大学英语四级题库【历年真题＋章节题库】

大学英语四级历年真题及答案详解  【完整内容点击文中链接获取】

Questions 1 to 5 are based on the following passage.[2021年12月]
The human thirst for knowledge is the driving force behind our successful development as a species. But curiosity can also be dangerous, leading to setbacks or even downfalls. Given curiosity’s complexity, scientists have found it hard to define.
While pinning down a definition has proven tricky, the general consensus is it’s some means of information gathering. Psychologists also agree curiosity is intrinsically（内在地） motivated.
Curiosity covers such a large set of behaviors that there probably isn’t any single “curiosity gene” that makes humans wonder about and explore their environment. That said, curiosity does have a genetic component. Genes and the environment interact in many complex ways to shape individuals and guide their behavior, including their curiosity.
Regardless of their genetic makeup, infants have to learn an incredible amount of information in a short time, and curiosity is one of the tools humans have found to accomplish that gigantic task.
Hundreds of studies show that infants prefer novelty. It’s what motivates non-human animals, human infants and probably human adults to explore and seek out new things before growing less interested in them after continued exposure.
But curiosity often comes with a cost.
In some situations, the stakes are low and failure is a healthy part of growth. For instance, many babies are perfectly proficient crawlers, but they decide to try walking because there’s more to see and do when they stand upright. But this milestone comes at a small cost. A study of 12- to 19-month-olds learning how to walk documented that these children fell down a lot. Seventeen times per hour, to be exact. But walking is faster than crawling, so this motivates expert crawlers to transition to walking.
Sometimes, however, testing out a new idea can lead to disaster. For instance, the Inuit people of the Arctic regions have created incredible modes to deal with the challenges of living in northern climates, but what we forget about are the tens of thousands of people that tried and failed to make it in those challenging landscapes.

1、What does the author say about curiosity?
A．It is too complex for non-scientists to understand.
B．It is the force that pushes human society forward.
C．It is a unique trait specific to the human race.
D．It is often the major cause for human failures.

2、What is the general understanding of curiosity?
A．It motivates people to seek information.
B．It is destined to transform human genes.
C．It does people more good than harm.
D．It underlies all human behaviors.

3、What do we learn about how genes shape people’s behavior?
A．They determine people’s way of thinking.
B．They account for age differences in learning.
C．They enable people to undertake massive tasks.
D．They work in conjunction with the environment.

4、What do numerous studies show about infants?
A．They are far more curious than adults.
B．They prefer to go after all that is novel.
C．They have different interests than adults.
D．They show non-human animal behaviors.

5、What does the example of the Inuit people of the Arctic regions illustrate?
A．The cost of humans’ curiosity to explore.
B．The incredible harshness of cold weather.
C．The innovative ideas stemming from curiosity.
D．The importance of learning from past failures.

内容来源	大学英语四级考试题库

【全文翻译】
(1)人类对知识的渴望是我们作为一个物种成功发展背后的驱动力。但好奇心也可能是危险的，会导致挫折甚至失败。考虑到好奇心的复杂性，科学家们发现很难定义它。
(2)虽然事实证明给好奇心下定义很难，但大家普遍认为好奇心是一种收集信息的手段。心理学家也同意好奇心是内在的驱动力。
好奇心涵盖了如此多的行为，以至于很可能没有任何一种单一的“好奇心基因”能让人类对自己的环境感到好奇和探索。这就是说，好奇心确实有基因成分。(53)基因和环境以许多复杂的方式相互作用，塑造个体并指导他们的行为，包括他们的好奇心。
不管婴儿的基因构成如何，他们都必须在短时间内学习大量的信息，好奇心是人类完成这一巨大任务的工具之一。
(4)数百项研究表明，婴儿更喜欢新奇的事物。这是促使非人类动物、人类婴儿，甚至可能是人类成年人探索和寻找新事物的动力，而在持续接触之后，他们对新事物的兴趣会减弱。
但好奇心往往是有代价的。
在某些情况下，风险很低，失败是成长的健康组成部分。例如，许多婴儿都能非常熟练地爬行，但他们却决定尝试行走，因为当他们站直时，有更多的东西要看和做。但这一里程碑的代价很小。一项对12到19个月大的孩子学习走路的研究表明，这些孩子经常摔倒。准确地说，每小时17次。但是行走比爬行快，所以这促使爬行专家转向行走。
(5)然而，有时候，测试一个新想法可能会导致灾难，例如，北极地区的因纽特人创造了令人难以置信的模式来应对生活在北方的气候的挑战，但我们忘记了成千上万的人曾试图在这些具有挑战性的环境中生存而未能成功。
【达聪解析】

1、事实细节题。根据文中第一段“The human thirst for knowledge is the driving force behind our successful development as a species.”可知，人类对知识的渴望是人类成功发展的驱动力，对知识的渴望就是对未知领域的好奇心，故B项正确。
2、事实细节题。根据文中第二段“the general consensus is it’s some means of information gathering”可知，大家的普遍共识是：好奇心是一种收集信息的手段，故A项正确。

3、事实细节题。根据文中第三段“Genes and the environment interact in many complex ways to shape individuals and guide their behavior, including their curiosity.”可知，基因和环境以复杂的方式相互作用，塑造并引导个体的行为方式。故D项正确。

4、事实细节题。根据文中第五段“Hundreds of studies show that infants prefer novelty.”可知，许多研究证明婴儿更喜欢新奇的事物，故B项正确。

5、细节推理题。根据文中最后一段“but what we forget about are the tens of thousands of people that tried and failed to make it in those challenging landscapes.”可知，成千上万的人曾试图在具有挑战性的环境中生存而未能成功，说明好奇心也会带来负面影响，甚至是灾难。故A项正确。

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