1、大学英语六级模拟试卷 42及答案与解析 一、 Part I Writing (30 minutes) 1 For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a composition on the topic Starbucks Presence in the Palace Museum. You should write at least 150 words, and base your composition on the outline given in Chinese below: 1有些人认为 “星巴克进故宫 ”是一种 “挑战传统文
2、化 ”“崇洋媚外 ”的表现，主张将星巴克赶出故宫 2另一些人认为 “星巴克进故宫 ”是一种 “中西文化相互融合 ”的正常表现，可以接受 3你的看法 Starbucks Presence in the Palace Museum 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
3、to the passage. For questions 1-4, mark： Y (for YES) if the 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. 2 Wal-Mart Wal-Mart is more than ju
4、st the worlds largest retailer. It is an economic force, a cultural phenomenon and a lightning rod for controversy. It all started with a simple philosophy from founder Sam Walton: Offer shoppers lower prices than they get anywhere else. That basic strategy has shaped Wal-Marts culture and driven th
5、e companys growth. Now that Wal-Mart is so huge, it has unprecedented power to shape labor markets globally and change the way entire industries operate. History of Wal-Mart Sam Walton opened his first five-and-dime in 1950. His vision was to keep prices as low as possible. Even if his margins weren
6、t as fat as competitors, he figured he could make up for that in volume. He was right. In the early 1960s, Walton opened his first Wal-Mart in Rogers, Arkansas. The company continued to grow, going public in 1970 and adding more stores every year. In 1990, Wal-Mart surpassed key rival Kmart in size.
7、 Two years later, it surpassed Sears. Walton continued to drive an old pickup truck and share budget-hotel rooms with colleagues on business trips, even after Wal-Mart made him very rich. He demanded that his employees also keep expenses to a bare minimuma mentality that is still at the heart of Wal
8、-Mart culture more than a decade after Waltons death. The company has continued to grow rapidly after his death in 1992 and now operates four retail divisionsWal-Mart Supercenters, Wal-Mart discount stores, Neighborhood Market stores and Sams Club warehouses. Wal-Mart Strategy Lets start with techno
9、logy. Wal-Mart pushed the retail industry to establish the universal bar code, which forced manufacturers to adopt common labeling. The bar allowed retailers to generate all kinds of informationcreating a subtle shift of power from manufacturers to retailers. Wal-Mart became especially good at explo
10、iting the information behind the bar code. And thus it is considered a pioneer in developing sophisticated technology to track its stock and cut the fat out of its supply chain. Recently, Wal-Mart became the first major retailer to demand manufacturers use radio frequency identification technology (
11、RFID). The technology uses radio frequencies to transmit data stored on small tags attached to pallets(货盘 ) or individual products. RFID tags hold significantly more data than bar codes. The frugal culture, established by Walton, also plays into Wal-Marts success. The company has been criticized for
12、 the relatively poor wages and health care plans that it offers to rank-and- file employees. It has also been accused of demanding that hourly workers put in overtime without pay. Store managers often work more than 70 hours per week. This culture is also present at the companys headquarters. Wal-Ma
13、rt is headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas, instead of an expensive city like New York. The building is unattractive and dull. You wont catch executives in quality cars and you wont see them dragging into work at 9:30 a.m. Executives fly coach and often share hotel rooms with colleagues. They work
14、 long hours, typically arriving at work before 6:30 a.m. and working halfdays on Saturdays. The central goal of Wal-Mart is to keep retail prices low and the company has been very successful at this. Experts estimate that Wal-Mart saves shoppers at least 15 percent on a typical cart of groceries. Ev
15、erythingincluding the technology and corporate culturefeeds into that ultimate goal of delivering the lowest prices possible. Wal-Mart also pushes its suppliers, some say cruelly, to cut prices. In The Wal-Mart Effect, author Charles Fishman discusses how the price, of a four-pack of GE light bulbs
16、decreased from $2.19 to 88 cents during a five-year period. The Power Because of Wal-Marts massive size, it has incredible power. It has driven smaller retailers out of business; forced manufacturers to be more efficient, often leading these suppliers to move manufacturing jobs overseas; and changed
17、 the way that even large and established industries do business. There is plenty of anecdotal evidence that a new Wal-Mart in town spells doom for local pharmacies, grocery stores, sporting goods stores, etc. Economist Emek Basker, Ph.D., attempted to quantify the impact. Her study found that in a t
18、ypical United States county, when a Wal-Mart opens, three other retailers close within two years and four close within five years. While the Wal-Mart might employ 300 people, another 250 people working in retail lose their jobs within five years in that county. Wal-Mart has life or death decisions o
19、ver(almost) all the consumer goods industries that exist in the United States, because it is the number-one supplier-retailer of most of our consumer goodsnot just clothes, shoes, toys, but home appliances, electronic products, sporting goods, bicycles, groceries, food. The stories of how Wal-Mart p
20、ushes manufacturers into selling the same product at lower and lower prices are legendary. One example is Lakewood Engineering the biological Utopia has arrived. Strangely, it has involved little physical change. No other species fills so many places in nature. (45)_ .We did not evolve, because mach
21、ines and society did it for us. Darwin had a phrase to describe those ignorant of evolution: they “look at an organic being as a savage looks at a ship, as at something wholly beyond his comprehension.“ No doubt we will remember a 20th century way of life beyond comprehension for its ugliness. (46)_
22、. Section B Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. You should decide on the best choice. 48 Only a year ago, the suit and tie seemed headed for extinctionalon
23、g with other old-economy anomalies(异常 ) like profits, proven products and payment in cash. In the new economy, workers would wear whatever clothing best got their creative juices flowing, without unduly restricting freedom of movement while playing table football and engaging in other activities de
24、rigueur(合宜的 ) in the modem cutting-edge working environment. This sartorial(服装的 ) revolution started, inevitably, in Silicon Valley, but by last spring it had stormed even the most sober and traditional banks, consultancies and law firms of Manhattan and the City of London. One by one, they all went
25、 “business casual“. Now, it turns out, the vision of an open-neck future was but a mirage(海市蜃楼 ). Suits are back. According to the Doneger Group, a “style consultancy“, sales of suits and dress shirts bottomed in the third quarter of last year, and have since rebounded sharply. The evidence is clear
26、est in New York, where many a suit has been rescued from the wardrobe, with chinos(丝光斜 纹布裤 ) and polo-shirts relegated to the weekends. Only workers who never come face to face with customers or senior managers can still fearlessly wear jeans and T-shirts. Even Americas congenitally(天生地 ) casual wes
27、t coast is going conservative. The new vogue(时尚 ) is “dressy casual“. At a minimum, The Economist has found, shirts are once more being tucked(塞进 ) into trousers. New-economy trendsetters such as Bill Gates, Michael Dell and Larry Ellison have all been seen looking dapper(衣冠楚楚的 ). When Steve Case, b
28、oss of AOL, wore a tie at the announcement of his firms purchase of Time Warner a year ago, it was interpreted as a gesture to reassure Time workers. With hindsight(事后的认识 ), it seems Mr. Case simply had a feel for fashion. George Bush, sure-footed in his first weeks in the White House, has banned je
29、ans from the Oval Office and wears a suit almost everywhere except on the ranch. The time has surely come to replace the old “hemline(衣裙的底边 ) theory“ of economic cycles with a new theory of suits. Back in the 1920s, George Taylor, an economist at the University of Pennsylvania, argued that hemlines
30、on womens skirts were a useful indicator of economic activity. They moved higher in good times, because women could afford to wear, and show off, expensive silk stockings. In hard times, they moved lower, as modesty required that less expensively clad(穿着的 ) legs be covered. Now that women have more
31、to think about than their stockings, the wearing of suits may be a more reliable guide to economic trends. In any case, many female executives have abandoned hemlines altogether in favor of trousers. The suit is the. perfect attire(服装 ) for hard economic times. It speaks of seriousness of purpose an
32、d self-discipline. It speaks of dullness, too, which is a welcome contrast with the anarchic(无政府主义的 ) creativity of the dotcoms. A suit saves time, because it requires no thought and still looks all righta crucial competitive advantage in the labor market that men long enjoyed over women. How foolis
33、h it was to throw that away. Above all, the backlash(强烈反应 ) against suits revealed a labor market so tight that workers had all the cards. Bosses hated seeing their staff slouch(懒散 ) contemptuously in torn jeans and jumpers, but had to put up with it. Now, jobs are harder to come by, and involve mor
34、e work and less play. The suit is back. Everywhere except The Economist, of course. Here, freedom of movement is religion. 48 It is implied that, a year ago, _. （ A） people preferred to pay by check or credit cards （ B） creative people gave up suit and tie at work （ C） business casual was no longer
35、the vogue （ D） suit and tie were only essential for social activities 49 Why does the author mention the fact that shirts are once more being tucked into trousers? （ A） To show that people do so to follow the new economy trendsetters. （ B） To point out a typical phenomenon in Americas congenitally c
36、asual west coast. （ C） To indicate the fact that people try to dress in a less casual way. （ D） To prove suits and ties are not popular among people. 50 Which of the following best illustrates the old theory of economic cycle? （ A） Men took the suit as the perfect clothing during the Great Depressio
37、n. （ B） Men had to give up expensive clothing during the Great Depression （ C） Women could not afford to wear stockings during the Great Depression. （ D） Women wore comparatively longer skirts during the Great Depression. 51 The passage most probably appears in _. （ A） an economic periodical （ B） a
38、textbook on economics （ C） a research paper on economy （ D） the economy section of an encyclopedia 52 Which of the following is in agreement with the logic behind such a dressing change the passage deals with? （ A） As Americas economy slows, business casualty proves rather too casual. （ B） People in
39、 America are getting fed up with casual dress recently. （ C） Women wear suits and trousers to show their full equality with men in workplace. （ D） Workers intend to rely on their dressing to improve their social status. 53 A recent case in Australia shows how easily fear can frustrate an informants
40、good intentions. In December, a woman wrote anonymously to the countrys antitrust watchdog, the ACCC, alleging that her employer was colluding with others in breach of the Trade Practices Act. Her evidence was sufficient to suggest to the ACCC that fines of 10 million dollars could be imposed on “a
41、large company“. But the agency needed more details. So just before Christmas it advertised extensively to try and persuade the woman to come forward again. Some days later her husband rang the ACCC, but he hung up before disclosing vital information. Now the agency is trying to contact the couple ag
42、ain. In America, there is some evidence that the events of September 11th have made people more public-spirited and more inclined to blow the whistle. The Government Accountability Project, a Washington-based group, received 27 reproaches from potential informants in the three months before Septembe
43、r 11th, and 66 in the three months after. Many of these complaints were about security issues. They included a Federal Aviation Administration employee who claimed that the agency had repeatedly failed to respond to known cases of security violations at airports. Legislation to give greater protecti
44、on to people who expose corporate or government misbehavior externally (after having received no satisfaction internally) is being introduced in a number of countries. In America, it focuses on informants among federal employees. According to Billy Garde, a lawyer who was a member of BPs Alaska inqu
45、iry team, they “have less rights than prisoners“. A bill introduced last year by Senator Daniel Akaka to improve protection for them is currently stuck in congressional committees. In Britain, the Public Interest Disclosure Act came fully into force last year. Described by one American as “the most
46、far-reaching informant protection in the world“, it treats informants as witnesses acting in the public interest. This separates them from people who are merely pursuing a personal grievance. But even in Britain, the protection is limited. Rupert Walker, a fund manager, was fired by Govett Investmen
47、ts in September 2001 for expressing concerns in the Financial Times about a group of people of investment trusts that invest in each other. 53 What does the author most probably think about what the ACCC did to the woman? （ A） Inconsistent. （ B） Disheartening. （ C） Unreasonable. （ D） Bureaucratic. 5
48、4 By saying “more inclined to blow the whistle“(Para. 2), the author means that people are more_. （ A） eager to disclose secrets （ B） willing to report wrongdoings （ C） alert to hidden dangers to the country （ D） ready to cooperate with the administration 55 It can be inferred that the Federal Aviat
49、ion Administration employee _. （ A） had repeatedly complained to his employer （ B） did not get any response from his employer （ C） was concerned about public security （ D） became brave after the 9.11 disaster 56 According to the third paragraph, informants among the American federal employees _. （ A） disclose misbehavior externally when they are disappointed internally （ B） get more protection than people who disclose misbehavior externally （ C） have less rights than
