文都：2008年12月英語四級全真預測試卷(一)

　　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 you own words. Finally, when the passage is read for the third time, you should check what you have written.

　　In the English (36)system, students take three very important examinations. The first is the eleven�瞤lus, which is (37) at the age of eleven or a little past. At one time the (38)or (39)shown on the eleven�瞤lus would have (40)if a child stayed in school. Now, however, all children continue in (41) schools, and the eleven�瞤lus determines which courses of study the child will follow. At the age of fifteen or sixteen, the students are (42)for the Ordinary (43)of the General Certificate of Education. (44). Once students have passed this exam, they are allowed to specialize, so that two�瞭hirds or more of their courses will be in physics, chemistry, classical languages, or whatever they wish to study at greater length. (45). Even at the universities, students study only in their concentrated area, and very few students ever venture out�瞫ide that subject again. (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.

　　Shopping habits in the United States have changed greatly in the last quarter of the 20th century. 47 in the 1900s most American towns and cities had a Main Street. Main Street was always the heart of a town. This street was lined on the both sides with many 48 businesses. Here, shoppers walked into stores to look at all sorts of merchandise: clothing, furniture, hardware, groceries. In addition, some shops offered49. There shops included drugstores, restaurants, shoe repair stores, and barber or hairdressing shops. But in the 1950s, a change began to 50place. Too many automobiles had crowded into Main Street while too few parking places were 51to shoppers. Because the streets were crowded, merchants began to look with interest at the open spaces outside the city limits. Open space is what their car driving customers needed. And open space is what they got when the first shopping centre was built. Shopping centers, or rather malls, 52as a collection of small new stores away from crowded city centers.53by hundreds of free parking space, customers were drawn away from 54areas to outlying malls. And the growing55of shopping centers led in turn to the building of bigger and better stocked stores. By the late 1970s, many shopping malls had almost developed into small cities themselves. In addition to providing the 56 of the stop shopping, malls were transformed into landscaped parks, with benches, fountains, and outdoor entertainment.

　　[A]designed[F]convenience[K]cosmetics

　　[B]take[G]services[L]started

　　[C]Early[H]fame[M]downtown

　　[D]Attracted[I]various[N]available

　　[E] though[J] popularity[O]cheapness

　　Section B

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

　　Passage One

　　Questions 57 to 61 are based on the following passage.

　　Culture is one of the most challenging elements of the international marketplace. This system of learned behavior patterns characteristic of the members of a given society is constantly shaped by a set of dynamic variables: language, religion, values and attitudes, manners and customs, aesthetics, technology, education, and social institutions. To cope with this system, an international manager needs both factual and interpretive knowledge of culture. To some extent, the factual knowledge can be learned; its interpretation comes only through experience.

　　The most complicated problems in dealing with the cultural environment stem from the fact that one cannot learn culture�瞣ne has to live it. Two schools of thought exist in the business world on how to deal with cultural diversity. One is that business is business the world around, following the model of Pepsi and McDonald’s. In some cases, globalization is a fact of life; however, cultural differences are still far from converging.

　　The other school proposes that companies must tailor business approaches to individual cultures. Setting up policies and procedures in each country has been compared to an organ transplant; the critical question centers around acceptance or rejection. The major challenge to the international manager is to make sure that rejection is not a result of cultural myopia or even blindness.

　　Fortune examined the international performance of a dozen large companies that earn 20 percent or more of their revenue overseas. The internationally successful companies all share an important quality: patience. They have not rushed into situations but rather built their operations carefully by following the most basic business principles. These principles are to know your adversary, know your audience, and know your customer.