试卷构成
就所测试的语言能力而言，试点阶段的四级考试由以下四个部分组成：
1）听力理解；2）阅读理解；3）完型填空或改错；4）写作和翻译。
样卷分析
1） 题序的调整
试点考试样卷由六部分组成，分别是Part I Writing（写作），Part II Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning)（快速阅读），Part III Listening Comprehension (听力理解)，Part IV Reading Comprehension (Reading In Depth) (深度阅读)，Part V Cloze (完型填空)以及Part VI Translation (翻译)。
新四级试卷结构
试卷构成 试题内容 答题时间
Part I Writing 30 minutes
Part II Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning) 15 minutes
Part III Listening Comprehension 35 minutes
Part IV Reading Comprehension (Reading in Depth) 25 minutes
Part V Cloze or Error Correction 15 minutes
Part VI Translation 5 minutes
令人耳目一新的是题序有所调整，原来的写作是在试卷二上，是第五部分，而现在则调整到第一部分，而阅读的测试则一分为二，分别为第二部分和第四部分，写作和快速阅读合二为一，在试卷一上，用时45分钟，分值比例为25%。
试卷二由四部分构成，分别是听力理解（Listening Comprehension），Part IV 阅读理解（Reading Comprehension） (Reading in Depth) (深度仔细阅读)，Part V 完型填空（Cloze ）Part VI 翻译 用时80分钟，分值比例为70%。
不难看出，题序的调整（Translation）对学生考试时间的控制更加严格，试卷一上的45分钟和试卷二上的听力理解的35分钟是不能挪用的，供考生做试卷二其他三项的时间是45分钟，这部分时间考生可稍稍调配.而在这短短的45分钟内，要完成三个部分的考试内容，难度可想而知。
2） 题型的设置
根据2004年初教育部高教司组织制定并在全国部分高校开始试点的《大学英语课程教学要求》中的精神，在考卷的内容和形式上，听力理解部分的题量和分值比例有所加大，增加了快速阅读，理解测试和翻译测试，主观的非选择性试题的比例大大提高了。具体而言，
第二部分快速阅读题量为10题，1到7题为是非判断题，如果与文章内容相符，就选“Y”，不相符则为N，若所含信息文章中没有提及，则为NG(Not Given没有给出)，8到10题为完成句子，实际上就是老题中的简短回答题（SAQ）的翻版。
例：1. The passage gives a general description of the structure and use of a landfill.
2. Most of the trash that Americans generate ends up in landfills.
3. Compared with other major industrialized countries, America buries a much higher percentage of its solid waste in landfills.
4. Landfills are like compost piles in that they speed up decomposition of the buried trash.
5. In most countries the selection of a landfill site is governed by rules and regulations.
6. In the United Slates the building of landfills is the job of both federal and local governments.
7. Hazardous wastes have to be treated before being dumped into landfills.
8. Typical customers of a landfill are _________________.
9. To dispose of a ton of trash in a landfill, customers have to pay a tipping fee of ______.
10. Materials that are not permitted to be buried in landfills should be dumped at ____________.
第三部分听力理解的调整动作很大，题量大增，有46道之多，分成ABC三个小部分（Section 3），用时35分钟，Section A对话部分，8个短对话，2段长对话，题量有7至8个，共15题；Section B仍是短文理解，3篇文章，10个问题，每篇短文后3至4个问题，这两部分都是多项选择题；Section C是复合式听写，原来老题型中是三篇文章的替换，现在变成必考内容，且听写的单词由原来的7个变成8个，单句不变，仍为3句（并列复合句和主从复合句），用时25分钟。
第四部分Reading In Depth也一分为二，Section A为造词填空要求考生从一个词量为15个单词的词库中选出10个分别填入（根据文章内容）10个空格中；而Section B为两篇文章，每篇文章原来5道问题，袭用传统题型。
第五部分为完型填空，仍然袭用传统形式，一篇文章二十个空格，每个空格提供A、B、C、D四个选项，15分钟。
第六部分为翻译，Translation，用时5分钟，命题形式是给出未完成的句子，缺失部分用中文标示出，要求考生将中文译成准确、规范的英文。用时5分钟。
简而言之，改革后的试卷在保留了考试的主体的同时，增加了主观部分的比例，这一点可从分值的比重可以看出，7+7+5+5/24%。
3） 新增题型的分析
长对话：长对话是增加两个对话者的轮次，样题的第一个长话达九轮之多，属于商务英语的范围，内容是动议、工厂生产、广告策略，如更新设备、增加人力资源、增加电视广告，生产成本等话题，内容多、杂，不象短对话那么单一，但考生若提前浏览相关选择项，做出合理快速的预判，是可以应付的，第二个长对话的对话人是图书管理负责和学生，内容是写论文、查阅参考书，选题；与学生生活关系密切，对话轮次为6轮。
快速阅读：测试多项快速阅读技能，主要是Skimming 和Scanning。样题给出的文章长度为1000个单词左右（教学要求中规定的标准是每分钟100个单词左右，也就是10分钟完成）, 后设10道题，前7个为正误判断，后来3个为句子完成，相等于前面的SAQ。这是一篇标题文章，大标题是Landfills，主要内容讲述的是垃圾填埋场。引入性文字之后，文章的主体部分分设七个小标题，涉及到垃圾量, 处理方式，填埋场的定义，规划，修建，运作等方面，从所出的10道题来看，只有第1题涉及文章的大意，其余9题全是文章中的重要细节，因此,寻读的能力就显得尤为重要。
仔细阅读：Reading in Depth选用的文章长约200单词，涉及的内容是美国移民的双语教育方式（bilingual education）的好处，难度略低于传统的阅读文章，而要求填入的单词都是属于一般要求的词汇。不过，考生若要答对全部恐非易事，因为该题型不但要求完全理解文章内容，而且要明白这些单词的准确意义及其用法，因此虽然说取消了词汇题考试，但它比词汇题要求更严，原来是四选一，现在是15选1，概率大大降低，几乎没有任何蒙的成分，或凭借技巧而得分，实际上对词汇的理解提出更高的要求。
阅读部分的这两种新题型所采用的是雅思的命题方式.
翻译：与往年考过的翻译不同，新题型中的汉译英的句子不是从阅读文章中抽取，而是测的是考生对句子短语或常用表达层次上的中译英能力，考生如果词汇量够用，且具备扎实的语法知识（主要是句法），还是可以应付如裕。
仅举一例：样题87. The substance does not dissolve in water _______________________
(不管是否加热)，所给出的确标准答案是Whether (it is )heated or not，考生既要知道连词whether or not和被动语态等句法,还要了解 “heat”的动词词法。
总体评价：
综上所述，改革后的四级考试题的设置，是与四级《教学要求》相一致的，在尽可能地保持了原考试的公正性的同时，科学性和客观性得到了更加充分的体现，题量的改革，新题型的设置，主观题（非选择性试题）比例的增加，使得该考试更准确地测量我国在校大学生的英语综合应用能力，尤其是英语听说能力。可以预料是，新的考试必将对大学英语教学产生正面的导向作用。
就复习迎考而言，大家也不必过分惊慌，毕竟主体部分仍将沿用以往的题型
附：新题型样题
大学英语四级考试试点考试样卷
(新增题型节选)
Part II Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning) (15 minutes)
Directions: In this part, you will have 15 minutes to go over the passage quickly and answer the questions on Answer Sheet 1.
For questions 1-7, mark
Y (for YES) if the statement agrees with the information given in the passage;
N (for NO) if the statement contradicts the information given in the passage;
NG (for NOT GIVEN) if the information is not given in the passage.
For questions 8-10, complete the sentences with the information given in the passage.
Landfills
You have just finished your meal at a fast food restaurant and you throw your uneaten food, food wrappers, drink cups, utensils and napkins into the trash can. You don#39;t think about that waste again. On trash pickup day in your neighborhood, you push your can out to the curb, and workers dump the contents into a big truck and haul it away. You don#39;t have to think about that waste again, either. But maybe you have wondered, as you watch the trash truck pull away, just where that garbage ends up.
Americans generate trash at an astonishing rate of four pounds per day per person, which translates to 600,000 tons per day or 210 million tons per year! This is almost twice as much trash per person as most other major countries. What happens to this trash? Some gets recycled (回收利用) or recovered and some is burned, but the majority is buried in landfills.
How Much Trash Is Generated?
Of the 210 million tons of trash, or solid waste, generated in the United States annually, about 56 million tons, or 27 percent, is either recycled (glass, paper products, plastic, metals) or composted (做成堆肥) (yard waste). The remaining trash, which is mostly unrecyclable, is discarded.
How Is Trash Disposed of?
The trash production in the United States has almost tripled since 1960. This trash is handled in various ways. About 27 percent of the trash is recycled or composted, 16 percent is burned and 57 percent is buried in landfills. The amount of trash buried in landfills has doubled since 1960. The United States ranks somewhere in the middle of the major countries (United Kingdom， Canada， Germany, France and Japan) in landfill disposal. The United Kingdom ranks highest, burying about 90 percent of its solid waste in landfills.
What Is a Landfill?
There are two ways to bury trash:
Dump—an open hole in the ground where trash is buried and that is full of various animals (rats, mice, birds). (This is most people#39;s idea of a landfill!)
Landfill — carefully designed structure built into or on top of the ground in which trash is isolated from the surrounding environment (groundwater, air, rain). This isolation is accomplished with a bottom liner and daily covering of soil.
○ Sanitary landfill—landfill mat uses a clay liner to isolate the trash from the environment
○ Municipal solid waste(MSW) landfill—landfill that uses a synthetic(plastic) liner to isolate the trash from the environment
The purpose of a landfill is to bury the trash in such a way that it will be isolated from groundwater, will be kept dry and will not be in contact with air. Under these conditions, trash will not decompose (腐烂) much. A landfill is not like a compost pile, where the purpose is to bury trash in such a way that it will decompose quickly.
Proposing the Landfill
For a landfill to be built, the operators have to make sure that they follow certain steps. In most parts of the world, there are regulations that govern where a landfill can be placed and how it can operate. The whole process begins with someone proposing the landfill.
In the United States, taking care of trash and building landfills are local government responsibililies. Before a city or other authority can build a landfill, an environmental impact study must be done on the proposed site to determine:
the area of land necessary for the landfill
the composition of the underlying soil and bedrock
the flow of surface water over the site
the impact of the proposed landfill on the local environment and wildlife
the historical value of the proposed site
Building the Landfill
Once the environmental impact study is complete, the permits are granted and the funds have been raised, then construction begins. First, access roads to the landfill site must be built if they do not already exist. These roads will be used by construction equipment, sanitation (环卫) services and the general public. After roads have been built, digging can begin. In the North Wake County Landfill, the landfill began 10 feet below the road surface.
What Happens to Trash in a Landfill?
Trash put in a landfill will stay there for a very long time. Inside a landfill, there is little oxygen and little moisture. Under these conditions, trash does not break down very rapidly. In fact, when old landfills have been dug up or sampled, 40-year-old newspapers have been found with easily readable print. Landfills are not designed to break down trash, merely to bury it. When a landfill closes, the site, especially the groundwater, must be monitored and maintained for up to 30 years!
How Is a Landfill Operated?
A landfill, such as the North Wake County Landfill, must be open and available every day. Customers are typically municipalities and construction companies, although residents may also use the landfill.
Near the entrance of the landfill is a recycling center where residents can drop off recyclable materials (aluminum cans, glass bottles, newspapers and paper products). This helps to reduce the amount of material in the landfill. Some of these materials are banned from landfills by law because they can be recycled.
As customers enter the site, their bucks are weighed at the scale house. Customers are charged tipping fees for using the she. The tipping fees vary from $ 10 to $40 per ton. These fees are used to pay for operation costs. The North Wake County Landfill has an operating budget of approximately $4.5 million, and part of that comes from tipping fees.
Along the site, there are drop-off stations for materials that are not wanted or legally banned by the landfill. A multi-material drop-off station is used for tires, motor oil, lead-acid batteries. Some of these materials can be recycled.
In addition, there is a household hazardous waste drop-off station for chemicals (paints, pesticides, other chemicals) that are banned from the landfill. These chemicals are disposed of by private companies. Some paints can be recycled and some organic chemicals can be burned in furnaces or power plants.
Other structures alongside the landfill are the borrowed area that supplies the soil for the landfill, the runoff collection pond and methane (甲烷) station.
Landfills are complicated structures that, when properly designed and managed, serve an important purpose. In the future, new technologies called bioreactors will be used to speed the breakdown of trash in landfills and produce more methane.
1. The passage gives a general description of the structure and use of a landfill.
2. Most of the trash that Americans generate ends up in landfills.
3. Compared with other major industrialized countries, America buries a much higher percentage of its solid waste in landfills.
4. Landfills are like compost piles in that they speed up decomposition of the buried trash.
5. In most countries the selection of a landfill site is governed by rules and regulations.
6. In the United Slates the building of landfills is the job of both federal and local governments.
7. Hazardous wastes have to be treated before being dumped into landfills.
8. Typical customers of a landfill are _________________.
9. To dispose of a ton of trash in a landfill, customers have to pay a tipping fee of ______.
10. Materials that are not permitted to be buried in landfills should be dumped at ____________.
标准答案：
1. Y 2. Y 3. N 4. N 5. Y 6. N 7. NG
8. municipalities and construction companies
9. $10 to $40
10. drop-off stations
Part III Listening Comprehension (35 minutes)
Section A
Directions: In this section, you will hear 8 short conversations and 2 long conversations. At the end of each conversation, one or more questions will be asked about what was said. Both the conversation and the questions will be spoken only once. After each question there will be a pause. During the pause, you must read the four choices marked A), B), C) and D), and decide which is the best answer. Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre,
Now you#39;ll bear two long conversations.
Conversation One
W: Hello, Gary. How #39;re you?
M: Fine! And yourself?
W: Can#39;t complain. Did you have time to look at my proposal?
M: No, not really. Can we go over it now?
W: Sure. I’ve been trying to come up with some new production and advertising strategies. First of all, if we want to stay competitive, we need to modernize our factory. New equipment should#39;ve been installed long ago.
M: How much will that cost?
W: We have several options ranging from one hundred thousand dollars all the way up to Half a million.
M: OK. We#39;ll have to discuss these costs with finance.
W: We should also consider human resources. I#39;ve been talking to personnel as well as our staff at the factory.
M: And what#39;s the picture?
W: We#39;ll probably have to hire a couple of engineers to help us modernize the factory.
M: What about advertising?
W: Marketing has some interesting ideas for television commercials.
M: TV? Isn#39; t that a bit too expensive for us? What#39;s wrong with advertising in the papers, as usual?
W: Quite frankly, it#39;s just not enough anymore. We need to be more aggressive in order to keep ahead of our competitors.
M: Will we be able to afford all this?
W: I#39;ll look into it, but I think higher costs will be justified. These investments will result in higher profits for our company.
M: We#39;ll have to look at the figures more closely. Have finance draw up a budget for these investments. W: All right. I#39;ll see to it.
Questions 19 to 22 are based on the conversation you have just beard.
19. What are the two speakers talking about?
A) The benefit of strong business competition.
B) A proposal to lower the cost of production.
C) Complaints about the expense of modernization.
D) Suggestions concerning new business strategies.
20. What does the woman say about the equipment of their factory?
A) It cost much more that its worth.
B) It should be brought up-to-date.
C) It calls for immediate repairs.
D) It can still be used for a long time.
21. What does the woman suggest about human resources?
A) The personnel manager should be fired for inefficiency.
B) A few engineers should be employed to modernize the factory.
C) The entire staff should be retrained.
D) Better-educated employees should be promoted.
22. Why does the woman suggest advertising on TV?
A) Their competitors have long been advertising on TV.
B) TV commercials are less expensive.
C) Advertising in newspapers alone is not sufficient.
D) TV commercials attract more investments.
Conversation Two
W: Sir, you#39;ve been using the online catalogue for quite a while. Is there anything I can do to help you?
M: Well, I#39;ve got to write a paper about Hollywood in the 30s and 40s, and I#39;m really struggling. There are hundreds of books, and I just don’t know where to begin.
W: Your topic sounds pretty big. Why don#39;t you narrow it down to something like... uh...the history of the studios during that time?
M: You know, I was thinking about doing that, but more man 30 books came up when I typed in "movie studios."
W: You could cut that down even further by listing the specific years you want. Try adding "1930s" or "1940s" or maybe "Golden Age."
M: "Golden Age" is a good idea. Let me type that in …. Hey, look, just 6 books this time. That#39;s a lot better.
W: Oh... another thing you might consider ... have you tried looking for any magazine or newspaper articles?
M: No, I#39;ve only been searching for books.
W: Well, you can look up magazine articles in the Reader#39;s Guide to Periodical Literature.And we do have the Los Angeles Times available over there. You might go through their indexes to see if there#39;s anything you want.
M: Okay. I think I#39;ll get started with these books and then I#39;ll go over the magazines.
W: If you need any help, I#39;ll be over at the Reference Desk.
M: Great, thanks a lot.
Questions 23 to 25 are based on the conversation you have just heard-
23. What is the man doing?
A) Searching for reference material.
B) Watching a film of the 1930’s.
C) Writing a course book.
D) Looking for a job in a movie studio.
24. What does the librarian think of the topic the man is working on?
A) It’s too broad to cope with.
B) It’s controversial.
C) It’s a bit outdated.
D) It’s of little practical value.
25. Where can the man find the relevant magazine articles?
A) At the end of the online catalogue.
B) At the Reference Desk.
C) In The New York Times.
D) In the Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature.
标准答案：
19.D 20.B 21.B 22.C 23.A 24.A 25.D
Part IV Reading Comprehension (Reading in Depth) (25 minutes)
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 a word bank following the passage. Read the passage through carefully before making your choices. Each choice in the bank is identified by a letter. Please mark the corresponding letter for each item on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre. You may_not use any of the word in the bank more than once.
Questions 47 to 56 are based on the following passage.
When Roberto Feliz came to the USA from the Dominican Republic, he knew only a few words of English. Education soon became a 47__. "I couldn#39;t understand anything," he said. He _48 from his teachers, came home in tears, and thought about dropping out.
Then Mrs. Malave, a bilingual educator, began to work with him while teaching him math and science in his 49 Spanish. "She helped me stay smart while teaching me English," he said. Given the chance to demonstrate his ability, he 50_ confidence and began to succeed in school.
Today, he is a 51_ doctor, runs his own clinic, and works with several hospitals. Every day, he uses the language and academic skills he 52 through bilingual education to treat his patients.
Roberto#39;s story is just one of 53 success stories. Research has shown that bilingual education is the most 54 way both to teach children English and ensure that they succeed academically. In Arizona and Texas, bilingual students 55 outperform their peers in monolingual programs. Calexico, Calif, implemented bilingual education, and now has dropout rates that arc less than half the state average and college 56 rates of more than 90%. In El Paso, bilingual education programs have helped raise student scores from the lowest in Texas to among the highest in me nation.
A) wonder
B) acquired
C) consistently
D) regained
E) nightmare
F) native
G) acceptance
H) effective
I) hid
J) prominent
K) decent
L) countless
M) recalled
N) breakthrough
O) automatically
标准答案：
47.E 48.I 49.F 50.D 51.J 52.B 53.L 54.H 55.C 56.G
Part VI Translation (5 minutes)
87. The substance does not dissolve in water _______________________________(不管是否加热)。
88．Not only _____________________________________(他向我收费过高)，but he didn’t do a good repair job either.
89. Your losses in trade this year are nothing _______________________________(与我的相比)。
90．On average, it is said, visitors spend only __________________________________(一半的钱)in a day in Leeds as in London.
91. By contrast, American mothers were more likely ____________________________(把孩子的成功归因于) natural talent.
标准答案：
87. whether (it is) heated or not 88. did he charge me too much / did he overcharge me
89. compared with mine / in comparison with mine 90. half as much （money）
91. to attribute their children’s success to
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