備考英語四級(jí)--閱讀理解天天練一

Passage1  建議用時(shí)：8分鐘      From:      To:

　　When one looks back upon the fifteen hundred years that are the life span of the English language, he should be able to notice a number of significant truths. The history of our language has always been a history of constant change—at times a slow, almost imperceptible change, at other times a violent collision between two languages. Our language has always been a living growing organism, it has never been static. Another significant truth that emerges from such a study is that language at all times has been the possession not of one class or group but of many. 『At one extreme it has been the property of the common, ignorant folk, who have used it in the daily business of their living, much as they have used their animals or the kitchen pots and pans.』① At the other extreme it has been the treasure of those who have respected it as an instrument and a sign of civilization, and who have struggled by writing it down to give it some permanence, order, dignity, and if possible, a little beauty.

　　As we consider our changing language, we should note here two developments that are of special and immediate importance to us. One is that since the time of the Anglo-Saxons there has been an almost complete reversal of the different devices for showing the relationship of words in a sentence. Anglo-Saxon (old English) was a language of many inflections. Modern English has few inflections. We must now depend largely on word order and function words to convey the meanings that the older language did by means of changes in the forms of words. Function words, you should understand, are words such as prepositions, conjunctions, and a few others that are used primarily to show relationships among other words. A few inflections, however, have survived. And when some word inflections come into conflict with word order, there may be trouble for the users of the language, as we shall see later when we turn our attention to such maters as WHO or WHOM and ME or I. The second fact we must consider is that as language itself changes, our attitudes toward language forms change also. 『The eighteenth century, for example, produced from various sources a tendency to fix the language into patterns not always set in and grew, until at the present time there is a strong tendency to restudy and re-evaluate language practices in terms of the ways in which people speak and write.』②

　　1.In contrast to the earlier linguists, modern linguists tend to .

　　A. attempt to continue the standardization of the language

　　B. evaluate language practices in terms of current speech rather than standards or proper patterns

　　C. be more concerned about the improvement of the language than its analysis or history

　　D. be more aware of the rules of the language usage

　　2.Choose the appropriate meaning for the word “inflection” used in line 4 of paragraph 2.

　　A. Changes in the forms of words.

　　B. Changes in sentence structures.

　　C. Changes in spelling rules.

　　D. Words that have similar meanings.

　　3.Which of the following statements is not mentioned in the passage?

　　A. It is generally believed that the year 1500 can be set as the beginning of the modern English language.

　　B. Some other languages had great influence on the English language at some stages of its development.

　　C. The English language has been and still in a state of relatively constant change.

　　D. Many classes or groups have contributed to the development of the English language.

　　4. The author of these paragraphs is probably a(an) .

　　A. historianB. philosopher

　　C. anthropologistD. linguist

　　5.Which of the following can be best used as the title of the passage?

　　A. The history of the English language.

　　B. Our changing attitude towards the English language.

　　C. Our changing language.

　　D. Some characteristics of modern English.

　　Vocabulary

　　1.span n. 跨度，范圍，一段時(shí)間，期間

　　2.imperceptible adj. 感覺不到的，覺察不到的，極細(xì)微的

　　3.organism n. 生物體，有機(jī)體

　　4.possession n. 擁有，占有，領(lǐng)土，領(lǐng)地

　　5.ignorant adj. 無知的

　　6.folk n. 人們，民族

　　7.permanence n. 永久，持久

　　8.Anglo-Saxons n. 盎格魯—撒克遜語，盎格魯—撒克遜人，地道的英國人

　　9.reversal n. 顛倒，反向，逆轉(zhuǎn)

　　10.inflection n. 詞尾變化

　　11.preposition n. 前置詞，介詞

　　12.conjunction n. 聯(lián)合，關(guān)聯(lián)，連接詞

　　13.in terms of 根據(jù)，按照，用……的話，在……方面

　　長難句解析

　　①【解析】“who”引導(dǎo)非限制性定語從句，修飾“the common, ignorant folk”。“much as”引導(dǎo)狀語從句�！発itchen pots and pans”意為“鍋碗瓢盆”。

　　【譯文】一方面它是那些普通人甚至無知民眾的財(cái)產(chǎn)，他們每天都像使喚他們的牲畜和鍋碗瓢盆一樣用著語言。

　�、凇窘馕觥� 此句為一個(gè)復(fù)合倒裝句�！皍ntil”引導(dǎo)一個(gè)并列句，前一句的主語是“a tendency”，“to fix the language into patterns not always set in and grew”作“tendency”的定語，第二句的主語也是“a tendency”，“to”后面的句子作“tendency”的定語，“in which”引導(dǎo)的定語從句修飾“ways”。

　　【譯文】例如在18世紀(jì)一種產(chǎn)生于各種來源的趨勢把語言固定在一個(gè)不常使用和不利于語言發(fā)展的模式中，而到了當(dāng)今，主流是要反復(fù)研究、評價(jià)人們說話、寫作中的語言實(shí)踐。

　　答案與詳解

　　【短文大意】本文主要講述英語演變過程的一些特點(diǎn)，指出了古英語與現(xiàn)代英語的不同，以及語言學(xué)家對待語言形式的態(tài)度的變化。

　　1.B細(xì)節(jié)題。根據(jù)題干回原文中定位，閱讀文章時(shí)注意首末段及各段開頭的句子，這往往都是考點(diǎn)所在。這篇文章講的主要是英語語言演變的一些特點(diǎn)，指出了古英語與現(xiàn)代英語的不同，以及語言學(xué)家態(tài)度的轉(zhuǎn)變。本題問的正是現(xiàn)代語言學(xué)家與早期語言學(xué)家不同的傾向。根據(jù)文章末尾The eighteenth century, for example, produced from various sources a tendency to fix the language into patterns not always set in and grew, until at the present time there is a strong tendency to restudy and re-evaluate language practices in terms of the ways in which people speak and write. 現(xiàn)代語言學(xué)家傾向于根據(jù)人們說和寫的方式評價(jià)語言實(shí)踐，而不是像早期的語言學(xué)家根據(jù)一定的模式評價(jià)語言。選項(xiàng)B符合文章的意思。

　　2.A詞匯題。要根據(jù)上下文的信息判斷單詞的意思。文章在第二段中間再次提到inflection時(shí)說，A few inflections, however, have survived. 后面文章又舉了WHO/WHOM和ME/I為例說明inflection，這是一篇關(guān)于語言學(xué)的文章，從例子可以看出inflection的意思應(yīng)該是“單詞的變形”，選項(xiàng)A正確。

　　3.A細(xì)節(jié)題。根據(jù)文章的內(nèi)容，選項(xiàng)A“普遍認(rèn)為1500年是現(xiàn)代英語的起點(diǎn)”在文章中沒有提及，故為正確答案。文章第二句說The history of our language has always been a history of constant change - at times a slow, almost imperceptible change, at other times a violent collision between two languages. 我們語言的歷史是一個(gè)不斷變化的歷史——在一些時(shí)間里緩慢得幾乎難以察覺，在另一些時(shí)間里則是兩種語言的激烈碰撞。由此可以推斷一些其他的語言對英語的發(fā)展有重大影響，選項(xiàng)B符合文章的意思。

　　4.D詞匯題。此題考查考生的推測能力和詞匯量，文章講述的是英國語言演進(jìn)的具體細(xì)節(jié)，最適當(dāng)?shù)拇鸢笐?yīng)該是D。作者很可能是一位語言學(xué)家。A答案(歷史學(xué)家)和C答案(人類學(xué)家)也可以有點(diǎn)迷惑性。B答案(哲學(xué)家)是最不符合的。

　　5.C主旨題。本文從各個(gè)方面談及英語作為一種語言的發(fā)展變化，但并不是講述英語的歷史。所以選項(xiàng)A不對，選項(xiàng)C作為文章的題目最為貼切。選項(xiàng)B只是文章闡述的一個(gè)方面，不夠全面。文章是在談到英語的不斷變化的時(shí)候談到了現(xiàn)代英語的一些特點(diǎn)，所以選項(xiàng)D也失之于片面。

　　Passage2  建議用時(shí)：6.5分鐘      From:      To:

　　Culture is one of the most challenging elements of the international marketplace. 『This system of learned behavior patterns characteristic of the members of a given society is constantly shaped by a set of dynamic variables: language, religion, values and attitudes, manners and customs, aesthetics, technology, education, and social institutions.』① To cope with this system, an international manager needs both factual and interpretive knowledge of culture. To some extent, the factual knowledge can be learned; its interpretation comes only through experience.

　　The most complicated problems in dealing with the cultural environment stem from the fact that one cannot learn culture—one has to live it. Two schools of thought exist in the business world on how to deal with cultural diversity. One is that business is business the world around, following the model of Pepsi and McDonald’s. In some cases, globalization is a fact of life; however, cultural differences are still far from converging.

　　The other school proposes that companies must tailor business approaches to individual cultures. Setting up policies and procedures in each country has been compared to an organ transplant; the critical question centers around acceptance or rejection. The major challenge to the international manager is to make sure that rejection is not a result of cultural myopia or even blindness.

　　Fortune examined the international performance of a dozen large companies that earn 20 percent or more of their revenue overseas. The internationally successful companies all share an important quality: patience. They have not rushed into situations but rather built their operations carefully by following the most basic business principles. These principles are to know your adversary, know your audience, and know your customer.

　　1. According to the passage, which of the following is true?

　　A. All international managers can learn culture.

　　B. Business diversity is not necessary.

　　C. Views differ on how to treat culture in business world.

　�。�. Most people do not know foreign culture well.

　　2. According to the author, the model of Pepsi .

　�。�. is in line with the theories of the school advocating the business is business the world around

　�。�. is different from the model of McDonald’s

　�。�. shows the reverse of globalization

　�。�. has converged cultural differences

　　3. The two schools of thought .

　�。�. both propose that companies should tailor business approaches to individual cultures

　　Ｂ. both advocate that different policies be set up in different countries

　　Ｃ. admit the existence of cultural diversity in business world

　�。�. Both Ａ and Ｂ

　　4. This article is supposed to be most useful for those .

　　A. who are interested in researching the topic of cultural diversity

　　B. who have connections to more than one type of culture

　　C. who want to travel abroad

　　D. who want to run business on International Scale

　　5. According to Fortune, successful international companies .

　�。�. earn 20 percent or more of their revenue overseas

　�。�. all have the quality of patience

　�。�. will follow the overseas local cultures

　　Ｄ. adopt the policy of internationalization

　　Vocabulary

　　1. dynamic adj. 動(dòng)態(tài)的

　　2. variable n. 變量

　　3. aesthetics n. 美學(xué)

　　4. factual adj. 事實(shí)的

　　5. interpretative adj. 解釋的

　　6. converge v. 聚合

　　7. transplant v. 移植

　　8. myopia n. 近視

　　9. adversary n. 對手

　　長難句解析

　�、佟窘馕觥看司潆m然很長，但考生只要認(rèn)清它的主干，就很容易了解本句的意思。這個(gè)句子為一個(gè)簡單句，主語為：“this system”，謂語為“is shaped”。

　　【譯文】特定社會(huì)成員特點(diǎn)構(gòu)成的行為方式體系不斷地被一系列動(dòng)態(tài)變量所左右：如語言、信仰、價(jià)值與態(tài)度、禮儀與風(fēng)俗、審美、技術(shù)、教育及社會(huì)體制。

　　答案與詳解

　　【短文大意】本文主要講述文化背景對商業(yè)運(yùn)作的影響，文中列舉了商界中存在的對于文化多樣性的兩種觀點(diǎn)。

　　1. C推斷題。意為“對在商業(yè)中怎樣對待文化有著不同意見”。 文化在商業(yè)中是一個(gè)很具挑戰(zhàn)性的因素。不同的國家與地區(qū)可能會(huì)有不同的文化體系。在商業(yè)中，應(yīng)該怎樣對待不同的文化，商業(yè)界存在著不同的看法。

　　2. Ａ細(xì)節(jié)題。意為“……與同意世界商業(yè)一體化的派別的主張是一致的”。 Pepsi采納的是國際化的商業(yè)風(fēng)格，這與那些主張國際化的派別的意見是相一致的。

　　3. C推斷題。意為“承認(rèn)商業(yè)世界中文化的多元性”。兩個(gè)派別都承認(rèn)商業(yè)世界中文化的多元性。他們的不同在于，應(yīng)該對待不同的文化，應(yīng)該搞國際化還是對不同的文化采取不同的策略。

　　4. D主旨題。由文中的例子可以知道，作者主要關(guān)心的并不是研究多種文化形態(tài)，而是文化背景對商業(yè)運(yùn)作的影響。所以D是正確答案。

　　5. Ｂ細(xì)節(jié)題。意為“都具有耐心這一素質(zhì)”。并非所有成功的國際公司的海外收入都占總收入的20%或以上。它們也不一定全都接納海外的當(dāng)?shù)匚幕�，或是采納國際化策略。