2017年06月英语四级第2套听力原文及题目

2017年06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
Automakers and tech companies are working hard to offer the first true self-driving car, but 75% of drivers say they wouldn’t feel safe in such a vehicle. Still, 60% of drivers would like to get some kind of self-driving feature, such as automatic braking or self-parking, the next time they buy a new car. The attitudes are published in a new AAA (Triple A) survey of 1,800 drivers. Advocates of self-driving cars argue they would be safer than cars driven by humans because they wouldn’t get distracted or drive when tired. But those surveyed by AAA say they trust their own driving skills. Many feel the technology is too new and unproven. John Nielsen, AAA’s managing director of automotive engineering and repair, said tests suggest drivers may be overestimating their own abilities. He also believes they will be more likely to trust self-driving cars as they become more familiar with features such as automatic braking or parking. He estimated that the “comfort level” will increase considerably in five to ten years.
Questions 1 and 2 are based on the news report you have just heard.
Question 1: What is the finding of the AAA survey?
Question 2: What does John Nielsen say about self-driving cars?

1.
A) The majority of drivers prefer to drive and park themselves.
B) Human drivers become easily distracted or tired while driving.
C) Most drivers feel uncertain about the safety of self-driving cars.
D) Most drivers have test driven cars with automatic braking features.

2.
A) Their drivers would feel safe after getting used to the automatic devices.
B) They would be unpopular with drivers who only trust their own skills.
C) Their increased comfort levels have boosted their sales.
D) They are not actually as safe as automakers advertise.

News Report 2
One dog has been killed and multiple dogs have been injured by a snowmobile driver in what appears to be an intentional attack on competitors in the Iditarod Race in Alaska. Aliy Zirkle was the first to report an attack. A snowmobile driver had repeatedly attempted to harm her and her team, and one of Zirkle’ s dogs had received a non-life-threatening injury. Zirkle reported the attack when she arrived in Nulato, Alaska, in the early hours of the morning. Then Jeff King, a four-time champion, reported a similar attack. His team was hit by a snowmobile driver, injuring several dogs and killing a 3-year-old male dog. Reporter Zachariah Hughes says that neither King nor Zirkle was injured. Although this incident very much alters the race of the two participants competing for a win, both are going to continue on their way toward the finishing line. Alaska State Troopers released a statement saying they’ve arrested Arnold Demoski. He faces a trial on several charges.
Questions 3 and 4 are based on the news report you have just heard.
Question 3: What is the news report mainly about?
Question 4: What do we learn about Jeff King?

3.
A) Thefts of snowmobile dogs in Alaska.
B) A series of injuries to snowmobile drivers.
C) Attacks on some Iditarod Race competitors.
D) A serious accident in the Alaska sports event.

4.
A) He stayed behind to look after his injured dogs.
B) He has won the Alaska Iditarod Race four times.
C) He received a minor injury in the Iditarod Race.
D) He has quit the competition in Alaska for good.

News Report 3
A tour boat turned over off the coast of Nicaragua, killing at least 13 people and leaving more passengers missing, officials said. The boat was carrying 32 people—25 Costa Ricans, four Americans and three Nicaraguans. The 13 dead were all Costa Rican, the foreign ministry said. The boat, traveling between Nicaragua’s Big Com Island and Little Com Island, turned over Saturday near the larger island. Some passengers remain missing, the Costa Rican foreign ministry said, but did not specify how many. A local radio said an unspecified number of people were rescued, including the tour boat’s owner, Hilario Blandon. Nicaraguan naval authorities had banned sea travel in the area because of bad weather and strong winds, but the tour boat proceeded anyway. Blandon, the boat’s owner, has been arrested by Nicaraguan authorities, the state-run news agency said. Both he and a crew member, are being investigated for unintentional murder and exposing people to danger, according to police.
Questions 5 to 7 are based on the news report you have just heard.
Question 5: What happened to the tour boat sailing off the Nicaraguan coast?
Question 6: How many people was the boat carrying?
Question 7: What do we know about the owner of the boat?

5.
A) It sank into the sea due to overloading.
B) It ran into Nicaragua’s Big Corn Island.
C) It disappeared between two large islands.
D) It turned over because of strong winds.

6.
A) 13.
B) 25.
C) 30.
D) 32.

7.
A) He has helped with the rescue effort.
B) He is being investigated by the police.
C) He was drowned with the passengers.
D) He is among those people missing.

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
M: Hi, Susan! You’re looking very smart today.
W: I always look smart, James. Actually I’m on my way to a job interview.
M: What job? Oh, you mean for the summer holidays?
W: Yeah, there is only two weeks to go. I’ve got a second interview with that big foreign accountancy firm in the city center. You know the one.
M: That’s fantastic!
W: The work is just helping out with the data input, you know, but the pay isn’t too bad. It might suit you too. I know they have released two temporary positions available. And I don’t think they have anyone else yet.
M: Um, if they take you on, tell them you know a friend who’d be really good too. I really need the money and the experience will look good on my resume. Maybe we’ll be working together, the dream team.
W: OK, we’ll do. If the boss likes me, I’ll mention it. It will be good to have someone around who I know. I’ll phone you afterwards. But perhaps you should put in an application anyway.
M: Thanks, Susan. That’s great! Listen, do you want a lift to the city? I have my dad’s car today and nothing else to do this morning.
W: Sure. Thanks, James.
M: Let’s go then. The car is over there.
W: By the way, how is your knowledge of accountancy? The interviewer may ask you about it.
M: No problem. I think I can survive. I might just have to review a few accountancy terms. Maybe you can give me a practicing interview first.
W: Of course. Let’s go then. Don’t want to be late!
Questions 8 to 11 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
Question 8: Where will Susan probably get a job?
Question 9: What will Susan’s future job involve?
Question 10: Why does James want the job in that company?
Question 11: What does James say he will have to do to prepare for the interview?

8.
A) At a shopping centre.
B) At a community college.
C) At an accountancy firm.
D) At an IT company.

9.
A) Helping out with data input.
B) Arranging interviews.
C) Sorting application forms.
D) Making phone calls.

10.
A) He enjoys using computers.
B) He needs the money badly.
C) He wants to work in the city centre.
D) He has relevant working experience.

11.
A) Purchase some business suits.
B) Learn some computer language.
C) Improve his programming skills.
D) Review some accountancy terms.

Conversation 2
W: There is new data out today that confirms that many Americans are not good at math. And when it comes to everyday technology skills, we are did last compared to other developed countries. Here is Gabriele Emanuel of National Public Radio.
M: Let’s start with the bad news that Americans are terrible at technology skills, using email, naming a file on the computer, using the link on a webpage or just texting someone.
W: No country scored below the U.S.?
M: Only one country, Poland performed as poorly as we did. Who came out the first? Japan did the best and then Finland. If you look at data about reading and math, you’ll notice something interesting. Younger adults who went to college or graduate school were doing pretty well. In literacy, they were actually doing better than the peers in any other countries.
W: So that’s a bit of good news!
M: But when you look at Americans who have a high school diploma, they look a lot like other countries’ high school dropouts. We have a lot of work to do. That’s especially true when it comes to math. You go to the store and there is a sale. Buy one, get the second one, half off. You decide to buy two, how much do you pay?
W: You mean high school graduates cannot do this task in general?
M: You are right. What does that tell us about our education system? Well, it tells us that we need to think about the preparedness of our students as they are leaving high school.
W: Right. And schools, employers, in fact, we all need to do something about it. Thank you, Gabriel.
Questions 12 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
Question 12: What does the man say about Americans?
Question 13: Who performed the best in technology skills according to the man?
Question 14: In what aspect did American college students perform well?
Question 15: What do we learn from the conversation about American high school education?

12.
A) They are keen on high technology.
B) They are poor at technology skills.
C) They often listen to National Public Radio.
D) They feel superior in science and technology.

13.
A) Japanese.
B) Germans.
C) Poles.
D) Americans.

14.
A) Emailing.
B) Texting.
C) Science.
D) Literacy.

15.
A) It is undergoing a drastic reform.
B) It lays emphasis on creative thinking.
C) It has much room for improvement.
D) It prioritizes training of practical skills.

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
Wild carrots probably evolved with the other flowering plants, about 360 million years ago. Like apples, carrots are native to Central Asia. That’s why horses, which also come from Central Asia, like both apples and carrots so much. With wild carrots, the roots are white, small and skinny, so we have to pick a lot of wild carrots to get enough to eat. Doctors used carrot seeds and roots as medicine, on the theory that foods that taste bad must be good for you. Around 800 AD, people in Central Asia, managed to develop a new kind of carrot-a purple carrot that attracted more interest from international traders. Then in the late 1500s, food scientists in the Netherlands cultivated large, straight, sweet, red carrots like the ones we eat today, but people still mostly fed carrots to horses,donkeys and pigs, and didn’t eat them themselves. In the 1600, people in China used carrots as medicine, but they also ate carrots boiled in soup. The red color was popular for Chinese New Year celebrations. But carrots got their biggest boost during the two World Wars when food shortages force people to eat them and governments told everyone how healthy carrots were. Today, cooler countries grow most of the world’s carrots. Machines do most of the planting and picking. And carrots are easy to store and ship, so they are cheap almost everywhere.
Questions 16 to 18 are based on the passage you have just heard.
Question 16: What do we learn from the talk about wild carrots?
Question 17: What does the speaker say about carrots in the late 1500s?
Question 18: Why did people turn to carrots for food during the two world wars?

16.
A) They have small roots.
B) They grow white flowers.
C) They taste like apples.
D) They come from Central Africa.

17.
A) They turned from white to purple in color.
B) They became popular on the world market.
C) They became an important food for humans.
D) They began to look like modern-day carrots.

18.
A) They were found quite nutritious.
B) There were serious food shortages.
C) People discovered their medicinal value.
D) Farm machines helped lower their prices.

Passage 2
Catherine loved Facebook. With Facebook she could stay connected with her family no matter how far away they were. She could see their photos and read their status updates. With Facebook she could keep her relatives up to date on what she was doing. Another thing Catherine loved about Facebook was that she didn’t have to think about time zones when updating family. Whenever she called her parents or other relatives, she always had to think about the time difference so that she wouldn’t wake someone up or call when she knew they were in church. Facebook was so convenient. When Catherine joined Facebook, some of her classmates at high school started to add her as a friend. At first, this didn’t bother her. She loved learning about the success of people she knew when she was just a teenager. She loved finding out people were getting married, having babies and traveling. Soon, however, Catherine found herself comparing herself with the people she was reading about on Facebook. It began to make her feel bad that some people seemed to be doing so much better than she was. She was also spending a lot of time on Facebook. It took a lot of time and energy to keep up with everyone’s status updates. Catherine started to think. She looked at the list of over 500 friends she had on Facebook and realized some of them were not really friends at all.
Questions 19 to 21 are based on the passage you have just heard.
Question 19: What was one particular convenience Catherine loved about Facebook?
Question 20: How did Catherine feel when her classmates added her as a Facebook friend?
Question 21: What made Catherine feel bad about herself later on?

19.
A) She could update her family any time she liked.
B) She could call up her family whenever she liked
C) She could locate her friends wherever they were.
D) She could download as many pictures as she liked.

20.
A) She liked to inform her friends about her success.
B) She enjoyed reading her friends’ status updates.
C) She felt quite popular among them.
D) She felt she was a teenager again.

21.
A) She could barely respond to all her 500 Facebook friends.
B) She spent more time updating her friends than her family.
C) She could barely balance Facebook updates and her work.
D) She didn’t seem to be doing as well as her Facebook friends.

Passage 3
Do you know where a mule comes from? It is the child of a donkey and a horse. Mules have strong muscles like horses, but they eat less, can work longer, and are gentler, like donkeys. George Washington was the first person in the United States to own mules. He had heard that mules made good farm animals and he contacted the US ambassador in Spain to ask about them. In 1785, King Charles III of Spain sent Washington a male donkey as a gift. That male donkey became the father of the mule industry in the US. Every April, Maury County holds a Mule Day celebration. Held in Columbia, Tennessee, Mule Day had its beginning as “Breeder’s Day” in the 1840s. Farmers and farm animal breeders would bring their animals to market every April to show, buy, and trade. This was an important business before the days of tractors, when many families made a living from farming and mules were used as work animals. Eventually, tractors began to replace mules, making them less in demand. A parade was added to Mule Day in 1934 to attract more people. Over the years other activities have been added and today more than 200,000 people show up each year to watch and participate. If you visit the Mule Day celebrations, you might see mule-driving contests, square dances, horse shows, or even tree-cutting competitions.
Questions 22 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard.
Question 22: What does the speaker say about mules?
Question 23: What do we learn about the donkey which is said to be the father of the U.S. mule industry?
Question 24: What did farmers usually do on Mule Day in the 1840s?
Question 25: What made mules less in demand in America?

22.
A) They have strong muscles.
B) They live a longer life than horses.
C) They eat much less in winter.
D) They can work longer than donkeys.

23.
A) It was a pet of a Spanish king.
B) It was bought by George Washington.
C) It was brought over from Spain.
D) It was donated by a U.S. Ambassador.

24.
A) They met and exchanged ideas on animal breeding.
B) They participated in a mule-driving competition.
C) They showed and traded animals in the market.
D) They fed mules with the best food they could find.

25.
A) The wider use of horses.
B) The arrival of tractors.
C) A shrinking animal trade.
D) A growing donkey population.

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