2014年12月大学英语六级考试真题及答案详解和听力原文第二套

2014年12月大学英语六级考试真题第二套

Part I Writing (30 minutes)

Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write on essay based on the picture below. You should start your essay with a brief description of the picture and then discuss what qualities an employer should look for in job applicants. You should give sound arguments to support your views and write at least 150 words but no more than 200 words.

Part II Listening Comprehension (30 minutes) Section A

Directions: In this section, you will hear 8 short conversations and 2 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 decide which is the best answer. Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1 with a single line through the centre. 注意：此部分试题请在答题卡1上作答

1.A) At a grocery B) In a parking lot C) In a car showroom D) At a fast food restaurant. 2. A) Have a little nap after lunch B) Get up and take a short walk

C) Change her position now and then. D) Stretch her legs before standing up.

3. A) The students should practice long-distance running. B) He doesn’t quite believe what the woman says. C) The students’ physical condition is not desirable. D) He thinks the race is too hard for the students.

4. A) They do not want to have a baby at present. B) They cannot afford to get married right now.

C) They are both pursuing graduate studies. D) They will get their degrees in two years.

5. A) Twins usually have a lot in common. B) He must have been mistaken for Jack. C) Jack is certainly not as healthy as he is. D) He has not seen Jack for quite a few days. 6. A) The man will take the woman to the museum. B) The man knows where the museum is located.

C) The woman is asking the way at the crossroads. D) The woman will attend the opening of the museum.

7. A) They cannot ask the guy to leave. B) The guy has been coming in for years.

C) They should not look down upon the guy. D) The guy must be feeling extremely lonely.

8. A) Collect timepieces. B) Learn to mend clocks. C) Become time-conscious. D) Keep track of his daily activities. Questions 9 to 11 are based on the conversation you have just heard.

9. A) It winds its way to the sea. B) It is eating into its banks.

C) It is quickly rising. D) It is wide and deep

10. A) Get the trucks over to the other side of the river. B) Take the equipment apart before being ferried.

C) Reduce the transport cost as much as possible. D) Try to speed up the operation by any means.

11. A) Ask the commander to send a helicopter. B) Halt the operation until further orders.

12. A) Help him join an Indian expedition. B) Talk about his climbing experiences.

C) Cut trees and build rowing boats. D) Find as many boats as possible. C) Give up mountain climbing altogether. D) Save money to buy climbing equipment.

Questions 12 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard.

13. A) He was very strict with his children. B) He climbed mountains to earn a living. C) He had an unusual religious background. D) He was the first to conquer Mt. Qomolangma.

14. A) They are like humans. B) They are sacred places. C) They are to be protected. D) They are to be conquered. 15. A) It was his father’s training that pulled him through.

B) It was a milestone in his mountain climbing career. C) It was his father who gave him the strength to succeed. D) It helped him understand the Sherpa view of mountains. Section B

Directions: 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 hear 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 1 with a single line through the centre. 注意：此部分试题请在答题卡1上作答。 Passage One

Questions 16 to 19 are based on the passage you have just heard. 16. A) By reviewing what he has said previously. B) By comparing memorandums with letters.

C) By showing a memorandum’s structure. D) By analyzing the organization of a letter.

17. A) They spent a lot of time writing memorandums. B) They seldom read a memorandum through to the end. C) They placed emphasis on the format of memorandums. D) They ignored many of the memorandums they received. 18. A) Style and wording. B) Structure and length. C) Directness and clarity. D) Simplicity and accuracy. 19. A) Accurate dating. B) Professional look. C) Direct statement of purpose. D) Inclusion of appropriate humor.

Passage Two

Questions 20 to 22 are based on the passage you have just heard.

20. A) They give top priority to their work efficiency. B) They make an effort to lighten their workload. C) They never change work habits unless forced to. D) They try hard to make the best use of their time. 21. A) Self-confidence. B) Sense of duty. C) Work efficiency. D) Passion for work.

22. A) They are addicted to playing online games. B) They try to avoid work whenever possible.

Passage Three

Questions 23 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard. 23. A) He lost all his property. B) He was sold to a circus.

C) He was forced into slavery. D) He ran away from his family.

C) They find no pleasure in the work they do. D) They simply have no sense of responsibility.

24. A) A carpenter. B) A businessman. C) A master of his. D) A black drummer.

25. A) It named its town hall after Solomon Northup. C) It freed all blacks in the town from slavery. B) It declared July 24 Solomon Northup Day.

Section C

Directions: 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 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. 注意：此部分试题请在答题卡1上作答。

Intolerance is the art of ignoring any views that differ from your own. It (26)_____ itself a hatred, stereotypes, prejudice, and (27)_____ . Once it intensifies in people, intolerance is nearly impossible to overcome. But why

D) It hosted a reunion for the Northup family.

would anyone want to be labeled intolerant? Why would people want to be (28)_____ about the world around them? Why would one want to be part of the problem in America, instead of the solution?

There are many explanations for intolerant attitudes, some (29)_____ childhood. It is likely that intolerant folks grew up (30)_____ intolerant parents and the cycle of prejudice has simply continued for (31)_____ . Perhaps intolerant people are so set in their ways that they find it easier to ignore anything that might not (32)_____ their limited view of life. Or maybe intolerant students have simply never been (33)_____ to anyone different from themselves. But none of these reasons is an excuse for allowing the intolerance to continue.

Intolerance should not be confused with disagreement. It is, of course, possible to disagree with an opinion without being intolerant of it. If you understand a belief but still don’t believe in that specific belief, that’s fine. You are (34)_____ your opinion. As a matter of fact,(35)_____ dissenters (持异议者) are important for any belief. If we all believed the same things, we would never grow, and we would never learn about the world around us. Intolerance does not stem from disagreement. It stems from fear. And fear stems from ignorance.

Part III Reading Comprehension (40 minutes) Section A

Directions: In this section, there is a passage with ten blanks. You are required to select one word for each blank from a list 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 on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre. You may not use any of the words in the bank more than once.

Questions 36 to 45 are based on the following passage.

His future subjects have not always treated the Prince of Wales with the respect one might expect. They laughed in 1986 when the heir to the British __36__ told a TV reporter that he talked to his plants at his country house, Highgrove, to stimulate their growth. The Prince was being humorous — \sense of humor will get me into trouble one day,\随从) — but listening to Charles Windsor can indeed prove stimulating. The royal __37__ has been promoting radical ideas for most of his adult life. Some of his __38__. which once sounded a bit weird, were simply ahead of their time. Now, finally, the world seems to be catching up with him.

Take his views on farming. Prince Charles' Duchy Home Farm went __39__ back in 1986, when most shoppers cared only about the low price tag on suspiciously blemish-free (无瑕疵的) vegetables and __40__ large chickens piled high in supermarkets.

His warnings on climate change proved farsighted, too. Charles began __41__ action on global warming in 1990 and says he's been worried about the __42__ of man on the environment since he was a teenager.

Although he has gradually gained international __43__ as one of the world's leading conservationists, many British people still think of him as a __44__ person who talks to plants. This year, as it happens, South Korean scientists proved that plants really do __45__ to sound. So Charles was ahead of the game there, too.

注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2 上作答。 A) conform B) eccentric C) environmentalist

Section B

Directions: In this section, you are going to read a passage with ten statements attached to it. Each statement contains information 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 2.

High School Sports Aren't Killing Academics

A) In this month's Atlantic cover article, \school-sponsored sports programs should be seriously cut. She writes that, unlike most countries that outperform the United States on international assessments, American schools put too much of an emphasis on athletics. \are embedded in American schools in a way they are not almost anywhere else,\she writes. \this difference hardly ever comes up in domestic debates about America's international mediocrity (平庸) in education.\

D) expeditions E) impact K) notions

G) organic H) originally I) recognition

J) respond K) subordinate L) suppressing

M) throne N) unnaturally O) urging

B) American student-athletes reap many benefits from participating in sports, but the costs to the schools could outweigh their benefits, she argues. In particular, Ripley contends that sports crowd out the academic missions of schools: America should learn from South Korea and Finland and every other country at the top level of international test scores, all of whom emphasize athletics far less in school. \than twice the time Korean kids spend playing sports,\of Advanced Academics.

C) It might well be true that sports are far more rooted in American high schools than in other countries. But our reading of international test scores finds no support for the argument against school athletics. Indeed, our own research and that of others lead us to make the opposite case. School-sponsored sports appear to provide benefits that seem to increase, not detract (减少) from, academic success.

D) Ripley indulges a popular obsession (痴迷) with international test score comparisons, which show wide and frightening gaps between the United States and other countries. She ignores, however, the fact that states vary at least as much in test scores as do developed countries. A 2011 report from Harvard University shows that Massachusetts produces math scores comparable to South Korea and Finland, while Mississippi scores are closer to Trinidad and Tobago. Ripley's thesis about sports falls apart in light of this fact. Schools in Massachusetts provide sports programs while schools in Finland do not. Schools in Mississippi may love football while in Tobago interscholastic sports are nowhere near as prominent. Sports cannot explain these similarities in performance. They can't explain international differences either.

E) If it is true that sports undermine the academic mission of American schools, we would expect to see a negative relationship between the commitment to athletics and academic achievement. However, the University of Arkansas's Daniel Bowen and Jay Greene actually find the opposite. They examine this relationship by analyzing schools' sports winning percentages as well as student-athletic participation rates compared to graduation rates and standardized test score achievement over a five-year period for all public high schools in Ohio. Controlling for student poverty levels, demographics (人口统计状况), and district financial resources, both measures of a school's commitment to athletics are significantly, positively related to lower dropout rates as well as higher test scores.

F) On-the-ficld success and high participation in sports is not random—it requires focus and dedication to athletics. One might think this would lead schools obsessed with winning to deemphasize academics. Bowen and Greene's results contradict that argument. A likely explanation for this seemingly counterintuitive (与直觉相反的) result is that success in sports programs actually facilitates or reflects greater social capital within a school's community.

G) Ripley cites the writings of renowned sociologist James Coleman, whose research in education was groundbreaking. Coleman in his early work held athletics in contempt, arguing that they crowded out schools' academic missions. Ripley quotes his 1961 study, The Adolescent Society, where Coleman writes, \奖品) case would suggest to the innocent visitor that he was entering an athletic club, not an educational institution.\

H) However, in later research he would show how the success of schools is highly dependent on what he termed social capital, \norms, the social networks, and the relationships between adults and children that are of value for the child's growing up.\

I) According to a 2013 evaluation conducted by the Crime Lab at the University of Chicago, a program called Becoming a Man—Sports Edition creates lasting improvements in the boys' study habits and grade point averages. During the first year of the program, students were found to be less likely to transfer schools or be engaged in violent crime. A year after the program, participants were less likely to have had an encounter with the juvenile justice system.

J) If school-sponsored sports were completely eliminated tomorrow, many American students would still have opportunities to participate in organized athletics elsewhere, much like they do in countries such as Finland, Germany, and South Korea. The same is not certain when it comes to students from more disadvantaged backgrounds. In an overview of the research on non-school based after-school programs, researchers find that disadvantaged children participate in these programs at significantly lower rates. They find that low-income students have less access due to challenges with regard to transportation, non- nominal fees, and off-campus safety. Therefore, reducing or eliminating these

opportunities would most likely deprive disadvantaged students of the benefits from athletic participation, not least of which is the opportunity to interact with positive role models outside of regular school hours.

K) Another unfounded criticism that Ripley makes is bringing up the stereotype that athletic coaches are typically lousy (蹩脚的) classroom teachers. \make many hiring decisions with their sports teams in mind, which does not always end well for students,\she writes. Educators who seek employment at schools primarily for the purpose of coaching are likely to shirk (推卸) teaching responsibilities, the argument goes. Moreover, even in the cases where the employee is a teacher first and athletic coach second, the additional responsibilities that come with coaching likely come at the expense of time otherwise spent on planning, grading, and communicating with parents and guardians.

L) The data, however, do not seem to confirm this stereotype. In the most rigorous study on the classroom results of high school coaches, the University of Arkansas's Anna Egalite finds that athletic coaches in Florida mostly tend to perform just as well as their non-coaching counterparts, with respect to raising student test scores. We do not doubt that teachers who also coach face serious tradeoffs that likely come at the expense of time they could dedicate to their academic obligations. However, as with sporting events, athletic coaches gain additional opportunities for communicating and serving as mentors (导师) that potentially help students succeed and make up for the costs of coaching commitments.

M) If schools allow student-athletes to regularly miss out on instructional time for the sake of traveling to athletic competitions, that's bad. However, such issues would be better addressed by changing school and state policies with regard to the scheduling of sporting events as opposed to total elimination. If the empirical evidence points to anything, it points towards school-sponsored sports providing assets that are well worth the costs.

N) Despite negative stereotypes about sports culture and Ripley's presumption that academics and athletics are at odds with one another, we believe that the greater body of evidence shows that school-sponsored sports programs appear to benefit students. Successes on the playing field can carry over to the classroom and vice versa (反之亦然). More importantly, finding ways to increase school communities' social capital is imperative to the success of the school as a whole, not just the athletes.

注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2 上作答。

46. Students from low-income families have less access to off-campus sports programs.

47. Amanda Ripley argues that America should learn from other countries that rank high in international tests and lay less emphasis on athletics.

48. According to the author, Amanda Ripley fails to note that students' performance in exams varies from state to state.

49. Amanda Ripley thinks that athletic coaches are poor at classroom instruction. 50 James Coleman's later research makes an argument for a school's social capital.

51. Researchers find that there is a positive relationship between a school's commitment to athletics and academic achievements.

52. A rigorous study finds that athletic coaches also do well in raising students' test scores.

53. According to an evaluation, sports programs contribute to students' academic performance and character building.

54. Amanda Ripley believes the emphasis on school sports should be brought up when trying to understand why American students are mediocre.

55. James Coleman suggests in his earlier writings that school athletics would undermine a school's image. Section C

Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A), B), C) and D). You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.

Passage One

Questions 56 to 60 are based on the following passage.

It is easy to miss amid the day-to-day headlines of global economic recession, but there is a less conspicuous kind of social upheaval (剧变) underway that is fast altering both the face of the planet and the way human beings

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