阅读理解 〉 《专业四级阅读测试1》

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阅读理解 《专业四级阅读测试 1》 》 测试类别:阅读理解 试题级别:专四英语 试题级别:专四英语
Nobody’s Watching Me I am a foot taller than Napoleon and twice the weight of Twiggy; on my only visit to a beautician, the woman said she found my face a challenge. Yet despite these social disadvantages I feel cheerful, happy, confident and secure. I work for a daily newspaper and so get to a lot of places I would otherwise never see. This year I went to Ascot to write about the people there. I saw something there that made me realize the stupidity of trying to conform,of trying to be better than anyone else. There was a small, plump woman, all dressed up—— huge hat, dress with pink butterflies, long white gloves. She also had a shooting stick. But because she was so plump, when she sat on the stick it went deep into the ground and she couldn’t pull it out. She tugged and tugged, tears of rage in her eyes. When the final tug brought it out, she crashed with it to the ground.” I saw her walk away. Her day had been ruined. She had made a fool of herself in public— she had impressed nobody. In her own sad, red eyes she was a failure. I remember well when I was like that, in the days before I learned that nobody really cared what you do . . .I remember the pain of my first dance, something that is always meant to be a wonderful occasion for a girl . . . There was a fashion then for diamante (人造钻石) ear-rings, and I wore them so often practicing for the big night that I got two great sores on my ears and had to put sticking-plaster on them. Perhaps it was this that made nobody want to dance with me. Whatever it was, there I sat for four hours and 43 minutes. When I came home, I told my parents that I had a marvelous time and that my feet were sore from dancing. They were pleased at my success and they went to bed happily, but l went to my room and tore the bits of sticking-plaster off my ears and felt forlorn and disconsolate. The beautician found the writer’s face a `challenge’, which means. A. she thought it was a challenge to have such a face repaired B. she thought it was a challenge to deal with such a face C. the writer’s face challenged the beautician’s D. it was a challenge to find the writer’s face In the second paragraph, the word `plump’ can be replaced by which word? A. Heavy.
B. Slim. C. Ugly. D. Stout. According to the writer, what was the main reason for the failure of her first dance? A. She was too shy and kept quiet. B. She was not attractive. C. She wore diamante earring. D. She was not in fashion.
The Virus Hunters The mouth of the Amazon River has long been a starting place for hunters going to the jungles of Brazil. In recent years it has been, too, the headquarters for a middle-aged American couple who hunt t

he smallest living things and perhaps the most deadly——viruses. Dr Causey and his wife have discovered more new types and more old ones in new places than all of the other search teams. Dr. Causey insists that the couple’s success is due more to the number of viruses in the forests of the Amazon than to the skill he and his wife have developed during their eighteen years of work in Brazil. “We have found the loveliest diseases right in our backyard,” he told me one day as we walked through a light rain along a jungle trail. “Oh, these viruses are here all right. There is in the jungle a great pool of disease which is carried in the blood of animals and birds. Some of the diseases can be caught by people. It may be that we shall find that the jungle is a great center of virus disease and that it overflows from here to other parts of the world. It may be that birds carry the viruses to far countries. It may be that some viruses which presently reproduce in man without making him ill, may change and become deadly to him.‘Viruses waiting for a disease,’ they are sometimes called. This is just an idea, you understand. We do not know, but it is important that we find out, and the first step in finding out is to learn what viruses there are in the jungles.” There is a Brazilian story about the beginning of the world which goes: “When God was making the world he
tried to keep everything in balance. When he made a desert, he provided it with some green places. When he made a land that was beautiful, he gave it storms and other terrible things caused by the weather. Where the earth was rich below the surface, it was also made hard to live on, where the land could be farmed, the weather was made too hot or too cold or too dry. Where there was enough water, God made it so that there should sometimes be too much water. “But in one place God made a land that was rich, where everything grew easily. Where it was not too hot and certainly not too cold, where animals were plentiful and fruit hung from the trees all the year round.” “The angels looked at this loveliness and were jealous of man. They asked God if this was not too beautiful, too much like heaven, this valley of the Amazon.” And God said, “True, this
land looks like heaven, but wait until you see what happens to man when he tries to live in it.” When Dr. Causey said, “We have found the loveliest diseases right in our backyard,” he meant. A. new viruses have just been discovered B. his discovery was a bit frightening C. he and his wife were surrounded by harmful viruses D. his job was exciting “Viruses waiting for a disease” refers to. A. those viruses carried in the blood of animals B. some viruses which are at present harmless to man C. the viruses that reproduce in man without making him ill D. the still-not-yet-discovered viruses in the jungle When the author cited the Brazilian legend he was. A. trying to add a little humor B. trying to illustrate

his earlier point C. simply joking D. being religious
The year 1400 opened with more peacefulness than usual in England. Only a few months before, Richard II, weak, wicked, and treacherous,had been deposed(废黜),and Herry IV declared king in his stead. But it was only a seeming peacefulness, lasting for but a little while; for though King Herry proved himself a just and a merciful man——as justice and mercy went with the men of iron of those days——and though he did not care to shed blood needlessly, there were many noble families who had been benefited by King Richard during his reign, and who had lost somewhat of their power and prestige from the coming in of the new king. Among these were a number of great lords who had been degraded from their former titles and estates, from which degradation King Richard had lifted them. They planned to fall upon King Herry and his followers and to massacre(屠杀)them during a great tournament(中世纪的马上比武大会) which was being held at Oxford. And they might have succeeded had not one of their own members betrayed them. But Herry did not appear at the lists; whereupon, knowing that he had been lodging at Windsor with only a few attendants, the conspirators marched there against him. In the meantime, the king had been warned of the plot, so that instead of finding him in the royal castle, they discovered through their scouts that he had hurried to London, and that he was marching against them at the head of a considerable army. So nothing was left but flight. One and another, they were all caught and some killed. Those few who found friends faithful and bold enough to afford them shelter dragged those friends down in their own ruin. Why did the nobles wish to kill Herry?
A. Herry had taken away power given to them by Richard. B. Herry was weak, wicked, and treacherous. C. Herry had needlessly killed members of their families. D. Herry had killed King Richard. How did King Herry find out about the plot? A. His scouts discovered it. B. He saw the conspirators coming. C. One of the conspirators told him. D. He found a copy of the conspirators’plan.
What does the author seem to think of King Herry? A. He was the best king England had ever had. B. He was unfair and cowardly. C. He was just as evil as King Richard. D. He was a better ruler than King Richard.
Although the United States cherishes the tradition it is a nation of small towns and wide open spaces, only one in every eight Americans now lives on a farm. The recent population trend has been a double one, toward both urbanization and suburbanization. Metropolitan areas have grown explosively in the past decade, and nearly half this increase has been in the suburbs. With the rapid growth of cities has come equally rapid decentralization. The flight of Americans from the central city to the suburbs constitutes one of the greatest migrations of modern times; quite residential sections outside cities have become con

glomerations of streets, split-level houses, and shopping centers. This spurt of suburban expansion, however, does not alter the basic fact that the United States has become one of the most urban nations on the face of the earth. Census Bureau figures show that the rural population has been shrinking steadily since 1830. When the United States became a nation it had no large cities at all; today some fifty cities have population of more than 258,000. Mammoth complexes of cities are developing in the area of the East Coast and the east north-central states, on the Pacific and Gulf coasts, and near the shores of the Great Lakes. Some sociologists now regard the entire 600-mile stretch between Boston and Washington D.C.——an area holding a fifth of the country’s population——as one vast city or, as they call it, megalopolis. The author says that trends are toward the. A. growth of cities and shrinking of suburban areas B. growth of both rural and suburban areas C. growth of urban and suburban areas D. growth of suburban areas and shrinking of cities Decentralization is best defined as .
A. movement from the central city to rural areas B. movement from the central city to the suburbs C. disorderly expansion of the central city D. shrinking of metropolitan One aspect of the recent population trend is the. A. development of complexes of cities B. increasingly great distance between cities C. transformation of cities into suburbs D. growth of many small towns
A need for beauty, lightness, corrosion resistance, or other specific properties must be present before plastic can be considered as competitors of brick, window glass, cement, cast iron, or steel, since volumetric prices are so low for the last substance and for wood. It is not particularly unfortunate that plastics do not appear economical for every use. There is no reason why industry should want to replace wood, brick, concrete, and metals when the latter are adequate and inexpensive. Too much has been written about the coming “Plastics and Light Metal Age,” which is prophesized as the successor to the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age. In the historical sequence of these earlier periods, there is logic in the quantitative sense; one age gave way to another when the use of a new material exceeded in quantity that of its predecessor. For the plastics and light metals, however, a different picture presents itself; less than 3,000,000 tons of all these materials are being produced annually, while steel production exceeded 90,000,000 tons last year and will probably not recede to less than 60,000,000 tons for many years. This is still the Iron Age or rather the Steel Age. The writer considers that the Bronze Age succeeded the Stone Age beca use.
A. there was a scarcity of wood and other building materials B. bronze was less expensive than stone C. stone was no longer available D. more bronze than stone came into use The writer regards the change to a “Plasti

c and Light Metal Age” in the near future as. A. necessary B. desirable C. improbable D. logical The title that best expresses the idea of this passage is. A. New Uses for Plastics B. How One Age Succeeds Another C. Advantages of Plastics D. Limitations on the Use of Plastics

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