1、大学英语六级模拟试卷 590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 On the Adaptation of the Classics. You should write at least 150 words following the outline given below. 1近来，许多经典名著被改写成各种 版本以供大众娱乐 2这种现象产生的原因 3我的看法 On the Adaptation of th
2、e Classics 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 Wal-Mart Wal-Mart is more than just the worlds largest retailer. It is an economic force, a cultural phenomenon and a lightning rod for
4、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 the companys growth. Now that Wal-Mart is so huge, it has unprecedented power to shape labor markets glob
5、ally 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 werent as fat as competitors, he figured he could make up for that in volume. He was right. In the early 196
6、0s, 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. Two years later, it surpassed Sears. Walton continued to drive an old pickup truck and share budget-ho
7、tel 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 minimum a mentality that is still at the heart of Wal-Mart culture more than a decade after Waltons death. The company has continued to grow rapidly after
8、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 technology. Wal-Mart pushed the retail industry to establish the universal bar code, which forced manufactur
9、ers to adopt common labeling. The bar allowed retailers to generate all kinds of information creating a subtle shift- of power from manufacturers to retailers. Wal-Mart became especially good at exploiting the information behind the bar code. And thus it is considered a pioneer in developing sophist
10、icated 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 (RFID). The technology uses radio frequencies to transmit data stored on small tags attached to palle
11、ts (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 the relatively poor wages and health care plans that it offers to rank-and-file employees. It has
12、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-Mart is headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas, instead of an expensive city like New York. The buildi
13、ng 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 long hours, typically arriving at work before 6:30 a.m. and working halfdays on Saturdays. The cent
14、ral 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. Everything including the technology and corporate culture feeds into that ultimate goal of delivering
15、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 decreased from $2.19 to 88 cents during a five-year period. The Power Because of Wal-Marts massive
16、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 the way that even large and established industries do business. There is plenty of anecdotal evide
17、nce 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 typical United States county, when a Wal-Mart opens, three other retailers close within two years an
18、d 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 over (almost) all the consumer goods industries that exist in the United States, because it is the n
19、umber-one supplier-retailer of most of our consumer goods not just clothes, shoes, toys, but home appliances, electronic products, sporting goods, bicycles, groceries, food. The stories of how Wal-Mart pushes manufacturers into selling the same product at lower and lower prices are legendary. One ex
20、ample is Lakewood Engineering on no account hint at the notion that a woman could get herself a job, but instead foster her sense of her own usefulness, emphasizing the creative aspect of her function as a housewife. So we get cake mixes (蛋糕粉 ) in which the. cook simply adds an egg herself, to produ
21、ce “that lovely homo-baked flavor the family love“, and knitting patterns that can be made by hand, or worse still, on knitting machines, which became tremendously fashionable when they were first introduced. Automatic cookers are advertised by pictures of pretty young mothers taking their children
22、to the park, not by professional women presetting the dinner before leaving home for work. 48 Many electric appliances dont liberate modern women from housework because _ 49 Why does the author think a laundry is not necessarily more costly than using washing machines? 50 In spite of the advantages
23、of using washing machines, the disadvantage is listed as_ 51 The goods advertised in womens magazines are really meant to _. 52 According to the author, what is womens stereotyped role in social life? Section B Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questi
24、ons or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. You should decide on the best choice. 52 The poor old consumer! Wed have to pay a great deal more if advertising didnt create mass markets for products. It is precisely because of the heavy advertising that c
25、onsumer goods are so cheap. But we get the wrong idea if we think the only purpose of advertising is to sell goods. Another equally important function is to inform. A great deal of the knowledge we have about household goods derives largely from the advertisements we read. Advertisements introduce u
26、s to new products or remind us of the existence of ones we already know about. Supposing you wanted to buy a washing machine, it is more than likely you would obtain details regarding performance, price, etc., from an advertisement. Lots of people pretend that they never read advertisements, but thi
27、s claim may be seriously doubted. It is hardly possible not to read advertisements these days. And what fun they often are, too! Just think what a railway station or a newspaper would be like without advertisements. Would you enjoy gazing at a blank wall or reading railway bylaws while waiting for a
28、 train? Would you like to read only closely-printed columns of news in your daily paper? A cheerful, witty advertisement makes such a difference to a drab wall or a newspaper full of the daily ration of calamities. We must not forget, either, that advertising makes a positive contribution to our poc
29、kets. Newspapers, commercial ration and television companies could not subsist without this source of revenue. The fact that we pay so little for our daily paper, or can enjoy so many broadcast programs is due entirely to the money spent by advertisers. Just think what a newspaper would cost if we h
30、ad to pay its full price! Another thing we mustnt forget is the “small ads“, which are in virtually every newspaper and magazine. What a tremendously useful service they perform for the community! Just about anything can be accomplished through these columns. For instance, you can find a job, buy or
31、 sell a house, announce a birth, marriage or death in what used to be called the “hatch, match and dispatch“ column but by far the most fascinating section is the personal or “agony“ column. No other item in a newspaper provides such entertaining reading or offers such a deep insight into human natu
32、re. Its the best advertisement for advertising there is! 53 We are different from the old consumers in that _. （ A） we have cheap goods because of heavy advertising （ B） we know to inform is one of the functions of advertising （ C） we have much knowledge about household goods （ D） we believe the onl
33、y purpose of advertising is to sell goods 54 What does advertising do with the products we already know about? （ A） To introduce their new functions. （ B） To compare them with new products of the same sort. （ C） To tell that they are still available. （ D） To correct any impropriate information about
34、 them. 55 The railway bylaws most probably refer to _. （ A） newspapers published by railway company （ B） lengthy regulations of the railway company （ C） boring advertisements about useless products （ D） cheerful and witty advertisements on the station 56 By saying that “advertising makes a positive
35、contribution to our pockets“, the author means that_. （ A） advertisements are informative （ B） advertisements are entertaining （ C） advertisements save money for consumers （ D） advertisements serve the whole community 57 Which of the following statements is true about the “agony“ column? （ A） It is
36、classified as a kind of “small ads“. （ B） It is included in the “hatch, match and dispatch“ column. （ C） It mainly consists of distressful news. （ D） It provides most helpful advertisements for households. 57 It was going to have roughly the effect of a neutron bomb attack on high streets and shoppi
37、ng malls. The buildings would be left standing but the people would vanish. Such was the superior efficiency of selling things via the Internet that brick-and-mortar stores would be unable to compete on price, choice or even service. Book and music sellers had already been “Amazoned“. Soon web-based
38、 “category-killers“, in everything from toys to pet supplies, would overwhelm their physical-world competitors. Shoppers would never be more than a mouse-click from the best deals. Traditional retailers, terrified of cannibalizing (同类 相食 ) sales and destroying the value of their expensive properties
39、, were already too late to meet the challenge. “In some categories,“ said Mary Meeker, a seer (预言家 ) of the Internet at Morgan Stanley, “its already game over.“ These are convenient beliefs for anyone justifying some e-commerce share prices, but they are already mostly wrong. The reasons should surp
40、rise no one. The Internet is not a dominant technology but rather a network of people. It is a rich and highly flexible means of communicating that is rapidly achieving pervasiveness because more and more people find it easy and convenient to use. But it is those peoples preferences that will count;
41、 and for most people, shopping is more than just a means to an end. Even if the Internet provided a perfectly efficient way to shop it would not provide a satisfactory alternative to the physical enjoyment of sniffing a ripe melon, say, or trying on a cashmere sweater. Of course, some products, such
42、 as music and banking, can be distributed electronically with success and cost saving. But most purchases cannot be reduced to digital code. And distributing physical goods is cumbersome (笨重的 ) and expensive. Behind even the most exciting user interface there are old-fashioned warehouses and lorries
43、, customers who decline to sit at home waiting for purchases to arrive, and goods that must be re-wrapped and expensively returned. No wonder that the cost of getting goods to customers homes so often soaks up the notional price advantages of e-commerce. What Internet shoppers have quickly realized
44、is that the web is an addition to, and not a substitute for, their shopping habits. It is wonderful for gathering up-to-date information about products and prices. Cyber Dialogue, a research firm, estimates that in 1998 23m Americans sought information online, but then made their purchases offline,
45、compared with only 17.7m who did the whole thing online. 58 The author compares _ of the online sale to the effect of neutron bomb attack. （ A） the efficiency （ B） the choice （ C） the price （ D） the service 59 According to Mary Meeker, _. （ A） traditional retailers cant compete with online ones on p
46、rice, choice or service （ B） the battle between traditional retailers and online retailers is over （ C） online retailers have prevailed over traditional ones in the market of certain products （ D） online retailers have destroyed the value of traditional retailers properties 60 According to the passa
47、ge, shopping for most people _. （ A） is a flexible means of communicating （ B） is not just a means to gaining an end （ C） does not provide an alternative to physical enjoyment （ D） provides a perfectly easy and efficient way of living 61 The cost of goods delivery brings about the result that _. （ A
48、） distributing goods becomes troublesome and expensive （ B） the notional price advantages of e-commerce are eliminated （ C） old-fashioned warehouses and lorries have to be still in use （ D） goods must be wrapped again and expensively returned 62 According to Cyber Dialogue, _. （ A） online shopping w
49、ill not replace the traditional shopping habits （ B） customers seek information via the Internet more often than via any other means （ C） Internet users prefer to seek information online without making real purchases （ D） fewer and fewer people purchase what they want via the Internet 三、 Part V Cloze (15 minutes) Directions: There are 20 blanks in the following passage. For each blank there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. You should choose the ONE that best fits i
