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（卷三）相关内容，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 oneword for each blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage.Read the passage through carefully before making your choices.Each choice in the bank is identified bya letter.Please mark the corresponding letter for each item onAnswer Sheet 2with a single line through the centre.You may not use any ofthe words inthe bank  more than once.

When people set out to improve their health,they usually take a familiarpath:starting a healthy diet,getting better sleep,and doing regular exercise.Each of these behaviors is important,of course,but they all  26  on physical health—and a growing body of research suggests that social health is just as,if not more,important to.  27  well-being.

One recent study published in the journal PLOS ONE,for example,found that the strength of a person's social circle was a better  28  of self-reported stress,happiness and well-being levels than fitness tracker data on physical activity,heart rate and sleep.That finding suggests that the“  29  self"represented by endless amounts of health data doesn't tell the whole  30  .

There'salso a qualified self,which is who I am,what are my activities,my social network,and all of these aspects are not  31  in any of these measurements.

This idea is supported byplenty of  32  research.Studies have shown that social support—whether it comes from friends,family members or a spouse—is  33  associated with better mental and physical health.A rich social life,these studies suggest,can lower stress levels,improve mood,encourage positive health behaviors and discourage damaging ones,boost hearthealth and improve illness.  34  rates.

Social isolation,meanwhile,is linked to higher rates of physical diseases and mental health conditions. It's a significant problem,  35  since loneliness is emerging as a widespread public health problem in many  countries.

A)base        I)prompt

B)eagerly      J)puzzle

C)especially    K)quantified

D)focus       L)recovery

E)indicator    M)reflected

F)overall      N)story

G)preached     O)strongly

H)prior

Section B

Direetions: In this section,yow aregoing to read apassage with ten statements attachedto it.Each statement contains information given in one of the paragraphs.Identif theparagraph from which the information is  derived.You may choose a paragraph more than once.Each paragraph is marked with a letter.Answer the  questionsby marking the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2.

Teenagers and soclal networking

A)As a parent of twoboys at primary school,I worry about the issues associated with teenagers and social media.Newspapersare constantly filledwith frightening accountsof drug addiction andagressive behaviour supposedly caused by violent videogames.But even when these accounts touchon real concerns,they donot really reflect the great mass of everyday tenage social behaviour:the online chat,the texting,the surfing, and the emergence of a new teenage spherethat is conducted digitally.

B)New technologies always provoke generational panic,which usually has more to do with adult fears than with the livesof teenagers.In the 1930s,parents worried that radio was gaining“an irresistiblehold of their children".In the 80s,the great dangerwas theSony Walkman(随身听).When you look at today's digital activity,the facts are muchmore positive thanyoumight cxpcct.

C)Indeed,social scientists whostudy young people have found that their digital use can be inventive and even beneficial.This is true not just in terms of their social lives,but their education too.Soif you use a ton of social media,do you become unable,or unwilling,to engage in face-to-face contact?The evidence suggests not.Research by Amanda Lenhart of thePew Research Centre,a US think tank,foundthat the most passionate texters are also the kids most likely to spend time with friends in person.One form of socialising doesn't replace the other.It expands it.

D)“Kidsstill spend time face to face,”Lenhart says.Indeed,as they get older and are given more freedom,they  often ease up on social networking.Early on,the web is their“third space”,but by the late teens,it's replaced in reaction to greater independence.They have to be on Facebook,to know what's going on among friends and family,but they are ambivalent(有矛盾心理的)about it,says Rebeca Eynon,aresearch fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute,who has interviewed about 200 British teenagers over threeyears.As they gain experience with living online,they begin to adjust their behaviour,strugling with newcommunication skils, asthey do in therealworld.

E)Parents are wrong to worry that kids don't care about privacy.In fact,they spend hours changing Facebook settings or usingquick-delete sharing tools,such as Snapchat,to minimise their traces.Or they post a photograph on Instagram,have a pleasant conversation with friends and then delete it so that no traces remain.

F)This is not to say that kids alwaysuse good judgment Like everyoneelse,they make mistakes-sometimes serious ones.But working out how to behaveonline is a new social skill.While there's plenty of drama and messiness online,it is not,for most tens,a cycleof non-stop abuse:a Pew study found only 15%of teens said someone had bullied them online in the last 12 months.

G)But surely llthis short-form writing is affecting literacy?Certainly,teachers worry.They say that kids use overly casual language and text-speak in writing,anddon't have as much patience for long reading and complex arguments.Yet studies of first-year college paperssuggest these anxieties may be partlybased on misguided nostalgia(怀旧).When Stanford University scholarAndrea Lunsford gathereddata on therates of errors in “freshman composition”papers going back to 1917,she found that theywere vitually identical to today.

H)But even as error rates stayedstable,student essays have blossomed insizeand complexity.They are now six times longerand,unlike older “what I did this summer”ssays,they offer arguments supported by evidence. Why?Computers have vastly increased the ability of students togather information,sample dfferent points of view and write more fluidly.

I)When linguist Naomi Baron studied students'instant messaging even there she found surprisingly rare usage of short forms such as“u”for“you”,and as students got older,they beganto write in more grammatical  sentences.That is because they want to appear more adult,and they know how adults are expected to write. Clearly,teaching teens formalwriting is sill crucial,but texting probably isn't destroying their ability to  learn it.

J)It is probably true that fewer kids are heavy readers compared with two generations ago,when cheap paperbacks boosted ratesof reading.Buteven back then,a minority of people—perhaps 20%—were lifelong heavyreaders,and it was cable TV,not the internet,that struck a blow at that culture in the 1980s.Still,15% or more of kids arefound to bedeeply bookish.In fact,the online world offerskids remarkable opportunities tobecome literate and creative because young people can now publish ideas no just totheir friends,bu to the world.And it turnsout thatwhen theywrite for strangers,their senseof"authentic audience"makes them work harder,push themselves further,and create powerful new communicative forms.

K)Few would deny that too much time online can be harmful.Some of the dangers are emotional:hurting someone from a distance is not the sameas hurtingthem face to face.If we're lucky,the legal environment will change to make teenagers'online lives less likely to haunt them lateron.Just last week,California passed a lawallowing minors to demand that internet firms erase theirdigital past and the EU has considered similar legislation.

L)Distraction isalso a serious issue.When kids switch from chat to music to homework,they are indeed likely to have trouble doing each task well.And studies show that pupils don't fact-check informationonline— “smart searching"is a skill schools need to teach urgently.It's also true that too much social networking and game playing can cut into schoolwork and sleep.This is precisely why parents still need to set firm boundaries around it,as with any other distraction.

M)So what's the best way to cope?The same boring old advice that applies to everything in parenting: moderation.Rebecca Eynon argues that it's key to model good behaviour.Parents whostare non-stop at their phones and don't read books are likely to bred kids who wlldothe same.As ever,we ought to becareful about our own behaviour.

36.Research has found the use of digital technology benefits not only teenagers'social lives but also their studies.

37.Itisurgent thatschoolsteach kids how to verify online information.

38.Students now write longer and more complex essays than their counterparts in previous decadeswhile the errorrates remain unchanged

39.Newspaper reports of teenagers give a false picture of their behaviour.

40.Parents are advised to mind their own digitalbehaviour and set a good examplefor their kids. 

41.Contrary toparents'belief,kidstry hard to leave as fewtraces as possible on the web.

42.Students'ability tolearn formalwiting is unlikely tobe affected by texting

43.Historically,new technologieshave always caused great fears among parents.

44.The reading culture was seriously affected bycable television some four decades ago.

45.Teachers say that kids'writingistoo casual,using languagecharacteristic of text messages.

Section C

Directions: There are 2 passages in this section.Each passage is followed by some questions or wnfinished 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 Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.

Passage One

Questions 46 to 50 arebased onthefollowingpassage

In the historyof horse racing,few horses have captured the ffectionof theBritish public ike Red Rum. Today,three decades after his retirement,he is till one of the best-known and most beloved racehorses of all time.

Red Rum was passed aroundto several owners beforebeing purchased for Noel Le Mar.The agent who made the purchase wasthe now-legendary horse trainerDonald“Ginger”MeCain.

It wasn't apparent at thetime,but Red Rum had a serious bonedisease in his foot.For many horses(and many trainers)this would mean the end of a racing career before it even began.For Ginger and Red Rum,though,it was just an obstacle to greatnes that had to beovercome.

Red Rum's true talent came out in steplechases(障碍赛马).His power,speed and jumping abiliy caried him to his first GrandNational title in 1973.The very next year,Red Rum returned totake his second title.He was the first horse to take successive frsts since Reynoldstown in 1935-1936.Red Rum's spirit and grace had already begun to charm the leaguesof Grand National fans.

In the following two years,Red Rum lost out onthe title,coming in second both times.When hereturned in 1977 to try again,he was largely regarded as past his prime.He was 12 years old and notexpectedto place highly.He surprised sporting fans around the world when he came in a remarkable 25 lengthsahead of the nearest horse,taking his third Grand National win.To this day,Red Rum's third win is known as one of the greatest moments in horse racing history.

Red Rum was headed for the GrandNational once again in 1978 but suffered an injury in one of his heels shortly before therace.He was retired soon after,but his public life and fame by no means decreased with the end of his career.Red Rum taveled all over the country for various engagements.Heoften led pre-race parades at Aintree Racecourse and wasa popular guest at charity benefits and public events

46.What do we learn from the passage about Red Rum the racehorse?  

A)He captured public affection long before he won national titles. 

B)He won enormous fame and love from British people.

C)He became a myth three decades after his retirement.

D)He owed his great success to several well-known horse trainers.

47.What didthe serious bone diseasein Red Rum's foot meanto himself and his trainer?

A)It was simplya hindrance they had to get over to excel.

B)It was surely a disadvantage though not considered fatal.

C)It was actuallythe end of a racing career that hadjust begun. 

D)It was really a major obstacle hard to overcome on their own.

48.What does the author say RedRum did with his power,peed and jumping ability?

A)Hc won his first Grand National title at 12.

B)He took two firsts successively in 1935-1936.

C)He surprised sporting fans worldwide in 1973.

D)He took three GrandNational wins in the 1970s.

49.What did peoplegenerally think of Red Rum when he returned to the racecourse in 1977?

A)He had already passed the peakof his racinglife.

B)He would have no rivalin Grand National steeplechases.

C)Hehad losthis charm with theleagues of Grand National fans.

D)He couldbe expected to repeat hisglory in the primeof his career. 

50.What became of Red Rum afterhis career ended?

A)He suffered from severe pain ina heel.

B)He spent almost all his time traveling.

C)He lived on various charity benefits.

D)He remained famous and popular.

Passage Two

Questions 51 to 55 are based on thefollowing passage.

People in business often makedecisions based on their own personal felings or instincts.It is quite horrifying toseepeople being guided by some unknown force.But how wise is it,really,to let your instincts drive your decisions?

In the decision-making process,relying on instincts only makes sense when you have a vast experience to support you.Simply “feeling”that something is right or should be done is highly subjective and can drown you.

On the otherhand,thereisa more rational approach to making decisions.Data and analysishave longbeen associated with informed decisions.These reduce the likelihood of errorsand increase the chances of success. Big,systematic data is mostly the foundation of most of our decisions,personal and business alike,But with its extreme usability comesa complication:what do you do if youstrongly feelsomething should not be done,even if the data insists that it should?

This seemingly easy question is what drives the need to understand the relationship between instincts and data in the decision-making process.Without making things complicated,the solution to this dilemma is using data and instincts in conjunction to arrive at the best possible decisions.

Instinctive decisions are always backed by previous experiences or information,which acknowledges that instinctive decisionshave worked in the past.Decisions are not about making the choice and braving the consequencesbcause you wantto blindly trustyour instincts.They are about combining your inner wisdom with the knowledge of systematic data to make the best decisions.

Sometimes,rational analysis and data are impractical to be employed in certain situations.Absence of definitive criteria,and time and resource constraints,and novel situations are instances which limit the practicality ofdata.Theonly feasible option is to rely on what yourinstinctstell you.In these situations,instincts can help you make effective andquick decisions.

Combining instinctive and rational analysis produces well-rounded decisions.It reduces the chances of making mistakes,and has increasingly become a favorite approach to decision-making among leaders oftoday.

51.What does the author say businesspeople often do?

A)Strive to make sense of some unknown forces. 

B)Avoid beingdriven by their own feelings. 

C)Draw on avastwealth of past experience.

D)Rely on instincts in decision-making. 

52.What should wetake into account in order to make informed decisions?

A)The likelihood of errors.

B)Systematic data and analysis.

C)The complexity of circumstances.

D)Personal feelings and business strategies.

53.What should people doin a decision-makingproces if instincts disagree with data?

A)Resolve the dilemma with previous experience.

B)Figure out which of thetwoismore reliable.

C)Combinethe two together.

D)Prioritize instincts over data.

54.What should we do when facing various factors that limit the practicality of data?

A)Make a rationaland systematic analysis. 

B)Explorethe most feasible options.

C)Resort to our inner wisdom. 

D)Apply definitive criteria.

55.What does it take for decisions to become the best according to the author?

A)Applying instinctsand data in conjunction. 

B)Assessing all factors whenmaking a choice.               

C)Recalling what hasactually worked in the past.

D)Refraining from trusting instincts arbitrarily.