20xx年12月大學英語四級真題試題及答案(三套全)(編輯修改稿)

　

【文章內(nèi)容簡介】 us more curious.[H] Moreover, in order to be curious, ‘you have to be aware of a gap in your knowledge in the first place.39。39。 Although Leslie perhaps paints a bit broadly in contending that most of us are unaware of how much we don’t know, he’s surely right to point out that the problem is growing: “Google can give us the powerful illusion that all questions have definite answers.”[I] Indeed, Google, for which Leslie expresses admiration, is also his frequent whipping boy (替 罪羊)? He quotes Google cofounder Larry Page to the effect that the “perfect search engine” will “understand exactly what I mean and give me back exactly what I want.” Elsewhere in the book, Leslie writes: “Google aims to save you from the thirst of curiosity altogether.”[J]Somewhat nostalgically (懷舊地)，he quotes John Maynard Keynes39。s justly famous words of praise to the bookstore: “One should enter it vaguely, almost in a dream, and allow what is there freely to attract and influence the eye. To walk the rounds of the bookshops, dipping in as curiosity dictates, should be an afternoon’s entertainment.” If only![K] Citing the work of psychologists and cognitive (認知的）scientists，Leslie criticizes the received wisdom that academic success is the result of a bination of intellectual talent and hard work. Curiosity, he argues, is the third key factor—and a difficult one to preserve. If not cultivated, it will not survive: “Childhood curiosity is a collaboration between child and adult. The surest way to kill it is to leave it alone.” [L] School education, he warns, is often conducted in a way that makes children incurious. Children of educated and uppermiddleclass parents turn out to be far more curious, even at early ages, than children of working class and lower class families. That lack of curiosity produces a relative lack of knowledge, and the lack of knowledge is difficult if not impossible to pensate for later on.[M] Although Leslie’s book isn39。t about politics, he doesn39。t entirely shy away from the problem. Political leaders, like leaders of other organizations, should be curious. They should ask questions at crucial moments. There are serious consequences, he warns, in not wanting to know.[N] He presents as an example the failure of the George W. Bush administration to prepare properly for the aftereffects of the invasion of Iraq. According to Leslie, those who ridiculed former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for his 2002 remark that we have to be wary of the “unknown unknowns” were mistaken. Rumsfeld’s idea, Leslie writes, “wasn’t absurd一it was smart.” He adds, “The tragedy is that he didn’t follow his own advice.”[O] All of which brings us back to Goodell and the Christie case and Benghazi. Each critic in those examples is charging, in a different way, that someone in authority is intentionally being incurious. I leave it to the reader’s political preference to decide which, if any, charges should stick. But let’s be careful about demanding curiosity about the other side’s weaknesses and remaining determinedly incurious about our own. We should be delighted to pursue knowledge for its own sake—even when what we find out is something we didn39。t particularly want to know.注意：此部分試題請在答題卡2上作答。36. To be curious, we need to realize first of all that there are many things we don’t know.37. According to Leslie, curiosity is essential to one’s success.38. We should feel happy when we pursue knowledge for knowledge39。s sake.39. Political leaders39。 lack of curiosity will result in bad consequences.40. There are often accusations about politicians’ and the media’s lack of curiosity to find out the truth.41. The less curious a child is, the less knowledge the child may turn out to have.42. It is widely accepted that academic acplishment lies in both intelligence and diligence.43. Visiting a bookshop as curiosity leads us can be a good way to entertain ourselves.44. Both the rise of the Internet and reduced appetite for literary fiction contribute to people’s declining curiosity.45. Mankind wouldn39。t be so innovative without curiosity.Section CDirections: 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 2with a single line through the centre.Passage OneQuestions 46 to 50 are based on the following passage.Aging happens to all of us, and is generally thought of as a natural part of life. It would seem silly to call such a thing a “disease.”O(jiān)n the other hand, scientists are increasingly learning that aging and biological age are two different things, and that the former is a key risk factor for conditions such as heart disease, cancer and many more. In that light, aging itself might be seen as something treatable, the way you would treat high blood pressure or a vitamin deficiency.Biophysicist Alex Zhavoronkov believes that aging should be considered a disease. He said that describing aging as a disease creates incentives to develop treatments.“It unties the hands of the pharmaceutical (制藥的）industry so that they can begin treating the disease and not just the side effects,” he said.‘‘Right now, people think of aging as natural and something you can’t control:’ he said. “In academic circles, people take aging research as just an interest area where they can try to develop interventions. The medical munity also takes aging for granted, and can do nothing about it except keep people within a certain health range.”But if aging were recognized as a disease, he said, “It would attract funding and change the way we do health care. What matters is understanding that aging is curable.”“It was always known that the body accumulates damage,” he added. “The only way to cure aging is to find ways to repair that damage. I think of it as preventive