1、大学英语六级（ 2013年 12月考试改革适用）模拟试卷 216及答案与解析 一、 Part I Writing 1 For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay commenting on the proverb “He who makes no mistakes makes nothing. “ You can give an example or two to illustrate your point of view. You should write at least 150 words but no more
2、 than 200 words. Section A （ A） The same child at different time and different locations. （ B） Different children at the same time and the same location. （ C） The same child at the same time and the same location. （ D） Different children at different time and different locations. （ A） Make a present
3、ation after handing in the paper. （ B） Study the notes and find out what kind of behavior is influenced by the environment. （ C） Study the notes and find published theories for the presentation. （ D） Write a paper directly in accordance with the observations. （ A） Its for the presentation. （ B） Its
4、for the paper. （ C） Its for the observations. （ D） Its for the conclusion. （ A） Ignore the presentation. （ B） Divide the assignment. （ C） Omit some chapters. （ D） Listen more carefully. （ A） Charles Darwin. （ B） Patrick Matthew. （ C） Alfred Russel Wallace. （ D） Matthew Wallace. （ A） Look it up in he
5、r textbook. （ B） Search on the Internet. （ C） Ask her professor for help. （ D） Go to the library. （ A） A clever clog knows everything in the world. （ B） All the living creatures have the same ancestor. （ C） Species can change into other species through natural selection. （ D） Ideas are transformativ
6、e and can be united. （ A） Some of them died out because they couldnt adapt to their environment. （ B） They reproduced in large numbers to keep the species survive. （ C） Some of them developed the ability to change their surroundings. （ D） They all evolved into other species. Section B （ A） Humans so
7、cial structure is the most complicated. （ B） Humans are able to cooperate with each other. （ C） Prediction is the key to humans survival. （ D） Humans are sensitive and motivated. （ A） Boiling hot water. （ B） Slightly hot water. （ C） Room temperature water. （ D） Icy cold water. （ A） Watching “warm“ v
8、ideos. （ B） Watching control videos. （ C） Watching “cold“ videos. （ D） All of the above. （ A） To solve economic problems. （ B） To increase gender equality. （ C） To follow the international trend. （ D） To increase the number of population. （ A） Only mothers can take the paid parental leave. （ B） No p
9、arental leave can be taken after the child is 8. （ C） Only families of two working parents can enjoy the paid leave. （ D） Parents must reserve the paid parental leave in advance. （ A） 2 weeks. （ B） 10 weeks. （ C） 2 months. （ D） 3 months. （ A） They worry about the salary cut. （ B） They are in favor o
10、f taking the leave. （ C） They think women should benefit more. （ D） They have to take more responsibility for child rearing. Section C （ A） The US governments monthly employment report. （ B） The US governments monthly tax report. （ C） The US governments monthly budget report. （ D） The US governments
11、 monthly deficit report. （ A） Its entirely the fault of Europes leaders. （ B） Its entirely the fault of the US politicians. （ C） Its not entirely the fault of Europes leaders. （ D） Its not entirely the fault of the US politicians. （ A） Introducing tax incentives for businesses. （ B） Cutting budgets
12、on medicare. （ C） Pumping more dollars into the economy. （ D） Coming to an agreement on a deficit cutting plan. （ A） Living in areas with noise pollution. （ B） Living in areas with light pollution. （ C） Living in areas with water pollution. （ D） Living in areas with air pollution. （ A） Heart disease
13、 caused by high blood pressure. （ B） Health problems associated with pollution. （ C） Leading risk factors for heart disease. （ D） Blood-pressure lowering drugs. （ A） It usually happens in urban areas. （ B） It is known as a deadly disease for humans. （ C） It could be prevented in many cases. （ D） It
14、can be cured in five to eight years. （ A） Slightly polluted areas. （ B） Heavily polluted areas. （ C） Urban areas. （ D） Rural areas. （ A） The impact of smoking lasts less than 30 years. （ B） Smoking has a long-term impact on our molecular machinery. （ C） Damages caused by smoking can never be cured.
15、（ D） Ailments are mainly caused by damage to the DNA. （ A） They checked the lungs of 16,000 people. （ B） They examined the heartbeats of 16,000 smokers. （ C） They measured the blood pressure of 16,000 smokers. （ D） They looked at blood samples from 16,000 people. （ A） The effects of smoking on their
16、 DNA still exists. （ B） The damage to their DNA will be cured one year later. （ C） The function of their DNA has been changed. （ D） The chance of having cancer is still high. Section A 26 A new alcohol detection system could be introduced in cars by 2020, preventing intoxicated(喝醉的 )drivers from sta
17、rting their cars. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration showcased their first prototype of the Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety, known as “DADSS“ at Mothers Against Drunk Drivings 2015【 C1】_conference in Washington. The system prevents drivers from driving if they have【 C2】 _o
18、ver the recommended level of alcohol to drive safely by analyzing a drivers blood alcohol content(BAC)in two ways, with results【 C3】 _less than a second to come through. A breathalyzer, which is placed on both sides of the steering wheel, will take a sample of the drivers【 C4】 _breath, analyzing its
19、 alcohol content and the drivers blood alcohol levels will also be【 C5】 _by shining an infrared(红外线的 )light onto their fingertip when its placed on the cars ignition button. If the system detects that the driver is over the limit, the car shuts down, preventing the driver starting the car. Speaking
20、at the conference, NHTSA administrator Mark Rosekind said: “DADSS has enormous potential to prevent drunk driving in specific【 C6】 _such as teen drivers and commercial fleets, and making it an option【 C7】 _to vehicle owners. It would provide a powerful new tool in the battle against drunk driving de
21、aths.“ There are however some【 C8】 _The DADSS system will not be compulsory in all cars and will also cost drivers around $ 400 to install in their cars. The system has also been met with some【 C9】 _. Managing director of The American Beverage Institute, Sarah Longwell, told The Detroit News that DA
22、DSS “will【 C10】 _stop many responsible social drinkers who have a glass of wine with dinner from starting their cars.“ A)available F)exhaled K)populations B)captured G)expense L)regular C)consumed H)limitations M)responsibly D)criticism I)measured N)simply E)detecting J)national O)taking 27 【 C1】 28
23、 【 C2】 29 【 C3】 30 【 C4】 31 【 C5】 32 【 C6】 33 【 C7】 34 【 C8】 35 【 C9】 36 【 C10】 Section B 36 Why Cant American Students Compete? Twice as many students in Singapore are proficient in math as in the United States. A)“We know what it takes to compete for the jobs and industries of our time,“ President
24、 Obama said in his State of the Union address this year. “We need to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world.“ Yet despite the economic crisis facing the country, the US educational system remains frozen in place, unable to adapt to contemporary global realities. B)As all scho
25、olchildren know, water freezes to solid, barren, cracked ice at 32 degrees Fahrenheit(华氏温度 ). So maybe it is more than a mere coincidence that 32 percent of US public and private-school students in the class of 2011 are deemed proficient in mathematics, placing the United States 32nd among the 65 na
26、tions that participated in the latest international tests administered by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development(OECD). The United States ranks between Portugal and Italy and far behind South Korea, Finland, Canada, and the Netherlands. C)We became aware of the seriousness of the
27、problem after we equated, with the help of colleagues, the test scores of the class of 2011 on the latest international test when this class was in 10th grade, with its prior eighth-grade scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress(NAEP), an official US test that both assesses performa
28、nce of US students and sets the standard for “proficiency“. D)Linking these tests also allowed us to compare the performance of students in each state with that of students in other countries. The results are scary. Even in Massachusetts, with its famous collection of public and private schools, stu
29、dents reach only the level attained by students in the entire nations of Canada, Japan, and Switzerland. Massachusetts, the only US state with a majority of students(51 percent)above the proficiency mark, trails well behind students in South Korea and Finland. E)The percentage proficient in the stat
30、e of New York(30 percent)is equivalent to that achieved by students in debt-ridden Portugal and Spain. California, the home of highly skilled Silicon Valley, has a math proficiency rate of 24 percent, the same as bankrupt Greece and just a notch(等级 )above struggling Russia. F)President Obama, to his
31、 credit, has highlighted the problem repeatedly. But too many state education officials have done their best to obfuscate(故意混淆 )the low performance of their students. Under the educational accountability rules set down by the federal law No Child Left Behind, each state may set its own proficiency s
32、tandard, and most have set their standards well below the world-class level. As a result, most state proficiency reports grossly increase the percentage of students who are proficient, if we account for the fact that our students need to compete not just with others from the same state but also with
33、 those across the globe. G)When not obfuscating the problem, apologists explain away the results with misleading arguments. Some point to the countrys large immigrant and disadvantaged populations, which, to be sure, do pose difficult educational challenges. Proficiency rates among African-Americans
34、 and Hispanics are very low(11 and 15 percent, respectively). But if one compares only the white students in the US with all students in other countries, the US still falls short: Only 42 percent are proficient, which would place them at 17th in the world compared with all of the students in other n
35、ations. The only positive sign is the majority of Asian students in the United States(52 percent)who score at or above the proficiency level. H)When our results were first released, one school-board member in Loudoun County, a wealthy suburb of Washington D.C., explained away the results: “In many c
36、ountries, poor-performing children are filtered out of high school, whereas in the US, we test all our students, both great and not so great. So the comparison is not on a level playing field.“ That might have been true some decades ago when only a few countries followed the United States emphasis o
37、n universal education and thus left many students out of school and unavailable for testing. But today the US actually graduates fewer students from high school than the average developed country, completely eliminating any claim that the US is testing a broader range of the youth population. I)Some
38、 also take false comfort in the belief that it takes only a limited number of high-flying students to fill the jobs at Google, Facebook, IBM, and all the other businesses and professions that need highly skilled talent. The United States is still great at producing the advanced students needed to po
39、wer economic growth. J)Still others say the low math scores are offset by a better record in reading. Admittedly the proficiency rate in only 10 countries is significantly higher than in the US. If not the world leader, the United States record is at least better than average. Nonetheless, the set o
40、f skills most needed for sustained growth in economic productivity and the skills in shortest supply today are those rooted in math competencies. Our future scientists and engineers the engine of US innovation come from those with high math skills. While Silicon Valley could possibly be fueled by im
41、porting skilled workers from abroad, we should not continue to count on this in todays globalized world. Even if we could, it is hardly fair to our own young people to count them out of the countrys best jobs. K)According to our best calculations, the US could enjoy a remarkable increase in its annu
42、al per capita GDP growth by enhancing the math proficiency of its students. Increasing the percentage of proficient students to the levels attained in Canada and South Korea would increase the annual US growth rate by 0. 9 percentage points and 1.3 percentage points, respectively. L)When translated
43、into dollar terms according to the historical patterns, we see very different futures for the United States, depending on whether or not our schools are improved. If one calculates increases in national income from projections over an 80-year period(providing for a 20-year delay before any school re
44、form is completed and newly proficient students begin their working careers), the present value of gains amounts to some $75 trillion for reaching the performance levels of Canada. These additions can be compared with our current GDP of $15 trillion or the $1 trillion spent to stimulate the economy
45、out of recession. M)It is easy for political leaders to put off considerations of effective school reform. The economic benefits from reform would not be felt immediately, as it takes time for an educated generation to become a productive workforce. But just as the continuing debt crisis, if not fix
46、ed, will be out of control only over the longer term, so the best available solution to that crisis a fully unfrozen, high-functioning, constantly improving educational system could raise the level of human capital to the point where resources would be available to address much of this future debt c
47、risis. In the simplest terms, the approaching financial crises with Social Security and Medicare are most effectively dealt with by enhanced growth of the economy, growth that will not be achieved without a highly skilled workforce. 37 One school-board member in Loudoun County excused the low rankin
48、g of the US by saying that poor-performing children were not filtered out of high school. 38 Though President Obama was ambitious for the role of US in the world, the US educational system cannot adapt to the current global realities. 39 Skills rooted in math competencies are most needed to sustain
49、growth in economic productivity. 40 National Assessment of Educational Progress is an official test to evaluate performance of US students and to set the standard for “proficiency“. 41 If the math proficiency of the US students was enhanced, the countrys annual per capita GDP growth could enjoy a remarkable increase. 42 Massachusetts is the only state in the US with a majority of students above the proficiency mark. 43 The economic benefits from school reform are not immediate, because time is needed f
