2015年英语四级考试每日一练(4月30日)
1、根据以下资料,回答题:
New evidence of a sick, deprived population working under harshconditions contradicts earlier images of wealth and abundance from the artrecords of the ancient Egyptian city of Tell el-Amarna, a study has found.Tell el-Amarna was the capital of ancient Egypt during the reign of the pharaoh (法老) Akhenaten, who abandoned most of Egypt's old gods in favor of the Aten sun disk andbrought in a new and more expressive style of art.Akhenaten, who ruled Egypt between 1379 and 1362BC, built and lived in Tell el-Amarna in central Egypt for 15 years.The city was largely abandoned shortlyafter his death and the ascendance of the famous boy king Tutankhamun to the throne.Studies on the remains of ordinary ancient Egyptians in a cemetery in Tell el-Amarna showed thatmany of them suffered from anem/a (贫血症 ), fractured bones, stunted growth and high juvenilemortality rates, according to professors Barry Kemp and Jerome Rose, who led the research.Rose, a professor of anthropology (人类学) in the University of Arkansas in the United States, saidadults buried in the cemetery were probably brought there from other parts of Egypt."This means that wehave a period of deprivation in Egypt prior to the Amarna phase.So maybe things were not so good for theaverage Egyptian and maybe Akhenaten said we have to change to make things better," he said.Kemp, director of the Amarna Project which seeks in part to increase public knowledge of Tell el-Amarna and surrounding region, said little attention has been given to the cemeteries of ordinary ancient Egyptians.Rose displayed pictures showing spinal (脊柱) injuries among teenagers, probably because of accidents during construction work to build the city.The study showed that anemia ran at 74 percent among children and teenagers, and at 44 percentamong adults, Rose said.The average height of men was 159 cm (5 feet 2 inches) and 153 cm among women."Adult heights are used as an indicator for overall standard of living," he said."Short statures(身长) reflect a diet deficient in protein...People were not growing to their full potential."
What is the findings of the study mentioned in the passage?
A.The ancient Tell el-Amarna was famous for its art records.
B.The artistic exhibition of ancient Tell el-Amarna was trustworthy.
C.The art records of Tell el-Amarna showed ancient Egyptians' real life.
D.Life was really tough for average Egyptians in ancient Tell el-Amarna.
2、 Questions are based on the following passage.
In his first term. Mayor Michael Bloomberg mapped out a fair plan to get rid of 11,000 tons of New York City garbage every day. The complex proposal was designed to make each district take care of its own trash. It was also supposed to help limit noisy garbage trucks going long distances through, the city to reach marine barges (驳船), railways or out-of-state trash facilities.
Nobody wanted these new garbage transfer stations in their neighborhood, even with promises of new high-tech, low-smell facilities. There are already stations in Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island, most of them in lower-income commtmities. Only one area of the city--the Upper East Side of
Manhattan--has refused to accept a trash facility. The city should not give in to local resistance.
It is time for residents in that neighborhood to accept a share of the city's garbage problem. The city should build a modern, environmentally sound facility at 91st Street to transfer trash from Manhattan to barges on the East River. That trash, estimated at up to 1,800 tons a day, would then go by barge to other states.
Deputy Mayor Cas Hoiloway said last week that the city has had to fight off "lawsuit after lawsuit" with "every useless argument under the sun" from those opposing the 91st Street facility. Those delays have helped push the cost for building the station from $125 million in 2006 to about $ 226 million now.
An earlier trash station at that site, which was closed in 1999, was badly designed so that trucks idled along York Avenue. The new facility, Mr. Holloway said, has been designed to reduce the congestion problem with longer ramps (匝道) leading to the facility, which sits on the eastern side of Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive. The plans also call for higher noise-blocking walls along the ramps.
This terminal is an essential part of the city's 20-year waste management plan. John Doherty, the sanitation (环境卫生) commissioner, told critics at a hearing last week, "We will not entertain any changes to what is a fair and thoughtful, district-based approach that was founded on the principles of environmental equity for all New Yorkers."
Environmental equity, in this case, means that the Upper East Side of Manhattan has to do its part.
The plan worked out by Mayor Michael Bloomberg will______.
A.make garbage trucks no longer necessary
B.need more out-of-state trash facilities
C.reduce the amount of trash in the city
D.make each district deal with its own trash
3、根据材料,回答问题。
Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices markedA.,B., C. and D.. You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.
Passage One
Questions 56 to 60 are based on the following passage.
Let children learn to judge their own work. A child learning to talk does not learn by being corrected all the time: if corrected too much, he will stop talking. He notices a thousand times a day the difference between the language he uses and the language those around him use. Bit by bit, he makes the necessary changes to make his language like other people's. In the same way, when children learn to do all the other things they learn to do without being taught to walk, run, climb, whistle, ride a bicycle--compare those performances with those of more skilled people, and slowly make the needed changes. But in school we never give a child a chance to find out his own mistakes for himself, let alone correct them. We do it all for him. We act as if we thought that he would never notice a mistake unless it was pointed out to him, or correct it unless he was made to. Soon he becomes dependent on the teacher. Let him do it himself. Let him work out, with the help of other children if he wants it, what this word says, what answer is to that problem, whether this is a good way of saying or doing this or not.
If it is a matter of right answers, as it may be in mathematics or science, give him the answer book. Let him correct his own papers. Why should we teachers waste time on such routine work? Our job should be to help the child when he tells us that he can't find the way to get the right answer. Let's end this nonsense of grades, exams,marks. Let us throw them all out, and let the children learn what all educated persons must someday learn, how to measure their own understanding, how to know what they know or do not know.
Let them get on with this job in the way that seems most sensible to them, with our help as school teachers if they ask for it. The idea that there is a body of knowledge to be learnt at school and used for the rest of one's life is nonsense in a world as complicated and rapidly changing as ours. Anxious parents and teachers say, "But suppose they fail to learn something essential, something they will need to get in the world?" Don't worry! If it is essential, they will go out into the world and learn it.
What does the author think is the best way for children to learn things?
A.By imitating what other people do.
B.By making mistakes and having them corrected.
C.By listening to explanations from skilled people.
D.By asking a great many questions.
4、根据下面文章,回答题。
Public colleges must be stewards(管家)of the public’s trust and of students’ and taxpayers’dollars.They should be(36)__________for containing costs and for spending on what matters most:prepanng students to be active learners,career-ready and engaged citizens.Public colleges are using myriad strategies to cut costs and keep college(37)__________.These include(38)__________administrative expenses;eliminating low-enrollment programs and student support services;and achieving cost savings in energy management and employee health care.
Fast-rising tuition increases may make it seem that institutional spendiiIg is out of(39)__________.However,public colleges’collective(40)__________per fulltime student has actually been flat in recent years.
The primary reason for escalating(逐步上升)tuition prices has been the state-to-student cost shift that has taken place in who pays for a public higher education.States have gradually(41)__________from their public higher education systems.with families picking up more of me tab through tuition increases.Institutions have first turned to reducing spending,only raising tuition prices to(42)__________academic quality.
The best way to mitigate future tuition increases is for state leaders to reinvest in public higher education.With the Great Recession finally behind us—during which states dramatically reduced(43)__________for public colleges and universities— state leaders started reinvesting in public higher education this year,providing a nearly 6% increase in funding.
Maintaining(44)__________to afrordable public colleges is paramount to our nailon’s economic security, social equity and civic vibrancy.It is(45)__________
upon state government,together with public colleges and universities,to ensure this happens.
注意:此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。
A.raise
B.disinvested
C.fair
D.reducing
E.reinvest
F.affordable
G.tuition
H.accountable
I.afford
J.funding
K.incumbent
L.maintain
M.access
N.control
O.spending
第36题应填__________
填空题
5、
第30题为( )
简答题
6、Directions:For this part,you are allowed 30 minutes to translate a passage from Chinese into English.
泼水节(Water Splashing Festival)是傣族富民族特色的节日。人们互相泼水,表示洗去身上一年的污垢和晦气,在新的一年里会更加平安和幸福。泼水节这一天人们要拜佛(worship Budda)姑娘们用漂着鲜花的清水为佛洗尘,然后彼此泼水嬉戏,相互祝愿。被人泼的水越多,说明受到的祝福越多。泼水节期间,还要举行赛龙船、放飞灯等传统娱乐活动和各种歌舞晚会。
7、 没有人知道中国的汽车市场终会有多大。对中国汽车年销售量的估计从2 500万辆变化到了7 500万辆,是前面数据的三倍。但如果日益严重的交通堵塞超过了中国正在积极地进行公路建设的速度,中国汽车市场的需求可能将受到严重制约(be restrained)。此外,不断上涨的进口油价格可能会迫使中国政府进一步限制公众自驾汽车出行。
8、宣纸是一种中外闻名的名贵纸张。由于这种纸的出产地在安徽的宣城附近,所以被人们称为“宣纸”。宣纸的生产已经有一千五百多年的历史了。这种纸洁白、细密(fi Fie-grained)、均匀、柔软,能表现出中国书法和绘画的特点。由于宣纸不容易破碎、变色,所以,很多中国古代的字画经过了几百年、上千年,仍然保存得完好无缺。
9、中国被誉为陶瓷之国,景德镇被称为陶瓷之都(the City of ceramics)。瓷器早出现于商代中晚期。距今已有八千多年的悠久历史。随着时代的发展,瓷器的用途越来越多,既可以用来盛放东西,也可以作装饰之用。多姿多彩的瓷器是中国古代的伟大发明之一。 “瓷器”与“中国”在英文中同为一词。充分说明中国瓷器的精美绝伦完全可以作为中国的代表。
10、舞狮子(Lion dance),是我国的民间艺术。每逢元宵佳节或集会庆典,民间都以狮舞前来助兴。这一习俗起源于三国时期,南北朝时开始流行,至今已有一千多年的历史。狮子为百兽之尊,形象雄伟俊武,给人以威严、勇猛之感。古人将它当作勇敢和力量的象征。认为它能驱邪镇妖、保佑人畜平安。所以人们逐渐形成了在元宵节时及其他重大活动里舞狮子的习俗,以祈望生活吉祥如意,事事平安。