大学英语四级(阅读)模拟试卷56(题后含答案及解析)

大学英语四级（阅读）模拟试卷56 (题后含答案及解析)

题型有： 4. Reading Comprehension (Reading in Depth)

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

Section BDirections: 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 marked A, B, C and D. You should decide on the best choice.

Sign has become a scientific hot button. Only in the past 20 years have specialists in language study realized that signed languages are unique—a speech of the hand. They offer a new way to probe how the brain generates and understands language, and throw new light on an old scientific controversy: whether language, complete with grammar, is something that we are born with, or whether it is a learned behavior. The current interest in sign language has roots in the pioneering work of one rebel teacher at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., the world’s only liberal arts university for deaf people. When Bill Stokoe went to Gallaudet to teach English, the school enrolled him in a course in signing. But Stokoe noticed something odd: among themselves, students signed differently from his classroom teacher. Stokoe had been taught a sort of gestural code, each movement of the hands representing a word in English. At the time, American Sign Language (ASL) was thought to be no more than a form of pidgin English(混杂英语). But Stokoe believed the “hand talk” his students used looked richer. He wondered: Might deaf people actually have a genuine language? And could that language be unlike any other on Earth? It was 1955, when even deaf people dismissed their signing as “substandard”. Stokoe’s idea was academic heresy (异端邪说). It is 37 years later. Stokoe—now devoting his time to writing and editing books and journals and to producing video materials on ASL and the deaf culture—is having lunch at a cafe near the Gallaudet campus and explaining how he started a revolution. For decades educators fought his idea that signed languages are natural languages like English, French and Japanese. They assumed language must be based on speech, the modulation (调节) of sound. But sign language is based on the movement of hands, the modulation of space. “What I said,” Stokoe explains, “is that language is not mouth stuff—it’s brain stuff.”

1． The study of sign language is thought to be A．a new way to look at the learning of language

B．a challenge to traditional views on the nature of language

C．an approach to simplifying the grammatical structure of a language D．an attempt to clarify misunderstanding about the origin of language

正确答案：B

解析：从文章第3句“手语提供了一种新方法，用以探索大脑如何产生和理解语言，并为一个长期以来的科学争端——语言(连同语法)究竟是我们与生俱来的，还是一种我们后天学会的行为——提出了新的解释”可以看出，这是对语言的性质的传统观点的挑战，即B。A错在learning，文章并不是在讨论语言的学习，而是语言的产生和理解：C为简单原词干扰；D中的an attempt to clarify misunderstanding是对throw new light on an old scientific controversy曲解，因为controversy不等misunderstanding。另外，第1段最后一句中的rebel“反叛”一词也与B中的“挑战”一致。 知识模块：阅读

2． The present growing interest in sign language was stimulated by A．a famous scholar in the study of the human brain B．a leading specialist in the study of liberal arts C．an English teacher in a university for the deaf D．some senior experts in American Sign Language

正确答案：C

解析：根据第1段最后一句可知，选C。题干中的was stimulated相当于原文中的has roots in。 知识模块：阅读

3． According to Stokoe, sign language is ______. A．a substandard language B．a genuine language C．an artificial language D．an international language

正确答案：B

解析：根据第3段第2—4句以及最后一段第3句，可知B为答案。前者提出猜想(Might deaf people actually have a genuine language?)，后者含有一个同位语his idea that signed languages are natural languages。 知识模块：阅读

4． Most educators objected to Stokoe’s idea because they thought ______. A．sign language was not extensively used even by deaf people B．sign language was too artificial to be widely accepted C．a language should be easy to use and understand

D．a language could only exist in the form of speech sounds

正确答案：D

解析：根据最后一段第4句，可知D正确。D中的only exist in the form of speech sounds是对原文中be based on speech的同义表达。 知识模块：阅读

5． Stokoe’s argument is based on his belief that ______. A．sign language is as efficient as any other language B．sign language is derived from natural language C．language is a system of meaningful codes

D．language is a product of the brain

正确答案：D

解析：根据文章最后一句，可知D正确。D中的a product of the brain是对原文brain stuff的同义表达。B中的derived from错误。因为Stokoe认为sign language就是一种natural language。 知识模块：阅读

Learning how to write is like taking a course in public speaking. I’d ask whether anyone in class had ever taken such a course. Generally a few hands would go up. “What did you learn in that course?” I’d ask. “Well, the main thing was learning how to face an audience... not to be inhibited (拘谨)... not to be nervous...” Exactly, when you take a course in public speaking nowadays, you don’t hear much about grammar and vocabulary. Instead, you’re taught how not to be afraid or embarrassed, how to speak without a prepared script, how to reach out to the live audience before you. Public speaking is a matter of overcoming your longstanding nervous inhibitions. The same is true of writing. The point of the whole thing is to overcome your nervous emotion, to break through the invisible barrier that separates you from the person who’ll read what you wrote. You must learn to sit in front of your typewriter or dictating machine and reach out to the person at the other end of the line. Of course, in public speaking, with the audience right in front of you, the problem is easier. You can look at them and talk to them directly. In writing, you’re alone. It needs an effort of your experience or imagination to take hold of that other person and talk to him or her. But that effort is necessary or at least it’s necessary until you’ve reached the point when you quite naturally and unconsciously “talk on paper”.

6． The main task of a public speech course is to______. A．teach grammar and vocabulary B．teach how to write a script

C．teach how to overcome nervousness D．teach live spoken-language expressions

正确答案：C

解析：事实细节题。原文第4段，特别是第4段的最后一句表明C为正确选项。本题稍具干扰性的是D，该选项中的live一词在第4段第2句末尾也有出现，但事实上D与该句的意思不相同。 知识模块：阅读

7． Learning how to write is similar to learning how to speak in public in that the writer should______.

A．overcome his or her nervousness in the first place

B．take hold of a reader and talk to him or her before writing C．learn to use a typewriter or dictating machine D．talk to himself on paper

正确答案：A

解析：事实细节题。本题考查对比处。第5段第1句表明下一句就是演讲和写作的相似之处，而A就是对该句的同义替换。其他选项并未按照题目的要求对比演讲与写作，只是说明了写作必须做的，因此都不正确。 知识模块：阅读

8． What does the author compare writing and public speaking?

A．Writing needs more experience and imagination than public speaking. B．Both writing and public speaking require great efforts. C．Writing is just as imaginative as public speaking. D．Writing is not as natural as public speaking.

正确答案：A 解析：推理判断题。本题考查对比处。结尾段对比了演讲和写作的不同之处，第1、2句和第3、4句形成了内在的对比关系，由此可推断写作比演讲更需要经验和努力．因此可确定A正确，而C不正确。虽然在这一段可找到effort和naturally等词，但原文并没有从是否要付出同样多的努力(B)或是否自然(D)等方面对比演讲与写作，因此B和D也不正确。 知识模块：阅读

9． Which of the following statements is true according to the passage? A．Few students feel the need to learn public speaking. B．Training is necessary before you can speak with a script.

C．In public speaking, the audience and the speaker are separated by a barrier. D．Writing is just like making a public speech on paper.

正确答案：D

解析：推理判断题。根据最后一句中的“在纸上说话”，可推断作者认为写作如在纸上作演讲一样，因此，D正确。A中的Few students与事实不符；B中的speak with a script在文中未有提及；C中的separated by a barrier错误。 知识模块：阅读

10． This selection is mainly about______. A．the efforts involved in writing

B．the similarities between writing and public speaking C．learning how to make a public speech D．learning how to talk on paper

正确答案：D

解析：主旨大意题。文章的开头句就是全文的主题句，作者在前四段说明如何演讲，从第5段开始，作者转向说明如何写作，文章的结尾句对开头句做出了呼应。作者之所以将演讲和写作过程做比较是为了让自己的观点更容易、更生动地被读者明白和接受，因此本文的中心内容是围绕写作，而不是演讲。其余选项虽然文中都有提及，但只是各个具体的侧面内容，不能概括全文大意。 知识模块：阅读

People appear to be born to compute. The numerical skills of children develop so early and so inexorably (坚定地) that it is easy to imagine an internal clock of mathematical maturity guiding their growth. Not long after learning to walk and talk, they can set the table with impressive accuracy—one plate, one knife, one spoon, one fork, for each of the five chairs. Soon they are capable of noting that they have placed five knives, five spoons, and five forks on the table and, a bit later, that this amounts to fifteen pieces of silverware. Having thus mastered addition, they move on to subtraction. It seems almost reasonable to expect that if a child were secluded on a desert island at birth and retrieved seven years later, he or she could enter a second-grade mathematics class without any serious problems of intellectual adjustment. Of course, the truth is not so simple. In this century, the work of cognitive psychologists has illuminated the subtle forms of daily learning on which intellectual progress depends. Children were observed as they slowly grasped—or, as the case might be, bumped into—concepts that adults take for granted, as they refused, for instance, to concede that quantity is unchanged as water pours from a short stout glass into a tall thin one. Psychologists have since demonstrated that young children, when asked to count the pencils in a pile, readily report the number of blue or red pencils, but must be coaxed (说服) into finding the total. Such studies have suggested that the rudiments (基本原理) of mathematics are mastered gradually, and with effort. They have also suggested that the very concept of abstract numbers—the idea of a oneness, a twoness, a threeness that applies to any class of objects and is prerequisite (先决条件) for doing anything more mathematically demanding than setting a table—is itself far from innate.

11． After children have helped to set the table with impressive accuracy, they _____

A．are able to help parents serve dishes B．tend to do more complicated housework C．are able to figure out the total pieces

D．can enter a second-grade mathematics class

正确答案：C 解析：第1段第3句说的是题干内容，由第4句Soon…句中的five knives．．．等数字可知孩子会数数了，故可直接选出C。 知识模块：阅读

12． It is______to believe that the quantity of water keeps unchanged when it is contained in two different glasses.

A．easy to persuade children B．hard for most children C．the innate of most children

D．difficult for both adults and children

正确答案：B

解析：第2段第3句中they refused…to concede…中的they指children，对比题干与原文意思可知孩子们是“难以相信(理解)，故选B。 知识模块：阅读

13． It can be inferred from the passage that children are likely to____ when they are asked to count all the balls of different colors.

A．give the accurate answer B．count the balls of each color C．be too confused to do anything D．make minor mistakes

正确答案：B

解析：第2段倒数第3句。文章是以pencils为例进行说明的，题目中换成了balls，但是目的是相同的，都是为了表述儿童更愿意根据颜色的不同来数数，而不愿数总数，故B正确。A、D都没有提到；C的说法过于绝对，与文章表述也不相符。 知识模块：阅读

14． According to this passage, ______ is mastered by birth. A．the ability to survive in a desert island B．the way of setting tables

C．the basic principles of mathematics D．the concept of oneness

正确答案：B 解析：这道题目需要认真理解了文章的意思才能正确作答。第1段的主题是：有些数字概念是人天生就有的；第2段的主题是：有一些是后天学习获得的。B是第1段中明确给出的例子，因此这个例子应该支持该段的主题。A错误地理解了第1段最后举的例子。C和D在第2段最后提到，都不是先天获取的数学知识。 知识模块：阅读

15． What’s the author’s attitude towards “children’s numerical skills”? A．Critical. B．Approving. C．Questioning. D．Objective.

正确答案：D 解析：考查全文的观点态度。纵观全文可知，作者很客观、如实地说明事实，分两段报告了心理学家的研究结果，并未做出任何评价，故D正确。题目中的children’s numerical skills即全文的主题。 知识模块：阅读

Teenage boys, regardless of race, are more likely to die from gunshot wounds than from all natural causes combined. By the time the average American child leaves elementary school, he or she will witness 8,000 murders and more than

100,000 acts of violence on television. Youth are becoming involved in violence at an alarming rate. In fact, the youth arrest rate for murder doubled, from 6 arrests per 100,000 youth age 10 to 17 to over 12 per 100,000. The American Psychological Association Commission on Violence and Youth reported on a study of first and second graders in Washington D.C.: 45% said they had witnessed muggings (行凶抢劫), 31% said they had witnessed shootings, and 39% said they had seen dead bodies. For the many youth who have not been directly exposed to violence in their own communities, the entertainment media(television, movies, music and video games, provides many opportunities for children to see and hear violent exchanges. Research shows that there are about 5-6 violent acts per hour on prime time and 20-25 violent acts on Saturday morning children’s programming. In its report, Psychology and You: Violence on Television, the American Psychological Association (APA) reported that viewing violence on television hurts children in many ways. In particular, the APA concludes that children may become less sensitive to the pain and suffering of others, be more fearful of the world around them, be more likely to behave in aggressive or harmful ways toward others, and gradually accept violence as a way to solve problems. The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry also cautions that children may imitate the violence they observe on television. Another form of violence involving youth is physical punishment in the schools. This form of discipline still remains legally supported in 23 of our nation’s states. The Office for Civil Rights in the Department of Education reported that 555,000 students were physically punished in the schools during this school year. Although such punishment has been regarded as an effective method of discipline by those who apply it, the findings are obvious that physical punishment does not work and that children who are victims of physical punishment are subject to potential long-term physical and emotional damage.

16． According to the passage, the American teenage boys’ lives are most threatened by

A．gun murders B．natural diseases C．TV violence

D．physical punishment

正确答案：A

解析：事实细节题。本题考查对比处。根据第1段中的more likely…than可知选项A正确，选项B可由此排除。选项C和D虽在文中有提到，但作者并无讨论它们是否危及孩子的生命。 知识模块：阅读

17． The author tends to use the fourth paragraph to support the idea that ______.

A．many youth have watched much violence on TV B．youth violence in Washington D.C.is very serious

C．fights may be the most widely-seen youth violence D．American youth have been exposed to much violence

正确答案：D

解析：主旨大意题。文章第1和第2段提出话题：小孩接触太多暴力。第3段和第4段讨论小孩遇到的严重暴力，如murder，muggings等，为主题服务，因此本段应支持文章开头提出的话题。本段说明的是现实生活中的暴力，而非电视上的，故选项A不对，选项B和C都只是对本段中某个现象的描述。 知识模块：阅读

18． The APA indicates that too much TV violence may change children ______. A．to become isolated from the world B．to remain indifferent to others’ pain C．to solve problems only by violence D．to be fearful of aggressive behaviors

正确答案：B 解析：推理判断题。本题考查列举处。选项B是对第5段倒数第2句中become less sensitive to the pain and suffering of others的近义替换，因此正确。选项A中的isolated并不等同于文中的fearful．也不是因为害怕世界必然带来的结果。选项C中的only过于绝对，文中只说a way。选项D拼凑了原句中的某些词语，但文中并无此意。 知识模块：阅读

19． The passage does NOT discuss that many youth become victims of_____. A．murders

B．family violence C．TV violence D．school violence

正确答案：B

解析：主旨大意题。本文结构可分为四部分：第1段和第2段总起，指出论题；第二部分讨论murder等严重暴力：第三部分即第5段讨论TV violence；第四部分即最后一段讨论学校里的体罚，也就是school violence。因此只有选项B没有在文中讨论。 知识模块：阅读

20． The author may most probably agree that physical punishment is ______. A．acceptable, though ineffective B．illegal, though effective C．harmful, though legal

D．reasonable, though harmful

正确答案：C

解析：观点态度题。根据最后一段，特别是最后一句，可以推断作者认为体罚不起作用，并对学生身心产生有害的影响，由此可见，作者不认同体罚，因此

选项A和D不正确。选项B中的illegal与文中说法相反，因此也不正确。 知识模块：阅读