2017年公共英语四级考试阅读B备考练习

2017年上半年的公共英语考试已开始复习，为了帮助广大考生更好备考2017公共英语四级考试，下面是yjbys网小编提供给大家关于公共英语四级考试阅读B备考练习，希望对大家的备考有所帮助。

Part B

Read the following three texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing [A] ,[B] ,[C] or[D]. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET.

　Text 1

Since the dawn of human ingenuity, people have devised ever more cunning tools to cope with work that is dangerous, boring, burdensome, or just plain nasty. That compulsion has resulted in robotics the science of conferring various human capabilities on machines. And if scientists have yet to create the mechanical version of science fiction, they have begun to come close.

As a result, the modern world is increasingly populated by intelligent gizmos whose presence we barely notice but whose universal existence has removed much human labor. Our factories hum to the rhythm of robot assembly arms. Our banking is done at automated teller terminals that thank us with mechanical politeness for the transaction. Our subway trains are controlled by tireless robot drivers. And thanks to the continual miniaturization of electronics and micromechanics, there are

already robot systems that can perform some kinds of brain and bone surgery with submillimeter accuracy-far greater precision than highly skilled physicians can achieve with their hands alone.

But if robots are to reach the next stage of laborsaving utility, they will have to operate with less human su'pervision and be able to make at least a few decisions for themselves--goals that pose a real challenge. "While we know how to tell a robot to handle a specific error, " says Dave Lavery, manager of a robotics program at NASA, "we can't yet give a robot enough 'common sense' to reliably interact with a dynamic world. "

Indeed the quest for true artificial intelligence has produced very mixed results. Despite a spell of initial optimism in the 1960s and 1970s when it appeared that transistor circuits and microprocessors might be able to copy the action of human brain by the year 2010, researchers lately have begun to extend that forecast by decades if not centuries.

What they found, in attempting to model thought, is that the human brain' s roughly one hundred billion nerve cells are much more talented--and human perception far more complicated—than previously imagined. They have built robots that can recognize the error of a machine panel by a fraction of a millimeter in a controlled factory environment. But the human mind can glimpse a rapidly changing scene and immediately disregard the 98 percent that is irrelevant, instantaneously focusing on the monkey at the side of a winding forest road or the single suspicious face in a big crowd. The most advanced computer systems on Earth can' t approach that kind of ability, and neuroscientists still don't know quite how we do it.

36. Human ingenuity was initially demonstrated in

A. the use of machines to produce science fiction

B. the wide use of machines in manufacturing industry

invention of tools for difficult and dangerous work

D. the elite' s cunning tackling of dangerous and boring work

37. The word "gizmos" ( Line 1, Paragraph 2 ) most probably means

A. programs

B. experts

C. devices

D. creatures

38. According to the text, what is beyond man' s ability now is to design a robot that can

A. fulfill delicate tasks like performing brain surgery

B. interact with human beings verbally

C. have a little common sense

D. respond independently to a changing world

39. Besides reducing human labor, robots can also

A. make a few decisions for themselves

B. deal with some errors with human intervention

C. improve factory environments

D. cultivate human creativity

40. The author uses the example of a monkey to argue that robots are

A. expected to copy human brain in internal structure

B. able to perceive abnormalities immediately

C. far less able than human brain in focusing on relevant information

D. best used in a controlled environment

　Text 2

Education is primarily the responsibility of the states. State constitutions set up certain standards and rules for the establishment of school. State laws require children to go to school until they reach a certain age. The actual control of the schools, however, is usually a local matter.

The control of the schools does not usually come directly from the local government. In each of the three types of city government, public schools are generally quite separate and independent.

They cooperate with local officials but are not dominated by the municipal government. Most Americans believe that schools should be free of political pressures. They believe that the separate control of the school systems preserves such freedom.

Public schools are usually maintained by school districts. The state often sets the district boundaries. Sometimes the school district has the same boundaries as the city. Sometimes it is larger than the city.

In the South, county boards of education members are elected. In some places they are appointed by the mayor or city council. The state legislature decides which method should be used.

Most district boards of education try to give all pupils a chance to get a good education. A good education prepares a person to live a better life. It helps him to become a better citizen.

Nearly all states give financial aid to local school districts. State departments of education offer other kinds of aid. States offer help with such things as program planning and the school districts.

The federal government also helps. The National Defense Education Act allows school districts to get financial aid for certain purposes. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 added many other kinds of financial help. But neither the state nor the federal government dictates school policy. This is determined by local school boards.

41. Which of the following law is related to education?

A. The National Defense Education Act.

B. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

C. The Independence Act.

D. Both A and B.