2014年英语四级考试每日一练(10月21日)
1、 Perforene won’t come into the market before it can be manufactured at a very low cost.
2、 IPCC’s new report has removed some of the predictions that appeared in the former one released in2007.
3、
根据以下内容回答题
Is College a Worthy Investment?
A.Why are we spending so much money on college? Andwhy are we so unhappy about it? We all seem to agree that a college education is wonderful, and yet strangely we worry when we see families investing so much in this supposedly essential good. Maybe it's time to ask a question that seems almost sacrilegious (大不敬) : is all this investment in college education really worth it?
B. The answer. I fear, is no. For an increasing number of kids, the extra time and money spent pursuing a college diploma will leave them worse off than they were before they set foot on campus.
C.For my entire adult life, a good education has been the most important thing for middle-class households. My parents spent more educating my sister and me than they spent on their house, and they're not the only ones.., and, of course, for an increasing number of families, most of the cost of their house is actually the cost of living in a good school district. Questioning the value of a college education seems a bit like questioning the value of happiness, or tim.
D.The average price of all goods and services has risen about 50 percent. But the price of a college education has nearly doubled in that time. Is the education that today's students are getting twice as good? Are new workers twice as smart? Have they become somehow massively more expensive to educate?
E .Perhaps a bit. Richard Vedder, an Ohio University economics professor, says, "I look at the data, and I see college costs rising faster than inflation up to the mid-1980s by 1 percent a year. Now I see them rising 3to 4 percent a year over inflation. What has happened? The federal government has started dropping money out of airplanes. " Aid has increased, subsidized (补贴的) loans have become available, and "the universities have gotten the money. " Economist Bryan Caplan, who is writing a book about education, agrees: "It's a giant waste of resources that will continue as long as the subsidies continue. "
F.Promotional literature for colleges and student loans often speaks of debt as an "investment in yourself. " But an investment is supposed to generate income to pay off the loans. More than haft of all recent graduates are tmemployed or in jobs that do not require a degree, and the amount of student- loan debt carried by households has increased more than five times since 1999. These graduates were told that a diploma was all they needed to succeed, but it won't even get them out of the spare bedroom at Mom and Dad's. For many, the most visible result of their four years is the loan payments, which now average hundreds of dollars a month on loan balances in the tens of thousands.
G.It's true about the money--sort of. College graduates now make 80 percent more than people who have only a high-school diploma, and though there are no precise estimates, the wage premium (高出的部分) for an outstanding school seems to be even higher. But that's not true of every student. It's very easy to spend four years majoring in English literature and come out no more employable than you were before you went in. Conversely, chemical engineers straight out of school can easily make almost four times the wages of an entry-level high-sch0ol graduate.
H. James Heckman, the Nobel Prize-winning economist, has examined how the returns on education break down for individuals with different backgrounds and levels of ability. "Even with these high prices, you're still finding a high return for individuals who are bright and motivated," he says. On the other hand, "if you're not college ready, then the answer is no, it's not worth it. " Experts tend to agree that for the average student, college is still worth it today, but they also agree that the rapid increase in price is eating up more and more of the potential return. For borderline students, tuition ( 学费) rise can push those returns into negative territory.
I. Everyone seems to agree that the government, and parents, should be rethinking how we invest in higher education-and that employers need to rethink the increasing use of college degrees as crude screening tools for jobs that don't really require college skills, "Employers seeing a surplus of college graduates and looking to fill jobs are just adding that requirement," says Vedder. "In fact, a college degree becomes a job requirement for becoming a bar-tender. "
J. We have started to see some change on the fmance side. A law passed in 2007 allows many students to cap their loan payment at 10 percent of their income and forgives any balance after 25 years. Bnt of course, that doesn't control the cost of education; it just shifts it to taxpayers. It also encourages gradimtes to choose lower-paying careers, which reduces the financial return to education still further. "You're subsidizing people to become priests and poets and so forth," says Heckman. "You may think that's a good thing, or you may not. " Either way it will be expensive for the government.
K. What might be a lot cheaper is putting more kids to work. Caplan notes that work also btfilds valuable skills--probably more valuable for kids who don't naturally love sitting in a classroom. Heckman agrees wholeheartedly:" People are different, and those abilities can be shaped. That's what we've learned, and public policy should recognize that. "
L. Heckman would like to see more apprenticeship-style (学徒式) programs, where kids can learn in the workplace learn not just specific job skills, but the kind of "soft skills," like getting to work on time and getting along with a team, that are crucial for career success, "It's about having mentors (指导者) and having workplace-based education," he says. "Time and again I've seen examples of this kind of program working. "
M. Ah, but how do we get there from here? With better public policy, hopefully, but also by making better individual decisions. "Historically markets have been able to handle these things," says Vedder, "and I think eventually markets will handle this one. ff it doesn't improve soon, people are going to wake up and ask, 'Why am I going to college?'"
Caplan suggests that kids who don't love school go to work,
4、Questionsare based on the following passage.
Do you find getting up in the morning so difficult that it's painful? This might be called laziness,but Dr. Kleitman has a new explanation. He has proved that everyone has a daily energy cycle.
During the hours when you labour through your work you may say that you're "hot". That's true.The time of day when you feel most energetic is when your cycle of body temperature is at its peak. For some people the peak comes during the forenoon. For others it comes in the afternoon or evening. No one has discovered why this is so, but it leads to such familiar monologues as: "Get up, John! You'll be late for work again!" The possible explanation to the trouble is that John is at his temperature-and-energy peak in the evening. Much family quarrelling ends when husbands and wives realize what the seenergy cycles mean, and which cycle each member of the family has.
You can't change your energy cycle, but you can learn to make your life fit it better. Habit can help, Dr. Kleitman believes. Maybe you're sleepy in the evening but feel you must stay up late any way.Counteract your cycle to some extent by habitually staying up later than you want to. If your energy is low in the morning, but you have an important job to do early in the day, rise before your usual hour.This won't change your cycle, but you'll get up steam and work better at your low point.
Get off to a slow start which saves your energy. Get up with a leisurely yawn and stretch. Sit on the edge of the bed a minute before putting your feet on the floor. Avoid the troublesome search for clean clothes by laying them out the night before. Whenever possible, do routine work in the afternoon and save tasks requiting more energy or concentration for your sharper hours.
If a person finds getting up early a problem, most probably _____ .
A.he is a lazy person
B.he refuses to follow his own energy cycle
C.he is not sure when his energy is low
D.he is at his peak in the afternoon or evening
5、听音频:
根据听力,回答题:
A.Go fishing.
B.Entertain at home.
C.Work at home.
D.Have a lest.
简答题
6、诗歌是早的文学体裁,它以抒情的方式,高度集中地反映社会生活。在文字出现以前,诗歌就已经存在了,因为诗歌源于劳动。诗歌是有节奏、有韵律并富有感情色彩的一种语言艺术形式,也是世界上古老、基本的文学形式。《诗经》(Book of C | ass i c Poetry)是我国早的一部诗歌总集,它收集了自西周初年至春秋时期大约五百多年的三百零五篇诗歌,在中国文学发展史上占有突出的地位。
7、太极拳(Ta i ch i Chuan)是我国一项传统的健身运动项目。自古以来中国人就有练习太极拳的习惯,以此来达到强身健体的目的。随着群众体育运动的普及,越来越多的人喜欢上了打太极拳。太极拳是现在很多中老年人锻炼的主要项目。早上要是去公园溜达,你会发现有很多老人在打太极拳。对于老年人而言,打太极拳是一项古老也是有效的养生方式。
8、在全球变暖的大背景下,低碳经济(| ow-carbon economy)受到越来越多国家的关注。低碳经济是以减少温室气体排放为目标,以低能耗、低污染为基础的经济发展方式。近些年来,科学界以及各国政府已基本达成一致,推行低碳经济是避免气候发生灾难性变化、保持人类可持续发展的有效方法之一。以公众的消费选择引导和鼓励企业开发低碳产品技术,向低碳生产模式转变,终达到减少全球温室气体的效果。
9、故宫(Forb i dden o i ty)是世界上规模、保存完整的帝王宫殿建筑群。它位于北京的中心,是明清两朝的皇宫。明朝的十四个皇帝和清朝的十个皇帝曾在这里居住,他们统治中国的时间长达491年。故宫始建于明朝永乐四年,历经15年方才建成,迄今已有570多年的历史。它占地72万多平方米,四周有各类宫殿房屋9900余间。故宫的建筑集中地体现了中国古代建筑艺术的精湛水平和民族特色。
10、饺子(Chinese dumplings)是中国的传统食品。按照中国的传统风俗习惯,全家人都要在除夕那天聚在一起包饺子。他们会在其中一个饺子里藏个硬币,谁能吃到藏硬币的饺子就代表那个人在新的一年里会有好运气。此外,饺子的形状颇像中国古代的金元宝(gold ingots),因而象征着财富。因此,饺子是中国人民必不可少的食物,也是多数人钟爱的食物。
注意:此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。