2006年12月英语六级真题及答案.doc

2006年12月英语六级真题(B卷) Part l Listening Comprehension (20 minutes) Section A 1. A) The foggy weather has affected Mary’s mood. B) They are puzzled about Mary’s tow spirits. C) Mary is dissatisfied with her promotion. D) Mary cares too much about her looks. 2. A) Go to an art exhibition. B) Dine out with an old friend. C) Attend the opening night of a play. D) See his paintings on display. 3. A) Her mother was quite outstanding in academic work. B) She was not particularly interested in going to school. C) Her parents laid great emphasis on academic excellence. D) She helped upgrade the educational level of immigrants. 4. A) The machines there were ill maintained. B) Tickets for its members were cheaper. C) It was filled with people all the time. D) It had a reputation for good service. 5. A) Both Sarah and Tom have been awarded doctoral degrees. B) Tom has arranged to meet his bride Sarah in Hawaii. C) Tom was more excited than Sarah at the wedding. D) A double blessing has descended upon Tom. 6. A) There were too many questions in the examination. B) The examination was well beyond the course content. C) The examination questions were somewhat too difficult. D) The course prepared him adequately for the examination. 7. A) It’s less time-consuming. B) His wife is tired of cooking. C) It’s part of his job. D) He is sick of home-cooked meals. 8. A) He has just started to teach piano lessons. B) He seldom takes things seriously. C) He is very proud of his piano skills. D) He usually understates his achievements. 9. A) It’s tedious. B) It’s absurd. C) It’s justifiable. D) It’s understandable. 10. A) Arrange accommodation for her. B) Explain the cause of the cancellation. C) Compensate her for the inconvenience. D) Allow her to take another flight that night. Section B Passage one Questions 11 to 13 are based on the passage you have just heard. 11. A) Producing legendary paintings. B) Making a fortune from decorative arts. C) Manufacturing quality furniture. D) Setting up a special museum. 12. A) To show his fascination with Asian culture. B) To tell the story of the American Revolution. C) To promote interest in American decorative arts. D) To increase the popularity of the Dupont Company. 13. A) By theme or period. B) By style or design. C) By manufacturer or origin. D) By function or purpose. Passage Two Questions 14 to 16 are based on the passage you have just heard. 14. A) People may use two or mare languages. B) People will choose Chinese rather than English. C) The percentage of native speakers of English will inerease. D) The number of people relying on their mother tongue will drop. 15. A) The number of Spanish speakers is far greater than that of Arabic speakers. B) Arabic spoken in one Arab country may not be understood in another. C) Arabic spoken in Egypt differs from Arabic spoken in Morocco in origin. D) The number of Arabic speakers is declining because of the invasion of English. 16. A) It is impossible for Arab countries to standardize their language. B) Most people in the world will learn to speak Chinese in the future. C) It is uncertain whether English will world language in the future. D) Spanish is very likely to become the top language of the world by 2050. Passage Three Questions 17 to 20 are based on the passage you have just heard. 17. A) Because they believe blind students prefer to mix with students who can see. B) Because it would cost lots of money to build such special colleges. C) Because it would constitute discrimination against blind students. D) Because they think blind people should learn to live among sighted people. 18. A) By encouraging them to be more self-reliant. B) By showing them proper care and respect. C) By offering them more financial assistance. D) By providing them with free medical service. 19. A) Financial aid from the American government. B) Modern technology. C) Professional support. D) Help from the National Federation of the Blind. 20. A) Ask American professors to write recommendations on their behalf. B) Obtain American citizenship before they reach the age of 30. C) Turn to special institutions in their own country for assistance. D) Apply to the National Federation of the Blind for scholarships. Part II Reading Comprehension (35 minutes) Passage One Questions 21 to 25 are based on the following passage. Each summer, no matter how pressing my work schedule, I take off one day exclusively for my son. We call it dad-son day. This year our third stop was the amusement park, where he discovered that he was tall enough to ride one of the fastest roller coasters(过山车) in the world. We blasted through face-stretching turns and loops for ninety seconds. Then, as we stepped off the ride, he shrugged and, in a distressingly calm voice, remarked that it was not as exciting as other rides he’d been on. As I listened, I began to sense something seriously out of balance. Throughout the season, I noticed similar events all around me. Parents seemed hard pressed to find new thrills for indifferent kids. Surrounded by ever-greater stimulation, their young faces wore looking disappointed and bored. Facing their children’s complaints of “nothing to do”. Parents were shelling out large numbers of dollars for various forms of entertainment. In many cases the money seemed to do little more than buy transient relief from the terrible moans of their bored children. This set me pondering the obvious question: “How can it be so hard for kids to find something to do when there’s never been such a range of stimulating entertainment available to them?” Why do children immersed in this much excitement seem starved for more? That was, I realized, the point. I discovered during my own reckless adolescence that what creates excitement is not going fast, but going faster. Thrills have less to do with speed than changes in speed. I’m concerned about the cumulative effect of years at these levels of feverish activity. It is no mystery to me why many teenagers appear apathetic (麻木的) and burned out, with a “been there, done that” air of indifference toward much of life. As increasing numbers of friends’ children are prescribed medications-stimulants to deal with inattentiveness at school or anti-depressants to help with the loss of interest and joy in their lives-l question the role of kids boredom in some of the diagnoses. My own work is focused on the chemical imbalances and biological factors related to behavioral and emotional disorders. These are complex problems. Yet I’ve been reflecting more and more on how the pace of life and the intensity of stimulation may be contributing to the rising rates of psychiatric problems among children and adolescents in our society. 21. The author felt surprised in the amusement park at the face that________. A) his son was not as thrilled by the roller coaster ride as expected B) his son blasted through the turns and loops with his face stretched C) his son appeared distressed but calm while riding the roller coaster D) his son could keep his balance so well on the fast-moving roller coaster 22. According to the author, children are bored _________. A) unless their parents can find new thrills for them B) when they don’t have any access to stimulating fun games C) when they are left alone at weekends by their working parents D) even if they are exposed to more and more kinds of entertainment 23. From his own experience. the author came to the conclusion that children seem to expect ________. A) a much wider variety of sports facilities B) activities that require sophisticated C) ever-changing thrilling forms of recreation D) physical exercises that are more challenging 24. In Para. 6 . the author expresses his doubt about the effectiveness of trying to change children indifference toward much of life by ________. A) diverting their interest from electronic visual games B) prescribing medications for their temporary relief C) creating more stimulating activities for them D) spending more money on their entertainment 25. In order to alleviate children’s boredom, the author would probably suggest ____ . A) adjusting the pace of life and intensity of stimulation B) promoting the practice of dad-son days C) consulting a specialist in child psychology D) balancing school work with extracurricular activities Passage Two Questions 26 to 30 are based on the following passage. It used to be that people were proud to work for the same company for the whole of their working lives. They’d get a gold watch at the end of their productive years and a dinner featuring speeches by their bosses praising their loyalty/But today’s rich capitalists have regressed (倒退) to the “survival of the fittest” ideas and their loyalty extends not to their workers or even to their stockholders but only to themselves. Instead of giving out gold watches worth a hundred or so dollars for forty or so years of work, they grab tens and even hundreds of millions of dollars as they sell for their own profit the company they may have been with for only a few years. The new rich selfishly act on their own to unfairly grab the wealth that the country as a whole has produced. The top l percent of the population now has wealth equal to the whole bottom 95 percent and they want more. Their selfishness is most shamelessly expressed in downsizing and outsourcing (将产品包给外公司做) because these business maneuvers don’t act to create new jobs as the founders of new industries used to do, but only to cut out jobs while keeping the money value of what those jobs produced for themselves. To keep the money machine working smoothly the rich have bought all the politicians from the top down. The president himself is constantly leaving. Washington and the business of the nation because he is summoned to “fundraising dinners” where fat cats pay a thousand or so dollars a plate to worm their way into government not through service but through donations of vast amounts of money. Once on the inside they have both political parties busily tearing up all the regulations that protect the rest of us from the greed of the rich. The middle class used to be loyal to the free enterprise system. In the past, the people of the middle class mostly thought they’d be rich themselves someday or have a good shot at becoming rich. But nowadays income is being distributed more and more unevenly and corporate loyalty is a thing of the past. The middle class may also wake up to forget its loyalty to the so-called free enterprise system altogether and the government which governs only the rest of us while letting the corporations do what they please with our jobs. As things stand. if somebody doesn’t wake up, the middle class is on a path to being downsized all the way to the bottom of society. 26. It can be inferred form the first paragraph that people used to place a high value on _________ . A) job security B) bosses’ praise C) corporate loyalty D) retirement benefits 27. The author is strongly critical of today’s rich capitalists for _________. A) not giving necessary assistance to laid-off workers B) maximizing their profits at the expense of workers C) not setting up long-term goals for their companies D) rewarding only those who are considered the fittest 28. The immediate consequence of the new capitalists’ practice is ________ . A) loss of corporate reputation B) lower pay for the employees C) a higher rate of unemployment D) a decline in business transactions 29. The rich try to sway the policy of the government by ________ . A) occupying important positions in both political parties B) making monetary contributions to decision-makers C) pleasing the public with generous donations D) constantly hosting fundraising dinners 30. What is the author’s purpose in writing this passage? A) To call on the middle class to remain loyal to the free enterprise system. B) To warn the government of the shrinking of the American middle class. C) To persuade the government to change its current economic policies. D) To urge the middle class to wake up and protect their own interests. Passage Three Questions 31 to 35 are based on the following passage Intel chairman Andy Grove has decided to cut the Gordian knot of controversy surrounding stem cell research by simply writing a check. The check, which he pledged last week, could be for as much as $5 million, depending on how many donors make gifts of between $50,000 and $500,000. which he has promised to match. It will be made out to the University of California-San Francisco (UCSF). Thanks in part to such private donations, university research into uses for human stem cells the cells earliest stages of development that can form any body part-will continue in California. With private financial support, the state will be less likely to lose talented scientists who would be tempted to leave the field or even leave the field or even leave the country as research dependent on federal money slows to a glacial (极其缓慢的) pace. Hindered by limits President Bush placed on stem cell research a year ago, scientists are turning to laboratories that can carry out work without using federal money. This is awkward for universities. Which must spend extra money building separate labs and keeping rigorous records proving no federal funds were involved. Grove’s donation, a first step toward a $20 million target at UCSF. Will ease the burden. The president’s decision a year ago to allow research on already existing stem cell lines was portrayed as a reasonable compromise between scientists’ needs for cells to work with, and concerns that this kind of research cold lead to wholesale creation and destruction of human embryos (胚胎)。 Cloned infants and a general contempt for human life. But Bush’s effort to please both sides ended up pleasing neither. And it certainly didn’t provide the basis for cutting edge research. Of the 78 existing sxisting stern cell lines which Bush said are all that science would ever need, only one is in this country ( at the University of Wisconsin), and only five are ready for distribution to researchers. All were grown in conjunction with mouse cells, making future therapeutic (治疗的) uses unlikely. The Bush administration seems bent on satisfying the small but vocal group of Americans who oppose stem cell research under any conditions. Fortunately, Grove and others are more interested in advancing scientific research that could benefit the large number of Americans who suffer from Parkinson’s disease, nerve injuries, heart diseases and many other problems. 31.When Andy Grove decided to cut the Gordian knot, he meant to _______. A) put an end to stem cell research B) end Intel’s relations with Gordian C) settle the dispute on stem