2019年英语专业四级考试真题及答案解析

(1) Life can be tough for immigrants in America. As a Romanian bank clerk in Atlanta puts it, to find a good job “you have to be like a wolf in the forest—able to smell out the best meat.” And if you can’t find work, don’t expect the taxpayer to bail you out. Unlike in some European countries, it is extremely hard for an able-bodied immigrant to live off the state. A law passed in 1996 explicitly bars most immigrants, even those with legal status, from receiving almost any federal benefits. (2) That is one reason why America absorbs immigrants better than many other rich countries, according to a new study by the University of California. The researchers sought to measure the effect of immigration on the native-born in 20 rich countries, taking into account differences in skills between immigrants and natives, imperfect labor markets and the size of the welfare state in each country. (3) Their results offer ammunition for fans of more open borders. In 19 out of 20 countries, the authors calculated that shutting the doors entirely to foreign workers would make the native-born worse off. Never mind what it would do to the immigrants themselves, who benefit far more than anyone else from being allowed to cross borders to find work. (4) The study also suggests that most countries could handle more immigration than they currently allow. In America, a one-percentage point increase in the proportion of immigrants in the population made the native-born 0.05% better off. The opposite was true in some countries with generous or ill-designed welfare states, however. A one-point rise in immigration made the native-born slightly worse off in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland. In Belgium, immigrants who lose jobs can receive almost two-thirds of their most recent wage in state benefits, which must make the hunt for a new job less urgent. (5) None of these effects was large, but the study undermines the claim that immigrants steal jobs from natives or drag down their wages. Many immigrants take jobs that Americans do not want, the study finds. This “smooths” the labor market and ultimately creates more jobs for locals. Native-owned grocery stores do better business because there are immigrants to pick the fruit they sell. Indian computer scientists help American software firms expand. A previous study found that because immigrants typically earn less than locals with similar skills, they boost corporate profits, prompting companies to grow and hire more locals.

(1) There was something in the elderly woman’s behavior that caught my eye. Although slow gestures, and unsure of step the woman moved with deliberation, and there was no hesitation in her gestures. She was as good as anyone else, her movements suggested. And she had a job to do. (2) It was a few years ago, and I had taken a part-time holiday-season job in a video store at the local shopping mall. From inside the store, I’d begun to see the people rushing by outside in the mall’s concourse as a river of humanity. (3) The elderly woman had walked into the store along with a younger woman who guessed was her daughter. The daughter was displaying a serious case of impatience, rolling her eyes, huffing and sighing, checking her watch every few seconds. If she had possessed a leash, her mother would have been fastened to it as a means of tugging her along to keep step with the rush of other shoppers. (4) The older woman detached from the younger one and began to tick through the DVDs on the nearest shelf. After the slightest hesitation, I walked over and asked if I could help her find something. The woman smiled up at me and showed me a title scrawled on a crumpled piece of paper. The title was unusual and a bit obscure. Clearly a person looking for it knew a little about movies, about quality. (5) Rather than rushing off to locate the DVD for the woman, I asked her to walk with me so I could show her where she could find it. Looking back, I think I wanted to enjoy her company for a moment. Something about her deliberate movements reminded me of my own mother, who’d passed away the previous Christmas. (6) As we walked along the back of the store, I narrated its floor plan: old television shows, action movies, cartoons, science fiction. The woman seemed glad of the unrushed company and casual conversation. (7) We found the movie, and I complimented her on her choice. She smiled and told me it was one she’d enjoyed when she was her son’s age and that she hoped he would enjoy it as much as she had. Maybe, she said with a hint of wistfulness he could enjoy it with his own young children. Then, reluctantly, I had to return the elderly woman to her keeper, who was still tapping her foot at the front of the store. (8)I escorted the older woman to the queue at the cash register and then stepped back and lingered near the younger woman. When the older woman’s turn in line came, she paid in cash, counting out the dollars and coins with the same sureness she'd displayed earlier. (9) As the cashier tucked the DVD into a plastic bag, I walked over to the younger woman. (10) “Is that your mom?” I asked. (11)I halfway expected her to tell me it was none of my business. But possibly believing me to be tolerant of her impatience, she rolled her eyes and said, “Yeah.” There was exasperation in her reply, half sigh and half groan. (12) Still watching the mother, I said, “Mind some advice?” (13) “Sure,” said the daughter. (14)I smiled to show her I wasn’t criticizing. “Cherish her,”I said. And then I answered her curious expression by saying, “When she’s gone, it’s the little moments that’ll come back to you. Moments like this. I know.” (15) It was true. I missed my mom still and remembered with melancholy clarity the moments when I’d used my impatience to make her life miserable. (16) The elderly woman moved with her deliberate slowness back to her daughter’s custody. Together they made their way toward the store’s exit. They stood there for a moment, side by side, watching the rush of the holiday current and for their place in it. Then the daughter glanced over and momentarily regarded her mother. And slowly, almost reluctantly, she placed her arm with apparently unaccustomed affection around her mother’s shoulders and gently guided her back into the crowds.

(1) Reading award-winning literature may boost your ability to read other people, a new study suggests. Researchers at the New School for Social Research, in New York City, found that when they had volunteers read works of acclaimed “literary fiction”, it seemed to temporarily improve their ability to interpret other people’s emotions. The same was not true of nonfiction or “popular” fiction, the mystery, romance and science-fiction books that often dominate bestseller lists. (2) Experts said the findings, reported online in Science, suggest that literature might help people to be more perceptive and engaged in their lives. (3) “Reading literary fiction isn’t just for passing the time. It’s not just an escape,” said Keith Oatley, a professor emeritus of cognitive psychology at the University of Toronto. It also enables us to better understand others, and then take that into our daily lives. (4) Oatley was not involved in the new research, but worked on some of the first studies to suggest that reading literature can boost people’s empathy for others. His team has found that those who read a lot of fiction tend to show greater empathy on standard tests, but the same is not true of avid nonfiction fans. (5) But, the study by Oatley and his team cannot prove that literature boosts empathy—empathetic folks may just be drawn to reading fiction, whereas the new study does offer some “cause-and-effect” evidence, Oatley said. For the study, researchers set up a series of five experiments in which participants read either literary fiction, popular fiction, nonfiction or nothing at all before taking some standard tests. One of the tests is known as “Reading the Mind in the Eyes” . People have to look at photos of actors’ eyes, and then guess what emotion is being expressed in each. The test is considered a measure of empathy. Overall, study participants fared better on the test after reading literary fiction, versus the other three conditions. (6) It was a small improvement, according to the principal researcher David Comer Kidd, “It’s not like talking people from a(grade) ‘C’ to an ‘A’,” he said. But, Kidd added, the effect was seen after only about 10 minutes’ reading, and it was a statistically strong finding, meaning it’s unlikely to have been due to chance. (7) “Literary” fiction has no hard-and-fast definition. So Kidd and his colleagues chose contemporary works that have won or been finalists for outstanding literary awards. They included “The Round House”, by Louise Erdrich, “Salvage the Bones”, by Jesmyn Ward and the short story “Corrie” by Alice Munro. And “popular” fiction included best-sellers like “Gone Girl” by Gillian Flynn, and Danielle Steel’s “The Sins of the Mother”. (8) What’s so special about literary fiction? “For one, it’s usually more focused on characters than on plot,” Kidd noted. But beyond that, he said, there is usually no single “authoritative narrator” who takes us through the story. “It demands that the reader almost become a writer and fill in the gaps. You really have to think about the characters,” Kidd said. (9) Oatley agreed. “Alice Munro doesn’t tell you what to think,” he said. “You, yourself, have to make inferences about characters. And that’s often what we’re doing in our real-life conversations.” Or at least that’s what people could do. (10) Reading literary fiction could also offer a way to “practice” your social skills and use them more in real life, according to another researcher not involved in the study. “It’s like how pilots train in a flight simulator,” said Raymond Mar, an associate professor of psychology at York University, in Toronto, who has collaborated with Oatley. “This is a great study,” Mar said of the new study. But he added that the overall research in this area is “still in its infancy” and one key question is whether literary fiction really is better than other fiction. (11) Mar and his colleagues recently found that fans of romance novels tended to do best on tests of empathy. Unlike the current study, Mar’s study did not test people after having them read different types of fiction. So it’s possible that there is something else about romance-novel readers that makes them more understanding of others. (12) Still, according to Mar, it’s too early to tell people to trade in their Danielle Steel for Alice Munro, at least if the goal is boosting empathy. (13) It’s also possible that plays, movies or even TV shows could build your empathy muscles, according to Kidd. But reading may be special, he said, because it provides no visuals and you have to engage your imagination more. (14) Everyone agreed that the findings suggest literature is important beyond entertainment or improving vocabulary. “There’s a common belief that reading literature is frivolous, or not practical,” Mar said. “But there’s a growing body of evidence that it’s important in skills that we need in our lives.”