1994年1月大学英语四级(CET-4)真题试卷
Questions 21 to 25 are based on the following passage.
Suppose we built a robot (机器人) to explore the planet Mars. We provide the robot with seeing detectors to keep it away from danger. It is powered entirely by the sun. Should we program the robot to be equally active at all times? No. The robot would be using up energy at a time when it was not receiving any. So we would probably program it to cease its activity at night and to wake up at dawn the next morning.
21. The author uses the example of the robot in space exploration to tell us ________.
A) the differences between robots and men B) the reason why men need to sleep C) about the need for robots to save power D) about the danger of men working at night
22. Evolution has programmed man to sleep at night chiefly to help him ________. A) maintain a regular pattern of lifeB) prevent trouble that comes looking for
himC) avoid danger and inefficient laborD) restore his bodily functions 23. According to the author, we cannot sleep well when we ________. A) are worrying about our safetyB) are overworked C) are in a tentD) are away from home 24. Cats sleep much more than horses do partly because cats ________. A) need more time for restorationB) are unlikely to be attackers C) are more active than horses when they are awake D) spend less time eating to get enough energy 25. Which of the following is the main idea of the passage? ________. A) Evolution has equipped all creatures with a regular pattern of sleeping and
waking. B) The study of sleep is an important part of the evolutionary theory.
C) Sleeping patterns must be taken into consideration in the designing of robots. D) The sleeping pattern of a living creature is determined by the food it eats. Questions 26 to 30 are based on the following passage.
“Congratulations, Mr. Jones, it’s a girl.”
Fatherhood is going to have a different meaning and bring forth a different
response from eime with them. Many fathers and mothers have been planning and looking forward to children for some time. For other couples, pregnancy (怀孕) was an accident that both husband and wife have accepted willingly or unwillingly. 26. According to the author, being a father ________.
A) brings a feeling of excitement to some men
B) has a different meaning for those who have daughters C) makes some men feel proud and others uneasy D) means nothing but more responsibilities 27. It is stated in the passage that ________.
A) some parents are not prepared to have a child B) young couples do not like children at all
C) working couples do not have much time to take care of their children D) many parents look forward to having a boy as their first child 28. In the second paragraph, the author ________. A) criticizes fathers for not taking enough responsibilities in bringing up their
children B) excuses the American writers for ignoring the difficulties of being a father C) supports the idea that the chief role of a father is to earn money for the family D) complains about the lack of social programs to help husbands adjust
themselves to being a father 29. The transition to the mother’s role requires that the wife ________.
A) change her life style in a highly innovative way B) make a complete change in her everyday life to deal with the new situation C) stay at home to take care of the baby D) help her husband in his resocialization process 30. Some writers argue that with respect to the change of roles, fathers, compared
with mothers, ________. A) have to shoulder more burdensB) have to make more difficult adaptations C) have an easier job to doD) can usually do a better job Questions 31 to 35 are based on the following passage.
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 further questions, and so on.
content” conversation. It is concerned not with meaning but with the strategies
(策略) we employ in reading. If we are an advanced reader our ability to hold a process conversation with a text is
31. Reading as a kind of conversation between the reader and the text becomes
conscious only when ________.
A) the reader’s expectations agree with what is said in the text B) the reader has trouble understanding what the author says C) the reader asks questions and gets answers D) the reader understands a text very well
32. At a lower level of comprehension, readers tend to ________.
A) read a text slowly B) read without thinking hard C) interpret a text in their own way
D) concentrate on the meaning of words only 33. A “process” conversation has to do with ________. A) the application of reading strategies
B) matching our expectations with the meaning of a text C) the development of our ability to check the details D) determining the main idea of a text 34. According to the passage, it is of great importance for readers at a higher level to maintain a balance between ________. A) conscious and unconscious levels of comprehension B) the reader’s expectations and the meaning of a text C) lower and higher levels of comprehension D) interpreting and criticizing a text 35. If we want to develop our reading ability at an advanced level, we should
________.
A) learn to use different approaches in reading different texts B) make our reading process more conscious C) pay more attention to the content of a text D) take a critical attitude towards the author’s idea Questions 36 to 40 are based on the following passage.
Although April did not bring us the rains we all hoped for, and although the Central Valley doesn’t generally experience the atmospheric sound and lightning that can accompany those rains, it’s still important for parents to be able to answer the
youthful questions about thunder and lightning.
36. According to the author, in the area of the Central Valley, ________.
A) rains usually come without thunder and lightning B) it is usually dry in April
C) children pay no attention to natural phenomena D) parents are not interested in thunder and lightning
37. We believe that lightning is a downward notion because ________.
A) we were taught so by our parents from our childhood B) we are deceived by our sense of vision C) it is a common natural phenomenon D) it is a truth proved by science
38. What is TRUE about lightning according to the passage? A) Only a small number of lightning flashes occur on earth. B) Lightning travels 5 minutes faster than thunder. C) Lightning flashes usually jump from one cloud to another. D) There are far more lightning strikes occurring on earth than we imagine. 39. The word “activity” (Para. 3, Line 3) is most closely related to the word(s)
________.
A) “cloud”B) “lightning strikes”C) “lightning flashes”D) “thunderstorms” 40. It can be concluded from the passage that ________. A) we should not believe what we see or hear B) things moving downward are more noticeable C) people often have wrong concepts about ordinary phenomena D) adults are not as good as children in observing certain natural phenomena Part II
21. B 26. C 31. B 36. A
22. C 27. A 32. D 37. B 23. A 28. A 33. A 38. D 24. D 29. B 34. C 39. D 25. A 30. C 35. A 40. C