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TEST FOR ENGLISH MAJORS (2021)
TIME LIMIT: 130 MIN
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Listen to the following passage.Altogether the passage will be read to you four times.During the first reading, which will be done at normal speed, listen and try to understand the meaning.For the second and third readings, the passage, except the first sentence, will be read sentence by sentence, or phrase by phrase, with intervals of fifteen seconds.The last reading will be done at normal speed again and during this time you should check your work.You will then be given ONE minute to check through your work once more.
Write on ANSWER SHEET ONE.The first sentence of the passage is already provided.
Now, listen to the passage.
In this section you will hear a talk.You will hear the talk ONCE ONLY.While listening, you may look at the task on ANSWER SHEET ONE and write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each gap.Make sure what you fill in is both grammatically and semantically acceptable.You may use the blank sheet for note-taking.
You have THIRTY seconds to preview the gap-filling task.
Now listen to the talk.When it is over, you will be given TWO minutes to check your work.
In this section you will hear two conversations.At the end of each conversation, five questions will be asked about what was said.Both the conversations and the questions will be spoken ONCE ONLY.After each question there will be a ten-second pause.During the pause, you should read the four choices of A, B, C and D, and mark the best answer to each question on ANSWER SHEET TWO.
You have THIRTY seconds to preview the choices.
Now, listen to the conversations.
Questions 1 to 5 are based on Conversation One.
1．A.Never.
B．Just a few.
C．Quite a few.
D．Few.
2．A.They have negative feelings.
B．They like being asked questions.
C．They dislike some panel members.
D．They both enjoy interviews.
3．A.Dancer in a night club.
B．Children's entertainer.
C．Electronics engineer.
D．Shop assistant.
4．A.Excited.
B．Ashamed.
C．Surprised.
D．Afraid.
5．A.To select the best among many candidates.
B．To see who gives the lasting impression.
C．To find out who has acting potential.
D．To see how one reacts when uncomfortable.
Questions 6 to 10 are based on Conversation Two.
6．A.She failed the course.
B．She made much progress.
C．Her performance was a bit worrying.
D．Her performance was better than expected.
7．A.It is hard for the required length.
B．It is a very familiar subject.
C．It is difficult to draw conclusions.
D．It is irrelevant to the topic.
8．A.75%.
B．25%.
C．30%.
D．45%.
9．A.Russia.
B．Canada.
C．The United States.
D．Saudi Arabia.
10．A.To collect more necessary information.
B．To analyze the data she has obtained.
C．To propose some possible solutions.
D．To keep up her good work this term.
There are twenty sentences in this section.Beneath each sentence there are four options marked A, B, C and D.Choose the one that best completes the sentence or answers the question.Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET TWO.
11．Few eyewitnesses give us_______ of actual life on the battlefront as Stephen Crane, the author of The Red Badge of Courage .
A．such keen a sense
B．so keen a sense
C．such keen sense
D．a sense so keen
12．He convinces his campaign manager that if he_______ successful in his election bid for a Senate seat, he is in need of a make-over.
A．is to be
B．will be
C．be
D．is
13．Here are sixty-five stories.Among them,_______ you find at least a few you'll enjoy and care to remember.
A．will
B．should
C．can
D．may
14．Data has shown that more Hispanic and black students are majoring in computer science and engineering than_______.
A．those are being hired
B．being hired
C．are being hired
D．hired
15．The hole in the stratospheric ozone layer over Antarctica did not grow as fast this year_______ on average between 1991 and 2006.
A．as it
B．as that
C．as that did
D．as it did
16．Drama in fiction occurs in any clash of will, desires, or powers—whether_______ a conflict of character against character, or character against society.
A．it must be
B．it be
C．it ought to be
D．it was
17．Scientists used sonar to map the seafloor where the plane_______, and then searched for any remnants.
A．was thought to crash
B．was thought crashing
C．was thought to have crashed
D．was thought having crashed
18． Person A: Shall we get some dinner tonight?
Person B: That sounds like fun.
In the dialogue above, Person A is_______.
A．offering a suggestion
B．extending an invitation
C．giving a piece of advice
D．making an inquiry
19．In the sentence “The manager interviewed Tony himself in the afternoon”, the italicized word refers to_______.
A．the subject
B．the verb
C．the object
D．the prepositional phrase
20．“We have finished, haven't we ?” The tag question in this sentence is used to_______.
A．express regret
B．show surprise
C．ask for confirmation
D．elicit information
21．The factual information in a historical novel, unlike that in a history book, is of_______ importance.
A．inferior
B．secondary
C．subsidiary
D．auxiliary
22．While waiting for a flight, we passed the time with some newsstand paperback full of fast action and_______ dialogue.
A．nimble
B．agile
C．speedy
D．brisk
23．Although a highly dramatic story may tend to assume a clearly recognizable structure, many contemporary writers avoid it, considering it too contrived and_______.
A．arbitrary
B．arduous
C．assertive
D．ardent
24．The team's efforts to score were_______ by the opposing goalkeeper.
A．discouraged
B．prevented
C．frustrated
D．dashed
25．The current trend in businesses has been towards on-demand, always-available products and services that suit the customer's_______.
A．benefit
B．availability
C．suitability
D．convenience
26．The method of writing called “stream of consciousness” is used to describe the_______ of thoughts passing through the mind.
A．procession
B．provision
C．prosecution
D．proposition
27．Instead of a hero, many recent novels have featured an antihero: a protagonist_______ lacking in one or more of the usual attributes of a traditional hero.
A．conspicuously
B．conscientiously
C．conservatively
D．constitutionally
28．Police did not immediately comment on the cause of the accident, and_______ to the public for any video footage of what happened.
A．pleaded
B．appealed
C．inquired
D．requested
29．Mrs.Brown's condition looks very serious and it is doubtful if she will_______.
A．pull back
B．pull up
C．pull through
D．pull out
30．Tom sat at the dining table, looked at the inviting food and_______ his lips.
A．smacked
B．opened
C．parted
D．separated
Decide which of the words given in the box below would best complete the passage if inserted in the corresponding blank.The words can be used ONCE ONLY.Mark the letter for each word on ANSWER SHEET TWO.
A．actually B.cultural C.digitized D.grammar E.if F.intervention G.obviously H.path I.though J.transition K.transmission L.unmediated M.virtual N.visual O.way
There is a curious cliché that says pictures don't lie.It is part of that greater cliché that says seeing is believing.Somehow a thing seen directly—or through a(n) (31)_______ representation like a painting, a photograph, or a film—brings us closer to some actual reality.Words are too (32)_______ not things themselves; words are made-up sounds, developed throughout the life of a culture, represented by made-up letters, put together in a contrived (33)_______ that everyone in a culture uses to communicate through a decision that the particular words will refer to particular things.Language is clearly (34)_______ and not natural: it is human made and accepted with some variations throughout a particular culture.Every English speaker understands what the word “food” refers to, even (35)_______ the particular kind of food that comes to mind may vary to each individual.But seeing a thing seems to bring us something very close to the thing itself—to “reality”.Things that are seen appear to be and even feel as if they are (36)_______; that is, they seem to be conveyed directly to us, not conveyed indirectly.Nothing stands in their (37)_______.They are true.
But, in fact, an image, whether photographed, painted, or (38)_______, is not the thing itself.It is a representation of a mediated (39)_______, composed through the camera lens, or a computer, and transferred onto film or through binary code onto the computer screen, appearing to be the thing itself.But even when we acknowledge the (40)_______ of optics, computer science, and the human hand and eye of the photographer in recording and developing the photographic image, we still haven't considered all the mediation that goes on.An image of the thing is not the thing.
In this section there are three passages followed by ten multiple choice questions.For each multiple choice question, there are four suggested answers marked A, B, C and D.Choose the one that you think is the best answer and mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET TWO.
(1) As I write this, I have half an eye on an old James Bond film that is showing on my computer.But this is a story about how I stopped watching TV and began reading again for pleasure, after ten years in which I hardly turned a page.
(2) I suppose I was an avid reader of “literature” between the ages of nine and fourteen.I had enough time to be White Fang, Robinson Crusoe, and Bilbo Baggins and Jeeves.Of course there was room in the schoolboy's imagination for some real historical figures: Scott of the Antarctic, all of the Vikings, and Benjamin Franklin were good friends of mine.
(3) Then, in adolescence, I began a long search for strange and radical ideas.I wanted to challenge my elders and betters, and stir up my peers with amazing points of view.Of course, the only place to look was in books.I hunted out the longest titles and the authors with the funniest names, and scoured the library for completely unread books.Then I found one which became my bible for the whole of 1982．It had a title composed of eleven long words and an author whose name I didn't know how to pronounce.It was really thick and looked dead serious.Even better, it put forward a whole world-view that would take days to explain.Perfect.I took it out of the library three times, proud to see the date-stamps lined up on the empty library insert.
(4) Later, I went to university.Expecting to spend long evenings in learned discussion with clever people, I started reading philosophy.For some reason I never found the deep-thinking intellectuals I hoped to meet.Anyway, I was ready to impress with my profound knowledge of post-structuralism and existentialism.These things are usually explained in rather short books, but they take a long time to get through.They were the end of my youthful reading.
(5) Working life was hard to get used to after so much theory.It was the end of books for me.There didn't seem to be much in books that would actually get things done.To do things you had to answer the telephone and work a computer.You had to travel about and speak to people who weren't at all interested in philosophy.I didn't stop reading, you can't avoid that.I read all day.But no books came my way, only manuals and pamphlets and contracts and documents.Maybe most people satisfy their need for stories and ideas with TV and, to tell the truth, it was all I needed for ten years.In those days I only had a book “on the go” for the duration of plane flights.At first I would come home and watch TV over dinner.Then, I moved the TV so I could watch it from bed.I even rigged up a switch so I could turn it off without getting out of bed.Then, one fateful day, my TV broke and my landlady took it away.
(6) My new TV is an extra circuit board inside my computer.It's on a desk in front of a working chair and I can't see it from the bed.I still use it for the weather forecasts and it's nice to have it on while I'm typing this… but what to do last thing at night? Well, have another go with books.
(7) Now, I just like books.I have a pile of nice ones by my bed and I'm reading about six simultaneously.I don't want to BE any of the characters.I don't care if a thousand people have already read them.I don't have to search through libraries.There are books everywhere and all of them have something to read in them.I have the strange feeling that they've been there all along, waiting for me to pick them up.
41．We learn from the author's reading habit in adolescence that he liked______.
A．unread and serious books
B．real historical figures
C．works of literature
D．works of philosophy
42．What was reading like in the author's working life?
A．Philosophy was still his favorite.
B．Reading was short and practical.
C．Reading was completely abandoned.
D．Television had replaced his reading.
43．It can be concluded from Para.7 that the author______.
A．spends much time reading
C．still likes unread books
B．is hardly serious about reading
D．has resumed his reading habit
(1) I was prepared to dislike Max Kelada even before I knew him.The war had just finished and the passenger traffic in the oceangoing liners was heavy.Accommodation was very hard to get and you had to put up with whatever the agents chose to offer you.You could not hope for a cabin to yourself and I was thankful to be given one in which there were only two berths.But when I was told the name of my companion my heart sank. It suggested closed portholes and the night air rigidly excluded. It was bad enough to share a cabin for fourteen days with anyone, but I should have looked upon it with less dismay if my fellow passenger's name had been Smith or Brown.
(2) When I went on board I found Mr.Kelada's luggage already below.I did not like the look of it; there were too many labels on the suitcases.And the wardrobe trunk was too big.He had unpacked his toilet things, and I observed that he was a patron of the excellent Monsieur Coty.I did not at all like Mr.Kelada.I made my way into the smoking room.I called for a pack of cards and began to play.I had scarcely started before a man came up to me and asked me if he was right in thinking my name was so and so.
(3) “I am Mr.Kelada,” he added, with a smile that showed a row of flashing teeth, and sat down.
(4) “Oh, yes, we're sharing a cabin, I think.”
(5) “Bit of luck, I call it.You never know who you're going to be put in with.I was jolly glad when I heard you were English.I'm all for us English sticking together when we're abroad, if you understand what I mean.”
(6) I blinked.
(7) “Are you English?” I asked, perhaps tactlessly.
(8) “Rather.You don't think I look an American, do you? British to the backbone, that's what I am.”
(9) To prove it, Mr.Kelada took out of his pocket a passport and airily waved it under my nose.
(10) Mr.Kelada was short and of a sturdy build, clean shaven and dark skinned, with a fleshy, hooked nose and very large, lustrous and liquid eyes.His long black hair was sleek and curly.He spoke with a fluency in which there was nothing English and his gestures were exuberant. I felt pretty sure that a closer inspection of that British passport would have betrayed the fact that Mr.Kelada was born under a bluer sky than is generally seen in England .
(11) “What will you have?” he asked me.
(12) I looked at him doubtfully.Prohibition was in force and to all appearance the ship was bone dry.When I am not thirsty I do not know which I dislike more, ginger ale or lemon squash.But Mr.Kelada flashed an oriental smile at me.
(13) “Whisky and soda or a dry martini, you have only to say the word.”
(14) From each of his hip pockets he fished a flask and laid them on the table before me.I chose the Martini, and calling the steward he ordered a tumbler of ice and a couple of glasses.
(15) “A very good cocktail,” I said.
(16) “Well, there are plenty more where that came from, and if you've got any friends on board, you tell them you've got a pal who's got all the liquor in the world.”
(17) Mr.Kelada was chatty.He talked of New York and of San Francisco.He discussed plays, pictures, and politics.I do not wish to put on airs, but I cannot help feeling that it is seemly in a total stranger to put mister before my name when he addresses me.Mr.Kelada, doubtless to set me at my ease, used no such formality.I did not like Mr.Kelada.I had put aside the cards when he sat down, but now, thinking that for this first occasion our conversation had lasted long enough, I went on with my game.
44．We can infer from the passage that Mr.Kelada's attitude towards the author is_______.
A．neutral
C．biased
B．enthusiastic
D．unfriendly
45．The author did not like Mr.Kelada for the following reasons EXCEPT_______.
A．his oversized wardrobe trunk
C．his informal manners
B．his dubious British descent
D．his scope of knowledge
46．Which of the following might be the best title of the passage?
A．An Unforgettable Journey.
C．An Irritating Companion.
B．An Interesting Conversation.
D．An Accidental Encounter.
(1) One of our most firmly entrenched ideas of masculinity is that a real man doesn't cry.Although he might shed a discreet tear at a funeral, he is expected to quickly regain control.Sobbing openly is for girls.
(2) This isn't just a social expectation. One study found that women report crying significantly more than men do—five times as often, on average, and almost twice as long per episode.
(3) So it's perhaps surprising to learn that the gender gap in crying seems to be a recent development.Historically, men routinely wept, and no one saw it as feminine or shameful.
(4) For example, in chronicles of the Middle Ages, we find one ambassador repeatedly bursting into tears when addressing Philip the Good, and the entire audience at a peace congress throwing themselves on the ground, sobbing and groaning as they listen to the speeches.In medieval romances, knights cried purely because they missed their girlfriends.In Chrétien de Troyes's Lancelot , or, The Knight of the Cart , no less a hero than Lancelot weeps at a brief separation from Guinevere.At another point, he cries on a lady's shoulder at the thought that he won't get to go to a big tournament because of his captivity.What's more，instead of being disgusted by this sniveling（哭诉），the lady is moved to help.
(5) There's no mention of the men in these stories trying to restrain or hide their tears.No one pretends to have something in his eye.No one makes an excuse to leave the room.They cry in a crowded hall with their heads held high.Nor do their companions make fun of this public blubbering（大声哭）；it's universally regarded as an admirable expression of feeling.
(6) So where did all the male tears go? There was no anti-crying movement.No leaders of church or state introduced measures to discourage them.Nevertheless, by the Romantic period, masculine tears were reserved for poets.From there, it was just a short leap to the poker-faced heroes of Ernest Hemingway, who, despite their poetic leanings, could not express grief by any means but drinking and shooting the occasional buffalo.
(7) The most obvious possibility is that this shift is the result of changes that took place as we moved from a feudal agrarian society to one that was urban and industrial.In the Middle Ages, most people spent their lives among those they had known since birth.A typical village had around 250 to 300 inhabitants, most of them related by blood or marriage.If men cried, they did so with people who would empathize.
(8) But from the 18th to 20th centuries, the population became increasingly urbanized, and people were living in the midst of thousands of strangers.Furthermore, changes in the economy required men to work together in factories and offices where emotional expression and even private conversation were discouraged as time wasting.As Tom Lutz writes in Crying: The Natural and Cultural History of Tears , “You don't want emotions interfering with the smooth running of things.”
(9) Yet human beings weren't designed to swallow their emotions, and there's reason to believe that suppressing tears can be hazardous to your well-being.Research from the 1980s has suggested a relationship between stress-related illnesses and inadequate crying.Weeping is also, somewhat counterintuitively, correlated with happiness and wealth.Countries where people cry the most tend to be more democratic and their populations more extroverted.
(10) It's time to open the floodgates.Time for men to give up emulating the stone-faced heroes of action movies and be more like the emotive heroes of Homer, like the weeping kings, saints, and statesmen of thousands of years of human history.When misfortune strikes, let us all—men and women—join together and cry until our sleeves are drenched.As the Old Testament has it: “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.”
47．The examples in Para.4 are cited to______.
A．explain why men in the Middle Ages cried
B．provide supporting evidence for Para.3
C．show similarity between now and then
D．describe the manner in which men cried
48．Which of the following is the most likely reason for the disappearance of male tears?
A．Changes from urbanization and industrialization.
B．Shift in expression of grief in fiction and poetry.
C．Changes in the attitude of their companions.
D．Measures introduced by church and state leaders.
49．Which of the following benefits of crying is the author LESS sure about?
A．Freedom.
B．Openness.
C．Health.
D．Wealth.
50．What is the author's main message in the passage?
A．Men should cry secretly on occasions.
B．Men should not cry in front of women.
C．Men should not suppress their tears.
D．Men should cry as often as women.
In this section there are five short answer questions based on the passages in Section A.Answer the questions within NO MORE THAN TEN WORDS in the space provided on ANSWER SHEET TWO.
51．What does the author mean by saying “one which became my bible” in Para.3?
52．Give a title for the passage.
52．What does the italicized part imply according to the context (Para.1)?
54．What does the author mean by the italicized part (Para.10)?
55．What does the italicized part in Para.2 suggest?
Read carefully the following excerpt and then write your response in NO LESS THAN 200 WORDS, in which you should:
1．summarize the study results, and then
2．comment on the relationship between loneliness and wisdom.
You can support yourself with information from the excerpt.
Marks will be awarded for content relevance, content sufficiency, organization and language quality.Failure to follow the above instructions may result in a loss of marks.
Write your response on ANSWER SHEET THREE.
Rising rates of loneliness may not be news, but the three periods when it peaks may come as a surprise: More people reported feeling moderate to severe loneliness during their late 20s, their mid-50s and their late 80s than in other life periods, according to the research published in the journal International Psychogeriatrics .
The general sense of isolation was also more prevalent than the researchers had expected.A full three-quarters of the study participants reported moderate to high levels of loneliness, said Dr.Philip Jaste, senior author of the study and a professor of psychiatry and neuroscience at the University of California, San Diego.
“One thing to remember is that loneliness is subjective.Loneliness does not mean being alone; loneliness does not mean not having friends,” said Dr.Jaste, who is also director at the UC San Diego's Center for Healthy Aging, “Loneliness is defined as‘subjective distress’.” It is the discrepancy between the social relationships you want and the social relationships you have, he said.
Within the dark clouds, Dr.Jaste also found a silver lining: An inverse relationship exists between loneliness and wisdom.“In other words, people who have high levels of wisdom didn't feel lonely, and vice versa,” he said.
THE END ■ ■ ■ ■
注：2021年专四真题中，PART III LANGUAGE USAGE这个题型一共有两套试题，本书中本套试卷选取的是其中一套。2021专四该题型的另外一套题及解析可以扫描图书封面的二维码获取电子版。
必须使用黑色字迹签字笔在答题区域内作答，超出彩色矩形边框限定区域的答案无效。
The original meaning of the word home in English was of a safe dwelling place, a village, even a world.________________________
