2017年6月四级真题第3套.doc

2017年6月大学英语四级考试真题（第三套）Part I Writing (30 minutes)Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an advertisement on your campus website to sell a book you used at college. Your advertisement may include its brand, specifications/features, condition and price, and your contact information. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.Part Listening Comprehension (25 minutes)（说明：由于2016年12月六级考试全国共考了2套听力，本套真题听力与前2套内容完全一样，只是顺序不一样，因此在本套真题中不再重复出现) Part Reading Comprehension (40 minutes)Section ADirections: In this section, there is a passage with ten blanks. You are required to select one word for each blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage. Read the passage through carefully before making your choices. Each choice in the bank is identified by a letter. Please mark the corresponding letter for each item on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre. You may not use any of the words in the bank more than once.Questions 26 to 35 are based on the following passage.As if you needed another reason to hate the gym, it now turns out that exercise can exhaust not only your muscles, but also your eyes. Fear not, however, for coffee can perk them right up again. During 26 exercise, our muscles tire as they run out of fuel and build up waste products. Muscle performance can also be affected by a 27 called “central fatigue,” in which an imbalance in the bodys chemical messengers prevents the central nervous system from directing muscle movements 28 . It was not known, however, whether central fatigue might also affect motor systems not directly 29 in the exercise itselfsuch as those that move the eyes. To find out, researchers gave 11 volunteers a carbohydrate 30 either with a moderate dose of caffeinewhich is known to stimulate the central nervous systemor as a placebo without, during 3 hours of 31 . After exercising, the scientists tested the cyclists with eye-tracking cameras to see how well their brains could still 32 their visual system. The team found that exercise reduced the speed of rapid eye movements by about 8%, 33 their ability to capture new visual information. The caffeinethe equivalent of two strong cups of coffeewas 34 to counteract this effect, with some cyclists even displaying 35 eye movement speeds, the team reports today in Scientific Reports. So it might be a good idea to get someone else to drive you home after that marathon.A) cautiouslyB) commitC) controlD) cyclingE) effectivelyF) increasedG) involvedH) limitedI) phenomenonJ) preventingK) sensitiveL) slowingM) solution N) sufficientO) vigorousSection BDirections: In this section, you are going to read a passage with ten statements attached to it. Each statement contains information given in one of the paragraphs. Identify the paragraph from which the information is derived. You may choose a paragraph more than once. Each paragraph is marked with a letter. Answer the question by marking the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2.The Blessing and Curse of the People Who Never ForgetA handful of people can recall almost every day of their lives in enormous detailand after years of research, neuroscientists are finally beginning to understand how they do it.A For most of us, memory is a mess of blurred and faded pictures of our lives. As much as we would like to cling on to our past, even the saddest moments can be washed away with time.B Ask Nima Veiseh what he was doing for any day in the past 15 years, however, and he will give you the details of the weather, what he was wearing, or even what side of the train he was sitting on his journey to work. “My memory is like a library of video tapes, walk-throughs of every day of my life from walking to sleeping,” he explains.C Veiseh can even put a date on when those tapes started recording: 15 December 2000, when he met his first girlfriend at his best friends 16th birthday party. He had always had a good memory, but the thrill of young love seems to have shifted a gear in his mind: from now on, he would start recording his whole life in detail. “I could tell you everything about every day after that.”D Needless to say, people like Veiseh are of great interest to neuroscientists (神经科学专家) hoping to understand the way the brain records our lives. A couple of recent papers have finally opened a window on these peoples extraordinary minds. And such research might even suggest ways for us all to relive our past with greater clarity.E Highly superior autobiographical memory (or HSAM for short), first come to light in the early 2000s, with a young woman named Jill Price. Emailing the neuroscientist and memory researcher Jim McGaugh one day, she claimed that she could recall every day of her life since the age of 12. Could he help explain her experiences?F McGaugh invited her to his lab, and began to test her: he would give her a date and ask her to tell him about the world events on that day. True to her word, she was correct almost every time.G It didnt take long for magazines and documentary film-makers to come to understand her “total recall”, and thanks to the subsequent media interest, a few dozen other subjects (including Veiseh) have since come forward and contacted the team at the University of California, Irvine.H Interestingly, their memories are highly self-centred: although they can remember “autobiographical” life events in extraordinary detail, they seem to be no better than average at recalling impersonal information, such as random (任意选取的) lists of words. Nor are they necessarily better at remembering a round of drinks, say. And although their memories are vast, they are still likely to suffer from “false memories”. Clearly, there is no such thing as a “perfect” memorytheir ordinary minds are still using the same flawed tools that the rest of us rely on. The question is, how?I Lawrence Patihis at the University of Southern Mississippi recently studied around 20 people with HSAM and found that they scored particularly high on two measures: fantasy proneness (倾向) and absorption. Fantasy proneness could be considered as a tendency to imagine and daydream, whereas absorption is the tendency to allow your mind to become fully absorbed in an activityto pay complete attention to the sensations (感受) and the experiences. “Im extremely sensitive to sounds, smells and visual detail,” explains Nicole Donohue, who has taken part in many of these studies. “I definitely feel things more strongly than the average person.”J The absorption helps them to establish strong foundations for a recollection, says Patihis, and the fantasy proneness means that they revisit those memories again and again in the coming weeks and months. Each time this initial memory trace is “replayed”, it becomes even stronger. In some ways, you probably go through that process after a big event like your wedding daybut the difference is that thanks to their other psychological tendencies, the HSAM subjects are doing it day in, day out, for the whole of their lives.K Not everyone with a tendency to fantasize will develop HSAM, though, so Patihis suggests that something must have caused them to think so much about their past. “Maybe some experience in their childhood meant that they became obsessed (着迷) with calendars and what happened to them,” says Patihis.L The people with HSAM Ive interviewed would certainly agree that it can be a mixed blessing. On the plus side, it allows you to relive the most transformative and enriching experiences. Veiseh, for instance, travelled a lot in his youth. In his spare time, he visited the local art galleries, and the paintings are now lodged deep in his autobiographical memories.M “Imagine being able to remember every painting, on every wall, in every gallery space, between nearly 40 countries,” he says. “Thats a big education in art by itself.” With this comprehensive knowledge of the history of art, he has since become a professional painter.N Donohue, now a history teacher, agrees that it helped during certain parts of her education: “I can definitely remember what I learned on certain days at school. I could imagine what the teacher was saying or what it looked like in the book.”O Not everyone with HSAM has experienced these benefits, however. Viewing the past in high definition can make it very difficult to get over pain and regret. “It can be very hard to forget embarrassing moments,” says Donohue. “You feel the same emotionsit is just as raw, just as fresh You cant turn off that stream of memories, no matter how hard you try.” Veiseh agrees: “It is like having these open woundsthey are just a part of you,” he says.P This means they often have to make a special effort to lay the past to rest. Bill, for instance, often gets painful “flashbacks” in which unwanted memories intrude into his consciousness, but overall he has chosen to see it as the best way of avoiding repeating the same mistakes. “Some people are absorbed in the past but not open to new memories, but thats not the case for me. I look forward to the each day and experiencing something new.”36. People with HSAM have the same memory as ordinary people when it comes to impersonal information.37. Fantasy proneness will not necessarily cause people to develop HSAM.38. Veiseh began to remember the details of his everyday experiences after he met his first young love.39. Many more people with HSAM started to contact researchers due to the mass media. 40. People with HSAM often have to make efforts to avoid focusing on the past.41. Most people do not have clear memories of past events.42. HSAM can be both a curse and a blessing.43. A young woman sought explanation from a brain scientist when she noticed her unusual memory.44. Some people with HSAM find it very hard to get rid of unpleasant memories.45. A recent study of people with HSAM reveals that they are liable to fantasy and full absorption in an activity.Section CDirections: There are 2 passages in this section. 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 Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.Passage 1Questions 46 to 50 are based on the following passage.The phrase almost completes itself: midlife crisis. Its the stage in the middle of the journey when people feel youth vanishing, their prospects narrowing and death approaching.Theres only one problem with the cliché (套话). It isnt true.“In fact, there is almost no hard evidence for midlife crisis other than a few small pilot studies conducted decades ago,” Barbara Hagerty writes in her new book, Life Reimagined. The bulk of the research shows that there may be a pause, or a shifting of gears in the 40s or 50s, but this shift “cant be exciting, rather than terrifying.”Barbara Hagerty looks at some of the features of people who turn midlife into a rebirth. They break routines, because “autopilot is death.” They choose purpose over happinesshaving a clear sense of purpose even reduces the risk of Alzenimers disease. They give priority to relationships, as careers often recede (逐渐淡化).Life Reimagined paints a picture of middle age that is far from gloomy. Midlife seems like the second big phase of decision-making. Your identity has been formed, youve built up your resources; and now you have the chance to take the big risks precisely because your foundation is already secure.Karl Barth described midlife precisely this way. At middle age, he wrote, “the sowing is behind; now is the time to reap. The run has been taken; now is the time to leap. Preparation has been made; now is the time for the venture of the work itself.”The middle-aged person, Barth continued, can see death in the distance, but moves with a “measured haste” to get big new things done while there is still time.What Barth wrote decades ago is even truer today. People are healthy and energetic longer. We have presidential candidates running for their first term in office at age 68, 69 and 74. A longer lifespan is changing the narrative structure of life itself. What could have been considered the beginning of a descent is now a potential turning pointthe turning point you are most equipped to take full advantage of.46. What does the author think of the phrase “midlife crisis”?A) It has led to a lot of debate.B) It is widely acknowledged.C) It is no longer fashionable.D) It misrepresents real life.47. How does Barbara Hagerty view midlife?A) It may be the beginning of a crisis.B) It can be a new phrase of ones life.C) It can terrifying for the unprepared.D) It may see old-age diseases approaching.48. How is midlife pictured in the book Life Reimagined?A) It can be quite rosy.B) It can be burdensome.C) It undergoes radical transformation.D) It makes for the best part of ones life.49. According to Karl Barth, midlife is the time .A) to relaxB) to matureC) to harvestD) to reflect50. What does the author say about midlife today?A) It is more meaningful than other stages of life. B) It is likely to change the narrative of ones life.C) It is more important toe those with a longer lifespan.D) It is likely to be a critical turning point in ones life.Passage TwoQuestions 51 to 55 are based on the following passage.In spring, chickens start laying again, bringing a welcome source of protein at winters end. So its no surprise that cultures around the world celebrate spring by honoring the egg.Some traditions are simple, like the red eggs that get baked into Greek Easter breads. Others elevate the egg into a fancy art, like the heavily jewel-covered “eggs” that were favored by the Russians starting in the 19th century.One ancient form of egg art comes to us from Ukraine. For centuries, Ukrainians have been drawing complicated patterns on eggs. Contemporary artists have followed this tradition to create eggs that speak to the anxieties of our age: Life is precious, and delicate. Eggs are, too.“Theres something about their delicate nature that appeals to me,” says New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast. Several years ago, she became interested in eggs and learned the traditional Ukrainian technique to draw her very modern characters. “Ive broken eggs at every stage of the processfrom the very beginning to the very, very end.”But theres an appeal in that vulnerability. “Theres part of this sickening horror of knowing youre walking on the edge with this, that I kind of like, knowing that it could all fall apart at any