2020年大学英语四级阅读题文章精读(2)
2020年大学英语四级阅读题文章精读(2) Passage Two
Europe's Gypsies, Are They a Nation?
The striving of countries in Central Europe to enter the European Union may offer an unprecedented chance to the continent's Gypsies （or Roman） to be recognized as a nation, albeit one without a defined territory. And if they were to achieve that they might even seek some kind of formal place—
at least a total population outnumbers that of many of the Union's present and future countries. Some experts put the figure at 4m-plus; some proponents of Gypsy rights go as high as 15m.
Unlike Jews, Gypsies have had no known ancestral land to hark back to. Though their language is related to Hindi,
their territorial origins are misty. Romanian peasants held them to be born on the moon. Other Europeans （wrongly）
thought them migrant Egyptians, hence the derivative Gypsy. Most probably they were itinerant metal workers and entertainers who drifted west from India in the 7th century.
However, since communism in Central Europe collapsed a decade ago, the notion of Romanestan as a landless nation founded on Gypsy culture has gained ground. The International Romany Union, which says it stands for 10m Gypsies in more
than 30 countries, is fostering the idea of “self-rallying”. It is trying to promote a standard and written form of the language; it waves a Gypsy flag （green with a wheel） when
it lobbies in such places as the United Bations; and in July
it held a congress in Prague, The Czech capital. Where
President Vaclav Havel said that Gypsies in his own country and elsewhere should have a better deal.
At the congress a Slovak-born lawyer, Emil Scuka, was elected president of the International Tomany Union. Later
this month a group of elected Gypsy politicians, including members of parliament, mayors and local councilors from all over Europe （OSCE）, to discuss how to persuade more Gypsies to get involved in politics.
The International Romany Union is probably the most representative of the outfits that speak for Gypsies, but
that is not saying a lot. Of the several hundred delegates
who gathered at its congress, few were democratically elected; oddly, none came from Hungary, whose Gypsies are perhaps the world's best organized, with some 450 Gypsy bodies advising local councils there. The union did, however, announce its ambition to set up a parliament, but how it would actually be elected was left undecided.
So far, the European Commission is wary of encouraging Gypsies to present themselves as a nation. The might, it is feared, open a Pandora's box already containing Basques, Corsicans and other awkward peoples. Besides, acknowledging Gypsies as a nation might backfire, just when several countries, particularly Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, are beginning to treat them better, in order to qualify for EU membership. “The EU's whole premise is to overcome di fferences, not to highlight them,” says a nervous Eurocrat.
But the idea that the Gypsies should win some kind of special recognition as Europe's largest continent wide
minority, and one with a terrible history of persecution, is catching on . Gypsies have suffered many pogroms over the centuries. In Romania, the country that still has the largest number of them （more than 1m）, in the 19th century they
were actually enslaved. Hitler tried to wipe them out, along with the Jews.
“Gypsies deserve some space within European structures,” says Jan Marinus Wiersma, a Dutchman in the European
Parliament who suggests that one of the current commissioners should be responsible for Gypsy affairs. Some prominent
Gypsies say they should be more directly represented, perhaps with a quota in the European Parliament. That, they argue,
might give them a boost. There are moves afoot to help them
to get money for, among other things, a Gypsy university.
One big snag is that Europe's Gypsies are, in fact, extremely heterogeneous. They belong to many different, and often antagonistic, clans and tribes, with no common language
or religion, Their self-proclaimed leaders have often proved quarrelsome and corrupt. Still, says, Dimitrina Petrova, head
of the European Roma Rights Center in Budapest, Gypsies'
shared experience of suffering entitles them to talk of one nation; their potential unity, she says, stems from “being regarded as sub-human by most majorities in Europe.”
And they have begun to be a bit more pragmatic. In
Slovakia and Bulgaria, for instance, Gypsy political parties
are trying to form electoral blocks that could win seats in parliament. In Macedonia, a Gypsy party already has some—and even runs a municipality. Nicholas Gheorge, an expert on
Gypsy affairs at the OSCE, reckons that, spread over Central
Europe, there are now about 20 Gypsy MPS and mayors, 400-odd local councilors, and a growing number of businessmen and intellectuals.
That is far from saying that they have the people or the cash to forge a nation. But, with the Gypsy question on the EU's agenda in Central Europe, they are making ground.
1. The Best Title of this passage is
[A]. Gypsies Want to Form a Nation. [B]. Are They a Nation.
[C]. EU Is Afraid of Their Growth. [C]. They Are a Tribe
2. Where are the most probable Gypsy territory origins?
[A]. Most probably they drifted west from India in the
7th century.
[B]. They are scattered everywhere in the world.
[C]. Probably, they stemmed from Central Europe.
[D]. They probably came from the International Romany Union.
3. What does the International Romany lobby for?
[A]. It lobbies for a demand to be accepted by such international organizations as EU and UN.
[B]. It lobbies for a post in any international Romany Union.
[C]. It lobbies for the right as a nation.
[D]. It lobbies for a place in such international organizations as the EU or UN.
4. Why is the Europe Commission wary of encouraging Gypsies to present themselves as a nation?
[A]. It may open a Pandora's Box.
[B]. Encouragement may lead to some unexpected results.
[C]. It fears that the Basgnes, Corsicans and other nations seeking separation may raise the same demand.
[D]. Gyspsies' demand may highlight the difference in the EU.
5. The big problem lies in the fact that
[A]. Gypsies belong to different and antagonistic clans and tribes without a common language or religion.
[B]. Their leaders prove corrupt.
[C]. Their potential unity stems from “being regarded as sub-human”.
[D]. They are a bit more pragmatic.
Vocabulary
1. albeit 即使，虽然
2. outnumber 数字上超过
3. ethnic 少数民族的成员，种族集团的成员
4. Hindi 印地语
5. misty 模糊不清的，朦胧的
6. derivative 衍生的，派生的
7. itinerant 逻辑的
8. Romanesten 说吉普塞语的地方
Romanes 吉普塞语
Stan 地方
9. outfit （口）组织，（协同工作）的集体
10. local 地方（市，镇，县）政务委员会
11. wary 谨慎的，机警的
12. backfire 产生出乎意料或事与愿违的结果
13. highlight 强调
14. persecution 迫害
15. catch on 了解，风行=to become popular
16. pogrom 大屠杀，集体迫害
17. commissioner 委员，调查团团员
18. quota 定量，配额，限额
19. snag （尖利突出物，抽丝）潜在的困难
20. heterogeneous 由不同种类组成的
21. antagonistic 有效对抗性的，对抗性的
22. clan 氏族
23. tribe 部落
24. pragmatic 务实的，讲究实效的
25. municipality 城市，镇，区属政府，自治区
26. Rom 罗姆，即吉普塞人
难句译注
1. Central Europe 中欧，如本文提及捷克，匈牙利，罗马尼亚等。
2. European Union 欧盟。
3. the EUs institutions 欧洲机构，如：European Commission 欧盟委员会，European Council 欧盟理事会，European Parliament 欧洲会议，the Court of Justic 欧洲法院。4m=more than 4
million 四百多万。
4. Unlike Jews, Gypsies have had no known ancestral land to hark back to.
[结构简析] hark back to =to mention again or remember an earlier subject, event, etc. 吉普塞不知其祖先来自何方，而犹太人在《圣经》中已阐明了他们的历史。
[参考译文] 吉普塞人和犹太人不同，他们没有能够回想起来的已知的祖居地。
5. …the notion of Romanestan as a landless nation founded on Gypsy culture has gained ground.
[结构简析] gain ground （on）接近。
[参考译文] 作为建立在吉普塞文化基础上的无疆地民族应该有一个说吉普塞语的地方。这种想法越来越为人接受。
6. the International Romany Union 国际吉普塞人联盟。
7. Vaclav Harel （1936——）剧作家和****运动成员，1990——1992为捷克斯洛伐克的总统，1993年后为捷克总统。
8. a Slovak-born lawyer 斯洛伐克出生的律师，1992年捷克斯洛伐克
9. Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe 简称OSCE，偶中安全合作条约组织，成立于1972.
10. nation 一词有民族和国家的含义。这里主要指：民族。因为作为国家应有疆土，但吉普塞人有要求成立国家的想法，欧盟是国家加入地方，不是民族加入。
11. electoral block 选举集团
12. The might, it is feared, open a Pandora's box already containing Basques, Corsicans and other awkward peoples.
[结构简析] Pandora's box 潘多拉盒子——喻种种麻烦事。潘多拉是主神宙斯命火神用黏土制成的第一个女性。宙斯命潘多拉带着一个盒子下凡。潘多拉私自打开盒子，于是里面的疾病，罪恶等各种祸害全部出来，散布于世。这里潘多拉盒子喻里面已有的各种麻烦的民族，吉普塞加入，了一份麻烦。
[参考译文] 人们担心，若让吉普塞人作为一个民族代表，就会打开了一个潘多拉盒子，里面已经装有要独立的西班牙的巴斯克人，意大利的科西嘉人和其他难以对付的民族。
写作手法与文章大意
文章以对比手法环绕吉普塞是不是一个民族/国家，可不能够取得合法地位这个中心而写。从人口上说，它的数量超过加入欧盟很多国家，应在欧盟中一席之底。但人口分散在各国，他是对抗的部落，还没有共同的语言和信仰。不像犹太人，它们没有回归的祖居地。它们成立了国际联盟，也选出了领导，在布鲁塞尔开设了办事处，想成立
国会，但不知如何落实操作，仅仅极力游说欧盟和联合国等组织，以
获得一个合法地位和发言权。这是欧盟日程表上一个问题，但欧盟等
机构又担心，万一他们取得正式地位，那些国家中正闹分离和独立的
民族也会提出同样的要求，就象潘多拉盒子那样，不能打开。
答案祥解
1. B. 他们是一个民族/国家吗?整篇文章环境这个点而写，文章
一开始就提出中欧入欧盟的国家会给大陆吉普塞人一个机会，承认他
们是一个民族——国家，虽然没有界定的领土（作为国家，应有领土）。吉普塞人的领袖人物也指出其人数超过欧盟中很多现在有的和
将来要入盟的国家。他们至少要在欧盟中有一席之地。第二段提出，
吉普塞和犹太人不同，他们没有可回归的祖居地。他们的语言属印欧
语系。英国人认为他们来自埃及及移民。最可能的是七世纪时一些流
浪的手工业工人和艺人从印度向西方流移。第三段涉及一种思想——
以吉普塞文化为基础的无疆土的吉普塞民族应有个说话的地方—越来
越为人接受。国际吉普塞人联盟声称代表30多个国家的吉普塞人，做
了几件事：展开自我联合，提出语言标准和书面形式，在联合国实行
游说活动时挥动吉普塞国旗，在布鲁塞尔设立办事处，六月在捷克首
都布拉格召开会议。第四段集中讲到会上选出了联盟主席。一群选出
吉普塞的政治家——国会议员，市长，地方政务委员再次在布拉格开会，会议由欧洲安全合作条约组织召集，来讨论如何动员的吉普塞人
参政。第五段涉及联盟雄心勃勃的宣布要建立国会，但如何实际操作
还未落实。后面主要是外界对吉普塞的态度。第六段描述欧盟委员会
在吉普塞作为的大陆少数民族，历遭到残酷的迫害，应赢得特别承认。19世纪他们横遭奴役，希特勒企图把它们和犹太人一起消灭。第八段
讲了欧洲会议中有人提出吉普塞在欧洲机构中应有一席之地，还提议
一个常务委员负责吉普塞事务。还有行动筹建建立一所吉普塞大学。
后面两段讲的是困难，第九段点出。最后一段指出，现在说他们有人
有钱能够组成（国家）为时还早，不过吉普塞是欧盟中日程表上的一
个问题，他们日益接近解决。从内部，外部情况分析都说明吉普塞是
一个组成国家的民族。全文都是环绕它是不是，该不该承认为民族/国
家而写，所以B项他们是不是民族是标题。
A. 吉普塞要想组成一个国家（民族）。这仅仅文章涉及到的部分
内容，中欧国家想加入欧盟一事可能产生的结果。 C. 欧盟害怕它们
成长。 D. 他们是一个部落。
2. A. 最可能是在7世纪从印度流浪到西方。见第1题第二注释。
B. 他们分散在世界各地。
C. 可能他们源于中欧。
D. 他们可能
来自国际吉普塞人联盟。
3. D. 它们在这些国际组织，如欧盟，联合国中实行活动游说要
取得一席之地。见第1题第一段，三段注释。
A. 它们游说活动欧盟和联合国接受他们的要求。太抽象。
B. 它
们活动游说在国际机构取得职位。 C. 他们游说作为民族的权利。
4. C. 它害怕巴斯克人，科西嘉人和其它要求分裂的民族会提出
同样的要求。见难句译注11.
A. 它可能会打开潘多拉盒子。此盒子在文章中仅仅比喻。
B. 鼓
励可能会导致某些意想不到的结果。 D. 吉普塞的要求会加深欧盟分歧。 B,D两项不够明确。
5. A. 吉普塞人属于不同的，而且常常是对抗的民族的部落，还
没有共同的语言和宗教信仰。
B. 他们领袖很****。
C. 他们潜在的团结来自被人看作是低于人
类（次等人）。 D. 他们有点太讲究实效， B,C, D 三项不是主要问题。主要问题是A. 项。
英语四级阅读理解练习附答案
英语四级阅读理解练习附答案 导读：我根据大家的需要整理了一份关于《英语四级阅读理解练习附答案》的内容，具体内容：下面是我整理的，希望对大家有帮助。Culture is one of the most challenging elements of the international ma... 下面是我整理的，希望对大家有帮助。 Culture is one of the most challenging elements of the international marketplace. 『This system of learned behavior patterns characteristic of the members of a given society is constantly shaped by a set of dynamic variables: language, religion, values and attitudes, manners and customs, aesthetics, technology, education, and social institutions.』① To cope with this system, an international manager needs both factual and interpretive knowledge of culture. To some extent, the factual knowledge can be learned; its interpretation comes only through experience. The most complicated problems in dealing with the cultural environment stem from the fact that one cannot learn culture—one has to live it. Two schools of thought exist in the business world on how to deal with cultural diversity. One is that business is business the world around, following the model of Pepsi and McDonalds. In some cases, globalization is a fact of life; however, cultural differences are still far from converging.
英语四级阅读题库含答案解析
英语四级阅读题库含答案解析 1.Passage One Global warming may or may not be the great environmental crisis of the 21st century, but regardless of whether it is or isn’t –we won’t do much about it. We will argue over it and may even, as a nation, make some fairly solemn-sounding commitments to avoid it. But the more dramatic and meaningful these commitments seem, the less likely they are to be observed. Al Gore calls global warming an “inconvenient truth,” as if merely recognizing it could put us on a path to a solution. But the real truth is that we don’t know enough to relieve global warming, and –without major technological breakthroughs—we can’t do much about it. From 2003 to 2050, the world’s population is projected to grow from 6.4 billion to 9.1 billion, a 42% increase. If energy use per person and technology remain the same, total energy use and greenhouse gas emissions (mainly, CO2) will be 42% higher in 2050. but that’s too low, because societies that grow richer use more energy. We need economic growth unless we condemn the world’s poor to their present poverty and freeze everyone else‘s living standards. With modest growth, energy use and greenhouse emissions more than double by 2050. No government will adopt rigid restrictions on economic growth and personal freedom (limits on electricity usage, driving and travel) that might cut back global warming. Still, politicians want to show they’re “doing something.” Consider the Kyoto Protocol (京都议定书). It allowed countries that joined to punish those that didn’t. But it hasn’t reduced CO2 emissions (up about 25% since 1990), and many signatories (签字国) didn’t adopt tough enough policies to hit their 2008-2012 targets. The practical conclusion is that if global warming is a potential disaster, the only solution is new technology. Only an aggressive research and development program might find ways of breaking dependence on fossil fuels or dealing with it. The trouble with the global warming debate is that it has become a moral problem when it’s really an engineering one. The inconvenient truth is that if we don’t solve the engineering problem, we’re helpless. 57. What is said about global warming in the first paragraph? A) It may not prove an environmental crisis at all. B) It is an issue requiring world wide commitments. C) Serious steps have been taken to avoid or stop it. D) Very little will be done to bring it under control. 58. According to the author’s understanding, what is Al Gore’s view on global warming? A) It is a reality both people and politicians are unaware of. B) It is a phenomenon that causes us many inconveniences. C) It is a problem that can be solved once it is recognized. D) It is an area we actually have little knowledge about. 59. Green house emissions will more than double by 2050 because of _______. A) economic growth B) the widening gap between the rich and poor C) wasteful use of energy D) the rapid advances of science and technology
大学英语四级阅读理解试题及标准答案.
大学英语四级阅读理解试题及答案.
————————————————————————————————作者：————————————————————————————————日期： 2
3 大学英语四级阅读理解试题及答案（四） 十六 Trees should only be pruned when there is a good and clear reason for doing so and , fortunately,the number of such reasons is small. Pruning involves the cutting away of obergrown and unwanted branches, and the inexperienced gardener can be encouraged by the thought that more damage results from doing it unnecessarily than from leaving the tree to grow in its own way. First, pruning may be done to make sure that trees have a desired shape or size. The object may be to get a tree of the right height, and at the same time to help the growth of small side branches which will thicken its appearance or give it a special shape. Secondly, pruning may be done to make the tree healthier. You may cut diseaed or dead wood, or branches that are rubbing against each other and thus cause wounds. The health of a tree may be encouraged by removing branches that are blocking up the centre and so preventing the free movement of air. One result of pruning is that an open wound is left on the tree and this provides an easy entry for disease, but itis a wound that will heal. Often there is a race between the healing and the desease as to whether the tree will live or die, so that there is a period when the tree is at risk. It should be the aim of every gardener to reduce which has been pruned smooth and clean, for healing will be slowed down by roughness. You should allow the cut surface to dry for a few hurs and then paint it with one of the substances available from garden shops produced especially for this purpose. Pruning is usually without interference from the leaves and also it is very unlikely that the cuts yu make will bleed. If this does happen,it is, of course,impossible to paint them properly. 1.Pruning should be done to ______. a.make the tree grow taller
(完整版)大学英语四级阅读理解试题及答案
As the pace of life continues to increase ,we are fast losing the art of relaxation. Once you are in the habit of rushing through lift,being on the go from morning till night, it is hard to slow down. But relaxation is essential for a healthy mind and body. Stress is an natural part of everyday lift and there is no way to avoid it. In fact ,it is not the bad thing it is often supposed to be .A certain amount of stress is vital to provide motivation adn give purpose to life. It is only when the stress gets out of control that it can lead to poor performance and ill health. The amount of stress a person can withstand depends very much on the individual. Some people are not afraid of stress,and such characters are obviously prime material for managerial responsibilities. Others lose heart at the first signs of unusual difficulties. When exposed to stress,in whatever form,we react both chemically and physically. In fact we make choice between "fight" or "flight" and in more primitive days the choice made the difference between life or death. The crises we meet today are unlikely to be so extreme,but however little the stress,it involves the same response. It is when such a reaction lasts long,through continued exposure to stress,that health becomes endangered.Such serious conditions as high blood pressure and heart disease have established links with stress.Since we cannot remove stress from our lives(it would be unwise to do so even if we could),we need to find ways to deal with it. 1.People are finding less and less time for relaxing themselves because_____. a.they do not know how to enjoy themselves b.they do not believe that relaxation is important for health c.they are travelling fast all the time d.they are becoming busier with their work 2.According to the writer ,the most important character for a good manager is his ________. a.not fearing stress b.knowing the art of relaxation c.high sense of responsibility d.having control over performance 3.Which of the follwing statements is ture? a.We can find some ways to avoid stress b.Stress is always harmful to people
大学英语四级阅读理解试题及答案四
大学英语四级阅读理解试题及答案（四） 十六 Trees shoul d only be pruned when there is a good and clear reason for doing so and , fortunately,the number of such reasons is small. Pruning involves the cutting away of obergrown and unwanted branches, and the inexperienced gardener can be encouraged by the thought that more damage results from d oing it unnecessarily than from l eaving the tree to grow in its own way. First, pruning may be d one to make sure that trees have a d esired shape or size. The object may be to get a tree of the right height, and at the same time to help the growth of small side branches which will thicken its appearance or give it a special shape. Secondly, pruning may be done to make the tree healthier. You may cut diseaed or dead wood, or branches that are rubbing against each other and thus cause wounds. The health of a tree may be encouraged by removing branches that are blocking up the centre and so preventing
英语四级阅读理解模拟试题及答案详解第16期
2洛基英语，中国在线英语教育领导品牌 阅读练习】 Nowadays, is it possible to tell a person’s class just by looking at him? Physical details __1__ tell us about health, diet and type of work done. A hundred years ago the working class very often lookd unhealthy, small and were either too thin or too fat. The upper classes were often __2__, sporting types who were used to a good diet and looked healthy. Today living and working conditions have improved, and such __3__ would no longer be so true.The clothes people choose to wear, however, do provide information about their __4__. The most obvious way in which is for the amount of money spent on them. Expensive clothes look expensive and show their wearer had money. Clothes can provide other __5__ as well. The upper classes __6__ to be less interested in fashion and wear good quality clothes in non-bright colours, made of natural material like wool, leather or cotton. Lower working class people often choose clothes in bright colours, made of man-made material. A sociological explanation for this would be that color and interest are mssing from their lives, and therefore any opportunity to introduce this is __7__.Clothes are __8__ at a price within most people’s reach. New clothes make the wearer feel good, and show some __9__ of wealth to the outside world. Today some new fashions are started by the lower working class people who want to look __10__ and feel important. They want people to look at them.A) available B) background C) different D) tallE) totally F) taken G) descriptions H) degreeI) clues J) alone K) appear L) considerM) full N) hobby O)fetched ANSWER: 1.选J)。此处应填副词。可选项有totally和alone，由前一句中just可推出，外表上的细节仅仅能告诉我们这个人的健康状况，平时的营养状况以及他所从事的工作而不能看出他所处的阶级，故排除totally而选alone“惟一”。 2.选D)。此处应填形容词。因此此句和前一句是在将以前的工人阶级和上层阶级的身体状况进行对比，故此处应填与small“矮的”意思相反的词，选项中只有tall符合题意。而full“丰满的”不能用来修饰sporting types,故排除。 3.选G)。此处应填名词。现在的生活和工作条件改善了，情况已经不同了。而such指代的是上文中对一百年以前工人阶级和上层阶级的身体状况的身体状况的描述，故descriptions“描述”符合题意。 4.选B)。此处应填名词。根据句意“衣服可以提供...方面的信息”，选项中有background和hobby，选background“人的背景，社会阶层”，符合文章主题。 5.选I)。由as well可知，此处应填名词且与本段首句中的informaiton的意思相近，选项中只有clues“线索”符合题意。 6.选K)。此处应填动词的原形。选项中有appear和consider,appear可直接接不定式；而consider带不定式的复合结构，用于主动语态时，consider后面得接宾语，故选appear。7选F)。这句中this指代bright colour，句子主干是any opportunity is...。可选项有taken和fetched,take“抓住”则可以与opportunity搭
大学英语四级CET-4阅读理解(1)
大学英语四级阅读理解（1）We find that bright children are rarely held back by mixed-ability teaching. On the contrary, both their knowledge and experience are enriched. We feel that there are many disadvantages in streaming(把......按能力分班) pupils. It does not take into account the fact that children develop at different rates. It can have a bad effect on both the bright and the not-so-bright child. After all, it can be quite discouraging to be at the bottom of the top grade! Besides, it is rather unreal to grade people just according to their intellectual ability. This is only one aspect of their total personality. We are concerned to develop the abilities of all our pupils to the full, not just their academic ability. We also value personal qualities and social skills, and we find that mixed-ability teaching contributes to all these aspects of learning. In our classrooms, we work in various ways. The pupils often work in groups: this gives them the opportunity to learn to co-operate, to share, and to develop leadership skills. They also learn how to cope with personal problems as well as learning how to think, to make decisions, to analyse and evaluate, and to communicate effectively. The pupils learn from each other as well as from the teacher. Sometimes the pupils work in pairs; sometimes they work on individual tasks and assignments, and they can do this at their own speed. They also have some formal class teaching when this is appropriate. We encourage our pupils to use the library, and we teach them the skills they need in order to do this efficiently. An advanced pupil can do advanced work: it does not matter what age the child is. We expect our pupils to do their best, not their least, and we give them every
英语四级阅读理解练习题 第140组
洛基英语，中国在线英语教育领导品牌 综合题，请根据题目给出的内容，来回答下面给出的试题。We might marvel at the progress made in every field of study, but the methods of testing a person's knowledge and ability remain as primitive as ever they were. It really is extraordinary that after all these years, educationists have still failed to device anything more efficient and reliable than examinations. For all the pious claim that examinations text what you know, it is common knowledge that they more often do the exact opposite. They may be a good means of testing memory, or the knack of working rapidly under extreme pressure, but they can tell you nothing about a person's true ability and aptitude. As anxiety-makers, examinations are second to none. That is because so much depends on them. They are the mark of success of failure in our society. Your whole future may be decided in one fateful day. It doesn't matter that you weren't feeling very well, or that your mother died. Little things like that don't count: the exam goes on. No one can give of his best when he is in mortal terror, or after a sleepless night, yet this is precisely what the examination system expects him to do. The moment a child begins school, he enters a world of vicious competition where success and failure are clearly defined and measured. Can we wonder at the increasing number of 'drop-outs': young people who are written off as utter failures before they have even embarked on a career? Can we be surprised at the suicide rate among students? A good education should, among other things, train you to think for yourself. The examination system does anything but that. What has to be learnt is rigidly laid down by a syllabus, so the student is encouraged to memorize. Examinations do not motivate a student to read widely, but to restrict his reading; they do not enable him to seek more and more knowledge, but induce cramming. They lower the standards of teaching, for they deprive the teacher of all freedoms. Teachers themselves are often judged by examination results and instead of teaching their subjects, they are reduced to training their students in exam techniques which they despise. The most successful candidates are not always the best educated; they are the best trained in the technique of working under duress. The results on which so much depends are often nothing more than a subjective assessment by some anonymous examiner. Examiners are only human. They get tired and hungry; they make mistakes. Yet they have to mark stacks of hastily scrawled scripts in a limited amount of time. They work under the same sort of pressure as the candidates. And their word carries weight. After a judge's decision you have the right of appeal, but not after an examiner's. There must surely be many simpler and more effective ways of assessing a person's true abilities. Is it cynical to suggest that examinations are merely a profitable business for the institutions that run them? This is what it boils down to in the last analysis. The best comment on the system is this illiterate message recently scrawled on a wall: 'I were a teenage drop-out and now I are a teenage millionaire.' 请根据上面给出的内容，来回答下面的单项选择题（下列每小题备选答案中，只
(完整版)英语四级阅读试题及答案详解1
英语四级阅读试题及答案详解1 Reading is thought to be a kind of conversation between the reader and the text. The reader puts questions, as it were, to the text and gets answers. In the light of these he puts __1__ questions, and so on. For most of the time this “conversation” goes on below the level of consciousness. At times, however, we become __2__ of it. This is usually when we are running into difficulties, when mismatch is occurring between __3__ and meaning. When successful matching is being experienced, our question of the text continues at the unconscious level. Different people __4__ with the text differently. Some stay very close to the words on the page, others take off imaginatively from the words, interpreting, criticizing, analyzing and examining. The former represents a kind of comprehension which is __5__ in the text. The latter represents __6__ levels of comprehension. The balance between these is important, especially for advanced readers. There is another conversation which from our point of view is __7__ important, and that is to do not with what is read but with how it is read. We call this a “process” conversation as __8__ to a “content” conversation. It is concerned not with meaning but with the __9__ we employ in reading. If we are an advanced reader our ability to hold a
英语四级真题阅读理解(带翻译)
Passage1 Reading leadership literature, you’d sometimes think that everyone has the potential to be an effective leader. 读领导文学，你有时会认为每个人都有可能成为一个有效的领导者。 I don’t believe that to be true. In fact, I see way fewer truly effective leaders than I see people stuck in positions of leadership who arc sadly incompetent and seriously misguided about their own abilities. 我不相信这是真的。事实上，我认为真正有效的领导者的方式比我看到的人都陷在领导的职位上，遗憾的是他们自己的能力不称职，严重误导了他们。 Part of the reason this happens is a lack of honest self-assessment by those who aspire to（追求）leadership in the first place. 对产生这种现象的原因一部分是由那些渴望缺乏诚实的自我评估（追求）放在首位的领导 We've all met the type of individual who simply must take charge. Whether it's a decision-making session, a basketball game, or a family outing, they can't help grabbing the lead dog position and clinging on to it for dear life. They believe they're natural born leaders. 我们都遇到了个人的类型，他们必须负责。无论是决策会议，篮球比赛，还是家庭外出，他们都不能不抓住领导的狗的地位，并紧紧抓住它，因为亲爱的生命。他们相信他们是天生的领袖。 Truth is, they're nothing of the sort. True leaders don't assume that it's their divine（神圣的）right to take charge every time two or more people get together. Quite the opposite. A great leader will assess each situation on its merits, and will only take charge when their position, the situation, and/or the needs of the moment demand it. 事实是，他们没有什么样的。真正的领导者不认为这是他们的神圣（神圣的）负责每次两个或两个以上的人在一起吧。恰恰相反。一个伟大的领导者会对每一个情况进行评估，并在他们的位置、情况和/或需要的情况下，只会负责。 Many business executives confuse leadership with action. They believe that constant motion somehow generates leadership as a byproduct. Faced with any situation that can’t be solved by the sheer force of activity, they generate a dust cloud of impatience. Their one leadership tool is