2012年12月大学英语四级考试阅读真题

　　2012年12月大学英语四级考试已结束，新东方在线第一时间收集整理试题及参考答案，以下是2012年12月大学英语四级真题供考生参考。
　　Section A

　　这是一篇新闻报道类的文章，关于美国一些著名餐公司开始意识到快餐对对其青少年健康的不良影响，并开始采取相应措施改变这一现状。这是美国最近的热门话题， 沪江经济学人新闻听写12月16日的的听写内容关于麦当劳的一篇文章与之就是类似的主题。 对于考生来说这一话题也并不陌生，从内容上来还是比较容易理解的。

　　Section B

　　As you are probably aware, the latest job markets news isn’t good: Unemployment is still more than 9 percent, and new job growth has fallen close to zero. That’s bad for the economy, of course. And it may be especially discouraging if you happen to be looking for a job or hoping to change careers right now. But it actually shouldn’t matter to you nearly as much as you think.

　　That’s because job growth numbers don’t matter to job hunters as much as job turnover data. After all, existing jobs open up every day due to promotions, resignations, terminations, and retirements. (Yes, people are retiring even in this economy.) In both good times and bad, turnover creates more openings than economic growth does. Even in June of 2007, when the economy was still humming along, job growth was only 132,000, while turnover was 4.7 million!

　　And as it turns out, even today — with job growth near zero — over 4 million job hunters are being hired every month.

　　I don’t mean to imply that overall job growth doesn’t have an impact on one’s ability to land a job. It’s true that if total employment were higher, it would mean more jobs for all of us to choose from (and compete for). And it’s true that there are currently more people applying for each available job opening, regardless of whether it’s a new one or not.

　　But what often distinguishes those who land jobs from those who don’t is their ability to stay motivated. They’re willing to do the hard work of identifying their valuable skills; be creative about where and how to look; learn how to present themselves to potential employers; and keep going, even after repeated rejections. The Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows that 2.7 million people who wanted and were available for work hadn’t looked within the last four weeks and were no longer even classified as unemployed.

　　So don’t let the headlines fool you into giving up. Four million people get hired every month in the U.S. You can be one of them.

　　57. The author tends to believe that high unemployment rate ______?

　　A) deprives many people of job opportunities.

　　B) prevents many people from changing careers.

　　C) should not stop people from looking for a job.

　　D) does not mean the U.S. economy is worsening.

　　58. Where do most job openings come from?

　　A) Job growth

　　B) Job turnover

　　C) Improved economy

　　D) Business expansion

　　59. What does the author say about overall job growth?

　　A) It doesn’t have much effect on individual job seekers.

　　B) It increases people’s confidence in the economy.

　　C) It gives a ray of hope to the unemployed.

　　D) It doesn’t mean greater job security for the employed.

　　60. What is the key to landing a job according to the author?

　　A) Education

　　B) Intelligence

　　C) Persistence

　　D) Experience

　　61. What do we learn from the passage about the unemployment figures in the US?

　　A) They clearly indicate how healthy the economy is.

　　B) They provide the public with the latest information.

　　C) They warn of the structural problems in the economy.

　　D) They exclude those who have stopped looking for a job.

　　SB__1答案

　　点评：本篇文章选自TIME周刊的财经板块，原文标题为“Why Job Hunters Shouldn’t Worry So Much About Paltry Job Growth”，文章主要表达了这样一种观点，即找工作的人不必太在意官方提供的高失业率，就业增长等数据，原因在于这些并不等说明现实情况，比如：人员更替带来了更多的职位空缺，因此，即便是经济增速缓慢，就业增长为零，依然还是有很多的职位空缺存在。所以，如作者最后点睛所言，So don’t let the headlines fool you into giving up. 不灰心不放弃。

　　从整体语言难度来说，文章难度不是很大，财经相关的一些词汇基本都是大家比较熟悉的。并没有出现过高难度的长难句以及词汇，整体理解起来也相对容易。

　　Our risk of cancer rises dramatically as we age. So it makes sense that the elderly should be routinely screened for new tumors — or doesn’t it?

　　While such vigilant(警觉的)tracking of cancer is a good thing in general, researchers are increasingly questioning whether all of this testing is necessary for the elderly. With the percentage of people over age 65 expected to nearly double by 2050, it’s important to weigh the health benefits of screening against the risks and costs of routine testing.

　　In many cases, screening can lead to additional biopsies and surgeries to remove cancer, which can cause side effects, while the cancers themselves may be slow-growing and may not pose serious health problems in patients’ remaining years. But the message that everyone must screen for cancer has become so ingrained that when health care experts recommended that women under 50 and over 74 stop screening for breast cancer, it caused a riotous reaction among doctors, patients and advocacy groups.

　　It’s hard to uproot deeply held beliefs about cancer screening with scientific data. Certainly, there are people over age 75 who have had cancers detected by routine screening, and gained several extra years of life because of treatment. And clearly, people over age 75 who have other risk factors for cancer, such as a family history or prior personal experience with the disease, should continue to get screened regularly. But for the remainder, the risk of cancer, while increased at the end of life, must be balanced with other factors like remaining life expectancy(预期寿命).

　　A recent study suggests that doctors start to make more objective decisions about who will truly benefit from screening- especially considering the explosion of the elderly that will soon swell our population.

　　It’s not an easy calculation to make, but one that make sense for the whole patient. Dr. Otis Brawley said, “Many doctors are ordering these tests purely to cover themselves. We need to think about the rational use of health care and stop talking about the rationing of health care.”

　　That means making some difficult decisions with elderly patients, and going against the misguided belief that when it comes to health care, more is always better.

　　62. Why do doctors recommend routine cancer screening for elderly people?

　　A. It is believed to contribute to long life.

　　B. It is part of their health care package.

　　C. The elderly are more sensitive about their health.

　　D. The elderly are in greater danger of tumor growth.

　　63. How do some researchers now look at routine cancer screening for the elderly?

　　A. It adds too much to their medical bills.

　　B. It helps increase their life expectancy.

　　C. They are doubtful about necessity.

　　D. They think it does more than good.

　　64. What is the conventional view about women screening for breast cancer?

　　A. It applies to women over 50.

　　B. It is a must for adult women.

　　C. It is optional for young women.

　　D. It doesn’t apply to women over 74.

　　65. Why do many doctors prescribe routine screening for cancer?

　　A. They want to protect themselves against medical disputes.

　　B. They want to take advantage of the medical care system.

　　C. They want data for medical research.

　　D. They want their patients to suffer less.

　　66. What does the author say is the general view about health care?

　　A. The more, the better.

　　B. Prevention is better than cure.

　　C. Better early than late.

　　D. Better care, longer life.

　　SB_2 答案

　　62. D. The elderly are in greater danger of tumor growth.

　　63. C. They are doubtful about its necessity.

　　64. B. It is a must for adult women.

　　65. A. They want to protect themselves against medical disputes.

　　66. A. The more, the better.

　　【点评】

　　这是一篇有关癌症筛查的文章。长期以来，人们认为对于老年人来说，随着年龄的增长，肿瘤生长造成的威胁就越大，所以医生建议他们进行各类常规的癌症筛查。但是近来，研究者开始怀疑它的必要性。当他们开始叫停50岁以下和74岁以上的妇女的乳腺癌筛查时，受惯例根深蒂固影响的人们掀起了轩然大波。不过，对于老年人来话说，癌症的风险还要和预期寿命进行权衡。近期的调查还显示很多医生让病人进行癌症筛查纯粹是为了在医疗事故中保护自己，所以这篇反对了人们长期以来的对健康检查的误解，即健康检查并非多多益善。