英语四级阅读理解20篇.doc

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1、英语四级阅读理解20篇阅读理解单项练习 Passage1 In 1939 two brothers, Mac and Dick McDonald, started a drive-in restaurant in San Bernadino, California. They carefully chose a busy corner for their location. They had run their own businesses for years, first a theater, then a barbecue（烤肉）restaurant., then another driv

2、e-in. But in their new operation, they offered a new, shortened menu: French fries, hamburgers, and sodas. To this small selection they added one new concept: quick service, no waiters or waitresses, and no tips. Their hamburgers sold for fifteen cents. Cheese was another four cents. Their French fr

3、ies and hamburgers had a remarkable uniformity, for the brothers had developed a strict routine for the preparation of their food, and they insisted on their cooks sticking to their routine. Their new drive-in became incredibly popular, particularly for lunch. People drove up by the hundreds during

4、the busy noontime. The self-service restaurant was so popular that the brothers had allowed ten copies of their restaurant to be opened. They were content with this modest success until they met Ray Kroc. Kroc was a salesman who met the McDonald brothers in 1954, when he was selling milkshake-mixing

5、 machines. He quickly saw the unique appeal of the brothers fast-food restaurants and bought the right to franchise（特许经营）other copies of their restaurants. The agreement struck included the right to duplicate the menu. The equipment, even their red and white buildings with the golden arches（拱门）. Tod

6、ay McDonalds is really a household name. Its names for its sandwiches have come to mean hamburger in the decades since the day Ray Kroc watched people rush up to order fifteen-cent hamburgers. In 1976, McDonalds had over $ 1 billion in total sales. Its first twenty-two years is one of the most incre

7、dible success stories in modern American business history. 1. This passage mainly talks abort. A) the development of fast food services B)how McDonalds became a billion-dollar business C) the business careers of Mac and Dick McDonald D) Ray Krocs business talent 2. Mac and Dick managed all of the fo

8、llowing businesses except . A) a drive-in C) a theater B) a cinema D) a barbecue restaurant 3. We may infer from this passage that. A) Mac and Dick McDonald never became wealthy for they sold their idea to Kroc B)The location the McDonalds chose was the only source of the great popularity of their d

9、rive-in C) Forty years ago there were numerous fast-food restaurants D) Ray Kroc was a good businessman 4. The passage suggests that . A) creativity is an important element of business success B)Ray Kroc was the close partner of the McDonald brothers C) Mac and Dick McDonald became broken after they

10、 sold their ideas to Ray Kroc D) California is the best place to go into business 5. As used in the second sentence of the third paragraph, the word ”unique” means . A) specialC) financial B) attractiveD) peculiar Passage2 Youre busy filling out the application form for a position you really need; l

11、ets assume you once actually completed a couple of years of college work or even that you completed your degree. Isnt it tempting to lie just a little, to claim on the form that your diploma represents a Harvard degree? Or that you finished an extra couple of years back at State University? More and

12、 more people are turning to utter deception like this to land their job or to move ahead in their careers, for personnel officers, like most Americans, value degrees from famous schools. A job applicant may have a good education anyway, but he or she assumes that chances of being hired are better wi

13、th a diploma from a well-known university. Registrars at most well-known colleges say they deal with deceitful claims like these at the rate of about one per week. Personnel officers do check up on degrees listed on application forms, then . If it turns out that an applicant is lying, most colleges

14、are reluctant to accuse the applicant directly. One Ivy League school calls them “impostors 骗子”; another refers to them as “special cases.” one well-known West Coast school, in perhaps the most delicate phrase of all, says that these claims are made by “no such people.” To avoid outright (彻底的) lies,

15、 some job-seekers claim that they “attended” or “were associated with” a college or university. After carefully checking, a personnel officer may discover that “attending” means being dismissed after one semester. It may be that “being associated with” a college means that the job seeker visited his

16、 younger brother for a football weekend. One school that keeps records of false claims says that the practice dates back at least to the turn of the century thats when they began keeping records, anyhow. If you dont want to lie or even stretch the truth, there are coMPAnies that will sell you a phon

17、y （假的）diploma. One coMPAny, with offices in New York and on the West Coast, will put your name on a diploma from any number of nonexistent colleges. The price begins at around twenty dollars for a diploma from “Smoot State University.” The prices increase rapidly for a degree from the “University of

18、 Purdue.” As there is no Smoot State and the real school in Indiana is properly called Purdue University, the prices seem rather high for one sheet of paper. 6. The main idea of this passage is that. A)employers are checking more closely on applicants now B) lying about college degrees has become a

19、widespread problem C)college degrees can now be purchased easily D)employers are no longer interested in college degrees 7. According to the passage, “special cases” refers to cases where . A)students attend a school only part-time B) students never attended a school they listed on their application

20、 C)students purchase false degrees from commercial films D)students attended a famous school 8. We can infer from the passage that . A)performance is a better judge of ability that a college degree B) experience is the best teacher C)past work histories influence personnel officers more than degrees

21、 do D) a degree from a famous school enables an applicant to gain advantage over others in job competition 9. This passage implies that. A)buying a false degree is not moral B) personnel officers only consider applicants from famous schools C)most people lie on applications because they were dismiss

22、ed from school D)society should be greatly responsible for lying on applications 10. As used in the first. Line of the second paragraph, the word “utter” means . A) addressC) thorough B) ultimateD) decisive Passage 3 Everyone has heard of the San Andreas fault (断层), which constantly threatens Califo

23、rnia and the West Coast with earthquakes. But how many people know about the equally serious New Madrid fault in Missouri? Between December of 1811 and February of 1812, three major earthquakes occurred, all centered around the town of New Madrid, Missouri, on the Mississippi River. Property damage

24、was severe. Buildings in the area were almost destroyed. Whole forests fell at once, and huge cracks opened in the ground, allowing smell of sulfur （硫磺）to filter upward. The Mississippi River itself completely changed character, developing sudden rapids and whirlpools. Several times it changed its c

25、ourse, and once, according to some observers, it actually appeared to run backwards. Few people were killed in the New Madrid earthquakes, probably simply because few people lived in the area in 1811; but the severity of the earthquakes are shown by the fact that the shock waves rang bells in church

26、 towers in Charleston, South Carolina, on the coast. Buildings shook in New York City, and clocks were stopped in Washington, D.C. Scientists now know that Americas two major faults are essentially different. The San Andreas is a horizontal boundary between two major land masses that are slowly movi

27、ng in opposite directions. California earthquakes result when the movement of these two masses suddenly lurches (倾斜) forward. The New Madrid fault, on the other hand, is a vertical fault; a some point, possibly hundreds of millions of years ago, rock was pushed up toward the surface, probably by vol

28、canoes under the surface. Suddenly, the volcanoes cooled and the rock collapsed, leaving huge cracks. Even now, the rock continues to settle downwards, and sudden sinking motions trigger (触发) earthquakes in the region. The fault itself, a large crack in this layer of rock, with dozens of other crack

29、s that split off from it, extends from northeast Arkansas through Missouri and into southern lllinois. Scientists who have studied the New Madrid fault say there have been numerous smaller quakes in the area since 1811; these smaller quakes indicate that larger ones are probably coming, but the scie

30、ntists say have no method of predicting when a large earthquake will occur. 11. This passage is mainly about . A)the New Madrid fault in Missouri B) the San Andreas and the New Madrid faults C)the causes of faults D)current scientific knowledge about faults 12. The New Madrid fault is. A)a horizonta

31、l fault B) a vertical fault C)a more serious fault than the San Andreas fault D)responsible for forming the Mississippi River 13. We may conclude from the passage that . A)it is probably as dangerous to live in Missouri as in California B) the New Madrid fault will eventually develop a mountain rang

32、e in Missouri C)California will become an island in future D)A big earthquake will occur to California soon 14. This passage implies that. A)horizontal faults are more dangerous than vertical faults. B) Vertical faults are more dangerous than horizontal faults C)Earthquakes occur only around fault a

33、reas D)California will break into pieces by an eventual earthquake 15. As used in the first sentence of the fourth paragraph, the word “essentially” means. A) greatly C) basically B) extremelyD) necessarily Passage 4 Those who welcomed the railway saw it as more than a rapid and comfortable means of

34、 passing. They actually saw it as a factor in world peace. They did not foresee that the railway would be just one more means for the rapid movement of aggressive armies. None of them foresaw that the more we are together-the more chances there are of war. Any boy or girl who is one of a large famil

35、y knows that. Whenever any new invention is put forward, those for it and those against it can always find medical men to approve or condemn. The anti-railway group produced doctors who said that tunnels would be most dangerous to public health: they would produce colds, catarrhs (粘膜炎) and consumpti

36、ons. The deafening noise and the glare of the engine fire, would have a bad effect on the nerves. Further, being moved through the air at a high speed would do grave injury to delicate lungs. In those with high blood-pressure, the movement of the train might produce apoplexy (中风). The sudden plungin

37、g of a train into the darkness of a tunnel, and the equally sudden rush into full daylight, would cause great damage to eyesight. But the pro-railway group was of course able to produce equally famous medical men to say just the opposite. They said that the speed and swing of the train would equaliz

38、e the circulation, promote digestion, tranquilize the nerves, and ensure good sleep. The actual rolling-stock was anything but comfortable. If it was a test of endurance to sit for four hours outside a coach in rain, or inside in dirty air, the railway offered little more in the way of comfort. Cert

39、ainly the first-class carriages had cushioned seats; but the second-class had only narrow bare boards, while the third-class had nothing at all; no seats and no roof; they were just open trucks. So that third-class passengers gained nothing from the few mode except speed. In the matter of comfort, i

40、ndeed they lost; they did, on the coaches, have a seat, but now they had to stand all the way, which gave opportunities to the comic (滑稽的) press. This kind of thing: A man was seen yesterday buying a third-class ticket for the new London and Birmingham Railway. The state of his mind is being enquire

41、d into. A writer in the early days of railways wrote feelingly of both second-and third-class carriages. He made the suggestion that the directors of the railways must have sent all over the world to find the hardest possible wood. Of the open third-class trucks he said that they had the peculiar pr

42、operty of meeting the rain from whatever quarter it came. He described them as horizontal shower-baths, from whose searching power there was no escape. 16. All boys and girls in large families know that. A)a boy and a girl usually fight when they are together B) people tend to be together more than

43、they used to be C)a lot of people being together makes fights likely D)Railway leads the world to peace 17. According to those who welcomed the railway, the railway itself should include all the following except . A)the railway enables people travel fast B) the railway brings comfort to people C)the

44、 railway makes the world peaceful D)the railway leads the world to war as well. 18. According to the anti-railway group, all the followings are true but. A)tunnels are dangerous to public health B) the noise and the glare of the engine fire may affect peoples nerves C)the rapid speed through the air

45、 does damage to peoples lungs D)to those with high blood-pressure, the rapid speed of the train causes them to die 19. We may safely conclude that. A)the author belongs to the anti-railway group B) the author belongs to the for-railway group C)the author speaks highly of the railway D)the author may

46、 never take train because of its potential dangers 20. What is the tone of this passage? A) PracticalC) Satirical B) Humorous. D) Exaggerated Passage 5 In 1960-1961, Chad (乍得) harvested 9800 tons of cotton seed for the first time in its history, and put out the flag a little too soon. The efforts of

47、 the authorities to get the peasants back to work, as they had slacked off (松懈) a great deal the previous year during independence celebrations, largely contributed to it. Also, rains were well spaced, and continued through the whole month of October. If the 1961-1962 total is back to the region of 45000 tons, it is mostly because efforts slackened again and sowing was started too late. The average date of sowing is about July 1st. If this date is simply moved up fifteen or twenty days, 30000 to