2015年12月英语四级真题试卷

Part I                Writing                   ( 30 minutes) 
For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay commenting on the saying “Learning is a daily experience and lifetime mission.”You can cite examples to illustrate the importance of lifelong learning. You should write at least 120 words but no more than180 words.
Part II           Listening Comprehension       ( 30 minutes) 
Section A
Directions: In this section, you will hear 8 short conversations and 2 long conversations. At the end of each conversation, one or more questions will be asked about what was said. Both the conversation and the questions will be spoken only once. After each question there will be a pause. During the pause, you must read the four choices marked A), B), C) and D), and decide which is the best answer.  Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1 with a single line through the centre.
A) They admire the courage of space explorers.
  B) They enjoyed the movie on space exploration.
  C) They were going to watch a wonderful movie.
  D) They like doing scientific exploration very much.
2. A) At a gift shop.
  B) At a graduation ceremony.
  C) In the office of a travel agency.
  D) In a school library.
3. A) He used to work in the art gallery.
  B) He does not have a good memory.
  C) He declined a job offer form the art gallery.
  D) He is not interested in any part-time jobs.
4.A) Susan has been invited to give a lecture tomorrow.
  B) He will go to the birthday party after the lecture.
  C) The woman should have informed him earlier.
  D) He will be unable to attend the birthday party.
5.A) Reward those having made good progress.
  B) Set a deadline for the staff to meet.
  C) Assign more workers to the project.
  D) Encourage the staff to work in small groups.
6. A) The way to the visitor’s parking.
  B) The rate for parking in Lot C.
  C) How far away the parking lot is.
  D) Where she can leave her car.
7. A) He regrets missing the classes.
  B) He plans to take the fitness classes.
  C) He is looking forward to a better life.
  D) He has benefited form exercise.
8.A) How to ? work efficiency.
 B) How to select secretaries.
 C)The responsibilities of secretaries.
 D) The secretaries in the man’s company.
Conversation One
Questions 9 to 11 are based on the conversation you have just heard. 
9.A) It is more difficult to learn than English.
  B) It is used by more people than English.
  C) It will be as commonly used as English.
  D) It will eventually become a world language.
10.A) It has words words from many languages,
  B) Its popularity with the common people.
  C) The influence of the British Empire.
  D) The effect of the Industrial Revolution.
11.A) It includes a lot of words form other languages.
  B) It has a growing number of newly coined words,
  C) It can be easily picked up by overseas travelers.
  D) It is the largest among all languages in the world.

Conversation 2
Questions 12 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard.  
12.A) To return some goods.
   B) To apply for a job.
   C) To place an order.
   D) To make a complaint.
13. A) He has become somewhat impatient with the woman.
   B) He is not familiar with the  exact details of goods.
   C) He has not worked in the sales department for long.
   D) He works on a part-time basis for the company.
14. A) It is not his responsibility.
   B) It will be free for large orders.
   C) It costs 15 more for express delivery.
   D) It depends on a number of factors.
15.A) Report the information to her superior.
   B) Pay a visit to the saleswoman in charge.
   C) Ring back when she comes to a decision.
   D) Make inquiries with some other companies.

Section B
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 I with a single line through the centre. 
Passage One
Questions 16 to 18 are based on the passage you have just heard. 
16. A) No one knows exactly where they were ??
   B) No one knows for sure when thy came into being.
   C) No one knows for what purpose they were ?
   D) No one knows what they will ?????
17. A) Carry ropes across rivers.
   B) Measure the speed of wind.
   C) Pass on secret messages.
   D) Give warnings of danger.
18. A) To protect houses against lightning.
   B) To test the effects of the lightning rod.
   C) To find out the strength of silk for kites.
   D) To prove the lightning is electricity.

Passage Two
Questions 19 to 22 are based on the passage you have just heard. 
19.A) She enjoys teaching languages.
   B) She can speak several languages.
   C) She was trained to be an interpreter.
   D) She was born with a talent for languages.
20. A) They acquire an immunity to culture shock.
   B) They would like to live abroad permanently.
   C) They want to learn as many foreign languages as possible.
   D) They have an intense interest in cross-cultural interactions.
21.A) She became an expert in horse racing.
   B) She got a chance to visit several European countries.
   C) She was able to translate for a German sports judge.
   D) She learned to appreciate classical music.
22. A) Taste the beef and give her comment.
   B) Take part in a cooking competition.
   C) Teach vocabulary for food in ??
   D) Give cooking lessons on ????

Passage Three
Questions 23 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard.
23. A) He had only a third-grade education.
   B) He once threatened to kill his teacher.
   C) He grew up in a poor ???
   D) He often helped his ???
24.A) Careless.
   B) Stupid.
   C) Brave.
   D) Active.
25.A) Write two book reports a week.
   B) Keep a diary.
   C) Help with housework.
   D) Watch education??
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 with the exact words you have just heard. Finally, when the passage is read for the third time, you should check what you have written. 
When you look up at the night sky, what do you see？There are other        bodies out there besides the moon and stars. One of the most          of this is a comet. Comets were formed around the same the earth was formed. They are made up of ice and other frozen liquids and gasses.        these dirty snow balls begin to orbit the sun just as the planets do. As a comet gets closer to the sun, some gasses in it begin to unfreeze. They combine with dust particles from the comet to form a huge cloud. As the comet gets even nearer to the sun and solar wind blows the cloud behind the comet thus forming its tail. The tail and generally fuzzy atmosphere around the comet are          that can help         this phenomenon in the night sky. In any given year，about dozen known comets come close to the sun in their orbits. The average person can’t see them all of course. Usually there is only one or two a year bright enough to be seen with the         _________eye. Comet Hale-Bopp discovered in 1995 was an unusually bright comet. Its orbit bought it _________to the earth within 122 million miles of it. But Hale-Bopp came a long way on its earthly visit. It won’t be back for another 4 thousand years or so.
Part Ш          Reading Comprehension          (40 minutes) 
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 making your choices. Each choice in the bank is identified by a letter. Please mark the corresponding letter for each item onAnswer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre. You may not use any of the words in the bank more than once. 
Questions 36 to 45 are based on the following passage. 
For many Americans, 2013 ended with an unusually bitter cold spell. November and December    36    early snow and bone-chilling temperatures in much of the country, part of a year when, for the first time in two    37    , record-cold days will likely turn out to have outnumbered record-warm ones. But the U.S. was the exception; November was the warmest ever   38    , and current data indicates that 2013 is likely to have been the fourth hottest year on record.
Enjoy the snow now, because    39     are good that 2014 will be even hotter, perhaps the hottest year since records have been kept. That’s because, scientists are predicting, 2014 will be an EI Niuo year.
EI niuo, Spanish for “the child”,    40     when surface ocean waters in the southern Pacific become abnormally warm. So large is the Pacific, covering 30% of the planet’s surface, that the    41     energy generated by its warming is enough to touch off a series of weather changes around the world. EI Ninos are    42     with abnormally dry conditions in Southeast Asia and Australia. They can lead to extreme rain in parts of North and South America, even as southern Africa    43     dry weather. Marine life may be affected too; EI Ninos can    44     the rising of the cold, nutrient-rich（营养丰富的）water that supports large fish    45    ,and the unusually warm ocean temperatures can destroy coral(珊瑚).
注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。

Section B
Directions:In this section, you are going to read a passage with ten statements attached to it. Each statement contains information given in one of the paragraphs. Identify the paragraph from which the information is derived. You may choose a paragraph more than once. Each paragraph is marked with a letter. Answer the question by marking the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2.
The Perfect Essay
A) Looking back on too many years of education, I can identify one truly impossible teacher. She cared about me, and my intellectual life, even when I didn’t. Her expectations were high—impossibly so. She was an English teacher. She was also my mother.
B) When good students turn in an essay, they dream of their instructor returning it to them in exactly the same condition, save for a single word added in the margin of the final page.“Flawless.” This dream came true for me one afternoon in the ninth grade. Of course, I had heard that genius could show itself at an early age, so I was only slightly taken aback that I had achieved perfection at the tender age of 14. Obviously, I did what and professional writer would do; I hurried off to spread the good news. I didn’t get very far. The first person I told was my mother.
C) My mother, who is just shy of five feet tall, is normally incredibly soft-spoken, but on the rare occasion when she got angry, she was terrifying. I am not sure if she was more upset by my hubris（得意忘形）or by the fact that my English teacher had let my ego get so out of hand. In and event. My mother and her red pen showed me how deeply flawed a flaw less essay could be. At the time, I am sure she thought she was teaching me about mechanics, transitions（过渡）, structure, style and voice. But what I learned, and what stuck with me through my time teaching writing at Harvard, was a deeper lesson about the nature of creative criticism.
D) First off, it hurts. Genuine criticism, the type that leaves a lasting mark on you as a writer, also leaves an existential imprint（印记）on you as a person. I have heard people say that a writer should never take criticism personally. I say that we should never listen to these people.
E) Criticism, at its best, is deeply personal, and gets to the heart of why we write the way we do. The intimate nature of genuine criticism implies something about who is able to give it, namely, someone who knows you well enough to show you how your mental life is getting in the way of good writing. Conveniently, they are also the people who care enough to see you through this painful realization. For me it took the form of my first, and I hope only, encounter with writer’s block—I was not able to produce anything for three years.
F) Franz Kafka once said; “Writing is utter solitude（独处）, the descent into the cold abyss（深渊）of oneself.” My mother’s criticism had shown me that Kafka is right about the cold abyss, and when you make the introspective（内省的）descent that writing requires you are not always pleased by what you find. But, in the years that followed, her sustained tutoring suggested that Kafka might be wrong about the solitude, I was lucky enough to find a critic and teacher who was willing to make the journey of writing with me. “It is a thing of no great difficulty.”according to Plutarch, “to raise objections against another man’s speech. it is a very easy matter, but to produce a better in its place is a work extremely troublesome.” I am sure I wrote essays in the later years of high school without my mother’s guidance, but I can’t recall them. What I remember, however, is how she took up the“extremely troublesome”work of ongoing criticism.
G) There are two ways to interpret Plutarch when he suggests that a critic should be able to produce“a better in its place.”In a straightforward sense, he could mean that a critic must be more talented than the artist she critiques（评论）.My mother was well covered on this count. But perhaps Plutarch is suggesting something slightly different, something a bit closer to Marcus Cicero’s claim that one should“criticize by creation, not by finding fault.”Genuine criticism creates a precious opening for an author to become better on his own terms—a process that is often extremely painful, but also almost always meaningful.
H) My mother said she would help me with my writing, but first I had to help myself. For each assignment, I was to write the best essay I could. Real criticism is not meant to find obvious mistakes, so if she found any—the type I could have found on my own—I had to start from scratch. From scratch. Once the essay was“flawless,” she would take an evening to walk me through my errors. That was when true criticism, the type that changed me as a person, began.
I) She criticized me when I included little-known references and professional jargon（行话）. She had no patience for brilliant but irrelevant figures of speech.“Writers can’t bluff（虚张声势）their way through ignorance.” That was news to me—I would need to find another way to structure my daily existence.
J) She trimmed back my flowery language, drew lines through my exclamation marks and argued for the value of restraint in expression.“John,” she almost whispered. I leaned in to hear her: “I can’t hear you when you shout at me.” So I stopped shouting and bluffing, and slowly my writing improved.
K) Somewhere along the way I set aside my hopes of writing that flawless essay. But perhaps I missed something important in my mother’s lessons about creativity and perfection. Perhaps the point of writhing the flawless essay was not to give up, but to never willingly finish. Whitman repeatedly reworked“song of Myself” between 1855 and 1891. Repeatedly. We do our absolute best with a piece of writing, and come as close as we can to the ideal. And, for the time being, we settle. In critique, however, we are forced to depart, to give up the perfection we thought we had achieved for the chance of being even a little bit better. This is the lesson I took from my mother: If perfection were possible, it would not be motivating.
注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。
46. The author was advised against the improper use of figures of speech.
47. The author’s mother taught him a valuable lesson by pointing out lots of flaws in his seemingly perfect essay.
48. A writer should polish his writing repeatedly so as to get closer to perfection.
49. Writers may experience periods of time in their life when they just can’t produce anything.
50. The author was not much surprised when his school teacher marked his essay as“flawless”.
51. Criticizing someone’s speech is said to be easier than coming up with a better one.
52. The author looks upon his mother as his most demanding and caring instructor.
53. The criticism the author received from his mother changed his as a person.
54. The author gradually improved his writing by avoiding fancy language.
55. Constructive criticism gives an author a good start to improve his writing.
Section C
Passage One
Questions 56 to 60 are based on the following passage.
The wallet is heading for extinction. As a day-to-day essential, it will die off with the generation who read print newspapers. The kind of shopping－where you hand over notes and count out change in return—now happens only in the most minor of our retail encounters，like buying a bar of chocolate or a pint of milk from a comer shop. At the shops where you spend any real money, that money is increasingly abstracted. And this is more and more true, the higher up the scale you go. At the most cutting-edge retail stores—Victoria Beckham on Dover Street, for instance—you don’t go and stand at any kind of cash register when you decide to pay. The staff are equipped with iPads to take your payment while you relax on a sofa.
Which is nothing more or less than excellent service, if you have the money. But across society, the abstraction of the idea of cash makes me uneasy. Maybe I’m just old-fashioned. But earning money isn’t quick or easy for most of us. Isn’t it a bit weird that spending it should happen in half a blink (眨眼) of an eye? Doesn’t a wallet—that time-honoured Friday-night feeling of pleasing, promising fatness—represent something that matters?
But I’ll leave the economics to the experts. What bothers me about the death of the wallet is the change it represents in our physical environment. Everything about the look and feel of a wallet—the way the fastenings and materials wear and tear and loosen with age, the plastic and paper and gold and silver, and handwritten phone numbers and printed cinema tickets—is the very opposite of what our world is becoming. The opposite of a wallet is a smartphone of an iPad. The rounded edges, cool glass, smooth and unknowable as pebble (鹅卵石). Instead of digging through pieces of paper and peering into corners, we move our fingers left and right. No more counting out coins. Show your wallet, if you still have one. It may not be here much longer.
56. What is happening to the wallet?
A) It is disappearing.      C) it is becoming costly.
B) It is being fattened.     D) It is changing in style.
57. How are business transactions done in big modern stores?
A) Individually.            C) In the abstract.
B) Electronically.           D) Via a cash register.
58. What makes the author feel uncomfortable nowadays?
A) Saving money is becoming a thing of the past.
B) The pleasing Friday-night feeling is fading.
C) Earning money is getting more difficult.
D) Spending money is so fast and easy.
59. Why does the author choose to write about what’s happening to the wallet?
A) It represents a change in the modern world.
B) It has something to do with everybody’s life.
C) It marks the end of a time-honoured tradition.
D) It is the concern of contemporary economists.
60.What can we infer from the passage about the author?
A)He is resistant to social changes.
B)He is against technological progress.
C)He feels reluctant to part with the traditional wallet.
D)He fells insecure in the ever-changing modern world.
Passage Two
Questions 61 to 65 are based on the following passage.
Everybody sleeps,but what people stay up late to catch—or wake up early in order not to miss—varies by culture.From data collected,it seems the things that cause us to lose the most sleep,on average,are sporting events,time changes,and holidays.
Around the world, people changed sleep patterns thanks to the start or end of daylight savings time. Russians, for example, began to wake up about a half-hour later each day after President Vladimir Putin shifted the country permanently to “winter time”starting on October 26.
Russia’s other late nights and early mornings generally correspond to public holidays. On New Year’s Eve, Russians have the world’s latest bedtime, hitting the hay at around 3:30 am.
Russians also get up an hour later on International Women’s Day, the day for treating and celebrating female relatives.
Similarly, Americans’ late nights late mornings, and longest sleeps fall on three-day weekends.
Canada got the least sleep of the year the night it beat Sweden in the Olympic hockey(冰球）final.
The World Cup is also chiefly responsible for sleep deprivation(剥夺）, The worst night for sleep in the U.K. was the night of the England-Italy match on June 14. Brits stayed up a half-hour later to watch it, and then they woke up earlier than usual the next morning thanks to summer nights, the phenomenon in which the sun barely sets in northern countries in the summertime. That was nothing, though, compared to Germans, Italians, and the French, who stayed up around an hour and a half later on various days throughout the summer to watch the Cup.
It should be made clear that not everyone has a device to record their sleep patterns, in some of these nations, it’s likely that only the richest people do. And people who elect to track their sleep may try to get more sleep than the average person. Even if that’s the case, though, the above findings are still striking, If the most health-conscious among us have such deep swings in our shut-eye levels throughout the year, how much sleep are the rest of us losing?
注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。
61. What does the author say about people’s sleeping habits?
     A) They are culture-related                    C)They change with the seasons.
B) They affect people’s health.             D)They vary from person to person.
62.What do we learn about the Russians regarding sleep?
A) They don’t fall asleep until very late.
B) They don’t sleep much on weekends.
C) They get less sleep on public holidays.
D) They sleep longer than people elsewhere.
63.What is the major cause for Europeans’ loss of sleep?
A) The daylight savings time.
B) The colorful night life.
C) The World Cup.
D) The summertime.
64.What is the most probable reason for some rich people to use a device to record their patterns?
A) They have trouble falling asleep.
B) They want to get sufficient sleep.
C) They are involved in a sleep research.
D) They want to go to bed on regular hours.
65.  What does the author imply in the last paragraph?
A) Sleeplessness does harm to people’s health.
B) Few people really know the importance of sleep.
C) It is important to study our sleep patterns.
D) Average people probably sleep less than the rich.
Part IV                  Translation           ( 30 minutes) 
Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to translate a passage from Chinese into English. You should write your answer on Answer Sheet 2. 
云南省的丽江古镇是中国著名的旅游目的地之一。那里的生活节奏比大多数中国的城市都要缓慢。丽江到处都是美丽的自然风光，众多的少数民族同胞提供了各式各样，丰富多彩的文化让游客体验。历史上，丽江还以“爱之城”而闻名。当地人中流传着许多关于人生，为爱而死的故事。如今，在中外游客眼中，这个古镇被视为爱情和浪漫的天堂。（paradise）
2015年12月英语四级答案发布【试卷一】（文都教育版）
Part I Writing
【“活到老，学到老”参考范文】
As an old saying goes, “ Learning is a daily experience and a lifetime mission”. Apparently, the meaning of this saying is that if we truly desire to learn something, we are supposed to devote our life to it.
　　There are several reasons accounting for this viewpoint. Firstly, learning itself is an actually complicated and painful matter, and as a result, it is advisable for us to commit much more time even our whole life to it. Additionally, it is exceedingly obvious that we are easy to forget what we learned, and accordingly, the significance of lifetime learning cannot be ignored. For example, memorizing vocabulary is commonly the first step of preparing for an English test.
To sum up, lifelong learning lays a solid foundation to the development of ourselves, and only when we realize the significance of lifetime learning can we understand the essence of learning.
Part II Listening Comprehension (略)
Part Ш Reading Comprehension
Section A
【选词填空】
36. G favorite
37 M protest
38. B amount
39. D theories
40. I immediately
41. D crazy
42. F difference
43. J naturally
44. H happening
45. C confirmed
Section B
【快速阅读】
46. I She criticized me when I included little-known...
47. C My mother, who is just shy of five feet tall...
48. K Somewhere along the way i set aside my hopes...
49. E Criticism, at its best, is deeply personal,and gets to the ....
50. B When good students turn in an essay, they dream of ....
51. E Criticism, at its best, is deeply personal,and gets to the ....
52. F Franz Kafka once said: “writing is utter solitude...
53. H My mother said she would help me with my writing...
54. I She criticized me when I included little-known references...
55. H My mother said she would help me with my writing...
【仔细阅读】
56 . Its success is hard to copy anywhere else
57. Lack of the right kind of talents.
58. Its location is not as attractive to rich people
59. It is an old city...
60. They can do more than...
61. It may prevent your business and career from advancing.
62. Encourage people to disagree and argue.
63. To find out ...
64. They take care ...
65. Acknowledge ...
Section C
Part IV Translation
【原文】
云南省的丽江古镇是中国著名的旅游目的地之一。那里的生活节奏比大多数中国的城市都要缓慢。丽江到处都是美丽的自然风光，众多的少数民族同胞提供了各式各样，丰富多彩的文化让游客体验。历史上，丽江还以“爱之城”而闻名。当地人中流传着许多关于人生，为爱而死的故事。如今，在中外游客眼中，这个古镇被视为爱情和浪漫的天堂。（paradise）
【参考译文】
　Lijiang, an ancient town in Yunan province, is one of the famous tourist attractions in China. The life tempo there is slower than that of majority of cities in China. There is natural scenery everywhere in Lijiang. A substantial number of minority peoples provide various and colorful cultures for tourists to experience. Lijiang has also been known as the “City of Love” in history. Plenty of legends about people born for love and died for love circulate among the local people. Currently, this ancient town is regarded as the paradise of love and romance in the eyes of both Chinese and foreign visitors.
 
2015年12月英语四级听力原文：第一套短文1（沪江网校版）
Passage One
No one knows for sure just how old kites are. In fact, they have been in use for centuries. 25 centuries ago, kites were well-known in China. These first kites were probably made of wood. They may even have been covered with silk, because silk was used a lot at that time.
Early kites were built for certain uses. In ancient China, they were used to carry ropes across rivers. Once across, the ropes were tied down and wooden bridges were hung from them. Legend tales of one general who flew musical kites over the enemy’s camp. The enemy fled, believing the sounds to be the warning voices of angels. By the 15th centuries, many people flew kites in Europe. Marco Polo may have brought the kite back from his visit to China. The kite has been linked to great names and events. For instance, Benjamin Franklin used the kite to prove that lightening is electricity. He flew the kite in a storm. He did this in order to draw lightening from the clouds. He tied a metal key and a strip of silk to the kite line. The silk ribbon would stop the lightening from passing through his body. Benjamin’s idea was first laughed at, but later on it led to the invention of the lightening rod.
With such grand history, kite flying is sure to remain an entertaining and popular sport.
Q16: What does the speaker say about kites?
Q17: What did ancient Chinese use kites to do?
Q18: Why did Benjamin Franklin fly a kite in a storm?
2015年12月英语四级听力原文：第一套短文2（沪江网校版）
Passage Two
I have learned many languages, but I have not mastered them the way a professional interpreter or translator has. Still, they have opened doors for me. They have allowed me the opportunity to seek jobs in international contexts and help me get those jobs. Like many people who have lived overseas for a while, I simply got crazy about it. I can’t imagine living my professional or social life without international interactions. Since 1977, I have spent much more time abroad than in the United States. I like going to new places, eating new foods and experiencing new cultures. If you can speak the language, it’s easier to get to know the country and its people. If I had the time and money, I would live for a year in as many countries as possible.
Beyond my career, my facility with languages has given me a few rare opportunities. Once just after I returned from my year in Vienna, I was asked to translate for a German judge at an Olympic level horse event. I learned a lot about the sport. In Japan, once when I was in the studio audience of a TV cooking show, I was asked to go up on the stage and taste the beef dish that was being prepared and tell what I thought. They asked, “Was it as good as American beef?” It was very exciting for me to be on Japanese TV speaking in Japanese about how delicious the beef was.
Q19: What does the speaker say about herself?
Q20: What does the speaker say about many people who have lived overseas for a while?
Q21: How does the speaker’s experience of living in Vienna benefit her?
Q22: What was the speaker asked to do in a Japanese studio?
2015年12月英语四级听力原文：第一套长对话1（沪江网校版）
Conversation One
W: Hi, Leo. Why do you say English will become the world language?
M: Well, for one thing, it's so commonly used. The only language that is used by more people is Chinese.
W: Why is English spoken by so many people?
M: It's spoken in many countries of the world because of the British Empire. And now, of course, there's influence of America as well.
W: Many students find English a difficult language to learn.
M: Oh, all languages are difficult to learn. But English does have two great advantages.
W: What are they?
M: Well, first of all, it has a very international vocabulary. It has many German, Dutch, French, Spanish and Italian words in it. So speakers of those languages will find many familiar words in English. In fact, English has words from many other languages as well.
W: Why is that?
M: Well, partly because English speakers have travelled a lot. They bring back words with them, so English really does have an international vocabulary.
W: And what's the other advantage of English?
M: It's that English grammar is really quite easy. For example, it doesn't have dozens of different endings for its nouns, adjectives and verbs, not like Latin, Russian, and German for example.
W: Why is that?
M: Well, it's quite interesting actually. It's because of the French. When the French ruled England, French was the official language and only the common people spoke English. They try to make the language as simple as possible, so they made the grammar easier.
Q9: What does the man say about Chinese?
Q10: What made English a widely used language?
Q11: What is said to be special about English vocabulary?
2015年12月英语四级听力原文：第一套长对话2（沪江网校版）
Conversation Two
M: Hello. Yes?
W: Hello. Is that the sales department?
M: Yes, it is.
W: Oh, well, my name's Jane Kingsbury of GPF Limited. Hmm, we need some supplies for our design office.
M: Uh, what's sort?
W: Well, first of all, we need one complete new drawing board.
M: A DO44 or DO45?
W: Uh, I don't know. What's the difference?
M: Well, the 45 costs 15 pounds more.
W: Hmm, so what's the total price then?
M: It's 387 pounds.
W: Does that include value added tax?
M: Oh, I'm not sure, most of the prices do. Yes, I think it does.
W: Hmm, what are the boards actually made of?
M: Oh, I don't know. I think it's a sort of plastic stuff these days. It's white anyway.
W: Hmm, and how long does it take to deliver?
M: Oh, I couldn't really say. It depends on how much work we've got and how many other orders there are to send out, you know.
W: Ok. Now we also want some drawing pens, ink and rulers and some drawing paper.
M: Oh, dear, the girl that takes orders for supplies isn't here this morning, so I can't take those orders for you. I only do the equipment, you see.
W: OK. Well, perhaps I'll ring back tomorrow.
M: So do you want the drawing board then?
W: I'll have to think about it. Thanks very much. I'll let you know. Goodbye.
M: Thank you. Goodbye.
Q12: What is the woman's purpose in making the phone call?
Q13: What do we learn about the man from the conversation?
Q14: What does the man say about delivery?
Q15: What does the woman say she will possibly do tomorrow?
2015年12月英语四级听力原文：第一套短文3（沪江网校版）
Passage Three
Doctor Ben Carson grew up in a poor single parent household in Detroit. His mother, who had only a third-grade education, worked two jobs cleaning bathrooms. To his classmates and even to his teachers, he was thought of as the dumbest kid in the class, according to his own not so fond memories. He had a terrible temper, and once threatened to kill another child. Doctor Carson was headed down a path of self-destruction until a critical moment in his youth. His mother, convinced that she had to do something dramatic to prevent him from leading a life of failure, laid down some rules. He could not watch television except for two programs a week, could not play with his friends after school until he finished his homework, and had to read two books a week and write book reports about them. His mother’s strategy worked. “Of course, I didn’t know she couldn’t read, so there I was submitting these reports.” He said. “She would put check marks on them like she had been reading them. As I began to read about scientists, economists and philosophers, I started imaging myself in their shoes. As he got in the habit of hard work, his grades began to soar. Ultimately, he received a scholarship to attend Yale University. And later, he was admitted to the University of Michigan Medical School. He is now a leading surgeon at John’s Hopkins Medical School, and he’s also the author of three books.
Q23. What do we learn about Ben Carson?
Q24. What did Ben Carson classmates and teachers think about him when he was first in school? 
Q25. What does Ben Carson mother tell him to do when he was a school boy? 
2015年12月英语四级听力原文：第一套听力填空（沪江网校版）
When you look up at the night sky, what do you see? There are other (26) heavenly bodies out there besides the moon and stars. One of the most (27) fascinating of these is a comet.
Comets were formed around the same time the Earth was formed. They are (28) made up of ice and other frozen liquids and gases. (29) Now and then these “dirty snowballs” begin to orbit the sun, just as the planets do.
As a comet gets closer to the sun, some gases in it begin to unfreeze. They (30) combine with dust particles from the comet to form a huge cloud. As the comet gets even nearer to the sun, a solar wind blows the cloud behind the comet, thus forming its tail. The tail and the (31) generally fuzzy atmosphere around a comet are (32) characteristics that can help identify this (33) phenomenon in the night sky.
In any given year, about a dozen known comets come close to the sun in their orbits. The average person can’t see them all, of course. Usually there is only one or two a year bright enough to be seen with the (34) naked eye. Comet Hale-Bopp, discovered in 1995, was an unusually bright comet. Its orbit brought it (35) relatively close to the Earth, within 122 million miles of it. But Hale-Bopp came a long way on its earthly visit. It won’t be back for another four thousand years or so.
2015年12月英语四级听力答案：第一套短对话（沪江网校版）
1. C. They enjoyed the movie on space exploration.
2. B. At a gift shop.
3. D. He declined a job offer from the art gallery.
4. A. He will be unable to attend the birthday party.
5. A. Set a deadline for the staff to meet.
6. D. The way to the visitor's parking.
7. B. He has benefited from exercise.
8. D. The secretaries in the man's company.
2015年12月英语四级听力答案：第一套长对话（沪江网校版）
Conversation One
9. A. It is used by more people than English.
10. C. The influence of the British Empire.
11. B. It includes a lot of words from other languages.
Conversation Two
12. A. To place an order.
13. C. He is not familiar with the exact details of the goods.
14. C. It depends on a number of factors.
15. D. Ring back when she comes to a decision. 
2015年12月英语四级听力答案：第一套短文1&2（沪江网校版）
Passage One
16. A) No one knows for sure when they came into being.
17. D) Carry ropes across rivers.
18. C) To prove that lightening is electricity.
Passage Two
19. C) She can speak several languages.
20. B) They have an intense interest in cross-cultural interactions.
21. C) She was able to translate for a German sports judge.
22. B) Taste the beef and give her comment.
2015年12月英语四级听力答案：第一套短文3&听力填空（沪江网校版）
【短文3】
23. D) He grew up in a poor single parent family.
24. A) Stupid
25. B) Write two book reports a week.
【听力填空】
(26) heavenly
(27) fascinating
(28) made up of
(29) Now and then
(30) combine with
(31) generally
(32) characteristics
(33) phenomenon
(34) naked
(35) relatively
【短文3】
23. D) He grew up in a poor single parent family.
24. A) Stupid
25. B) Write two book reports a week.
【听力填空】
(26) heavenly
(27) fascinating
(28) made up of
(29) Now and then
(30) combine with
(31) generally
(32) characteristics
(33) phenomenon
(34) naked
(35) relatively
2015年12月英语四级听力答案点评：第一套短对话（沪江网校版）
【短对话点评】
本次四级短对话无论从对话内容还是从题目本身来看，整体难度相对简单，和往年该部分相类似，话题覆盖日常生活（看电影、买礼物、生日聚会、问路等）、商务工作（求职、项目进展、秘书职位等）。例如，对话3、5、8均涉及商务工作话题；对话1、2、4、6、7均涉及日常生活话题。从常考题型角度来看，主要考查事实细节题和推理判断题，考查比例基本平均，这就提醒广大考生在平时训练中不能忽略任何一种考查题型。主要难词和固定表达有：space exploration“太空探险”，in vain“徒劳”，turn down“拒绝”，deadline“截止期限”，visitor's parking“访客停车处”，take fitness classes“参加健美课程”等，能够正确理解生难词对整个听力内容的把握大有裨益，所以考生平时应多积累一些词汇和常用表达。
2015年12月英语四级听力答案点评：第一套长对话（沪江网校版）
【长对话一】
本篇长对话是关于英语这门语言和语言学习的一篇采访。文中首先由女士提出问题：为什么英语会成为世界性语言？男士首先点明是因为大英帝国以前的影响力和美国现在的影响力。女士又指出许多人觉得英语很难。男士指出学语言很难，但是英语相对其他语言有两大比其他语言容易学的优点：一是它有许多外来语，二是它没有太多的词根变化，同时分别对这两个优点的形成进行了阐释。最后还提到一点：语法很简单是英语得以广泛传播的原因之一。而语法简单是由于法国统治时期普通平民为了学习方便尽量简化的结果。
整体而言，本篇长对话的语言简单，没有生单词。因此在考查的问题角度上比较难，考查的全部是细节。其中提到的国家名、语言名较多，但这些生词同沪江英语教研提醒大家的一致，听不懂的生词往往并不是答案出处。
【长对话二】
本篇是近年来常考的商务场景类对话。女士向男士所在的销售部门进行办公用品的采购。在对话中，分别讨论了女士所需画板的型号、价格、税、快递等细节。最后女士还想采购与画板配套的其他一些材料，但因负责这一方面的人员当日不在岗，最终未能成功下订单。女士提议自己次日做好决定再打电话给男士。
与近年来同类商务场景对话相比，整体难度不高。但同样需要记住沪江英语教研平日提醒大家的一点：积累商务英语词汇，例如本对中的sales department（销售部）；supply（办公用品）；value add tax（增值税）都是商务英语常见词汇。 
2015年12月英语四级听力答案点评：第一套长对话短文1&2（沪江网校版）
【短文1】
短文1围绕风筝这一话题而展开，讲述了风筝最初的制作材料，并介绍了风筝在中国和欧洲的用途。从题目设置上来看，都是考查细节题。16-18题遵循“所听即所得”的原则就能得出答案。需要注意的是，第16题的答案“No one knows for sure when they came into being.”是原文“No one knows for sure just how old kites are.”的同义替换。听懂“how old kites are”这一描述就能直接锁定答案。
【短文2】
短文2围绕语言学校这一话题展开，讲述了学习多门语言不仅给作者带来许多工作机会，还提供了职业之外的语言交流的经历。从题目设置上来看，都是考查事实细节。根据“所听即所得”的原则可以直接锁定答案。第20题的答案较概括，可根据原文“got crazy about it”和“I can't imagine living my professional or social life without international interactions.”得出。
2015年12月英语四级听力答案点评：第一套短文3&听力填空（沪江网版）
Passage 3
本篇主要是介绍Ben Carson医生的个人成长经历，经由母亲的调教，从一个不被众人看好的叛逆不良少年，到成为一名成功的医生。
第23题考查的是. 主旨大意
答案出现于全文首句，并可以通过排除法来确定
D) He grew up in a poor single parent family.
第24题考查的是 事实细节 词义判断
答案出现于全文第三句， dumb是Stupid的同义词， 通过he was thought of as the dumbest kid in the classroom 来确定答案。
第25题考查的是 事实细节
答案出现于第七句尾端：“had to read two books a week and write book reports about them”
可以通过排除法来确定答案。
【听力填空】
本文是一篇自然科学文，讲述了彗星的构成元素、形成、运动。
考察的内容主要是一些常见的形容词、副词、固定短语或搭配，并未涉及到天文学术语。
如果学生对天体有过一定的了解，第一个空heavenly并不是很难; 第33空 phenomenon是单数，拼写值得注意；naked eye表示肉眼，如果没接触过这个表达的话对填写第34空 naked会有一定干扰。
2015年12月英语四级听力答案（新东方版）
【听力】
听力答案：
1. B. They enjoyed the movie on space exploration.
2. A. At a gift shop.
3. C. He declined a job offer from the art gallery.
4. D. He will be unable to attend the birthday party.
5. B. Set a deadline for the staff to meet.
6. A. They way to the visitor’s parking.
7. D. He has benefited from exercise.
8. D. The secretaries in the man’s company.
9. B. It is used by more people than English.
10. C. The influence of the British Empire.
11.It includes a lot of words from other languages.
12.To place an order
13.He is not familiar with the exact details of goods.
14.It depends on a number of factors.
15.Ring back when she comes to a decision.
16. No one knows for sure when they came into being.
17.Carry ropes across river.
18.To prove the lighting is electricity.
19.She can speak several languages.
20.They have an intense interest in cross-cultural interactions.
21.She was able to translate for a German sports judge.
22.Taste the beef and give her comment.
23.He grew up in a poor single parent household.
24.Stupid
25.Write two book reports a week.
27. fascinating
29. Now and then
32. characteristics
34. naked
35 .relatively 
2015年12月英语四级阅读真题第一套（新东方版）









2015年12月英语四级阅读答案：第一套选词填空（沪江网校版）
四级试卷1 选词填空 答案
36. G) favorite
37. M) protest
38. B) amount
39. O) theories
40. I) immediately
 
41. D) crazy
42. F) differences
43. J) naturally
44. K) happening
45. C) rejected
2015年12月英语四级阅读答案点评：第一套选词填空（沪江网校版）
四级试卷1 选词填空 点评
这是一篇讨论儿童认识发展的说明文，属于心理学话题。幼儿在大约一岁的时候通过直接感知来建立认识；他们有自己独到的认知理论，并会主动验证这些理论；当然儿童的认知会不断发展。瑞士心理学家皮亚杰认为儿童的认知发展是自发的。皮亚杰关于认知发展的理论虽然饱受争议，但是在全球认知发展的研究领域有很大的影响力。
本题在了解文章的大意的基础上，根据空格上下文确定其词性并结合具体语义就不难得出正确选项。
2015年12月英语四级阅读答案第一套选词填空（新东方版）
选词填空
第一篇
参考答案
36. N. saw 第一空显然缺少谓语，优先考虑动词，结合语义并根据Late November andDecember可以推出应选择过去式动词，故答案锁定saw.
37. F. decades 根据two，首选复数名词，结合语义，“for the first time in the two decades”,二十年来头一次。
38. H.globally  句子为主系表结构，不缺主要成分，所以首选副词和形容词，根据语义，ever表示“一直以来地、向来地”，“十一月向来是全球范围内最温暖的一个月。”
39. D.chances  缺少主语，并且谓语是are，所以首选复数形式的名词，结合前文Enjoythe snow now, “享受现在的雪吧”，因为“时机是好的”。
40. J.occurs  空格前方有主语，且是单数形式，而后面由when引导的时间状语从句的时态是一般现在时，所以主句谓语锁定第三人称单数形式的动词，只能选择occurs.
41. A.specific空格左为定冠词the，空格右为名词，中间只能选形容词，选择“特定的”符合语义。
42. B. associated  空格左为be动词，右边为介词with，中间只能是形容词或动词的过去分词形式，beassociated with表示“与…有联系”，符合原意。
43. G.experiences  空格左为主语southern Africa，空格内应该为动词的第三人称单词形式，结合语义，选G，“南非经历着干燥的天气。
44. M.reduce  空格左为情态动词，空格内必须为动词原形，填reduce“减少”符合原题。
45. K. populations 空格与左边的large fish 共同构成动词support的宾语，只能选一个名词来作为名词词组，故选K，“大量的鱼群”。
2015年12月英语四级阅读真题&答案：第一套选词填空（文都教育版）
2015年12月英语四级完形填空真题及答案
来源：文都教育
2015年12月19日全国大学英语四级考试已结束，本次考试为多题多卷，都教授第一时间收集整理不同版本试题，供考生参考。以下为四级完形填空真题及参考答案。
Questions 36 to 45 are based on the following passage.
For many Americans, 2013 ended with an unusually bitter cold spell. November and December    36    early snow and bone-chilling temperatures in much of the country, part of a year when, for the first time in two    37    , record-cold days will likely turn out to have outnumbered record-warm ones. But the U.S. was the exception; November was the warmest ever   38    , and current data indicates that 2013 is likely to have been the fourth hottest year on record.
Enjoy the snow now, because    39     are good that 2014 will be even hotter, perhaps the hottest year since records have been kept. That’s because, scientists are predicting, 2014 will be an EI Niuo year.
EI niuo, Spanish for “the child”,    40     when surface ocean waters in the southern Pacific become abnormally warm. So large is the Pacific, covering 30% of the planet’s surface, that the    41     energy generated by its warming is enough to touch off a series of weather changes around the world. EI Ninos are    42     with abnormally dry conditions in Southeast Asia and Australia. They can lead to extreme rain in parts of North and South America, even as southern Africa    43     dry weather. Marine life may be affected too; EI Ninos can    44     the rising of the cold, nutrient-rich（营养丰富的）water that supports large fish    45    ,and the unusually warm ocean temperatures can destroy coral(珊瑚).
注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。

参考答案：
36. N. saw 第一空显然缺少谓语，优先考虑动词，结合语义并根据Late November and December可以推出应选择过去式动词，故答案锁定saw.
37. F. decades 根据two，首选复数名词，结合语义，“for the first time in the two decades”,二十年来头一次。
38. H.globally  句子为主系表结构，不缺主要成分，所以首选副词和形容词，根据语义，ever表示“一直以来地、向来地”，“十一月向来是全球范围内最温暖的一个月。”
39. D.chances  缺少主语，并且谓语是are，所以首选复数形式的名词，结合前文Enjoy the snow now, “享受现在的雪吧”，因为“时机是好的”。
40. J.occurs  空格前方有主语，且是单数形式，而后面由when引导的时间状语从句的时态是一般现在时，所以主句谓语锁定第三人称单数形式的动词，只能选择occurs.
41. A.specific空格左为定冠词the，空格右为名词，中间只能选形容词，选择“特定的”符合语义。
42. B. associated  空格左为be动词，右边为介词with，中间只能是形容词或动词的过去分词形式，be associated with表示“与…有联系”，符合原意。
43. G.experiences  空格左为主语southern Africa，空格内应该为动词的第三人称单词形式，结合语义，选G，“南非经历着干燥的天气。
44. M.reduce  空格左为情态动词，空格内必须为动词原形，填reduce“减少”符合原题。
45. K. populations 空格与左边的large fish 共同构成动词support的宾语，只能选一个名词来作为名词词组，故选K，“大量的鱼群”。
2015年12月英语四级阅读答案：第一套选词填空（宋利辉版）

2015年12月英语四级阅读真题&答案：选词填空极端天气（文都教育版）
2015年12月英语四级完形填空真题及答案：极端天气
来源：文都教育
2015年12月19日全国大学英语四级考试已结束，本次考试为多题多卷，都教授第一时间收集整理不同版本试题，供考生参考。以下为四级完形填空（极端天气）真题及参考答案。
Questions 36 to 45 are based on the following passage.
For many Americans, 2013 ended with an unusually bitter cold spell. November and December    36    early snow and bone-chilling temperatures in much of the country, part of a year when, for the first time in two    37    , record-cold days will likely turn out to have outnumbered record-warm ones. But the U.S. was the exception; November was the warmest ever   38    , and current data indicates that 2013 is likely to have been the fourth hottest year on record.
Enjoy the snow now, because    39     are good that 2014 will be even hotter, perhaps the hottest year since records have been kept. That’s because, scientists are predicting, 2014 will be an EI Niuo year.
EI niuo, Spanish for “the child”,    40     when surface ocean waters in the southern Pacific become abnormally warm. So large is the Pacific, covering 30% of the planet’s surface, that the    41     energy generated by its warming is enough to touch off a series of weather changes around the world. EI Ninos are    42     with abnormally dry conditions in Southeast Asia and Australia. They can lead to extreme rain in parts of North and South America, even as southern Africa    43     dry weather. Marine life may be affected too; EI Ninos can    44     the rising of the cold, nutrient-rich（营养丰富的）water that supports large fish    45    ,and the unusually warm ocean temperatures can destroy coral(珊瑚).
注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。

参考答案：
36. N saw
37. F decades    
38. H globally 
39. D chances 
40. G occurs
41. O specific
42. B associated
43. G experiences
44. M reduce
45. K populations 
2015年12月英语四级阅读答案点评：选词填空信息时代的信息不平等（文都教育版）
2015 年12月英语四级选词填空答案解析：信息时代的信息不平等
来源：文都教育
 
2015年12月19日全国大学英语四考试结束，本次考试继续沿用“多题多卷”形式。其中有一篇选词填空题是关于信息时代的信息不平等的，都教授给大家提供了本题的答案解析，供广大考生参考：
 
【答案解析】
36、J) fundamentally
解析：fundamentally “根本地adv”，本空应该填入副词来修饰形容词different, fundamentally different 意为“根本不同”。
37、G) expands
解析：expand “扩大v”，expand the quantity of information 意为“扩大信息量”，由于主语information society 是第三人称单数，所以expand用第三人称单数形式expands。
38、O) superficial
解析：superficial “表面的，肤浅的”，a superficial analysis 意为“肤浅的分析”。
39、K) interpretation
解析：interpretation“解释”，a different interpretation 意为“不同的解释”。
40、B) acquired
解析：acquire “获得”，the actual amount of information acquired by the user 意为“背用户获得的真正的信息量”，在本句中acquired组成了过去分词短语作定语修饰information。
41、I) flows
解析：flow “传播”，information flows 意为“信息传播”，由于主语information 是第三人称单数，所以flow用第三人称单数形式flows。
42、F) elements
解析：element “元素,元素”，three major element 意为“三个主要因素”。
43、M) regard
解析：with regard to 关于，with regard to sex 意为“关于性别”。
44、H) familiar
解析：familiar “熟悉的”，familiar with 意为“对……熟悉”。
45、A) accustomed
解析：accustom ”使习惯于”，原文当中the older generation，accustomed to an industrial society 意为“习惯于工业社会的年长的一代”，在这里accustomed 组成了过去分词短语做定语，修饰the older generation。
2015年12月英语四级阅读答案：第一套长篇阅读（沪江网校版）
四级试卷1 长篇阅读 答案
46. The author was advised against the improper use of figures of speech. 对应I段
47. The author's mother taught him a valuable lesson by pointing out lots of flaws in his seemingly perfect essay. 对应C段
48. A writer should polish his writing repeatedly so as to get closer to perfection. 对应K段
49. Writers may experience periods of time in their life when they just can't produce anything. 对应E段
50. The author was not much surprised when his school teacher marked his essay as "flawless". 都应B段
51. Criticizing someone's speech is said to be easier than coming up with a better one.  对应F段
52. The author looks upon his mother as his most demanding and caring instructor. 对应A段
53. The criticism the author received from his mother changed him as a person. 对应H段
54. The author gradually improved his writing by avoiding fancy language. 对应J段
55. Constructive criticism gives an author a good start to improve his writing. 对应G段
2015年12月英语四级阅读答案点评：第一套长篇阅读（沪江网校版）
长篇阅读
本文是一篇讨论写作这一学习技能的文章。作者在文中不断结合自身经验探讨写作的方方面面：例如，作者指出写作者可能会有思路枯竭不能写作的时候；评论别人说的话可能比说出更好的话容易，但深层、优秀的写作评论却能帮助写作者得到更好、更有创意的改进；在写作时，应尽量避免堆砌华丽的辞藻，无意义的引用等等；最后还提出，对于每个优秀的写作者而言，完美的文章来自不断的修改。
2015年12月英语四级阅读答案：第二套长篇阅读（新东方版）
46. Cooking benefits people in many ways and enables them to connect with one another.
答案：D Shouldn’t preparing—and consuming—food be a source of comfort, pride, health, well-being, relaxation, sociability?…
47. Abundant information about cooking is available either online or on TV.
答案：B It’s not because fresh ingredients are hard to come by…
48. Young people do less cooking at home than the elderly these days.
答案：F．Perhaps a return to real cooking needn’t be far off…
49. Cooking skills can be improved with practice.
答案：O. You don’t have to hit the grocery store daily, nor do you need an abundance of skill…
50. In the mid-20th century, most families ate dinner at home instead of eating out.
答案：G. Back in the 1950s most of us grew up in households where Mom cooked virtually every night…
51. Even those short of time or money should be encouraged to cook for themselves and their family
答案：E. When I talk about cooking, I’m not talking about creating elaborate dinner parties or three-day science projects.…
52. Eating food not cooked by ourselves can cause serious consequences.
答案：J. There have been half-hearted but well-publicized efforts by some food companies to reduce calories in their processed food, but….
53. To eat well and still save money, people should buy fresh food and cook it themselves.
答案：M. To those Americans for whom money is a concern…
54. We get a fairly large portion of calories from fast food and snacks.
答案：C. And yet we aren’t cooking…
55. The popularity of TV led to the popularity of frozen food.
答案：H. Although frozen dinners were invented in the ‘40s, their popularity didn’t boom until televisions became popular a decade or so later…
2015年12月英语四级阅读答案：第一套仔细阅读1（沪江网校版）
仔细阅读
Passage One
56. A) Its success is hard to copy anywhere else.
57. B) Lack of the right kind of talents.
58. A) Its location is not as attractive to rich people.
59. D) It is an old city with many sites of historical interest.
60. C) They can do more than providing money.
2015年12月英语四级阅读答案：第一套仔细阅读2（沪江网校版）
仔细阅读
Passage Two
61. C) It may prevent your business and career from advancing.
62. B) Encourage people to disagree and argue.
63. A) To find out the truth about an issue.
64. D) They take care not to hurt each other’s feelings.
65. D) Acknowledge their contribution.
2015年12月英语四级阅读答案点评：第一套仔细阅读1（沪江网校版）
仔细阅读
Passage One
这是一篇关于硅谷的议论文，出自网站paulgraham。文章探讨了硅谷的成功不可复制的原因，即拥有两类人：富有的人和痴迷科研的人。美国的其他城市则都不具备这些条件。文章本身话题和语言难度不高，题目设置也比较简单，主要为细节定位题。根据题干关键词及顺序原则定位到相应段落，把定位句和选项进行匹配，意义相近的选项即为答案。
2015年12月英语四级阅读答案：第一套仔细阅读1（沪江网校版）
仔细阅读
Passage One
56. A) Its success is hard to copy anywhere else.
57. B) Lack of the right kind of talents.
58. A) Its location is not as attractive to rich people.
59. D) It is an old city with many sites of historical interest.
60. C) They can do more than providing money.
2015年12月英语四级阅读答案点评第一套仔细阅读1（新东方版）
第一篇
参考答案及解析
61题，定位到第一段最后一句“varies byculture”，所以答案选A——They areculture-related.
62题，由题干的大写名词Russian定位到第二段和第三段。第二段的“Russian, for example, began towake up about a half-hour later each day”这一句是干扰句，起得晚不一定睡得早，所以答案推不出“他们比其他地方的人睡得更久”。然后看到第三段“Russia’sother late nights and early mornings generally coincided withpublic holidays”，所以答案为C——They don’t sleep much onholidays。
63题，题干问的是欧洲人缺乏睡眠的major cause主要原因是什么，由题干的大写名词Europeans’loss定位到倒数第二段的“comparedto Germans, Italians, and the French, who stayed up around an hourand a half later on various days throughout the summer to watch theCup”，原文的Germans, Italians, and theFrench就是题干中“Europeans”的同义改写，而他们stayed up就是为了to watch theCup，所以说他们缺乏睡眠的原因便是C选项——The World Cup。
64题，问的是富有的人使用设备来记录他们的睡眠模式的原因。由rich people以及device定位到最后一段第一句，定位句只说到了记录的事实，而非其原因。按照四级阅读金三句原则看到定位句的下一句“And people who elect to track their sleep may try to get more sleep than the average person”，记录睡眠的人是想要得到比普通人更多的睡眠，所以答案是B——Theywant to get sufficient sleep.
65题，问的是作者在最后一段所表达的观点，定位到最后一句If the most healthconscious among us have such deep swings in our shuteye levels throughout the year, how much sleep are the rest of us losing? 作者提到了health-conscious，人们对健康的意识是缺乏的，对健康是视而不见的，所以答案选B——Fewpeople really know the importance of sleep.
2015年12月英语四级阅读答案点评：仔细阅读硅谷（新东方版）
参考答案及解析
56.原文第一段第一句反问句“Could you reproduce Silicon Valley elsewhere, or isthere something unique about it?”可得知答案选A——Its success is hard tocopy anywhere else. 选项copy同义改写原文的reproduce。
57.由题干大写字母Miami定位到原文第五段“Few startups happen in Miami, for example,because although it’s full of rich people, it has few nerds. It’snot the kind of place nerdslike.”由因果关系词because找到原因——这里既是有很多富裕的人，却几乎没有nerds（痴迷科研的人）。所以答案选B——Lackof the right kind of talents.
58，由题干大写字母Carnegie-Mellon, MIT, Stanford,Berkeley等定位到第六段，问CM和其他的是哪里有不同。“The top US Computer Sciencedepartments are said to be MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, andCarnegie-Mellon. MIT yielded Route 128. Stanford and Berkeleyyielded Silicon Valley. But Carnegie-Mellon? The record skips atthat point.”原文讲到了MIT, Stanford, Berkeley都yielded产生了很有名的sciencedepartment，而Carnegie-Mellon呢？这个记录可以直接跳过忽略。言下之意就是CM没有出名的sciencedepartment，所以答案选D——It does not pay much attention to businessstartups.
59题，由题干大写字母Boston定位到倒数第二段。定位句“The weather is terrible, particularlyin winter, and there’s no interesting old city to make up for it,as there is in Boston”说到了Boston是一个无聊的老城市，而定位句的下一句“So while thereare plenty of hackers who could start startups, there’s no one toinvest in them”说到了这样的城市无法吸引投资。所以答案选C——It is not likely to attractlots of investors and nerds.
60题，由startup investors定位到最后一段。Startupinvestors不仅富有，他们一般都经验丰富，而且能给提供一些建议，所以答案选C——They can do more thanproviding money.
2015年12月英语四级阅读答案点评：仔细阅读硅谷（文都教育版）
2015年12月英语四级阅读解析：《硅谷之所以可以成为硅谷》
来源   文都教育
上午如火如荼的大学英语四级考试已经落下帷幕，相信各位同学正守在电脑上焦急的搜索着官方答案。各位考生莫要急，现在都教授就为各位带来第一篇阅读的答案解析。
首先，我们通过文章可以了解到，该篇阅读的主要内容与之前四级考试所关注的阅读文章的主题类似，也是关于科技话题的。在这篇文章中，作者主要阐释了硅谷之所以成为硅谷的不可替代和复制性。主要原因为：（1）rich people；（2）nerds。是这两个原因成就了硅谷。文章中，作者拿硅谷和迈阿密、康奈尔及波士顿进行了对比，总结得出：其他的三个城市之所以不能成为硅谷第二的原因。
接下来，我们就第一篇阅读的答案选项和各位同学一起分享下：
第56题，what do we learn about Silicon Valley from the passage? 这道题目直接可以定位到文中的第一段中：Could you please reproduce Silicon Valley elsewhere, or is there something unique about it? 然后在下文中，作者又进一步的指出了硅谷不可代替性的原因。所以答案选项为：Its success is hard to copy anywhere else
第57题，what makes Miami unfit to produce a Silicon Valley? 这道题目可以定位到原文中的第五段，文中直接指出：it has few nerds. It is not the kind of place nerds like. 这样就可以直接选出：Lack of the right kind of talents.
第58题，In what way is Carnegie-Mellon different from Stanford, Berkeley and MIT? 根据题干信息，我们可以直接定位到文中的第六和七段：the weather is terrible, particular in winter, and there ‘s no interesting old city to make up for it, as there is in Boston. 所以选项很明了：Its location is not as attractive to rich people
第59题，what does the author imply about Boston? 这道题的关键就在于the weather is terrible, particular in winter, and there ‘s no interesting old city to make up for it, as there is in Boston中的as一词，这里as 后引导的是there is no interesting old city to make up for it in Boston。所以正确选项为：what does the author59.It is not likely to attract lots of investors and nerds
 say about startup investors? 这道题在文中定位到最后一段：startup investors are a distinct ......as well as money。 这样该题正确选项为：They can do more than providing money
希望以上答案能够给各位考生提供参考帮助，且预祝各位考生考试成功。
2015年12月英语四级翻译真题：望子成龙（沪江网校版）
翻译一：
中国父母往往过于关注孩子的学习，以至于不要他们帮忙做家务。他们对孩子的首要要求就是努力学习。考得好，能上名牌大学。他们相信这是为孩子好，因为在中国这样竞争激烈的社会里。只有成绩好才能保证前途光明。中国父母还认为，如果孩子能在社会上取得大的成就，父母就会受到尊重。因此，他们愿意牺牲自己的时间、爱好和兴趣，为孩子提供更好的条件。
2015年12月英语四级翻译真题：丽江古镇（沪江网校版）
翻译二：
云南省的丽江古镇是中国著名的旅游目的地之一，那里的生活节奏比大多数中国城市都要缓慢，丽江到处都是美丽的自然风光，众多的少数民族同胞提供了各式各样，丰富多彩的文化让游客体验。历史上，丽江还以“爱之城”而闻名，当地人中流传着许多关于因爱而生、为爱而死的故事。如今，在中外游客眼中，这个古镇被视为爱情和浪漫的天堂（paradise）。

2015年12月英语四级翻译真题：汉语演讲比赛（沪江网校版）
翻译三：
今年在长沙举行了一年一度的外国人汉语演讲比赛，这项比赛证明是促进中国和世界其他地区文化交流的好方法。它为世界各地的年轻人提供了更好地了解中国的机会。
来自87个国家共计126位选手聚集在湖南省省会参加了从7月6日到8月5日进行的半决赛和决赛。
比赛并不是唯一的活动，选手们还有机会参观了中国其他地区的著名景点和历史，名胜。
2015年12月英语四级翻译答案：汉语演讲比赛（沪江网校版）
The Annual Chinese Speech Contest for Foreigners was held in Changsha this year. The contest was proved to be a good way to promote cultural exchanges between China and other regions all over the world. It provides an opportunity for young people around the world to understand China better.
A total of 126 players from 87 countries gathered in the capital of Hunan province to participate in the semi-final and the final from July 6th to August 5th.
Competition is not the only activity. Players also have a chance to visit famous and historical attractions in other parts of China.
2015年12月英语四级翻译答案：丽江古镇（沪江网校版）
版本一：
Lijiang, an ancient town of Yunnan Province, is one of the most famous tourist destinations. Its pace of life is slower than that of most cities of China. There are many natural beauties everywhere in Lijiang and many ethnical minorities provide tourists with a great variety of cultural experience. Lijiang is also well-known as the “city of love”in history. Many stories about life and dying for love have spreaded widely among the locals. Nowadays, for tourists home and abroad, the ancient town is regarded as a paradise of love and romance.
版本二：
The old town of Lijiang, where the pace of life is slower than most of Chinese cities, is one of China’s famous tourist destinations. Lijiang boasts beautiful natural scenery. Masses of minority compatriots offer a wide variety of cultures for tourists to experience. Historically, Lijiang is also known as the “city of love”.Numerous live-or-die-for-love stories are circulating among locals. Now in the eyes of tourists at home and abroad, this ancient town is regarded as a paradise for love and romance.
2015年12月英语四级翻译答案：望子成龙（沪江网校版）
版本一：
Chinese parents have frequently tended to pay too much attention to their children's study, so that children don’t help them do the housework. Their only requirement for their children is to study hard, perform well in the exams, and go to a famous/prestigious university. They believe it is good for their children, because in such a highly competitive society, only good results could ensure a promising future. Chinese parents also believe that parents will be honored if their children can achieve great success in society. Therefore, they are willing to sacrifice their own time, hobbies and interests, to create much better conditions for children.
版本二：
Chinese parents are often too concerned about their children's learning, so that their children do not need to help with housework. These parents' primary requirement for children is to study hard, do well in exams, and get admitted to famous universities. They believe this is good for their children, because in such competitive society as China, only good grades can guarantee a promising future. Chinese parents also hold the belief that if their children could achieve great success in society, the parents themselves would be respected. Therefore, they are willing to sacrifice their time, hobbies and interests to provide their children with better conditions.
2015年12月大学英语四级考试作文真题第一套（沪江网校版）
作文一：
Writing
For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay commenting on the saying “Never go  out there to see what happens, go out there to  make something happen” You can cite examples to illustrate the importance of being creative rather than mere onlookers in life. You should write at least 120 words, no more than 180 words.
2015年12月大学英语四级考试作文真题第二套（沪江网校版）
作文二：
Writing
Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay commenting on the saying ‘Learning is a daily experience and a lifetime mission.” You can cite examples to illustrate the importance of lifelong learning. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.
2015年12月英语四级作文试卷一答案：做一个行动派（沪江网校版）
2015年12月 CET-4写作答案
The Importance of Being Participants in Life
Nowadays it is common to encounter a scene when people want to see things happen but can't make things happen for various kinds of reasons. Sometimes, they just refuse to be the change in the world.
As far as I am concerned, we should all have the notion of being the participant in our life. For instance, one can't have a healthy body by merely watching others take regular exercises. He must strengthen his body through his own efforts. Another case is that when people intend to acquire new skills, such as public speaking skill, they need to catch every opportunity to speak in the public so that they can achieve success. Furthermore, there are changes we want to see in the world, like protecting the environment effectively, and the only way to make a difference is that each of us should be a contributing participant.
In conclusion, let's go out there to make things happen, just as the saying goes: "Be the change you want to see in the world."
2015年12月英语四级作文试卷二答案：学习的重要性（沪江网校版）
Learning is a daily experience and a lifetime missionRecently, what has become a heated social topic is lifelong learning. Views on that vary from person to person, while I think learning needs continuous accumulation after we have recognized the uncovered meaning of learning.
First of all, what is learning? It is revealed as a process of gaining knowledge in the dictionary; actually, this process is acknowledged as acquiring academic knowledge, practical living skills as well as life experience by me. However, in practice, we have never failed to absorb enormous knowledge everyday which, to some extent, is beyond our comprehension. That is to say, digesting those knowledge as well as making the best use of it will undoubtedly take some time. Therefore, lifelong learning consists of daily progress. Moreover, it keeps us refreshing and enrich our mind as time passes by.
From what has been mentioned above, learning is undeniably a lifetime mission which demands daily accumulation and is of great importance.
2015年12月英语四级作文试卷三答案：听比说重要（沪江网校版）
Listening Is More Important Than Talking
As research shows, 70% to 80% of our lifetime is spent on certain kinds of communication, such as writing, speaking and listening. Among these, listening is actually the most important technique.
Then why is it that listening is more important than talking? Firstly, when we make acquaintance of someone, listening helps us understand others better and thus winning friendship. Secondly, knowing the art of listening can facilitate communication and avoid conflict with people on intimate terms, such as our parents and spouse. Last but not least, if we obey the principle of listening in the workplace, we are more likely to do the right thing and avoid detours.
Therefore, it is safe to say that listening from the bottom of our hearts can bring us a lot of benefits. I would like to quote the legend John Rockefeller's words, which I can't agree more, to end my essay: "A little practice in listening can produce amazing results."
2015年12月英语四级作文答案第三套：做一个行动派（新东方版）
For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay commenting on the saying “Never go out there to see what happens, go out there to make things happen.” You can cite examples to illustrate the importance of being participants rather than mere onlookers in life. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.
破题思路:
第一段: 解释引言内容. 提出文章的主旨: “不要只出去看，而要做”
第二段: 分析原因 此处可以结合例子.
第三段: 得出结论
参考范文：
There is an old saying “Never go out there to see what happens, go out there to make things happen”. It’s the experience of our forefathers，however，it is correct in many cases even today.
Only when you participate more can you make things perfect. Participation has been more and more important in the society. Students are asked to enter society and get some ideas of it. Surely participation has many advantages. Firstly, it can offer students a chance to contact society and meet different kinds of people. In this way people can gain some valuable social experience, which will be useful to their future life. Secondly, as college students, we can apply what they have learned in class to practical work, thus knowing themselves more clearly. Take the study of oral English for example, participation in any chances of communications with others in English, which enables us to become fluent in speaking.
In summary, participation is the key factor in our daily life no matter who you are, no matter what you are doing. We should put their studies in the first place and see participation just as a useful supplement, so they ought to try to strike a balance between them.
2015年12月英语四级作文答案第二套：听比说重要（新东方版）
For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay commenting on the saying "Listening is more important than talking." You can cite examples to illustrate the importance of paying attention to others' opinions. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.
破题思路:
第一段: 解释引言内容. 提出文章的主旨: “听比说重要”
第二段: 分析原因 此处可以结合例子.
第三段: 得出结论
参考范文：
“Listening is more important than talking.”This proverb means that listening is something worthwhile to consider when we have communication with others.
People often focus on their speaking ability, believing that good speaking equals good communication. There is some truth in this statement, but people who hold this opinion ignore a more important fact. God gave people two ears and one mouth, so it requires us to keep the ratios of listening and speaking by two to one. The ability to speak well is a necessary component to successful communication. The capability of listening is as important as speaking in that listening is the best respect for people around us. Listen attentively when others are speaking. It is the best and the most effective compliment that you can give them.
To conclude, Listening can prevent interruption or formulate a response even before other speakers have finished. Good listeners are often some of the best speakers who can improve the quality of the communication. So listeners should interact with speakers, and respond promptly.
2015年12月英语四级作文答案第一套：学习的重要性（新东方版）
第一版：
For this part，you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay commenting on the saying "Learning is a daily experience and a lifetime mission." You can cite examples to illustrate the importance of lifelong learning“. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.
破题思路:
第一段: 解释引言内容. 提出文章的主旨: “学习的重要性”
第二段: 分析原因 此处可以结合例子.
第三段: 得出结论
参考范文:        
Learning is a daily experience and a lifetime mission. This is a proverb full of logic.  In other words, learning is significant in our whole life. Indeed, we can learn many things from it. If you understand it and apply it to your study or work, you’ll necessarily benefit a lot from it.
There are many reasons which can explain this phenomenon and the following are the typical ones. The first reason is that learning can light our road in the coming future. There is no denying the fact that the society is developing increasingly fast and we are often easily surpassed by the people around. The only way to avoid this is to learn to improve ourselves. As an illustration, I’d like to take myself as an example. After graduation from college, my life has been full of working pressure, which contributes to my decision of pursuing further education. That’s why I can make my own way in such a competitive society.
The effect of learning can be boiled down to two major ones. First, with the spirit of learning, we are more capable of overcoming the difficulties in the future. More importantly, we can enrich our spare time life by learning. No matter who you are, you must remember that learning is the basic skill in our life.
2015年12月英语四级作文答案（长沙新东方）
作文（一）
周思远
题目：
For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay commenting on the saying “Learning is a daily experience and a lifelong mission.” You can cite examples to illustrate the importance of lifelong learning. You should write at least 120 words, no more than 180 words.
参考范文：Currently in this constantly changing world, learning becomes a seemingly convenient but actually more complex matter. As an old saying goes,” Learning is a daily experience and a lifetime mission”. Apparently, the meaning of this saying is that if we truly desire to learn something, we are supposed to devote our life to it.
There are several reasons accounting for this viewpoint. For one thing, learning itself is an actually complicated and painful matter, and as a result, it is advisable for us to commit much more time even our whole life to it. For another, it is exceedingly obvious that we are easy to forget what we learned, and accordingly, the significance of lifetime learning cannot be ignored. For example, memorizing vocabulary is commonly the first step of preparing for an English test. However, it is pretty difficult for us to put a huge number of new words in our mind. Therefore, we can divide these words into some groups and spend some hours each day on it in order to remember and understand these words.
To sum up, lifelong learning lays a solid foundation to the development of ourselves, and only when we realize the significance of lifetime learning can we understand the essence of learning.
作文（二）
任伟伟
题目：
For this part, you are allowed 30minutes to write an essay commenting on the saying “Never go outthere to see what happens, go out there to make somethinghappen.” You can cite examples to illustrate the importance ofbeing creative rather than the mere onlookers in life. You shouldwrite at least 120 words, no more than 180 words.
参考范文：As a famous saying goes, "Never go out there to see what happens, go out there to make something happen." Simple as the saying is, its meaning is profound and thought-provoking, which is meant to tell us that we are supposed to be creative instead of acting as the onlooker.
Conspicuous are the impacts of being creative and I would like to explore the following aspects. To begin with, it is to leading a team to make constant progress what water is to fish, which can be best illustrated by an example concerning an extraordinary basketball player, Yao Ming. Moreover, this kind of innovation also makes it possible for a nation to promote its international status and improve the comprehensive competitiveness.
From my perspective, keeping creative is so essential that adequate importance must be attached to it. Only when we literally realize the key role it plays can we become better selves in the foreseeable future.
作文（三）
曹林权
题目：
For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay commenting on the saying “Listening is more important than talking.” You can cite examples to illustrate the importance of listening. You should write at least 120 words, no more than 180 words.
参考范文：As the most evolved creature in this planet，we human beings are in possession of two
kinds of most powerful capability,which are listening and talking. Compared with
talking, more often than not,the significance of listening is way ahead in ourlife.
The mosttypical example of theimportance of talking lies in the exchange among familymembers. When we are accustomed to talking withoutlistening, in the process of which we
might only focus on ourselves, feeling of othersare ignored and even hurt. Without listening, the essentialpassport towards mutual understanding, the relation among ourfamily
members may bit by bit go alienated. Besides,listening can also promote the efficiency of
teamwork and efficiency is of the utmostconsequence in such a fast-tempo society.
Talking is a window through which we conveyourselves , while listening is a door via which we understand eachother . A life without mutual listening is justlike a house without a door. Careful
listening , so at least it seems to me , is anecessity but not a luxury in our daily life as well as inour
work .
仔细阅读
第一篇（罗文婷）
Could you reproduce Silicon Valley elsewhere, or is there somethingunique about it?
It wouldn’t be surprising if it were hard to reproduce in othercountries, because you couldn’t reproduce it in most of the USeither. What does it take to make a silicon valley?
It is the right people. If you could get the right ten thousandpeople to move from Silicon Valley to Buffalo, Buffalo would becomeSilicon Valley.
You only need two kinds of people to create a technology hub: richpeople and nerds.
Observation bears this out: within the US, towns have becomestartup hubs if and only if they have both rich people and nerds.Few startups happen in Miami, for example, because although it’sfull of rich people, it has few nerds. It’s not the kind of placenerds like.
WhereasPittsburgh has the opposite problem: plenty of nerds, but no richpeople. The top US Computer Science departments are said to be MIT,Stanford, Berkeley, and Carnegie-Mellon. MIT yielded Route 128.Stanford and Berkeley yielded Silicon Valley. But Carnegie-Mellon?The record skips at that point. Lower down the list, the Universityof Washington yielded a high-tech community in Seattle, and theUniversity of Texas at Austin yielded one in Austin. But whathappened in Pittsburgh? And in Ithaca, home of Cornell, which isalso high on the list?
I grew up in Pittsburgh and went to college at Cornell, so I cananswer for both. The weather is terrible, particularly in winter,and there’s no interesting old city to make up for it, as there isin Boston. Rich people don’t want to live in Pittsburgh or Ithaca.So while there are plenty of hackers who could start startups,there’s no one to invest in them.
Do you really need the rich people? Wouldn’t it work to have thegovernment invest in the nerds? No, it would not. Startup investorsare a distinct type of rich people. They tend to have a lot ofexperience themselves in the technology business. This helps thempick the right startups, and means they can supply advice andconnections as well as money. And the fact that they have apersonal stake in the outcome makes them really pay attention.
参考答案及解析
56.原文第一段第一句反问句“Could you reproduce Silicon Valley elsewhere, or isthere something unique about it?”可得知答案选A——Its success is hard tocopy anywhere else. 选项copy同义改写原文的reproduce。
57.由题干大写字母Miami定位到原文第五段“Few startups happen in Miami, for example,because although it’s full of rich people, it has few nerds. It’snot the kind of place nerdslike.”由因果关系词because找到原因——这里既是有很多富裕的人，却几乎没有nerds（痴迷科研的人）。所以答案选B——Lackof the right kind of talents.
58，由题干大写字母Carnegie-Mellon, MIT, Stanford,Berkeley等定位到第六段，问CM和其他的是哪里有不同。“The top US Computer Sciencedepartments are said to be MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, andCarnegie-Mellon. MIT yielded Route 128. Stanford and Berkeleyyielded Silicon Valley. But Carnegie-Mellon? The record skips atthat point.”原文讲到了MIT, Stanford, Berkeley都yielded产生了很有名的sciencedepartment，而Carnegie-Mellon呢？这个记录可以直接跳过忽略。言下之意就是CM没有出名的sciencedepartment，所以答案选D——It does not pay much attention to businessstartups.
59题，由题干大写字母Boston定位到倒数第二段。定位句“The weather is terrible, particularlyin winter, and there’s no interesting old city to make up for it,as there is in Boston”说到了Boston是一个无聊的老城市，而定位句的下一句“So while thereare plenty of hackers who could start startups, there’s no one toinvest in them”说到了这样的城市无法吸引投资。所以答案选C——It is not likely to attractlots of investors and nerds.
60题，由startup investors定位到最后一段。Startupinvestors不仅富有，他们一般都经验丰富，而且能给提供一些建议，所以答案选C——They can do more thanproviding money.