英語四級閱讀模擬訓練

　　people appear to born to compute. The numerical skills of children develop so early and soinexorably***堅定地*** that it is easy to imagine an internal clock of mathematical maturity guidingtheir growth. Not long after learning to walk and talk, they can set the table with impressaccuracy---one knife, one spoon, one fork, for each of the five chairs. Soon they are capableof nothing that they have placed five knives, spoons and forks on the table and, a bit later, thatthis amounts to fifteen pieces of silverware. Having thusmastered addition, they move on tosubtraction. It seems almost reasonable to expect that if a child were secluded on a desertisland at birth and retrieved seven years later, he or she could enter a second entera second-grade mathematics class without any serious problems of intellectual adjustment.

　　Of course, the truth is not so simple. This century, the work of cognitive psychologists hasilluminated the subtle forms of daily learning on which intellectual progress depends. Childrenwere observed as they slowly grasped----or, as the case might be, bumped into---- conceptsthat adults take for quantity is unchanged as water pours from a short glass into a tall thinone. Psychologists have since demonstrated that young children, asked to count the pencils in apile, readily report the number of blue or red pencils, but must be coaxed***說服*** into finding thetotal. Such studies have suggested that the rudiments***基本原理*** of mathematics are masteredgradually, and with effort. They have also suggested that the very concept of abstractnumbers-----the idea of a oneness, a twoness, a twoness that applies to any class of objectsand is aprerequisite***先決條件*** for doing anything more mathematically demanding than settinga table----is itself far from innate.

　　練習題：

　　Choose correct answers to the question:

　　1.After children have helped to set the table with impressive accuracy, they ______.

　　A.are able to help parents serve dishes

　　B.tend to do more complicated housework

　　C.are able to figure out the total pieces

　　D.can enter a second-grade mathematics class

　　2.It is _____to believe that the quality of water keeps unchanged when it is containedin two different glasses.

　　A.easy to persuade children

　　B.hard for most children

　　C.the innate of most children

　　D.difficult for both adults and children

　　3.It can be inferred from the passage that children are likely to _____when they areasked to count all the balls of different colors

　　A.give the accurate answer

　　B.count the balls of each color

　　C.be too confused to do anything

　　D.make minor mistakes

　　4.According to this passage,_____is mastered by birth.

　　A.the ability to survive in a desert island

　　B.the way of setting tables

　　C.the basic principles of mathematics

　　D.the concept of oneness

　　5.What’s the author‘s attitude towards “children’s numerical skills”?

　　A.Critical.

　　B.Approving.

　　C.Questioning.

　　D.Objective.

 

　　1.[C] 第1段第3句說的是題幹內容，由第4句Soon…句中的five knives...等數字可知孩子會數數了,故可直接選出C。

　　2.[B] 第2段第3句中they refused... to concede...中的they指children,對比題干與原文意思可知孩子們是“難以相信***理解***，故選B。

　　3.[B] 第2段倒數第3句。文章是以pencils為例進行說明的，題目中換成了balls,但是目的是相同的，都是為了表述兒童更願意根據顏色的不同來數數，而不願數總數，故B正確。A、D都沒有提到;C的說法過於絕對，與文章表述也不相符。

　　4.[B] 這道題目需要認真理解了文章的意思才能正確作答。第1段的主題是:有些數字概念是人天生就有的;第2段的主題是:有一些是後天學習獲得的。B是第1段中明確給出的例子，因此這個例子應該支援該段的主題。A錯誤地理解了第1段最後舉的例子。C和D在第2段最後提到,都不是先天獲取的數學知識。

　　5.[D] 考査全文的觀點態度。縱觀全文可知，作者很客觀、如實地說明事實，分兩段報告了心理學家的研究結果，並未做出任何評價，故D正確。題目中的children’s numerical skills即全文的主題。

 

 

　　Learning how to write is like taking a course in public speaking. I'd ask whether anyone in classhad evertaken such a course. Always a few hands would go up.

　　"What did you learn in that course?" I'd ask.

　　"Well, the main thing was learning how to face an audience: not to be inhibited ***拘謹***... not tobe nervous. "

　　Exactly, when you take a course in public speaking nowadays, you don't hear much aboutgrammar and vocabulary. Instead. you're taught how not to be afraid or embarrassed, how tospeak without a prepared script. how to read out to the live audience before you. Publicspeaking is a matter of overcoming your long-standing nervous inhibitions.

　　The same is true of writing. The point of the whole thing is to overcome your nervousinhibitions, to break through the invisible barrier that separates you from the person who’llread what you wrote. You must learn to sit in front of your typewriter of dictating machine andread out to the person at the other end of the line.

　　Of course, in public speaking with the audience right in front of you, the problem is easier. Youcan lookat them and talk to them directly. In writing, you 're alone. It needs an effort of yourexperience or imagination to take hold of that other person and talk to him or her. But thateffort is necessary or at least it' s necessary until you've reached the point when you quitenaturally and unconsciously "talk on paper".

　　練習題：

　　Choose correct answers to the question:

　　1.The main task of a public speech course is to __________.

　　A.teach grammar and vocabulary

　　B. teach how to write a script

　　C. teach how to overcome nervousness

　　D. teach live spoken-language expressions

　　2.Learning how to write is similar to learning how to speak in public in that writershould _____.

　　A.overcome his or her nervousness in the first place

　　B. take hold of a reader and talk to him or her before writing

　　C. learn to use a typewriter or dictating machine

　　D. talk to himself on paper

　　3.what does the author compare writing and public speaking?

　　A.Writhing needs more experience and imagination than public speaking

　　B.Both writing and public speaking require great effort

　　C.Writhing is just as imagination as public speaking

　　D.Writhing is not as natural as public speaking

　　4.Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

　　A.Few students feel the need to learn public speaking

　　B.Training is necessary before you can speak with a script

　　C.In public speaking, the audience are more nervous than the speaker

　　D.Writing is just like making a public speech on paper

　　5.This selection is mainly about ___________.

　　A.the effort involved in writing

　　B.the similarities between writing and public speaking

　　C.learning how to make a public speech

　　D.learning how to talk on paper

 

　　1.[C] 事實細節題。原文第4段,特別是第4段的最後一句表明c為正確選項。本題稍具干擾性的是D，該選項中的live一詞在第4段第2句末尾也有出現，但事實上D與該句的意思不相同。

　　2.[A] 事實細節題。本題考查對比處。第5段第1句表明下一句就是演講和寫作的相似之處，而A就是對該句的同義替換。其他選項並未按照題目的要求對比演講與寫作，只是說明了寫作必須做的，因此都不正確。

　　3.[A] 推理判斷題。本題考查對比處。結尾段對比了演講和寫作的不同之處，第1、2句和第3、4句形成了內在的對比關係，由此可推斷寫作比演講更需要經驗和努力，因此可確定A正確，而C不正確。雖然在這一段可找到effort和naturally等詞，但原文並沒有從是否要付出同樣多的努力***B***或是否自然***D***等方面對比演講與寫作，因此B和D也不正確。

　　4.[D] 推理判斷題。根據最後一句中的“在紙上說話”,可推斷作者認為寫作如在紙上作演講一樣，因此D正確。A中的Few students與事實不符;B中的speak with a script在文中未有提及;C中的separated by abarrier錯誤。

　　5.[D] 主旨大意題。文章的開頭句就是全文的主題句，作者在前四段說明如何演講，從第5段開始，作者轉向說明如何寫作,文章的結尾句對開頭句做出了呼應。作者之所以將演講和寫作過程做比較是為了讓自己的觀點更容易、更生動地被讀者明白和接受，因此本文的中心內容是圍繞寫作，而不是演講。其餘選項雖然文中都有提及，但只是各個具體的側面內容，不能概括全文大意。