2009年12月大学英语四级考试试题
Part Ⅰ Writing (30 minutes)
注意：此部分试题在答题卡1上。
Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay on the topic of
Creating a Green Campus. You should write at least 120 words following the outline given below:
1. 建设绿色校园很重要
2. 绿色校园不仅指绿色的环境……
3. 为了建设绿色校园，我们应该……
Creating a Green Campus
Part Ⅱ Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning) (15 minutes)
Directions: In this part, you will have 15 minutes to go over the passage quickly and answer the questions on Answer Sheet 1. For questions 1-7, choose the best answer from the four choices marked A), B), C) and D). For question 8-10, complete the sentences with the information given in the passage.
Colleges taking another look at value of merit-based aid
Good grades and high tests scores still matter—a lot—to many colleges as they award financial aid.
But with low-income students projected to make up an ever-larger share of the college-bound population in coming years, some schools are re-examining whether that aid, typically known as “merit aid”, is the most effective use of precious institutional dollars.
George Washington University in Washington, D.C., for example, said last week that it would cut the value of its average merit scholarships by about one-third and reduce the number of recipients(接受者), pouring the savings, about $2.5 million, into need-based aid. Allegheny College in Meadville, Pa., made a similar decision three years ago.
Now, Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y., says it will phase out merit scholarships altogether. No current merit-aid recipients will lose their scholarships, but need-based aid alone will be awarded beginning with students entering in fall 2008.
Not all colleges offer merit aid; generally, the more selective a school, the less likely it is to do so. Harvard and Princeton, for example, offer generous need-based packages, but many families who don’t meet need eligibility(资格)have been willing to pay whatever they must for a big-name school.
For small regional colleges that struggle just to fill seats, merit aid can be an important revenue-builder because many recipients still pay enough tuition dollars over and above the scholarship amount to keep the institution running.
But for rankings-conscious schools in between, merit aid has served primarily as a tool to recruit top students and to improve their academic profits. “They’re trying to buy students,” says Skidmore College economist Sandy Baum.
Studies show merit aid also tends to benefit disproportionately s[ 此文转贴于贵,州.学,习.网 /wWw.gZu521.cOmems to be that we’re all hot-tempered single mothers who can’t keep a man. Even in the world of make-believe, black women still can’t escape the stereotype of being eye-rolling, oversexed females raised by our never-married, alcoholic (酗酒的) mothers.
These images have helped define the way all women are viewed, including Michelle Obama. Before she ever gets the chance to commit to a cause, charity or foundation as First Lady, her most urgent and perhaps most complicated duty may be simple to be herself.
It won’t be easy. Because few mainstream publications have done in-depth features on regular African-American women, little is known about who we are, what we think and what we face on a regular basis. For better or worse, Michelle will represent us all.
Just as she will have her critics, she will also have millions of fans who usually have little interest in the First Lady. Many African-American blogs have written about what they’d like to see Michelle bring to the White House—mainly showing the world that a black woman can support her man and raise a strong black family. Michelle will have to work to please everyone—an impossible task. But for many African-American women like me, just a little of her poise (沉着), confidence and intelligence will go a long way in changing an image that’s been around for far too long.
57. Why does Michelle Obama hold a strong fascination for the author?
A) She serves as a role model for African women.
B) She possesses many admirable qualities becoming a First Lady.
C) She will present to the world a new image of African-American women.
D) She will pay closer attention to the interests of African-American women.
58. What is the common stereotype of African-American women according to the author?
A) They are victims of violence. B) They are of an inferior violence.
C) They use quite a lot of body language. D) They live on charity and social welfare.
59. What do many African-Americans write about in their blogs?
A) Whether Michelle can live up to the high expectations of her fans.
B) How Michelle should behave as a public figure.
C) How proud they are to have a black woman in the White House.
D) What Michelle should do as wife and mother in the White House.
60. What does the author say about Michelle Obama as a First Lady?
A) However many fans she has, she should remain modest,
B) She shouldn’t disappoint the African-American community.
C) However hard she tries, she can’t expect to please everybody.
D) She will give priority to African-American women’s concerns.
61. What do many African-American women hope Michelle Obama will do?
A) Help change the prevailing view about black women.
B) Help her husband in the task of changing America.
C) Outshine previous First Lady.
D) Fully display her fine qualities.
Passage Two
Questions 62 to 66 are based on the following passage.
When next year’s crop of high-school graduates arrive at Oxford University in the fall of 2009, they’ll be joined by a new face; Andrew Hamilton, the 55-year-old provost (教务长) of Yale, who’ll become Oxford’s vice-chancellor—a position equivalent to university president in America.
Hamilton isn’t the only educator crossing the Atlantic. Schools in France, Egypt, Singapore, etc, have also recently made top-level hires from abroad. Higher education has become a big and competitive business nowadays, and like so many businesses, it’s gone global. Yet the talent flow isn’t universal. High-level personnel tend to head in only one direction: outward from America.
The chief reason is that American schools don’t tend to seriously consider looking abroad. For example, when the board of the University of Colorado searched for a new president, it wanted a leader familiar with the state government, a major source of the university’s budget. “We didn’t do any global consideration,” says Patricia Hayes, the board’s chair. The board ultimately picked Bruce Benson, a 69-year-old Colorado businessman and political activist (活动家) who is likely to do well in the main task of modern university presidents: fund-raising. Fund-raising is a distinctively American thing, since U.S. schools rely heavily on donations. The fund-raising ability is largely a product of experience and necessity.
Many European universities, meanwhile, are still mostly dependent on government funding. But government support has failed to keep pace with rising student number. The decline in government support has made funding-raising an increasing necessary ability among administrators and has hiring committees hungry for Americans.
In the past few years, prominent schools around the world have joined the trend. In 2003, when Cambridge University appointed Alison Richard, another former Yale provost, as its vice-chancellor, the university publicly stressed that in her previous job she had overseen “a major strengthening of Yale’s financial position.”
Of course, fund-raising isn’t the only skill outsiders offer. The globalization of education means more universities will be seeking heads with international experience of some kind of promote international programs and attract a global student body. Foreigners can offer a fresh perspective on established practices.
62. What is the current trend in higher education discussed in the passage?
A) Institutions worldwide are hiring administrators from the U.S.
B) A lot of political activists are being recruited as administrators.
C) American universities are enrolling more international students.
D) University presidents are paying more attention to funding-raising.
63. What is the chief consideration of American universities when hiring top-level administrators?
A) The political correctness. B) Their ability to rais ( 贵.州,学.习,网 )div>
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