大学英语四级阅读理解练习九
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:
Water on the earth is being recycled continuously in a process known as the hydrologic cycle (水循环). The first step of the cycle is the evaporation of water in the oceans. Evaporation is the process of water turning into vapor, which then forms clouds in the sky. The second step is the water returning to the earth in the form of precipitation (降水) ：either rain, snow or ice. When the water returning to the earth's surface, it runs off into the rivers, lakes, and the ocean, where the cycle begins again.
Not all water, however, stays on the surface of the earth in the hydrologic cycle. Some of it sinks slowly into the ground through infiltration (渗透) and collects under the earth's surface as groundwater. This groundwater is extremely important to life on earth, since 95 percent of the earth's water is in the oceans and is too salty for human beings or plants. Of the 5 percent on land, only .05 percent is above ground in rivers or lakes. The rest is underground water. This underground water is plentiful and dependable, because it doesn't depend on seasonal rain or snow. It is the major source of water for many cities. But as the population increases and the need for water also increases, the groundwater in some areas is getting dangerously low. Added to this problem is an increasing amount of pollution that sinks into the groundwater through infiltration. In the future, with a growing population and more poisonous waste, the hydrologic cycle we depend on could become dangerously unbalanced.
1. The first paragraph of this passage tells about ________.
A) the cycling of earth's water
B) the evaporation of ocean water
C) the formation of clouds
D) the sources of river, lake and sea
2. Water returns to the earth by _________.
A) infiltration
B) precipitation
C) pollution
D) evaporation
3. The earth's groundwater __________.
A) depends on seasonal rain
B) is .05 percent of all water
C) comes from polluted waste water
D) collects under the earth
4. The amount of groundwater is __________.
A) about 95 percent of all water
B) less than 5 percent of all water
C) .05 percent of above-ground water
D) 95 percent of above-ground water
5. The supply of groundwater is getting low because of _________.
A) conservation
B) poisonous waste
C) pollution
D) population increase
Questions 6 to 10 are based on the following passage:
Advertising in America offers some great advantages to consumers. For example, in order to keep prices low through mass production, companies must have a mass market for their products. Mass advertising creates mass markets. Producers cannot afford to develop new products, put them on the market and wait for customers to discover them. This would take too long. Demand for some products must be created. This is done through advertising.
But advertising sometimes makes it difficult for consumers to make wise decisions. The fact is that when people are constantly flooded with messages through the mass media(大众媒体)persuading them to buy particular products, many respond by buying them.
Advertising is designed to influence an individual to buy a product. Sellers often study human behavior to discover what will convince consumers to buy a certain item. This reason for buying is called a buying motive.
Buying motives are usually broken down into two categories: rational and emotional. Rational buying motives include the desire to save money, the desire for comfort, or the desire for good workmanship. Emotional buying motives include buying out of fear, wanting to be liked, and wanting to have something better than your friends have.
Emotional appeals are found in most consumer advertising today. Certain cars promise to make the driver feel "younger" and " freer". Shoes promise to make the buyer's whole life "springier". Life insurance policies promise to take the "care out of living".
Most consumers believe that they are not easily influenced by emotional appeals. However, corporations that sell consumer products obviously think differently. They spend many millions of dollars every day on radio, television, newspaper and magazine ads that use these appeals.
6.It can be inferred from the passage that one of the advantages of advertising for consumers is that __________.
A) it can create a big demand for consumer goods
B) the mass market created by it leads to low prices
C) producers can introduce new products to consumers
D) it helps consumers discover new products
7.Consumers sometimes find it difficult to make a sensible decision when buying a particular product because __________ .
A) many advertisements are too difficult for them to understand
B) they are afraid to be taken in by dishonest advertisements
C) mass advertising offers them a range of good and cheap products
D) they are confused by the quantity of advertisements promoting it
8.According to the passage, a toothpaste ad promising that people who use the product will make a lot of friends is an example of an ad that appeals to __________ .
A) rational buying motives
B) the consumer's commonsense
C) emotional buying motives
D) the desire for a good product
9.The reason why companies spend enormous amounts of money on advertising is that ________ .
A) they believe people can be influenced to buy a certain produce
B) it takes a lot of advertising to convince people to buy a certain product
C) most consumers are not easily influenced by emotional appeals
D) advertising based on emotional appeals are very effective
10.The best title for this passage would be ________ .
A) Advertising can create demand
B)The advantages of advertising
C)What effective advertising can do
D)The role of advertising in selling products
Questions 11to 20 are based on the following passage:
We find that bright children are rarely held back by mixed-ability teaching. On the contrary, both their knowledge and experience are enriched. We feel that there are many disadvantages in streaming
Questions 16 to 20 are based on the following passage:
Most young people enjoy some form of physical activity. It may be walking, cycling or swimming, or in winter, skating or skiing. It may be a game of some kind of football, hockey, golf, or tennis. It may be mountaineering.
Those who have a passion for climbing high and difficult mountains are often looked upon with astonishment. Why are men and women willing to suffer cold and hardship, and to take risk on high mountains? This astonishment is caused probably by the difference between mountaineering and other forms of activity to which men give their leisure.
Mountaineering is a sport and not a game. There are no man-made rules, as there are for such games as golf and football. There are, of course, rules of a different thing that it would be dangerous to ignore, but it is this freedom from man-made rules that makes mountaineering attractive to many people. Those who climb mountains are free to use their own methods.
If we compare mountaineering and other more familiar sports, we might think that one big difference is that mountaineering is not a "team game". We should be mistaken in this. There are, it is true, no "matches" between "teams" of climbers, but when climbers are on a rock face linked by a rope on which their lives may depend, there is obviously teamwork.
The mountain climber knows that he may have to fight forces that are stronger and more powerful than men. He has to fight the forces of nature. His sport requires high mental and physical qualities.
A mountain climber continues to improve in skill year after year. A skier is probably past his best by the age of thirty, and most international tennis champions are in their early twenties. But it is not unusual for a man of fifty or sixty to climb the highest mountains in the Alps. They may take more time than younger men, but they probably climb with more skill and less waste of efforts, and they certainly experience equal enjoyment.
16. What's the meaning of " to take risk" in sentence two, paragraph two?
A) "to play a team game"
B) "to fight the forces of nature"
C) "to face the possible danger"
D)"to climb the highest mountain"
17.The difference between a sport and a game has to do with the kind of _________.
A) activity
B) rules
C) uniform
D) climbers
18. Mountaineering can be called a team sport because _________.
A) it is an Olympic event
B) teams compete against each other
C) mountaineers depend on each other while climbing
D) there are five climbers on each team
19. Mountaineers compete against _________.
A) nature
B) each other
C) other teams
D) intermational standards
20.Choose the best title for the passage: __________.
A) Mountaineering Is Different from Golf and Football
B) Mountaineering Is More Attractive than Other Sports
C) Mountaineering
D) Mountain Climber