2020年12月12日英語四級(jí)考試真題及答案

英語四級(jí)考試模式為“多題多卷，目的是希望使考試更加公平，更加合理。一個(gè)考場(chǎng)中就會(huì)出現(xiàn)三套不一樣的四級(jí)試卷，難度水平都差不多，三套試卷都是隨機(jī)發(fā)放。同一個(gè)考場(chǎng)里的聽力是一樣的，選項(xiàng)的順序有可能不同。以下是為大家整理的2020年下半年全國(guó)大學(xué)英語四級(jí)考試真題及答案。

（第一套作文）Directions： For this part， you are allowed 30 minutes to write on the topic Changes in the Way of Education. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.

參考范文

Changes in the Way of Education

With the advancements of tchnology and changes of pcople's ideas, the way of education is also changing constantly. Obviously, online education is so popular in our society that students just need to stay at home and leam the lesson online.In this Intermet era, this phenomenon is inevitable, and the reasons behind it are as follows.

In my opinion, 1 think three factors may contribute to this phenomcnon. First of all, with our goveniment strongly encouraging online education currently, so many public schools and private training schoolsand advocating and carrying out online education. In addition, people's pace of life is getting increasingly faster and more and more knowledge are needed to improve themselves, so the online education ismore convenient for them to study in their spare time. Last but not least, the arrival of the epidemie requires pcople to stay at home. Therefore, online education becomes their only choice to leam, and then it becomes more prevalent in people's life.

Based on the analyses above, as far as I am concemed, this trend will continue in the future. Besides, this phenomenon is so positive, which should be attached more atention from the govemment and the public.

（第二套作文）Directions： For this part， you are allowed 30 mimites to write on the topic Changes in the Way of Transportation. You should write at least 120 words but no more tham 180 words.

Changes in the Way of Transportation

With the development of economy and the progress of science and technology, the way of transportation is changing constantly. It is obvious that nowadays people can choose various means of transportation, such as planc, high-speed train or car. In this era of rapid development, this phenomenon is inevitable and the reasons behind it are as follows.

In my opinion, I think there are three reasons for this phenomenon. First of all, as the Chinese govemment is increasing the construction of high-speed rail, so many places can be directly reached by high-speed rail, reducing pcople's travel time. In addition, people's economic conditions are getting better and better. Most pcople can affond all kinds of transportation costs, so there is no ecessive economic pressure when choosing transportation means." Last but not least, due to the expansion of people's range of activities they need to use dfferent means of transportation to achieve their travel purposes,which urges them to choose the most suitable means of transportation, so the ways of transportation are becoming more and more diversified.

Based on the above analysis, in my opinion, this trend will continue in the future. Besides this phenomenon is positive and should arouse more atention from the govemment and the public.

（第三套）Directions：For this part，you are allowed 30 mimutes to write on the topic Changes in the Way of Communication. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.

Changes in the Way of Communication

With the devclopment of culture and the progress of science and tchnology, the ways of communication are changing constantly. Obviously, people can now choose different ways of communicating, such as introverts can choose to socialize online and meet different people. At the same time, xtroverts can use vanious social platforms to show off their charm. In this era of diversity, this phenomenon is inevitable, and the rcasons bchind it are as follows.

In my opinion, I think there are three reasons for this phenomenon, First of all, with the improvement of education level, people are more and more daring to express themselves, so now many young people have their own social media accounts. In addition, with the devclopment of Intemct technology, more communication methods and channcls have been provided for people, so that pcople havc more choices of communication mecthods. Last but not least, pcople's valucs are constantly changing with the, changes of the world. Pcople are more, and more able to accept different ways of communication and keep exploring the most suitable communication ways to express themselves.

Based on the above analysis, in my opinion, this trend will continue in the future. Besides, this phenomenon is positive,we should encourage dffrent ways of communication, butalso pay atention to the safety of communication methods.

Section A

News Report One

A poisonous fish which has a sting strong enough to kill a human is invading the Mediterranean, warned scientists. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (UICN) has raised concerns after the poisonous fish was spotted in the waters around Turkey, Cyprus and the eastern Mediterranean. Native to the South Pacific and Indian Ocean, the potentially deadly fish has poisonous hooks and a painful sting capable of killing people. Although fatalities are rare, the stings can cause extreme pain and stop people breathing. The fish, often known as Devil Fire fish, is a highly invasive species. And environmentalists fear its arrival could endanger other types of marine life. After being spotted in the Mediterranean, a marine scientist says, “The fish is spreading, and that’s a cause for concern.”

Q1: What is reported in the news?

【答案】A A deadly fish has been spotted in the Mediterranean waters

Q2: What is the environmentalists’ concern of the spread of Devil Firefish in the Mediterranean?

【答案】C It could pose a threat to other marine species

New Report Two

Almost half the centre of Paris will be accessible only by foot or bicycle this Sunday to mark World Car-Free Day. This is in response to rising air pollution that made Paris the most polluted city in the world for a brief time. Mayor Anne Hidalgo promoted the first World Car Free Day last year. Hidalgo also has supported a Paris Breathes Day. On the first Sunday of every month, Paris clears traffic from eight lanes of the main road. About 400 miles of streets will be closed to cars. It is expected to bring significant reduction in pollution levels. “Last year’s car-free day showed a 40% drop in pollution levels in some parts of the city, according to an independent air pollution monitor”, reports the Guardian, “and some levels dropped by 50% in the city centre.”

Q3: What will happen on World Car Free Day in Paris?

【答案】B About half of its city center will be closed to cars

Q4: What motivated the mayor of Paris to promote the first World Car Free Day in her city?

【答案】A The rising air pollution in Paris.

News report 3

A Philippine fisherman was feeling down on his luck when a house fire forced him to clear out his possessions and change locations. Then, a good luck charm that he had kept under his bed changed his life.

The unidentified man had fished out a giant pearl from the ocean when his anchor got stuck on the rock while sailing off a coastal island in the Philippines ten years ago.

When he was forced to sell it, the shocked tourist agent at Puerto Princesca told him that the 77-pound giant pearl that he had kept hidden in his rundown wooden house was the biggest pearl in the world, which was valued at ￡76 million.

The pearl of Allah, which is currently on display in a New York museum, only weighs 14 pounds. That is five times smaller than the pearl that the fisherman just handed in.

The monstrous pearl, measured at 1 foot wide and 2.2 feet long, is going to be verified by local experts and international authorities before hopefully going on display to attract more tourists in the little town.

Q5: What happened to the Philippine fisherman one day?

【答案】B His house was burnt down in a fire.

Q6: What was the fisherman forced to do?

【答案】D Sell the pearl he had kept for years.

Q7: What did the fisherman learn from the tourist agent?

【答案】B His monstrous pearl was extremely valuable.

Section B

Conversation 1

W: Mr. Smith, It’s a pleasure meeting you!

M: Nice to meet you, too. What can I do for you?

W: Well, I’m here to show you what our firm can do for you. Astro Consultants has branches in over fifty countries, offering different business services. We’re a global company with 75 years of history. And our clients include some of the world’s largest companies.

M: Thank you, Mrs. Houston. I know Astro Consultants is a famous company. But you said you would show me what you could do for me. Well. What exactly can your firm do for my company?

W: We advise businesses on all matters, from market analysis to legal issues. Anything a business like yours could meet. Our firm offers expert advice. Could I ask you, Mr. Smith, to tell me a little about your company and the challenges you face? That way, I could better respond as to how we can help you.

M: OK, sure. This is a family business started by my grandfather in 1950. We employ just over 100 people. We manufacture an export stone for buildings and other constructions. Our clients usually want a special kind of stone cut in a special design. And that’s what we do in our factory. Our main challenge is that our national currency is rising, and we’re losing competitive advantages to stone produces in India.

W I see. That’s very interesting. I will suggest that you let us first conduct a financial analysis of your company, together with the analysis of your competitors in India. That way, we could offer the best advice on different ways forward for you.

Question 8-11 are based on the conversation you have just heard.

Q8: What do we learn about the woman’s company?

【答案】A It boasts a fairly long history

Q9: What does the man say about his own company?

【答案】C It is a family business.

Q10: What is the main problem with the man’s company?

【答案】D Loss of competitive edge.

Q11: What does the woman suggest doing to help the man’s company?

【答案】A Conducting a financial analysis for it.

Conversation 2

W: Wow, congratulations, Simon! The place looks absolutely amazing!

M: Really? You think so?

W: Of course. I love it. It looks like you had a professional interior designer. But you didn’t, did you?

M: No. I did it all by myself with a little help from my brother, Greg. He’s actually in the construction business, which was really helpful.

W: Honestly, I’m impressed! I know I can probably repaint the walls in my house over a weekend or something, but not a full renovation. Where did you get your ideas? I wouldn’t know where to start.

M: Well, for a while now, I’ve been regularly buying home design magazines. Every now and then, I’d saved the pictures I liked. Believe it or not, I have a full notebook of magazine pages. Since by overall style was quite minimal, I thought and hoped a whole renovation wouldn’t be too difficult. And sure enough, with Greg’s help, it was very achievable.

W: Wasn’t it expensive? I have imagined a project like this could be.

M: Actually, it was surprisingly affordable. I managed to sell a lot of my old furniture and put that extra money towards the new material. Greg was also able to get some discount materials from a recent project he was working on as well.

W: Great! If you don’t mind, I’d like to pick your brain a bit more. Johansson and I are thinking of renovating our sitting room, not the whole house, not yet anyway. And we’d love to get some inspiration from your experience. Are you free to come over for a coffee early next week?

Q12: What do we learn about the woman from the conversation?

【答案】D She is really impressed by the man’s house.

Q13: Where did the man get his ideas for the project?

【答案】B From home design magazines.

Q14: What did the man say about the project he recently completed?

【答案】C The cost was affordable.

Q15: Why does the woman invite the man to her house next week?

【答案】B She wants him to share his renovation experience with her.

Section C

Passage one

Removing foreign objects from ears and noses costs England almost ￡3m a year, a study suggests. Children were responsible for the vast majority of cases - 95% of objects removed from noses and 85% from ears. Every year, an average of 1,218 nose and 2,479 ear removals took place between 2010 and 2016. According to England's Hospital Episode Statistics, children aged one to four were the most likely to need help from doctors for a foreign object in their nose. Five to nine year olds come to the hospital with something in their ear the most. Jewelry items accounted for up to 40% of cases in both the ears and noses of children. Paper and plastic toys were the items removed next most from noses. Cotton buds and pencils were also found in ears.

According to the study, the occurrence of foreign objects in children is generally attributed to curiosity. Children have an impulse to explore their noses and ears. This results in the accidental entry of foreign objects. Any ear, nose and throat surgeon has many weird stories about wonderful objects found in the noses and ears of children and adults. Batteries can pose a particular danger. In all cases, prevention is better than cure. This is why many toys contain warnings about small parts. Recognizing problems early and seeking medical attention is important.

Q16: What does England spend an annual ￡3m on?

【答案】D Removing objects from patients noses and ears

Q17: What do we learn from England's Hospital Episode Statistics?

【答案】C Five-to nine-year-olds are the most likely to put things in their ears

Q18: What is generally believed to account for children putting things in their ears or noses?

【答案】D They are curious about these body parts

Passage 2

Good morning, I’d like to talk to you about my charity ReBicycle. But before that, let me introduce someone. This is Leila Rahimi. She was so scared when she first moved to New Zealand that she struggled to leave the house and would spend days working up the courage to walk to the supermarket for basic supplies. After a few months of being quite down and unhappy, she was invited to join a local bike club. At this time, ReBicycle got involved and gave Leila a second-hand bicycle. In weeks, her depression had begun to ease as she cycled. The bicycle totally changed her life, giving her hope and a true feeling of freedom.

To date, ReBicycle has donated more than 200 bikes to those in need, and is now expanding bike-riding lessons as demand soars. With a bike, you can travel farther but for almost no cost. The three hours a day that used to spend on walking to and from English language lessons has been reduced to just one hour. Our bike-riding lessons are so successful that we are urgently looking for more volunteers. Learning to ride a bike is almost always more difficult as an adult, and this can take days and weeks, rather than hours. So, if any of you have some free time during the weekend, please come join us at ReBicycle and make a difference in someone’s life.

Q19. What did ReBicycle do to help Leila Rahimi?

【答案】B It gave her a used bicycle

Q20. What is ReBicycle doing to help those in need?

【答案】A Expanding bike-riding lessons

Q21. What do we learn from the passage about the ReBicycle?

【答案】B It is a charity organization

Passage 3

Thanks to the International Space Station we know quite a bit about the effects of low gravity on the human body, but NASA scientists want to learn more. To that end, they have been studying how other species deal with low gravity, specifically focusing on mice(22). The results are both interesting and humorous.

The scientists first send some mice in a specially designed cage to the International Space Station. The cage allowed them to study the behavior of the mice remotely from Earth via video. As you noticed in the video, the mice definitely seem uncomfortable at the beginning of the experiment. They move around clumsily, drifting within the small confines of the cage and do their best to figure out which way is up, but without success. (23)However, it’s not long before the mice begin to catch on. They adapt remarkably well to their new environment and even using the lack of gravity to their advantage as they push themselves around the cage.

That’s when things really get wild. The 11th day of the experiment shows the mice are not just dealing with the gravity change but actually seem to be enjoying it. (24) Several of the mice are observed running around the cage walls.

The scientists wanted to see whether the mice would continue doing the same kinds of activities they were observed doing on Earth. The study showed that the mice kept much of their routines intact, including cleaning themselves and eating when hungry. (25)

Q22 What do NASA scientists want to learn about?

【答案】[D]. How animals deal with lack of gravity.

Q23 What does the passage say about the mice at the beginning of the experiment?

【答案】[A]. They were not used to the low- gravity environment.

Q24 What was observed about the mice on the 11th day of the experiment?

【答案】[C]. They already felt at home in the new environment.

Q25 What did the scientists find about the mice from the experiment?

【答案】[B]. They behaved as if they were on Earth.

Part III 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 on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre. You may not use any of the words in the bank more than once.

When my son completes atask, I can't help but praise him. I's only natural to give praise where praise is due. right? But is there such a thing as too much praise? According to psychologist Katherine Phillip, children don't benefit from 26_____ praise as much as we' d like to think "Parents often praise, bclicv ing thoy are building thcir child's sclf confidencc. Howcvcr,ovcr-praising can have a 27_____effect," says Phillip "When we use the same praise 28_____，it may become empty and no longer valued by the child. It can also become an expectation that anything they do must be 29_____ with praise. This may lead to the child avoiding taking risks due to fearof 30_____ their parents"

Does this mean we should do away with all the praiso? Phillip says no."The key to healthy praisc is to focus on thc process rather than the 31_____. it is the recognition of a child's attcmpt, or the process in which they achieved something, that is essential,"she says "Parents should encourage

their child 10 take the risks needed to learn and grow”

So how do we break the 32_____ of praise we're all so accustomed to? Phillip says it's important to. 33_____between "person praise" and "process raise". "Person praise is 34_____ saying how great someone is. IT's a form personal approval. Process praise as acknowledgment of the efforts to person has just 35_____， Childrcn who receive pcrson praisc arc more likely to feel shame aner losing," says Phillip.

A) choose

B) constant

C) disappointing

D) distinguish

E) exhausting

F) experienced

G) negative

H) outcome

1) pattern

J) plural

K) rcpcatcdly

L) rewarded

M) separately

N) simply

答案

26. B. constant

27. G. negative

28. K repeatedly

29. L rewarded

30. C disappointing

31. H outcome

32. I .patterm

33. D .distinguish

34. N. simply

35 0. undertaken

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 questions by marking the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2.

Poverty is a story about us, not them

[A] Too often still, we think we know what poverty looks like. It’s the way we’ve been taught, the images we’ve been force-fed for decades. The chronically homeless. The undocumented immigrant. The urban poor, usually personified as a woman of color, the “welfare queen” politicians still too often reference.

[B] But as income inequality rises to record levels in the United States, even in the midst of a record economic expansion, those familiar images are outdated, hurtful, and counterproductive to focusing attention on solutions and building ladders of opportunity.

[C] Today’s faces of income inequality and lack of opportunity look like all of us. It’s Anna Landre, a disabled Georgetown University student fighting to keep health benefits that allow her the freedom to live her life. It’s Tiffanie Standard, a mentor for young women of color in Philadelphia who want to be tech entrepreneurs – but who must work multiple jobs to stay afloat. It’s Sharon Penner, an artisan in rural Georgia, who worries about retirement security and health care options for senior gay women. It’s Charles Oldstein, a U.S. Air Force veteran in New Orleans who would still be on the street if the city hadn’t landed a zero tolerance policy for homeless among veterans. It’s Ken Outlaw, a welder in rural North Carolina whose dream of going back to school at a local community college was dashed by Hurricane Florence –just one of the extreme weather events that have tipped the balance for struggling Americans across the nation.

[D] If these are the central characters of our story about poverty, what layers of perceptions, myths, and realities must we unearth to find meaningful solutions and support? In pursuit of revealing this complicated reality, Mothering Justice, led by women of color, went last year to the state capital in Lansing, Michigan, to lobby on issues that affect working mothers. One of the Mothering Justice organizers went to the office of a state representative to talk about the lack of affordable childcare—the vestiges of a system that expected mothers to stay home with their children while their husbands worked. A legislative staffer dismissed the activist’s concerns, telling her “my husband took care of that—I stayed home.”

[E] That comment, says Atkinson, “was meant to shame” and relied on the familiar trope that a woman of color concerned about income inequality and programs that promote mobility must by definition be a single mom, probably with multiple kids. In this case, Mothering Justice activist happened to be married. And in most cases in the America of 2019, the images that come to mind when we hear the words poverty of income inequality fail miserably in reflecting a complicated reality: poverty touches virtually all of us. The face of income inequality, for all but a very few of us, is the one we each see in the mirror.

[F] How many of us are poor in the U.S.? It depends on who you ask. According to the Census Bureau, 38 million people in the U.S. are living below the official poverty thresholds (currently $20,231 for a family of three with two children). Taking into account economic need beyond that absolute measure, the Institute for Policy Studies found that 140 million people are poor or low-income, living below 200 percent of the Census’ supplemental measure of poverty. That’s almost half the U.S. population.

[G] No matter the measure, within that massive group, poverty is extremely diverse. We know that some people are more affected than others like children, the elderly, people live with disabilities, and people of color.

[H] But the fact that 4 in 10 Americans can’t come up with $400 in an emergency is a commonly cited statistic for good reason: economic instability stretches across race, gender, and geography. It even reaches into the middle classes, as real wages have stagnated for all but the very wealthy and temporary spells of financial instability are not uncommon.

[I] Negative caricatures remain of who is living in poverty as well as what is needed to move out of it. The iconic American myth is that you can pull yourself up by your bootstraps and change a bad situation into a good one. The reality is that finding opportunity without help from families, friends, schools, and community is virtually impossible. And the playing field is nothing close to level.

[J] The FrameWorks Institute, a research group that focuses on public framing of issues, has studies what props up stereotypes and narratives of poverty in the United Kingdom. “People view economic success and wellbeing in life as … a product of choice, willpower, drive, grit, and gumption,” says NatKendall-Taylor, CEO of FrameWorks. “When we see people who are struggling,” he says, those assumptions “l(fā)ead us to the perception that people in poverty are lazy, they don’t care, and they haven’t made the right decisions.”

[K] Does this sound familiar? Similar ideas surround poverty in the U.S. And these assumptions wreak havoc on reality. “When people enter into that pattern of thinking,” says Kendal-Taylor, “it’s cognitively comfortable to make sense of issues of poverty in that way. It creates a kind of cognitive blindness –all of the factors external to a person’s drive and choices that they’ve made become invisible and fade from view.”

[L] Those external factors include the difficulties concomitant with low-wage work or structural discrimination based on race, gender, or ability. Assumption get worse when people who are poor use government benefits to help them survive. There is a great tension between “the poor” and those who are receiving what has become a dirty word: “welfare.”

[M] According to the General Social Survey, 71 percent of respondents believe the country is spending too little on “assistance to the poor.” On the other hand, 22 percent think we are spending too little on “welfare”; 37 percent believe we are spending too much.

[N] “Poverty has been interchangeable with people of color—but specifically black women and black mothers,” says Atkinson of Mothering Justice. It’s true that black mothers are more affected by poverty than many other groups, yet they are disproportionately the face of poverty. For example, Americans routinely overestimate the share of black recipients of public assistance programs.

[O] In reality, most people will experience some form of financial hardship at some point in their lives. Indeed, people tend to dip in and out of poverty, perhaps due to unexpected obstacles like losing a job, or when hours of a low-wage job fluctuate.

[P] Something each of us can do is to treat each other with the dignity and compassion that is deserved and to understand deeply that the issue of poverty touches all of us.

36. One legislative staffer assumed that a woman of color who advocated affordable childcare must by a single mother.

37. People from different races, genders, and regions all suffer from a lack of financial security.

38. According to a survey, while the majority believe too little assistance given to the poor, more than a third believe too much is spent on welfare.

39. A research group has found that Americans who are struggling are thought to be lazy as they have made the wrong decision.

40. Under the old system in American, a mother was supposed to stay home and take care of her children.

41. …found that nearly 50% of Americans are poor or receive low pay.

42. Americans usually overestimate the number of blacks receiving welfare benefits.

43. It is impossible for Americans to lift themselves out of poverty entirely on their own.

44. Nowadays, it seems none of us can get away from income inequality.

45. Assumptions about poor people become even more negative when they live on welfare.

【答案】

36. E 37. H 38. M 39. J 40. D 41. F 42. N 43. I 44. C 45. L

Section C

Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A), B), C) and D). You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.

Passage One

Questions 46 to 50 are based on the following passage.

Boredom has, paradoxically, become quite interesting to academics lately. In early May, London’s Boring Conference celebrated seven years of delighting in dullness. At this event, people flocked to talks about weather, traffic jams, and vending-machine sounds, among other sleep-inducing topics.

What, exactly, is everyone studying? [46] One widely accepted psychological definition of boredom is “the distasteful experience of wanting, but being unable, to engage in satisfying activities.” But how can you quantify a person’s boredom level and compare it with someone else’s?

In 1986, psychologists introduced the Boredom Proneness Scale, designed to measure an individual’s overall tendency to feel bored. By contrast, the Multidimensional State Boredom scale, developed in 2008, measures a person’s feelings of boredom in a given situation.

[47]Boredom has been linked to behavior issues including inattentive driving, mindless snacking, excessive drinking, and addictive gambling. In fact, many of us would choose pain over boredom.

[48]One team of psychologists discovered that two-thirds of men and a quarter of women would rather self-administer electric shocks than sit alone with their thought for 15 minutes. Researching this phenomenon, another team asked volunteers to watch boring, sad, or neutral films, during which they could self-administer electric shocks. The bored volunteers shocked themselves more and harder than the sad or neutral one did.

[49]But boredom isn’t all bad. By encouraging self-reflection and daydreaming, it can spur activity. An early study gave participants abundant time to complete problem-solving and word-association exercises. Once all the obvious answers were exhausted, participants gave more and more inventive answers to combat boredom. A British study took these findings one step further, asking subjects to complete a creative challenge (coming up with a list of alternative uses for a household item). One group of subjects did a boring activity first, while the others went straight to the creative task. Those whose boredom pumps had been primed were more productive.

[50] In our always-connected world, boredom may be a hard-to-define state, but it is a fertile one. Watch paint dry or water boil, or at least put away your smartphone for a while, and you might unlock your next big idea.

46. When are people likely to experience boredom, according to an accepted psychological definition?

A) When they don’t have the chance to do what they want

B) When they don’t enjoy the materials they are studying

C) When they experience something unpleasant

D) When they engage in some routine activities

47. What does the author say boredom can lead to?

A) Determination

B) Mental deterioration

C) Concentration

D) Harmful conduct

48. What is the findings of one team of psychologists in their experiment?

A) Volunteers prefer watching a boring movie to sitting alone deliberating.

B) Many volunteers choose to hurt themselves rather than endure boredom.

C) Male volunteers are more immune to the effects of boredom than females.

D) Many volunteers are unable to resist boredom longer than fifteen minutes.

49. Why does the author say boredom isn’t all bad?

A) It stimulates memorization.

B) It may promote creative thinking.

C) It allows time for relaxation.

D) It may facilitate independent learning.

50. What does the author suggests one do when faced with a challenging problem?

A) Stop idling and think big.

B) Unlock one’s smartphone.

C) Look around oneself for stimulation.

D) Allow oneself some time to be bored.

答案：46. A 47. D. 48. B. 49. B. 50. D

Passage Two

Questions 51 to 55 are based on the following passage.

(51)Forests in countries like Brazil and the Congo get a lot of attention from environmentalists, and it is easy to see why. South America and sub-Saharan Africa are experiencing deforestation on an enormous scale: every year almost 5 million hectares are lost. But forests are also changing in rich Western countries. They are growing larger, both in the sense that they occupy more and that the trees in them and bigger. What is going on?

(52) Forests are spreading in almost all Western countries, with fastest growth in places that historically had rather few trees. In 1990 28% of Spain was forests; now the proportion is 37%. In both Greece and Italy, the growth was from 26% to 32% over the same period. Forests are gradually taking more and in America and Australia. Perhaps most astonishing is the trend in Ireland. Roughly 1% of that country was forested when it became independent in 1922. Forests cover 11% of the land, and the government wants to push the proportion to 18% by the 2040s.

Two things are fertilizing this growth. The first is the abandonment of farmland, especially in high, dry places where nothing grows terribly well. When farmers give up trying to earn a living from farming or herding trees simply move in. The second is government policy and subsidy. (53) Throughout history, governments have protected and promoted forests for diverse reasons, ranging from the need for wooden warships to a desire to promote suburban house-building. (54) Nowadays forests are increasingly welcome because they suck in carbon pollution from the air. The justification change; desire for more trees remains constant.

The greening of the West does not delight everyone. Farmers complain that land is being taken out of use by generously subsidized tree plantations. Parts of Spain and Portugal suffer from terrible forest fires. Others simply dislike the appearance of forests planted in neat rows. They will have to get used to the trees, however. The growth of Western forests seems almost as unstoppable as deforestation elsewhere.

51. What is catching environmentalist’s attention nowadays?

A) Rich countries are striping poor ones of their resources.

B) Forests are fast shrinking in many developing countries.

C) Forests are eating away the fertile farmland worldwide.

D) Rich countries are doing little to address deforestation.

52. Which countries have the fastest forest growth?

A) Those that have newly achieved independence.

B) Those that have the greatest demand for timber.

C) Those that used to have the lowest forest coverage.

D) Those that provide enormous government subsidies.

53. What has encouraged forest growth historically?

A). The government’s advocacy.

B). The use of wood for fuel.

C). The favorable climate.

D) The green movement.

54. What account for our increasing desire for forests?

A) Their unique scenic beauty.

B) Their use as fruit plantation.

C) Their capability of improving air quality.

D) Their stable supply of building materials.

55. What does the author conclude about the prospects of forestation?

A) Deserts in sub-Saharan Africa will diminish gradually.

B) It will play a more and more important role in people’s lives.

C) Forests destruction in the developing world will quickly slow down.

D) Developed and developing countries are moving in opposite direction.

答案：51 B. 52. C 53. A 54. C. 55. D.