2010年12月英语四级考试全真预测试卷(2)

　　57. Which of the following is TRUE about memory?

　　[A] It helps us perceive things happening around us every day.

　　[B] It is based on the decisions we made in the past.

　　[C] It is rooted in our past habits and skills.

　　[D] It connects our past experiences with the present.

　　58. According to the passage, memory is helpful in one's life in the following aspects EXCEPT that ________.

　　[A] it involves a change in one's behavior

　　[B] it keeps information for later use

　　[C] it warns people not to do things repeatedly

　　[D] it enables one to remember events that happened in the past

　　59. What is the author's view about computers and human beings in terms of intelligence?

　　[A] Computers have better memory than a child does.

　　[B] Computers are as intelligent as a teenager is.

　　[C] Computers can understand as many as 100,000 words.

　　[D] Human beings are far superior to computers.

　　60. What is the major characteristic of man's memory capacity according to the author?

　　[A] It can be expanded by language. [C] It may keep all the information in the past.

　　[B] It can remember all the combined words. [D] It may change what has been stored in it.

　　61. Human beings make themselves different from other animals by _______.

　　[A] having the ability to perceive danger

　　[B] having a far greater memory capacity

　　[C] having the ability to recognize faces and places on sight

　　[D] having the ability to draw on past experiences

　　Passage Two

　　Questions 62 to 66 are based in the following passage.

　　"Family" is of course an elastic word. But when British people say that their society is based on family life, they are thinking of "family" in its narrow, peculiarly European sense of mother, father and children living together alone in their own house as an economic and social unit. Thus, every British marriage indicates the beginning of a new and independent family— hence the tremendous importance of marriage in British life.

　　For both the man and the woman, marriage means leaving one's parents and starting one's own life. The man's first duty will then be to his wife, and the wife's to her husband. He will be entirely responsible for her financial support, and she for the running of the new home. Their children will be their common responsibility and theirs alone. Neither the wife's parents nor the husband's, nor their brothers or sisters, aunts or uncles, have any right to interfere with them—they are their own masters.

　　Readers of novels like Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice will know that in former times marriage among wealthy families was arranged by the girl's parents, that is, it was the parents' duty to find a suitable husband for their daughter, preferably a rich one, and by skillful encouragement to lead him eventually to ask their permission to marry her. Until that time, the girl was protected and maintained in the parents' home, and the financial relief of getting rid of her could be seen in their giving the newly married pair a sum of money called a dowry(嫁妆). It is very different today. Most girls of today get a job when they leave school and become financially independent before their marriage. This has had two results: a girl chooses her own husband, and she gets no dowry.

　　62. What does the author mean by "'Family' is of course an elastic word"?

　　[A] Different families have different ways of life.

　　[B] Different definitions could be given to the word.

　　[C] Different nations have different families.

　　[D] Different times produce different families.

　　63. For an English family, the husband's duty is ________.

　　[A] supporting the family while the wife is financial

　　[B] defending the family while the wife is running the home

　　[C] financial while the wife is running the home

　　[D] independent while the wife is dependent

　　64. Everything is decided in a family ________.

　　[A] by the couple [C] by brothers and sisters

　　[B] with the help of their parents [D] with the help of aunts and uncles

　　65. What is TRUE concerning the book Pride and Prejudice?

　　[A] It is the best book on marriage.

　　[B] It is a handbook of marriage.

　　[C] It gives quite some ideas of English social life in the past.

　　[D] It provides a lot of information of former time wealthy families.

　　66. With regard to marriage in Britain, present day girls differ from form er time girls in ________.

　　[A] the right to marry [C] choosing husbands

　　[B] more parental support [D] social position