2010年12月大学英语四级真题阅读部分
Part II Reading Comprehension(Skimming and Scanning) (15minutes)
Directions: In this part, you will have 15 minutes to go overthe passage quickly and answer the questions on Answer Sheet1. For questions 1-7, choose the best answer from the fourchoices marked [A], [B], [C] and [D]. For questions 8-10,complete the sentences with the information given in thepassage.
A Grassroots Remedy
Most of us spend our lives seeking the natural world. To this end, we walk the dog, play golf,go fishing, sit in the garden, drink outside rather than inside the pub, have a picnic, live in thesuburbs, go to the seaside, buy a weekend place in the country. The most popular leisure activityin Britain is going for a walk. And when joggers (慢跑者) jog, they don’t run the streets. Every oneof them instinctively heads to the park or the river. It is my profound belief that not only do we allneed nature, but we all seek nature, whether we know we are doing so or not.
But despite this, our children are growing up nature-deprived (丧失). I spent my boyhoodclimbing trees on Streatham Common, South London. These days, children are robbed of theseancient freedoms, due to problems like crime, traffic, the loss of the open spaces and odd newperceptions about what is best for children, that is to say, things that can be bought, rather thanthings that can be found.
The truth is to be found elsewhere. A study in the US: families had moved to better housingand the children were assessed for ADHD—attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (多动症). Thosewhose accommodation had more natural views showed an improvement of 19%; those who hadthe same improvement in material surroundings but no nice view improved just 4%.
A study in Sweden indicated that kindergarten children who could play in a naturalenvironment had less illness and greater physical ability than children used only to a normalplayground. A US study suggested that when a school gave children access to a naturalenvironment, academic levels were raised across the entire school.
Another study found that children play differently in a natural environment. In playgrounds,children create a hierarchy (等级) based on physical abilities, with the tough ones taking the lead.But when a grassy area was planted with bushes, the children got much more into fantasy play,and the social hierarchy was now based on imagination and creativity.
Most bullying (恃强凌弱) is found in schools where there is a tarmac (柏油碎石) playground;the least bullying is in a natural area that the children are encouraged to explore. This reminds meunpleasantly of Sunnyhill School in Streatham, with its harsh tarmac, where I used to hang aboutin corners fantasising about wildlife.
But children are frequently discouraged from involvement with natural spaces, for health andsafety reasons, for fear that they might get dirty or that they might cause damage. So, instead,the damage is done to the children themselves: not to their bodies but to their souls.
One of the great problems of modern childhood is ADHD, now increasingly and expensivelytreated with drugs. Yet one study after another indicates that contact with nature gives hugebenefits to ADHD children. However, we spend money on drugs rather than on green places.
The life of old people is measurably better when they have access to nature. The increasingemphasis for the growing population of old people is in quality rather than quantity of years. Andstudy after study finds that a garden is the single most important thing in finding that quality.
In wider and more difficult areas of life, there is evidence to indicate that natural surroundingsimprove all kinds of things. Even problems with crime and aggressive behaviour are reduced whenthere is contact with the natural world.
Dr William Bird, researcher from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, states in hisstudy, “A natural environment can reduce violent behaviour because its restorative process helpsreduce anger and impulsive behaviour.” Wild places need encouraging for this reason, no matterhow small their contribution.
We tend to look on nature conservation as some kind of favour that human beings aregranting to the natural world. The error here is far too deep: not only do humans need nature forthemselves, but the very idea that humanity and the natural world are separable things isprofoundly damaging.
Human beings are a species of mammals (哺乳动物). For seven million years they lived on theplanet as part of nature. Our ancestral selves miss the natural world and long for contact with non-human life. Anyone who has patted a dog, stroked a cat, sat under a tree with a pint of beer, givenor received a bunch of flowers or chosen to walk through the park on a nice day, understandsthat.
We need the wild world. It is essential to our well-being, our health, our happiness. Without thewild world we are not more but less civilised. Without other living things around us we are less thanhuman.
Five ways to find harmony with the natural world
Walk: Break the rhythm of permanently being under a roof. Get off a stop earlier, make acircuit of the park at lunchtime, walk the child to and from school, get a dog, feel yourself movingin moving air, look, listen, absorb.
Sit: Take a moment, every now and then, to be still in an open space. In the garden,anywhere that’s not in the office, anywhere out of the house, away from the routine. Sit under atree, look at water, feel refreshed, ever so slightly renewed.
Drink: The best way to enjoy the natural world is by yourself; the second best way is incompany. Take a drink outside with a good person, a good gathering: talk with the sun and thewind with birdsong for background.
Learn: Expand your boundaries. Learn five species of bird, five butterflies, five trees, five birdsongs. That way, you see and hear more: and your mind responds gratefully to the greateramount of wildness in your life.
Travel: The places you always wanted to visit: by the seaside, in the country, in the hills. Takea weekend break, a day-trip, get out there and do it: for the scenery, for the way through thewoods, for the birds, for the bees. Go somewhere special and bring specialness home. It lastsforever, after all.
注意：此部分试题请在答题卡1上作答。
1. What is the author’s profound belief?
[A] People instinctively seek nature in different ways.
[B] People should spend most of their lives in the wild.
[C] People have quite different perceptions of nature.
[D] People must make more efforts to study nature.
2. What does the author say people prefer for their children nowadays?
[A] Personal freedom.
[B] Things that are natural.
[C] Urban surroundings.
[D] Things that are purchased.
3. What does a study in Sweden show?
[A] The natural environment can help children learn better.
[B] More access to nature makes children less likely to fall ill.
[C] A good playground helps kids develop their physical abilities.
[D] Natural views can prevent children from developing ADHD.
4. Children who have chances to explore natural areas ________.
[A] tend to develop a strong love for science
[B] are more likely to fantasise about wildlife
[C] tend to be physically tougher in adulthood
[D] are less likely to be involved in bullying
5. What does the author suggest we do to help children with ADHD?
[A] Find more effective drugs for them.
[B] Provide more green spaces for them.
[C] Place them under more personal care.
[D] Engage them in more meaningful activities.
6. In what way do elderly people benefit from their contact with nature?
[A] They look on life optimistically. [C] They are able to live longer.
[B] They enjoy a life of better quality. [D] They become good-humoured.
7. Dr William Bird suggests in his study that ________.
[A] humanity and nature are complementary to each other
[B] wild places may induce impulsive behaviour in people
[C] access to nature contributes to the reduction of violence
[D] it takes a long time to restore nature once damaged
8. It is extremely harmful to think that humanity and the natural world canbe________________________.
9. The author believes that we would not be so civilised without________________________.
10. The five suggestions the author gives at the end of the passage are meant to encouragepeople to seek _________________ with the natural world.
参考答案及详解（仅供参考）
Reading Comprehension（Skimming and Scanning）
1．A) People instinctively seek nature in different ways.
解析：第一段最后一句直接给出关键字profound belief, whether 引导的从句对应答案中的instinctively
2．D) Things that are purchased.
解析：第二段最后一句，what is best对应题目中的prefer, that is to say作为暗示直接引出之后的things that can be bought,选择D
3．B) More access to nature makes children less likely to fall ill.
解析：题干中有关瑞典研究，定位到第四段第一句，结合语义，不难得出B的正确答案
4．D) are less likely to be involved in bullying
解析：A选项具有干扰性，第三段结尾给出自然熏陶能够提高学生学科水平的线索，但考虑到快速阅读题的传统，即题目顺序对应文章顺序，所以应该定位到第四段之后的内容，即大段有关bullying的段落，得出答案D。
5．B) Provide more green spaces for them.
解析：对应第八段内容，作者通过否定患儿对药物的依赖性来给出自己的建议，结合全文主旨自然环境的重要性，得出B答案
6．B) They enjoy a life of better quality.
解析：第九段第二句点出老龄人口增长的侧重点是在高质量的生活水平上，紧接着又指出绿色的生活方式是达到该种高质量生活水平的最重要因素。
7．C) access to nature contributes to the reduction of violence
解析：十一段引文中can reduce violent behavior，直接对应C选项
8．separated
解析：题干是有关人们错误观念的问题，找到倒数第三段的关键段error引导的内容，再对应到humanity and the natural world，得出separated(照抄原文separable与can重复，separable本身词义即能够分离的)
9．the wild world
解析：最后一段第二句直接命中题干，照抄the wild world即可。
10. harmony
解析：最后几段内容的小标题直接给出harmony
温馨提示：答案为网友推荐，仅供参考