2010年12月大学英语四级试题b

2010年12月大学英语四级试题

Part I Writing (30 minutes) Directions：For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay entitled How Should Parents Help Children to Be Independent? You should write at least 120 words following the outline given below.

1、目前不少父母为孩子包办一切 2、为了让孩子独立， 父母应该??

How Should Parents Help Children to Be Independent？

注意：此部分试题在答题卡1上。

Part II Reading Comprehension(Skimming and Scanning) (15 minutes)

Directions: In this part, you will have 15 minutes to go over the passage quickly and answer the

questions on Answer Sheet 1. For questions 1-7, choose the best answer from the four choices marked A), B), C) and D). For questions 8-10, complete the sentences with the information given in the passage.

A Grassroots Remedy

Most of us spend our lives seeking the natural world. To this end, we walk the dog, play golf, go fishing, sit in the garden, drink outside rather than inside the pub, have a picnic, live in the suburbs, go to the seaside, buy a weekend place in the country. The most popular leisure activity in Britain is going for a walk. And when joggers (慢跑者) jog, they don’t run the streets. Every one of them instinctively heads to the park or the river. It is my profound belief that not only do we all need nature, but we all seek nature, whether we know we are doing so or not.

But despite this, our children are growing up nature-deprived (丧失). I spent my boyhood climbing trees on Streatham Common, South London. These days, children are robbed of these ancient freedoms, due to problems like crime, traffic, the loss of the open spaces and odd new perceptions about what is best for children, that is to say, things that can be bought, rather than things that can be found.

The truth is to be found elsewhere. A study in the US: families had moved to better housing and the children were assessed for ADHD—attention deficit hyperactivity disorder(多动症). Those whose accommodation had more natural views showed an improvement of 19%; those who had the same improvement in material surroundings but no nice view improved just 4%.

A study in Sweden indicated that kindergarten children who could play in a natural environment had less illness and greater physical ability than children used only to a normal playground. A US study suggested that when a school gave children access to a natural environment, academic levels were raised across the entire school.

Another study found that children play differently in a natural environment. In playgrounds, children create a hierarchy (等级) based on physical abilities, with the tough ones taking the lead. But when a grassy area was planted with bushes, the children got much more into fantasy play,

and the social hierarchy was now based on imagination and creativity.

Most bullying (恃强凌弱) is found in schools where there is a tarmac (柏油碎石) playground; the least bullying is in a natural area that the children are encouraged to explore. This reminds me unpleasantly of Sunnyhill School in Streatham, with its harsh tarmac, where I used to hang about in corners fantasizing about wildlife.

But children are frequently discouraged from involvement with natural spaces, for health and safety reasons, for fear that they might get dirty or that they might cause damage. So, instead, the damage is done to the children themselves: not to their bodies but to their souls.

One of the great problems of modern childhood is ADHD, now increasingly and expensively treated with drugs. Yet one study after another indicates that contact with nature gives huge benefits to ADHD children. However, we spend money on drugs rather than on green places.

The life of old people is measurably better when they have access to nature. The increasing emphasis for the growing population of old people is in quality rather than quantity of years. And study after study finds that a garden is the single most important thing in finding that quality. In wider and more difficult areas of life, there is evidence to indicate that natural surroundings improve all kinds of things. Even problems with crime and aggressive behavior are reduced when there is contact with the natural world.

Dr William Bird, researcher from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, states in his study, “A natural environment can reduce violent behavior because its restorative process helps reduce anger and impulsive behavior.” Wild places need encouraging for this reason, no matter how small their contribution.

We tend to look on nature conservation as some kind of favor that human beings are granting to the natural world. The error here is far too deep: not only do humans need nature for themselves, but the very idea that humanity and the natural world are separable things is profoundly damaging. Human beings are a species of mammals (哺乳动物). For seven million years they lived on the planet as part of nature. Our ancestral selves miss the natural world and long for contact with non-human life. Anyone who has patted a dog, stroked a cat, sat under a tree with a pint of beer, given or received a bunch of flowers or chosen to walk through the park on a nice day, understands that.

We need the wild world. It is essential to our well-being, our health, our happiness. Without the wild world we are not more but less civilized. Without other living things around us we are less than human.

Five ways to find harmony with the natural world

Walk: Break the rhythm of permanently being under a roof. Get off a stop earlier, make a circuit of the park at lunchtime, walk the child to and from school, get a dog, feel yourself moving in moving air, look, listen, absorb.

Sit: Take a moment, every now and then, to be still in an open space. In the garden, anywhere that’s not in the office, anywhere out of the house, away from the routine. Sit under a tree, look at water, feel refreshed, ever so slightly renewed.

Drink: The best way to enjoy the natural world is by yourself; the second best way is in company. Take a drink outside with a good person, a good gathering: talk with the sun and the wind with birdsong for background.

Learn: Expand your boundaries. Learn five species of bird, five butterflies, five trees, five

bird songs. That way, you see and hear more: and your mind responds gratefully to the greater amount of wildness in your life.

Travel: The places you always wanted to visit: by the seaside, in the country, in the hills. Take a weekend break, a day-trip, get out there and do it: for the scenery, for the way through the woods, for the birds, for the bees. Go somewhere special and bring specialness home. It lasts forever, after all.

注意：此部分试题请在答题卡1上作答。 1. What is the author’s profound belief?

A) People instinctively seek nature in different ways. B) People should spend most of their lives in the wild. C) People have quite different perceptions of nature. D) People must make more efforts to study nature.

2. What does the author say people prefer for their children nowadays? A) Personal freedom. B) Things that are natural. C) Urban surroundings.

D) Things that are purchased.

3. What does a study in Sweden show?

A) The natural environment can help children learn better. B) More access to nature makes children less likely to fall ill. C) A good playground helps kids develop their physical abilities. D) Natural views can prevent children from developing ADHD.

4. Children who have chances to explore natural areas ________. A) tend to develop a strong love for science B) are more likely to fantasize about wildlife C) tend to be physically tougher in adulthood D) are less likely to be involved in bullying

5. What does the author suggest we do to help children with ADHD? A) Find more effective drugs for them. B) Provide more green spaces for them. C) Place them under more personal care. D) Engage them in more meaningful activities.

6. In what way do elderly people benefit from their contact with nature? A) They look on life optimistically. C) They are able to live longer. B) They enjoy a life of better quality. D) They become good-humored.

7. Dr William Bird suggests in his study that ________.

A) humanity and nature are complementary to each other

B) wild places may induce impulsive behavior in people

C) access to nature contributes to the reduction of violence D) it takes a long time to restore nature once damaged

8. It is extremely harmful to think that humanity and the natural world can be________________________.

9. The author believes that we would not be so civilized without ________________________.

10. The five suggestions the author gives at the end of the passage are meant to encourage people to seek _________________ with the natural world.

Part IV Reading Comprehension (Reading in Depth) (25minutes) Section A

Directions: In this section, there is a passage with ten blanks. You are required to select one

word for each blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the

passage. Read the passage through carefully before marking your choices. Each choice in the bank is identified by a letter. Please mark the corresponding letter for each item on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the center. You may not use any of the words in the bank more than once. Question 47 to 56 are based on the following passage

What determines the kind of person you are? What factors make you more or less bold, intelligent, or able to read a map? All of these are influenced by the interaction of your genes and the environment in which you were__47__. The study of how genes and environment interact to influence __48__activity is known as behavioral genetics. Behavioral genetics has made important __49__to the biological revolution, providing information about the extent to which biology influences mind, brain and behavior.

Any research that suggests that __50__to perform certain behaviors are based in biology is controversial. Who wants to be told that there are limitations to what you can__51__based on something that is beyond your control, such as your genes? It is easy to accept that genes control physical characteristics such as sex, race and eye color. But can genes also determine whether people will get divorced, how __52__ they are, or what career they are likely to choose? A concern of psychological scientists is the __53__ to which all of these characteristics are influenced by nature and nurture(养育), by genetic makeup and the environment. Increasingly, science __54__ that genes lay the groundwork for many human traits. From this perspective, people are born__55__like undeveloped photographs: The image is already captured, but the way it __56__ appears can vary based on the development process. However, the basic picture us there from the beginning.

注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。 A) abilities B) achieve C) appeal D) complaints E) contributions F) displayed G) essentially H) eventually I) extent J) indicates K) proceeds L) psychological M) raised N) smart O) standard