2020.9英语四级真题（一）听力原文
Part I Listening Comprehension
Section A
Questions 1 and 2 are based on the news report you have just heard.
A NASA satellite orbiting over Portugal took photographs that reveal the effects of pollutionfrom ships. One of the photos shows a thin film of clouds above the brilliant blue of the
North Atlantic, cut by white lines of thicker clouds that look like scars. (1 ) NASA officials
explained those thicker clouds are signs of ship traffic below. When ships power their way
through the ocean, they pump exhaust into the atmosphere, just as cars do. And those
massive amounts of particles can cause clouds to form. Get enough of those particles in one place, as from the exhaust of a ship, and they can lead to the creation of new clouds easily
visible from space. “ These clouds can be huge. Some of them stretch hundreds of
kilometres from end to end," NASA officials said. (2)It’s likely that these sorts of clouds are
having some effect on the global climate, according to NASA officials. But scientists aren’t
yet sure what effect it has.
1. What has caused the thick clouds in the photos taken by NASA satrllite?
2. What do NASA officials think about the thick clouds?
Questions 3 and 4 are based on the news report you have just heard,
Staff at a suburban supermarket in Melbourne say they feel unsafe at work after security
guards were removed. This came after a series of physical attacks and verbal abuse by
customers. (3)More than 50 workers at the store have signed a letter calling for a
permanent security guard following a series of incidents, including a customer threatening
to attack a supervisor with a knife. A security worker had guarded the store each night
from 7 p.m. until 12 a. m,but that had stopped suddenly on Monday, employees said. One worker said anangry customer had thrown a chicken at his head after complaining about
how long she had waited to be served.Another worker said the lack of protection at the
store made her feel uncomfortable at work. (4)However, the spokesman of the
supermarket said the store had taken strong action in response to incidents.“We have foundvery few instances of bad customer behavior at our store in the past year. In the rare cases we have seen bad behavior, we have taken strong action in response, including banning a
customer from the store.”
3. For what purpose did the staff at a supermarket in Melbourne sign a letter?
4. What did the spokesman of the supermarket say regarding the employees’ demand?
Questions 5 to 7 are based on the news report you have just heard.
(5)Drivers on their way to the Polish capital of Warsaw on Wednesday morning found the
road blocked by an unusual obstacle: tons of liquid chocolate that spilled onto the
motorway. (6)A truck carrying the sweet loadhit a road barrier and overturned, blocking twolanes. The cracked tank spilled a pool of rapidly-hardening chocolate, which quickly covered
the width of the road. While the driver was taken to hospital with a brokenarm, firefighters
struggled to remove a reported twelve tons of solid chocolate from the road. (7) A
representative for the firefighters told the local TV that removing the chocolate was worse
than dealing with snow. After contacting the chocolate manufacturer, the firefighters
resorted to spraying hot, pressurized water to get rid of the sticky substance. The local TV
also noted that the cleanup spanned more than a mile, because drivers simply drove
through the chocolate after the crash, leaving a long chocolate trail. But despite the sticky
situation, firefighters and police attending to the cleanup were reportedly cheerful about th
long task ahead.After all, who could be mad about twelve tons of chocolate?
5. What did drivers on the motorway to Warsaw find?
6. What does the report say about the accident?
7. What did the firefighters’representative tell the local TV?
Section B
Questions 8 to 11 are based on the conversation you have just heard,
M: Lisa, why did you pay for your meal with cash instead of the payment apps on your
phone?
W: Well, I’ve gone back to cash, I’m only using payment apps if that’s the only option. (8)I’mtrying to save money for a new phone, and I find that using cash rather than payment
apps helps me to save.
M: But how? Money is money, isnt it? I don’t think it matters whether you take it out to the bank and put it in your wallet or simply transfer from your bank account to the seller’s
bank account using an app.
W: No, I believe it does matter. It’s a psychological phenomenon. (9)I believe we have less
connection with the value of our money when we just tap the “Approve" buttons on our
phones.
M: You might have a point. Since I stopped carrying cash around and started using my
phone apps to pay,(10)I may have developed a tendency to buy more small or non essential items.
W: That’s highly possible. Think about the amount of time we spend with our phones in our hands, and all the things we do with our phones. It sometimes seems that our phone is
buying the product for us, not ourselves.
M: (11-1)So cashless payment affects our ability to budget?
W: I believe so. If we spend a hundred yuan in cash, we realize that we don’t have that
hundred yuan to spend on something else. But if we’re spending electronically, we are less
likely to make that mental calculation.
M: (11-2)I stopped using my credit card because I found I was spending excessively.
Perhaps I should take the same approach of paying using my phone.
W: It’s worth considering.
8. What did the woman decide to go back to cash for payment?
9. What happens when people use apps for payment according to the woman?
10. What might the man tend to buy with payment apps?
11. What does the man think of electronic payment?
Questions 12 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard,
W: (12-1)Hello, Mr. Brown. I was expecting your call. My secretary told me you werc having
some problems with the wooden table. Is that right?
M: (12-2)No, no. The table is fine. The problem is the chairs.
W: Oh, the chairs. So what exactly is the issue?
M: Well, put simply, these are not the chairs my wife and I selected in your store last week.
There must be some confusion with our order.
W: Oh, I see. I’m looking through my files now, and I see that the delivery was this morning. Is that correct?
M: Yes.
W: (13)Do you mind describing the chairs that were delivered to your apartment, Mr. Brown?
M: Sure. These have a flat back with a rounded top and are very heavy. They are light brow and look kind of cheap. The ones we ordered were dark brown to match the table.
W: Right, of course. It says here you purchased the Arlington table and four Milano chairs.
As you said, there must have been some confusion with the order. I’m terribly sorry.
(14)We will send a van to collect those four and replace them with the Milano you
purchased. Will tomorrow 9 a. m. be okay, Mr. Brown?
M: Yes, that would be great. Thank you.
W: Good. Did everything else you ordered from us arrive okay?
M: Yes, I think so. Let me check. The mirror and two paintings are here. The two coffee
tables are also here.And the sofa... Yes, we haven’t noticed anything else wrong or missing. But if we do, we will certainly let you know.
W: Okay, great. (15)Once again, I’m sorry for the confusion and trouble caused.
12.What did the man call the woman?
13.Wha t did the woman ask the man to do?
14.What did the woman promise to do for the man?
15.What did the woman do at the end of the conversation?
Section C
Questions 16 to 18 are based on the passe you have just heard.
Do you have to much suff? Are you, dare we say it“untidy? (16)Say hello to a TV show
called "Tidying Up with Marie Kondo”,a home improvement show based on her wildly
popular book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.
In the show, Marie Kondo acts as a tiny garbage fairy for messy pople, vstig their houses to share the wisdom of the“KonMari" method. This method is simple in theory but can be
endlessly complex in practice. (17)You divide all the stuff in your house-all of it- into
several categories, and then examine each item- allof them to see if it sparks joy. If it does,
you keep it. If it doesn’t, you thank it and neatly discard it. So, is the TV show inspiring
people to tidy up? Firsthand accounts seem to indicate a small wave of people bringing
piles of donation bags to used goods stores. One store received thousands of bags of used possessions in one day. January is usually the stores’slow season for donations
because it’s cold and people don’t want to bother, but not this January. People seemed
determined to clean up their homes. (18) One used bookstore received a month’s worth of
books in donations in a week when a man gave over fifty boxes of books from hishome. It
seems Marie’s TV show is having a big impact after all.
16. What is Marie Kondo’s TV show about?
17.What things can be kept in one’s home according to Marie Kondo?
18. What do we learn about one used bookstore this January?
Questions 19 to 21 are based on the passage you have just heard,
(19)At just 12 years old, Mike Hannon is making a difference in his community-one lunch at
a time."Mike’s Lunches of Love” has fed more than 2 ,000 of the town’s most vulnerable
residents. Mike delivers meals to the homeless. "It’s like a way to give people joy, maybe
spark something in them that can change them,Mike told WBZ-TV. The mayor of Mike’s
town feels that Mike is a great community leader, especially in such times of so much
negative news. While his father commented on how proud he was of his son, yet, Mike isn’t
looking for praise, but kindness in return. (20) He hopes his acts of charity will influence
others to spread positive actions in their own towns. Mike includes a handwritten message
of joy on each bag. His message and star power has spread all over the country. To date,
his online page to raise funds has brought in more than$ 44,000 and counting, raising more than $ 17 ,000 in just one day, with the help of many famous actors and others. (21)People
from all over the country are sending special handcrafted bags to help the young man with
his mission to help those in need .Many are hoping the simple act of kindness spreads.Mike is seen as hope for the future of the town, the country and the world.
19.What does Mike Hannon do to help people in this town?
20.What does Mike hope others will do?
21.How are people all over the country responding to what Mike is doing?
Questions 22 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard,
(22)In a recent study carried out by psychologists on the disruptive effects of smartphones,
two groups of college students were given word search puzzles. The first group was told to
complete the puzzles with its participants smartphones in their line of sight. The second
group, however, was told that the phones would interfere with the equipment in the
experiment, and would need to be moved away from the testing area.Midway through the
second group‘s solving of the puzzles, the experimenter called one of the phones and let
it ring for a while before hanging up. (23)Many of the students in that group were unable
to focus from then on,becoming anxious and performing more poorly than the first group.
Use of electronics has also been known to lead to a decline in human interactions. Rather than having reallife conversations, many express emotions and engage in deep conversations through social media sites. Many students use their phones and computers during class for
non-academic activities, which leads to poor grades.(24) Perhaps the most dramatic impact
is the reduction in the amount of sleep, which leads to poor health andweight gain.
(25) Technology is a great tool; however, it‘s important to recognize its downsides. Lack of
sleep,reduction of productivity and weight gain are only a few. If we‘re not careful about all
these minor problems right now, the effect on the future generation is going to be much
bigger.
22.What were the college students in both groups required to do in the study?
23.What do we learn about many of the students in the second test group after the phone rang?
24.According to the passage, what is the most dramatic impact of smartphone use?
25.What does the speaker suggest people do?