1、大学英语六级（ 2013年 12月考试改革适用）模拟试卷 213及答案与解析 一、 Part I Writing 1 For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a letter to invite your former roommate in your university to visit your city during the summer vacation. You should write at least 150 words but no more than 200 words. Section A （ A） Inter
2、viewing a moving star. （ B） Discussing teenage role models. （ C） Hosting a television show. （ D） Reviewing a new biography. （ A） Because he lost his mother. （ B） Because he was unhappy in California. （ C） Because he missed his aunt. （ D） Because he had to attend school there. （ A） He delivered publi
3、c speeches. （ B） He got seriously into acting. （ C） He hosted talk shows on TV. （ D） He played a role in East of Eden. （ A） His first movie. （ B） His second movie. （ C） His third movie. （ D） His fourth movie. （ A） In a studio. （ B） In a book store. （ C） At a beach resort. （ D） At a supermarket. （ A）
4、 To live there permanently. （ B） To stay there for half a year. （ C） To find a better job to support herself. （ D） To sell leather goods for an American company. （ A） Since 1981. （ B） Since 1982. （ C） Since 1989. （ D） Since 1990. （ A） It has seen a steady decline in its profits. （ B） It has attracte
5、d a lot more designers from abroad. （ C） It has lost many customers to foreign companies. （ D） It has become much more competitive. Section B （ A） In Washington. （ B） In London. （ C） In New York. （ D） In Yorkshire. （ A） Chewing gums. （ B） Earphones. （ C） Magazines. （ D） Seat belts. （ A） Clothes. （ B
6、） Mobile phone. （ C） Computer. （ D） Earphone. （ A） It carried passengers leaving an island. （ B） A terrorist forced it to land on Tenerife. （ C） It crashed when it was circling to land. （ D） 18 of its passengers survived the crash. （ A） He was kidnapped eight months ago. （ B） He failed in his negoti
7、ations with the Africans. （ C） He was assassinated in Central Africa. （ D） He lost lots of money in his African business. （ A） The management and union representatives reached an agreement. （ B） The workers pay was raised and their working hours were shortened. （ C） The trade union gave up its deman
8、d. （ D） The workers on strike were all fired. （ A） Sunny. （ B） Rainy. （ C） Windy. （ D） Cloudy. Section C （ A） They investigate the retirement homes in America. （ B） They are on issues facing senior citizens in America. （ C） They describe the great pleasures of the golden years. （ D） They are filled
9、with fond memories of his grandparents. （ A） The loss of the ability to take care of himself. （ B） The feeling of not being important any more. （ C） Being unable to find a good retirement home. （ D） Leaving the home he had lived in for 60 years. （ A） The loss of identity and self-worth. （ B） Fear of
10、 being replaced or discarded. （ C） Freedom from pressure and worldly cares. （ D） The possession of wealth and high respect. （ A） The urgency of pension reform. （ B） Medical care for senior citizens. （ C） Finding meaningful roles for the elderly in society. （ D） The development of public facilities f
11、or senior citizens. （ A） It seriously impacts their physical and mental development. （ B） It has become a problem affecting global economic growth. （ C） It is a common problem found in underdeveloped countries. （ D） It is an issue often overlooked by parents in many countries. （ A） They will live lo
12、nger. （ B） They get better pay. （ C） They get along well with people. （ D） They develop much higher IQs. （ A） Appropriated funds to promote research of nutrient-rich foods. （ B） Encouraged breastfeeding for the first six months of a childs life. （ C） Recruited volunteers to teach rural people about
13、health and nutrition. （ D） Targeted hunger-relief programs at pregnant women and young children. （ A） The guaranteed quality of its goods. （ B） The huge volume of its annual sales. （ C） The service it provides to its customers. （ D） The high value-to-weight ratio of its goods. （ A） Those having a ta
14、ste or smell component. （ B） Products potentially embarrassing to buy. （ C） Those that require very careful handling. （ D） Services involving a personal element. （ A） Those who live in the virtual world. （ B） Those who have to work long hours. （ C） Those who are used to online transactions. （ D） Tho
15、se who dont mind paying a little more. Section A 26 As many people【 C1】 _ middle age, they often start to notice that their memory and mental clarity are not what they used to be. We suddenly cant remember where we put the keys just a moment ago, or an old acquaintances name, or the name of an old b
16、and we used to love. As the brain fades, we refer to these【 C2】 _ as “senior moments“. While seemingly【 C3】 _, this loss of mental focus can【 C4】_ have a detrimental impact on our professional, social, and personal well-being. Neuroscientists are increasingly showing that theres actually a lot that
17、can be done. It turns that the brain needs exercise in much the same way our muscles do, and the right mental workouts can significantly improve our basic cognitive【 C5】 _. Thinking is essentially a process of making neural connections in the brain. To a certain extent, our ability to excel in makin
18、g the neural connections that drive intelligence is【 C6】 _. However, because these connections are made through effort and practice, scientists believe that intelligence can expand according to mental effort. Now, a new San Francisco Web-based company has taken it a step further and developed the fi
19、rst “brain training program“【 C7】 _ to actually help people improve and regain their mental sharpness. It is called Lumosity. Lumosity, is far more than an online place to exercise your mental skills. Thats because they have【 C8】_ these exercises into a Web-based program that allows you to systemati
20、cally improve your memory and attention skills. Also, the program keeps track of your progress and provides【 C9】 _ feedback on your performance and improvement. Most importantly, it constantly modifies and【 C10】 _ the games you play to build on the strengths you are developing. A) arrive B) enhances
21、 C) complex D) definitely E) detailed F) functions G) hit H) incidents I) inherited J) innocent K) integrated L) intended M) occurrences N) potentially O) designed 27 【 C1】 28 【 C2】 29 【 C3】 30 【 C4】 31 【 C5】 32 【 C6】 33 【 C7】 34 【 C8】 35 【 C9】 36 【 C10】 Section B 36 Opportunists and Competitors A)
22、Growth, reproduction, and daily metabolism all require an organism to expend energy. The expenditure of energy is essentially a process of budgeting, just as finances are budgeted. If all of ones money is spent on clothes, there may be none left to buy food or go to the movies. Similarly, a plant or
23、 animal cannot squander all its energy on growing a big body if none would be left over for reproduction, for this is the surest way to extinction. B) All organisms, therefore, allocate energy to growth, reproduction, maintenance, and storage. No choice is involved; this allocation comes as part of
24、the genetic package from the parents. Maintenance for a given body design of an organism is relatively constant. Storage is important, but ultimately that energy will be used for maintenance, reproduction, or growth. Therefore the principal differences in energy allocation are likely to be between g
25、rowth and reproduction. C) Almost all of an organisms energy can be diverted to reproduction, with very little allocated to building the body. Organisms at this extreme are “opportunists“. At the other extreme are “competitors“, almost all of whose resources are invested in building a huge body, wit
26、h a bare minimum allocated to reproduction. D) Dandelions are good examples of opportunists. Their seed heads raised just high enough above the ground to catch the wind, the plants are no bigger than they need be, their stems are hollow, and all the rigidity comes from their water content. Thus, a m
27、inimum investment has been made in the body that becomes a platform for seed dispersal. These very short-lived plants reproduce prolifically; that is to say they provide a constant rain of seed in the neighborhood of parent plants. E) A new plant will spring up wherever a seed falls on a suitable so
28、il surface, but because they do not build big bodies, they cannot compete with other plants for space, water, or sunlight. These plants are termed opportunists because they rely on their seeds falling into settings where competing plants have been removed by natural processes, such as along an erodi
29、ng riverbank, on landslips, or where a tree falls and creates a gap in the forest canopy. F) Opportunists must constantly invade new areas to compensate for being displaced by more competitive species. Human landscapes of lawns, fields, or flowerbeds provide settings with bare soil and a lack of com
30、petitors that are perfect habitats for colonization by opportunists. Hence, many of the strongly opportunistic plants are the common weeds of fields and gardens. G) Because each individual is short-lived, the population of an opportunist species is likely to be adversely affected by drought, bad win
31、ters, or floods. If their population is tracked through time, it will be seen to be particularly unstablesoaring and plummeting in irregular cycles. H) The opposite of an opportunist is a competitor. These organisms tend to have big bodies, are long-lived, and spend relatively little effort each yea
32、r on reproduction. I) An oak tree is a good example of a competitor. A massive oak claims its ground for 200 years or more, out-competing all other would-be canopy trees by casting a dense shade and drawing up any free water in the soil. The leaves of an oak tree taste foul because they are rich in
33、tannins, a chemical that renders them distasteful or indigestible to many organisms. The tannins are part of the defense mechanism that is essential to longevity. J) Although oaks produce thousands of acorns, the investment in a crop of acorns is small compared with the energy spent on building leav
34、es, trunk, and roots. Once an oak tree becomes established, it is likely to survive minor cycles of drought and even fire. A population of oaks is likely to be relatively stable through time, and its survival is likely to depend more on its ability to withstand the pressures of competition or predat
35、ion than on its ability to take advantage of chance events. K) It should be noted, however, that the pure opportunist or pure competitor is rare in nature, as most species fall between the extremes of a continuum, exhibiting a blend of some opportunistic and some competitive characteristics. L) Oak
36、wood has a density of about 0. 75 g/cm3 , great strength and hardness, and is very resistant to insect and fungal attack because of its high tannin content. It also has very appealing grain markings, particularly when quarter-sawn. M) Oak planking was common on high status Viking longships in the 9t
37、h and 10th centuries. The wood was hewn(砍 ) from green logs, by axe and wedge, to produce radial planks, similar to quarter-sawn timber. Wide, quarter-sawn boards of oak have been prized since the Middle Ages for use in interior paneling of prestigious buildings such as the debating chamber of the H
38、ouse of Commons in London and in the construction of fine furniture. N) Oak wood, from Quercus robur and Quercus petraea, was used in Europe for the construction of ships until the 19th century, and was the principal timber used in the construction of European timber-framed buildings. Today oak wood
39、 is still commonly used for furniture making and flooring, timber frame buildings, and for veneer production. Barrels in which wines, sherry, and spirits such as brandy, Scotch whisky and Bourbon whiskey are aged are made from European and American oak. The use of oak in wine can add many different
40、dimensions to wine based on the type and style of the oak. Oak barrels, which may be charred before use, contribute to the colour, taste, and aroma of the contents, imparting a desirable oaky vanillin flavour to these drinks. The great dilemma for wine producers is to choose between French and Ameri
41、can oak woods. French oaks (Quercus robur, Quercus petraea) give the wine greater refinement and are chosen for the best wines since they increase the price compared to those aged in American oak wood. American oak contributes greater texture and resistance to ageing, but produces more violent wine
42、bouquets. Oak wood chips are used for smoking fish, meat, cheeses and other foods. O) Japanese oak is used in the making of professional drums from manufacturer Yamaha Drums. The higher density of oak gives the drum a brighter and louder tone compared to traditional drum materials such as maple and
43、birch. In hill states of India, besides fuelwood and timber, the local people use oak wood for making agricultural implements. The leaves are used as fodder during lean period and bedding for livestock. 37 Growth, reproduction, and daily metabolism all require a plant to expend energy. 38 A massive
44、oak claims its ground for 200 years or more, winning all other would-be canopy trees by casting a dense shade and drawing up any free water in the soil. 39 The energy stored by a plant would be used for maintenance, reproduction, or growth ultimately. 40 Opportunist and competitor are different and
45、complementary. 41 Almost all of an organisms energy can be diverted to reproduction, with very little allocated to building the body. 42 The reason why the population of an opportunist species is likely to be adversely affected by drought, bad winters, or floods is because each individual is short-l
46、ived. 43 If you want to find a good example of opportunists, dandelion is a good choice for research. 44 The common weed of a rose filed is more opportunistic than the rose within the same place. 45 If the oak wood is quarter-sawn, there would be very obvious grain markings. 46 In the 9th and 10th c
47、enturies, the oak wood was frequently used in the Viking longships. Section C 46 Acting is such an over-crowded profession that the only advice that should be given to a young person thinking of going on the stage is “Dont!“. But it is useless to try to discourage someone who feels that he must act,
48、 though the chances of his becoming famous are slim. The normal way to begin is to go to a drama school. Usually only students who show promise and talent are accepted, and the course lasts two years. Then the young actor or actress takes up work with a repertory company, usually as an assistant sta
49、ge manager. This means doing everything that there is to do in the theatre: painting scenery, looking after the furniture, taking care of the costumes, and even acting in very small parts. It is very hard work indeed. The hours are long and the salary is tiny. But young actors with the stage in their blood are happy, waiting for the chances of working with a better company, or perhaps in films or television. Of course, some people have unusual chances which lead to fame and success without this long and dull training. Connie
