以下是小编为大家整理的2013年12月英语四级长篇阅读真题及答案(二)，供各位考生参考。
Section B
Directions： In this section, you are going to read a passage with ten statements attached to it. Each statement contains information given in one of the paragraphs. Identify the paragraph from which the information is derived. You may choose a paragraph more than once. Each paragraph is marked with a letter. Answer the questions by marking the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2.
Is College a Worthy Investment?
A) Why are we spending so much money on college? And why are we so unhappy about it? We all seem to agree that a college education is wonderful, and yet strangely we worry when we see families investing so much in this supposedly essential good. Maybe it's time to ask a question that seems almost sacrilegious (大不敬的）：is all this investment in college education really worth it?
B) The answer, I fear, is no. For an increasing number of kids’ the extra time and money spent pursuing a college diploma will leave them worse off than they were before they set foot on campus.
C) For my entire adult life, a good education has been the most important thing for middle-class households. My parents spent more educating my sister and me than they spent on their house, and they're not the only ones... and, of course, for an increasing number of families, most of the cost of their house is actually the cost of living in a good school district. Questioning the value of a college education seems a bit like questioning the value of happiness, or fun.
D) The average price of all goods and services has risen about 50 percent. But the price of a college education has nearly doubled in that time. Is the education that today’s students are getting twice as good? Are new workers twice as smart? Have they become somehow massively more expensive to educate?
E) Perhaps a bit. Richard Vedder, an Ohio University economics professor, says, ‘.I look at the data, and I see college costs rising faster than inflation up to the mid-1980s by 1 percent a year. Now I see them rising 3 to 4 percent a year over inflation. What has happened? The federal government has started dropping money out of airplanes." Aid has increased, subsidized （补贴的）loans have become available, and "the universities have gotten the money." Economist Bryan Caplan, who is writing a book about education, agrees： "It’s a giant waste of resources that will continue as long as the subsidies continue."
F) Promotional literature for colleges and student loans often speaks of debt as an "investment in yourself." But an investment is supposed to generate income to pay off the loans. More than half of all recent graduates are unemployed or in jobs that do not require a degree, and the amount of student- loan debt carried by households has increased more than five times since 1999. These graduates were told that a diploma was all they needed to succeed, but it won't even get them out of the spare bedroom at Mom and Dad's. For many, the most visible result of their four years is the loan payments, which now average hundreds of dollars a month on loan balances in the tens of thousands.
G) It’s true about the money—sort of. College graduates now make 80 percent more than people who have only a high-school diploma, and though there are no precise estimates, the wage premium (高出的部分）for an outstanding school seems to be even higher. But that’s not true of every student. It's very easy to spend four years majoring in English literature and come out no more employable than you were before you went in. Conversely, chemical engineers straight out of school can easily make almost four times the wages of an entry-level high-school graduate.
H) James Heckman, the Nobel Prize-winning economist, has examined how the returns on education break down for individuals with different backgrounds and levels of ability. "Even with these high prices, you’re still finding a high return for individuals who are bright and motivated," he says. On the other hand, "if you’re not college ready, then the answer is no, it's not worth it." Experts tend to agree that for the average student, college is still worth it today, but they also agree that the rapid increase in price is eating up more and more of the potential return. For borderline students, tuition (学费）rise can push those returns into negative territory.
I) Everyone seems to agree that the government, and parents, should be rethinking how we invest in higher education—and that employers need to rethink the increasing use of college degrees as crude screening tools for jobs that don’t really require college skills. "Employers seeing a surplus of college graduates and looking to fill jobs are just adding that requirement," says Vedder. "In fact, a college degree becomes a job requirement for becoming a bar-tender."
J) We have started to see some change on the finance side. A law passed in 2007 allows many students to cap their loan payment at 10 percent of their income and forgives any balance after 25 years. But of course, that doesn't control the cost of education; it just shifts it to taxpayers. It also encourages graduates to choose lower-paying careers, which reduces the financial return to education still further. "You’re subsidizing people to become priests and poets and so forth," says Heckman. "You may think that's a good thing, or you may not." Either way it will be expensive for the government.
K) What might be a lot cheaper is putting more kids to work. Caplan notes that work also builds valuable skills一probably more valuable for kids who don’t naturally love sitting in a classroom. Heckman agrees wholeheartedly： **People are different, and those abilities can be shaped. That’s what we’ve learned, and public policy should recognize that."
L) Heckman would like to see more apprenticeship-style (学徒式）programs, where kids can learn in the workplace—learn not just specific job skills, but the kind of "soft skills，" like getting to work on time and getting along with a team, that are crucial for career success. "It’s about having mentors (指导者) and having workplace-based education,” he says. "Time and again I’ve seen examples of this kind of program working.
M) Ah, but how do we get there from here? With better public policy, hopefully, but also by making better individual decisions. ‘‘Historically markets have been able to handle these things,” says Vedder, "and I think eventually markets will handle this one. If it doesn't improve soon, people are going to wake up and ask, ‘Why am I going to college?"
注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。
46. Caplan suggests that kids who don't love school go to work.
47. An increasing number of families spend more money on houses in a good school district.
48. Subsidized loans to college students are a huge waste of money, according to one economist.
49. More and more kids find they fare worse with a college diploma.
50. For those who are not prepared for higher education, going to college is not worth it.
51. Over the years the cost of a college education has increased almost by 100%.
52. A law passed recently allows many students to pay no more than one tenth of their income for their college loans.
53. Middle-class Americans have highly valued a good education.
54. More kids should be encouraged to participate in programs where they can learn not only job skills but also social skills.
55. Over fifty percent of recent college graduates remain unemployed or unable to find a suitable job.
Section B
参考译文
教育是一项值得的投资吗？
A) 为什么我们要花那么多钱上大学？为什么我们对此闷闷不乐？我们似乎都认为接受大学教育是令人高兴的,但奇怪的是,当看到很多家庭为这个通应能带来好处的大学教育投资很多时,我们忧心忡忡。或许是时候提出一个看似大不敬的问题了：对大学教育的投资真的值得吗？
B) 恐怕答案是否定的。(49)越来越多的年轻人把额外的时间和金钱花在追求大学文凭上,这样导致了他们比刚进人校园时更拮据。
C) (53)我成年时期,接受良好的教育已成为中产阶级家庭最重要的事情。我的父母在我和妹妹身上的教育花费要多于家庭开支,然而这样做的不止他们……当然，(47)对于越来越多的家庭来说，大部分的家庭开支实际上就是住在一个好学区的成本。(53)质疑大学教育的价值似乎有点像质疑幸福或乐趣的价值。
D) 商品和服务的平均价格上涨了大约50%。(51)但-与此同时大学教育成本却增加了近一倍。是今天 学生接受的教育比以前的好两倍吗？是新工人比之前的聪明两倍吗？还是他们的教育成本更昂贵了呢？
E) 或许有点吧。俄亥俄大学的一位经济学教授Richard Vedder说:“我查阅了资料,发现大学教育成本的增长快于20世纪80年代中期通货膨胀每年1%的增长速度。现在它们的年增长速度比通货膨胀高3%〜4%。发生了什么？联邦政府已经开始用飞机撒钱。"救助增多了,补貼贷款已发放大学 得到了资金"。(48)经济学家Brvan Caplan正在写一本关于教育的书，他认为只要补贴继续发 放,资源的巨大浪费就将一直持续下去。"
F) 对大学和学生贷款的宣传材料通常将债务描述为"对自己的投资"。但是投资应当是能够创造收入 偿还借款的。(55)但是现在一半以上的举业生处于待业状态或者从事一些并不需要学历的工作,而 从1999年开始,家庭学生贷款的数额已增长了 5倍多。这些毕业生曾被告知,他们只需一个学位就 能获得成功,但是如今这样的学位连it他们摆脱对父母的依赖都没能实现。对于很多人来说,四年 大学生活带给他们的最明显的结果就是標还贷款,他们面对着数以万计的贷款余款,平均每月要偿还几百美元。
G) 关于钱的认识,在某种程度上是正确的。现在大学毕业生的收入比只有高中文凭的人的高出80%; 虽然没有精确的估駕,名校毕业生收入高出的部分似乎还要高。但这并非对任何学生都适用。花四 年的时间读英国文学专业很容易，而毕业之后很可能还没有上大学之前好就业。相反,化学工程师 大学一毕业的工资几乎是一个高中毕业的初学者的4倍。
H) 诺贝尔经济学奖获得者James Heckman曾做了这样一项研究:对于不同背景和能力水平的人而言， 教育回报是如何分配的。他指出："尽管上大学的费用很高,对于那些聪明、积极主动的人而言，回报 还是很大的。"(50)另一方面如果你役有准备好上大学,答案就是否定的,不值得。"专家们倾向于认为,对于普通学生而言,上大学还是使得的,但是他们也认为教育成本的迅速增长也正在吞噬着越来越多的潜在收益。对于处于临界点的学生而言,学费的增长可能会将这些回报变成负值。
I) 似乎大家都同意政府和家长应当重新审视如何投资高等教育,雇主需要重新考虑越来越多本不需要 大学能力的工作将大学学位作为粗略筛选的工具这一趋势雇主发现大学毕业生数量过剩,指望他们能填补岗位空缺,于是增加了这样的要求,"Vedder如是说。"实际上,大学文凭已经成了当酒保的职位要求。"
J) 我们已经开始看到财政上的变化。(52)2007年通过的一项法律允许学生将他们的贷款偿还额控制 在他们收人的10%以内,并且在25年后免除所有余款。但是当然该法律并不控制教育的成本,只是 把它转移到了纳税人身上。这一法律还鼓励毕业生选择低收人职业,从而进一步降低了教育的金钱 回报率。Heckman说你在资助人们成为牧师、诗人等。你也许会认为这是一件好事,或许不会。" 对政府而言,不管哪一种方式,代价都是高昂的。
K)低成本促使