英语四级阅读理解练习题及解析(1)【阅读练习】What is it about Americans and food? We love to eat,but we feel 1 about it afterward. We say we want only the bes t, but we strangely enjoy junkfood. We’re 2 with health an d weight loss but face an unprecedented epidemic of obes ity(肥胖). Perhaps the 3 to this ambivalence(矛盾情结) lies in our history. The first Europeans cameto this con tinent searching for new spices but went in vain. The first cash crop(经济作物)wasn’t eaten but smoked. Then there was Prohibition, i ntended to prohibit drinking butactually encouraging more 4 ways of doing it.The immigrant experience, too, has been one of inharmon y. Do as Romans do meanseating what “real Americans” e at, but our nation’s food has come to be 5 by imports—piz za,say, or hot dogs. And some of the country’s most treas ured cooking comes from people whoarrived here in shack les.Perhaps it should come as no surprise then that food has been a medium for the nation’sdefining struggles, whether at the Boston Tea Party or the sit?ins at southern lunch c ounters.It is integral to our concepts of health and even m orality whether one refrains from alcohol forreligious reaso ns or evades meat for political 6But strong opinions have not brought 7 . Americans are a mbivalent about what they putin their mouths. We have b ecome 8 of our foods, especially as we learn more about what theycontain.The 9 in food is still prosperous in the American conscious ness. It’s no coincidence, then,that the first Thanksgiving holds the American imagination in such bondage(束缚). It’s whatwe eat—and how we 10 it with friends, famil y, and strangers—that help define America as acommunity today.A. answer I. creativeB. result J. beliefC. share K. suspiciousD. guilty L. certaintyE. constant M. obsessedF. defined N. identifyG. vanish O. idealsH. adapted【答案及详解】1. D feel是一个系动词，可以判断此处应填入一个形容词，通过上下文意思，以及后面介词about, 可以确定选项为D项guilty, 短语feel guilty about sth. “对……感到有愧”。
全句的意思为“我们很爱吃，但是往往在吃完之后又有负罪感”。
2.M be obsessed with 为固定搭配，原意为“被……附上/缠住/迷住心窍”，放在本句表示“十分重视”。
全句的意思为“我们很关心健康和减肥，但肥胖却又空前地在蔓延”。
3. A 本句缺一个名词作主语，并且根据和介词to的搭配，可以推断出正确选项answer.4. I本句根据more和ways可以判断出需要填入一个形容词构成比较级，根据上下文，表示“旨在禁止酗酒的禁酒令，却激发了更多新奇的方法来酗酒”，可以确定I为正确选项。
5. F 本题较难。
根据be 和by 确定应填入一个过去分词。
再根据上下文，上文表示“应该吃典型的美国人吃的食物”，下文通过 but 转折，表示实际上“美国的食物已经被诸如比萨和热狗这样的舶来品所诠释了”，因此可以确定F为正确选项。
6.B政治结果，可根据宗教原因religious reasons来推断此处填政治结果。
7. L由于横线后面没有宾语，可以确定不是形成bring 的短语，这样本句所缺的为一名词，做bring的宾语。
根据下文解释，“美国人对他们所吃的食物的态度是矛盾的”，可以推出本句意义为“坚定的观点也不是确定不变的”。
因此可以确定L为正确选项。
8. K系动词become后应填入一个形容词，和后面介词of形成短语be/become suspicious of“对……感到怀疑”。
9. J本句缺一个名词作主语，并且根据和介词in的搭配，可以推断出正确选项belief，(have)belief in sth.“ 相信……”。
10. C本句是一般现在时，缺一个动词，且和with 搭配，确定选项为share, share sth. withsb., “与某人分享某事”。
英语四级阅读理解练习题及解析(2)【阅读练习】Baekeland and Hartmann report that the “short sleepers”had been more or less average in their sleep needs until th e men were in their teens. But atabout age 15 or so, the men voluntarily began cutting down their nightly sleep tim e becauseof pressures from school, work, and other activit ies. These men tended to view their nightlyperiods of unc onsciousness as bothersome interruptions in their daily ro utines.In general, these “short sleeps” appeared ambitious, activ e, energetic, cheerful,conformist(不动摇) in their opinions, and very sure about their career choi ces. They often heldseveral jobs at once, or workers full-o r part-time while going to school. And many of them hada strong urge to appear “normal” or “acceptable” to their fri ends and associates.When asked to recall their dreams, the “short sleepers” di d poorly. More than this, theyseemed to prefer not remem bering. In similar fashion, their usual way of dealing withp sychological problems was to deny that the problem existe d, and then to keep busy in thehope that the trouble woul d go away.The sleep patterns of the “short sleepers” were similar to, but less extreme than, sleeppatterns shown by many men tal patients categorized as manic(疯人).The “long sleepers” were quite different indeed. Baekelan d and Hartmann report thatthese young men had been len gthy sleeps since childhood. They seemed to enjoy their sl eep,protected it, and were quite concerned when they wer e occasionally deprived of their desired 9hours of nightly b ed rest. They tended to recall their dreams much better th an did the “shortsleepers.”Many of the “long sleepers” were shy, anxious, introverted (内向), inhibited (压抑),passive, mildly depressed, and unsure of themselves ( particularly in social situations). Severalopenly states that sleep was an escape from their daily problems.1. According to the report,______.A) many short sleepers need less sleep by natureB) many short sleepers are obliged to reduce their nightly sleep time because they arebusy with their workC) long sleepers sleep a longer period of time during the d ayD) many long sleepers preserve their sleeping habit forme d during their childhood2. Many “short sleepers” are likely to hold the view that __ ___.A) sleep is a withdrawal from the realityB) sleep interferes with their sound judgementC) sleep is the least expensive item on their routine progra mD) sleep is the best way to deal with psychological trouble s3. It is stated in the third paragraph that short sleepers __ ___.A) are ideally vigorous even under the pressures of lifeB) often neglect the consequences of inadequate sleepC) do not know how to relax properlyD) are more unlikely to run into mental problems4. When sometimes they cannot enjoy adequate sleep, the long sleepers might ____.A) appear disturbedB) become energeticC) feel dissatisfiedD) be extremely depressed5. Which of the following is Not included in the passage?A) If one sleeps inadequately, his performance suffers and his memory is weakenedB) The sleep patterns of short sleepers are exactly the san e as those shown by manymental patientsC) Long and short sleepers differ in their attitudes towards sleepD) Short sleepers would be better off with more rest【答案及详解】答案：DCBAB贝克尔和哈特曼报道说，“睡眠少的人”在未进入少年期之前，其正常睡眠时间大致与所需要的时间差不多。