历年英语六级阅读真题整理
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英语六级阅读历年真题及答案英语六级阅读历年真题及答案He is not fit to command others that cannot command himself.以下是店铺为大家搜索整理的英语六级阅读历年真题及答案,希望能给大家带来帮助!Questions 61 to 65 are based on the following passage.A bull grazes on dry wheat husks(Phi) in Logan, Kansas, one of the regions hit by therecord drought that has affected more than half of the U. S. and is expected to drive up foodprices.Leadinu water scientists have issued one of the sternest warnings yet about global foodsupplies, saying that the world's population may have to switch almost completely to avegetarian diet over the next 40 years to avoid catastrophic shortages.Adopting a vegetarian diet is one option to increase the amount of water available to growmore food in an increasingly climate-unstable world, the scientists said. Animal protein-richfood consumes 5 to 10 times more water than a vegetarian diet. One third of the world'sarable(适于耕种的) land is used to grow crops to feed animals. Other options to feed peopleinclude eliminating waste and increasing trade between countries in food surplus and those indeficit."900 million people already go hungry and 2 billion people are malnourished in spite of thefact that per capita food production continues to increase," they said. "With 70% of allavailable water being in agriculture, growing more food to feed an additional 2 billion peopleby 2050 will place greater pressure on available water and land. "The report is being released at the start of the annual world water conference inStockholm, Sweden, where 2,500 politicians,UN bodies, non-governmental groups andresearchers from 120 countries meet to address global water supply problems.Competition for water between food production and other uses will intensify pressure onessential resources, the scientists said. "The UN predicts that we must increase foodproduction by 70% by mid-century. This will place additional pressure on our 'alreadystressed water resources, at a time when we also need to allocate more water to satisfy globalenergy demand-- which is expected to rise 60% over the coming 30 years--and to generateelectricity for the 1.3 billion people currently without it," said the report.Overeating, undernourishment and waste are all on the rise and increased food productionmay face future constraints from water scarcity."We will need a new recipe to feed the world in the future," said the report's editor, AndersJagerskog.A separate report from the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) said the bestway for countries to protect millions of farmers from food insecurity in sub-Saharan Africa andsouth Asia was to help them invest in small pumps and simple technology, rather than todevelop expensive, large-scale irrigation projects."Farmem across the developing world are increasingly relying on and benefiting from small-scale,locally-relevant water solutions. These techniques could increase yields up to 300% andadd tens of billions of U. S. dollars to household revenues across sub-Saharan Africa and southAsia. " said Dr. Colin Chartres, the director general.61. What can be inferred from the water scientists' warning?A. The record drought forces half of the U. S. to go hungry.B. The record drought drives up food prices m the U. S.C. Severe food shortage may happen without proper measures.D. A vegetarian diet is the only option to avoid disastrous shortages.62. What do the scientists say can be done to increase food supply?A. Grow more animal protein-rich food.B. Turn pastures into arable lands.C. Promote trade between countries self-sufficient in food.D. Increase the amount of water for food production.63. According to the water scientists' report,A. per capita food production has been increasingB. reduced food supply will make more people malnourishedC. 70% of water will be used to feed 2 billion people by 2050D. researchers begin to seek solutions to tackle water problem64. In regard to the problem of water supply, scientists believeA. more water should be allocated to satisfy energy demandB. food production must be increased to 70% by mid-centuryC. energy demand will intensify pressure on water resourcesD. electricity generation must be increased by 60% 30 years later65. What does the IWMI say is the best solution to food insecurity in sub-Saharan Africaand south Asia?A. Applying small pumps and simple technology.B. Launching large-scale irrigation projects.C. Increase the local household revenues.D. Investing in a new expensive irrigation project.参考答案61.C)。
大学英语六级阅读理解(集锦3篇)大学英语六级阅读理解(1)"I've never met a human worth cloning," says cloning expert M ark Westhusin from the cramped confines of his lab at Texas A&M University. "It's a stupid endeavor." That's an interesting choice of a djective, coming from a man who has spent millions of dollars tryin g to clone a 13-year-old dog named Missy. So far, he and his team have not succeeded, though they have cloned two calves and expe ct to clone a cat soon. They just might succeed in cloning Missy lat er this year---or perhaps not for another five years. It seems the re productive system of man's best friend is one of the mysteries of modern science.Westhusin's experience with cloning animals leaves him vexed b y all this talk of human cloning. In three years of work on the Miss yplicity project, using hundreds upon hundreds of canine eggs, the A&M team has produced only a dozen or so embryos carrying Miss y's DNA. None have survived the transfer to a surrogate mother. Th e wastage of eggs and the many spontaneously aborted fetuses ma y be acceptable when you're dealing with cats or bulls, he argues, but not with humans. "Cloning is incredibly inefficient, and also dan gerous," he says.Even so, dog cloning is a commercial opportunity, with a nice r esearch payoff. Ever since Dolly the sheep was cloned in, 1997, Wes thusin's phone at A&M College of Veterinary Medicinehas been ringing busily. Cost is no obstacle for customers like Missy's mysterious owner, who wishes m remain unknown to protec t his privacy. He's plopped down $3.7 million so far to fund the research because he wants a twin to carry on Missy;s fine q ualities after she dies. But he knows her clone may not have her te mperament. In a statement of purpose, Missy's owners and the A& M team say they are "both looking forward to studying the ways th at her clone differ from Missy."The fate of the dog samples will depend on Westhusin's work. He knows that even if he gets a dog viably pregnant, the offspring, should they survive,大学英语六级阅读理解(2)1.大纲要求六级考试大纲对阅读理解题的要求为:既能理解个别句子的意义,也能理解上下文的逻辑关系;既能理解字面的意思,也能理解隐含的意思;既能理解事实和细节,也能理解所读材料的主旨和大意;能就文章的内容进行判断,推理和信息转换。
95-08历年大学英语六级真题及答案(完整版)之马矢奏春创作Part I Listening Comprehension (20 minutes)Section A1. A) She was given a new job.B) She was given a raise.C) She was criticized for being late.D) She was praised for her hard work.2. A) Whether to employ the woman.B) Whether to take up the new job.C) Whether to ask for a raise.D) Whether to buy a new house.3. A) A teacher.B) A psychologist.C) A librarian.D) A publisher.4. A) To visit more places in the city.B) To take a lot of pictures of the beautiful city.C) To take some pictures of his friends.D) To spare some time to meet his friends.5. A) In town.B) Out of town.C) In the man’s house.D) Outside Ann’s house.6. A) Because she feels very hot in the room.B) Because she wants to avoid meeting people.C) Because she wants to smoke a cigarette outside.D) Because she doesn’t like the smell of smoke inside.7. A) Painters hired by the man and woman.B) Painters hired by Mr. Jones.C) Mr. Jones.D) The man and the woman.8. A) The woman enjoyed the movie very much.B) The woman saw a horror movie.C) The man asked the woman to be careful at night.D) The man went to the show with the woman.9. A) He doesn’t write well enough.B) He is not a professional writer.C) He hasn’t got any professional experience.D) H e didn’t perform well in the interview.10. A) He doesn’t think it necessary to refuel the car.B) He can manage to get the gasoline they need.C) He hopes the woman will help him select a fuel.D) He thinks it is difficult to get fuel for the car.Section BPassage OneQuestions 11 to 13 are based on the passage you have just heard.11. A) Because they can’t afford to.B) Because they think small houses are more comfortable to live in.C) Because big houses are usually built in the countryside.D) Because they prefer apartments.12. A) Because many young people have moved into comfortable apartments.B) Because many old houses in the bad part of the town are not inhabited.C) Because many older people sell their houses after their children leave.D) Because many people have quit their old house to build new ones.13. A) They have to do their own maintenance.B) They have to furnish their own houses.C) They will find it difficult to make the rest of the payment.D) They will find it difficult to dispose of their old-style furniture.Passage TwoQuestions 14 to 16 are based on the passage you have just heard.14. A) They are not active hunters.B) They don’t sleep much.C) They are often seen alone.D) They don’t eat much.15. A) To catch the birds.B) To look for shade in the heat of the day.C) To catch other animals.D) To look for a kill made by another animal.16. A) They are larger in size.B) They have to hunt more to feed the young.C) They run faster.D) They are not as lazy as the males.Passage ThreeQuestions 17 to 20 are based on the passage you have just heard.17. A) Less than 30 minutes.B) From 30 to 45 minutes.C) At least 45 minutes.D) More than 45 minutes.18. A) He should show respect for the interviewer.B) He should show confidence in himself.C) He should talk enthusiastically.D) He should be dressed properly.19. A) Speaking confidently but not aggressively.B) Talking loudly to give a lasting impression.C) Talking a lot about the job.D) Speaking politely and emotionally.20. A) Professional knowledge is a decisive factor in job interview.B) Finding a job is more difficult than one can imagine.C) A job seeker should create a good image during an interview.D) Self-confidence is most important for a job seeker.Part II Reading Comprehension (35 minutes)Questions 21 to 25 are based on the following passage.The process of perceiving other people is rarely translated (to ourselves or others) into cold, objective terms. “She was 5 feet 8 inches tall, had fair hair, and wore a colored ski rt.” More often, we try to get inside the other person to pinpoint his or her attitudes, emotions, motivations, abilities, ideas and characters. Furthermore, we sometimes behave as if we can accomplish this difficult job very quickly-perhaps with a two-second glance.We try to obtain information about others in many ways. Berger suggests several methods for reducing uncertainties about others: watching, without being noticed, a person interacting with others, particularly with others who are known to you so you can compare the observed person’s behavior with the known others’ behavior; observing a person in a situation where social behavior is relatively unrestrained or where a wide variety of behavioral responses are called for; deliberately structuring the physical or social environment so as to observe the person’s responses to specific stimuli; asking people who have had or have frequent contact with the person about him or her; and using various strategies in face-to-face interaction to uncover information about another person-questions, self-disclosures (自我流露), and so on. Getting to know someone is a never-ending task, largely because people are constantly changing and the methods we use to obtain information are often imprecise. You may have known someone for ten years and still know very little about him. If we accept the idea that we won’t ever fully know another person, it enables us to deal more easily with those things that get in the way of accurate knowledge such as secrets and deceptions. It will also keep us from being too surprised or shocked by seemingly inconsistent behavior. Ironically (讽刺性地) those things that keep us from knowing another person too well (e.g., secrets and deceptions) may be just asimportant to the development of satisfying relationship as those things that enable us to obtain accurate knowledge about a person(e.g., disclosure and truthful statements).21. The word “pinpoint” (Para. 1, Line 3) basically means ________.A) appreciateB) obtainC) interpretD) identify22. What do we learn from the first paragraph?A) People are better described in cold, objective terms.B) The difficulty of getting to know a person is usually underestimated.C) One should not judge people by their appearances.D) One is usually subjective when assessing other people’s personality.23. It can be inferred from Berger’s suggestions that ________.A) people do not reveal their true self on every occasionB) in most cases we should avoid contacting the observed person directlyC) the best way to know a person is by making comparisonsD) face-to-face interaction is the best strategy to uncover information about a person24. In developing personal relationships, secrets and deceptions, in the author’s opinion, are ________.A) personal matters that should be seriously dealt withB) barriers that should be done away withC) as significant as disclosures and truthful statementsD) things people should guard against25. The author’s purpose in writing the passage is ________.A) to give advice on appropriate conduct for social occasionsB) to provide ways of how to obtain information about peopleC) to call the reader’s attention to the negative side of people’s charactersD) to discuss the various aspects of getting to know peopleQuestions 26 to 30 are based on the following passage.The competition among producers of personal computers is essentially a race to get the best, most innovative products to the marketplace. Marketers in this environment frequently have to make a judgement as to their competitor s’ role when making marketing strategy decisions. If major competitors are changing their products, then a marketer may want to follow suit to remain competitive. Apple Computer, Inc.has introduced two new, faster personal computers, the Mackintosh II and Mackintosh SE, in anticipation of the introduction of a new PC by IBM, one of Apple’s major competitors.Apple’s new computers are much faster and more powerful than its earlier models. The improved Mackintosh is able to run programs that previously were impossible to run on an Apple PC, including IBM-compatible (兼容的) programs. This compatibility feature illustrates computer manufactures’ new attitude of giving customers the features they want. Making Apple computers capable of running IBM software is Appl e’s effort at making the Mackintosh compatible with IBM computers and thus more popular in the office, where Apple hopes to increase sales. Users of the new Apple can also add accessories (附件) to make their machines specialize in specific uses, such as engineering and writing.The new computers represent a big improvement over past models, but they also cost much more. Company officials do not think the higher price will slow down buyers who want to step up to a more powerful computer. Apple wants to stay in the high-price end of the personal computer market to finance research for even faster, more sophisticated computers.Even though Apple and IBM are major competitors, both companies realize that their competitor’s computers have certain features that their own models do not. The Apple line has always been popular for its sophisticated color graphics (图形), whereas the IBM machines have always been favored in offices. In the future, there will probably be more compatibility between the two companies’ products, which no doubt will require that both Apple and IBM change marketing strategies.26. According to the passage, Apple Computer, Inc, has introduced the Mackintosh II and the Mackintosh SE because ________.A) IBM is changing its computer models continuouslyB) it wants to make its machines specialize in specific usesC) it wants to stay ahead of IBM in the competitive computer marketD) it expects its major competitor IBM to follow its example27. Apple hopes to increase Mackintosh sales chiefly by ________.A) making its new models capable of running IBM softwareB) improving the color graphics of its new modelsC) copying the marketing strategies of IBMD) giving the customers what they want28. Apple sells its new computer models at a high price because ________.A) they have new features and functionsB) they are more sophisticated than other modelsC) they have new accessories attachedD) it wants to accumulate funds for future research29. It can be inferred from the passage that both Apple and IBM try to gain a competitive advantage by ________.A) copying each other’s technologyB) incorporating features that make their products distinctiveC) making their computer more expensiveD) making their computers run much faster30. The best title for the passage would be ________.A) Apple’s Efforts to Stay Ahead of IBMB) Apple’s New Computer TechnologyC) Apple’s New personal ComputersD) Apple’s Research ActivitiesPassage ThreeQuestions 31 to 35 are based on the following passage.It is a curious paradox that we think of the physical sciences as “hard”, the social sciences as “soft”, and the biological sciences as somewhere in between. This is interpreted to mean that our knowledge of physical systems is more certain than our knowledge of biological systems, and these in turn are more certain than our knowledge of social systems. In terms of our capacity to sample the relevant universes, however, and the probability that our images of these universes are at least approximately correct, one suspects that a reverse order is more reasonable. We are able to sample earth’s social systems with some degree of confidence that we have a reasonable sample of the total universe being investigated. Our knowledge of social systems, therefore, while it is in many ways extremely inaccurate, is not likely to be seriously overturned by new discoveries. Even the folk knowledge in social systems on which ordinary life is based in earning, spending, organizing, marrying, taking part in political activities, fighting and so on, is not very dissimilar from the more sophisticated images of the social system derived from the social sciences, even though it is built upon the very imperfect samples of personal experience.In contrast, our image of the astronomical universe, of even of earth’s geological history, can easily be subject to revolutionary changes as new data comes in and new theories are worked out. If we define the “security” our image of various parts of the total system as the probability of their suffering significant changes, then we would reverse the order of hardness and see the social sciences as the most secure, the physical sciences as the leastsecure, and again the biological sciences as somewhere in between. Our image of the astronomical universe is the least secure of all simply because we observe such a fantastically small sample of it and its record-keeping is trivial as compared with the rich records of the social systems, or even the limited records of biological systems. Records of the astronomical universe, despite the fact that we see distant things as they were long ago, are limited in the extreme.Even in regard to such a close neighbour as the moon, which we have actually visited, theories about its origin and history are extremely different, contradictory, and hard to choose among. Our knowledge of physical evolution is incomplete and highly insecure.31. The word “paradox” (Para. 1, Line 1) means “________”.A) implicationB) contradictionC) interpretationD) confusion32. According to the author, we should reverse our classification of the physical sciences as “hard” and the social sciences as “soft” because ________.A) a reverse ordering will help promote the development of the physical sciencesB) our knowledge of physical systems is more reliable than that of social systemsC) our understanding of the social systems is approximately correctD) we are better able to investigate social phenomena than physical phenomena33. The author believes that our knowledge of social systems is more secure than that of physical systems because ________.A) it is not based on personal experienceB) new discoveries are less likely to occur in social sciencesC) it is based on a fairly representative quantity of dataD) the records of social systems are more reliable34. The chances of the physical sciences being subject to great changes are the biggest because ________.A) contradictory theories keep emerging all the timeB) new information is constantly coming inC) the direction of their development is difficult to predictD) our knowledge of the physical world is inaccurate35. We know less about the astronomical universe than we do about any social system because ________.A) theories of its origin and history are variedB) our knowledge of it is highly insecureC) only a very small sample of it has been observedD) few scientists are involved in the study of astronomyQuestions 36 to 40 are based on the following.In the early days of nuclear power, the United States made money on it. But today opponents have so complicated its development that no nuclear plants have been ordered or built here in 12 years.The greatest fear of nuclear power opponents has always been a reactor “meltdown” (堆内熔化). Today, the chances of a meltdown that would threaten U.S. public health are very little. But to even further reduce the possibility, engineers are testing new reactors that rely not on human judgement to shut them down but on the laws of nature. Now General Electric is already building two advanced reactors in Japan. But do n’t expect them ever on U.S. shores unless things change in Washington.The procedure for licensing nuclear power plants is a bad dream. Any time during, or even after, construction, an objection by any group or individual can bring everything to a halt while the matter is investigated or taken to court. Meanwhile, the builder must add nice-but-not-necessary improvements, some of which force him to knock down walls and start over. In every case where a plant has been opposed, the Nuclear Regulation Commission has ultimately granted a license to construct or operate. But the victory often costs so much that the utility ends up abandoning the plant anyway.A case in point is the Shoreham plant on New York’s Long Island. Shoreham was a virtual twin to the Millstone plant in Connecticut, both ordered in the mid-’60s. Millstone, completed for $101 million, has been generating electricity for two decades. Shoreham, however, was singled out by anti-nuclear activists who, by sending in endless protests, drove the cost over $5 billion and delayed its use for many years.Shoreham finally won its operation license. But the plant has never produced a watt of power. Governor Mario Cuomo, an opponent of a Shoreham start-up, used his power to force New York’s public-utilities commission to accept the following settlement; the power company could pass the cost of Shoreham along to its consumers only if it agreed not to operate the plant! Today, a perfectly good facility, capable of servicing hundreds of homes, sits rusting.36. What has made the procedure for licensing nuclear power plantsa bad dream?A) The inefficiency of the Nuclear Regulation commission.B) The enormous cost of construction and operation.C) The length of time it takes to make investigations.D) The objection of the opponents of nuclear power.37. It can be inferred from Paragraph 2 that ________.A) it is not technical difficulties that prevent the building of nuclear power plants in the U.S.B) there are not enough safety measures in the U.S. for running new nuclear power plantsC) there are already more nuclear power plants than necessary in the U.S.D) the American government will not allow Japanese nuclear reactors to be installed in the U.S.38. Any objection, however trivial it may be, can ________.A) force the power companies to cancel the projectB) delay the construction or operation of a nuclear plantC) cause a serious debate within the Nuclear Regulation CommissionD) take the builders to court39. Governor Mario’s chief intention in proposing t he settlement was to ________.A) stop the Shoreham plant from going into operationB) help the power company to solve its financial problemsC) urge the power company to further increase its power supplyD) permit the Shoreham plant to operate under certain conditions40. The author’s attitude towards the development of nuclear power is ________.A) negativeB) neutralC) positiveD) questioningPart III Vocabulary and Structure (20 minutes)41. They ________ to enter the building by the back door; however, the front door was locked.A) weren’t supposedB) wouldn’t be supposedC) were supposedD) would be supposed42. ________ human behavior may be caused by eating substances that upset the delicate chemical balance in the brain.A) DeliberateB) ConsistentC) PrimitiveD) Abnormal43. The captured criminals were ________ in chains through thestreets.A) exhibitedB) displayedC) paradedD) revealed44. In reading stories we anticipate what is to come ________ on our memory of what has gone before.A) basedB) basingC) to baseD) to be based45. The world’s governments have done ________ nothing to combat the threat of nuclear accidents.A) inherentlyB) vitallyC) virtuallyD) identically46. I guess Jones didn’t have a chance to win the election. Almost all of the people in the city voted for his ________.A) candidateB) opponentC) alternativeD) participant47. The background music in an assembly line is designed ________.A) not being listened toB) not to be listened toC) being not listened toD) to be not listened to48. Teaching students of threshold level is hard work but the effort is very ________.A) preciousB) rewardingC) worthD) challenging49. The boy students in this school are nearly ________ as the girl students to say they intend to get a college degree in business.A) as likely twiceB) likely as twiceC) as twice likelyD) twice as likely50. The explorer lost his way so he climbed to the top of the hill to ________ himself.A) spotB) locateC) placeD) situate51. The city has decided to ________ smoking.A) do away withB) take awayC) get away withD) put away52. Perhaps it wouldn’t be ________ to go and see such a film.A) worthy you whileB) worth of whileC) worthy of whileD) worth your while53. The old building is in a good state of ________ except for the wooden floors.A) observationB) preservationC) conservationD) compensation54. While some office jobs would seem ________ to many people, there are quite a few jobs that are stimulating, exciting and satisfying.A) hostileB) tediousC) fantasticD) courageous55. ________ she wondered if she had made a mistake.A) Not until long afterwards thatB) It was not until long afterwards thatC) Not long until afterwardsD) It was long afterwards until56. The people who objected to the new approach were told that since work had already started there was no point in ________.A) denyingB) upsettingC) protestingD) competing57. The ceremony will ________ as soon as the minister arrives.A) completeB) commenceC) disperseD) descend58. So confused ________ that he didn’t know how to start his lecture.A) since he becameB) would he becomeC) that he becameD) did he become59. Since the couple could not ________ their differences, they decided to get a divorce.A) reconcileB) complyC) coincideD) resign60. After the collision, he examined the considerable ________ to his car.A) ruinB) destructionC) damageD) injury61. Output is now six times ________ it was before 1990.A) thatB) whatC) for whichD) of that62. The heavily populated area was a breeding place for ________ diseases.A) infectiousB) powerfulC) influentialD) suspicious63. It is unfortunate that, owing to lack of money, these experiments must now be ________ before the objective has been achieved.A) transferredB) testifiedC) terminatedD) transformed64. The synthetic vitamins are identical ________ those naturally present in our food.A) forB) ofC) asD) with65. Just as a book is often judged ________ by the quality and appearance of its cover, a person is judged immediately by his appearance.A) previouslyB) uniquelyC) outwardlyD) initially66. Recycling wastes slows down the rate ________ which we use up the Earth’s finite resources.A) InB) ofC) withD) at67. Gasoline is ________ by the spark plugs in the engine.A) ignitedB) inspiredC) excitedD) illuminated68. He ________ another career but, at the time, he didn’t have enough money to attend graduate school.A) might have chosenB) might chooseC) had to chooseD) must have chosen69. Many visitors praised the magnificent architecture of the Palace, ________.A) known to foreigners for the Forbidden CityB) known for foreigners to be the Forbidden CityC) known to foreigners as the Forbidden CityD) know for foreigners as the Forbidden City70. The travelers ________ their journey after a short break.A) recoveredB) resumedC) renewedD) restoredPart IV Error Correction (15 minutes)Directions: This part consists of a short passage. In this passage, there are altogether 10 mistakes, one in each numbered line. You may have to change a word, add a word or delete a word. Mark out the mistakes and put the corrections in the blanks provided. If you change a word, cross it out and write the correct word in thecorresponding blank. If you add a word, put an insertion mark (∧) in the right place and write the missing word in the blank. If you delete a word, cross it and put a slash (/) in the blank.Example:Television is rapidly becoming the literature of our periods╱. 1. time/times/periodMany of the arguments having╱ used for the study of literature as2. _______\_______a school subject are valid for ∧ study of television. 3.______the______We are all naturally attracted to people with ideas, beliefs and interests like our own. Similarly, we feel comfortable with people with physical qualities similar as ours. (71)You may have noticed about how people who live or work (72) closely together come to behave in a similar way. Unconsciously we copy these we are close to or love or admire. So a spor tsman’s (73) individual way of walking with raised shoulders is imitated by an admired (74) fan; a pair of lovers both shake their heads in the same way; an employer finds himself duplicating his boss’s habit of wagging (摆动) (75) a pen between his fingers while thinking.In every case, the influential person may consciously notice the (76) imitation but he will feel comfortably in its presence. And if he does (77) notice the matching of his gestures or movements, he finds it pleasing he is influencing people; they are drawn to them. (78) Sensitive people have been mirroring their friend and acquaintances (79) all their lives, and winning affection and respect in this way without aware of their methods. Now, for people who want to win (80) agreement or trust, affection or sympathy, some psychologists recommend the deliberate use of physical imitation.Part V Writing (30 minutes)Directions: For this part, you are allowed thirty minutes to write a composition on the topic My view on the Negative Effects of Some Advertisements. You should write at least 120 words and you should base your composition on the outline (given in Chinese) below:1. 现在有些不良的商业广告2. 这些广告的副作用和危害性3. 我对这些广告的态度1995年1月六级参考答案Part I1. C2. B3. C4. D5. A6. D7. D8. B9. C 10. B11. A 12. C 13. A 14. A 15. D16. B 17. B 18. D 19. A 20. CPart II21. D 22. B 23. B 24. C 25. D26. C 27. A 28. D 29. B 30. A31. B 32. D 33. B 34. B 35. C36. D 37. A 38. B 39. A 40. BPart III41. A 42. D 43. C 44. A 45. C46. B 47. C 48. B 49. D 50. B51. A 52. D 53. B 54. B 55. C56. C 57. B 58. D 59. A 60. C61. B 62. A 63. C 64. D 65. C66. D 67. A 68. A 69. C 70. B71. as → to72. about → /73. these → those74. admired → admiring75. employer → employee76. consciously → unconsciously77. comfortably → comfortable78. them → him79. friend → friends80. (without) → (without) being1995年1月六级听力原文Section A1. W: You wanted to see me, Mr. Wright?M: Yes, Miss Gray. You’ll have to start getting to work on time, or your service will no longer be needed here.Q: What happened to Miss Gray?2. M: You know, I’m just not too sure if the new salary will be high enough or even the new position is really what I want. Besides, I like the work that I am doing now.W: It sounds as though you’ve already made up your mind ab out what you are going to do.Q: What is the man thinking about?3. W: I’m looking for textbook for my Psychology course. It’s called “Introduction to Educational Psychology”. Do you have it? M: Yes, we do. You’ll find it in Section 24 on the top shelf.Q: What’s the man’s occupation?4. W: Oh, this is a beautiful city. I’m really glad I’ve brought my camera.M: Yes, there are lots of things to take pictures of here. But I。
英语六级阅读试题精选(附答案解析)Directions: There are 4 passages in this Part. 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 the Answer Sheet with a single line through the centre.Passage OneIn the 1962 movie Lawrence of Arabia, one scene shows an American newspaper reporter eagerly snapping photos of men looting a sabotaged train. One of the looters, Chief Auda abu Tayi of the Howeitat clan, suddenly notices the camera and snatches it. Am I in this? he asks, before smashing it open. To the dismayed reporter, Lawrence explains, He thinks these things will steal his virtue. He thinks you're a kind of thief.As soon as colonizers and explorers began taking cameras into distant lands, stories began circulating about how indigenous peoples saw them as tools for black magic. The ignorant natives may have had a point. When photography first became available, scientists welcomed it as a more objective way of recording faraway societies than early travelers' exaggerated accounts. But in some ways, anthropological photographs reveal more about the culture that holds the camera than the one that stares back. Up into the 1950s and 1960s, many ethnographers sought pure pictures of primitive cultures, routinely deleting modern accoutrements such as clocks and Western dress. They paid men and women to re-enact rituals or to pose as members of war or hunting parties, often with little regard for veracity. Edward Curtis, the legendary photographer of North American Indians, for example, got one Makah man to pose as a whaler with a spear in 1915--even though the Makah had not hunted whales in a generation.These photographs reinforced widely accepted stereotypes that indigenous cultures were isolated, primitive, and unchanging. For instance, National Geographic magazine's photographs have taught millions of Americans about other cultures. As Catherine Lutz and Jane Collins point out in their 1993 book Reading National Geographic, the magazine since its founding in 1888 has kept a tradition of presenting beautiful photos that don't challengewhite, middle-class American conventions. While dark-skinned women can be shown without tops, for example, white women's breasts are taboo. Photos that could unsettle or disturb, such as areas of the world torn asunder by war or famine, are discarded in favor of those that reassure, to conform with the society's stated pledge to present only kindly visions of foreign societies. The result, Lutz and Collins say, is the depiction of an idealized and exotic world relatively free of pain or class conflict.Lutz actually likes National Geographic a lot. She read the magazine as a child, and its lush imagery influenced her eventual choice of anthropology as a career. She just thinks that as people look at the photographs of other cultures, they should be alert to the choice of composition and images.1. The main idea of the passage is ______________.[A] Photographs taken by Western explorers reflect more Westerners’ perception of the indigenous cultures and the Western values.[B] There is a complicated relationship between the Western explorers and the primitive peoples.[C] Popular magazines such as National Geographic should show pictures of the exotic and idealized worlds to maintain high sales.[D] Anthropologists ask the natives to pose for their pictures, compromising the truthfulness of their pictures.2. We can infer from the passage that early travelers to the native lands often _________.[A] took pictures with the natives[B] gave exaggerated accounts of the native lands[C] ask for pictures from the natives[D] gave the natives clocks and Western dresses3. The author mentions the movie Lawrence of Arabia to ___________.[A] show how people in the indigenous societies are portrayed by Westerners.[B] illustrate how people from primitive societies see cameras as tools of black magic that steal their virtues.[C] show how anthropologists portray untruthful pictures of native people.[D] show the cruel and barbarian side of the native people.4. “But in some ways, anthropological photographs reveal more about the culture that holds the camera than the one that stares back.” In this sentence, the “one [culture] that stares back” refers to _______.[A] the indigenous culture[B] the Western culture[C] the academic culture[D] the news business culture5. With which of the following statements would Catherine Lutz most probably agree?[A] Reporters from the Western societies should routinely delete modern elements in pictures taken of the indigenous societies.[B] The primitive cultures are inferior to the more advanced Western culture.[C] The western media are not presenting a realistic picture of the faraway societies.[D] People in the Western news business should try not to challenge the well-established white middle-class values.答案与解析1. 答案是[A] Photographs taken by Western explorers reflect more Westerners’perception of the indigenous cultures and the Western values.解析:本文的主题是,西方的媒体,为了迎合西方读者猎奇的心理,同时,为了不与西方读者的中产阶级价值观发生冲突,在他们拍摄的照片中,并不是真正客观公正地反映经济发展水平较为落后的社会中人们的生活。
英语6级阅读试题及答案试题一:阅读理解Passage 1In recent years, the popularity of online courses has surged, with millions of students around the world taking advantage of the convenience and flexibility they offer. However, despite their growing popularity, there are concerns about the quality of education provided by these platforms.Questions:56. What is the main idea of the passage?A) The convenience of online courses is unmatched.B) Online courses are becoming increasingly popular.C) There are doubts about the quality of online education.D) The number of students taking online courses is declining.57. According to the passage, what is one of the reasons for the surge in online courses?A) They are more affordable than traditional courses.B) They offer a more personalized learning experience.C) They are more widely available than ever before.D) They are endorsed by many educational institutions.Passage 2The concept of a "smart city" has been gaining traction inurban planning circles. A smart city utilizes information and communication technology to enhance the quality and performance of urban services, to reduce costs and resource consumption, and to improve the quality of life for its citizens.Questions:58. What is the primary goal of a smart city?A) To increase the use of technology in everyday life.B) To improve the efficiency of urban services.C) To reduce the cost of living for its residents.D) To promote the use of renewable energy sources.59. What is one of the benefits of a smart city mentioned in the passage?A) It can provide better healthcare services.B) It can offer more job opportunities.C) It can enhance the quality of life for its citizens.D) It can increase the city's economic growth.试题二:快速阅读Passage 3The rise of social media has had a profound impact on society, changing the way we communicate, share information, and even do business. While social media platforms offer many benefits, they also present new challenges, such as privacy concernsand the spread of misinformation.Questions:60. What is the main topic of the passage?A) The benefits of social media.B) The impact of social media on society.C) The challenges posed by social media.D) The history of social media platforms.61. What is one of the challenges mentioned in the passage?A) The difficulty in regulating social media content.B) The increase in cyberbullying incidents.C) The potential for privacy breaches.D) The decline in face-to-face communication.答案56. B) Online courses are becoming increasingly popular.57. C) They are more widely available than ever before.58. B) To improve the efficiency of urban services.59. C) It can enhance the quality of life for its citizens.60. B) The impact of social media on society.61. C) The potential for privacy breaches.。
英语六级考试阅读题专项练习及答案(最新6篇)英语六级考试阅读题专项练习及答案篇一It is doing something better than other people that makes us unique. Yet a surprising number of people still see individuality as a surface thing. They wear bright clothes, dye their hair strange colors and decorate their skin with tattoos (文身) to make some kind of social statement.The whole purpose of individuality is excellence. The people who comprehend the simple principle of being unique through performance make our entire political and economic system work. Those who invent, who improve, who know more about a subject than other people do, and who take something that doesn#39;t work and make it work—these people are the very soul of capitalism.Charles Kettering didn#39;t like the idea of cranking a car to make it start, so he invented the electric starter. Henry Ford figured out the assembly-line technique and made it possible to mass-produce automobiles. Lewis Waterman saw no need to go on dipping a pen into an inkwell, so he put the ink into the pen. George Westinghouse told the world how to stop a train, and Elisha Otis, inventor of the elevator, indirectly created the city skyline. These people understood that individualism means working at the top of one#39;s capacity.Fortunately, enough Americans have been inspired to do something with their uniqueness that we have developed in less than three centuries from a frontier outpost into not only a country of freedom but a country strong enough to protect that freedom. These people prized the notions of individuality and excellence above all things and thus kept the great machine functioning. The ones with the purple hair and the horrorable jewelry are just along for the ride, trying to be different and not knowing how to go about it.1 The student who earns A#39;s on his report card has grasped the idea and has found the real meaning of individuality. So has the youngster who has designed his own spaceship, who paints pictures of the world around him, or who can name all the states and their capitals. According to the author unique individuals are persons who______.A. do something better than other peopleB. know more about a subject than other peopleC. excel others in workD. all of the above2、People who regard individuality as a surface thing always do the following EXCEPTA. wearing bright clothesB. coloring their hairC. doing better than othersD. decorating their skin with tattoos3、Which is NOT TRUE according to the passage?A. Henry Ford invented assembly-line technique.B. Elisha Otis was the inventor of the liftC. George Westinghouse created cranks.D. Lewis Waterman put the ink into the pen.4、It can be inferred from the passage that______.A. the real secret to being unique lies in our excellent workB. if we want to be different we#39;d gain more profitC the student who earns A#39;s on the report card has not grasped the real meaning of individualityD. all Americans work miracles In the writer#39;s opinion5、who has understood the sense of individuality?A. The youngster who designed his own spaceship.B. The youngster who painted worthy pictures.C. The youngster who was interested in wearing strange clothes.D. Both A and B.答案D C C A D英语六级考试阅读题专项练习及答案篇二Two astronauts face a not-so-merry Christmas after being told to ration their food and hope a cargo ship with extra supplies docks on Dec. 21. Russian cosmonaut Salizhan Sharipov and American Leroy Chiao have been asked to cut out calories equal to three cans of Coke from their daily diet—around 10 percent of their daily __1__ and an amount that would be little noticed, NASA said.Russian officials, quoted in the local media, have __2__ blamed the previous crew for overeating during their one-month mission earlier this year, leaving a __3__ of meat and milk and a surplus of juice and confectionery .The Dec. 24 launch of the next Progress is now __4__ for the crew, stationed in orbit since October. It is due to __5__ with the ISS on Dec. 21.NASA officials said their situation was not so different from being cut off on Earth, and their lives were not at risk. If they do not receive __6__supplies, the astronauts would have to __7__ the station and return to Earth on the Soyuz capsule that is docked there.Russia has been the sole lifeline to the ISS for almost two years when the United States grounded its __8__ fleet after the fatal Columbia accident. Russia has often __9__ of its financial struggle to keep the ISS fully serviced single-handedly. Shuttle flights could __10__in May, officials have said, but in the meantime Russia will continue to launch all manned and cargo ships.A) deficit B) complaine C) severely D) allowanceE) considerately F) shuttle G) evacuate H) absentlyI) adequate J) dock K) resume L) vitalM) trivial N) evaluate O) fresh答案1. D 空格前为形容词daily,空格后为连词and和an amount,分析句子结构可知,此处应填入一个名词。
英语六级的阅读练习题及答案英语六级的阅读练习题及答案「篇一」1.She was a very quiet and kind director.She neverlaughed,___1___lose her temper.But when she worked she was verystrict.We have been told by her that under no circumstance____2___the telephone in the office for personal affairs。
1.[a] or she never did [b]nor did she ever[c]or did she ever [d]nor she never did2.[a]may we use [b]we may use[c]we could use [d]did we use2.Seldom___3___any mistakes during my past five years ofworks.However,I still could not gain success as a good writer like my teacher.Finally my teacher told me:”Only when you have acquired a good knowledge of life around you___4___write successfully and meaningfully”3.[a]should I make [b]did I make[c]I did make [d]would I make4.[a]you will [b]can’t you[c]you can [d]can you答案:1.选B。
该题考点为当前面的句子和后面的句子都含否定意义时,后面的分句常用nor连接,并采用部分倒装语序。
历年英语六级阅读真题(2012,6---2006,12)2012 年12 月英语六级阅读真题(1) Passage OneAmid all the job losses of the Great Recession, there is one category of worker that the economic disruption has been good for: nonhumans.From self-service checkout lines at the supermarket to industrial robots armed with saws and taught to carve up animal carcasses in slaughter-houses, these ever-more-intelligent machines are now not just assisting workers but actually kicking them out of their jobs.Automation isn’t just affecti ng factory workers, either. Some law firms now use artificial intelligence software to scan and read mountains of legal documents, work that previously was performed by highly paid human lawyers.“Robots continue to have an impact on blue-collar jobs, and white-collar jobs are under attack by microprocessors,” says Edward Leamer, an economics professor at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management and director of the UCLA Anderson Forecast, a survey of the U.S. and California economies. Leamer says the recession permanently wiped out 2.5 million jobs. U.S. gross domestic product has climbedback to pre-recession levels, meaning we’re producing as much as before, only with 6 percent fewer workers. To be sure, robotics are not the only job killers out there, with outsourcing stealing far more gigs than automation.Jeff Burnstein, president of the Robotics Industry Association, a trade group in Ann Arbor, Mich., argues that robots actually save U.S. jobs. His logic: companies that embrace automation might use fewe r workers, but that’s still better than firing everyone and moving the work overseas.It’s not that robots are cheaper than humans, though often they are. It’s that they are better. “In some cases the quality requirements are so stringent that even if you wanted to have a human do the job, you couldn’t,” Burnstein says.Same goes for surgeons, who are using robotic systems to perform an ever-growing list of operations—not because the machines save money but because, thanks to the greater precision of robots, the patients recover in less time and have fewer complications, says Dr. Myriam Curet.Surgeons may survive the robot invasion, but others at the hospital might not be so lucky, as iRobot, maker of the Roomba, a robot vacuum cleaner, has been showing off Ava, a three-foot-tall droid on wheels that carries a tablet computer. iRobot reckons Ava could be used as a courier in a hospital.And once you’re home, recovering, Ava could let you talk to your doctor, so there’s no need to send someone to your h ouse. That “mobile telepresence” could be useful at the office. If you’re away on a trip, you can still attend a meeting. Just connect via videoconferencing software, so your face appears on Ava’s screen.Is any job safe? I was hoping to say “journalist,” but researchers are already developing algorithms that can gather facts and write a news story. Which means that a few years from now, a robot could be writing this column. And who will read it? Well, there might be a lot of us hanging around with lots of free time on our hands.(2) Passage TwoYou've now heard it so many times, you can probably repeat it in your sleep. President Obama will no doubt make the point publicly when he gets to Beijing: the Chinese need to spend more; they need to consume more; they need —believe it or not — to become more like Americans, for the sake of the global economy.And it's all true. But the other side of that equation is that the U.S. needs to save more. For the moment, American households actually are doing so. After the personal-savingsrate dipped to zero in 2005, the shock of the economic crisis last year prompted people to snap shut their wallets.In China, the household-savings rate exceeds 20%. It is partly for policy reasons. As we've seen, wage earners are expected to care for not only their children but also their aging parents. And there is, to date, only the flimsiest(脆弱的)of publicly-funded health care and pension systems, which increases incentives for individuals to save while they are working. But China is a society that has long esteemed personal financial prudence(谨慎)for centuries. There is no chance that will change anytime soon, even if the government creates a better social safety net and successfully encourages greater consumer spending.Why does the U.S. need to learn a little frugality(节俭). Because healthy savings rates are one of the surest indicators of a country's long-term financial health. High savings lead, over time, to increased investment, which in turn generates productivity gains, innovation and job growth. In short, savings are the seed corn of a good economic harvest.The U.S. government thus needs to act as well. By running constant deficits, it is dis-saving, even as households save more. Peter Orszag, Obama's Budget Director, recently called the U.S. budget deficits unsustainable and he's right. Todate, the U.S. has seemed unable to have what Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels has called an "adult conversation" about the consequences of spending so much more than is taken in. That needs to change. And though Hu Jintao and the rest of the Chinese leadership aren't inclined to lecture visiting Presidents, he might gently hint that Beijing is getting a little nervous about the value of the dollar —which has fallen 15% since March, in large part because of increasing fears that America's debt load is becoming unmanageable.That's what happens when you're the world's biggest creditor: you get to drop hints like that, which would be enough by themselves to create international economic chaos if they were ever leaked. (Every time any official in Beijing deliberately publicly about seeking an alternative to the U.S. dollar for the $2.1 trillion China holds in reserve, currency traders have a heart attack.) If Americans saved more and spent less, consistently over time, they wouldn't have to worry about all that.2012 年6 月英语六级阅读真题(3)Passage OneAs anyone who has tried to lose weight knows, realisticgoal-setting generally produces the best results. That's partially because it appears people who set realistic goals actually work more efficiently, and exert more effort, to achieve those goals.What's far less understood by scientists, however, are the potentially harmful effects of goal-setting.Newspapers relay daily accounts of goal-setting prevalent in industries and businesses up and down both Wall Street and Main Street , yet there has been surprisingly little research on how the long-trumpeted practice of setting goals may have contributed to the current economic crisis , and unethical (不道德的)behavior in general.“Goals are widely used and promoted as having really beneficial effects. And yet, the same motivation that can push people to exert more effort in a constructive way could also motivate people to be more likely to engage in unethical behaviors,” says Maurice Schweitzer, an associate professor at Penn’s WhartonSchool.“It turns out there’s no economic benefit to just having a goal---you just get a psychological benefit” Schweitzer says.“But in many cases, go als have economic rewards that make them more powerful.”A prime example Schweitzer and his colleagues cite is the 2004 collapse of energy-trading giant Enron, where managers used financial incentives to motivate salesmen to meet specific revenue goals. The problem, Schweitzer says, is the actual trades were not profitable.Other studies have shown that saddling employees with unrealistic goals can compel them to lie, cheat or steal. Such was the case in the early 1990s when Sears imposed a sales quota on its auto repair staff. It prompted employees to overcharge for work and to complete unnecessary repairs on a companywide basis.Schweitzer concedes his research runs counter to a very large body of literature that commends the many benefits ofgoal-setting. Advocates of the practice have taken issue with his team’s use of such evidence as news accounts to support his conclusion that goal-setting is widely over-prescribedIn a rebuttal (反驳) paper, Dr. Edwin Lockewrites:“Goal-setting is not going away. Organizations cannot thrive without being focused on their desired end results anymore than an individual can thrive without goals to provide a sense of purpose.”But Schweitzer contends the “mounting causal evidence” linking goal-setting and harmful behavior should be studied to help spotlight issues that merit caution and further investigation. “Even a few negative effects could be so large that they outweigh many positive effects,” he says.“Goal-setting does help coordinate and motivate people. My idea would be to combine that with careful oversight, a strong organizational culture, and make sure the goals that you use are going to be constructive and not significantly harm the organization,” Schweitzer says.(4) Passage twoFor most of the 20th century, Asia asked itself what it could learn from the modern, innovating West. Now the question must be reversed. What can the West’s overly indebted and sluggish (经济滞长的) nations learn from a flourishing Asia?Just a few decades ago, Asia’s two giants were stagnati ng(停滞不前) under faulty economic ideologies. However, once China began embracing free-market reforms in the 1980s, followed by India in the 1990s, both countries achieved rapidgrowth. Crucially, as they opened up their markets, they balanced market economy with sensible government direction. As the Indian economist Amartya Sen has wisely said, “The invisible hand of the market has often relied heavily on the visible hand of government.”Contrast this middle path with America and Europe, which have each gone ideologically over-board in their own ways. Since the 1980s, America has been increasingly clinging to the ideology of uncontrolled free markets and dismissing the role of government---following Ronald Regan’s idea that “government is not the solution to o ur problem; governmentis the problem. “Of course, when the markets came crashing down in 2007, it was decisive government intervention that saved the day. Despite this fact, many Americans are still strongly opposed to “big government.”If Americans could only free themselves from their antigovernment doctrine, they would begin to see that the America’s problems are not insoluble. A few sensible federal measures could put the country back on the right path. A simple consumption tax of, say, 5% would significantly reduce the country’s huge government deficit without damaging productivity. A small gasoline tax would help freeAmerica from its dependence on oil imports and create incentives for green energy development. In the same way, a significant reduction of wasteful agricultural subsidies could also lower the deficit. But in order to take advantage of these common-sense solutions, Americans will have to put aside their own attachment to the idea of smaller government and less regulation. American politicians will have to develop the courage to follow what is taught in all American public-policy schools: that there are good taxes and bad taxes. Asian countries have embraced this wisdom, and have built sound long-term fiscal (财政的) policies as a result.Meanwhile, Europe has fallen prey to a different ideological trap: the belief that European governments would always have infinite resources and could continue borrowing as if there were no tomorrow. Unlike the Americans, who felt that the markets knew best, the Europeans failed to anticipate how the markets would react to their endless borrowing. Today, the European Union is creating a $580 billion fund to ward off sovereign collapse. This will buy the EU time, but it will not solve the bloc’s larger problem.2011 年12 月英语六级阅读真题(5) Passage OneQuestions 52 to 56 are based on the following passage.What's the one word of advice a well-meaning professional would give to a recent college graduate? China"} India! Brazil! How about trade!When the Commerce Department reported last week that the trade deficit in June approached $50 billion, it set off a new round of economic doomsaying. Imports, which soared to $200.3 billion in the month, are subtracted in the calculation of gross domestic product. The larger the trade deficit, the smaller the GDP. Should such imbalances continue, pessimists say, they could contribute to slower growth.But there's another way of looking at the trade data. Over the past two years, the figures on imports and exports seem not to signal a double-dip recession – a renewed decline in the broad level of economic activity in the United States – but an economic expansion.The rising volume of trade – more goods and services shuttling in and out of the United States – is good news for many sectors. Companies engaged in shipping, trucking, rail freight, delivery,and logistics (物流) have all been reporting better than expected results. The rising numbers signify growing vitality in foreign markets – when we import more stuff, it puts more cash in the hands of people around the world, and U.S. exports are rising because more foreigners have the ability to buy the things we produce and market. The rising tide of trade is also good news for people who work in trade-sensitive businesses, especially those that produce commodities for which global demand sets the price – agricultural goods, mining, metals, oil.And while exports always seem to lag, U.S. companies are becoming more involved in the global economy with each passing month. General Motors sells as many cars in China as in America each month. While that may not do much for imports, it does help GM's balance sheet – and hence makes the jobs of U.S.-based executives more stable.One great challenge for the U.S. economy is slack domestic consumer demand. Americans arepaying down debt, saving more, and spending more carefully. That's to be expected, given what we've been through. But there's a bigger challenge. Can U.S.-based businesses, large and small, figure out how to get a piece of growing global demand? Unless you want to pick up and move to India, orBrazil, or China, the best way to do that is through trade. It may seem obvious, but it's no longer enough simply to do business with our friends and neighbors here at home.Companies and individuals who don't have a strategy to export more, or to get more involved in foreign markets, or to play a role in global trade, are shutting themselves out of the lion's share of economic opportunity in our world.(6) Passage TwoA recurring criticism of the UK's university sector is its perceived weakness in translating new knowledge into new products and services.Recently, the UK National Stem Cell Network warned the UK could lose its place among the world leaders in stem cell research unless adequate funding and legislation could be assured. We should take this concern seriously as universities are key in the national innovation system.However, we do have to challenge the unthinking complaint that the sector does not do enough in taking ideas to market. The most recent comparative data on the performance of universities and research institutions in Australia, Canada, USA and UKshows that, from a relatively weak starting position, the UK now leads on many indicators of commercialisation activity.When viewed at the national level, the policy interventions of the past decade have helped trans form the performance of UK universities. Evidence suggests the UK's position is much stronger than in the recent past and is still showing improvement. But national data masks the very large variation in the performance of individual universities. The evidence shows that a large number of universities have fallen off the back of the pack, a few perform strongly and the rest chase the leaders.This type of uneven distribution is not peculiar to the UK and is mirrored across other economies. In the UK, research is concentrated: less than 25% of universities receive 75% of the research funding. These same universities are also the institutions producing the greatest share of PhD graduates, science citations, patents and licence income. The effect of policies generating long-term resource concentration has also created a distinctive set of universities which areresearch-led and commercially active. It seems clear that the concentration of research and commercialisation work creates differences between universities.The core objective for universities which are research-led must be to maximise the impact oftheir research efforts. These universities should be generating the widest range of social, economic and environmental benefits. In return for the scale of investment, they should share their expertise in order to build greater confidence in the sector.Part of the economic recovery of the UK will be driven by the next generation of research commercialisation spilling out of our universities. There are three dozen universities in the UKwhich are actively engaged in advanced research training and commercialisation work.If there was a greater coordination of technology transfer offices within regions and a simultaneous investment in the scale and functions of our graduate schools, universities could, and should, play a key role in positioning the UK for the next growth cycle.2011 年6 月英语六级阅读真题(7) Passage OneQuestions 52 to 56 are based on the following passage.At the heart of the debate over illegal immigration lies one key question: are immigrants good or bad for the economy? The American public overwhelmingly thinks they're bad. Yet the consensus among most economists is that immigration, both legal and illegal, provides a small net boost to the economy. Immigrants provide cheap labor, lower the prices of everything from farm produce to new homes, and leave consumers with a little more money in their pockets. So why is there such a discrepancy between the perception of immigrants' impact on the economy and the reality?There are a number of familiar theories. Some argue that people are anxious and feel threatened by an inflow of new workers. Others highlight the strain that undocumented immigrants place on public services, like schools, hospitals, and jails. Still others emphasize the role of race, arguing that foreigners add to the nation's fears and insecurities. There's some truth to all these explanations, but they aren't quite sufficient.To get a better understanding of what's going on, consider the way immigration's impact is felt. Though its overall effect may be positive, its costs and benefits are distributed unevenly. David Card, an economist at UC Berkeley, notesthat the ones who profit most directly from immigrants'low-cost labor are businesses and employers – meatpacking plants in Nebraska, for instance, or agricultural businesses in California. Granted, these producers' savings probably translate into lower prices at the grocery store, but how many consumers make that mental connection at the checkout counter? As for the drawbacks of illegal immigration, these, too, are concentrated. Native low-skilled workers suffer most from the competition of foreign labor. According to a study by George Borjas, a Harvard economist, immigration reduced the wages of American high-school dropouts by 9% between 1980-2000.Among high-skilled, better-educated employees, however, opposition was strongest in states with both high numbers of immigrants and relatively generous social services. What worried them most, in other words, was the fiscal (财政的)burden of immigration. That conclusion was reinforced by another finding: that their opposition appeared to soften when that fiscal burden decreased, as occurred with welfare reform in the 1990s, which curbed immigrants' access to certain benefits.The irony is that for all the overexcited debate, the net effect of immigration is minimal. Even for those most acutely affected – say, low-skilled workers, or California residents –the impact isn't all that dramatic. "The unpleasant voices have tended to dominate our perceptions," says Daniel Tichenor, a political science professor at the University of Oregon. "But when all those factors are put together and the economists calculate the numbers, it ends up being a net positive, but a small one." Too bad most people don't realize it.(8) Passage TwoPicture a typical MBA lecture theatre twenty years ago. In it the majority of students will have conformed to the standard model of the time: male, middle class and Western. Walk into a class today, however, and you'll get a completely different impression. For a start, you will now see plenty more women – the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, for example, boasts that 40% of its new enrolment is female. You will also see a wide range of ethnic groups and nationals of practically every country.It might be tempting, therefore, to think that the old barriers have been broken down and equal opportunity achieved. But,increasingly, this apparent diversity is becoming a mask for a new type of conformity. Behind the differences in sex, skin tones and mother tongues, there are common attitudes, expectations and ambitions which risk creating a set of clones among the business leaders of the future.Diversity, it seems, has not helped to address fundamental weaknesses in business leadership. So what can be done to create more effective managers of the commercial world? According to Valerie Gauthier, associate dean at HEC Paris, the key lies in the process by which MBA programmes recruit their students. At the moment candidates are selected on a fairly narrow set of criteria such as prior academic and career performance, and analytical and problem solving abilities. This is then coupled to a school's picture of what a diverse class should look like, with the result that passport, ethnic origin and sex can all become influencing factors. But schools rarely dig down to find out what really makes an applicant succeed, to create a class which also contains diversity of attitude and approach – arguably the only diversity that, in a business context, really matters.Professor Gauthier believes schools should not just be selecting candidates from traditional sectors such as banking,consultancy and industry. They should also be seeking individuals who have backgrounds in areas such as political science, the creative arts, history or philosophy, which will allow them to put business decisions into a wider context.Indeed, there does seem to be a demand for the more rounded leaders such diversity might create. A study by Mannaz, a leadership development company, suggests that, while the bully-boy chief executive of old may not have been eradicated completely, there is a definite shift in emphasis towards less tough styles of management – at least in America and Europe. Perhaps most significant, according to Mannaz, is the increasing interest large companies have in more collaborative management models, such as those prevalent in Scandinavia, which seek to integrate the hard and soft aspects of leadership and encourage delegated responsibility and accountability.2010 年12 月英语六级阅读真题(9) Passage OneIn the early 20th century, few things were more appealing than the promise of scientific knowledge. In aworld struggling with rapid industrialization, science and technology seemed to offer solutions to almost every problem. Newly created state colleges and universities devoted themselves almost entirely to scientific, technological, and engineering fields. Many Americans came to believe that scientific certainty could not only solve scientific problems, but also reform politics, government, and business. Two world wars and a Great Depression rocked the confidence of many people that scientific expertise alone could create a prosperous and ordered world. After World War Ⅱ, the academic world turned with new enthusiasm to humanistic studies, which seemed to many scholars the best way to ensure the survival of democracy. American scholars fanned out across much of the world—with support from the Ford Foundation, the Fulbright program, etc.—to promote the teaching of literature and the arts in an effort to make the case for democratic freedoms.In the America of our own time, the great educational challenge has become an effort to strengthen the teaching of what is now known as the STEM disciplines (science, technology, engineering, and math). There isconsiderable and justified concern that the United States is falling behind much of the rest of the developed world in these essential disciplines. India, China, Japan, and other regions seem to be seizing technological leadership.At the same time, perhaps inevitably, the humanities—while still popular in elite colleges and universities—have experienced a significant decline. Humanistic disciplines are seriously underfunded, not just by the government and the foundations but by academic institutions themselves. Humanists are usually among the lowest-paid faculty members at most institutions and are often lightly regarded because they do not generate grant income and because they provide no obvious credentials (资质) for most nonacademic careers.Undoubtedly American education should train more scientists and engineers. Much of the concern among politicians about the state of American universities today is focused on the absence of “real world” education—which means preparation for professional and scientific careers. But the idea that institutions ortheir students must decide between humanities and science is false. Our society could not survive without scientific and technological knowledge. But we would be equally impoverished (贫困的) without humanistic knowledge as well. Science and technology teach us what we can do. Humanistic thinking helps us understand what we should do.It is almost impossible to imagine our society without thinking of the extraordinary achievements of scientists and engineers in building our complicated world. But try to imagine our world as well without the remarkable works that have defined our culture and values. We have always needed, and we still need, both.(10) Passage TwoWill there ever be another Einstein? This is the undercurrent of conversation at Einstein memorial meetings throughout the year. A new Einstein will emerge, scientists say. But it may take a long time. After all, more than 200 years separated Einstein from his nearest rival, Isaac Newton.Many physicists say the next Einstein hasn’t been born yet, or is a baby now. That’s because the quest for a unified theory that would account for all the forces of nature has pushed current mathematics to its limits. New math must be created before the problem can be solved.But researchers say there are many other factors working against another Einstein emerging anytime soon.For one thing, physics is a much different field today. In Einstein’s day, there were only a few thousand physicists worldwide, and the theoreticians who could intellectually rival Einstein probably would fit into a streetcar with seats to spare.Education is different, too. One crucial aspect of Einstein’s training that is overlooked is the years of philosophy he read as a teenager—Kant, Schopenhauer and Spinoza, among others. It taught him how to think independently and abstractly about space and time, and it wasn’t long before he became a philosopher himself.“The independence created by philosophical insight is—in my opinion—the mark of distinction between a mere artisan (工匠) or specialist and a real seeker after。
Passage OneWhen the right person is holding the right job at the right moment, that person's influence is greatly expanded. That is the position in which Janet Yellen, who is expected to be confirmed as the next chair of the Federal Reserve Bank (FeD. in January, now finds herself. If you believe, as many do, that unemployment is the major economic and social concern of our day, then it is no stretch to think Yellen is the most powerful person in the world right now.56. What do many people think is the biggest problem facing Janet Yellen?【C】A. Lack of money.B. Subprime crisis.C. Unemployment.D. Social instability.57. What did Yellen help the Fed do to tackle the 2008 financial crisis?【D】A. Take effective measures to curb inflation.B. Deflate the bubbles in the American economy.C. Formulate policies to help financial institutions.D. Pour money into the market through asset buying.58. What is a greater concern of the general public?【B】A.Recession.B. Deflation.C. Inequality.D. Income.59. What is Yellen likely to do in her position as the Fed chief?【C】A. Develop a new monetary program.B. Restore public confidence.C. Tighten financial regulation.D. Reform the credit system.60. How does Alan Blinder portray Yellen?【A】A. She possesses strong persuasive power.B. She has confidence in what she is doing.C. She is one of the world's greatest economists.D. She is the most powerful Fed chief in history. Passage TwoAir pollution is deteriorating in many places around the world. The fact that public parks in cities become crowded as soon as the sun shines proves that people long to breathe in green, open spaces. They do not all know what they are seeking but they flock there, nevertheless. And, in these surroundings, they are generally both peaceful and peaceable. It is rare to see people fighting in a garden. Perhaps struggle unfolds first, not at an economic or social level, but over the appropriation of air, essential to life itself.61. What does the author assume might be the primary reason that people would struggle with each other【A】A. To get their share of clean air.B. To pursue a comfortable life.C. To gain a higher social status.D. To seek economic benefits.62. What does the author accuse western politicians of?【D】A. Depriving common people of the right to clean air.B. Giving priority to theory rather than practical action.C. Offering preferential treatment to wealthy countries.D. Failing to pass laws to curb environmental pollution.63. What does the author try to draw our closest attention to?【B】A. The massive burning of fossil fuels.B. Our relationship to the plant world.C. The capacity of plants to renew polluted air.D. Large-scale deforestation across the world.64. How can human beings accomplish the goal of protecting the planet according to the a?【D】A. By showing respect for plants.B. By preserving all forms of life.C. By tapping all natural resources.D. By pooling their efforts together.65. What does the author suggest we do in order not just to survive?【C】A. Expand the sphere of living.B. Develop nature's potentials.C. Share life with nature.D. Allocate the resources.Passage OneI'll admit I've never quite understood the obsession (难以破除的成见) surrounding genetically modified (GM) crops.56. How do environmentalist opponents view GM foods according to the passage?【B】A. They will eventually ruin agriculture and the environment.B. They are used by big businesses to monopolize agriculture.C. They have proved potentially harmful to consumers' health.D. They pose a tremendous threat to current farming practice.57. What does the author say is vital to solving the controversy between the two sides of the debate? 【D】A. Breaking the GM food monopoly.B. More friendly exchange of ideas.C. Regulating GM food production.D. More scientific research on GM crops.58. What is the main point of the Nature articles? 【A】A. Feeding the growing population makes it imperative to develop GM crops.B. Popularizing GM technology will help it to live up to its initial promises.C. Measures should be taken to ensure the safety of GM foods.D. Both supporters and opponents should make compromises.59. What is the author's view on the solution to agricultural problems? 【D】A. It has to depend more and more on GM technology.B. It is vital to the sustainable development of human society.C. GM crops should be allowed until better alternatives are found.D. Whatever is useful to boost farming efficiency should be encouraged.60.What does the author think of the ongoing debate around GM crops? 【C】A. It arises out of ignorance of and prejudice against new science.B. It distracts the public attention from other key issues of the world.C. Efforts spent on it should be turned to more urgent issues of agriculture.D. Neither side is likely to give in until more convincing evidence is found.Passage TwoEarly decision--you apply to one school, and admission is binding--seems like a great choice for nervous applicants.61. What are students obliged to do under early decision?【B】A. Look into a lot of schools before they apply.B. Attend the school once they are admitted.C. Think twice before they accept the offer.D. Consult the current students and alumni.62. Why do schools offer early decision?【A】A. To make sure they get qualified students.B. To avoid competition with other colleges.C. To provide more opportunities for applicants.D. To save students the agony of choosing a school.63. What is said to be the problem with early decision for students?【C】A. It makes their application process more complicated.B. It places too high a demand on their research ability.C. It allows them little time to make informed decisions.D. It exerts much more psychological pressure on them.64. Why are some people opposed to early decision?【D】A. It interferes with students' learning in high school.B. It is biased against students at ordinary high schools.C. It causes unnecessary confusion among college applicants.D. It places students from lower-income families at a disadvantage.65. What does the author advise college applicants to do?【B】A. Refrain from competing with students from privileged families.B. Avoid choosing early decision unless they are fully prepared.C. Find sufficient information about their favorite schools.D. Look beyond the few supposedly thrilling options.Passage OneThe report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics was just as gloomy as anticipated.Unemployment in January jumped to a l6一year high of 7.6 percent,as 598 000 jobs were slashed from US payrolls in the worst single-month decline since December,1974.With l.8 million iobs lost in the last three months.there is urgent desire to boost the economy as quickly as possible.But Washington would do well to take a deep breath before reacting to the grim numbers.56.What d0 we learn from the first paragraph?【A】A.1me US economic situation is going from bad to worse.B.Washington is taking drastic measures to provide more jobs.C.111e US government is slashing more jobs from its payrolls.D.The recent economic crisis has taken the US by surprise.57.、Ⅳhat does the author think of the unemployment figures and other statistics?【D】A.They form a solid basis for policy makin9.B.The.y represent the current situation.C.They signal future economic trend.D.They do not fully reflect the reality.58.One problem with the payroll survey is that________.【B】A.it does not include all the businessesB.it fails to count in the self—employedC.it magnifies the number of the joblessD.it does not treat all companies equally59.111e household survey can be faulty in that_________.【C】A)people tend to lie when talking on the phone B.not everybody is willing or ready to respondC.some people won’t provide truthful informationD.the definition of unemployment is too broad 60.At the end of the passage,the author suggests that_______.【B】A.statisticians improve their data assembling methodsB.decision makers view the statistics with a critical eyeC.politicians listen more before making policy decisionsD.Democrats and Republicans cooperate on crucial issuesPassage TwoAt some point in 2008,someone,probably in either Asia or Africa,made the decision to move from the countryside to the city.This nameless person pushed the human race over a historic threshold,for it was in that year that mankind became,for the first time in its history,a predominantly urban species.61.In what way is the year 2008 historic? 【A】A.For the first time in history,urban people outnumbered rural people.B.An influential figure decided to move from the countryside to the city.C.It is in this year that urbanisation made a start in Asia and Africa.D.The population increase in cities reached a new peak in Asia and Africa.62.What does the author say about urbanisation? 【B】A.Its impact is not easy to predict.B.Its process will not slow down.C.It is a milestone in human progress.D.It aggravates the squalor of cities.63.How does the author comment on Peter Smith’s new book?【D】A.It is but an ordinary coffee—table book.B.It is flavoured with humourous stories.C.It serves as a guide to arts and commerce.D.It is written in a lively and interesting style.64.What does the author say in the chapter on skyscrapers? 【D】A.The automatic lift is indispensable in skyscrapers.B.People enjoy living in skyscrapers with a view.C.Skyscrapers are a sure sign of a city’s prosperity.D.Recession closely follows a skyscraper boom.65.What may be one criticism of Mr.Smith’s book?【C】A)It does not really touch on anything serious.B.It is too long for people to read from cover to cover.C.It does not deal with any aspect of city life in depth.D.It fails to provide sound advice to city dwellers.2014.12【1】International governments’ inaction concerning sustainable development is clearly worrying but the proactive (主动出击的) approaches of some leading-edge companies are encouraging. Toyota, Wal-Mart, DuPont, M&S and General Electric have made tackling environmental wastes a key economic driver.56.What does the author say about some leading-edge companies? 【B】A. They operate in accordance with government policies.B. They take initiatives in handling environmental wastes.C. They are key drivers in their nations’ economic growth.D. They are major contributors to environmental problems.57.What motivates Toyota and Wal-Mart to make commitments to environmental protection? 【C】A. The goodness of their hearts.B. A strong sense of responsibility.C. The desire to generate profits.D. Pressure from environmentalists.58.Why are so many companies reluctant to create an environment-friendly business system? 【C】A. They are bent on making quick money.B. They do not have the capital for the investment.C. They believe building such a system is too costly.D. They lack the incentive to change business practices.59.What is said about the lean and green model of business? 【A】A. It helps businesses to save and gain at the same time.B. It is affordable only for a few leading-edge companies.C. It is likely to start a new round of intense competition.D. It will take a long time for all companies to embrace it.60.What is the finding of the studies about companies committed to environmental goals? 【B】A. They have greatly enhanced their sense of social responsibility.B. They do much better than their counterparts in terms of revenues.C. They have abandoned all the outdated equipment and technology.D. They make greater contributions to human progress than their rivals.Passage TwoIf you asked me to describe the rising philosophy of the day, I’d say it is data-ism. We now have the ability to gather huge amounts of data. This ability seems to carry with it certain cultural assumptions — that everything that can be measured should be measured; that data is a transparent and reliable lens that allows us to filter out emotionalism and ideology; that data will help us do remarkable things — like foretell the future.61.What do data-ists assume they can do? 【D】A. Transform people’s cultural identity.B. Change the way future events unfold.C. Get a firm grip on the most important issues.D. Eliminate emotional and ideological bias.62.What do people running for political office think they can do? 【B】A. Use data analysis to predict the election result.B. Win the election if they can raise enough funds.C. Manipulate public opinion with favorable data.D. Increase the chances of winning by foul means.63.Why do many teachers favor the idea of tailoring their presentations to different students? 【C】A. They think students prefer flexible teaching methods.B. They will be able to try different approaches.C. They believe students’ learning styles vary.D. They can accommodate students with special needs.64.What does James Pennebaker reveal in The Secret Life of Pronouns? 【D】A. The importance of using pronouns properly.B. Repeated use of first-person pronouns by self-centered people.C. Frequent use of pronouns and future tense by young people.D. A pattern in confident people’s use of pronouns.65.Why is the author skeptical of the data revolution? 【C】A. Data may not be easily accessible.B. Errors may occur with large data samples.C. Data cannot always do what we imagine it can.D. Some data may turn out to be outdated. 2014.12【2】Nothing succeeds in business books like th e study of success. The current business-book boom was launched in 1982 by Tom Peters and Robert Waterman with In Search of Excellence. The trend has continued with a succession of experts and would-be experts who promise to distil the essenceof excellence into three (or five or seven) simple rules.56.What kind of business books are most likely to sell well?【A】A. Books on excellence.B. Guides to management.C. Books on business rules.D. Analyses of market trends.57.What does the author imply about books on success so far?【C】A. They help businessmen one way or another.B. They are written by well-recognised experts.C. They more or less fall into the same stereotype.D. They are based on analyses of corporate leaders.58.How does The Three Rules differ from other success books according to the passage? 【B】A. It focuses on the behaviour of exceptional businessmen.B. It bases its detailed analysis on large amounts of data.C. It offers practicable advice to businessmen.D. It draws conclusions from vivid examples.59.What does the passage say contributes to the success of exceptional companies? 【A】A. Focus on quality and revenue.B. Management and sales promotion.C. Lower production costs and competitive prices.D. Emphasis on after-sale service and maintenance.60.What is the author’s comment on The Three Rules?【D】A. It can help to locate profitable niches.B. It has little to offer to business people.C. It is noted for its detailed data analysis.D. It fails to identify the keys to success.Passage TwoUntil recently, the University of Kent prided itself on its friendly image. Not any more.Over the past few months it has been working hard, with the help of media consultants, to play down its cosy reputation in favour of something more academic and serious.61.What was the University of Kent famous for?【A】A. Its comfortable campus life.B. Its up-to-date course offerings.C. Its distinguished teaching staff.D. Its diverse academic programmes.62.What are universities trying to do to attract students? 【D】A. Improve their learning environment.B. Offer more scholarships to the gifted.C. Upgrade their campus facilities.D. Present a better academic image.63.What does Rob Behrens suggest universities do in marketing themselves? 【C】A. Publicise the achievements of their graduates.B. Go to extra lengths to cater to students’ needs.C. Refrain from making promises they cannot honour.D. Survey the expectations of their prospective students.64.What is students’ chief consideration in choosing a university?【B】A. Whether it promises the best job prospects.B. Whether it is able to deliver what they want.C. Whether it ranks high among similar institutions.D. Whether it offers opportunities for practical training.65.What must universities show to win recruitment campaigns? 【D】A. They are positioned to meet the future needs of society.B. They are responsible to students for their growth.C. They are ever ready to improve themselves.D. They are unique one way or another.Passage OneIt is easy to miss amid the day-to-day headlines of global economic recession,but there is a less conspicuous kind of social upheaval (剧变) underway that is fast altering both the face of the planet and the way human beings live. That change is the rapid acceleration of urbanization.56.What issue does the author try to draw people’s attention to?【D】A. The shrinking biodiversity worldwide.B. The rapid increase of world population.C. The ongoing global economic recession.D. The impact of accelerating urbanization.57.In what sense are humans the ultimate invasive species?【C】A. They are much greedier than other species.B. They are a unique species born to conquer.C. They force other species out of their territories.D. They have an urge to expand their living space.58.In what way is urbanization in poor countries good for the environment?【B】A. More land will be preserved for wildlife.B. The pressure on farmland will be lessened.C. Carbon emissions will be considerably reduced.D. Natural resources will be used more effectively.59.What does the author say about living comfortably in the city?【A】A. It incurs a high environmental price.B. It brings poverty and insecurity to an end.C. It causes a big change in people’s lifestyle.D. It narrows the gap between city and country.60.What can be done to minimize the negative impact of urbanization according to Seto?【C】A. Slowing down the speed of transition.B. Innovative use of advanced technology.C. Appropriate management of the process.D. Enhancing people’s sense of responsibility. Passage TwoWhen Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg launched in Feb. 2004, even he could not imagine the forces it would let loose. His intent was to connect college students. Facebook, which is what this website rapidly evolved into, ended up connecting the world.61.What was the purpose of Facebook when it was first created?【B】A. To help students connect with the outside world.B. To bring university students into closer contact.C. To help students learn to live in a connected era.D. To combine the world into an integral whole.62.What difference does social media make to learning?【D】A. Local knowledge and global knowledge will merge.B. Students will become more curious and ambitious.C. People are able to learn wherever they travel.D. Sources of information are greatly expanded.63. What is the author’s gre atest concern with social media technology?【A】A. Individuals and organizations may use it for evil purposes.B. Government will find it hard to protect classified information.C. People may disclose their friends’ information unintentionally.D. People’s attention will be easily distracted from their work in hand.64.What do businesses use social media for?【B】A. Creating a good corporate image.B. Anticipating the needs of customers.C. Conducting large-scale market surveys.D. Minimizing possible risks and dangers.65.What does the author think of social media as a whole?【A】A. It will enable human society to advance at a faster pace.B. It will pose a grave threat to our traditional ways of life.C. It is bound to bring about another information revolution.D. It breaks down the final barriers in human communication.Passage OneTexting has long been bemoaned (哀叹) as the downfall of the written word, "penmanship for illiterates," as one critic called it. To which the proper response is LOL. Texting properly isn't writing at all. It's a "spoken" language that is getting richer and more complex by the year.56. What do critics say about texting?【C】A.It is mainly confined to youngsters. B.It competes with traditional writing.C.It will ruin the written language. D.It is often hard to understand.57. In what way does the author say writing is different from talking? 【A】A.It is crafted with specific skills. B.It expresses ideas more accurately.C.It does not have as long a history. D.It is not as easy to comprehend.58. Why is LOL much used in texting? 【A】A.It brings texters closer to each other. B.It shows the texter's sophistication.C.It is a trendy way to communicate D.It adds to the humor of the text.59.Examples like meat and silly are cited to show . 【D】A.the difference between writing and talking B.how differently words are used in texting C.why people use the words the way they do D.the gradual change of word meaning60. What does the author think of texting? 【B】A.It facilitates exchange of ideas among people. B.It is a new form of verbal communication. C.It deteriorates people's composition skills. D.It hastens the decline of the written word. Passage TwoIt's possible to admire Oprah Winfrey and still wish Harvard hadn't awarded her an honorary doctor of law degree and the commencement (毕业典礼) speaker spot at yesterday's graduation. 61. What do we learn about Oprah Winfrey from the passage? 【B】A.She was a distinguished graduate of Harvard School of Law.B.She worked her way to success in the entertainment industry.C.She used to abuse her children when she was a young mother.D.She achieved her fame through persistent advocacy of fake science.62. Why does the author deem it inappropriate for Harvard to confer an honorary degree on Oprah Winfrey? 【B】A.She did not specialize in the study of law.B.She was known as s supporter of fake science.C.She was an icon of the entertainment industry.D.She had not distinguished herself academically.63. How did Harry Lewis react to Harvard's decision in his blog post? 【A】A.He was strongly against it. B.He considered it unpopular.C.He thought it would help enhance Harvard's reputation.D.He thought it represented the will of the Harvard community.64.What is the author's regret about many American universities? 【C】A.They show inadequate respect for evidence-based inquiry.B.They fall short of expectations in teaching and research.C.They attach too much importance to public relations.D.They are tolerant of political and religious nonsense.65. What does the author think a prestigious university like Harvard should focus on? 【D】A.Cultivation of student creativity. B.Defense of the scientific method.C.Liberation of the human mind. D.Pursuit of knowledge and truth.2014.06【2】Passage OneTechnology can make us smarter or stupider, and we need to develop a set of principles to guide our everyday behavior and make sure that tech is improving and not hindering our mental processes. One of the big questions being debated today is: What kind of information do we need to have stored in our heads, and what kind can we leave "in the cloud," to be accessed as necessary? 56. What is the author's concern about the use of technology?【D】A.It may leave knowledge "in the cloud". B.It may misguide our everyday behavior.C.It may cause a divide in the circles of education.D.It may hinder the development of thinking skills.57. What is the view of educators who advocate digital literacy? 【D】A.It helps kids to navigate the virtual world at will.B.It helps kids to broaden their scope of knowledge.C.It increases kids' efficiency of acquiring knowledge.D.It liberates kids from the burden of memorizing facts.58. What does evidence from cognitive science show? 【B】A.Knowledge is better kept in long-term memory.B.Critical thinking is based on factual knowledge.C.Study skills are essential to knowledge acquisition.D.Critical thinking means challenging existing facts.59. What does the author think is key to making evaluations? 【C】A.Gathering enough evidence before drawing conclusions.B.Mastering the basic rules and principles for evaluation.C.Connecting new information with one's accumulated knowledge.D.Understanding both what has happened and why it has happened.60. What is the author's purpose in writing the passage? 【D】A.To warn against learning through memorizing facts.B.To promote educational reform in the information age.C.To explain human brains' function in storing information.D.To challenge the prevailing overemphasis on digital literacy.Passage TwoAmerica's recent history has been a persistent tilt to the West--of people, ideas, commerce and even political power. California and Texas are the twin poles of the West, but very different ones. For most of the 20th century the home of Silicon Valley and Hollywood has been the brainier and trendier of the two.61. What does the author say about California and Texas in Paragraph 17【B】A.They have been competing for the leading position.B.California has been superior to Texas in many ways.C.They are both models of development for other states.D.Texas's cowboy culture is less known than California's.62. What does the author say about today's California? 【C】A.Its debts are pushing it into bankruptcy. B.Its budgets have been cut by $26 billion.C.It is faced with a serious financial crisis. D.It is trying hard to protect the vulnerable.63. In what way is Texas different from California? 【A】A.It practices small government. B.It is home to traditional industries. C.It has a large Hispanic population. D.It has an enviable welfare system.64. What problem is Texas confronted with? 【C】A.Its Hispanic population is mostly illiterate. B.Its sunrise industries are shrinking rapidly. C.Its education cannot meet the needs of the knowledge economy.D.Its immigrants have a hard time adapting to its cowboy culture.65. What do we learn about American politics from the passage? 【A】A.Each state has its own way of governing. B.Most states favor a bipartisan approach. C.Parties collaborate in drawing public policies.D.All states believe in government for the people.2014.06【3】Passage One"Deep reading"--as opposed to the often superficial reading we do on the Web--is an ending erer practice, one we ought to take steps to preserve as we would a historic building or a significant work of art..56. What does the author say about "deep reading"?【B】A.It serves as a complement to online reading. B.It should be preserved before it is too late. C.It is mainly suitable for reading literature. D.It is an indispensable part of education. 57. Why does the author advocate the reading of literature? 【A】A.It helps promote readers' intellectual and emotional growth.B.It enables readers to appreciate the complexity of language.C.It helps readers build up immersive reading habits.D.It is quickly becoming an endangered practice.58. In what way does printed-page reading differ from online reading? 【B】A.It ensures the reader's cognitive growth. B.It enables the reader to be fully engaged.C.It activates a different region of the brain. D.It helps the reader learn rhetorical devices. 59. What do the studies show about online reading? 【D】A.It gradually impairs one's eyesight. B.It keeps arousing readers' curiosity.C.It provides up-to-date information. D.It renders reading less enjoyable.60. What do we learn from the study released by Britain's National Literacy Trust? 【A】A.Onscreen readers may be less competent readers.B.Those who do reading in print are less informed.C.Young people find reading onscreen more enjoyable.D.It is now easier to find a favorite book online to read.Passage TwoMany current discussions of immig ration issues talk about immigrants in general, as if they were abstract people in an abstract world. But the concrete differences between immigrants from different countries affect whether their coming here is good or bad for the American people.61. What does the author say about immigrants in America? 【C】A.They all hope to gain citizenship and enjoy the welfare.B.They come to America with different dreams and purposes.C.Their background may determine whether they benefit the American people.D.Their cultures affect the extent to which they will achieve success in America.62. What does the author try to say by citing Milton Friedman's remark? 【A】A.It is hardly practical to find an ideal solution to America's immigration problem.B.Ideal outcomes could be produced only by comprehensive immigration reform.C.As for immigration, good results cannot be achieved without good intentions.D.The proper solution of immigration issues is an ideal of the American public.63. What is the author's view regarding America's immigration policy? 【C】A.America should open its borders to immigrants from different countries.B.Immigrants have contributed greatly to the welfare of American people.C.Unrestricted immigration will undermine the American welfare state.D.There is no point building a wall around the American welfare state.64. What is the author's purpose in citing the recent terrorist attacks on the streets of Boston and London? 【D】A.To show that America should join hands with Europe in fighting terrorists.B.To prove that it is high time America made comprehensive immigration reforms.C.To prove that terrorism is the most dangerous threat to America and the world in general. D.To show that immigrants' cultural incompatibility with the host country has consequences. 65. What is the author's attitude towards "comprehensive immigration reform"?【B】A.Supportive. B.Negative.C.Wait-and-see. D.Indifferent.(此文档部分内容来源于网络,如有侵权请告知删除,文档可自行编辑修改内容,供参考,感谢您的配合和支持)。
历年英语六级阅读真题及翻译(2009.06-1999.01 )2009 年6 月英语六级阅读真题Passage One:For hundreds of millions of years, turtles (海龟) have struggled out of the sea to lay their eggs on sandy beaches, long before there were nature documentaries to celebrate them, or GPS satellites and marine biologists to track them, or volunteers to hand-carry the hatchlings (幼龟) down to the water’s edge lest they become disoriented by headlights and crawl towards a motel parking lot instead. A formidable wall of bureaucracy has been erected to protect their prime nesting on the Atlantic coastlines. With all that attention paid to them, you’d think these creatures would at least have the gratitude not to go extinct. But Nature is indifferent to human notions of fairness, and a report by the Fish and Wildlife Service showed a worrisome drop in the populations of several species of North Atlantic turtles, notably loggerheads, which can grow to as much as 400 pounds. The South Florida nesting population, the largest, has declined by 50% in the last decade, according to Elizabeth Griffin, a marine biologist with the environmental group Oceana. The figures prompted Oceana to petition the government to upgrade the level of protection for the North Atlantic loggerheads from “threatened”to “endangered”—meaning they are in danger of disappearing without additional help. Which raises the obvious question: what else do these turtles want from us, anyway? It turns out, according to Griffin, that while we have done a good job of protecting the turtles for the weeks they spend on land (as egg-laying females, as eggs and as hatchlings), we have neglected the years spend in the ocean. “The threat is from commercial fishing,”says Griffin. Trawlers (which drag large nets through the water and along the ocean floor) and longline fishers (which can deploy thousands of hooks on lines that can stretch for miles) take a heavy toll on turtles. Of course, like every other environmental issue today, this is playing out against the background of global warming and human interference with natural ecosystems. The narrow strips of beach on which the turtles lay their eggs are being squeezed on one side by development and on the other by the threat of rising sea levels as the oceans warm. Ultimately we must get a handle on those issues as well, or a creature that outlived the dinosaurs (恐龙) will meet its end at the hands of humans, leaving our descendants to wonder how creature so ugly could have won so much affection.在数亿年前的时间里,海龟一直在挣扎着离开大海道海滩上产卵,时间远远遭遇自然纪录片的赞扬,或全球定位通讯卫星和海洋生物学家的追踪,又或者志愿者们用手把幼龟放在海边以避免它们受到光线的影响迷失方向,爬向汽车旅馆的停车场。
English Reading Comprehension Band 6CHAPTER ONE1. Passage Three (2006.6)Questions 31 to 35 are based on the following passage.Age has its privileges in America, and one of the more prominent of them is the senior citizen discount. Anyone who has reached a certain age — in some cases as low as 55 — is automatically entitled to dazzling array of price reductions at nearly every level of commercial life. Eligibility is determined not by one’s need but by the date on one’s birth certificate. Practical ly unheard of a generation ago, the discounts have become a routine part of many businesses — as common as color televisions in motel rooms and free coffee on airliners.People with gray hair often are given the discounts without even asking for them; yet, millions of Americans above age 60 are healthy and solvent(有支付能力的). Businesses that would never dare offer discounts to college students or anyone under 30 freely offer them to older Americans. The practice is acceptable because of the widespread belief that “elderly” and “needy” are synonymous (同义的). Perhaps that once was true, but today elderly Americans as a group have a lower poverty rate than the rest of the population. To be sure, there is economic diversity within the elderly, and many older Americans are poor. But most of them aren’t.It is impossible to determine the impact of the discounts on individual companies. For many firms, they are a stimulus to revenue. But in other cases the discounts are given at the expense, directly or indirectly, of younger Americans. Moreover, they are a direct irritant in what some politicians and scholars see as a coming conflict between the generations.Generational tensions are being fueled by continuing debate over Social Security benefits, which mostly involve a transfer of resources from the young to the old. Employment is another sore point. Buoyed (支持)by laws and court decisions, more and more older Americans are declining the retirement dinner in favor of staying on the job — thereby lessening employment and promotion opportunities for younger workers.Far from a kind of charity they once were, senior citizen discounts have become a formidable economic privilege to a group with millions of members who don’t need them.It no longer makes sense to treat the elderly as a single group whose economic needs deserve priority over those of others. Senior citizen discounts only enhance the myth that older people can’t take care of themselves and need special treatment; and they threaten the creation of a new myth, that the elderly are ungrateful and taking for themselves at the expense of children and other age groups. Senior citizen discounts are the essence of the very thing older Americans are fighting against — discrimination by age.31. We learn from the first paragraph that _______.A )offering senior citizens discounts has become routine commercial practiceB ) senior citizen discounts have enabled many old people to live a decent lifeC ) giving senior citizens discounts has boosted the market for the elderlyD ) senior citizens have to show their birth certificates to get a discount32. What assumption lies behind the practice of senior citizen discounts?A ) Businesses, having made a lot of profits, should do something for society in return.B ) Old people are entitled to special treatment for the contribution they made to society.C ) The elderly, being financially underprivileged, need humane help from society.D ) Senior citizen discounts can make up for the inadequacy of the Social Security system.33. According to some politicians and scholars, senior citizen discounts will _______.A ) make old people even more dependent on societyB ) intensify conflicts between the young and the oldC ) have adverse financial impact on business companiesD ) bring a marked increase in the companies’ reve nues34. How does the author view the Social Security system?A ) It encourages elderly people to retire in time.B ) It opens up broad career prospects for young people.C ) It benefits the old at the expense of the young.D ) It should be reinforced by laws and court decisions.35. Which of the following best summarizes the author’s main argument?A ) Senior citizens should fight hard against age discrimination.B ) The elderly are selfish and taking senior discounts for granted.C ) Priority should be given to the economic needs of senior citizens.D ) Senior citizen discounts may well be a type of age discrimination.acbcd2. Passage One (2006.12/23)Questions 21 to 25 are based on the following passage.It used to be that people were proud to work for the same company for the whole of their working lives. They’d get a gold watch at the end of their productive years and a dinner featuring speeches by their bosses praising their loyalty/But today’s rich capi talists have regressed (倒退) to the “survival of the fittest” ideas and their loyalty extends not to their workers or even to their stockholders but only to themselves. Instead of giving out gold watches worth a hundred or so dollars for forty or so years of work, they grab tens and even hundreds of millions of dollars as they sell for their own profit the company they may have been with for only a few years.The new rich selfishly act on their own to unfairly grab the wealth that the country as a whole has produced. The top l percent of the population now has wealth equal to the whole bottom 95 percent and they want more. Their selfishness is most shamelessly expressed in downsizing and outsourcing (将产品包给外公司做) because these business maneuvers don’t act to create new jobs as the founders of new industries used to do, but only to cut out jobs while keeping the money value of what those jobs produced for themselves.To keep the money machine working smoothly the rich have bought all the politicians from the top down. The president himself is constantly leaving Washington and the business of the nation because he is summoned to “fundraising dinners” where fat cats pay a thousand or so dollars a plate to worm their way into government not through service but through donations of vast amounts of money. Once on the inside they have both political parties busily tearing up all the regulations that protect the rest of us from the greed of the rich.The middle class used to be loyal to the free enterprise system. In the past, the people of the middle class mostly thought they’d be rich themselves someday or have a good shot at becoming rich. But nowadays income is being distributed more and more unevenly and corporate loyalty is a thing of the past. The middle class may also wake up to forget its loyalty to the so-called free enterprise system altogether and the government which governs only the rest of us while letting the corporations do what they please wit h our jobs. As things stand, if somebody doesn’t wake up,the middle class is on a path to being downsized all the way to the bottom of society.21. It can be inferred form the first paragraph that people used to place a high value on _________.A) job securityB) bosses’ praiseC) corporate loyaltyD) retirement benefits22. The author is strongly critical of today’s rich capitalists for _________.A) not giving necessary assistance to laid-off workersB) maximizing their profits at the expense of workersC) not setting up long-term goals for their companiesD) rewarding only those who are considered the fittest23. The immediate consequence of the new capitalists’ practice is ________ .A) loss of corporate reputationB) lower pay for the employeesC) a higher rate of unemploymentD) a decline in business transactions24. The rich try to sway the policy of the government by ________ .A) occupying important positions in both political partiesB) making monetary contributions to decision-makersC) pleasing the public with generous donationsD) constantly hosting fundraising dinners35. What is the author’s purpose in writing this passage?A) To call on the middle class to remain loyal to the free enterprise system.B) To warn the government of the shrinking of the American middle class.C) To persuade the government to change its current economic policies.D) To urge the middle class to wake up and protect their own interests.cbcbd3. Passage Two (2004.1)Questions 26 to 30 are based on the following passage.Some futurologists have assumed that the vast upsurge (剧增) of women in the workforce may portend a rejection of marriage. Many women, according to this hypothesis, would rather work than marry. The converse (反面) of this concern is that the prospects of becoming a multi-paycheck household could encourage marriages. In the past, only the earnings and financial prospects of the man counted in the marriage decision. Now, however, the earning ability of a woman can make her more attractive as a marriage partner. Data show that economic downturns tend to postpone marriage because the parties cannot afford to establish a family or are concerned about rainy days ahead. As the economy rebounds, the number of marriages also rises.Coincident with the increase in women working outside the home is the increase in divorce rates. Yet, it may be wrong to jump to any simple cause-and-effect conclusions. The impact of a wife's work on divorce is no less cloudy than its impact on marriage decisions. The realization thatshe can be a good provider may increase the chances that a working wife will choose divorce over an unsatisfactory marriage. But the reverse is equally plausible. Tensions grounded in financial problems often play a key role in ending a marriage. Given high unemployment, inflationary problems, and slow growth in real earnings, a working wife can increase household income and relieve some of these pressing financial burdens. By raising a family's standard of living, a working wife may strengthen her family's financial and emotional stability.Psychological factors also should be considered. For example, a wife blocked from a career outside the home may feel caged in the house. She may view her only choice as seeking a divorce. On the other hand, if she can find fulfillment through work outside the home, work and marriage can go together to create a stronger and more stable union.Also, a major part of women's inequality in marriage has been due to the fact that, in most cases, men have remained the main breadwinners. With higher earning capacity and status occupations outside of the home comes the capacity to exercise power within file family. A working wife may rob a husband of being the master of the house. Depending upon how the couple reacts to these new conditions, it could create a stronger equal partnership or it could create new insecurities.26. The word "portend" (Line 2, Para. 1) is closest in meaning to “_____”.A) defy C) suffer fromB) signal D) result from27. It is said in the passage that when the economy slides, _____.A) men would choose working women as their marriage partnersB) more women would get married to seek financial securityC) even working women would worry about their marriagesD) more people would prefer to remain single for the time being28. If women find fulfillment through work outside the home, _____.A) they are more likely to dominate their marriage partnersB) their husbands are expected to do more houseworkC) their marriage ties can be strengthenedD)they tend to put their career before marriage29. One reason why women with no career may seek a divorce is that _____.A) they feel that they have been robbed of their freedomB) they are afraid of being bossed around by their husbandsC) they feel that their partners fail to live up to their expectationsD) they tend to suspect their husbands' loyalty to their marriage30. Which of the following statements can best summarize the author's view in the passage?A) The stability of marriage and the divorce rate may reflect the economic situation of the country.B) Even when economically independent, most women have to struggle for real equality in marriage.C) In order to secure their marriage women should work outside the home and remain independentD) The impact of the growing female workforce on marriage varies from case to case. bdcad4. Passage Two (2005.6)Questions 16 to 20 are based on the following passage.As a wise man once said, we are all ultimately alone. But an increasing number of Europeans are choo sing to be so at an ever earlier age. This isn’t the stuff of gloomy philosophical contemplations, but a fact of Europe’s new economic landscape, embraced by sociologists, real-estate developers and ad executives alike. The shift away from family life to solo lifestyle, observes a French sociologist, is part of the “irresistible momentum of individualism” over the last century. The communications revolution, the shift from a business culture of stability to one of mobility and the mass entry of women into the workforce have greatly wreaked havoc on(扰乱) Europeans’ private lives.Europe’s new economic climate has largely fostered the trend toward independence. The current generation of home-aloners came of age during Europe’s shift from social democracy to the sharper, more individualistic climate of American style capitalism. Raised in an era of privatization and increased consumer choice, today’s tech-savvy (精通技术的) workers have embraced a free market in love as well as economics. Modern Europeans are rich enough to afford to live alone, and temperamentally independent enough to want to do so.Once upon a time, people who lived alone tended to be those on either side of marriage-----twenty something professionals or widowed senior citizens. While pensioners, particularly elderly women, make up a large proportion of those living alone, the newest crop of singles are high earners in their 30s and 40s who increasingly view living alone as a lifestyle choice. Living alone was conceived to be negative-dark and cold, while being together suggested warmth and light. But then came along the idea of singles. They were young, beautiful, strong! Now, young people want to live alone.The booming economy means people are working harder than ever. And that doesn’t leave much room for relationships. Pimpi Arroyo, a 35-year-old composer who lives alone in a house in Paris, says he hasn’t got time to get lonely because he has too much work. “I have deadlines which would make life with someone else fairly difficult.” Only an Ideal Woman would make him change his lifestyle, he says. Kaufmann, author of a recent book called “The Single Woman and Prince Charming,” thinks this fierce new individualism means that people expect more and more of mates, so relationships don’t last long-if they start at all. Eppendorf, a blond Berliner with a deep tan, teaches grade school in the mornings. In the afternoon she sunbathes or sleeps, resting up for going dancing. Just shy of 50, she says she’d never have wanted to do what her mother did-give up a career to raise a family. Instead, “I’ve always done what I wanted to do: live a self-determined life.”16. More and more young Europeans remain single because .A) they are driven by an overwhelming sense of individualismB) they have entered the workforce at a much earlier ageC) they have embraced a business culture of stabilityD) they are pessimistic about their economic future17. What is said about European society in the passage?A) It has fostered the trend towards small families.B) It is getting closer to American-style capitalism.C) It has limited consumer choice despite a free market.D) It is being threatened by irresistible privatization.18. According to Paragraph 3, the newest group of singles are .A) warm and lighthearted B) on either side of marriageC) negative and gloomy D) healthy and wealthy19. The author quotes Eppendorf to show that .A) some modern women prefer a life of individual freedomB) the family is no longer the basic unit of society in present-day EuropeC) some professional people have too much work to do to feel lonelyD) most Europeans conceive living a single life as unacceptable20. What is the author’s purpose in writing the passage?A) To review the impact of women becoming high earners.B) To contemplate the philosophy underlying individualism.C) To examine the trend of young people living alone.D) To stress the rebuilding of personal relationships.abdac5. Passage one (2008.12)Questions 52 to 56 are based on the following passage1. Sustainable development is applied to just about everything from energy to clean water and economic growth, and as a result it has become difficult to question either the basic assumptions behind it or the way the concept is put to use. This is especially true in agriculture, where sustainable development is often taken as the sole measure of progress without a proper appreciation of historical and cultural perspectives.2. To start with, it is important to remember that the nature of agriculture has changed markedly throughout history, and will continue to do so. Medieval agriculture in northern Europe fed, clothed and sheltered a predominantly rural society with a much lower population density than it is today. It had minimal effect on biodiversity, And any pollution it caused was typically localized. In terms of energy use and the nutrients captured in the product it was relatively inefficient.3. Contrast this with farming since the start of the industrial revolution. Competition from overseas led farmers to specialize and increase yields. Throughout this period food became cheaper, safe and more reliable. However, these changes have also led to habitat loss and to diminishing biodiversity.4. What’s more, demand for animal products in developing countries is growing so fast that meeting it will require an extra 300 million tons of grain a year by 2050.yet the growth of cities and industry is reducing the amount of water available for agriculture in many regions.5. All this means that agriculture in the 21st century will have to be very different from how it was in the 20th.this will require radical thinking. For example, we need to move away from the idea that traditional practices are inevitably more sustainable than new ones. We also need to abandon the notion that agriculture can be “zero impact”. The key will be to abandon the rather simple and static measures of sustainability, which centre on the need to maintain production without increasing damage. instead we need a more dynamic interpretation, one that looks at the pros and cons of all the various way land is used. There are many different ways to measure agricultural performance besides food yield: energy use, environmental costs, water purity, carbonfootprint and biodiversity. It is clear, for example, that the carbon of transporting tomatoes from Spain to the UK is less than that of producing them in the UK with additional heating and lighting. but we do not know whether lower carbon footprints will always be better for biodiversity.6. What is crucial is recognizing that sustainable agriculture is not just about sustainable food production.52. How do people often measure progress in agriculture?A) By its productivity C) By its impact on the environmentB) By its sustainability D) By its contribution to economic growth53. Specialisation and the effort to increase yields have resulted in________.A) localised pollution C) competition from overseasB) the shrinking of farmland D) the decrease of biodiversity54. What does the author think of traditional farming practices?A)They have remained the same over the centuriesB)They have not kept pace with population growthC)They are not necessarily sustainableD)They are environmentally friendly55. What will agriculture be like in the 21st century?A) It will go through radical changes.B) It will supply more animal products.C) It will abandon traditional farming practices.D) It will cause zero damage to the environment.56. What is the author’s purpose in writing this passage?A) To remind people of the need of sustainable development.B) To suggest ways of ensuring sustainable food production.C) To advance new criteria for measuring farming progress.D) To urge people to rethink what sustainable agriculture is.bdcadCHAPTER TWO6. Passage Four (2006.1)Questions 36 to 40 are based on the following passage.In many ways, today’s business environment has changed qualitatively since the late 1980s. The end of the Cold War radically altered the very nature of the world’s politics and economics. In just a few short years, globalization has started a variety of trends with profound consequences: the opening of markets, true global competition, widespread deregulation (解除政府对……的控制) of industry, and an abundance of accessible capital. We have experienced both the benefits and risks of a truly global economy, with both Wall Street and Main Street (平民百姓) feeling the pains of economic disorder half a world away.At the same time, we have fully entered the Information Age, Starting breakthroughs in information technology have irreversibly altered the ability to conduct business unconstrained bythe traditional limitations of time or space. Today, it’s almost impossible to imagine a world without intranets, e-mail, and portable computers. With stunning speed, the Internet is profoundly changing the way we work, shop, do business, and communicate.As a consequence, we have truly entered the Post-Industrial economy. We are rapidly shifting from an economy based on manufacturing and commodities to one that places the greatest value on information, services, support, and distribution. That shift, in turn, place an unprecedented premium on “knowledge workers,” a new class of wealthy, educated, and mobile people who view themselves as free agents in a seller’s market.Beyond the realm of information technology, the accelerated pace of technological change in virtually every industry has created entirely new business, wiped out others, and produced a pervasive (广泛的) demand for continuous innovation. New product, process, and distribution technologies provide powerful levers for creating competitive value. More companies are learning the importance of destructive technologies-----innovations that hold the potential to make a product line, or even an entire business segment, virtually outdated.Another major tren d has been the fragmentation of consumer and business markets. There’s a growing appreciation that superficially similar groups of customers may have very different preferences in terms of what they want to buy and how they want to buy it. Now, new technology makes it easier, faster, and cheaper to identify and serve targeted micro-markets in ways that were physically impossible or prohibitively expensive in the past. Moreover, the trend feeds on itself, a business’s ability to serve sub-markets fuels custo mers’ appetites for more and more specialized offerings.36. According to the first paragraph, the chances in the business environment in the past decades can be attributed to __________.A) technological advancesB) worldwide economic disorderC) the fierce competition in industryD) the globalization of economy37. what idea does the author want to convey in the second paragraph ?A) The rapid development of information technology has taken businessmen by surpriseB) Information technology has removed the restrictions of time and space in businesstransactionsC) The Internet, intranets, e-mail, and portable computers have penetrated every corner of theworld.D) The way we do business today has brought about startling breakthroughs in informationtechnology.38. If a business wants to thrive in the Post-Industrial economy__________.A) i t has to invest more capital in the training of free agents to operate in a seller’s marketB) it should try its best to satisfy the increasing demands of mobile knowledgeable peopleC) it should not overlook the importance of information, services, support, and distributionD) it has to provide each of its employees with the latest information about the changingmarket39. In the author’s view, destructive technologies are innovations which _________A) can eliminate an entire business segmentB) demand a radical change in providing servicesC) may destroy the potential of a company to make any profitD) call for continuous improvement in ways of doing business40. With the fragmentation of consumer and business markets ______________A) an increasing number of companies have disintegratedB) manufacturers must focus on one special product to remain competitive in the marketC) it is physically impossible and prohibitively expensive to do business in the old wayD) businesses have to meet individual customers’ specific needs in order to succeed .dbcad7. Passage Two (2007.6)Questions 57 to 61 art based on the following passage.The use of deferential (敬重的) language is symbolic of the Confucian ideal of the woman, which dominates conservative gender norms in Japan. This ideal presents a woman who withdraws quietly to the background, subordinating her life and needs to those of her family and its male head. She is a dutiful daughter, wife, and mother, master of the domestic arts. The typical refined Japanese woman excels in modesty and delicacy: she "treads softly (谨言慎行) in the world," elevating feminine beauty and grace to an art form.Nowadays, it is commonly observed that young women are not conforming to the feminine linguistic (语言的) ideal. They are using fewer of the very deferential "women's" forms, and even using the few strong forms that are known as "men's." This, of course, attracts considerable atten-tion and has led to an outcry in the Japanese media against the defeminization of women's language. Indeed, we didn't hear about "men's language" until people began to respond to girls* appropriation of forms normally reserved for boys and men. There is considerable sentiment about the "corruption" of women's language—which of course is viewed as part of the loss of feminine ideals and morality—and this sentiment is crystallized by nationwide opinion polls that are regularly carried out by the media.Yoshiko Matsumoto has argued that young women probably never used as many of the highly deferential forms as older woman. This highly polite style is no doubt something that young woman have been expected to "grow into"—after all, it is a sign not simply of femininity, but of maturity and refinement, and its use could be taken to indicate a change in the nature of one's social relations as well. One might well imagine little girls using exceedingly polite forms when playing house or imitating older women—in a fashion analogous to little girls' use of a high-pitched voice to do "teacher talk" or "mother talk" in role play.The fact that young Japanese women are using less deferential language is a sure sign of change—of social change and of linguistic change. But it is most certainly not a sign of the "masculinization" of girls. In some instances, it may be a sign that girls are making the same claim to authority as boys and men. But that is very different from saying that they are trying to be "masculine." Kalsue Reynolds has argued that girls nowadays are using more assertive language strategies in order to be able to compete with boys in schools and out. Social change also brings not simply different positions for women and girls, but different relations to life stages, and adolescent girls are participating in new subcultural forms. Thus what may, to an older speaker, seem like “masculine” speech may seem to an adolescent like "liberated" or "hip" speech.。