)会搭成鹊桥以使这对恋人相见。与西方的情人节不同， 中国情人节并不强调送玫瑰花和巧克力， 女孩会准备一些瓜果供奉给织女， 祈求能获得精湛的针线技艺并嫁得一位如意郎君。