专业英语四级阅读4.docx

1、专业英语四级阅读4Exercise 4PART V READING COMPREHENSION 25 MIN.TEXTA During the Old Kingdom, the Egyptians made many practical advances in mathematics and the sciences. Egyptian farmers devised methods of surveying land out of necessity. When annual floods washed away boundary markers, farmers had to remeas

2、ure their fields. The need to survey land led to the development of mathematics, particularly geometry. Egyptians learned to measure the areas of squares and circles and to figure the areas of squares and circles and to figure the volumes of cylinders and spheres. The need to predict regular events

3、such as Nile floods and eclipses led to advances in astronomy. Priests observed the skies and plotted the courses of stars and planets. These priest astronomers used their knowledge to produce a calendar with a 365-days, and they divided a year into 12 months, with three seasons: the Nile flood seas

4、on, the planting season, and the harvest season. They calculated that each month had 30 days and they added five days to the last month to total 365 days. Although the Egyptians made no allowance for leap years, their calendar, as modified by the Greeks and Romans, is the basis for the modern calend

5、ar. The Egyptian also invented techniques to build impressive stone monuments. Stone workers learned how to cut tall obelisks from a single rock, using hot fires and cold water to make the surrounding rocks crack. They then finished the job with hammers and crowbars. Egyptian engineering of temples

6、and pyramids was so precise that each block fit perfectly into the next one. Egyptians also made important medical discoveries. Although Egyptian doctors relied heavily on magic, they made scientific inquiries. By studying the human body, doctors learned to perform surgery. Ancient papyrus texts des

7、cribe successful operations to set broken bones and treat spinal injuries. The Greeks and Romans acquired much of their medical knowledge from Egyptian sources.81. According to the passage, the development of geometry in the ancient Egypt was directly due to A. the vast kingdom B. the flood C. the r

8、epeated surveys of land D. the development of the mathematics82. The ancient Egyptian priests A. could predict all the regular events B. developed astronomy C. produced the current calendar D. divided a year into four seasons83. We can learn from the last paragraph that A. the Egyptian doctors were

9、superstitious B. the Egyptian doctors could perform operations by magic C. the Egyptian doctors used papyrus to operate on human bones D. the Egyptian doctors were greatly influenced by the Greeks and Romans84. Which of the following is the best title of the passage? A. The Nile and the Ancient Egyp

10、t. B. Floods and Geometry. C. The Ancient Egyptian Scientific Achievements. D. The Ancient Egyptian.TEXT BJournals written for college classes differ from private diaries written for ourselves. While historically the two terms have been used interchangeably, today we can make a useful distinction be

11、tween them: diaries are personal notebooks that contain private thought, memories, feelings, dreams-things of importance to the writer and nobody else. Journals, however, have a more limited focus; they center more on the point where writers personal lives meet their intellectual and social lives-in

12、 this case, centering on that meeting as it takes place in the study of literature.If your English teacher has asked you to keep a journal, it is probably with the hope that you will use it to locate, collect, and make sense of your thoughts about the content of your literature class: about your rea

13、ctions, your candid reactions to particular lectures; about first ideas for writing assignments and later thoughts on revising those assignments; about the personal connections you may make between this course and the rest of your life-whatever they may be.It might also help to separate journals fro

14、m class notebooks. Unlike diaries, class notebooks contain almost nothing at all that is personal, being filled as they are with other peoples ideas: lecture and discussion notes, copied quotations, next weeks assignments and so on. These notebooks are especially useful to help you pass examinations

15、, but thats about it. Think of your journal as a cross between a diary (subjective) and a class notebook (objective): in the journal you write about the object of study from your own personal perspective and you write primarily to yourself.85. According to the passage, what is the purpose of teacher

16、s in assigning journals on literature? A. To help the students understand the literature works and the lesson. B. To make sure that the students have read the novels, plays, or poems. C. To find out the students roles in the discussion. D. To check whether the students are hardworking.86. We can inf

17、er from the passage that journal is A. a piece of writing kept to yourself exclusively B. a piece of objective writing C. a piece of writing both private and public D. assigned by teachersTEXT CUS President Bill Clinton announced a plan for expanding a visa programme for foreigners with high-tech sk

18、ills last Thursday. Clinton wants to issue an extra 362,500 H-lB visas during the next three years and four times the fees collected to create a training and education program for US workers. He would also require that up to half the foreigners hold masters degrees or above to ensure US companies ge

19、t highly skilled people. H-lB visas are issued to foreigners with college degrees and allow them to work in the United States for up to six years. Their number is 115,000 this year, but is scheduled to fall to 107,500 next year and then to 65,000 per year after that.High-tech industry officials say

20、at least 300,000 jobs are unfilled due to the lack of qualified US applicants. Labour unions argue the industry is looking overseas mainly to hold down wages. Clintons proposal would set an overall limit of 200,000 visas a year for three years, with 10,000 designated annually for research and higher

21、 education.He would increase the current USSS00 fee for visas to USS2,000 for most companies and USS3,000 for companies that depend on foreigners for at least 15% of their work force. Half the extra money would be used to train US workers, 30% would pay for educating US workers and 20 % to improve t

22、he Immigration and Naturalization Service.Also, Clinton proposed to change a deadline for long-term illegal immigrants to apply for legal residence. Currently, only immigrants who arrived before 1972 can apply for legal status.Clinton wants to move the date to 1986, allowing many more immigrants to

23、gain legal status.87. It can be inferred from the second paragraph thatA. according to Clintons proposal, 362,500 H-lB visas will be issued in the next three yearsB. Clinton wants to increase the wages of workers with high-tech skills by four times C. Clinton wants to collect more money to train and

24、 educate the native workersD. Clinton wont allow people of college degree to immigrate to the U. S.88. Why does Clinton put forward this proposal?A. He wants to increase more opportunities of employment.B. He wants to meet the need of the companies for people of high-tech skills, according to the hi

25、gh-tech industry officials.C. He wants to improve the working conditions for the foreign workers.D. He wants to reduce the wages of the workers, according to the high-tech industry officials.89. Clinton proposed to A. increase the current fee for visas by USS1,500 or US$2,500 B. increase the current

26、 fee for visas by USS2,000 or USS3,000 C. increase the current fee for visas to USS 2,000 for companies that depend on foreigners for at least 15 percent of their work force D. increase the current fee for visas to USS 3,000 for companies that depend on foreigners for no more than 15 percent of thei

27、r work force90. According to the passage, which of the following is true? A. The proposal was put forward last week. B. The number of visas given to foreign workers of college degrees will increase. C. Half of the foreign workers should hold master degrees. D. Half of the money collected from the in

28、crease of the fee for visas will be spent on U. S. workers.91. The passage is most likely from A. an article of economics B. a text of history C. a political review D. a news reportTEXT D America has always been a land of beginnings. After Europeans discovered America in the fifteenth century, the m

29、ysterious New World became for many people a genuine hope of a new life, an escape from poverty and persecution, a chance to start again. We can say that, as a nation, America begins with that hope. When, however, does American literature begin? American literature begins with American experiences.

30、Long before the first colonists arrived, before Christopher Columbus, before the Northmen who found America about the year 1000, Native Americans lived here. Each tribes literature was tightly woven into the fabric of daily life and reflected the unmistakably American experience of lining with the l

31、and. Another kind of experience, one filled with fear and excitement, found its expression in the reports that Columbus and other explorers sent home in Spanish, French, and English. In addition, the journals of the people who lived and died in the New England wilderness tell unforgettable tales of

32、hard and sometimes heartbreaking experiences of those early years.Experience, then, is the key to early American literature. The New World provided a great variety of experiences, and these experiences demanded a wide variety of expressions by an even wider variety of early American writers. These writers included John Smith, who spent only about two-and-one-half years on the American continent. They included Jonathan Edwards and William Byrd, who thought of themselves as British subjects, never suspecting a revolution that would create a U