2013年英语四级考试每日一练(8月27日)
1. 回答63-68题
Language is, and should be, a living thing, constantly enrichedwith new words and forms of expression. But there is a vital distinctionbetween good developments, which add to the language, enabling us to say thingswe could not say before, and bad developments, which subtract from the languageby rendering it less precise. A vivacious, colorful use of words is not to beconfused with mere slovenliness. The kind of slovenliness in which someprofessionals deliberately indulge is perhaps akin to the cult(迷信)of the unfinished work, whichhas eroded most of the arts in our time. And the true answer to it is the samethat art is enhanced, not hindered, by discipline. You cannot carvesatisfactorily in butter.
The corruption of written English has been accompanied by an evensharper decline in the standard of spoken English. We speak very much less wellthan was common among educated Englishmen a generation or two ago.
The modern theatre has played a baneful (有害的)part in dimming ourappreciation of language. Instead of the immensely articulate dialogue of, forexample, Shaw (who was also very insistent on good pronunciation), audiencesare now subjected to streams of barely literate trivia, often designed, onlytoo well, to exhibit 'lack of communication', and larded(夹杂)with the obscenities(下流的话)and grammaticalerrors of the intellectually impoverished. Emily Post once advised her readers:"The theatre is the best possible place to hear correctly-enunciatedspeech. " Alas, no more. One young actress was recently reported to betaking lessons in how to speak
badly, so that she should fit in better.
But the BBC is the worst traitor. After years of very successfullyhelping to raise the general standard of spoken English, it suddenly went intoreverse. As the head of the Pronunciation Unit coyly(含蓄地)put it, "In the 1960s theBBC opened the field to a much wider range of speakers." To hear a BBCdisc jockey talking to the latest ape-like pop idol is a truly shockingexperience of verbal squalor. And the prospect seems to be of even worse tocome. School teachers are actively encouraged to ignore little Johnny'sincoherent grammar, atrocious spelling and haphazard punctuation, becauseworrying about such things might inhibit his creative genius.
The writer relates linguistic slovenliness to tendencies inthe arts today in that they both __________.
A.occasionally aim at a certain fluidity
B.appear to shun perfection
C.from time to time show regard for the finishing touch
D.make use of economical short cuts
2.
请根据以下内容回答68-2题
A.uninteresting
B.awful
C.awkward
D.miserable
3. 阅读下列材料,回答第2-12题:
How did the robot called Gaak shock the visitors at an exhibit?
A.It had run onto the MI motorway.
B.It had demonstrated thirst for independence.
C.It could Solve problems and reason like humans.
D.It had escaped from the exhibit without being noticed.
词汇
4. 根据上述材料回答{TSE}题:
请回答第1题
5. ____________(通过体育锻炼),you Call always keep fit.
6.
Finally he admitted that. (他入不敷出).
7.
_________________(与偏远贫穷地区的学生相比),students in big cities have access to better educational resources.
8. It was imperative that____________________(秘书在十二点之前把这封电报发到美国).
写作
9.
10. Directions: For this part. you are allowed 30 minutes to write a composition on the topic Wealth and Health. You should write at least 120 words following the outline given below.
1)有人认为财富比健康重要。
2)也有人认为健康比财富重要。
3)你的观点是……