2013年四六级精选阅读文章

2013年英语六级经典阅读Passage 1It is hard to predict how science is going to turn out ,and if it is really good science it is impossible to predict. If the things to be found are actually new, they are by definition unknown in advance. You cannot make choice in this matter. You either have science or you don't, and if you have it you are obliged to accept the surprising and disturbing pieces of information, along with the neat and promptly useful bits.The only solid piece of scientific truth about which I feel totally confident is that we are profoundly ignorant about nature. Indeed ,I regard this as the major discovery of the past hundred years of biology. It is , in its way, an illuminating piece of news. It would have amazed the brightest minds of the 18th century Enlightenment （启蒙运动）to be told by any of us how little we know and how bewildering seems the way ahead. It is this sudden confrontation with the depth and scope of ignorance that represents the most significant contribution of the 20 th century science to the human intellect. In earlier times, we either pretended to understand how things worked or ignored the problem, or simply made up stories to ill he gaps. Now that we have begun exploring in earnest ,we are getting glimpses of how huge the questions are ,and how far from being answered. Because of this ,we are depressed. It is not so bad being ignorant if you are totally ignorant；the hard thing is knowing in some detail the reality of ignorance, the worst spots and here and there the not-so -bad spots, but no true light at the end of the tunnel nor even any tunnels that can yet be trusted.But we are making a beginning ,and there ought to be some satisfaction .There are probably no questions we can think up that can't be answered, sooner or later, including even the matter of consciousness. To be sure, there may well be questions we can't think up ,ever, and therefore limits to the reach of human intellect ,but that is anther matter. Within our limits we should be able to work our way through to all our answers ,if we keep at it long enough ,and pay attention.31.According to the author, really good science______.（A）would surprise the brightest minds of the 18th century Enlightenment（B）will help people to make the right choice in advance（C）will produce results which cannot be foreseen（D）will bring about disturbing results32.It can be inferred from the passage that scientists of the 18th century_______.（A）knew that they were ignorant ant wanted to know more about nature（B）were afraid of facing up to the realities of scientific research（C）thought that knew a great deal and could solve most problems of science（D）did more harm than good in promoting man's understanding of nature33Which of the following is not mentioned about scientists in earlier times？（A）They invented false theories to explain things they didn't understand（B）They falsely claimed to know all about nature（C）They did not believe in results from scientific observation（D）They paid little attention to the problems they didn't understand34 What is the author 's attitude towards science？（A）He is confident though he is aware of the enormous difficulties in scientific research （B）He is doubtful because of enormous difficulties in scientific research（C）He is depressed because of the ignorance of scientists（D）He is delighted because of the illuminating scientific findings35The author believes that_____.（A）man can not solve all the problems he can think up because of the limits of human intellect（B）man can find solutions sooner or later to whatever questions concerning nature he can think up（C）sooner or later man can think up all the questions concerning nature and answer them （D）questions concerning consciousness are outside the scope of scientific researchPassage 2Greenspace facilities are contributing to an important extent to the quality of the urban environment. Fortunately it is no longer necessary that every lecture or every book about this subject has to start with the proof of this idea. At present it is generally accepted , although more as a self-evident statement than on the base of a closely-reasoned scientific proof. The recognition of the important of greenspaces in the urban environment is a first step on the right way, this doesnot mean, however, hat sufficient details are known about the functions of greenspace in towns and about the way in which the inhabitants are using these spaces .As to this rather complex subject I shall, within the scope of this lecture, enter into one aspect only, namely the recreative function of greenspace facilities.The theoretical separation of living, working, traffic and recreation which for many years has been used in town-and-country planning, has in my opinion resulted in disproportionate attention for forms of recreation far from home, whereas there was relatively little attention for improvement of recreative possibilities in the direct neighborhood of the home…… We have come to the conclusion that this is not right, because an important part of the time which we do not pass in sleeping or working, is used for activities at and around home. So it is obvious that recreation in the open air has to begin at the street-door of the house .The urban environment has to offer as many recreation activities as possible, and the design of these has to be such that more obligatory activities can also have a recreative aspect.The very best standard of living is nothing if it is not possible to take a pleasant walk in the district, if the children cannot be allowed to play in the streets, because the risks of traffic are too great ,if during shopping you can nowhere find a spot for enjoying for a moment the nice weather ,in short ,if you only feel yourself at home after the street-door of your house is closed after you.36.According to the author , the importance of greenspaces in the environment _____.（A）is still unknown（B）has been fully recognized（C）is being closely studied（D）is usually neglected37.The theoretical separation of living ,working, traffic and recreation has led to______.（A）the disproportion of recreation facilities in the neighborhood（B）the improvement of recreative possibilities in the neighborhood（C）relatively little attention for recreative possibilities（D）the location of recreative facilities far from home38.The author suggests that the recreative possibilities of greenspace should beprovided______（A）in the neighborhood of the house（B）in the suburbs（C）in special areas（D）in gardens parks39.According to the author, the greenspace facilities should be designed in such a way that______（A）an increasing number of recreative activities might be developed（B）more and more people might have access to them（C）more obligatory activities might take on a recreative aspect（D）recreative activities might be brought into our homes40.The main idea of this passage is that______（A）attention must be directed to the improvement of recreative possibilities（B）better use of greenspace facilities should be made so as to improve the quality of our life（C）the urban environment is providing more recreation activities than it did many years ago（D）priority must be given to the development of obligatory activitiesPassage 3There are desert plants which survive the dry season in the form of inactive seeds. There are also desert insects which survive as inactive larvae（幼虫）。

Homing pigeons are placed in a trainingprogram from about the time they are twenty-eight days of age. They are taughtto enter the cage through a trap and to exercise above and around the loft(鸽棚) , andgradually they are taken away for short distances in willow baskets andreleased. They are then expected to find their way home in the shortestpossible time.In their training flights or in actualraces, the birds are taken to prearranged distant points and released to findtheir way back to their own lofts. Once the birds are liberated, their owners,who are standing by at the home lofts, anxiously watch the sky for the returnof their entries. Since time is of the essence, the speed with which the birdscan be induced to enter the loft trap may make the difference between gaining awin or a second place.The head of a homing pigeon iscomparatively small, but its brain is one quarter larger than that of theordinary pigeon. The homing pigeon is very intelligent and will persevere tothe point of stubbornness; some have been known to fly a hundred miles offcourse to avoid a storm.Some homing pigeon experts claim thatthis bird is gifted with a form of built-in radar that helps it find its ownloft after hours of flight, for hidden under the head feathers are two verysensitive ears, while the sharp, prominent eyes can see great distances indaytime.Why do homing pigeons fly home? They arenot unique in this inherent skill; it is found in most migratory birds, inbees, ants, toads, and even turtles, which have been known to travel hundredsof miles to return to their homes. But in the animal world, the homing pigeonalone can be trusted with its freedom and trained to carry out the missionsthat people demand.1. This passage is mainly about_______.A. homing pigeons and their trainingB. how to buy a homing pigeonC. protection of homing pigeons againstthe threat of extinctionD. liberation of homing pigeons2. According to the passage, whathappens to homing pigeons when they are about a month old?A. They are kept in a trap.B. They enter their first race.C. They begin a training program.D. They get their wings clipped andmarked.3. According to the passage, thedifference between a homing pigeon and an ordinary one is_______.A. the span of the wingsB. the shape ofthe eyesC. the texture of the feathersD. thesize of the brain4. The author mentions all of thefollowing attributes that enable a homing pigeon toreturn home EXCEPT_______.A. instinctB. air sacsC. sensitive earsD. good eyes5. Why does the author mention bees,ants, toads, and turtles in the last paragraph?A. To describe some unusual kinds ofpets.B. To measure distances traveled byvarious animals.C. To compare their home-findingabilities with those of homing pigeons.D. To interest the reader in learningabout other animals.答案：ACDBCAre some people born clever, and othersborn stupid? Or is intelligence developed by our environment and ourexperiences? Strangely enough, the answer to both these questions is yes. Tosome extent our intelligence is given us at birth, and no amount of specialeducation can make a genius out of a child born with low intelligence. On theother hand, a child who lives in a boring environment will develop hisintelligence less than one who lives in rich and varied surroundings. Thus thelimits of a person's intelligence are fixed at birth, but whether or not hereaches those limits will depend on his environment. This view, now held bymost experts, can be supported in a number of ways.It is easy to show that intelligence isto some extent something we are born with. The closer the blood relationshipbetween two people, the closer they are likely to be in intelligence. Thus ifwe take two unrelated people at random(任意的) from the population,it is likely thattheir degrees of intelligence will be completely different. If on the otherhand we take two identical (完全相同的) twins they will very likely be asintelligent as each other. Relations like brothers and sisters, parents andchildren, usually have similar intelligence, and this clearly suggests that intelligencedepends on birth.Imagine now that we take two identicaltwins and put them in different environments. We might send one, for example,to a university and the other to a factory where the work is boring. We wouldsoon find differences in intelligence developing, and this indicates thatenvironment as well as birth plays a part. This conclusion is also suggested bythe fact that people who live in close contact with each other, but who are notrelated at all, are likely to have similar degrees of intelligence.26. Which of these sentences bestdescribes the writer's point in Paragraph 1?A. To some extent, intelligence is givenat birth.B. Intelligence is developed by theenvironment.C. Some people are born clever andothers born stupid.D. Intelligence is fixed at birth, butis developed by the environment.27. It is suggested in this passagethat_______.A. unrelated people are not likely tohave different intelligenceB. close relations usually have similarintelligenceC. the closer the blood relationshipbetween people, the more different they are likely to be in intelligenceD. people who live in close contact witheach other are not likely to have similar degrees of intelligence28. Brothers and sisters are likely to_______.A. have similar intelligenceB. havedifferent intelligenceC. go to the same universityD. go tothe same factory29. In Paragraph 1, the word"surroundings" means_______.A. intelligenceB. lifeC. environmentsD. housing30. The best title for this articlewould be_______.A. On IntelligenceB. What Intelligence MeansC. We Are Born with IntelligenceD. Environment Plays a Part inDeveloping Intelligence答案：DBACA。

2013年英语四级经典阅读2013年英语四级阅读：个税起征点提至3500全国人民代表大会常务委员会通过了最新版本的个人所得税法。

结果出乎许多人的预料,将个税起征点提高到3500元，而不是先前的3000元。

China…s top legislature has passed an amendment to personal income tax law, which raises the monthly tax exemption threshold from 2,000 yuan to 3,500 yuan. This new regulation will take effect from September.The adjusted threshold is 500 yuan greater originally proposed in previous drafts in the first and second reading. And the income tax brackets are cut from 9 to 7, with the lowest bracket reduced from 5% to 3%.Owing to the tax adjustment, a large portion of tax is relieved from the shoulders of the middle and low income earners.If we take the example of a person whose salary is 4500 yuan, according to the new law, the amount he has to pay from September would this：4500 minus the threshold--3500, and then multiplies by tax rate--3%, so the person only has to pay 30 yuan every month. Compare that to the 250 yuan income tax amount he pays right now and it‟s a signficant reduction. The adjustment of the personal income tax is being praised by many citizens.“Thanks to the rising of , we pay less.”“I…m one of the 80s generation and we have a lot of financial pressure, so tax reduction is good for us.”The reduction of the income tax is a compensation to the low and middle income earners in the current climate of rising inflation. It also sheds a big burden for the self-employed. The expert from the State Administration of Taxation, Jin Dongsheng, says that about 60 million people don‟t have to pay income tax any more.“The adjustments of the individual income tax law show the government is trying to ease the financial burden for middle and low income earners, and that they are taking the public…s view into account. If the threshold is too high, it‟ll damage the public…s awareness of paying taxes. ”It‟s reported that more than 92 percent of wage earners don…t have to pay income tax.Experts say it is a step forward in the country‟s tax reform, but some of them, including Jin Dongsheng, also analyze that ch ina…s personal income tax still needs further adjustments in order to suit citizens‟ income structure.“China…s personal income tax should adopt both unified and classified means in order to better adjust income distribution and solve the problems caused by income diversity and varied household burdens. With all these taken into account, it would make a fair society.”Tax is reduced, which means that the disposable income of middle and low income population has risen.Hopefully we can see a expanding domestic demand in the near future."I'm one of the 80s generation and we have a lot of financial pressure, so tax reduction is good for us."The reduction of the income tax is a compensation to the low and middle income earners in the current climate of rising inflation. It also sheds a big burden for the self-employed. The expert from the State Administration of Taxation, Jin Dongsheng, says that about 60 million people don't have to pay income tax any more."The adjustments of the individual income tax law show the government is trying to ease the financial burden for middle and low income earners, and that they are taking the public's view into account. If the threshold is too high, it'll damage the public's awareness of paying taxes. "It's reported that more than 92 percent of wage earners don't have to pay income tax.Experts say it is a step forward in the country's tax reform, but some of them, including Jin Dongsheng, also analyze that china's personal income tax still needs further adjustments in orderto suit citizens' income structure."China's personal income tax should adopt both unified and classified means in order to better adjust income distribution and solve the problems caused by income diversity and varied household burdens. With all these taken into account, it would make a fair society."Tax is reduced, which means that the disposable income of middle and low income population has risen.Hopefully we can see a expanding domestic demand in the near future.2013年四级阅读：幸福长寿十大秘笈Scientists have revealed the 10 commandments for a long and happy life.Scientists have revealed the 10 commandments for a long and happy life. And the rules even allow for sunbathing, drinking alcohol and eating chocolate.The list was drawn up after experts trawled medical studies published over the past 50 years examining why people are living longer.The first rule, as published in the New Scientist magazine, is to enjoy yourself.MarriedSecond on the list is remaining sociable, with a happy marriage and good family life being essential for health.Studies have shown that marriage can add as much as seven years to a man's life and two years to a woman's life.婚姻生活长寿的第二大法则是与人交往，幸福的婚姻和和谐的家庭是健康的基本保证。

2013年英语六级考试标准阅读There was on shop in the town of Mufulira, which was notorious for its color bar. It was a drugstore. While Europeans were served at the counter, a long line of Africans queued at the window and often not only were kept waiting but, when their turn came to be served, were rudely treated by the shop assistants. One day I was determined to make a public protest against this kind of thing, and many of the schoolboys in my class followed me to the store and waited outside to see what would happen when I went in.I simply went into the shop and asked the manager politely for some medicine. As soon as he saw me standing in the place where only European customers were allowed to stand he shouted at me in a bastard language that is only used by an employed when speaking to his servants. I stood at the counter and politely requested in English that I should be served. The manager became exasperated and said to me in English, “If you stand there till Christmas I will never serve you.”I went to the District commissioner's office. Fortunately the District Commissioner was out, for he was one of the old school；however, I saw a young District Officer who was a friend of mine. He was very concerned to hear my story and told me that if ever I wanted anything more from the drugstore all I had to do was come to him personally and he would buy my medicine for me. I protested that that was not good enough. I asked him to accompany me back to the store and to make a protest to the manager. This he did, and I well remember him saying to the manager, “Here is Mr. Kaunda who is a responsible member of the Urban Advisory C ouncil, and you treat him like a common servant.” The manager of the drugstore apologized and said, “If only he had introduced himself and explained who he was, then, of course I should have given him proper service.”I had to explain once again that he had missed my point. Why should I have to introduce myself every time I went into a store…any more than I should have to buy my medicine by going to a European friend？I want to prove that any man of any color, whatever his position, should have the right to go into any shop and buy what he wanted.The British psychoanalyst John Bowlby maintains that separation from the parents during the sensitive “attachment” period from birth to three may scar a child's personality and predispose to emotional problems in later life. Some people have drawn the conclusion from Bowlby's work that children should not be subjected to day care before the age of three because of the parental separation it entails, and many people do believe this. But there are also arguments against such a strong conclusion.Firstly, anthropologists point out that the insulated love affair between children and parents found in modern societies does not usually exist in traditional societies. For example, we saw earlier that among the Ngoni the father and mother of a child did not rear their infant alone——far from it. Secondly, common sense tells us that day care would not so widespread today if parents, caretakers found children had problems with it. Statistical studies of this kind have not yet beencarried out, and even if they were, the results would be certain to be complicated and controversial.Thirdly, in the last decade, there have been a number of careful American studies of children in day care, and they have uniformly reported that day care had a neutral or slightly positive effect on children's development. But tests that have had to be used to measure this development are not widely enough accepted to settle the issue.But Bowlby's analysis raises the possibility that early day care has delayed effects. The possibility that such care might lead to, say, more mental illness or crime 15 or 20 years later can only be explored by the use of statistics. Whatever the long-term effects, parents sometimes find the immediate effects difficult to deal with. Children under three are likely to protest at leaving their parents and show unhappiness. At the age of three or three and a half almost all children find the transition to nursery easy, and this is undoubtedly why more and more parents make use of child care at this time. The matter, then, is far from clear-cut, though experience and available evidence indicate that early care is reasonable for infants.The British psychoanalyst John Bowlby maintains that separation from the parents during the sen sitive “attachment” period from birth to three may scar a child's personality and predispose to emotional problems in later life. Some people have drawn the conclusion from Bowlby's work that children should not be subjected to day care before the age of three because of the parental separation it entails, and many people do believe this. But there are also arguments against such a strong conclusion.Firstly, anthropologists point out that the insulated love affair between children and parents found in modern societies does not usually exist in traditional societies. For example, we saw earlier that among the Ngoni the father and mother of a child did not rear their infant alone——far from it. Secondly, common sense tells us that day care would not so widespread today if parents, caretakers found children had problems with it. Statistical studies of this kind have not yet been carried out, and even if they were, the results would be certain to be complicated and controversial.Thirdly, in the last decade, there have been a number of careful American studies of children in day care, and they have uniformly reported that day care had a neutral or slightly positive effect on children's development. But tests that have had to be used to measure this development are not widely enough accepted to settle the issue.But Bowlby's analysis raises the possibility that early day care has delayed effects. The possibility that such care might lead to, say, more mental illness or crime 15 or 20 years later can only be explored by the use of statistics. Whatever the long-term effects, parents sometimes find the immediate effects difficult to deal with. Children under three are likely to protest at leaving their parents and show unhappiness. At the age of three or three and a half almost all children find the transition to nursery easy, and this is undoubtedly why more and more parents make use ofchild care at this time. The matter, then, is far from clear-cut, though experience and available evidence indicate that early care is reasonable for infants.。

2013年6月第一套Part IIA Nation That's Losing Its ToolboxThe scene inside the Home Depot on Weyman Avenue here would give the old-time American craftsman pause.In Aisle 34 is precut plastic flooring, the glue already in place. In Aisle 26 are prefabricated windows. Stacked near the checkout counters, and as colorful as aFisher-Price toy, is a not-so-serious-looking power tool: a battery-operated saw-and-drill combination. And if you don't want to do it yourself, head to Aisle 23 or Aisle 35, where a help desk will arrange for an installer.It's all very handy stuff, I guess, a convenient way to be a do-it-yourselfer without being all that good with tools. But at a time when the American factory seems to be a shrinking presence, and when good manufacturing jobs have vanished, perhaps never to return, there is something deeply troubling about this dilution of American craftsmanship.This isn't a lament (伤感) - or not merely a lament - for bygone times. It's a social and cultural issue, as well as an economic one. The Home Depot approach to craftsmanship -simplify it, dumb it down, hire a contractor - is one signal that mastering tools and working with one's hands is receding in America as a hobby, as a valued skill, as a cultural influence that shaped thinking and behavior in vast sections of the country. That should be a matter of concern in a presidential election year. Yet neither Barack Obama nor Mitt Romney promotes himself as tool-savvy (使用工具很在行的) presidential timber, in the mold of a Jimmy Carter, a skilled carpenter and cabinet maker.The Obama administration does worry publicly about manufacturing, a first cousin of craftsmanship. When the Ford Motor Company, for example, recently announced thatit was bringing some production home, the White House cheered. "When you see things like Ford moving new production from Mexico to Detroit, instead of the otherway around, you know things are changing," says Gene Sperling, director of the National Economic Council.Ask the administration or the Republicans or most academics why America needsmore manufacturing, and they respond that manufacturing gives birth to innovation, brings down the trade deficit, strengthens the dollar, generates jobs, arms the military and brings about a recovery from recession. But rarely, if ever, do they publicly takethe argument a step further, asserting that a growing manufacturing sector encourages craftsmanship and that craftsmanship is, if not a birthright, then a vital ingredient of the American self-image as a can-do, inventive, we-can-make-anything people. Traditional vocational training in public high schools is gradually declining, stranding thousands of young people who seek training for a craft without going to college. Colleges, for their part, have since 1985 graduated fewer chemical, mechanical, industrial and metallurgical (冶金的) engineers, partly in response to the reduced roleof manufacturing, a big employer of them.The decline started in the 1950s, when manufacturing generated a sturdy 28% of the national income, or gross domestic product, and employed one-third of the workforce.Today, factory output generates just 12% of G.D.P. and employs barely 9% of the nation's workers.Mass layoffs and plant closings have drawn plenty of headlines and public debate over the years, and they still occasionally do. But the damage to skill and craftsmanship- that's needed to build a complex airliner or a tractor, or for a worker to move up from assembler to machinist to supervisor - went largely unnoticed."In an earlier generation, we lost our connection to the land, and now we are losing our connection to the machinery we depend on," says Michael Hout, a sociologist at the University of California, Berkeley. "People who work with their hands," he went on, "are doing things today that we call service jobs, in restaurants and laundries, or in medical technology and the like."That's one explanation for the decline in traditional craftsmanship. Lack of interest is another. The big money is in fields like finance. Starting in the 1980s, skill in finance grew in importance, and, as depicted in the news media and the movies, became a more appealing source of income.By last year, Wall Street traders, bankers and those who deal in real estate generated 21% of the national income, double their share in the 1950s. And Warren Buffett, the good-natured financier, became a homespun folk hero, without the tools and overalls (工作服)."Young people grow up without developing the skills to fix things around the house," says Richard Curtin, director of the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers. "They know about computers, of course, but they don't know how to build them."Manufacturing's shrinking presence undoubtedly helps explain the decline in craftsmanship, if only because many of the nation's assembly line workers were skilled in craft work, if not on the job then in their spare time. In a late 1990s study of blue-collar employees at a General Motors plant (now closed) in Linden, N. J., the sociologist Ruth Milkman of City University of New York found that many line workers, in their off-hours, did home renovation and other skilled work."I have often thought," Ms. Milkman says, "that these extracurricular jobs were an effort on the part of the workers to regain their dignity after suffering the degradation of repetitive assembly line work in the factory."Craft work has higher status in nations like Germany, which invests in apprenticeship (学徒) programs for high school students. "Corporations in Germany realized that there was an interest to be served economically and patriotically in building up a skilled labor force at home; we never had that ethos (风气)," says Richard Sennett, a New York University sociologist who has written about the connection of craft and culture.The damage to American craftsmanship seems to parallel the steep slide in manufacturing employment. Though the decline started in the 1970s, it became much steeper beginning in 2000. Since then, some 5.3 million jobs, or one-third of the workforce in manufacturing, have been lost. A stated goal of the Obama administrationis to restore a big chunk of this employment, along with the multitude of skills that many of the jobs required.As for craftsmanship itself, the issue is how to preserve it as a valued skill in the general population. Ms. Milkman, the sociologist, argues that American craftsmanship isn't disappearing as quickly as some would argue - that it has instead shifted to immigrants. "Pride in craft, it is alive in the immigrant world," she says.Sol Axelrod, 37, the manager of the Home Depot here, fittingly learned to fix his own car as a teenager, even changing the brakes. Now he finds immigrant craftsmen gathered in abundance outside his store in the early morning, waiting for it to open so they can buy supplies for the day's work as contractors. Skilled day laborers, also mostly immigrants, wait quietly in hopes of being hired by the contractors.Mr. Axelrod also says the recession and persistently high unemployment have forced many people to try to save money by doing more themselves, and Home Depot in response offers classes in fixing water taps and other simple repairs. The teachers are store employees, many of them older and semi-retired from a skilled trade, or laid off. "Our customers may not be building cabinets or outdoor decks; we try to do that for them," Mr. Axelrod says, "but some are trying to build up skill so they can do more for themselves in these hard times."注意：此部分试题请在答题卡1上作答。

2013年6月大学英语四级考试真题(第1套)Part I Writing (30 minutes) Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay. You should start your essay with a brief description of the picture and then express your views on theimportance of reading literature. You should write at least 120 words but no more than180 words.作文范文：The Importance of Reading LiteratureAs is portrayed in the picture, a teacher is giving a literary work to a student, trying to encourage him to read it as if it is a long text-message, since the student seems so unhappy and reluctant. Obviously, the picture reveals the phenomenon that nowadays, more and more students are keen on fast food culture rather than classic literary works.As a matter of fact, it is of great significance for us to appreciate literary works. Firstly, reading literature can help broaden our horizon, let us gain more life experience and learn more about history. The more experience you gain, the more knowledgeable you are. Secondly, with condensed beauty of arts, the literary works can also enhance our aesthetic taste, enabling us to have a better understanding of beauty. Lastly, reading literature is an effective way for relaxation. The beautiful and moving scenes shown in the literature are beneficial for one’s mental health.Therefore, we should learn to appreciate the treasuries our ancestors left and absorb the essence of them.Part II Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning) (15 minutes) Directions: In this part, you will have 15 minutes to go over the passage quickly and answer the questions on Answer Sheet 1. For questions 1-7, choose the best answer from the four choices marked A), B), C) and D). For questions 8-10, complete the sentences with the information given in the passage.Surviving the RecessionAmerica’s recession began quietly at the end of 2007. Since then it has evolved into a global crisis. Reasonable people may disagree about whom to blame. Financiers who were not as clever as they thought they were? Regulators falling asleep at work? Consumers who borrowed too much? Politicians who thoughtlessly promoted home-ownership for those who could not afford it? All are guilty; and what a mess they have created.Since 2007 America has shed 5 million jobs. More than 15% of the workforce are jobless or underemployed—roughly 25 million workers. The only industries swelling their payrolls are health care, utilities and the federal government. The value of listed shares in American firms collapsed by 57% from its peak in October 2007 to a low in March this year, though it has since bounced back somewhat. Industrial production fell by 12.8% in the year to March, the worst slide since the Second World War. Mark Zan di, an economist at Moody’s , predicts that the r ecession will shrink America’s economy by 3.5% in total. For most executives, this is the worst business environment they’ve ever seen.Times are so tough that even bosses are taking pay cuts. Median(中位数的) pay for chief executives of S&P 500 companies fell 6.8% in 2008. The overthrown business giants of Wall Street took the biggest knock, with average pay cuts of 38% and median bonuses of zero. But there was some pain for everyone: median pay for chief executives of non-financial firms in the S&P 500 fell by 2.7%.Nearly every business has a sad tale to tell. For example, Arne Sorenson, the president of Marriott hotels, likens the crisis to the downturn that hit his business after September 11th, 2001. When the twin towers fell, Americans stopped travelling. Marriott had its worst quarter ever, with revenues per room falling by 25%. This year, without a terrorist attack, the hotel industry is “putting the same numbers on the board”, says Mr Sorenson.The hotel bust(不景气), like most busts, was preceded by a breathtaking boom. Although many other big firms resisted the temptation to over-borrow, developers borrowed heavily and built bigger and fancier hotels as if the whole world were planning a holiday in Las Vegas. When the bubble burst, demand collapsed. Hotel owners found themselves with a huge number of empty rooms even as a lot of unnecessary new hotels were ready to open.Other industries have suffered even more. Large numbers of builders, property firms and retailers have gone bankrupt. And a disaster has hit Detroit. Last year the American car industry had the capacity to make 17 million vehicles. Sales in 2009 could be barely half of that. The Big Three American carmakers—General Motors, Ford and Chrysler—accumulated ruinous costs over the post-war years, such as gold-plated health plans and pensions for workers who retired as young as 48. All three are desperately restructuring. Only Ford may survive in its current form.Hard times breed hard feelings. Few Americans understand what caused the recession. Some are seeking scapegoats(替罪羊). Politicians are happy to take advantage. Bosses have been summoned to Washington to be scolded on live television. The president condemns their greed. Extravagance (奢侈) is outBusinessfolk are bending over backwards to avoid seeming extravagant. Meetings at resorts are suddenly unacceptable. Goldman Sachs, an investment bank, cancelled a conference in Las Vegas at the last minute and rebooked it in San Francisco, which cost more but sounded less fun.Anyway, the pain will eventually end. American business will regain its shine. Many firms will die, but the survivors will emerge leaner and stronger than before. The financial sector’s share of the economy will shrink, and stay shrunk for years to come. The importance of non-financial firms will accordingly rise, along with their ability to attract the best talent. America will remain the best place on earth to do business, so long as Barack Obama and the Democrats in Congress resist the temptation to interfere too much, and so long as organised labour does not overplay its hand.The crisis will prove hugely disruptive(破坏性的), however. Bad management techniques will be exposed. Necessity will force the swift adoption of more efficient ones. At the same time,technological innovation (创新) will barely pause for breath, and two big political changes seem likely.Mr Obama’s plan to curb carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions (排放), though necessary, will be far from cost-free, whatever his sunny speeches on the subject might suggest. The shift to a low-carbon economy will help some firms, hurt others and require every organisation that uses much energy to rethink how it operates. It is harder to predict how Mr Obama’s proposed reforms to the failing health-care system will turn out. If he succeeds in curbing costs—a big if—it would be a huge gain for America. Some businesses will benefit but the vast bulk of the savings will be captured by workers, not their employers.In the next couple of years the businesses that thrive will be those that are tight with costs, careful of debt, cautious with cash flow and extremely attentive to what customers want. They will include plenty of names no one has yet heard of.Times change, and corporations change with them. In 1955 Time’s Man of the Year was H arlow Curtice, the boss of GM. His firm was leading America towards “a new economic order”, the magazine wrote. Thanks to men like Curtice, “the bonds of scarcity” had been broken and America was rolling “in an all-time high of prosperity”. Soon, Americans would need to spend “comparatively little time earning a living”.Half a century later GM is a typical example of poor management. In March its chief executive was fired by Time’s current Man of the Year, Mr Obama. The government now backs up the domestic car industry, lending it money and overseeing its turnaround plans. With luck, this will be short-lived. But there is a danger that Washington will end up micromanaging not only Detroit but also other parts of the economy. And clever as Mr Obama’s adviser s are, history suggests they will be bad at this.注意: 此部分试题请在答题卡1上作答。

2013年6月第二套PART TWO Welcome, Freshmen. Have an iPod.Taking a step that many professors may view as a bit counterproductive, some colleges and universities are doling out Apple iPhones and Internet-capable iPods to their students.The always-on Internet devices raise some novel possibilities, like tracking where students gather together. With far less controversy, colleges could send messages about canceled classes, delayed buses, campus crises or just the cafeteria menu. While schools emphasize its usefulness-online research in class and instant polling of students, for example - a big part of the attraction is, undoubtedly, that the iPhone is cool and a hit with students. Being equipped with one of the most recent cutting-edge IT products could just help a college or university foster a cutting-edge reputation. Apple stands to win as well, hooking more young consumers with decades of technology purchases ahead of them. The lone losers, some fear, could be professors. Students already have laptops and cell phones, of course, but the newest devices cantake class distractions to a new level. They practically beg a user to ignore thelong-suffering professor struggling to pass on accumulated wisdom from the front of the room - a prospect that teachers find most irritating and students view as, well, inevitable."When it gets a little boring, I might pull it out," acknowledged Naomi Pugh, a first-year student at Freed- Hardeman University in Henderson, Tenn., referring to her new iPod Touch, which can connect to the Internet over a campus wireless network. She speculated that professors might try even harder to make classes interesting if they were to compete with the devices.Experts see a movement toward the use of mobile technology in education, though they say it is in its infancy as professors try to come up with useful applications. Providing powerful hand-held devices is sure to fuel debates over the role of technology in higher education."We think this is the way the future is going to work," said Kyle Dickson, co-director of research and the mobile learning initiative at Abilene Christian University in Texas, which has bought more than 600 iPhones and 300 iPods for students entering this fall. Although plenty of students take their laptops to class, they don't take them everywhere and would prefer something lighter. Abilene Christian settled on the devices after surveying students and finding that they did not like hauling around their laptops, but that most of them always carried a cell phone, Dr. Dickson said.It is not clear how many colleges and universities plan to give out iPhones and iPods this fall; officials at Apple were unwilling to talk about the subject and said that they would not leak any institution's plans."We can't announce other people's news," said Greg Joswiak, vice president of iPod and iPhone marketing at Apple. He also said that he could not discuss discounts to universities for bulk purchases.At least four institutions - the University of Maryland, Oklahoma Christian University, Abilene Christian and Freed-Hardeman- have announced that they will give the devices to some or all of their students this fall.Other universities are exploring their options. Standford University has hired a student-run company to design applications like a campus map and directory for the iPhone. It is considering whether to issue iPhones but not sure it's necessary, noting that more than 700 iPhones were registered on the university's network last year.At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, iPhones might already have been everywhere, if AT&T. the wireless carrier offering the iPhone in the United States, had a more reliable network, said Andrew Yu, mobile devices platform project manager at M.I.T."We would have probably gone ahead with this, maybe just getting a thousand iPhones and giving them out," Mr. Yu said.The University of Maryland at College Park is proceeding cautiously, giving the iPhone or iPod Touch to 150 students, said Jeffrey Huskamp, vice president and chief information officer at the university. "We don't think that we have all the answers," Mr. Huskamp said. By observing how students use the gadgets, he said. "We're trying to get answers from the students."At each college, the students who choose to get an iPhone must pay for mobile phone service. Those service contracts include unlimited data use. Both the iPhones and the iPod Touch devices can connect to the Internet through campus wireless networks. With the iPhone, those networks may provide faster connections and longer battery life than AT&T's data network. Many cell phones allow users to surf the Web, but only some newer ones are capable of wireless connection to the local area computer network.University officials say that they have no plans to track their students (and Apple said it would not be possible unless students give their permission). They say that they are drawn to the prospect of learning applications outside the classroom, though such lesson plans have yet to surface."My colleagues and I are studying something called augmented reality (a field of computer research dealing with the combination of real-world and virtual reality)," said Christopher Dede, professor in learning technologies at Harvard University, "Alien Contact," for example, is an exercise developed for middle-school students who use hand-held devices that can determine their location. As they walk around a playground or other area, text, video or audio pops up at various points to help them try to figure out why aliens were in the schoolyard."You can imagine similar kinds of interactive activities along historical lines," like following the Freedom Trail in Boston, Professor Dede said. "It's important that we do research so that we know how well something like this works."The rush to distribute the devices worries some professors, who say that students are less likely to participate in class if they are multi-tasking. "I'm not someone who's anti-technology, but I'm always worried that technology becomes an end in and of itself, and it replaces teaching or it replaces analysis." said Ellen Millender, associate professor of classics at Reed College in Portland, Ore. (She added that she hoped to buy an iPhone for herself once prices fall.)Robert Summers, who has taught at Cornell Law School for about 40 years, announced this week in a detailed, footnoted memorandum - that he would ban laptop computers from his class on contract law."I would ban that too if I knew the students were using it in class." Professor Summers said of the iPhone, after the device and its capabilities were explained to him. "What we want to encourage in these students is an active intellectual experience, in which they develop the wide range of complex reasoning abilities required of good lawyers." The experience at Duke University may ease some concerns. A few years ago, Duke began giving iPods to students with the idea that they might use them to record lectures (these older models could not access the Internet)."We had assumed that the biggest focus of these devices would be consuming the content," said Tracy Futhey, vice president for information technology and chief information officer at Duke.But that is not all that the students did. They began using the iPods to create their own "content." making audio recordings of themselves and presenting them. The students turned what could have been a passive interaction into an active one. Ms. Futhey said.1. Many professors think that giving out Apple iPhones or Internet-capable iPods to students _______.A) updates teaching facilities in universities B) has started a revolution in higher educationC) can facilitate teacher-student interaction D) may not benefit education as intended2. In the author's view, being equipped with IT products may help colleges and universities ________.A) build an innovative image B) raise their teaching efficiencyC) track students' activities D) excite student interest in hi-tech3. The distribution of iPhones among students has raised concerns that they will________.A) induce students to buy more similar products B) increase tension between professors and studentsC) further distract students from class participation D) prevent students from accumulating knowledge4. Naomi Pugh at Freed-Hardeman University speculated that professors would________.A) find new applications for iPod Touch devices B) have to work harder to enliven their classesC) have difficulty learning to handle the devices D) find iPhones and iPods in class very helpful5. Experts like Dr. Kyle Dickson at Abilene Christian University think that _________.A) mobile technology will be more widely used in educationB) the role of technology in education cannot be overestimatedC) mobile technology can upgrade professors' teaching tool-kitD) iPhones and iPods will replace laptops sooner or later6. What do we learn about the University of Maryland at College Park concerning the use of iPhones and iPods?A) It has sought professors' opinions. B) It has benefited from their use. C) It is trying to follow the trend. D) It is proceeding with caution.7. University officials claim that they dole out iPhones and iPods so as to _________.A) encourage professors to design newer lesson plans B) help improve professor-student relationshipsC) facilitate students' learning outside of class D) stimulate students' interest in updating technology8. Ellen Millender at Reed College in Portland is concerned that technology will take the place of ________________.9. Professor Robert Summers at Cornell Law School banned laptop computers from his class because he thinks qualified lawyers need to possess a broad array of____________________.10. The experience at Duke University may ease some concerns because the students have used iPods for active ___________.Section AQuestions 47 to 51 are based on the following passage.Oil is the substance that lubricates the world's economy. Because so many of our modern technologies and services depend on oil, nations, corporations, and institutions that control the trade in oil exercise extraordinary power. The "energy crisis" of 1973-1974 in the United States demonstrated how the price of oil can affect US government policies and the energy-using habits of the nation.By 1973, domestic US sources of oil were peaking, and the nation was importing more of its oil, depending on a constant flow from abroad to keep cars on the road and machines running. In addition, at that time a greater percentage of homes and electrical plants were run on petroleum than today. Then, in 1973, the predominantly Arab nations of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) resolved to stop selling oil to the United States. The move was prompted by OPEC's desire to raise prices by restricting supply and by its opposition to US support of Israel in the Arab-Israeli Yom Kippur War. The embargo (禁运) created panic in the West and caused oil prices to shoot up. Short-term oil shortage drove American consumers to wait in long lines at gas pumps.In response to the embargo, the US government enforced a series of policies designed to reduce reliance on foreign oil. These included developing additional domestic sources (such as those on Alaska's North Slope), resuming extraction at sites that had been shut down because of cost inefficiency, capping the price that domestic producers could charge for oil, and beginning to import oil from a greater diversity of nations. The government also established a stockpile (贮存) of oil as a short-term buffer (缓冲) against future shortages. Stored underground in large salt caves in Louisiana, this stockpile is called the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and currently contains over 600 million barrels of oil, roughly equivalent to one month's supply.注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2 上作答。

2013年6月英语四级真题及答案【全】Part I Writing对白：儿子： Dad, I'm a bit worried about disposing of nuclear waste（处理核废料）爸爸： If you can empty the dustbin（垃圾筒） here, you can do anything！范文：The picture shows us a dialogue between a father and a son. The son told his father, “Dad, I’m a bit worried about disposing of nuclear waste”. While his father told him, “If you can empty the dustbin here you can do anything”. It reveals the importance of doing small things well before undertaking something big. There is also an old Chinese saying to go with this that a person can’t sweep the world before he can sweep his own room.Unquestionably, doing small things is the first step of success and will layroot for doing something big. By doing something small, we are enabled to accumulate experience, master skills and train ourselves to be more patient. In other word, we can be well prepared for further challenges in the course of fulfilling small things. By contrast, those who set out to do something big will be constantly haunted by disappointment, frustrations or even failures. As when opportunity “something big” appears, they can hardly seize them because of the lack of experience and confidence stems from doing small things.Taking the picture presented above as a case in point, how can the little boy succeedin disposing of nuclear weapons if he even doesn’t know how to empty the dustbin?From my perspective, under no circumstances should we undervalue the power of doing small things. Instead, we should regard small things as the source of experience, skills and the prerequisite of success. “Great achievement only belongs to those who can do small things perfectly.”Aristotle once said.Part II Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning)1.A. they are not rescued once a new edition comes out2. B. They haven’t fixed all the shortcomings of print books.3. A. they find it troublesome to take notes with an iPad.4. D. they are no more than print versions put on a screen5. C. a platform for building multimedia content6. A. share his learning experience with the best and brightest thinkers7. C. professors can join in students’ online discussions8. manpower to put together each one9. cost10. remains to be seen【整体点评】这是一篇讨论电子课本能否取代纸质课本的议论文。

2013年四六级作文英文回答：The idea of writing my thesis on a topic of my own choosing has been both exhilarating and daunting. As a strong advocate for the power of education to transform lives, I have long been fascinated by the role of teachers in shaping the minds and futures of their students. The opportunity to delve deeply into this topic through my thesis research is an exciting prospect.In choosing the specific focus of my thesis, I have drawn inspiration from my own experiences as a student and from the countless stories I have heard from other students about the profound impact that great teachers can have. I have been particularly moved by the accounts of students who have faced significant challenges in their lives but who have been able to overcome them with the support and guidance of a dedicated teacher.My thesis will explore the factors that contribute to effective teaching, with a particular focus on the role of empathy, collaboration, and resilience. I will argue that these qualities are essential for teachers who want to create a positive and supportive learning environment for their students. Empathy allows teachers to understand and connect with their students on a personal level, while collaboration fosters a sense of community and shared responsibility. Resilience enables teachers to persevere through challenges and to adapt to the ever-changing demands of the classroom.Through my research, I hope to gain a deeper understanding of the complex and multifaceted nature of effective teaching. I believe that this knowledge will be invaluable to me as I embark on my own teaching career. I am confident that my thesis will make a meaningful contribution to the field of education and will help to improve the lives of students around the world.中文回答：作为一个坚定的教育变革拥护者，教育在改变生活方面的强大力量一直让我着迷。

2013年6月四级真题仔细阅读部分(真题+翻译+解析)2013年6月四级真题仔细阅读部分Part IV Reading Comprehension (Reading in Depth) (25 minutes)Section ADirections: In this section, there is a passage with ten blanks. You are required to select one word for each blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage. Read the passage through carefully before making your choices. Each choice in the bank is identified by a letter. Please mark the corresponding letter for each item on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre. You may not use any of the words in the bank more than once.Questions 47 to 56 are based on the following passage.Walking, if you do it vigorously enough, is the overall best exercise for regular physical activity. It requires no equipment, everyone knows how to do it and it carries the 47 risk of injury. The human body is designed to walk. You can walk in parks or along a river or in your neighborhood. To get 48 benefitfrom walking, aim for 45 minutes a day, an average of five days a week.Strength training is another important 49 of physical activity. Its purpose is to build and 50 bone and muscle mass, both of which shrink with age. In general, you will want to do strength training two or three days a week, 51 recovery days between sessions.Finally, flexibility and balance training are 52 important as the body ages. Aches and pains are high on the list of complaints in old age. The result of constant muscle tension and stiffness of joints, many of them are 53 , and simple flexibility training can 54 these by making muscles stronger and keeping joints lubricated(润滑). Some of this you do whenever you stretch. If you watch dogs and cats, you’ll get an idea of how natural it is. The general 55 is simple: whenever the body has been in one position for a while, it is good to 56 stretch it in an opposite position.A) allowing F) helping K) preventSection BDirections:There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A), B), C) and D). You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.Passage OneQuestions 57 to 61 are based on the following passage.Junk food is everywhere. We’re eating way too much of it. Most of us know what we’re doing and yet we do it anyway.So here’s a suggestion offered by two researchers at the Rand Corporation: Why nottake a lesson from alcohol control policies and a pply them to where food is sold and how it’s displayed?“Many policy measures to control obesity （肥胖症）assume that people consciously and rationally choose what and how much they eat and therefore focus on providing information and more access to healthier foods,” note the two researchers.“In contrast,” the researchers continue, “many regulations that don’t assume people make rational choices have been successfully applied to control alcohol, a substance —like food — of which immoderate consumption leads to serious health problems.”The research references studies of people’s behavior with food and alcohol and results of alcohol restrictions, and then lists five regulations that the researchers think might be promising if applied to junk foods. Among them: Density restrictions: licenses to sell alcohol aren’t handed out unplanned to all comers butare allotted（分配）based on the number of places in an area that already sell alcohol. These make alcohol less easy to get and reduce the number of psychological cues to drink.Similarly, the researchers say, being presented with junk food stimulates our desire to eat it. So why not limit the density of food outlets, particularly ones that sell food rich in empty calories? And why not limit sale of food in places t hat aren’t primarily food stores?Display and sales restrictions: California has a rule prohibiting alcohol displays near the cash registers in gas stations, and in most places you can’t buy alcohol at drive-through facilities. At supermarkets, food companies pay to have their wares in places where they’re easily seen. One could remove junk food to the back of the store and ban them from the shelves at checkout lines. The other measures include restricting portion sizes, taxing and prohibiting special price deals for junk foods, and placing warning labels on the products.57. What does the author say about junk food?A) People should be educated not to eat too much.B) It is widely consumed despite its ill reputation.C) Its temptation is too strong for people to resist.D) It causes more harm than is generally realized.58. What do the Rand researchers think of many of the policy measures to control obesity?A) They should be implemented effectively.B) They provide misleading information.C) They are based on wrong assumptions.D) They help people make rational choices.59. Why do policymakers of alcohol control place density restrictions?A) Few people are able to resist alcohol’s temptations.B) There are already too many stores selling alcohol.C) Drinking strong alcohol can cause social problems.D) Easy access leads to customers’ over-consumption.60. What is the purpose of California’s rule about alcohol display in gas stations?A) To effectively limit the density of alcohol outlets.B) To help drivers to give up the habit of drinking.C) To prevent possible traffic jams in nearby areas.D) To get alcohol out of drivers’ immediate sight.61. What is the general guideline the Rand researchers suggest about junk food control?A) Guiding people to make rational choices about food.B) Enhancing people’s awareness of their own health.C) Borrowing ideas from alcohol control measures.D) Resorting to economic, legal and psychological means.Passage TwoQuestions 62 to 66 are based on the following passage.Kodak’s decision to file for bankruptcy（破产）protection is a sad, though not unexpected, turning point for a leading American corporation that pioneered consumer photography and dominated the film market for decades, but ultimately failed to adapt to the digital revolution.Although many attribute Kodak’s downfall to “complacency(自满) ,” that explanation doesn’t acknow-ledge the lengths to which the company went to reinvent itself. Decades ago, Kodak anticipated that digital photography would overtake film —and in fact, Kodak invented the first digital camera in 1975 — but in a fateful decision, the company chose to shelf its new discovery to focus on its traditional film business.It wasn’t that Kodak was blind to the future, said Rebecca Henderson, a professor at Harvard Business School, but rather that it failed to execute on a strategy to confront it. By the time the company realized its mistake, it was too late.Kodak is an example of a firm that was very much aware that they had to adapt, and spent a lot of money trying to do so, but ultimately failed. Large companies have a difficult time switching into new markets because there is a temptation to put existing assets into the new businesses.Although Kodak anticipated the inevitable rise of digital photography, its corporate（企业的）culture was too rooted in the successes of the past for it to make the clean break necessary to fully embrace the future. They were a company stuck in time. Their history was so important to them. Now their history has become a liability.Kodak’s downfall over the last severaldecades was dramatic. In 1976, the company commanded 90% of the market for photographic film and 85% of the market for cameras. But the 1980s brought new competition from Japanese film company Fuji Photo, which undermined Kodak by offering lower prices for film and photo supplies. Kodak’s decision not to pursue the role of official film for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics was a major miscalculation. The bid went instead to Fuji, which exploited its sponsorship to win a permanent foothold in the marketplace.62. What do we learn about Kodak?A) It went bankrupt all of a sudden.B) It is approaching its downfall.C) It initiated the digital revolution in the film industry.D) It is playing a dominant role in the film market.63. Why does the author mention Kodak’s invention of the first digital camera?A) To show its early attempt to reinvent itself.B) To show its effort to overcome complacency.C) To show its quick adaptation to the digital revolution.D) To show its will to compete with Japan’s Fuji photo.64. Why do large companies have difficulty switching to new markets?A) They find it costly to give up their existing assets.B) They tend to be slow in confronting new challenges.C) They are unwilling to invest in new technology.D) They are deeply stuck in their glorious past.65. What does the author say Kodak’s history has become?A) A burden.B) A mirror.C) A joke.D) A challenge.66. What was Kodak’s fatal mistake?A) Its blind faith in traditional photography.B) Its failure to see Fuji photo’s emergence.C) Its refusal to sponsor the 1984 Olympics.D) Its overconfidence in its corporate culture.Passage One到处都是垃圾食品。