2013年12月大学英语六级考试真题2

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1、word2013年12月大学英语六级考试真题（第2套）Part I Writing (30 minutes)（请于正式开考后半小时完成该部分，之后将进行听力考试）Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay about the impact of the information explosion by referring to the saying “A wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.” You can give exa

2、mples to illustrate your point and then explain what you can do to avoid being distracted by irrelevant information. You should write at least 150 words but no more than 200 words.Part II Listening prehension (30 minutes)Section ADirections: In this section, you will hear 8 short conversations and 2

3、 long conversations. At the end of each conversation, one or more questions will be asked about what was said. Both the conversation and the questions will be spoken only once. After each question there will be a pause. During the pause, you must read the four choices marked A), B), C) and D), and d

4、ecide which is the best answer. Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1 with a single line through the centre.1. A) Labor problems. B) Weather conditions. C) An error in the order.D) Misplacing of goods.2. A) What the woman says makes a lot of sense. B) The rich are opposed to social we

5、lfare. C) He is sympathetic with poor people.D) He agrees with Mr. Johnsons views.3. A) He will be practicing soccer. B) He has work to finish in time. C) He will be attending a meeting.D) He has a tough problem to solve.4. A) Mary should get rid of her pet as soon as possible.B) Marywill not be abl

6、e to keep a dog in the building.C)Mary is not happy with the ban on pet animals.D)Mary might as well send her dog to her relative.5.A) The twins voices are quite different.B) Lisa and Gale are not very much alike.C) He does not believe they are twin sisters.D) The woman seems a bit hard of hearing.6

7、.A) The serious economic crisis in Britain.B) A package deal to be signed in November.C) A message from their business associates.D) Their ability to deal with financial problems.7.A) It is impossible to remove the stain pletely.B) The man will be charged extra for the service.C) The man has to go t

8、o the main cleaning facility.D) Cleaning the pants will take longer than usual.8.A) European markets.B) A protest rally.C) Luxury goods.D) Imported products.Questions 9 to 12 are based on the conversation you have just heard. 9.A) He made a business trip.B) He had a quarrel with Marsha.C) He talked

9、to her on the phone.D) He resolved a budget problem.10.A) She may have to be fired for poor performance.B) She has developed some serious mental problem.C) She is in charge of the firms budget planning.D) She supervises a number of important projects.11.A) She failed to arrive at the airport on time

10、.B) David promised to go on the trip in her place.C) Something unexpected happened at her home.D) She was not feeling herself on that day.12.A) He frequently gets things mixed up.B) He is always finding fault with Marsha.C) He has been trying hard to cover for Marsha.D) He oftenfails to follow throu

11、gh on his projects.Questions 13 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard. 13.A) They are better sheltered from all the outside temptations.B) They are usually more motivated to pete with their peers.C) They havemore opportunities to develop their leadership skills.D) They make an acti

12、ve part in more extracurricular activities.14.A) Its chief positions are held by women.B) Its teaching staff consists of women only.C) Its students aim at managerial posts.D) Its students are role models of women.15.A) It is under adequate control.B) It is traditional but colourful.C) They are more

13、or less isolated from the outside world.D) They have ample opportunities to meet the opposite sex.Section BDirections: In this section, you will hear 3 short passages. At the end of each passage, you will hear some questions. Both the passage and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hea

14、r a question, you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A), B), C) and D). Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1with a single line through the centre.Passage OneQuestions 16 to 19 are based on the passage you have just heard.16.A) By invading the personal space of l

15、isteners.B) By making gestures atstrategic points.C) By speaking in a deep, loud voice.D) By speaking with the local accent.17.A) To promote sportsmanship among business owners.B) To encourage people to support local sports groups.C) To raise money for a forthing local sports event.D) To show his fa

16、milys contribution to the munity.18.A) They are known to be the style of the sports world.B) They would certainly appeal to his audience.C) They represent the latest fashion in the business circles.D) They are believed to municate power and influence.19.A) To cover up his own nervousness.B) To creat

17、e a warm personal atmosphere.C) To enhance the effect of background music.D) To allow the audience to better enjoy his slides.Passage TwoQuestions 20 to 22 are based on the passage you have just heard.20.A) She was the first educated slave of John Whitleys.B) She was the greatest female poet in Colo

18、nial America.C) She was born about the time of the War of Independence.D) She was the first African-American slave to publish a book.21.A) Revise in a number of times.B) Obtain consent from her owner.C) Go through a scholarly examination.D) Turn to the colonial governor for help.22.A) Literary works

19、 calling for the abolition of slavery.B) Religious scripts popular among slaves in America.C) A rich stock of manuscripts left by historical figures.D) Lots of lost works written by African-American women.Passage ThreeQuestions 23 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard.23.A) It is a trai

20、t of generouscharacter.B) It is a reflection of self-esteem.C) It is an indicator of high intelligence.D) It is a sign of happiness and confidence.24.A) It was self-defeating.B) It was aggressive.C) It was the essence of edy.D) It was something admirable.25.A) It is a double-edged sword.B) It is a f

21、eature of a given culture.C) It is a unique gift of human beings.D) It is a result of both nature and nurture.Section CDirections: In this section, you will hear a passage three times. When the passage is read for the first time, you should listen carefully for its general idea. When the passage is

22、read for the second time, you are required to fill in the blanks with the exact words you have just heard. Finally, when the passage is read for the third time, you should check what you have written.It is important that we be mindful of the earth, the planet out of which we are born and by which we

23、 are nourished, guided, healedthe planet, however, which we have (26)_to a considerable degree in these past two centuries of (27)_ exploitation. This exploitation has reached such (28)_ that presently it appears that some hundreds of thousands of species will be (29)_ before the end of the century.

24、In our times, human shrewdness has mastered the deep (30)_ of the earth at a level far beyond the capacities of earlier peoples. We can break the mountains apart; we can drain the rivers and flood the valleys. We can turn the most luxuriant forests into throwaway paper products. We can (31)_ the gre

25、at grass cover of the western plains and pour (32)_ chemicals into the soil until the soil is dead and blows away in the wind. We can pollute the air with acids, the rivers with sewage(污水), the seas with oil. We can invent puters (33)_ processing ten million calculations per second. And why?To incre

26、ase the volume and the speed with which we move natural resources through the consumer economy to the junk pile or the waste heap. Our managerial skills are measured by the petence (34)_ in accelerating this process. If in these activities the physical features of the planet are damaged, if the envi

27、ronment is made inhospitable for (35)_ living species, then so be it. We are, supposedly, creating a technological wonderworld.Part IIIReading prehension(40 minutes)Section ADirections: Inthis section, there is a passage with ten blanks. You are required to select one word for each blank from a list

28、 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 2with a single line through the centre. You may not use any of

29、the words in the bank more than once.Questions 36 to 45 are based on the following passage.Quite often, educators tell families of children who are learning English as a second language to speak only English, and not their native language, at home. Although these educators may have good36 ,their adv

30、ice to families is misguided, and it 37 from misunderstandings about the process of language acquisition. Educators may fear that children hearing two languages will bee 38 confused and thus their language development will be 39 ;this concern is not documented in the literature. Children are capable

31、 of learning more than one language, whether 40 or sequentially(依次地). In fact, most children outside of the United States are expected to bee bilingual or even, in many cases, multilingual. Globally, knowing more than one language is viewed as an 41 and even a necessity in many areas.It is also of c

32、oncern that the misguided advice that students should speak only English is given primarily to poor families with limited educational opportunities, not to wealthier families who have many educational advantages. Since children from poor families often are 42 as at-risk for academic failure, teacher

33、s believe that advising families to speak English only is appropriate. Teachers consider learning two languages to be too 43 for children from poor families, believing that the children are already burdened by their home situations.If families do not know English or have limited English skills thems

34、elves, how can they municate in English? Advising non-English-speaking families to speak only English is 44 to telling them not to municate with or interact with their children. Moreover, the 45message is that the familys native language is not important or valued.注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。A) assetB) delaye

35、dC) deviatesD) equivalentE) identifiedF) intentionsG) objectH) overwhelmingI) permanentlyJ) prevalentK) simultaneouslyL) stemsM) successivelyN) underlyingO) visualizingSection BDirections:In this section, you are going to read a passage with ten statements attached to it. Each statement contains inf

36、ormation given in one of the paragraphs. Identify the paragraph from which the information is derived. You may choose a paragraph more than once. Each paragraph is marked with a letter. Answer the questions by marking the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2The Uses of DifficultyThe brain likes a

37、challengeand putting a few obstacles in its way may well boost its creativity. A)Jack White, the former frontman of the White Stripes and an influential figure among fellow musicians, likes to make things difficult for himself. He uses cheap guitars that wont stay in shape or in tune. When performin

38、g, he positions his instruments in a way that is deliberately inconvenient, so that switching from guitar to organ mid-song involves a mad dash across the stage. Why? Because hes on the run from what he describes as a disease that preys on every artist: “ease of use”. When making music gets too easy

39、, says White, it bees harder to make it sing.B)Its an odd thought. Why would anyone make their work more difficult than it already is? Yet we know that difficulty can pay unexpected dividends. In 1966, soon after the Beatles had finished work on “Rubber Soul”, Paul McCartney looked into the possibil

40、ity of going to America to record their next album. The equipment in American studios was more advanced than anything in Britain, which had led the Beatles great rivals, the Rolling Stones, to make their latest album, “Aftermath”, in Los Angeles. McCartney found that EMIs (百代唱片) contractual clauses

41、made it prohibitively expensive to follow suit, and the Beatles had to make do with the primitive technology of Abbey Road.C)Lucky for us. Over the next two years they made their most groundbreaking work, turning the recording studio into a magical instrument of its own. Precisely because they were

42、working with old-fashioned machines, George Martin and his team of engineers were forced to apply every ounce of their creativity to solve the problems posed to them by Lennon and McCartney. Songs like “Tomorrow Never Knows”, “Strawberry Fields Forever”, and “A Day in the Life” featured revolutionar

43、y sound effects that dazzled and mystified Martins American counterparts.D)Sometimes its only when a difficulty is removed that we realise what it was doing for us. For more than two decades, starting in the 1960s, the poet Ted Hughes sat on the judging panel of an annual poetry petition for British

44、 schoolchildren. During the 1980s he noticed an increasing number of long poems among the submissions, with some running to 70 or 80 pages. These poems were verbally inventive and fluent, but also “strangely boring”. After making inquiries Hughes discovered that they were being posed on puters, then

45、 just finding their way into British homes.E)You might have thought any tool which enables a writer to get words on to the page would be an advantage. But there may be a cost to such facility. In an interview with the Paris Review Hughes speculated that when a person puts pen to paper, “you meet the

46、 terrible resistance of what happened your first year at it, when you couldnt write at all”. As the brain attempts to force the unsteady hand to do its bidding, the tension between the two results in a more pressed, psychologically denser expression. Remove that resistance and you are more likely to

47、 produce a 70-page ramble (不着边际的长篇大论). F)Our brains respond better to difficulty than we imagine. In schools, teachers and pupils alike often assume that if a concept has been easy to learn, then the lesson has been successful. But numerous studies have now found that when classroom material is made

48、 harder to absorb, pupils retain more of it over the long term, and understand it on a deeper level.G)As a poet, Ted Hughes had an acute sensitivity to the way in which constraints on self-expression, like the disciplines of metre and rhyme (韵律), spur creative thought. What applies to poets and musi

49、cians also applies to our daily lives. We tend to equate（等同于）happiness with freedom, but, as the psychotherapist and writer Adam Phillips has observed, without obstacles to our desires its harder to know what we want, or where were heading. He tells the story of a patient, a first-time mother who pl

50、ained that her young son was always clinging to her, wrapping himself around her legs wherever she went. She never had a moment to herself, she said, because her son was “always in the way”. When Phillips asked her where she would go if he wasnt in the way, she replied cheerfully, “Oh, I wouldnt kno

51、w where I was!”H)Take another mon obstacle: lack of money. People often assume that more money will make them happier. But economists who study the relationship between money and happiness have consistently found that, above a certain ine, the two do not reliably correlate. Despite the ease with whi

52、ch the rich can acquire almost anything they desire, they are just as likely to be unhappy as the middle classes. In this regard at least, F. Scott Fitzgerald was wrong.I)Indeed, ease of acquisition is the problem. The novelist Edward St Aubyn has a narrator remark of the very rich that, “not having

53、 to consider affordability, their desires rambled on like unstoppable bores, relentless (持续不断的) and whimsical（反复无常的）at the same time.” When Boston College, a private research university, wanted a better feel for its potential donors, it asked the psychologist Robert Kenny to investigate the mindset

54、of the super-rich. He surveyed 165 households, most of which had a net worth of $25m or more. He found that many of his subjects were confused by the infinite options their money presented them with. They found it hard to know what to want, creating a kind of existential bafflement. One of them put

55、it like this: “You know, Bob, you can just buy so much stuff, and when you get to the point where you can just buy so much stuff, now what are you going to do?”J)The internet makes information billionaires out of all of us, and the architects of our online experiences are catching on to the need to

56、make things creatively difficult. Twitters huge success is rooted in the simple but profound insight that in a medium with infinite space for self-expression, the most interesting thing we can do is restrict ourselves to 140 characters. The music service This Is My Jam helps people navigate the tens

57、 of millions of tracks now available instantly via Spotify and iTunes. Users pick their favourite song of the week to share with others. They only get to choose one. The service was only launched this year, but by the end of September 650,000 jams had been chosen. Its co-founder Matt Ogle explains i

58、ts raison dtre (存在的理由) like this: “In an age of endless choice, we were missing a way to say: This. This is the one you should listen to.”K)Todays world offers more opportunity than ever to follow the advice of the Walker Brothers and make it easy on ourselves. pared with a hundred years ago, our li

59、ves are less tightly bound by social norms and physical constraints. Technology has cut out much of lifes donkeywork, and we have more freedoms than ever: we can wear what we like and municate with hundreds of friends at once at the click of a mouse. Obstacles are everywhere disappearing. Few of us

60、wish to turn the clock back, but perhaps we need to remind ourselves how useful the right obstacles can be. Sometimes, the best route to fulfilment is the path of more resistance.注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。46. The rigorous requirements placed on the writing of poetry stimulate the poets creativity.47. With c

61、reativity, even old-fashioned instruments may produce spectacular sound effects.48. More money does not necessarily bring greater happiness.49. It IS a false assumption that lessons should be made easier to learn.50. Obstacles deliberately placed in the creation of music contribute to its success.51

62、. Those who enjoy total freedom may not find themselves happy.52. Ted Hughes discovered many long poems submitted for poetry petition were posed onputers. 53. Maybe we need to bear in bear in mind that the right obstacles help lead us to greater achievements.54. An investigation found that many of t

63、he super-rich were baffled by the infinite choices theirmoney made available.55. One free social networking website turned out to successful because it limited each posting to one hundred and forty characters.Section CDirections:There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some

64、questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there arefour choices marked A), B), C) and D). You should decide on the best choice andmark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2with a single line through the centre.Passage OneQuestions 56 to 60 are based on the following passage.There was a time not long ago when new science Ph.D.s in the United States were expected to pursue a career path in academia (学术界).But today, most graduates end up working outside academia, not only in industry but also in careers such as science policy, munications, and patent