英语专业四级考试全真模拟试卷九(2)

文章作者 100test 发表时间 2007:05:12 13:43:10
来源 100Test.Com百考试题网

PART Ⅵ READING COMPREHENSION[WT5] ［30 MIN.］

SECTION A READING COMPREHENSION ［25 MIN.］

In this section there are four passages followed by questions or unfinished statements, each with suggested answers marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that you think is the correct answer. Mark your choices on your ANSWER SHEET.

TEXT A

The Alaska Pipeline
The Alaska pipeline starts at the frozen edge of the Arctic Ocean. It stretches southward across the largest and northernmost state in the United States, ending at a remote ice-free seaport village nearly 800 miles from where it begins. It is massive in size and extremely complicated to operate.
The steel pipe crosses windswept plains and endless miles of delicate tundra that tops the frozen ground. It weaves through crooked canyons, climbs sheer mountains, plunges over rocky crags, makes its way through thick forests, and passes over or under hundreds of rivers and streams. The pipe is 4 feet in diameter, and up to 2 million barrels (or 84 million gallons) of crude oil can be pumped through it daily. Resting on H-shaped steel racks called ”bents,” long sections of the pipeline follow a zigzag course high above the frozen earth. Other long sections 0drop out of sight beneath spongy or rocky ground and return to the surface later on. The pattern of the pipeline’s up-and-down route is determined by the often harsh demands of the arctic and subarctic climate, the tortuous lay of the land, and the varied compositions of soil, rock, or permafrost (permanently frozen ground). A little more than half of the pipeline is elevated above the ground. The remainder is buried anywhere from 3 to 12 feet, depending largely upon the type of terrain and the properties of the soil. One of the largest in the world, the pipeline cost approximately $8 billion and is by far the biggest and most expensive construction project ever undertaken by private industry. In fact, no single business could raise that much money, so 8 major oil companies formed a consortium in order to share the costs. Each company controlled oil rights to particular shares of land in the oil fields and paid into the pipeline-construction fund according to the size of its holdings. Today, despite enormous problems of climate, supply shortages, equipment breakdowns, labor disagreements, treacherous terrain, a certain amount of mismanagement, and even theft, the Alaska pipeline has been completed and is operating.

66. The passage primarily discusses the pipeline’s____. 

A. operating costs

B. employees

C. consumers

D. construction

67. The author mentions all of the following as important in determining the pipeline’s route EXCEPT the ____.

A. climateB. lay of the land itself

C. local vegetationD. kind of soil and rock

68. The word `particular’ in paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to____.

A. peculiarB. specificC. exceptionalD. equal

69. Which of the following determined what percentage of the construction costs each member of the consortium would pay?

A. How much oil field land each company owned.

B. How long each company had owned land in the oil fields. 

C. How many people worked for each company.

D. How many oil wells were located on the company’s land.

TEXT B

The City of the Future
What will city life be like in the future? Some people think that life in the cities is going to be horrible. They predict that cities will become more and more crowded. As the number of people increases, there will be less space for each person. This overcrowding will cause other problems——more crime, dirtier streets, and worse problems with traffic than we have now. How will people find enough drinking water, energy (such as gas and electricity), and housing? Because life will be hard, people who live in cities will worry more, and they may become sick. For these reasons, some say that nobody will want to live in urban areas.
How can we solve such problems as overcrowding, crime, and traffic? In some cities, thousands of people are already sleeping in the streets because there is so little suitable housing——and because rents are so high. The crime rate isn’t going down. Instead, it is increasing so fast that many people are afraid to go out at night. Traffic is also getting worse. More and more often, traffic jams are so bad that cars don’t move at all for several blocks. These urban problems have been getting worse, not better, so many people see no hope for the future of the city.
Los Angeles, California, for instance, has no subway system and the buses are slow. Instead, most commuters drive many miles from their homes to work. Many of these drivers spend several hours each day on busy freeways. New York, by contrast, has a mass transit system——buses, commuter trains, and subways. Because the public transportation is crowded and dirty, however, many people drive private cars, and the traffic jams are worse than in Los Angeles.
On the other hand, some cities have clean, fast, and pleasant public transportation systems. In Paris, France, and Toronto, Canada, for example, anyone can use mass transit to move quickly from one part of the city to another.
The disadvantages of any modern city are not unique to that city ——that is, cities all over the world have to solve the problems of traffic jams, crime, housing, energy, drinking water, and overcrowding. Yet many cities have found answers to one or more of these difficulties. Some European cities, such as Stockholm, Sweden, or London, England, have planned communities that provide people with apartments, jobs, shopping centers, green space, entertainment, and transportation. Many U. S. cities are rebuilding their downtown areas. Urban planners can learn from one another. They can try solutions that have been successful in other parts of the world. 

70. Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage?

A. Crime.B. Anxiety.C. Disease.D. Education.

71. A possible solution to traffic jams in Los Angeles might be____.

A. decreasing the number of private cars

B. raising the speed limit for buses in the freeway

C. persuading people to live nearer to their work

D. building a subway system

72. According to the passage, ____has a better traffic condition.

A. New YorkB. ParisC. LondonD. Stockholm

73. The writer’s attitude toward the future city life is____.

A. optimisticB. pessimistic

C. objectiveD. indifferent