1、大学英语六级模拟试卷 534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 Private Cars or Public Transportation? You should write at least 150 words following the outline given below. 1有人喜欢开私家车出行 2有人则选择坐公交、地铁等出行 3我的选择 Private Cars or Public Trans
2、portation? 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 information given
3、 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 Bring Our Schools out of the 20th Century Theres a dark little joke exchanged by educators with an opposing trace: Rip Van Winkle awaken
4、s in the 21 century after a hundred-year sleep and is, of course, utterly bewildered by what he sees. Men and women dash about, talking to small metal devices attached to their ears. Young people sit at home on sofas, moving miniature athletes around on electronic screens. Older folk defy death and
5、disability with devices in their chests and with hips made of metal and plastic. Airports, hospitals, shopping walls every place Rip goes just baffles him. But when he finally walks into a schoolroom, the old man knows exactly where he is. “This is a school,“ he declares. “We used to have these back
6、 in 1906. Only now the blackboards are green.“ American schools arent exactly frozen in time, but considering the pace of change in other areas of life, our public schools tend to feel like throwbacks. Kids spend much of the day as their grandparents once did: sitting in rows, listening to teachers
7、lecture, scribbling notes by hand, and reading from textbooks that are out of date by the time they are printed. A yawning gap separates the world inside the schoolhouse from the world outside. For the past five years, the national conversation on education has focused on reading scores, math tests
8、and closing the “achievement gap“ between social classes. This is not a story about that conversation. This is a story about the big public conversation the nation is not having about education, the one that will ultimately determine not merely whether some fraction of our children get “left behind“
9、 but also whether an entire generation of kids will fail to make the grade in the global economy because they cant think their way through abstract problems, work in teams, distinguish good information from bad or speak a language other than English. Right now were aiming too low. Competency in read
10、ing and math is just the minimum. Scientific and technical skills are, likewise, utterly necessary but insufficient. Todays economy demands not only a high-level competence in the traditional academic disciplines but also what might be called 21st century skills. Heres what they are: Knowing more ab
11、out the world. Thinking outside the box. Becoming smarter about new sources of information. Developing good people skills. Real Knowledge in the Google Era Learn the names of all the rivers in South America. That was the assignment given to Deborah Stipeks daughter Meredith in school, and her mom, w
12、hos dean of the Stanford University School of Education, was not impressed. “Thats silly,“ Stipek told her daughter. “Tell your teacher that if you need to know anything besides the Amazon, you can look it up on Google.“ Any number of old-school assignment memorizing the battles of the Civil War or
13、the periodic table of the elements now seem faintly absurd. That kind of information, which is poorly retained unless you routinely use it, is available at a keystroke. Still, few would argue that an American child shouldnt learn the causes of the Civil War or understand how the periodic table refle
14、cts the atomic structure and properties of the elements. As school critic E.D.Hirsch Jr. points out in his book, The Knowledge Deficit, kids need a substantial fund of information just to make sense of reading materials beyond the grade-school level. Without mastering the fundamental building blocks
15、 of math, science or history, complex concepts are impossible. Many analysts believe that to achieve the right balance between such core knowledge and what educators call “portable skills“ critical thinking, making connections between ideas and knowing how to keep on learning the U.S. curriculum nee
16、ds to become more like that of Singapore, Belgium and Sweden, whose students outperform American students on math and science tests. Classes in these countries dwell on key concepts that are taught in depth and in careful sequence, as opposed to a succession of forgettable details so often served in
17、 U.S. classrooms. Textbooks and tests support this approach. “Countries from Germany to Singapore have extremely small textbooks that focus on the most powerful and generative ideas,“ says Roy Pea, co-director of the Stanford Center for Innovations in Learning. These might be the key rules in math,
18、the laws in science or the relationship between supply and demand in economics. Americas thick textbooks, by contrast, tend to go through a mind-numbing stream of topics and subtopics in an attempt to address a vast range of educational standards. Depth over breadth and the ability to leap across di
19、sciplines are exactly what teachers aim for at the Henry Ford Academy, a public charter school in Dearborn, Michigan. Last fall, 10th-graders in Charles Dershimers science class began a project that combines concepts from earth science, chemistry, business and design. After reading about Nikes effor
20、t to develop a more environmentally friendly sneakers, students had to choose a consumer product, analyze and explain its environmental impact and then develop a plan for reengineering it to reduce pollution costs without sacrificing its commercial appeal. Says Dershimers: “Its a challenge for them
21、and for me.“ A New Kind of Literacy The juniors in Bill Strouds class are attracted by a documentary called Loose Change playing on a small TV screen at the Baccalaureate School for Global Education, in urban Astoria, N.Y. The film uses 9/11 films and interviews with building engineers and Twin Towe
22、rs survivors to make an oddly compelling case that interior explosions unrelated to the impact of the airplanes brought down the World Trade Center on that fateful day. Afterward, the student an ethnic mix of New Yorkers with their own 9/11 memories dive into a discussion about the nature of truth.
23、Throughout the year, the class will examine news reports, websites, history books, blogs, and even pop songs. The goal is to teach kids to be sharp consumers of information and to research, formulate and defend their own views, says Stroud, who is the founder and principal of the four-year-old publi
24、c school. Classes like these, which teach key aspects of information literacy, remain rare in public education, but more and more universities and employers say they are needed as the world grows ever more flooded with information of variable quality. Last year, in response to demand from colleges,
25、the Educational Testing Service unveiled a new, computer-based exam designed to measure information-and-communication-technology literacy. A study of the test with 6,200 high school seniors and college freshmen found that only half could correctly judge the objectivity of a website. “Kids tend to go
26、 to Google and cut and paste a research report together,“ says Terry Egan, who led the team that developed the new test. “We kind of assumed this generation was so comfortable with technology that they know how to use it for research and deeper thinking,“ says Egan. “But if theyre not taught these s
27、kills, they dont necessarily pick them up.“ A Dose of Reality Teachers need not fear that they will be made outdated. They will, however, feel increasing pressure to bring their methods along with the curriculum in line with the way the modern world works. That means putting a greater emphasis on te
28、aching kids to collaborate and solve problems in small groups and apply what theyve learned in the real world. Besides, research shows that kids learn better in that way than with the old chalk-and-talk approach. At suburban Farmington High School in Michigan, the engineering-technology department f
29、unctions like an engineering firm, with teachers as project managers, a Ford Motor Co. engineer as a consultant and students working in teams. The principles of physics, chemistry and engineering are taught through activities that fill the hallways with the noise of nailing, sawing and chattering. T
30、he result: the kids learn to apply academic principles to the real world, think strategically and solve problems. Such lessons also teach students to show respect for others as well as to be punctual, responsible and work well in teams. Those skills were badly missing in recently hired high school g
31、raduates, according to a survey of over 400 human-resource professionals conducted by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. “Kids dont know how to shake your hand at graduation,“ says Rudolph Crew, superintendent of the Miami-Dade school system. Deportment (举止风度 ), he notes, used to be on the rep
32、ort card. Some of the nations more forward-thinking schools are bringing it back. Its one part of 21 st century education that sleepy old Rip would recognize. 2 The joke of Rip Van Winkle is mentioned to show_. （ A） the ignorance of old people （ B） the fast development of technology （ C） the slow ch
33、ange of American schools （ D） the difference of the blackboard 3 According to the author, the 21st century skills include_. （ A） learning more about the world （ B） thinking about the box （ C） scoring high in math and art （ D） becoming skillful at reading and technology 4 How did Deborah Stipek see h
34、er daughters assignment of learning the names of all the rivers in South America? （ A） It was impressive. （ B） It didnt make any sense. （ C） It involved Google. （ D） It made her daughter silly. 5 Critical thinking, making connections between ideas and knowing how to keep on learning are what the edu
35、cators call as_. （ A） balance （ B） core knowledge （ C） portable skills （ D） curriculum 6 Unlike classes in Singapore, Belgium and Sweden, U.S. classes focus on_. （ A） math and science （ B） key concepts （ C） a succession of details （ D） the depth and sequence 7 Teachers of Henry Ford Academy emphasiz
36、e that students_. （ A） make advertisements of commercial appeal （ B） learn and think intensively （ C） learn various subjects （ D） memorize science numbers and facts 8 According to Stroud, what is the ultimate goal of education in an age full of information of variable quality? （ A） To make students
37、learn to think critically. （ B） To teach students ways to find useful information. （ C） To equip students with the latest technology. （ D） To inform students of necessary social skills. 9 Only half of the 6,200 high-school seniors and college freshmen tested can accurately determine_. 10 Research sh
38、ows that the new method of solving problems in groups and applying the knowledge in real world is better than_. 11 At Farmington High School in Michigan, teachers and students work out projects with the help of_. Section A Directions: In this section, you will hear 8 short conversations and 2 long c
39、onversations. 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 marked A, B, C and D, and decide which
40、 is the best answer. （ A） He totally agrees with the woman. （ B） He thinks other people also feel that way. （ C） He thinks the woman shouldnt speak so openly. （ D） He wants to persuade the woman not to think that way. （ A） Ways of getting extra credits. （ B） Taking more optional courses. （ C） All re
41、quirements of an M.A. degree. （ D） The credit hours required for a degree. （ A） Tom has changed his cell phone number. （ B） Tom will teach history class at that night. （ C） The womans cell phone is always unreachable. （ D） The man can help the woman give the ticket to Tom. （ A） Try to exercise each
42、day. （ B） Try to buy some necessary items. （ C） Try to stick to a budget each month. （ D） Try to save money month by month. （ A） The man is against the latest tax increase. （ B） The woman is indifferent to the tax increase. （ C） The woman is for the latest tax increase heartily. （ D） Personally, the
43、 woman doesnt like the tax increase. （ A） She is taking courses for the new term. （ B） She is trying to understand each course. （ C） She is asking for advice about taking courses. （ D） She is complaining to the man about the courses. （ A） Make some coffee. （ B） Meet Larry for coffee. （ C） Continue t
44、o read history. （ D） Go out with some friends. （ A） He has the same opinion about college students as the woman. （ B） He is indifferent to what the woman says. （ C） He advises the woman to worry about her sons study. （ D） He doesnt think all college students conduct as the woman says. （ A） The hotel
45、 doesnt open that day. （ B） She doesnt work that day. （ C） There is no room available that day. （ D） There is no discount on books that day. （ A） He wants to give his wife a surprise on their anniversary. （ B） The woman cant cancel his reservation record. （ C） He doesnt appreciate the womans calling
46、. （ D） He doesnt understand what the woman means. （ A） The receptionist is not serious. （ B） The receptionists advice is helpful to him. （ C） Its charge is reasonable. （ D） Its reservation service is very poor. （ A） She saw students protesting last week. （ B） One of her roommates told her about it.
47、（ C） She attended one of its meetings before. （ D） She read about it in the newspaper. （ A） To raise more fund for the group. （ B） To preserve some open spaces on campus. （ C） To secure more parking lots for students. （ D） To protect the Swing Hall. （ A） She has a class to attend. （ B） She has an im
48、portant meeting with the school administrators. （ C） She is against the mans plan. （ D） She will have a picnic with her friends. （ A） Make a donation to support the group. （ B） Help the man organize the rally. （ C） Sign a petition. （ D） Take advantage of the student parking lot. Section B Directions
49、: 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 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） Husbands and children of working women. （ B） Working women who have no time for cooking. （ C） Hotel personnel who must attend to working women. （ D） Working women who must travel on their own
