1、大学英语六级模拟试卷 673及答案与解析 一、 Part I Writing (30 minutes) 1 In this part you are allowed 30 minutes to write a composition entitled Menace of Eyesight Deteriorating. Your composition should be at least 150 words long and contain the following ideas: 1现 代人的视力正在受到严重的威胁 2主要原因是哪些 3保护视力必须从孩子做起 二、 Part II Readi
2、ng 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 in the passage; N (for NO)
3、 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 economic thinker to be so honored could w
4、ell 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 and zeros. If an era is represented by its
5、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 estimates that the European Unions 360 billi
6、on 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 out and queuing again to spend it, or brea
7、king 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 countries said that people would be able t
8、o 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 will revolutionize the money-transfer bu
9、siness,“ 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 Americas Citigroup are also launching an inte
10、rnational 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 and mobiles would somehow converge. “Mobi
11、le 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, it has always “been hard to make money out
12、 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 recently introduced plastic cards in Americ
13、a 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 “chip and PIN“ payments and a new “wave an
14、d 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 childrens birthday cards and as money fo
15、r 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 anonymity. Greshams law vs Moores law Renderin
16、g 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 appears governments are able to deceive th
17、eir 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 the cost of computer-processing power fall
18、 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 elaborate ruses to stop cash fraud - such as ch
19、arging $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 mobile phone, which can add to moneys utility
20、 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 wallets spend a fifth more. Which is why
21、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 become cheap and consumers now possess mobile
22、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. Others will follow. The buck stops here E
23、xcept 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 fit your profile and uploaded to your phon
24、e. 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 governments have long sought to control ano
25、nymous 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. Whether it does so is a political question
26、, 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 trading convenience against privacy, most p
27、eople 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 Dostoyevsky called “coined liberty“. As Adam Smi
28、th 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 versatile and enduring. （ C） We will not need mon
29、ey 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 need as much money in flow as goods value
30、（ 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 workers. （ C） Sending money by text messag
31、es. （ 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 life in Africa. （ D） They hold a primary
32、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 take in people? （ A） When value is inhere
33、nt 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 more Japanese shopkeepers encourage using e
34、lectronic 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 8 short conversations and 2 long conversa
35、tions. 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 is the
36、 best answer. （ A） He enjoyed it as a whole. （ B） He didnt think much of it. （ C） He didnt like it at all. （ D） He liked some parts of it. （ A） It looks quite new. （ B） It needs to be repaired. （ C） It looks old, but it runs well. （ D） Its engine needs to be painted. （ A） At a school. （ B） At a bank
37、. （ C） At a gas station. （ D） At a hospital. （ A） They are waitress and diner. （ B） They are neighbors. （ C） They are husband and wife. （ D） They age baker and customer. （ A） Because it is 22 miles. （ B） Because the planes turn sharply. （ C） Because of driving conditions. （ D） Because there are no s
38、igns. （ A） It is quite interesting. （ B） It is terribly exhausting. （ C） It is as boring as working in an office. （ D） It is less interesting than working in an office. （ A） Riding a horse. （ B） Shooting a movie. （ C） Playing a game. （ D） Taking a photo. （ A） Shell type the letter for the man. （ B）
39、Shell teach the man to operate the computer. （ C） She doesnt think his sister is a good typist. （ D） She thinks the man should buy a computer. （ A） To pay the man back some money. （ B） To learn some exercise knowledge. （ C） To keep in good shape. （ D） To choose an expert she believes in. （ A） Changi
40、ng customers habits in a scientific way. （ B） Designing the suitable exercise equipment. （ C） Providing health assessment for the customers. （ D） Helping to use the heart rate monitor. （ A） She is recommended by an old member. （ B） She will sign up for one year. （ C） The club reopens this week. （ D）
41、 The club will celebrate its anniversary this week. （ A） The colors of clothing. （ B） The individual taste on clothing. （ C） The idea of psychology of clothing （ D） The clothing fashion. （ A） It is a subconscious thing. （ B） It reflects a lack of self-consciousness. （ C） It is unnecessary indeed. （
42、D） It is a kind of conscious act. （ A） He has a feeling of insecurity. （ B） He is missing his family. （ C） He lacks self-confidence. （ D） He feels ill. （ A） Warmer clothes. （ B） More aggressive clothes. （ C） Brighter colors of clothes. （ D） More casual clothes. Section B Directions: In this section,
43、 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） For hunting. （ B） For protecting himself
44、. （ C） For stimulation. （ D） For protecting the country. （ A） Males are arrested about four times more than females. （ B） According to the survey, 61% of all men feel unsafe in their own neighborhoods at night. （ C） More women arrested than men in juvenile runaway cases and prostitution. （ D） The po
45、lice and court are required to be more kind to the female offenders. （ A） Rape. （ B） Burglary. （ C） Aggravated assault. （ D） Smuggling. （ A） Because future shock is caused by greatly accelerated rate of change. （ B） Because future shock can not be predicated. （ C） Because future shock prevent people
46、 from returning to a more familiar culture. （ D） Because future shock cant be explained in words. （ A） The shock a business man feel when there is no room for bargaining. （ B） The shock Peace Corp volunteers suffered from in Borneo. （ C） The shock a traveler feels in a strange environment. （ D） The
47、shock Marco Polo felt in China. （ A） The frustration bought on by inability of people. （ B） The earlier arrival of the future. （ C） The disorientation caused by reality. （ D） The widespread disease prevailing in the world. （ A） On April 26, 1611. （ B） On April 23, 1611. （ C） On April 26, 1616. （ D）
48、On April 23, 1616. （ A） In 1585. （ B） In 1584. （ C） In 1583. （ D） In 1586. （ A） People know almost nothing about Shakespeares early life. （ B） Shakespeare was already well known before he went to London. （ C） People know a lot about Shakespeares life in London. （ D） People know only a little about S
49、hakespeares life in London. （ A） Shakespeare was not interested in making a profit. （ B） Shakespeare could get one-tenth of the profits of the Globe Theater. （ C） Shakespeare, like his fellow writers, had no business sense. （ D） Shakespeares fellow writers shared the same profits as he did. 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 s
