2008年6月英语四级真题及答案(4)

35. A) Owning the greenhouse one day.

B) Securing a job at the office park. C) Cultivating more potted plants. D) Finding customers out of town. We’re now witnessing the emergence of an advanced economy based on information and knowledge. Physical (36) ________, raw materials, and capital are no longer the key (37) ________ in the creation of wealth. Now, the (38) _______ raw material in our economy is knowledge. Tomorrow’s wealth depends on the development and exchange of knowledge. And (39) _______ entering the workforce offer their knowledge, not their muscles. Knowledge workers get paid for their education and their ability to learn. Knowledge workers (40) ________ in mind work. They deal with symbols: (41) ________, and data.

What does all this mean for you? As a future knowledge worker, you can expect to be (42) ________, processing, as well as exchanging information, (43) _______, three out of hour jobs involve some form of mind work, and that number will increase sharply in the future. Management and employees alike

(44)_______________________________________________________________________.

In the new world of work, you can look forward to being in constant training (45) _______________________________________________________________. And don’t wait for someone to ―empower‖ you. You have to empower yourself.

Part IV Reading Comprehension (Reading in Depth) (25 minutes)

Some years ago I was offered a writing assignment that would require three months of travel through Europe. I had been abroad a couple of times, but I could hardly _47_ to know my way around the continent. Moreover, my knowledge of foreign languages was _48_ to a little college French.

I hesitated. How would I, unable to speak the language, _49_ unfamiliar with local geography or transportation systems, set up _50_ and do research? It seemed impossible, and with considerable _51_ I sat down to write a letter begging off. Halfway through, a thought can through my mind: you can learn if you don’t try. So I accepted the assignment.

There were some bad _52_. But by the time I had finished the trip I was an experienced traveler. And ever since, I have never hesitated to head for even the most remote of places, without guiders or even _53_ bookings, confident that somehow I will manage.

The point is that the new, the different, is almost by definition _54_. But each time you try something, you learn, and as the learning piles up, the world opens to you.

I’ve learned to ski at 40, and flown up the Rhine River in a _55_. And I know I’ll go on doing such things. It’s not because I’m braver or more daring than others. I’m not. But I’ll accept anxiety as another name for challenge and I believe I can _56_ wonders.

A) accomplish E) constantly I) manufacture M) regret

B) advanced F) declare J) moments N) scary

C) balloon G) interviews K) news O) totally

D) claim H)limited L) reduced

Passage One

Global warming may or may not be the great environmental crisis of the 21st century, but regardless of whether it is or isn’t –we won’t do much about it. We will argue over it and may even, as a nation, make some fairly solemn-sounding commitments to avoid it. But the more dramatic and meaningful these commitments seem, the less likely they are to be observed.

Al Gore calls global warming an ―inconvenient truth,‖ as if merely recognizing it could put us on a path to a solution. But the real truth is that we don’t know enough to relieve global warming, and –without major technological breakthroughs—we can’t do much about it.

From 2003 to 2050, the world’s population is projected to grow from 6.4 billion to 9.1 billion, a 42% increase. If energy use per person and technology remain the same, total energy use and greenhouse gas emissions (mainly, CO2) will be 42% higher in 2050. but that’s too low, because societies that grow richer use more energy. We need economic growth unless we condemn the world’s poor to their present poverty and freeze everyone else’s living standards. With modest growth, energy use and greenhouse emissions more than double by 2050.

No government will adopt rigid restrictions on economic growth and personal freedom (limits on electricity usage, driving and travel) that might cut back global warming. Still, politicians want to show they’re ―doing something.‖