1、大学英语六级模拟试卷 823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 entitled Should Retirement Age Be Raised? You should write at least 150 words according to the outline given below. 1有人赞成提高退休年龄 2有 人则反对 3你的看法 Should Retirement Age Be Raised? 二、 Par
2、t 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 information given in the passage;
3、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 Choice blindness: You dont know what you want We have all heard of experts who fail basic tests of sensory discrimination in their own field: wine snobs(
4、自命不凡的人 )who cant tell red from white wine(though in blackened cups), or art critics who see deep meaning in random lines drawn by a computer. We delight in such stories since anyone claiming to be an authority is fair game. But what if we shine the spotlight on choices we make about everyday things?
5、 Experts might be forgiven for being wrong about the limits of their skills as experts, but could we be forgiven for being wrong about the limits of our skills as experts on ourselves? We have been trying to answer this question using techniques from magic performances. Rather than playing tricks wi
6、th alternatives presented to participants, we secretly altered the outcomes of their choices, and recorded how they react. For example, in an early study we showed our volunteers pairs of pictures of faces and asked them to choose the most attractive. In some trials, immediately after they made thei
7、r choice, we asked people to explain the reasons behind their choices. Unknown to them, we sometimes used a double-card magic trick to secretly exchange one face for the other so they ended up with the face they did not choose. Common sense dictates that all of us would notice such a big change in t
8、he outcome of a choice. But the result showed that in75 per cent of the trials our participants were blind to the mismatch, even offering “reasons“ for their “choice“. We called this effect “choice blindness“, echoing change blindness, the phenomenon identified by psychologists where a remarkably la
9、rge number of people fail to spot a major change in their environment. Recall the famous experiments where X asks Y for directions; while Y is struggling to help, X is switched for Z and Y fails to notice. Researchers are still pondering the full implications, but it does show how little information
10、 we use in daily life, and undermines the idea that we know what is going on around us. When we set out, we aimed to weigh in on the enduring, complicated debate about self-knowledge and intentionality. For all the intimate familiarity we feel we have with decisionmaking, it is very difficult to kno
11、w about it from the “inside“: one of the great barriers for scientific research is the nature of subjectivity. As anyone who has ever been in a verbal disagreement can prove, people tend to give elaborate justifications for their decisions, which we have every reason to believe are nothing more than
12、 rationalisations(文过饰非 )after the event. To prove such people wrong, though, or even provide enough evidence to change their mind, is an entirely different matter: who are you to say what my reasons are? But with choice blindness we drive a large wedge between intentions and actions in the mind. As
13、our participants give us verbal explanations about choices they never made, we can show them beyond doubt and prove it that what they say cannot be true. So our experiments offer a unique window into confabulation(虚构 )(the story-telling we do to justify things after the fact)that is otherwise very d
14、ifficult to come by. We can compare everyday explanations with those under lab conditions, looking for such things as the amount of detail in descriptions, how coherent the narrative is, the emotional tone, or even the timing or flow of the speech. Then we can create a theoretical framework to analy
15、se any kind of exchange. This framework could provide a clinical use for choice blindness: for example, two of our ongoing studies examine how malingering(装病 )might develop into true symptoms, and how confabulation might play a role in obsessive-compulsive disorder(强迫症 ). Importantly, the effects of
16、 choice blindness go beyond snap judgments. Depending on what our volunteers say in response to the mismatched outcomes of choices(whether they give short or long explanations, give numerical rating or labelling, and so on)we found this interaction could change their future preferences to the extent
17、 that they come to prefer the previously rejected alternative. This gives us a rare glimpse into the complicated dynamics of self-feedback(“I chose this, I publicly said so, therefore I must like it“), which we suspect lies behind the formation of many everyday preferences. We also want to explore t
18、he boundaries of choice blindness. Of course, it will be limited by choices we know to be of great importance in everyday life. Which bride or bridegroom would fail to notice if someone switched their partner at the altar through amazing sleight of hand(巧妙的手段 )? Yet there is ample territory between
19、the absurd idea of spouse-swapping, and the results of our early face experiments. For example, in one recent study we invited supermarket customers to choose between two paired varieties of jam and tea. In order to switch each participants choice without them noticing, we created two sets of “magic
20、al“ jars, with lids at both ends and a divider inside. The jars looked normal, but were designed to hold one variety of jam or tea at each end, and could easily be flipped over. Immediately after the participants chose, we asked them to taste their choice again and tell us verbally why they made tha
21、t choice. Before they did, we turned over the sample containers, so the tasters were given the opposite of what they had intended in their selection. Strikingly, people detected no more than a third of all these trick trials. Even when we switched such remarkably different flavors as spicy cinnamon
22、and apple for bitter grapefruit jam, the participants spotted less than half of all switches. We have also documented this kind of effect when we simulate online shopping for consumer products such as laptops or cellphones, and even apartments. Our latest tests are exploring moral and political deci
23、sions, a domain where reflection and deliberation are supposed to play a central role, but which we believe is perfectly suited to investigating using choice blindness. Throughout our experiments, as well as registering whether our volunteers noticed that they had been presented with the alternative
24、 they did not choose, we also quizzed them about their beliefs about their decision processes. How did they think they would feel if they had been exposed to a study like ours? Did they think they would have noticed the switches? Consistently, between 80 and 90 per cent of people said that they beli
25、eved they would have noticed something was wrong. Imagine their surprise, even disbelief, when we told them about the nature of the experiments. In everyday decision-making we do see ourselves as knowing a lot about our selves, but like the wine buff or art critic, we often overstate what we know. T
26、he good news is that this form of decision snobbery should not be too difficult to treat. Indeed, after reading this article you might already be cured. 2 What does the author say about some experts? （ A） They are authorities only in their own fields. （ B） They arent easily fooled by the tricky test
27、s. （ C） The mistakes theyve made are inevitable. （ D） They sometimes fail to do well as claimed. 3 What did the researchers do to participants in the experiments? （ A） They put on a magic performance to the participants. （ B） They diverted the participants attention and disrupted their choosing. （ C
28、） They changed the things participants chose without their noticing. （ D） They added confusion to the two options the participants faced. 4 What does the result of the face choosing experiments reveal? （ A） People could explain well why they made their choices. （ B） Only a few of participants had ch
29、oice blindness in making decision. （ C） Usually participants were aware of the limits of their skills. （ D） Most participants didnt realize that their choices had been switched. 5 Change blindness refers to the phenomenon that_. （ A） many people fail to notice the big change around them （ B） people
30、tend to ignore the small changes in the surroundings （ C） peoples choices can be easily interrupted by a big change （ D） quite a few people do not have a good sense of directions 6 Whats peoples tendency to do for their decisions? （ A） Refusing to admit they made wrong decisions. （ B） Trying to find
31、 reasons to explain the decisions. （ C） Changing the decisions on second thoughts. （ D） Seeking others advice when making the decisions. 7 What do researchers think is the drive for many everyday preferences? （ A） The haste judgment. （ B） The mechanism of self-feedback. （ C） The interaction with oth
32、ers. （ D） The expectation for the future. 8 What do we learn about the boundaries of choice blindness? （ A） The boundaries are impossible to be marked. （ B） It occurs only when decisions are not important. （ C） It could happen even in the significant events. （ D） Brides wont have choice blindness in
33、 the weddings. 9 In their latest tests researchers are investigating peoples decisions in the fields of _with choice blindness. 10 From the quiz researchers find that most people are quite confident about their feelings in the_. 11 The volunteers were surprised at the fact that in everyday decision-
34、making, peoples beliefs are often_. 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 spoken only once. After e
35、ach 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） Where the man heard the news. （ B） How the man feels about the news. （ C） If the man is going to lose his job. （ D） If the man is going to the company.
36、 （ A） The clothes dont look clean to him. （ B） He doesnt intend to get the clothes. （ C） The woman can pick up her own clothes. （ D） The woman should stop staring at his clothes. （ A） Satisfied with their price. （ B） Displeased with their quality. （ C） Pleased with their quantities of beautiful patt
37、erns. （ D） Displeased with their technological complexity. （ A） The man also wants to get a ticket for the state ballet. （ B） The man is selling the ticket for the state ballet. （ C） The mans sister will go to see the state ballet. （ D） The mans sister will give the ticket to the woman. （ A） Ask Dr.
38、 Smith to call the library. （ B） Ask Dr. Smith to alter his decision. （ C） Get Dr. Smiths written permission. （ D） Get the book directly from Dr. Smith. （ A） He is sure they will succeed in the next test. （ B） He did no better than the woman in the test. （ C） He believes she will pass the test this
39、time. （ D） He feels upset because of her failure. （ A） Prof. Smith doesnt hold seminars or discussions in his lectures. （ B） Students sometimes fall asleep in Prof. Smiths lectures. （ C） Prof. Smiths lectures are always well-attended. （ D） The front seats are very hard to get in English lectures. （
40、A） She hasnt prepared the course outline yet. （ B） The man can get the course outline after class. （ C） There arent any copies of the course outline left. （ D） Shell distribute the course outline during the next class. （ A） Rooms were overbooked for that evening. （ B） The hotel clerk confused him wi
41、th another guest. （ C） There were no more rooms available for five people. （ D） The price for the room was higher than he expected. （ A） A single room. （ B） A double room. （ C） A honeymoon suite. （ D） A room for five people. （ A） She charged no money for the room. （ B） She provided the man with thre
42、e free meals. （ C） She gave him a bunch of flowers for apology. （ D） She provided him with a ten-percent discount as well as a free breakfast. （ A） The most effective method of learning the German language. （ B） The popularity of online shopping using ones personal computer. （ C） Questions that one
43、has to answer when going through customs. （ D） Native customs in Germany when meeting someone for the first time. （ A） She is a Japanese. （ B） She comes from Germany. （ C） She is an American citizen. （ D） She has British nationality. （ A） In a music mailing club. （ B） In a class of German culture. （
44、 C） In a discussion group on the Internet. （ D） In a seminar on the German language. （ A） Take an intensive course in German. （ B） Give his greetings to Lindas parents. （ C） Establish a friendly relationship with Linda. （ D） Learn how to say “Nice to meet you“ in German. Section B Directions: In thi
45、s 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 and D. （ A） To write a business letter. （
46、B） To provide proof of the deal. （ C） To find out the mistakes of a letter. （ D） To finish reading the letter quickly. （ A） Students with higher SAT verbal scores who use the grammar and spelling software. （ B） Students with lower SAT verbal scores who use the grammar and spelling software. （ C） Stu
47、dents with higher SAT verbal scores who dont use the grammar and spelling software. （ D） Students with lower SAT verbal scores who dont use the grammar and spelling software. （ A） The technical specialist should improve the software. （ B） The software can not solve the students problems at all. （ C）
48、 The software is designed for editors and writers, not the students. （ D） Students should have their own judgment when using the software. （ A） More and more people are used to the Internet. （ B） Postcards are in the danger of extinction in Britain. （ C） Cell phones are becoming an important part of
49、 our life. （ D） Communications between people are becoming easier. （ A） They are useful and practical. （ B） They are of great importance. （ C） They are imaginative and personal. （ D） They are fashioned and quick to arrive. （ A） Coins, stamps and sports. （ B） Coins, sports and postcards. （ C） Coins, stamps and postcards. （ D） Stamps, sports and postcards. （ A） He thinks neither of the work patterns is good. （ B） He believes that longer working hours are better. （ C） He prefers shorter working hours to lon
