英语四级阅读理解练习题3
Educators today are more and more often heard to say that computer literacy is absolutely necessary for college students. Many even argue that each incoming freshman should have permanent access to his or hcr own microcomputer. What advantages do computers offer the college students?
Any student who has used a word processor will know one compelling reason to use a computer: to write papers. Although not all students feel comfortable composing on a word processor, most find revising and editing much easier on it. One can alter, insert, or delete just by pressing a few keys, thus eliminating the need to rewrite or re-type. Furthermore, since the revision process is less burdensome, students are more likely to revise as often as is necessary to end up with the best paper possible. For these reasons, many freshman English courses require the use of a word processor.
Computers are also useful in the context of language courses, where they are used to drill students in basic skills. Software programs reinforce ESL(English as a Second Language ) instruction, as well as instruction in French, German, Spanish, and other languages. By using these programs on a regular basis, students can improve their proficiency in a language while proceeding at their own pace.
Science students take advantage of computers in many ways. Using computer graphic capabilities, for example, botany students can represent and analyze different plant growth patterns. Medical students can learn to interpret computerized images of internal body structures. Physics students can complete complex calculations far
more quickly than they could without the use of computer.
Similarly, business and accounting students find that computer spreadsheet programs are all but indispensable to many aspects of their work, while students pursuing careers in graphic arts. marketing, and public relations find that knowledge of computer graphic is important. Education majors learn to develop grading systems using computers, while social science students use computers for analyzing and graphically displacing their research results.
It is no wonder, then, that educators support the purchase and use of microcomputers by students. A versatile tool, the computer can help students learn. And that is, after all, the reason for going to college.
56. The word "literacy" (Line 1, Paragraph 1) means__________.
A. the ability to read and write
B. the ability to use
C. literature
D. the knowledge of language
57. The main purpose of this passage is to __________.
A. persuade the educators to increase computer use in their own classroom
B. analyze advantages and disadvantages of computer use among college students
C. identify some of the ways that computers benefit college students
D. describe how computers can be used to teach foreign languages
58. According to the author, a word processor can be used to __________.
A. revise papers
B. retype papers
C. reduce the psychological burden of writing papers
D. improve the writing skills of a student
59. In this passage, the writer's argument is developed primarily through the use of __________.
A. cause-effect analysis
B. comparison and contrast
C. induction
D. examples
60. According to the author, the reason for students to go to college is__________.
A. to learn something
B. to perfect themselves
C. to improve computer skills
D. to make the best use of computers
Passage Two
Questions 61 to 65 are based on the following passage.
Language is, and should be, a living thing, constantly enriched with new words and forms of expression. But there is a vital distinction between good developments, which add to the language, enabling us to say things we could not say before, and bad developments, which subtract from the language by rendering it less precise. A vivacious, colorful use of words is not to be confused with mere slovenliness. The kind of slovenliness in which some professionals deliberately indulge is perhaps akin to the cult (迷信) of the unfinished work, which has eroded most of the arts in our time. And the true answer to it is the same that art is enhanced, not hindered, by discipline. You cannot carve satisfactorily in butter.
The corruption of written English has been accompanied by an even sharper decline in the standard of spoken English. We speak very much less well than was common among educated Englishmen a generation or two ago.
The modem theatre has played a baneful (有害的) part in dimming our appreciation of language. Instead of the immensely articulate dialogue of, for example, Shaw (who was also very insistent on good pronunciation),audiences are now subjected to streams of barely literate trivia, often designed, only too well, to exhibit 'lack of communication', and larded (夹杂) with the obscenities (下流的话) and grammatical errors of the intellectually impoverished. Emily Post once advised her readers: "The theatre is the best possible place to hear correctly-enunciated speech. " Alas, no more. One young actress was recently reported to be taking lessons in how to speak badly, so that she should fit in better.
But the BBC is the worst traitor. After years of very successfully helping to raise the general standard of spoken English, it suddenly went into reverse. As the head of the Pronunciation Unit coyly (含蓄地) put it, "In the 1960s the BBC opened the field to a much wider range of speakers." To hear a BBC disc jockey talking to the latest ape-like pop idol is a truly shocking experience of verbal squalor. And the prospect seems to be of even worse to come. School teachers are actively encouraged to ignore little Johnny's incoherent grammar, atrocious spelling and haphazard punctuation, because worrying about such things might inhibit his creative genius.
61. The writer relates linguistic slovenliness to tendencies in the arts today in that they both __________.
A. occasionally aim at a certain fluidity
B. appear to shun perfection
C. from time to time show regard for the finishing touch
D. make use of economical short cuts
62. "Art is enhanced, not hindered, by discipline" (Lines 6～7, Paragraph 1 ) means __________.
A. an artist's work will be finer if he observes certain aesthetic standards
B. an unfinished work is bound to be comparatively inferior
C. the skill of certain artists conceals their slovenliness
D. artistic expression is inhibited by too many roles
63. Many modem plays, the author finds, frequently contain speech which__________.
A. is incoherent and linguistically objectionable
B. is far too ungrammatical for most people to follow
C. unintentionally shocks the audience
D. tries to hide the author's intellectual inadequacies
64. The author says that the standard of the spoken English of BBC__________.
A. is the worst among all broadcasting networks
B. has raised English-speaking up to a new level
C. has taken a turn for the worse since the 1960s
D. is terrible because of a few popular disc jockeys
65. Teachers are likely to overlook the linguistic lapses in their pupils since__________.
A. they find that children no longer respond to this kind of discipline nowadays
B. they fear the children may become less coherent
C. more importance is now attached to oral expression
D. the children may be discouraged from expressing their ideas
【答案解析】
56.B
定位：根据题干信息可将答案直接定位到第一段第一句。
解析：literacy最基本的意思是tlle ability to read and write，但在本文中的literacy出现于第一段：
Educators today are more and more often heard to say that computer literacy is absolutely necessary for college students.因此，此处literacy引申为“使用的能力”。故选B。
57.C
定位：根据题干信息main purpose of this passage可知解答本题需要通观全文。
解析：在文章开头处作者提到：“现在，越来越多的教育专家认为大学生一定要懂电脑。甚至还有许多人认为每个大学新生都应该随时能使用电脑。那么，电脑能够给大学生带来什么好处呢?”显然，作者下面要讲的就是拥有电脑对大学生的多种好处。故C为正确选项。B项也比较有迷惑性，但文章并未提到disadvantages.故排除。
58.A
定位：根据题干信息wordprocessorcanbe usedto可将答案定位到第二段第二、三句。
解析：第二段提到：“虽然并非所有学生都喜欢在word文档里写东西，但是大部分学生都发现在电脑上进行修改和编辑更加容易。只需按下几个键，你就可以修改、插入或者删除，无需重写或重新输入。”可见，word程序能帮助学生编辑论文。故选A。
59.D
定位：根据题干信息the writer’s argument is developed primarily through可知解答本题需要通观全文。
解析：作者为了说明自己的论点，即“拥有电脑对大学生的多种好处”，举了很多例子：他首先指出电脑在写论文时的用途，接着说明电脑在语言学习中的用途，然后又说明了电脑对理科学生的重要性，最后还说明其对商务专业、会计专业、教育学以及社会科学等专业的学生有何帮助。故选D。因果分析、比较对比、归纳总结等写作方式不是本文的主要写作方式。
60.A
定位：根据题干信息the reason for students to go to college可将答案定位到文章最后一段。解析：文章在举例说明了电脑对各专业学生的帮助之后，再次回到首段中提到的观点，即教育专家为什么支持学生使用电脑。作者总结道：“作为一种多功能工具，电脑能够帮助学生学习。毕竟，这也就是读大学的原因。”可见上大学的终极目标也就是学习。故选A。
【答案解析】
61.B
定位：根据题干信息词slovenliness和arts可将答案定位到第一段第四句。
解析：该句提到：“有些语言工作者有意大量以邋遢、马虎的方式使用词汇，他们的这种做法同狂热地迷信艺术品不需要润饰的做法很相似。”可见二者的共同点在于都不追求完美。故选B。
62.A
定位：根据题干信息可直接将答案定位到第一段倒数第二句。
解析：第一段倒数第二句提到：And the true answer to it is the same that art is enhanced，not hindered，bydiscipline.从字面理解这句话，其意为：“……规则是对艺术的促进，而不是对艺术的阻碍。”即：没有规矩，不成方圆;遵守规范，才会有更好的艺术。紧接着的下一句“You cannot carve sailsfactorilvinbutter.(用黄油来雕刻永远也做不出令人满意的艺术品。)”将此意说得更明白透彻。故选A。
63.A
定位：根据题干信息modemplays可将答案定位到第三段第二句。
解析：本题是问现代戏剧语言具有怎样的特点。第三段第二句提到：“相比以前吐字极为清晰的戏剧语言，现代观众不得不接受的是勉强识字的人所表述的信息，而且常常被拙劣地设计成‘(现代人)沟通缺乏’的体现，很多时候还夹杂着缺乏教养的下流言语和语法错误。”故A为正确答案。incoherent和linguistically objectionable是对文中streams ofbarely fiterate trivia的同义转述。
64.C
定位：根据题干信息词BBC可将答案定位到最后一段前半部分。
解析：原文提到，BBC曾多年如一日地帮助提升英语的口语标准，并且卓有成效，但是随后它就突然倒行逆施了。自20世纪60年代起，BBC开始向更广泛的讲话者人群开放。听BBC音乐节目主持人与猿猴一般的最新流行偶像做访谈节目，绝对是一场震撼身心的言语悲剧。可见，BBC主持语言的水平从20世纪60年代起就急转直下，故选C。
65.D
定位：根据题干信息teachers和linguistic lapses in their pupils可将答案定位到文章最后一句。
解析：文章最后提到：“现在学校都积极鼓励老师们不要苛责小孩子语法不连贯、拼写糟糕、发音蹩脚，因为他们担心那样做可能会扼杀孩子的创造天赋。”也就是说，老师们害怕过多地纠正小学生的语言问题会使他们不再勇于表达自己的观点。故选D。