四級閱讀模擬訓練和答案

　　Violin prodigies ***神童***, I learned, have come in distinct waves from distinct regions. Most of thegreat performers if the late 19th and early 20th centuries were born and brought up in Russiaand Eastern Europe.I asked Isaac Stern, one of the world’s greatest violinists the reason forthis phenomenon. It is very clear, he told me. They were all Jews***猶太人*** and Jews at the timewere severely oppressed and ill treated in that part of the world. They were not allowed intothe professional fields, but they were allowed to achieve excellence on a concert stage. As aresult, every Jewish parent’s dream was to have a child in the music school because it was apassport to the West.

　　Another element in the emergence of prodigies, I found, is a society that values excellence ina certain field to nurture ***培育*** talent. Nowadays, the most nurturing societies seem to be inthe Far East. “In Japan, a most competitive society, with stronger discipline than ours. ”saysIsaac Stem, children are ready to test their limits every day in many fields, including music.When Western music came to Japan after World WarⅡ, that music not only became part oftheir daily lives, but it became a discipline as well. The Koreans and Chinese as we know, arejust as highly motivated as the Japanese.

　　That’s a good thing, because even prodigies must work hard. Next to hard work,biologicalinheritance plays an important role in the making of a prodigy. J. S. Bach, for example, was thetop of several generations of musicians, and four of his sons had significant careers in music.

　　練習題：

　　Choose correct answers to the question:

　　1.Jewish parents in Eastern Europe longed for their children to attend music school

　　because ______ .

　　A. it would allow them access to a better life in the West

　　B. Jewish children are born with excellent musical talent

　　C. they wanted their children to enter into the professional field

　　D. it would enable the family to get better treatment in their own country

　　2.Nurturing societies as mentioned in the passage refer to societies that ______ .

　　A. enforce strong discipline on students who want to achieve excellence

　　B. treasure talent and provide opportunities for its full development

　　C. encourage people to compete with each other

　　D. promise talented children high positions

　　3.Japan is described in the passage as a country that attaches importance to ______ .

　　A. all-round development.

　　B. the learning of Western music

　　C. strict training of children

　　D. variety in academic studies

　　4.Which of the following contributes to the emergence of musical prodigies according

　　to the passage?

　　A. A natural gift.

　　B. Extensive knowledge of music.

　　C. Very early training.

　　D. A prejudice-free society.

　　5.Which of the following titles best summarizes the main idea of the passage?

　　A. Jewish Contribution to Music.

　　B. Training of Musicians in the World

　　C. Music and Society

　　D. The Making of Prodigies

　　1.[A] 原文首段最後一句提到，所有猶太人父母的夢想就是讓孩子上音樂學校，由because引導的從句解釋了原因，即因為這是通往西方世界的通行證。A項為原文的同義改寫，故選A。B、D在文中沒有提及，原文中說進入professional field是不被允許的,故C不符合。

　　2.[B] nurturing societies出現在文中第2段第2句，很顯然nurturing society指的是前一句說的“重視在某一特定領域中的優異表現，能培養才能的社會”,B與原文相符。

　　3.[C] 日本在文中作為典型的nurturing society的例子，之後提到日本社會竟爭激烈，注重規範和紀律，結合這兩點可知，C正確。

　　4.[A] 最後一段第2句提到，遺傳在天才的產生上也起很重要的作用，即天賦，故選A。其他三項在文中並未提及。

　　5.[D] 本文中，prodigies是一個關鍵詞，四個選項中只有D包含了這一關鍵詞。其他三個選項都只是文中的區域性資訊，不是文章主旨，均排除。

　　Taste is such a subjective matter that we don't usually conduct preference tests for food.The most you can say about anyone's preference, is that it's one person's opinion. Butbecause the two big cola***可樂*** companies Coca-Cola and Pepsi Cola are marketed aggressively,we've wondered how big a role taste preference actually plays in brand loyalty. We set up ataste test that challenged people who identified themselves as either C0ca-Cola or Pepsi your brand in a blind tasting.

　　We invited staff volunteers who had a strong liking for either Coca-Cola Classic ***傳統型***or Pepsi,Diet ***低糖的***Coke, or Diet Pepsi-These were people who thought they'd have no trouble tellingtheir brand from the other brand. We eventually located 19 regular cola drinkers and 27 dietcola drinkers.

　　We eventually located 19regular cola drinkers and 27diet cola drinkers. Then we fed them fourunidentifiedsamples of cola one at a time, regular colas for the one group, diet versions for theother. We asked themto tell us whether each sample was Coke or Pepsi; then we analyzed therecords statistically to compare the participants 'choices with what mere gum-work would haveaccomplished.

　　Getting all four samples right was a tough test, but not too tough, we thought, for people whobelieved they could recognize their brand. In the end, only 7out of19regular cola drinkerscorrectly identified theirbrand of choice in all four trials. The diet-cola drinkers did a little worse-only 7of27identified all four samples correctly.

　　While both groups did better than chance would predict, nearly half the participants in eachgroup made the wrong choice two or more times. Two people got all four samples wrong.Overall, half the participants did about as well on the last round of tasting as on the first, sofatigue, or taste burn out, was not a factor. Our preference test results suggest that only afew Pepsi participants and Coke fans may really be able to tell their favorite brand by taste andprice.

　　練習題：

　　Choose correct answers to the question:

　　1. According to the passage the preference test was conducted in order to _____.

　　A. find out the role taste preference plays in a person's drinking

　　B. reveal which cola is more to the liking of the drinkers

　　C. show that a person's opinion about taste is mere guess-work

　　D. compare the ability of the participants in choosing their drinks

　　2. The statistics recorded in the preference tests show _____.

　　A. Coca-Cola and Pepsi are people's two most favorite drinks

　　B. there is not much difference in taste between Coca-Cola and Pepsi

　　C. few people had trouble telling Coca-Cola from Pepsi

　　D. people's tastes differ from one another