想法英语2018年12月英语六级考试真题详细参考答案(全三套)

2021年1月9日发(作者：卞之琳)
2018年12月六级考试真题参考答案（全三套）
第一套
六级听力原文
conversation 1

Hey I just read a great book about physics。 I think you‘d like it。
It’s called the physics of the world。 It‘s written by a scientist named
Sylvia Mendez。

Oh I read that book。 It was great。 The writer is a warm and
competent guide to the mysteries of physics。 I think it promises
enrichment for any reader from those who know little about science to the
career physicist。

And it‘s refreshing to see a strong curious clever woman adding her
voice to the scientific discourse and a field that has been traditionally
dominated by men。 I think she has to be commended for making an effort
to include anecdotes about little known female scientists。 You know they
were often victims of a generation firmly convinced that the woman’s
place was in the home。

I like how the book is clearly written with each chapter brought to
life by pieces of fascinating knowledge。 For example in one chapter she
exposes a myth that I‘ve heard taught by university physics professors。
I’ve often heard that medieval glass windows are thicker at the bottom
because glass flows like a fluid。 This， she shows， is not true。 The
distortion is actually thanks to a peculiarity of the glassmakers process。

Yeah I like how she cultivates scientific engagement by providing a
host of Do It Yourself experiments that bring the same foundational
principles of classical physics that govern everything from the solar
system to your kitchen table。 From using complex laws of physics to test
whether a spinning egg is cooked to measuring atmospheric pressure by
lifting a piece of cardboard。 Her hands-on examples make her book a
truly interactive read。

Yes I must say this a equation-free book is an ideal read for scientists
of all stripes， anyone teaching science and even people who dislike
physics。

Question 1： what does the woman say about the book the man
recommended？

Question 2： what can we find in the book the man recommended。？

Question 3： How does the author bring her book to life？

Question 4： How does the book cultivate readers interest in physics。

conversation 2

A：Hi professor。 I was hoping I could have a moment of your time
if you‘re not too busy。 I’m having some problems getting started on my
dissertation and I was hoping you could give me some advice on how to
begin。

B：Sure。 I have quite a few students can you remind me
what your topic is？

A：the general topic I chose is aesthetics， but that‘s as far as I’ve got
I don‘t really know where to go from there。

B：Yeah，that‘s much too large a topic。 You really need to narrow
it down in order to make it more accessible。 Otherwise you’ll be writing
a book。

A：Exactly。 That‘s what I wanted to ask you about。 I was hoping
it would be possible for me to change topics。 I’m really more interested
in nature than beauty。

B：I‘m afraid you have to adhere to the assigned topic。 Still， If
you’re interested in nature， then that certainly can be worked into your
dissertation。 We‘ve talked about Hume before in class right。

A：Oh yeah， he‘s the philosopher who wrote about where our ideas
of beauty come from。

B：Exactly。 I suggest you go to the library and get a copy of his
biography。 Start from there。 But remember to stick to the parameters of
the assignment。 This paper is a large part of your cumulative grade。 So
make sure to follow the instructions。 If you take a look at his biography。
You can get a good idea of how his life experiences manifest themselves
in his theories of beauty。 specifically the way he looked towards nature
as the origin of what we find beautiful。

A：Great。 Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions，
Professor。 I‘ll let you get back to class now。

B：If there‘s anything else you need， please come see me in my
office any time。

Question 5： What is the man‘s problem？

Question 6 What does the professor think of the man‘s topic？

Question 7 What’s the man really more interested in？

Question 8 what does the professor say the man has to do？

passage 1

During the arctic winter from October to March， the average
temperature in the frozen north typically hovers around minus 20 degrees
Celsius。 But this year the Arctic is experiencing much higher
temperatures。 On February the 20th the temperature in Greenland
climbed above freezing or zero degrees Celsius and it stayed there for
over 24 hours。 Then on February the 24th the temperature on
Greenland‘s northern tip reached six degrees Celsius。 Climate scientists
describe the phenomenon as stunning。 Weather conditions that drive this
bizarre temperature surge have visited the Arctic before。 They typically
appear about once in a decade。 However， the last such increase in
temperature took place two years ago。 This is troubling as climbing
arctic temperatures combined with rapid sea ice loss are creating a new
type of climate feedback loop which could accelerate Arctic warming。
Indeed， sea ice cover in the Arctic is melting faster than expected。
Without those masses of cooling sea ice， warm air brought to the Arctic
can penetrate further inland than it ever did before。 The air can stay
warmer longer too。 This drives additional melting。 Overall earth is
warming at a rapid pace。 2014 through 2017 rank as the hottest years on
record and the Arctic is warming twice as fast as any place else on earth。
This raises unique challenges for Arctic wildlife and indigenous people
who depend on Arctic ecosystems to survive。 Previously climate
forecasts predicted that Arctic summer ice would disappear entirely by
around 2060， but based on what scientists are seeing now the Arctic may
be facing summers without ice within 20 years。

Question 9。 What did climate scientists describe as stunning？

A） The unprecedented high temperature in Greenland。

Question 10。 What does the passage say about that temperature
surge in the Arctic？

Question 11。 what may occur in 20 years according to scientists’
recent observations？

Passage2

A good dose of willpower is often necessary to see any task through
whether it‘s sticking to a spending plan or finishing a great novel。 And if
you want to increase that willpower。 A new study suggests you just
simply have to believe you have it。 According to this study， what
matters most is what we think about our willpower。 If we believe it’s a
finite resource， we act that way， we feel exhausted and need breaks
between demanding mental tasks。 However， people who view their
willpower as a limitless resource get energized instead。 The researchers
used a psychological assessment tool to test the validity of the study。
They asked 1100 Americans and 1600 Europeans to grade different
statements such as after a challenging mental activity， my energy is
depleted and I must rest to get it refueled again or I can focus on a mental
task for long periods without feeling tired。

[00：01：08] Although there was little difference between men and
women overall。 Americans were more likely to admit to needing breaks
after completing mentally challenging tasks European participants on the
other hand claimed they were able to keep going。 Based on the findings，
the researchers suggest that the key to boosting your willpower is to
believe that you have an abundant supply of it。 Your feelings about your
willpower affect the way you behave。 But these feelings are changeable，
they said。 Changing your beliefs about the nature of your self-control
can have positive effects on character development。 This leads to
healthier behaviors and perceptions of other people。

Question 12 What is often necessary for carrying through a task？

Question 13 What is the finding of the new study？

Question 14 What do we learn about European participants as
compared with their American counterparts？

Question 15 What do the research say concerning people‘s feelings
about willpower？

lecture 1

Here is my baby niece Sarah。 Her mum is a doctor and her dad is a
lawyer。 By the time Sarah goes to college the jobs her parents do are
going to look dramatically different。 In 2013，researchers at Oxford
University did a study on the future of work。 They concluded that almost
one in every two jobs has a high risk of being automated by machines。
Machine learning is the technology that‘s responsible for most of this
disruption。 It’s the most powerful branch of artificial intelligence。 It
allows machines to learn from data and copy some of the things that
humans can do。 My company， Kaggle， operates on the cutting edge
of machine learning。 We bring together hundreds of thousands of experts
to solve important problems for industry and academia。 This gives us an
unique perspective on what machines can do， what they can‘t do and
what jobs they might automate or threaten。 Machine learning started
making its way into industry in the early 90s。 It started with relatively
simple tasks。 It started with things like assessing credit risk from loan
applications， sorting the mail by reading handwritten zip codes。 Over
the past few years， we have made dramatic breakthroughs。 Machine
learning is now capable of far， far more complex tasks。 In 2012，
Kaggle challenged its community to build a program that could grade high
school essays。 The winning programs were able to match the grades
given by human teachers。 Now given the right data， machines are going
to outperform humans at tasks like this。 A teacher might read 10000
essays over a 40-year career。 A machine can read millions of essays
within minutes。 We have no chance of competing against machines on
frequent high-volume tasks， but there are things we can do that machines
cannot。 Where machines have made very little progress is in tackling
novel situations。 Machines can’t handle things they haven‘t seen many
times before。 The fundamental limitation of machine learning is that it
needs to learn from large volumes of past data。 But humans don’t。 We
have the ability to connect seemingly different threads to solve problems
we‘ve never seen before。

Question 16 what did the researchers at Oxford University
conclude？

Question 17。 What do we learn about Kaggle companies winning
programs？

Question 18。 What is the fundamental limitation on machine
learning？

lecture 2

we‘ve talked recently about the importance of sustainable energy。
We’ve also talked about the different theories on how that can be done。
So far， our discussions have all been theoretical。 Now I have a practical
question for you all。 Can you run a 140，000 kilogram train on just the
steam generated by solar power？ Well， one engineer， Tim Casselman，
believes it‘s possible。 And his home city of Sacramento， California
should see the technology’s first test as part of the upgrading of its rail
yard。 Casselman， who is an inventor and self- proclaimed steam
visionary， is campaigning for a new steam train that runs without any
fire and could run on an existing 10 kilometer line drawing tourists and
perhaps offering city commuters a green alternative to their cars。
Casselman wants to build an array of solar magnifying mirrors at one end
of the line to collect and focus heat onto water filled tubes。 This would
generate steam that could be used to fill tanks on a small steam train
without the use of fire。 Supplying power to trains in this way would offer
the shortest distance from well to wheels he says with the least amount of
energy lost。 According to Harry Valentijn， a Canadian engineer who is
researching modern steam technology， a special tank measuring 2 by 10
metres could store over 750 kilowatt hours of energy as high pressure
steam enough to pull a two car train for an hour or so。 Energy to drive a
steam locomotive can be stored in other materials besides water for
example a team at Tohoku University in Japan has studied materials that
can store large amounts of heat when heated。 These materials turn from a
solid into a liquid absorbing energy as they change phase。 The liquid is
maintained above its melting point until steam is required at which point
the liquid is allowed to turn back into a solid releasing its stored energy
another team at Nagoya University in Japan has tested calcium compound
as an energy storage material。 Heating this chemical compound drives
off carbon dioxide gas leaving calcium oxide the gas can be stored under
pressure and attain to recover the energy the gas is fed back over the
calcium oxide。 In theory says Valentijn this can create a high enough
temperature to generate superheated steam。

Question 19： What has the speaker previously talked about？

Question 20： What is Tim Casselman trying to do in Sacramento？

Question 21： what has a Japanese research team tried to do？

Lecture 3

Today‘s crisis in care for older people in England has two main
causes。

First，people are living longer with a lot more complex needs。
Second， they rely on a system that has long been marked by a poor
relation between national health and social-care services。

Current services originate in two key measures。 They are the
National Health Service and the 1948 National Assistance Act。 This
required local government to provide residential accommodation for older
people and supervise care homes run by independent organizations。
They also provided home and community services including meals，
day centers and home helpers and other subsidized services。 The
National Health Service was free and wholly publicly provided。 It
delivered the best health-care for all。 No such vision guided residential
and community care though。 The care was substantially provided by
voluntary services which worked together with local authorities as they
long had with eligibility based on income。 Today， life expectancy has
risen from 66 for a male at birth in 1948 to around 80 now。 In addition，