2020年12月英语四级第2套听力原文及题目

2020年12月英语四级第2套听力原文及题目

Section A
Direction: In this section, you will hear three news reports. At the end of each news report, you will hear two or three questions. Both the news report and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question, you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A), B), C) and D). Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1 with a single line through the centre.

News Report 1
A waiter has returned a check worth nearly $424,000 to a retired social worker who lost it. The waiter found a bank envelope while cleaning off a table last Saturday at restaurant. He ran outside but the customer was gone. He opened the envelop and got a shock. After an unsuccessful search, the restaurant’s owner called the Daily News for help. The “relieved” customer was reunited with her check on Wednesday. It contained money from her apartment sale, already planned for a down payment on a new home. The customer did not tip the waiter after her meal. She tried to give him money later on, but he graciously declined. The waiter, who’s working his way through school, did accept the customer’s apology and gratitude and said it was happy to have helped her.
Questions 1 and 2 are based on the news report you have just heard.
Question 1: What does the news report say about the waiter?
Question 2: What did the customer try to do when she got her check back?

1.
A) He wanted to buy a home.
B) He suffered from a shock.
C) He lost a huge sum of money.
D) He did an unusual good deed.

2.
A) Invite the waiter to a fancy dinner.
B) Tell her story to the Daily News.
C) Give some money to the waiter.
D) Pay the waiter’s school tuition.

News Report 2
The village of Maref in Alaska voted on Tuesday to move to the state’s mainland. The move is due to global warming and rising sea levels. Most of the village’s 169 registered voters took part in the town hall meeting. They decided in a vote of 89 to 78 to move from their land on Sarichef Island, near the Arctic Circle. Maref Council Secretary Donna Barr said the vote was largely symbolic. It will be costly financially to the community. “About 15 years ago, they estimated the cost at $180 million. I would figure it’s much higher now,” Barr said. “We don’t see the move happening in our lifetime because of the funding”. The village’s roughly 650 residents have seen warming temperatures melt sea ice and permanently frozen land. This has resulted in houses falling into the water. At least 31 villages in Alaska face “immediate threats” due to climate change, the Government Accountability Office reported in 2009.
Questions 3 and 4 are based on the news report you have just heard.
Question 3: What is Maref’s vote on Tuesday about?
Question 4: Why did Donna Barr say they wouldn’t see the plan carried out any time soon?

3.
A) Whether or not to move to the state’s mainland.
B) How to keep the village from sinking into the sea.
C) Where to get the funds for rebuilding their village.
D) What to do about the rising level of the seawater.

4.
A) It takes too long a time.
B) It costs too much money.
C) It has to wait for the state’s final approval.
D) It faces strong opposition from many villagers.

News Report 3
A man in Halifax, Canada wanted to find out if people were thankful for someone holding the door open for them. The social experiment showed that 99 out of 100 people expressed gratitude. “I didn’t think we were going to get 99. I don’t know why, but I was pleasantly surprised because it went beyond just ‘thank you’, people got into conversations with us,” said Steve Foran, CEO of Gratitude At Work. “What we know from research is that from grateful people come good things,” he said. “A simple way to induce gratitude in people is opening doors and so we went to six places and open the doors for people”. For the experiment, Foran’s team went to a shopping center, a mall, two office buildings and a coffee shop. The door was held for 15 to 20 people at a time at each location. “We did have one that didn’t say thank you. We’re not here to judge them, because on any given day, that could be me or you. I suspect out of the 100 people, there were probably a bunch of them having a bad day, but grateful people make people grateful,” said Foran.
Questions 5 to 7 are based on the news report you have just heard.
Question 5: What is the purpose of the social experiment?
Question 6: What did Steve Foran and his team do in the experiment?
Question 7: What do we learn from the news report?

5.
A) To investigate whether people are grateful for help.
B) To see whether people hold doors open for strangers.
C) To explore ways of inducing gratitude in people.
D) To find out how people express gratitude.

6.
A) They induced strangers to talk with them.
B) They helped 15 to 20 people in a bad mood.
C) They held doors open for people at various places.
D) They interviewed people who didn’t say thank you.

7.
A) People can be educated to be grateful.
B) Most people express gratitude for help.
C) Most people have bad days now and then.
D) People are ungrateful when in a bad mood.

Section B
Direction: In this section, you will hear two long conversations. At the end of each conversation, you will hear four questions. Both the conversation and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question, you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A), B), C) and D). Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1 with a single line through the centre.

Conversation 1
W: Raise Solar. Lisa’s speaking. How can I help?
M: Hi, my name is Winston. I wish to enquire about solar panel installations.
W: Yes. What would you like to know?
M: Well, my neighbor installed panels on his roof about a year ago in order to power his hot water. He tells me it has saved him over $500 thus far. Does that sound about right to you?
W: Well, I’m not familiar with your neighbor or his particular setup, but that amount is definitely possible. I can tell you that the average four-bedroom house may typically have a roof with 50 square metres of surface area. Four panels on one side of that roof could save a family of four around $300 a year.
M: OK. That sounds about right then. My house is about the size you described, but my neighbor’s is bigger. I’m not sure how many panels he has up there, but he does have a large family of six.
W: Are you interested in installing some solar panels on your roof, sir?
M: Yes, I’m considering it.
W: If you wish to come into our office, we could show you the different solutions we offer.
M: OK. I might do that. But just quickly if you don’t mind, could you tell me approximately how much a typical installation costs, like, say, four panels?
W: Prices do vary depending on different factors, but as a rough estimate, it’s around $2,000. But you know, a typical household will make back that initial investment in about five years.
M: OK. I see. Thank you.
Questions 8 to 11 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
Question 8: What is the man’s purpose for calling the woman?
Question 9: What do we learn about the man’s neighbor from the conversation?
Question 10: What is one of the man’s chief concerns?
Question 11: How long will it take a typical household to make back the initial investment?

8.
A) To order a solar panel installation.
B) To report a serious leak in his roof.
C) To enquire about solar panel installations.
D) To complain about the faulty solar panels.

9.
A) He plans to install solar panels.
B) He owns a four-bedroom house.
C) He saves $300 a year.
D) He has a large family.

10.
A) The service of the solar panel company.
B) The cost of a solar panel installation.
C) The maintenance of the solar panels.
D) The quality of the solar panels.

11.
A) One year and a half.
B) Less than four years.
C) Roughly six years.
D) About five years.

Conversation 2
M: Good afternoon. Sorry to have kept you waiting. How can I help you?
W: Oh, no problem. I’m interested in booking a holiday to Australia and wonder if you could tell me what deals you have.
M: Sure. Are you only looking for flights or a package holiday with everything included?
W: When you say “everything”, what do you mean?
M: Well, a package holiday would include your flights, hotels, meals, day trips to different places of interest and transport to and from the airport.
W: Yeah, that sounds pretty good. I’m going with my family, so it would be nice to have everything taken care of. So, what sort of deals do you have for package holidays then?
M: All sorts, really. How long do you want to go for? And on what dates?
W: Two weeks around Christmas time would be great.
M: OK, let me check that for you. Here’s one, 14 nights in southeastern Australia. 5 nights in Sydney and 5 nights in Melbourne, and then for the other 4 nights you can choose from a list of trips to other places nearby. You could visit Canberra, for example, or the Blue Mountains, or you could go for a drive down the Great Ocean Road. Also, if you’re interested in wine, you could go on a tour of the places where they grow grapes and make wine.
W: That sounds great. It’s good we can choose some activities ourselves.
Questions 12 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
Question 12: Where is the conversation taking place?
Question 13: Why is the woman interested in package holidays?
Question 14: How long does the woman want to go for the holiday?
Question 15: What does the woman say she likes about the holiday package?

12.
A) At a travel agency.
B) At an Australian airport.
C) At an airline transfer service.
D) At a local transportation authority.

13.
A) She would be able to visit more scenic spots.
B) She wanted to save as much money as possible.
C) She would like to have everything taken care of.
D) She wanted to spend more time with her family.

14.
A) Four days.
B) Five days.
C) One week.
D) Two weeks.

15.
A) Choosing some activities herself.
B) Spending Christmas with Australians.
C) Driving along the Great Ocean Road.
D) Learning more about wine making.

Section C
Direction: In this section, you will hear three passages. At the end of each passage, you will hear three or four questions. Both the passage and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question, you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A), B), C) and D). Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1 with a single line through the centre.

Passage 1
Tourists taking a holiday in the Indonesian island of Bali are facing a new $14-per-person tax when they arrive on the holiday island from next year. But this is a green tax, which Bali Governor Wayan Koster has been working on for months, and which is designed to help clean up the island’s natural environment, and with good reason, too. Indonesia is drowning in plastics. Recycling is not one of the country’s strong points. It’s not uncommon to be offered many more plastic bags than one could ever need when visiting supermarkets and shopping malls, but slowly things are starting to change for the better. Back in 2016, the medium sized city of Banjarmasin banned single-use plastic bags. The city of Bogor followed suit in 2018. A few months ago, Koster announced a plan that would not only ban single-use plastic bags from supermarkets and convenience stores, but plastic bags and straws across the island. The regulation will come into full effect next month. “We received a fast and quick response from the Balinese people. Not only positive responses from the Balinese, we received good responses from the central government, other local governments, and even from overseas,” Koster told the Sydney Morning Herald this week during an interview. The governor is a determined environmentalist and he has more laws planned to protect the island’s waterways in particular, and to support the introduction of electric vehicles, too.
Questions 16 to 18 are based on the passage you have just heard.
Question 16: What would tourists have to do when they visit Indonesia’s Bali Island?
Question 17: What does the passage say about Indonesia?
Question 18: What is the new plan Governor Koster recently announced?

16.
A) Bring their own bags when shopping.
B) Use public transport when traveling.
C) Dispose of their trash properly.
D) Pay a green tax upon arrival.

17.
A) It has not been doing a good job in recycling.
B) It has witnessed a rise in accidental drowning.
C) It has not attracted many tourists in recent years.
D) It has experienced an overall decline in air quality.

18.
A) To charge a small fee on plastic products in supermarkets.
B) To ban single-use plastic bags and straws on Bali Island.
C) To promote the use of paper bags for shopping.
D) To impose a penalty on anyone caught littering.

Passage 2
An endangered species of whale is experiencing a small baby boom off the coast of America. The North Atlantic right whale is one of the rarest species of whale on the planet numbering only about 411. But the Center for Coastal Studies said Friday that its aerial survey team spotted a mom with two babies in Cape Cod Bay a day earlier. That brings the number seen in nearby waters alone this year to 3. That’s big news because the whale population has been falling, and no baby whales were seen last year. In all, seven baby whales have been spotted so far this year. The whale population has become endangered due to commercial whaling activities in recent years. This is because they are sometimes hunted for their meat or their skin. Over-hunting could lead to the disappearance of the whale population, possibly causing major problems to the global food chain. The whales give birth off the southeast coast of America in the winter and travel to feeding grounds off the northeast coast in the early spring. Northeast coast is a critically important source of food. The animals often feed close to shore. This provides watchers on land with unbeatable views of one of the rarest of marine mammals. It’s illegal to get within 1,500 feet of the animals without a federal research permit, so whale watchers are discouraged from attempting to get close to the whales.
Questions 19 to 21 are based on the passage you have just heard.
Question 19: What do we learn from the passage about the North Atlantic right whale?
Question 20: What has caused the decline of the whale population in recent years?
Question 21: Why do whales travel to the northeast coast of America in the early spring?

19.
A) It gives birth to several babies at a time.
B) It is the least protected mammal species.
C) Its breeding grounds are now better preserved.
D) Its population is now showing signs of increase.

20.
A) Global warming.
B) Polluted seawaters.
C) Commercial hunting.
D) Decreasing birthrates.

21.
A) To mate.
B) To look for food.
C) To escape hunters.
D) To seek breeding grounds.

Passage 3
An average person consumes 144 pints of milk a year, but 40% of that is poured onto cereal, and 60% of those people are children. But what was once advertised as nutritious is becoming unpopular. Americans drink 37% less milk than they did in the 1970s. And in the UK, dairy consumption overall has fallen by a third in the past 20 years. Milk is increasingly being described in a negative light. A recent blog suggested: “Maybe people are drinking less milk because it is poisonous to many of us”. Lactose is the sugar found in milk and dairy products. It needs a series of complex proteins to break it down. Without enough of these proteins, the lactose is broken down by bacteria in the human body. This can cause physical pain and produce gas in the stomach. However, after we have finished breast or formula feeding, most of us don’t continue producing the complex proteins in our body, which are necessary to break down the lactose. Despite the problems in digesting milk, it does provide many benefits. Milk is nutritious, it contains vitamins A and D as well as protein and isn’t full of calories. You can test yourself by drinking a large glass of milk. If you get sick in your stomach within the next 24 hours, you are lacking the proteins to digest milk.
Questions 22 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard.
Question 22: What does the passage say about Americans?
Question 23: How do Americans and British people think of milk nowadays?
Question 24: Why does drinking milk cause pain in some people?
Question 25: What does the passage say is a benefit of milk?

22.
A) They prefer to drink low-fat milk.
B) They think milk is good for health.
C) They consume less milk these days.
D) They buy more milk than the British.

23.
A) It is not as healthy as once thought.
B) It is not easy to stay fresh for long.
C) It benefits the elderly more.
D) It tends to make people fat.

24.
A) They drink too many pints every day.
B) They are sensitive to certain minerals.
C) They lack the necessary proteins to digest it.
D) They have eaten food incompatible with milk.

25.
A) It is easier for sick people to digest.
B) It provides some necessary nutrients.
C) It is healthier than other animal products.
D) It supplies the body with enough calories.

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