2024 年 06 月大学英语四级考试真题（第 3 套）
Part IWriting(30 minutes)
Directions: Suppose your university is seeking students' opinions on whether university canteens should be open to the public. You are now to write an essay to express your view. You will have 30 minutes for the task. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.
You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.
Part IIListening Comprehension(25分钟)
Section A
Directions: In this section, you will hear two long conversations. At the end of each conversation, you will hear four questions. Both the conversation and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question, you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A), B), C), and D). Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1 with a single line through the centre.
1. What do we learn about the JetBlue Airlines flight from the news report?
A) It hit a bird shortly after takeoff.
B) Its crew members went on strike.
C) It narrowly escaped a plane crash when turning around.
D) Its captain got slightly injured during the forced landing.
2. How did the passengers feel when the plane came to a stop according to Brian Healy?
A) Panic.
B) Nervous.
C) Relieved.
D) Contented.
3. What do we learn about the deadly snake from the news report?
A) He is now kept in a secure area.
B) He has escaped the zoo once again.
C) He has been caught a second time.
D) He finally disappeared six days ago.
4. How have the zoo staff been feeling about the snake?
A) Squeezed.
B) Threatened.
C) Disappointed.
D) Frustrated.
5. What do we learn from the news report about the introduction of electric bikes into Jacksonville?
A) It is condemned as a crazy idea.
B) It is enriching the city's night life.
C) It is questioned by local residents.
D) It is giving rise to safety concerns.
6. What are electric bike riders supposed to do?
A) Avoid entering one-way streets.
B) Ensure the safety of pedestrians.
C) Follow all the traffic rules drivers do.
D) Give way to automobiles at all times.
7. Why did City Council member Anna Cumber advocate the introduction of electric bikes into Jacksonville?
A) To ease the city's busy traffic.
B) To bring new life into the city.
C) To add a new means of transport.
D) To reduce the city's air pollution.
Section B
Directions: In this section, you will hear two passages. At the end of each passage, you will hear three or four questions. Both the passage and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question, you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A), B), C), and D). Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1 with a single line through the centre.
8. What should we do with the topic of money, according to the woman?
A) Take it seriously.
B) Discuss it regularly.
C) Make it sound scary.
D) Talk about it openly.
9. How does the woman say money can be made real for children?
A) By shopping around for the best deals.
B) By making abstract sums relevant.
C) By citing concrete examples.
D) By visiting discount stores.
10. What is the common practice between the man and the woman?
A) Paying their kids to help with housework.
B) Setting kids a good example by sharing chores.
C) Giving kids pocket money according to their needs.
D) Urging kids to deposit some of their gift money.
11. What is the woman always talking about to her elder daughter?
A) The importance of cutting down family expenses.
B) The need to learn important lessons from her elders.
C) The delight in seeing their savings grow.
D) The necessity of saving into a pension.
12. What do we learn about the man?
A) He is a successful businessman.
B) He reviews books on political affairs.
C) He has published a new bestseller.
D) He has worked in several banks.
13. What does the woman say is the most controversial?
A) The man's ideas about education.
B) The man's academic background.
C) The man's attempts at drawing public attention.
D) The man's proposals to solve economic problems.
14. What does the man say is his real goal?
A) To reduce students' financial burden.
B) To motivate all students to be successful.
C) To give students incentive to excel in economics.
D) To provide remedies for students' poor performance.
15. What will be one option for funding the proposed rewards according to the man?
A) Improving school budgeting.
B) Increasing tuition fees.
C) Seeking donations.
D) Raising taxes.
Section C
Directions: In this section you will hear three recordings of lectures or talks followed by three or four questions. The recordings will be played only once. After you hear a question, you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A), B), C) and D). Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1 with a single line through the centre.
16. Why is the speaker launching a campaign?
A) To show his sympathy towards people always being busy.
B) To prevent people from complaining about being "busy".
C) To call on busy people to take care of themselves.
D) To help busy people to sort out their priorities.
17. What does the speaker advise us to do next time someone asks us how we are?
A) Avoid saying we are busy.
B) Reflect on their true purpose.
C) Describe our schedule in detail.
D) Respond as most busy people do.
18. Why do many people make the I'm busy response according to the speaker?
A) To show their achievements resulted from great efforts.
B) To prove they stand out as accomplished professionals.
C) To cover up their failure to achieve some purpose.
D) To tell others a complete lie about their inability.
19. What may sound strange to say about extreme sports?
A) They will help one reduce fear.
B) They should become so popular.
C) They will be less challenging after a time.
D) They should cover so many different types.
20. Why should one be highly focused when doing extreme sports?
A) To break one's ultimate limits.
B) To stop being extremely afraid.
C) To avoid dangerous mistakes.
D) To enjoy the sports to the full.
21. How can extreme sports benefit us more than standard exercise routines and sports?
A) By allowing our motivation to be at an all-time high.
B) By stopping us hurting the same muscles repeatedly.
C) By burning as many as 300 calories per hour.
D) By enabling us to get an all-over workout.
22. What does the passage say about conflict in organizations?
A) It is natural.
B) It is instrumental.
C) It is personal.
D) It is vital.
23. Why do some people want to avoid conflict at all costs?
A) To guard against being perceived negatively.
B) To prevent themselves from being isolated.
C) To conceal personality preferences.
D) To maintain workplace harmony.
24. Why is productive conflict important for teams and organizations?
A) It helps to enhance team spirit.
B) It stimulates innovative ideas.
C) It helps to resolve problems.
D) It facilitates policy-making.
25. What does productive conflict need as a basis? That's the end of Listening Comprehension.
A) An innovative mind.
B) Corporate culture.
C) Mutual trust.
D) A healthy mentality.
Part IIIReading Comprehension(40分钟)
Section A
Directions: 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.
Over the coming decades, millions of jobs will be threatened by robotics and artificial
intelligence. Despite intensive academic __26__ on these developments,
there has been little
study on how workers __27__ to being replaced through technology.
To find out, business researchers at TUM and Erasmus University Rotterdam conducted
11 studies and surveys with over 2,000 persons from several countries.
The findings show: In principle, most people view it more __28__ when
workers are
replaced by other people than by robots or intelligent software. This preference __29__,
however, when it refers to people's own jobs. When that is the case, the majority of workers
find it less upsetting to see their own jobs go to robots than to other employees. In the long term,
however, the same people see machines as more threatening to their future role in the workforce.
These effects can also be observed among people who have recently become unemployed.
The researchers were able to identify the causes behind these __30__
paradoxical results,
too: People tend to __31__ themselves less with machines than with other
people.
Consequently, being replaced by a robot or software __32__ less of a
threat to their feeling of
self-worth. This reduced self-threat could even be observed when participants assumed that
they were being replaced by other employees who relied on technological abilities such as
artificial intelligence in their work.
"Even when unemployment results from the __33__ of new technologies,
people still
judge it in a social context," says Christoph Fuchs, one of the authors of the study. "It is
important to understand these __34__ effects when trying to manage the
massive changes in
the working world to minimize __35__ in society."
A) compareB) contradictsC) conventionalD) debateE) disruptionsF) drasticallyG) favorablyH) guaranteeI) introductionJ) modificationsK) posesL) psychologicalM) reactN) reversesO) seemingly
Section B
Directions: 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 questions by marking the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2.
No escape as 'snow day' becomes 'e-learning day'
A) Certain institutions, such as schools, are likely to close when bad weather, such as snow, flooding or extreme heat or cold, causes travel difficulties, power outages, or otherwise endangers public safety. When snowy weather arrives in the US, it means the chance of school children benefiting from the long-standing tradition of the "snow day", when schools are forced to close and students get an unexpected day off.
B) The criterion for a snow day is primarily the inability of school buses to operate safely on their routes and danger to children who walk to school. Often, the school remains officially open even though buses do not run and classes are canceled. Severe weather that causes cancellation or delay is more likely in regions that are less able to handle the situation. Snow days are less common in more northern areas of the United States that are used to heavy winter snowfall, because municipalities are well equipped to clear roads and remove snow. In areas less accustomed to snow even small snowfalls of an inch or two may render roads unsafe.
C) Snow days are a familiar theme in American film and TV shows, with children getting the good news and then running outside for some seasonal snowman-building and snowball throwing, against a background of joyful pop music. But the tradition is now over for pupils in several US states such as South Carolina, Nevada, Georgia and Indiana. This academic year, many school boards have introduced policies which require students to work from home if the school is shut by snow or extreme weather. They are known as "e-learning days", which certainly sounds less fun than a snow day.
D) Teachers are also losing their snow days and instead will be expected to be on hand to take a virtual register and answer students' questions online. A pilot programme in a school district in Anderson County, South Carolina, has supplied students with electronic tablets loaded with assignments to complete in the event of a school closure. If it is successful, it could be rolled out across the state.
E) But some parents object to the new policy if the vigorous debate on the Facebook page of Anderson County school district is anything to go by. "When it snows, let the kids enjoy it," said one commenter. Another said the decision would "ruin school even more", and someone else called snow days "a fun part of childhood". But supporters of the policy say it means children will miss fewer days of school. It will also bring to an end a less popular US high school tradition: the "make-up day", which requires students in many states to make up the time lost due to weather by working during school holidays.
F) Students in North Carolina already have several make-up days scheduled because of school closures during Hurricane Florence, which struck in September. Tom Wilson, the superintendent of Anderson County school district, said the change away from snow days makes practical and financial sense. He said technology has changed every profession, so it makes sense to use it to "eliminate" make-up days. Adam Baker of the Department of Education in Indiana said e-learning days were proving a "great success". He said most Indiana schools already use digital devices during lessons, so it was an "easy decision" to extend this to days when schools are closed. He denies the decision is depriving children of the chance to enjoy the snow. "Students are still able to enjoy snow days and outside time," he said. "Many have PE and science assignments that have them out enjoying the weather." But local school superintendents in Ohio are resisting proposals to adopt e-learning days. They fear that students without internet access at home will be disadvantaged by the policy, and superintendent Tom Roth is concerned that e-learning days will offer a lower quality of education.
G) There are also so-called "blizzard bags", with assignments that children take home ahead of an expected snow closure. But Mr. Roth says it is not sufficient as a replacement. "I think we still need the class time to give our kids the education that they deserve," he said. "You can't get that with a blizzard bag or doing the work from home like that. It's not going to be as effective."
H) There is a long-running debate on whether missing days of school affects attainment. In England, there has been a focus on tackling absenteeism from school. The Department for Education (DFE) published research in 2016 arguing that missing any days at school could have a negative impact on results. Even a few days lost in a year could be enough to miss out on getting a good exam grade, the DFE's research concluded. This differed from the findings of a study from Harvard University in the US, which concluded that missing a few occasional days because of the weather did not damage learning.
I) The Harvard study examined seven years of school results data and could not find any impact from snow closures. What caused more disruption was when schools tried to stay open in bad weather, even though many staff and pupils were absent. But weather can make a difference to school results, according to another piece of Harvard research published last summer. It's hot weather that has the negative impact. The results of 10 million school students were examined over 13 years and researchers found a "significant" link between years with extremely hot weather and lower results.
J) It's obvious that students should go to school every day to get the most out of education. In cases of extreme weather students don't always have that option. However, research shows that authorised absences from school such as during extreme weather are less problematic for students than absences that are not authorised. This is because unauthorised absences tend to reflect patterns and behaviours of student disengagement, or the possible negative attitudes of parents towards education that students adopt and carry with them through schooling. The level of impact on students' educational performance is all to do with the length of time that a student is absent from school and how regularly this occurs.
36. There is opposition to the practice of giving children assignments to take home before extreme weather forces a school closure. ______
37. New policies adopted by many US schools require students to do online learning at home in case of a school closure. ______
38. According to some research, extreme hot weather negatively affects students' performance. ______
39. There is a time-honoured tradition in the US for school kids to stay at home on "snow days". ______
40. Debates on social media show some parents are opposed to ending the "snow day" tradition. ______
41. In more northern regions of the US, school is less likely to be affected by snowy weather. ______
42. Research indicates absences from school with permission do not cause as many problems as those without permission. ______
43. There is objection to e-learning days owing to fear that students with no access to the Internet at home will suffer. ______
44. In a pilot programme, students are given electronic devices to do assignments when schools are closed. ______
45. A long-standing debate is going on over the impact of school absences on students' academic performance. ______
Section C
Directions: 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 One
It may sound surprising, but you don't have to be interested in fashion, or even in history,
to enjoy Dress Codes: How the Laws of Fashion Made History. I happen to be interested in
both, and ended up enjoying the book for completely different reasons.
Richard Thompson Ford is a law professor, and you probably won't forget that for even
one page. His carefully reasoned arguments, packed with examples, sound almost like reading
a court opinion, only maybe wordier. You will probably never think of fashion as a trifle again.
Ford's thesis is that the best way to understand what particular fashions meant in any given
era is to look at the restrictions placed on them. Through this lens, he shows us that the first
laws passed in the 1200s to ensure that only the nobility were allowed to wear certain fabrics,
colors and ornaments reflected the rise of the middle class, who were now able to imitate some
of these fashions. The status of the upper classes was threatened; fashion was a tool to preserve
it.
Ford takes the reader through the evolution of fashion while examining the underlying
motivations of status, sex, power, and personality, which, he assumes, influenced all
innovations in fashion in the past and which continue to influence us today. His writing is more
than a little dense—dense with research, clauses, and precise adjectives and nouns. But there's
also humor and enough interesting episodes to make the writing appealing. No one is spared
his sharp analysis: not the easy targets of 19th century women's crippling (伤害身体的)
fashions nor the modern uniforms of Silicon Valley T-shirts.
But the greatest strength of this book (on fashion!) is its intellectual profoundness. Ford
asks us to question unconscious beliefs, to realize that we almost never do so, to understand
that the simplest choices are charged with meaning, and yet that meaning can and does change
all the time. Consider the fact that a 1918 catalog insisted that boys and girls be dressed in the
appropriate color. We believe our thinking today is evolved; Ford shows us it's not.
46. What does the author think of the book Dress Codes: How the Laws of Fashion Made History?
A) It is read by people for entirely different reasons.
B) It is meant for those interested in fashion history.
C) It makes enjoyable as well as informative reading.
D) It converts fashion into something for deliberation.
47. How can people best understand a particular fashion in an era, according to Ford?
A) By examining the restraints imposed on it.
B) By looking at what the nobility were wearing.
C) By glancing at its fabrics, colors and ornaments.
D) By doing a survey of the upper and middle classes.
48. What was the aim of the first laws passed regarding fashion in the 1200s?
A) To facilitate the rise of the middle class.
B) To loosen restrictions on dress codes.
C) To help initiate some novel fashions.
D) To preserve the status of the nobles.
49. What does the author think of Ford's writing?
A) It uses comparison and contrast in describing fashions of different eras.
B) It makes heavy reading but is not lacking in humor or appeal.
C) It is filled with interesting episodes to spare readers intolerable boredom.
D) It is characteristic of academics in presenting arguments.
50. What does the author say is the greatest strength of Ford's book?
A) Plentiful information.
B) Meaningful choices.
C) Evolved thinking.
D) Intellectual depth.
Passage Two
The art of persuasion means convincing others to agree with your point of view or to
follow your course of action. For some of us, persuasion is an instinctive quality and the power
of influencing comes naturally. For the rest of us, persuasion skills can be learned and
developed over time.
Employers place a great value on employees with persuasion skills because they can
impact several aspects of job performance. Besides, teamwork and leadership rely heavily on
the power of persuasion to get things done. Without persuasion skills, employees may not be
as committed to or convinced of the importance of an organization's vision and long-term
mission. Effective use of persuasion skills will not only help get your coworkers excited about
your ideas, it'll also help you motivate them to achieve a common goal.
In order to learn the art of persuasion at the workplace, you need to understand how to
handle conflicts and reach agreements. Good communication is the first step in effective
persuasion, but logic and reasoning are just as important. Before you can get somebody on-
board with your goal, you should help them understand why they should pursue it. Using visual
aids to back up your ideas can help communicate your ideas better and make compelling
arguments so your listeners will come to a logical choice and become fully committed to your
ideas and plans.
Successful persuasion skills are based on your ability to have positive interactions and
maintain meaningful relationships with people. In order to sustain those relationships, you must
be able to work in their best interests as well. Your coworkers are more likely to agree with you
when they succeed alongside you. The more they achieve and the greater progress they make,
the more they trust your judgement and strength.
We persuade and get persuaded every day—we're either convincing or being convinced.
A vast majority of people prefer collaboration and teamwork over traditional organizational
structures; no one likes to be told what to do or to be pushed around. Therefore, organizations
and leaders should adopt powerful persuasion skills to bring about necessary changes.
51. What does the author say about the ability to be persuasive in the first paragraph?
A) People may either be born with it or be able to cultivate it.
B) It proves crucial in making others follow one's course of action.
C) It refers to the natural and instinctive power of influencing one's coworkers.
D) People may view it as both a means to convince others and an art of communication.
52. Why are persuasion skills greatly valued in the workplace?
A) They enable employees to be convinced of their long-term gains.
B) They enable employees to trust their leaders unconditionally.
C) They help motivate coworkers to strive for a common goal.
D) They help an organization to broaden its vision effectively.
53. What should people do to learn the art of persuasion at the workplace?
A) Acquire effective communication skills.
B) Avoid getting involved in conflicts with others.
C) Understand the reason for pursuing their goals.
D) Commit themselves fully to their ideas and plans.
54. When are you more likely to succeed in persuading your coworkers?
A) When they are convinced you work in their interests while sacrificing your own.
B) When they become aware of the potential strength of the judgements you make.
C) When they become aware of the meaningful relationships you keep with them.
D) When they are convinced they will make achievements together with you.
55. Why are organizations and leaders advised to adopt powerful persuasion skills to bring about necessary changes?
A) To convince employees of the value of collaboration.
B) To allow for the preferences of most people of today.
C) To improve on traditional organizational structures.
D) To adapt to employees' ever-changing working styles.
Part IVTranslation(30 minutes)
Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to translate a passage from Chinese into English. You should write your answer on Answer Sheet 2.
汉语中的"福"字(the character fu)表示幸福和好运，是中国传统文化中最常用的吉祥(auspicious)符号之一。人们通常将一个大大的福字写在红纸上，寓意期盼家庭幸福、社会安定、国家昌盛。春节贴福字是民间由来已久的习俗。为了欢庆春节，家家户户都会将福字贴在门上或墙上，表达对幸福生活的向往、对美好未来的期待。人们有时还将福字倒过来贴，表示幸福已到、好运已到。