2020年9月大学英语四级听力考试真题和参考答案（附听力音频）

听力音频衔接：2020年9月19日四级听力音频

听力

【News report one】

A NASA satellite orbiting over Portugal took photographs that reveal the effects of pollution from 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 kilometers from end to end. (2) NASA officials said 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. questions one and two are based on the news report you have just heard.

Question 1. What has caused the thick clouds in the photos taken by a NASA satellite?

Question 2. What do NASA officials think about the thick clouds?

【解析】

第一题出题句较长，一般会出现部分词的同义替换，大部分关键词会原词重现，用视听一致方法即可选出正确答案  

第二题抓住信号词“...said”和“according to”定位出题句，该句中“global climate”是专有名词，一般不会替换，用视听一致方法即可选出正确答案  

【News report two】

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 guard at the storm each night from seven pm until 12 am.

But that had stopped suddenly on Monday, employees said. One worker said an angry 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 storm 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 found very 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.

Question 3. For what purpose did this staff at a supermarket in Melbourne sign a letter?

Question 4. What did the spokesman of the supermarkets say regarding the employees demand?

【解析】

第一题考察形容词+名词词组，这类选项注意形容词的同义替换，名词一般不替换。可用视听一致确定出题句相关名词，然后判断形容词是否替换。

第二题抓住信号词“However”及“...said”,且关键词“strong action”多次出现，用视听一致方法可选出正确答案。

【New report three】

(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. A truck carrying the sweet load hit a road barrier and overturned, blocking two lanes. (6) The cracked tank spilled a pool of a rapidly hardening chocolate, which quickly covered the width of the road, while the driver was taken to hospital with a broken arm, firefighters struggled to remove a reported 12 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 the long task ahead. After all, who could be mad about 12 tons of chocolate?

Question 5. What does drivers on the motorway to Warsaw find?

Question 6. What does the report say about the accident?

Question 7. What are the firefighters representative tell the local TV?

【Conversation one】

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 am trying 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, isn’t it? I don’t think it matters whether you take it out of the bank and put it in your wallet will 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 have the approved 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 nonessential 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] 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: I stopped using my credit card because I found out spending excessively, perhaps I should take the same approach of paying using my phone.

W: It’s worth considering.

Questions 8 to 11 are based on the conversation you have just heard.

Question 8. Why did the woman decide to go back to cash for payment?

Question 9. What happens when people use that for payment according to the woman?

Question 10. What might the man tend to buy with payment apps?

Question 11. What does the man think of electronic payment?

【Conversation Two】

W: Hello, Mr. Brown. I was expecting your call. [12] My secretary told me you were having some problems with the wooden table. Is that right?

M: No, no, the table is fine. [12] The problem is the chairs.

W: Oh, the chairs. So what exactly is the issue?

M: Well, to put simply, these are not the chairs my wife and I selected in your store last week. There must have been 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’re light brown that 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 9am 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.

Question 12. Why did the man call the woman?

Question 13. What did the woman ask the man to do?

Question 14. What did the woman promise to do for the man？

Question 15. What did the woman do at the end of the conversation?

 【Passage One】

Do you have too much stuff? Are you daring saying untidy? (16) Say hello to a TV show called “tidying up with Mary Kondo”, a home improvement show based on a widely popular book, the life changing magic of tidying up. In the show, Marie Kondo acts as a tiny garbage fairy for messy people, visiting their houses to share the wisdom of the con Marie method. This method is simple in theory, but can be endlessly complex and practice. (17)You divide all the stuff in your house, all of it into several categories, and then examine each item, all of 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? First hand accounts seem to indicate a small wave of people bringing piles of donation bags to used good 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 seem determined to clean up their homes. (18) One used bookstore received a month’s worth of books and donations in a week, when a man gave over 50 boxes of books from his home. It seems Mary’s TV show is having a big impact after all.

Questions 16 to 18 are based on the passage you have just heard.

Question 16. What is Marie Kondos’ TV show about?

Question 17. What things can be kept in one’s home according to Marie Kondo?

Question 18. What do we learn about one used book store this January?

【Passage Two】

At just 12 years old, Mike Hannon is making a difference in his community. (19) One lunch at a time, Mike’s lunches of love has fed more than 2000 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 WBCTV. 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 dollars in a county, raising more than 17,000 dollars 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, like is seen as hope for the future of the town, the country, and the world.

Question 19. What does Mike Hannon do to help people in his town?

Question 20. What does Mike hope others will do?  

Question 21. How are people all over country responding to what Mike is doing?

【Passage Three】 

In a recent study carried out by psychologists on the disruptive effects of smartphones, (22)two groups of college students were given word search puzzles. 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 equipment in the experiment and would need to be moved away from the testing area.

Midway through the second groups solving of the puzzles, the experiment called one of the phones “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 real life conversations, many express emotions and engage in deep conversations through social media sites. Many students use their phones and computers during pass for non-academic activities, which leads to poor grades. (24)Perhaps the most dramatic impact is the reduction on the amount of sleep,which leads to poor health and weight gain.

Technology is a great tool. However, it’s important to recognize its down sides. Lack of sleep, reduction of productivity and weight gain are only a few. (25)If we are not careful about all these minor problems right now, effect on the future generation is going to be much bigger.

Questions 22 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard.

Question 22. What were the college students in both groups required to do in the study?

Question 23. What do we learn about many of the students in the second test group after the phone rang?

Question 24. According to the passage, what is the most dramatic impact of smartphone use?

Question 25. What does the speaker suggest people do?

听力答案

1. A) Ship traffic in the Atlantic.

2. D) They may be affecting the world's climate.

3. C) To call for a permanent security guard.

4. A) It had already taken strong action.

5. B) The road was blocked

6. D) A track hit a barrier and overturned

7. B) It was a hard task to removing the spilled substance.

8. A) She wanted to save for a new phone.

9. D) They are less aware of the value of their money.

10. B) More non-essential things.

11. C) It may lead to excessive spending.

12. C) He had a problem with the furniture delivered.

13. B) Describe the furniture he received.

14. A) Correct their mistake.

15. C) She apologized to the man once more.

16. B) Tidying up one's home.

17. A) Things that make one happy.

18. C) It received an incredibly large number of donated books.

19. A) Give free meals to the homeless.

20. D) Follow his example.

21. C) Sending him had-made bags.

22. A) To solve word search puzzles.

23. B) They could no longer concentrate on their task.

24. C) A reduction in the amount of sleep.

25. C) Realize the disruptive effects of technology.

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