考试吧恩波：2008年12月四级预测试卷及解析(五)

　　Section C

　　Directions:In this section, you will hear a passage three times. When the passage is read for the first time, you should listen carefully for its general idea. When the passage is read for the second time, you are required to fill in the blanks numbered from 36 to 43 with the exact words you have just heard. For blanks numbered from 44 to 46, you are required to fill in the missing information. For these blanks,you can either use the exact words you have just heard or write down the main points in your own words. Finally, when the passage is read for the third time, you should check what you have written.

　　The automobile has many advantages. Above all ,it (36) people freedom to go where they want to go when they want to go there. To most people, cars are also personal (37)

　　machines that serve as (38) of power, success, speed, excitement, and (39) . In (40) , much of the world’s economy is built on producing vehicles and supplying roads, services, and repairs of vehicles. Half of the world’s paychecks are (41) .

　　In spite of their advantages, motor vehicles have many harmful effects on human lives and on air, water, land and wildlife resources. Though we (42) to deny it, (43) in cars is one of the most dangerous things we do in our daily lives.

　　Every year, (44) ,and they injure or permanently disable ten million more.(45) .

　　Motor vehicles are the largest sources of air pollution, producing a haze of smog over the world’s cities.(46) .

　　Part ⅣReading Comprehension(Reading in Depth) (25 minutes)

　　Section A

　　Directions: In this section, there is a passage with ten blanks. You are required to select one word for each blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage. Read the passage through carefully before making your choices. Each choice in the bank is identified by a letter. Please mark the corresponding letter for each item on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre. You may not use any of the words in the bank more than once.

　　Questions 47 to 56 are based on the following passage.

　　The comparatively treeless plains of North Africa have suffered a progressive drying up, both 47 and man-made, but the region was 48 so rich in fertile soil that the district we now know as the Libyan Desert was, in the old days, part of the granary (粮仓) of the Roman Empire, and the centre of the Sahara 49 a busy trading population for a long period. That was when there were 50 in plenty and the fields were the traditional “fields of the woods” —clearings in the forest—and therefore always tree 51 .

　　It is the trees that lift the water and send 52 into the air so that it may fall as dew or rain further on. Trees reduce the speed of the wind, and provide shelter and shade; the roots 53 minerals in the soil and these are carried to the leaves which, when they have fulfilled their function, return to the earth, giving the soil the combination of minerals that plants require.

　　But through the ages Africa has been 54 . Successive invaders have felled the forest to provide grazing lands for their flocks and herds. With the removal of the essential tree cover, the water 55 was broken, the earth became feverish and sick, and in course of time was unable to support those who had broken the 56 of life by removing the earth’s green mantle—the trees.

　　A) moisture B) cycle C) water D) rhythm

　　E) contain F) trap G) once H) surrounded

　　I) fed J) exploited K) social L) natural

　　M) forest N) usually O) trees