2011年12月大学英语四级真题及答案2011年12月大学英语四级真题及答案(仔细阅读部分).doc

2011年12月大学英语四级真题及答案2011年12月大学英语四级真题及答案(仔细阅读部分).doc 2011年12月大学英语四级真题及答案(仔细阅读部分) 仔细阅读: Passage One: Absence of girls removes pressure to conform to masculine stereotype， claims US researcher 美国研究者认为，男女分校有利于帮男生消除男性形象的压力 Rachel Williams The Guardian， Wednesday 20 January 2010 Boys' schools are the perfect place to teach young men to express their emotions and are more likely to get involved in activities such as art， dance and music， according to research released today( 据今日发布的研究表示，男校是教育年轻男性表达情感最佳的地点，也更有可能让他们 进行艺术、跳舞和音乐等活动。 Far from the traditional image of a culture of aggressive masculinity in which students either sink or swim， the absence of girlsgives boys the chance to develop without pressure toconform to a stereotype， the US study says( 这项美国研究说明，与传统文化形象强调的凡事靠自己、进取向上的男性特征不同，学 校里没有女生，给了男生在没有典型形象压力下自主发展的机会。 Boys at single sex schools were said to be more likely to get involved in cultural and artistic activities that helped develop their emotional expressiveness， rather than feeling they had to conform to the "boy code" of hiding their emotions to be a "real man"( 在男校里，男生们可以有更多的机会参与文化和艺术活动，帮助他们发展情感表现力。 他们不用强迫自己遵守―男生代码‖，隐藏内心的感情表现得像个―真正的男人‖。 The report， presented at a conference of the International Boys' Schools Coalition in London attended by the heads of private and state schools， goes against received wisdom that boys do better when taught alongside girls( 该研究发表于在伦敦举行的国际男校联盟会议上，众多私立学校和公立学校的主管 领导与会。报告驳斥了认为男生跟女生一起能学得更好的传统常识。 The headmaster of Eton， Tony Little， warned that boys were being failed by the British education system because it had become too focused on girls( He criticised teachers for failing to recognise that boys are actually more emotional than girls， despite the fact that girls "turn on the waterworks"( 伊顿公学的校长Tony Little警告说，现在的英国教育体系太过关注女生，可能会造成男 生的教育失败。他批评教师们没有意识到，虽然女生很容易哭泣，但男生其实比女生情感更 丰富。 The research argued that boys often perform badly in mixed schools because they become demoralised when their female counterparts do better earlier in verbal skills and reading， because the left side of the brain develops faster in girls( They also felt they had to be "cool" rather than studious( 研究认为，在男女混合学校中，男生通常表现较差。因为女生的左脑发展较快，所以女 生在口语技能和阅读能力方面的优势会较早突显，相形见绌之下，男生会士气低落，会觉得 表现得酷酷地比学习用功更自在。 But in single sex schools teachers are able to tailor lessons to boys' learning style， letting them move around the classroom and getting them to compete in teams to prevent boredom， wrote the study's author， education expert Abigail James， of the University of Virginia( 该研究的作者是弗吉尼亚大学大学的教育专家Abigail James。他在文中写到，在男校中， 教师会为男生们量身制作适合他们学习方式的课程，允许他们在教室自由活动，组队竞赛避 免沉闷。 Teachers could encourage boys to enjoy reading and writing with specifically "boy, focused" approaches such as themes and characters that appeal to them( Boys in boys' schools "loved" topen verse because they enjoyed the "inherent structure in poems"， James said( Because， the researchers say， boys generally have better spatial skills， more acute vision， learn best through touch， are more impulsive and more physically active， they need to be given "hands,on" lessons where they are allowed to walk around， with this natural impulse not seen as disruptive( "Boys in mixed schools view classical music as feminine and prefer the modern genre in which violence and sexism are major themes，" James wrote( Abigail James表示，教师可以采用特定的―以男生为中心‖的教学方式，选一些会吸引男 生的主题和人物，鼓励他们享受阅读和写作的乐趣。男校的男生会―热爱‖写诗，因为他们喜 欢―诗歌的内在结构‖。James表示，这是因为男生通常空间技巧更强，视觉更敏锐，触觉是 他们最好的学习方式，他们比女生更冲动也更好动，所以需要为男生提供一些―实践操作‖ 的课程，可以允许他们在教室里自由活动，这样才不至于破坏他们的本性。James在文中写 到:―男女混校中的男生会觉得古典音乐很女人，所以会更喜欢主题为暴力和性别主义的现 代音乐。‖ Single sex education also made it less likely that boys would feel they had to conform to a stereotype gained from the media by girls that men should be "masterful and in charge" in relationships( "In the present sexualised atmosphere prevalent in mixed schools， boys feel coerced into acting like men before they understand themselves well enough to know what that means，" the report said( 分校教育也可以让男生不用遵守另外一种固定形象:那就是女生通常会从电影电视中总 结出男生在男女关系中专横和负责的形象。报告中表示:―现在的男女混校明显存在性别化 氛围，男生还没有对自己有足够多的了解懂得男性特征的意义，就被迫要表现得像个男人一 样。‖ Passage 1 57( C( encourage boys to express their emotions more freely 58( A( perform relatively better 59( C( It fails to give boys the attention they need( 60( A( teaching can be tailored to suit the characteristics of boys 61( B( They conform to stereotypes( Passage Two: Are money problems driving you apart? 是钱的问题让你们分手了, Sometimes love really can be measured in pounds and pence( 有时候爱情可能真的会用金钱来衡量。 It's an annual argument( Do we or do we not go on holiday? My partner says no because the boiler could go， or the roof fall off， and we have no savings to save us( I say that you only live once and we work hard and what's the point if you can't go on holiday( The joy of a recession means no argument next year – we just won't go( 每年大家都会因为这个吵来吵去:我们去不去旅行,我家的那位会说不去，因为热水器 可能会坏，屋顶可能会塌下来，我们没钱救自己。我会说人只能活一次，我们工作这么辛苦， 不去度假生活又有什么意义。不好今年经济不景气也好，明年不会吵架了，因为我们是不会 去旅行了。 Since money is reputed to be one of the things most likely to bring a relationship to its knees， we should be grateful( For many families the recession means more than not booking a holiday( A YouGov poll of 2，000 people in May this year found 22% said they were arguing more with their partners because of concerns about money( What's less clear is whether divorce and separation rates rise in a recession – financial pressures mean couples argue more but make splitting up less affordable( A recent report from ICOR (the online Information Centre on Relationships) cited research showing arguments about money were especially damaging to couples – even more so to their children( Disputes were characterised by intense verbal aggression， tended to be repeated and not resolved， and made men， more than women， extremely angry( 钱应该是最可能让一段关系跌入谷底的东西了，所以我们应该心怀感激。对于大部分家 庭来说，经济不景气可不仅仅是不能去度假这么简单。YouGov调研公司在今年5月进行的 一项2000人的民意调查显示，22%的人表示，会因为对金钱的担忧跟伴侣吵架。不过现在并 不清楚经济衰退时期离婚和分居比率会否上升——财务压力意味着夫妻会吵架更多，但很难 承担分手。 在线人际关系信息中心ICOR近期的一项报告援引研究结果显示，关于金钱的 吵架尤其容易伤害夫妻的关系:对孩子们的伤害更大。金钱纠纷主要表现为激烈的言语攻击， 两人会多次争吵但问题仍无法解决，男性会比女性情绪更为气愤。 So why are arguments about money so emotive? Since they seem to be so even without a recession， they have to be about more than literally pounds and pence( 为什么关于钱的争吵会让人很情绪化,即使并非经济衰退期也是如此，而这样的争吵也 不单纯只是关于钱而已。 Kim Stephenson， an occupational psychologist， believes money is such a big deal because of what it symbolises， which may be different things to men and women( "People can say the same things about money but have different conceptions of what it is for，" he explains( "They will say it's to save， to spend， for security， for freedom， to show someone you love them， to keep score(" 职业心理学家Kim Stephenson认为，人们会对钱的问题小题大做，是因为钱对男性和 女性有着不同的象征意义。他解释道:―人们都会谈论钱，但是心中却对钱有不同的概念。 钱是用来省的，用来花的，保障安全，赢取自由，用来向某人表示你爱他/她，用来得分。‖ He says men are more likely to see money as a way of buying status， of trying to best the man down the road who's just bought a flash car， and of showing their parents that they've achieved something( He warns that， while couples need enough money not to struggle and be unhappy， an extra ?5，000 above that amount won't make them any happier( 他表示男性更容易把钱当做某些手段:买到地位，赢过附近刚刚买了辆拉风汽车的人， 或者向父母表现他们的成功。他警告道，虽然夫妻需要足够的钱让生活不至于艰辛不幸福， 但再多5000英镑的金额也无法让他们更幸福。 "The biggest problem is that couples assume each other knows what is going on with their finances， but they don't(There seems to be more of a taboo about talking about money than talking about death( But you both need to know what you are doing， who is paying what into the joint account and how much you keep separately( In a healthy relationship you don't have to agree about money， but you have to talk about it(" ―最大的问题是夫妻会认为彼此了解他们的财政状况，但其实并非这样。谈论金钱比谈 论死亡其实更算是禁忌。但夫妻需要了解清楚家里的情况，联名账户谁在付多少,账户里大 家各自又有多少,一段健康的关系中，你们不需要对钱有相同的看法，但大家需要谈论关于 钱的事情。‖ Research from a wholesome organisation in the US called the National Healthy Marriage Resource Center says that establishing a "fair and equitable pattern of handling money early in marriage appears to be important for the quality and stability of the marriage"( Admitting your incomes to each other and making budgets for your household expenses may not seem romantic but it is， in fact， the real language of love( 美国卫生组织国家健康婚姻资源中心的研究表示，―在婚姻初期，建立公平公正的金钱 处理模式，对婚姻的质量和稳定性很重要‖。对彼此的收入坦诚相待，对家庭的开支进行规 划，听起来可能不浪漫，但其实这才是爱情真正的语言。 Passage 2 62( C( It makes all the hard work worthwhile( 63( D( Disputes over money may ruin a relationship( 64( A( conflicts between couples tend to rise 65( D( Men and women view money in different ways( 66( C( discuss money matters to maintain a healthy relationship