英语四级阅读，作为大学英语能力的重要评估指标，不仅检验了学生对词汇、语法的掌握，更考察了其阅读理解和信息筛选的能力。在全球化背景下，提升这一能力对于拓宽视野、增进跨文化交流至关重要。今天，小编将分享2023年12月大学英语四级阅读真题以及答案（卷二），希望能为大家提供帮助！

Section A

Directions:In this section,there is a passage with ten blanks.You are required to select one word for each blank from a list of choices given in awond bank following the passage.Read the passage through carefully before making your choices.Each choice inthe bank is identified by a leter Please mark the corresponding letter for each item on AnswerShet 2 with a single line through the centre.You may not wse any ofthe wordsin the bank more than once.

A number of studies have looked at how family life can affect productivity and satisfaction in the workplace.However,there has been  26  little researchon the influence of leisure activities.So Ciara Kelly and colleagues recruited 129 hobbyists to look at how the time spent on their hobbies  27  their work life.

The researchers found that when participants spent longer than  28  on their leisure activity,their belief in their ability to perform their job was strengthened.But this was only the  29  when they had a serious hobby that was dissimilar to their job,or when their hobby was similar totheir work but they only did it  30  .When their hobby was both  serious and similar to their job,then spending more time on it actually decreased their work  31  .

Why might that be?To maintain a serious hobby,people need to invest significant psychological resources,say  the authors—so if the activity has the same kinds of demands as their work,they may be left  32  and unableto perform well attheir job.But if their hobby is quite different from their career, it may not  33  in the same way but instead help them develop other knowledge and skills that can  34  their confidence at work.“Consider a scientist who is a keen rock climber,"says Kely.“Since climbing is so far  35  from their day-to-day work activities,they can still recover from the demands of their job with plenty of resources.”

A)boost

B)case

C)casually

D)efliciency 

E)estate

F)exhausted 

G)faculty

H)interfere

I)normal

J)prevalent 

K)relative

L)removed 

M)scratch 

N)shaped

O)surprisingly

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 AnswerSheet 2.

More fathers are takingpaternity leave,but mothers are still doing all the work

A)Attitudes towards paternity leave(陪产假)have drastically changed in America in the last fiveyears as more fathers feel comfortable taking extended timeoff,but gender bias persists when it comes to career prospects and the home,accordingto anew study of working parents.

B)Research by the Boston College Center for Work &Family,which surveyed new parents at four large US companies who were qualified for taking at least sixweeks paid parental leave,found that 81%of the 1,240 employees surveyed said thenotion of fathers taking leave has become more acceptable.

C)Of those surveyed,62%of fathers took the maximum amount of time off compared to 93%of mothers,and around three-quarters of workers said their employer was equally supportive of mothers and fathers taking parental leave and over half saidleave policies had made workplace culture better.

D)The US is one of only three countries in the world not to offer statutory(法定的)paid leave,but increasingly states and companies arestarting to take up the issue.So far,eight states and the District of Columbia have  their own paid family leavelaws.

E)Brad Harrington,executive director of the center and lead author of the study,estimates only 20%to 30% of companiesin the US offer paid parental leave.He feels the research findings rellect an obvious change in corporate atitudes to new fathers taking timeoff.

F)“We did a study on paternity leave five years ago.Compared with those findings,these numbers were shocking tome.I did not expect 80%ofpeople to saythe organisationfinds dads taking this leave acceptable and three-quarters to say it's equally supportive of women and men takingleave,"Harrington said.

G)The previous studyfound thatnearly three-quartersof fathers saw two to four weeks as an appropriate duration for paternity leave and 76%said they would prefer not to take all their time offat once.

H)Since then,there have been a number of legal casesagainst companies involving paternity leave-including cases against JPMorgan Chase and Estée Lauder—which have helped put pressure on companiesto make their parental  leave policies gender neutral.

I)However,the study also shows how traditional gender roles endure both at work,where more women than men reportedchanges in their perceived career potential,and athome—even among workers who claim to have a strong  desire for equality.

J)The vast majority of men,97%,said one of the top reasons to take leave was to share caregiving with their partner.But when they were asked about how caregiving and house hold tasks were divided,their answers painted adifferent picture.While about 75% of employes said both genders should give the same amount of care,the majority of men and nearly half of women admitted that in reality the female actually did most of it A tiny fraction,2%,of men saidthey did more of the childcare.

K)Men and women's experiences of the return to work following parental leave were also considerably different.Of the women surveyed,32% reported a downturn in their job satisfaction,while 14% said it increased.In comparison,17% of men said their job satisfaction went down and 20% said it went up. Meanwhile,more women reported an increase in their responsibilities and manager expectations after childbirth.Half of the women said they used flexible work arrangements after becoming a parent,while just 27% of mendid.Similar percentages of  men and women said they enjoyed their careers and that it gave them a sense of achievement,while around half  of women and 44% of men saiditwas akey part of theiridentity.

L)On the subject of careeradvancement,59% of women and 49% of men said leave could be limiting and both genders said they feared it would have an impact on their progress long-term.But on opportunity for promotion,more than double the number of women,30% compared with 15% of men,believed their chances tobe lower after becoming aparent.Despite progress,the struggle for women toreach the highest positions of power is demonstrated in this year's Fortune 500 list,which featured a record 33 female CEOs,but this still represents a tiny fraction of the total.

M)Harington said culture change depends on companies puting more focus on menand their responsibilities“By  that I mean companies ned togive men paternity leave and encourage men to take time off to bewith theirkids earlyon in the kids'life.They also need to recognisethat men have to make significant adjustments when they become parents.Companies cannot do allthese things to enhance women's advancementand then turn around and  say,'Oh,but we don't expect the men to take over for the women at home.”

N)In May,the American Civil Liberties Union(ACLU)and Outten&GoldenLLP announced a historicclass-action $5m settlement with JPMorgan Chase on behalf of male employees who claim they were illegally denied access to paidparental leave.Derek Rotondo,35,filed the discrimination charge against his company after he was allegedly told by his HR department that mothers were considered primary caregivers.Thus they were allowed to take 16 weeks of paid parental leave.Fathers,however,could take just two weeks.

O)The father of two from Columbus,Ohio,who still works at the company as an associate and investigator,said he haswitnessed a“dominoefect(多米诺效应) ”across companies since the settlement,but that there is still substantial progress to be made towardschanging attitudes towards paternity leave.

P)“I do think there's still some way to go..there's still going to be sort of the unstated expectation for newdads to essentially come right back to work,but I think the research is showing that's starting to change."He said equal parental leave is an essential component to creatinggender equality inthe workplace.“The old standard of womenstaying home,having babiesand cooking doesn't apply and hasn't applied for a long time.

36.In theabsence of Federal legislation,some statesin the US have passed laws concerning paid family leave.

37.Most fathers admitted that even during their paternity leave they actually did much less childcare than the mother.

38.According to one father,equal parental leave is indispensable to achieving genderequality in the workplace.

39.0ne survey indicated there is now less objection to paternity leave.

40.Compared to fiveyears ago,according to one researcher,many more people said their organisation gave the same support to men and women taking parental leave.

41.One study finds that even workers who claim to desire gender equality stick to traditional gender roles both at work and at home.

42.The majority of workers surveyed saidparental leavepolicies had improved workplace culture.

43.In spite of progress,the number of women in top positions of big companies remains extremely small.

44.According to one estimate,less than one third of companies in the US provide paid parental leave.

45.A number of lawsuits have pressured companies to formulate gender neutral policies on parental leave.

Section C

Directions:There are 2 passages in this section.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  thebest choice and markthe corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.

Passage One

Questions 46 to 50 are based on the following passage.

Having a rival can keepyou committed to achievingyour goals and enhance your overall performance.But before you go out and find an entrepreneur to outcompete,it's important to understand and avoid the traps that often come with rivalry.After all,competitive rivalry can also hinder effective decision-making and increase your willingness to take risks,behaviors that can ultimately hurt your venture's success.

Finding someone you're committed to outcompeting canbe a great way to stay focused on your goals and push your venture to the next level.But when you're intently focused on outperforming yourrivals,you may begin to  develop a "win-at-all-costs"mentality that causes you to ignore how you achieve success.One group of researchers,for example,examined the link between rivalry and unethical behavior.They found that when people compete against their rivals,they are more willing to behave unethically to win.Bu such behavior may stainyour reputation and strain relationships important to your success.One way to avoid this trap is to stop and reflect on what's important.While outperforming your rivals may provide short-term benefits,the loss of your integrity will have long-term consequences.

One reason having a rival can enhance your venture'sperformance isthat it creates a level of excitement that drives you to work harder.But this eagermness to win may also hurt your venture's success,particularly when it causes you to make impulsive,insensibledecisions.But it's possible to avoid such costly mistakes by making a habit of engaging in critical thinking,such as considering opposing viewpoints and conducting cost-benefit analyses,especially for those decisions that are complex and can determine the future of your venture.

The sense of eagerness that comes with having a rival can not only cause you to make poorer decisions,but it can alsolead you totake greater risks that put your venture in peril.One way you canovercome the risk- inducing effects of rivalrythat stand to endanger your venture'ssucces is to remain attentive to your emotional state and actively monitor how such feelings are affecting your decision-making.

46.How cancompetitive rivalry benefit entrepreneurs according to thepassage?

A)By enabling them to outcompete otherentrepreneurs. 

B)Byenabling them to make their venture a success.

C)By helping them to reach long-term goals.

D)By helping them to stay goal-oriented.

47.What is one of thetrapsentrepreneurs may often fall into when competing with rivals?

A)They may adopt strategies that are bound to ruin their venture.

B)They mayresort to unethical means to outperform their rivals.

C)They may be too cagcr to succcedwhileignoring the huge laborcost.

D)They may be intently focused onwinning at the current market level.

48.What areentrepreneurs advised to do to avoid traps thatoften accompany rivalry?

A)Deliberate on what reallymatters. 

B)Prioritize reaping immediate benefits.   

C)Estimate the long-term consequences.

D)Reflect on what successes are achievable. 

49.How can entrepreneurs avoid making impulsive and insensible decisions?

A)By engaging themselves in critical reasoning.

B)By developing a habit of keeping their integrity.

C)By criticizing themselves forprevious poor performances.

D)Byrefraining from being too excited about their successes.

50.How can entrepreneurs overcome the risk-inducing effects ofrivalry?

A)By paying close attention to their current performance.

B)By taking steps that stand to endanger their rivals'success.

C)By monitoring how their decision-making impacts their mentality.

D)By keeping theiremotions in check to avoid makingpoor decisions.

Passage Two

Questions 51 to 55 are based on the followingpassage.

A multitasker is one who can perform two or more tasks effectively at the same time,which—apart from the obvious differences—is similar to what a computer does.The concept does indeed come from the realms of technology,where it is used to refer to an operating system that can execute multiple tasks at the same time. However,the question is:can a person really be a multitasker?

For most scientists,the answeris no.So much so that,according to experts in newroscience(神经系统科学),our brains do not handlemultitasking situations well.As soon as two tasks require our attention,productivity suffers.What we call multitasking,therefore,is in reality the ability to movemoreor less quickly fromone task to another.This requires two essential conditions:that oneof the tasks needs to be automatic,like walking or eating,andthat they both ned different mental processes.Answering the phone and writing at the sametime,for example.

However,onthe other side of the coin there are people whomaintain that it is possible to be,or at least seem tobe,multitasking.A recent study concluded that regardless of whether people are actually handling several tasks or not,themere fact that they perceive this activityas multitasking hasa positive effect on theirperformance.

The business perspective offers a different view:multitasking is understood as the ability to adapt to all types of environment within acompany and effectively undertake different activitieswithin a set time frame.  Indeed,many companies look for people who are skilled in multitasking to improve their productivity.From this  differentperspective,you can not only be multitaskingbut this ability can also be taught:something that is easier in fluid organisations,which favour flexibility in theirworking practices.

The benefitsof multitasking are clear.Being quicker and more efficient increases our performance and the number oftasks completed.But having to pay attention to several things at once means that thepowers of concentration are reduced and that can lead to more mistakes.

51.What doesa'"multitasker"originally refer to?

A)An operating system capable of doing several tasks at once.

B)A skilled worker executing more than one task at the same time.

C)Asophisticatedtechnology doingseveral tasks effectively at once.    

D)An efficient person able to perform multiple tasks at the same time.

52.Why can't people really be multitaskers accordingto neuroscientists? 

A)They are not sufficiently exposed to multitasking situations.

B)They arenot comparable to mechanical operating systems. 

C)Their brains do not allow them to multitask.

D)Their attention span cannot be expanded.

53.What do we learn from the conclusion of a recent study on multitasking?

A)People make greater achievements by maintaining whatever they aredoing is multitasking. 

B)People's performance benefits from the perception of what theyare doing as multitasking. 

C)People's active mental processes exert apositive efect on their multitasking.

D)People can improve their capabilities by handling multitasking situations. 

54.How does the business world view multitasking?

A)It is a rare skill often found in fluid organisations.

B)It is an adaptable capability required of all workers. 

C)It isan essential quality many employees lack.

D)It is a desirable ability that can be developed.

55.What does theauthor imply weshoulddo if we have to focus on some task and do it well?

A)Work in aflexible way.

B)Learn from mistakes.

C)Avoid multitasking.

D)Increase efficiency.