大学英语六级分类模拟题457及答案解析.doc

1、大学英语六级分类模拟题 457及答案解析(总分：446.00，做题时间：90 分钟)一、Reading Comprehensio(总题数：0，分数：0.00)二、Section A(总题数：1，分数：71.00)Plastic SurgeryA better credit card is the solution to ever larger hack attacksA. A thin magnetic stripe (magstripe) is all that stands between your credit-card information and the bad guys. And

2、 they“ve been working hard to break in. That“s why 2014 is shaping up as a major showdown: Banks, law enforcement and technology companies are all trying to stop a network of hackers who are succeeding in stealing account numbers, names, email addresses and other crucial data used in identity theft.

3、 More than 100 million accounts at Target, Neiman Marcus and Michaels stores were affected in some way during the most recent attacks, starting last November. B. Swipe (刷卡) is the operative word: Cards are increasingly vulnerable to attacks when you make purchases in a store. In several recent incid

4、ents, hackers have been able to obtain massive information of credit-, debit-(借记) or prepaid-card numbers using malware, i.e. malicious software, inserted secretly into the retailers“ point-of-sale systemthe checkout registers. Hackers then sold the data to a second group of criminals operating in s

5、hadowy comers of the web. Not long after, the stolen data was showing up on fake cards and being used for online purchases. C. The solution could cost as little as $2 extra for every piece of plastic issued. The fix is a security technology used heavily outside the U.S. While American credit cards u

6、se the 40-year-old magstripe technology to process transactions, much of the rest of the world uses smarter cards with a technology called EMV (short for Europay, MasterCard, Visa) that employs a chip embedded in the card plus a customer PIN (personal identification number) to authenticate (验证) ever

7、y transaction on the spot. If a purchaser fails to punch in the correct PIN at the checkout, the transaction gets rejected. (Online purchases can be made by setting up a separate transaction code.) D. Why haven“t big banks adopted the more secure technology? When it comes to mailing out new credit c

8、ards, it“s all about relative costs, says David Robertson, who runs the Nilson Report, an industry newsletter: “The cost of the card, putting the sticker on it, coding the account number and expiration date, embossing (凸印) it, the small envelopeall put together, you“re in the dollar range.“ A chip-a

9、nd-PIN card currently costs closer to $3, says Robertson, because of the price of chips. (Once large issuers convert together, the chip costs should drop.) E. Multiply $3 by the more than 5 billion magstripe credit and prepaid cards in circulation in the U.S. Then consider that there“s an estimated

10、$12.4 billion in card fraud on a global basis, says Robertson. With 44% of that in the U.S., American credit-card fraud amounts to about $5.5 billion annually. Card issuers have so far calculated that absorbing the liability for even big hacks like the Target one is still cheaper than replacing all

11、that plastic. F. That leaves American retailers pretty much alone the world over in relying on magstripe technology to charge purchasesand leaves consumers vulnerable. Each magstripe has three tracks of information, explains payments security expert Jeremy Gumbley, the chief technology officer of Cr

12、editCall, an electronic-payments company. The first and third are used by the bank or card issuer. Your vital account information lives on the second track, which hackers try to capture. “Malware is scanning through the memory in real time and looking for data,“ he says. “It creates a text file that

13、 gets stolen.“ G. Chip-and-PIN cards, by contrast, make fake cards or skimming impossible because the information that gets scanned is encrypted (加密). The historical reason the U.S. has stuck with magstripe, ironically enough, is once superior technology. Our cheap, ultra-reliable wired networks mad

14、e credit-card authentication over the phone frictionless. In France, card companies created EMV in part because the telephone monopoly was so maddeningly inefficient and expensive. The EMV solution allowed transactions to be verified locally and securely. H. Some big banks, like Wells Fargo, are now

15、 offering to convert your magstripe card to a chip-and-PIN model. (It“s actually a hybrid (混合体) that will still have a magstripe, since most U.S. merchants don“t have EMV terminals.) Should you take them up on it? If you travel internationally, the answer is yes. I. Keep in mind, too, that credit ca

16、rds typically have better liability protection than debit cards. If someone uses your credit card fraudulently (欺诈性地), it“s the issuer or merchant, not you, that takes the hit. Debit cards have different liability limits depending on the bank and the events surrounding any fraud. “If it“s available,

17、 the logical thing is to get a chip-and-PIN card from your bank,“ says Eric Adamowsky, a co-founder of CreditCardI. “I would use credit cards over debit cards because of liability issues.“ Cash still works pretty well too. J. Retailers and banks stand to benefit from the lower fraud levels of chip-a

18、nd-PIN cards but have been reluctant for years to invest in the new infrastructure (基础设施) needed for the technology, especially if consumers don“t have access to it. It“s a chicken-and-egg problem: no one wants to spend the money on upgraded point-of-sale systems that can read the chip cards if shop

19、pers aren“t carrying themyet there“s little point in consumers“ carrying the fancy plastic if stores aren“t equipped to use them. (An earlier effort by Target to move to chip and PIN never gained progress.) According to Gumbley, there“s a “you-first mentality. The logjam (僵局) has to be broken.“ K. J

20、PMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon recently expressed his willingness to do so, noting that banks and merchants have spent the past decade suing each other over interchange feesthe percentage of the transaction price they keeprather than deal with the growing hacking problem. Chase offers a chip-enabled

21、card under its own brand and several others for travel-related companies such as British Airways and Ritz-Carlton. L. The Target and Neiman hacks have also changed the cost calculation: Although retailers have been reluctant to spend the $6.75 billion that Capgemini consultants estimate it will take

22、 to convert all their registers to be chip-and-PIN-compatible, the potential liability they now face is dramatically greater. Target has been hit with class actions from hacked consumers. “It“s the ultimate nightmare,“ a retail executive from a well-known chain admitted to TIME. M. The card-payment

23、companies MasterCard and Visa are pushing hard for change. The two firms have warned all parties in the transaction chainmerchant, network, bankthat if they don“t become EMV-compliant by October 2015, the party that is least compliant will bear the fraud risk. N. In the meantime, app-equipped smartp

24、hones and digital walletsall of which can use EMV technologyare beginning to make inroads (侵袭) on cards and cash. PayPal, for instance, is testing an app that lets you use your mobile phone to pay on the fly at local merchantswithout surrendering any card information to them. And further down the ro

25、ad is biometric authentication, which could be encrypted with, say, a fingerprint. O. Credit and debit cards, though, are going to be with us for the foreseeable future, and so are hackers, if we stick with magstripe technology. “It seems crazy to me,“ says Gumbley, who is English, “that a cutting-e

26、dge-technology country is depending on a 40-year-old technology.“ That“s why it may be up to consumers to move the needle on chip and PIN, Says Robertson: “When you get the consumer into a position of worry and inconvenience, that“s where the rubber hits the road.“（分数：71.00）(1).It is best to use an

27、EMV card for international travel.（分数：7.10）(2).Personal information on credit and debit cards is increasingly vulnerable to hacking.（分数：7.10）(3).The French card companies adopted EMV technology partly because of inefficient telephone service.（分数：7.10）(4).While many countries use the smarter EMV card

28、s, the U.S. still clings to its old magstripe technology.（分数：7.10）(5).Attempts are being made to prevent hackers from carrying out identity theft.（分数：7.10）(6).Credit cards are much safer to use than debit cards.（分数：7.10）(7).Big banks have been reluctant to switch to more secure technology because of

29、 the higher costs involved.（分数：7.10）(8).The potential liability for retailers using magstripe is far more costly than upgrading their registers.（分数：7.10）(9).The use of magstripe cards by American retailers leaves consumers exposed to the risks of losing account information.（分数：7.10）(10).Consumers wi

30、ll be a driving force behind the conversion from magstripe to EMV technology.（分数：7.10）三、Section B(总题数：0，分数：0.00)四、Passage One(总题数：3，分数：213.00)Knowing that you are paid less than your peers has two effects on happiness. The well-known one is negative: a thinner pay packet harms self-esteem. The lesse

31、r-known one is called the “tunnel“ effect: high incomes for peers are seen as improving your own chances of similar riches, especially if growth, inequality and mobility are high. A paper co-authored by Felix FitzRoy of the University of St. Andrews and recently presented at the Royal Economic Socie

32、ty in Cambridge separates the two effects using data from household surveys in Germany. Previous work showed that the income of others can have a small, or even positive, overall effect on people“s satisfaction in individual firms in Denmark or in very dynamic economies in transition, such as easter

33、n Europe. But Mr. FitzRoy“s team theorized that older workers, who largely know their lifetime incomes already, will enjoy a much smaller tunnel effect. The data confirm this hypothesis. The negative effect on reported levels of happiness of being paid less than your peers is not visible for people

34、aged under 45. In western Germany, seeing peers“ incomes rising actually makes young people happier (even more than a rise in their own incomes, remarkably). It is only those people over 45, when careers have “reached a stable position“, whose happiness is harmed by the success of others. The prospe

35、ct of 20-plus years of bitterness might make retirement seem more appealing. But the real gains in happiness from retirement go not to the outshone (被超越)， but to the out-of-work. Unemployment is known to damage happiness because not working falls short of social expectations. This loss of identity c

36、annot be compensated for by unemployment benefits or increased leisure time. A paper presented at the same conference by a team represented by Clemens Hetschko of the Free University of Berlin uses the same German household data to show that the spirits of the long-term unemployed rise when they sto

37、p looking for work, go into retirement and no longer clash with social norms. Those with jobs are no happier after they retire, however, perhaps because their lives already line up with social expectations. Indeed, retiring early from work can have nasty side-effects. Another paper, co-authored by A

38、ndreas Kuhn of the University of Zurich, investigates the effect of a change in Austrian employment-insurance rules that allowed blue-collar workers earlier retirement in some regions than others. Men retiring a year early lower their chances of surviving to age 67 by 13%. Almost a third of this hig

39、her mortality rate, which seemed to be concentrated among those who were forced into retirement by job loss, was caused by smoking and alcohol consumption. If you“re in a job, even an underpaid one, hang on in there.（分数：71.00）(1).What did the study conducted by Mr. FitzRoy“s team reveal?（分数：14.20）A.

40、The findings of previous work may be problematic.B.The two effects of peers“ incomes on happiness cannot be separated.C.Older workers are not affected by the income of others.D.Older workers have already known their lifetime incomes.(2).What happens to young people when they are being paid less than

41、 their peers?（分数：14.20）A.Their self-esteem is severely harmed.B.Their spirits will be lowered.C.They enjoy a bigger tunnel effect than people over 45.D.They prefer a rise in their own incomes.(3).Which of the following is irrelevant to the tunnel effect on happiness?（分数：14.20）A.High inequality and m

42、obility.B.One“s career stage.C.Social expectations.D.One“s age.(4).What do we learn about those who have been unemployed for a long time?（分数：14.20）A.They stop looking for work due to the loss of identity.B.Unemployment benefits can lift up their spirits.C.They may die earlier than those with jobs.D.

43、Retirement can make them happier.(5).What does the author intend to tell us with the study conducted by Andreas Kuhn“s team?（分数：14.20）A.The Austrian employment-insurance rules should not have been changed.B.Earlier retirement from work should not be encouraged.C.Too much smoking and drinking is dang

44、erous to one“s health.D.Blue-collar workers should put off their retirement.Spiders are known for many things. Sociability is not one of them. Most spiders are more likely to try to eat their neighbours than befriend them. Given that there are at least 43,678 species of spiders, though, it is not to

45、o surprising that a few have overcome their natural bad-temper and teamed up to form societies. So far, about two dozen such social spiders have been identified. And among them, something really strange has just been found. For one type of spider society turns out to involve two different but closel

46、y related species. It is as though anthropologists (人类学家) had discovered villages populated both by human beings and chimpanzees. This was discovered by a team led by Lena Grinsted of Aarhus University in Denmark. They were studying a social species of spider called Chikunia nigra, living near Berat

47、an Lake in Bali. Later, as they looked in more detail at their samples, they realised its genes showed that it was actually two species. It is not clear why the spiders being social. They do not hunt together. One explanation may be that the colony is acting like a huge kindergarten. Ms. Grinsted di

48、scovered this possibility by experiment. First, she identified 19 females who were looking after those who were recently born, and another 20 who had eggs. In each case she introduced a new comer, in the form of a spider from the same colony. Both mothers and mothers-to-be were surprisingly tolerant

49、 of what would, in most spider species, be a serious threat. Only 40% of the time did they attempt to chase the intruder away, or bite it. Ms. Grinsted then took another 40 spiders and replaced some of their little spiders. The result, she found, was that a female was as likely to look after and protect another“s young spider as she was her own. Which is interesting, but not all that extraordinary in social groups which are composed of closely related individuals. Except that Ms. Grinsted now knows that this cannot always be the case for her spiders, since two different sp