2023上半年英语四级阅读练习

1.2023上半年英语四级阅读练习 篇一

　　When the leaders of the Class of 2003 assemble in Lawrence High's fluorescent-lit1 meeting rooms, most of the boys are nowhere to be seen. The senior class president? A girl. The vice -president? Girl.

　　Head of student government? Girl. Captain of the math team, chief of the yearbook, and editor of the newspaper? Girls. The female lock on power at Lawrence is emblematic of a stunning gender reversal in American education. From kindergarten to graduate school, boys are fast becoming the second sex.

　　It may still be a man's world . But it is no longer, in any way, a boy's. From his first days in school, an average boy is already developmentally two years behind the girls in reading and writing. Yet he's often expected to learn the same things in the same way in the same amount of time. While every nerve in his body tells him to run, he has to sit still and listen for almost eight hours a day. Biologically, he needs about four recesses a day, but he's lucky if he gets one, since some lawsuit-leery schools have banned them altogether. Hug a girl, and he could be labeled a" toucher”and swiftly suspended — a result of what some say is an increasingly anti-boy culture that pathologizes their behavior.

　　Overall, more boys and girls are in college than a generation ago. But when adjusted for population growth, the percentage of boys entering college , master's programs, and most doctoral programs — except for PhDs2 in fields like engineering and computer science — has mostly stalled out, whereas for women it has continued to rise across the board. The trend is most pronounced among Hispanics, African Americans, and those from low-income families.

　　Instead of catering to boys'learning styles, others argue, many schools are force-fitting them into an unnatural mold. The reigning sit-still-and-listen paradigm isn't ideal for either sex.

　　Experts say educators should focus on helping boys feel less like misfits. Experts are designing new developmentally appropriate, child-initiated learning that concentrates on problem-solving, not just test-taking. This approach benefits both sexes but especially boys, given that they tend to learn best through action, not just talk. Activities are geared toward the child's interest level and temperament. Boys, for example, can learn math through counting pinecones, biology through mucking around in a pond. They can read Harry Potter instead of Little House on the Prairie , and write about aliens attacking a hospital rather than about how to care for people in the hospital.

　　Indeed, brain research shows that boys are actually more empathic, expressive, and emotive at birth than girls. But the boy code , which bathes them in a culture of stoicism and reticence, often socializes those aptitudes out of them by the second grade ."We now have executives paying 10 , 000 a week to learn emotional intelligence,"says Pollock."These are actually the skills boys are born with."

　　A new world has opened up for girls, but unless a symmetrical effort is made to help boys find their footing, it may turn out that it's a lonely place to be.

　　练习题：

　　Ⅰ. Complete the following sentences with the words given:

　　banned geared labeled revealed

　　1. Would you please hand me the bottle wisdom.

　　2. Many classical books were once criticized and thus by the authorities.

　　3. Research has how huge the gap between the poor and the rich is.

　　4. This game is toward a better and faster response.

　　Ⅱ. Question:

　　Why did experts design new developmentally appropriate, child-initiated learning?

2.2023上半年英语四级阅读练习 篇二

　　Some people are born with the belief that they are masters of their own lives. Others feel they are at the mercy of1 fate.

　　New research shows that part of those feelings are in the genes. Psychologists have long known that people confident in their ability to control their destinies are more likely to adjust well to growing old than those who feel that they drift on the currents of fate2 .

　　Two researchers who questioned hundreds of Swedish twins report that such confidence, or lack of it, is partly genetic and partly drawn from experience. They also found that the belief in blind luck — a conviction that coincidence plays a big role in life is something learned in life and has nothing to do with heredity.

　　The research was conducted at the Karolinska Institute — better known as the body that annually awards the Nobel Prize for medicine — by Nancy Pedersen of the Institute and Margaret Gatz, a professor of psychology at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Their results were recently published in the United States in the Journal of Gerontology.

　　People who are confident of their ability to control their lives have an"internal locus of control, "and have a better chance of being well adjusted in their old age, said Pedersen. An" external locus of control", believing that outside forces determine the course of life, has been linked to depression in latter years, she said.

　　"We are trying to understand what makes people different. What makes some people age gracefully and others have a more difficult time ?"she said. The study showed that while people have an inborn predilection toward independence and self-confidence, about 70 percent of this personality trait3 is affected by a person's environment and lifetime experiences.

　　Pedersen's studies, with various collaborators, probe the aging process by comparing sets of twins, both identical and fraternal, many of whom were separated at an early age.

　　The subjects were drawn from a roster first compiled about 30 years ago registering all twins born in Sweden since 1886. The complete list, which was extended in 1971, has 95,000 sets of twins.

　　练习题：

　　Ⅰ. Multiple choice:

　　1. Researchers questioned of Swedish twins report that such confidence is partly genetic .

　　A. hundreds B. thousands C. dozens D. 95, 000 sets

　　2. People who are confident of their ability to control their lives have a better chance of being well adjusted in their .

　　A. old age B. jobs C. family

　　3. By comparing sets of twins, Pedersen’s studies focus on .

　　A. the age process B. the social justice C. the social environment

　　4. The"internal locus of control"means .

　　A. self-constructive forces to maintain the balance of the mind

　　B. self-motivated power to achieve consciousness

　　C. inside forces determine the course of life

　　Ⅱ. Explain the following words:

　　1. blind luck

　　2. external locus of control

3.2023上半年英语四级阅读练习 篇三

　　Outside a traditional Chinese medicine shop in Hong Kong, locals mill about2 , their mouths covered with white masks. They look like ordinary Asian shoppers in the age of SARS — but they are in fact actors shooting the forthcoming film"The City of SARS. "An anguished look at life in the territory during the epidemic , the film includes a segment starring veteran Hong Kong actor Eric Tsang as a flashy businessman contemplating suicide after the pneumonia outbreak threatens to ruin him financially."[SARS is] our Titanic , " says Tsang between takes."A lot of acts of bravery and heroism were involved. "

　　Every artist knows that turmoil fuels creativity. And from February to June in 2003, nothing has caused more turmoil in Asia than severe acute respiratory syndrome. Now, from Shanghai to Singapore, the drama of living with SARS is producing an artistic movement of sorts. Through a wide range of new paintings, photographs, plays, films and songs, Asia's artists are expressing the diverse emotions — fear, anger and even hope — triggered by the disease .

　　Some artists are simply determined to make a record of this atypical3 period."Artists are more sensitive than ordinary people, "says a Singaporean painter. His abstract work"A Year to Remember", made with oil, batik, sand and rice paper on canvas, has no special message but was inspired by the complex feelings that emerged while he listened to the daily news of the war in Iraq and the progress of the disease .

　　Others intend their art to provoke discussion. Singaporean playwright and actress Li Xie wrote the interactive Mandarin-language play"SARS"after witnessing negative reactions — like the ostracization of medical workers — in the early days of the outbreak. Li's drama, which requires audience participation, has been playing to positive reviews. Ordinary citizens, too, have felt compelled to create . When the Hong Kong Arts Center announced the creation of a SARS-inspired exhibited called"A Time Like This", it was flooded with entries from the general public . Students, forced to stay home after school was suspended, contributed more than 80 poems, cartoons and drawings — many about the extreme boredom they felt while in isolation. The Shanghai Museum of Art is holding an online exhibit and sale of calligraphic art inspired by SARS — the proceeds of which will go4 to SARS research.

　　The director of"The City of SARS"is hopeful that his flick will capture a momentous time in history."No other event like this may pass my way again, "he says.

　　练习题：

　　Ⅰ. True or False:

　　1. People outside the medicine shop are ordinary Asian shoppers in the age of SARS.

　　2. Through a wide range of new art forms Asia's artists are expressing the diverse emotions triggered by the disease .

　　3. All the artists simply determined to make a record of this atypical period.

　　4. The Shanghai Museum of Art held an exhibit to make profits for its own sake.

　　Ⅱ. Questions:

　　1. How did the Singapore painter make his abstract work A Year to Remember?

　　2. Why Li Xie wrote the play"SARS"?