1、大学英语六级模拟试卷 599及答案与解析 一、 Part I Writing (30 minutes) 1 Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay entitled Positive and Negative Effects of Internet. You should write at least 150 words following the outline given below: 1. 英特网的积极影响。 2英特网的消极影响。 3你的看法。 Positive and Ne
2、gative Effects of Internet 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 i
3、nformation 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 Trust Me, Im a Robot With robots now emerging from their industrial cages and moving into homes and workplaces, robotici
4、sts are concerned about the safety implications beyond the factory floor. To address these concerns, leading robot experts have come together to try to find ways to prevent robots from harming people. Inspired by the Pugwash Conferences an international group of scientists, academics and activists f
5、ounded in 1957 to campaign for the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons the new group of robo-ethicists met earlier this year in Genoa, Italy, and announced their initial findings in March at the European Robotics Symposium in Palermo, Sicily. “Security and safety are the big concerns,“ says Henrik
6、Christensen, chairman of the European Robotics Network at the Swedish Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. Should robots that are strong enough or heavy enough to crush people be allowed into homes? Is “system malfunction“ a justifiable defence for a robotic fighter plane that contravenes (违反
7、 ) the Geneva Convention and mistakenly fires on innocent civilians? “These questions may seem hard to understand but in the next few years they will become increasingly relevant,“ says Dr. Christensen. According to the United Nations Economic Commission for Europes World Robotics Survey, in 2002 th
8、e number of domestic and service robots more than tripled, nearly surpassing their industrial counterparts. By the end of 2003 there were more than 600,000 robot vacuum cleaners and lawn mowers a figure predicted to rise to more than 4m by the end of next year. Japanese industrial firms are racing t
9、o build humanoid robots to act as domestic helpers for the elderly, and South Korea has set a goal that 100% of households should have domestic robots by 2020. In light of all this, it is crucial that we start to think about safety guidelines now, says Dr. Christensen. Stop right there So what exact
10、ly is being done to protect us from these mechanical menaces? “Not enough,“ says Blay Whitby. This is hardly surprising given that the field of “safety-critical computing“ is barely a decade old, he says. But things are changing, and researchers are increasingly taking an interest in trying to make
11、robots safer. One approach, which sounds simple enough, is try to program them to avoid contact with people altogether. But this is much harder than it sounds. Getting a robot to navigate across a cluttered room is difficult enough without having to take into account what its various limbs or append
12、ages might bump into along the way. “Regulating the behaviour of robots is going to become more difficult in the future, since they will increasingly have self-learning mechanisms built into them,“ says Gianmarco Veruggio. “As a result, their behaviour will become impossible to predict fully,“ he sa
13、ys, “since they will not be behaving in predefined ways but will learn new behaviour as they go.“ Then there is the question of unpredictable failures. What happens if a robots motors stop working, or it suffers a system failure just as it is performing heart surgery or handing you a cup of hot coff
14、ee? You can, of course, build in redundancy by adding backup systems, says Hirochika Inoue. But this guarantees nothing, he says. “One hundred per cent safety is impossible through technology,“ says Dr. Inoue. This is because ultimately no matter how thorough you are, you cannot anticipate the unpre
15、dictable nature of human behaviour, he says. Or to put it another way, no matter how sophisticated your robot is at avoiding people, people might not always manage to avoid it, and could end up tripping over it and falling down the stairs. Legal problems In any case, says Dr. Inoue, the laws really
16、just summarize commonsense principles that are already applied to the design of most modern appliances, both domestic and industrial. Every toaster, lawn mower and mobile phone is designed to nunimize the risk of causing injury yet people still manage to electrocute (电死 ) themselves, lose fingers or
17、 fall out of windows in an effort to get a better signal. At the very least, robots must meet the rigorous safety standards that cover existing products. The question is whether new, robot-specific rules are needed and, if so, what they should say. “Making sure robots are safe will be critical,“ say
18、s Colin Angle of iRobot, which has sold over 2m “Roomba“ household-vacuuming robots. But he argues that his firms robots are, in fact, much safer than some popular toys. “A radio-controlled car controlled by a six-year old is far more dangerous than a Roomba,“ he says. If you tread on a Roomba, it w
19、ill not cause you to slip over; instead, a rubber pad on its base grips the floor and prevents it from moving. “Existing regulations will address much of the challenge,“ says Mr. Angle. “Im not yet convinced that robots are sufficiently different that they deserve special treatment.“ Robot safety is
20、 likely to surface in the civil courts as a matter of product liability. “When the first robot carpet-sweeper sucks up a baby, who will be to blame?“ asks John Hallam, a professor at the University of Southern Denmark in Odense. If a robot is autonomous and capable of learning, can its designer be h
21、eld responsible for all its actions? Today the answer to these questions is generally “yes“. But as robots grow in complexity it will become a lot less clear cut, he says. “Right now, no insurance company is prepared to insure robots,“ says Dr. Inoue. But that will have to change, he says. Last mont
22、h, Japans Ministry of Trade and Industry announced a set of safety guidelines for home and office robots. They will be required to have sensors to help them avoid collisions with humans; to be made from soft and light materials to minimize harm if a collision does occur; and to have an emergency shu
23、t-off button. This was largely prompted by a big robot exhibition held last summer, which made the authorities realize that there are safety implications when thousands of people are not just looking at robots, but mingling with them, says Dr. Inoue. However, the idea that general-purpose robots, ca
24、pable of learning, will become widespread is wrong suggests Mr. Angle It is more likely, he believes, that robots will be relatively dumb machines designed for particular tasks. Rather than a humanoid robot maid, “its going to be a heterogeneous (不同种类的 ) swarm of robots that will take care of the ho
25、use,“ he says. 2 What was the Pugwash Conferences intended to advocate? （ A） The non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. （ B） Safe robots in all aspects of life. （ C） Robot-ethics in the new century. （ D） Restriction on the use of robots as a weapon 3 Henrik Christensen is most concerned about whether
26、 robots are _. （ A） harmless （ B） powerful （ C） intelligent （ D） durable 4 It is expected that there are 4 million robot vacuum cleaners and lawn mowers in _. （ A） 2002 （ B） 2003 （ C） 2004 （ D） 2005 5 Japanese firms are competing in the production of robots specifically _. （ A） used in car factories
27、 （ B） used in hospitals （ C） helping the old people （ D） helping the school kids 6 Blay Whitby pointed out that people only began to be aware of the safety issue _. （ A） when household robots were invented （ B） when robots were in wide use （ C） after some grave accidents （ D） ten years or so ago 7 G
28、ianmarco Veruggio thinks that it is difficult to regulate robots behaviour due to their_. （ A） unpredictable failures （ B） self-learning mechanisms （ C） automatic navigational systems （ D） possession of human-like personalities 8 Right now, the laws can only summarize commonsense principles so as to
29、 _. （ A） deal with possible robot-related lawsuits （ B） limit the number of robots production （ C） monitor the disposal of dangerous robots （ D） reduce the chance of injury caused by robots 9 Colin Angle considers robots are not so different as to _. 10 According to John Hallam, who should be respon
30、sible for the harm done by robots in the future will not be so _ as it is now. 11 Mr. Angle says a heterogeneous swarm of robots will take care of the house instead of_ Section A Directions: In this section, you will hear 8 short conversations and 2 long conversations. At the end of each conversatio
31、n, 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 is the best answer. （ A） He likes everythin
32、g about it. （ B） He will definitely buy it. （ C） He likes the location of it. （ D） He is not very satisfied with it. （ A） To look for an aspirin for his headache. （ B） To find professor Steinfield. （ C） To look for past tests papers. （ D） To look for the woman. （ A） Learn from her since she took the
33、 class. （ B） Concentrate on the section on prostaglandin. （ C） Study the exam papers. （ D） Work harder. （ A） To study poetry together. （ B） To study Biology together. （ C） To tutor each other for the tests. （ D） To meet in the alley to study. （ A） She saw them protesting. （ B） She read about them in
34、 the newspaper. （ C） She attended one of their meetings. （ D） Her roommate is a member. （ A） Get more funding for their group. （ B） Schedule a meeting with college administrators. （ C） Secure more student parking spaces. （ D） Preserve an open space on campus. （ A） She will attend a meeting. （ B） She
35、 will attend the rally. （ C） She will go to class. （ D） She will go on a picnic. （ A） Sign a petition. （ B） Help the man plan a student rally. （ C） Use the student parking lot. （ D） Make a donation to support the group. Section B Directions: In this section, you will hear 3 short passages. At the en
36、d 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） An Indian summer brings warm days and nights. （ B） An Indian summer occurs only in
37、 October. （ C） An Indian summer is an annual phenomenon. （ D） An Indian summer lasts many weeks. （ A） The first period of cold, wintry days in autumn. （ B） The turning of color and falling of leaves. （ C） A large mass of warm tropical air carried northward. （ D） The southwestern winds. （ A） A short
38、period of fair weather and mild days. （ B） No definite time of beginning or ending. （ C） Its end, which signals winters start. （ D） Soft yellow or orange skies. （ A） It is an ability both man and animals possess. （ B） It is the reason for mans superiority over animals. （ C） It is the reason for mans
39、 success as a species. （ D） It is a proof of our superior intelligence. （ A） To show how dependent men axe on a particular food. （ B） To show how primitive the diet of some people is. （ C） To show what different foods are eaten. （ D） To show-the adaptability of man as regards his diet. （ A） A very p
40、opular food plant. （ B） A plant with limited uses. （ C） A food plant which has been used. （ D） A plant used as a main food. （ A） They were expensive. （ B） No one believes them. （ C） They were unsuccessful. （ D） They were often deceptive. （ A） Consumers were responsive. （ B） Consumers were hostile. （
41、 C） Consumers turned cautious of it. （ D） Consumers didnt care all the time. （ A） They became more popular. （ B） They were more regulated. （ C） They became less honest. （ D） They became better produced. （ A） Massachusetts. （ B） Texas. （ C） California. （ D） Connecticut. Section C Directions: In this
42、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 blank
43、s 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 30 A new World Bank report warns that children who do not get enough good food in the first two years of life suffer lasting damage
44、. They may suffer from poor health or limited (36)_. In addition, its reported that poorly (37)_ children are more likely to drop out of school and earn less money as adults. The report (38)_ that too little food is not the only cause of poor nutrition, Many children who live in homes with (39)_ foo
45、d suffer for other reasons. The study also (40)_ malnutrition with economic growth in poor countries. The study proposes that poor countries could possibly (41)_ their economic growth if they improved nutrition. Africa and South Asia are affected the most by poor nutrition. The study (42)_ about hal
46、f of all children in India do not get sufficient good food. Other parts of the world are also severely (43)_, including Indonesia, Uzbekistan, Yemen, Guatemala and Peru. The study (44)_. According to the report, a lack of nutrition in early childhood can cost developing nations up to three percent o
47、f their yearly earnings. Therefore, (45)_. World Bank nutrition specialist Meera Shekar said the period of life between pregnancy and two years is extremely important. (46)_. Section A Directions: In this section, there is a passage with ten blanks. You are required to select one word for each blank
48、 from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage. Read the passage through carefully before making your choices. Each choice in the bank is identified by a letter. Please mark the corresponding letter for each item with a single line through the center. You may not use any of the w
49、ords in the bank more than once. 40 The concept of obtaining fresh water from icebergs that are towed to populated areas and arid regions of the world was once treated as a joke more appropriate to cartoons than real life. But now it is being【 C1】 _ quite seriously by many nations, especially since scientists have warned that the human race will【 C2】 _ its fresh water supply faster than it runs out of food. Glac
