1990年6月大学英语四级考试阅读附试题和答案

　　Part II Reading Comprehension (35 minutes)
Directions: There are 4 reading passages in this part. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A), B), C) and D). You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet with a single line through the centre.

Passage One

Questions 21 to 25 are based on the following passage.
You are a German living in Berlin. One day you’re walking down the street, minding your own business, when suddenly a stranger approached with a smile on his face. After stopping you, he holds a small electronic device close to his face and speaks slowly into it, saying, in English: “Can you tell me where I can buy some sauerkraut?” What should you do? (a) Run away; (b) Call the police; or, (c) Listen closely for the device to say, in German, “Konnen Sie mir bitte sager, which Sauerkraut Kaufen Kann?”

The most appropriate response would be (c) because the person in front of you is only a tourist trying to enjoy himself. The device is said to he the world’s first portable transistor—a hand-held microcomputer that—at the same time converts one spoken language into another.

The four-pound battery-operated product is called the Voice, and it is the creation of Advanced Products and Technologies an American electronics company. When the Voice is introduced in the United States in late April—at a price of $1,500—it will be capable of converting spoken English into Italian, German, French and Spanish. The product comes with separate cartridges (盒式储存器) for each of the four languages, which can be changed when the user travels from one country to another. The item will be sold in Europe soon after the U.S. Introduction, with cartridges that covert Italian, German, French and Spanish into English.

The Voice uses a microchip (微型集成块) and artificial Intelligence to translate Languages. It is started by voice command and produces voice output through a built-in speaker. Then the user makes a statement or asks a question, the Voice immediately repeats what has been said in another Language.

21. The stranger holding the Voice seems to be ________.
A) asking for some information
B) greeting the German
C) amusing himself
D) practising his German（C）

22. The German sentence “Konnen Sie Kann?” means ________.
A) “Why don’t you ask the policeman.”
B) “Would you listen closely for the device to say?”
C) “Can you say it again, please?”
D) “Can you tell me where I can buy some sauerkraut?”（D）

23. The word “speaker” in the last paragraph refers to ________.
A) the person who speaks to the device
B) a component part of the Voice
C) the person who speaks German
D) the speech produced by the Voice（B）

24. Which of the following is NOT TRUE?
A) The voice is an invention of an electronics company.
B) The voice is a hand-held translator.
C) The voice is new product in wide use.
D) The voice is mainly a microcomputer.（C）

25. The Voice can translate ________.
A) from German into any of the other four languages mentioned
B) from and into English by using the same cartridges
C) between any two of the above-mentioned languages
D) from English into any of the other four languages or the other way round（D）