1、大学英语六级模拟试卷 174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 composition on the topic: Should We Read Extensively or Intensively? You should write at least 150 words, and base your composition on the outline given below: 1.大学生读书面临两种选择：广泛阅
2、读还是关注专业书籍的阅读？ 2.我的读书方法 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 with the infor
3、mation 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 When people care enough about something to do it well, those who do it best tend to be far better than everyone else. Theres
4、 a huge gap between Leonardo and second-rate contemporaries. A top-ranked professional chess player could play ten thousand games against an ordinary club player without losing once. Like chess or painting or writing novels, making money is a very specialized skill. But for some reason we treat this
5、 skill differently. No one complains when a few people surpass all the rest at playing chess or writing novels, but when a few people make more money than the rest, we get editorials saying this is wrong. Why? The pattern of variation seems no different than for any other skill. What causes people t
6、o react so strongly when the skill is making money? I think there arc three reasons we treat making money as different: the misleading model of wealth we learn as children; the disreputable way in which, till recently, most fortunes were accumulated; and the worry that great variations in income are
7、 somehow bad for society. As far as I can tell, the first is mistaken, the second outdated, and the third empirically false. Could it be that, in a modem democracy, variation in income is actually a sign of health? When I was five I thought electricity was created by electric sockets. I didnt realiz
8、e there were power plants out there generating it. Likewise, it doesnt occur to most kids that wealth is something that has to be generated. It seems to be something that flows from parents. Because of the circumstances in which they encounter it, children tend to misunderstand wealth. They confuse
9、it with money. They think that there is a fixed amount of it. And they think of it as something thats distributed by authorities (and so should be distributed equally), rather than something that has to be created (and might be created unequally). In fact, wealth is not money. Money is just a conven
10、ient way of trading one form of wealth for another. Wealth is the underlying stuff-the goods and services we buy. When you travel to a rich or poor country, you dont have to look at people s bank accounts to tell which kind youre in. You can see wealth- in buildings and streets, in the clothes and t
11、he health of the people. Where does wealth come from? People make it. This was easier to grasp when most people lived on farms, and made many of the things they wanted with their own hands. Then you could see in the house, the herds, and the granary the wealth that each family created. It was obviou
12、s then too that the wealth of the world was not a fixed quantity that had to be shared out, like slices of a pie. If you wanted more wealth, you could make it. This is just as true today, though few of us create wealth directly for ourselves. Mostly we create wealth for other people in exchange for
13、money, which we then trade for the forms of wealth we want. Because kids are unable to create wealth, whatever they have has to be given to them. And when wealth is something youre given, then of course it seems that it should be distributed equally. As in most families it is. The kids see to that.
14、“Unfair,“ they cry, when one sibling (兄弟姐妹 ) gets more than another. In the real world, you cant keep living off your parents. If you want something, you either have to make it, or do something of equivalent value for someone else, in order to get them to give you enough money to buy it. In the real
15、 world, wealth is (except for a few specialists like thieves and speculators) something you have to create, not something thats distributed by Daddy. And since the ability and desire to create it vary from person to person, its not made equally. You get paid by doing or making something people want,
16、 and those who make more money are often simply better at doing what people want. Top actors make a lot more money than B-list actors. The B-list actors might be almost as charismatic, but when people go to the theater and look at the list of movies playing, they want that extra oomph（吸引力） he big st
17、ars have. Doing what people want is not the only way to get money, of course. You could also rob banks, or solicit bribes, or establish a monopoly. Such tricks account for some variation in wealth, and indeed for some of the biggest individual fortunes, but they are not the root cause of variation i
18、n income. The root cause of variation in income is the same as the root cause of variation in every other human skill. The second reason we tend to fend great disparities of wealth alarming is that for most of human history the usual way to accumulate a fortune was to steal it: in pastoral societies
19、 by cattle raiding; in agricultural societies by appropriating others estates in times of war, and taxing them in times of peace. In conflicts, those on the winning side would receive the estates confiscated from the losers. In more organized societies, the ruler and his officials used taxation inst
20、ead of confiscation. But here too we see the same principle: the way to get rich was not to create wealth, but to serve a ruler powerful enough to appropriate it. But it was not till the Industrial Revolution that wealth creation definitively replaced corruption as the best way to get rich. In Engla
21、nd, at least, corruption only became unfashionable when there started to be other faster ways to get rich. Thirdly, one often hears a policy criticized on the grounds that it would increase the income gap between rich and poor. As if it were an axiom (公理 ) that tiffs would be bad. It might be true t
22、hat increased variation in income would be bad, but I dont see how we can say its axiomatic. Indeed, it may even be false, in industrial democracies. In a society of serfs (农奴 ) and warlords, certainly, variation in income is a sign of an underlying problem. But serfdom is not the only cause of vari
23、ation in income. A 747 pilot doesnt make 40 times as much as a checkout clerk because he is a warlord. His skills are simply much more valuable. Id like to propose an alternative idea: that in a modem society, increasing variation in income is a sign of health. Technology seems to increase the varia
24、tion in productivity at faster than linear rates. If we dont see corresponding variation in income, there are three possible explanations: (a) that technical innovation has stopped, (b) that the people who would create the most wealth oxent doing it, or (c) that they arent getting paid for it. If yo
25、u suppress variations in income, whether by stealing private fortunes, as feudal rulers used to do, or by taxing them away, as some modern governments have done, the result always seems to be the same. Society as a whole ends up poorer. If I had a choice of living in a society where I was materially
26、 much better off than I am now, but was among the poorest, or in one where I was the richest, but much worse off than I am now, Id take the first option. If had children, it would arguably be immoral not to. Its absolute poverty you want to avoid, not relative poverty. If, as the evidence so far imp
27、lies, you have to have one or the other in your society, take relative poverty. You need rich people in your society not so much because in spending their money or they create jobs, but because of what they have to do to get rich. Im not talking about the trickle-down effect here. Im not saying that
28、 if you let Henry Ford get rich, he 11 hire you as a waiter at his next party. Im saying that hell make you a tractor to replace your horse. 2 Like chess or painting or writing novels, making money is a very specialized skill but is now treated not equally as playing chess or painting or writing nov
29、els. （ A） Y （ B） N （ C） NG 3 Many parents tell their children that wealth is something that hasnt to be generated. It is something that can flow from parents. （ A） Y （ B） N （ C） NG 4 In modem times, most of us create wealth directly for ourselves. （ A） Y （ B） N （ C） NG 5 Such tricks as rob banks, or
30、 solicit bribes, or establish a monopoly account for the root cause of variation in income. （ A） Y （ B） N （ C） NG 6 Peoples worry that _ is empirically false. 7 While Money is just a convenient way of trading one from of wealth for another, wealth is the underlying stuff- _. 8 When you travel abroad
31、, you can judge whether the country is rich or poor by seeing wealth- _ instead of looking at people s account. 9 In England, corruption only became unfashionable when _. 10 If you suppress variations in income by whatever means, the result always seems to be the same _. 11 You need rich people in y
32、our society basically because of_. 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 ea
33、ch 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 thinks that there wont be enough seats for everybody. （ B） He thinks that the speaker wont show up. （ C） He thinks the seminar wont be open to the pu
34、blic. （ D） He thinks that there might not be any more tickets available. （ A） Their father is unable to keep his promise. （ B） Their father is going on a vacation without her. （ C） Their father isnt telling her the truth. （ D） Their father doesnt want to travel abroad. （ A） John didnt pass, although
35、 he had tried his best. （ B） John did better than he thought he was able to. （ C） John got an excellent score, which was unexpected. （ D） John was disappointed at his math score. （ A） The roof of the womans house needs to be repaired. （ B） The roof of the mans house has several bad leaks. （ C） The w
36、omans bathroom was badly damaged. （ D） The man works for a roofing company. （ A） Mr. Smith will be replaced if he makes another mistake. （ B） Mr. Smith is an admirable chief of the Asian department. （ C） Mr. Smiths department is more successful than ail the others. （ D） Mr. Smith is seldom in his of
37、fice. （ A） She doesnt have a fax machine. （ B） She may quit her present job soon. （ C） She is tired of her present job. （ D） Her phone number has changed. （ A） Someone has taken away her luggage. （ B） Her flight is 50 minutes late. （ C） Her luggage has been delayed. （ D） She cant find the man shes b
38、een waiting for. （ A） To do whatever the committee asks him to. （ B） To make decisions in agreement with the committee. （ C） To run the committee hid way. （ D） To make himself the committee chairman. （ A） Get a ride home with Nancy. （ B） Find a place to live. （ C） Go to the store before it closes. （
39、 D） Carry his groceries home. （ A） He didnt expect to buy a lot. （ B） He had only one bag of groceries. （ C） The supermarket is just down the block. （ D） He thought hed get a ride with the Kramers. （ A） They are paying for his education. （ B） They invited him to their party. （ C） They took him on a
40、vacation with them. （ D） They let him live with them for free. （ A） Mating habits of squid and octopus. （ B） The evolution of certain form of sea life. （ C） The study of marine shells. （ D） Survival skills of sea creatures. （ A） He didnt understand the lecture. （ B） He wants to borrow her notes next
41、 week. （ C） He needs help with a makeup exam, （ D） He was sick and unable to attend. （ A） Some sea creatures developed backbones. （ B） The first giant squid was captured. （ C） Some sea creatures shed their shells. （ D） Sea life became more intelligent. （ A） She has always believed they exist. （ B） S
42、he heard about them in New Zealand. （ C） Stories about them may be based on giant squid. （ D） The instructor mentioned them in the lecture. 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 questi
43、ons 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） Crowded air traffic. （ B） The large size of airplanes. （ C） Mistakes by air traffic controllers. （ D） Bad weather. （ A） They bumped into each other over a swimmin
44、g pool. （ B） They avoided each other by turning in different directions. （ C） They narrowly escaped crashing into each other. （ D） One plane climbed above the other at the critical moment. （ A） To show the key role played by air traffic controllers. （ B） To show the great responsibility shouldered b
45、y the pilots. （ C） To give an example of air disasters. （ D） To show that air travel is far safer than driving a car. （ A） In day-care centres where little children were taken care of. （ B） In areas in Chicago where poor people lived. （ C） In places where hot lunch was provided for young people. （ D
46、） In schools where free classes were organized for young people. （ A） For young people and adults. （ B） For immigrants. （ C） For factory workers. （ D） For poor city children. （ A） Jane Adams contributions to society. （ B） Jane Adams struggle for womens liberation. （ C） Jane Adams life story. （ D） Ja
47、ne Adams responsibility for the poor. （ A） 18 American undergraduates. （ B） 18 overseas undergraduates, （ C） 18 American postgraduates. （ D） 18 overseas postgraduates. （ A） Family relations. （ B） Social problems. （ C） Family planning. （ D） Personal matters. （ A） Red. （ B） Green. （ C） Blue. （ D） Purp
48、le, （ A） The five questions were not well designed. （ B） Not all the questionnaires were returned. （ C） Only a small number of students were surveyed. （ D） Some of the answers to the questionnaire were not valid. Section C Directions: In this section, you will hear a passage three times. When the pa
49、ssage 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 36 If parents bring up a child with the aim of turning the child into a【
