1、大学英语六级模拟试卷 706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 on the topic of Should Enterprises Hold an Annual Meeting?. You should write at least 150 words according to the outline given below. 现在有不少单位热衷于组织年会 1对这种做法有人表示支持 2有人并不赞成 3.我认为 Shoul
2、d Enterprises Hold an Annual Meeting? 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
3、 with the 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. 2 THE BLENDING OF THE UNITED STATES For years, Jorge Del Pinals job as assistant chief of the Census Bureaus Po
4、pulation Division was to fit people into neat, distinct racial and ethnic boxes: white, black, Hispanic, Asian or Native American. As the son of an Anglo mother and a Hispanic father, however, he knew all along that the task was not always possible. For the 2000 decennial census, that will no longer
5、 be the case. For the flint time, the census forms will allow people to check off as many races as apply. As a result, the Census Bureau should obtain a better picture of the extent of intermarriage in the United States. In the absence of such a direct method, a few years ago veteran demographer Bar
6、ry Edmonston used sophisticated mathematical modeling techniques to calculate how intermarriage is changing the face of the United States as part of an immigration study he directed for the National Research Council of the American Academy of Sciences. His research was summarized in a report entitle
7、d The New Americans: Economic, Demographic and Fiscal Effects of Immigration. But as the Canadian-born, white husband of sociologist Sharon Lee, a Chinese-American, Edmonston really needed no computer to understand the transformation under way in this society. He and his family are living, breathing
8、 participants. The face of America is changing-literally. As former President Clinton has said, within 30 or 40 years, when there will be no single race in the majority in the United States, “we had best be ready for it.“ For his part, Clinton is preparing for that, time by talking about racial tole
9、rance and the virtues of multiculturalism. Others are debating immigration policy, almost all discussion focuses on the potential divisiveness inherent in a nation that is no longer a predominantly white country with a mostly European ancestry. But afoot behind the scenes is another trend that, if h
10、andled carefully, could bring the country closer together rather than drive it apart. This quiet demographic counter-revolution is a dramatic upsurge in intermarriage. Edmonstons study projected that by 2050, 21 percent of the U.S. population will be of mixed racial or ethnic ancestry, up from an es
11、timate of seven percent today. Among third-generation Hispanic and Asian Americans, exogamy-marriage outside ones ethnic group or tribe-is at least 50 percent, he and others estimate. Exogamy remains much less prevalent among African Americans, but it has increased enormously, from about 1.5 percent
12、 in the 1960s to 8 to 10 percent today. Such a profound demographic shift could take place while no one was watching because, officially, no one was watching. Federal agencies traditionally collected racial data using a formula-one person, one race-similar to the time-honored voting principle. Thus,
13、 the Census Bureau could estimate that on census forms no more than two percent of the population would claim to be multiracial. In the absence of a more straightforward count, no one could know for sure what the demographics are. Thats about to change. After the 2000 census, the U.S. Government sho
14、uld have a better idea. In 1997, the Office of Management and Budget, which oversees federal statistical practices, approved a directive allowing people to cheek as many racial boxes as they believe apply to them. The shift was a compromise between the demands of some interest groups that wanted the
15、 addition of a “multiracial“ box, and those that objected to any change, fearing dilution of their numbers. Meanwhile, in the absence of official numbers, with the heightened tension surrounding racial issues, and with the mutual suspicion that exists among competing racial and ethnic interest group
16、s, theres little agreement on what intermarriage will mean for U.S. society in the future. Melting Pot To see the new face of the United States, go to a grocery store and look at a box of Betty Crocker-brand food products. Bettys portrait is now in its eighth incarnation since the first composite pa
17、inting debuted in 1936 with pale skin and blue eyes. Her new look is brown-eyed and dark-haired. She has a duskier complexion than her seven predecessors, with features representing an amalgam of white, Hispanic, Indian, African and Asian ancestry. A computer created this new Betty in the mid-1990s
18、by blending photos of 75 diverse women. That process was relatively quick, General Mills Inc, spokesmen explain. But they acknowledge that it took quite a while to spread the new image to the whole range of Betty Crocker products. The slow pace of that process itself could be a metaphor for gradual
19、racial and ethnic intermixing in this country. Indeed, its taking a long time for the new blended American to surface in societys consciousness. Tiger Woods, the young golf great, publicized the trend by identifying himself as Cablinasian, a mixture of Caucasian, black, Native American and Asian. Fo
20、r the most part, the market-place-net government-is leading the way in this evolution. Mixed-race models, particularly men, are in great demand, according to fashion industry experts. And multiracial child actors are now more likely to be tapped for television advertisements. That serious scholars s
21、hould be talking about a melting pot is itself a reversal. As a metaphor for American diversity, the melting pot was first discredited after World War I, when the European immigrants streaming into American cities formed distinct ethnic and national enclaves that didnt melt together. The timing was
22、off, it turned out, and the metaphorical pot was in the wrong place. Interracial and multiethnic fusion started after World War and happened in the suburbs. City folk moved from their Italian, Irish, Polish or Jewish urban neighborhoods into diffuse suburban settings, then sent their kids to large p
23、ublic universities, throwing them together with youngsters from other ethnic backgrounds who, nonetheless, came from families with similar lifestyles. Whether blacks will follow other minorities into the melting pot remains a subject of debate. Skeptics point to the much smaller proportion of black-
24、white marriages and say it wont happen soon. Others respond that the statistical base is very small because, until 1967, such marriages were illegal in 19 states. Countervailing Forces While many forces arc at work to facilitate intermarriage, others militate against it. This is particularly the cas
25、e for African Americans, The growing segment of the black community that is going to college, entering the middle class and moving out to the suburbs is also fallowing the general trend toward intermarriage. This tendency is particularly noticeable in California and in cities such as Dallas (Texas),
26、 Las Vegas (Nevada) and Phoenix (Arizona), where residential segregation has been less pronounced than in the older northeastern and Midwestern U.S. cities, according to Reynolds Farley, who has studied African American residential patterns. In California, for example, among 25-to-34-year-old Africa
27、n Americans, 14 percent of the married black women and 32 percent of the married black men had spouses of a different race, Edmonston noted. But in the isolated urban neighborhoods of the U.S. Northeast and Midwest, the old pattern remains. “There is a considerable fraction of the black population t
28、hat still lives in inner-city areas in Detroit, Chicago, New York City that has not been caught up in dynamic economic growth,“ said Farley, formerly a professor at the University of Michigan and now a vice president of the Russell Sage Foundation in New York City. “Theyve been left behind, and they
29、 arc quite far out of it.“ Another countervailing force is immigration. Immigrants generally dont marry outside their racial or ethnic group. Their children do to some extent, but out-marriage really is most prevalent in the third generation. The most recent large-scale wave of immigration has produ
30、ced only first-or second-generation Americans. Regardless of the real degree of racial and ethnic intermixing that goes on, the test of a blended society will be the proportion of people who identify as multiracial or multiethnic. Until now, that percentage has been small. Thats partly because peopl
31、e tend to assume the racial or ethnic identity of one parent-often the minority parent, in the case of blacks and Hispanics. But to a large extent, that identity has been imposed by society. “I have a Spanish name and I speak Spanish, so people see me as being of Spanish origin,“ Del Pinal, the Cens
32、us Bureau official, explained. Racial identification can stem from other sources, such as heightened ethnic pride or the opportunity to benefit from affirmative action and other programs. Over the last few decades, having Native American ancestry has apparently become popular. Between 1970 and 1980,
33、 the number of people who checked “American Indian“ on their census forms grew from 800,000 to 1.4 million, a much faster increase than could be accounted for by births minas deaths. “People decided they wanted to identify as American Indians, to some extent because of rising ethnic consciousness,“
34、observed Jeffrey S. Passol, director of the Immigration Policy Program at the Urban Institute and a former director of the Census Bureaus Population Division. It is this positive approach to racial or ethnic identification on which liberal elements of the Jewish community are trying to capitalize. F
35、or two millennia, exogamy was a major transgression for Jews. (In many communities, prayers for the dead were recited for a Jew who married a non-Jew.) As a result, out-marriage was rare. Before World War , it amounted to less than seven percent of Jewish marriages, according to Mayer of CUNY. But i
36、n 1970, a National Jewish Population Survey discovered that in the previous five years, 30 percent of new Jewish marriages were to non-Jews. By 1990, that figure was more than 50 percent. After many meetings, much soul-searching and a lot of acrimonious debate, various synagogue groups in the most l
37、iberal denominations and Jewish civic organizations decided to reverse their approach. They still try to discourage intermarriage, but once it occurs, they tend to welcome new interfaith families. 2 The 2000 decennial census aims at obtaining the exact number of population as well as a better pictur
38、e of the extent of intermarriage in the United States. （ A） Y （ B） N （ C） NG 3 The results of census have always been the compromise of certain groups of interest. （ A） Y （ B） N （ C） NG 4 Theres little agreement on what intermarriage will mean for U.S. society in the future as there is a lack of off
39、icial numbers, a heightened tension surrounding racial issues, and the mutual suspicion that exists among different racial groups. （ A） Y （ B） N （ C） NG 5 The racial and ethnic intermixing in this country is sometimes gradual and sometimes accelerated in history. （ A） Y （ B） N （ C） NG 6 Sophisticate
40、d _ techniques have been already employed to calculate how intermarriage is changing the face of the United States. 7 President Clinton advised that people _ as no single race will exceed other races in number 30 or 40 years later. 8 It is _ that plays the leading role in the ethnic intermixing of t
41、he U.S. 9 In cities or towns where _ is not serious, it is more likely that black people would enter intermarriage. 10 Regardless of the real degree of racial and ethnic intermixing that goes on, the test of a blended society will be the proportion of people_. 11 More and more people in the U.S. ten
42、d to identify as American Indians partly because they _. Section A Directions: In this section, you will hear 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 spok
43、en 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） She should not buy a coffee maker at all. （ B） She will buy another coffee maker some day. （ C） The quality of the coffee maker sh
44、e bought was poor. （ D） She will complain to the shop manager about the coffee maker. （ A） He isnt interested in the movie. （ B） He slept through the whole movie. （ C） He didnt miss the best part of the movie. （ D） He brought pillow with him. （ A） The captain. （ B） The communication officer. （ C） Th
45、e doctor. （ D） The frog person. （ A） In a neighbors house. （ B） In a movie theater. （ C） At home. （ D） On the street. （ A） A new fuel for buses. （ B） The causes of air pollution. （ C） A way to improve fuel efficiency in buses. （ D） Careers in environmental engineering. （ A） Her car is being repaired
46、. （ B） She wants to help reduce pollution. （ C） Parking is difficult in the city. （ D） The cost of fuel has increased. （ A） A fuel that burns cleanly. （ B） An oil additive that helps cool engines. （ C） A material from which filters are made. （ D） An insulating material sprayed on engine parts. （ A）
47、The high temperatures required for its use. （ B） The high cost of materials used in its production. （ C） The lack of trained environmental engineers. （ D） The opposition of automobile manufacturers. Section B Directions: In this section, you will hear 3 short passages. At the end of each passage, yo
48、u 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） The name of a German town. （ B） A resident of Frankfurt. （ C） A kind of German sausage. （ D） A kind of
49、German bread. （ A） He sold fast food. （ B） He raised dogs. （ C） He was a cook. （ D） He was a cartoonist. （ A） Because the Americans found they were from Germany. （ B） Because people thought they contained dog meat. （ C） Because people had to get used to their taste. （ D） Because it was too hot to eat right away. （ A） The presidents of the United States. （ B） Congress of the USA. （ C） The relationship between the Republican Party and the Democratic Party. （ D） The Republican Party. （ A） Lincoln
