1、大学英语六级（ 2013年 12月考试改革适用）模拟试卷 268及答案与解析 一、 Part I Writing 1 For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay entitled The Importance of Competition by commenting on the famous remark, “survival of the fittest.“ You should write at least 150 words but no more than 200 words. Write your essa
2、y on Answer Sheet 1. Section A （ A） They are held twice a year. （ B） They were first held in 1927. （ C） They are given for excellence in films. （ D） They are less desired than the Grammy Awards. （ A） By an anonymous ballot. （ B） By an open vote. （ C） By rigid rules. （ D） By their personal preference
3、. （ A） One of the academy members. （ B） Creator of the Oscar statue. （ C） An Oscar winner. （ D） A nominee for the Oscar award. （ A） She had great interest in the history of the Oscars. （ B） She searched the information from the Internet. （ C） She took a course in the history of film. （ D） She majore
4、d in motion pictures. （ A） Give suggestions for revision. （ B） Write one for her. （ C） Point out grammatical errors in it. （ D） Cut some unnecessary materials. （ A） Law. （ B） Music. （ C） Geology. （ D） Biology. （ A） Her well-prepared speech. （ B） Her motivation and interest. （ C） Her unique music bac
5、kground. （ D） Her good explanations. （ A） Look through her materials. （ B） Make preparation for the interview. （ C） Pay attention to the presentation. （ D） Add something to make herself stand out. Section B （ A） The impact of Halloween on children is underestimated. （ B） People used to celebrate new
6、 year at the end of October. （ C） Spirits come out when winter begins. （ D） Most parents and children are terrified by Halloween. （ A） To keep the ghosts happy. （ B） To avoid being recognized by ghosts. （ C） To let the spirits roam among the living. （ D） To form their own customs. （ A） They should b
7、e carefully avoided. （ B） They are just like the store-bought skeleton figures. （ C） They should be kept on reminding all the time. （ D） They can be introduced to kids during Halloween. （ A） It strikes every telephone indoors. （ B） It is a very dangerous force. （ C） It kills millions of Americans ea
8、ch year. （ D） It strikes the plumbers. （ A） Staying in bed. （ B） Staying off the telephone. （ C） Switching off the lights. （ D） Taking a shower. （ A） The materials for indoor plumbing have been improved. （ B） The houses recently built are much more solid. （ C） People wont go anywhere when lightning.
9、 （ D） People will stay away from plumbing. （ A） Call somebody for help. （ B） Stay away from your house. （ C） Recharge your cell phone. （ D） Turn off the appliances and electronics. Section C （ A） They are now seen as the exclusive possession of the computer geeks. （ B） They used to be a way of keepi
10、ng an online diary known by many people. （ C） They are regarded as an important way for people to get news and ideas. （ D） They can be seen everywhere now and people are very crazy about them. （ A） Blogs usually include more text and pictures. （ B） Blogs include the space for people to write feedbac
11、ks. （ C） Internet sites normally have no more than one page. （ D） Internet sites enable people to respond to what you write. （ A） The world of blog writers and blog readers. （ B） The blogs that are read by so many people. （ C） The atmosphere created by the blog writers. （ D） The atmosphere created b
12、y the blog readers. （ A） They may become an invincible power to influence people. （ B） They may not be as influential as the traditional mass media. （ C） They may determine the result of the US presidential election. （ D） They may change peoples attitudes towards democracy. （ A） Denim jeans. （ B） In
13、formal jeans. （ C） Jeans with zippers. （ D） Blue jeans. （ A） Because they were considered informal and casual. （ B） Because they became a symbol of youth rebellion. （ C） Because they had the zipper down the front. （ D） Because they were not a wardrobe staple at the time. （ A） They were with the bib.
14、 （ B） They were quite loose. （ C） They showed the body. （ D） They were stone-washed. （ A） Return the bikes back to the same pick-up point. （ B） Use the bike for a short or long trip. （ C） Swipe their ordinary travel cards or citizen cards again. （ D） Give it a pay when using the bike for over 30 min
15、utes. （ A） Raise the bike riders awareness of safety. （ B） Revise all the transportation laws in Seoul. （ C） Provide free insurance for the bike riders. （ D） Expand the length of the bike-only roads. （ A） Improved air condition and better health. （ B） Reduced traffic costs and the greater fitness. （
16、 C） Less infrastructure demands and construction. （ D） More friendly communities and environment. Section A 26 The local education authority compiled a list of “potential security problems“ on campus last week. They include fire accidents, traffic accidents, crime, bombing, stealing, social communic
17、ation problems and【 C1】 _. “Though the ivory tower shuts out some dangers from the outside world, it is not a paradise【 C2】 _to crimes and accidents. School-safety has been in focus,“ said an official of the local Education Committee. In the first six months of this year, 25 students were victims of
18、【 C3】 _accidents or crimes and 10 students committed suicide. While numbers remain low, how can campuses be made safer places to live in? Making safety education compulsory is the governments answer. University students will soon receive compulsory classes. In the lessons, they will learn how to pro
19、tect themselves by looking at real【 C4】 _on campus. For example, girls will learn when and where sexual harassment(骚扰 )is most【 C5】_to happen. They will also get【 C6】 _on how to protect themselves, like not wearing mini skirts in crowded public places. Students should not only be aware of the danger
20、s from the outside, but also those self-inflicted. Even though it【 C7】 _last in the list, it doesnt mean suicide is the least serious. The newspaper【 C8】 _a growing number of suicide attempts on September 15. Between May and July, three university students killed themselves by jumping from buildings
21、. One girl left a note saying that she was “sick of life and【 C9】 _.“ In the safety course, students are given tips on how to cope with pressure. They are also encouraged to go to the school psychologists if they feel depressed. They will learn what to do if their classmates behave【 C10】 _because of
22、 depression. A)comes E)normally I)tips M)fatal B)immune F)abnormally J)headlines N)escalates C)perpetual G)reflected K)likely O)suicides D)depressed H)reported L)cases 27 【 C1】 28 【 C2】 29 【 C3】 30 【 C4】 31 【 C5】 32 【 C6】 33 【 C7】 34 【 C8】 35 【 C9】 36 【 C10】 Section B 36 The Beauty Advantage AMost o
23、f us have heard the story of Debrahlee Lorenzana, the 33-year-old Queens, N.Y., woman who sued Citibank last month, claiming that she was fired from her desk job for being “too hot.“ But for all the talk about this womans motives and whether or not she was indeed fired for her looks theres one quest
24、ion nobody seems to want to ask: isnt it possible Lorenzanas looks got her the job in the first place? BNot all employers are that shallow but its no secret we are a culture consumed by image. Economists have long recognized whats been dubbed the “beauty premium“ the idea that pretty people, whateve
25、r their aspirations, tend to do better in, well, almost everything. Handsome men earn, on average, 5 percent more than their less-attractive counterparts(good-looking women earn 4 percent more): pretty people get more attention from teachers, bosses, and mentors: even babies stare longer at good-loo
26、king faces(and we stare longer at good-looking babies). CA couple of decades ago, when the economy was thriving, we might have brushed off those statistics as superficial. But now, theres a growing bundle of research to show that our bias against the unattractive our “beauty bias,“ is more pervasive
27、 than ever. And when it comes to the workplace, its looks, not merit, that all too often rule. DConsider the following: over his career, a good-looking man will make some $250,000 more than his least-attractive counterpart, according to economist Daniel Hamermesh: 13 percent of women, according to t
28、he American Society of Plastic Surgeons, say theyd consider cosmetic surgery if it made them more competitive at work. Both points are disturbing, certainly. But in the current economy, when employers have more hiring options than ever, looks, it seems, arent just important: theyre critical. Newswee
29、k surveyed 202 corporate hiring managers, from human-resources staff to senior-level vice presidents, as well as 964 members of the public, only to confirm what no qualified(or unqualified)employee wants to admit: from hiring to office politics to promotions, even, looking good is no longer somethin
30、g we can dismiss as unimportant or vain. EFifty-seven percent of hiring managers told Newsweek that qualified but unattractive candidates are likely to have a harder time landing a job, while more than half advised spending as much time and money on “making sure they look attractive“ as on perfectin
31、g a resume. When it comes to women: 61 percent of managers said it would be an advantage for a woman to wear clothing showing off her figure at work. Asked to rank employee attributes in order of importance, meanwhile, managers placed looks above education: of nine character traits, it came in third
32、, below experience and confidence but above “where a candidate went to school“. FDoes that mean you should drop out of Harvard and invest in a nose job? Probably not. But a state school might be just as marketable. “This is the new reality of the job market,“ says one New York recruiter, who asked t
33、o have her name withheld because she advises job candidates for a living. “Its better to be average and good-looking than brilliant and unattractive.“ GBeauty is linked to confidence: and its a combination of looks and confidence that we often equate with smarts. Perhaps theres some evidence to that
34、: if handsome kids get more attention from teachers, then, sure, maybe they do better in school and, ultimately, at work. But the more likely plot is what scientists dub the “halo(光圈，光晕 )effect“that, like a pack of untrained puppies, we are captivated by beauty, blindly ascribing intelligent traits
35、to go along with it. HThere are various forces to blame for much of this, from an economy that allows pickiness to a plastic-surgery industry that encourages superficial notions of beauty. In reality, its a meeting point of cultural forces that has left us clutching, desperately, to an ever-evolving
36、 beauty ideal. Todays young workers were reared on the kind of reality TV and pop culture that screams, again and again, that everything is a candidate for upgrade. Weve watched bodies transformed on Extreme Makeover, faces taken apart and pieced back together on I Want a Famous Face. We compare our
37、selves with the airbrushed images in advertisements and magazines, and read surveys that confirm our worst fears. We are a culture more sexualized than ever, with technology thats made it easier than ever to “better“ ourselves, warping our standards for whats normal. Plastic surgery used to be for t
38、he rich and famous: today weve leveled the playing field with cheap stupid jobs, and outpatient procedures you can get on your lunch break. Where that leads us is running to stand still: taught that good looks are no longer a gift but a ceaseless pursuit. IDeborah Rhode, a Stanford law professor and
39、 author of The Beauty Bias, is herself an interesting case study. During her term as chair of the American Bar Associations commission on working women, she was struck by how often the nations most powerful females were stranded in cab lines and late for meetings because, in heels, walking any dista
40、nce was out of the question. These were working, powerful, leading women, she writes. Why did they insist on wearing heels? Sure, some women just like heels. JBut there is also the reality that however hard men have it and, from an economic perspective, their “beauty premium“ is higher, say economis
41、ts women will always face a double bind, expected to conform to the beauty standards of the day, yet simultaneously condemned for doing so. Recruiters may think women like Lorenzana can get ahead for showing off their looks, but 47 percent also believe its possible for a woman to be penalized for be
42、ing “too good-looking.“ Whether or not any of it pays off, theres something terribly wrong when 6-year-olds are using makeup, while their mothers spend the equivalent of a college education just keeping their faces intact. “All of this is happening against a background of more women in the workplace
43、, in all kinds of jobs, striving toward wage equality,“ says Harvard psychologist Nancy Etcoff. “So were surprised but we shouldnt be how this beauty curse continues to haunt us.“ KTo add an extra layer of complexity, theres the puzzling problem of aging in a culture where younger workers are more s
44、killful, cheaper, and, well, nicer on the eyes. Eighty-four percent of managers told Newsweek they believe a qualified but visibly older candidate would make some employers hesitate, and while ageism affects men, too, its particularly tough for women. As Rhode puts it, silver hair and wrinkled brows
45、 may make aging men look “distinguished,“ but aging women risk marginalization or scorn for their efforts to pass as young. “This double standard,“ Rhode writes, “leaves women not only perpetually worried about their appearance-but also worried about worrying.“ LThe quest for beauty may be a centuri
46、es old charm, but in the present day the reality is ugly. Beauty has more influence than ever not just over who we work with, but whether we work at all. 37 The idea of beauty premium is the beauty inclines to be better. 38 As the halo effect goes, we often mistakenly equate beauty with intelligence
47、. 39 Last month, a bank was sued by one of its former employees for unfair dismissal. 40 According to an economist, the good-looking advantage can make people earn more. 41 With the thriving of the plastic surgery, the pursuit of good looks becomes a ceaseless process. 42 As to land a job, more than
48、 half of hiring managers suggest spending time beautifying ones looks. 43 Managers consider experience as the most important attribute of an employee. 44 A law professor found that the nations most powerful females were often late for meetings because of wearing high heels. 45 Employers seem unwilli
49、ng to hire qualified but visibly older candidates. 46 People think women should try to conform to the beauty standards but meanwhile blame them for doing so. Section C 46 Amazon. coms recent announcement that sales of e-books at the online megastore had overtaken sales of hardcover books came as no surprise. It had to happen sometime. But the news did evoke quite an interesting mental image: libraries that from now on will look smaller and less crowded.
