試卷構(gòu)成
就所測(cè)試的語言能力而言，試點(diǎn)階段的四級(jí)考試由以下四個(gè)部分組成：
1）聽力理解；2）閱讀理解；3）完型填空或改錯(cuò)；4）寫作和翻譯。
樣卷分析
1） 題序的調(diào)整
試點(diǎn)考試樣卷由六部分組成，分別是Part I Writing（寫作），Part II Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning)（快速閱讀），Part III Listening Comprehension (聽力理解)，Part IV Reading Comprehension (Reading In Depth) (深度閱讀)，Part V Cloze (完型填空)以及Part VI Translation (翻譯)。
新四級(jí)試卷結(jié)構(gòu)
試卷構(gòu)成 試題內(nèi)容 答題時(shí)間
Part I Writing 30 minutes
Part II Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning) 15 minutes
Part III Listening Comprehension 35 minutes
Part IV Reading Comprehension (Reading in Depth) 25 minutes
Part V Cloze or Error Correction 15 minutes
Part VI Translation 5 minutes
令人耳目一新的是題序有所調(diào)整，原來的寫作是在試卷二上，是第五部分，而現(xiàn)在則調(diào)整到第一部分，而閱讀的測(cè)試則一分為二，分別為第二部分和第四部分，寫作和快速閱讀合二為一，在試卷一上，用時(shí)45分鐘，分值比例為25%。
試卷二由四部分構(gòu)成，分別是聽力理解（Listening Comprehension），Part IV 閱讀理解（Reading Comprehension） (Reading in Depth) (深度仔細(xì)閱讀)，Part V 完型填空（Cloze ）Part VI 翻譯 用時(shí)80分鐘，分值比例為70%。
不難看出，題序的調(diào)整（Translation）對(duì)學(xué)生考試時(shí)間的控制更加嚴(yán)格，試卷一上的45分鐘和試卷二上的聽力理解的35分鐘是不能挪用的，供考生做試卷二其他三項(xiàng)的時(shí)間是45分鐘，這部分時(shí)間考生可稍稍調(diào)配.而在這短短的45分鐘內(nèi)，要完成三個(gè)部分的考試內(nèi)容，難度可想而知。
2） 題型的設(shè)置
根據(jù)2004年初教育部高教司組織制定并在全國(guó)部分高校開始試點(diǎn)的《大學(xué)英語課程教學(xué)要求》中的精神，在考卷的內(nèi)容和形式上，聽力理解部分的題量和分值比例有所加大，增加了快速閱讀，理解測(cè)試和翻譯測(cè)試，主觀的非選擇性試題的比例大大提高了。具體而言，
第二部分快速閱讀題量為10題，1到7題為是非判斷題，如果與文章內(nèi)容相符，就選“Y”，不相符則為N，若所含信息文章中沒有提及，則為NG(Not Given沒有給出)，8到10題為完成句子，實(shí)際上就是老題中的簡(jiǎn)短回答題（SAQ）的翻版。
例：1. The passage gives a general description of the structure and use of a landfill.
2. Most of the trash that Americans generate ends up in landfills.
3. Compared with other major industrialized countries, America buries a much higher percentage of its solid waste in landfills.
4. Landfills are like compost piles in that they speed up decomposition of the buried trash.
5. In most countries the selection of a landfill site is governed by rules and regulations.
6. In the United Slates the building of landfills is the job of both federal and local governments.
7. Hazardous wastes have to be treated before being dumped into landfills.
8. Typical customers of a landfill are _________________.
9. To dispose of a ton of trash in a landfill, customers have to pay a tipping fee of ______.
10. Materials that are not permitted to be buried in landfills should be dumped at ____________.
第三部分聽力理解的調(diào)整動(dòng)作很大，題量大增，有46道之多，分成ABC三個(gè)小部分（Section 3），用時(shí)35分鐘，Section A對(duì)話部分，8個(gè)短對(duì)話，2段長(zhǎng)對(duì)話，題量有7至8個(gè)，共15題；Section B仍是短文理解，3篇文章，10個(gè)問題，每篇短文后3至4個(gè)問題，這兩部分都是多項(xiàng)選擇題；Section C是復(fù)合式聽寫，原來老題型中是三篇文章的替換，現(xiàn)在變成必考內(nèi)容，且聽寫的單詞由原來的7個(gè)變成8個(gè)，單句不變，仍為3句（并列復(fù)合句和主從復(fù)合句），用時(shí)25分鐘。
第四部分Reading In Depth也一分為二，Section A為造詞填空要求考生從一個(gè)詞量為15個(gè)單詞的詞庫(kù)中選出10個(gè)分別填入（根據(jù)文章內(nèi)容）10個(gè)空格中；而Section B為兩篇文章，每篇文章原來5道問題，襲用傳統(tǒng)題型。
第五部分為完型填空，仍然襲用傳統(tǒng)形式，一篇文章二十個(gè)空格，每個(gè)空格提供A、B、C、D四個(gè)選項(xiàng)，15分鐘。
第六部分為翻譯，Translation，用時(shí)5分鐘，命題形式是給出未完成的句子，缺失部分用中文標(biāo)示出，要求考生將中文譯成準(zhǔn)確、規(guī)范的英文。用時(shí)5分鐘。
簡(jiǎn)而言之，改革后的試卷在保留了考試的主體的同時(shí)，增加了主觀部分的比例，這一點(diǎn)可從分值的比重可以看出，7+7+5+5/24%。
3） 新增題型的分析
長(zhǎng)對(duì)話：長(zhǎng)對(duì)話是增加兩個(gè)對(duì)話者的輪次，樣題的第一個(gè)長(zhǎng)話達(dá)九輪之多，屬于商務(wù)英語的范圍，內(nèi)容是動(dòng)議、工廠生產(chǎn)、廣告策略，如更新設(shè)備、增加人力資源、增加電視廣告，生產(chǎn)成本等話題，內(nèi)容多、雜，不象短對(duì)話那么單一，但考生若提前瀏覽相關(guān)選擇項(xiàng)，做出合理快速的預(yù)判，是可以應(yīng)付的，第二個(gè)長(zhǎng)對(duì)話的對(duì)話人是圖書管理負(fù)責(zé)和學(xué)生，內(nèi)容是寫論文、查閱參考書，選題；與學(xué)生生活關(guān)系密切，對(duì)話輪次為6輪。
快速閱讀：測(cè)試多項(xiàng)快速閱讀技能，主要是Skimming 和Scanning。樣題給出的文章長(zhǎng)度為1000個(gè)單詞左右（教學(xué)要求中規(guī)定的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)是每分鐘100個(gè)單詞左右，也就是10分鐘完成）, 后設(shè)10道題，前7個(gè)為正誤判斷，后來3個(gè)為句子完成，相等于前面的SAQ。這是一篇標(biāo)題文章，大標(biāo)題是Landfills，主要內(nèi)容講述的是垃圾填埋場(chǎng)。引入性文字之后，文章的主體部分分設(shè)七個(gè)小標(biāo)題，涉及到垃圾量, 處理方式，填埋場(chǎng)的定義，規(guī)劃，修建，運(yùn)作等方面，從所出的10道題來看，只有第1題涉及文章的大意，其余9題全是文章中的重要細(xì)節(jié)，因此,尋讀的能力就顯得尤為重要。
仔細(xì)閱讀：Reading in Depth選用的文章長(zhǎng)約200單詞，涉及的內(nèi)容是美國(guó)移民的雙語教育方式（bilingual education）的好處，難度略低于傳統(tǒng)的閱讀文章，而要求填入的單詞都是屬于一般要求的詞匯。不過，考生若要答對(duì)全部恐非易事，因?yàn)樵擃}型不但要求完全理解文章內(nèi)容，而且要明白這些單詞的準(zhǔn)確意義及其用法，因此雖然說取消了詞匯題考試，但它比詞匯題要求更嚴(yán)，原來是四選一，現(xiàn)在是15選1，概率大大降低，幾乎沒有任何蒙的成分，或憑借技巧而得分，實(shí)際上對(duì)詞匯的理解提出更高的要求。
閱讀部分的這兩種新題型所采用的是雅思的命題方式.
翻譯：與往年考過的翻譯不同，新題型中的漢譯英的句子不是從閱讀文章中抽取，而是測(cè)的是考生對(duì)句子短語或常用表達(dá)層次上的中譯英能力，考生如果詞匯量夠用，且具備扎實(shí)的語法知識(shí)（主要是句法），還是可以應(yīng)付如裕。
僅舉一例：樣題87. The substance does not dissolve in water _______________________
(不管是否加熱)，所給出的確標(biāo)準(zhǔn)答案是Whether (it is )heated or not，考生既要知道連詞whether or not和被動(dòng)語態(tài)等句法,還要了解 “heat”的動(dòng)詞詞法。
總體評(píng)價(jià)：
綜上所述，改革后的四級(jí)考試題的設(shè)置，是與四級(jí)《教學(xué)要求》相一致的，在盡可能地保持了原考試的公正性的同時(shí)，科學(xué)性和客觀性得到了更加充分的體現(xiàn)，題量的改革，新題型的設(shè)置，主觀題（非選擇性試題）比例的增加，使得該考試更準(zhǔn)確地測(cè)量我國(guó)在校大學(xué)生的英語綜合應(yīng)用能力，尤其是英語聽說能力。可以預(yù)料是，新的考試必將對(duì)大學(xué)英語教學(xué)產(chǎn)生正面的導(dǎo)向作用。
就復(fù)習(xí)迎考而言，大家也不必過分驚慌，畢竟主體部分仍將沿用以往的題型
附：新題型樣題
大學(xué)英語四級(jí)考試試點(diǎn)考試樣卷
(新增題型節(jié)選)
Part II Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning) (15 minutes)
Directions: In this part, you will have 15 minutes to go over the passage quickly and answer the questions on Answer Sheet 1.
For questions 1-7, mark
Y (for YES) if the statement agrees with the information given in the passage;
N (for NO) if the statement contradicts the information given in the passage;
NG (for NOT GIVEN) if the information is not given in the passage.
For questions 8-10, complete the sentences with the information given in the passage.
Landfills
You have just finished your meal at a fast food restaurant and you throw your uneaten food, food wrappers, drink cups, utensils and napkins into the trash can. You don#39;t think about that waste again. On trash pickup day in your neighborhood, you push your can out to the curb, and workers dump the contents into a big truck and haul it away. You don#39;t have to think about that waste again, either. But maybe you have wondered, as you watch the trash truck pull away, just where that garbage ends up.
Americans generate trash at an astonishing rate of four pounds per day per person, which translates to 600,000 tons per day or 210 million tons per year! This is almost twice as much trash per person as most other major countries. What happens to this trash? Some gets recycled (回收利用) or recovered and some is burned, but the majority is buried in landfills.
How Much Trash Is Generated?
Of the 210 million tons of trash, or solid waste, generated in the United States annually, about 56 million tons, or 27 percent, is either recycled (glass, paper products, plastic, metals) or composted (做成堆肥) (yard waste). The remaining trash, which is mostly unrecyclable, is discarded.
How Is Trash Disposed of?
The trash production in the United States has almost tripled since 1960. This trash is handled in various ways. About 27 percent of the trash is recycled or composted, 16 percent is burned and 57 percent is buried in landfills. The amount of trash buried in landfills has doubled since 1960. The United States ranks somewhere in the middle of the major countries (United Kingdom， Canada， Germany, France and Japan) in landfill disposal. The United Kingdom ranks highest, burying about 90 percent of its solid waste in landfills.
What Is a Landfill?
There are two ways to bury trash:
Dump—an open hole in the ground where trash is buried and that is full of various animals (rats, mice, birds). (This is most people#39;s idea of a landfill!)
Landfill — carefully designed structure built into or on top of the ground in which trash is isolated from the surrounding environment (groundwater, air, rain). This isolation is accomplished with a bottom liner and daily covering of soil.
○ Sanitary landfill—landfill mat uses a clay liner to isolate the trash from the environment
○ Municipal solid waste(MSW) landfill—landfill that uses a synthetic(plastic) liner to isolate the trash from the environment
The purpose of a landfill is to bury the trash in such a way that it will be isolated from groundwater, will be kept dry and will not be in contact with air. Under these conditions, trash will not decompose (腐爛) much. A landfill is not like a compost pile, where the purpose is to bury trash in such a way that it will decompose quickly.
Proposing the Landfill
For a landfill to be built, the operators have to make sure that they follow certain steps. In most parts of the world, there are regulations that govern where a landfill can be placed and how it can operate. The whole process begins with someone proposing the landfill.
In the United States, taking care of trash and building landfills are local government responsibililies. Before a city or other authority can build a landfill, an environmental impact study must be done on the proposed site to determine:
the area of land necessary for the landfill
the composition of the underlying soil and bedrock
the flow of surface water over the site
the impact of the proposed landfill on the local environment and wildlife
the historical value of the proposed site
Building the Landfill
Once the environmental impact study is complete, the permits are granted and the funds have been raised, then construction begins. First, access roads to the landfill site must be built if they do not already exist. These roads will be used by construction equipment, sanitation (環(huán)衛(wèi)) services and the general public. After roads have been built, digging can begin. In the North Wake County Landfill, the landfill began 10 feet below the road surface.
What Happens to Trash in a Landfill?
Trash put in a landfill will stay there for a very long time. Inside a landfill, there is little oxygen and little moisture. Under these conditions, trash does not break down very rapidly. In fact, when old landfills have been dug up or sampled, 40-year-old newspapers have been found with easily readable print. Landfills are not designed to break down trash, merely to bury it. When a landfill closes, the site, especially the groundwater, must be monitored and maintained for up to 30 years!
How Is a Landfill Operated?
A landfill, such as the North Wake County Landfill, must be open and available every day. Customers are typically municipalities and construction companies, although residents may also use the landfill.
Near the entrance of the landfill is a recycling center where residents can drop off recyclable materials (aluminum cans, glass bottles, newspapers and paper products). This helps to reduce the amount of material in the landfill. Some of these materials are banned from landfills by law because they can be recycled.
As customers enter the site, their bucks are weighed at the scale house. Customers are charged tipping fees for using the she. The tipping fees vary from $ 10 to $40 per ton. These fees are used to pay for operation costs. The North Wake County Landfill has an operating budget of approximately $4.5 million, and part of that comes from tipping fees.
Along the site, there are drop-off stations for materials that are not wanted or legally banned by the landfill. A multi-material drop-off station is used for tires, motor oil, lead-acid batteries. Some of these materials can be recycled.
In addition, there is a household hazardous waste drop-off station for chemicals (paints, pesticides, other chemicals) that are banned from the landfill. These chemicals are disposed of by private companies. Some paints can be recycled and some organic chemicals can be burned in furnaces or power plants.
Other structures alongside the landfill are the borrowed area that supplies the soil for the landfill, the runoff collection pond and methane (甲烷) station.
Landfills are complicated structures that, when properly designed and managed, serve an important purpose. In the future, new technologies called bioreactors will be used to speed the breakdown of trash in landfills and produce more methane.
1. The passage gives a general description of the structure and use of a landfill.
2. Most of the trash that Americans generate ends up in landfills.
3. Compared with other major industrialized countries, America buries a much higher percentage of its solid waste in landfills.
4. Landfills are like compost piles in that they speed up decomposition of the buried trash.
5. In most countries the selection of a landfill site is governed by rules and regulations.
6. In the United Slates the building of landfills is the job of both federal and local governments.
7. Hazardous wastes have to be treated before being dumped into landfills.
8. Typical customers of a landfill are _________________.
9. To dispose of a ton of trash in a landfill, customers have to pay a tipping fee of ______.
10. Materials that are not permitted to be buried in landfills should be dumped at ____________.
標(biāo)準(zhǔn)答案：
1. Y 2. Y 3. N 4. N 5. Y 6. N 7. NG
8. municipalities and construction companies
9. $10 to $40
10. drop-off stations
Part III Listening Comprehension (35 minutes)
Section A
Directions: In this section, you will hear 8 short conversations and 2 long conversations. At the end of each conversation, one or more questions will be asked about what was said. Both the conversation and the questions will be spoken only once. After each question there will be a pause. During the pause, you must read the four choices marked A), B), C) and D), and decide which is the best answer. Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre,
Now you#39;ll bear two long conversations.
Conversation One
W: Hello, Gary. How #39;re you?
M: Fine! And yourself?
W: Can#39;t complain. Did you have time to look at my proposal?
M: No, not really. Can we go over it now?
W: Sure. I’ve been trying to come up with some new production and advertising strategies. First of all, if we want to stay competitive, we need to modernize our factory. New equipment should#39;ve been installed long ago.
M: How much will that cost?
W: We have several options ranging from one hundred thousand dollars all the way up to Half a million.
M: OK. We#39;ll have to discuss these costs with finance.
W: We should also consider human resources. I#39;ve been talking to personnel as well as our staff at the factory.
M: And what#39;s the picture?
W: We#39;ll probably have to hire a couple of engineers to help us modernize the factory.
M: What about advertising?
W: Marketing has some interesting ideas for television commercials.
M: TV? Isn#39; t that a bit too expensive for us? What#39;s wrong with advertising in the papers, as usual?
W: Quite frankly, it#39;s just not enough anymore. We need to be more aggressive in order to keep ahead of our competitors.
M: Will we be able to afford all this?
W: I#39;ll look into it, but I think higher costs will be justified. These investments will result in higher profits for our company.
M: We#39;ll have to look at the figures more closely. Have finance draw up a budget for these investments. W: All right. I#39;ll see to it.
Questions 19 to 22 are based on the conversation you have just beard.
19. What are the two speakers talking about?
A) The benefit of strong business competition.
B) A proposal to lower the cost of production.
C) Complaints about the expense of modernization.
D) Suggestions concerning new business strategies.
20. What does the woman say about the equipment of their factory?
A) It cost much more that its worth.
B) It should be brought up-to-date.
C) It calls for immediate repairs.
D) It can still be used for a long time.
21. What does the woman suggest about human resources?
A) The personnel manager should be fired for inefficiency.
B) A few engineers should be employed to modernize the factory.
C) The entire staff should be retrained.
D) Better-educated employees should be promoted.
22. Why does the woman suggest advertising on TV?
A) Their competitors have long been advertising on TV.
B) TV commercials are less expensive.
C) Advertising in newspapers alone is not sufficient.
D) TV commercials attract more investments.
Conversation Two
W: Sir, you#39;ve been using the online catalogue for quite a while. Is there anything I can do to help you?
M: Well, I#39;ve got to write a paper about Hollywood in the 30s and 40s, and I#39;m really struggling. There are hundreds of books, and I just don’t know where to begin.
W: Your topic sounds pretty big. Why don#39;t you narrow it down to something like... uh...the history of the studios during that time?
M: You know, I was thinking about doing that, but more man 30 books came up when I typed in "movie studios."
W: You could cut that down even further by listing the specific years you want. Try adding "1930s" or "1940s" or maybe "Golden Age."
M: "Golden Age" is a good idea. Let me type that in …. Hey, look, just 6 books this time. That#39;s a lot better.
W: Oh... another thing you might consider ... have you tried looking for any magazine or newspaper articles?
M: No, I#39;ve only been searching for books.
W: Well, you can look up magazine articles in the Reader#39;s Guide to Periodical Literature.And we do have the Los Angeles Times available over there. You might go through their indexes to see if there#39;s anything you want.
M: Okay. I think I#39;ll get started with these books and then I#39;ll go over the magazines.
W: If you need any help, I#39;ll be over at the Reference Desk.
M: Great, thanks a lot.
Questions 23 to 25 are based on the conversation you have just heard-
23. What is the man doing?
A) Searching for reference material.
B) Watching a film of the 1930’s.
C) Writing a course book.
D) Looking for a job in a movie studio.
24. What does the librarian think of the topic the man is working on?
A) It’s too broad to cope with.
B) It’s controversial.
C) It’s a bit outdated.
D) It’s of little practical value.
25. Where can the man find the relevant magazine articles?
A) At the end of the online catalogue.
B) At the Reference Desk.
C) In The New York Times.
D) In the Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature.
標(biāo)準(zhǔn)答案：
19.D 20.B 21.B 22.C 23.A 24.A 25.D
Part IV Reading Comprehension (Reading in Depth) (25 minutes)
Section A
Directions: In this section, there is a passage with ten blanks. You are required to select one word for each blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage. Read the passage through carefully before making your choices. Each choice in the bank is identified by a letter. Please mark the corresponding letter for each item on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre. You may_not use any of the word in the bank more than once.
Questions 47 to 56 are based on the following passage.
When Roberto Feliz came to the USA from the Dominican Republic, he knew only a few words of English. Education soon became a 47__. "I couldn#39;t understand anything," he said. He _48 from his teachers, came home in tears, and thought about dropping out.
Then Mrs. Malave, a bilingual educator, began to work with him while teaching him math and science in his 49 Spanish. "She helped me stay smart while teaching me English," he said. Given the chance to demonstrate his ability, he 50_ confidence and began to succeed in school.
Today, he is a 51_ doctor, runs his own clinic, and works with several hospitals. Every day, he uses the language and academic skills he 52 through bilingual education to treat his patients.
Roberto#39;s story is just one of 53 success stories. Research has shown that bilingual education is the most 54 way both to teach children English and ensure that they succeed academically. In Arizona and Texas, bilingual students 55 outperform their peers in monolingual programs. Calexico, Calif, implemented bilingual education, and now has dropout rates that arc less than half the state average and college 56 rates of more than 90%. In El Paso, bilingual education programs have helped raise student scores from the lowest in Texas to among the highest in me nation.
A) wonder
B) acquired
C) consistently
D) regained
E) nightmare
F) native
G) acceptance
H) effective
I) hid
J) prominent
K) decent
L) countless
M) recalled
N) breakthrough
O) automatically
標(biāo)準(zhǔn)答案：
47.E 48.I 49.F 50.D 51.J 52.B 53.L 54.H 55.C 56.G
Part VI Translation (5 minutes)
87. The substance does not dissolve in water _______________________________(不管是否加熱)。
88．Not only _____________________________________(他向我收費(fèi)過高)，but he didn’t do a good repair job either.
89. Your losses in trade this year are nothing _______________________________(與我的相比)。
90．On average, it is said, visitors spend only __________________________________(一半的錢)in a day in Leeds as in London.
91. By contrast, American mothers were more likely ____________________________(把孩子的成功歸因于) natural talent.
標(biāo)準(zhǔn)答案：
87. whether (it is) heated or not 88. did he charge me too much / did he overcharge me
89. compared with mine / in comparison with mine 90. half as much （money）
91. to attribute their children’s success to
http://www.lotusphilosophies.com/