1、大学英语六级模拟试卷 516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 entitled Why Are There Fewer Students in the Library. You should write at least 150 words following the outline given below: 1. 学校图书馆利用不足； 2. 导致这种显现的原因； 3. 我的观点。 Why Are There Fewer
2、 Students in the Library 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 inf
3、ormation 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 End of the Cash Era In the spring Adam Smith will replace Sir Edward Elgar as the face on Britains 20 note. The first
4、economic thinker to be so honored could well be the last. Not because economists are especially undeserving, but because cash, after millennia as one of mankinds most versatile and enduring technologies, looks set over the next 15 years or so finally to melt away into an electronic stream of ones an
5、d zeros. If an era is represented by its money, the information age is at hand. Notes and coins are already a small fraction of the money in most rich countries. But going by the number of transactions rather than their value, we still live firmly in a cash society. The European Payments Council est
6、imates that the European Unions 360 billion cash transactions cost at least 50 billion a year; others put the bill at 200 a head. Visa, a huge credit-card alliance, reckons cash accounts for most of the $1.3 trillion spent a year across the world on small-ticket items. Whether queuing to get money o
7、ut and queuing again to spend it, or breaking a $100 bill with an irate (发怒的 ) cab driver one minute and having your pockets and purses fat with coins the next, cash is plainly still king. Yet signs of the new order are everywhere. On February 12th, 19 telephone operators with networks in over 100 c
8、ountries said that people would be able to use their handsets to send money abroad. MasterCard will operate the system in which remittances (汇款 ) will be sent as text messages. For people without bank accounts, the credit can be converted into pre-paid cards which can then be used to buy things. “It
9、 will revolutionize the money-transfer business,“ said Sunil Bharti Mittal, boss of Bharti Airtel, one of Indias biggest mobile operators. The idea is to tap into the more than $250 billion a year that immigrants and migrant workers send to relatives and friends back home. Britains Vodafone and Amer
10、icas Citigroup are also launching an international money-transfer service developed from the M-PESA remittance service which is already operating successfully within Kenya. Sir John Bond, formerly chairman of the HSBC banking group and now chairman of Vodafone, has long been convinced that payments
11、and mobiles would somehow converge. “Mobile phones have the ability to make a dramatic change to village life in Africa,“ he says. He also thinks phones loaded with credit will make many of the payments people use cash for in rich economies. For banks with high infrastructure costs, says Sir John, i
12、t has always “been hard to make money out of small payments“. But lower-cost business models, some of them from developing countries, are opening up new opportunities. The big attraction of the mobile phone as a purse is that so many people have them - even children. Both MasterCard and Visa have re
13、cently introduced plastic cards in America that do not have to be swiped for purchases under $25. Later this year a “dual interface“ system will be tested in London. It will involve a single plastic card which combines an Oyster for travel, a standard Visa card issued by Britains Barclays Bank for “
14、chip and PIN“ payments and a new “wave and pay“ Visa for instant transactions up to 10. Nobody can be sure how fast bits and bytes will drive out metal and paper. A hundred years ago you could still pay your taxes in Uganda in cowrie shells. Perhaps hard cash will always find a niche, tucked away in
15、 childrens birthday cards and as money for the unbanked and phoneless. But most of the time a phone or a smart card that can be waved over an electronic reader will beat notes and coins hands-down. The doubt - and the remaining obstacle to digital money - concerns a third property of cash: its anony
16、mity. Greshams law vs Moores law Rendering cash as pure information is the final denial of the notion that money has intrinsic value: what was once a carefully weighed piece of gold, silver or bronze has become simply a token. That is a hard-won truth. As John Maynard Keynes once lamented, when it a
17、ppears governments are able to deceive their citizens by depreciating the currency. Yet when money is minted (铸造 ) from silicon something remarkable happens. The economics of handling cash - which today involves thick-necked men in crash-helmets - is suddenly embodied by Moores law, which has seen t
18、he cost of computer-processing power fall by half every 18 months or so. Electronic information is instantaneous, weightless and exact. No longer the miserable fumbling through coat pockets while a line of waiting customers quietly fumes. Shopkeepers can do away with expensive cash floats and elabor
19、ate ruses to stop cash fraud - such as charging $4.99 so that the $5 bill most people hand over has to pass through the till (现金出纳机 的抽屉 ) for one cent change rather than being trousered by a shop assistant. Information-money can be handled by any information-processing device. That includes the mobi
20、le phone, which can add to moneys utility in that its screen can display information clearly and it can link to your bank as a mobile ATM at any time. Visa thinks a contactless digital transaction takes less than half the time of a cash one and that people liberated from what happens to be in their
21、wallets spend a fifth more. Which is why digital cash is now solving its chicken-and-egg problem. In the past shopkeepers would not install systems unless shoppers had electronic cash. And shoppers would not use electronic cash unless they had something to buy. But smart cards and readers have becom
22、e cheap and consumers now possess mobile phones in droves. The trillions of payments that are too small to bear the fees of paying by credit card have come within reach and almost everyone stands to gain. Some Japanese merchants have already begun to offer discounts to people using electronic cash.
23、Others will follow. The buck stops here Except there is that nagging question of anonymity. It is well known that privacy has a lot going for it. The firms running payment systems might sell information about what you buy and when. Prepare yourself for a barrage of e-coupons and offers designed to f
24、it your profile and uploaded to your phone. And there are more serious concerns. In the cash world, anonymity can be a cloak for wrong doing. The suspicion clings that where you find anonymity you find drugs, fraud, money laundering, terrorist financing and a huge amount of tax evasion. No wonder go
25、vernments have long sought to control anonymous financial instruments. The state is certain to limit the amount that can pass through an anonymous card, phone, or other means of business. Eager to collect taxes from builders and nannies, it will also be tempted to monitor electronic-cash payments. W
26、hether it does so is a political question, not a technological one. You can design payment systems that protect against fraud and yet preserve anonymity, just as you can design open systems or those that keep your identity secret unless the authorities demand that it be revealed. When it comes to tr
27、ading convenience against privacy, most people seem to back convenience every time. With cash, however, it might be different. The more the state intrudes into electronic cash, the more it encourages inefficient notes and coin. From the first slave who bought his freedom, money has been what Dostoye
28、vsky called “coined liberty“. As Adam Smith would no doubt have observed, just because the state can pry into electronic cash does not mean it should. 2 Why could Adam Smith be the last economist as the face on a bank note? （ A） No economic thinker could be more honorable. （ B） Cash is very versatil
29、e and enduring. （ C） We will not need money in the near future. （ D） Electronic money will replace cash in the future. 3 The second paragraph mainly indicates that _. （ A） notes and coins play a less important role than before （ B） cash still dominates the economic life in the society （ C） we dont n
30、eed as much money in flow as goods value （ D） there are many inconveniences in cash transactions 4 According to Sunil Bharti Mittal, what will revolutionize the traditional money-transfer business? （ A） Alliance of telephone operators and MasterCard. （ B） The large demand of immigrants and migrant w
31、orkers. （ C） Sending money by text messages. （ D） International telephone networks. 5 What does the chairman of Vodafone John Bond think of banks? （ A） They can hardly get profit out of small payments. （ B） They may disappear in the near future just like cash. （ C） They have greatly changed village
32、life in Africa. （ D） They hold a primary role in the money-transfer business. 6 Visa will introduce a new “wave and pay“ card in London for purchases _. （ A） under $25 （ B） under 10 （ C） abroad （ D） in traveling 7 According to John Maynard Keynes, when can governments use devaluation of currency to
33、take in people? （ A） When value is inherent in money. （ B） When metal currency becomes a token. （ C） When cash cant be used anonymously. （ D） When Moores law begins to work. 8 According to Visa, transactions by mobile ATMs can encourage spending by _. （ A） 18% （ B） 5% （ C） 4O% （ D） 2O% 9 More and mo
34、re Japanese shopkeepers encourage using electronic cash by _. 10 To limit wrong doing, governments have long been trying to control _. 11 More people would use notes and coin to protect _ when electronic cash payments are under strict monitoring. Section A Directions: In this section, you will hear
35、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 each question there will be a pause. During the pause, you must read the four choices mark
36、ed A, B, C and D, and decide which is the best answer. （ A） Her computer doesnt work well. （ B） She isnt getting along with her staff. （ C） She didnt register for a proper course. （ D） She cant apply the theory to her program. （ A） They are at Michaels. （ B） They will treat Michael. （ C） They are go
37、ing to Michaels. （ D） They will go home by subway. （ A） The woman likes the plot best. （ B） The man doesnt take to the movie. （ C） Both speakers are fond of the movie. （ D） The man likes the music of the movie. （ A） She will get married with the man. （ B） She has got married for about six months. （
38、C） She has decided to marry in June. （ D） She will get married this winter. （ A） He was born in Spain. （ B） He grew up in England. （ C） He spent his teen years in London. （ D） He went to a college in the USA. （ A） Annoying and mean. （ B） Kind and friendly. （ C） Intelligent but mean. （ D） Intelligent
39、 but annoying. （ A） He will take a coffee break. （ B） He will keep on working. （ C） He will go for a walk. （ D） He will begin with the report. （ A） At teatime this afternoon. （ B） At lunch next Tuesday. （ C） At lunch on Wednesday. （ D） At teatime on Wednesday. （ A） Impolite but common. （ B） Annoying
40、 but common. （ C） Annoying and dislikable. （ D） Common and acceptable. （ A） At the gym. （ B） In the park. （ C） On the street. （ D） At a restaurant. （ A） Keeping the body straight. （ B） Keeping the feet to the floor. （ C） Bending the body at the waist. （ D） Bending the elbows as low as possible. （ A）
41、 5:15. （ B） 4:45. （ C） 5:45. （ D） 0.177083 （ A） He shouted at his wife. （ B） He just stood there. （ C） He crawled under the table. （ D） He lost consciousness. （ A） They just lived in the first floor. （ B） Their apartment building is lower than a normal one. （ C） The floor below their apartment was t
42、otally flattened. （ D） The ground was heightened because of the earthquake. （ A） It was gone completely. （ B） It stayed where it was before the earthquake. （ C） It moved to another place and collapsed totally. （ D） It kept standing there though moved. Section B Directions: In this section, you will
43、hear 3 short passages. At the end of each passage, you will hear some questions. Both the passage and the questions 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） The large profit of gas. （ B） The lower price of g
44、as. （ C） The search for environmentally-friendly fuels. （ D） The easy long-distance transportation of gas. （ A） Gas is difficult to transport over long distances. （ B） The system of long-distance pipelines is not available. （ C） Gas is not so environmentally-friendly as other fuels. （ D） The potenti
45、al profits are far from enormous. （ A） Gas can be used in liquid and gas form. （ B） It will provide gas through long pipelines. （ C） Gas is frozen into liquid and transported. （ D） It will bring huge profits to the researchers. （ A） Reading lips and pronouncing words. （ B） Learning sign language. （
46、C） Communicating with the disabled. （ D） Looking after himself. （ A） Adrian went to a top high school. （ B） Adrian went to a regular school. （ C） Adrian entered the World Yacht Race. （ D） Adrian entered the Mountain Climbing Race. （ A） His inborn talent. （ B） A lot of his achievements outside school
47、. （ C） His hard work only. （ D） The most important lessons from his mother. （ A） He thinks neither of the work patterns is good. （ B） He believes that longer working hours is better. （ C） He prefers shorter working hours to longer ones. （ D） He says nothing certain about which pattern is better. （ A
48、） Spain. （ B） France. （ C） America. （ D） Germany. （ A） Americans are happier than Europeans. （ B） The GDP of Europe is higher than that of America. （ C） People all over the world choose to work less when they are richer. （ D） Two possible reasons are given for working longer hours in the US. （ A） St
49、aying at Home （ B） Work and Happiness （ C） Work and Productivity （ D） Americans and Europeans 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 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. Fo
