2008年12月英语四级考试预测试卷
Model Test OnePart IWriting（30 minutes）
Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a composition on the topic Choosing an Occupation. You should write at least 120 words following the outline given below in Chinese:
1. 选择职业是一个人要面对的.众多难题之一。
2. 需要花时间去选择职业。
3. 选择职业时可以向多人寻求建议和帮助。
Choosing an Occupation
Directions: In this part, you will have 15 minutes to go over the passage quickly and answer the question on Answer Sheet 1.
For questions 1-7, mark
Y (for YES)if the statement agrees with the information given in the passage;
N (for NO)if the statement contradicts the information given in the passage;
NG (for NOT GIVEN)if the information is not given in the passage.
For questions 8-10, complete the sentences with the information given in the passage.
Will We Run Out of Water?
Picture a “ghost ship” sinking into the sand, left to rot on dry land by a receding sea. Then imagine dust storms sweeping up toxic pesticides and chemical fertilizers from the dry seabed and spewing them across towns and villages.
Seem like a scene from a movie about the end of the world? For people living near the Aral Sea in Central Asia, it’s all too real. Thirty years ago, government planners diverted the rivers that flow into the sea in order to irrigate（provide water for）farmland. As a result, the sea has shrunk to half its original size, stranding ships on dry land. The seawater has tripled in salt content and become polluted, killing all 24 native species of fish.
Similar large?scale efforts to redirect water in other parts of the world have also ended in ecological crisis, according to numerous environmental groups. But many countries continue to build massive dams and irrigation systems, even though such projects can create more problems than they fix. Why? People in many parts of the world are desperate for water, and more people will need more water in the next century.
“Growing populations will worsen problems with water,” says Peter H. Gleick, an environmental scientist at the Pacific Institute for studies in Development, Environment, and Security, a research organization in California. He fears that by the year 2025, as many as one?third of the world’s projected 8.3 billion people will suffer from water shortages.
Where Water Goes
Only 2.5 percent of all water on Earth is freshwater, water suitable for drinking and growing food, says Sandra Postel, director of the Global Water Policy Project in Amherst, Mass. Two?thirds of this freshwater is locked in glaciers and ice caps. In fact, only a tiny percentage of freshwater is part of the water cycle, in which water evaporates and rises into the atmosphere, then condenses and falls back to Earth as precipitation（rain or snow）.
Some precipitation runs off land to lakes and oceans, and some becomes groundwater, water that seeps into the earth. Much of this renewable freshwater ends up in remote places like the Amazon river basin in Brazil, where few people live. In fact, the world’s population has access to only 12,500 cubic kilometers of freshwater—about the amount of water in Lake Superior. And people use half of this amount already. “If water demand continues to climb rapidly,” says Postel, “there will be severe shortages and damage to the aquatic environment.”
Close to Home
Water woes may seem remote to people living in rich countries like the United States. But Americans could face serious water shortages, too especially in areas that rely on groundwater. Groundwater accumulates in aquifers, layers of sand and gravel that lie between soil and bedrock. （For every liter of surface water, more than 90 liters are hidden underground）.Although the United States has large aquifers, farmers, ranchers, and cities are tapping many of them for water faster than nature can replenish it. In northwest Texas, for example, over pumping has shrunk groundwater supplies by 25 percent, according to Postel.
Americans may face even more urgent problems from pollution. Drinking water in the United States is generally safe and meets high standards. Nevertheless, one in five Americans every day unknowingly drinks tap water contaminated with bacteria and chemical wastes, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. In Milwaukee, 400,000 people fell ill in 1993 after drinking tap water tainted with cryptosporidium, a microbe that causes fever, diarrhea and vomiting.
The Source
Where so contaminants come from? In developing countries, people dump raw sewage into the same streams and rivers from which they draw water for drinking and cooking; about 250 million people a year get sick from water borne diseases.
In developed countries, manufacturers use 100,000 chemical compounds to make a wide range of products. Toxic chemicals pollute water when released untreated into rivers and lakes. (Certain compounds, such as polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, have been banned in the United States.）
But almost everyone contributes to water pollution. People often pour household cleaners, car antifreeze, and paint thinners down the drain; All of these contain hazardous chemicals. Scientists studying water in the San Francisco Bay reported in 1996 that 70 percent of the pollutants could be traced to household waste.
Farmers have been criticized for overusing herbicides and pesticides, chemicals that kill weeds and insects but that pollutes water as well. Farmers also use nitrates, nitrogen?rich fertilizer that helps plants grow but that can wreak havoc on the environment. Nitrates are swept away by surface runoff to lakes and seas. Too many nitrates “over enrich” these bodies of water, encouraging the buildup of algae, or microscopic plants that live on the surface of the water. Algae deprive the water of oxygen that fish need to survive, at times choking off life in an entire body of water.
What’s the Solution?
Water expert Gleick advocates conservation and local solutions to water?related problems; governments, for instance, would be better off building small?scale dams rather than huge and disruptive projects like the one that ruined the Aral Sea.
“More than 1 billion people worldwide don’t have access to basic clean drinking water,” says Gleick. “There has to be a strong push on the part of everyone?governments and ordinary people—to make sure we have a resource so fundamental to life.”
1. That the huge water projects have diverted the rivers causes the Aral Sea to shrink.
2. The construction of massive dams and irrigation projects does more good than harm.
3. The chief causes of water shortage are population growth and water pollution.
4. The problems Americans face concerning water are ground water shrinkage and tap water pollution.
5. According to the passage all water pollutants come from household waste.
6. The people living in the United States will not be faced with water shortages.
7. Water expert Gleick has come up with the best solution to water?related problems.
1.［Y］［N］［NG］2.［Y］［N］［NG］3.［Y］［N］［NG］4.［Y］［N］［NG］
5.［Y］［N］［NG］6.［Y］［N］［NG］7.［Y］［N］［NG］
8. According to Peter H. Gleick, by the year 2025, as many as of the world’s people will suffer from water shortages.
9.Two thirds of the freshwater on Earth is locked in.
10.In developed countries, before toxic chemicals are released into rivers and lakes, they should be treated in order to avoid.
Part IIIListening Comprehension(35 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 2 with a single line through the centre.
11.［A］Wait for the sale to start.
［B］Get further information about the sale.
［C］Call the TV station to be sure if the ad is true.
［D］Buy a new suit.
12.［A］He doesn’t think that John is ill.
［B］He thinks that perhaps John is not in very good health.
［C］He is aware that John is ill.
［D］He doesn’t think that John has a very good knowledge of physics.
13.［A］Before six.
［B］At six.
［C］After six.
［D］After seven.
14.［A］It is bigger.
［B］It is of a prettier color.
［C］It has a larger yard.
［D］It is brighter.
15.［A］Australian and American.
［B］Guest and host.
［C］Husband and wife.
［D］Professor and student.
16.［A］1∶30
［B］11∶00
［C］9∶30
［D］10∶00
17.［A］He prefers staying at home because the bus is too late.
［B］He prefers staying at home because he doesn’t like to travel.
［C］He prefers taking a bus because the plane makes him nervous.
［D］He prefers traveling with the woman.
18.［A］He thinks she should visit her cousin.
［B］Her cousin doesn’t visit very often.
［C］Her cousin is feeling a lot better today.
［D］He doesn’t think her cousin has been at home today.
Questions 19 to 22 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
19.［A］Two different types of bones in the human body.
［B］How bones help the body move.
［C］How bones continuously repair themselves.
［D］The chemical composition of human bones.
20.［A］They defend the bone against viruses.
［B］They prevent oxygen from entering the bone.
［C］They break down bone tissue.
［D］They connect the bone to muscle tissue.
21.［A］They have difficulty identifying these cells.
［B］They aren’t sure how these cells work.
［C］They’ve learned how to reproduce these cells.
［D］They’ve found similar cells in other species.
22.［A］To learn how to prevent a bone disease.
［B］To understand differences between bone tissue and other tissue.
［C］To find out how specialized bone cells have evolved.
［D］To create artificial bone tissue.
Questions 23 to 25 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
23.［A］A new fuel for buses.
［B］The causes of air pollution.
［C］A way to improve fuel efficiency in buses.
［D］Careers in environmental engineering.
24.［A］Her car is being repaired.
［B］She wants to help reduce pollution.
［C］Parking is difficult in the city.
［D］The cost of fuel has increased.
25.［A］A fuel that burns cleanly.
［B］An oil additive that helps cool engines.
［C］A material from which filters are made.
［D］An insulating material sprayed on engine parts.