2017年6月大学英语六级阅读理解精选
--Out With The Old, In With The New Get ready to say goodbye to the old , hello to thenew! What’s the occasion ? The coming of the NewYear.
Many western cultures measure their days with thesolar calendar. Therefore, they observe 1 thecoming of the New Year on January 1. Cultures inAsia and the Middle East use other calendars, suchas the more ancient lunar calendar. They celebrate the New Year at other times. Events andrituals vary from country to country. But in each place, New Year celebrations are a big deal.
Most world cultures have been celebrating the New Year for centuries. The earliest New Yearcelebrations took place during spring or harvest time. With better weather ahead, or plenty offood to eat in winter, people naturally felt like having a party! As the days became longer and asnature renewed itself, people also felt like they could have a new start. Past disappointmentscould be forgotten. The New Year could bring better fortune , more opportunities and newchallenges. Such universal themes remain the same today.
New Year celebrations also involve having fun. The Hogmanay festival in Edinburgh, Scotland,features2 theater events, fireworks and dancing. During Hogmanay, Scots burn torches andbarrels of tar, an old practice for keeping evil spirits away. In Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the
beachbecomes the stage for a huge New Year party. During the day, thousands of people throwflowers into the sea for good luck. In the evening, they enjoy music concerts and fireworks.Everyone is supposed to wear white —the auspicious New Year color.
Some cultures have unusual New Year traditions. Italians throw old things out of their windowsat midnight, symbolizing the departure of the old. Mexicans fire guns into the air to ward offmisfortune. Danes jump off chairs exactly as the clock strikes midnight, so they can“jump”intothe New Year. Greek children leave their shoes by the fireplace on New Year’s Day. They hopeSaint Basil3, a popular Greek saint known for his kindness, will come and fill the shoes withgifts. In Vancouver, Canada, some people celebrate the New Year by jumping into the ocean .The water there is freezing cold! Therefore the event has been aptly named the Polar BearSwim4. As you might expect, most people come to watch the swimmers rather than swimthemselves
London, England, hosts an annual New Year’s Day parade that draws nearly a millionspectators. The largest parade in Europe , it features bands, floats and enormous balloons.These balloons are so huge that they tower over5 nearby buildings!
阅读自测
Ⅰ. Fill in the blanks with proper words :
1. Therefore, they_______ ( 庆祝) the coming of the New Year on
January 1.
2. As the days became longer and as nature_______ ( 更新) itself, people also_______ ( 想要)they could have a new start.
3. Everyone is supposed to wear white —the _______( 吉祥的) New Year color.
4. London, England, hosts an annual New Year’s Day parade that draws nearly a million_______ ( 观众) .
5. The largest parade in Europe, it_______ ( 以……为特色) bands, floats and enormousballoons. These balloons are so huge that they_______ ( 高于) nearby buildings!
Ⅱ. Answer the following question in you own words:
Why did the earliest New Year celebrations take place during spring or harvest time?
参考答案
Ⅰ. 1. observe 2. renewed / felt like 3. auspicious 4.spectators 5. features / tower over
Ⅱ. Because with better weather ahead, or plenty offood to eat in winter, people naturally felt like havinga party.
参考译文
辞旧迎新
准备好辞旧迎新! 是什么大事呢? 是新年的来临!
许多西方国家以公历来计日。因此, 他们在1 月1 日庆祝新年
的到来。亚洲和中东的国家则使用其他的历法, 如比公历还要古老的阴历, 因而在其他时间庆祝新年。每个国家的节日和习俗都不同。但是不论在何处, 新年的庆祝活动都非常隆重。
在世界绝大多数的文化里, 庆祝新年的传统已沿袭了好几百年。历史上最早的新年庆典是在春天或收获的季节举行。由于天气渐渐转暖, 或是因为冬季食物充足, 人们自然要庆贺一番。随着白天变长, 万象更新, 人们也觉得自己应该有个新的开始。往日的不快可以抛之脑后, 新的一年会带来更好的运气、更多的机遇和新的挑战。这些共同的主题沿袭至今。
新年庆典也包括开心享乐。苏格兰爱丁堡的除夕节庆以戏剧演出、焰火和舞蹈为主题。在除夕夜, 苏格兰人会点燃火炬和一桶一桶的沥青, 这种传统做法是用来驱赶恶魔的。在巴西的里约热内卢, 人们在海滩上举行大型新年晚会。白天, 数以万计的人们将鲜花抛入海中祈求好运。傍晚时分, 他们观赏音乐会和焰火。每个人都身着白色的衣饰, 因为白色是新年的吉祥色。
有些民族以他们独特的方式庆贺新年。在除夕午夜时分, 意大利人将旧的东西丢出窗043 外, 以此来象征除旧布新。墨西哥人则朝空中鸣枪, 以驱走厄运。当午夜的钟声敲响时, 丹麦人会从椅子上跳起来, 意在“跃入”新年。在元旦时, 希腊的孩子们将鞋子留在壁炉旁。他们期待圣·巴西勒———一个和蔼仁慈、颇受欢迎的圣人———会现身, 在他们的鞋子里塞满礼物。在加拿大的温哥华, 有人跳入冰冷彻骨的海水中, 以此来庆贺新年。因此, 这项活动也有个
很贴切的名字———“北极熊冬泳”。当然, 大部分人是来观看游泳的, 不会亲自下水。
英国伦敦则举办一年一度的元旦游行, 这吸引将近一百万的观众参加。欧洲最大的游行都有乐队、花车和巨型气球。这些大气球比附近的建筑物还要高呢!
2017年6月英语六级阅读真题及答案第1套选词填空 After becoming president of Purdue University in2013, Mitch Daniels asked the faculty to prove that their students have actually achieved one of higher education’s most important goals: critical thinking skills. Two years before, a nationwide study of college graduates had shown that more than a third had made no 26 gains in such mental abilities during their school years. Mr. Daniels needed to__27__ the high cost of attending Purdue to its students and their families. After all, the percentage of Americans who say a college degree is "very important" has fallen 28 in the last 5-6 years. Purdue now has a pilot test to assess students' critical thinking skills. Yet like many college " such as a graduate's ability to investigate and reason. However, the professors need not worry so much. The results of a recent experiment showed that professors can use __31__ metrics to measure how well students do in three key areas: critical thinking, written communication, and quantitative literacy. Despite the success of the experiment, the actual results are worrisome, and mostly __32__ earlier studies. The organizers of the experiment concluded that far fewer students were achieving high levels on critical thinking than they were doing for written communication or quantitative literacy. And that conclusion is based only on students nearing graduation. American universities, despite their global 33__ for excellence in teaching, have only begun to demonstrate what they can produce in real-world learning. Knowledge-based degrees are still important, but employers are still important, but employers are __34__ advanced thinking skills from college graduates. If the intellectual worth of a college degree can be __35__ measured, more people will seek higher education—and come out better thinkers. A. accurately B. confirm C. demanding D. doubtful E. drastically F. justify G. monopolized H. outcome I. predominance J. presuming K. reputation L. significant M. signify N. simultaneously O. standardized 答案：(26)L. significant (27)F. justify (28)E. drastically (29)D. doubtful (30)H. outcome (31)O. standardized (32)B. confirm (33)K. reputation (34)C. demanding (35)A. accurately 2017年6月英语六级阅读真题及答案第1套仔细阅读2篇 Open data sharers are still in the minority in many fields. Although many researchers broadly agree that public access to raw data would accelerate science, most are reluctant to post the results of their own labors online. Some communities have agreed to share online—geneticists, for example, post DNA sequence sat the GenBank repository (库) , and astronomers are accustomed to accessing images of galaxies and stars from, say, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, a telescope that has observed some500 million objects—but these remain the excepti on, not the rule. Historically, scientists have objected to sharing for many reasons: it is a lot of work; until recently, good databases did not
阅读下列短文,从每题所给的四个选项中,选出最佳选项。 A To American visitors, Iceland is a very interesting country, partly because it is different in so many ways from what he or she is used to seeing at home. There are quite a few things that are not done, or that do not exist on the island —quite a few "No's". There is no pollution, for instance. No dogs are permitted in Reykjavik, the capital. There is no television on Thursdays or during the entire month of July, and only three hours of black-and-white TV the rest of the time. There is no hard liquor on Wednesdays and no beer at any time. There are no handguns; only one jail of thirty-five cells in the entire land —an admirable figure, even for a small country of 313,376 people. There is no army, air force or navy. There is no tipping for anything. There are no large stores open on Saturdays or Sundays. Since Iceland is situated just under the Arctic Circle, there is no darkness in summer and no daylight in winter. But thanks to Gulf Stream, the climate is rather mild, with temperatures ranging from 34 degrees Fahrenheit to 52 degrees in July. The rules on television, liquor, and guns are the result of governmental decision. But the absence of pollution is due in great part to the fact that Iceland gets its power from the enormous geyser(间歇泉and the thousands of hot springs that come out of the ground. They provide all the energy needed by the country. In fact, Iceland uses only 3 percent of all its available power. Iceland has been described as a democratic independent country where more fish are caught and more books published per person than anywhere else in the world. The Icelanders have always felt a particular love for literature. They composed their first works in the ninth and tenth centuries AD. These works were poems and tales about the kings, heroes, and heroines of Iceland and Norway. At first the stories were memorized
大学英语六级阅读理解专题训练 2016年下半年英语四六级迫在眉睫，同学们准备得如何了?下面是网提供给大家关于大学阅读理解专题训练，希望对大家的备考有所帮助。 What is it about Americans and food? We love to eat, but we feel 1 about it afterward. We say we want only the best, but we strangely enjoy junk food. We’re 2 with health and weight loss but face an unprecedented epidemic of obesity(肥胖). Perhaps the 3 to this ambivalence(矛盾情结) lies in our history. The first Europeans came to this continent searching for new spices but went in vain. The first cash crop(经济作物) wasn’t eaten but smoked. Then there was Prohibition, intended to prohibit drinking but actually encouraging more 4 ways of doing it. The immigrant experience, too, has been one of inharmony. Do as Romans do means eating what “real Americans” eat, but our nation’s food has come to be 5 by imports—pizza, say, or hot dogs. And some of the country’s most treasured cooking comes from people who arrived here in shackles. Perhaps it should come as no surprise then that food has been a medium for the nation’s defining struggles, whether at the Boston Tea Party or the sit ins at southern lunch counters. It is integral to our concepts of health and even morality whether one refrains from alcohol for religious reasons or evades meat for political 6 . But strong opinions have not brought 7 . Americans are ambivalent about what they put in their mouths. We have become 8 of our foods, especially as we learn more about what they contain. The 9 in food is still prosperous in the American consciousness. It’s no coincidence, then, that the first Thanksgiving holds the American imagination in such bondage(束缚). It’s w hat we eat—and how we 10 it with friends, family, and strangers—that help define America as a community today. A. answer I. creative B. result J. belief C. share K. suspicious D. guilty L. certainty E. constant M. obsessed F. defined N. identify
2019年6月英语六级阅读真题及答案：Passage One答案及解析 Questions 46 to 50 are based on the following passage Professor Stephen Hawking has warned that the creation of powerful artificial intelligence (AI) will be “either the best, or the worst thing, ever to happen to humanity”, and praised the creation of an academic institute dedicated to researching the fut ure of intelligence as “crucial to the future of our civilization and our species.” Hawking was speaking at the opening of the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence (LCFI) at Cambridge University, a multi-disciplinary institute that will attempt to tackle some of the open-ended questions raised by the rapid pace of development in AI research. “We spend a great deal of time studying history,” Hawking said, “which, let’s face it, is mostly the history of stupidity. So it’s a welcome change that people are studying instead the future of intelligence.” While the world-renowned physicist has often been cautious about AI, raising concerns that humanity could be the architect of its own destruction if it creates a super-intelligence with a will of its own, he was also quick to highlight the positives that AI research can bring. “The potential benefits of creating intelligence are huge,” he said. “We cannot predict what we might achieve when our own minds are amplified by AI. Perhaps with the tools of this new
2018年12月英语六级阅读练习题及答案（五） Everyone has a moment in history, which belongs particularly to him. It is the moment when his emotions achieve their most powerful sway over him, and afterward when you say to this person ―the world today‖ or ―life‖ or ―reality‖ he will assume that you mean this moment, even if it is fifty years past. The world, through his unleashed(释放的)emotions, imprinted itself upon him, and he carries the stamp of that passing moment forever. For me, this momentfour years in a moment in historywas the war. The war was and is reality for me. I still instinctively live and think in its atmosphere. These are some of its characteristics: Franklin Delano Roosevelt is the president of the United States, and he always has been. The other two eternal world leaders are Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin. America is not, never has been, and never will be what the song and poems call it, a land of plenty. Nylon, meat, gasoline, and steel are rare. There are too many jobs and not enough workers. Money is very easy to earn but rather hard to spend, because there isnt very much to buy. Trains are always late and always crowded with ―service men‖. The war will always be fought very far from America, and it will never end. Nothing in America stands still for very long, including the people who are
2017年高考英语阅读题 第二部分：阅读理解（共两节,满分40分） 第一节（共15小题；每小题2分,满分30分） 阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。 A Attending college can be expensive, and applying to college can be costly as well. With today’s college application fees averaging around $ 80, you can expect to spend hundreds of dollars on college before you are even accepted into a school. One of the easiest ways to save money on college application fees before you begin applying is to narrow down your list of schools. To save money, try to limit the schools to which you apply to about 2- reach schools and 2- safety schools. At some schools, being a relative of a graduate can secure you a free application. If you are applying to a school where one of your parents or grandparents is a former graduate, check to see if you’re qualified for it. Research the preferred method of applying for each school on your list. Some schools offer free online applications, yet charge a fee for paper submissions. This is because online applications save schools the cost of employing a staff member to physically enter the application information. Several states, such as Michigan and North Carolina, take part in College Application Week, where many schools in the participating states cancel their application fee for the week. Be sure to contact the schools to I j which you are applying to see if they participate in College Application Week and when the program takes place in that state. Apply for early admission. If you have already decided on which college is your top choice, consider applying under an Early Action or Early Decision admission program. If you are accepted, you won’t have to submit application fees to other schools. For more information regarding college applications and the fees associated with them, contact your high I school advisor or the admissions department at your school(s) of interest. 21.The passage is mainly written to______. A.introduce famous universities in the United Stales B.show some practical ways to apply an ideal college C.advertise for successful applications and advisors D.offer tips to save money on college application fees
2005 年-2012 年六级作文真题及范文 2012 年6 月英语六级作文题 题目：The impact of the Internet on interpersonal communication 要求：commenting on "Dad：Hi sweetie, how was school, today? Daughter: You can read all about it on my blog, Dad" The impact of the Internet on interpersonal communication In contemporary society, our life is filled with a variety of anecdotes or stories, and the following is no exception: "Dad：Hi sweetie, how was school, today? Daughter: You can read all about it on my blog, Dad." Funny as it seems, this conversation can be naturally associated with the impacts of Internet on our life: In an era of Internet, the time for interpersonal communication is impaired by online chats or blogs. Apparently, the impacts of the Internet on interpersonal communication are diverse. For one thing, as a vital invention, Internet brings great convenience to our communication, eliminates the barrier of distance, and helps humans to keep in touch wherever and whenever. For another, it is Internet that does not enables family members, friends or classmates to communicate more in a face-to-face way. One case in point is that youngsters may spend hours chatting with acquaintances through QQ or MSN, but rarely do they talk with other face to face. Unfortunately, it we let this trend to continue as it is, the interpersonal relationship will, definitely, become alienated. To my understanding, it is advisable for people to communicate more with their families, friends and acquaintances in real life instead of merely through the Internet. Do bear in mind: Internet is just a tool. 2011 年12 月英语六级作文题 Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay entitled The Way to Success by commenting on Abraham Lincoln s famous remark, "Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I will spend, the first four sharpening the axe." You should write at least 150 words but no more than 200 words. The Way to Success What is success? In fact, success is a positive feeling, it is a state of confidence after we achieve our ideals So all of us will try our best to get success."If A is a success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z..Hardworking is x; y is good methods and z is stop talking and get down to work."It is said by Einstein, who is used to be a winner of the Nobel Prize. According to this Wisdom, we known that if we want to do everything successful, we must follow these ways. When we begin to study, our parents and teachers always told us to study hard. Hardworking, which is an useful way to success, is necessary for us. Hardworking, which means we should try our best to do the things. Besides, if you want to get success, we not only need hardworking, but also have some useful methods. If you have some useful methods, you will feel that it is easier to achieve your goals. What ' s more, we must stop talking and get down to work. Success is base on the actions. Actions, may not let we get success. But if we not action, it can never be successful. Regardless of the dream is big or small, the goal is high or low, from now on, swing it into action. In my opinion, if you follow these important ways to do every things, you will get success at last. 2011 年6 月英语六级作文题 1.现在许多人热衷于各类证书考试 2.其目的各不相同
2017届全国高考英语阅读理解汇编（1）英语试卷SYS201708100601 一、阅读理解 详细信息 1. 难度：中等 阅读理解。 Many of us still tend to think that emotions can affect reasonable thought，and sometimes land us in trouble. But in recent years psychologists have taken quite a different view. Keith Oatley，Professor of Psychology at Glasgow University，is involved in the research which shows the fundamental importance of emotions. He believes we are very ambivalent about them：we think of our emotions as being unreasonable，but we also consider them as essential to being human.For example，Mr Spock，a character in the television series Star Trek，is superintelligent and he has no emotions at all.However，he is never made captain of the spaceship.Maybe，this is because Mr Spock is not the kind of person you can share your feelings with—a person who shows his emotions. As Professor Oatley points out，our emotions have very important functions，for example，fear.If we cross the road and a car approaches，we usually stop moving or step back.We stop what we are doing，check what we have done and pay very careful attention to the environment.The emotion of fear makes us take this small series of actions which，on average，help preserve our safety. On the other hand，if things are going well and small problems come up，we find we can solve them with the resources we have to hand.As a consequence，we tend to feel happy and usually continue doing the job. Anger is an emotion that tends to occur when someone is preventing us from doing something.Then this small “kit” of reactions enables us to prepare ourselves to be quite aggressive to that person，or to try harder，and so on. Professor Oatley believes emotions generally occur at these important moments in actions.With fear and anger our emotions make us decide to start doing something else，while with happiness they “suggest” we continue what we are already doing. 1.What’s Keith Oatley’s opinion about emotions? A．They affect reasonable thought. B．They get us into trouble. C．They are helpful to us. D．They are reasonable. 2.What does the underlined part “we are very ambivalent about them”in Paragraph 2 mean? A．We have contradictory feelings towards emotions. B．We have similar ideas of emotions.
Reading Comprehension for CET 6 Passage 1 In 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 challenge white,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