2011英语四级预测试卷及答案解析(14)

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Part IV Reading Comprehension (Reading in Depth) (25 minutes)
" F6 t* v% t$ ?# j2 j# Z) C; U5 w　　Section A
　　Directions: In this section, there is a short passage with 5 questions or incomplete statements. Read the passage carefully. Then answer the questions or complete statements in the fewest possible words. Please write your answers on Answer Sheet 2.
　　Many of the most damaging and life threatening types of weather-torrential rains, severe thunderstorms, and tornadoes-begin quickly, strike suddenly, and disappear rapidly, destroying small regions while leaving neighboring areas untouched. Such event as a tornado struck the northeastern section of Edmonton, Alberta, in July 1987. Total damages from the tornado exceeded $250 million, the highest ever for any Canadian storm.
　　Conventional computer models of the atmosphere have limited value in predicting short lived local storms like the Edmonton tornado, because the available weather data are generally not detailed enough to allow computers to study carefully the subtly atmospheric changes that come before these storms. In most nations, for example, weather-balloon observations are taken just once every twelve hours at locations typically separated by hundreds of miles. With such limited data, conventional forecasting models do a much better job predicting general weather conditions over large regions than they do forecasting specific local events.
　　Until recently, the observation intensive approach needed for accurate, very short-range forecasts, or "Nowcasts", was not feasible. The cost of equipping and operating many thousands of conventional weather stations was extremely high, and the difficulties involved in rapidly collecting and processing the raw weather data from such a network were hard to overcome. Fortunately, scientific and technological advances have overcome most of these problems. Radar systems, automated weather instruments, and satellites are all capable of making detailed, nearly continuous observation over large regions at a relatively low cost. Communications satellites can transmit data around the world cheaply and instantaneously, and modern computers can quickly compile and analyze this large volume of weather information. Meteorologists (气象学者) and computer scientists now work together to design computer programs and video equipment capable of transforming raw weather data into words, symbols, and vivid graphic displays that forecasters can interpret easily and quickly. As meteorologists have begun using these new technologies in weather forecasting offices, Nowcasting is becoming a reality.
　　47. It can be inferred from the passage that the value of damages from torrential rains, severe thunderstorms and tornadoes is ________________________.
　　48. Why do conventional models of the atmosphere fail to predict such a short-lived tornado?
* o" X1 _! r! }' b3 n# I4 I　　___________________________________________________________________________.
5 O8 T" e. D2 i2 O( P% w　　49. It can be inferred from the passage that conventional forecasting models are now mostly used for ________________________.
　　50. What does "Nowcasts" mean according to the passage?
) h# s  k* R/ s; {3 a　　___________________________________________________________________________.
; K4 k% D: r7 A: p4 g$ Z　　51. According to the passage, what makes "Nowcasting" a reality?
　　___________________________________________________________________________.
　　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 center.
　　Passage One
6 i- W& Y8 j5 s% K6 ?8 \# X　　Questions 52 to 56 are based on the following passage.
% Q& n1 _" @8 s　　What makes Americans spend nearly half their food dollars on meals away from home? The answers lie in the way Americans live today. During the first few decades of the twentieth century, canned and other convenience foods freed the family cook from full-time duty at the kitchen range.

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　　Then, in the 1940s, work in the wartime defense plants took more women out of the home that ever before, setting the pattern of the working wife and mother. Unless family members pitch in with food preparation, women are not fully liberated from that chore.
6 d& ^3 D9 K8 K/ Y　　It's easier to pick up a bucket of fried chicken on the way home from work or take the family out for pizzas or burgers than to start opening cans or heating up frozen dinners after a long, hard day. Also nowadays, the rising divorce rate means that there are more single working parents with children to feed. And many young adults and elderly people, as well as unmarried and divorced mature people, live alone rather than as a part of a family unit and don't want to bother cooking for one. Fast food is appealing because it is fast, it doesn't require any dressing up, it offers a "fun" break in the daily routine, and the outlay of money seems small. It can be eaten in the car-sometimes picked up at a drive-in window without even getting out-or on the run. Even if it is brought home to eat, there will never be any dirty dishes to wash because of the handy disposable wrappings. Children, especially, love fast food because it's finger food, no struggling with knives and forks, no annoying instructions from adults about table manners.