历年六级真题及答案

2006

年

12

月英语六级真题

(B

卷

)

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

somethi

ng 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. Y

et

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 cap

italists 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 ou

r 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.