2014年6月大学英语四级考试真题及答案完整版(6)

[M] Then there is the fireplace. Central heating was present in every upper-and middle-class home by the second half of the 19th century. But functioning fireplaces remain to this day a powerful selling point in a house or apartment. I suspect the reason is a deep-rooted love of the fire. Fire was one of the earliest major technological advances for humankind, providing heat, protection, and cooked food (which is much easier to cat and digest). Human control of fire goes back far enough (over a million years) that evolution could have produced a genetic leaning towards fire as a central aspect of human life.

[N] Books—especially books the average person could afford—haven’t been around long enough to produce evolutionary change in humans. But they have a powerful hold on many people nonetheless, a hold extending far beyond their literary content. At their best, they are works of art and there is a tactile（触觉的）pleasure in books necessarily lost in e-book versions. The ability to quickly thumb through pages is also lost. And a room with books in it induces, at least in some, a feeling not dissimilar to that of a fire in the fireplace on a cold winter’s night.

[O] For these reasons I think physical books will have a longer existence as a commercial product than some currently predict. Like swords, books have symbolic power. Like fireplaces, they induce a sense of comfort and warmth. And, perhaps, similar to sails, they make a useful back-up for when the lights go out.

注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。

46. Authors still published in printed versions will be considered important ones.

47. Some people are still in favor of printed books because of the sense of touch they can provide.

48. The radio business has changed greatly and now attracts more listeners.

49. Contrary to many people’s prediction of its death, the film industry survived.

50. Remarkable changes have taken place in the book business.

51. Old technology sometimes continues to exist because of its reliability.

52. The increase of e-book sales will force the book business to make changes not seen for centuries.

53. A new technology is unlikely to take the place of an old one without a clear advantage.

54. Paperbacks of popular literature are more likely to be replaced by e-books.

55. A house with a fireplace has a stronger appeal to buyers.

Section C

Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A), B), C) and D). You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.

Passage One

Questions 56 to 60are based on the following passage.

The question of whether our government should promote science and technology or the liberal arts in higher education isn’t an either/or proposition(命题)，although the current emphasis on preparing young Americans for STEM（science, technology, engineering, maths）-related fields can make it seem that way.