2020年12月英语四级真题第3套.pdf

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1、Part IWriting(30 minutes)Direct ions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write on the topic Changes in the Way of Communication. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.Part IListening Comprehension(25 minutes): st 2020 12 Part I Reading Comprehension (40 minutes)Sec

2、tion ADirect ions: 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 lett

3、er. 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.The t hings people make, and t he way t hey make t hem, det ermine how cit ies grow and decline, and influence how empires rise

4、and fall. So, any disrupt ion t o t he worlds fact ories26 . And t hat disrupt ion is surely coming. Fact ories are being digit ised, filled wit h new sensors and new comput ers t o make t hem quicker, more27 , and more efficient .Robot s are breaking free from t he cages t hat surround t hem, learn

5、ing new skills and new ways of working. And 3D print ers have long28_a world where you can make anyt hing, anywhere, from acomput erised design. That vision is29_closer t o realit y. These forces will lead t o cleaner fact ories,producing bet t er goods at lower prices, personalised t o our individu

6、al needs and desires. Humans will be30many of t he dirt y, repet it ive, and dangerous jobs t hat have long been a31_of fact orylife.Great er efficiency32 means fewer people can do t he same work. Yet fact ory bosses in many developed count ries are worried about a lack of skilled human workersand s

7、ee33 and robot s as a solut ion. But economist Helena Leurent says t his period of rapid change in manufact uring is a34_opport unit y t o make t he world a bet t er place. “Manufact uring is t he one syst em where you have got t he biggest source of innovat ion, t he biggest source of economic grow

8、t h, and t he biggest source of great jobs in t he past . You can see it changing. Thats an opport unit y t o35 t hat syst em different ly, and if we can, it will have t remendous significance. ”A) aut omat ionF) feat ureK) mat t ersB) concernsG) flexibleL) movingC) enormouslyH) inevit ablyM) promis

9、edD) fant ast icI) int eract ionN) shapeE) fascinat edJ) leaningO) sparedSection BDirect ions: 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

10、 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.The Hist ory of t he Lunch BoxA) It was made of shiny, bright pink plast ic wit h a Little Mermaid st icker on t he front , and I ca

11、rried it wit h me nearly every single day. My lunch box was one of my first prized possessions, a proud st at ement t o everyone in my kindergart en: “I love Mermaid-Ariel on my lunch box. ”B) That bulky cont ainer served me well t hrough my first and second grades, unt il t he live-act ion version

12、of 101 Dalmatians hit t heat ers, and I needed t he newest red plast ic box wit h charact ers like Pongo and Perdit a on t he front . I know Im not alone hereI bet you loved your first lunch box, t oo.C) Lunch boxes have been connect ing kids t o cart oons and TV shows and super-heroes for decades.

13、But it wasnt always t hat way. Once upon a t ime, t hey werent even boxes. As schools have changed in t he past cent ury, t he midday meal cont ainer has evolved right along wit h t hem.D) Lets st art back at t he beginning of t he 20t h cent uryt he beginning of t he lunch box st ory, really. While

14、 t here were neighborhood schools in cit ies and suburbs, one-room schoolhouses were common in rural areas. As grandparent s have been saying for generat ions, kids would t ravel miles t o school in t he count ryside (oft en on foot ).E) “You had kids in rural areas who couldnt go home from school f

15、or lunch, so bringing your lunch wrapped in a clot h, in oiled paper, in a lit t le wooden box or somet hing like t hat was a very longst anding rural t radit ion,” says Paula Johnson, head of food hist ory sect ion at t he Smit hsonian Nat ional Museum of American Hist ory in Washingt on, D.C.F) Ci

16、t y kids, on t he ot her hand, went home for lunch and came back. Since t hey rarely carried a meal, t he few met al lunch bucket s on t he market were mainly for t radesmen and fact ory workers.G) Aft er World War II, a bunch of changes reshaped schoolsand lunches. More women joined t he workforce.

17、 Small schools consolidat ed int o larger ones, meaning more st udent s were fart her away from home. And t he Nat ional School Lunch Act in 1946 made cafet erias much more common. St ill, t here wasnt much of a market for lunch cont ainersyet . St udent s who carried t heir lunch oft en did so in a

18、 re-purposed bucket or t in of some kind.H) And t hen everyt hing changed in t he year of 1950. You might as well call it t he Year of t he Lunch Box, t hanks in large part t o a genius move by a Nashville-based manufact urer, Aladdin Indust ries. The company already made square met al meal cont ain

19、ers, t he kind workers carried, and some had st art ed t o show up in t he hands of school kids.I) But t hese cont ainers were really durable, last ing years on end. That was great for t he consumer, not so much for t he manufact urer. So execut ives at Aladdin hit on an idea t hat would harness t h

20、e newfound popularit y of t elevision. They covered lunch boxes wit h st riking red paint and added a pict ure of TV and radio cowboy Hopalong Cassidy on t he front .J) The company sold 600,000 unit s t he first year. It was a major “Ah-ha!” moment , and a wave of ot her manufact urers jumped on boa

21、rd t o capit alize on new TV shows and movies. “The Part ridge Family,V3& 2020 12 48t he Addams Family, t he Six Million Dollar Man, t he Bionic Womaneveryt hing t hat was on t elevision ended up on a lunch box,” says Allen Woodall. Hes t he founder of t he Lunch Box Museum in Columbus, Georgia.

22、 “It was a great market ing t ool because kids were t aking t hat TV show t o school wit h t hem, and t hen when t hey got home t hey had t hem capt ured back on TV,” he says.K) And yes, you read t hat right : There is a lunch box museum, right near t he Chat t ahoochee River. Woodall has more t han

23、 2,000 it ems on display. His favorit e? The GreenHornet lunch box, because he used t o list en t o t he radio show back in t he 1940s.L) The new t rend was also a great example of planned obsolescence, t hat is, t o design a product so t hat it will soon become unfashionable or impossible t o use a

24、nd will need replacing. Kids would beg for a new lunch box every year t o keep up wit h t he newest charact ers, even if t heir old lunch box was perfect ly. usable.M) The met al lunch box craze last ed unt il t he mid-1980s, when plast ic t ook over. Two t heories exist as t owhy. The firstand most

25、 likelyis t hat plast ic had simply become cheaper. The second t heory possibly an urban myt his t hat concerned parent s in several st at es proposed bans on met al lunch boxes, claiming kids were using t hem as “weapons” t o hit one anot her. Theres a lot on t he int ernet about a st at e-wide ban

26、 in Florida, but a few days wort h of digging by a hist orian at t he Florida St at e Hist orical Societ y found no such legislat ion. Eit her way, t he met al lunch box was out .N) The last few decades have brought a new lunch box revolut ion, of sort s. Plast ic boxes changed t o linedclot h sacks

27、, and event ually, globalism brought tiffin cont ainers from India and bento boxes from Japan. Even t he old met al lunch boxes have regained popularit y. “I dont t hink t he heyday ($ has passed,” says D. J. Jayasekara, owner and founder of lunchbox, com, a ret ailer in Pasadena, California. “I t h

28、ink it has evolved. The days of t he ready-made, you st ick it in a lunch box and carry it t o school are kind of done.”O) The int roduct ion of backpacks changed t he lunch box scene a bit , he adds. Once kids st art ed carrying book bags, t hat bulky t radit ional lunch box was hard t o fit inside

29、. “But you cant just t hrow a sandwich in a backpack,” Jayasekara says. “It st ill has t o go int o a cont ainer. ” That is, in part , why smaller and soft er cont ainers have t aken offt hey fit int o backpacks.P) And dont worrywhet her its a plast ic bento box or a clot h bag, lunch cont ainers ca

30、n st ill easily be covered wit h popular cult ure. “We keep pace wit h t he movie indust ries so we can predict which charact ers are going t o be popular for t he coming mont hs,” Jayasekara says. “You know, kids arekids. ”36. Lunch cont ainers were not necessary for school kids in cit ies.37. Put

31、t ing TV charact ers on lunch boxes proved an effect ive market ing st rat egy.38. Smaller lunch boxes are preferred because t hey fit easily int o backpacks.39. Lunch boxes have evolved along wit h t he t ransformat ion of schools.40. Around t he beginning of t he ninet een fift ies, some school ki

32、ds st art ed t o use met al meal cont ainers.41. School kids are eager t o get a new lunch box every year t o st ay in fashion.42. Rural kids used t o walk a long way t o school in t he old days.43. The aut hor was proud of using a lunch box in her childhood.44. The most probable reason for t he pop

33、ularit y of plast ic lunch boxes is t hat t hey are less expensive.45. The durabilit y of met al meal cont ainers benefit ed consumers.P9& 2020 12 49Section CDirect ions: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them t

34、here are four choices marked A), B), C) andD). You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre. Passage OneQuest ions 46 t o 50 are based on t he following passage.A growing number of U. S. bike riders are at t ract ed t

35、o elect ric bikes for convenience, healt h benefit s and t heir fun fact or. Alt hough ebikes first appeared in t he 90s, cheaper opt ions and longer-last ing bat t eries are breat hing new life int o t he concept .Est ablished bike companies and st art ups are embracing ebikes t o meet demand. Abou

36、t 34 million ebikes were sold worldwide last year, according t o dat a from eCycleElect ric Consult ant s. Most were sold in Europe and China, where t he bikes already have exploded in popularit y. Recent ly, t he U. S. market has grown t o 263,000 bikes, a 25% gain from t he prior year.The indust r

37、y is benefit ing from improved bat t eries as suppliers over t he years developed t echnology for lapt ops, smart phones and elect ric cars. In 2004, t he price of bat t eries used on ebikes fell, spurring European sales.But lower cost opt ions are emerging, t oo. This mont h, t hree U. S. bikeshare

38、 companies, Mot ivat e, LimeBike and Spin, announced elect ric bicycles will be added t o t heir fleet s. New York-based Jump Bikes is already operat ing an elect ric bikeshare in Washingt on, D. C., and is launching in San Francisco Thursday. Rides cost $ 2 for 30 minut es.The syst em works like ex

39、ist ing dockless bikeshare syst ems, where riders unlock bikes t hrough a smart phone app. “This is t he beginning of a long-t erm shift away from regular pedal (&) t o elect ric bikes,” said Jump Bikes CEO Ryan Rzepecki. “When people first jump on an ebike, t heir face light s up. Its excit ing

40、 and joyful in a way t hat you dont get from a regular bike. ”Two years ago, CEO Chris Cocalis of Pivot Cycles, which sells high-end mount ain bikes, found t hat U. S. bike shops werent int erest ed in st ocking ebikes. Some ret ailers warned Cocalis t hat t heyd drop t he brand if it came out wit h

41、 an elect ric bike.Now t hat sales are t aking off, t he vast majorit y of bike dealers are asking Cocalis when hell make an ebike available. “Theres t remendous opport unit y t o get a generat ion of people for whom suffering isnt t heir t hing,” Cocalis said. “Ebike riders get t he enjoyable part

42、of cycling wit hout t he massive suffering of climbing huge hills. ”46. What do we learn from t he passage about ebikes?A) Their healt h benefit s and fun values out weigh t heir cost .B) They did not cat ch public at t ent ion in t he Unit ed St at es unt il t he 1990s.C) They did not become popula

43、r unt il t he emergence of improved bat t eries.D) Their widespread use is at t ribut able t o peoples environment al awareness.47. What brought about t he boost in ebike sales in Europe at t he beginning of t he cent ury?A) Updat ed t echnology of bike manufact ure.B) The falling prices of ebike ba

44、t t eries.C) Changed fashion in short -dist ance t ravel.D) The rising cost s for making elect ric cars.48. What is t he prospect of t he bike indust ry according t o Ryan Rzepecki?A) More will be invest ed in bike bat t ery research.B) The sales of ebikes will increase.C) It will profit from ebike

45、sharing.D) It will make a difference in peoples daily lives.49. What prevent ed Chris Cocalis from developing ebikes sooner?A) Ret ailers refusal t o deal in ebikes.B) High profit s from convent ional bikes.C) Users concern about risks of ebike riding.D) His focus on selling cost ly mount ain bikes.

46、50. What makes Chris Cocalis believe t here is a great er opport unit y for ebike sales?A) The furt her lowering of ebike prices.B) The publics concern for t heir healt h.C) The increasing int erest in mount ain climbing.D) The younger generat ions pursuit of comfort able riding.Passage TwoQuest ion

47、s 51 t o 55 are based on t he following passage.The t erms “global warming” and “climat e change” are used by many, seemingly int erchangeably. But do t hey really mean t he same t hing?Scient ist s shaped t he hist ory of t he t erms while at t empt ing t o accurat ely describe how humans cont inue

48、 t o alt er t he planet . Lat er, polit ical st rat egist s adopt ed t he t erms t o influence public opinion.In 1975, geochemist Wallace Broecker int roduced t he t erm “climat e change” in an art icle published by Science. In 1979, a Nat ional Academy of Sciences report used t he t erm “global war

49、ming” t o define increases in t he Eart hs average surface t emperat ure, while “climat e change” more broadly referred t o t he numerous effect s of t his increase, such as sea-level rise and ocean acidification (SUL).During t he following decades, some indust rialist s and polit icians launched a

50、campaign t o sow doubt in t he minds of t he American public about t he abilit y of fossil-fuel use, deforest at ion and ot her human act ivit ies t o influence t he planets climat e.Word use played a crit ical role in developing t hat doubt . For example, t he language and polls expert Frank Lunt z wrot e a me