1、大学英语六级（ 2013年 12月考试改革适用）模拟试卷 142及答案与解析 一、 Part I Writing 1 For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay entitled On Self-improvement by commenting on the saying, “ There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man: true nobility is being superior to your former self “ You sh
2、ould write at least 150 words but no more than 200 words. Section A （ A） The delivery man. （ B） The woman herself. （ C） The womans roommate. （ D） The womans neighbor. （ A） She cant believe what the man says. （ B） She can understand Ms. Hoofers decision. （ C） She isnt interested in politics at all. （
3、 D） She will vote for Ms. Hoofer. （ A） At his own home. （ B） At the mans home. （ C） At the evening school. （ D） At his grandmas home. （ A） 5% off. （ B） 13% off. （ C） 15% off. （ D） 30% off. （ A） The flight wont take off on time. （ B） The man wants to change his flight. （ C） There is no flight to Hong
4、 Kong. （ D） The woman will call back later. （ A） He will have a job interview. （ B） He has just secured a job position. （ C） He passed his final exam. （ D） He got the tickets for a big game. （ A） The operation of the new fax machine. （ B） The advantage of the new technology. （ C） The information rel
5、eased through the mail system. （ D） The necessity of setting up access code. （ A） Life is always miserable. （ B） Some rest will cheer the woman up. （ C） Its no use complaining. （ D） Hell try hard to help. （ A） The man himself. （ B） The mans roommate. （ C） The mans cousin. （ D） The mans friend. （ A）
6、The number of participants. （ B） The final destination. （ C） The nature of route. （ D） The scenery along the way. （ A） The horse couldnt get on the train. （ B） The journey was prolonged by heavy rains. （ C） Eddie had a severe stomachach. （ D） The horse was not in a good condition. （ A） Save all the
7、photos and video clips at a safe place. （ B） Show his videos and photos on the Internet. （ C） Send his photos to his friends and relatives. （ D） Invite his friends to his celebration party. （ A） The Presidents wise policy. （ B） The devaluing of the currency. （ C） More labor in the market. （ D） Cheap
8、er raw materials. （ A） Increase the quantity of export. （ B） Decrease the production of meat. （ C） Encourage the purchase of produce. （ D） Attract more investment from abroad. （ A） It is prosperous at present. （ B） It is increasing the fastest in the world. （ C） It is recovering from the crash. （ D）
9、 It will be improved in a short time. Section B （ A） Teens have more means to make friends. （ B） Teens have less longing for more friends. （ C） Teens have better understanding of friendships. （ D） Teens are more tolerant of loneliness. （ A） The economic changes. （ B） The advanced technology. （ C） Sm
10、aller families. （ D） High level of self-esteem. （ A） Similar researches in other countries. （ B） The impact of social networks. （ C） The degree of modernization. （ D） The quality of peoples friendships. （ A） Anthropology. （ B） Art. （ C） Biology. （ D） Psychology. （ A） They have the same ancestor. （ B
11、） Van Truong is a fan of Van Gogh. （ C） Van Truong used her notes to form a Van Goghs painting. （ D） Van Truong hopes to be a painter as famous as Van Gogh. （ A） It makes her popular among students. （ B） It avoids the dullness of study. （ C） It saves her lots of money. （ D） It makes the notes easy t
12、o understand. （ A） Because of its bright color. （ B） Because of its high value. （ C） Because of its profound meaning. （ D） Because of its structural arrangement. （ A） Fewer colors. （ B） Smaller size. （ C） Fewer frames per second. （ D） No sound. （ A） Red, blue and green. （ B） Green and yellow. （ C） B
13、lue, red and yellow. （ D） Yellow and blue. （ A） Images of dogs playing. （ B） Dogs fighting against thieves. （ C） Beautifully decorated dog cages. （ D） Dogs pulling a sleigh. Section C 26 The more time we spend sitting in front of our computers, the worse our posture gets. Modern technology is turnin
14、g us into literally twisted creatures.【 B1】 _being harmful to how your body functions, bad【 B2】 _isnt cute. It causes your hips to move forward, your shoulders fall, and even causes you breathe【 B3】 _, according to Pat Davidson, a trainer with a PhD in Exercise Physiology, who is the Director of Tra
15、ining Methodology and Continuing Education Coordinator at Peak Performance in NYC. Aubin Sullivan, a physical therapist and the Clinical Director of Cynergy Physical Therapy in New York City, sees a lot of women like me in her【 B4】 _. Here are a few quick fixes she recommends for correcting your fal
16、l. First, if you sit at a desk all day, the best thing you can do is【 B5】 _your hips and butt against the back of the chair, and use it for【 B6】 _ thats what its there for. Then, make sure you get up frequently and walk around. Thirdly, if you carry a heavy shoulder bag, make sure to carry it on bot
17、h your right and left shoulder,【 B7】_as each gets tired. Even better: wear a cross-body bag so that the weights more evenly【 B8】 _. Sullivan recommends focusing on the upper back and shoulder【 B9】 _. One of her favorite exercises is having clients stand up against a wall, with their hips touching th
18、e wall. Rows are also excellent for【 B10】 _posture, since it causes you to pull your shoulders up and back. Now stop reading this article and go for a walk. 27 【 B1】 28 【 B2】 29 【 B3】 30 【 B4】 31 【 B5】 32 【 B6】 33 【 B7】 34 【 B8】 35 【 B9】 36 【 B10】 Section A 36 Fears, in general, keep us from reachin
19、g our full potential. Fear of success is probably one of the hardest fears to identify, a fear that lies in unconsciousness and one that has the power to really keep us stuck. Dealing with fear of success requires us to look at ourselves and take responsibility for areas within us, but most times we
20、 attribute to other people or【 C1】 _events. After all, you may be thinking, who would sabotage (蓄意破坏 ) their own efforts to succeed and more【 C2】 _why would anyone do that? Its important to understand that fear of success like many other fears is unconscious. Success implies visibility: being seen b
21、y others involves a level of vulnerability and【 C3】 _that we ought to engage in, in order to let the ones around believe in our abilities and trust that what we do is valuable and worthy. Before others are able to do any of these things, we must be the first to believe and trust in our own abilities
22、. For the most part, we can control how we【 C4】 _ourselves in front of the world, the message we are trying to【 C5】 _, and so on. Yet earning someones trust and furthering our accomplishments requires cohesiveness between the images we are trying to convey and what others perceive. You may be very a
23、pt at maintaining a certain image and yet the people around【 C6】_much more than what you want to【 C7】 _. Human beings are able to pick up on subtle cues in our non-verbal communication, including how we feel toward ourselves. What that means is that if at the core we have【 C8】 _about ourselves, inse
24、curities about our abilities and low levels of【 C9】 _in what we do, then unconsciously, we will attempt to guard these areas from the eyes of others. This is where fear of success comes into play: aware of some of these shortcomings and in an attempt to hide our “weakness“ we end up acting in an【 C1
25、0】 _manner and in the process, create a less than cohesive and consistent image. In short, we end up blocking ourselves. A) unauthentic I) convey B) confidence J) doubts C) external K) expose D) explore L) negatively E) exposure M) perceive F) describe N) commonsense G) importantly O) present H) sus
26、picion 37 【 C1】 38 【 C2】 39 【 C3】 40 【 C4】 41 【 C5】 42 【 C6】 43 【 C7】 44 【 C8】 45 【 C9】 46 【 C10】 Section B 46 Shock Treatment AThe objective of Americas Affordable Care Act of 2010 commonly known as Obamacare was to ensure that the 40m-plus Americans who lacked health insurance could get it. Less w
27、idely appreciated, but at least as important, are the incentives and penalties the law introduced to make the countrys terribly expensive and poorly performing health services safer and more efficient. Economists are debating on how much credit Obamacare should get for a recent moderation in the gro
28、wth of health costs, and for a fall in the number of patients having to be readmitted to hospital. Whatever the answer is, many companies see the disruption unleashed by the reforms as the business opportunity of a lifetime. BOne of the biggest shifts under way is to phase out the “fee for service“
29、model, in which hospitals and doctors surgeries are reimbursed (补偿 ) for each test or treatment with no regard for the outcome, encouraging them to put patients through unnecessary and expensive procedures. Since Obamacare they are increasingly being paid by resultsa flat fee for each successful hip
30、 replacement, say. There are also incentives for providers which meet cost or performance targets, and new requirements for hospitals to disclose their prices. CMillions of people are now looking for health insurance on the new public exchanges set up under the reforms. And Obamacare has come into e
31、ffect at a time when American employers, who often provide health cover for their workers, are seeking to cut its cost by encouraging them to shop around on private exchanges, and by offering less generous plans. DThe result is that there are growing numbers of consumers seeking better treatment for
32、 less money. Existing health-care providers will have to adapt, or lose business. All sorts of other businesses, old and new, are seeking either to take market share from the conventional providers, or to provide the software and other tools that help hospitals, doctors, insurers and patients make t
33、he most of this new world. EPatients are increasingly having to pay higher “deductibles(免赔额 )“ out of their own pockets, before the insurance kicks in, to keep the cost of the cover down. So for minor ailments and simple tests, it makes sense for such patients to go to one of the increasing numbers
34、of walk-in clinics, staffed by well-qualified nurses, on the premises of retail pharmacies such as Walgreens. The prices are clear, the care is cheap and the service is quick. Walgreens has a partnership with Theranos, a diagnostics firm, which offers customers a range of tests from a tiny drop of b
35、lood. Walmart, a giant supermarket chain with many in-store pharmacies, also intends to become one of the leading sellers of affordable health services, says Alex Hurd, its product-development chief. FFor injuries and illnesses that are more serious but not immediately life-threatening, lots of “urg
36、ent-care centers“ are being opened as an alternative to going to a hospital emergency unit. Private-equity firms are pouring money into independent chains of centers. Merchant Medicine, a consulting firm, reckons that between them, these chains now have just over 1,500 urgent-care centers, up from a
37、bout 1,300 at the start of 2013. The market is still fragmented but a national brand could emerge from one of the largest chains, such as Concentra or MedExpress. GSome hospital operators, seeking to cut their costs of care, and choosing to be among the disrupters rather than the disrupted, are also
38、 opening urgent-care centers. Aurora Health Care, a Wisconsin-based chain of hospitals and clinics, now has more than 30 of them. HHospital operators are now facing a classic “innovators dilemma“, as described by Clay Christensen, a Harvard business professor. If they persist with their high-cost bu
39、siness model even as their customers discover that cheaper alternatives are good enough, they will be in trouble. According to Strata Decision Technology, an analytics firm, many hospital groups saw what was coming and started to cut their costs well before the provisions of Obamacare started to bit
40、e. One of the fastest movers is Advocate Health Care, a hospital operator from Illinois, which says it now earns two-thirds of its revenues from value-based payments. IThe largest chains of for-profit hospitals, such as Tenet Healthcare, HCA and Community Health Systems, are rather profitable. They
41、have trimmed their costs, been conservative with capital and, thanks to Obamacare raising the number of Americans with health insurance, now have more patients and fewer bad debts. However, credit-rating agencies are worried about the prospects for the not-for-profit hospitals, which are 60% of the
42、total. With lower margins, and less capital to make investments, they have become targets for takeover, says Jim Bonnette of the Advisory Board Company, another consulting outfit. JAs a result, further consolidation in the hospital business is likely. This could mean greater efficiency and lower cos
43、ts. But if antitrust authorities are not vigilant, it may lead to a concentration of market power. If so, the benefits from the efficiencies being wrung out of the hospital system may end up in the pockets of shareholders rather than saving patients and insurers money. KObamacare is also encouraging
44、 the creation of all sorts of health-related advisory and intermediary companies that help care providers, insurers and patients save money. A company called Vitals approaches employees on behalf of their companys health plan, and offers them cash rewards, and a taxi, if they agree to be treated at
45、a cheaper provider. The sums to be saved can be astonishing: a new cost-comparison tool created by Blue Cross Blue Shield, a big alliance of private health insurers, has found that a colonoscopy (结肠镜检查 ) with a biopsy costs $8,489 at one clinic in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, but just $ 928 at anoth
46、er provider in Greensboro, only 50 miles (80km) or so away. LCohealo offers a “sharing economy“ solution for hospitals and clinics wanting to make the best use of expensive equipment, in much the same way as Airbnb helps people with spare rooms fill them with paying guests. Doximity is trying to be
47、a Facebook for doctors, letting them refer patients and discuss treatments securely without the blizzard of faxes they rely on today. Grand Rounds is a sort of medical Match, com: an online matchmaker that pairs patients with specialists. As in other industries, administrators are being tempted to s
48、witch to renting software and data storage in the online “cloud“ : Athenahealth, a seller of medical back-office software, is trying to get doctors and hospitals to move patients health records onto its cloud-based service. Preliminary diagnosis MFor supporters of Obamacare, it is clear that the ref
49、orms are empowering patients, driving public and private health insurers to achieve better value, forcing existing providers to shape up and providing opportunities for disruptive newcomers. Digital technology is also helping to increase transparency about prices, making it easier to share information and increase efficiency. For some analysts it all adds up to a “new health economy“ as PwC, a consulting firm, put
