2016年12月英語四級真題(第三套)

1、2016年12月大學(xué)英語四級考試真題(第3套)Part IWriting (30 minutes)Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay. Suppose you have twooptions upon graduation: one is to work in a state-owned business and the other in ajoint venture. You are to make a choice between the two. Write an essay to

2、 explain thereasons for your choice.You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.Part IIListening Comprehension (25 minutes)說明：由于2016年12月四級考試全國共考了2套聽力，本套真題聽力與前2套內(nèi)容完全一樣，只是順序不一樣，因此在本套真題中不再重復(fù)出現(xiàn)。Part mReading Comprehension (40 minutes)Section ADirections: In this section, there is a pa

3、ssage with ten blanks. You are required to select one wordfor each blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage. Read thepassage through carefully before making your choices.Each choice in the bank isidentified by a letter. Please mark the corresponding letter for each ite

4、m on AnswerSheet 2 with a single line through the centre. You may not use any of the words in thebank more than once.Questions 26 to 35 are based on the following passage.Many men and women have long bought into the idea that there are "male" and "female" brains,believing that ex

5、plains just about every difference between the sexes. A new study26that belief,questioning whether brains really can be distinguished by gender.In the study, Tel Aviv University researchers27for sex differences throughout the entirehuman brain.And what did they find Not much. Rather than offer evide

6、nce for28brai.ns as "male" or"female," research shows that brains fall into a wide range, with most people falling right in themiddle.Daphna Joel, who led the study, said her research found that while there are some gender-based坦 many different types of brain can't always be

7、distinguished by gender.While the "average" male and "average" female brains were30different, you couldn't tell itby looking at individual brain scans. Only a sma11310f people had "all-male" or "all-female"characteristics.Larry Cahill, an American neurosci

8、entist ( 神經(jīng)科學(xué)家)，said the study is an important addition toa growing body of research questioning32beliefs about gender and brain function. But hecautioned against concluding from this study that all brains are the same,33of gender."There's a mountain of evidence34the importance of sex influ

9、ences at all levels of brainfunction," he told The Seattle Times.If anything, he said, the study35that gender plays a very important role in the brain-" evenwhen we are not clear exactly how."A.abnormalB.appliedC.brieflyD.categorizingE.challenges F.figure G.percentage H.proving I.rega

10、rdless J.searched K.similarities L.slightly M.suggests N. tastes 0.traditional Section BDirections： In this section， you are going to read a passage with ten statements attached to it. Eachstatement contains information given in one of the paragraphs Identify the paragraphfrom which the information

11、is derived You may choose a paragraph more than once Each paragraph is marked with a letter Answer the questions by marking thecorresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2Can Burglars Jam Your Wireless Security SystemA.Any product that promises to protect your home deserves careful examination So it isn t

12、 surprising thatyou 11 find plenty of strong opinions about the potential vulnerabilities of popular home security systems B.The most likely type of burglary（ 人室盜竊）by far is the unsophisticated crime of opportunity ， usuallyinvolving a brokenwindow or some forced entry According to the FB1 crimes li

13、ke these accounted forroughly two thirds of all household burglaries in the US in 2013 The wide majority of the rest were illegal unforced entries that resulted from something like a window being left open The odds of a criminal usingtechnical means to bypass a security system are so small that the

14、FBI doesn t even track tho se statisticsC.One of the main theoretical home security concerns is whether or not a given system is vulnerable to beingblocked from working altogether . With wired setups, the fear is that a burglar（人室盜賊）might be ableto shut your system down simply by cutting the right c

15、able With a wireless setup you stick battery powered sensors up around your home that keep an eye on windows。 doors， motion ， and more If theydetect something wrong while the system is armed they ll transmit a wireless aleft signal to a base station that will then raise the alarm That approach will

16、eliminate most cord cutting concerns-but what abouttheir wireless equivalent ， jammingwith the fight device tuned to the fight frequency ， what s to stop athief from jamming your setup and blocking that alert signal from ever reaching the base stationD.Jamming concerns are nothing new， and they re n

17、ot unique to security syste mAsny device that s bueiltcteoivre a wireless signal at a specific frequency can be overwhelmed by a stronger signal coming in on thesame frequency For comparison 1et s say you wanted to “ jam” a conversation between t-w-aollpyeoouple d need to do is yell in the listener

18、s earE） Security devices are required to list the frequencies they broadcast on mat means that a potential thief canfind what they need to know with minimal Googling They will however need to know what systemthey re looking for If you have a sign in your yard declaring what setup you use ， that d po

19、int them in theright directio， n though at that point， we re talking about a highly targeted， semi sophisticated attack， andnot the sort of forced entry attack that makes up the majority of burglaries It esasier to find and acquirejamming equipment for some frequencies than it is for othersF）Wireles

20、s security providers will often take steps to help combat the threat of jammingattacks SimpliSafe ，winner of our Editors Choicdeistinction utilizes a special system that csapable of separating incidentalRFinterference from targeted jamming attacks When the system thinks it s being ，jaimt m edll noti

21、fy you viapush alert(推送警報).From there, it ' s up to you to sound the alarm manuallyG)SimpliSafe was singled out in one recent article on jamming ， complete with a video showing the entiresystem being effectively bypassed with handheld jamming equipment After taking appropriate measures tocontain

22、 the RF interference to our test lab， we tested the attack out for ourselves， and were able to verify that it s possible with the right equipment However we also verified that SimpliSafe -jam msinagnstyistem works It caught us in the act， sent an alert to my smartphone， and also listed our RF interf

23、erenceon the system Thse etevaemnt bloeghind thearticle and video in question make no mention of thesystem ， or whether or not it detected themt anyH)We like the unique nature of that software It means that a thief likely wouldn bt e able to Google how thesystem works then figure out a way around it

24、 Even if they could ， SimpliSafe claims that its system isalways evolving ， and that it varies slightly from system to system， which means there wouldn bt e auniversal magic formula for cracking it Other systems also seem confident on the subject of jamming Theteam at Frontpoint addresses the issue

25、in a blog on its site， citing their own jam protection software andclaiming that there aren documented cases of a successful jam attack since the company began offeringwireless security sensors in the l980sI)Jamming attacks are absolutely possible As said before with the fight equipment and the righ

26、t know how， it s possible to jam any wireless transmission But how probable is it that someone will successfully jam their way into your home and steal your stuffJ)Let s imagine thaot uy live in a small home with a wireless security setup that offers a functional anti jamming system First， a thief i

27、s going to need to target your home ， specifically Then， he s going to needto know the technical details of your system and acquire the specific equipment necessary for jamming yourspecific setup Presumably， you keep your doors locked at night and while you， so three tahwieaf ywillstill need to brea

28、kin That means defeating the lock somehow， or breaking a window He 11 need to be jamming you at thispoint， as a broken window or opened door would normally release the alarm S0， too， would the motion detectors in your home， so the thief will need to continue jamming once he s inside andsearching for

29、Hthoiwngesvetor shtea l 11need to do so without tripping the anti-jamming system ， thedetails of which he almost certainly does not have access toK)At the end of the day ， these kinds of systems are primarily designed to protect against the sort ofopportunistic smash and grab attack that makes up th

30、e majority of burglaries They re also only a singlelayer in what should ideally be a many sided approach to securing your home， one that includes commonsense things like sound locks and proper exterior lighting at night No system is impenetrable， and none canpromise to eliminate the worst case compl

31、etely Every one of them has vulnerabilities that a knowledgeablethief could theoretically exploit A good system is one that keeps that worst case setting as improbable aspossible while also offering strong protection in the event of a less-extraordinary attack36 It is possible for burglars to make j

32、amming attacks with the necessary equipment and skill 37 Interfering with a wireless security system is similar to interfering with a conversation 38 A burglar has to continuously jam the wireless security device to avoid triggering the alarm ， both inside and outside the house39 SimpliSafe provides

33、 devices that are able to distinguish incidental radio interference from targeted jamming attacks40 Only a very small proportion of burglaries are committed by technical means 41 It is difficult to crack SimpliSafe as its system keeps changing 42 Wireless devices will transmit signals so as to activ

34、ate the alarm once something wrong is detected 43 Different measures should be taken to protect one s home from burglary in addition to the wireless security system44 SimpliSafe s device can send a warning to the house owner s cellphone45 Burglars can easily get a security device s frequency by I nt

35、ernet searchSection CDirections： There are 2 passagesin this section Each passage is followed by some questions orunfinished statements For each of them there arefour choices marked A， B， CandD You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on AnswerSheet 2 with a single line

36、 through the centre Passage OneQuestions 46 to 50 are based oil the following passageAs a person who writes about food and drink for a living 。 I couldn t tell you the first thing aboutBill Perry or whether the beers he sells are that great But I can tell you that I like this guy That sbecause he pl

37、ans to ban tipping in favor of paying his servers an actual living wageI hate tipping I hate it because it s an obligation disguised as anI hoapteioint for the post dinner math it requires of me But mostly I hate tipping because I believe l would be in a better place if pay decisionsregarding employ

38、eesweresimply left up to their employers ， as is the custom in virtually every otherindustry Most of you probably think that you hate tipping ， too Research suggests otherwise You actuallylove tipping!You like to feel that you have a voice in how much money your server makes No matterhow the math wo

39、rks out ， you persistently view restaurants with voluntary tipping systems as being abetter value， which makes it extremely difficult for restaurants and bars to do away with the tippingsystem One argument that you tend to hear a lot from the pr0 tipping crowd seems logical enough ： theservice is be

40、tter when waiters depend on tips， presumably because they see a benefit to successfullyveiling their contempt for you Well if this were true we would all be slipping a few l00-dollar bills toour doctors on-the way out their doors， too But as it turns out， waiters see only a tiny bump in tipswhen the

41、y do an exceptional job compared to a passable one Waiters， keen observers of humanity thatthey are are catching on to this； in one poll ， a full 30 said they didn t believe the job they did hadany impact on the tips they recde ivSo come on， folks ： get on board with ditching the outdated tip system

42、 Pay a little more upfrontfor your beer or burger Support Bill Perry ， sapnudbany other bar or restaurant that doesn t ask youto do drunken math46 、IV hat can we learn about Bill Perry from the passageA.He runs a pub that serves excellent beerB.He intends to get rid of the tipping practice C.He give

43、s his staff a considerable sum for tips D.He lives comfortably without getting any tips 47 What is the main reason why the author hates tippingA. It sets a bad example for other industriesB. It adds to the burden of ordinary customers C. It forces the customer to compensate the waiterD.It poses a gr

44、eat challenge for customers to do math48 Why do many people love tipping according to the author A.They help improve the quality of the restaurants they dine in B. They believe waiters deserve such rewards for good service C.They want to preserve a wonderful tradition of the industry D.They can have

45、 some say in how much their servers earn49 What have some waiters come to realize according to a surveyA.Service quality has little effect on tip size B. It is in human nature to try to save on tips C.Tips make it more difficult to please customers D.Tips benefit the boss rather than the employees50

46、 What does the author argue for in the passage A.Restaurants should calculate the tips for customers B.Customers should pay more tips to help improve service C.Waiters deserve better than just relying on tips for a living D.Waiters should be paid by employers instead of customers Passage Two Questio

47、ns 5l to 55 are based on the following passag eIn the past， falling oil prices have given a boost to the world economy ， but recent forecasts forglobal growth have been toned down even as oil prices sink lower and lower Does that mean the linkbetween lower oil prices and growth has weakenedSome expe

48、rts say there are still good reasons to believe cheap oil should heat up the worldeconomy Consumers have more money in their pockets when they ying lerses paat the pump Theyspend that money off other things， which stimulates the economyThe biggest gains go to countries that import most of their oil

49、like China Japan and India Butdoesn't the extra money in the pockets of those countries' consumers mean an equal loss inoil-producing countries, cancelling out the gains Not necessarily, say economic researcher SaraJohnson. "Many oil producers built up huge reserve funds when prices wer

50、e high, so when prices fallthey will draw on their reserves to support government spending and subsidies （補貼） for theirconsumers.But not all oil producers have big reserves. In Venezuela, collapsing oil prices have sent itseconomy into free-fall. Economist Carl Weinberg believes the negative effects

51、 of plunging oil prices are overwhelming thepositive effects of cheaper oil. The implication is a sharp decline in global trade, which has plungedpartly because oil-producing nations can't afford to import as much as they used to.Sara Johnson acknowledges that the global economic benefit from a

52、fall in oil prices today is likelylower than it was in the past. One reason is that more countries are big oil producers now, so thenations suffering from the price drop account for a larger share of the global economy.Consumers, in the U.S. at least, are acting cautiously with the savings they'

53、re getting at the gaspump, as the memory of the recent great recession is still fresh in their mind. And a number ofoil-producing countries are trimming their gasoline subsidies and raising taxes, so the net savings forglobal consumers is not as big as the oil price plunge might suggest.51 What does the author mainly discuss in the passageA. The reasons behind the plunge of oil prices.B. Possible ways to stimulate t