Directions: In this section, you will hear 3 short passages. At the end of each passage, you will hear some questions. Both the passage and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question, you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A), B), C) and D). Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.

Passage One

Trade between countries is one of the most important economic activities in the world today. The U. S. has many trading partners. One of the most important is Japan. The trade between the two countries amounts to several billion dollars a year. Many U. S. banks therefore have offices in Japan, particularly in Tokyo and Osaka, the largest cities. Jean McPherson is the manager of one of these branch banks in Tokyo.

Jean majored in accounting and business administration in college. After graduation she got a job with a large New York bank. After two years in accounting, she was transferred to the loan department. Many of the loans which she was asked to consider involved international transactions. Some of them were so complicated that Jean felt she didn't have a broad enough background to understand them. To get more experience, she asked for a transfer to the bank's international department. She became so knowledgeable about international finance that it became her career.

When the bank decided to open a branch in Tokyo, Jean was selected to set it up and run it for the first few years. She has been in Tokyo for more than three years now.

Questions 26 to 28 are based on the passage you have just heard

26. What does Jean McPherson do now?

27. Where did she get a job after her graduation from university?

28. Why did she ask for a transfer to the bank’s international department?

Passage Two

In sports the sexes are separate, because women are weaker than men. That is what people say. Women are called "the weaker sex," or, if men want to please them, "the fair sex.” But boys and girls are taught together at schools and universities. There are women who are famous Prime Ministers, scientists and writers. And women live longer than men. A European woman can expect to live until the age of seventy-four, a man only until he is sixty-eight. Are women's bodies really weaker? .

The fastest men can run a mile in under four minutes. The best women need four and a half minutes. Women's times are always slower than men's, but some facts are a surprise. Some of the fastest women swimmers today are teenage girls. This does not mean that women are catching up with men. Conditions are very different now, and sports have become much more serious. It is so serious that some women athletes are given hormone injections. At the Olympics, a doctor has to check whether the women athletes are really women or not. It seems sad that sports have such problems. Life can be very complicated when there are two separate sexes! .

Questions 29 to 32 are based on the passage you have just heard.

29. Why are women called "the weaker sex"?

30. According to the passage, what do men mean when they call women “the fair sex” ?

31. Who are the fastest women swimmers?

32. What does the author really think of the Olympics?

Passage Three

In the history of the human race, the use of prisons as punishment for crimes is of fairly recent origin. A long time ago, prisons were merely places of preliminary detention. People were locked up in them to wait for torture, death, or other cruel punishment. In the late Middle Ages, the people of Europe became angry about the cruelties of that system and protested. Therefore, less cruel techniques of punishment were used. For example, people were sent away from their country and were never allowed to come back, or they were kept in prison.

The early settlers of America brought with them the idea of isolating prisoners. They could not see or talk to each other and could only read and exercise by themselves. After a long isolation, the prisoners could be released because they would not commit any more crimes. The Walnu Street Jail in America operated on this idea. In the latter part of the eighteenth century, however, a religious group stopped that system.

At the end of the nineteenth century, a new idea was introduced. It permitted prisoners to work together in groups during the day. It also reduced problems of administration. Afterwards, many prisons were built in America and abroad which operated on this idea.

About the time of the American Civil War, a new institution for young offenders was built in Elmira, New York. This new system worked on the principles of classifying prisoners on the basis of age, giving them an education and training them.

Questions 33 to 35 are based on the passage you have just heard.

33. When were prisons used as a place for preliminary detention?

34. Who got rid of the idea of isolating prisoners?

35. According to the passage, which is not a way to punish prisoners?

Section C

Directions: In this section, you will hear a passage three times. When the passage is read for the first time, you should listen carefully for its general idea. When the passage is read for the second time, you are required to fill in the blanks numbered from 36 to 43 with the exact words you have just heard. For blanks numbered from 44 to 46 you are required to fill in the missing information. For these blanks, you can either use the exact words you have just heard or write down the main points in your own words. Finally, when the passage is read for the third time, you should check what you have written.

Some students at the Open University left school 20 years ago. Others are younger but all must be at least 21 years old. This is one example of how the Open University is (36)different from all other universities. Its students must either work (37)full-time or be at home all day, for (38) instance, mothers of families. They do not have to pass any examinations before they are (39) accepted as students. This is why the university is called "open." The university was (40) started in order to help a (41) known group of people who (42) missed having a university (43) education when they were young.

The first name of the Open University was "The University of the Air." The idea was to teach "on the air," in other words on radio and television. Most of the teaching (44) done through radio and television have brought the classroom into people's homes. But this, on its own, is not enough for a university education. The Open University students also receive advice at one of 283 study centers in the country. For thirty six weeks of the year, they have to send written work to a “tutor,” the person who guides their studies. They also spend three weeks every summer as a full-time student. (45) Tutors and students meet and study together, as in other universities. (46) At the end of the Open University's first year, the results were good. Three out of every four students passed their examinations. If they do this every year, they will finish their studies in four or five years.

2007年12月大學(xué)英語四級(jí)考試全真預(yù)測(cè)試題匯總

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