历年英语专四听力真题答案和原文.doc

2000年专四听力答案
PART I DICTATION
What We Know About Language
Many things about language are a mystery and will remain so. / However, we now do know something about it. / First, we know that all human beings have a language of some sort. / No human race anywhere on earth is so backward / that it has no language of its own at all. /Second, there is no such thing as a primitive language. / There are many people whose cultures are undeveloped, / but the languages they speak are by no means primitive. / In all the languages existing in the world today,/ there are complexities that must have been developed for years. / Third, we know that all languages are perfectly adequate./ Each is a perfect means of expressing its culture. /And finally, we know that language changes over time, / which is natural and normal if a language is to survive. / The language which remains unchanged is nothing but dead.
PART Ⅱ LISTENING COMPREHENSION
SECTION A CONVERSATIONS
Questions 1 to 3 are based on the following conversation.
M:Jill,have you registered with the next semester?
W:Not yet, there's still something that I'm not sure. Do you know if Professor Smith's economics 102 is still available to all undergraduate students?
M: No, I don't think so. Last semester I tried to register in that course but all the other people told me not to.
W: Why not?
M: They said that my lack of knowledge in higher mathematics might be an obstacle in understanding Professor Smith's theory.
W: Really?
M: (I ) Jack tqld me that Professor Smith usually uses lots of formulas inside class. So you'd better make sure that you are extremely familiar with these formulas if you are seriously considering taking his course.
W:What a shame I (2)My friends all told me that Professor Smith has lots of original ideas and he really can stimulate students to think. But I don't think I have the mathematical skills to keep up with the others.
M:lf you want to take the course so much, why don't you register in a course in higher mathematics first?
W. But I'm afraid that I will miss Professor Smith's course when I finish the mathematics course.
M: Hey, I heard that Professor Smith would give the same course in the semester that starts next fall. ( 3 ) Why don't you take a year's higher mathematics and register in economics 102 the next fall?
W:That sounds a good idea.
I. [ B] 推断题。根据 ''They said that my lack of knowledge in higher mathematics might be an obstacle in understanding Professor Smith's theory.可知，缺少高等数学知识会阻碍理解史密斯教授的理论，所以学习经济学需要有高等数学知识，因而[ B]项伟正确答案。
2. [D] 细节题。文中提到''My friends all told me that Professor Smith has lots of original ideas and he really stimulate students to think.”由此可知，史密斯教授有很很多新颖的观点，斌且能够激发学生思考。句中original意为
“独创的，新颖的”，[D]项中possess意为“拥有”，因而[D]项为正确答案。
3. [B] 细节题。文中提到 ''Why don't you take a year's higher mathematics and register in economics 102 the next fall?”由此可知，他建议今年学习高等数学，明年秋天学习经济学，因而[B]项为正确答案。
Questions 4 to 6 are based on the following conversation.
M;Do you want to go to a big university or a small one?
W: (4)1 think I'd rather go to a small university, so the classes wouldn't be so large.
M:Do you want to go out of the state or stay here?
W:l want to stay in the state, so I will be close to home.
M: It sure would be nice to be close enough to come home on weekends when you want to. How about a public or private university?
W: Well, ( 6 ) I like the atmosphere of a private church-owned school. The students are more serious about school, and there aren't a lot of parties.
M: Yes, but private universities are so expensive. How are you going to pay for it?
W: (5 ) I've applied for a music scholarship, and my parents will be able to help pay for some of the expenses. What about you? What are you going to do after graduation?
M : I'm going to Oregon State University.
W:0h,l know a lot of kids who've gone there and really like it. Why do you choose it?
M; Well, a lot of my friends are going there, and the school has a good teacher preparation program. I've always wanted to be a teacher. I'm really excited about the life at college.
W: Well, good luck.
M: You too. See you later.
4. [B] 细节题。文中提到“I'd rather go to a small university, so the classes wouldn't be so large.”有此可知，她愿意去规模小的大学，因为班级的人数不会太多，因此[B]项为正确答案。
5. [D] 细节题。文中提到“I've applied for a music scholarship, and my parents will be able to help pay for some of the expenses.”由此可知，她已申请了奖学金，并且她的父母可以帮助她支付部分学费，因而[D]项为正确答案。
6. [C] 细节题。文中提到“I like the atmosphere of a private church-owned school…，and there aren't a lot of parties.”由此可知，私利教会学校没有很多派对，因此[C]项的叙述错误，为正确答案。由“... a private church-owned school. The students are more serious about school...”可知,私立教堂学校的学生更加认真,因为[A]项的叙述正确;由“but private universities are so expensive.”可知,私立大学学费昂贵,因此[B]项的叙述正确;由“Well, I like the atmosphere of a private church-owned school.”可知,她喜欢私立教会学校的氛围,因而[D]项的叙述正确。
Questions 7 to 10 are based on the following conversation.
W: Gosh! Fred, another cup of coffee? That's your third since lunch,
M: Yeah. Well, ( 7 ) I stayed up all night working for my history exam. I couldn't keep my eyes open in my last class. I'm having this coffee so I can stay awake this afternoon.
W: Don't you know that drinking too much coffee is harmful?
M:What do you mean by harmful?
W: Well, for one thing it may cause heart disease.
M: Nah. ( 8 ) Most of the research about the link between coffee and the heart disease is inconclusive.
W:But coffee has caffeine which is addictive.
M:l can't become addicted to caffeine like other drugs.
W: Yes, you can. Don't you know that people who are deprived of caffeine suffer from draw symptoms, esp. headaches.
M:0ne cure for headaches, oddly enough, is caffeine. Haven't you ever noticed that many over-the-counter headache remedies use caffeine as one of their ingredients? Besides, coffee helps me work faster.
W: ( 9 ) Studies have shown that coffee makes you work faster but not necessarily better. You may finish your exam in a shorter period of time but you won't have fewer errors.
M: You know that soda you are drinking has caffeine in it too.
W:But 12 ounces of soda has only half the caffeine of a 5 ounces cup of coffee. And a cup of tea has less than that.
M: But I like the taste of coffee.
7. [C] 细节题。文中提到“I stayed up all night working for my history exam. I couldn't keep my eyes open in my last class.” 可知他熬夜复习历史，所以现在太累，因此[C]项为正确答案。
8. [B] 细节题。文中提到“Most of the research about the link between coffee and the heart disease is inconclusive.”，由此可知，研究表明咖啡和心脏疾病没有决定性的联系，因此[B]为正确答案。另外，由“But 12 ounces of soda has only half the caffeine of a 5 ounces cup of coffee.”可知[C]项错误；由“Studies have shown that coffee makes you work faster but not necessarily better.”可知[D]项错误。
SECTION B PASSAGES
Questions II to 13 are based on the following passage.
Everywhere we see Americans running. They run for every reason anybody could think of. They run for health, for beauty , to lose weight, to feel fit and because it's the thing they love to do. Every year, for example, thousands upon thousands of people run in one race, the Boston Marathon, the best known long distance race in the United States, In recent years, there have been nearly 5 000 official competitors and it takes three whole minutes for the crowd of runners just to cross the starting line. You may have heard the story of the Greek runner Pheidippides. He ran from Marathon to Athens to deliver the news of the great victory 2 500 years ago. (II) No one knows how long it took him to run the distance. But the story tells us that he died of the effort. Today no one will die in a Marathon race. But the effort is still enormous. Someone does come in first in this tiring foot race. But at the finish line we see what this race is about: not being first but finishing. (12)The real victory is not over one's fellow runners but over one's own body. It's a victory of willpower over fatigue. ( 13)ln the Boston Marathon each person who crosses that finish line is a winner.
11. [B] 细节题。文中提到“No one knows how long it took him to run the distance. But the story tells us that he died of the effort.”由此可知，由于长途跑步，他劳累致死，因而[B]项为正确答案。
12. [C] 细节题。文中提到“The real victory is not over one's fellow runners but over one's own body. It's a victory of willpower over fatigue.”由此可知，真正的胜利不是超过他人，而是超越自我，这是以坚强毅力战胜疲劳的胜利。这里是坚强毅力的胜利，而非[D]项所说的是人的体能上的胜利，因而[C]项为正确答案。
13. [D] 细节题.。文中最后一句提到“ln the Boston Marathon each person who crosses that finish line is a winner.”由此可知，每个跑完全程，到达终点的人都是胜利者，因而[D]为正确答案。
Questions 14 to 16 are based on the following passage.
Paper is one of the most important products ever invented by man. Widespread use of written language would not have been possible without some cheap and practical material to write on. (14) The invention of paper meant that more people could be educated because more books could be printed and distributed. Together with the printing press, paper provided an extremely important way to communicate knowledge.
How much paper do you use every year? Probably you cannot answer that question quickly. In 1900 the world's use of paper was about one kilogram for each person a year. Now some countries use as much as 50 kilograms of paper for each per-
son a year. (15) Countries like the United States .England and Sweden use more paper than other countries.
Paper, like many other things that we use today, was first made in China. (16) In Egypt and the West, paper was not very commonly used before the year 1400. The Egyptians wrote on a kind of material made of a water plant. Europeans used
parchment, a certain kind of paper, for many hundreds of years. It was very strong and made from the skin of certain young animals: We have learnt of the most important facts of European history from records that were kept on it.
14. [A] 细节题。文中提到“The invention of paper meant that more people could be educated because more books could be printed and distributed. Together with the printing press, paper provided an extremely important way to communicate knowledge.”由此可知，纸的发明使得更多的人受到教育，更多的书籍被印刷发行，并且提供了交流知识的重要途径。所以[B]项、[C] 项和[D]项的叙述均正确，
[A]项内容并未提及，因为[A]项为正确答案。
15. [B]　细节题。文中提到“Countries like the United States .England and Sweden use more paper than other countries.”由此可知，美国和瑞典这样的国家使用纸的数量更多，因而[B]项为正确答案。
16. [A]　细节题。文中提到“In Egypt and the West, paper was not very commonly used before the year 1400.”由此可知，在埃及和西方国家，到1400年纸才被广泛使用，因而[A]项为正确答案。
Questions 17 to 20 are based on the following passage.
Science fiction writers have often imagined humans going to live on Mars. But these days, scientists are taking the idea seriously. It has a great deal to recommend it, ( 17 ) since it might solve the problem of overcrowding on the earth. But obviously, it would not be worth making the effort unless people could live there naturally. ( 18 ) If the atmosphere were like that of the earth, this might be possible. Apart from that, there are other problems to be overcome. For example, the temperature would have to be raised from 6 degrees below zero to 15 degrees above it. Scientists who study Mars have laid down the program that they can follow. To begin with, they will have to find out whether life has ever existed on the planet of Mars in the past. Secondly, they will have to make a reliable map of its surface. And finally, they will have to make a list of the gases.( 19) Above all, they will have to discover how much nitrogen it possesses. Since nitrogen is four fifths of the air we breathe, they are surprisingly optimistic about raising the temperature on Mars and believe it could be done in one hundred years. It will take a bit longer, though, to transform the atmosphere so that human beings could live there. ( 20 ) Scientists estimate this will take one hundred thousand years.
17. [A] 推断题。根据“... since it might solve the problem of overcrowding on the earth. But obviously, it would not be worth making the effort unless people could live there naturally.”可知，这也许可以解决地球过于拥挤的问题，使人们可以自然地住在那里，所以移居火星是科学家感兴趣的问题，因而[A]项为正确答案。
18. [D] If the atmosphere were like that of the earth, this might be possible. 细节题。文中提到“If the atmosphere were like that of the earth, this might be possible.”由此可知如果火星的大气与地球的大气相像，人们就可能移居，因而[D]项为正确答案。
19. [D] 细节题。文中提到“Above all, they will have to discover how much nitrogen it possesses. Since nitrogen is four fifths of the air we breathe,...”由此可知，氮气占地球大气的4/5，是大气的主要成分，所以科学家要考察火星的氮气含量，因而
[D]项为正确答案。
20. [C] 细节题。文中提到“Scientists estimate this will take one hundred thousand years.”由此可知，科学家古迹100000后人类将能在火星上居住，因而[C]项为正确答案。
SECTION C NEWS BROADCAST
News Item I
NATO and Russia are reporting some progress in efforts to finalize a charter governing their post-Cold War relationship.(21) But they stressed more work must be done to settle their differences in military and political issues. A fifth round of talks between the Russian Foreign Minister and NATO Secretary General ended Tuesday in Luxembourg.
21. [B] 细节题。根据“But they stressed more work must be done to settle their differences in military and political issues.”就可以直接选出答案。
News Item 2
(22) A Boeing 727 aircraft with fifty-one passengers and ten crew on board has crashed into a mountainside just outside the Columbian capital Bogota. Police and rescue workers said everyone was killed when the plane exploded, scattering wreckage over a wide area. ( 23 ) The crash happened shortly after take-off when the plane was unable to gain enough height to clear the mountains. The aircraft belonged to Ecuador airline but it had been chartered by Air France for the route from Bogota to the Ecuadorian capital Quito.
22. [A] 计算题。从“fifty-one passengers and ten crew on board has crashed into a mountainside just outside the Columbian capital Bogota.”就可以算出是61。
23. [B] 细节题。根据“The crash happened shortly after take-off...”可知分级是在起飞后不久坠毁的。
News Item 3
The US has designated thirty international groups as terrorist organizations, barring them from receiving money, weapons or other support from US citizens. ( 24 ) The new terrorist list includes a Palestinian group Hamas, the pro-Iranian Hezbollah, Cambodia's Khmer Rouge, the Basque separatist group ETA, Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers, and the Peruvian-based Shining Path, and Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement. The list does not include the Irish Republican Army, or the Palestinian Liberation Oi-sanization. ( 25 ) US Secretary of State, Madelyn Allbright says the affected groups will have their US visas revoked and US financial assets frozen.
24. [C] 细节题。新闻说“The new terrorist list... does not include the Irish Republican Army,”即恐怖名单不包括爱尔兰共和军和巴勒斯坦解放组织。
25. [A] 推断题。只要听到“US Secretary of State, Madelyn Allbright says the affected groups will have their US visas revoked...”就可推断出恐怖组织名单上所有人的签证将被取消,他们也就无法合法进入美国。
News Item 4
( 26 ) Israeli prosecutors are reviewing charges against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after Israeli police called for his indictment. Justice Ministry officials say they hope the decisio