大学英语六级07 - 09年真题及答案集锦

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95-08历年大学英语六级真题及答案(完整版)

2007年6月23日大学英语六级(CET-6)真题试卷(A卷)

Part I Writing (30 minutes)

Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay entitled Should One Expect a Reward When Doing a Good Deed? You should write at least 150 words following the outline given below. 1. 有人做好事期望得到回报；

2. 有人认为应该像雷锋那样做好事不图回报； 3. 我的观点。

Should One Expect a Reward When Doing a Good Deed?

Part II Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning) (15 minutes)

Directions: In this part, you will have 15 minutes to go over the passage quickly and answer the questions on Answer Sheet 1. For questions 1-4, mark

Y (for YES) if the statement agrees with the information given in the passage; N (for NO) if statement contradicts the information given in the passage; NG (for NOT GIVEN) if the information is not given in the passage.

For questions 5-10, complete the sentences with the information given in the passage. Seven Steps to a More Fulfilling Job

Many people today find themselves in unfulfilling work situations. In fact, one in four workers is dissatisfied with their current job, according to the recent ―Plans for 2004‖ survey. Their career path may be financially rewarding, but it doesn‘t meet their emotional, social or creative needs. They‘re stuck, unhappy, and have no idea what to do about it, except move to another job.

Mary Lyn Miller, veteran career consultant and founder of the Life and Career Clinic, says that when most people are unhappy about their work, their first thought is to get a different job. Instead, Miller suggests looking at the possibility of a different life. Through her book, 8 Myths of Making a Living, as well as workshops, seminars and personal coaching and consulting, she has helped thousands of dissatisfied workers reassess life and work.

Like the way of Zen, which includes understanding of oneself as one really is, Miller encourages job seekers and those dissatisfied with work or life to examine their beliefs about work and recognize that ―in many cases your beliefs are what brought you to where you are today.‖ You may have been raised to think that women were best at nurturing and caring and, therefore, should be teachers and nurses. So that‘s what you did. Or, perhaps you were brought up to believe that you should do what your father did, so you have taken over the family business, or become a dentist ―just like dad.‖ If this sounds familiar, it‘s probably time to look at the new possibilities for your future.

Miller developed a 7-step process to help potential job seekers assess their current

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situation and beliefs, identify their real passion, and start on a journey that allows them to pursue their passion through work. Step 1: Willingness to do something different.

Breaking the cycle of doing what you have always done is one of the most difficult tasks for job seekers. Many find it difficult to steer away from a career path or make a change, even if it doesn‘t feel right. Miller urges job seekers to open their minds to other possibilities beyond what they are currently doing.

Step 2: Commitment to being who you are, not who or what someone wants you to be.

Look at the \\gifts and talents you have and make a commitment to pursue those things that you love most. If you love the social aspects of your job, but are stuck inside an office or ―chained to your desk‖ most of the time, vow to follow your instinct and investigate alternative careers and work that allow you more time to interact with others. Dawn worked as a manager for a large retail clothing store for several years. Though she had advanced within the company, she felt frustrated and longed to be involved with nature and the outdoors. She decided to go to school nights and weekends to pursue her true passion by earning her master‘s degree in forestry. She now works in the biotech forestry division of a major paper company. Step 3: Self-definition

Miller suggests that once job seekers know who they are, they need to know how to sell themselves. ―In the job market, you are a product. And just like a product, you most know the features and benefits that you have to offer a potential client, or employer.‖ Examine the skills and knowledge that you have identify how they can apply to your desired occupation. Your qualities will exhibit to employers why they should hire you over other candidates. Step 4: Attain a level of self-honoring.

Self-honoring or self-love may seem like an odd step for job hunters, but being able to accept yourself, without judgment, helps eliminate insecurities and will make you more self-assured. By accepting who you are – all your emotions, hopes and dreams, your personality, and your unique way of being – you‘ll project more confidence when networking and talking with potential employers. The power of self-honoring can help to break all the falsehoods you were programmed to believe – those that made you feel that you were not good enough, or strong enough, or intelligent enough to do what you truly desire. Step 5: Vision.

Miller suggests that job seekers develop a vision that embraces the answer to ―What do I really want to do?‖ one should create a solid statement in a dozen or so sentences that describe in detail how they see their life related to work. For instance, the secretary who longs to be an actress describes a life that allows her to express her love of Shakespeare on stage. A real estate agent, attracted to his current job because her loves fixing up old homes, describes buying properties that need a little tender loving care to make them more saleable. Step 6: Appropriate risk.

Some philosophers believe that the way to enlightenment comes through facing

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obstacles and difficulties. Once people discover their passion, many are too scared to do anything about it. Instead, they do nothing. With this step, job seekers should assess what they are willing to give up, or risk, in pursuit of their dream. For one working mom, that meant taking night classes to learn new computer-aided design skills, while still earning a salary and keeping her day job. For someone else, it may mean quitting his or her job, taking out loan and going back to school full time. You‘ll move one step closer to your ideal work life if you identify how much risk you are willing to take and the sacrifices you are willing to make. Step 7: Action.

Some teachers of philosophy describe action in this way, ―If one wants to get to the top of a mountain, just sitting at the foot thinking about it will not bring one there. It is by making the effort of climbing up the mountain, step by step, that eventually the summit is reached.‖ All too often, it is the lack of action that ultimately holds people back from attaining their ideals. Creating a plan and taking it one step at a time can lead to new and different job opportunities. Job-hunting tasks gain added meaning as you sense their importance in your quest for a more meaningful work life. The plan can include researching industries and occupations, talking to people who are in your desired area of work, taking classes, or accepting volunteer work in your targeted field.

Each of these steps will lead you on a journey to a happier and more rewarding work life. After all, it is the journey, not the destination, that is most important. 注意：此部分试题请在答题卡1上作答。

1. According to the recent ―Plans for 2004‖ survey, most people are unhappy with their current jobs.

2. Mary Lyn Miller‘s job is to advise people on their life and career.

3. Mary Lyn Miller herself was once quite dissatisfied with her own work.

4. Many people find it difficult to make up their minds whether to change their career path.

5. According to Mary Lyn Miller, people considering changing their careers should commit themselves to the pursuit of ________.

6. In the job market, job seekers need to know how to sell themselves like ________.

7. During an interview with potential employers, self-honoring or self-love may help a job seeker to show ________.

8. Mary Lyn Miller suggests that a job seeker develop a vision that answers the question ―________‖

9. Many people are too scared to pursue their dreams because they are unwilling to ________.

10. What ultimately holds people back from attaining their ideals is ________. Part III Listening Comprehension (35 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 said. Both the conversation and the questions will be spoken only once.

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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 2 with a single line through the centre. 注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。 11. A) Surfing the net. B) Watching a talk show. C) Packing a birthday gift. D) Shopping at a jewelry store.

12. A) He enjoys finding fault with exams. B) He is sure of his success in the exam.

C) He doesn‘t know if he can do well in the exam. D) He used to get straight A‘s in the exams he took.

13. A) The man is generous with his good comments on people. B) The woman is unsure if there will be peace in the world. C) The woman is doubtful about newspaper stories. D) The man is quite optimistic about human nature. 14. A) Study for some profession. B) Attend a medical school. C) Stay in business. D) Sell his shop. 15. A) More money. B) Fair treatment.

C) A college education. D) Shorter work hours.

16. A) She was exhausted from her trip. B) She missed the comforts of home. C) She was impressed by Mexican food. D) She will not go to Mexico again. 17. A) Cheer herself up a bit. B) Find a more suitable job. C) Seek professional advice. D) Take a psychology course.

18. A) He dresses more formally now.

B) What he wears does not match his position. C) He has ignored his friends since graduation. D) He failed to do well at college.

Questions 19 to 22 are based on the conversation you have just heard. 19. A) To go sightseeing. B) To have meetings.

C) To promote a new champagne. D) To join in a training program.

20. A) It can reduce the number of passenger complaints. B) It can make air travel more entertaining. C) It can cut down the expenses for air travel.

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D) It can lessen the discomfort caused by air travel. 21. A) Took balanced meals with champagne. B) Ate vegetables and fruit only. C) Refrained from fish or meat. D) Avoided eating rich food.

22. A) Many of them found it difficult to exercise on a plane. B) Many of them were concerned with their well-being. C) Not many of them chose to do what she did. D) Not many of them understood the program.

Questions 23 to 25 are based on the conversation you have just heard. 23. A) At a fair. B) At a cafeteria. C) In a computer lab. D) In a shopping mall.

24. A) The latest computer technology. B) The organizing of an exhibition. C) The purchasing of some equipment. D) The dramatic changes in the job market. 25. A) Data collection. B) Training consultancy. C) Corporate management. D) Information processing. 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 choice marked A) B) C) and D). Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.

注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。 Passage One

Questions 26 to 28 are based on the passage you have just heard. 26. A) Improve themselves. B) Get rid of empty dreams. C) Follow the cultural tradition. D) Attempt something impossible.

27. A) By finding sufficient support for implementation. B) By taking into account their own ability to change. C) By constantly keeping in mind their ultimate goals. D) By making detailed plans and carrying them out.

28. A) To show people how to get their lives back to normal. B) To show how difficult it is for people to lose weight. C) To remind people to check the calories on food bags. D) To illustrate how easily people abandon their goals. Passage Two

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58. What change has been observed in today‘s young Japanese women? A) They pay less attention to their linguistic behavior. B) The use fewer of the deferential linguistic forms. C) They confuse male and female forms of language. D) They employ very strong linguistic expressions.

59. How do some people react to women‘s appropriation of men‘s language forms as reported in the Japanese media?

A) They call for a campaign to stop the defeminization. B) The see it as an expression of women‘s sentiment. C) They accept it as a modern trend. D) They express strong disapproval.

60. According to Yoshiko Matsumoto, the linguistic behavior observed in today‘s young women ________.

A) may lead to changes in social relations B) has been true of all past generations C) is viewed as a sign of their maturity D) is a result of rapid social progress

61. The author believes that the use of assertive language by young Japanese women is ________.

A) a sure sign of their defeminization and maturation B) an indication of their defiance against social change

C) one of their strategies to compete in a male-dominated society D) an inevitable trend of linguistic development in Japan today Part V Cloze (15 minutes)

Directions: There are 20 blanks in the following passage. For each blank there are four choices marked A), B), C) and D) on the right side of the paper. You should choose the ONE that best fits into the passage. Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre. 注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。

Historically, humans get serious about avoiding disasters only after one has just struck them. __62__ that logic, 2006 should have been a breakthrough year for rational behavior. With the memory of 9/11 still __63__ in their minds, Americans watched hurricane Katrina, the most expensive disaster in U.S. history, on __64__ TV. Anyone who didn‘t know it before should have learned that bad things can happen. And they are made __65__ worse by our willful blindness to risk as much as our __66__ to work together before everything goes to hell.

Granted, some amount of delusion (错觉) is probably part of the __67__ condition. In A.D. 63, Pompeii was seriously damaged by an earthquake, and the locals immediately went to work __68__, in the same spot—until they were buried altogether by a volcano eruption 16 years later. But a __69__ of the past year in disaster history suggests that modern Americans are particularly bad at __70__ themselves from guaranteed threats. We know more than we __71__ did about the dangers we face. But it turns __72__ that in times of crisis, our greatest enemy is __73__ the storm, the quake or the __74__ itself. More often, it is ourselves.

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So what has happened in the year that __75__ the disaster on the Gulf Coast? In New Orleans, the Army Corps of Engineers has worked day and night to rebuild the flood walls. They have got the walls to __76__ they were before Katrina, more or less. That‘s not __77__, we can now say with confidence. But it may be all __78__ can be expected from one year of hustle (忙碌).

Meanwhile, New Orleans officials have crafted a plan to use buses and trains to __79__ the sick and the disabled. The city estimates that 15,000 people will need a __80__ out. However, state officials have not yet determined where these people will be taken. The __81__ with neighboring communities are ongoing and difficult. 62. A) To B) By C) On D) For

63. A) fresh B) obvious C) apparent D) evident 64. A) visual B) vivid C) live D) lively 65. A) little B) less C) more D) much

66. A) reluctance B) rejection C) denial D) decline 67. A) natural B) world C) social D) human

68. A) revising B) refining C) rebuilding D) retrieving 69. A) review B) reminder C) concept D) prospect

70. A) preparing B) protesting C) protecting D) prevailing 71. A) never B) ever C) then D) before 72. A) up B) down C) over D) out

73. A) merely B) rarely C) incidentally D) accidentally 74. A) surge B) spur C) surf D) splash

75. A) ensued B) traced C) followed D) occurred 76. A) which B) where C) what D) when

77. A) enough B) certain C) conclusive D) final 78. A) but B) as C) that D) those

79. A) exile B) evacuate C) dismiss D) displace 80. A) ride B) trail C) path D) track

81. A) conventions B) notifications C) communications D) negotiations Part VI Translation (5 minutes)

Directions: Complete the sentences by translating into English the Chinese given in brackets. Please write your translation on Answer Sheet 2.

注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答，只需写出译文部分。

82. The auto manufacturers found themselves ________________________ (正在同外国公司竞争市场的份额).

83. Only in the small town ________________________ (他才感到安全和放松). 84. It is absolutely unfair that these children ________________________ (被剥夺了受教育的权利).

85. Our years of hard work are all in vain, ________________________ (更别提我们花费的大量金钱了).

86. The problems of blacks and women ________________________ (最近几十年受到公众相当大的关注).

2007年6月23日六级参考答案

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Part I Writing (30 minutes)

Part II Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning) (15 minutes) 1. N 2. Y 3. NG 4. Y 5. those things that they love most 6. products 7. more confidence 8. What do I really want to do? 9. give up, or risk 10. the lack of action Part III Listening Comprehension (35 minutes) 11. A) Surfing the net. 12. B) He is sure of his success in the exam. 13. D) The man is quite optimistic about human nature. 14. C) Stay in business. 15. A) More money. 16. B) She missed the comforts of home. 17. C) Seek professional advice. 18. A) He dresses more formally now. 19. B) To have meetings. 20. D) It can lessen the discomfort caused by air travel. 21. D) Avoided eating rich food. 22. C) Not many of them chose to do what she did 23. A) At a fair. 24. C) The purchasing of some equipment. 25. B) Training consultancy. 26. A) Improve themselves. 27. D) By making detailed plans and carrying them out. 28. D) To illustrate how easily people abandon their goals. 29. B) Karen was adopted by Ray Anderson. 30. B) He sacrificed his life to save a baby girl.

31. A) The reported hero turned out to be his father. 32. B) Japan. 33. D) By taking shorter vacations each year. 34. A) To combat competition and raise productivity. 35. C) Reducing their working hours. 36. licensed 37. obligation 38. assess 39. coordinate 40. circumstance 41. inappropriate 42. responsibility 43. prime 44. It is sometimes required that we work overtime, and that we change shifts four or five times a month. 45. Most hospitals are now staffed by new graduates, as experienced nurses finally give up trying to change the system. 46. they will find that most critical hospital cares will be provided by new, inexperienced, and sometimes inadequately trained nurses. Part IV Reading Comprehension (Reading in Depth) (25 minutes) 47. The brilliance of S. Brin and L. Page 48. the academic project 49. By word of mouth 50. meet their price 51. advertising 52. B) Why affluence doesn‘t guarantee happiness? 53. D) materialism has run wild in modern society 54. A) Their material pursuits have gone far ahead of their earnings. 55. D) Workers who no longer have

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secure jobs

56. C) New conflicts and complaints 57. B) the Confucian influence on gender norms in Japan

58. B) They use fewer of the deferential linguistic form

59. D) They express strong disapproval 60. A) may lead to changes in social relations

61. C) one of their strategies to compete in a male-dominated society Part V Cloze (15 minutes) 62. B) By 63. A) fresh 64. C) live 65. D) much 66. A) reluctance 67. D) human 68. C) rebuilding 69. A) review 70. C) protecting 71. B) ever 72. D) out 73. B) rarely 74. A) surge 75. C) followed 76. B) where 77. A) enough 78. C) that

79. B) evacuate 80. A) ride

81. D) negotiations

Part VI Translation (5 minutes)

82. competing with foreign firms for market share

83. does he feel secure and relaxed

84. are deprived of the rights to receive education

85. not to mention / let alone the large amount of money we have spent

86. have gained / caused considerable public concern in recent decades

2007年12月大学英语六级考试试题及参考答案

Part I Writing (30 minutes) The digital age

1. 如今，数字化产品越来越多，如?

2. 使用数字化产品对于人们学习工作和生活的影响。

Part II Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning) (15 minutes) Seven way to Save the World

Forget the old idea that conserving energy is a form of self-denial—riding bicycles, dimming the lights, and taking fewer showers. These days conservation is all about efficiency: getting the same—or better—results from just a fraction of the energy. When a slump in business travel forced Ulrich Ramer to cut costs at his family—owned hotel in Germany, he replaced hundreds of the hotel‘s wasteful light bulbs, getting the same light for 80 percent less power. He bought a new water boiler with a digitally controlled pump, and wrapped insulation around the pipes. Spending about ￡100,000 on these and other improvements, he slashed his ￡90,000 fuel and power bill by ￡60,000. As a bonus, the hotel’s lower energy needs have reduced its annual carbon emissions by more than 200 metric tons. ―For us, saving energy has been very, very profitable,‖ he says. ―And most importantly, we‘re not giving up a single comfort for our guests.‖

Efficiency is also a great way to lower carbon emissions and help slow global warming. But the best argument for efficiency is its cost—or, more precisely, its profitability. That‘s because quickly

growing energy demand requires immense investment in new supply, not to mention the drain of rising energy prices.

No wonder efficiency has moved to the top of the political agenda. On Jan. 10, the European Union unveiled a plan to cut energy use across the continent by 20 percent by 2020. Last March, China imposed a 20 percent increase in energy efficiency by 2020. Even George W. Bush, the Texas oilman, is expected to talk about energy conservation in his State of the Union speech this week.

The good news is that the world is full of proven, cheap ways to save energy. Here are the seven that could have the biggest impact. Insulate

Space heating and cooling eats up 36 percent of all the world‘s energy. There‘s virtually no limit to how much of that can be saved, as prototype ―zero-energy homes‖ in Switzerland and Germany have shown. There‘s been a surge in new ways of keeping heat in and cold out (or vice versa). The most advanced insulation follows the law of increasing returns: if you add enough you can scale down or even eliminate heating and air-conditioning equipment, lowering costs even before you start saving on utility bills. Studies have shown that green workplaces (ones that don‘t constantly need to have the heat or air-conditioner running) have higher worker productivity and lower sick rates. Change Bulbs

Lighting eats up 20 percent of the world‘s electricity, or the equivalent of roughly 600,000 tons of coal a day. Forty percent of that powers old-fashioned incandescent light bulbs—a 19th-century technology that wastes most of the power it consumes on unwanted heat.

Compact fluorescent lamps, or CFLS, not only use 75 to 80 percent less electricity than incandescent bulbs to generate the same amount of light, but they also last 10 times longer. Phasing old bulbs out by 2030 would save the output of 650 power plants and avoid the release of 700 million tons of carbon into the atmosphere each year. Comfort Zone

Water boilers, space heaters and air conditioners have been notoriously inefficient. The heat pump has altered that equation. It removes heat from the air outside or the ground below and uses it to supply heat to a building or its water supply. In the summer, the system can be reversed to cool buildings as well.

Most new residential buildings in Sweden are already heated with ground-source heat pumps. Such systems consume almost no conventional fuel at all. Several countries have used subsidies to jump-start the market, including Japan, where almost I million heat pumps have been installed in the past two years to heat water for showers and hot tubs. Remake Factories

From steel mills to paper factories, industry eats up about a third of the world‘s energy. The opportunities to save are vast. In Ludwigshafen, German chemicals giant BASF runs an interconnected complex of more than 200 chemical factories, where heat produced by one chemical process is used to power the next. At the Ludwigshafen site site alone, such recycling of heat and energy saves the company ￡200 million a year and almost half its CO2 emissions. Now BASF is doing the same for new plants in China. “Optimizing (优化) energy efficiency is a decisive competitive advantage,” says BASF CEO Jurgen Hambrecht. Green Driving

A quarter of the world’s energy---including two thirds of the annual production of oil—is used for transportation. Some savings come free of charge: you can boost fuel efficiency by 6 percent simply by keeping your car’s tires properly inflated (充气). Gasoline-electric hybrid(混合型的) models like the

Toyota Prius improve mileage by a further 20 percent over conventional models. A Better Fridge

More than half of all residential power goes into running household appliances, producing a fifth of the world‘s carbon emissions. And that‘s true even though manufacturers have already hiked the efficiency of refrigerators and other white goods by as much as 70 percent since the 1980s. According to an International Energy Agency study, if consumers chose those models that would save them the most money over the life of the appliance, they‘d cut global residential power consumption (and their utility bills) by 43 percent. Flexible Payment

Who says you have to pay for all your conservation investments? “Energy service contractors” will pay for retrofitting（翻新改造）in return for a share of the client’s annual utility-bill savings. In Beijing. Shenwu Thermal Energy Technology Co. specializes in retrofitting China‘s steel furnaces. Shenwu puts up the initial investment to install a heat exchanger that preheats the air going into the furnace, slashing the client‘s fuel costs. Shenwu pockets a cut of those savings, so both Shenwu and the client profit. If saving energy is so easy and profitable, why isn‘t everyone doing it? It has do with psychology and a lack of information. Most of us tend to look at today‘s price tag more than tomorrow‘s potential saving. That holds double for the landlord or developer, who won‘t actually see a penny of the savings his investment in better insulation or a better heating system might generate. In many people‘s minds, conservation is still associated with self-denial. Many environmentalists still push that view.

Smart governments can help push the market in the right direction. The EU‘s 1994 law on labeling was such a success that it extended the same idea to entire buildings last year. To boost the market value of efficiency, all new buildings are required to have an ―energy pass‖ detailing power and heating consumption. Countries like Japan and Germany have successively tightened building codes, requiring an increase in insulation levels but leaving it up to builders to decide how to meet them.

The most powerful incentives, of course, will come from the market itself. Over the past year, sky-high fuel prices have focused minds on efficiency like never before. Ever-increasing pressure to cut costs has finally forced more companies to do some math on their energy use.

Will it be enough? With global demand and emissions rising so fast, we may not have any choice but to try. Efficient technology is here now, proven and cheap. Compared with all other options, it‘s the biggest, easiest and most profitable bang for the buck.

1. What is said to be best way to conserve energy nowadays?

A) Raising efficiency. B) Cutting unnecessary costs..

C) Finding alternative resources. D) Sacrificing some personal comforts. 2. What does the European Union plan to do?

A) Diversify energy supply. B) Cut energy consumption.

C) Reduce carbon emissions. D) Raise production Raise production efficiency.

3. If you add enough insulation to your house, you may be able to _____________. A) improve your work environment B) cut your utility bills by half C) get rid of air-conditioners D) enjoy much better health 4. How much of the power consumed by incandescent bulbs is converted into light?

A) A small portion. B) Some 40 percent. C) Almost half. D) 75 to 80 percent.

5. Some countries have tried to jump-start the market of heat pumps by __________.

A)upgrading the equipment B)encouraging investments C) implementing high-tech

D)providing subsidies

6. German chemicals giant BASF saves ￡200 million a year by ___________.

A) recycling heat and energy B) setting up factories in China

C) using the newest technology D) reducing the CO2 emissions of its plants 7. Global residential power consumption can be cut by 43 percent if ___________. A) we increase the insulation of walls and water pipes B) We choose simpler models of electrical appliances

C) We cut down on the use of refrigerators and other white goods

D) We choose the most efficient models of refrigerators and other white goods 8. Energy service contractors profit by taking a part of clients____________.

9. Many environmentalists maintain the view that conservation has much to do with _____. 10. The strongest incentives for energy conservation will derive from __________.

Part III Listening Comprehension (35 minutes) Section A

11. A) Proceed in his own way. B) Stick to the original plan.

C) Compromise with his colleague. D) Try to change his colleague‘s mind. 12. A) Mary has a keen eye for style. B) Nancy regrets buying the dress.

C) Nancy and Mary went shopping together in Rome. D) Nancy and Mary like to follow the latest fashion.

13. A) Wash the dishes. B) Go to the theatre.

C) Pick up George and Martha. D) Take her daughter to hospital.

14. A) She enjoys making up stories about other people. B) She can never keep anything to herself for long.

C) She is eager to share news with the woman. D) She is the best informed woman in town. 15. A) A car dealer. B) A mechanic C) A driving examiner. D) A technical consultant.

16. A) The shopping mall has been deserted recently. B) Shoppers can only find good stores in the mall.

C) Lots of people moved out of the downtown area. D) There isn‘t much business downtown nowadays.

17. A) He will help the woman with her reading. B) The lounge is not a place for him to study in.

C) He feels sleepy whenever he tries to study. D) A cozy place is rather hard to find on campus.

18. A) To protect her from getting scratches. B) To help relieve her of the pain. C) To prevent mosquito bites. D) To avoid getting sunburnt. Questions 19 to 22 are based on the conversation you have just heard.

19. A) In a studio. B) In a clothing store. C) At a beach resort D) At a fashion show 20. A) To live there permanently. B) To stay there for half a year.

C) To find a better job to support herself. D) To sell leather goods for a British company.

21. A) Designing fashion items for several companies. B) Modeling for a world-famous Italian company.

C) Working as an employee for Ferragamo. D) Serving as a sales agent for Burberrys.

22. A) It has seen a steady decline in its profits. B) It has become much more competitive. C) It has lost many customers to foreign companies. D) It has attracted lot more designers from abroad.

23. A) It helps her to attract more public attention. B) It improves her chance of getting promoted.

C) It strengthens her relationship with students. D) It enables her to understand people better. 24. A) Passively. B) Positively. C) Skeptically. D) Sensitively.

25. A) It keeps haunting her day and night. B) Her teaching was somewhat affected by it. C) It vanishes the moment she steps into her role. D) Her mind goes blank once she gets on the stage. Section B Passage One

Questions 26 to 29 are based on the passage you have just heard.

26. A) To win over the majority of passengers from airlines in twenty years. B) To reform railroad management in western European countries. C) To electrify the railway lines between major European cities. D) To set up an express train network throughout Europe. 27. A) Major European airliner will go bankrupt. B) Europeans will pay much less for traveling.

C) Traveling time by train between major European cities will be cut by half. D) Trains will become the safest and most efficient means of travel in Europe. 28. A) Train travel will prove much more comfortable than air travel. B) Passengers will feel much safer on board a train than on a plane. C) Rail transport will be environmentally friendlier than air transport. D) Traveling by train may be as quick as, or even quicker than, by air.

29. A) In 1981. B) In 1989. C) In 1990. D) In 2000. Passage Two

Questions 30 to 32 are based on the passage you have just heard. 30. A) There can be no speedy recovery for mental patients. B) Approaches to healing patients are essentially the same. C) The mind and body should be taken as an integral whole. D) There is no clear division of labor in the medical profession. 31. A) A doctor‘s fame strengthens the patients‘ faith in them. B) Abuse of medicines is widespread in many urban hospitals.

C) One third of the patients depend on harmless substances for cure. D) A patient‘s expectations of a drug have an effect on their recovery. 32. A) Expensive drugs may not prove the most effective. B) The workings of the mind may help patients recover. C) Doctors often exaggerate the effect of their remedies. D) Most illnesses can be cured without medication. Passage Three

Questions 33 to 35 are based on the passage you have just heard.

33. A) Enjoying strong feelings and emotions. B) Defying all dangers when they have to. C) Being fond of making sensational news. D) Dreaming of becoming famous one day. 34. A) Working in an emergency room. B) Watching horror movies.

C) Listening to rock music. D) Doing daily routines.

35. A) A rock climber. B) A psychologist. C) A resident doctor. D) A career consultant. Section C

If you‘re like most people, you‘ve indulged in fake listening many times. You go to history class, sit in the third row, and look (36) ________ at the instructor as she speaks. But your mind is far away, (37) _______ in the clouds of pleasant daydreams. (38) ________ you come back to earth: the instructor writes an important term on the chalkboard, and you (39) _______ copy it in your notebook. Every once in a while the instructor makes a (40) _________ remark, causing others in the class to laugh. You smile politely, pretending that you‘ve heard the remark and found it mildly (41) ___________. You have a vague sense of (42) ___________ that you aren‘t paying close attention, but you tell yourself that any (43) ________ you miss can be picked up from a friend‘s notes. Besides, (44) _______________________. So back you go into your private little world. Only later do you realize you‘ve missed important information for a test.

Fake listening may be easily exposed, since many speakers are sensitive to facial cues and can tell if you‘re merely pretending to listen. (45) ________________________.

Even if you‘re not exposed, there‘s another reason to avoid fakery; it‘s easy for this behavior to become a habit. For some people, the habit is so deeply rooted that (46) _________________. As a result, they miss lots of valuable information.

Part IV Reading Comprehension (Reading in Depth) (25 minutes) Section A

Questions 47 to 51 are based on the following passage.

Men, these days, are embracing fatherhood with the round-the-clock involvement their partners have always dreamed of –handling night feedings, packing lunches and bandaging knees. But unlike women, many find they‘re negotiating their new roles with little support or information. “Men in my generation (aged 25-40) have a fear of becoming dads because we have no role models,” says Jon Smith, a writer. They often find themselves excluded from mothers’ support networks, and are eyed warily (警觉地) on the playground.

The challenge is particularly evident in the work—place. There, men are still expected to be breadwinners climbing the corporate ladder; traditionally-minded bosses are often unsympathetic to family needs. In Denmark most new fathers only take two weeks of paternity leave (父亲的陪产假)—even though they are allowed 34 days. As much as if not more so than women, fathers struggle to be taken seriously when they request flexible arrangements.

Though Wilfried-Fritz Maring, 54, a data-bank and Internet specialist with German firm FIZ Karlsruhe, feels that the time he spends with his daughter outweighs any disadvantages, he admits, ―With my decision to work from home I dismissed any opportunity for promotion.‖

Mind-sets (思维定势) are changing gradually. When Maring had a daughter, the company equipped him with a home office and allowed him to choose a job that could be performed from there. Danish telecom company TDC initiated an internal campaign last year to encourage dads to take paternity leave: 97 percent now do. ―When an employee goes on paternity leave and is with his kids, he gets a new kind of training: in how to keep cool under stress,‖ says spokesperson Christine Elberg Holm. For a new generation of dads, kids may come before the company –but it‘s a shift that benefits both. 47. Unlike women, men often get little support or information from ______________. 48. Besides supporting the family, men were also expected to ________.

49. Like women, men hope that their desire for a flexible schedule will be _____________.

50. When Maring was on paternity leave, he was allowed by his company to work___________.

51. Christine Holm believes paternity leave provides a new kind of training for men in that it can help them cope with _____________. Section B Passage One

Questions 52 to 56 are based on the following passage.

Like most people, I‘ve long understood that I will be judged by my occupation, that my profession is a gauge people use to see how smart or talented I am. Recently, however, I was disappointed to see that it also decides how I‘m treated as a person.

Last year I left a professional position as a small-town reporter and took a job waiting tables. As someone paid to serve food to people. I had customers say and do things to me I suspect they‘d never say or do to their most casual acquaintances. One night a man talking on his cell phone waved me away, then beckoned (示意) me back with his finger a minute later, complaining he was ready to order and asking where I’d been.

I had waited tables during summers in college and was treated like a peon(勤杂工) by plenty of people. But at 19 years old. I believed I deserved inferior treatment from professional adults. Besides, people responded to me differently after I told them I was in college. Customers would joke that one day I‘d be sitting at their table, waiting to be served.

Once I graduated I took a job at a community newspaper. From my first day, I heard a respectful tone from everyone who called me. I assumed this was the way the professional world worked-cordially. I soon found out differently, I sat several feet away from an advertising sales representative with a similar name. Our calls would often get mixed up and someone asking for Kristen would be transferred to Christie. The mistake was immediately evident. Perhaps it was because money was involved, but people used a tone with Kristen that they never used with me.

My job title made people treat me with courtesy. So it was a shock to return to the restaurant industry. It‘s no secret that there‘s a lot to put up with when waiting tables, and fortunately, much of it can be easily forgotten when you pocket the tips. The service industry, by definition, exists to cater to others‘ needs. Still, it seemed that many of my customers didn‘t get the difference between server and servant. I‘m now applying to graduate school, which means someday I‘ll return to a profession where people need to be nice to me in order to get what they want. I think I‘ll take them to dinner first, and see how they treat someone whose only job is to serve them.

52. The author was disappointed to find that ___________________. A) one‘s position is used as a gauge to measure one‘s intelligence. B) talented people like her should fail to get a respectable job C) one‘s occupation affects the way one is treated as a person D) professionals tend to look down upon manual workers

53. What does the author intend to say by the example in the second paragraph? A) Some customers simply show no respect to those who serve them. B) People absorbed in a phone conversation tend to be absent-minded. C) Waitresses are often treated by customers as casual acquaintances. D) Some customers like to make loud complaints for no reason at all. 54. How did the author feel when waiting tables at the age of 19? A) She felt it unfair to be treated as a mere servant by professionals.

2056 because the tools for finding it, such as optical and radio detection and data processing,are improving.

He ays:‖As soon as the first evidence is found,we will know what to look for and additional discoveries are likely to follow quickly.Such discoveries are likely to have revolutionary consequences for biology, astronomy and philosophy. They may change the way we look at ourselves and our place in the universe.

Colonies in space

Richard Gottprofessor of astrophysics at Princeton,hopes man will set up a self-sufficient colony on Mars,which would be a ―life insurance policy against whatever catastrophes,natural or otherwise,might occur on Earth.

“The real space race is whether we will colonise off Earth on to other worlds before money for the space programme runs out.‖

Spinal injuries

Ellen Heber-Katz,a professor at the Wistar Institude in Philadelphia,foresees cures for inijuries causing paralysis such as the one that afflicated Superman star Christopher Reeve.

She says:”I believe that the day is not far off when we will be able to profescribe drugs that cause severes(断裂的) spinal cords to heal,hearts to regenerate and lost limbs to regrow.

“People will come to expect that injured or diseased organs are meant to be repaired from within,inmuch the same way that we fix an appliance or automobile:by replancing the damaged part with a manufacturer-certified new part.‖She predict that within 5 to 10 years fingers and toes will be regrown and limbs will start to be regrown a few years later. Reparies to the nervous system will start with optic nerves and,in time,the spinal cord.‖Within 50years whole body replacement will be routine,‖Prof.Heber-Katz adds.

Obesity

Sydney Brenner,senior distinguished fellow of the Crick-Jacobs Center in California,won the 2002 Noblel Prize for Medicine and says that if there is a global disaster some humans will survive-and evolition will favour small people with bodies large enough to support the required amount of brain power.‖Obesity,‖he says.‖will have been solved.‖

Robots

Rodney Brooks,professor of robotice at MIT,says the problems of developing artificial intelligence for robots will be at least partly overcome.As a result,‖the possibilities for robots working with people will open up immensely‖

Energy

Bill Joy,green technology expert in Califomia,says:‖The most significant breakthrought would be to have an inexhaustible source of safe,green energy that is substantially cheaper than any existing energy

source.‖

Ideally,such a source would be safe in that it could not be made into weapons and would not make hazardous or toxic waste or carbon dioxide,the main greenhouse gas blamed for global warming.

Society

Geoffrey Miller,evolutionary psychologist at the University of New Mexico,says:”The US will follow the UKin realizing that religion is nor a prerequisite (前提)for ordinary human decency.

“This,science will kill religion-not by reason challenging faith but by offering a more practical,uniwersal and rewarding moral frameworkfor human interaction.‖

He also predicts that ―ahsurdly wasteful‖displays of wealth will become umfashionable while the importance of close-knit communities and families will become clearer.

These there changer,he says,will help make us all‖brighe\\ter,wiser,happier and kinder‖.

注意：此部分试题请在答题卡1上作答。

1.What is john lngham‘s report about? A)A solution to the global energy crisis B)Extraordinary advances in technology.

C)The latest developments of medical science D)Scientists‘vision of the world in halfa century

2. According to Harvard professor Steven Pinker,predictions about the future_____. A)may invite trouble B)may not come true

C)will fool the public D)do more harm than good

3. Professor Bruce Lahn of the University of Chicago predicts that____. A)humans won‘t have to donate organs for transplantation B)more people will donate their organs for transplantation C)animal organs could be transplanted into human bodies D)organ transplantation won‘t be as scary as it is today

4. According to professor Richard Miller of the University of Michigarr, prople will____. A)life for as long as they wish B)be relieved from all sufferings C) life to 100 and more with vitality D)be able to live longer than whales

5.Priceton professor Freeman Syson thinks that____. A)scientists will find alien life similar to ours B)humans will be able to settle on Mars C)alien life will likely be discovered D)life will start to evolve on Mars

6.According to Princeton professor Richard Gott,by setting up a self-sufficient colony on Mars,

Humans_____.

A)Might survie allcatastrophes on earth B)Might acquire ample natural resources C)Will be able to travel to Mars freely D)Will mo\\ve there to live a better life

7.Ellen Heber-Katz, professor at the Wistar Institue in Philadelpia,predicts that_____. A)human organs can bu manufactured like appliances B)people will be as strong and dymamic as supermen C) human nerves can be replanced by optic fibers D)lost fingers and limbs will be able to regrow

8.rodney Brooks says that it will be possible for robots to work with humans as a result or the development of__artificaial intelligence for robots_____

9. The most significant breakthrough predicted by Bill joy will be an inexhaustible green energy source that can‘t be used to make__pollutions___________

10 According to Geoffrey Miller, science will offer a more practical, universal and rewarding moral framework in place of _________religion_______

Part III Listening Comprehension (35minutes)

听力部分试题略

Part IV Reading Comprehension (Reading in Depth) (25 minutes)

Section A

Directions: In this section, there is a short passage with 5 questions or incomplete statements. Read the passage carefully. Then answer the questions or complete the statements in the fewest possible words. Please write our answers on Answer Sheet 2

Questions 47 to 51 are based on the following passage.

if movie trailers(预告片)are supposed to cause a reaction, the preview for \93\more than succeeds. Featuring no famous actors, it begins with images of a beautiful morning and passengers boarding an airplane. It takes you a minute to realize what the movie's even about. That’s when a plane hits the World Trade Center. the effect is visceral(震撼心灵的). When the trailer played before \Man\City, the response was even more dramatic. The Loews theater in Manhattan took the rare step of pulling the trailer from its screens after several complaints.

\the first feature film to deal explicitly with the events of September 11, 2001, and is certain to ignite an emotional debate. Is it too soon? Should the film have been made at all? More to the point, will anyone want to see it? Other 9/11 projects are on the way as the fifth anniversary of the attacks approaches, most notably Oliver Stone's \

93\

The real United 93 crashed in a Pennsylvania field after 40 passengers and crew fought back against the terrorists. Writer-director Paul Greengrass has gone to great lengths to be respectful in his depiction of what occurred, proceeding with the film only after securing the approval of every victim's family. \I surprised at the agreement? Yes. Very. Usually there‘re one or two families who're more reluctant,\Greengrass writes in an e-mail. \welcomed us into their lives and shared their experiences with us.\says, \were very open and honest with us, and they made us a part of this whole project.\Universal, which is releasing the film, plans to donate 10% of its opening weekend gross to the Flight 93 National Memorial Fund. That hasn't stopped criticism that the studio is exploiting a national tragedy. O'Hare thinks that's unfair. \story has to be told to honor the passengers and crew for what they did,\aren't secure. Our airlines still aren't secure, and this is what happens when you're not secure. That‘s the message I want people to hear.\

注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答

47. The trailer for \93\succeeded in causing a reaction when it played in the theaters in Hollywood and New York City.

48. The movie \

49. What did writer-director Paul Greengrass obtain before he proceeded with the movie? the approval of every victim‘s family

50. Universal, which is releasing \

51. Carole O‘Hare thinks that besides honoring the passengers and crew for what they did, the purpose of telling the story is to raise the awareness about security.

Section B

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 thought the centre.

Passage One

Questions 52 to 56 are based on the following passage.

Imagine waking up and finding the value of your assets has been halved. No, you‘re not an investor in one of those hedge funds that failed completely. With the dollar slumping to a 26-year low against the pound, already-expensive London has become quite unaffordable. A coffee at Starbucks, just as unavoidable in England as it is in the United States, runs about $8.

The once all-powerful dollar isn‘t doing a Titanic against just the pound. It is sitting at a record low against the euro and at a 30-year low against the Canadian dollar. Even the Argentine peso and Brazilian real are thriving against the dollar.

The weak dollar is a source of humiliation, for a nation‘s self-esteem rests in part on the strength of its currency. It‘s also a potential economic problem, since a declining dollar makes imported food more expensive and exerts upward pressure on interest rates. And yet there are substantial sectors of the vast

U.S. economy-from giant companies like Coca-Cola to mom-and-pop restaurant operators in Miami-for which the weak dollar is most excellent news.

Many Europeans may view the U.S. as an arrogant superpower that has become hostile to foreigners. But nothing makes people think more warmly of the U.S. than a weak dollar. Through April, the total number of visitors from abroad was up 6.8 percent from last year. Should the trend continue, the number of tourists this year will finally top the 2000 peak? Many Europeans now apparently view the U.S. the way many Americans view Mexico-as a cheap place to vacation, shop and party, all while ignoring the fact that the poorer locals can‘t afford to join the merrymaking.

The money tourists spend helps decrease our chronic trade deficit. So do exports, which thanks in part to the weak dollar, soared 11 percent between May 2006 and May 2007. For first five months of 2007, the trade deficit actually fell 7 percent from 2006.

If you own shares in large American corporations, you‘re a winner in the weak-dollar gamble. Last week Coca-Cola‘s stick bubbled to a five-year high after it reported a fantastic quarter. Foreign sales accounted for 65 percent of Coke‘s beverage business. Other American companies profiting from this trend include McDonald‘s and IBM.

American tourists, however, shouldn‘t expect any relief soon. The dollar lost strength the way many marriages break up- slowly, and then all at once. And currencies don‘t turn on a dime. So if you want to avoid the pain inflicted by the increasingly pathetic dollar, cancel that summer vacation to England and look to New England. There, the dollar is still treated with a little respect.

注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。

52. Why do Americans feel humiliated?

A) Their economy is plunging B) They can‘t afford trips to Europe C) Their currency has slumped D) They have lost half of their assets.

53.How does the current dollar affect the life of ordinary Americans? They have to cancel their vacations in New England.

They find it unaffordable to dine in mom-and-pop restaurants. They have to spend more money when buying imported goods. They might lose their jobs due to potential economic problems.

54 How do many Europeans feel about the U.S with the devalued dollar? They feel contemptuous of it They are sympathetic with it.

They regard it as a superpower on the decline. They think of it as a good tourist destination.

55 what is the author‘s advice to Americans? They treat the dollar with a little respect They try to win in the weak-dollar gamble They vacation at home rather than abroad They treasure their marriages all the more.

56 What does the author imply by saying ―currencies don‘t turn on a dime‖ (Line 2,Para 7)? The dollar‘s value will not increase in the short term. The value of a dollar will not be reduced to a dime The dollar‘s value will drop, but within a small margin. Few Americans will change dollars into other currencies.

Passage Two

Questions 57 to 61 are based on the following passage.

In the college-admissions wars, we parents are the true fights. We are pushing our kids to get good grades, take SAT preparatory courses and build resumes so they can get into the college of our first choice. I‘ve twice been to the wars, and as I survey the battlefield, something different is happening. We see our kids’ college background as e prize demonstrating how well we’ve raised them. But we can’t acknowledge that our obsession(痴迷) is more about us than them. So we’ve contrived various justifications that turn out to be half-truths, prejudices or myths. It actually doesn‘t matter much whether Aaron and Nicole go to Stanford.

We have a full-blown prestige panic; we worry that there won’t be enough prizes to go around. Fearful parents urge their children to apply to more schools than ever. Underlying the hysteria(歇斯底里) is the belief that scarce elite degrees must be highly valuable. Their graduates must enjoy more success because they get a better education and develop better contacts. All that is plausible——and mostly wrong. We haven‘t found any convincing evidence that selectivity or prestige matters. Selective schools don‘t systematically employ better instructional approaches than less selective schools. On two measures——professors‘ feedback and the number of essay exams——selective schools do slightly worse.

By some studies, selective schools do enhance their graduates’ lifetime earnings. The gain is reckoned at 2-4% for every 100-poinnt increase in a school’s average SAT scores. But even this advantage is probably a statistical fluke(偶然). A well-known study examined students who got into highly selective schools and then went elsewhere. They earned just as much as graduates from higher-status schools. Kids count more than their colleges.Getting into yale may signify intellgence,talent and Ambition. But it‘s not the only indicator and,paradoxically,its significance is declining.The reason:so many similar people go elsewhere.Getting into college is not life only competiton.Old-boy networks are breaking down.princeton economist Alan Krueger studied admissions to one top Ph.D.program.High scores on the GRE helpd explain who got in;degrees of prestigious universities didn‘t.

So,parents,lighten up.the stakes have been vastly exaggerated.up to a point,we can rationalize our pushiness.America is a competitive society;our kids need to adjust to that.but too much pushiness can be destructive.the very ambition we impose on our children may get some into Harvard but may also set them up for disappointment.one study found that,other things being equal,graduates of highly selective schools experienced more job dissatisfaction.They may have been so conditioned to deing on top that anything less disappoints.

注意 此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。

57.Why dose the author say that parengs are the true fighters in the college-admissions wars? A.They have the final say in which university their children are to attend. B.They know best which universities are most suitable for their children.

C.they have to carry out intensive surveys of colleges before children make an application. D.they care more about which college their children go to than the children themselves.

58.Why do parents urge their children to apply to more school than ever?

A.they want to increase their children chances of entering a prestigious college. B.they hope their children can enter a university that offers attractive scholarships. C.Their children eill have have a wider choice of which college to go to. D.Elite universities now enroll fewer syudent than they used to.

59.What does the author mean by kids count more than their college(Line1,para.4? A.Continuing education is more important to a person success. B.A person happiness should be valued more than their education.

C.Kids actual abilities are more importang than their college background. D.What kids learn at college cannot keep up with job market requirements.

60.What does Krueger study tell us?

A.GETting into Ph.d.programs may be more competitive than getting into college. B.Degrees of prestigious universities do not guarantee entry to graduate programs. C.Graduates from prestigious universities do not care much about their GRE scores. D.Connections built in prestigious universities may be sustained long after graduation.

61.One possible result of pushing children into elite universities is that______ A.they earb less than their peers from other institutions B.they turn out to be less competitive in the job market C.they experience more job dissatisfaction after graduation D.they overemphasize their qualifications in job application

Part V Cloze

Directions: there are 20 blanks in the following passage. For each blank there are four choices marked A),B),C), and D) on the right side of the paper. You should choose the ONE that best fits into the passage. Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.

Seven years ago, when I was visiting Germany, I Met with an official who explained to me that the country had a perfect solution to its economic problems. Watching the U.S. economy ___62___ during the ?90s, the Germans had decided that they, too, needed to go the high-technology ___63___. But how? In the late ?90s, the answer schemed obvious. Indians. ___64___ all, Indian entrepreneurs accounted for one of every three Silicon Valley start-ups. So the German government decided that it would ___65___ Indians to Term any just as America does by ___66___ green cards. Officials created something called the German Green Card and ___67___ that they would issue 20,000 in the first year. ___68___, the Germans expected that tens of thousands more Indians would soon be begging to come, and perhaps the ___69___ would have to be increased. But the program was a failure. A year later ___70___ half of the 20,000 cards had been issued. After a few extensions, the program was ___71___. I told the German official at the time that I was sure the ___72___ would fail. It‘s not that I had any particular expertise in immigration policy, ___73___ I understood something about green cards, because I had one (the American ___74___). The German Green

Card was mismand,I argued,__75__it never,under any circumtances,translated into German citizenship.The U.S.green card,by contrast,is an almost__76__path to becoming American (after five years and a clean record).The official__77__my objection,saying that there was no way Germany was going to offer these peoplecitizenship.‖we need young tach workers,‖he said.‖that‘s what this pro-gram is all __78__.‖so Germany was asking bright young__79__to leavetheir country,culture and families,move thousands of miles away,learn a new language and work in a strange land—but without any__80__of ever being part of their new home.Germany was senging a signal, one that was ___81___ received in India and other countries, and also by Germany‘s own immigrant community.

62. A) soar C) amplify B) hover D) intensify 63. A) circuit C) trait B) strategy D) route 64. A) Of C) In B) After D) At

65. A) import C) convey B) kidnap D) lure

66. A) offering C) evacuating B) installing D) formulating 67. A) conferred C) announced B) inferred D) verified

68. A) Specially C) Particularly B) Naturally D) Consistently 69. A) quotas C) measures B) digits D) scales 70. A) invariably C) barely B) literally D) solely 71. A) repelled C) combated B) deleted D) abolished 72. A) adventure C) initiative B) response D) impulse 73. A) and C) so B) but D) or

74. A) heritage C) notion B) revision D) version 75 A)because B)unless C)if D)while

76 A)aggressive B)automatic C)vulnerable D)voluntary 77 A)overtook B)fascinated C)submitted D)dismissed 78 A)towards B)round C)about D)over

79 A)dwellers B)citizens C)professionals D)amateurs 80 A)prospect B)suspicion C)outcome D)destination 81 A)partially B)clearly C)brightly D)vividly

Part VI Translation

Directions: Complete the sentences by translating into English the Chinese given in brackets. Please write your translation on Answer Sheet 2

注意:此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答,只需写出译文部分

82. We can say a lot of things about those who have spent their whole lives on poems (毕生致力于诗歌的人): they are passionate, impulsive, and unique.

83. Mary couldn’t have received my letter, or she should have replied to me last week (否则她上周就该回信了).

84. Nancy is supposed to have finished her chemistry experiments (做完化学实验) at least two weeks ago.

85. Never once has the old couple quarreled with each other (老两口互相争吵) since they were married 40 years ago.

86. The prosperity of a nation is largely dependent upon (一个国家未来的繁荣在很大程度上有赖于)

the quality of education of its people

2008年6月英语六级A卷完整答案

Part 1 Writing 范文一

Recent decades have seen the rapid development of information technology, and thereby E-books have wound their way into our daily life. Because of the wide and quick popularity of E-books, there has been an increasing controversy over the question of whether E-books will replace traditional books or not.

Many people hold the idea that it will not take long for E-books to replace traditional books because E-books have quite a few advantages over traditional ones. First, E-books are more accessible to readers, because the readers just need to log onto the internet and read online. Second, thanks to the advanced technology, the cost of E-books is much lower, so it takes readers far less money to buy E-books. Last but not the least, reading E-books has developed into part of our daily life, which is particularly appealing to young users, who are the body part of the users of electronic products.

As far as I‘m concerned, it is not likely for E-books to replace traditional books for lots of reasons. For example, long time of reading E-books will do more harm to our eyes, and readers will find themselves more accessible to printed materials because computers and the internet haven‘t yet been popularized to every corner of our life.

范文二

E-books, or electronic books, have the same information and need the same reading experience as the traditional books, which you actually hold in your hands. E-books have so many benefits that they will replace traditional books.

E-books can be created on a shoestring budget while the authors of traditional books will have to overcome a tough sales target before they even consider making a profit on the book. E-books are quicker to create because they could be written and published in as little as a week while the time span between starting a traditional book and writing it could take around a year or two. E-books are easier to target a wide market because they may be sold on the Internet to anyone with a credit card and an Internet connection in any place in the world, while with a traditional book it may be difficult to expand to new markets, since it will involve further significant costs on distribution and marketing.

To conclude, E-books are a very valuable tool that could be used as a profit centre, as a publishing tool or as a marketing tool. They have many advantages over the traditional books. E-books will replace traditional books.

Part 2 Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning) 1. D) Scientists‘ vision of the world in half a century. 2. B) may not come true

3. A) humans won‘t have to donate organs for transplantation 4. C) live to 100 and more with vitality 5. C) alien life will likely be discovered

6. A ) might survive all catastrophes on earth

7. D) lost fingers and limbs will be able to regrow 8. artificial intelligence

9. weapons 10. religion

Part 3 Listening Comprehension Section A

11. D) The man is a fan of world-famous football players. 12. D) Solve his problem by doing a part-time job. 13. C) A real nuisance.

14. A) The errors will be corrected soon. 15. B) He has to type his paper once more. 16. A) They might have to change their plan. 17. D) They are not late for a loan application.

18. C) The quality of air will surely change for the better. 19. B) Numerous varieties of food. 20. B) A world of antiques.

21. D) It generates 70% of the electricity it uses. 22. B) 30,000

23. C) Thinking about doing a different job.

24. A) She has finally got a promotion and a pay raise. 25. B) He changed his mind about marriage unexpectedly.

Section B

Passage 1

26. D) They are getting more popular as a means of water recreation. 27. A) Water scooter operators lack of experience. 28. B) They produce too much noise. 29. D) Enforce necessary regulations.

Passage 2

30. D) They are changing.

31. B) Not many of them stay in the same place for long. 32. C) Keep a friendly distance.

Passage 3

33. D) It may lead to a lack of properly educated workers. 34. B) It affects both junior and senior high schools. 35. C) Rewarding excellent academic performance.

Section C

36. survive 39. whereby 37. complicated 40. incurring 38. offenders 41. influence

42. serving 43. restore

44. The alternative to capital punishment is longer sentences. But they would certainly cost the tax payers much money.

45. that does not mean that person isn't guilty of the crime, or that he shouldn't pay society the debt he owes.

46. a large part of it in prison for acts that he committed while not in full control of his mind.

Part 4 Reading in Depth Section A

47. causing a reaction 48. an emotional debate

49. The approval of every victim‘s family 50. exploiting a national tragedy 51. raise awareness Section B Passage 1

52. B) Their currency has slumped.

53. C) They have to spend more money when buying imported goods. 54. D) They think of it as a good tourist destination. 55. C) They vacation at home rather than abroad.

56. A) The dollar‘s value will not increase in the short term.

Passage 2

57. D) They care more about which college their children go to than the children themselves. 58. A) They want to increase their children‘s chances of entering a prestigious college. 59. C) Kid‘s actual abilities are more important than their college backgrounds.

60. B) Degrees of prestigious universities do not guarantee entry to graduate programs. 61. C) they experience more job dissatisfaction after graduation

Part 5 Cloze 62. A) soar 72. C) initiative 63. D) route 73. B) but 64. A) Of 74. D) version 65. A) import 75. A) because 66. A) offering 76. B) automatic 67. C) announced 77. D) dismissed 68. D) Consistently 78. C) about 69. A) quotas 79. C) professionals 70. C) barely 80. A) prospect 71. D) abolished 81. B) clearly

Part 6 Translation

82. We can say a lot of things about those who are devoted to poems in their whole lives (毕生致力于诗歌的人): they are passionate, impulsive and unique.

83. Mary couldn’t have received my letter, or she should have made a reply last week. (否则她上周就

该回信了).

84. Nancy is supposed to have finished her chemistry experiment(做完化学实验) at least two weeks ago.

85. Never once has the old couple quarreled with each other (老两口相互争吵)since they were married 40 years ago.

86. The prosperity of a nation depends largely on (一个国家未来的繁荣在很大程度上有赖于) the quality of education.

2009年12月大学英语六级考试真题及答案

Part Ⅰ Writing (30 minutes)

Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay entitled Should Parents Send Their Kids to Art Classes? You should write at least 150 words following the outline given below. 1. 现在有不少家长送孩子参加各种艺术班

2. 对这种做法有人表示支持，也有人并不赞成 3. 我认为??

Should Parents Send Their Kids to Art Classes?

Part ⅡReading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning) (15 minutes)

Directions: In this part, you will have 15 minutes to go over the passage quickly and answer the questions on Answer Sheet 1. For questions 1-7, choose the best answer from the four choices marked A), B), C) and D). For questions 8-10, complete the sentences with the information given in the passage.

Bosses Say ―Yes‖ to Home Work

Rising costs of office space, time lost to stressful commuting, and a slow recognition that workers have lives beyond the office—all are strong arguments for letting staff work from home.

For the small business, there are additional benefits too—staff are more productive, and happier, enabling firms to keep their headcounts (员工数) and their recruitment costs to a minimum. It can also provide competitive advantage, especially when small businesses want to attract new staff but don‘t have the budget to offer huge salaries.

While company managers have known about the benefits for a long time, many have done little about it, sceptical of whether they could trust their employees to work to full capacity without supervision, or concerned about the additional expenses teleworking policies might incur as staff start charging their home phone bills to the business.

Yet this is now changing. When communications provider Inter-Tel researched the use of remote working solutions among small-and-medium-sized UK businesses in April this year, it found that 28% more companies claimed to have introduced flexible working practices than a year ago.

The UK network of Business Links confirms that it too has seen a growing interest in remote working solutions from small businesses seeking its advice, and claims that as many as 60-70% of the businesses that come through its doors now offer some form of remote working support to their workforces.

Technology advances, including the widespread availability of broadband, are making the introduction of remote working a piece of cake.

―If systems are set up properly, staff can have access to all the resources they have in the office wherever they have an internet connection,‖ says Andy Poulton, e-business advisor at Business Link

for Berkshire and Wiltshire. ―There are some very exciting developments which have enabled this.‖

One is the availability of broadband everywhere, which now covers almost all of the country (BT claims that, by July, 99.8% of its exchanges will be broadband enabled, with alternative plans in place for even the most remote exchanges). ―This is the enabler,‖ Poulton says.

Yet while broadband has come down in price too, those service providers targeting the business market warn against consumer services masquerading (伪装) as business-friendly broadband.

―Broadband is available for as little as ￡15 a month, but many businesses fail to appreciate the hidden costs of such a service,‖ says Neil Stephenson, sales and marketing director at Onyx Internet, an internet service provider based in the north-east of England. ―Providers offering broadband for rock-bottom prices are notorious for poor service, with regular breakdowns and heavily congested (拥堵的) networks. It is always advisable for businesses to look beyond the price tag and look for a business-only provider that can offer more reliability, with good support.‖ Such services don‘t cost too much—quality services can be found for upwards of ￡30 a month.

The benefits of broadband to the occasional home worker are that they can access email in real time, and take full advantage of services such as internet-based backup or even internet-based phone services.

Internet-based telecoms, or VoIP (Voice over IP) to give it its technical title, is an interesting tool to any business supporting remote working. Not necessarily because of the promise of free or reduced price phone calls (which experts point out is misleading for the average business), but because of the sophisticated voice services that can be exploited by the remote worker—facilities such as voicemail and call forwarding, which provide a continuity of the company image for customers and business partners.

By law, companies must ―consider seriously‖ requests to work flexibly made by a parent with a child under the age of six, or a disabled child under 18. It was the need to accommodate employees with young children that motivated accountancy firm Wright Vigar to begin promoting teleworking recently. The company, which needed to upgrade its IT infrastructure (基础设施) to provide connectivity with a new, second office, decided to introduce support for remote working at the same time.

Marketing director Jack O‘Hern explains that the company has a relatively young workforce, many of whom are parents: ―One of the triggers was when one of our tax managers returned from maternity leave. She was intending to work part time, but could only manage one day a week in the office due to childcare. By offering her the ability to work from home, we have doubled her capacity—now she works a day a week from home, and a day in the office. This is great for her, and for us as we retain someone highly qualified.‖

For Wright Vigar, which has now equipped all of its fee-earners to be able to work at maximum productivity when away from the offices (whether that‘s from home, or while on the road), this strategy is not just about saving on commute time or cutting them loose from the office, but enabling them to work more flexible hours that fit around their home life.

O‘Hern says: ―Although most of our work is client-based and must fit around this, we can‘t see any reason why a parent can‘t be on hand to deal with something important at home, if they have the ability to complete a project later in the day.‖

Supporting this new way of working came with a price, though. Although the firm was updating its systems anyway, the company spent 10-15% more per user to equip them with a laptop rather than a PC, and about the same to upgrade to a server that would enable remote staff to connect to the company networks and access all their usual resources.

Although Wright Vigar hasn‘t yet quantified the business benefits, it claims that, in addition to being able to retain key staff with young families, it is able to save fee-earners a substantial amount of ―dead‖ time in their working days.

That staff can do this without needing a fixed telephone line provides even more efficiency savings. ―With Wi-Fi (fast, wireless internet connections) popping up all over the place, even on trains, our fee-earners can be productive as they travel, and between meetings, instead of having to kill time at the shops,‖ he adds.

The company will also be able to avoid the expense of having to relocate staff to temporary offices for several weeks when it begins disruptive office renovations soon.

Financial recruitment specialist Lynne Hargreaves knows exactly how much her firm has saved by adopting a teleworking strategy, which has involved handing her company‘s data management over to a remote hosting company, Datanet, so it can be accessible by all the company‘s consultants over broadband internet connections.

It has enabled the company to dispense with its business premises altogether, following the realisation that it just didn‘t need them any more. ―The main motivation behind adopting home working was to increase my own productivity, as a single mum to an 11-year-old,‖ says Hargreaves. ―But I soon realised that, as most of our business is done on the phone, email and at off-site meetings, we didn‘t need our offices at all. We‘re now saving ￡16,000 a year on rent, plus the cost of utilities, not to mention what would have been spent on commuting.‖ 1. What is the main topic of this passage?

A) How business managers view hi-tech.

B) Relations between employers and employees. C) How to cut down the costs of small businesses. D) Benefits of the practice of teleworking.

2. From the research conducted by the communications provider Inter-Tel, we learn that .

A) more employees work to full capacity at home

B) employees show a growing interest in small businesses C) more businesses have adopted remote working solutions D) attitudes toward IT technology have changed

3. What development has made flexible working practices possible according to Andy Poulton?

A) Reduced cost of telecommunications. B) Improved reliability of internet service. C) Availability of the VoIP service. D) Access to broadband everywhere.

4. What is Neil Stephenson‘s advice to firms contracting internet services?

A) They look for reliable business-only providers. B) They contact providers located nearest to them. C) They carefully examine the contract. D) They contract the cheapest provider.

5. Internet-based telecoms facilitates remote working by __________.

A) offering sophisticated voice services B) giving access to emailing in real time C) helping clients discuss business at home D) providing calls completely free of charge

6. The accountancy firm Wright Vigar promoted teleworking initially in order to __________.

7.

8. 9. 10.

A) present a positive image to prospective customers B) support its employees with children to take care of C) attract young people with IT expertise to work for it D) reduce operational expenses of a second office

According to marketing director Jack O‘Hern, teleworking enabled the company to __________. A) enhance its market image B) reduce recruitment costs C) keep highly qualified staff D) minimise its office space

Wright Vigar‘s practice of allowing for more flexible working hours not only benefits the company but helps improve employees‘ .

With fast, wireless internet connections, employees can still be __________ while traveling. Single mother Lynne Hargreaves decided to work at home mainly to __________.

Part Ⅲ Listening Comprehension (35 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 2 with a single line through the centre. 11. A) They would rather travel around than stay at home.

B) They prefer to carry cash when traveling abroad. C) They usually carry many things around with them. D) They don‘t like to spend much money on traveling. 12. A) The selection process was a little unfair.

B) He had long dreamed of the dean‘s position. C) Rod was eliminated in the selection process. D) Rod was in charge of the admissions office. 13. A) Applause encourages the singer.

B) She regrets paying for the concert. C) Almost everyone loves pop music. D) The concert is very impressive.

14. A) They have known each other since their schooldays.

B) They were both chairpersons of the Students‘ Union. C) They have been in close touch by email. D) They are going to hold a reunion party. 15. A) Cook their dinner.

B) Rest for a while. C) Get their car fixed. D) Stop for the night.

16. A) Newly-launched products.

B) Consumer preferences. C) Survey results. D) Survey methods.

17. A) He would rather the woman didn‘t buy the blouse.

B) The woman needs blouses in the colors of a rainbow. C) The information in the catalog is not always reliable. D) He thinks the blue blouse is better than the red one. 18. A) The course is open to all next semester.

B) The notice may not be reliable. C) The woman has not told the truth. D) He will drop his course in marketing.

Questions 19 to 22 are based on the conversation you have just heard. 19. A) A director of a sales department.

B) A manager at a computer store. C) A sales clerk at a shopping center. D) An accountant of a computer firm. 20. A) Handling customer complaints.

B) Recruiting and training new staff. C) Dispatching ordered goods on time. D) Developing computer programs.

21. A) She likes something more challenging.

B) She likes to be nearer to her parents. C) She wants to have a better-paid job. D) She wants to be with her husband. 22. A) Right away.

B) In two months. C) Early next month. D) In a couple of days.

Questions 23 to 25 are based on the conversation you have just heard. 23. A) It will face challenges unprecedented in its history.

B) It is a resolute advocate of the anti-global movement. C) It is bound to regain its full glory of a hundred years ago. D) It will be a major economic power by the mid-21st century. 24. A) The lack of overall urban planning.

B) The huge gap between the haves and have-nots. C) The inadequate supply of water and electricity. D) The shortage of hi-tech personnel.

25. A) They attach great importance to education.

B) They are able to grasp growth opportunities. C) They are good at learning from other nations. D) They have made use of advanced technologies. 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 2 with a single line through the centre.

Passage One

Questions 26 to 29 are based on the passage you have just heard. 26. A) She taught chemistry and microbiology courses in a college.

B) She gave lectures on how to become a public speaker. C) She helped families move away from industrial polluters. D) She engaged in field research on environmental pollution. 27. A) The job restricted her from revealing her findings.

B) The job posed a potential threat to her health. C) She found the working conditions frustrating.

D) She was offered a better job in a minority community. 28. A) Some giant industrial polluters have gone out of business.

B) More environmental organizations have appeared. C) Many toxic sites in America have been cleaned up. D) More branches of her company have been set up.

29. A) Her widespread influence among members of Congress.

B) Her ability to communicate through public speaking. C) Her rigorous training in delivering eloquent speeches. D) Her lifelong commitment to domestic and global issues.

Passage Two

Questions 30 to 32 are based on the passage you have just heard. 30. A) The fierce competition in the market.

B) The growing necessity of staff training. C) The accelerated pace of globalisation. D) The urgent need of a diverse workforce.

31. A) Gain a deep understanding of their own culture.

B) Take courses of foreign languages and cultures. C) Share the experiences of people from other cultures. D) Participate in international exchange programmes. 32. A) Reflective thinking is becoming critical.

B) Labor market is getting globalised.

C) Knowing a foreign language is essential. D) Globalisation will eliminate many jobs.

Passage Three

Questions 33 to 35 are based on the passage you have just heard. 33. A) Red-haired women were regarded as more reliable.

B) Brown-haired women were rated as more capable. C) Golden-haired women were considered attractive. D) Black-haired women were judged to be intelligent. 34. A) They are smart and eloquent.

B) They are ambitious and arrogant. C) They are shrewd and dishonest. D) They are wealthy and industrious.

35. A) They force people to follow the cultural mainstream.

B) They exaggerate the roles of certain groups of people. C) They emphasize diversity at the expense of uniformity.

D) They hinder our perception of individual differences. 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 numbered from 36 to 43 with the exact words you have just heard. For blanks numbered from 44 to 46 you are required to fill in the missing information. For these blanks, you can either use the exact words you have just heard or write down the main points in your own words. Finally, when the passage is read for the third time, you should check what you have written.

The ancient Greeks developed basic memory systems called mnemonics. The name is 大36家 from their Goddess of memory ―Mnemosyne‖. In the ancient world, a trained memory was an 大37家 asset, particularly in public life. There were no 大38家 devices for taking notes, and early Greek orators(演说家) delivered long speeches with great 大39家 because they learned the speeches using mnemonic systems.

The Greeks discovered that human memory is 大40家 an associative process—that it works by linking things together. For example, think of an apple. The 大41家 your brain registers the word ―apple‖, it 大42家 the shape, color, taste, smell and 大43家 of that fruit. All these things are associated in your memory with the word ―apple‖.

大44家. An example could be when you think about a lecture you have had. This could trigger a memory about what you‘re talking about through that lecture, which can then trigger another memory.

大45家. An example given on a website I was looking at follows: Do you remember the shape of Austria, Canada, Belgium, or Germany? Probably not. What about Italy, though? 大46家. You made an association with something already known, the shape of a boot, and Italy‘s shape could not be forgotten once you had made the association.

PartⅣ Reading Comprehension(Reading in Depth)(25 minutes)

Section A

Directions: In this section, there is a short passage with 5 questions or incomplete statements. Read the passage carefully. Then answer the questions or complete the statements in the fewest possible words. Please write your answers on Answer Sheet 2.

Questions 47 to 51 are based on the following passage.

Many countries have made it illegal to chat into a hand-held mobile phone while driving. But the latest research further confirms that the danger lies less in what a motorist‘s hands do when he takes a call than in what the conversation does to his brain. Even using a ―hands-free‖ device can divert a driver‘s attention to an alarming extent.

Melina Kunar of the University of Warwick, and Todd Horowitz of the Harvard Medical School

ran a series of experiments in which two groups of volunteers had to pay attention and respond to a series of moving tasks on a computer screen that were reckoned equivalent in difficulty to driving. One group was left undistracted while the other had to engage in a conversation using a speakerphone. As Kunar and Horowitz report, those who were making the equivalent of a hands-free call had an average reaction time 212 milliseconds slower than those who were not. That, they calculate, would add 5.7 metres to the braking distance of a car travelling at 100kph. They also found that the group using the hands-free kit made 83% more errors in their tasks than those who were not talking.

To try to understand more about why this was, they tried two further tests. In one, members of a group were asked simply to repeat words spoken by the caller. In the other, they had to think of a word that began with the last letter of the word they had just heard. Those only repeating words performed the same as those with no distraction, but those with the more complicated task showed even worse reaction times—an average of 480 milliseconds extra delay. This shows that when people have to consider the information they hear carefully, it can impair their driving ability significantly.

Punishing people for using hand-held gadgets while driving is difficult enough, even though they can be seen from outside the car. Persuading people to switch their phones off altogether when they get behind the wheel might be the only answer. Who knows, they might even come to enjoy not having to take calls.

47. Carrying on a mobile phone conversation while one is driving is considered dangerous because it

seriously distracts .

48. In the experiments, the two groups of volunteers were asked to handle a series of moving tasks

which were considered .

49. Results of the experiments show that those who were making the equivalent of a hands-free call

took to react than those who were not.

50. Further experiments reveal that participants tend to respond with extra delay if they are required to

do .

51. The author believes persuasion, rather than , might be the only way to stop people from using

mobile phones while driving. Section B

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 52 to 56 are based on the following passage.

There is nothing like the suggestion of a cancer risk to scare a parent, especially one of the over-educated, eco-conscious type. So you can imagine the reaction when a recent USA Today investigation of air quality around the nation‘s schools singled out those in the smugly（自鸣得意的）green village of Berkeley, Calif., as being among the worst in the country. The city‘s public high school, as well as a number of daycare centers, preschools, elementary and middle schools, fell in the lowest 10%. Industrial pollution in our town had supposedly turned students into living science experiments breathing in a laboratory‘s worth of heavy metals like manganese, chromium and nickel each day. This in a city that requires school cafeterias to serve organic meals. Great, I thought, organic lunch, toxic campus.

Since December, when the report came out, the mayor, neighborhood activists（活跃分子）and

various parent-teacher associations have engaged in a fierce battle over its validity: over the guilt of the steel-casting factory on the western edge of town, over union jobs versus children‘s health and over what, if anything, ought to be done. With all sides presenting their own experts armed with conflicting scientific studies, whom should parents believe? Is there truly a threat here, we asked one another as we dropped off our kids, and if so, how great is it? And how does it compare with the other, seemingly perpetual health scares we confront, like panic over lead in synthetic athletic fields? Rather than just another weird episode in the town that brought you protesting environmentalists, this latest drama is a trial for how today‘s parents perceive risk, how we try to keep our kids safe—whether it‘s possible to keep them safe—in what feels like an increasingly threatening world. It raises the question of what, in our time, ―safe‖ could even mean.

―There‘s no way around the uncertainty,‖ says Kimberly Thompson, president of Kid Risk, a nonprofit group that studies children‘s health. ―That means your choices can matter, but it also means you aren‘t going to know if they do.‖ A 2004 report in the journal Pediatrics explained that nervous parents have more to fear from fire, car accidents and drowning than from toxic chemical exposure. To which I say: Well, obviously. But such concrete hazards are beside the point. It‘s the dangers parents can‘t—and may never—quantify that occur all of sudden. That‘s why I‘ve rid my cupboard of microwave food packed in bags coated with a potential cancer-causing substance, but although I‘ve lived blocks from a major fault line(地质断层) for more than 12 years, I still haven‘t bolted our bookcases to the living room wall.

52. What does a recent investigation by USA Today reveal?

A) Heavy metals in lab tests threaten children‘s health in Berkeley. B) Berkeley residents are quite contented with their surroundings. C) The air quality around Berkeley‘s school campuses is poor.

D) Parents in Berkeley are over-sensitive to cancer risks their kids face. 53. What response did USA Today‘s report draw?

A) A heated debate. B) Popular support. C) Widespread panic. D) Strong criticism.

54. How did parents feel in the face of the experts‘ studies?

A) They felt very much relieved.

B) They were frightened by the evidence. C) They didn‘t know who to believe. D) They weren‘t convinced of the results.

55. What is the view of the 2004 report in the journal Pediatrics?

A) It is important to quantify various concrete hazards. B) Daily accidents pose a more serious threat to children. C) Parents should be aware of children‘s health hazards. D) Attention should be paid to toxic chemical exposure.

56. Of the dangers in everyday life, the author thinks that people have most to fear from __________.

A) the uncertain B) the quantifiable C) an earthquake D) unhealthy food

Passage Two

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