大学英语四级考试已成为我国最普遍、最权威的英语水平考核标准。我精心收集了关于英语4级短文，供大家欣赏学习!
科学家寻找矿物的专属区域
Flying over a desert area in an airplane, two scientists looked down with trained eyes at trees and bushes. After an hour's 11 one of the scientists wrote in his book, "Look here for 12 metal. " Scientists in another airplane, flying over a mountain region, sent a 13 to other scientists on the ground, "Gold possible. " Walking across hilly ground, four scientists reported, "This ground should be searched for metals. " From an airplane over a hilly wasteland a scientist sent back by radio one word, "Uranium. "
None of the scientists had X-ray eyes: they had no 14 powers for looking down below the earth's surface. They were 15 putting to use one of the newest methods of 16 minerals in the ground—using trees and plants as 17 that certain minerals may lie beneath the ground on which the trees and plants are growing.
This newest method of searching for minerals is 18 on the fact that minerals deep in the earth may 19 the kind of bushes and trees that grow on the surface.
At Watson Bar Creek, a brook six thousand feet high in the mountains of British Columbia, Canada, a mineral search group gathered bags of tree seeds. Boxes were filled with small branches from the trees. Roots were dug and put into boxes. Each bag and box was 20 marked. In a scientific laboratory the parts of the forest trees were burned to ashes and tested. Each small part was examined to learn whether there were minerals in it.
人类大脑智力的决定因素
There are two factors which determine an individual's intelligence. The first is the sort of brain he is born with. Human brains differ considerably , some being more capable than others. But no matter how good a brain he has to begin with, an individual will have a low order of intelligence unless he has opportunities to learn. So the second factor is what happens to the individual— the sort of environment in which he is brought up. If an individual is handicapped(不利) environmentally, it is likely that his brain will fail to develop and he will never attain the level of intelligence of which he is capable.
The importance of environment in determining an individual's intelligence can be demonstrated by the case history of the identical twins, Peter and Mark. Being identical, the twins had identical brains at birth, and their growth processes were the same. When the twins were three months old, their parents died, and they were placed in separate foster(抚养) homes. Peter was raised by parents of low intelligence in an isolated community with poor educational opportunities. Mark was reared in the home of well-to-do parents who had been to college. He was read to as a child, sent to good schools, and given every opportunity to be stimulated intellectually. This environmental difference continued until the twins were in their late teens, when they were given tests to measure their intelligence. Mark's I. Q. was 125, twenty-five points higher than the average and fully forty points higher than his identical brother. Given equal opportunities, the twins, having identical brains, would have tested at roughly the same level.
我的朋友索菲亚布伦特
Sophy Brent came to visit me nearly every day. She made me feel uneasy most of the time. She smoked 11 and never used an ashtray. She followed me into the kitchen while I made tea or coffee or supper and 12 herself to the children's orange juice. She made a great hit with my two-year-old daughter Flora, who would 13 about her for hours and refer to her lovingly as "sofa", and she was always talking about my husband and asking me where he was.
I could not decide why she chose my 14 , although I realized that nobody else paid her very much attention. Her situation was very difficult in that she was 15 out of drama school and only nineteen, but being 16 to play a leading part in a company of fairly 17 and experienced actors. They would not have liked her much even if she had been good, and as, from all accounts, she was not good so they took every 18 to run her down. I think she thought that I was the only person around who was both unconnected with the theatre and tolerably 19 . To associate with me was not, at any rate, to step down the scale. And for my part, although I felt troubled by her I did not dislike her. There was something genuinely outstanding in her personality, and she had such physical 20 that with me she could get away with anything. She was nice to have around, like flowers or a bowl of fruit.
规则：
1、题目要求：将10个问题(长句)的信息匹配到12~17段的对应段落。
每个句子中的信息来自文章中的一个段落。要求考生找出与每个句子中的信息相匹配的段落。有些段落可能对应两个问题，有些段落可能不对应任何一个问题。
2、文章长度：长文章1篇，四级(12-13段落)约1000字，六级(12-17段落)约1200字。
3、做题时间：10~17分钟。
英语四级长篇阅读技巧：
1、通读文章
阅读后应结合整篇长文，然后进行问题处理。如果按正常顺序回答问题，会严重影响时间，最好的办法就是通读文章，可以找到所有的信息。
2、找到关键词
没有很好地理解文本，就不能准确地判断出关键词，这可能会导致我们忽略原文的一些关键细节。一般来说，关键词或中心词是实词和一些数字、专有名词等。
简述一下该题的要求：
文章分为12个段落，每个段落有自己的主题，文章后有10句话，是对10个段落的主题的高度概括，我们需要将10句话和其段落一 一对应，通常还有2段话是闲置的，这和语文中的找中心句很类似。
面对1500词的英语文章，不论英语基础的好坏，都会产生心理压力，甚至是厌恶感。很多专家介绍，这样的题应该纵观全文，理清全文思路，分析文段结构，小编想说，这样的长度，这么多的生词，专有名词，臣妾做不到啊。
对于英语水平一般的考生，建议化繁为简。
我们不看1500字，直接看10句话，瞬间有种轻松的感觉。但是得仔细看，并且边看边做标记。
画圈：大写的专有名词，时间词，你没见过的生词，注意句子中的名词
画五角星：你完全看懂了的句子
当你的脑中有了这些词的印象，这些话的含义，再去飞速的扫描原文。特别留意你完全看懂了的几句话，这一般是我们最先能确定的段落。
看每一段时，当成这篇文章就这么一段，不要给自己心理压力。
如果第一段并没有给你与后面句子的联想，那么果断跳过，浏览下一段。如果你发现了后面的句子有与之对应的，立即在句子前标记对应段落，并在原段中圈出你从哪儿看出文段与句子对应，这样一来方便检查，提高准确率。
每确认选好一段，将段前的字母划去，这样剩下的段落会越来越少，剩下的句子也更少。发现段落和句子有任何一点相似，不要犹豫，第一感觉很重要。
