2009年12月大学英语四级考试试题

　　2009年12月大学英语四级考试试题

　　COLLEGE ENGLISH TEST

　　- Band Four -

　　注意事项

　　一、将自己的校名、姓名、准考证号写在答题卡1和答题卡2上。将本试卷代号划在答题卡2上。

　　二、试题册、答题卡1和答题卡2均不得带出考场。考试结束，监考员收卷后考生才可离开。

　　三、仔细读懂题目的说明。

　　四、在30分钟内做完答题1上的作文题。30分钟后，考生按指令启封试题册，在接着的15分钟内完成快速阅读理解部分的试题。然后监考员收取答题卡1，考生在答题卡2上完成其余部分的试题。全部答题时间为125分钟，不得拖延时间。

　　五、考生必须在答题卡上作答，凡是写在试题册上的答案一律无效。

　　六、多项选择题每题只能选一个答案；如多选，则该题无分。选定答案后，用HB-2B浓度的铅笔在相应字母的中部划一条横线。正确方法是：[A] [B] [C] [D]

　　使用其他符号答题者不给分。划线要有一定粗度，浓度要盖过字母底色。

　　七、如果要改动答案，必须无用橡皮擦净原来选定的答案，然后再按规定重新答题。

　　八、在考试教程中要注意对自己的答案保密。若被他人抄袭，一经发现，后果自负。

　　全国大学英语四、六级考试委员会

　　Part Ⅰ                           Writing                         (30 minutes)

　　注意：此部分试题在答题卡1上

　　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, choose the best answer from the four choices marked A), B), C) and D). For questions 8-10, complete the sentences with the information given in the passage.

　　Colleges taking another look at value of merit-based aid*

　　Good grades and high test scores still matter - a lot - to many colleges as they award financial aid.

　　But with low-income students projected to make up an ever-larger share of the college-bound population in coming years, some schools are re-examining whether that aid, typically known as merit aid, is the most effective use of precious institutional dollars.

　　George Washington University in Washington, D.C., for example, said last week that it would cut the value of its average merit scholarships by about one-third and pare the number of recipients(接受者), pouring the savings, about $2.5 million, into need-based aid. Allegheny College in Meadville, Pa., made a similar decision three years ago.

　　Now, Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y., says it will phase out merit scholarships altogether. No current merit-aid recipients will lose their scholarships, but need-based aid alone will be awarded beginning with students entering in fall 2008.

　　Not all colleges offer merit aid; generally, the more selective a school, the less likely it is to do so. Harvard and Princeton, for example, offer generous need-based packages, but plenty of families who don't meet need eligibility(资格) have been willing to pay whatever they must for a big-name school.

　　For small regional colleges that struggle just to fill seats, merit aid can be an important revenue-builder because many recipients still pay enough tuition dollars over and above the scholarship amount to keep the institution running.

　　But for rankings-conscious schools in between, merit aid has served primarily as a tool to recruit top students and to improve their academic profiles. "They're trying to buy students," says Skidmore College economist Sandy Baum.

　　Studies show merit aid also tends to benefit disproportionately students who could afford to enroll without it.

　　"As we look to the future, we see a more pressing need to invest in need-based aid," says Monica Inzer, dean of admission and financial aid at Hamilton, which has offered merit scholarships for 10 years. During that time, it rose in US News & World Report's ranking of the best liberal arts colleges, from 25 to 17.

　　Merit aid, which benefited about 75 students a year, or about 4% of its student body, at a cost of about $1 million a year, "served us well," Inzer says, but "to be discounting the price for families that don't need financial aid doesn't feel right any more."

　　Need-based aid remains by far the largest share of all student aid, which includes state, federal and institutional grants. But merit aid, offered primarily by schools and states, is growing faster, both overall and at the institutional level.