在學習和工作中，我們經常跟練習題打交道，只有認真完成作業，積極地發揮每一道習題特殊的功能和作用，才能有效地提高我們的思維能力，深化我們對知識的理解。你所見過的習題是什麼樣的呢？以下是小編整理的2023下半年英語四級長篇閲讀練習題，希望能夠幫助到大家。
下半年英語四級長篇閲讀練習題 1
Directions: In this section, you are going to read a passage with ten statements attached to it. Each statement contains information given in one of the paragraphs. Identify the paragraph from which the information is derived.
You may choose a paragraph more than once. Each paragraph is marked with a letter. Answer the questions by marking the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2.
A University Degree No Longer Confers Financial Security
ions of school-leavers in the rich world are about to bid a tearful goodbye to their parents and start a new life at university. Some are inspired by a pure love of learning. But most also believe that spending three or four years at university--and accumulating huge debts in the process--will boost their chances of landing a well-paid and secure job.
r elders have always told them that education is the best way to equip themselves to thrive in a globalised world. Blue-collar workers will see their jobs outsourced and automated, the familiar argument goes. School dropouts will have to cope with a life of cash-strapped (資金緊張的) insecurity. But the graduate elite will have the world at its feet. There is some evidence to support this view. A recent study from Georgetown Universitys Centre on Education and the Workforce argues that"obtaining a post-secondary credential ( 證書) is almost always worth it." Educational qualifications are tightly correlated with earnings: an American with a professional degree can expect to pocket $3.6m over a lifetime; one with merely a high- school diploma can expect only $1.3m. The gap between more- and less-educated earners may be widening. A study in 2002 found that someone with a bachelors degree could expect to earn 75% more over a lifetime than someone with only a high-school diploma. Today the disparity is even greater.
is the past a reliable guide to the future? Or are we at the beginning of a new phase in the relationship between jobs and education? There are good reasons for thinking that old patterns are about to change--and that the current recession-driven downturn (衰退) in the demand for Western graduates will morph (改變) into something structural. The strong wind of creative destruction that has shaken so many blue-collar workers over the past few decades is beginning to shake the cognitive elite as well.
supply of university graduates is increasing rapidly. The Chronicle of Higher Education calculates that between 1990 and 2007 the number of students going to university increased by 22% in North America, 74% in Europe, 144% in Latin America and 203% in Asia. In 2007 150m people attended university around the world, including 70m in Asia. Emerging economies—specially China--are pouring resources into building universities that can compete with the elite of America and Europe. They are also producing professional- services firms snch as Tata Consulting Services and Infosys that take fresh graduates and turn them into world-class computer programmers and consultants. The best and the brightest of the rich world must increasingly compete with the best and the brightest from poorer countries who are willing to work harder for less money.
E. At the same time, the demand for educated labor is being reconfigured (重新配置) by technology, in much the same way that the demand for agricultural labor was reconfigured in the 19th century and that for factory labor in the 20th. Computers can not only perform repetitive mental tasks much faster than human beings. They can also empower amateurs to do what professionals once did: why hire a flesh-and-blood accountant to complete your tax return when Turbotax (a software package ) will do the job at a fraction of the cost? And the variety of jobs that computers can do is multiplying as programmers teach them to deal with tone and linguistic ambiguity.
ral economists, including Paul Krugman, have begun to argue that post-industrial societies will be characterized not by a relentless rise in demand for the educated but by a great "hollowing out", as mid-level jobs are destroyed by smart machines and high-level job growth slows. David Autor, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), points out that the main effect of automation in the computer era is not that it destroys blue-collar jobs but that it destroys any job that can be reduced to a routine. Alan Blinder of Princeton University, argues that the jobs graduates have traditionally performed are if anything more "offshorable" than low-wage ones. A plumber or lorry-drivers job cannot be outsourced to India. A computer programmers can.
G. A university education is still a prerequisite for entering some of the great industries, such as medicine, law and academia (學術界), that provide secure and well-paying jobs. Over the 20th century these industries did a wonderful job of raising barriers to entry--sometimes for good reasons (nobody wants to be operated on by a barber) and sometimes for self-interested ones. But these industries are beginning to bend the roles. Newspapers are fighting a losing battle with the blogosphere. Universities are replacing tenure-track professors with non-tenured staff. Law firms are contracting out routine work such as"discovery" (digging up documents relevant to a lawsuit) to computerized-search specialists such as Blackstone Discovery. Even doctors are threatened, as patients find advice online and treatment in Walmarts new health centers.
as Malone of MIT argues that these changes--automation, globalizafion and deregulation--may be part of a bigger change: the application of the division of labor to brain-work. Adam Smiths factory managers broke the production of pins into 18 components. In the same way, companies are increasingly breaking the production of brain-work into ever tinier slices. TopCoder chops up IT projects into bite-sized chunks and then serves them up to a worldwide workforce of freelance coders.
e changes will undoubtedly improve the productivity of brain-workers. They will allow consumers to sidestep (規避 ) the professional industries that have extracted high rents for their services. And they will empower many brain-workers to focus on what they are best at and contract out more tedious tasks to others. But the reconfiguration of brain-work will also make life far less cozy and predictable for the next generation of graduates.
46. The creative destruction that has happened to blue-collar workers in the past also starts to affect the cognitive elite.
47. For the next generation of graduates, life will be far less comfortable and predictable with brain-work reconfigured.
48. After computers are taught by programmers to deal with tone and linguistic ambiguity, the variety of jobs they can do will increase dramatically.
49. Most school-leavers believe that, despite the huge debts they owe, going to university will increase their chances of getting secure jobs with high salaries.
50. Modern companies are more likely to break the production of intellectual work into ever tinier slices.
51. A scholar of Princeton University claims that the jobs traditionally taken by graduates are more likely to be offshored than low-wage ones.
52. The income gap between an American professional degree holder and an American high-school graduate shows income is closely related to educational qualifications.
53. The changes in the division of brain-work will save consumers some high service fees the professional organizations charge.
54. Some students have always been told that. to achieve success in a globalised world, it is most advisable to equip themselves with education.
55. Emerging economies are providing a lot of resources to build universities to compete with the elite of America and Europe.
Section C
Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. Each is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A ),B., D ). You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.
【參考譯文】
大學文憑不再提供鐵飯碗
A.發達國家的數百萬高中畢業生將要含淚告別他們的父母，開始全新的大學生活。一些人上大學純粹是出於對學習的熱愛。[49]但大多數畢業生都這樣認為：在大學裏待三四年，儘管在這期間會欠下很多債務，卻可以大大增加他們獲得高薪、穩定工作的機率。
B.[54]他們的長輩們常常告誡他們，在這個全球化的世界中，要想使自己有所發展，最好的辦法就是努力學習。人們常説，藍領工人會發現他們的工作被外包和自動化，中途輟學者會過着經濟上無保障的生活，而優秀畢業生則前程似錦。有一些證據支持這種看法。喬治城大學教育和勞動力中心最近的一項研究表明，“獲得高等教育的文憑總是物有所值”。[52]學歷與收入多少息息相關：一位擁有專業學位的美國人有望在一生中轉到360萬美元，而若是僅有高中文憑則只能賺到130萬。文化程度高與文化程度低的人之間的收入差距可能還在擴大。2002年的一項研究發現，有本科學歷的人在一生中會比只有高中學歷的人收入高出75%，而如今二者之間的差距變得更大。
C.但是，過去如此，將來也必然如此嗎?還是就業與教育之間的關係即將展開全新的一頁?我們有充分的理由相信，舊模式即將發生改變——目前的經濟衰退使得西方國家對畢業生的需求量有所減小，這會成為一種結構性的變化。[46]在過去幾十年裏曾經導致很多藍領工人失去飯碗的創造性毀滅的風暴。現在也開始撼動文化精英了。
D.大學畢業生的人數在迅速增加。根據《高等教育編年史》，在1990年到2007年之間，北美的大學生人數增長了22%，歐洲增長了74%，拉美增長了144%，而亞洲則增長了203%。2007年，全球有1.5億大學新生，其中7000萬來自亞洲。[55]新興經濟體，尤其是中國，傾注了眾多資源來建設能與美國和歐洲的頂級學府一爭高下的大學。這些國家還成立諸如塔塔諮詢和印孚瑟斯等專業服務公司來吸納應屆畢業生，並將他們培養成為世界級的電腦程序員和諮詢師。發達國家的頂尖人才必須更加努力地與願意多勞少得的發展中國家的頂尖人才競爭。
E.與此同時，與19世紀對農業勞動力的需求和20世紀對工業勞動力的需求發生的變革一樣，當前由於技術進步，對受過教育的勞動力的需求也正在被重新配置。電腦不僅能以比人類更快的速度完成重複性的思維任務，而且還能夠讓外行去做專業人士的工作：如果Turbotax(一種軟件程序包)能以很低的成本完成納税申報的話.那何必還要僱傭一名真正的會計來完成這項工作呢?[48]當程序員使電腦能夠處理音調和語言歧義的問題後，電腦能夠完成的工作類別將會激增。
F.包括PaulKrugman在內的一些經濟學家認為，隨着中等水平的工作被智能機器取而代之，而高水平的工作增長放緩，後工業化社會對受教育者的需求並不會持續增加，而將會被挖空。麻省理工大學的DavidAutor指出，電腦時代的自動化的主要影響並不是它毀了藍領工作，而是毀了所有能轉化為執行程序的.工作。[51]普林斯頓大學的AlanBlinder認為，比起低收入的工作來説，那些傳統意義上由畢業生所從事的工作更可能“被外包”。水管工和貨車司機的工作不可能外包到印度去做，而電腦程序員的工作卻可以。
G.在諸如醫藥、法律和學術這類穩定、高薪的高級行業中，大學學歷仍然是至關重要的敲門磚。20世紀以來，這些行業卓有成效地提高了入行門檻，有的是有充分理由的(如：沒有人想要理髮師來為他們做手術)，有的則出於自身利益的考慮。然而這些行業也已經開始有所變通。報紙業正在與博客進行一場勝算渺茫的搏鬥，大學正在用一些非終身制的員工代替終身教授，律師事務所將諸如“搜查資料”(即搜尋訴訟相關的文件資料)的日常工作包給了類似BlackstoneDiscovery這樣的電腦搜索專家。醫生甚至也受到了威脅，因為患者可以在沃爾瑪的新健康中心進行在線諮詢和治療。
H.麻省理工大學的ThomasMalone表示，自動化、全球化和自由化這些變化也許只是更大變革——將勞動分工引入到腦力工作中——的冰山一角。Adam Smith的工廠管理者將大頭針的生產線分成了十八道工序。[50]同樣：如今的企業將腦力工作劃分得超乎以往地細緻。TopCoder公司將IT項目分割成塊，然後把這些工作分攤給全球的自由程序員。
I.毫無疑問，這些變化將會提高腦力勞動者的生產率，[53]也可以使消費者能夠規避專業性行業收取的一些額的服務費用。而且這將使得許多腦力工作者能夠將精力集中在他們最擅長的領域，而將更多枯燥乏味的工作外包給他人。[47]但是，這種腦力工作的重新整合將使下一代畢業生的生活更加艱辛.也更加變幻莫測。
【答案解析】
46.C
解析：題幹意為，過去發生在藍領工人身上的創造性毀滅，現在也開始對文化精英造成影響了。根據題幹中的關鍵信息creative destruction、blue—collar和cognitive elite，便可以很快鎖定文中C段。C段最後一句提到，在過去幾十年裏曾經導致很多藍領工人失去飯碗的創造性毀滅的風暴，現在也開始撼動文化精英了。由此可知，題幹是原文的同義轉述，故答案為C。
47.I
解析：題幹意為，對下一代畢業生來説，由於腦力工作重新整合，他們的生活將會更加艱辛和變幻莫測。注意抓住題幹中的關鍵信息for tlle next generation of graduates和predicmble。文中I段最後一句提到，但是，這種腦力工作的重新整合將使下一代畢業生的生活更加艱辛，也更加變幻莫測。由此可見，題幹是對原文的同義轉述。故答案為I。
48.E
解析：題幹意為，當程序員教會了電腦處理音調和語言歧義問題後，電腦能夠完成的工作種類將顯著增多。注意抓住題幹中的關鍵信息toneandlinguistic ambiguity和mevariety ofjobs。文中E段最後一句提到，當程序員使電腦能夠處理音調和語言歧義的問題後，電腦能夠完成的工作類別將會激增。由此可見，題幹是對原文的同義轉述，故答案為E。
49.A
解析：題幹意為，多數畢業生認為，儘管會欠下很多債務，但是上大學會使他們更有可能獲得一份薪水較高的穩定工作。注意抓住題幹中的關鍵信息sch001.1eavers、huge debts和chances。文中A段末句提到，大多數畢業生都這樣認為：在大學裏待三四年可以大大增加他們獲得高薪、穩定工作的機率，儘管在這個過程中會欠下很多債務。由此可見，題幹是對原文的同義轉述，故答案為A。
50.H
解析：題幹意為，企業越來越傾向於將腦力工作劃分得超乎以往地細緻。注意抓住題幹中的關鍵信息companies和evertinier slices。文中論及腦力工作分工的內容出現在H段，該段第三句提到，同樣，如今的企業將腦力工作劃分得超乎以往地細緻。由此可見，題幹是對原文的同義轉述，故答案為H。
51.F
解析：題幹意為，普林斯頓大學的一位學者認為，那些傳統上由畢業生所從事的工作比低薪工作更可能被外包出去。注意抓住題幹中的關鍵信息PrincetonUniversity、traditionally和ones。F段倒數第三句提到，普林斯頓大學的AlanBlinder認為，比起低收入的工作來説，畢業生所從事的傳統工作更可能“被外包”。由此可見，題幹是對原文的同義轉述，故答案為F。
52.B.
解析：題幹意為，一位擁有專業學位的美國人和僅有高中文憑的美國人之間的收入差距表明，收入與學歷息息相關。注意抓住題幹中的關鍵信息gap、professional degree、high—school和educational qualifications。文中論及收入差距的內容出現在B段，該段第七句提到，學歷與收入多少息息相關：一位擁有專業學位的美國人有望在一生中賺到360萬美元，而若是僅有高中文憑則只能賺到130萬。由此可見，題幹是對原文的同義轉述，故答案為B。
53.I
解析：題幹意為，腦力工作的細分使消費者能夠規避那些專業機構收取的高額服務費。注意抓住題幹中的關鍵信息consumers和professional。文中I段第二句提到，這些變化使消費者能夠規避專業性行業收取的一些高額的服務費用。根據上下文，可知“它們”指的是“腦力工作的細化”。由此可見，題幹是對原文的同義轉述，故答案為I。
54.B
解析：題幹意為，學生們常常被告知，要想在這個全球化的世界中取得成功，最好的辦法就是努力學習。注意抓住題幹中的關鍵信息a globalised world、equip themselves和education。文中B段第一句提到，長輩們常常告誡他們，在這個全球化的世界中，要想使自己有所發展，最好的辦法就是努力學習。由此可見。題幹是對原文的同義轉述，故答案為B。
55.D
解析：題幹意為，新興經濟體正在為建設大學提供大量的資源，以便能與美國和歐洲的頂級學府一爭高下。注意抓住題幹中的關鍵信息emerging economies、resources和me elite of America and Europe。文中D段第四句提到，新興經濟體，尤其是中國，傾注了眾多資源來建設能與美國和歐洲的頂級學府一爭高下的大學。由此可見，題幹是對原文的同義轉述，故答案為D。
下半年英語四級長篇閲讀練習題 2
A) Once upon a time, if you hated your job, you either quit or bit your lip. These days, a group of researchers is trumpeting a third option: shape your job so ifs more fruitful than futile.
B) We often get trapped into thinking about our job as a list of things to do and a list of responsibilities, says Amy Wrzesniewski, an associate professor at the Yale School of Management. But what if you set aside that mind-set If you could adjust what you do, she says, who would you start talking to, what other tasks would you take on, and who would you work with
C) To make livelihoods more lively, Wrzesniewski and her colleagues Jane Dutton and Justin Berg have developed a methodology they call job-crafting. Theyre working with Fortune 500 companies, smaller firms and business schools to change the way Americans think about work. The idea is to make all jobs--even mundane (平凡的) ones---more meaningful by empowering employees to brainstorm and implement subtle but significant workplace adjustments.
Step 1: Rethink Your Job--Creatively
D) The default some people wake up to is dragging themselves to work and facing a list of things they have to do, says Wrzesniewski. So in the job-crafting process, the first step is to think about your job holistically. You first analyze how much time, energy and attention you devote to your various tasks. Then you reflect on that allocation( 分配). See I0 perfect jobs for the recession--and after.
E) Take, for example, a maintenance technician at Burts Bees, which makes personal-care products. He was interested in process engineering, though that wasnt part of his job description. To alter the scope of his day-to-day activities, the technician asked a supervisor if he could spend some time studying an idea he had for making the firms manufacturing procedures more energy-efficient. His ideas proved helpful, and now process engineering is part of the scope of his work.
F) Barbara Fredrickson, author of Positivity and a professor of psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, says its crucial for people to pay attention to their workday emotions. Doing so, she says, will help you discover which aspects of your work are most life-giving-and most life-draining.
G) Many of us get stuck in ruts (慣例 ). Berg, a Ph.D. student at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania who helped develop the job-crafting methodology, says we all benefit from periodically rethinking what we do. Even in the most constraining jobs, people have a certain amount of wiggle room, he says. Small changes can have a real impact on life at work.
Step 2: Diagram Your Day
H) To lay the groundwork for change, job-crafting participants assemble diagrams detailing their workday activities. The first objective is to develop new insights about what you actually do at work. Then you can dream up fresh ways to integrate what the job-crafting exercise calls your strengths, motives and passions into your daily routine. You convert task lists into flexible building blocks. The end result is an after diagram that can serve as a map for specific changes.
I) lna Lockau-Vogel, a management consultant who participated in a recent job-crafting workshop, says the exercise helped her adjust her priorities. Before, 1 would spend so much time reacting to requests and focusing on urgent tasks that I never had time to address the real important issues. As part of the job-crafting process, she decided on a strategy for delegating and outsourcing (外包) more of her administrative responsibilities.
J) In contrast to business books that counsel, managers to influence workers through incentives, job-crafting focuses on what employees themselves can do to re-envision and adjust what they do every day. Given that according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, it now takes the average job seeker more than six months to find a new position, its crucial to make the most of the job youve got.
Step 3: Identify Job Loves and Hates
K) By reorienting (使適應 ) how you think about your job, you free yourself up for new ideas about how to restructure your workday time and energy. Take an IT worker who hates dealing with technologically incompetent callers. He might enjoy teaching more than customer service. By spending more time instructing colleagues--and treating help-line callers as curious students of tech--the disgruntled IT person can make the most of his 9-to-5 position.
L) Dutton, a professor at the University of Michigans Ross School of Business, says she has seen local auto-industry workers benefit from the job-crafting process. They come in looking worn down, but after spending two hours on this exercise, they come away thinking about three or four things they can do differently.
M) They start to recognize they have more control over their work than they realized, says Dutton, who parmered with Wrzesniewski on the original job-crafting research.
Step 4: Put Your Ideas into Action
N) To conclude the job-crafting process, participants list specific follow-up steps: Many plan a one-0n-one meeting with a supervisor to propose new project ideas. Others connect with colleagues to talk about trading certain tasks. Berg says as long as their goals are met, many managers are happy to let employees adjust how they work.
O) Job-crafting isnt about revenue, per se, but juicing up ( 活躍 ) employee engagement may end up beefing up the bottom line. Amid salary, job and benefit cuts, more and more workers are disgruntled. Surveys show that more than 50% arent happy with what they do. Dutton, Berg and Wrzesniewski argue that emphasizing enjoyment can boost efficiency by lowering turnover rates and jacking up productivity. Job-crafting wont rid you of a lousy boss or a subpar salary, but it does offer some remedies for job dissatisfaction. If you cant ditch or switch a job, at least make it more likable.
1. A long time ago when a person hated his/her job, he/she will resign or bear it.
2. Amy Wrzesniewski think job could be adjusted.
3. Your first thing to do in the job-crafting process is to think about your job wholly .
4. The idea of a maintenance technician at Burts Bees turned out to be helpful and energy-efficient.
5. Bergs suggestion about work is to rethink and make small changes.
6. According to Ina Lockau-Vogel, the benefit from job-crafting is that it helps her set priorities properly.
7. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the situation in job market is ---it is difficult to find a job.
8. Dutton has seen that local auto-industry workers profit from the job-crafting process.
9. According to Berg, if the job-crafting process is successful, the supervisors are willing to let employees adjust what to do.
10. If you cant quit your job, using job-crafting may at least offer some remedies for job dissatisfaction.
1. A
根據題幹信息詞hated和job定位到文章首句：從前，如果你討厭你的工作，要麼辭職，要麼掩飾自己的不滿，bite ones lip意為努力掩飾某人的怒火或不滿。
2. B
根據題於信息詞Amy Wrzesniewski和job定位到文章第二段，即：我們經常會陷入這種思維定勢，認為我們的工作就是一系列要做的事情和一系列責任，但是，如果你換一種心態呢如果做些什麼可以調整這種心態呢也就是説Amy Wrzesniewski認為工作是可以調整的，故選段落B。
3. D
A根據題於信息詞first和in the job-crafting process定位到第一個小標題下的首段第二句：在job-crafting的過程中，首先就是要整體考慮你的工作，故選段落D。holistically意為整體地，全盤地。原文的意思是先整體考慮，然後是具體分析時間、能量、注意力如何分配到不同的任務中。
4. E
根據題幹信息詞At Burts Bees和maintenance technician定位到第一個小標題下的第二段：在Burts Bees的一個技術人員，對程序工程感興趣，雖然這不屬於他的職責範疇，但為了改變他日常工作的範圍，他爭取到一些時間研究出一個點子使公司的生產過程更節能，最後，他成功了。
5. G
根據題幹信息詞Berg定位到第一個小標題下最後一段。Berg説道：階段性的反思會讓我們受益，即便是最受限制的`工作也有改動的餘地，一些小改變對工作狀態會有實實在在的影響。故本題選段落G。
6. I
根據題幹信息詞job-crafting和Ina LockauVogel定位到文章第二個小標題下的第二段：Ina提到，她參加了一個jobcrafting研討會，在那的訓練幫助她調整事情的優先級別，priority意為優先，優先權，故選段落I。
7. J
根據題幹信息詞the Bureau of Labor Statistics定位到文章第二個標題下的第三段末句：根據勞動統計局的數據，現在找一個新工作平均需要6個月，最大限度去做好你現在的工作是至關重要的，由此可知本題選段落J。
8. L
根據題幹信息詞Dutton和local auto-industry workers定位到文章第三個小標題下的第二段：Dutton説她已經看到當地汽車行業的工作者受益於jobcrafting的過程。
9. N
根據題幹信息詞the jobcrafting process和employees定位到文章第四個小標題下的第一段末句：Berg説，一旦他們的目標實現，許多管理者都樂意讓他們的員工安排他們怎樣工作，題幹中的be willing to意為願意，樂意，與be happy to同義。
10. O
根據題於信息詞quit，at least和for job dissatisfaction定位到文章末段最後兩句：job-crafting不會使你擺脱糟糕的老闆或低廉的薪水，但是它可以為你對工作的不滿提供補救。如果你不能丟棄或換掉工作，至少可以讓工作更討人喜歡，由此選段落O。
