英语四级考试仔细阅读模拟试题

　　Take, for example, the third baseman. You sit behind the third base dugout and you watch him watching home plate. His legs are apart, knees flexed. His arms hang loose. He does a lot of this. The skeptic still cannot think of any other sports so still, so passive. 『But watch what happens every time the pitcher throws: the third baseman goes up on his toes, flexes his arms or bring the glove to a point in front of him, takes a step right or left, backward or forward, perhaps he glances across the field to check his first baseman’s position.』② Suppose the pitch is a ball. “Nothing happened,” you say. “I could have had my eyes closed.”

　　The skeptic and the innocent must play the game. And this involvement in the stands is no more intellectual than listening to music is. Watch the third baseman. Smooth the dirt in front of you with one foot; smooth the pocket in your glove; watch the eyes of the batter, the speed of the bat, the sound of horsehide on wood. If football is a symphony of movement and theatre, baseball is chamber music, a spacious interlocking of notes, chores and responses.

　　1. The passage is mainly concerned with ______.

　　A. the different tastes of people for sports

　　B. the different characteristics of sports

　　C. the attraction of football

　　D. the attraction of baseball

　　2. Those who don’t like baseball may complain that ______.

　　A. it is only to the taste of the old

　　B. it involves fewer players than football

　　C. it is not exciting enough

　　D. it is pretentious and looks funny

　　3. The author admits that ______.

　　A. baseball is too peaceful for the young

　　B. baseball may seem boring when watched on TV

　　C. football is more attracting than baseball

　　D. baseball is more interesting than football

　　4. By stating “I could have had my eyes closed. ” the author means (4th paragraph last sentence):

　　A. The third baseman would rather sleep than play the game.

　　B. Even if the third baseman closed his eyes a moment ago, it could make no different to the result.

　　C. The third baseman is so good at baseball that he could finish the game with eyes closed all the time and do his work well.

　　D. The consequent was too bad he could not bear to see it.

　　5. We can safely conclude that the author ______.

　　A. likes football B. hates football

　　C. hates baseball D. likes baseball

　　重点词汇

　　1. dugout n. 棒球场边供球员休息的地方

　　2. pitcher n. 投手

　　3. symphony n. 交响乐

　　4. chamber n. 室内

　　5. contemplate vt.沉思，注视

　　长难句分析

　　①此句的主干是“Baseball„means„watching„”，其中“in funny tight outfits”用来修饰“grown men”,“standing„”和“staring”用来做“grown men”的定语。 【译文】对于他们来说，棒球就是在无聊的几个小时中几个身着紧身衣的大人伫立在场地周围没事可做地东张西望。

　　②这是一个复合句，“goes up„”，“flexes„”“takes„”，“glances„”做“the third baseman”的并列谓语。 【译文】但每当投球手掷出球的那一瞬间，你再看吧，三垒运动员脚尖点地，屈臂或把接球手套直指前方，左右移动步伐，或前或后，或许他还要越过场地盯着一垒球手的动作。

　　答案与解析

　　本文主要讲述垒球的特征及欣赏。

　　1. D 主旨题。文章第一段简述了人们对垒球所持的偏见——认为它毫无活力、从容和缓，不像橄榄球那样(禁止)迭起、令人激动。文章的第二、三、四、五段探讨了垒球的根本特征及欣赏角度，文章的最后一句话用一个比喻概括了垒球的魅力：“如果橄榄球是一曲交响乐的话，那么，垒球中所表现出来的运动恰似一曲优美的室内乐。”可见，本文主要探讨的是垒球的特点及其欣赏。 A不对，第一段也确实提到了不同观众对不同运动形式的偏好，但这只是用以引出对垒球的特征及欣赏的讨论。

　　2. C 细节题。文章第一段指出：许多人不喜欢垒球，一提起垒球这些人就打哈欠甚至皱眉头。对他们来说，看垒球意味着眼巴巴地观望着身着运动装(outfit)的人呆立在球场上，东瞧瞧西望望，很少有什么(激动人心的)事发生——没意思透了。他们认为这样的运动更适合上个世纪的人的口味，不像橄榄球那样充满

　　活力。 A意为：“它只适合老年人的口味。”注意：原文说的是适合上个世纪的人的口味，二者意味不一样。 D意为：“它矫揉造作、滑稽可笑。”这与说它gentlemanly(具有绅士风度，矜持，即：没有冲撞或拼抢)不一样。

　　3. B 推断题。第三段指出，在电视上，垒球运动被切换成不同角度的画面，而且不断地使用重放、特写等电视制作技术，这破坏了该运动的整体运动感，使观众无法将自己投入(project)到运动中去，以体会到这种寓动于静的运动之美。电视做不到这一点(The TV won’t do it for you)，因此，电视上的垒球比赛看上去(seems)孤孤单单、冷冷清清、沉沉静静、慢慢腾腾。C、D不对，作者仅指出了不同运动有不同运动的特征，并未说哪种运动优于哪种。参阅文章最后一句。

　　4. B 推断题。第四段整个都在描述垒球场上的一个场景：拿三垒的运动员假设对方全投出好球，作好了一切准备，但是对方投出的并不是好球。所以在那时候他的准备做不做都不会影响比赛结果。他说本来可以闭上眼睛，意思就是B项所写的。A、C、D都不符合作者的意图。这道题需要完整地了解第四段内容才能作好选择。

　　5. D 推断题。在本文中，作者主要探讨了垒球的特征及欣赏，作者着重指出的是：只有根据垒球的特征来欣赏它，才能体会到它的魅力。在他看来，观察到垒球比赛中运动员的各种动作、垒球位之间的关系等是欣赏它的关键(第三段第二句)。只有从整体来把握它，才能看到每一个小的动作、每一个眼神乃至于“静止”的意义，也只有这样，才能全身心地投入比赛中，欣赏到它的魅力。可见，作者对垒球有很深的理解而且非常喜爱垒球。主要参考第三、四、五段。

　　“With the increase in the number of such advertisements, however, each advertiser within a certain group is competing with others in the same group for the reader’s attention”，故选项D正确。 Psychologists take opposing views of how external rewards, from warm praise to old cash, affect motivation and creativity. Behaviorists, who study the relation between actions and, argue that rewards can improve performance at work and school. Some other researchers who study various aspects of mental life, maintain those rewards often destroy creativity by encouraging dependence on approval and gifts from others.

　　The latter view has gained many supporters, especially among educators. But the careful use of small monetary rewards sparks in grade-school children suggesting that properly presented inducements indeed aid inventiveness, according to a study in the June Journal Personality and Social Psychology.

　　“If they know they're working for a reward and can focus on a relatively challenging task, they show the most creativity,” says Robert Esenberger of the University of Delaware in Newark. “But it's easy to kill creativity by giving rewards for poor performance or creating too much anticipation for rewards.”

　　A teacher who continually draws attention to rewards or who hands out high grades for ordinary achievement ends up with uninspired students, Esenberger holds. As an example of the latter point, he notes growing efforts at major universities to tighten grading standards and restore falling grades.

　　In earlier grades, the use of so-called token economics, in which students handle challenging problems and receive performance-based points toward valued rewards, shows promise in raising effort and creativity, the Delaware psychologist claims.

　　1. Psychologists are divided with regard to their attitudes toward ____.

　　A) the choice between spiritual encouragement and monetary rewards

　　B) the appropriate amount of external rewards

　　C) the study of relationship between actions and

　　D) the effects of external rewards on students' performance

　　2. What is the view held by many educators concerning external rewards for students?

　　A) They approve of external rewards.

　　B) They don't think external rewards.

　　C) They have doubts about external rewards.

　　D) They believe external rewards can motivate small children, but not college students.

　　3. According to the result of the study mentioned in the passage, what should educators do to stimulate motivation and creativity?

　　A) Give rewards for performances which deserve them.

　　B) Always promise rewards.

　　C) Assign tasks which are not very challenging.

　　D) Be more lenient to students when mistakes are made.

　　4. It can be inferred from the passage that major universities are trying to tighten their grading standards because they believe ____.

　　A) rewarding poor performance may kill the creativity of students’

　　B) punishment is more effective than rewarding

　　C) failing uninspired students helps improve their overall academic standards

　　D) discouraging the students anticipation for easy rewards is matter of urgency

　　5.Which of the following facts about “token economics” is not correct?

　　A) Students are assigned challenging tasks.

　　B) Rewards are given for good performances.

　　C) Students are evaluated according to the effort they put into the task.

　　D) With token economics, students’ creativity can be enhanced.

　　答案与解析：

　　1. D心理学家认为外界的奖励对学生会有不同的影响。事实辨析题。根据文章第一句话“Psychologists take opposing views of how external re wards, from warm praise to old cash, affect motivation and creativity”可知，心理学家的分歧在于来自外界的奖励对学生的积极性和创造性究竟有什么影响，故选项D正确.

　　2. C许多教育家对外界的奖励持怀疑态度。文章第二段第一句话提到，后一种观点得到了许多教育工作者的支持，从第一段中可知，后一种观点是：奖励会促使学生对别人的赞许和馈赠产生依赖心理，因此奖励会破坏创造精神。由此可知，他们对奖励的正面作用持怀疑态度。故选项C正确。

　　3. A根据文中的研究结果表明，教育家通过给予学生应得的奖励来提高他们的积极性和创造性。文章第三段指出，给予学生恰当的奖励，可使他们发挥更大的创造性，但如果对糟糕的表现也给予奖励，或让学生对奖励有太多的期许，反而会扼杀创造性。故选项A正确。

　　4. B从文中可以得知，一些重点大学试图加强等级标准，因为他们相信惩罚比奖励更有效。事实辨析题。从文中第四段可知，许多大学之所以严格考试的评分标准，是因为“A teacher ... who hands out high grades for ordinary achievement ends up with uninspired students”。选项B 与此意相同。

　　5. C根据学生的表现对他们做出评价。事实辨析题。根据最后一段的意思，在这种奖励制度下，要根据学生的表现对他们做出评价，而不仅仅是他们花费了多少精力来完成任务，故选项C正确。