1、大学英语六级（ 2013年 12月考试改革适用）模拟试卷 168及答案与解析 一、 Part I Writing 1 For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay entitled How to Broaden Our Knowledge? You should write at least 150 words but no more than 200 words. Write your essay on Answer Sheet 1. 1在信息快速发展的今天，我们应该不断扩大自己的知识面 2具备宽广知识面的意
2、义 3为此，我们应该 Section A （ A） It could not receive or make calls. （ B） It receives the signal but always cuts off halfway. （ C） It can make calls but the signal is not clear. （ D） It could only receive incoming calls. （ A） To get a feedback about the phone. （ B） To find out where the problem lies. （ C）
3、To get the phone fixed immediately. （ D） To apology for his inconvenience. （ A） Damage to the equipment. （ B） The mans wrong operation. （ C） The line upgrading. （ D） It was unclear. （ A） He will buy another cell phone. （ B） He will complain again if the problem isnt settled. （ C） He will ask for a r
4、efund if the problem isnt solved. （ D） He will complain to the management. （ A） A way to join a bicycle race. （ B） Major British bicycle races. （ C） The contribution of cycling to health. （ D） An annual cycling event. （ A） The length of the course. （ B） The route the cyclists take. （ C） The number o
5、f participants. （ D） The date when the tour is held. （ A） There is no rush. （ B） The winner becomes the king. （ C） Friendship first, competition second. （ D） Faster and stronger. （ A） Fruit. （ B） Water. （ C） Lunch. （ D） Repair services. Section B （ A） They are indulged in the virtual world. （ B） The
6、y spend little time on their schoolwork. （ C） They take advantage of the Internet to threaten others. （ D） They are reluctant to interact with others in the real world. （ A） It provides them access to negative information. （ B） It helps them make new friends. （ C） It doesnt give proper guidance to t
7、he young users. （ D） It doesnt give feedback about the consequences of ones actions. （ A） They are too busy to detect it. （ B） It is beyond their supervision. （ C） The youth are threatened not to tell the truth. （ D） It doesnt show on the radar screen. （ A） He made up his mind to work for the disabl
8、e. （ B） He decided to work in an auto company. （ C） He unfortunately had a car accident. （ D） He invented a new type of vehicle. （ A） A driver. （ B） A sales manager. （ C） An engineer. （ D） An advertising executive. （ A） It can be controlled remotely. （ B） It takes much room of a car. （ C） It has som
9、e merits and drawbacks. （ D） It is rather expensive. （ A） It will turn out to be a failure. （ B） It will receive a lot of orders. （ C） It helps depress the economy. （ D） It downturns the economy to a great extent. Section C （ A） It was set up as a wholesaler 25 years ago. （ B） It sold camping equipm
10、ent originally. （ C） It began offering holidays 10 years ago. （ D） It has been providing holidays for 50 years. （ A） In Italy. （ B） In Spain. （ C） In France. （ D） In Switzerland. （ A） A sports match. （ B） Singing or dancing. （ C） A poster completion. （ D） Model making. （ A） Be informed of latest hol
11、idays. （ B） Get a 20% discount off the holidays. （ C） Book a luxury tent for a lower price. （ D） Get a high-quality thank-you present. （ A） It tastes like rabbit. （ B） Its tough to chew. （ C） It has quite a lot of fat. （ D） Its dark in color. （ A） Making dresses. （ B） Decorating hats. （ C） Making fa
12、ns. （ D） Making fast food. （ A） You need a lot of money to start the business. （ B） Young ostriches are very independent. （ C） Ostriches are always shut in cages. （ D） Special equipment is not needed for the farming. （ A） It was originally built in 1940s. （ B） It was used by the Smith family. （ C） I
13、t got its name from the builder. （ D） It has been built into a university. （ A） Smoking is permitted in the rooms. （ B） No noise is allowed after 9 pm. （ C） Students can smoke on the balconies. （ D） There are fixed meal times. （ A） Give the students the orientation packs. （ B） Hand over the keys to
14、the students. （ C） Answer the students questions. （ D） Guide the students to the dining room. Section A 26 The Internet and cell phones are bringing people together, not【 C1】 _us apart at least, according to a new survey recently by the Pew Internet and American Life project. The research followed u
15、p a shocking 2006 study, which found that American social networks were rapidly【 C2】 _and that 25% of Americans reported that they had not one close friend or family member to rely on. In【 C3】 _, Pew researchers found that just 6% of those surveyed reported having no intimate relationships. Unfortun
16、ately, the new study did confirm the other findings, showing that Americans today do have far fewer close relationships than they did as recently as 1985. According to both studies, the average social network shrunk by one-third since 1985 and more people today are relying only on spouses or family
17、members for emotional support. Intriguingly,【 C4】 _, Internet and cell phone use didnt replace close【 C5】_with more superficial contacts. Instead, people who most relied on these communication tools had a larger and more【 C6】 _group of close friends and family members. They were more likely to be cl
18、ose to someone of another race, for example. And,【 C7】 _to net opposers worries, Internet use didnt replace involvement in local activities. In fact, bloggers and cell users are more likely to【 C8】 _to local organizations like youth groups and charities, not less so. Such【 C9】 _effects of the Intern
19、et are good news for public health. Studies have shown repeatedly that the number and quality of peoples relationships affects many aspects of well-being. The more connected people are, the healthier they tend to be. Consequently, the shrinkage in network size remains a serious cause for concern but
20、 these results suggest that mobile and Internet communication are not【 C10】_problematic and can even be part of the solution. A)surely E)however I)necessarily M)positive B)compare F)ties J)contrast N)tearing C)single G)negative K)contrary O)diverse D)cutting H)belong L)contracting 27 【 C1】 28 【 C2】
21、29 【 C3】 30 【 C4】 31 【 C5】 32 【 C6】 33 【 C7】 34 【 C8】 35 【 C9】 36 【 C10】 Section B 36 Life Begins at 100 AThis year, the number of pensioners in the UK exceeded the number of minors for the first time in history. Thats remarkable in its own right, but the real “population explosion“ has been among t
22、he oldest of the old the centenarians(百岁老人 ). In fact, this is the fastest-growing group in much of the developed world. In the UK, their numbers have increased by a factor of 60 since the early 20th century. And their ranks are set to swell even further, thanks to the ageing baby-boomer generation:
23、 by 2030 there will be about a million worldwide. BThese trends raise social, ethical and economic dilemmas. Are medical advances artificially prolonging life with little regard for the quality of that life? Old age brings an increased risk of chronic disease and disability, and if growing numbers o
24、f elderly people become dependent on state or familial support, society faces soaring costs and commitments. This is the dark cloud outside the silver lining of increasing longevity(长寿 ). Yet researchers who study the oldest old have made a surprising discovery that presents a less bleak vision of t
25、he future than many anticipate. CIt is becoming clear that people who break through the 90-plus barrier represent a physical elite, markedly different from the elderly who typically die younger than them. Far from gaining a longer burden of disability, their extra years are often healthy ones. They
26、have a remarkable ability to live through, delay or entirely escape a host of diseases that kill off most of their peers. Supercentenari-ans people aged 110 or over are even better examples of ageing gracefully. “According to the statistical study, they basically didnt exist in the 1970s or 80s,“ sa
27、ys Craig Willcox of the Okinawa Centenarian Study in Japan. “They have some sort of genetic booster rocket and they seem to be functioning better for longer periods of time than centenarians.“ The average supercentenarian had freely gone about their daily life until the age of 105 or so, some five t
28、o 10 years longer even than centenarians, who are themselves the physical equivalent of people eight to 10 years their junior. This isnt just good news for the oldest old and for society in general: it also provides clues about how more of us might achieve a long and healthy old age. DOne of the mos
29、t comprehensive studies comes from Denmark. In 1998, Kaare Christensen at the University of Southern Denmark, in Odense, exploited the countrys exemplary registries to contact every single one of the 3,600 people born in 1905 who was still alive. Assessing their health over the subsequent decade, he
30、 found that the proportion of people who managed to remain independent throughout was constantly around one-third of the total: each individual risked becoming more infirm, but the unhealthiest ones passed away at earlier ages, leaving the strongest behind. In 2005, only 166 of the people in Christe
31、nsens sample were alive, but one-third of those were still entirely self-sufficient. This is good news from both personal and societal perspectives, for it means that exceptional longevity does not necessarily lead to exceptional levels of disability. EChristensens optimistic findings are echoed in
32、studies all over the world. In the US, almost all of the 700-plus people recruited to the New England Centenarian Study since it began in 1994 had lived independently until the age of 90, and 40 per cent of supercentenarians in the study could still look after themselves. In the UK, Carol Brayne at
33、the University of Cambridge studied 958 people aged over 90 and found that only one-quarter of them were living in institutions or nursing homes. Likewise, research in China reveals that before their deaths, centenarians and nonagenarians(九旬老人 )spend fewer days ill than younger elderly groups, thoug
34、h the end comes quickly when it finally comes. FNot all of the oldest old survive by delaying illness or disability, though many soldier through it. Jessica Evert of Ohio State University in Columbus examined the medical histories of over 400 centenarians. She found that those who achieve extreme lo
35、ngevity tend to fall into three categories. About 40 per cent were “delayers“, who avoided chronic diseases until after the age of 80. This “compression of illness“, where chronic illness and disability are squeezed into ever-shorter periods at the end of life, is a recent trend among ageing populat
36、ions. Another 40 per cent were “survivors“, who suffered from chronic diseases before the age of 80 but lived longer to tell the tale. The final 20 per cent were “escapers“, who hit their century with no sign of the most common chronic diseases, including heart disease, cancer, diabetes, hypertensio
37、n and stroke. Intriguingly, one-third of male centenarians were in this category, compared with only 15 per cent of women. GThe “centenarian genome(基因组 )“ is a key resource in identifying longevity genes. Such genes have been found in abundance in other organisms. Unfortunately, its a different stor
38、y in humans. While many candidate genes have been suggested to affect lifespan, very few have been consistently verified in multiple populations. HUntil recently, the only exception was ApoE, and in particular a variant of this gene known as e4, which gives carriers a much higher than average risk o
39、f developing Alzheimers and heart disease. Across the world, this unfortunate version of ApoE is about half as common in centenarians as in younger adults. Last year, a second promising candidate emerged a variant of a gene called FOX03A. At the University of Hawaii, a team led by Bradley Willcox, C
40、raigs identical twin, found that people who carried two copies of a particular form of the gene were almost three times as likely to make it to 100 than those without the variation, and also tended to start their journey into old age with better health and lower levels of stroke, heart disease and c
41、ancer. “There are so many false positives in this field that FOX03A is very exciting,“ says Bradley Willcox. IFOX03A is involved in several signalling pathways that are conserved across animal species. It controls the insulin/IGF-1 pathway, which influences how our bodies process food. It also contr
42、ols genes that protect cells from highly reactive oxygen radicalsmolecules often thought to drive human ageing through the cumulative damage they work on DNA FOX03A could even protect against cancer by encouraging apoptosis(细胞凋亡 ), whereby compromised cells commit suicide. The variant of FOX03A asso
43、ciated with longevity is much more prevalent in 100-year-olds even than in 95-year-olds, which clearly demonstrates the value of studying the centenarian genome. JSo far the search for longevity genes in humans has been extremely difficult, but prospects brighten as genomic technologies become faste
44、r and there are more centenarians to study. Only a lucky few win the genetic lottery of longevity, but if we understand what sets them apart, we may be able to make the rest of us more like them by using lifestyle or therapeutic interventions to manipulate physiological pathways. Such medical advanc
45、es will not only extend our lives, but also help us remain healthy and independent for as long as possible. 37 Centenarians dying days are fewer than younger elderly groups. 38 The centenarian genome is very helpful in finding longevity genes. 39 The centenarian is regarded as the fastest-growing gr
46、oup in Britain. 40 According to an analysis, one fifth of centenarians didnt develop any chronic illness even when they reached the age of 100. 41 Exceptional longevity does not necessarily mean exceptional levels of disability. 42 The growing numbers of elderly people become economic burdens to the
47、 society. 43 FOX03A influences how our bodies process food by controlling insulin pathway. 44 People with two copies of FOX03A are more likely to be healthy in their old age. 45 According to the statistical study, the supercentenarians often lead a healthy life without chronic diseases. 46 With fast
48、er genomic technologies and more centenarians, the prospects of searching for longevity genes become brighter. Section C 46 Researchers have reconstructed an ancient human genome(基因组 )for the first time, thanks to the discovery of a 4000-year-old strand of hair in Greenland permafrost(永冻土 ). Experts
49、 say that similar techniques could be employed in many other ways, such as analyzing the DNA of South American mummies or crime victims. The sample was taken from one of four strands of hair collected in Greenland by Danish archaeologists in the 1980s. The hairs are the only known human remains from the earliest people to settle in Greenland. A chance conversation alerted University of Copenhagen researcher Eske Willerslev, who was just back from two unsuccessful mont
