4级听力强化训练TEST.THREE
2016-04-27
大学英语四级考试预测卷（一）
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 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 1 and 2 will be based on the following news item.
News Item 1
It is the central political issue of 2012: the U.S.
economy, which suffered the worst recession of the post World War II
era in 2007 and 2008, and has endured an anemic recovery since.
But the economic landscape may be changing. U.S.
unemployment has fallen for four consecutive months,
down from 9 percent in September to 8.3 percent in January.
While Wall Street rallied Friday on the latest jobs report,
President Obama highlighted the good news. “In January,
American businesses added another 257,000 jobs.
The unemployment rate came down, because more people found work.
And altogether, we have added 3.7 million new jobs over the last 23 months.”
1.According to the news, what is the central political issue of 2012 in the U.S.?
2. According to the news, how many jobs are added in American in January?
Questions 3 and 4 will be based on the following news item.
News Item 2
Several hundred people, many born and raised in China,
came together to recall the international settlements they once called home.
They shared reminiscences and tested their memory of once familiar people and places,
especially from the international city of Shanghai.
Zoya Shlakis, whose parents were Lithuanian and Russian,
grew up in Shanghai. Her father, an engineer,
worked in one of the city`s landmarks,
the central post office. The family had an apartment on the top floor.
“My childhood, my youth was spent in Shanghai.
It`s the only city that I ever knew, and I was a very lucky person.
We always had a roof over our head and food on our table,
and we got along with the Chinese around us very well.
And I had a very happy childhood.”
3. According to the news, which one is not the purpose of the gathering?
4. How is Zoya Shlakis`s memory about China?
Questions 5 to 7 will be based on the following news item.
News Item 3
Cheering erupted in the control room when Chinese astronaut
Zhai Zhigang opened the hatch of the Shenzhou 7 spacecraft and went outside.
His emergence from the module was captured by video cameras mounted
on the outside of the space ship and was
broadcast live to millions of Chinese viewers. Zhai,
who became China`s first ever spacewalker,
waved to the camera at this historic moment.
Zhai says he sends greetings to the Chinese people
and all the people in the world. Shortly afterwards,
his teammate handed him a Chinese national flag,
which he also waved for the camera.
Outside the craft, Zhai recovered a scientific experiment
that official Chinese media said were solid lubricant samples.
The ship also will release a satellite that will circle the orbiter
and send back images to mission command. For his 20 minute spacewalk,
Zhai wore a Chinese made Feitian suit,
which is being highlighted as the first indigenous space suit.
It costs nearly $4.5 million,
has 10 layers and weighs about 120 kilograms.
The Feitian is like a mini space ship.
It provides pressurized atmosphere,
oxygen and temperature control to keep astronauts alive in outer space,
while still allowing them to carry out their tasks.
The suit also protects wearers from radiation and small flying meteoroids.
5.What is the main idea of the news?
6.How long did Zhai`s spacewalk last for?
7.How much does the Chinese made Feitian suit Zhai wore cost nearly?
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.
Now you will haer the two long conversations
Conversation One
MEGAN THOMPSON: This week in Michigan,
the state legislature approved almost $50 million
in emergency aid to keep Detroit`s public schools open
and operating through the end of this school year,
and a spokesman for Governor Rick Snyder says
he will sign the bill early next week.
The move comes as Detroit`s school district has slipped
toward bankruptcy even as the city itself has emerged from bankruptcy.
Joining me to discuss the challenges ahead is “New York Times”
reporter Kate Zernike. So, Kate,
can you start off by painting a picture for us,
just how bad is it for Detroit`s public schools and what has caused this?
KATE ZERNIKE: Well, Detroit, like Michigan as a whole,
their recession has lost population,
so you have a school district that once had 150,000 children,
public school district and now has about 45,000 children.
So, it`s really the size of it has gone down,
as children have left the city the money that goes with
those children from the state and from the local
tax revenues goes with the children to charter schools,
suburban districts, so you just have much less money coming
in the district because there are so many fewer students.
MEGAN THOMPSON: And has a similar thing happened
in other districts across the country?
KATE ZERNIKE: Well, I think in many ways Detroit is emblematic
of what is happening in struggling urban districts.
Detroit, for instance, made a large bet on solving on helping
the charter schools, and a lot of charter schools,
there was a state takeover, bottom 45 percent of performing
schools are put into a state controlled authority.
But as across the country, we haven`t seen state takeovers
necessarily make that much of a difference. For instance,
in Newark, schools heavily controlled by the state of New Jersey for 20 years,
really without much improvement there at all, same thing with Camden,
New Jersey, you know, Los Angeles,
there is a big bet on charter schools there.
So, it`s really it`s, sort of, Detroit has all of the problems.
MEGAN THOMPSON: Are there cities that have a lot of kids
going to charter schools that aren`t seeing this type of problem?
KATE ZERNIKE: So, you look at a state like Massachusetts
or a city like Boston, Boston public schools are doing
well if you look at their national rankings,
so are Boston charter schools. D.C., Washington,
D.C. has made enormous improvements in their charter
schools and the public schools.
So, it`s not as though charter schools are necessarily
a bad thing when they are done right,
I just think in Detroit there has not been much of
an effort to sort of figure out what schools do we need,
what schools are performing well.
So, you have a lot of empty seats and there is no answer
in looking at the city and saying, what schools do we need?
Where do we need schools? Where should the money be going?
MEGAN THOMPSON: So, we saw this infusion of $50 million
that the legislature approved this week,
but that`s really just a shortterm solution in Detroit.
KATE ZERNIKE: Right.
MEGAN THOMPSON: I mean, what has to happen long term
to make sure the schools will be solvent?
KATE ZERNIKE: Part of the proposal was that the governor
who is a Republican and the mayor who is a Democrat
are supporting something called Detroit Education Commission.
This commission would look and say where do we need schools,
with where there is demand, where should
we put the limited resources that we have?
This proposal unfortunately faces a pretty steep hurdle
in the Michigan house, so I am not sure what will happen
but that sort of in Michigan, that`s the next
discussion they`re going to be having.
MEGAN THOMPSON: Great. Kate Zernike of “The New York Times”
thank you so much for being here.
KATE ZERNIKE: Thanks, Megan.
Questions 8 to 11 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
8.How much money has been approved by the Michigan state legislature?
9.What is the problem for the Detroit public schools district?
10.In which city are statecontrolled charter schools doing well?
11.What proposal does Kate suggest to solve the public school`s problem?
Conversation Two
MEGAN THOMPSON: The state government in Utah has become
the first in the nation to publish online a list of people convicted
of white collar crimes, complete with their mug shots.
Anyone who`s committed a financial crime will be posted for a decade.
Reporter Jean Eaglesham is covering this issue for The Wall Street Journal,
and she joins me now to discuss it.
So, can you first just tell me,
why did Utah decide to implement this?
JEAN EAGLESHAM: Well, they say there`re two reasons.
First, they say it will help protect investors,
because people can see online people with past convictions.
The second reason they`re doing it is to try and encourage
people to pay restitution. So, anyone who is convicted of
a crime who has paid full restitution online can stay off the registry.
MEGAN THOMPSON: Can you just talk to me about the mechanics of it?
I mean, how exactly does it work? Where will this be?
JEAN EAGLESHAM: What they are doing now is,
they`re going all the way back to 2006,
finding everyone with a relevant conviction.
And they`re putting them onto an Internet Web site.
And it shows these individuals, their mug shot, as you say,
also their personal details like height and weight,
and the details of their conviction.
So, anyone with access to the Internet can just search
and look at it for their whether their neighbors or work
colleagues or anyone they know has these past convictions.
MEGAN THOMPSON: And what types of crimes are we talking about?
JEAN EAGLESHAM: So, it`s everything from people who
have bilked investors of maybe quite large amounts of money.
But there`re also people who have committed, say,
credit card fraud, who have stolen from their employer or their friends.
There`s tax fraud. There`re insurance scams as well of a pretty small scale.
So, it`s a very wide range of financial crimes they`re capturing.
MEGAN THOMPSON: When most people think about these types of registries,
they think of a registry for sex offenders, but you have written that there are
actually a lot of states with a lot of different types of registries.
JEAN EAGLESHAM: Exactly. This idea of a registry for sex offenders has
now proliferated to a very wide range of different offenses.
So, for example, in different states, there are registries for arson,
for domestic violence, for drug crimes of different types, even for animal abuse.
So, Tennessee now has a registry for animal abuse,
but nine other states are considering it.
And one concern is whether this could have unintended consequences.
So, for example, creating a public registry that shows people convicted
of manufacturing drugs could potentially be used by users
who are looking for someone as a supplier.
MEGAN THOMPSON: Is there any evidence that
these registries actually deter crime?
JEAN EAGLESHAM: Well, that`s the argument,
are these effective, particularly when they`re
being applied now to the other types of offenses?
So, there`s a big debate over sex offender registries,
whether they actually work. But a lot of these other ones,
they`re relatively recent,
so there`s not much research into whether they actually are effective.
And then there`s a wider argument as well over privacy,
because the approach of the states with these white collar crimes
is directly opposite to the approach of the federal agencies.
So, they say, because of federal privacy laws,
they can`t give out information on whether individuals have paid sanctions or not.
MEGAN THOMPSON: And is there a debate about what could
be considered public shaming? I mean,
if a person has done their jail time,
they have paid their fines,
is there a limit to how long this punishment might go on?
JEAN EAGLESHAM: Well, certainly,
in the case of Utah, after a certain number of offenses,
you are on there for a lifetime. So, there is exactly this debate.
There`s a concern that people have that they have served their punishment,
they have maybe done the jail time, they have paid the restitution,
but possibly late, and yet they are being punished all over again
by the naming and shaming.
So, there is a concern that this is unfair, in that sense.
MEGAN THOMPSON: Jean Eaglesham of The Wall Street Journal,
thank you so much for being here.
JEAN EAGLESHAM: Pleasure.
Questions 12 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
12.What can people Not possibly see online about people convicted of crimes?
13.What is purpose for Utah state to implement this policy?
14.What crimes does the Utah registry possibly include?
15.What may be the unintended consequences of registry of different crimes?
Section C
Directions:
In this section, you will hear three passages.
At the end of each passage, you will hear some 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.
Passage One
Indians are the world`s biggest bookworms, reading on
average 10.7 hours a week, twice as long as Americans,
according to a new survey. The NOP World Culture Score index
surveyed 30,000 people in 30 countries from December 2004 to February 2005.
Analysts said the spirit of self help could explain India`s high figures.
Time spent on reading meant fewer hours watching TV
and listening to the radioIndia came fourth last in both.
The NOP survey of 30,000 consumers aged over 13 saw China
and the Philippines take second and third place respectively
in average hours a week spent reading books, newspapers and magazines.
Britons and Americans scored about half the Indians` hours
and Japanese and Koreans were even lower
at 4.1 and 3.1 hours respectively.
R.Sriram, chief executive officer of Crosswords Bookstores,
a chain of 26 bookshops around India,
says “For Indians, reading is a fundamental part of their being.”
“They place a great deal of emphasis on reading.
That`s the reason why they do well
in education and universities abroad, ”
he said.“ People educate themselves and
deal with change throughout their lives.
And the way to do that is to update themselves with books.”
Mr.Sriram says social changes have also made a difference:
“Earlier people often turned to their parents
and grandparents for advice. Now they turn to books.”
Questions 16 to 18 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
16.How many hours on average do Americans read a week according to the survey?
17. Which country takes the second place in average hours a week spent reading books?
18. Who did Indians often turn to for advice in the past?
Passage Two
For good or bad, computers are now part of our daily lives.
With the price of a small home computer now being lower,
experts predict that before long all schools and
businesses and most families in the rich parts of the world will
own a computer of some kind. Among the general public,
computers arouse strong feelings people either love them or hate them.
The computer lovers talk about how useful computers can be in business,
in education and in the home apart from all the games,
you can do your accounts on them, use them to control your central heating,
and in some places even do your shopping with them. Computers,
they say, will also bring some leisure, as more and more unpleasant
jobs are taken over by computerized robots.
The haters, on the other hand, argue
that computers bring not leisure but unemployment.
They worry, too, that people who spend all their time
talking to computers will forget how to talk to each other.
And anyway, they ask, what`s wrong with going shopping and learning
languages in classroom with real teachers? But their
biggest fear is that computers may eventually take over human beings altogether.
Questions 19 to 22 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
19.What does this passage mainly talk about?
20.According to the passage, what is not mentioned about computers?
21.What is the biggest fear of the computer haters?
22.What`s the speaker`s attitude to computers?
Passage Three
Children in the United States are exposed to many influences other
than that of their families. Television is the most significant
of these influences, because the habit of watching television usually
begins before children start attending school.
And, by the time that the average child finishes high school,
he or she will have spent 18,000 hours in front of a television
set as opposed to 12,000 hours in a classroom. Parents are concerned
about these figures. They are also concerned about the lack
of quality in television programmes for children. The degree
of violence in many of these shows also worries them.
Even if it is unreal a cartoon cat beating up a cartoon
mouse with a baseball bat this violence may have a negative
effect on the young minds exposed to it. Studies indicate that,
when children are exposed to violence,
they may become aggressive or insecure.
Parents are also concerned about the commercials
that their children see on television.
Many parents would like to see fewer commercials
during programmes for children.
And some parents feel that these shows should not have commercials
at all because young minds are not mature enough to deal
with the claims made by advertisers. Educational television
has no commercials and has programmes for children
that many parents approve of. The most famous of these is
“Sesame Street”, which tries to give preschool
children a head start in learning the alphabet and numbers.
It also tries to teach children useful things about
the world in which they live. Even though most parents
and educators give “Sesame Street”
and shows like it high marks for quality,
some critics argue that all television,
whether educational or not, is harmful to children.
These critics feel that the habit of watching hours
of television a day turns children into bored and passive
consumers of their world rather than encouraging
them to become active explorers of it.
Questions 23 to 25 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
23.What is the main idea of the passage?
24.According to the passage, what do you think “Sesame Street” is?
25.What will be the consequence if a child forms a habit
of watching hours of television every day?