1.2021年12月大學英語四級閱讀理解
Some houses are designed to be smart. Others have smart designs. An example of the second type of house won an Award of Excellence from the American Institute of Architects.Located on the shore of Sullivan’s Island off the coast of South Carolina, the award-winning cube-shaped beach house was built to replace one smashed to pieces by Hurricane (颶風) Hugo 10 years ago. In September1989, Hugo struck South Carolina, killing 18 people and damaging or destroying 36,000 homes in the state.
Before Hugo, many new houses built along South Carolina’s shoreline were poorly constructed, and enforcement of building codes wasn’t strict, according to architect Ray Huff, who created the cleverly-designed beach house. In Hugo’s wake, all new shoreline houses are required to meet stricter, better-enforced codes.The new beach house on Sullivan’s Island should be able to withstand a Category 3 hurricane with peak winds of 179 to 209 kilometers per hour.
At first sight, the house on Sullivan’s Island looks anything but hurricane-proof. Its redwood shell makes it resemble “a large party lantern (燈籠)” at night, according to one observer. But looks can be deceiving. The house’s wooden frame is reinforced with long steel rods to give it extra strength.
To further protect the house from hurricane damage, Huff raised it 2.7 meters off the ground on timber pilings—long, slender columns of wood anchored deep in the sand. Pilings might appear insecure, but they arestrong enough to support the weight of the house. They also elevate the house above storm surges. The pilings allow the surges to run under the house instead of running into it. “These swells of water come ashore at tremendous speeds and cause most of the damage done to beach-front buildings,” said Huff.
Huff designed the timber pilings to be partially concealed by the house’s ground-to-roof shell. “ The shell masks the pilings so that the house doesn’t look like it’s standing with its pant legs pulled up,” said Huff. In the event of a storm surge, the shell should break apart and let the waves rush under the house, the architect explained.
練習題：
Choose correct answers to the question:
1. After the tragedy caused by Hurricane Hugo, new houses built along South Carolina’s shore line are required ________.
A. to be easily reinforced
B. to look smarter in design
C. to meet stricter building standards
D. to be designed in the shape of cubes
2. The award-winning beach house is quite strong because ________.
A. it is strengthened by steel rods
B. it is made of redwood
C. it is in the shape of a shell
D. it is built with timber and concrete
3. Huff raised the house 2.7 meters off the ground on timber pilings in order to ________.
A. withstand peak winds of about 200 km/hr
B. anchor stronger pilings deep in the sand
C. break huge sea waves into smaller ones
D. prevent water from rushing into the house
4. The main function of the shell is ________.
A. to strengthen the pilings of the house
B. to give the house a better appearance
C. to protect the wooden frame of the house
D. to slow down the speed of the swelling water
5. It can be inferred from the passage that the shell should be ________.
A. fancy-looking
B. waterproof
C. easily breakable
D. extremely strong
1.[C] 根據題目中的專有名詞Hugo查找到文中第3段第2句。句中的In Hugo’s wake相當于題目中的after Hugo,由該句是的stricter，better-enforced codes可知C正確。
2.[A] 第4段開始具體介紹the house,根據該段最后一句可知，這幢房子的木制結構用長鋼筋加固了，因而特別結實,故選A。
3.[D] 根據題干的數字可迅速定位至第5段首，第2、3句闡述這樣做的目的是“將房屋抬髙到暴風雨巨浪之上,及讓巨浪能在屋下流過�！逼渲衦unning into it與D中的rushing into the house同義,故D正確。
4.[B] 最后一段第2句提出，外殼可以把木樁遮蓋住,所以它主要起“粉飾”作用。
5.[C] 根據最后一句可知，如果暴風雨巨浪涌來，外殼就會裂開，讓巨浪在房屋下面奔涌而過，因此外殼應該是“易碎的”。
2.2021年12月大學英語四級閱讀理解
One of the bitterest and most time-worm debates in student union bars up and down the country is resolved as academic research confirms that in financial terms at least, arts degrees are a complete waste of time.Getting through university boosts students’earnings by 25%, on a weighted average, or $220,000 over theirlifetime, according to Professor Ian Walker of Warwick University-but if they study Shakespeare or the peasants’revolt instead of anatomy of contract law, those gains are likely to be completely wiped out.The government is about to allow universities to charge students up to $3,000 a year for their degrees, arguing that it’s a small price to pay compared with the financial rewards graduates reap later in life. But Prof. Walker’s research shows there are sharp variations in returns according to which subject a student takes.
Law, medicine and economics or business are the most lucrative choices, making their average earnings 25% higher, according to the article, published in the office for national statistics’monthly journal. Scientists get 10-15% extra. At the bottom of the list are arts subjects, which make only a “small ”differenceto earnings- a small negative one, in fact. Just ahead are degrees in education-which leave hard pressed teachers anaverage of 5% better off a year than if they had left school at 18.
“it’s hard to resist the conclusion that what students learn does matter a lot; and some subject areas givemore modest financial returns than others,” Prof. Walker said. As an economist, he was quick to point outthat students might gain non-financial returns from arts degrees:”Studying economics might be very dull, forexample, and studying post-modernism might be a lot of fun.”
練習題：
Choose correct answers to the question:
1.What is the best title for the passage?
A.Professor Walker’s Research
B.How to Make Big Money.
C.Differences Between Science and Arts Degrees.
D.Studying Arts Has Negative Financial Outcome.
2.Universities charge students a rather high tuition mainly because_____
A.they provide the students with very prosperous subjects to learn
B.they assume that their graduates can earn much more than they had paid
C.they don’t get financial support from the government
D.they need much revenue to support the educational expenses
3.The word “l(fā)ucrative”(Line 1, Para. 4) most probably means _____
A.sensible
B.creative
C.profitable
D.reliable
4.Law, medical and business graduates could earn 25% more than ______
A.education graduates
B.arts graduates
C.those who had not studied at the university
D.the average income
5.We can safely conclude that the author ______
A.regards arts degrees as meaningless
B.finds this result disappointing and unfair
C.wants the students to think twice before they decide what to learn in college
D.holds that arts degrees are still rewarding despite its scarce financial returns
1.[D] 主旨大意題。本文為Walker教授的研究成果，旨在說明不同專業(yè)的畢業(yè)生有不同的經濟回報，并非要傳授發(fā)財心得或者比較文理科的異同。文章首句即為本題解題關鍵，故D正確。
2.[B] 事實細節(jié)題。定位至第3段第1句。本文只有這一句與收取學費有關，后一個分句即前一個分句的理由，抓住其中隱含的因果關系就不難找到正確答案。
3.[C] 詞義理解題。通過下文數據earnings 25% higher和get 10-15% extra可以推測lucrative大意應為“給人帶來豐厚收入的”,故選C。
4.[C] 事實細節(jié)題。第4段中出現了幾個比較數字，考題要求找到此段首句提到的收人增加25%的參照點。第2段第1句中的Getting through university 表明這類學生收人增加25%的參照對象是沒讀大學的人，且從第4段第3句中的the list和第4句即可以確定這一段是在比較大學畢業(yè)與18歲畢業(yè)(即沒讀大學)收入的不同，因此C正確。
5.[D] 推理判斷題。結論往往出現在文章結尾,要想答對此題,一定要仔細體會本文末句。本文雖然重點討論文科沒有經濟效益，但是作者并沒有做出主觀判斷，故A、B、C都不正確，而作者在文章最后講到了人文學科雖然經濟效益不佳但學習過程更有趣，故D符合作者意思。
3.2021年12月大學英語四級閱讀理解
Many private institutions of higher education around the country are in danger. Not all will be saved, andperhaps not all deserve to be saved. There are low-quality schools just as there are low-quality business.We have no obligation to save them simply because they exist.But many thriving institutions that deserve to continue are threatened. They are doing a fine job educationally, but they are caught in a financial squeeze, with no way to reduce rising costs or increase revenuessignificantly. Raising tuition doesn’t bring in more revenue, for each time tuition goes up, the enrollment goes down, or the amount that must be given away in student aid goes up. Schools are bad businesses, whether public or private, not usually because of mismanagement but because of the nature of the enterprise.They lose money on every customer, and they can go bankrupt either from too few students or too many students. Even a very good college is a very bad business.
It is such colleges, thriving but threatened, I worry about. Low enrollment is not their chief problem. Even with full enrollments, they may go under. Efforts to save them, and preferably to keep them private, are a national necessity. There is no basis for arguing that private schools are inherently (固有地)better than public schools. Examples to the contrary abound. Anyone can name state universities and colleges that rank as the finest in the nation and the world. It is now inevitable that public institutions will be dominant, and therefore diversity is a national necessity. Diversity in the way we support schools tends to give us a healthy diversity in the forms of education. In an imperfect society such as ours, uniformity of education throughout the nation could be dangerous. In an imperfect society, diversity is a positive good. Enthusiastic supporters of public higher education know the importance of sustaining private higher education.
練習題：
Choose correct answers to the question:
1.According to the author's opinion, schools are bad businesses because of _______.
A. mismanagement
B. too few students
C. financial squeeze
D. their characteristics
2.The author used the phrase “go under" in Para. 3 to mean "_______".
A. get into difficulties
B. have low enrollment
C. have little money
D. bring in more money
3.We can reasonably conclude from this passage that the author made an appeal to the public in order to support_____
A. public institution
B. private schools
C. uniformity of education
D. diversity of education
4.Which of the following is NOT mentioned about private schools?
A. High-quality private schools deserve to be saved.
B. If the tuition of the private schools is raised, the enrollment goes down.
C. There are many cases to show that public schools are better than private schools.
D. Private schools are more profitable than public schools.
5.Which of the following ways could possibly save private schools?
A. Raising tuition.
B. Full enrollment.
C. National awareness and support.
D. Reduction of rising costs.
1.[D] 事實細節(jié)題。本題考查因果關系。第2段倒數第3句中的“not because of... but because of...”指出了nature就是原因所在，characteristics是nature的近義詞，故D正確。
2.[A] 詞義理解題。通過go under所在句子中的Even with......可知，該句與上一句形成對比，這兩句中的enrollment是相對應的，所以go under應該也與上文的problem相對應，由此可推斷，go under就是have problem/ difficulty之義。本題干擾性的是C，但文中并無細節(jié)具體說明即使入學人數滿額學校收人也很少的問題，因此C把problem定義得過細，不如A恰當。
3.[B] 推理判斷題，也是主旨大意題。文章一開頭就指出“許多私立髙等學校都處于危險之中”，引起讀者的關注，結尾句明確倡議支持公立髙等教育的人們應該同樣支持私立髙等教育，由此可見,B是本文的目的。本題干擾性的是D，D的說法在最后一段中多次提到，但是作者提出辦學多樣性是為了說明私立教育的重要性，故D只是本文主題(私立教育)的支持性細節(jié)，并非本文的中心話題。
4.[D] 事實細節(jié)題。可用排除法找出答案。A可從第1段推斷得出;B可在第2段第3句中找到;C可從最后一段中間找到。
5.[C] 推理判斷題。可用排除法找出答案，根據原文，第2段第3句可證明A不可行;最后一段第3句證明B不可行;第2段第2句也指出D行不通。本文的目的是為了提高公眾對私立教育的關注，由此可見，只有C是拯救私立高校的可行性方法。
