大学英语四级考试15选10专项训练（六）

遇见明天

Unit Twenty-Six

Passage 2

  I have never attended a largecompany's board meeting in my life, but I feel certain that the discussionoften takes the following lines. The 11 of producing a new—forexample—toothpaste would make 8 Op the decent price for it, so we will marketit at £l. 20. It is not a bad toothpaste (not specially good either, but notbad) , and as people like to try new things it will sell well to start with;but the 12 of novelty soon fades, so sales will 13 . When thatstarts to happen we will reduce the price to £l.15. And we will turn it into abargain by printing 5p OFF all over it, whereupon people will rush to buy iteven though it still costs about forty-three percent more than its 14price.

  Sometimes it is not 5p OFF but lpOFF. What a shame to advertise lp OFF your soap or washing powder or dog foodor whatever. Even the poorest old-age pensioner ought to regard this as aninsult, but he doesn't. A bargain must not be 15 To be offered a"gift" of one penny is like being invited to dinner and offered onesingle pea (tastily cooked), and nothing else. Even if it represented a 16reduction it would be an insult. Still, people say, one has to have washingpowder (or whatever) and one might as well buy it a penny cheaper. When I was aboy in Hungary a man was 17 of murdering some one for the sake of onepengo, the equivalent of a shilling, and pleaded 18 The judge shouted 19: "To kill a man for a shilling!   

  What can you say in your 20?" The murderer replied: "A shilling here. . . a shilling there. . ." And that's what today's shopper says, too: "A penny here... a pennythere. . . "

A. missed   B. defense C. real   D. cost

E. anxiously    F.  attraction    G. fair    H. expense

I. fall  J.  angrily   K. dismissed   L.  accused

M. guilty N. faulty O. security      

Unit Twenty-Seven

Passage 2

  Sugar is so much a part of ourmodern life that we only really think about it when, for some 11 , wecannot obtain it. It has been known to man for at least 3,000 years, but has 12into common use only in 13 times.   

  Until quite recently it wasconsidered as a medicine and as a luxury for the very rich only.

  Sugar is, then, 14 to ourcivilization. But what 15 is it? Of course, most of us recognize sugarimmediately as the sweet material which we put in coffee or cakes. This commonform of sugar is derived from two plants: the sugar cane (a type of grass whichgrows to a height of twenty feet) and the sugar beet (which grows underground). But there are in fact many types of sugar, and the chemist recognizeshundreds of different 16 , each coming from a different source.

  About 90% of the sugar is producedas food. Only 10% is used in industry for 17 other than food production.Yet sugar has great possibilities for use as the basis of chemicals. It caneven be used for making plastics. In the future these potential uses willcertainly be developed more than in the past.

  There are many reasons why weshould 18 the production of sugar. Most important is that it is one ofthe most highly concentrated of energy foods.

  Thus sugar cane and beet producean average of 7,000,000 calories per acre. In this way they have the advantageover potatoes which give only 4, 000, 000, while the 19 for wheat andbeans is 2 ,000,000 each. So three acres of land growing wheat, beans andpotatoes give only 20 more energy than one acre of sugar.

A. slightly   B. intention C. reason   D. modern

E. strongly  F.  figure G. come H. significant

I. exactly    J.  increase K. proposals   L.  turn

M. purposes    N. varieties O. serious      

Unit Twenty-Eight

Passage 2

  The birth of computers has broughtwith it a new set of opportunities for mischief and crime. Today, computers areeasy to come by and many people know how computer technology 11 . Moreimportantly, the growing use of computer networks can multiply the violation ofsecurity, making large numbers of people more vulnerable than would be the caseif they were using12 , stand-alone computers.

  What's more, computer expertsagree that—despite recent widespread publicity-computer viruses are 13one of the many computer security problems facing the nation.

  The U. S. Defense AdvancedResearch Project Agency has requested that the Research Council's Science andTechnology Board 14 the security problems posed by computer technology,see what 15 may already exist, review research efforts 16 atavoiding security problems in the future, and evaluate existing policies 17to computer security. The study committee will examine the 18 ofsecurity for a broad spectrum of users, including the business, national security,and academic communities, as well as the 19 public.

  David. Clark, senior researchscientist, Laboratory for Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology, will chair the 20 of experts in electronic security,net-work security, computer law, software engineering ? and operating systems.The committee will also include computer users from the defense and bankingindustries.

A. only   B. works   C. solutions    D. general

E. issue F.  fundamentally  G.    universal    H. assess

I. aimed    J.  single   K. committee  L.  generates

M.relevant     N. question O. community      

Unit Twenty-Nine

Passage 2

  Leonardo da Vinci was the firstman to suggest that growing trees add a new ring in their trunks each year. The11in these rings relates to the physical conditions which the tree experiences. Thus,trees grown in a      12 area andtime each develop a pattern or configuration of their rings.

  This 13 was of littlesignificance until Andrew E. Douglas began to study tree rings in Arizona in 1900. Using atechnique called cross dating, he was able to employ tree rings to the study ofarchaeological sites and date the ruins with 14 . Some were as old as6700 B. C. ! This study of tree rings is called dendrochronology.

  In time the cross dating was 15by a carbon 14 process. This approach measured the amount of carbon 14radiating from a piece of wood and 16 to determine the age of that wood.Further use of the carbon 14 technique has shown that the radiation process ismore complex and less 17 than had been at first thought.

The most 18 aspect of tree ring research is now called dendroclimatology.

  This 19 of the reconstruction ofclimates and climatic cycles and events from the evidence found in the treerings. From this it is hoped that a 20 of drought cycles can bedetermined in the American Southwest. Such information will be of great help indetermining the life and ecology of that region of the United States.

A. thus   B. model    C. variation D. concept

E. accuracy    F.  exciting  G. consists H. given

I. proposition   J.  composes  K. further    L.  pattern

M. supplemented    N. reliable  O. excellent         

Unit Thirty

Passage 2

  Gary Finkle had his backboneseverely 11 in aswimming-pool accident seven years ago. A heavy-set, bearded man of 27, he isone of thousands of Americans who have lost 12 all feeling and movementfrom their shoulders down. He lives with his wife, Mickey, and a female monkeynamed Jo outside the village of Andes, N. Y.

  Gary is a participant in a remarkable 13 calledHelping Hands: Simian Aides for the disabled.

The nonprofitorganization 14 the disabled withtrained monkeys that reduce the disabled person's 15 on family, friendsand hired attendants.

  Using his mouth, Gary controls a small laser pointer mountedon his wheel chair. With it, he directs Jo to change books or cassette player.She brings him drinks from a refrigerator and 16 away empties.

  When asked, Jo will fetch theremote control for the TV and place it on Gary'sworking table where he can operate it with his mouth-stick. The mouth-stick ishis 17 tool. It can be used for practically everything: turning thepages of a book, 18 the telephone, changing channels on the TV, workingat a typewriter or computer. If Gary'smouth-stick drops to the floor, Jo will pick it up and 19 reinsert itinto his mouth.

  "I can't imagine livingwithout her," Garysays. He will always need      20assistance for such things as getting in or out of bed, bathing or changing hisclothes.

A. human   B.  dependency   C.  humble  D. virtually

E. injured  F.  clears   G. visibly   H.  agent

I. cleans  J. supplies   K.  wounded   L.  primary

M.  dialing    N. enterprise   O.  gently

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