2026 年 06 月大学英语四级考试真题（第 1 套）

A)I was glad I had such terrible jetlag. Wide awake at 3:30 am with our nine-year-old daughter on our lodge balcony, I stared for hours at the most incredible night sky I've ever seen before the dawn slowly started to rub out the stars on the horizon and the multiple shooting stars faded away.

B)We were going to my wife's big family reunion in Auckland, New Zealand, but when we found out that Great Barrier Island, just off the coast, had been recently awarded Dark Sky Sanctuary status—a typically remote area that has an "exceptional or distinguished quality of starry nights"—we thought it would be the perfect place to relax before our busy schedule. It's the first island and only the fourth location in the world to achieve this status.

C)After a 28-hour flight with two travel-sick children, our hearts sank when we saw the tiny twin engine 10-seater that was to take us the 90 km across the Hauraki Gulf to Great Barrier Island. But we needn't have worried. Whether it was the gravity force of the plane climbing or the noise of the engine, it put our three-year-old daughter instantly to sleep until we bumped down on the grass at Claris Airport. Our first empty sick bag against all the odds... Things were looking up.

D)Great Barrier Island has no public facilities and the 950 people living there (though only about half permanently) rely on solar and wind energy, and bottled gas for cooking. There are no streetlights. There are no cash machines or banks. The police force comprises a husband and wife, and there's one postman. It's not just the lack of light but the lack of noise that's so delightful on this unique and gorgeous scene. It was first discovered by East Polynesians about 700 years ago and the Maori name for the island is Aotea. Captain Cook gave the island its European name, because it acts as a barrier between the Pacific and the Hauraki Gulf.

E)The climate here is subtropical (亚热带的) like Auckland's. The island boasts a beautiful wilderness with dense forests, glorious, unspoilt sandy beaches and plenty of bays and a few mountainous areas where there are good walking tracks among the wetlands and valleys. You can birdwatch, dive, surf and boat. The best beaches are on the eastern side of the island where the surf is better, too. The sheltered western side is where you'll find the best diving and boating. Lots of people come here for the fantastic fishing spots around the island. Like a lot of spots in New Zealand, there are whale-watching trips and you might just catch sight of sharks.

F)It's rare to find an island that really does feel undiscovered—but this is it. When one of my wife's relations, who comes here regularly, found out that we'd been there, he whispered to us, only half-joking: "Shh—don't tell anyone!" The locals are a relaxed and friendly bunch—a lot of them told us that it's like what Waiheke Island (now in effect a suburb of Auckland) was in the 1970s when it was a commune of artists and people wanting to escape the city.

G)Our guide for some of our stay was the inestimable Hilde Hoven, a Dark Sky ambassador who runs Good Heavens with Deborah Kilgallon and Orla Cumisky. They bring their Dobsonian telescope and beanbags (it's hard work staring up wide-eyed in wonder without neck support) and, our elder daughter was glad to hear, hot chocolate to wherever you are on the island. "It's odd but when the light readings were done," said Hilde, explaining how the island was awarded its special status, "they found there was more light pollution on the northern side coming from Fiji, which is about 3,000 km away, than Auckland to the south. It's pretty dark!"

H)Beginning their astronomical PowerPoint demonstration using a green laser pointer, Hilde and Orla showed us the Messier 4 spherical cluster (星团) with white dwarf stars (白矮星), Saturn and its rings, the Southern Cross and the Milky Way, which stretched across the sky. Our daughter was especially taken with Hilde's narrating of the Maori myth of Māui's fish hook to explain the shape of Scorpius. In the fable, Māui hauled the North Island of New Zealand from the bottom of the ocean with his hook.

I)We stayed at Mount St Paul's Estate, a luxurious lodge run by the friendly Chris and Teara, both from Canada. Teara used to be a chef at the Langham in Auckland and so dinner, eaten around a huge circular table (made of one of the most ancient trees in the world), was every bit as mouth-watering as you'd expect. Eating pancakes on the balcony overlooking the unspoilt white sandy beach was a great way to start the day.

J)Another highlight was an hour-long walk to Kaitoke hot pools in the centre of the island, through wetlands and a forest, where we whiled away a good hour sitting in the pools shaded from the heat by layers of delicate umbrella-like plants.

K)We also loved visiting the potter (陶艺家) Sarah Harrison, who showed us round her studio at Shoal Bay harbour, and her many pots and jugs, plates and bowls and colourful mosaics (马赛克). In her work, she also uses a lot of materials found on the beach. Our elder daughter loved the gorgeous hidden pool at Medlands beach where the water is separated from the sea in a private rock pool. Other high points were the ancient pohutukawa trees and the incredible views of Okiwi Basin and Whangapoua beach from the top of Windy Canyon, just a 10-minute hike through a narrow valley up some steep wooden steps on the eastern side of the island.

L)Apparently the island council turned down famous musician Paul McCartney's application to buy a property at Great Barrier Island because of the unwelcome attention he would have brought. You can see why he wanted to come here; equally, the island knows exactly what kind of star watching it prefers.

Is organic food worth the higher price? It's the classic grocery store dilemma. On the one hand, your family dinner table deserves only the best. On the other hand, your wallet can only stretch so far. Whether or not to buy organic is a personal decision, said Mike von Massow, professor of Food Agriculture. Science won't give a clear-cut answer to the question of whether organic food is "better." There are often trade-offs (权衡) and answers become less definitive depending on the product under consideration. One thing is definitive: Organic and conventionally grown food are equally nutritious. From a nutrition point of view, there is no difference between organic and traditionally grown products. Organic products don't necessarily have fewer pesticides (杀虫剂)—in fact, they may have more. There is also no big difference between organic and non-organic products from a food-safety perspective. Even organic growers use pesticides. Testing shows little if any pesticide remains on conventionally grown products. In fact, organic farmers often use larger quantities of pesticide because they can only use the natural variety of insect-killers. Chemical pesticides generally kill a much wider range of pests (害虫) than any single natural pesticide. The use of animal waste in organic agriculture can also be a factor in the spread of bacteria like E. coli and salmonella. Over the past 10 years, Canada has seen more food-safety recalls for organic products, proportionally, than for conventional products. On the whole, organic agriculture may have a smaller environmental footprint. That's mostly because the risk of groundwater contamination from organic farming is lower. Organic farmers never used neonics, the controversial pesticides that have been linked to shrinking bee populations worldwide. Traditional agriculture has been making "dramatic improvements" to reduce its impact on the environment. It isn't a black-and-white picture, though. Organic farming is much less efficient when it comes to land use, although yields vary considerably depending on the crop. On the other hand, advocates of organic farming argue yields and efficiency could be significantly improved if the food industry devoted as much research and money to organic farming as it does conventional agriculture.

It is still controversial whether we are fundamentally generous or selfish and whether these tendencies are shaped by our genes or environment. Some evidence points to humans being born cooperative. At later stages in life we routinely work together to reach goals and help out in times of need. Yet instances of selfish behavior are also plenty. One recent study tested people's willingness to set aside selfish interests to reach a greater good. It found that being selfish was more advantageous than cooperating. The benefit may be short-lived, however. Another study showed that players who cooperated did better in the long run. It seems that human nature supports both pro-social and selfish traits (特征). Genetic studies have made some progress toward identifying their biological roots. By comparing identical twins, who share nearly 100 percent of their genes, and non-identical twins, who share about half, researchers have found overwhelming evidence for genetic effects on behaviors. In these twin studies, identical and non-identical twins are asked, for example, to split a sum of money with a peer. Such studies often also rely on careful psychological assessments and DNA analysis. Other work highlights specific genes as key players. My colleagues and I recently identified a gene linked to altruistic (利他的) behavior and found that a particular variant of it was associated with more selfish behavior in preschoolers. According to evolutionary scientists, cooperative behavior may have evolved first among relatives to promote the continuation of their genetic line. As communities diversified, mutual support could have broadened to include individuals not linked by blood. Another possibility is that humans cooperate to gain some advantage, such as boosting reputation. Finally, evolutionary processes take place at the group level. Groups of highly cooperative individuals have higher chances of survival because they can work together to reach goals that are unattainable to less cooperative groups. Yet almost no behavior is entirely genetic, even among identical twins. Culture, schooling and parenting are important determinants of cooperation. Thus, the degree to which we act cooperatively or selfishly is unique to each individual and depends on a variety of genetic and environmental influences.