大学英语四级分类模拟题497_真题-无答案

大学英语四级分类模拟题497 (总分210,考试时间90分钟)

Part Ⅰ Writing

1. Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay. You should start your essay with a brief account of student\"s increasing reliance on technology to solve problems, and then explain the consequence of over-dependence on it. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.

\"You have to solve this problem by yourself. You can\"t call tech support.\"

Part Ⅱ Reading Comprehension

Passage One

A New Excuse for Unsuccessful Investors

Economists work on the assumption that people act rationally. If only life were that simple.

Investors certainly don\"t always act as they should. Among other unwise acts, they trade too much, do not diversify their portfolios (投资组合) enough and are reluctant to discard underperforming stocks. They may have been born to behave that way. A recent study into investment behavior by Stephan Siegel of Arizona State University\"s WP Carey School of Business, and Henrik Cronqvist of Claremont McKenna College, illuminates the role that genes play in determining investment decisions.

The authors examine the investment behavior of 15,208 pairs of Swedish twins, using data from the country\"s twin registry and its tax authority, which until 2007 **prehensive records on every financial transaction. Controlling for various factors, they find that identical twins, who share all their genes, were more similar in their investing behavior than fraternal twins (异卵双胞胎) , who share about half their genes.

The authors calculate that genetic factors account for between a quarter and half of the variations in irrational investment behavior between individuals. These factors are at work across more dimensions than just investing. Twins who showed a bias towards buying familiar shares rather than unknown ones, for example, also showed a preference for living closer to their place of birth and for marrying a spouse from the same region. Investors with large portfolios were particularly susceptible (易受……影响的) to genetic influences.

If genes explain up to a half of the variations in investment behavior, what governs the rest? The authors also calculated the impact of shared environmental influences on the twins as well as the effect of experiences unique to one half of a twin pair. Common childhood experiences like schooling were found to have almost no influence on investment behavior. But individual experiences explain half of the variations between twin pairs—as much as, and often more than, genes.

The study has its limitations. It looks at data from only one country during a limited period of time, for example. But it suggests that attempts to persuade people to invest more rationally have some big inbuilt (生来就有的) biases to **e.

1. How do economists think about investors? A. They do lots of stupid things. B. They trade as much as they can. C. They are reluctant to change.

D. They always make right decisions. 2. How did the authors do the research? A. They looked at the data from Swiss.

B. They checked all the behaviors of the twins.

C. They examined the investment behavior of twins. D. They investigated less than 2,000 pairs of twins.

3. What role do the genetic factors play in irrational investment? A. They account for 50% of the variations at most. B. They barely have any influence on twins. C. They make twins buy similar shares. D. They affect investing in different ways.

4. What can explain the variations in investment behavior except genes? A. Environmental influences. B. Schooling experiences.

C. Childhood memories. D. Individual experiences.

5. What does the author of this article think of the study? A. Its limitations can be overlooked. B. The results of it are quite convincing. C. It tells us biases influence investing. D. The data it used cannot be trusted.

Passage Two

A principal reason for the rapid increase in wealth disparity over the last 10 years is the different ways various economic groups invest their money. According to the study\"s lead author, Fabian T. Pfeffer, more than half of the median households\" wealth in 2007 was in home equity. By comparison, the median household in the richest 5thpercentile(百分位数) held only 16% of their wealth in home equity, with the lion\"s share being kept in real assets, including business assets and financial instruments like stocks and bonds.

Pfeffer explains that because stocks have recovered more quickly than the real estate market, average households were hurt far more than richer Americans when the housing bubble popped. When home equity is excluded from household wealth, the impact of the housing crash on average Americans is especially clear. The Great Recession\"s disproportionate impact on real estate allowed the richest households, who could afford to diversify their investments, to grow wealth even during a deflating housing market.

Another concern for middle class households is that many sold off investments during the recession in order to meet expenses, and are now less able to enjoy the benefits of a recovering economy. \"Part of the lack of recovery is that median American households had to dispose of investments,\" says Pfeffer. \"The troubles will stay with them for the next couple of decades as they try to reclaim these assets.\"

Will wealth inequality continue to increase at its current pace? Pfeffer believes it would take another deep recession for inequality to double again in the next 10 years, but says his research confirms that returns to capital have been increasing at a rapid pace over the last century, creating a persistently swelling gap between the wealth of the haves and the have-nots.

Some have claimed inequality is less important as long as all Americans see wealth gains over time. The rich may get richer faster, but that might not matter if the poor and middle class are also seeing their wealth increase. Pfeffer disagrees. A rising tide may lift all boats, but the Michigan professor points out that wealth not only tends to determine political influence, but also that wealth inequality greatly affects the opportunities available to the children of the middle class, especially in terms of education.

1. It can be inferred from the first paragraph that ______. A. the poor families invested their wealth in home equity

B. the richest median households only invested a small part in home equity C. only 5% of median households held their wealth in home equity D. all the median households kept their most wealth in real assets

2. Why could the richest households increase wealth even when the house market deflated?

A. They invested all the wealth in the real estate. B. They took advantage of the gloomy house market. C. They could make many kinds of investments. D. They got information in advance to avoid the loss.

3. Median households\" disposing of investments during the recession would ______. A. make them enjoy the benefits of a recovering economy B. easily meet their expenses during the recession

C. cause troubles when they try to get back these assets D. increase the wealth disparity for the next decades

4. What made the wealth gap between the rich and the poor continue to increase? A. Rapid returns to capital. B. Income inequality.

C. Hopeful signs of recovery. D. Deep recession.

5. What influence may wealth inequality have on the middle class according to Pfeffer? A. Their children\"s wealth may decrease. B. Their wealth may rise more slowly.

C. Their children may suffer fewer educational opportunities. D. Their family may not exert political influence any more.

Part Ⅲ Translation

1. 1911年，中国爆发了历史上的第一次资产阶级革命——辛亥革命(the Revolution of 1911)，它推翻了中国封建社会的最后一个朝代——清朝，废除了中国延续了2000多年的封建帝制，建立了中国的第一个民主共和国——中华民国。民国政府成立以后，要求全国人民都剪掉头上的辫子(queues)，选择自己喜欢的发型。至此，在中国延续了280多年的辫子法令终于被解除。