2014年6月大学英语六级考试真题第三套
Part I Writing (30 minutes)
Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay explaining why it is unwise to put all your eggs in one basket. You can give examples to illustrate your point. You should write at least 150 words but no more than 200 words.
Part II Listening Comprehension (30 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 1 with a single line through the center.
1. A) The man is the manager of the apartment building. C) The woman will get the apartment refurnished. B) The woman is very good at bargaining. D) The man is looking for an apartment. 2. A) How the pictures will turn out. C) What the man thinks of the shots. B) Where the botanical garden is. D) Why the pictures are not ready.
3. A) There is no replacement for the handle. C) The suitcase is not worth fixing. B) There is no match for the suitcase. D) The suitcase can be fixed in time. 4. A) He needs a vehicle to be used in harsh weather. B) He has a fairly large collection of quality trucks. C) He has had his truck adapted for cold temperatures. D) He does routine truck maintenance for the woman.
5. A) She cannot stand her boss’s bad temper. B) She has often been criticized by her boss. C) She has made up her mind to resign.
D) She never regrets any decisions she makes.
6. A) Look for a shirt of a more suitable color and size. B) Replace the shirt with one of some other material. C) Visit a different store for a silk or cotton shirt. D) Get a discount on the shirt she is going to buy.
7. A) At a “Lost and Found”. B) At a reception desk. C) At a trade fair. D) At an exhibition.
8. A) Repair it and move in. B) Pass it on to his grandson. C) Convert it into a hotel. D) Sell it for a good price. Questions 9 to 11 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
9. A) Unique descriptive skills. C) Colourful world experiences. B) Good knowledge of readers’ tastes. D) Careful plotting and clueing.
10. A) A peaceful setting. B) A spacious room. C) To be in the right mood. D) To be entirely alone. 11. A) They rely heavily on their own imagination.
B) They have experiences similar to the characters’. C) They look at the world in a detached manner. D) They are overwhelmed by their own prejudices.
Questions 12 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
12. A) Good or bad, they are there to stay. C) Believe it or not, they have survived.
B) Like it or not, you have to use them. D) Gain or lose, they should be modernised. 13. A) The frequent train delays. C) The food sold on the trains.
B) The high train ticket fares. D) The monopoly of British Railways. 14. A) The low efficiency of their operation. C) Constant complaints from passengers. B) Competition from other modes of transport. D) The passing of the new transport act. 15. A) They will be de-nationalised. C) They are fast disappearing. B) They provide worse service. D) They lose a lot of money.
Section B
Directions: In this section, you will hear 3 short passages. At the end of each passage, you will hear some questions. Both the passage and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question, you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A), B), C) and D). Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1 with a single line through the center. Passage One
Questions 16 to 19 are based on the passage you have just heard. 16. A) The whole Antarctic region will be submerged. B) Some polar animals will soon become extinct. C) Many coastal cities will be covered with water. D) The earth will experience extreme weathers. 17. A) How humans are to cope with global warming. B) How unstable the West Antarctic ice sheet is. C) How vulnerable the coastal cities are. D) How polar ice impacts global weather.
18. A) It collapsed at least once in the past 1.3 million years. B) It sits firmly on solid rock at the bottom of the ocean.
C) It melted at temperatures a bit higher than those of today. D) It will have little impact on sea level when it breaks up. 19. A) The West Antarctic region was once an open ocean. B) The West Antarctic ice sheet was about 7,000 feet thick. C) The West Antarctic ice sheet was once floating ice.
D) The West Antarctic region used to be warmer than today. Passage Two
Questions 20 to 22 are based on the passage you have just heard. 20. A) Whether we can develop social ties on the Internet.
B) Whether a deleted photo is immediately removed from the web. C) Whether our blogs can be renewed daily. D) Whether we can set up our own websites.
21. A) The number of visits they receive. C) The files they have collected.
B) The way they store data. D) The means they use to get information. 22. A) When the system is down. C) When the URL is reused.
B) When new links are set up. D) When the server is restarted.
Passage Three
Questions 23 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard. 23. A) Some iced coffees have as many calories as a hot dinner. B) Iced coffees sold by some popular chains are contaminated. C) Drinking coffee after a meal is more likely to cause obesity. D) Some brand-name coffees contain harmful substances.
24. A) Have some fresh fruit. B) Exercise at the gym. C) Take a hot shower. D) Eat a hot dinner. 25. A) They could enjoy a happier family life.
B) They could greatly improve their work efficiency. C) Many cancer cases could be prevented.
D) Many embarrassing situations could be avoided. Section C
Directions: In this section, you will hear a passage three times. When the passage is read for the first time, you should listen carefully for its general idea. When the passage is read for the second time, you are required to fill in the blanks with the exact words you have just heard. Finally, when the passage is read for the third time, you should check what you have written.
Psychologists are finding that hope plays a surprisingly vital role in giving people a measurable advantage in realms (26)__________ academic achievement, bearing up in tough jobs and coping with (27)___________ illness. And, by contrast, the loss of hope is turning out to be a stronger sign that a person may (28)___________ suicide than other factors long thought to be more likely risks.
“Hope has proven a powerful predictor of(29)__________ in every study we’ve done so far,” said Dr. Charles R. Snyder, a psychologist who has devised a (30)__________ to assess how much hope a person has.
For example, in research with 3,920 college students, Dr. Snyder and his (31)__________ found that the level of hope among freshmen at the beginning of their first semester was a more (32)__________ predictor of their college grades than were their S.A.T. scores or their grade point (33)__________ in high school, the two measures most commonly used to predict college performance.
“Students with high hope set themselves higher goals and know how to work to attain them,” Dr. Snyder said.“When you compare students of equivalent intelligence and past academic achievements, what (34)__________ is hope.”
In devising a way to assess hope scientifically, Dr. Snyder went beyond the simple notion that hope is merely the sense that everything will(35) __________ all right. “That notion is not concrete enough and it blurs two key components of hope,” Dr. Snyder said. “Having hope means believing you have both the will and the way to accomplish your goals, whatever they may be.”
Part III Reading Comprehension (40 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 center. You may not use any of the words in the bank more than once. Questions 36 to 45 are based on the following passage.
Millions of Americans are entering their 60s and are more concerned than ever about retirement. They know they need to save, but how much? And what exactly are they saving for—to spend more time ___36___ the grandkids, go traveling, or start another career? It turns out that husbands and wives may have ___37___ different ideas about the subject.
The deepest divide is in the way spouses envisage their lifestyle in their later years. Fidelity Investments Inc. found 41 percent of the 500 couples it surveyed ___38___ on whether both or at least one spouse will work in retirement. Wives are generally right regarding their husbands’ retirement age, but men ___39___ the age their wives will be when they stop working. And husbands are slightly more ___40___ about their standard of living than wives are.
Busy juggling (穷于应对) careers and families, most couples don’t take the time to sit down, ___41___ or together, and think about what they would like to do 5, 10 or 20 years from now. They ___42___ they are on the same page, but the ___43___ is they have avoided even talking about it.
If you are self-employed or in a job that doesn’t have a standard retirement age, you may be more apt to delay thinking about these issues. It is often a ___44___ retirement date that provides the catalyst (催化剂) to start planning. Getting laid off or accepting an early-retirement ___45___ can force your hand. But don’t wait until you get a severance (遣散费) check to begin planning.
A) assume D) formula G) mysteriously J) package M) separately B) confidential E) forthcoming H) observe K) radically N ) spoiling
C) disagree F) illustrating I) optimistic L) reality O) underestimate Section B
Directions: In this section, you are going to read a passage with ten statements attached to it. Each statement contains information given in one of the paragraphs. Identify the paragraph from which the information is derived. You may choose a paragraph more than once. Each paragraph is marked with a letter. Answer the questions by marking the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2.
What If Middle-Class Jobs Disappear?
A) The most recent recession in the United States began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research. However, two years after the official end of the recession, few Americans would
say that economic troubles are behind us. The unemployment rate, in particular, remains above 9%. Some labor market indicators, such as the proportion of long-term unemployed, are worse now than for any postwar recession.
B) There are two widely circulated narratives to explain what’s going on. The Keynesian narrative is that there has been a major drop in aggregate demand. According to this narrative, the slump can be largely cured by using monetary and fiscal (财政的) stimulus. The main anti-Keynesian narrative is that businesses are suffering from uncertainty and over-regulation. According to this narrative, the slump can be cured by having the government commit to and follow a more hands-off approach.
C) I want to suggest a third interpretation. Without ruling out a role for aggregate demand or for the regulatory environment, I wish to suggest that structural change is an important factor in the current rate of high unemployment. The economy is in a state of transition, in which the middle-class jobs that emerged after World War Ⅱ have begun to decline. As Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee put it in a recent e-book Race Against the Machine: “The root of our problems is not that we’re in a great recession, or a great stagnation (停滞), but rather that we are in the early throes (阵痛) of a great restructuring. ”
D) In fact, I believe the Great Depression of the 1930s can also be interpreted in part as an economic transition. The impact of the internal combustion engine(内燃机) and the small electric motor on farming and manufacturing reduced the value of uneducated laborers. Instead, by the 1950s, a middle class of largely clerical(从事文秘工作的) workers was the most significant part of the labor force. Between 1930 and 1950, the United States economy underwent a great transition. Demand fell for human effort such as lifting, squeezing, and hammering. Demand increased for workers who could read and follow directions. The evolutionary process eventually changed us from a nation of laborers to a nation of clerks. E) The proportion of employment classified as “clerical workers” grew from 5.2% in 1910 to a peak of 19.3% in 1980. (However, by 2000 this proportion had edged down to 17.4%.) Overall, workers classified as clerical workers, technical workers, managers and officials exceeded 50% of the labor force by 2000. Corresponding declines took place in the manual occupations. Workers classified as laborers, other than farm hands or miners, peaked at 11.4% of the labor force in 1920 but were barely 6% by 1950 and less than 4% by 2000. Farmers and farm laborers fell from 33% of the labor force in 1910 to less than 15% by 1950 and only 1.2% in 2000.
F) The introduction of the tractor and improvements in the factory rapidly reduced the demand for uneducated workers. By the 1930s, a marginal farm hand could not produce enough to justify his employment. Sharecropping, never much better than a subsistence occupation, was no longer viable(可行的). Meanwhile, machines were replacing manufacturing occupations like cigar rolling and glass blowing for light bulbs.
G) The structural-transition interpretation of the unemployment problem of the 1930s would be that the demand for uneducated workers in the United States had fallen, but the supply remained high. The high school graduation rate was only 8.8% in 1912 and still just 29% in 1931. By 1950, it had reached 59%. With a new generation of workers who had completed high school, the mismatch between skills and jobs had been greatly reduced.
H) What took place after World WarⅡwas not the revival of a 1920s economy, with its small farming units, urban manufacturing, and plurality of laborers. Instead, the 1950s saw the creation of a new suburban economy, with a plurality of white-collar workers. With an expanded transportation and communications infrastructure(基础设施), businesses needed telephone operators, shipping clerks and similar occupations. If you could read, follow simple instructions, and settle into a routine, you could find a job in the post-war economy.
I) The trend away from manual labor has continued. Even within the manufacturing sector, the share of production and non-supervisory workers in manufacturing employment went from over 85% just after World War II to less than 70% in more recent years. To put this another way, the proportion of white-collar work in manufacturing has doubled over the past 50 years. On the factory floor itself, work has become less physically demanding. Instead, it requires more cognitive skills and the ability to understand and carry out well-defined procedures.
J) As noted earlier, the proportion of clerical workers in the economy peaked in 1980. By that date, computers and advanced communications equipment had already begun to affect telephone operations and banking. The rise of the personal computer and the Internet has widened the impact of these technologies to include nearly every business and industry.
K) The economy today differs from that of a generation ago. Mortgage and consumer loan underwriters (风险评估人) have been replaced by credit scoring. Record stores have been replaced by music downloads. Book stores are closing,
while sales of books on electronic readers have increased. Data entry has been moved off shore. Routine customer support also has been outsourced (外包) overseas.
L) These trends serve to limit the availability of well-defined jobs. If a job can be characterized by a precise set of instructions, then that job is a candidate to be automated or outsourced to modestly educated workers in developing countries. The result is what David Autor calls the polarization of the American job market.
M) Using the latest Census Bureau data, Matthew Slaughter found that from 2000 to 2010 the real earnings of college graduates (with no advanced degree) fell by more in percentage terms than the earnings of high school graduates. In fact, over this period the only education category to show an increase in earnings was those with advanced degrees.
N) The outlook for mid-skill jobs would not appear to be bright. Communications technology and computer intelligence continue to improve, putting more occupations at risk. For example, many people earn a living as drivers, including trucks and taxicabs. However, the age of driverless vehicles appears to be moving closer. Another example is in the field of education. In the fall of 2011, an experiment with an online course in artificial intelligence conducted by two Stanford professors drew tens of thousands of registrants(报名者). This increases the student-teacherratio by a factor of close to a thousand. Imagine the number of teaching jobs that might be eliminated if this could be done for math, economics, chemistry, and so on.
O) It’s important to bear in mind that when we offer a structural interpretation of unemployment, a “loss of jobs” means an increase in productivity. Traditionally, economists have argued that productivity increases are a good thing, even though they may cause unemployment for some workers in the short run. In the long run, the economy does not run out of jobs. Rather, new jobs emerge as old jobs disappear. The story we tell is that average well-being rises, and the more people are able to adapt, the more widespread the improvement becomes.
46. Even factory floor work today has become intellectually challenging rather than physically demanding. 47. Increases in productivity prove beneficial though some people may lose their jobs temporarily.
48. The unemployment rate remained high even two years after the government declared the recent recession was over.
49. The author suggests that the recent high unemployment rate is mainly caused by a decrease of middle-class jobs. 50. The creation of a suburban economy in the 1950s created lots of office jobs.
51. In the first decade of the 21st century, only people with postgraduate degrees experienced an increase in earnings.
52. One economics theory suggests using monetary and fiscal stimulus to cope with an economic recession. 53. The popularity of online courses may eliminate many teaching jobs.
54. Computer technology has brought about revolutionary changes in the record and book business. 55. White-collar workers accounted for more than half of the labor force by the end of the 20th century. Section C
Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A), B), C) and D). You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre. Passage One
Questions 56 to 60 are based on the following passage. “Deep reading” —as opposed to the often superficial reading we do on the Web—is an endangered practice, one we ought to take steps to preserve as we would a historic building or a significant work of art. Its disappearance would jeopardize the intellectual and emotional development of generations growing up online, as well as the preservation of a critical part of our culture：the novels, poems and other kinds of literature that can be appreciated only by readers whose brains, quite literally, have been trained to understand them.
Recent research in cognitive science and psychology has demonstrated that deep reading—slow, immersive, rich in sensory detail and emotional and moral complexity—is a distinctive experience, different in kind from the mere decoding of words. Although deep reading does not, strictly speaking, require a conventional book, the built-in limits of the printed page are uniquely helpful to the deep reading experience. A book’s lack of hyperlinks (超链接), for example, frees the reader from making decisions—Should I click on this link or not? —allowing her to remain fully immersed in the narrative. That immersion is supported by the way the brain handles language rich in detail, indirect reference and figures of