2024 年 12 月大学英语四级考试真题（第 2 套）
Part IWriting(30 minutes)
Directions: Suppose the university newspaper is inviting submissions from students for an essay. You will have 30 minutes to write the essay. You should write an edition on how the students can contribute to a green campus. You are not to 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. Why are families across the US looking to this winter with fear?
A) They will see a 27 higher price to buy natural gas.
B) They will have insufficient heating oil to keep warm.
C) They will have a costly bill to pay to heat their homes.
D) They will experience the coldest winter in four decades.
2. What did the federal government do last month?
A) Provided additional funding to Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program.
B) Assured U.S. citizens of an increase in energy supplies by the end of this year.
C) Predicted a 10% jump in heating bills for most U.S. households this winter.
D) Decided on this year's energy assistance package of $8 billion in total.
3. What is the main finding of a new study about many Americans?
A) They care less about their diet now than before.
B) They may lack adequate knowledge of healthy food.
C) They may hold too optimistic a view about their diet.
D) They pay insufficient attention to their choice of food.
4. Who tended to rate their diet more accurately in the survey?
A) Those who finished 24-hour food questionnaires.
B) Those who fully understood the rating scale.
C) Those who cared about food quality.
D) Those who rated their diet as poor.
5. What does the report say dozens of Indians did last week?
A) They experienced a heartbreaking moment.
B) They gathered together to rescue an elephant.
C) They heard a noise from the bottom of a well.
D) They found an elephant wandering around a well.
6. Why did the army officers call the local forest department?
A) To borrow their crane.
B) To ask them for help.
C) To report the strange noise.
D) To get food for the elephant.
7. What does the news report say happened finally?
A) The elephant was able to return to the jungle.
B) The army officers were examined for injuries.
C) The army officers were rewarded for their rescue efforts.
D) The elephant was given medical treatment for many days.
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. Why has the man stopped paying online for the last three months?
A) He found it had caused him much inconvenience.
B) It led him to spend more money than necessary.
C) It was much less secure than paying with cash.
D) He wanted to be less dependent on his phone.
9. What problem does the woman say she may also have?
A) Living beyond her means.
B) Lack of budgeting strategies.
C) Fashion addiction.
D) Impulse purchasing.
10. What does the man say he could do at the canteen?
A) Eat healthier food with less money.
B) Order food like burgers and chips.
C) Avoid getting addicted to junk food.
D) Pay either in cash or with his phone.
11. What is now just a habit for the man?
A) Making a shopping list.
B) Sticking to his budget.
C) Withdrawing cash only once a month.
D) Thinking twice before buying something.
12. Why is the woman opposed to their son joining a sport like soccer?
A) He does not enjoy any ball games.
B) He has to prepare for the future.
C) He has breathing problems.
D) He is not up to anything challenging.
13. What does the man suggest their son try in order to understand team spirit?
A) Soccer.
B) Badminton.
C) Volleyball.
D) Basketball.
14. What is one of the woman's considerations in choosing a sport for her son?
A) The possibilities of joining the school sports team.
B) The opportunities of winning some championships.
C) The chances of getting an athletic scholarship later on.
D) The odds of becoming a professional sportsman someday.
15. What does the man say about beach volleyball?
A) It differs entirely from indoor volleyball.
B) It appeals to both boys and girls.
C) It is less popular than indoor volleyball.
D) It is completely different from other outdoor games.
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. What do we learn from the passage about the liftoff of spacecraft?
A) It usually requires years of preparations.
B) It does a lot of harm to the environment.
C) It often burns over three hundred tonnes of refined fuel.
D) It proves to be the most complicated stage of space missions.
17. What happens traditionally to boosters, fuel tanks and other components in spaceflight?
A) They are burnt up in outer space.
B) They are guided back to Earth.
C) They are reused up to 100 times.
D) They are treated as expendable.
18. What does the passage say we already have regarding spaceflight?
A) New technologies for bringing back space vehicles for recycling.
B) The technology for meeting the needs of commercial space travel.
C) Many of the technologies to limit the impact of space travel on Earth.
D) The technology for effectively protecting zones from being destroyed.
19. What does research show about reading to a loyal and non-judgmental companion?
A) It can help unskilled readers feel more secure.
B) It can encourage reluctant readers to read aloud.
C) It can strengthen children's confidence in others.
D) It can boost children's interest in communication.
20. How can parents make pets a fantastic subject for their children's research and learning?
A) By motivating children to find out about their favourite pets.
B) By taking children to the library to borrow books on animals.
C) By allowing children to surf the internet about pets by themselves.
D) By showing children how to acquire knowledge about healthy pets.
21. How can children still benefit even when their family doesn't have a pet?
A) By learning that raising geese can do much good.
B) By watching how healthy pets are brought up.
C) By hearing about their peers' passion for pets.
D) By visiting friends who have household pets.
22. What would the new bill in the Ohio legislature require public colleges and universities to do?
A) Send would-be students a packet of information.
B) Update regularly all information on their websites.
C) Inform prospective students of their yearly enrollment.
D) Answer questions raised by applicants and their parents.
23. What can the state only do, according to Adam Matthews?
A) Oversee private institutions directly.
B) Follow other states' example.
C) Supervise all schools consistently.
D) Regulate public institutions by law.
24. What do we learn about Ohio's schools from the passage?
A) They are resourceful.
B) They are competitive.
C) They provide the best opportunity to realize one's dream.
D) They appeal most to students from other states in the U.S.
25. What is the problem with schools providing information on their websites? That's the end of Listening Comprehension.
A) Some students waste much time surfing the net.
B) Students may need to visit too many websites.
C) Students have to search for the information.
D) Some students may lack adequate access.
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.
Questions 1 and 2 are based on the news report you have just heard.
1. A) They will see a 27 higher price to buy natural gas.
B) They will have insufficient heating oil to keep warm.
C) They will have a costly bill to pay to heat their homes.
D) They will experience the coldest winter in four decades.
2. A) Provided additional funding to Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program.
B) Assured U.S. citizens of an increase in energy supplies by the end of this year.
C) Predicted a 10% jump in heating bills for most U.S. households this winter.
D) Decided on this year's energy assistance package of $8 billion in total.
A) adaptableB) closedC) distributionD) interactE) narrationF) neutralG) permanentlyH) prescribesI) readilyJ) registeredK) reinforcesL) revealedM) significantN) specificO) speculate
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.
Why it's wrong to look at work-life balance as an achievement
A) Few topics have been so endlessly analysed as work-life balance The quest to attain this mysterious state has dominated discussion around careers for years-especially for working parents. The concept is often presented as something to achieve, or a goal to reach. And once you've reached it, congratulations: you've made it, you're a successful human being of the 21st century.
B) But the problem is that we often tell ourselves I'm going to put in eight hours' worth of work, and then I'm going to put in eight hours' worth of 'me time', which will include my family, my hobbies, my workout, my everything," says Anat Lechner, clinical associate professor of management at New York University. "I don't think it's such a simple formula.
C) And, according to new findings, it may not be. Some researchers are now encouraging us to stop thinking about work-life balance as an achievement that you either hit or don't, Instead, they suggest it may be more of a lifelong process a continuous, never ending exercise that requires self-awareness and timely adjustments, Researchers Doana Lup and Mayra Ruiz-Casto argue that work-life balance is "a cycle, not an achievement". In their 2020 study, the researchers interviewed nearly 80 employees at two London-based firms-an equal number of men and women between the ages of 30 and 50, all with at least one dependent child-who worked in middle or senior management roles.
D) Although it sounds like the respondents had a lot in common, here's what separated them: about 30% of the men and 50% of the women reported resisting working long hours. The other respondents, meanwhile, all worked long hours because they thought that's what successful professionals should do.
E) Lupu and Ruiz-Castro looked at those who rejected the long hours and they found that those workers actually had strikingly similar strategies for maintaining their work life balance. They had a tendency to reflect and question assumptions in the name of self awareness and regularly took steps to adjust the things standing in their way to work -life balance.
F) Lupu and Ruiz-Cato identified five steps that the respondents in the study who had better work-life balance used in their jobs. First, they paused and reconsidered beliefs such as "I'm a professional, so I should work, work, work", and asked themselves questions like, "What's currently causing me stress?" Second, after identifying the cause, they zeroed in on their resultant emotions. Did they feel angry, sad, energised? Third, they reprioritised, asking " Is working long hours really worth cutting back on family time?", for example. Fourth, they considered their alternatives: is there anything at work that could be changed to accommodate these new priorities? And finally, they implemented changes, like asking their supervisor for greater flexibility, or deciding not to take on every project that comes their way.
G) This five step process is something anyone can adopt. Going through the steps, and constantly checking in with yourself, can help you shift and adapt your professional life to something that will better harmonise with your personal one. "An awareness of your emotional state is essential in order to determine the changes you want to make in your work and in your life," says Lupu.
H) New York University's Lechner agrees that finding that balance is an ongoing pursuit. It's not simply about dividing up the hours in your day between work, the gym, kids and chores. If the underlying emotional sources of stress are still there, then the time you actually spend at home may not be enjoyable. "We come home and even though physically we are there, mentally we may still be processing things that happened at work. We're not present," she says. What we call "work-life balance" is actually just a substitute to having a sense of fulfillment and contentment.
I) Of course, finding that balance probably shouldn't be something you have to do by yourself. Research by Erin Kelly, professor of work and organisation studies at MIT, shows companies and managers can play a key role in creating a better environment for workers. For her book Overload: How Good Jobs Went Bad and What to Do About It, she and co-author Phyllis Moen split more than 1,000 employees at a Fortune 500 company into two groups, one that worked under a management redesign and one that continued working within the existing management structure.
J) Under the management redesign, many steps were taken to ensure better work-life balance and prevent burnout(精疲力竭), Managers were regularly reminded to explicitly support their employees, Workers were allowed to make changes, like canceling am meetings. All of this was done in the name of increasing job satisfaction and giving workers more flexibility, and to show workers that it was something management was committed to, Unsurprisingly, Kelly and Moen found that employees in the redesign group reported less stress and less burnout: they were less likely to quit their jobs, indeed, over the next four years, they were 40% less likely to quit than those who kept working under the old policies.
K) "Work-life balance is understood to be an individual's response, so people think 'it's up to me to manage the craziness of my work life'," says Kelly, But organisations need to examine the demands they're placing on employees. "The root problem is not how the two pieces of work and life come together. It's that we have unrealistic expectations of what we're asked to do on the work side." If your workplace isn't an environment where work-life balance is possible in the first place, any effort you attempt to make toward it on a personal level will be in vain.
L) That's a conversation that appears to be gathering pace. The new prevalence of remote and flexible working models will likely all play important roles in how we balance our professional and personal lives. And if it seems like finding that perfect balance remains difficult to achieve, the experts say that keeping some perspective can help. For millions of people, work is about being able to put food on the table. Talking about work-life balance "is a very privileged conversation", says Lechner. "If we're reflecting, maybe we should also reflect on that."
36. According to management experts, work-life balance is not as simple as fixing equal amounts of time to work and personal life. ______
37. Research found that those who are given greater flexibility at work are less stressed and more likely to stay in their jobs. ______
38. Workers who rejected working long hours tended to make regular adjustments in order to achieve work-life balance. ______
39. Talking about work-life balance is said to be a privileged one for the better-off to those who barely make a living ______
40. Knowing one's emotional state is of utmost importance in deciding what changes to make for a better work-life balance. ______
41. More female professionals reported being reluctant to work overtime than their male counterparts. ______
42. Without organisational support, any personal effort to maintain work-life balance will be unsuccessful. ______
43. The question of how to achieve work-life balance has long been the main subject of discussion among workers. ______
44. You may not actually experience emotional wellbeing at home if you remain occupied with what happened at work. ______
45. Some researchers suggest that work-life balance is not a goal to achieve, but a process for life to be adjusted promptly. ______
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
As a university student, I've come to realise just how little I know about money. I've come to the brutal realisation that Australia's youth are being done a great disservice by not receiving any consistent financial education.
Diving headfirst into the crash course of starting university, I've quickly tried to get myself up to speed with the financial terms of the modern era to help manage my personal finances.
I've read some financial education books, done some online learning, and have spoken to my nearest and dearest for their pearls of financial wisdom.
There are undoubtedly hundreds of great resources out there for those wishing to improve their financial literacy, but while I was researching, I still kept wishing that I didn't have to play catch-up with the money world. I felt that I was sailing the financial seas with no skills and no life jacket!
However, after talking to my friends who felt the same, I quickly realised that it wasn't my ignorance but the lack of financial education in our schooling system that is leaving high schoolers seriously behind in the modern world of money.
Let's compare a theoretical financial education subject to the standard compulsory English class. On average, English may not be the most popular subject, but it's consistently on the schedule throughout high school, with all students graduating fluent in English.
A financial education subject should do just the same. It shouldn't be just a one-day event but a course integrated throughout the whole of high school that would allow students to gradually expand their financial literacy, and would prevent the need for a 'catch up' phase once we're out on our own after graduation.
In the same way that learning a language or new skills takes time, building financial skills requires practice and years of gradually accumulating it and applying it to daily life.
Giving young people the opportunity to become familiar with the world of money would provide them with a great advantage to enter adulthood with confidence and security so that they are able to manage their own money and look after themselves.
46. What has the author come to realise since entering university?
A) He needs a crash course on financial terms.
B) He is very much lacking in financial literacy.
C) It requires consistent education to be financially independent.
D) It is unrealistic to give all Australian youth a financial education.
47. How did the author feel in today's money world?
A) Badly equipped to survive.
B) Ignorant of financial literature.
C) Barely capable of moving ahead.
D) Overwhelmed by the resources online.
48. What did the author realise after talking to his friends?
A) They were as keen as he was on financial matters.
B) The schooling system was to blame for his trouble.
C) High schoolers knew nothing about the modern financial world.
D) Financial courses were as unpopular as compulsory English classes.
49. What is the author's idea of a financial education course?
A) It should foresee students' needs after graduation
B) It should provide students with some basic knowledge.
C) It should be taught the same way as English is taught.
D) It should be integrated into high school education
50. What would financial literacy do to young people?
A) Allow them to enter adulthood with financial security.
B) Enable them to look after themselves without worrying about money.
C) Render them confident and secure in terms of money management.
D) Help them become familiar with the world of money.
Passage Two
Chocolates save us from many things, especially emotional distress. They comfort us in times of trouble, calming down a racing heart by channelling happy calories inside us. We all have faith in chocolates to delight us in an instant!
Recently, chocolate lovers were heartbroken as scientists claimed that they can become extinct by 2050! But hey, we have some happy news for you. Scientists can still help save chocolates from dying out! If you are not aware as to why scientists made the statement about the death of this wonderful thing, let us tell you the facts. Chocolate tree, whose seeds are used to make chocolate, grow in the tropical plant world and require very specific weather conditions to prosper.
Now, fifty percent of the world's cocoa (可可) beans come from two countries in West Africa: Cote Tvoire and Ghana. Scientists believe that both of these countries will experience a 3.8°F temperature increase by 2050 due to global warming, endangering the cacao(可可树)farms in the rainforests. These farms will then have to be shifted to cooler mountainous areas, which are the natural habitat of wildlife. This will lead to some tough decisions: whether to grow chocolate or save wildlife.
Unfortunately, the crisis of global warming has already had a serious negative impact on cacao farms' yields, leading to the prices of chocolates skyrocketing.
Scientists, however, are trying to find a long term and eco friendly solution to this plight! They are trying to modify the species with a gene-editing technology, which will transform the seedlings into a species that survives even in a drier and warmer climate.
According to a report by The Business Insider, in the University of California's new bio-sciences building, tiny green cacao seedlings are lined up in refrigerated rows for an experiment by using a technology called CRISPR. By manipulating the DNA of plants, this technology is already being used across the world to make plants tougher and cheaper. Similarly, in this unconventional experiment, scientists will make tiny, precise changes to the DNA of the seedlings to make the cocoa crops survive in warmer and drier climates.
51. What do people believe chocolates can do?
A) Cheer them up instantly.
B) Create happy calories.
C) Conceal emotional distress.
D) Relieve them of heart trouble.
52. What was scientists' recent assertion about chocolates?
A) They could become a rare treat in the near future.
B) They could calm people down a bit in times of crisis.
C) They could prevent people from feeling heartbroken.
D) They could become unavailable in less than 30 years.
53. What would happen if the cacao farms were shifted to cooler mountainous areas?
A) The natural habitat of wildlife there would be ruined.
B) The cacao farmers would have a tough time to adapt.
C) The rainforests would be shrinking dramatically.
D) The quality of cocoa beans would suffer greatly.
54. What do we learn about the cacao farms in the crisis of global warming?
A) They try to seek help from gene-ding scientists.
B) They decide to move to cooler mountainous areas.
C) They have suffered a lot due to a decrease in produce
D) They have benefited by raising prices of cocoa beans.
55. What are scientists trying to do in the University of California's new bio-sciences building?
A) Build rows of refrigerated greenhouses for research on cacao seedlings.
B) Gene edit cacao seedlings for them to withstand dry, warmer climate.
C) Produce chocolates with the latest gene-editing technology.
D) Transplant the genes of tougher plants to cacao seedlings.
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.
敦煌莫高窟(Mogao Grottos)数字展示中心于2014年开放启用,是莫高窟保护利用工程的重要组成部分。展示中心采用数字技术和多媒体展示手段,使游客进入洞窟参观之前就能了解莫高窟的历史文化,鉴赏莫高窟的艺术经典。这将减少开放洞窟的数量,缩短游客在洞窟内的逗留时间,减轻参观对莫高窟造成的影响,以使这一世界文化遗产得到妥善保护、长久利用。