2023年英语专业四级真题与题解.docx

TEST FOR ENGLISH MAJORS ()
—GRADE FOUR—
TIME LIMIT: 130 MIN
PART I DICTATION [10 MIN]
Listen to the following passage. Altogether the passage will be read to you four times. During the first reading, which will be done at normal speed, listen and try to understand the meaning. For the second and third readings, the passage will be read sentence by sentence, or phrase by phrase, with intervals of 15 seconds. The last reading will be done at normal speed again and during this time you should check your work. You will then be given 2 minutes to check through your work once more.

Please write the whole passage on ANSWER SHEET ONE.

PART II LISTENING COMPREHENSION [20 MIN]

SECTION A TALK

In this section you will hear a talk. You will hear the talk ONCE ONLY. While listening, you may look at the task on the ANSWER SHEETONE and write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each gap. Make sure what you fill in is both grammatically and semantically acceptable. You may use the blank sheet for note-taking.

You have THIRTY seconds to preview the gap-filling task.

Now, listen to the talk. When it is over, you will be given TWO minutes to check your work.

SECTION B CONVERSATIONS

In this section, you will hear two conversations. At the end of the conversion, five questions will be asked about what was said. Both the conversation and the questions will be spoken ONCE ONLY. After each question there will be a ten-second pause. During the pause, you should read the four choices of A, B, C and D, and mark the best answer to each question on ANSWER SHEET TWO.

You have THIRTY seconds to preview the questions.

Now, listen to the conversations.

Conversation One
Questions 1 to 5 are based on Conversation One.

1. A. To tell the man that he has been shortlisted for interview.
B. To ask the man a few questions about his interview.
C. To tell the man the procedure of the interview.
D. To explain to the man how to make a presentation.

2. A. Questions related to the job.
B. General questions about himself.
C. Specific questions about his CV.
D. Questions about his future plan.

3. A. Questions from the interviewers.
B. Questions from the interviewee.
C. Presentation from the interviewee.
D. Requests from the interviewee.

4. A. Educational and professional background.
B. Problems he has faced and solved.
C. Major successes in his career so far.
D. Company future and his contribution.

5. A. 11 a.m., next Tuesday.
B. 11 a.m., next Thursday.
C. 9 a.m., this Tuesday.
D. 9 a.m., this Thursday.

Conversation Two
Questions 6 to 10 are based on Conversation Two.

6. A. How college students pay for their education.
B. How to handle the problem of college loans.
C. The disadvantage of college loans.
D. Government financing in college education.

7. A. It has increased by 6 to 8%.
B. It has increased by 8 to 10%.
C. It has decreased by 6 to 8%.
D. It has decreased by 8 to 10%.

8. A. Student’s family income.
B. First year salary after graduation.
C. A fixed amount of 30, 000 dollars.
D. Payment in the next ten years.

9. A. Students can borrow money first.
B. Students pay no tax on savings.
C. Students pay less tax after graduation.
D. Students withdraw without paying tax.

10. A. Giving up charitable or volunteer work.
B. Neglecting their study at college.
C. Giving up further education.
D. Neglecting high salary in job-seeking.

PART III LANGUAGE USAGE [10 MIN]

There are twenty sentences in this section. Beneath each sentence there are four words or phrases marked A, B, C and D. Choose one word or phrase that best completes the sentence. Mark your answers on Answer Sheet Two.

11. How can I concentrate if you __________ continually __________ me with silly questions?
A. have… interrupted
B. had… interrupted
C. are… interrupting
D. were… interrupting

12. Among the four sentences below, Sentence __________ express the highest degree of possibility.
A. It may take a long time to find a solution to the problem.
B. It might take a long time to find a solution to the problem.
C. It could take a long time to find a solution to the problem.
D. It should take a long time to find a solution to the problem.

13. She is a better speaker than __________ in the class.
A. all the girls
B. the other boys
C. other any girl
D. any boy

14. Nobody heard him sing, __________?
A. did they
B. did he
C. didn’t they
D. did one

15. I can’t put up with __________.
A. that friend of you
B. that friend of yours
C. the friend of you
D. the friend of yours

16. There has been an increasing number of __________ in primary schools in past few years.
A. man teacher
B. men teacher
C. man teachers
D. men teachers

17. This is one of the issues that deserve __________.
A. mentioning
B. being mentioned
C. to mention
D. for mention

18. The audience __________ excited on seeing__________ favorite star glide onto the stage.
A. were… its
B. were… their
C. was… their
D. was… one’s

19. __________ your advice, I would have made the wrong decision.
A. Hadn’t it been for
B. Had it not been for
C. Had it been for
D. Had not it been for

20. The sentence I wish I had been more careful in spending money express the speaker’s __________.
A. hope
B. joy
C. regret
D. relief

21. The Attorney General ordered a federal autopsy of Brown’s body, seeking to __________ the family and community there would be a thorough investigation into his death.
A. ensure
B. assure
C. insure
D. ascertain

22. The police department came under strong criticism for both the death of an unarmed and its handling of the __________.
A. consequence
B. outcome
C. result
D. aftermath

23. The Foreign Secretary tried to __________ doubts about his handling of the crisis.
A. dispel
B. expel
C. repel
D. quell

24. Mutual funds are thus best for investors who don’t want to take the time to study stocks in detail or who __________ the resources to build a portfolio.
A. deprive
B. lack
C. yearn
D. attain

25. Chris ran __________ John at a sporting-goods trade show and the two quickly struck __________ an easy rapport.
A. into…up
B. on…into
C. across…on
D. against…into

26. “I’m leaving the country soon,” he told a __________ convened group of reporters.
A. especially
B. particularly
C. specially
D. specifically

27. Israel and Hamas had reached a deal on extending the __________ ceasefire by an extra 24 hours until Tuesday at midnight.
A. contemporary
B. makeshift
C. spontaneous
D. temporary

28. __________ to unplugging the alarm clock and trusting your ability to wake on time on your own, you should probably ease yourself into the new arrangement by keeping a very regular schedule for several weeks.
A. Due
B. Prior
C. Related
D. Thanks

29. If you are an athlete, strong abdominal muscles help you ensure a strong back and freedom from injury during __________upper-body movement.
A. valiant
B. variable
C. vigorous
D. vigilant

30. Finning is a cruel __________ in which the shark’s fins are lopped off, and the live shark is thrown back to sea.
A. reality
B. truth
C. skill
D. practice

PART IV CLOZE [10 MIN]

Decide which of the words given in the box below would best complete the passage if inserted in the corresponding blank. The words can be used ONCE ONLY. Mark the letter for each word on ANSWER SHEET TWO.
A. ample B. combinations C. directly D. disseminated E. generations
F. genuinely G. instead H. lists I. promulgated J. publicized
K. scant L. shaped M. sophisticated N. transplanted O. virtual

Imagine a world without writing. Obviously there would be no books: no novels, no encyclopedias, no cookbooks, no textbooks, no telephone books, no scriptures, no diaries, no travel guides. There would be no ball-points, no typeswriters, no computers, no Internet, no magazines, no movie credits, no shopping lists, no newspapers, no tax returns. But such __________ (31) of subjects almost miss the point. The world we live in has been indelibly marked by the written word, __________ (32) by the technology of writing over thousands of years. Ancient kings proclaimed their authority and __________ (33) their laws in writing. Scribes administered great empires by writing, their knowledge of recording and retrieving information essential to governing complex societies. Religious traditions were passed on through __________ (34), and spread to others, in writing. Scientific and technological progress was achieved and __________ (35) through writing. Accounts in trade and commerce could be kept because of writing. Nearly every step of civilization has been mediated through writing. A world without writing would bear __________ (36) resemblance to the one we now live in. Writing is a __________ (37) necessity to the societies anthropologists call civilizations. A civilization is distinguished from other societies by the complexity of its social organization, by its construction of cities and large public buildings, and by the economic specialization of its members, many of whom are not __________ (38) involved in food procurement or production. A civilization, with its taxation and tribute systems, its trade, and its public works, requires a __________ (39) system of record keeping. And so the early civilizations of Egypt, China, and (probably) India all developed a system of writing. Only the Peruvian civilization of the Incas and their predecessors did not use writing but __________ (40) invented a system of keeping records on knotted color-coded strings known as quipu.

PART V READING COMPREHENSION [35 MIN]

SECTION A MUTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS
In this section there are three passages followed by ten multiple choice questions. For each multiple choice question, there are four suggested answers marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that you think is the best answer. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET TWO.

PASSAGE ONE
(1) When I was twenty-seven years old, I was a mining-broker’s clerk in San Francisco, and an expert in all the details of stock traffic, I was alone in the world, and had nothing to depend upon but my wits and a clean reputation; but these were setting my feet in the road to eventual fortune, and I was content with the prospect. My time was my own after the afternoon board, Saturdays, and I was accustomed to putting it in on a little sail-boat on the bay. One day I ventured too far, and was carried out to sea. Just at nightfall, when hope was about gone, I was picked up by a small ship which was bound for London. It was a long and stormy voyage, and they made me work my passage without pay, as a common sailor. When I stepped ashore in London my clothes were ragged and shabby, and I had only a dollar in my pocket. This money fed and sheltered me twenty-four hours. During the next twenty-four I went without food and shelter.
(2) About ten o’clock on the following morning, dirty and hungry, I was dragging myself along Portland Place, when a child that was passing, towed by a nurse-maid, tossed a big pear——minus one bite——into the gutter. I stopped, of course, and fastened my desiring eye on that muddy treasure. My mouth watered for it, my stomach craved it, my whole being begged for it. But every time I made a move to get it some passing eye detected my purpose, and of course I straightened up then, and looked indifferent and pretended that I hadn’t been thinking about the pear at all. This same thing kept happening and happening, and I couldn’t get the pear.
(3) I was just getting desperate enough to brave all the shame, and to seize it, when a window behind me was raised, and a gentleman spoke out of it, saying: “ Step in here, please.”
(4) I was admitted by a man servant, and shown into a sumptuous room where a couple of elderly gentlemen were sitting. They sent away the servant, and made me sit down. They had just finished their breakfast, and the sight of the remains of it almost overpowered me. I could hardly keep my wits together in the presence of that food, but as I was not asked to sample it, I had to bear my trouble as best as I could.
(5) Now, something had been happening there a little before, which I did not know anything about until a good many days afterwards, but I will tell you about it now. Those two old brothers had been having a pretty hot argument a couple of days before, and had ended by agreeing to decide it by a bet, which is the English way of settling everything.
(6) You will remember that the Bank of England once issued two notes of a million pounds each, to be used for a special purpose connected with some public transaction with a foreign country. For some reason or other only one of these had been used and canceled; the other still lay in the vaults of the Bank. Well, the brothers, chatting along, happened to get to wondering what might be the fate of a perfectly honest and intelligent stranger who should be turned adrift in London without a friend, and with no money but that million-pound bank-note, and no way to account for his being in possession of it. Brother A said he would starve to death; Brother B said he wouldn’t. Brother A said he couldn’t offer it at a bank or anywhere else, because he would be arrested on the spot. So they went on disputing till Brother B said he would bet twenty thousand pounds that the man would live thirty days, anyway, on that million, and keep out of jail, too. Brother A took him up. Brother B went down to the Bank and bought that note. Then he dictated a letter, which one of his clerks wrote out in a beautiful round hand, and then the two brothers sat at the window a whole day watching for the right man to give it to.
(7) I finally became the pick of it.

41. In Para. 1, the phrase “set my feet” probably means __________.
A. put me aside
B. start my journey
C. prepare me
D. let me walk

42. It can be concluded from Para. 2 that __________.
A. the man wanted to maintain dignity though starved
B. the man could not get a proper chance to eat the pear
C. The man did not really want the pear since it was dirty
D. it was very difficult for the man to get the pear

43. Compared with Brother A, Brother B was more __________ towards the effect of the
one-million-pound bank-note on a total strange.
A. neutral
B. negative
C. reserved
D. positive

PASSAGE TWO
(1) The concept of peace is a very important one in cultures all over the world. Think about how we greet people. In some language, the phrases for greetings contain the word for peace. In some cultures we greet people by shaking hands or with another gesture to show that we are not carrying weapons --- that we come in peace.