1、大学英语六级模拟试卷 683及答案与解析 一、 Part I Writing (30 minutes) 1 For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a composition on the topic An Award Speech. You should write at least 150 words, and base your composition on the outline given in Chinese below: 1向环境保护组委会表示感谢 2交待自己从事的防护林建设和治沙工作，并与同事分享 “环保之星 ”的奖
2、牌 3表达自己今后的决心 An Award Speech 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
3、 information 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 fi
4、rst 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 one
5、s and 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
6、 estimates 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 mon
7、ey out 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 1
8、00 countries 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.
9、 “It 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
10、Americas 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 payme
11、nts 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 Joh
12、n, it 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 hav
13、e recently 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 f
14、or “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 awa
15、y in 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 a
16、nonymity. 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
17、it appears 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 se
18、en the 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 el
19、aborate 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
20、mobile 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 th
21、eir 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 b
22、ecome 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 ca
23、sh. 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
24、to fit 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 wonde
25、r governments 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 payment
26、s. Whether 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 t
27、o trading 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 Dos
28、toyevsky 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 vers
29、atile 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 do
30、nt need 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 migra
31、nt workers. （ 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 vill
32、age 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
33、 to 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 an
34、d more 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 h
35、ear 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
36、marked A, B, C and D, and decide which is the best answer. （ A） $9. （ B） $18. （ C） $12. （ D） $36. （ A） To his home. （ B） To her home. （ C） To go to the picnic. （ D） To go shopping. （ A） Take the medicine as she was directed to do. （ B） Schedule another appointment with her doctor. （ C） Stop taking t
37、he medicine. （ D） Rest her back for a few days. （ A） They bought the motorbike. （ B） They had no time. （ C） They didnt want a refrigerator. （ D） Theres nothing wrong with the old one. （ A） Typing. （ B） Drawing a picture. （ C） Doing exercise. （ D） Playing the piano. （ A） Hell give the quiz at a later
38、 time. （ B） The quiz will be very short. （ C） The quiz wont be ready until Thursday. （ D） Hell score the quiz quickly. （ A） He never does things early, （ B） He has already finished it. （ C） He isnt going to finish it. （ D） He will finish it in a few minutes. （ A） Business associates, （ B） Boss and s
39、ecretary. （ C） Teacher and student. （ D） Good friends. （ A） Making a saving plan. （ B） Setting up a bank account. （ C） Setting clear investing goals. （ D） Making clear why to invest. （ A） The different kinds of investments. （ B） The importance of investments. （ C） The risks of the products and their
40、 potential rewards. （ D） The sum of investments. （ A） It is a good place to invest in. （ B） It has up times as well as down times. （ C） It can assure us great benefit. （ D） It has more up times than down times. （ A） It is comfortable, with a good view of the sea. （ B） It offered courteous and old-fa
41、shioned service. （ C） The food offered is excellent. （ D） The hotel is situated half a mile from the sea. （ A） A magnificent view of the sea. （ B） A car park, with motor vehicles arriving and departing. （ C） A commercial centre. （ D） A busy street. （ A） Expensive and not satisfying. （ B） Excellent a
42、nd delicious. （ C） Cheap and nutritious. （ D） Old-fashioned. （ A） The hotel offered a good service to the customers. （ B） The customers are satisfied with the hotel so they wrote a letter of thanks. （ C） You shouldnt always believe what a brochure says. （ D） The man and the woman think it is really
43、a good letter Section B Directions: 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
44、and D. （ A） Scientists and philosophers had never studied the human body and its functions. （ B） Many of the ideas and theories that people used to accept were all incorrect. （ C） People used to accept ideas and theories. （ D） People used to accept undoubtedly many of the ideas and theories, correct
45、 and incorrect. （ A） The heart pumps blood in two directions. （ B） The blood is circulated round the body in one direction only by the pumping action of the heart. （ C） The blood moved with a backward and forward motion. （ D） The heart pumps blood in all directions. （ A） Artificial hearts. （ B） Tele
46、scopes. （ C） Microscopes. （ D） Radio telescopes. （ A） Intelligent life. （ B） Canals of some kind. （ C） Signs of life. （ D） Natural resources. （ A） To send more spacecraft. （ B） To receive radio signals. （ C） To use modem telescopes. （ D） To welcome men From outer space. （ A） There may exist some int
47、elligent life. （ B） There isnt any intelligent life. （ C） There may exist some living things. （ D） There may even be no living things. （ A） Contemporary novels （ B） The influence of women writers in literature. （ C） How to become a famous writer. （ D） How to understand her work. （ A） Materials neede
48、d for the workshop. （ B） Tuition for the workshop. （ C） Mr. Irvines living cost. （ D） A dinner banquet after the workshop. （ A） Send money to the English Department. （ B） Get in tough with Ms. Irvine. （ C） Pay 80 to reserve a spot. （ D） See the teacher after class. （ A） The students can work closely
49、 with the famous writer. （ B） The students can learn a lot from Ms. Irvine. （ C） The English Department will co-sponsor the workshop. （ D） The students in the class only need to pay $ 80 for the workshop. 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
