1、大学英语六级模拟试卷 762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 letter to ask for some information about an international conference held in your city. You should write at least 150 words following the outline given below. 有一个会议在你所在的城市召开，你想去参加。给
2、会议的组织者写一封信。说一下你想参加的原因，并简单介绍一下自己。并请他提供一些会议的相关登信息。 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 state
3、ment agrees 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. 1 How Birds Find Way Home? The ability of birds to return to a familiar place from any distance is a
4、 remarkable feat of nature. For centuries people have taken advantage of this ability in homing pigeons by using them to take messages from distant points back to familiar sites. Homing pigeons are domesticated non-migratory birds with an instinct to return to their lofts (nesting sites) that is imp
5、roved with training and by selective breeding. Training is started at short distances from the nesting site; over time, this distance is gradually increased to hundreds of miles from its loft at a completely unfamiliar location and it can fly in the direction of home within a minute or two of its re
6、lease. How does this extraordinary behavior work? Understanding homing behavior is one of the greatest challenges to ornithologists (鸟类学家 ). Fortunately, because they are able to carefully control the conditions under which the pigeons are released, researchers have been able to learn a great deal a
7、bout how the birds navigate their way home. Although homing ability has been fostered in pigeons by careful breeding and selecting of stock, it appears that training is not always necessary: Many species of wild birds perform similarly remarkable feats. One such bird is the migratory Manx Shearwater
8、 (剪嘴鸥 ). Built like tiny albatrosses, these seabirds spend most of their lives skimming over the ocean surface far from the sight of land. They come ashore only to nest in burrows, which they dig in the ground on offshore islands in order to be safe from predators. The ease of locating and observing
9、 their nests make shearwaters ideal subjects for homing experiments. Great Bird Navigators Many migratory birds are remarkably faithful to previous nesting and overwintering places. Though a bird might be able to come close to these sites merely by flying in a general direction during the course of
10、migration, at some point more sophisticated navigating techniques must take over to guide the bird to its precise destination. Many animals are able to find their way home. One way of doing this is to directly sense the goalto see, hear, or smell it. Another way is to memorize the details of the out
11、ward journey and then reverse the route based on an integration of that information. Birds, however, apparently rely on a completely different process to find their way. To explain bird navigation, we have what is known as the “map-and-compass“ theory. The compass component of this theory gives dire
12、ction-north, south, east, west; the map component tells the bird where it is, or gives locality. Scientists have learned a great deal more about the compass component than they have about mapping. They know that birds have several means of determining compass directions, but unfortunately, they stil
13、l have no satisfactory explanation for how birds use biological “maps“ to guide them to a precise location from an unfamiliar starting point. Bird Sun Navigators Some observations indicate that birds might use the sun as, a visual cue to determine compass directions. Starlings (八哥 ), for example, se
14、em able to negotiate the proper direction only if they have a view of the clear sky and sun; cloud cover seems to induce confusion. In an experiment in which the suns apparent position was changed with mirrors attached to an orientation cage containing starlings, observers noted that the direction o
15、f the starlings hopping, which earlier had been correlated to the direction that chose to migrate, was shifted accordingly. Even birds that migrate exclusively at night pay considerable attention to the sun. At first this may seem odd because, after all, the sun is not visible to the nocturnal (夜间活动
16、的 ) birds when they are flying. On the other hand, it is a predominant feature in the sky at a time of day (dusk)when birds may well be making decisions about whether to fly that night and in what direction. Radar studies have shown that most night migrants take off during this twilight period. Like
17、 many other animals, birds are endowed with a built-in clock that tells them the time of day. Using this internal clock, young pigeons, at least, learn the suns path of movement across the sky. Many birds are known to have an internal clock, and many are known to have a sun compass, but it is only i
18、n pigeons that ornithologists can watch the learning process develop. Bird Star Navigators Most birds migrate not by day, but at night. Employing conical (圆锥形的 ) cages, researchers quickly observed that night migrants exhibited hopping behavior similar to that of day migrants and that they oriented
19、themselves in the proper direction under clear, starry skies but became disoriented when it was cloudy. The decisive tests were performed in a planetarium (天文馆 ), where star patterns can be controlled at will. The experiments indicated that night-migrating birds learn and orient by spatial relations
20、hips among the constellations (星座 ), rather than using information supplied by any single star. More recently, scientists have discovered that birds begin to develop star compass capability when they are quite young, and as experienced adults they can use many parts of the sky to recognize compass d
21、irections. Magnetic Bird Navigators A sun compass for migration during the day, a star compass for nocturnal migration life would be much simpler had this been the end of the story. For a long time there has been a popular theory that birds have a magnetic compass guiding their navigatory behavior.
22、There is a good reason for that idea-it would be a convenient system to use during overcast days or nights. But many respected biologists assured ornithologists that for birds to sense such force was almost impossible because the Earths magnetic field is such a weak force. A group of German ornithol
23、ogists conducted research that provided evidence to the contrary. In the study, night migrants that were placed in orientation cages indoors in closed rooms showed weak but consistent and seasonally appropriate hopping directions, which suggested that they did not need the sun or stars to determine
24、direction. By placing the cages within sets of wire coils through which a weak electric current was passed, it was possible to change the configuration of the magnetic field surrounding the birds to determine if they respond in a predictable way. Although their responses continued to be weak, the bi
25、rds did respond, and their orientation could be shifted by changing the magnetic directions. It therefore appears that in addition to sun and star compasses, at least several kinds of birds possess a magnetic compass, though as yet none of the field studies has found a clear indication of its influe
26、nce on migratory birds in the wild. Biological Bird Navigators After about three decades of experiments on homing pigeons, scientists currently have two viable hypotheses concerning the “mapping“ ability of birds. Although only homing pigeons have been studied, there is good reason to believe that m
27、igratory birds also rely on some sort of biological map to find their way back to traditional nesting or wintering sites. The first hypothesis, conceived and tested primarily by a group of Italian scientists, involves an “odor map“. The scientists propose that young pigeons learn this map by smellin
28、g different odors that reach their home loft on winds from varying directions. They would, for example, learn that a certain odor arrives on winds blowing from the east. If a pigeon is transported eastward from its loft it should smell that odor more strongly either on the way to or at the release s
29、ite. This should tell the pigeon that it needs to fly westward to return home. Although it may sound absurd to some, there is a large amount of evidence supporting this hypothesis. The second hypothesis proposes that birds may be able to extract latitude and longitude from the Earths magnetic field.
30、 Unlike the compasses that are thought to help birds determine direction, this map is believed to help birds determine location. The main support for this hypothesis comes from observations of pigeons released in areas of “magnetic anomalies (异常 )“ (places where the Earths magnetic field is distribu
31、ted due to large iron deposits near the surface). When pigeons are first released in these areas, they depart in random directions, but after their initial confusion, most birds are able to correct their course and return home once they escape the influence of the anomaly. Because, in theory, magnet
32、ic anomalies are not a strong enough force to affect any of the birds compassesmagnetic, sun, or starproponents argue that the fact that the pigeons are initially affected indicates the existence of a different aspect of navigation that is being affected-hence, the map. Neither hypothesis has been p
33、roven to the satisfaction of all the experts, so new and different experiments continue to be performed. It may turn out that neither of these alternatives is correct, or a synthesis of the two may emerge. 2 People have taken advantage of pigeons homing ability to take messages. （ A） Y （ B） N （ C） N
34、G 3 It is necessary that birds should be trained to get back home. （ A） Y （ B） N （ C） NG 4 As pigeons are trained to get back home, they do not have the power as other migratory birds have. （ A） Y （ B） N （ C） NG 5 All the migratory birds can find their home with the help of sun, stars or the Earths
35、magnetic field. （ A） Y （ B） N （ C） NG 6 In the “map-and-compass“ theory, the compass component gives_north, south, east, west. 7 The experiment with starlings indicated that starlings might use_as a visual cue to determine compass directions. 8 The birds that migrate during night begin to develop_wh
36、en they are quite young. 9 German ornithologists proved that birds have a_guiding their navigatory behavior though some biologists argued that it was impossible for birds to sense the weak magnetic force of the Earth. 10 The first hypothesis concerning birds “mapping, ability involves an“_“. 11 The
37、second hypothesis concerning the “mapping“ ability of birds proposes an idea that birds may be able to extract latitude and longitude from_. 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 wil
38、l 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） Schedule an eye exam without delay. （ B） Make
39、a list of what she needs to do. （ C） Order an appointment book. （ D） Get over her fear of eye doctors. （ A） Ask Joan to recommend a good restaurant. （ B） Eat dinner at Joans house. （ C） Ask their friends about the restaurant. （ D） Go to the restaurant. （ A） They will tell Jennifer to practice volley
40、ball harder. （ B） They will tell Jennifer not to fall behind others in volleyball. （ C） They will tell Jennifer not to fall behind others in study. （ D） They will tell Jennifer about her grades. （ A） Complain to the student government about her professor. （ B） Take trigonometry instead of calculus.
41、（ C） Offer to tutor other math students. （ D） Get a math tutor to help her out. （ A） Have her copies made outside the library. （ B） Use a different machine to make her copies. （ C） Read the article while she waits in line. （ D） Look for a different magazine article. （ A） Professor Smith was quite an
42、gry with the man （ B） The train the man took was an hour late. （ C） The train the man took was held up by the construction. （ D） The woman quite understood the mans being late. （ A） Making an appointment. （ B） How to use the library. （ C） Coming back about 4:00. （ D） How to choose a course. （ A） The
43、y are tired of hearing the poem. （ B） They are very excited to hear Whitmans poems. （ C） Susie is one of their favorite. （ D） They want to listen to Susies recitation of the poem. （ A） He wants to be a competent graduate. （ B） He wants to become a college teacher. （ C） He wants to study in Oxford Un
44、iversity. （ D） He wants to change his life by studying. （ A） He is too young to catch up with others. （ B） He is not intelligent enough. （ C） He pays too little attention to his study. （ D） He can not finish his homework independently. （ A） He wants James to be a good lawyer. （ B） He wont force Jame
45、s to study what he isnt good at. （ C） He wants James to follow his footsteps. （ D） He will make efforts to stop James playing tennis. （ A） Many of her books are bestsellers. （ B） She is a shrewd bookstore owner. （ C） She is promoting her book in person. （ D） She is a salesperson at the bookstore. （
46、A） It has been the bestseller for weeks. （ B） It advises people to change themselves. （ C） It is being sold at a very low price. （ D） It distinguishes co-operators. （ A） A man careful with money. （ B） A book-lover. （ C） A noisy reader. （ D） A trouble-maker. （ A） Someone who always talks about himsel
47、f. （ B） The most violent type of coworkers. （ C） Someone who stabs your back. （ D） The most common annoying type of people. 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 spok
48、en only once. After you hear a question, you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A, B, C and D. （ A） To estimate the extreme weather. （ B） To develop the satellite technology. （ C） To improve agricultural output. （ D） To learn how to change information to maps more efficiently.
49、（ A） By turning the intensity of sunshine into maps. （ B） By analyzing the recent weather report. （ C） By capturing the microwave radiation from the soil. （ D） By analyzing information provided by ground observation centers. （ A） Acquire information from satellites more efficiently. （ B） To realize full coverage of area the satellite passes over. （ C） Building more ground observation centers. （ D） Compare satellites information with those from ground. （ A） Because he registered the“.ch“ for China
