2002年12月四级考试试题及听力参考答案

A) are good at demonstrating their charming characters

B) can move the masses with their forceful speeches

C) are capable of meeting all challenges and hardships

D) can provide an answer to the problems of their people

15. The author concludes that historical changes would .

A) be delayed without leaders with inspiring personal qualities

B) not happen with out heroes making the necessary sacrifices

C) take place if there were heroes to lead the people

D) produce leaders with attractive personalities

Passage Two

Questions 16 to 20 are based on the following passage.

According to a survey, which was based on the responses of over 188,000 students, today’s traditional-age college freshmen are “more materialistic and less altruistic (利他主义的)” than at any time in the 17 years of the poll.

Not surprising in these hard times, the student’s major objective “is to be financially well off. Less important than ever is developing a meaningful philosophy of life.” It follows then that today the most popular course is not literature or history but accounting.

Interest in teaching, social service and the “altruistic” fields is at a low. On the other hand, enrollment in business programs, engineering and computer science is way up.

That’s no surprise either. A friend of mine (a sales representative for a chemical company) was making twice the salary of her college instructors her first year on the job — even before she completed her two-year associate degree.

While it’s true that we all need a career, it is equally true that our civilization has accumulated an incredible amount of knowledge in fields far removed from our own and that we are better for our understanding of these other contributions — be they scientific or artistic. It is equally true that, in studying the diverse wisdom of others, we learn how to think. More important, perhaps, education teaches us to see the connections between things, as well as to see beyond our immediate needs.

Weekly we read of unions who went on strike for higher wages, only to drive their employer out of business. No company: no job. How shortsighted in the long run!

But the most important argument for a broad education is that in studying the accumulated wisdom of the ages, we improve our moral sense. I saw a cartoon recently which shows a group of businessmen looking puzzled as they sit around a conference table; one of them is talking on the intercom (对讲机)：“Miss Baxter,” he says, “could you pleas send in someone who can distinguish right from wrong?”

From the long-term point of view, that’s wheat education really ought to be about.

16. According to the author’s observation, college students .

A) have never been so materialistic as today