四级阅读理解题型是四级考试必考题型，也是改革后的重点题型。很多考生反映时间不够，不得不压缩其他题型的答题时间，因为阅读理解部分的分值高，题目多。想要在四级考试中顺利通过，阅读理解就是其中必须拿下的部分。建议大家平时多多练习这种题型。阅读的速度也要提高，考试时间就这么多，必须保证每一道题所需的时间。

Part Ⅲ

Reading Comprehension

(40 minutes)

Section A

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

Questions 26 to 35 are based on the following passage.

The ocean is heating up. That's the conclusion of a new study that finds that Earth's oceans now26heat at twice the rate they did 18 years ago. Around half of ocean heat intake since 1865 hastaken place since 1997, researchers report online in Nature Climate Change.

Warming waters are known to27 to coral bleaching (珊瑚白化) and they take up more spacethan cooler waters, raising sea28While the top of the ocean is well studied, its depths are moredifficult to 29The researchers gathered 150 years of ocean temperature data in order to get abetter30 of heat absorption from surface to seabed. They gathered together temperature readingscollected by everything from a 19th century31 of British naval ships to modem automated oceanprobes. The extensive data sources,32 with computer simulations ( 计算机模拟), created atimeline of ocean temperature changes, including cooling from volcanic outbreaks and warming fromfossil fuel33

About 35 percent of the heat taken in by the oceans during the industrial era now resides at a34 of more than 700 meters, the researchers found. They say they're35whether the deep-seawarming canceled out warming at the sea's surface.

A. absorb

B. Combined

C. Contribute

D. depth

E. emissions

F. excursion

G. explore

H. floor

I. heights

J. indifferent

K. levels

L. mixed

M. picture

N. unsure

O. voyage

Section B

Directions: In this section, you are going to read a passage with ten statements attached to it. Eachstatement contains information given in one of the paragraphs. Identify the paragraphfrom which the information is derived. You may choose a paragraph more than once.Each paragraph is marked with a letter.Answer the questions by marking thecorresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2.

The Secret to Raising Smart Kids

A) I first began to investigate the basis of human motivation--and how people persevere aftersetbacks--as a psychology graduate student at Yale University in the 1960s. Animal experiments bypsychologists at the University of Pennsylvania had shown that after repeated failures, most animalsconclude that a situation is hopeless and beyond their control. After such an experience an animaloften remains passive even when it can effect change--a state they called learned helplessness.

B) People can learn to be helpless, too. Why do some students give up when they encounter difficulty,whereas others who are no more skilled continue to strive and learn? One answer, I soondiscovered, lay in people's beliefs about why they had failed.

C) In particular, attributing poor performance to a lack of ability depresses motivation more than doesthe belief that lack of effort is to blame. When I told a group of school children who displayedhelpless behavior that a lack of effort led to their mistakes in math, they learned to keep tryingwhen the problems got tough. Another group of helpless children who were simply rewarded fortheir success on easier problems did not improve their ability to solve hard math problems. Theseexperiments indicated that a focus on effort can help resolve helplessness and generate success.

D) Later, I developed a broader theory of what separates the two general classes of learners--helplessversus mastery-oriented. I realized these different types of students not only explain their failuresdifferently, but they also hold different theories of intelligence.The helpless ones believeintelligence is a fixed characteristic: you have only a certain amount, and that's that. I call this a fixed mind-set (思维模式). Mistakes crack their self-confidence because they attribute errors toa lack of ability, which they feel powerless to change. They avoid challenges because challengesmake mistakes more likely. The mastery-oriented children, on the other hand, think intelligence isnot fixed and can be developed through education and hard work. Such children believe challengesare energizing rather than intimidating (令人生畏); they offer opportunities to learn. Studentswith such a growth mind-set were destined (注定) for greater academic success and were quitelikely to outperform their counterparts.

E) We validated these expectations in a study in which two other psychologists and I monitored 373students for two years during the transition to junior high school, when the work gets more difficultand the grading more strict, to determine how their mind-sets might affect their math grades. At thebeginning of seventh grade, we assessed the students' mind-sets by asking them to agree or disagreewith statements such as Your intelligence is something very basic about you that you can't reallychange. We then assessed their beliefs about other aspects of learning and looked to see whathappened to their grades.

F) As predicted, the students with a growth mind-set felt that learning was a more important goal thangetting good grades. In addition, they held hard work in high regard. They understood that evengeniuses have to work hard. Confronted by a setback such as a disappointing test grade, studentswith a growth mind-set said they would study harder or try a different strategy. The students whoheld a fixed mind-set, however, were concerned about looking smart with less regard for learning.They had negative views of effort, believing that having to work hard was a sign of low ability.They thought that a person with talent or intelligence did not need to work hard to do well.Attributing a bad grade to their own lack of ability, those with a fixed mind-set said that they wouldstudy less in the future, try never to take that subject again and consider cheating on future tests.

G) Such different outlooks had a dramatic impact on performance. At the start of junior high, the mathachievement test scores of the students with a growth mind-set were comparable to those ofstudents who displayed a fixed mind-set. But as the work became more difficult, the students witha growth mind-set showed greater persistence. As a result, their math grades overtook those of theother students by the end of the first semester--and the gap between the two groups continued towiden during the two years we followed them.

H) A fixed mind-set can also hinder communication and progress in the workplace and discourage orignore constructive criticism and advice. Research shows that managers who have a fixed mind-setare less likely to seek or welcome feedback from their employees than are managers with a growthmind-set.

I) How do we transmit a growth mind-set to our children? One way is by telling stories aboutachievements that result from hard work. For instance, talking about mathematical geniuses whowere more or less born that way puts students in a fixed mind-set, but descriptions of greatmathematicians who fell in love with math and developed amazing skills produce a growth mind-set.

J) In addition, parents and teachers can help children by providing explicit instruction regarding themind as a learning machine. I designed an eight-session workshop for 91 students whose mathgrades were declining in their first year of junior high.Forty-eight of the students receivedinstruction in study skills only, whereas the others attended a combination of study skills sessionsand classes in which they learned about the growth mind-set and how to apply it to schoolwork. Inthe growth mind-set classes, students read and discussed an article entitled You Can Grow YourBrain. They were taught that the brain is like a muscle that gets stronger with use and thatlearning prompts the brain to grow new connections. From such instruction, many students beganto see themselves as agents of their own brain development. Despite being unaware that there weretwo types of instruction, teachers reported significant motivational changes in 27% of the childrenin the growth mind-set workshop as compared with only 9% of students in the control group.

K) Research is converging (汇聚) on the conclusion that great accomplishment and even genius istypically the result of years of passion and dedication and not something that flows naturally from agift.

36. The author's experiment shows that students with a fixed mind-set believe having to work hard is an indication of low ability.

37. Focusing on effort is effective in helping children overcome frustration and achieve success.

38. We can cultivate a growth mind-set in children by telling success stories that emphasize hard work and love of learning.

39. Students' belief about the cause of their failure explains their attitude toward setbacks.

40. In the author's experiment, students with a growth mind-set showed greater perseverance in solving difficult math problems.

41. The author conducted an experiment to find out about the influence of students' mind-sets on math learning.

42. After failing again and again, most animals give up hope.

43. Informing students about the brain as a learning machine is a good strategy to enhance their motivation for learning.

44. People with a fixed mind-set believe that one's intelligence is unchangeable.

45. In the workplace, feedback may not be so welcome to managers with a fixed mind-set.

Section C

Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions orunfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A., B., C. AndD . You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on AnswerSheet 2 with a single line through the centre.

Passage One

Questions 46 to 50 are based on the following passage.

Sugar, alcohol and tobacco, Adam Smith once wrote, are commodities which arenowhere necessaries of life, which have become objects of almost universal consumption, and whichare, therefore, extremely popular subjects of taxation.

Two and a haft centuries on, most countries impose some sort of tax on alcohol and tobacco. Withsurging obesity levels putting increasing strain on public health systems, governments around the worldhave begun to toy with the idea of taxing sugar as well.

Whether such taxes work is a matter of debate. A preliminary review of Mexico's taxation found afall in purchases of taxed drinks as well as a rise in sales of untaxed and healthier drinks. By contrast,a Danish tax on foods high in fats was abandoned a year after its introduction, amid claims thatconsumers were avoiding it by crossing the border to Germany to satisfy their desire for cheaper, fattierfare.

The food industry has, in general, been firmly opposed to such direct government action.Nonetheless, the renewed focus on waistlines means that industry groups are under pressure todemonstrate their products are healthy as well as tasty.

Over the past three decades, the industry has made some efforts to improve the quality of itsofferings. For example, some drink manufacturers have cut the amount of sugar in their beverages.

Many of the reductions over the past 30 years have been achieved either by reducing the amount ofsugar, salt or fat in a product, or by finding an alternative ingredient. More recently, however, somecompanies have been investing money in a more ambitious undertaking: learning how to adjust thefundamental make-up of the food they sell. For example, having salt on the outside, but none on theinside, reduces the salt content without changing the taste.

While reformulating recipes ( 配方) is one way to improve public health, it should be part of amulti-sided approach. The key is to remember that there is not just one solution. To deal with obesity,a mixture of approaches--including reformulation, taxation and adjusting portion sizes--will beneeded. There is no silver bullet.

46. What did Adam Smith say about sugar, alcohol and .tobacco?

A. They were profitable to manufacture.

B. They were in ever-increasing demand.

C. They were subject to taxation almost everywhere.

D. They were no longer considered necessities of life.

47. Why have many countries started to consider taxing sugar?

A. They are under growing pressure to balance their national budgets.

B. They find it ever harder to cope with sugar-induced health problems.

C. The practice of taxing alcohol and tobacco has proved both popular and profitable.

D. The sugar industry is overtaking alcohol and tobacco business in generating profits.

48. What do we learn about Danish taxation on fat-rich foods?

A. It did not work out as well as was expected.

B. It gave rise to a lot of problems on the border.

C. It could not succeed without German cooperation.

D. It met with firm opposition from the food industry.

49. What is the more recent effort by food companies to make foods and drinks both healthy and tasty?

A. Replacing sugar or salt with alternative ingredients.

B. Setting a limit on the amount of sugar or salt in their products.

C. Investing in research to find ways to adapt to consumers' needs.

D. Adjusting the physical composition of their products.

50. What does the author mean by saying, at the end of the passage, There is no silver bullet ( Line 4, Para.7)?

A. There is no single easy quick solution to the problem.

B. There is no hope of success without public cooperation.

C. There is no hurry in finding ways to solve the obesity problem.D. There is no effective way to reduce people's sugar consumption.

Passage Two

Questions 51 to 55 are based on the following passage.

You may have heard some of the fashion industry horror stories: models eating tissues or cottonballs to hold off hunger, and models collapsing from hunger-induced heart attacks just seconds afterthey step off the runway.

Excessively skinny models have been a point of controversy for decades, and two researchers saya model's body mass should be a workplace health and safety issue. In an editorial released Monday inthe American Journal of Public Health, Katherine Record and Bryn Austin made their case forgovernment regulation of the fashion industry.

The average international runway model has a body mass index (BMI) under 16--low enough toindicate starvation by the World Health Organization's standard. And Record and Austin are worried notjust about the models themselves, but about the vast number of girls and women their images influence.

Especially girls and teens, says Record. Seventy percent of girls aged 10 to 18 report that theydefine perfect body image based on what they see in magazines. That's especially worrying, she says,given that anorexia (厌食症) results in more deaths than does any other mental illness, according tothe National Institute of Mental Health.

It's commonly known that certain diseases are linked with occupations like lung disease in coalminers. Professional fashion models are particularly vulnerable to eating disorders resulting fromoccupational demands to maintain extreme thinness.

Record's suggestion is to prohibit agents from hiring models with a BMI below 18.

In April, France passed a law setting lower limits for a model's weight. Agents and fashion houseswho hire models with a BMI under 18 could pay $ 82,000 in fines and spend up to 6 months in jail.Regulating the fashion industry in the United States won't be easy, Record says. But with the new rulesin France, U.S. support could make a difference. A designer can't survive without participating inParis Fashion Week , she says, adding, Our argument is that the same would be true of New YorkFashion Week.

51. What do Record and Austin say about fashion models' body mass?

A. It has caused needless controversy.

B. It is but a matter of personal taste.

C. It is the focus of the modeling business.

D. It affects models' health and safety.

52. What are Record and Austin advocating in the Monday editorial?

A. A change in the public's view of female beauty.

B. Government legislation about models' weight.

C. Elimination of forced weight loss by models.

D. Prohibition of models eating non-food stuff.

53. Why are Record and Austin especially worried about the low body mass index of models?

A. It contributes to many mental illnesses.

B. It defines the future of the fashion industry.

C. It has great influence on numerous girls and women.

D. It keeps many otherwise qualified women off the runway.

54. What do we learn about France's fashion industry?

A. It has difficulty hiring models.

B. It has now a new law to follow.

C. It allows girls under 18 on the runway.

D. It has overtaken that of the United States.

55. What does Record expect of New York Fashion Week?

A. It will create a completely new set of rules.

B. It will do better than Paris Fashion Week.

C. It will differ from Paris Fashion Week.

D. It will have models with a higher BMI.

这张卷子的四级阅读题对于大家来说是难还是容易，考察内容把握清楚，就能让自己的思路更加清晰。四级的阅读其实并不是特别困难，当然这只是对于英语基础比较好的考生来说，如果你的英语基础本来就不好，还要短期内出效果实属不易，还是得按部就班做阅读真题锻炼能力的提高。