2010年12月大学英语六级听力原文完整版和答案

2010年12月大学英语六级真题听力mp3和文本下载2010年12月英语六级答案汇总2010年12月大学英语六级考试真题Part I Writing (30 minutes)Direction:For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay entitled My Views on University Ranking. You should write at least 150 words following the outl ine given below.1. 目前高校排名相当盛行;2. 对于这种做法人们看法不一;3. 在我看来……My Views on University Ranking...Part II Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning) (15 minutes)Directions:In this part, you will have 15 minutes to go over the passage quickly an d answer the questions on Answer Sheet 1. For questions 1-7, choose the best answer fro m the four choices marked [A], [B], [C] and [D]. For questions 8-10, complete the senten ces with the information given in the passage.Into the UnknownThe world has never seen population ageing before. Can it cope?Until the early 1990s nobody much thought about whole populations getting older. Th e UN had the foresight to convene a “world assembly on ageing” back in 1982, but that came and went. By 1994 the World Bank had noticed that something big was happening. In a report entitled “Averting the Old Age Crisis”, it argued that pension arrangements i n most countries were unsustainable.For the next ten years a succession of books, mainly by Americans, sounded the alar m. They had titles like Young vs Old, Gray Dawn and The Coming Generational Storm, and their message was blunt: health-care systems were heading for the rocks, pensioners were taking young people to the cleaners, and soon there would be intergenerational warfa re.Since then the debate has become less emotional, not least because a lot more is kno wn about the subject. Books, conferences and research papers have multiplied. Internationa l organisations such as the OECD and the EU issue regular reports. Population ageing is on every agenda, from G8 economic conferences to NATO summits. The World Economic Forum plans to consider the future of pensions and health care at its prestigious Davos c onference early next year. The media, including this newspaper, are giving the subject ext ensive coverage.Whether all that attention has translated into sufficient action is another question. Gov ernments in rich countries now accept that their pension and health-care promises will soo n become unaffordable, and many of them have embarked on reforms, but so far only timidly. That is not surprising: politicians with an eye on the next election will hardly rush t o introduce unpopular measures that may not bear fruit for years, perhaps decades.The outline of the changes needed is clear. To avoid fiscal (财政) meltdown, public pensions and health-care provision will have to be reined back severely and taxes may ha ve to go up. By far the most effective method to restrain pension spending is to give peo ple the opportunity to work longer, because it increases tax revenues and reduces spending on pensions at the same time. It may even keep them alive longer. John Rother, the AA RP’s head of policy and strategy, points to studie s showing that other things being equal, people who remain at work have lower death rates than their retired peers.Younger people today mostly accept that they will have to work for longer and that their pensions will be less generous. Employers still need to be persuaded that older work ers are worth holding on to. That may be because they have had plenty of younger ones to choose from, partly thanks to the post-war baby-boom and partly because over the past few decades many more women have entered the l abour force, increasing employers’ cho ice. But the reservoir of women able and willing to take up paid work is running low, an d the baby-boomers are going grey.In many countries immigrants have been filling such gaps in the labour force as have already emerged (and remember that the real shortage is still around ten years off). Immi gration in the developed world is the highest it has ever been, and it is making a useful difference. In still-fertile America it currently accounts for about 40% of total population growth, and in fast-ageing western Europe for about 90%.On the face of it, it seems the perfect solution. Many developing countries have lots of young people in need of jobs; many rich countries need helping hands that will boosttax revenues and keep up economic growth. But over the next few decades labour forces in rich countries are set to shrink so much that inflows of immigrants would have to incr ease enormously to compensate: to at least twice their current size in western Europe’s m ost youthful countries, and three times in the older ones. Japan would need a large multip le of the few immigrants it has at present. Public opinion polls show that people in most rich countries already think that immigration is too high. Further big increases would be politically unfeasible.To tackle the problem of ageing populations at its root, “old” countries would have t o rejuvenate (使年轻) themselves by having more of their own children. A number of the m have tried, some more successfully than others. But it is not a simple matter of offerin g financial incentives or providing more child care. Modern urban life in rich countries is not well adapted to large families. Women find it hard to combine family and career. Th ey often compromise by having just one child.And if fertility in ageing countries does not pick up? It will not be the end of the w orld, at least not for quite a while yet, but the world will slowly become a different plac e. Older societies may be less innovative and more strongly disinclined to take risks than younger ones. By 2025 at the latest, about half the voters in America and most of those in western European countries will be over 50—and older people turn out to vote in muc h greater number than younger ones. Academic studies have found no evidence so far that older voters have used their power at the ballot box to push for policies that specifically benefit them, though if in future there are many more of them they might start doing s o.Nor is there any sign of the intergenerational warfare predicted in the 1990s. After al l, older people themselves mostly have families. In a recent study of parents and grown-u p children in 11 European countries, Karsten Hank of Mannheim University found that 8 5% of them lived within 25km of each other and the majority of them were in touch at l east once a week.Even so, the shift in the centre of gravity to older age groups is bound to have a pr ofound effect on societies, not just economically and politically but in all sorts of other w ays too. Richard Jackson and Neil Howe of America’s CSIS, in a thoughtful book called The Graying of the Great Powers, argue that, among other things, the ageing of the devel oped countries will have a number of serious security implications.For example, the shortage of young adults is likely to make countries more reluctant to commit the few they have to military service. In the decades to 2050, America will fin d itself playing an ever-increasing role in the developed world’s defence effort. Because A merica’s population will still be growing when that of most other developed countries is s hrinking, America will be the only developed country that still matters geopolitically (地缘政治上).Ask me in 2020There is little that can be done to stop population ageing, so the world will have to live with it. But some of the consequences can be alleviated. Many experts now believe t hat given the right policies, the effects, though grave, need not be catastrophic. Most coun tries have recognised the need to do something and are beginning to act.But even then there is no guarantee that their efforts will work. What is happening n ow is historically unprecedented. Ronald Lee, director of the Centre on the Economics and Demography of Ageing at the University of California, Berkeley, puts it briefly and clear ly: “We don’t really know what population ageing will be like, because nobody has done it yet. “注意：此部分试题请在答题卡1上作答。

Section A短对话（11~18）11W: This is one of our best and least expensive two-bedroom listings. It’s located in a quiet building and it’s close to bus lines.M: That maybe true. But look at it, it’s awful, the paint has peeled off and carpet is worn and the stove is ancient.Q: What can we infer from the conversation?12M: The pictures we took at the botanical garden should be ready tomorrow.W: I can’t wait to see them, I’m wondering if the shots I took are as good as I thought.Q: What is the woman eager to know?13W: The handle of the suitcase is broken. Can you have it fixed by next Tuesday?M: Let me see, I need to find a handle that matches but that shouldn’t take too long.Q: What does the man mean?14M: This truck looks like what I need but I’m worried about maintenance. For us it’ll have to operate for long periods of time in very cold temperatures.W: We have several models that are especially adaptive for extreme conditions. Would you like to see them?Q: What do we learn about the man from the conversation?15M: I think your boss would be very upset when he gets your letter of resignation.W: That may be so. But in the letter, I just told him frankly I could no longer live with his poor management and stupid decisions.Q: What do we learn about the woman?16W I’d like to exchange the shirt. I’ve learned that the person bought it for allergic to wool.M Maybe we can find something in cotton or silk. Please come this way.Q；What does the women want to do？17M: Excuse me, Miss？Did anyone happen to turn in a new handbag? You know, it’s a birthday gift for my wife.W: Let me see. Oh, we’ve got quite a lot of women’s bags here. Can you give me more detailed information, such as the color, the size and the trademark?Q: Where does this conversation most probably take place?18M What are you going to do with the old house you are in heritage from your grandfather?W I once intended to sell it, but now, I’m thinking of turning it into a guest house, because it's still a solid structure.Q: What does the man plan to do with his old house?长对话（19~25）W: When you write a novel, do you know where you’re going, Dr. James?M: Yes, you must, really, if you’re writing the classical detective story, because it must be so carefully plotted and so carefully c lued. I have schemes. I have charts. I have diagrams. It doesn’t mean to say that I always get it right, but I do plan before I begin writing. But what is so fascinating is how a book changes during the process of writing. It seems to me that creative writing is a process of revelation, really, rather than of creativity in the ordinary sense.W: When you’re planning the basic structure, do you like to go away to be sure that you’re by yourself?M: I need to be by myself certainly, absolutely. I can’t even bare anybody else in the house. I don’t mind much where I am as long as I’ve got enough space to write, but I need to be completely alone.W: Is that very important to you?M: Oh, yes. I’ve never been lonely in all my life.W: How extraordinary! Never?M: No, never.W: You’re very lucky. Someone once said that there’s a bit of ice at the heart of every writer.M: Yes. I think this is true. The writer can stand aside from experience and look at it, watch it happening. There is this ‘detachment’ and I realize that there are obviously experiences which would overwhelm everyone. But very often, a writer can appear to stand aside, and this detachment makes people feel there’s a bit of ice in the heart.Questions 19 to 21 are based on the conversation you have just heard.19. What is the key to write a good classical detective story according to the man?20. What does the man mainly need when working on a book?21. What does the man say about writers?W: There is an element there about competition then, isn’t the re? Because British railways are a nationalized industry. There’s only one railway system in the country. If you don’t like a particular kind of big beans, you can go and buy another. But if you don't like a particular railway, you can’t go and use another.M: Some people who write to me say this. They say that if you didn’t have monopoly, you wouldn’t be able to do the things you do. Well, I don’t think we do anything deliberately to upset our customers. We have particular problems. Since 1946, when the Transport Act came in, we were nationalized.W: Do you think that’s a good thing? Has it been a good thing for the railways, do you think, to benationalized?M: Oh I think so, yes. Because in general, modes of transport are all around. Let’s face the fact. The car arrived. The car is here to stay. There is no question about that.W: So what are you saying then? Is it if the railways happen being nationalized, they would simply have disappeared?M: Oh, I think they would have. They’re disappearing fast in Ame rica. Er, the French railways lose 1 billion ponds a year. The German railways, 2 billion ponds a year. But you see, those governments are preparing to pour money into the transport system to keep it going.W: So in a sense, you cope between two extremes. On the one hand, you’re trying not to lose too much money. And on the other hand, you’ve got to provide the best service.M: Yes, you are right.Questions 22 to 25 are based on the conversation you have just heard.22. What does the woman say about British railways?23. What do some people who write to the man complain about?24. What does the man say threatens the existence of railways?25. What does the man say about railways in other countries?Section BPassage OneAmong global warming’s most frighte ning threats is the prediction is that the polar ice-caps will melt, raising sea level so much that coastal cities from New York to Los Angles to Shanghai will be flooded. Scientists agree that key player in this scenario is the West Antarctic ice sheet, a Brazil-size mass of frozen water that is much as 7000 feet thick. Unlike floating ice shelves which have little impact on sea level when they break up, the ice sheet is anchored to bedrock will blow the sea surface. Surrounded by open ocean, it is also vulnerable, but Antarctic experts disagree strongly on just how unstable it is. Now, new evidence reveals that all or most of the Antarctic ice sheet collapsed at least once during the past 1.3 million years, a period when global temperatures probably were not significantly higher than they are today. And the ice sheet was assumed to have been stable. In geological time, a million years is recent history. The proof, which was published last week in Science, comes from a team of scientists from Uppsala University in Sweden and California Institute of Technology who drew deep holes near the edge of ice sheet. Within samples collected from the solid substances lying beneath the ice. They found fossils of microscopic marine plants which suggest that the region was once open ocean not solid ice. As Herman Engleheart, a co-author from the California Institute of Technology says, ‘the West Antarctic ice sheet disappear once and can disappear again.’26. What is one of the most frightening threats of global warming according to the passage?27. What did scientists disagree on?28. What is the latest information revealed about the West Antarctic ice sheet?29. What the scientists’ latest findings suggest?Passage TwoIt's always fun to write about research that you can actually try out for yourself.Try this: Take a photo and upload it to Facebook, then after a day or so, note what the URL link to the picture is and then delete it. Come back a month later and see if the link works. Chances are: It will.Facebook isn't alone here. Researchers at Cambridge University have found that nearly half of the social networking sites don't immediately delete pictures when a user requests they be removed. In general, photo-centric websites like Flickr were found to be better at quickly removing deleted photos upon request.Why do "deleted" photos stick around so long? The problem relates to the way data is stored on large websites: While your personal computer only keeps one copy of a file, large-scale services like Facebook rely on what are called content delivery networks to manage data and distribution. It's a complex system wherein data is copied to multiple intermediate devices, usually to speed up access to files when millions of people are trying to access the service at the same time. But because changes aren't reflected across the content delivery networks immediately, ghost copies of files tend to linger for days or weeks.In the case of Facebook, the company says data may hang around until the URL in question is reused, which is usually "after a short period of time", though obviously that time can vary considerably.30. What does the speaker ask us to try out?31. What accounts for the failure of some websites to remove photos immediately?32. When will the unwanted data eventually disappear from Facebook according to the company?Passage ThreeEnjoying an iced coffee? Better skip dinner or hit the gym afterwards, with a cancer charity warning that some iced coffees contain as many calories as a hot dinner.The World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) conducted a survey of iced coffees sold by some popular chains in Britain including Starbucks, Caffe Nero and Costa Coffee to gauge the calories as studies increasingly link obesity with cancer.The worst offender - a coffee from Starbucks -- had 561 calories. Other iced coffees contained more than 450 calories and the majority had an excess of 200.Health experts advise that the average woman should consume about 2,000 calories a day and aman about 2,500 calories to maintain a healthy weight. Dieters aim for 1,000 to 1,500 calories a day."The fact that there is an iced coffee on the market with over a quarter of a woman's daily calories allowance is alarming," Dr Rachel Thompson, science programme manager at London-based WCRF, said in a widely-reported statement."This is the amount of calories you might expect to have in an evening meal, not in a drink."The WCRF has estimated that 19,000 cancers a year in Britain could be prevented if people lost their excess weight with growing evidence that excess body fat increases the risk of various cancers."If you are having these types of coffee regularly then they will increase the chances of you becoming overweight, which in turn increases your risk of developing cancer, as well as other diseases such as heart disease." she added.33. What warning did some health experts give?34. What does the author suggest people do after they have an iced coffee?35. What could British people expect if they maintain a normal body weight according to the WCRF?Section CPsychologists are finding that hope plays a surprisingly vital role in giving people a measurable advantage in rounds as diverse as academic achievement, bearing up in tough jobs, and coping with tragic illness. And, by contrast, the loss of hope, is turning out to be a stronger sign that a person may commit suicide than other factors long thought to be more likely risks. ‘Hope has proven a powerful predictor of outcome in every study we've done so far,’ said Doctor Charl es R. Snyder, a psychologist, who has devised a scale to assess how much hope a person has. For example, in research with 3920 college students, Doctor Snyder and his colleagues found that the level of hope among freshmen at the beginning of their first semester was a more accurate predictor of their college grades, than were their SAT scores or their grade point averages in high school, the two measures most commonly used to predict college performance. ‘Students with high hope set themselves higher goals and know how to work to attain them,’Doctor Snyder said. ‘When you compare students of equivalent intelligence and past academic achievements, what sets them apart is hope.’ In devis ing a way to assess hope scientifically, Doctor Snyder went beyond the simple notion that hope is merely the sense that everything will turn out all right. ‘That notion is not concrete enough and it blurs two key components of hope,’ Doctor Snyder said, ‘H aving hope means believing you have both the will and the way to accomplish your goals, whatever they may be.’。

2010年六级听力原文及答案11. A The man failed to keep his promise.12. C The woman should spend more time outdoors.13. D It is not a good idea to buy the T-shirt.14. B Most readers do not share his viewpoints.15. A Leave Daisy alone for the time being.16. A Batteries.17. D The man can get the ticket at its original price.18. A The speakers will dress formally for the concert.19. D He is undecided as to which job to go for.20. C They are all adults.21. B Varied and interesting.22. C Hosting a television show.23. A He lost his mother.24. B He got seriously into acting.25. B He has long been a legendary figure.26. C It crashed when it was circling to land.27. A He was kidnapped eight months ago.28. A The management and union representatives reached an agreement.29. B rainy30. C Very few of them knew much about geology.31. B By noting where the most severe earthquake in U.S. history occurred.32. C Stop him when he had difficulty understanding.33. D It is a tool of communication among speakers of different languages.34. D It has supporters from many countries in the world.illnesses.――――――――――聽力原文―――――――――Section AShort Conversation11. M: Oh, I’m so sorry I forgot to bring along the book you borrowed from the library.W: What a terrible memory you have! Anyway, I won’t need it until Friday night. As long as I can get it by then, OK?Q: What do we learn from this conversation?12. W: Doctor, I haven’t been able to get enough sleep lately, and I’m too tired to concentrate in class.M: Well, you know, spending too much time indoors with all that artificial lighting can do that to you.Your body loses track of whether it’s day or night.Q: What does the man imply?13. M: I think I’ll get one of those new T-shirts, you know, with the school’s logo on both the front and back.W: You’ll regret it. They are expensive, and I’ve heard the printing fades easily when you wash them.Q: What does the woman mean?14. W: I think your article in the school newspaper is right on target, and your viewpoints have certainly convinced me.M: Thanks, but in view of the general responses, you and I are definitely in the minority.Q: What does the man mean?15. M: Daisy was furious yesterday because I lost her notebook. Should I go see her and apologize to her again? W: Well, if I were you, I’d let her cool off a few days before I approach her. Q: What does the woman suggest the man do?16. M: Would you please tell me where I can get batteries for this brand of camera?W: Let me have a look. Oh, yes, go down this aisle, pass the garden tools, you’ll find them on the shelf next to the light bulbs.Q: What is the man looking for?17. M: Our basketball team is playing in the finals but I don’t have a ticket.I guess I’ll just watch it on TV. Do you want to come over?W: Actually I have a ticket. But I’m not feeling well. You can have it forwhat it cost me.Q: What do we learn from the conversation?18. M: Honey, I’ll be going straight to the theatre from work this evening. Could you bring my suit and tie along? W: Sure, it’s the first performance of the State Symphony Orchestra in our city, so suit and tie is a must.Q: What do we learn from the conversation?Long ConversationsConversation 1M: I got two letters this morning with job offers, one from the Polytechnic, and the other from the Language School in Pistoia, Italy.W: So you are not sure which to go for?M: That’s it. Of course, the conditions of work are very different: ThePolytechnic is offering two-year contract which could be renewed, but the language school is only offering a year’s contract, and that’s a different minus. It could be renewed, but you never know.W: I see. So it’s much less secure. But you don’t need to think too much about steady jobs when you are only 23.M: That’s true.W: What about the salaries?M: Well, the Pistoia job pays much better in the short term. I’ll be getting the equivalent of about ￡22,000 a year there, but only￡20,000 at the Polytechnic. But then the hours are different. At the Polytechnic I’d have to do 35 hours a week, 20 teaching and 15 administration, whereas the Pistoia school is only asking for 30 hoursteaching.W: Mmm…M: Then the type of teaching is so different. The Polytechnic is all adults and mostly preparation for exams like the Cambridge certificates. The Language School wants me to do a bit of exam preparation, but also quite a lot of work in companies and factories, and a couple of children’s classes. Oh, and a bit of literature teaching.W: Well, that sounds much more varied and interesting. And I’d imagine you would be doing quire a lot of teaching outside the school, and moving around quite a bit.M: Yes, whereas with the Polytechnic position, I’d be stuck in the school all day.Questions 19 to 21 are based on the conversation you have just heard:Q19. What do we learn about the man from the conversation?Q20. What do we learn about the students at the Polytechnic?Q21. What does the woman think of the job at the Language School?Conversation 2W: Good evening and welcome to tonight's edition of Legendary Lives. Our subject this evening is James Dean, actor and hero for the young people of his time. Edward Murray is the author of a new biography of Dean. Good evening, Edward.M: Hello Tina.W: Edward, tell us what you know about Dean's early life.M: He was born in Indiana in 1931, but his parents moved to California when he was five. He wasn't there long though because his motherpassed away just four years later. Jimmy's father sent him back to Indiana after that to live with his aunt.W: So how did he get into acting? M: Well, first he acted in plays at high school, then he went to college in California where he got seriously into acting. In 1951 he moved to New York to do more stage acting.W: Then when did his movie career really start?M: 1955. His first starring role was in East of Eden. It was fabulous. Dean became a huge success. But the movie that really made him famous was his second one, Rebel Without a Cause, that was about teenagers who felt like they didn't fit into society. W: So how many more movies did he make?M: Just one more, then he died in thatcar crash in California in 1955.W: What a tragedy! He only made three movies! So what made him the legend he still is today?M: Well I guess his looks, his acting ability, his short life, and maybe the type of character he played in his movies. Many young people saw him as a symbol of American youths.Q22 What is the woman doing?Q23 Why did James Dean move back to Indiana when he was young?Q24 What does the man say James Dean did at college in California?Q25 What do we know about James Dean from the conversation? Section BPassage 1The time is 9 o’clock and this is Marian Snow with the news.The German authorities are sendinginvestigators to discover the cause of the plane crash late yesterday on the island of Tenerife. The plane, a Boeing 737, taking German holiday makers to the island crashed into a hillside as it circled while preparing to land. The plane was carrying 180 passengers. It’s thought there are no survivors. Rescue workers were at the scene.The British industrialist James Louis, held by kidnappers in Central Africa for the past 8 months, was released unharmed yesterday. The kidnappers had been demanding 1 million pounds for the release of Mr. Louis. The London Bank and their agents who had been negotiating with the kidnappers have not said whether any amount of money has been paid.The 500 UK motors workers who had been on strike in High Town for the past 3 three weeks went back to work this morning. This follows successful talks between management and union representatives, which resulted in a new agreement on working hours and conditions. A spokesman for the management said that they’d hope they could now get back to producing cars, and that they lost lot of money and orders over this dispute.And finally the weather. After a cold start, most of the country should be warm and sunny. But towards late afternoon, rain will spread from Scotland to cover most parts by midnight.Questions 26 – 29 are based on thepassage you have just heard.26 What does the news say about the Boeing 737 plane?27 What happened to British industrialist James Louis?28 How did the 3-week strike in High Town end?29 What kind of weather will be expected by midnight in most parts of the country?Passage 2Juan Louis, a junior geology major, decided to give an informative speech about how earthquakes occur. From his audience and analysis he learned that only 2 or 3 of his classmates knew much of anything about geology. Juan realized then that he must present his speech at an elementary level and with a minimum of scientific language. As he prepared the speech, Juan keptasking himself, “How can I make this clear and meaningful to someone who knows nothing about earthquakes or geological principles?” Since he was speaking in the Midwest, he decided to begin by noting that the most severe earthquake in American history took place not in California or Alaska but at New Madrid, Missouri in 1811. If such an earthquake happened today, it would be felt from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean and would flatten most of the cities in the Mississippi valley. That, he figured, should get his classmates’ attention. Throughout the body of the speech, Juan dealt only with the basic mechanics of the earthquakes and carefully avoid technical terms. He also prepared visual aids, diagramming photo line, so hisclassmate s wouldn’t get confused. To be absolutely safe, Juan asked his roommate, who was not a geology major, to listen to the speech. “Stop me,” he said, “any time I say something you don’t understand.” Juan’s roommate stopped him four times. And at each spot, Juan worked out a way to make his point more clearly. Finally, he had a speech that was interesting and perfectly understandable to his audience. Questions 30 – 32 are based on the passage you have just heard.Q30 What did Juan Louis learn from the analysis of his audience?Q31 How did Juan Louis start his speech?Q32 What did Juan ask his roommate to do when he was making his trial speech?Passage 3Esperanto is an artificial language, designed to serve internationally as an auxiliary means of communication among speakers of different languages. It was created by Ludwig Lazar Zamenhof, a Polish Jewish doctor specialized in eye diseases. Esperanto was first presented in 1887. An international movement was launched to promote its use. Despite arguments and disagreements, the movement has continued to flourish and has members in more than 80 countries. Esperanto is used internationally across language boundaries by at least 1 million people, particularly in specialized fields. It is used in personal context, on radio broadcasts and in a number of publications as well as in translationsof both modern works and classics. Its popularity has spread form Europe, both east and west, to such countries as Brazil and Japan. It is, however, in China that Esperanto has had its greatest impact. It is taught in universities and used in many translations, often in scientific or technological works. EL POPOLA CHINIO, which means from people’s China, it’s a month ly magazine in Esperanto and it is read worldwide. Radio Beijing’s E speranto program is the most popular program in Esperanto in the world. Esperanto’s vocabulary is drawn primarily from Latin, the Roman’s languages, English and German. Spelling is completely regular. A simple and consistent set of endings indicates grammatical functions of words. Thus, for example, every noun endsin “o”, every adjective in “a”, and basic form of every verb in “i”. Esperanto also has a highly productive system of constructing new words from old ones.Questions 33 – 35 are based on the passage you have just heard.Q33 What does the speaker tell us about Esperanto?Q34 What is said about the international movement to promote the use of Esperanto?Q35 What does the speaker say about Esperanto in China?Section CGeorge Herbert Mead said that humans are talked into humanity. He meant that we gain personal identity as we communicate with others. In the earliest years of our lives, our parents tell us who we are. "You'reintelligent." "You're so strong." We first see ourselves through the eyes of others, so their messages form important foundations of ourself-concepts. Later we interact with teachers, friends, romantic partners, and coworkers who communicate their views of us. Thus, how we see ourselves reflects the views of us that others communicate.The profound connection between identity and communication is dramatically evident in children who are deprived of human contact. Case studies of children who were isolated from others reveal that they lack a firm self-concept, and their mental and psychological development is severely hindered by lack of language.Communications with others not only affects our sense of identity but also directly influences our physical and emotional well-being. Consistently, research shows that communicating with others promotes health, whereas social isolation is linked to stress, disease, and early death. People who lack close friends have greater levels of anxiety and depression than people who are close to others. A group of researchers reveal scores of studies that trace the relationship between health and interaction with others.The conclusion was that social isolation is statistically as dangerous as high blood pressure, smoking and obesity. Many doctors and researchers believe that loneliness harms the immune system, makingus more vulnerable to a range of miner and major illnesses.36. intelligent37. foundations38. romantic39. reflects40. profound41. dramatically42. deprived43. hindered44. research shows that communicating with others promotes health, whereas social isolation is linked to stress, disease, and early death.45. A group of researchers reveal scores of studies that trace the relationship between health and interaction with others.46. loneliness harms the immunesystem, making us more vulnerable to a range of miner and major illnesses.。

2010年12月六级真题听力部分答案详解（1）参考答案及详解Listening ComprehensionSection A11. What can we infer from the conversation?【答案】DThe man is looking for an apartment.【解析】从对话中看出男士在找apartment building，因此选D。

12. What is the woman eager to know?【答案】B How the pictures will turn out.【解析】女士想知道的是if the shots I took are as good as I thought. 照片是不是和她想的异样好。

这里shots指照片。

turn out指照片拍出来的效果。

因此选B。

13. What does the man mean?【答案】C The suitcase can be fixed in time.【解析】男士说到find a handle后面提到but that shouldnt take too long 说明不是没有handle可以匹配。

因此排除A,B。

14. What do we learn about the man from the conversation?【答案】B He needs a vehicle to be used in harsh weather.【解析】男士说到truck需要operate for long periods of time in very cold temperatures，因此选择选项B。

very cold temperatures对应harsh weather.15. What do we learn about the woman?【答案】A She has made up her mind to resign.【解析】从文中女士强硬的口气I could no longer live with可以看出她下定决心。

[00:21.11]Part III Listening Comprehension[00:25.43]Section A[00:27.41]Directions: In this section,[00:30.71]you will hear 8 short conversations and 2 long conversations.[00:36.32]At the end of each conversation,[00:38.75]one or more questions will be asked about what was said.[00:43.16]Both the conversation and the questions will be spoken only once.[00:48.62]After each question there will be a pause.[00:52.33]During the pause,[00:53.69]you must read the four choices marked A), B), C) and D),[00:59.30]and decide which is the best answer.[01:02.41]Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2[01:06.00]with a single line through the centre.[01:09.84]Now let's begin with the eight short conversations.[01:14.71]11. W: This is one of our best and least expensive two-bedroom listings. [01:22.05]It's located in a quiet building and is close to bus lines.[01:26.66]M: That may be true. But look at it... it's awful.[01:31.23]The paint has peeled off and the carpet is worn, and the stove is ancient. [01:37.46]Q: What can we infer from the conversation?[01:54.03]12. M: The pictures we took at the Botanical Garden should be ready tomorrow. [02:00.61]W: I can't wait to see them.[02:03.02]I'm wondering if the shots I took is as good as I thought.[02:07.33]Q: What is the woman eager to know?[02:22.74]13. W: The handle of the suitcase is broken.[02:27.81]Can you have it fixed by next Tuesday?[02:30.55]M: Let me see...[02:32.23]I need to find a handle that matches, but that shouldn't take too long.[02:37.38]Q: What does the man mean?[02:52.54]14. M: This truck looks like what I need, but I'm worried about maintenance. [03:00.12]For us, it'll have to operate for long periods of time[03:03.87]in very cold temperatures.[03:06.36]W: We have several models that are especially adapted for extreme conditions. [03:11.29]Would you like to see them?[03:13.67]Q: What do we learn about the man from the conversation?[03:30.24]15. M: I think your boss will be very upset[03:34.93]when he gets your letter of resignation.[03:37.45]W: That may be so.[03:39.33]But in the letter,[03:40.33]I just told him frankly I could no longer live with his poor management [03:44.19]and stupid decisions.[03:47.19]Q: What do we learn about the woman?[04:02.43]16. W: I'd like to exchange the shirt.[04:07.56]I've learned that the person I bought it for is allergic to wool.[04:11.60]M: Maybe we can find something in cotton or silk.[04:15.45]Please come this way.[04:17.88]Q: What does the woman want to do?[04:33.17]17. M: Excuse me, Miss?[04:37.17]Did anyone happen to turn in a new handbag?[04:40.51]Y ou know it's a birthday gift for my wife.[04:43.31]W: Let me see.[04:45.50]Oh, we've got quite a lot of women's bags here.[04:49.00]Can you give me more detailed information,[04:51.90]such as its color, the size and the trademark?[04:56.04]Q: Where does this conversation most probably take place?[05:12.76]18. W: What're you going to do with the old house you inherited[05:18.23]from your grandfather?[05:20.17]M: I once intended to sell it.[05:22.48]But now I'm thinking of turning it into a guest house,[05:25.93]because it's still a solid structure.[05:29.47]Q: What does the man plan to do with his old house?[05:46.18]Now you'll hear the two long conversations.[05:50.08]Conversation One[05:52.93]W: When you write a novel, do you know where you are going, Dr. James? [05:57.33]M: Y es, you must, really, if you are writing a classical detective story. [06:02.09]Because it must be so carefully plotted and so carefully clued.[06:07.15]I have schemes. I have charts. I have diagrams.[06:11.98]It doesn't mean to say I always get it right,[06:15.42]but I do plan before I begin writing.[06:18.69]But what is so fascinating is how a book changes during the process of writing. [06:24.31]It seems to me that creative writing is a process of revelation, really,[06:29.30]rather than of creativity in the ordinary sense.[06:33.30]W: When you're planning the basic structure,[06:35.57]do you like to go away to be sure that you're by yourself?[06:39.57]M: I need to be by myself certainly, absolutely.[06:43.60]I can't even bear anybody else in the house.[06:47.65]I don't mind much where I am as long as I've got enough space to write, [06:52.97]but I need to be completely alone.[06:55.55]W: Is that very important to you?[06:58.04]M: Oh, yes, I've never been lonely in all my life.[07:01.95]M: How extraordinary! Never?[07:04.71]M: No, never.[07:06.60]W: Y ou're very lucky.[07:08.51]Someone once said that there's a bit of ice at the heart of every writer. [07:13.32]M: Y es, I think this is true.[07:16.00]The writer can stand aside from experience and look at it,[07:20.11]watch it happening.[07:21.93]There is this "detachment"[07:24.11]and I realize that there are obviously experiences[07:28.10]which would overwhelm everyone.[07:30.68]But very often, a writer can appear to stand aside,[07:34.37]and this detachment makes people feel there's a bit of ice in the heart. [07:40.66]Questions 19 to 21 are based on the conversation you have just heard. [07:46.98]19. What is the key to writing a good classical detective story[07:52.55]according to the man?[08:07.63]20. What is the man mainly need when working on a book?[08:26.26]21. What does the man say about writers?[08:44.73]Conversation Two[08:47.41]W: There is an element there about competition then, isn't there?[08:51.67]Because British railways are a nationalized industry,[08:55.11]there's only one railway system in the country.[08:58.30]If you don't like a particular kind of big beans, you can go and buy another; [09:03.77]but if you don't like a particular railway, you can't go and use another. [09:08.89]M: Some people who write to me say this.[09:11.82]They say that if you didn't have a monopoly,[09:14.78]you wouldn't be able to do the things you do.[09:17.93]Well, I don't think we do anything deliberately to upset our customers. [09:23.21]We have particular problems.[09:26.01]Since 1946, when the Transport Act came in, we were nationalized. [09:32.03]W: Do you think that is a good thing?[09:34.42]Has it been a good thing for the railways, do you think, to be nationalized? [09:39.02]M: Oh, I think so, yes.[09:41.40]Because in general, modes of transport are all around.[09:45.86]Let's face the fact. The car arrived. The car is here to stay.[09:51.27]There is no question about that.[09:54.01]W: So what's your saying then?[09:55.98]Is it if the railways haven't been nationalized,[09:59.32]they would simply have disappeared?[10:01.56]M: Oh, I think they would have.[10:04.20]They're disappearing fast in America.[10:06.97]Er, the French railways lose 1 billion pounds a year,[10:11.48]the German railways, 2 billion pounds a year.[10:15.17]But you see,[10:16.39]those governments are prepared to pour money into the transport system [10:20.94]to keep it going.[10:23.07]W: So in a sense, you cope between two extremes.[10:27.22]On the one hand, you're trying not to lose too much money.[10:31.13]And on the other hand, you've got to provide the best service.[10:35.18]M: Y es, you are right.[10:38.62]Questions 22 to 25 are based on the conversation you've just heard. [10:45.80]22. What does the woman say about British railways?[11:04.70]23. What do some people who write to the man complain about?[11:23.92]24. What does the man say threatens the existence of the railways?[11:43.54]25. What does the man say about the railways in other countries? [12:02.65]Section B[12:04.48]Directions: In this section,[12:07.92]you will hear 3 short passages.[12:10.85]At the end of each passage,[12:12.94]you will hear some questions.[12:15.47]Both the passage and the questions will be spoken only once.[12:20.86]After you hear a question,[12:22.63]you must choose the best answer[12:24.19]from the four choices marked A), B), C) and D).[12:30.33]Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2[12:34.23]with a single line through the centre.[12:38.17]Passage One[12:40.55]Among global warming's most frightening threats is the prediction [12:44.79]that the polar icecaps will melt,[12:47.28]raising sea level so much that coastal cities[12:50.63]from New Y ork to Los Angeles to Shanghai will be flooded.[12:56.35]Scientists agree that the key player[12:59.30]in this scenario is the West Antarctic ice sheet.[13:03.65]A Brazil-size mass of frozen water that is much as 7,000 feet thick. [13:10.28]Unlike floating ice shelves[13:12.38]which have little impact on sea level when they break up,[13:16.19]the ice sheet is anchored to bedrock will blow the sea surface.[13:21.55]Surrounded by open ocean, it is also vulnerable.[13:26.05]But Antarctic experts disagree strongly on just how unstable it is. [13:31.93]Now new evidence reveals that all or most of the West Antarctic ice sheet [13:37.98]collapsed at least once during the past 1.3 million years,[13:43.23]a period when global temperatures[13:45.52]probably were not significantly higher than they are today,[13:50.27]and the ice sheet was assumed to have been stable.[13:53.76]In geologic time, a million years is recent history.[13:58.68]The proof, which was published last week in Science,[14:02.63]comes from a team of scientists[14:04.27]from Uppsala University in Sweden[14:07.86]and Californian Institute of Technology[14:10.46]who drilled deep holes near the edge of the ice sheet.[14:14.71]Within samples collected from the solid substance lying beneath the ice, [14:19.67]they found fossils of microscopic marine plants[14:23.39]which suggest that the region was once an open ocean, not solid ice. [14:29.55]As Herman Ankleherd,[14:31.32]a co-author from Californian Institute of Technology says,[14:35.73]"The West Antarctic ice sheet disappeared once and can disappear again." [14:42.48]Questions 26 to 29 are based on the passage you have just heard. [14:49.57]26. What is one of the most frightening threats of global warming[14:55.36]according to the passage?[15:10.41]27. What did scientists disagree on?[15:28.88]28. What does the latest information reveal about the West Antarctic ice sheet? [15:49.89]29. What does scientists' latest finding suggest?[16:08.41]Passage Two[16:11.10]It's always fun to write about research that you can actually try out for yourself. [16:16.83]Try this: Take a photo and upload it to Facebook.[16:22.41]Then after a day or so,[16:24.26]note what the URL link to the picture is and then delete it.[16:29.67]Come back a month later and see if the link works.[16:33.67]Chances are: It will. Facebook isn't alone here.[16:39.44]Researchers at Cambridge University have found[16:42.13]that nearly half of the social networking sites[16:45.14]don't immediately delete pictures[16:47.56]when a user request they be removed.[16:51.17]In general, photo-centric websites like Flickr[16:55.43]were found to be better at quickly removing deleted photos upon request.[17:00.95]Why do "deleted" photos stick around so long?[17:05.27]The problem relates to the way data is stored on large websites:[17:11.05]While your personal computer only keeps one copy of a file,[17:15.15]large-scale services like Facebook rely on[17:18.69]what are called "content delivery networks" to manage data and distribution. [17:25.28]It's a complex system wherein data is copied to multiple intermediate devices, [17:31.10]usually to speed up access to files[17:33.55]when millions of people are trying to access the service at the same time.[17:39.07]But because changes aren't reflected across content delivery networks immediately, [17:44.29]ghost copies of files tend to linger for days or weeks.[17:49.77]In the case of Facebook,[17:51.80]the company says data may hang around until the URL in question is reused, [17:57.27]which is usually "after a short period of time."[18:01.27]Though obviously that time can vary considerably.[18:05.58]Questions 30 to 32 are based on the passage you have just heard.[18:11.70]30. What does the speaker ask us to try out?[18:29.83]31. What accounts for the failure of some websites to remove photos immediately? [18:50.33]32. When will the unwanted data eventually disappear from Facebook[18:56.62]according to the company?[19:11.51]Passage Three[19:13.68]Enjoying an iced coffee?[19:16.37]Better skip dinner or hit the gym afterwards,[19:19.67]with cancer charity warning that some iced coffees[19:23.37]contain as many calories as a hot dinner.[19:26.86]The World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) conducted a survey of iced coffee [19:33.30]sold by some popular chains in Britain inc luding Starbucks,[19:38.35]Cafe Nero and Costa Coffee to gauge the calories as[19:42.50]studies increasingly link obesity with cancer.[19:47.16]The worst offender-a coffee from Starbucks-had 561 calories.[19:53.54]Other iced coffees contained more than 450 calories,[19:58.20]and the majority had an excess of 200.[20:01.44]Health experts advise that the average women[20:04.48]should consume about 2,000 calories a day[20:08.08]and a man about 2,500 calories to maintain a healthy weight.[20:14.56]Dieters aim for 1,000 to 1,500 calories a day.[20:20.50]"The fact that there is an iced coffee on the market[20:23.29]with over a quarter of a woman's daily calories allowance is alarming,"[20:28.60]Doctor Rachel Thompson, science programme manager at London-based WCRF, [20:34.37]said in a widely-reported statement.[20:37.66]"This is the amount of calories you might expect to have in an evening meal, [20:42.51]not in a drink."[20:44.69]The WCRF has estimated that 19,000 cancers a year in Britain[20:50.97]could be prevented if people lost their excess weight[20:54.81]with growing evidence that excess body fat[20:58.10]increases the risk of various cancers.[21:01.80]"If you are having these types of coffee regularly,[21:05.59]then they will increase chances of you becoming overweight,[21:09.68]which in turn increases your risk of developing cancer,[21:14.29]as well as other diseases such as heart disease," she added.[21:19.76]Questions 33 to 35 are based on the passage you have just heard.[21:26.31]33. What warning did some health experts give?[21:44.45]34. What does the author suggest people do after they have an iced coffee? [22:04.71]35. What could British people expect[22:09.01]if they maintain a normal body weight according to the WCRF?[22:27.19]Section C[22:29.37]Directions: In this section,[22:32.86]you will hear a passage three times.[22:35.69]When the passage is read for the first time,[22:38.48]you should listen carefully for its general idea.[22:42.58]When the passage is read for the second time,[22:45.22]you are required to fill in the blanks[22:47.72]numbered from 36 to 43 with the exact words you have just heard.[22:54.72]For blanks numbered from 44 to 46[22:58.62]you are required to fill in the missing information.[23:02.97]For these blanks,[23:04.30]you can either use the exact words you have just heard[23:07.48]or write down the main points in your own words.[23:11.74]Finally, when the passage is read for the third time,[23:15.48]you should check what you have written.[23:18.36]Now listen to the passage.[23:21.91]Psychologists are finding that hope plays a surprisingly vital role[23:26.76]in giving people a measurable advantage[23:29.63]in realms as diverse as academic achievement,[23:33.83]bearing up in tough jobs and coping with tragic illness.[23:38.80]And, by contrast, the loss of hope is turning out to be a stronger sign[23:44.67]that a person may commit suicide[23:47.33]than other factors long thought to be more likely risks.[23:52.09]"Hope has proven a powerful predictor of outcome[23:55.84]in every study we've done so far,"[23:58.47]said Doctor Charles R. Snyder,[24:01.16]a psychologist who has devised a scale to assess how much hope a person has. [24:07.88]For example, in research with 3,920 college students,[24:14.01]Dr. Snyder and his colleagues found that the level of hope among freshmen [24:19.13]at the beginning of their first semester[24:21.51]was a more accurate predictor[24:24.01]of their college grades than were their S.A.T. scores[24:28.36]or their grade point averages in high school,[24:31.90]the two measures most commonly used to predict college performance. [24:37.29]"Students with high hope set themselves higher goals[24:41.03]and know how to work to attain them," Dr. Snyder said.[24:45.54]"When you compare students of equivalent intelligence[24:48.47]and past academic achievements,[24:51.35]what sets them apart is hope."[24:54.68]In devising a way to assess hope scientifically,[24:58.26]Dr. Snyder went beyond the simple notion[25:01.50]that hope is merely the sense that everything will turn out all right.[25:06.10]"That notion is not concrete enough,[25:08.68]and it blurs two key components of hope," Dr. Snyder said.[25:13.13]"Having hope means believing you have both the will[25:16.83]and the way to accomplish your goals whatever they may be."[25:22.96]Now the passage will be read again.[25:26.71]Psychologists are finding that hope plays a surprisingly vital role[25:30.86]in giving people a measurable advantage[25:33.56]in realms as diverse as academic achievement,[25:37.21]bearing up in tough jobs and coping with tragic illness.[25:42.06]And, by contrast, the loss of hope is turning out to be a stronger sign[25:47.78]that a person may commit suicide[25:50.03]than other factors long thought to be more likely risks.[25:54.17]"Hope has proven a powerful predictor of outcome[25:56.75]in every study we've done so far,"[25:59.53]said Doctor Charles R. Snyder,[26:01.71]a psychologist who has devised a scale to assess how much hope a person has. [26:08.25]For example, in research with 3,920 college students,[26:14.36]Dr. Snyder and his colleagues found that the level of hope among freshmen [26:19.12]at the beginning of their first semester[26:21.55]was a more accurate predictor of their college grades[26:24.63]than were their S.A.T. scores[26:26.71]or their grade point averages in high school,[26:29.54]the two measures most commonly used to predict college performance. [26:34.51]"Students with high hope set themselves higher goals[26:38.36]and know how to work to attain them," Dr. Snyder said.[27:40.32]"When you compare students of equivalent intelligence[27:43.36]and past academic achievements,[27:45.93]what sets them apart is hope."[27:49.33]In devising a way to assess hope scientifically,[27:52.62]Dr. Snyder went beyond the simple notion[27:54.78]that hope is merely the sense that everything will turn out all right.[29:03.67]"That notion is not concrete enough,[29:05.75]and it blurs two key components of hope," Dr. Snyder said.[29:10.66]"Having hope means believing you have both the will[29:13.85]and the way to accomplish your goals whatever they may be."[30:30.02]Now the passage will be read for the third time.[30:34.73]Psychologists are finding that hope plays a surprisingly vital role[30:39.53]in giving people a measurable advantage[30:42.23]in realms as diverse as academic achievement,[30:46.58]bearing up in tough jobs and coping with tragic illness.[30:51.35]And, by contrast, the loss of hope is turning out to be a stronger sign[30:57.31]that a person may commit suicide[31:00.17]than other factors long thought to be more likely risks.[31:04.78]"Hope has proven a powerful predictor of outcome[31:08.46]in every study we've done so far,"[31:11.13]said Doctor Charles R. Snyder,[31:13.82]a psychologist who has devised a scale to assess how much hope a person has. [31:20.55]For example, in research with 3,920 college students,[31:26.78]Dr. Snyder and his colleagues found that the level of hope among freshmen [31:31.89]at the beginning of their first semester[31:34.22]was a more accurate predictor of their college grades[31:38.29]than were their S.A.T. scores[31:40.91]or their grade point averages in high school,[31:44.46]the two measures most commonly used to predict college performance. [31:49.87]"Students with high hope set themselves higher goals[31:53.62]and know how to work to attain them," Dr. Snyder said.[31:58.07]"When you compare students of equivalent intelligence[32:01.24]and past academic achievements,[32:04.03]what sets them apart is hope."[32:07.32]In devising a way to assess hope scientifically,[32:10.81]Dr. Snyder went beyond the simple notion[32:14.20]that hope is merely the sense that everything will turn out all right.[32:18.71]"That notion is not concrete enough,[32:21.24]and it blurs two key components of hope," Dr. Snyder said. [32:25.89]"Having hope means believing you have both the will [32:29.38]and the way to accomplish your goals whatever they may be." [32:37.78]This is the end of Listening Comprehension.[32:40.11]。

参考答案：作文范文It is a not-uncommon social phenomenon that the university rankings are especially prevalent in our country. For example, universities are measured by scale, academic achievements or the number of papers published in famous magazines.As to this issue, opinions vary from person to person. Some people hold that university ranking dramatically promotes the development of university in various fields. But others maintain that university ranking also leads to some undesirable consequences such as academic fraud even to deceive people.As far I am concerned, every coin has two sides. On one hand, University ranking does encourage the development and growth of colleges. Such growth–the grand libraries, splendid stadiums and fruitful academic achievements, has caught the attention of the world. We’re impressed by these signs of our education’s tour to the 21st century.On the other hand, we have to pay attention to an unexpected phenomenon that some people have ignored the objectivity of university ranking. Take South university of science and technology of china for an example, this university occupies the second position in some university rankings. In those rankings, it is superior to Peking University and Tsinghua university. In a word, we should inspire the advantages of university and abandon its disadvantages.本文转载自:英语六级考试网快速阅读Part ⅡReading Comprehension（Skimming and Scanning）1．A not be sustained in the long term解析：关键字1994对应第一段第三行，题干中unsustainable即选项A中sustained的反义表达方式。

2010年12月大学英语六级考试真题Part I Writing (30 minutes)Direction:For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay entitled My Views on University Ranking. You should write at least 150 words following the outl ine given below.1. 目前高校排名相当盛行;2. 对于这种做法人们看法不一;3. 在我看来……My Views on University Ranking...Part II Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning) (15 minutes)Directions:In this part, you will have 15 minutes to go over the passage quickly an d answer the questions on Answer Sheet 1. For questions 1-7, choose the best answer fro m the four choices marked [A], [B], [C] and [D]. For questions 8-10, complete the senten ces with the information given in the passage.Into the UnknownThe world has never seen population ageing before. Can it cope?Until the early 1990s nobody much thought about whole populations getting older. Th e UN had the foresight to convene a “world assembly on ageing” back in 1982, but that came and went. By 1994 the World Bank had noticed that something big was happening. In a report entitled “Averting the Old Age Crisis”, it argued that pension arrangements i n most countries were unsustainable.For the next ten years a succession of books, mainly by Americans, sounded the alar m. They had titles like Young vs Old, Gray Dawn and The Coming Generational Storm, and their message was blunt: health-care systems were heading for the rocks, pensioners were taking young people to the cleaners, and soon there would be intergenerational warfa re.Since then the debate has become less emotional, not least because a lot more is kno wn about the subject. Books, conferences and research papers have multiplied. Internationa l organisations such as the OECD and the EU issue regular reports. Population ageing is on every agenda, from G8 economic conferences to NATO summits. The World Economic Forum plans to consider the future of pensions and health care at its prestigious Davos c onference early next year. The media, including this newspaper, are giving the subject ext ensive coverage.Whether all that attention has translated into sufficient action is another question. Gov ernments in rich countries now accept that their pension and health-care promises will soo n become unaffordable, and many of them have embarked on reforms, but so far only tim idly. That is not surprising: politicians with an eye on the next election will hardly rush t o introduce unpopular measures that may not bear fruit for years, perhaps decades.The outline of the changes needed is clear. To avoid fiscal (财政) meltdown, public pensions and health-care provision will have to be reined back severely and taxes may ha ve to go up. By far the most effective method to restrain pension spending is to give peo ple the opportunity to work longer, because it increases tax revenues and reduces spending on pensions at the same time. It may even keep them alive longer. John Rother, the AA RP’s head of policy and strategy, points to studies showing that other things being equal, people who remain at work have lower death rates than their retired peers.Younger people today mostly accept that they will have to work for longer and that their pensions will be less generous. Employers still need to be persuaded that older work ers are worth holding on to. That may be because they have had plenty of younger ones to choose from, partly thanks to the post-war baby-boom and partly because over the past few decades many more women have entered the labour force, increasing employers’ cho ice. But the reservoir of women able and willing to take up paid work is running low, an d the baby-boomers are going grey.In many countries immigrants have been filling such gaps in the labour force as have already emerged (and remember that the real shortage is still around ten years off). Immi gration in the developed world is the highest it has ever been, and it is making a useful difference. In still-fertile America it currently accounts for about 40% of total population growth, and in fast-ageing western Europe for about 90%.On the face of it, it seems the perfect solution. Many developing countries have lots of young people in need of jobs; many rich countries need helping hands that will boost tax revenues and keep up economic growth. But over the next few decades labour forces in rich countries are set to shrink so much that inflows of immigrants would have to incre ase enormously to compensate: to at least twice their current size in western Europe’s m ost youthful countries, and three times in the older ones. Japan would need a large multip le of the few immigrants it has at present. Public opinion polls show that people in most rich countries already think that immigration is too high. Further big increases would be politically unfeasible.To tackle the problem of ageing populations at its root, “old” countries would have t o rejuvenate (使年轻) themselves by having more of their own children. A number of the m have tried, some more successfully than others. But it is not a simple matter of offerin g financial incentives or providing more child care. Modern urban life in rich countries is not well adapted to large families. Women find it hard to combine family and career. Th ey often compromise by having just one child.And if fertility in ageing countries does not pick up? It will not be the end of the w orld, at least not for quite a while yet, but the world will slowly become a different plac e. Older societies may be less innovative and more strongly disinclined to take risks than younger ones. By 2025 at the latest, about half the voters in America and most of those in western European countries will be over 50—and older people turn out to vote in muc h greater number than younger ones. Academic studies have found no evidence so far that older voters have used their power at the ballot box to push for policies that specifically benefit them, though if in future there are many more of them they might start doing s o.Nor is there any sign of the intergenerational warfare predicted in the 1990s. After al l, older people themselves mostly have families. In a recent study of parents and grown-u p children in 11 European countries, Karsten Hank of Mannheim University found that 85% of them lived within 25km of each other and the majority of them were in touch at l east once a week.Even so, the shift in the centre of gravity to older age groups is bound to have a pr ofound effect on societies, not just economically and politically but in all sorts of other w ays too. Richard Jackson and Neil Howe of America’s CSIS, in a thoughtful book called The Graying of the Great Powers, argue that, among other things, the ageing of the devel oped countries will have a number of serious security implications.For example, the shortage of young adults is likely to make countries more reluctant to commit the few they have to military service. In the decades to 2050, America will fin d itself playing an ever-increasing role in the developed w orld’s defence effort. Because A merica’s population will still be growing when that of most other developed countries is s hrinking, America will be the only developed country that still matters geopolitically (地缘政治上).Ask me in 2020There is little that can be done to stop population ageing, so the world will have to live with it. But some of the consequences can be alleviated. Many experts now believe t hat given the right policies, the effects, though grave, need not be catastrophic. Most coun tries have recognised the need to do something and are beginning to act.But even then there is no guarantee that their efforts will work. What is happening n ow is historically unprecedented. Ronald Lee, director of the Centre on the Economics and Demography of Ageing at the University of California, Berkeley, puts it briefly and clearly: “We don’t really know what population ageing will be like, because nobody has done it yet. “注意：此部分题库请在答题卡1上作答。

2010年12月英语六级试题答案(完整版)Part Ⅰ作文题目：1.目前高校排名相当盛行2.对于这种做法，人们看法不一3.我认为...Now society competition is very big, college is not exceptional also, the present universities ranking is quite popular, appear very I "ranking" drawbacks. For this kind of practice, the person of shem view each not camera, some understanding ranking is very necessary, can promote the school competition, some understanding ranking, cause a lot of school lane virtual do false education quality, causing the glide! And I think the school rankings of this mechanism is should be reserved, but need to regulate the arrangement, the education development of the rankings system into motivation, not resistance.作文范文：For those university students-to-be, choosing their ideal school is never an easy job, but luckily, different authorities come up with the university ranking to help! Top students shall choose the top schools high on the list and vice versa.Complicated issue becomes easy numerical comparison, yet the real problem stays there, can the numerical ranking tell you the status quo of these universities? Are these “authorities” producing the ranking authoritative enough to make the judgments? Let’s take a seri ous look at the issue before we jump to the conclusion whether university ranking is good or bad.We have to admit that because of historical reasons, most of the 1950s-1960s parents were denied higher education and this cruel fact makes them even more eager to give their children high education even though they have no idea of what university education is all about. The ranking helps them to make decisions based on their simple idea of better ranking means better jobs in future, and therefore better income! It is pathetic that they interpret knowledge and wisdom in such a way yet it is even more pathetic that there are so-claimed well-educated people making up all the ranking and get the ranking published to mislead them!Part II快速阅读：1 D2 A3 A4 D5 D6 B7 APart III 听力（即将发布）Part IV仔细阅读：52 A53 A54 D55 A56 D57 B58 B59 C60 D61 CPart V完型填空：62-66 BCBAC67-71 CBBBD72-76 CAACD77-81 CDADCPart Ⅵ翻译：82.can not be too careful83.did I realize that reading could not be neglected84.to the researchers' surprise85.I must have left it somewhere86.would rather join you to do volunteer work。

Section A短对话（11~18）11W: This is one of our best and least expensive two-bedroom listings. It’s located in a quiet building and it’s close to bus lines.M: That maybe true. But look at it, it’s awful, the paint has peeled off and carpet is worn and the stove is ancient.Q: What can we infer from the conversation?12M: The pictures we took at the botanical garden should be ready tomorrow. W: I can’t wait to see them, I’m wondering if the shots I took are as good as I thought.Q: What is the woman eager to know?13W: The handle of the suitcase is broken. Can you have it fixed by next Tuesday? M: Let me see, I need to find a handle that matches but that shouldn’t take too long.Q: What does the man mean?14M: This truck looks like what I need but I’m worried about maintenance. For us it’ll have to operate for long periods of time in very cold temperatures.W: We have several models that are especially adaptive for extreme conditions. Would you like to see them?Q: What do we learn about the man from the conversation?15M: I think your boss would be very upset when he gets your letter of resignation. W: That may be so. But in the letter, I just told him frankly I could no longer livewith his poor management and stupid decisions.Q: What do we learn about the woman?16W I’d like to exchange the shirt. I’ve learned that the person bought it for allergic to wool.M Maybe we can find something in cotton or silk. Please come this way.Q；What does the women want to do？17M: Excuse me, Miss？Did anyone happen to turn in a new handbag? You know, it’s a birthday gift for my wife.W: Let me see. Oh, we’ve got quite a lot of women’s bags here. Can you give me more detailed information, such as the color, the size and the trademark?Q: Where does this conversation most probably take place?18M What are you going to do with the old house you are in heritage from your grandfather?W I once intended to sell it, but now, I’m thinking of turning it into a guest house, because it's still a solid structure.Q: What does the man plan to do with his old house?长对话（19~25）W: When you write a novel, do you know where you’re going, Dr. James?M: Yes, you must, really, if you’re writing the classical detective sto ry, because it must be so carefully plotted and so carefully clued. I have schemes. I have charts. I have diagrams. It doesn’t mean to say that I always get it right, but I do plan before I begin writing. But what is so fascinating is how a book changes during the process of writing. It seems to me that creative writing is a process of revelation, really, rather than of creativity in the ordinary sense.W: When you’re planning the basic structure, do you like to go away to be sure that you’re by yourself?M: I need to be by myself certainly, absolutely. I can’t even bare anybody elsein the house. I don’t mind much where I am as long as I’ve got enough space to write, but I need to be completely alone.W: Is that very important to you?M: Oh, yes. I’ve never been lonely in all my life.W: How extraordinary! Never?M: No, never.W: You’re very lucky. Someone once said that there’s a bit of ice at the heart of every writer.M: Yes. I think this is true. The writer can stand aside from experience and look at it, watch it happening. There is this ‘detachment’ and I realize that there are obviously experiences which would overwhelm everyone. But very often, a writer can appear to stand aside, and this detachment makes people feel there’s a bit of ice in the heart.Questions 19 to 21 are based on the conversation you have just heard.19. What is the key to write a good classical detective story according to the man?20. What does the man mainly need when working on a book?21. What does the man say about writers?W: There is an element there about competition then, isn’t there? Because British railways are a nationalized industry. There’s only one railway system in the country. If you don’t like a particular kind of big beans, you can go and buy another. But if you do n't like a particular railway, you can’t go and use another. M: Some people who write to me say this. They say that if you didn’t have monopoly, you wouldn’t be able to do the things you do. Well, I don’t think we do anything deliberately to upset our customers. We have particular problems. Since 1946, when the Transport Act came in, we were nationalized.W: Do you think that’s a good thing? Has it been a good thing for the railways, do you think, to be nationalized?M: Oh I think so, yes. Because in general, modes of transport are all around. Let’s face the fact. The car arrived. The car is here to stay. There is no questionabout that.W: So what are you saying then? Is it if the railways happen being nationalized, they would simply have disappeared?M: Oh, I think they would have. They’re disappearing fast in America. Er, the French railways lose 1 billion ponds a year. The German railways, 2 billion ponds a year. But you see, those governments are preparing to pour money into the transport system to keep it going.W: So in a sense, you cope between two extremes. On the one hand, you’re trying not to lose too much money. And on the other hand, you’ve got to provide the best service.M: Yes, you are right.Questions 22 to 25 are based on the conversation you have just heard.22. What does the woman say about British railways?23. What do some people who write to the man complain about?24. What does the man say threatens the existence of railways?25. What does the man say about railways in other countries?Section BPassage OneAmong global warming’s most frightening threats is the prediction is that the polar ice-caps will melt, rais ing sea level so much that coastal cities from New York to Los Angles to Shanghai will be flooded. Scientists agree that key player in this scenario is the West Antarctic ice sheet, a Brazil-size mass of frozen water that is much as 7000 feet thick. Unlike floating ice shelves which have little impact on sea level when they break up, the ice sheet is anchored to bedrock will blow the sea surface. Surrounded by open ocean, it is also vulnerable, but Antarctic experts disagree strongly on just how unstable it is. Now, new evidence reveals that all or most of the Antarctic ice sheet collapsed at least once during the past 1.3 million years, a period when global temperatures probably were not significantly higher than they are today. And the ice sheet was assumed to have been stable. In geological time, a millionyears is recent history. The proof, which was published last week in Science, comes from a team of scientists from Uppsala University in Sweden and California Institute of Technology who drew deep holes near the edge of ice sheet. Within samples collected from the solid substances lying beneath the ice. They found fossils of microscopic marine plants which suggest that the region was once open ocean not solid ice. As Herman Engleheart, a co-author from the California Institute of Technology says, ‘the West Antarctic ice sheet disappear once and can disappear again.’26. What is one of the most frightening threats of global warming according to the passage?27. What did scientists disagree on?28. What is the latest information revealed about the West Antarctic ice sheet?29. What the scientists’ latest findings suggest?Passage TwoIt's always fun to write about research that you can actually try out for yourself.Try this: Take a photo and upload it to Facebook, then after a day or so, note what the URL link to the picture is and then delete it. Come back a month later and see if the link works. Chances are: It will.Facebook isn't alone here. Researchers at Cambridge University have found that nearly half of the social networking sites don't immediately delete pictures when a user requests they be removed. In general, photo-centric websites like Flickr were found to be better at quickly removing deleted photos upon request.Why do "deleted" photos stick around so long? The problem relates to the way data is stored on large websites: While your personal computer only keeps one copy of a file, large-scale services like Facebook rely on what are called content delivery networks to manage data and distribution. It's a complex system wherein data is copied to multiple intermediate devices, usually to speed upaccess to files when millions of people are trying to access the service at the same time. But because changes aren't reflected across the content delivery networks immediately, ghost copies of files tend to linger for days or weeks.In the case of Facebook, the company says data may hang around until the URL in question is reused, which is usually "after a short period of time", though obviously that time can vary considerably.30. What does the speaker ask us to try out?31. What accounts for the failure of some websites to remove photos immediately?32. When will the unwanted data eventually disappear from Facebook according to the company?Passage ThreeEnjoying an iced coffee? Better skip dinner or hit the gym afterwards, with a cancer charity warning that some iced coffees contain as many calories as a hot dinner.The World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) conducted a survey of iced coffees sold by some popular chains in Britain including Starbucks, Caffe Nero and Costa Coffee to gauge the calories as studies increas ingly link obesity with cancer.The worst offender - a coffee from Starbucks -- had 561 calories. Other iced coffees contained more than 450 calories and the majority had an excess of 200.Health experts advise that the average woman should consume about 2,000 calories a day and a man about 2,500 calories to maintain a healthy weight. Dieters aim for 1,000 to 1,500 calories a day."The fact that there is an iced coffee on the market with over a quarter of a woman's daily calories allowance is alarming," Dr Rachel Thompson, scienceprogramme manager at London-based WCRF, said in a widely-reported statement."This is the amount of calories you might expect to have in an evening meal, not in a drink."The WCRF has estimated that 19,000 cancers a year in Britain could be prevented if people lost their excess weight with growing evidence that excess body fat increases the risk of various cancers."If you are having these types of coffee regularly then they will increase the chances of you becoming overweight, which in turn increases your risk of developing cancer, as well as other diseases such as heart disease." she added.33. What warning did some health experts give?34. What does the author suggest people do after they have an iced coffee?35. What could British people expect if they maintain a normal body weight according to the WCRF?Section CPsychologists are finding that hope plays a surprisingly vital role in giving people a measurable advantage in rounds as diverse as academic achievement, bearing up in tough jobs, and coping with tragic illness. And, by contrast, the loss of hope, is turning out to be a stronger sign that a person may commit suicide than other factors long thought to be more likely risks. ‘Hope has proven a powerful predictor of outcome in every study we've done so far,’ said Doctor Charles R. Snyder, a psychologist, who has devised a scale to assess how much hope a person has. For example, in research with 3920 college students, Doctor Snyder and his colleagues found that the level of hope among freshmen at the beginning of their first semester was a more accurate predictor of their college grades, than were their SAT scores or their grade point averages in high school, the two measures most commonly used to predict college performance.‘Students with high h ope set themselves higher goals and know how to work toattain them,’ Doctor Snyder said. ‘When you compare students of equivalent intelligence and past academic achievements, what sets them apart is hope.’ In devising a way to assess hope scientifically, Doctor Snyder went beyond the simple notion that hope is merely the sense that everything will turn out all right. ‘That notion is not concrete enough and it blurs two key components of hope,’ Doctor Snyder said, ‘Having hope means believing you have both the will and the way to accomplish your goals, whatever they may be.’。

Part III Listening Comprehension (35 minutes)Section ADirections: In this section, you will hear 8 short conversations and 2 long conversations. At the end of each conversation, one or more questions will be asked about what was said. Both the conversation and the questions will be spoken only once. After each question there will be a pause. During the pause, you must read the four choices marked [A], [B], [C] and [D], and decide which is the best answer. Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。

11. [A] The man is the manager of the apartment building.[B] The woman is very good at bargaining.[C] The woman will get the apartment refurnished.[D] The man is looking for an apartment.12. [A] How the pictures will turn out. [C] What the man thinks of the shots.[B] Where the botanical garden is. [D] Why the pictures are not ready.13. [A] There is no replacement for the handle.[B] There is no match for the suitcase.[C] The suitcase is not worth fixing.[D] The suitcase can be fixed in time.14. [A] He needs a vehicle to be used in harsh weather.[B] He has a fairly large collection of quality trucks.[C] He has had his truck adapted for cold temperatures.[D] He does routine truck maintenance for the woman.15. [A] She cannot stand her boss’s bad temper.[B] She has often been criticized by her boss.[C] She has made up her mind to resign.[D] She never regrets any decisions she makes.16. [A] Look for a shirt of a more suitable color and size.[B] Replace the shirt with one of some other material.[C] Visit a different store for a silk or cotton shirt.[D] Get a discount on the shirt she is going to buy.17. [A] At a “Lost and Found”. [C] At a trade fair.[B] At a reception desk. [D] At an exhibition.18. [A] Repair it and move in. [C] Convert it into a hotel.[B] Pass it on to his grandson. [D] Sell it for a good price.Questions 19 to 21 are based on the conversation you have just heard.19. [A] Unique descriptive skills. [C] Colourful world experiences.[B] Good knowledge of readers’tastes. [D] Careful plotting and clueing.20. [A] A peaceful setting. [C] To be in the right mood.[B] A spacious room. [D] To be entirely alone.21. [A] They rely heavily on their own imagination.[B] They have experiences similar to the characters’.[C] They look at the world in a detached manner.[D] They are overwhelmed by their own prejudices.Questions 22 to 25 are based on the conversation you have just heard.22. [A] Good or bad, they are there to stay.[B] Like it or not, you have to use them.[C] Believe it or not, they have survived.[D] Gain or lose, they should be modernised.23. [A] The frequent train delays. [C]The food sold on the trains.[B] The high train ticket fares. [D] The monopoly of British Railways.24. [A] The low efficiency of their operation.[B] Competition from other modes of transport.[C] Constant complaints from passengers.[D] The passing of the new transport act.25. [A] They will be de-nationalised. [C] They are fast disappearing.[B] They provide worse service. [D] They lose a lot of money.Section BDirections: In this section, you will hear 3 short passages. At the end of each passage, you will hear some questions. Both the passage and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question, you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked [A], [B], [C] and [D]. Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。