2011英语四级预测题及答案详解（3）

Part I Writing (30 minutes)
　　Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a letter. You should write at least 120 words following the outline given below in Chinese:
　　给你的外国朋友写一封信，告诉他(她)你已经被美国的一所大学录取，但你苦恼的是自己的听力和口语水平不够，你想寻求他(她)对于如何提高听力和口语的建议。
　
Part II Reading Comprehension (skimming and Scanning) (15 minutes)
　　Directions: In this part, you will have 15 minutes to go over the passage quickly and answer the questions on Answer Sheet 1.
　　For questions 1-7, mark
　　Y (for YES) if the statement agrees with the information given in the passage;
　　N (for NO) if the statement contradicts the information given in the passage;
　　NG (for NOT GIVEN) if the information is not given in the passage.
　　For questions 8-10, complete the sentences with the information given in the passage.
　　
Robot Cars to Do Battle in Desert Race
　　
       When 15 competitors lined up in Nevada last year for the U.S. Defense Department's first million-dollar robot race, hopes were high. The challenge: to drive a vehicle without a human driver or remote control some 150 miles (241 kilometers) through the Mojave Desert.
　　But those hopes quickly went up in a cloud of dust as most robots barely managed to get off the starting line. The best performer, a modified Humvee built by engineers at Pennsylvania's Carnegie Mellon University, traveled 7 miles (11 kilometers) before breaking down.
　　To robot devotees(热爱者), however, it was a minor hiccup.
　　No surprise, then, that 43 teams showed up to try out for this year's race, dubbed(被称作) the Grand Challenge. For the past week, teams ranging from garage enthusiasts to well-funded university engineers have been fine-tuning their machines at qualifying rounds here at the California Speedway in Fontana, California. (Watch the robots in action in our exclusive video.)
　　Twenty-three finalists were announced Thursday for Saturday's Grand Challenge. The 175-mile (282-kilometer) course starts and finishes in Primm, Nevada.
　　The race promises to be even tougher than last year's run. But 18 months is an eternity in the robotics world, and the technology has vastly improved.
　　Organizers believe several teams have a real shot of finishing the race in less than ten hours to earn the grand prize of two million U.S. dollars.
　　"When the first team out of the chute(斜道)—Mojavaton, a small team out of Colorado—made it successfully around the 2.2-mile (3.5-kilometer) qualification course, I knew right there and then that we had something special," said Ron Kurjanowicz, the chief of staff for the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which is sponsoring the race.
　　Unknown Course
　　The aim of the Grand Challenge, Defense Department officials say, is to spur development of autonomous ground vehicles that can operate in dangerous environments, such as war zones, keeping soldiers out of harm's way.
　　A U.S. Congress mandate(训令)requires that one-third of military ground vehicles drive themselves by 2015, but the technology to meet that mandate does not yet exist.
　　So the government looked to enterprising teams to develop the technology for driverless vehicles, sweetening its offer with the two-million-dollar purse.
　　None of the 23 teams knows what lies ahead for this year's race. DARPA won't reveal the exact route until two hours before the start of the race on Saturday.
　　But the obstacles on the Fontana qualification course-including a steel—enforced tunnel that wipes out a vehicle's global positioning system—are made to resemble the rugged, real-life conditions that the vehicles will have to navigate.
　　The vehicles use sensors such as lasers, cameras, and radar to help them avoid obstacles such as rocks and cliffs. The computer's brain has to figure out how to resolve unexpected conflicts, like a boulder sitting in the middle of the road.
　　"Think about all the decisions that you and I have to make when we drive from our house to the store," Kurjanowicz said. "These vehicles have to do the same thing, without a driver."
　　Among the top contenders in Saturday's race is TerraMax, a massive truck originally built by the Wisconsin-based Oshkosh Truck Corporation for the U.S. Marine corps.
　　In last year's race, TerraMax managed to go only 1.2 miles (2 kilometers). Team leader Gary Schmiedel expects to do much better this year. He pointed to the new all-wheel steering feature on the truck as an important addition.
　　"We can move this large, 15-ton (13.5-metric ton) payload vehicle in a turn that's equivalent to that of a Humvee," he said.
　　Ghostrider
　　The resources of teams like TerraMax or Carnegie Mellon University, which has two vehicles in the race this year, are a far cry from those of some of the other competitors, including inventors, electricians, and even a high school team.
　　One entry, from a Southern California team of engineers, racers, and hot-rodders, is called It Came From the Garage. It has a beer keg(小桶)stuck on the back and an on-off switch that says "brain."
　　"Most of the schools and organizations we're up against are just accessorizing conventional vehicles," said team leader Chris "C.J." Pedersen, a former actor. "Our [vehicle] is a custom-built, 21st-century hot rod... complete with hood scoop and exhaust coming off the side."
　　Anthony Levandowski, a robotics builder from Berkeley, California, is back with Ghostrider, the only motorcycle robot in the qualifications. Studded with sensors and computers, it toppled (翻倒)over after 3 feet (1 meter) in last year's race.
　　Levandowski, who had to postpone his graduate studies when he couldn't find a faculty advisor who believed it would be possible to build the motorcycle robot, says his vehicle has some distinct advantages.
　　"We're smaller and go a lot more places," he said while tinkering with the robot before another trial run. "We're also a lot less expensive. This bike costs as much as a tire or a wheel of some of these other guys' machines."
　　Smart Money
　　Neither Ghostrider nor It Came From the Garage made the final cut this week's qualifying races.
　　However, another crowd-pleaser, Cajunbot—or the Ragin' Cajun—a converted all-terrain vehicle developed by a team from the University of Louisiana in Lafayette, did.
　　The smart money in Saturday's race may be on Stanley, a converted Volkswagen Touareg made by a team at California's Stanford University. It was the only vehicle that didn't hit an obstacle in the trial runs.
　　Even if none of the vehicles finishes the race this year, DARPA's Kurjanowicz said, the event has succeeded in galvanizing robotics developers and pushing the creation of new technologies.
　　"The beauty of the Grand Challenge is that it doesn't tell people how to solve the problem," he said. "The community has come up with its own elegant solutions."
　　1. The passage mainly describes the advantages and disadvantages of robot car races.
　　2. Last year's robot race in Nevada was a great success.
　　3. It is a surprise that up to 43 teams came for this year's race called the Grand Challenge.
　　4. The Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency(DARPA) is sponsoring the race.
　　5. The aim of the Grand Challenge is to spur development of autonomous ground vehicles.
　　6. Ghostrider and It Came From the Garage both made the final cut at this week's qualifying races.
　　7. TerraMax will finish the race and win the grand prize of two million U.S. dollars.
　　8. The obstacles on the Fontana qualification course are made to resemble the ________________.
　　9. The only motorcycle robot in the qualifications is ________________.
　　10. The only vehicle that didn't hit an obstacle in the trial runs is ________________.

Part III Listening Comprehension (35 minutes)（略）

Part IV Reading Comprehension (Reading in Depth) (25 minutes)
　　
       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 bank is identified by a letter. Please mark the corresponding letter for each item on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the center. You may not use any of the words in the bank more than once.
　　Questions 47 to 56 are based on the following passage
　　A sunflower is a sunflower. A mobile phone is a mobile phone. But can you 47 the two to do something for your local 48 ?
　　It may well be possible. When you have finished with your mobile phone you will be able to 49 it in the garden or a plant pot and wait for it to flower.
　　50 , a biodegradable (生物可降解的)mobile phone was introduced by scientists. It is hoped that the new type of phone will encourage 51 to recycle.
　　Scientists have come up with a new material over the last five years. It looks like any other 52 and can be hard or soft. and able to change shape. Overtime it can also break down into the soil without giving out any toxic 53 . British researchers used the new material to develop a phone cover that contains a sunflower seed. When this new type of cover turns into waste, it 54 nitrates(硝酸盐). These feed the seed and help the flower grow.
　　Engineers have designed a small 55 window to hold the seed. They have made sure it only grows when the phone is thrown away.
　　"We've only put sunflower seeds into the covers so far. But we are working with plant 56 to find out which flowers would perform best. Maybe we could put roses in next time," said one scientist.
　　[A] Recently
　　[B] consumers
　　[C] chemicals
　　[D] environment
　　[E] combine
　　[F] transparent
　　[G] buy
　　[H] companion [I] experts
　　[J] forms
　　[K] bury
　　[L] paper
　　[M] paper
　　[N] plastic
　　[O] Usually
　　
     Section B
　　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 center.
　　Passage One
　　Questions 57 to 61 are based on the following passage.
　　It is difficult to imagine what life would be like without memory. The meanings of thousands of everyday perceptions, the basis for the decisions we make, and the roots of our habits and skills are to be found in our past experiences, which are brought into the present by memory.
　　Memory can be defined as the capacity to keep information available for later use. It not only includes "remembering" things like arithmetic or historical facts, but also involves any change in the way an animal typically behaves. Memory is involved when a rat gives up eating grain because he has sniffed (嗅出)something suspicious in the grain pile.
　　Memory exists not only in humans and animals but also in some physical objects and machines. Computers, for example, contain devices for storing data for later use. It is interesting to compare the memory storage capacity of a computer with that of a human being. The instant access memory of a large computer may hold up to 100,000 "words"—string of alphabetic or numerical characters—ready for instant use. An average U.S. teenager probably recognizes the meaning of about 100,000 words of English. However, this is but a fraction of the total amount of information that the teenager has stored. Consider, for example, the number of faces and places that the teenager can recognize on sight.
　　The use of words is the basis of the advanced problem-solving intelligence of human beings. A large part of a person's memory is in terms of words and combinations of words. But while language greatly expands the number and the king of things a person can remember, it also requires a huge memory capacity. It may well be this capacity that distinguishes humans, setting them apart from other animals.
　　57. Which of the following is TRUE about memory?
　　[A] It helps us perceive things happening around us every day.
　　[B] It is based on the decisions we made in the past.
　　[C] It is rooted in our past habits and skills.
　　[D] It connects our past experiences with the present.
　　58. According to the passage, memory is helpful in one's life in the following aspects EXCEPT that ________.
　　[A] it involves a change in one's behavior
　　[B] it keeps information for later use
　　[C] it warns people not to do things repeatedly
　　[D] it enables one to remember events that happened in the past
　　59. What is the author's view about computers and human beings in terms of intelligence?
　　[A] Computers have better memory than a child does.
　　[B] Computers are as intelligent as a teenager is.
　　[C] Computers can understand as many as 100,000 words.
　　[D] Human beings are far superior to computers.
　　60. What is the major characteristic of man's memory capacity according to the author?
　　[A] It can be expanded by language. [C] It may keep all the information in the past.
　　[B] It can remember all the combined words. [D] It may change what has been stored in it.
　　61. Human beings make themselves different from other animals by _______.
　　[A] having the ability to perceive danger
　　[B] having a far greater memory capacity
　　[C] having the ability to recognize faces and places on sight
　　[D] having the ability to draw on past experiences