1、大学英语六级模拟试卷 151及答案与解析 一、 Part I Writing (30 minutes) 1 Directions: For this part, you are allowed thirty minutes to write a short essay entitled Energy Crisis. You should write at least 150 words following the outline given below in English: 1. Energy crisis is one of the main problems facing the wor
2、ld today. 2. Importance of energy. 3. Conserving energy. 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 t
3、he statement agrees 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 THE BLENDING OF THE UNITED STATES For years, Jorge Del Pinals job as assistant chief of th
4、e Census Bureaus Population Division was to fit people into neat, distinct racial and ethnic boxes: white, black, Hispanic, Asian or Native American. As the son of an Anglo mother and a Hispanic father, however, he knew all along that the task was not always possible. For the 2000 decennial census,
5、that will no longer be the case. For the first time, the census forms will allow people to check off as many races as apply. As a result, the Census Bureau should obtain a better picture of the extent of intermarriage in the United States. In the absence of such a direct method, a few years ago ,vet
6、eran demographer Barry Edmonston used sophisticated mathematical modeling techniques to calculate how intermarriage is changing the face of the United States as part of an immigration study he directed for the National Research CounciIof the American Academy of Sciences. His research was summarized
7、in a report entitled The New Americans: Economic, Demographic and Fiscal Effects of Immigration. But as the Canadian - born, white husband of sociologist Sharon Lee, a Chinese - American, Edmonsto really needed no computer to understand the transformation under way in this society. He and his family
8、 are living, breathing participants. The face of America is changing literally. As former President Clinton has said, “within 30 or 40 years, when there will be no single race in the majority in the United States, we had best be ready for it.“ For his part, Clinton is preparing for that time by talk
9、ing about racial tolerance and the virtues of multiculturalism. Others are debating immigration policy. Almost all discussion focuses on the potential divisiveness inherent in a nation that is no longer a predominantly white country with a mostly European ancestry. But afoot behind the scenes is ano
10、ther trend that, if handled carefully, could bring the country closer together rather than drive it apart. This quiet demographic counter- revolution is a dramatic upsurge in intermarriage. Edmonstons study projected that by 2050, 21 percent of the U.S. population will be of mixed racial or ethnic a
11、ncestry, up from an estimate of seven percent today. Among third - generation Hispanic and Asian Americans, exogamy - marriage outside ones ethnic group or tribe is at least 50 percent, he and others estimate. Exogamy remains much less prevalent among African Americans, but it has increased enormous
12、ly, from about 1,5 percent in the 1960s to 8 to 10 percent today. Such a profound demographic shift could take place while no one was watching because, officially, no one was watching. Federal agencies traditionally collected racial data using a formula one person, one race similar to the time - hon
13、ored voting principle. Thus, the Census Bureau could estimate that on census forms no more than two percent of the population would claim to be multiracial. In the absence of a more straightforward count, no one could know for sure what the demographics are. Thats about to change. After the 2000 cen
14、sus, the U.S. Government should have a better idea. In 1997, the Office of Management and Budget, which oversees federal statistical practices, approved a directive allowing people to check as many racial boxes as they believe apply to them. The shift was a compromise between the demands of some int
15、erest groups that wanted the addition of a “multiracial“ box, and those that objected to any change, fearing dilution of their numbers. Meanwhile, in the absence of Official numbers, with the heightened tension surrounding racial issues, and with the mutual suspicion that exists among competing raci
16、al and ethnic interest groups, theres little agreement on what intermarriage will mean for U.S. society in the future. Melting Pot To see the new face of the United States, go to a grocery store and look at a box of Betty Crocker - brand food products. Bettys portrait is now in its eighth incarnatio
17、n since the first composite painting debuted in 1936 with pale skin and blue eyes. Her new look is brown - eyed and dark - haired. She has a duskier complexion than her seven predecessors, with features representing an amalgam of white, Hispanic, Indian, African and Asian ancestry. A computer create
18、d this new Betty in the mid - 1990s by blending photos of 75 diverse women. That process was relatively quick, General Mills Inc. spokesmen explain. But they acknowledge that it took quite a while to spread the new image to the whole range of Betty Crocker products. The slow pace of that process its
19、elf could be a metaphor for gradual racial and ethnic intermixing in this country. Indeed, its taking a long time for the new bended American to surface in societys consciousness. Tiger Woods, the young golf great, publicized the trend by identifying himself as Cablinasian, a mixture of Caucasian, b
20、lack, Native American and Asian For the most part, the market-place not government is leading the way in this evolution. Mixed -race models, particularly men, are in great demand, according to fashion industry experts. And multiracial child actors are now more likely to be tapped for television adve
21、rtisements. That serious scholars should be talking about a melting pot is itself a reversal. As a metaphor for American diversity, the melting pot was first discredited after World War I, when the European immigrants streaming into American cities formed distinct ethnic and national enclaves that d
22、idnt melt together. The timing was off, it turned out, and the metaphorical pot was in the wrong place. Interracial and multiethnic fusion started after World War II and happened in the suburbs. City folk moved from their Italian, Irish, Polish or Jewish urban neighborhoods into diffuse suburban set
23、tings, then sent their kids to large public universities, throwing them together with youngsters from other ethnic backgrounds who, nonetheless, came from families with similar lifestyles. Whether blacks will follow other minorities into the melting pot remains a subject of debate. Skeptics point to
24、 the much smaller proportion of black -white marriages and say it wont happen soon. Others respond that the Statistical base is very small because, until 1967, such marriages were illegal in 19 states. Countervailing Forces While many forces are at work to facilitate intermarriage, others militate a
25、gainst it. This is particularly the case for African Americans. The growing segment of the black community that is going to college, entering the middle class and moving out to the suburbs is also following the general trend toward intermarriage. This tendency is particularly noticeable in Californi
26、a and in cities such as Dallas (Texas), Las Vegas (Nevada) and Phoenix (Arizona), where residential segregation has been less pronounced than in the older northeastern and midwestern U. S. cities, according to Reynolds Farley, who has studied African American residential patterns. In California, for
27、 example, among 25 - to - 34 - year - old African Americans, 14 percent of the married black women and 32 percent of the married black men had spouses of a different race, Edmonston noted. But in the isolated urban neighborhoods of the U. S. Northeast and Midwest, the old pattern remains. “There is
28、a considerable fraction of the black population that still lives in inner - city areas in Detroit, Chicago, New York City that has not been caught up in dynamic economic growth,“ said Farley, formerly a professor at the University of Michigan and now a vice president of the Russell Sage Foundation i
29、n New York City. “Theyve been left behind, and they are quite far out of it.“ Another countervailing force is immigration. Immigrants generally dont man7 outside their racial or ethnic group. Their children do to some extent, but out- marriage really is most prevalent in the third generation. The mo
30、st recent large - scale wave of immigration has produced only first - or second - generation Americans. Regardless of the real degree of racial and ethnic intermixing that goes on, the test of a blended society will be the proportion of people who identify as multiracial or multiethnic. Until now, t
31、hat percentage has been small. Thats partly because people tend to assume the racial or ethnic identity of one parent often the minority parent, in the case of blacks and Hispanics. But to a large extent, that identity has been imposed by society. “I have a Spanish name and I speak Spanish, so peopl
32、e see me as being of Spanish origin,“ DelPinal, the Census Bureau official, explained. Racial identification can stem from other sources, such as heightened ethnic pride or the opportunity to benefit from affirmative action and other programs. Over the last few decades, having Native American ancest
33、ry has apparently become popular. Between 1970 and 1980, the number of people who checked “American Indian“ on their census forms grew from 800,000 to 1.4 million, a much faster increase than could be accounted for by births minus deaths. “People decided they wanted to identify as American Indians,
34、to some extent because of rising ethnic consciousness,“ observed Jeffrey S. Passel, director of the Immigration Policy Program at the Urban Institute and a former director of the Census Bureaus Population Division. It is this positive approach to racial or ethnic identification on which liberal elem
35、ents of the Jewish community are trying to capitalize. For two millennia, exogamy was a major transgression for Jews. (In many communities, prayers for the dead were recited for a Jew who married a non - Jew. ) As a result, out - marriage was rare. Before World War II, it amounted to less than seven
36、 percent of Jewish marriages, according to Mayer of CUNY. But in 1970, a National Jewish Population Survey discovered that in the previous five years, 30 percent of new Jewish marriages were to non - Jews. By 1990, that figure was more than 50 percent. After many meetings, much soul - searching and
37、a lot of acrimonious debate, various synagogue groups in the most liberal denominations and Jewish civic organizations decided to reverse their approach. They still try to discourage intermarriage, but once it occurs, they tend to welcome new interfaith families. 2 The 2000 decennial census aims at
38、obtaining the exact number of population as well as a better picture of the extent of intermarriage in the United States. （ A） Y （ B） N （ C） NG 3 The results of census have always been the compromise of certain groups of interest. （ A） Y （ B） N （ C） NG 4 Theres little agreement on what intermarriage
39、 will mean for U.S. society in the future as there is a lack of official numbers, a heightened tension surrounding racial issues, and the mutual suspicion that exists among different racial groups . （ A） Y （ B） N （ C） NG 5 The racial and ethnic intermixing in this country is sometimes gradual and so
40、metimes accelerated in history. （ A） Y （ B） N （ C） NG 6 Sophisticated_techniques have been already employed to calculate how intermarriage is changing the face of the United States. 7 President Clinton advised that people_as no single race will exceed other races in number 30 or 40 years later. 8 It
41、 is_that plays the leading role in the ethnic intermixing of the U. S. 9 In cities or towns where_is not serious, it is more likely that black people would enter intermarriage. 10 Regardless of the real degree of racial and ethnic intermixing that goes on, the test of a blended society will be the p
42、roportion of people_. 11 More and more people in the U.S. tend to identify as American Indians partly because they_. 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 wa
43、s 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） She is having dinner. （ B） She is waiting for a telephone call. （ C） S
44、he is listening to music. （ D） She is cooking dinner. （ A） She will use the mans car. （ B） She will use her own car. （ C） She will go on foot. （ D） She will rent a car from the garage. （ A） The man finds the history course too difficult for him. （ B） The man finds the history course very interesting
45、 and rewarding. （ C） The man finds the history course very easy and interesting. （ D） The man finds the history course interesting but demanding. （ A） The man care a lot about what George said. （ B） The man couldnt understand why George said that. （ C） The man doesnt know what George meant. （ D） The
46、 man doesnt care what George said. （ A） The woman doesnt want to stay at home this evening. （ B） The woman must do some washing in the evening. （ C） The woman doesnt want to go to the movies with the man. （ D） The woman doesnt have a proper dress to wear for the movie. （ A） 15 minutes. （ B） 45 minut
47、es. （ C） 35 minutes. （ D） 30 minutes. （ A） Before Monday afternoon. （ B） Before Thursday morning. （ C） On Monday afternoon. （ D） After Thursday morning. （ A） Its dull. （ B） Its simple. （ C） Its tiring. （ D） Its complicated. （ A） A businessman in a store. （ B） A wander in the street. （ C） Amateur det
48、ective. （ D） A policeman with plain clothes. （ A） Fifteen cigarette lighters. （ B） Fifty cigarette lighters. （ C） Sixty lipsticks. （ D） An identity card. （ A） At last, the man gave a break to the woman. （ B） The woman was arrested by the man. （ C） The man gave choices to the woman. （ D） The man miss
49、ed the woman. （ A） You will have less possibility to get enrolled in. （ B） You will get more financial aid. （ C） You will get less financial aid. （ D） You will have more possibility to get enrolled in. （ A） Before the end of the year. （ B） Before the end of Feb. （ C） Before the end of fall. （ D） Before the end of spring. （ A） $20to $50. （ B） $200to $500. （ C） $2000to $5000. （ D） $10to $100. （ A） You are ready to enter the top school. （ B） You should not make preparations, since you wil
