大学英语四级阅读理解练习八
Directions: There are 4 passages in this part. 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 the Answer Sheet with a single line through the centre.
Questions 1 to 5 are based on the following passage:
People can be addicted(上瘾)to different things, for example, alcohol, drugs, certain foods, or even television. People who have such an addicition are compulsive(强迫的); i.e., they have a very powerful psychological need that they feel they must satisfy. According to psychologists, many people are compulsive spenders. They feel that they must spend money. This compulsion, like most others, is impossible to explain reasonably. For compulsive spenders, charge accounts(赊购帐户)are even more exciting than money. In other words, compulsive spenders feel that with credit, they can do anything. Their pleasure in spending enormous amounts is actually greater than the pleasure that they get from the things they buy.
There is even a special psychology of bargain hunting. To save money, of course, most people look for sales, low prices, and discounts. Compulsive bargain hunters, however, often buy things that they don't need just because they are cheap. They want to believe that they are helping their budgets, but they are really playing an exciting game. When they can buy something for less than other people, they feel that they are winning. Most people, experts claim, have two reasons for their behavior: a good reason for the things that they do and the real reason.
It is not only scientists, of course, who understand the psychology of spending habits, but also businesspeople. Stores, companies, and advertisers use psychology to increase business: They consider people's needs for love, power, or influence, their basic values, their beliefs and opinions, and so on in their advertising and sales methods.
Psychologists often use a method called "behavior therapy" to help individuals solve their personality problems. In the same way, they can help people who feel that they have problems with money.
1. According to the psychologists, a compulsive spender is one who spends large amounts of money _______.
A) and takes great pleasure from what he or she buys
B) in order to satisfy his or her basic needs in life
C) just to meet his or her strong psychological need
D) entirely with an eagerness
2.According to the writer, compulsive bargain hunters are in constant search of the lowest possible prices _______.
A) because they want to save money to help their budgets
B) because they can openly boast of their triumph over others in getting things for less
C) and will not have money problems if they can keep to their budgets
D) but they seldom admit they feel satisfied if they can get things for less than others
3.Businesspeople ________.
A) ask people to spend money for exactly the same reason that they need to buy things
B) can use the psychology of money to increase sales
C) understand the psychology of compulsive buying better than scientists do
D) do not have problems with money
4.The article is mainly about ________.
A) the psychology of money -spending habits
B) the purchasing habits of compulsive spenders
C) a special psychology of bargain hunting
D) the use of the psychology of spending habits in business
5.From the passage we may safely conclude that compulsive spenders or compulsive bargain hunters _______.
A) are really unreasonable
B) need special treatment
C) are really helpless
D) can never get any help to solve their problems with money
Questions 6 to 10 are based on the following passage:
For centuries man dreamed of achieving vertical flight. In 400 A.D. Chinese children played with a fan like toy that spun upwards and fell back to earth as rotation ceased. Leonardo da Vinci conceived(构思)the first mechanical apparatus(装置), called a "Helix", which could carry a man straight up, but this was only a design and was never tested.
The ancient dream was finally realized in 1940 when a Russian immigrant, an aeronautical engineer, piloted a strange-looking craft of steel tubing with a rotating fan on top. It rose awkwardly and vertically into the air from a standing start, hovered a few feet above the ground, went sideways and backwards, and then settled back to earth. That vehicle was called a helipcopter.
Imaginations were fired. Men dreamed of going to work in their own personal helipcopter. Every man would have one in his backyard. People anticipated that vertical flight transports would carry millions of passengers as do the airliners of today. Such fantastic expectations were not fulfilled.
The helicopter has now become an extremely versatile(多样化)machine. It excels in military missions, carrying troops, guns and strategic instruments where other aircraft cannot go. Corporations use them as offices in the air, many big cities use them in police work, construction and logging companies employ them in various advantageous ways，engineers use them for site selection and surveying, and oil companies use them as the best way to make offshore and remote work stations accessible to crews and supplies: Any urgent mission to a hard-to -get -to place is a likely task for a helicopter. Among their other kinds of uses, they deliver people across town, fly to and from airports, assist in rescue work, and aid in the search for missing or wanted persons.
6.What is a helicopter?
A) An aircraft that can go faster than the ordinary airplane.
B) An aircraft that can fit into the smallest possible place
C) An aircraft that can fly vertically
D) An aircraft that is used only for commercial service
7.What is said about the development of the helicopter?
A) Helicopters have only been worked on by man since 1940.
B) An Englishman was the first to achieve flight in a helicopter.
C) Helicopters were considered more dangerous than the early airplanes.
D)Some people thought they would become widely used by the average individual.
8.________ helicopters are found to be necessary.
A) For overseas passenger transportation
B) For extremely high altitude flight
C) For high-speed transportation
D) For urgent missions to inaccessible places
9.How has the use helicopters developed?
A) Each year they have become larger to accommodate greater loads.
B) They are taking the place of high-flying jets.
C) They are often used for rescue work.
D) They are now used exclusively for commercial projects.
10. Helicopters work on _______.
A) a combination of propellers(螺旋桨)in front and on top
B) a rotating propeller topside
C) one propeller in the center of the aircraft and others at each end
D) a propeller underneath for lifting power
Questions 11 to 15 are based on the following passage:
Most of us trade money for entertainment. Movies, concerts and shows are enjoyable but expensive. If you think that you can't have a good time without spending a lot of money, read on. A little resourcefulness(丰富资源)and a few minutes of newspaper-scanning should give you some pleasant surprises.
People may be the most interesting show in a large city. Stroll through busy streets and see what everybody else is doing. You will probably see people from all over the world; you will certainly see people of every age, size, and shape, and you'll get a free fashion show, too. Window-shopping is also a safe sport -if the stores are closed.
Check the listing in your neighborhood paper. Local colleges or schools often welcome the public to hear an interesting speaker or a good debate. The film or concert series at the local public library probably won't cost you a penny. Be sure to check commercial advertisements too. A flea market(跳蚤市场)can provide hours of pleasant browsing(浏览). Perhaps you can find a free cooking or crafts demonstration in a department store.
Plan ahead for some activities. It is always more pleasant not to have people in front of you in a museum or at a zoo. You may save money, too, since these places often set aside one or two free admission days at slow times during the week. Pretend that you are a tourist from time to time, and get to know your city all over again including the indispensable sights that people travel miles to see. If you feel like taking an interesting walk, find a free walking tour, or plan one yourself， you will see your city in a new perspective once you know more about its history or its architectural treasures. With imagination and a spirit of adventure you can quite easily find good entertainment at no cost at all.
11.You should be a tourist ________.
A) and enjoy without spending much money
B) and attend meetings to debate the issues people are interested in
C) if the film shown at the local public library is often free of charge
D) if you want to know more about the city you live in
12.The word "shape" in paragraph two refers to people being _______.
A) old and young
B) fat and thin
C) tall and short
D) beautiful and ugly
13.If you are wandering through the busy streets, which of the following will most attract you?
A) Various buildings.
B) Car driving.
C) Window-shopping.
D) Free walking.
14."--- one or two free admission days at slow times --- " means _______.
A) business is good
B) business is bad
C) strolling is slow
D) people are slow in learning
15.What is the best title for this passage?
A) Amusement at Little Cost
B) Movies, Concerts and Shows
C) The Cheapest Window-shopping
D) The most Enjoyable Street Musicians
Questions 16 to 20 are based on the following passage:
If you want to stay young, sit down and have a good think. This is the research finding of a team of Japanese doctors, who say that most of our brains are not getting enough exercise-and as a result, we are aging unnecessarily soon.
Professor Taiju Matsuzawa wanted to find out why otherwise healthy farmers in northern Japan appeared to be losing their ability to think and reason at a relatively early age, and how the process of aging could be slowed down.
With a team of colleagues at Tokyo National University, he set about measuring brain volumes of a thousand people of different ages and varying occupations.
Computer technology enabled the researchers to obtain precise measurements of the volume of the front and side sections of the brain, which relate to intellect(智能)and emotion, and determine the human character. (The rear section of the brain, which controls functions like eating and breathing, does not contract with age, and one can continue living wihtout intellectual or emotional faculties or functions.)
Contraction of front and side parts-as cells die off-was observed in some subjects in their thirties, but it was still not evident in some sixty- and seventy-year-olds.
Matsuzawa concluded from his tests that there is a simple remedy to the contraction normally associated with age-using the head.
The findings show in general terms that contraction of the brain begins sooner in people in the country than in the towns. Those least at risk, says Matsuzawa, are lawyers, followed by university professors and doctors, white collar workers doing routine work in government offices are, however, as likely to have shrinking brains as the farm worker, bus driver and shop assistant.
Matsuzawa's fingings show that thinking can prevent the brain from shrinking. Blood must circulate properly in the head to supply the fresh oxygen the brain cells need. "The best way to maintain good blood circulation is through using the brain," he says. "Think hard and engage in conversation. Don't rely on pocket calculators."
16.The team of doctors wanted to find out ________.
A) why certain people are aging sooner than others
B) how to make people live longer
C) the size of certain people's brains
D) which people are most intelligent
17.On what are their research findings based?
A) A survey of farmers in northern Japan.
B) Tests performed on a thousand old people.
C) Study of brain volumes of different people.
D)The latest development of computer technology.
18.The doctor's tests show that ________.
A) our brains shrink as we grow older
B) the front section of the brain does not shrink
C) sixty-year-olds have better brains than thirty-year-olds
D) some people's brains have contracted more than other people's
19.The word "subjects" in paragraph five means ________.
A) a team of colleagues of Professor Taiju Matsuzawa's at Tokyo National University
B) persons chosen to be studied in a medical experiment
C) doctors and nurses in the hospital
D) patients in the hospital
20.According to the passage, which people seem to age slower than the others?
A) Lawyers.
B) Farmers.
C) Clerks.
D) Shop assistants.