201406
CET
第一
套真题
参考答案
2014年6月英语六级考试真题试卷(第1套)
Part I Writing (30 minutes)
Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay explaining why it is unwise to jump to conclusions upon seeing or hearing something. You can give examples to illustrate your point. You should write at least 150 words but no more than 200 words.
1. A) College tuition has become a heavy burden for the students.
B) College students are in general politically active nowadays.
C) He is doubtful about the effect of the students' action.
D) He took part in many protests when he was at college.
2. A) Jay is organizing a party for the retiring dean.
B) Jay is surprised to learn of the party for him.
C) The dean will come to Jay's birthday party.
D) The class has kept the party a secret from Jay.
3. A) He found his wallet in his briefcase.
B) He went, to the lost-and-found office.
C) He left his things with his car in the garage.
D) He told the woman to go and pick up his car.
4. A) The show he directed turned out to be a success.
B) He watches only those comedies by famous directors.
C) New comedies are exciting, just like those in the 1960s.
D) TV comedies have not improved much since the 1960s.
5. A) All vegetables should be cooked fresh.
B) The man should try out some new recipes.
C) Overcooked vegetables are often tasteless.
D) The man should stop boiling the vegetables.
6. A) Sort out their tax returns.
B) Help them tidy up the house.
C) Figure out a way to avoid taxes.
D) Help them to decode a message.
7. A) He didn't expect to complete his work so soon.
B) He has devoted a whole month to his research.
C) The woman is still trying to finish her work.
D) The woman remains a total mystery to him.
8. A) He would like to major in psychology too.
B) He has failed to register for the course.
C) Developmental psychology is newly offered.
D) There should be more time for registration.
Questions 9 to 11 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
9. A) The brilliant product, design.
B) The new color combinations.
C) The unique craftsmanship.
D) The texture of the fabrics.
10. A) Unique tourist attractions.
B) Traditional Thai silks.
C) Local handicrafts.
D) Fancy products.
11. A) It will be on the following weekend.
B) It will be out into the countryside.
C) It will last only one day.
D) It will start tomorrow.
Questions 12 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
12. A) A good secondary education.
B) A pleasant neighbourhood.
C) A happy childhood.
D) A year of practical training.
13. A) He ought to get good vocational training.
B) He should be sent to a private school.
C) He is academically gifted.
D) He is good at carpentry.
14. A) Donwell School.
B) Enderby High.
C) Carlton Abbey.
D) Enderby Comprehensive.
15. A) Put Keith in a good boarding school.
B) Talk with their children about their decision.
C) Send their children to a better private school.
D) Find out more about the five schools.
Passage One
Questions 16 to 18 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
16. A) It will be brightly lit.
B) It will be well ventilated.
C) It will have a large space for storage.
D) It will provide easy access to the disabled.
17. A) On the first floor.
B) On the ground floor.
C) Opposite to the library.
D) On the same floor as the labs.
18. A) To make the building appear traditional.
B) To match the style of construction on the site.
C) To cut the construction cost to the minimum.
D) To embody the subcommittee's design concepts.
Passage Two
Questions 19 to 22 are based on the passage you have just heard.
19. A) Sell financial software
B) Write financial software.
C) Train clients to use financial software.
D) Conduct research on financial software.
20. A) Unsuccessful. B) Rewarding. C) Tedious. D) Important.
21. A) He offered online tutorials.
B) He held group discussions.
C) He gave the trainees lecture notes.
D) He provided individual support.
22. A) The employees were a bit slow to follow his instruction.
B) The trainees' problems has to be dealt with one by one.
C) Nobody is able to solve all the problems in a couple of weeks.
D) The fault might he in his style of presenting the information.
Passage Three
Questions 23 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard.
23. A) Their parents tend to overprotect them.
B) Their teachers meet them only in class.
C) They have little close contact with adults.
D) They rarely read any books about adults.
24. A) Real-life cases are simulated for students to learn law.
B) Writers and lawyers are brought in to talk to students.
C) Opportunities are created for children to become writers.
D) More Teacher and Writer Collaboratives are being set up.
25. A) Sixth-graders can teach first-graders as well as teachers.
B) Children are often the best teachers of other children.
C) Paired Learning cultivates the spirit of cooperation.
D) Children like to form partnerships with each other.
Tests may be the most unpopular part of academic life. Students hate them because they produce fear and __26__ about being evaluated, and a focus on grades instead of learning for learning's sake.
But tests are also valuable. A well-constructed test __27__ what you know and what you still need to learn. Tests help you see how your performance __28__ that of others. And knowing that you'll be tested on __29__ material is certainly likely to __30__ you to learn the material more thoroughly.
However, there's another reason you might dislike tests: You may assume that tests have the power to __31__ your worth as a person. If you do badly on a test, you may be tempted to believe that you've received some __32__ information about yourself from the professor, information that says you're a failure in some significant way.
This is a dangerous-and wrong-headed-assumption. If you do badly on a test, it doesn't mean you're a bad person or stupid. Or that you'll never do better again, and that your life is __33__. If you don't do well on a test, you're the same person you were before you took the test-no better, no worse. You just did badly on a test. That's it.
__34__, tests are not a measure of your value as an individual-they are a measure only of how well and how much you studied. Tests are tools; they are indirect and _35__ measures of what we know.
Questions 36 to 45 are based on the following passage.
For investors who desire low risk and guaranteed income, U. S. government bonds are a secure investment because these bonds have the financial backing and full faith and credit of the federal government. Municipal bonds, also secure, are offered by local governments and often have __36__ such as tax-free interest. Some may even be __37__. Corporate bonds are a bit more risky.
Two questions often __38__ first-time corporate bond investors. The first is "It 1 purchase a corporate bond, do I have to hold it until the maturity date?" The answer is no. Bonds are bought and sold daily on __39__ securities exchanges. However, if you decide to sell your bond before its maturity date, you're not guaranteed to get the face value of the bond. For example, if your bond does not have __40__ that make it attractive to other investors, you may be forced to sell your bond at a __41__, i.e., a price less than the bond's face value. But if your bond is highly valued by other investors, you may be able to sell it at a premium, i.e., a price above its face value. Bond prices generally __42__ inversely (相反的) with current market interest rates. As interest rates go up, bond prices fall, and vice versa (反之亦然) Thus, like all investments, bonds have a degree of risk.
The second question is "How can I __43__ the investment risk of a particular bond issue?" Standard & Poor's and Moody's Investors Service rate the level of risk of many corporate and government bonds. And __44__, the higher the market risk of a bond, the higher the interest rate. Investors will invest in a bond considered risky only if the __45__ return is high enough.
注意:此部分试题请在答题卡2 上作答。
A) advantages
B) assess
C) bother
D) conserved
E) deduction F) discount
G) embarrass
H) features
I) fluctuate
J) indefinite K) insured
L) major
M) naturally
N) potential
O) simultaneously
Lessons from a Feminist Paradise
A) On the surface, Sweden appears to be a feminist, paradise. Look at any global survey of gender equality and Sweden will be near the top. Family-friendly policies are its norm-with 16 months of paid parental leave, special protections for part-time workers, and state-subsidized preschools where, according to a government website, "gender-awareness education is increasingly common. " Due to an unofficial quota system, women hold 45 percent of positions in the Swedish parliament. They have enjoyed the protection of government agencies with titles like the Ministry of Integration and Gender Equality and the Secretariat of Gender Research. So why are American women so far ahead of their Swedish counterparts in breaking through the glass ceiling?
B) In a 2012 report, the World Economic Forum found that when it comes to closing the gender gap in "economic participation and opportunity," the United States is ahead of not only Sweden but also Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Iceland, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Sweden's rank in the report can largely be explained by its political quota system. Though the United States has fewer women in the workforce (68 percent compared to Sweden's 77 percent), American women who choose to be employed are far more likely to work full-time and to hold high-level jobs as managers or professionals. They also own more businesses. launch more start-ups (新创办的企业) , and more often work in traditionally male fields. As for breaking through the glass ceiling in business, American women are well in the lead.
C) What explains the American advantage? How can it be that societies like Sweden, where gender equality is vigorously pursued and enforced, have fewer female managers, executives, professionals, and business owners than the laissez-faire (自由放任的) United States? A new study by Cornell economists Francine Blau and Lawrence Kahn gives an explanation.
D) Generous parental leave policies and readily available part-time options have unintended consequences: instead of strengthening women's attachment to the workplace, they appear to weaken it. In addition to a 16-month leave, a Swedish parent has the right to work six hours a day (for a reduced salary) until his or her child is eight years old. Mothers are far more likely than fathers to take advantage of this law. But extended leaves and part-time employment are known to be harmful to careers-for both genders. And with women a second factor comes into play, most seem to enjoy the flexible-time arrangement (once known as the "mommy track") and never find their way back to full-time or high-level employment. In sum: generous family-friendly policies do keep more women in the labor market, but they also tend to diminish their careers.
E) According to Blau and Kahn, Swedish-style paternal (父亲的) leave policies and flexible-time arrangements pose a second threat to women's progress: they make employers cautious about hiring women for full-time positions at all. Offering a job to a man is the safer bet. He is far less likely to take a year of parental leave and then return on a reduced work schedule for the next eight years.
F) I became aware of the trials of career-focused European women a few years ago when I met a post-doctoral student from Germany who was then a visiting fellow at Johns Hopkins. She was astonished by the professional possibilities afforded to young American women. Her best hope in Germany was a government job-prospects for woment in the private sector were dim. "In Germany," she told me, "we have all the benefits, but employers don't want to hire us."
G) Swedish economists Magnus Henrekson arid Mikael Stenkula addressed the following question in their 2009 study: why are there so few female top executives in the European egalitarian (平等主义的) welfare states? Their answer; "Broad-based welfare-state policies hinder women's representation in elite competitive positions."
H) It is tempting to declare the Swedish policies regiessive (退步的) and hail the American system as superior. But that would be shortsighted. The Swedes can certainly take a lesson from the United States and look for ways to clear a path for their ambitious female careerists. But most women are not committed careerists. Wren the Pew Research Center recently asked American parents to identify their "ideal" life arrangement, 47 percent of mothers said they would prefer to work part-time and 20 percent said they would prefer not to work at all. Fathers answered differently: 75 percent preferred full-time work. Some version of the Swedish system might work well for a majority of American parents, but the United States is unlikely to fully embrace the Swedish model. Still, we can learn from their experience.
I) Despite its failure to shatter the glass ceiling, Sweden has one of the most powerful and innovative economies in the world. In its 2011-2012 survey, the World Economic Forum ranked Sweden as the world's third mast competitive economy; the United States came in fifth. Sweden, dubbed the "rockstar of the recovery" in the Washington Post, also leads the world in life satisfaction and happiness. It is a society well worth studying, and its efforts to conquer the gender gap impart a vital lesson-though not the lesson the Swedes had in mind.
J) Sweden has gone farther than any other nation on earth to integrate the sexes and to offer women the same opportunities and freedoms as men. For decades, these descendants of the Vikings have been trying to show the world that the right mix of enlightened policy, consciousness raising, and non-sexist child rearing would close the gender divide once and for all. Yet the divide persists.
K) A 2012 press release from Statistics Sweden bears the title "Gender Equality in Sweden Treading (踩) Water" and notes:
The total income from employment for all ages is lower for women than for men.
One in three employed women and one in ten employed men work part-time.
Women's working time is influenced by the number and age of their children, but men's working time is not affected by these factors.
Of all employees, only 13 percent of the women and 12 percent of the men have occupations with an even distribution of the sexes.
L) Confronted with 'such facts, some Swedish activists and legislators are demanding more extreme and far-reaching measures, such as replacing male and female pronouns with a neutral alternative and monitoring children more closely to correct them when they gravitate (被吸引) toward gendered play. When it came to light last year that moth