[外语类试卷]大学英语六级模拟试卷528及答案与解析.doc

1、大学英语六级模拟试卷 528及答案与解析 一、 Part I Writing (30 minutes) 1 For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay on the topic of Should Enterprises Hold an Annual Meeting?. You should write at least 150 words according to the outline given below. 现在有不少单位热衷于组织年会 1对这种做法有人表示支持 2有人并不赞成 3.我认为 Shoul

2、d Enterprises Hold an Annual Meeting? 二、 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 attached to the passage. For questions 1-4, mark： Y (for YES) if the statement agrees

3、 with the information given in the passage; N (for NO) if the statement contradicts the information given in the passage; NG (for NOT GIVEN) if the information is not given in the passage. 1 Auto-Tune: Why Pop Music Sounds Perfect If you havent been listening to pop radio in the past few months, you

4、ve missed the rise of two seemingly opposing trends. In a medium in which mediocre (平庸的 ) singing has never been a bar to entry, a lot of pop vocals suddenly sound great. Better than great: note- and pitch-perfect, as if theres been an unspoken tightening of standards at record labels or an evolutio

5、nary leap in the development of vocal cords. At the other extreme are a few hip-hop singers who also hit their notes but with a precision so exaggerated that on first listen, their songs sound comically artificial, like a chorus of50s robots singing Motown. The force behind both trends is an ingenio

6、us plug-in called Auto-Tune, a downloadable studio trick that can take a vocal and instantly nudge it onto the proper note or move it to the correct pitch. Its like Photoshop for the human voice. Auto-Tune doesnt make it possible for just anyone to sing like a pro, but used as its creator intended,

7、it can transform a wavering (颤抖的 ) performance into something technically flawless. “Right now, if you listen to pop, everything is in perfect pitch, perfect time and perfect tune,“ says producer Rick Rubin. “Thats how widespread Auto-Tune is.“ Auto-Tunes inventor is a man named Andy Hildebrand, who

8、 worked for years interpreting seismic (i.e. relating to earthquakes) data for the oil industry. Using a mathematical formula called autocorrelation, Hildebrand would send sound waves into the ground and record their reflections, providing an accurate map of potential drill sites. Its a technique th

9、at saves oil companies lots of money and allowed Hildebrand to retire at 40. He was debating the next chapter of his life at a dinner party when a guest challenged him to invent a box that would allow her to sing in tune. After he worked on autocorrelation for a few months, Auto-Tune was born in lat

10、e 1996. Almost immediately, studio engineers adopted it as a trade secret to fix flubbed (搞砸了的 ) notes, saving them the expense and trouble of having to redo sessions. The first time common ears heard Auto-Tune was on the immensely irritating 1998 Cher hit “Believe.“ In the first verse, when Cher si

11、ngs “I cant break through“ as though shes standing behind an electric fan, thats Auto-Tune but its not the way Hildebrand meant it to be used. The programs retune speed, which adjusts the singers voice, can be set from zero to 400. “If you set it to 10, that means that the output pitch will get half

12、way to the target pitch in 10 milliseconds,“ says Hildebrand. “But if you let that parameter go to zero, it finds the nearest note and changes the output pitch instantaneously“ eliminating the natural transition between notes and making the singer sound jumpy and automated. “I never figured anyone i

13、n their right mind would want to do that,“ he says. Like other trends set by Cher, the creative abuse of Auto-Tune quickly went out of fashion, although it continued to be an indispensable part of the engineers toolbox. But in 2003, T-Pain (Faheem Najm), a little-known rapper and singer, accidentall

14、y stumble onto the Cher effect while Auto-Tuning some of his vocals. “It just worked for my voice,“ says T-Pain in his natural Tallahassee accent. “And there wasnt anyone else doing it.“ Since his 2005 first album, T-Pain has sent a dozen mechanically cheery singles into the Top 10. He contributed t

15、o four nominated songs at this years Grammys on Feb. 8, and his influence is still spreading. When Kanye West was looking for an effect to match some heartbroken lyrics, he flew T-Pain to Hawaii to see how many ways they could adjust Auto-Tune. Diddy gave a percentage of his upcoming albums profits

16、to T-Pain in exchange for some lessons. Even Prince is rumored to be experimenting with Auto-Tune on his new record. “I know Auto-Tune better than anyone,“ says T-Pain. “And even Im just figuring out all the ways you can use it to change the mood of a record.“ Rubin, whos produced artists as diverse

17、 as the Dixie Chicks and Metallica, worries that the safety net of Auto-Tune is making singers lazy. “Sometimes a singer will do lots of takes when theyre recording a song, and you really can hear the emotional difference when someone does a great performance vs. an average one,“ says Rubin. “If you

18、re pitch-correcting, you might not bother to make the effort. You might just get it done and put it through the machine so its all in tune.“ Rubin has taken to having an ethical conversation before each new recording session. “I encourage artists to embrace a natural process,“ he says. With the exce

19、ption of Milli Vanillis, pop listeners have always been fairly indulgent about performers ethics. Its hits that matter, and the average person listening to just one pop song on the radio will have a hard time hearing Auto-Tunes impact; its effectively deceptive. But when track after track has perfec

20、t pitch, the songs are harder to differentiate from one another which explains why pop is in a pretty serious lull (停滞 ) at the moment. It also changes the way we hear unaffected voices. “The other day, someone was talking about how Aretha Franklin at the Inauguration was a bit pitchy,“ says Anderso

21、n. “I said, Of course! She was singing! And that was a musician talking. People are getting used to hearing things dead on pitch, and its changed their expectations.“ Despite Randy Jacksons stock American Idol critique “A little pitchy, dawg“ many beloved songs are actually off-pitch or out of tune.

22、 Theres Ringo Starr on “With a Little Help from My Friends,“ of course, and just about every blues song slides into notes as opposed to hitting them dead on. Even Norah Jones, the poster girl of pure vocals, isnt perfect. “Theres some wonderful imperfections of pitch on Dont Know Why from Come Away

23、with Me,“ says Anderson, “and most of the other tunes on the album as well. But I wouldnt want to change a single note.“ Lets hope that pops fetish for uniform perfect pitch will fade, even if the spread of Auto-Tune shows no signs of slowing. A $99 version for home musicians was released in Novembe

24、r 2007, and T-Pain and Auto-Tunes parent company are finishing work on an iPhone app. “Its gonna be real cool,“ says T-Pain. “Basically, you can add Auto-Tune to your voice and send it to your friends and put it on the Web. Youll be able to sound just like me.“ Asked if that might render him no long

25、er unique, T-Pain laughs: “Im not too worried. I got lots of tricks you aint seen yet. Its everybody else that needs to step up their game.“ 2 What is the force of the rise of two trends which appear opposite to each other? （ A） The development of pop radio. （ B） Photoshop that can edit human voice.

26、 （ C） A vocal software called Auto-Tune. （ D） The popularity of a pop singer named Cher. 3 Originally the creator intended to use Auto-Tune to_. （ A） change a poorly-sung song into a perfect one （ B） make everyone sing like a professional singer （ C） inject some vitality into the pop industry （ D） b

27、ring the flaw of pop songs into public 4 Before Andy Hildebrand retired at 40, he worked for_. （ A） the seismological bureau （ B） Auto-Tunes parent company （ C） oil companies （ D） a tape-recorder factory 5 Studio engineers benefit greatly from Auto-Tune in that_. （ A） they no longer need to correct

28、wrong notes （ B） it helps them keep songs secret before going public （ C） it is totally free and thus saves them lots of money （ D） they dont have to waste time on recording music again 6 What does the author say about the craze for Auto-Tune which trendy Cher started? （ A） It faded soon. （ B） It la

29、sted for many years. （ C） It made engineers lazy. （ D） It harmed peoples creativity. 7 According to the passage, what happened to T-Pain since 2005? （ A） He had to give up Auto-Tune. （ B） He became very successful. （ C） He made a fortune working for the Prince. （ D） He won fame as teachers of well-k

30、nown singers. 8 According to Rubin, the effect of Auto-Tune on singers may be_. （ A） positive （ B） negative （ C） exaggerated （ D） underestimated 9 During the recording session, singers are encouraged by Rubin to sing in a_way. 10 In general, when it comes to the issue of pop singers ethics, average

31、listeners are 11 Although many songs in Norah Joness album were out of tune, Anderson would rather make no_to the songs. 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 wha

32、t 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. （ A） He admires Jeans straightforwardness. （ B） He thinks Dr. Brown des

33、erves the praise. （ C） He believes Jean was rude to Dr. Brown. （ D） He will talk to Jean about what happened. （ A） He stayed in a room on the third floor for an hour. （ B） He was absent when the discussion was being held. （ C） Nobody but the woman noticed that he was absent. （ D） He did not leave ro

34、om 405 until an hour had passed. （ A） He enjoyed the paintings, too. （ B） He has to finish his term paper first. （ C） He cant finish his term paper that day. （ D） He has learned something about the artists. （ A） Some people may not go on the trip. （ B） The transportation for the trip is free. （ C） E

35、veryone in the class has paid the fee. （ D） The class wont enjoy going on the field trip. （ A） In Atlanta. （ B） At a convention centre. （ C） In a hospital. （ D） At home. （ A） She has been at home. （ B） The new manager was not in the office. （ C） She hasnt talked with the new manager yet. （ D） She di

36、dnt want to talk with the new manager. （ A） He will see Steve soon. （ B） He is afraid the weather will not be clear. （ C） He is not sure if there will be enough space. （ D） He is not sure if he can find a room for Steve. （ A） He might move to another city very soon. （ B） The womans exaggerating the

37、seriousness of the pollution. （ C） The air pollution is caused by the development of industry. （ D） The city was poor because there wasnt much industry then. Questions 19 to 21 are based on the conversation you have just heard. （ A） She is a good friend of Professor Gilmore. （ B） She used to work fo

38、r Professor Gilmore. （ C） She heard of it from other students. （ D） She arranges the job for Larry. （ A） Just so so. （ B） Quite good. （ C） Fewer than other jobs. （ D） None of them know the salary. （ A） Grade all the homework. （ B） Clean the professors office. （ C） Help the professor in the classroom

39、. （ D） Sort all the documents. （ A） New foods to try when traveling. （ B） Making reservations for the best travel. （ C） Avoiding gaining weight while traveling. （ D） Adjusting to time changes when traveling. （ A） It changes the bodys metabolism through rapid weight gain. （ B） It tricks the body into

40、 responding as if it were in a different time zone. （ C） It promotes increased alertness by adding snacks to the diet. （ D） It builds resistance to illness by increasing intake of vitamins. （ A） He feels rushed. （ B） He hates to pack. （ C） He doesnt like to restrict his diet. （ D） Hes worried about

41、his lecture. （ A） He has a big appetite. （ B） He eats only at regular mealtimes. （ C） He avoids new foods. （ D） He eats only healthful foods. 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 ques

42、tions 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. （ A） Its definition is complex. （ B） It is a journey that never ends. （ C） There are too many landmarks. （ D） The distance is too long to measure. （ A） They will tak

43、e a more passive role. （ B） They will be slow to adapt to changes. （ C） They will be open to new experiences. （ D） They will always fail at first and win at last. （ A） A period during which we cease to grow. （ B） Being trapped inside a shell of our own. （ C） The protection of ourselves against risks

44、. （ D） The feelings of insecurity and self-doubt. （ A） A special symbol in life. （ B） A theatrical role in a play. （ C） A great character in history. （ D） An imaginary person in a fiction. （ A） Creating special language. （ B） Selling a variety of products. （ C） Providing a comfortable environment. （

45、 D） Opening stores in busy areas of cities. （ A） It imparts coffee culture. （ B） It does its business illegally. （ C） It squeezes competitors out of the market. （ D） It applies machine more than people to make the coffee. （ A） It is the same as self-respect. （ B） It is totally different from self-re

46、spect. （ C） It is to evaluate positively and hold high regard. （ D） It is to think only the positive even when we lose. （ A） They only like themselves. （ B） They are not bothered by failures. （ C） They know how to become better. （ D） They can always make a difference. （ A） It is a gift given by othe

47、rs. （ B） There is no way to increase it. （ C） It depends on what we can or cannot do. （ D） It is part of the nature we were born with. （ A） To illustrate the importance of the speakers research. （ B） To tell the difference of “self-respect“ and “self-esteem“. （ C） To persuade people not to be concer

48、ned with “self-esteem“. （ D） To explain why some people are more prone to guilt and stress. 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 seco

49、nd 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 36 Is your family interested in buying a dog? A dog can be a happy【 B1】 _to your family, but if you choose the wrong kind of dog, the【 B2】 _can cause y