2024年4月28日发(作者：)

2021年12月英语四级考试阅读理解参考

【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 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

g 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:

is the best title for the passage?

sor Walker’s Research

to Make Big Money.

ences Between Science and Arts Degrees.

ng Arts Has Negative Financial Outcome.

sities charge students a rather high tuition mainly

because_____

provide the students with very prosperous subjects to learn

assume that their graduates can earn much more than they

had paid

don’t get financial support from the government

need much revenue to support the educational expenses

word “lucrative”(Line 1, Para. 4) most probably means

_____

le

ve

able

le

, medical and business graduates could earn 25% more than

______