2017年12月英语六级之阅读理解（三套）

2017年12月英语六级之阅读理解

Passage One

Questions 46 to 50 are based on the following passage.

You may have heard that Coca-Cola once contained an ingredient capable of sparking particular devotion in consumers: cocaine. The \in the name referred to the extracts of coca leaf that the drink's originator, chemist John Pemberton, mixed with his sugary syrup (浆汁). At the time, coca leaf extract mixed with wine was a common tonic (滋补品), and Pemberton's sweet brew was a way to get around local laws prohibiting the sale of alcohol. But the other half of the name represents another ingredient, less infamous (名声不好的), perhaps, but also strangely potent: the kola nut.

In West Africa, people have long chewed kola nuts as stimulants, because they contain caffeine that also occurs naturally in tea, coffee, and chocolate. They also have heart stimulants.

Historian Paul Lovejoy relates that the cultivation of kola nuts in West Africa is hundreds of years old. The leafy, spreading trees were planted on graves and as part of traditional rituals. Even though the nuts, which need to stay moist, can be somewhat delicate to transport, traders carried them hundreds of miles throughout the forests and grasslands.

Europeans did not know of them until the 1500s, when Portuguese ships arrived on the coast of what is now Sierra Leone. And while the Portuguese took part in the trade, ferrying nuts down the coast along with other goods, by 1620, when English explorer Richard Jobson made his way up the Gambia, the nuts were still peculiar to his eyes.

By the late 19th century, kola nuts were being shipped by the tonne to Europe and the US. Many made their way into medicines, intended as a kind of energy boost. One such popular medicinal drink was Vin Mariani, a French product consisting of coca extract mixed with red wine It was created by a French chemist, Angelo Mariani, in 1863. So when Pemberton created his drink, it represented an ongoing trend. When cocaine eventually fell from grace as a beverage ingredient, kola-extract colas became popular.

The first year it was available, Coca-Cola averaged nine servings a day across all the Atlanta soda fountains where it was sold. As it grew more popular, the company sold rights to bottle the soda, so it could travel easily. Today about 1.9 billion Cokes purchased daily. It‘s become so iconic that attempts to change its taste in 1985-sweetening it in a move projected to boost sales proved disastrous, with widespread anger from consumers. ‖Coca-Cola Classic‖ returned to store shelves just three months after the ‖New Coke‖ was released. These days, the Coca-Cola recipe is a closely guarded secret. But it’s said to no longer contain kola nut extract, relying instead on artificial imitations to achieve the flavor. 46.【题干】What do we learn about chemist John Pemberton? A. He used a strangely potent ingredient in a food supplement. B .He created a drink containing alcohol without breaking law. C .He became notorious because of the coca drink he developed. D .He risked breaking local law to make a drink with coca leaves. 47.【题干】What does the passage say about kola nuts?

A.Their commercial value was first discovered by Portuguese settlers. B.They contain some kind of energy boost no found in any other food. C.Many were shipped to Europe in the late 19th century for medicinal use. D.They were strange to the Europeans when first imported from West Africa. 48.【题干】How come kola-extract colas became popular? A.Cocaine had become notorious.

B.Alcoholic drinks were prohibited. C.Fountains were set up to sell them. D.Rights were sold to bottle the soda.

49.【题干】What is known about the taste of Coca-Cola? A.I was so designed as to create addition in consumers. B.It still relies on traditional kola nut extract. C.It has become more popular among the old.

D.I has remained virtually unchanged since its creation. 50.【题干】What is the passage mainly about? A.The evolution of Coca-Cola. C.The medicinal value of Coca-Cola. B.The success of Coca-Cola. D.The business strategy of Coca-Cola.

Passage Two

Questions 51 to 55 are based on the following passage.

Twenty years ago the Urban Land Institute defined the two types of cities that dominated the US landscape: smaller cities that operated around standard 9-5 business hours and large metropolitan areas that ran all 24 hours of the day. Analyzing and comparing cities using the lens of this basic divide gives interesting context to how investment capital flows and housing prices have shifted.

In recent years, many mid-sized cities have begun to a middle-of-the-road approach incorporating the excitement and opportunity of large cities with small cities' quiet after midnight. These 18-hour cities are beginning to make waves in real estate rankings and attract more real estate investment. What is underlying this new movement in real estate, and why do these cities have so much appeal?

18-hour cities combine the best of 24-hour and 9-5 cities, which contribute to downtown revitalization. For decades, many downtown cores in Small to mid-sized cities were abandoned after work hours by worker who lived in the suburbs. Movement out of city centers was widespread, and downtown tenants were predominantly made up of the working poor. This generated little commerce for downtown business in the evenings, which made business and generating tax revenue for municipal upkeep difficult. With the rise of a new concept in urban areas that caused the real estate pushes, in major cities like San Francisco or New York, has inspired a type of forward thinking urbanity and policy in smaller cities.

Transforming downtown areas so that they incorporate modern housing and improved walkability to local restaurants, retail, and entertainment - especially when combined with improved infrastructure for cyclists and public transit - makes them appeal to a more affluent demographic, These adjustments encourage employers in the knowledge and talent industries to keep their offices downtown. Access to foot traffic and proximity to transit allow the type of entertainment-oriented businesses such as bars and restaurants to stay open later, which attracts both younger, creative workers and baby boomers nearing retirement alike. Because of their smaller size, most keep hours that allow people to enjoy themselves, then have some quiet after midnight, as opposed to large major cities like New York, where the buzz of activity is ongoing.

These 18-hour cities are rapidly on the rise and offer great opportunities for homeowner investment. In many of these cities such as Denver, a diverse and vigorous economy attracted to the urban core has offered stable employment for residents. The right urban mix has propped up home occupancy, increased property values and attracted significant investment capital.

51.【题干】What do we learn about American cities twenty years ago?

A.They were divided into residential and business areas. B.Their housing prices were linked with their prosperity. C.There was a clear divide between large and small cities. D.They were places where large investment capital flowed. 52.【题干】What can be inferred from the passage about 18-hour cities? A.They especially appeal to small businesses. B.They have seen a rise in property prices. C.They have replaced quiet with excitement. D.They have changed America's landscape.

53.【题干】 Years ago, many downtown cores in small to mid-sized cities_____. A.had hardly any business activity. C.exhibited no signs of prosperity. B.were crowded in business hours. D.looked deserted in the evenings

54.【题干】What characterizes the new downtown areas in 18-hour cities? A.A sudden emergence of the knowledge industry. B.Flooding in of large crowds of migrant workers. C.Modernized housing and improved infrastructure. D.More comfortable life and greater upward mobility.

55.【题干】What have 18-hour cities brought to the local residents? A.More chances for promotion. C.Greater cultural diversity. B.Healthier living environment. D.Better job opportunities.

（第二套）Passage One Questions 46 to 50 are based or the following passage.

In the beginning of the movie I. Robot, a robot has to decide whom to save after two cars plunge into the water——Del Spooner or a child. Even though Spooner screams \her! Save her!\the robot rescues him because it calculates that he has a 45 percent chance of survival compared to Sarah's 11 percent. The robot's decision and its calculated approach raise an important question: would humans make the same choice? And which choice would we want our robotic counterparts to make?

Lsaac Asimov evaded the whole notion of morality in devising his three laws of robotics, which hold that I.Robots cannot harm humans or allow humans to come to harm; 2. Robots must obey preservation, unless doing so conflict with law 1; and 3. Robots must act in self-preservation, unless doing so conflicts with laws l or 2. These laws are programmed into Asimov's robots——they don't have to think, judge, or value. They don't have to like humans or believe that hurting them is wrong or bad. They simply don't do it.

The robot who rescues Spooner's life in I.Robot follows Asimov's zeroth law: robots cannot harm humanity (as opposed to individual humans) or allow humanity to come to harm一an expansion of the first law that allows robots to determine what's in the greater good. Under the first law, a robot could not harm dangerous gunman, but under the zeroth law, a robot could kill the gunman to save others.

Whether it's possible to program a robot with safeguards such as Asimov's laws ins debatable. A word such as \present coding problems. The robots in Asimov?s fiction expose complications and loopholes in the three laws, and even when the laws work, robots still have to assess situations.

Assessing situations can be complicated. A robot has to identify the players, conditions, abd possible outcomes for various scenarios. It's doubtful that a computer program can do that—at least, not without some undesirable results. A roboticist at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory programmed a robot to save human proxies(替身)called \way. But when two H-bots became imperiled, the robot choked 42 percent of the time, unable to decide which to save and letting them both \decide whom to save or what's best for humanity, especially if it can't calculate survival odds? 46.【题干】What question does the example in the movie raise? A.Whether robots can reach better decisions. B.Whether robots follow Asimov's zero law. C.How robots may make bad judgments.

D.How robots should be programmed.

47.【题干】What does the author think of Asimov's three laws of robotics? A.They are apparently divorced from reality. B.They did not follow the coding system of robotics. C.They laid a solid foundation for robotics.

D.They did not take moral issues into consideration. 48.【题干】what does the author say about Asimov's robots? A.They know what is good or bad for human beings. B.They are programmed not to hurt human beings. C.They perform duties in their owners' best interest. D.They stop working when a moral issue is involved.

49.【题干】What does the author want to say by mentioning the word \ A.Abstract concepts are hart to program. B.It is hard for robots to make decisions. C.Robots may do harm in certain situations. D.Asimov's laws use too many vague terms.

50.【题干】 What has the roboticist at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory found in his experiment? A.Robots can be made as intelligent as human beings some day. B.Robots can have moral issues encoded into their programs. C.Robots can have trouble making decisions in complex scenarios. D.Robots can be programmed to perceive potential perils.

Passage Two

Our world now moves so fast that we seldom stop to see just how far we have come in just a few years. The latest iPhone6s, for example, has a dual-core processor and fits nicely into your pocket. By comparison, you would expect to find a technological specification like this on your standard laptop in an office anywhere in the world.

It's no wonder that new applications for the Internet of Things are moving ahead fast when almost every new device we buy has a plug on the end of it or a wireless connection to the internet. Soon, our current smartphone lifestyle will expand to create our own smart home lifestyle too.

All researchers agree that close to 25 billion devices, things and sensors will be connected by 2020 which incidentally is also the moment that Millennials (千禧一代)are expected to make up 75 percent of our overall

workforce, and the fully connected home will become a reality for large numbers of people worldwide.

However, this is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg as smart buildings and ever cities increasingly become the norm as leaders and business owners begin to wake up to the massive savings that technology can deliver through connected sensors and new forms of automation coupled with intelligent energy and facilities management.

Online security cameras, intelligent lighting and a wealth of sensors that control both temperature and air quality are offering an unprecedented level of control, efficiency, and improvements to what were once classed necessary costs when running a business or managing a large building.

We can expect that the ever-growing list of devices, systems and environments remain connected, always online and talking to each other. The big benefit will not only be in the housing of this enormous and rapidly growing amount of data, but will also be in the ability to run real time data analytics to extract actionable and ongoing knowledge.

The biggest and most exciting challenge of this technology is how to creatively leverage this ever-growing amount of data to deliver cost savings, improvements and tangible benefits to both businesses and citizens of these smart cities.

The good news is that most of this technology is already invented. Let's face it, it wasn't too long ago that the idea of working from anywhere and at anytime was some form of a distant utopian(乌托邦式的)dream, and yet now we can perform almost any office-based task from any location in the world as long as we have access to the internet.

It's time to wake up to the fact that making smart buildings, cities and homes will dramatically improve our quality of life in the years ahead.

51.【题干】What does the example of iPhone 6s serve to show? A.The huge capacity of the smartphones people now use. B.The widespread use of smartphones all over the world. C.The huge impact of new technology on people's everyday life. D.The rapid technological progress in a very short period of time. 52.【题干】What can we expect to see by the year 2020? A.Apps for the Internet of Things. B.The popularization of smart homes. C.The emergence of Millennials. D.Total globalization of the world.

53.【题干】What will business owners do when they become aware of the benefits of the Internet of Things? A.Employ fewer workers in their operations. B.Gain automatic control of their businesses. C.Invest in more smart buildings and cities. D.Embrace whatever new technology there is.

54【题干】What is the most exciting challenge when we possess more and more data? A.How to turn it to profitable use. B.How to do real time data analysis. C.How to link the actionable systems. D.How to devise new ways to store it.

55【题干】What does the author think about working from any where and at any time? A.It is feasible with a connection to the internet. B.It will thrive in smart buildings, cities and homes.

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