1、大学英语六级改革适用（阅读）模拟试卷 120及答案与解析 Section A 0 Phew, what a relief. It seems that the Royal Shakespeare Company and Shakespeares Globe wont have to change their names any time soon. The squabble so beloved by academics, conspiracy(阴谋 )theorists and Hollywood fdm-makers which only surfaced in the mid-19th
2、century but continues to【 C1】 _on over the authorship of Shakespeares plays, may finally be called to a halt by a new book. In Shakespeare Beyond Doubt, leading scholars organize the arguments and evidence to prove that Shakespeare really did write Shakespeares plays. It puts paid to【 C2】_that Shake
3、speare was the Earl of Oxford(as suggested by the movie Anonymous), or Christopher Marlowe or Francis Bacon, or even Queen Elizabeth I when she was having a day off from running the country. Great. That means the rest of us can just go on seeing and enjoying the astonishing plays, which may have【 C3
4、】 _authorship, but which are constantly revealing in their examination of what it means to be human. Except that it wont. The arguments, between those who want to rewrite【 C4】_history and those who dont, will keep going, constantly fueled by any kind of conspiracy theory the madder the better and th
5、e fact that there is now so much money, and so many academic careers,【 C5】 _up in the Shakespeare industry. There is a【 C6】 _in Alan Bennetts play Kafkas Dick when one of the characters, Sydney, admits hed much rather “ read about writers than read what they write“. His wife, Lynda, is【 C7】 _uninter
6、ested in the poems of WH Auden, but alights on juicy tidbits(趣闻 )about the poet including his preference for not wearing underpants. It sometimes seems as if the【 C8】 _authorship debate around Shakespeares plays is full of Sydneys and Lyndas people for whom the life of the writer is infinitely more
7、important than the works themselves. The plays are what count and they will【 C9】 _the debate, no matter whose name is on the title page, whether written alone or in【 C10】 _, and whether someone can definitively prove whether the author was wearing underpants or not. So it should be, because the play
8、s the thing. A)mysterious I)moment B)collaboration J)scramble C)bound K)contested D)candidly L)speculations E)similarly M)literary F)optimum N)compensate G)rumble O)abbreviation H)outlive 1 【 C1】 2 【 C2】 3 【 C3】 4 【 C4】 5 【 C5】 6 【 C6】 7 【 C7】 8 【 C8】 9 【 C9】 10 【 C10】 Section B 10 Growing More Food
9、 with Less Water ASix thousand years ago farmers in Mesopotamia dug a ditch to divert water from the Euphrates River. With that successful effort to satisfy their thirsty crops, they went on to form the worlds first irrigation-based civilization. Sumerian farmers harvested plentiful wheat and barley
10、 crops for some 2,000 years thanks to the extra water brought in from the river, but the soil eventually succumbed(沦为 )to salinization(盐化 ) the toxic buildup of salts and other impurities left behind when water evaporates. BFar more people depend on irrigation in the modern world than did in ancient
11、 Sumeria. About 40 percent of the worlds food now grows in irrigated soils, which make up 18 percent of global cropland. Farmers who irrigate can typically reap two or three harvests every year and get higher crop yields. As a result, the spread of irrigation has been a key factor behind the near tr
12、ipling of global grain production since 1950. Done correctly, irrigation will continue to play a leading role in feeding the world, but as history shows, dependence on irrigated agriculture also entails significant risks. CFortunately, a great deal of room exists for improving the productivity of wa
13、ter used in agriculture. A first line of attack is to increase irrigation efficiency. At present, most fanners irrigate their crops by flooding their fields or channeling the water down parallel furrows, relying on gravity to move the water across the land. The plants absorb only a small fraction of
14、 the water; the rest drains into rivers or aquifers(地下蓄水层 ), or evaporates. In many locations this practice not only wastes and pollutes water but also degrades the land through erosion, waterlogging(水浸 )and salinization. More efficient and environmentally sound technologies exist that could reduce
15、water demand on farms by up to 50 percent. DDrip systems rank high among irrigation technologies with significant untapped potential. Unlike flooding techniques, drip systems enable farmers to deliver water directly to the plants roots drop by drop, nearly eliminating waste. The water travels at low
16、 pressure through a network of perforated(穿孔的 )plastic tubing installed on or below the surface of the soil, and it emerges through small holes at a slow but steady pace. Because the plants enjoy an ideal moisture environment, drip irrigation usually offers the added bonus of higher crop yields. Stu
17、dies in India, Israel, Jordan, Spain and the US have shown time and again that drip irrigation reduces water use by 30 to 70 percent and increases crop yield by 20 to 90 percent compared with flooding methods. ESprinklers can perform almost as well as drip methods when they are designed properly. Tr
18、aditional high-pressure irrigation sprinklers spray water high into the air to cover as large a land area as possible. The problem is that the more time the water spends in the air, the more of it evaporates and blows off course before reaching the plants. In contrast, new low-energy sprinklers deli
19、ver water in small doses through nozzles(喷嘴 )positioned just above the ground. Numerous farmers in Texas who have installed such sprinklers have found that their plants absorb 90 to 95 percent of the water that leaves the sprinkler nozzle. FDespite these impressive payoffs, sprinklers service only 1
20、0 to 15 percent of the worlds irrigated fields, and drip systems account for just over 1 percent. The higher costs of these technologies(compared to simple flooding methods)have been a barrier to their spread, but so has the prevalence of national water policies that discourage rather than foster ef
21、ficient water use. Many governments have set very low prices for publicly supplied irrigation, leaving farmers with little motivation to invest in ways to conserve water or to improve efficiency. Most authorities have also failed to regulate groundwater pumping, even in regions where aquifers are ov
22、er-tapped. Farmers might be inclined to conserve their own water supplies if they could profit from selling the surplus, but a number of countries prohibit or discourage this practice. GEfforts aside from irrigation technologies can also help reduce agricultural demand for water. Much potential lies
23、 in scheduling the timing of irrigation to more precisely match plants water needs. Measurements of climate factors such as temperature and rainfall can be fed into a computer that calculates how much water a typical plant is consuming. Farmers can use this figure to determine, quite accurately, whe
24、n and how much to irrigate their particular crops throughout the growing season. A 1995 survey conducted by the University of California at Berkeley found that, on average, farmers in California who used this tool reduced water use by 13 percent and achieved an 8 percent increase in yield a big gain
25、 in water productivity. HDeveloping new crop varieties offers potential as well. In the quest for higher yields, scientists have already exploited many of the most fruitful farming options for growing more food with the same amount of water. The hybrid wheat and rice varieties that spawned the green
26、 revolution, for example, were bred to allocate more of the plants energy and thus their water uptake into edible grain. The widespread adoption of high-yielding and early-maturing rice varieties has led to a roughly threefold increase in the amount of rice harvested per unit of water consumed a tre
27、mendous achievement. No strategy in sight neither conventional breeding techniques nor genetic engineeringcould repeat those gains on such a grand scale, but modest improvements are likely. IYet another way to do more with less water is to reconfigure our diets. The typical North American diet, with
28、 its large share of animal products, requires twice as much water to produce as the less meat-intensive diets common in many Asian and some European countries. Eating lower on the food chain could allow the same volume of water to feed two Americans instead of one, with no loss in overall nutrition.
29、 JReducing the water demands of mainstream agriculture is critical, but irrigation will never reach its potential to alleviate rural hunger and poverty without additional efforts. Among the worlds approximately 800 million undernourished people are millions of poor farm families who could benefit dr
30、amatically from access to irrigation water or to technologies that enable them to use local water more productively. Most of these people live in Asia and Africa, where long dry seasons make crop production difficult or impossible without irrigation. For them, conventional irrigation technologies ar
31、e too expensive for their small plots, which typically encompass fewer than five acres. Even the least expensive motorized pumps that are made for tapping groundwater cost about $ 350, far out of reach for farmers earning barely that much in a year. Where affordable irrigation technologies have been
32、 made available, however, they have proved remarkably successful. KCosting less than $ 35 , the treadle(踩踏板 )pump has increased the average net income for these farmers which is often as little as a dollar a day by $ 100 a year. To date, Bangladeshi farmers have purchased some 1. 2 milliontreadle pu
33、mps, raising the productivity of more than 600, 000 acres of farmland. Manufactured and marketed locally, the pumps are injecting at least an additional $ 350 million a year into the Bangladeshi economy. LBringing these low-cost irrigation technologies into more widespread use requires the creation
34、of local, private-sector supply chains including manufacturers, retailers and installers as well as special innovations in marketing. The treadle pump has succeeded in Bangladesh in part because local businesses manufactured and sold the product and marketing specialists reached out to poor farmers
35、with creative techniques, including an open-air movie and village demonstrations. The challenge is great, but so is the potential payoff. Paul Polak, a pioneer in the field of low-cost irrigation and President of International Development Enterprises in Lakewood, Colo. , believes a realistic goal fo
36、r the next 15 years is to reduce the hunger and poverty of 150 million of the worlds poorest rural people through the spread of affordable small-farm irrigation techniques. Such an accomplishment would boost net income among the rural poor by an estimated $ 3 billion a year. 11 The new low energy sp
37、rinklers are positioned just above the ground, so they can help plants absorb more water. 12 Raising the grain production is the leading role of irrigation in both past and present. 13 By increasing irrigation efficiency, we can reduce water use on farms. 14 According to computerized climate informa
38、tion, farmers decide when and how much to irrigate their crops. 15 Studies have shown that drip irrigation reduces water demand by 30% to 70%. 16 If we eat lower on the food chain, we will still get all the needed nutrition, yet reducing demand for water by 50% . 17 The drip systems and the sprinkle
39、rs are not widely applied partly because of higher costs and national water policies. 18 The low-cost irrigation technologies could relieve hunger and poverty as well as increase net income among rural poor. 19 The planting of high-yielding and early-maturing rice varieties is an excellent example o
40、f getting more food with less water. 20 Because of the expensive traditional methods for their small plots, the undernourished people in Asia and Africa need water-saving irrigation technologies. Section C 20 Rob a bank and you risk a long stretch in jail. Run a bank whose dubious behavior leads to
41、global economic collapse and you risk nothing of the sort, more likely a handsome pay-off. Illegal and dangerous mistakes associated with the financial industry have caused serious harm to U. S. and world economies. The scandals keep coming rate rigging, money laundering, mis-selling and sanctions b
42、usting. The backlash(反冲，反撞 )against the industry shows no sign of easing. So given the scale of damage and public anger, fuelled by the industrys bonus culture, it is curious that those responsible have largely avoided punishment in the traditional judicial sense, despite the demand for it. That we
43、so want those involved to get their just deserts has its roots in ancient human forms of social control, which led to our modern sense of morality. In their fundamental, hunter-gatherer forms, crime and punishment surely go back for tens of millennia(千年 ). The case has been made that by 45,000 years
44、 ago, or possibly earlier, people were practicing moralistic(说教的 )social control much as we do. Without exception, investigators that still exist today and best reflect this ancient way of life exert aggressive watch over their peers for the good of the group. Economic villains are mainly bullies wh
45、o use threats or force to benefit themselves, along with thieves and cheats. All are free-riders who take without giving, and all are punished by the group. This can range from mere criticism or ostracism(贝壳流放 )to active shaming, ejection or even capital punishment. This moral behavior was reinforce
46、d over the millennia that such egalitarian(平等主义者 )bands dominated human life. Then around 12,000 years ago, larger, still egalitarian sedentary(定居的 )tribes arrived with greater needs for centralized control. Eventually clusters of tribes formed authoritative chiefdoms. Next came early civilizations,
47、 with centrally prescribed and powerfully enforced moral orders. One thing tied these and modern, state-based moral systems to what came before and that was the human capacity for moral indignation. It remains strong today. So there is an inevitable discontentment when bankers seem to “ get away wit
48、h it“ , offending this instinctive moral corrective sense. And ultimately, such public opinion should strongly influence how we police fiscal deviants but there are complicating factors that suggest this instinct is being undermined when it comes to taming the most harmful behavior in the banking wo
49、rld. 21 What does the author say about a person who runs a bank? （ A） He/She is usually rewarded. （ B） He/She usually ends up in a prison. （ C） He/She is sometimes involved in scandals. （ D） He/She is less likely to be punished for his mistakes. 22 According to the passage, why are the public angry with the financial industry? （ A） Because people in it have made too many mistakes. （ B） Because it has caused serious harm to the US and world economies. （ C） Because those m
