文章献给准备过英语专业四级的同学，给同学一些练习题，希望大家考试成功。
There was a time when parents who wanted an educational present for the ir children would buy a typewriter, a globe or an encyclopedia set. Now those ___ 1___ seem hopelessly old?fashioned; this Christmas, there were a lo t of personal computers under the tree. ___ 2___ that computers are the key to success, parents are also frantically insisting that children ___ 3___ taught to use them in schoo l—as early as possible. The problem for schools is that when it ___ 4 ___ computers, parents don’t always know best. Many schools are yielding to parental impatience and are purchasing hardware ___ 5___ sound education al planning so they can say, “OK, we’ve moved into the computer age.” Teachers found themselves caught in the middle of the problem—between parent pressure a nd ___ 6___ educational decisions. Educators do not even agree ___ 7 ___ how computers should be used. A lot of money is going for computerized e ducational materials ___ 8___ research has shown can be taught ___ 9 ___ with pencil and paper. Even those who believe that all children should h ave access to computers, warn of potential ___ 10___ to the very young. ? The temptation remains strong largely because young children ___ 11___ s o well to computers. First graders have been seen willing to work for two hours on math skills. Some have an attention span of 20 minutes. ___ 12___ sch ool can afford to go into computing, and that creates ___ 13___ another problem: a division between the haves and have?nots. Very few parents are agita ting ___ 14___ computer instruction in poor school districts, ___ 15 ___ there may be barely enough money to pay the reading teacher.
1. A. items B. toys C. sets D. series
2. A. Given B. Provided C. Convinced D. Believed
3. A. are B. be C. are being D. were
4. A. talks about B. comes to C. turns to D. mentions
5. A. without B. with C. through D. for
6. A. wise B. clever C. slow D. enough
7. A. on B. with C. to D. about
8. A. however B. it C. what D. that
9. A. equally B. in the same way? C. just as well D. not as well
10. A. approaches B. exposures C. dangers D. harmful
11. A. adopt B. keep C. adapt D. devote
12. A. High B. Not every C. No D. Any
13. A. already B. of course C. in addition D. yet
14. A. for B. against C. to buy D. use
15. A. for B. in any case C. although D. where
参考答案及详解
1. A) 根据句义“现在那些东西(指以上提到的 打字机、地球仪、百科全书)显得太落后了”可知，本空正确答案为A items
2. C) 通过分析本句结构可知此空所在句是一个从句，作主句的原因状语 ，结合选项可知 此空需要动词的过去分词表示“确信、相信”的意思，故选项C为正确答案，因为“be conv inced that”意为“确信、相信”。
3. B) 主句中动词为insist时，一般宾语从句应该使用虚拟语气，并且一 般情况下省略should。
4. B) 此空前it的使用法在语法上叫“虚义”it，因此它无法和talk abo ut, mention搭 配使用。come to有几种意义分别为“归因是”，“结果是”;“谈到”，“想到”;“总 共”，“共达”等。Turn to意为“转向，指向”等。根据上下文可推断句义为“当谈到计 算机的问题时，…”，由此可见此空应选B come to。
5. A) 根据句义“许多学校在没有制定良好的教学计划前，就屈从了家长 们的压力购买了电脑。”可判断此空应使用介词without。
6. A) 根据上下文可知学校迫于家长的压力不得不购买了电脑，这使得老 师们处 于两难境地，即家长的压力和明智正确的教育方针，故此空选A。clever一般用来指人。
7. A) agree on意为“同意”某某观点。Agree with后接人。
8. D) that用于此空引导定语从句。
9. C) 此句句义为“很多钱被用来购买电脑教学资料，但是研究表明用纸 和笔教学能达到 同样的教学效果。”可知，此空词应使此句构成比较结构，而选项A和B都没有此功能，选项 D意义不符，故选项C为正确答案，just as well原为固定搭配，意为“幸亏，幸而”，但在 此处是省略了第二个as的比较结构。
10. C) 根据句意“潜在的危险”可知此空正确答案为选项C。
11. C) adapt to意为“适应”。Devote …to意为“奉献，献身于”意义 不符。
12. B) 根据上下文可推断句义为：不是每个学校都能买得起电脑。故此空 选B。
13. D) 此空涉及yet的用法。首先可用排除法排除already, of course, i n addition， 因为他们要么意义不符，要么用法不符。Yet既可作副词也可作连词。作副词时意为“还、 仍然、尚”，常用于否定句中，如 Much remain yet to be done. / He has not yet hear d the good news.有时意为“已经”，常用于疑问句中。作连词时意为“而，然而，可是” 。此空yet符合第一种用法。
14. A) “agitate for”意为“鼓动，赞成”。
15. D) where用于此空引导非限定性的定语从句。