【篇一】2021年12月英语四级考试阅读理解参考
Some houses are designed to be smart. Others have smart designs. An example of the second type of house won an Award of Excellence from the American Institute of Architects.Located on the shore of Sullivan’s Island off the coast of South Carolina, the award-winning cube-shaped beach house was built to replace one smashed to pieces by Hurricane (飓风) Hugo 10 years ago. In September1989, Hugo struck South Carolina, killing 18 people and damaging or destroying 36,000 homes in the state.
Before Hugo, many new houses built along South Carolina’s shoreline were poorly constructed, and enforcement of building codes wasn’t strict, according to architect Ray Huff, who created the cleverly-designed beach house. In Hugo’s wake, all new shoreline houses are required to meet stricter, better-enforced codes.The new beach house on Sullivan’s Island should be able to withstand a Category 3 hurricane with peak winds of 179 to 209 kilometers per hour.
At first sight, the house on Sullivan’s Island looks anything but hurricane-proof. Its redwood shell makes it resemble “a large party lantern (灯笼)” at night, according to one observer. But looks can be deceiving. The house’s wooden frame is reinforced with long steel rods to give it extra strength.
To further protect the house from hurricane damage, Huff raised it 2.7 meters off the ground on timber pilings—long, slender columns of wood anchored deep in the sand. Pilings might appear insecure, but they arestrong enough to support the weight of the house. They also elevate the house above storm surges. The pilings allow the surges to run under the house instead of running into it. “These swells of water come ashore at tremendous speeds and cause most of the damage done to beach-front buildings,” said Huff.
Huff designed the timber pilings to be partially concealed by the house’s ground-to-roof shell. “ The shell masks the pilings so that the house doesn’t look like it’s standing with its pant legs pulled up,” said Huff. In the event of a storm surge, the shell should break apart and let the waves rush under the house, the architect explained.
练习题：
Choose correct answers to the question:
1. After the tragedy caused by Hurricane Hugo, new houses built along South Carolina’s shore line are required ________.
A. to be easily reinforced
B. to look smarter in design
C. to meet stricter building standards
D. to be designed in the shape of cubes
2. The award-winning beach house is quite strong because ________.
A. it is strengthened by steel rods
B. it is made of redwood
C. it is in the shape of a shell
D. it is built with timber and concrete
3. Huff raised the house 2.7 meters off the ground on timber pilings in order to ________.
A. withstand peak winds of about 200 km/hr
B. anchor stronger pilings deep in the sand
C. break huge sea waves into smaller ones
D. prevent water from rushing into the house
4. The main function of the shell is ________.
A. to strengthen the pilings of the house
B. to give the house a better appearance
C. to protect the wooden frame of the house
D. to slow down the speed of the swelling water
5. It can be inferred from the passage that the shell should be ________.
A. fancy-looking
B. waterproof
C. easily breakable
D. extremely strong
1.[C] 根据题目中的专有名词Hugo查找到文中第3段第2句。句中的In Hugo’s wake相当于题目中的after Hugo,由该句是的stricter，better-enforced codes可知C正确。
2.[A] 第4段开始具体介绍the house,根据该段最后一句可知，这幢房子的木制结构用长钢筋加固了，因而特别结实,故选A。
3.[D] 根据题干的数字可迅速定位至第5段首，第2、3句阐述这样做的目的是“将房屋抬髙到暴风雨巨浪之上,及让巨浪能在屋下流过。”其中running into it与D中的rushing into the house同义,故D正确。
4.[B] 最后一段第2句提出，外壳可以把木桩遮盖住,所以它主要起“粉饰”作用。
5.[C] 根据最后一句可知，如果暴风雨巨浪涌来，外壳就会裂开，让巨浪在房屋下面奔涌而过，因此外壳应该是“易碎的”。
【篇二】2021年12月英语四级考试阅读理解参考
One of the bitterest and most time-worm debates in student union bars up and down the country is resolved as academic research confirms that in financial terms at least, arts degrees are a complete waste of time.Getting through university boosts students’earnings by 25%, on a weighted average, or $220,000 over theirlifetime, according to Professor Ian Walker of Warwick University-but if they study Shakespeare or the peasants’revolt instead of anatomy of contract law, those gains are likely to be completely wiped out.The government is about to allow universities to charge students up to $3,000 a year for their degrees, arguing that it’s a small price to pay compared with the financial rewards graduates reap later in life. But Prof. Walker’s research shows there are sharp variations in returns according to which subject a student takes.
Law, medicine and economics or business are the most lucrative choices, making their average earnings 25% higher, according to the article, published in the office for national statistics’monthly journal. Scientists get 10-15% extra. At the bottom of the list are arts subjects, which make only a “small ”differenceto earnings- a small negative one, in fact. Just ahead are degrees in education-which leave hard pressed teachers anaverage of 5% better off a year than if they had left school at 18.
“it’s hard to resist the conclusion that what students learn does matter a lot; and some subject areas givemore modest financial returns than others,” Prof. Walker said. As an economist, he was quick to point outthat students might gain non-financial returns from arts degrees:”Studying economics might be very dull, forexample, and studying post-modernism might be a lot of fun.”
练习题：
Choose correct answers to the question:
1.What is the best title for the passage?
A.Professor Walker’s Research
B.How to Make Big Money.
C.Differences Between Science and Arts Degrees.
D.Studying Arts Has Negative Financial Outcome.
2.Universities charge students a rather high tuition mainly because_____
A.they provide the students with very prosperous subjects to learn
B.they assume that their graduates can earn much more than they had paid
C.they don’t get financial support from the government
D.they need much revenue to support the educational expenses
3.The word “lucrative”(Line 1, Para. 4) most probably means _____
A.sensible
B.creative
C.profitable
D.reliable
4.Law, medical and business graduates could earn 25% more than ______
A.education graduates
B.arts graduates
C.those who had not studied at the university
D.the average income
5.We can safely conclude that the author ______
A.regards arts degrees as meaningless
B.finds this result disappointing and unfair
C.wants the students to think twice before they decide what to learn in college
D.holds that arts degrees are still rewarding despite its scarce financial returns
1.[D] 主旨大意题。本文为Walker教授的研究成果，旨在说明不同专业的毕业生有不同的经济回报，并非要传授发财心得或者比较文理科的异同。文章首句即为本题解题关键，故D正确。
2.[B] 事实细节题。定位至第3段第1句。本文只有这一句与收取学费有关，后一个分句即前一个分句的理由，抓住其中隐含的因果关系就不难找到正确答案。
3.[C] 词义理解题。通过下文数据earnings 25% higher和get 10-15% extra可以推测lucrative大意应为“给人带来丰厚收入的”,故选C。
4.[C] 事实细节题。第4段中出现了几个比较数字，考题要求找到此段首句提到的收人增加25%的参照点。第2段第1句中的Getting through university 表明这类学生收人增加25%的参照对象是没读大学的人，且从第4段第3句中的the list和第4句即可以确定这一段是在比较大学毕业与18岁毕业(即没读大学)收入的不同，因此C正确。
5.[D] 推理判断题。结论往往出现在文章结尾,要想答对此题,一定要仔细体会本文末句。本文虽然重点讨论文科没有经济效益，但是作者并没有做出主观判断，故A、B、C都不正确，而作者在文章最后讲到了人文学科虽然经济效益不佳但学习过程更有趣，故D符合作者意思。
【篇三】2021年12月英语四级考试阅读理解参考
Many private institutions of higher education around the country are in danger. Not all will be saved, andperhaps not all deserve to be saved. There are low-quality schools just as there are low-quality business.We have no obligation to save them simply because they exist.But many thriving institutions that deserve to continue are threatened. They are doing a fine job educationally, but they are caught in a financial squeeze, with no way to reduce rising costs or increase revenuessignificantly. Raising tuition doesn’t bring in more revenue, for each time tuition goes up, the enrollment goes down, or the amount that must be given away in student aid goes up. Schools are bad businesses, whether public or private, not usually because of mismanagement but because of the nature of the enterprise.They lose money on every customer, and they can go bankrupt either from too few students or too many students. Even a very good college is a very bad business.
It is such colleges, thriving but threatened, I worry about. Low enrollment is not their chief problem. Even with full enrollments, they may go under. Efforts to save them, and preferably to keep them private, are a national necessity. There is no basis for arguing that private schools are inherently (固有地)better than public schools. Examples to the contrary abound. Anyone can name state universities and colleges that rank as the finest in the nation and the world. It is now inevitable that public institutions will be dominant, and therefore diversity is a national necessity. Diversity in the way we support schools tends to give us a healthy diversity in the forms of education. In an imperfect society such as ours, uniformity of education throughout the nation could be dangerous. In an imperfect society, diversity is a positive good. Enthusiastic supporters of public higher education know the importance of sustaining private higher education.
练习题：
Choose correct answers to the question:
1.According to the author's opinion, schools are bad businesses because of _______.
A. mismanagement
B. too few students
C. financial squeeze
D. their characteristics
2.The author used the phrase “go under" in Para. 3 to mean "_______".
A. get into difficulties
B. have low enrollment
C. have little money
D. bring in more money
3.We can reasonably conclude from this passage that the author made an appeal to the public in order to support_____
A. public institution
B. private schools
C. uniformity of education
D. diversity of education
4.Which of the following is NOT mentioned about private schools?
A. High-quality private schools deserve to be saved.
B. If the tuition of the private schools is raised, the enrollment goes down.
C. There are many cases to show that public schools are better than private schools.
D. Private schools are more profitable than public schools.
5.Which of the following ways could possibly save private schools?
A. Raising tuition.
B. Full enrollment.
C. National awareness and support.
D. Reduction of rising costs.
1.[D] 事实细节题。本题考查因果关系。第2段倒数第3句中的“not because of... but because of...”指出了nature就是原因所在，characteristics是nature的近义词，故D正确。
2.[A] 词义理解题。通过go under所在句子中的Even with......可知，该句与上一句形成对比，这两句中的enrollment是相对应的，所以go under应该也与上文的problem相对应，由此可推断，go under就是have problem/ difficulty之义。本题干扰性的是C，但文中并无细节具体说明即使入学人数满额学校收人也很少的问题，因此C把problem定义得过细，不如A恰当。
3.[B] 推理判断题，也是主旨大意题。文章一开头就指出“许多私立髙等学校都处于危险之中”，引起读者的关注，结尾句明确倡议支持公立髙等教育的人们应该同样支持私立髙等教育，由此可见,B是本文的目的。本题干扰性的是D，D的说法在最后一段中多次提到，但是作者提出办学多样性是为了说明私立教育的重要性，故D只是本文主题(私立教育)的支持性细节，并非本文的中心话题。
4.[D] 事实细节题。可用排除法找出答案。A可从第1段推断得出;B可在第2段第3句中找到;C可从最后一段中间找到。
5.[C] 推理判断题。可用排除法找出答案，根据原文，第2段第3句可证明A不可行;最后一段第3句证明B不可行;第2段第2句也指出D行不通。本文的目的是为了提高公众对私立教育的关注，由此可见，只有C是拯救私立高校的可行性方法。
