2013年6月15日雅思阅读考试真题
2013年6月CET6真题(第二套)快速阅读+听力原文+阅读理解-精选.pdf
2013年6月CET6 真题（第二套）快速阅读+听力原文+阅读理解Part IA smile is the shortest distance between two peoplePart II Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning) (15 minutes)Welcome,Freshmen. Have an iPod.Taking a step that many professors may view as a bit counterproductive, some colleges and universities are doling out Apple iPhones and Internet-capable iPods to their students.The always-on Internet devices raise some novel possibilities, like tracking where students gather together. With far less controversy, colleges could send messages about canceled classes, delayed buses, campus crises or just the cafeteria menu.While schools emphasize its usefulness —online research in class and instant polling of students, for example — a big part of the attraction is, undoubtedly, that the iPhone is cool and a hit with students. Being equipped with one of the most recent cutting-edge IT products could just help a college or university foster a cutting-edge reputation.Apple stands to win as well, hooking more young consumers with decades of technology pur-chases ahead of them. The lone losers, some fear, could be professors.Students already have laptops and cell phones, of course, but the newest devices can take class distractions to a new level. They practically beg a user to ignore the long-suffering professor strug-gling to pass on accumulated wisdom from the front of the room — a prospect that teachers find most irritating and students view as, well, inevitable.“When it gets a little boring, I might pull it out,” acknowledged Naomi Pugh, a first-year student at Freed-Hardeman University in Henderson, Term., referring to her new iPod Touch, which can connect to the Internet over a campus wireless network. She speculated that professors might try even harder to make classes interesting if they were to compete with the devices.Experts see a movement toward the use of mobile technology in education, though they say it isin its infancy as professors try to come up with useful applications. Providing powerful hand-held devices is sure to fuel debates over the role of technology in higher education.-director of re-search “We think this is the way the future is going to work,” said Kyle Dickson, co and the mobile learning initiative at Abilene Christian University in Texas, which has bought more than 600 iPhones and 300 iPods for students entering this fall.Although plenty of students take their laptops to class, they don’t take them everywhere and would prefer something lighter. Abilene Christian settled on the devices after surveying students and finding that they did not like hauling around their laptops, but that most of them always carried a cell phone, Dr. Dickson said.It is not clear how many colleges and universities plan to give out iPhones and iPods this fall; officials at Apple were unwilling to talk about the subject and said that they would not leak any institution’s plans.“We can’t announce other people’s news,”said Greg Joswiak, vice president of iPod and iPhone marketing at Apple. He also said that he could not discuss discounts to universities for bulkpurchases.At least four institutions — the University of Maryland, Oklahoma Christian University, AbileneChristian and Freed-Hardeman — have announced that they will give the devices to some or allof their students this fall.Other universities are exploring their options. Stanford University has hired a student-runcom-pany to design applications like a campus map and directory for the iPhone. It is consideringwhether to issue iPhones but not sure it, snecessary, noting that more than 700 iPhones wereregistered on the university’s network last year.At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, iPhones might already have been everywhere, ifAT&T, the wireless carrier offering the iPhone in the United States, had a more reliable network,said Andrew Yu, mobile devices platform project manager at M.I.T.“We would have probably gone ahead with this, maybe just getting a thousand iPhones and givingthem out,” Mr. Yusaid.The University of Maryland at College Park is proceeding cautiously, giving the iPhone or iPodTouch to 150 students, said Jeffrey Huskamp, vice president and chief information officer at theuniversity. “We don’t think that we have all the answers,” Mr. Huskamp said. By observing how students use the gadgets, he said, “We’re trying to get answers from the students.”At each college, the students who choose to get an iPhone must pay for mobile phone service.Those service contracts include unlimited data use. Both the iPhones and the iPod Touch devicescan connect to the Internet through campus wireless networks. With the iPhone, those networksmay provide faster connections and longer battery life than AT&T’s d ata network. Many cellphones allow users to surf the Web, but only some newer ones are capable of wireless connectionto the local area computer network.University officials say that they have no plans to track their students (and Apple said it would notbe possible unless students give their permission). They say that they are drawn to the prospect oflearning applications outside the classroom, though such lesson plans have yet to surface.“My c olleagues and I are studying something called augmented reality (a field of computerresearch dealing with the combination of real-world a nd virtual reality),” said Christopher Dede,professor in learning technologies at Harvard University. “Alien Contact,” for example, is anexer-cise developed for middle-school students who use hand-held devices that can determinetheir location. As they walk around a playground or other area, text, video or audio pops up atvarious points to help them try to figure out why aliens were in the schoolyard.“You can imagine similar kinds of interactive activities along historical lines,” like folloimportant that we do research, so that weFreedom Trail in Boston, Professor Dede said. “It’sknow how well something like this works.”The rush to distribute the devices worries some professors, who say that students are less likely tonot someone who’s anti-technology, but I,mparticipate in class if they are multi-tasking. “I’malways worried that technology becomes an end in and of itself, and it replaces teaching or itsaid Ellen Millender, associate professor of classics at Reed Coll ege inreplaces analysis,,’ Portland, Ore. (She added that she hoped to buy an iPhone for herself once prices fall.)Robert Summers, who has taught at Cornell Law School for about 40 years, announced this week— in a detailed, footnoted memorandum —that he would ban laptop computers from his class oncontract law.“I would ban that too if I knew the students were using it in class,” Professor Summers said iPhone, after the device and its capabilities were explained to him. “What we want to encour-in these students is an active intellectual experience, in which they develop the wide range ofcomplex reasoning abilities required of good lawyers.”The experience at Duke University may ease some concerns. A few years ago, Duke began givingiPods to students with the idea that they might use them to record lectures (these older modelscould not access the Internet).“We had assumed that the biggest focus of these devices would be consuming the content,”Tracy Futhey, vice president for information technology and chief information officer at Duke.But that is not all that the students did. They began using the iPods to create their ownmaking audio recordings of themselves and presenting them. The students turned what could havebeen a passive interaction into an active one, Ms. Futhey said.1. Many professors think that giving out Apple iPhones or Internet-capable iPods to studentsA) updates teaching facilities in universitiesB) has started a revolution in higher educationC) can facilitate teacher-student interactionD) may not benefit education as intended2. In the author’s view, being equipped with IT products may help colleges and universitiesA) build an innovative imageB) raise their teaching efficiencyC) track students’ activitiesD) excite student interest in hi-tech3. The distribution of iPhones among students has raised concerns that they will_________ .A) induce students to buy more similar productsB) increase tension between professors and studentsC) further distract students from class participationD) prevent students from accumulating knowledge4. Naomi Pugh at Freed-Hardeman University speculated that professors would_________ .A) find new applications for iPod Touch devicesB) have to work harder to enliven their classesC) have difficulty learning to handle the devicesD) find iPhones and iPods in class very helpful5. Experts like Dr. Kyle Dickson at Abilene Christian University think that________ .A) mobile technology will be more widely used in educationB) the role of technology in education cannot be overestimated-kitC) mobile technology can upgrade professors’ teaching toolD) iPhones and iPods will replace laptops sooner or later6. What do we learn about the University of Maryland at College Park concerning the use of iPhones and iPods?A) It has sought professors’ opinions.B) It has benefited from their use.C) It is trying to follow the trend.D) It is proceeding with caution.7. University officials claim that they dole out iPhones and iPods so as to_________ .A) encourage professors to design newer lesson plansB) help improve professor-student relationshipsC) facilitate students’ learning outside of classD) stimulate students’ interest in updating technology8. Ellen Millender at Reed College in Portland is concerned that technology will take the placeof_____.9.Professor Robert Summers at Cornell Law School banned laptop computers from his class because he thinks qualified lawyers need to possess a broad array of_____.10.The experience at Duke University may ease some concerns because the students have used iPods for active_____.【参考答案】：1. D. may not benefit education as intended2. A. build an innovative image3. C. further distract students from class participation4. B. have to work harder to enliven their classes5. A. mobile technology will be more widely used in education6. D. It is proceeding with caution.7. C. facilitate students’ learning outside of class8. teaching or analysis9. complex reasoning abilities required of good lawyers10. InteractionPart III Listening ComprehensionSection A 短对话11.W: What's wrong with your phone, Gary? I tried to call you all night yesterday.M: I'm sorry. No one's able to get through yesterday. My telephone was disconnected by the phone company.Q: What does the woman ask the man about?12.W: I finally found a really nice apartment that's within my price range.M: Congratulations! Affordable housing is rare in this city. I've been looking for a suitable place since I got here six months ago.Q: What does the man mean?13.M: I got this in my mailbox today, but I don't know what it is. Do you have any idea?W: Oh, that's your number for the new photocopier. It acquires an access code. Everyone got one. Q: What do we learn from the conversation?14.W: Jane told me that you'll be leaving at soon. Is it true?M: Yeah, my wife's maternity leave is close to an end. And since she wants to go back to work,I've decided to take a year off to raise the baby.Q: What does the man mean?15M: We'll never find a parking space here. What about dropping you at thesouth gate and I'll find parking somewhere else.W: Well, OK. It looks like everyone in town came to the mall today.Q: What does the woman mean?16W: When will the computers be back online?M: Probably not until tomorrow. The problem is more complicated than I thought.Q: What does the man mean?17M: Did you catch Professor Smith on TV last night?W: I almost missed it, but my mother just happened to be watching at home and gave me a call. Q: What does the woman imply?18M: May I get this prescription refilled?W: I'm sorry, sir, but we can't give you a refill on that. You'll have to get a new prescription.Q: What can we infer from the conversation?Conversation OneW: Well, it’s the South Theater Company. They want to know if we’d be interested in sponsoring a tour they want to make to East Asia.M: East Asia? uhh… and how much are they hoping to get from us?W: Well, the letter mentions 20,000 pounds, but I don’t know if they might settle for us.M: Do they say what they would cover? Have they anything specific in mind?W: No, I think they are just asking all the firms in tongue for as much money as they think theygive.M: And we are worth 20, 000 pounds, right?W: It seems so.M: Very flattering. But I am not awfully happy with the idea. What we get out of it?W: Oh, good publicity I suppose. So what I suggest is not that we just give them a sum of money,but that we offer to pay for something specific like travel or something, and that in return, we askfor our name to be printed prominently in the program, and that they give us free advertisingspace in it.M: But the travel bill would be enormous, and we could never manage that.W: I know. But why don’t we offer to pay for the printing of the programs ourselves on conditionthat on the front cover there's something like This program is presented with the compliments ofNorland Electronics, and free advertising of course.ack to them and ask what the program they want will cost. Then weM: Good idea. Well, let’s get bcan see if we are interested or not.Questions 19-21 are based on the conversation you have just heard.19. What do we learn about the South Theater Company?20. What benefit does the woman say their firm can get by sponsoring the Theater Company?21. What does the woman suggest they do instead of paying the South Theater Company’s trave expenses?Conversation TwoW: Rock stars now face a new hazard --- voice abuse. After last week's announcement that PhilCollins might give up touring because live concerts are ruining his voice, doctors are counselingstars about the dos and don'ts of voice care. Here in the studio today, we have Mr. Paul Phillips, anexpert from the High Field Hospital. Paul, what advice would you give to singers facing voiceproblems?M: If pop singers have got voice problems, they really need to be more selective about where theywork. They shouldn't work in smoky atmospheres. They also need to think about resting theirvoices after a show. Something else they need to be careful about is medicines. Aspirin, forexample, singers should avoid aspirin. It thins the blood. And if a singer coughs, this can result inthe bruising of the vocal cords.W: And is it true that some singers use drugs before concerts to boost their voices when they have voice problems?M: Yes, this does happen on occasion. They are easily-available on the continent and they are useful if a singer has problems with his vocal cords and has to sing that night. But if they are taken regularly, they cause a thinning of the voice muscle. Most pop singers suffer from three things: lack of training, overuse and abuse of the voice, especially when they are young. They have difficult lives. When they go on tour, they do a vast number of concerts, singing in smoky places.W: So, what would you advise the singers to do?M: Warm you voice up before a show and warm it down after.Questions 22-25 are based on the conversation you have just heard.22. What does last week's announcement say about rock star, Phil Collins?23. What does Paul Philips say about aspirin?24. What does Paul Philips say about young pop singers?25. What are the speakers mainly talking about?Passage 1Would you trust a robot to park your car? The question will confront New Yorkers in February asthe city's first robotic parking opens in Chinatown.The technology has been successfully applied overseas, but the only other public robotic garage in the United States has been troublesome, dropping vehicles and trapping cars because of technical problems.Nonetheless, the developers of the Chinatown garage are confident with the technology and are counting on it to squeeze 67 cars in an apartment-building basement that would otherwise fit only 24, accomplished by removing a maneuver space normally required.A human-shaped robot won't be stepping into your car to drive it. Rather, the garage itself does the parking. The driver stops the car on a flat platform and gets out. The platform is lowered into the garage, and it is then transported to a vacant parking space by a computer-controlled device similar to an elevator that also runs sideways.There is no human supervision, but an attendant will be on hand to accept cash and explain the system to newly users. Parking rates will be attracted about $400 monthly or $25 per day, according to Ari Milstein, the director of planning for Automation Parking Systems, which is theU.S. subsidiary of a German company. This company has built automated garages in several countries overseas and in the United States for residents of a Washington, D.C. apartment building.Questions 26 to 29 are based on the passage you have just heard.26. What do we learn about the robot parking in the U.S. so far?27. What advantage does robotic parking have according to the developers?28. What does the attendant do in the automated garage?29. What does the company say about the parking rate?Passage 2A recent study shows that meat consumption is one of the main ways that human can damage the environment, second only to the use of motor vehicles. So how can eating meat have a negative effect on the environment? For a start, all animals, such as cows, pigs and sheep, always gas limed methane, which is the second most common green house gas after carbon dioxide. Many environmental experts now believe that methane is more responsible for global warming than carbon dioxide. It is estimated that 25% of all methane that released into the atmosphere comingfrom farm animals. Another way in which meat production affects the environment is through theuse of water and land. 2,500 gallons of water are needed to produce one pound of beef. While 20 gallons of water are need to produce one pound of wheat. One acre of farmland use to for raising cows can produce 250 pounds of beef. One acre of farmland use to for crop production can produce 1,500 pounds of tomatoes. Many people now say the benefits of switching to vegetariandiet which excludes meat and fish. Not just for health reasons, but also because it plays a vital rolein protecting the environment. However, some nutritionists advise against switching to a totallystrict vegetarian diet. They believe such a diet which includes no products from animal sourcescan be deficient in many of the necessary vitamins and minerals our bodies need. Today many people have come to realize that help the environment and for the human race to survive, more ofus will need to become vegetarian.Questions 30 to 32 are based on the passage you've just heard.30. What does the recent study show?31. What do some nutritionists say about the strict vegetarian diet?32. What does the speaker think more people need to do?Passage 3Alcoholism is a serious disease. Nearly nine million Americans alone suffer from the illness. Many scientists disagree about what the differences are between the alcohol addict and social drinker. The difference occurs when someone needs to drink. And this need gets in the way of his health or behavior. Alcohol causes a loss of judgment and alertness. After a long period, alcoholism can deteriorate the liver, the brain and other parts of the body. The illness is dangerous, because it is involved in half of all automobile accidents. Another problem is that the victim often denies being an alcohol addic t and won’t get help. Solutions do exist. Many hospitals and centers help patients cope. Without the assistance, the victim can destroy his life. He would detach himself from the routines of life. He may lose his employment, home or loved ones.All the causes of the sickness are not discovered yet. There is no standard for a person with alcoholism. Victims range in age, race, sex and background. Some groups of people are morevulnerable to the illness. People from broken homes and North American Indians are two examples. People from broken homes often lack stable lives. Indians likewise had the traditionallife taken from them by white settlers who often encourage them to consume alcohol to prevent them from fighting back. The problem has now been passed on. Alcoholism is clearly present in society today. People have started to get help and information. With proper assistance, victims can put their lives together one day.Question 33 to 35 are based on the passage you have just heard.Q33. What is the problem of the victims about alcoholism according to the speaker?Q34. Why did white settlers introduce alcohol to Indians?Q35. What does the speaker seem to believe about those affected by alcoholism?复合式听写Self-image is the picture you have of yourself, the sort of person you believe you are. Included in your self-image are the categories in which you place yourself, the roles you play and other similar descriptors you use to identify yourself. If you tell an acquaintance you are a grandfather who recently lost his wife and who does volunteer work on weekends, several elements of yourself-image are bought to light — the roles of grandparent, widower and conscientious citizen.But self-image is more than how you picture yourself; it also involves how others see you. Three types of feedback from others are indicative of how they see us: conformation, rejection, and disconfirmation. Conformation occurs when others treat you in a manner consistent with who you believe you are.You believe you have leadership abilities and your boss put you in charge of a new work team. On the other hand, rejection occurs when others treat you in a manner that is inconsistent with yourself definition. Pierre Salinger was appointed senator from California but subsequently lost his first election. He thought he was a good public official, but the voters obviously thought otherwise— Their vote was inconsistent with his self-concept. The third type of feedback is disconfirmation, which occurs when others fail to respond to your notion of self by responding neutrally. A student writes what he thinks is an excellent composition, but the teacher writes no encouraging remarks. Rather than relying on how others classify you, consider how you identify yourself. The way in which you identify yourself is the best refection of yourself-image.Part IV Reading ComprehensionSection AQuestions 47 to 51 are based on the following passage.Oil is the substance that lubricates the world's economy. Because so many of our modern technologies and services depend on oil, nations, corporations, and institutions that control the trade in oil exercise extraordinary power. The “energy crisis” of 1973-1974 in the United States demonstrated how the price of oil can affect U.S. government policies and the energy-using habitsof the nation.By 1973, domestic U.S. sources of oil. were peaking, and the nation was importing more of its oil,depending on a constant flow from abroad to keep cars on the road and machines running. In addition, at that time a greater percentage of homes and electrical plants were run on petroleumthan today. Then, in 1973，the predominantly Arab nations of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) resolved to stop selling oil to the United States. The move was prompted by OPEC’s d esire to raise prices by restricting supply and by its opposition to U.S.support of Israel in the Arab-Israeli Yom Kippur War. The embargo (禁运) created panic in theWest and caused oil prices to shoot up. Short-term oil shortages drove American consumers towait in long lines at gas pumps.In response to the embargo, the U.S. government enforced a series of policies designed to reducereliance on foreign oil. These included developing additional domestic sources (such as those on North Slope), resuming extraction at sites that had been shut down because of costAlaska’sinefficiency, capping the price that domestic producers could charge for oil, and beginning toimport oil from a greater diversity of nations. The government also established a stockpile (贮存)of oil as a short-term buffer (缓冲) against future shortages. Stored underground in large saltcaves in Louisiana, this stockpile is called the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and currently containsover 600 million barrels of oil, roughly equivalent to one month’s supply.注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。
2013年6月15日英语四级（CET-4）真题及答案
Part II (15 minutes) 1、回答1-11题： Can Digital Textbook Truly Replace the Print Kind? The shortcomings of traditional print edition textbooks are obvious: Forstarters they're heavy, with the average physics textbook weighing 3.6 pounds.They're also expensive, especially when you factor in the average collegestudent's limited budget, typically costing hundreds of dollars every semester. But the worst part is that print version of textbooks are constantlyundergoing revisions. Many professors require that their students use only thelatest versions in the classroom, essentially rendering older texts unusable.For students, it means they're basically stuck with a four pound paper-weightthat they can't sell back. Which is why digital textbooks, if they live up to their promise, couldhelp ease many of these shortcomings. But till now, they've been something likea mirage (幻影) in the distance,more like a hazy (模糊的) dream thanan actual reality. Imagine the promise: Carrying all your textbooks in a 1.3pound iPad? It sounds almost too good to be true. But there are a few pilot schools already making the transition (过度) over to digital books. Universities like Cornell and Brown havejumped onboard. And one medical program at the University of California,Irvine, gave their entire class iPads with which to download textbooks justlast year. But not all were eager to jump aboard. "People were tired of using the iPad textbook besides using it forreading," says Kalpit Shah, who will be going into his second year atlrvine's medical program this fall. "They weren't using it as a source ofcommunication because they couldn't read or write in it. So a third of thepeople in my program were using the iPad in class to take notes, the otherthird were using laptops and the last third were using paper and pencil." The reason it hasn't caught on yet, he tells me, is that thefunctionality of e-edition textbooks is incredibly limited, and some studentsjust aren't motivated to learn new study behavior. But a new application called Inkling might change all that. The companyjust released an updated version last week, and it'll be utilized in over 50undergraduate and graduate classrooms this coming school year. Digital textbooks are not going to catch on," says Inkling CEO MattMaclnnis as he's giving me a demo (演⽰) over coffee. "What I mean by that is the current perspectiveof the digital textbook is it's an exact copy of the print book. There's CourseSmart, etc., these guys who take any image of the page and put it on a screen.If that's how we're defining digital textbooks, there's no hope of that becominga mainstream product." He calls Inkling a platform for publishers to build rich multimediacontent from the ground up, with a heavy emphasis on real-world functionality.The traditional textbook merely serves as a skeleton. At first glance Inkling is an impressive experience. After swiping (敲击) into the iPad app (软件), which youcan get for free here, he opens up a few different types of textbooks. Up first is a chemistry book. The boot time is pretty fast, and henavigates through (浏览) a fewchapters before swiping into a fully rendered 3D molecule that can be spunaround to view its various building blocks. "Publishers give us all of thesource media, artwork, videos," he says, "We help them think throughhow to actually build something for this platform." Next he pulls up a music composition textbook, complete with playabledemos. It's a learning experience that attacks you from multiple sensorydirections. It's clear why this would be something a music major would love. But the most exciting part about Inkling, to me, is its notation (批注) system. Here's how it works! When you purchase a used print book, it comes with its previous owner'shighlights and notes in the margins. It uses the experience of someone whoalready went through the class to help improve your reading (how much you trusteach notation is obviously up to you). But with lnkling, you can highlight a piece of content and make notes.Here's where things get interesting, though: If a particularly importantpassage is highlighted by multiple lnkling users, that infbrmation is stored onthe cloud and is available for anyone reading the same textbook to come across.Thai means users have access to notes from not only their classmates andFacebook friends, but anyone who purchased the book across the country. Thebest comments are then sorted democratically by a voting system, meaning thatyour social learning experience is shared with the best and brightest thinkers. As a bonus, professors can even chime in (插话) on discussions. They'll be able to answer the questions ofstudents who are in their class directly via the interactive book. Of course, Inkling addresses several of the other shortcomings intraditional print as well. Textbook versions are constanly updated, motivatingpublishers by minimizing production costs (the big ones like McGraw-Hill arealready onboard). Furthermore, students will be able to purchase sections ofthe text instead of buying the whole thing, with individual chapters costing aslittle as $2.99, There are, however, challenges. "It takes efforts to build each book," Maclnnis tells me. Andit's clear why, Each interactive textbook is a media-heavy experience built from theground up, and you can tell that it takes a respectable amount of manpower toput together each one. For now the app is also iPad-exclusive, and though a few of theseeducational institutions are giving the hardware away for free, for otherstudents who don't have such a luxury it's an added layer of cost ---and anexpensive one at that. But this much is clear. The traditional textbook model is and has beenbroken for quite some time. Whether digitally interactive ones like Inklingactually take off or not remains to be seen, and we probably won't have adefinite answer for the next few years. However the solution to any problem begins with a step in a direction.And at least for now, that hazy mirage in the distance? A little more tangible(可触摸的), a little less of a dream.The biggest problem with traditional print textbooks is that A．they are not reused once a new edition comes out B．they cost hundreds of dollars every semester C．they are too heavy to carry around D．they take a longer time to revise Part I Writing(30 minutes) 1、Directions：For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay. You should start your essay with a brief description of the picture and then express your views on the importance of doing small things before undertaking something big. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.Part II (15 minutes) 2、What does the author say about digital textbooks? A．It's not likely they will replace traditional textbooks. B．They haven't fixed all the shortcomings of print books. C．Very few of them are available in the market. D．Many people still have difficulty using them. Part I Writing(30 minutes) 2、 Directions：For this part, you are allowed 30minutes to write a short essay. You should start your essay with a brief description of the picture and then express your views on the importance of reading literature. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.Part II (15 minutes) 3、According to Kalpit Shah, some students still use paper and pencil because ________. A．they find it troublesome to take notes with an iPad B．they are unwilling to change their study behavior C．they have get tired of reading on the iPad D．they are not used to reading on the screen 4、Inkling CEO Matt Maclnnis explains that the problem with Course Smart's current digital textbooks is that ________. A．they have to be revised repeatedly B．they are inconvenient to use in class C．they are different from most mainstream products D．they are no more than print versions put on a screen 5、Matt Maclnnis describes the updated version of lnkling as ________. A．a good example of the mainstream products B．a marvelous product of many creative ideas C．a platform for building multimedia content D．a mere skeleton of traditional textbooks 6、The author is most excited about lnkling's notation system because one can________. A．share his learning experience with the best and brightest thinkers B．participate in discussions with classmates and Facebook friends C．vote for the best learners democratically D．store information on the cloud 7、One additional advantage of the interactive digital textbook is that ________. A．students can switch to different discussions at any point B．students can download relevant critical comments C．professors can join in students' online discussions D．professors can give prompt feedback to students' homework 8、One of the challenges to build an interactive digital textbook from the ground up is that is takes a great deal of ________. 9、One problem for students to replace traditional textbooks with interactive digital ones is the high of the hardware. 10、According to the author, whether digital textbooks will catch on still ________. Part Ⅲ Listening Comprehension：11-35 11、听录⾳，回答11-47题：点击播放A．Children should be taught to be more careful. B．Children shouldn't drink so much orange juice. C．There is no need for the man to make such a fuss. D．Timmy should learn to do things in the right way.12、 A．Fitness training． B．The new job offer. C．Computer programming． D．Directorship of the club.13、 A．He needs to buy a new sweater． B．He has got to save on fuel bills. C．The fuel price has skyrocketed． D．The heating system doesn't work.14、 A．Committing theft． B．Taking pictures. C．Window shopping, D．Posing for the camera.15、 A．She is taking some medicine． B．She has not seen a doctor yet. C．She does not trust the man's advice．D．She has almost recovered from the cough.16、 A．Pamela's report is not finished as scheduled． B．Pamela has a habit of doing things in a hurry. C．Pamela is not good at writing research papers． D．Pamela's mistakes could have been avoided.17、 A．In the left-luggage office． B．At the hotel reception. C．In a hotel room． D．At an airport.18、 A．She was an excellent student at college． B．She works in the entertainment business. C．She is fond of telling stories in her speech． D．She is good at conveying her message.19、Questions 19 to 21 are based on the conversation you have just heard. A．Arranging the woman's appointment with Mr. Romero. B．Fixing the time for the designer's latest fashion show. C．Talking about an important gathering on Tuesday. D．Preparing for the filming on Monday morning.20、 A．Her travel to Japan． B．The awards ceremony. C．The proper hairstyle for her new role． D．When to start the makeup session.21、 A．He is Mr. Romero's agent． B．He is an entertainment journalist. C．He is the woman's assistant． D．He is a famous movie star.22、Questions 22 to 25 are based on the conversation you have just heard. A．Make an appointment for an interview．B．Send in an application letter. C．Fill in an application form． D．Make a brief self-introduction on the phone.23、 A．Someone having a college degree in advertising. B．Someone experienced in business management. C．Someone ready to take on more responsibilities. D．Someone willing to work beyond regular hours.24、 A．Travel opportunities． B．Handsome pay. C．Prospects for promotion． D．Flexible working hours.25、 A．It depends on the working hours． B．It's about 500 pound a week. C．It will be set by the Human Resources．D．It is to be negotiated.26、Questions 26 to 29 are based on the passage you have just heard. A．To give customers a wider range of choices. B．To make shoppers see as many items as possible. C．To supply as many varieties of goods as it can. D．To give space for more profitable products.27、 A．On the top shelves, B．On the bottom shelves. C．On easily accessible shelves． D．On clearly marked shelves.28、 A．Many of them buy things on impulse． B．A few of them are fathers with babies. C．A majority of them are young couples, D．Over 60% of them make shopping lists.29、 A．Sales assistants promoting high margin goods. B．Sales assistants following customers around. C．Customers competing for good bargains, D．Customers losing all sense of time,30、Questions 30 to 32 are based on the passage you have just heard. A．Teaching mathematics at a school． B．Doing research in an institute. C．Studying for a college degree． D．Working in a high-tech company.31、 A．He studied the designs of various choices． B．He did experiments to different materials. C．He bought an alarm clock with a pig face． D．He asked different people for their opinions.32、 A．Its automatic mechanism． B．Its manufacturing pattern. C．Its way of waking people up． D．Its funny-looking pig face.33、Questions 33 to 35 are based on the passage you have just heard. A．It's often caused by a change of circumstances. B．It usually doesn't require any special attention. C．It usually appears all of a sudden． D．It usually lasts for several years.34、 A．They can't mix well with others, B．They emotionally receive their friends. C．They depend severely on family members． D．They share similar interests with friends.35、 A．They lack consistent support from peers． B．They doubt their own popularity. C．They were born psychologically weak． D．They focus too much attention on themselves.。
2013年6月英语六级真题阅读第一套
2013年6月第一套Part IIA Nation That's Losing Its ToolboxThe scene inside the Home Depot on Weyman Avenue here would give the old-time American craftsman pause.In Aisle 34 is precut plastic flooring, the glue already in place. In Aisle 26 are prefabricated windows. Stacked near the checkout counters, and as colorful as aFisher-Price toy, is a not-so-serious-looking power tool: a battery-operated saw-and-drill combination. And if you don't want to do it yourself, head to Aisle 23 or Aisle 35, where a help desk will arrange for an installer.It's all very handy stuff, I guess, a convenient way to be a do-it-yourselfer without being all that good with tools. But at a time when the American factory seems to be a shrinking presence, and when good manufacturing jobs have vanished, perhaps never to return, there is something deeply troubling about this dilution of American craftsmanship.This isn't a lament (伤感) - or not merely a lament - for bygone times. It's a social and cultural issue, as well as an economic one. The Home Depot approach to craftsmanship -simplify it, dumb it down, hire a contractor - is one signal that mastering tools and working with one's hands is receding in America as a hobby, as a valued skill, as a cultural influence that shaped thinking and behavior in vast sections of the country. That should be a matter of concern in a presidential election year. Yet neither Barack Obama nor Mitt Romney promotes himself as tool-savvy (使用工具很在行的) presidential timber, in the mold of a Jimmy Carter, a skilled carpenter and cabinet maker.The Obama administration does worry publicly about manufacturing, a first cousin of craftsmanship. When the Ford Motor Company, for example, recently announced thatit was bringing some production home, the White House cheered. "When you see things like Ford moving new production from Mexico to Detroit, instead of the otherway around, you know things are changing," says Gene Sperling, director of the National Economic Council.Ask the administration or the Republicans or most academics why America needsmore manufacturing, and they respond that manufacturing gives birth to innovation, brings down the trade deficit, strengthens the dollar, generates jobs, arms the military and brings about a recovery from recession. But rarely, if ever, do they publicly takethe argument a step further, asserting that a growing manufacturing sector encourages craftsmanship and that craftsmanship is, if not a birthright, then a vital ingredient of the American self-image as a can-do, inventive, we-can-make-anything people. Traditional vocational training in public high schools is gradually declining, stranding thousands of young people who seek training for a craft without going to college. Colleges, for their part, have since 1985 graduated fewer chemical, mechanical, industrial and metallurgical (冶金的) engineers, partly in response to the reduced roleof manufacturing, a big employer of them.The decline started in the 1950s, when manufacturing generated a sturdy 28% of the national income, or gross domestic product, and employed one-third of the workforce.Today, factory output generates just 12% of G.D.P. and employs barely 9% of the nation's workers.Mass layoffs and plant closings have drawn plenty of headlines and public debate over the years, and they still occasionally do. But the damage to skill and craftsmanship- that's needed to build a complex airliner or a tractor, or for a worker to move up from assembler to machinist to supervisor - went largely unnoticed."In an earlier generation, we lost our connection to the land, and now we are losing our connection to the machinery we depend on," says Michael Hout, a sociologist at the University of California, Berkeley. "People who work with their hands," he went on, "are doing things today that we call service jobs, in restaurants and laundries, or in medical technology and the like."That's one explanation for the decline in traditional craftsmanship. Lack of interest is another. The big money is in fields like finance. Starting in the 1980s, skill in finance grew in importance, and, as depicted in the news media and the movies, became a more appealing source of income.By last year, Wall Street traders, bankers and those who deal in real estate generated 21% of the national income, double their share in the 1950s. And Warren Buffett, the good-natured financier, became a homespun folk hero, without the tools and overalls (工作服)."Young people grow up without developing the skills to fix things around the house," says Richard Curtin, director of the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers. "They know about computers, of course, but they don't know how to build them."Manufacturing's shrinking presence undoubtedly helps explain the decline in craftsmanship, if only because many of the nation's assembly line workers were skilled in craft work, if not on the job then in their spare time. In a late 1990s study of blue-collar employees at a General Motors plant (now closed) in Linden, N. J., the sociologist Ruth Milkman of City University of New York found that many line workers, in their off-hours, did home renovation and other skilled work."I have often thought," Ms. Milkman says, "that these extracurricular jobs were an effort on the part of the workers to regain their dignity after suffering the degradation of repetitive assembly line work in the factory."Craft work has higher status in nations like Germany, which invests in apprenticeship (学徒) programs for high school students. "Corporations in Germany realized that there was an interest to be served economically and patriotically in building up a skilled labor force at home; we never had that ethos (风气)," says Richard Sennett, a New York University sociologist who has written about the connection of craft and culture.The damage to American craftsmanship seems to parallel the steep slide in manufacturing employment. Though the decline started in the 1970s, it became much steeper beginning in 2000. Since then, some 5.3 million jobs, or one-third of the workforce in manufacturing, have been lost. A stated goal of the Obama administrationis to restore a big chunk of this employment, along with the multitude of skills that many of the jobs required.As for craftsmanship itself, the issue is how to preserve it as a valued skill in the general population. Ms. Milkman, the sociologist, argues that American craftsmanship isn't disappearing as quickly as some would argue - that it has instead shifted to immigrants. "Pride in craft, it is alive in the immigrant world," she says.Sol Axelrod, 37, the manager of the Home Depot here, fittingly learned to fix his own car as a teenager, even changing the brakes. Now he finds immigrant craftsmen gathered in abundance outside his store in the early morning, waiting for it to open so they can buy supplies for the day's work as contractors. Skilled day laborers, also mostly immigrants, wait quietly in hopes of being hired by the contractors.Mr. Axelrod also says the recession and persistently high unemployment have forced many people to try to save money by doing more themselves, and Home Depot in response offers classes in fixing water taps and other simple repairs. The teachers are store employees, many of them older and semi-retired from a skilled trade, or laid off. "Our customers may not be building cabinets or outdoor decks; we try to do that for them," Mr. Axelrod says, "but some are trying to build up skill so they can do more for themselves in these hard times."注意：此部分试题请在答题卡1上作答。
2013年6月CET6 真题(第二套) 快速阅读+听力原文+阅读理解
2013年6月CET6 真题（第二套）快速阅读+听力原文+阅读理解Part IA smile is the shortest distance between two peoplePart II Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning) (15 minutes)Welcome,Freshmen. Have an iPod.Taking a step that many professors may view as a bit counterproductive, some colleges and universities are doling out Apple iPhones and Internet-capable iPods to their students.The always-on Internet devices raise some novel possibilities, like tracking where students gather together. With far less controversy, colleges could send messages about canceled classes, delayed buses, campus crises or just the cafeteria menu.While schools emphasize its usefulness —online research in class and instant polling of students, for example — a big part of the attraction is, undoubtedly, that the iPhone is cool and a hit with students. Being equipped with one of the most recent cutting-edge IT products could just help a college or university foster a cutting-edge reputation.Apple stands to win as well, hooking more young consumers with decades of technology pur-chases ahead of them. The lone losers, some fear, could be professors.Students already have laptops and cell phones, of course, but the newest devices can take class distractions to a new level. They practically beg a user to ignore the long-suffering professor strug-gling to pass on accumulated wisdom from the front of the room — a prospect that teachers find most irritating and students view as, well, inevitable.“When it gets a little boring, I might pull it out,” acknowle dged Naomi Pugh, a first-year student at Freed-Hardeman University in Henderson, Term., referring to her new iPod Touch, which can connect to the Internet over a campus wireless network. She speculated that professors might try even harder to make classes interesting if they were to compete with the devices.Experts see a movement toward the use of mobile technology in education, though they say it is in its infancy as professors try to come up with useful applications. Providing powerful hand-held devices is sure to fuel debates over the role of technology in higher education.“We think this is the way the future is going to work,” said Kyle Dickson, co-director of re-search and the mobile learning initiative at Abilene Christian University in Texas, which has bought more than 600 iPhones and 300 iPods for students entering this fall.Although plenty of students take their laptops to class, they don’t take them everywhere and would prefer something lighter. Abilene Christian settled on the devices after surveying students and finding that they did not like hauling around their laptops, but that most of them always carried a cell phone, Dr. Dickson said.It is not clear how many colleges and universities plan to give out iPhones and iPods this fall; officials at Apple were unwilling to talk about the subject and said that they would not leak any institution’s plans.“We can’t announce other people’s news,”said Greg Joswiak, vice president of iPod and iPhone marketing at Apple. He also said that he could not discuss discounts to universities for bulk purchases.At least four institutions — the University of Maryland, Oklahoma Christian University, Abilene Christian and Freed-Hardeman — have announced that they will give the devices to some or all of their students this fall.Other universities are exploring their options. Stanford University has hired a student-run com-pany to design applications like a campus map and directory for the iPhone. It is considering whether to issue iPhones but not sure it, snecessary, noting that more than 700 iPhones were registered on the university’s network last year.At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, iPhones might already have been everywhere, if AT&T, the wireless carrier offering the iPhone in the United States, had a more reliable network, said Andrew Yu, mobile devices platform project manager at M.I.T.“We would have probably gone ahead with this, maybe just getting a thousand iPhones and giving them out,” Mr. Yusaid.The University of Maryland at College Park is proceeding cautiously, giving the iPhone or iPod Touch to 150 students, said Jeffrey Huskamp, vice president and chief information officer at the university. “We don’t think that we have all the answers,” Mr. Huskamp said. By observing how st udents use the gadgets, he said, “We’re trying to get answers from the students.”At each college, the students who choose to get an iPhone must pay for mobile phone service. Those service contracts include unlimited data use. Both the iPhones and the iPod Touch devices can connect to the Internet through campus wireless networks. With the iPhone, those networks may provide faster connections and longer battery life than A T&T’s data network. Many cell phones allow users to surf the Web, but only some newer ones are capable of wireless connection to the local area computer network.University officials say that they have no plans to track their students (and Apple said it would not be possible unless students give their permission). They say that they are drawn to the prospect of learning applications outside the classroom, though such lesson plans have yet to surface.“My colleagues and I are studying something called augmented reality (a field of computer research dealing with the combination of real-world a nd virtual reality),” said Christopher Dede, professor in learning technologies at Harvard University. “Alien Contact,” for example, is an exer-cise developed for middle-school students who use hand-held devices that can determine their location. As they walk around a playground or other area, text, video or audio pops up at various points to help them try to figure out why aliens were in the schoolyard.“You can imagine similar kinds of interactive activities along historical lines,” like following the Fre edom Trail in Boston, Professor Dede said. “It’s important that we do research, so that we know how well something like this works.”The rush to distribute the devices worries some professors, who say that students are less likely to participate in class if they are multi-tasking. “I’m not someone who’s anti-technology, but I,m always worried that technology becomes an end in and of itself, and it replaces teaching or it replaces analysis,,’ said Ellen Millender, associate professor of classics at Reed Coll ege in Portland, Ore. (She added that she hoped to buy an iPhone for herself once prices fall.)Robert Summers, who has taught at Cornell Law School for about 40 years, announced this week — in a detailed, footnoted memorandum —that he would ban laptop computers from his class on contract law.“I would ban that too if I knew the students were using it in class,” Professor Summers said of the iPhone, after the device and its capabilities were explained to him. “What we want to encourage in these students is an active intellectual experience, in which they develop the wide range of complex reasoning abilities required of good lawyers.”The experience at Duke University may ease some concerns. A few years ago, Duke began giving iPods to students with the idea that they might use them to record lectures (these older models could not access the Internet).“We had assumed that the biggest focus of these devices would be consuming the content,” said Tracy Futhey, vice president for information technology and chief information officer at Duke. But that is not all that the students did. They began using the iPods to create their own “content,” making audio recordings of themselves and presenting them. The students turned what could have been a passive interaction into an active one, Ms. Futhey said.1. Many professors think that giving out Apple iPhones or Internet-capable iPods to studentsA) updates teaching facilities in universitiesB) has started a revolution in higher educationC) can facilitate teacher-student interactionD) may not benefit education as intended2. In the author’s view, being equipped with IT products may help colleges and universitiesA) build an innovative imageB) raise their teaching efficiencyC) track students’ activitiesD) excite student interest in hi-tech3. The distribution of iPhones among students has raised concerns that they will_________ .A) induce students to buy more similar productsB) increase tension between professors and studentsC) further distract students from class participationD) prevent students from accumulating knowledge4. Naomi Pugh at Freed-Hardeman University speculated that professors would_________ .A) find new applications for iPod Touch devicesB) have to work harder to enliven their classesC) have difficulty learning to handle the devicesD) find iPhones and iPods in class very helpful5. Experts like Dr. Kyle Dickson at Abilene Christian University think that________ .A) mobile technology will be more widely used in educationB) the role of technology in education cannot be overestimatedC) mobile technology can upgrade professors’ teaching tool-kitD) iPhones and iPods will replace laptops sooner or later6. What do we learn about the University of Maryland at College Park concerning the use of iPhones and iPods?A) It has sought professors’ opinions.B) It has benefited from their use.C) It is trying to follow the trend.D) It is proceeding with caution.7. University officials claim that they dole out iPhones and iPods so as to_________ .A) encourage professors to design newer lesson plansB) help improve professor-student relationshipsC) facilitate students’ learning outside of classD) stimulate students’ interest in updating techno logy8. Ellen Millender at Reed College in Portland is concerned that technology will take the place of_____.9.Professor Robert Summers at Cornell Law School banned laptop computers from his class because he thinks qualified lawyers need to possess a broad array of_____.10.The experience at Duke University may ease some concerns because the students have used iPods for active_____.【参考答案】：1. D. may not benefit education as intended2. A. build an innovative image3. C. further distract students from class participation4. B. have to work harder to enliven their classes5. A. mobile technology will be more widely used in education6. D. It is proceeding with caution.7. C. facilitate students’ learning outside of class8. teaching or analysis9. complex reasoning abilities required of good lawyers10. InteractionPart III Listening ComprehensionSection A 短对话11.W: What's wrong with your phone, Gary? I tried to call you all night yesterday.M: I'm sorry. No one's able to get through yesterday. My telephone was disconnected by the phone company.Q: What does the woman ask the man about?12.W: I finally found a really nice apartment that's within my price range.M: Congratulations! Affordable housing is rare in this city. I've been looking for a suitable place since I got here six months ago.Q: What does the man mean?13.M: I got this in my mailbox today, but I don't know what it is. Do you have any idea?W: Oh, that's your number for the new photocopier. It acquires an access code. Everyone got one. Q: What do we learn from the conversation?14.W: Jane told me that you'll be leaving at soon. Is it true?M: Yeah, my wife's maternity leave is close to an end. And since she wants to go back to work, I've decided to take a year off to raise the baby.Q: What does the man mean?15M: We'll never find a parking space here. What about dropping you at thesouth gate and I'll find parking somewhere else.W: Well, OK. It looks like everyone in town came to the mall today.Q: What does the woman mean?16W: When will the computers be back online?M: Probably not until tomorrow. The problem is more complicated than I thought.Q: What does the man mean?17M: Did you catch Professor Smith on TV last night?W: I almost missed it, but my mother just happened to be watching at home and gave me a call. Q: What does the woman imply?18M: May I get this prescription refilled?W: I'm sorry, sir, but we can't give you a refill on that. You'll have to get a new prescription.Q: What can we infer from the conversation?Conversation OneW: Well, it’s the South Theater Company. They want to know if we’d be interested in sponsoring a tour they want to make to East Asia.M: East Asia? uhh… and how much are they hoping to get from us?W: Well, the letter mentions 20,000 pounds, but I don’t know if they might settle for us.M: Do they say what they would cover? Have they anything specific in mind?W: No, I think they are just asking all the firms in tongue for as much money as they think they’ll give.M: And we are worth 20, 000 pounds, right?W: It seems so.M: Very flattering. But I am not awfully happy with the idea. What we get out of it?W: Oh, good publicity I suppose. So what I suggest is not that we just give them a sum of money, but that we offer to pay for something specific like travel or something, and that in return, we ask for our name to be printed prominently in the program, and that they give us free advertising space in it.M: But the travel bill would be enormous, and we could never manage that.W: I know. But why don’t we offer to pay for the printing of the programs ourselves on condition that on the front cover there's something like This program is presented with the compliments of Norland Electronics, and free advertising of course.M: Good idea. Well, let’s get b ack to them and ask what the program they want will cost. Then we can see if we are interested or not.Questions 19-21 are based on the conversation you have just heard.19. What do we learn about the South Theater Company?20. What benefit does the woman say their firm can get by sponsoring the Theater Company?21. What does the woman suggest they do instead of paying the South Theater Company’s travel expenses?Conversation TwoW: Rock stars now face a new hazard --- voice abuse. After last week's announcement that Phil Collins might give up touring because live concerts are ruining his voice, doctors are counseling stars about the dos and don'ts of voice care. Here in the studio today, we have Mr. Paul Phillips, an expert from the High Field Hospital. Paul, what advice would you give to singers facing voice problems?M: If pop singers have got voice problems, they really need to be more selective about where they work. They shouldn't work in smoky atmospheres. They also need to think about resting their voices after a show. Something else they need to be careful about is medicines. Aspirin, for example, singers should avoid aspirin. It thins the blood. And if a singer coughs, this can result inthe bruising of the vocal cords.W: And is it true that some singers use drugs before concerts to boost their voices when they have voice problems?M: Yes, this does happen on occasion. They are easily-available on the continent and they are useful if a singer has problems with his vocal cords and has to sing that night. But if they are taken regularly, they cause a thinning of the voice muscle. Most pop singers suffer from three things: lack of training, overuse and abuse of the voice, especially when they are young. They have difficult lives. When they go on tour, they do a vast number of concerts, singing in smoky places.W: So, what would you advise the singers to do?M: Warm you voice up before a show and warm it down after.Questions 22-25 are based on the conversation you have just heard.22. What does last week's announcement say about rock star, Phil Collins?23. What does Paul Philips say about aspirin?24. What does Paul Philips say about young pop singers?25. What are the speakers mainly talking about?Passage 1Would you trust a robot to park your car? The question will confront New Yorkers in February as the city's first robotic parking opens in Chinatown.The technology has been successfully applied overseas, but the only other public robotic garage in the United States has been troublesome, dropping vehicles and trapping cars because of technical problems.Nonetheless, the developers of the Chinatown garage are confident with the technology and are counting on it to squeeze 67 cars in an apartment-building basement that would otherwise fit only 24, accomplished by removing a maneuver space normally required.A human-shaped robot won't be stepping into your car to drive it. Rather, the garage itself does the parking. The driver stops the car on a flat platform and gets out. The platform is lowered into the garage, and it is then transported to a vacant parking space by a computer-controlled device similar to an elevator that also runs sideways.There is no human supervision, but an attendant will be on hand to accept cash and explain the system to newly users. Parking rates will be attracted about $400 monthly or $25 per day, according to Ari Milstein, the director of planning for Automation Parking Systems, which is the U.S. subsidiary of a German company. This company has built automated garages in several countries overseas and in the United States for residents of a Washington, D.C. apartment building.Questions 26 to 29 are based on the passage you have just heard.26. What do we learn about the robot parking in the U.S. so far?27. What advantage does robotic parking have according to the developers?28. What does the attendant do in the automated garage?29. What does the company say about the parking rate?Passage 2A recent study shows that meat consumption is one of the main ways that human can damage the environment, second only to the use of motor vehicles. So how can eating meat have a negative effect on the environment? For a start, all animals, such as cows, pigs and sheep, always gas limed methane, which is the second most common green house gas after carbon dioxide. Many environmental experts now believe that methane is more responsible for global warming than carbon dioxide. It is estimated that 25% of all methane that released into the atmosphere coming from farm animals. Another way in which meat production affects the environment is through the use of water and land. 2,500 gallons of water are needed to produce one pound of beef. While 20 gallons of water are need to produce one pound of wheat. One acre of farmland use to for raising cows can produce 250 pounds of beef. One acre of farmland use to for crop production can produce 1,500 pounds of tomatoes. Many people now say the benefits of switching to vegetarian diet which excludes meat and fish. Not just for health reasons, but also because it plays a vital role in protecting the environment. However, some nutritionists advise against switching to a totally strict vegetarian diet. They believe such a diet which includes no products from animal sources can be deficient in many of the necessary vitamins and minerals our bodies need. Today many people have come to realize that help the environment and for the human race to survive, more of us will need to become vegetarian.Questions 30 to 32 are based on the passage you've just heard.30. What does the recent study show?31. What do some nutritionists say about the strict vegetarian diet?32. What does the speaker think more people need to do?Passage 3Alcoholism is a serious disease. Nearly nine million Americans alone suffer from the illness. Many scientists disagree about what the differences are between the alcohol addict and social drinker. The difference occurs when someone needs to drink. And this need gets in the way of his health or behavior. Alcohol causes a loss of judgment and alertness. After a long period, alcoholism can deteriorate the liver, the brain and other parts of the body. The illness is dangerous, because it is involved in half of all automobile accidents. Another problem is that the victim often denies being an alcohol addic t and won’t get help. Solutions do exist. Many hospitals and centers help patients cope. Without the assistance, the victim can destroy his life. He would detach himself from the routines of life. He may lose his employment, home or loved ones.All the causes of the sickness are not discovered yet. There is no standard for a person with alcoholism. Victims range in age, race, sex and background. Some groups of people are morevulnerable to the illness. People from broken homes and North American Indians are two examples. People from broken homes often lack stable lives. Indians likewise had the traditional life taken from them by white settlers who often encourage them to consume alcohol to prevent them from fighting back. The problem has now been passed on. Alcoholism is clearly present in society today. People have started to get help and information. With proper assistance, victims can put their lives together one day.Question 33 to 35 are based on the passage you have just heard.Q33. What is the problem of the victims about alcoholism according to the speaker?Q34. Why did white settlers introduce alcohol to Indians?Q35. What does the speaker seem to believe about those affected by alcoholism?复合式听写Self-image is the picture you have of yourself, the sort of person you believe you are. Included in your self-image are the categories in which you place yourself, the roles you play and other similar descriptors you use to identify yourself. If you tell an acquaintance you are a grandfather who recently lost his wife and who does volunteer work on weekends, several elements of your self-image are bought to light — the roles of grandparent, widower and conscientious citizen.But self-image is more than how you picture yourself; it also involves how others see you. Three types of feedback from others are indicative of how they see us: conformation, rejection, and disconfirmation. Conformation occurs when others treat you in a manner consistent with who you believe you are.You believe you have leadership abilities and your boss put you in charge of a new work team. On the other hand, rejection occurs when others treat you in a manner that is inconsistent with yourself definition. Pierre Salinger was appointed senator from California but subsequently lost his first election. He thought he was a good public official, but the voters obviously thought otherwise— Their vote was inconsistent with his self-concept. The third type of feedback is disconfirmation, which occurs when others fail to respond to your notion of self by responding neutrally. A student writes what he thinks is an excellent composition, but the teacher writes no encouraging remarks. Rather than relying on how others classify you, consider how you identify yourself. The way in which you identify yourself is the best refection of yourself-image.Part IV Reading ComprehensionSection AQuestions 47 to 51 are based on the following passage.Oil is the substance that lubricates the world's economy. Because so many of our modern technologies and services depend on oil, nations, corporations, and institutions that control the trade in oil exercise extraordinary power. The “energy crisis” of 1973-1974 in the United States demonstrated how the price of oil can affect U.S. government policies and the energy-using habits of the nation.By 1973, domestic U.S. sources of oil. were peaking, and the nation was importing more of its oil, depending on a constant flow from abroad to keep cars on the road and machines running. In addition, at that time a greater percentage of homes and electrical plants were run on petroleum than today. Then, in 1973，the predominantly Arab nations of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) resolved to stop selling oil to the United States. The move was prompted by OPEC’s d esire to raise prices by restricting supply and by its opposition to U.S. support of Israel in the Arab-Israeli Yom Kippur War. The embargo (禁运) created panic in the West and caused oil prices to shoot up. Short-term oil shortages drove American consumers to wait in long lines at gas pumps.In response to the embargo, the U.S. government enforced a series of policies designed to reduce reliance on foreign oil. These included developing additional domestic sources (such as those on Alaska’s North Slope), res uming extraction at sites that had been shut down because of cost inefficiency, capping the price that domestic producers could charge for oil, and beginning to import oil from a greater diversity of nations. The government also established a stockpile (贮存) of oil as a short-term buffer (缓冲) against future shortages. Stored underground in large salt caves in Louisiana, this stockpile is called the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and currently contains over 600 million barrels of oil, roughly equivalent to one month’s supply.注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。
2013年6月英语四级考试真题(第1套)
2013年6月四级真题（第1套）Part ⅠWriting（30 minutes）Directions：For this part．you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay．You should start your essay with a brief description of the picture and then express your views on the importance of reading literature．You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.注意：此部分试题请在答题卡1上作答。
Part ⅡListening Comprehension（30 minutes）Section ADirections：In this section，you will hear 8 short conversations and 2 long conversations．At the end ofeach conversation，one or more questions will be asked about what Was said．Both the conversation and the questions will be spoken only once．After each question there will be apause．During the pause，you must read the four choices marked A，B，C and D，anddecide which is the best answer．Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet lwith a single line through the centre．注意：此部分试题请在答题卡1上作答。
2013年6月英语四级真题及答案
2013年6月大学英语四级考试真题及答案详解Total score: 710 Total time allowed: 125 minutes特注：2013年6月大学四级考试采用多题多卷形式，本试卷含两套写作题，考生可以任选其一。
Part I Writing (多题多卷写作题1) (30 minutes)Directions:For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay. You should start your essay with a brief description of the picture and then express your views on the importance of doing small things before undertaking something big. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.Part I Writing (多题多卷写作题2) (30 minutes)Directions:For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay. You should start your essay with a brief description of the picture and then express your views on the importance of reading literature. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.Part II Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning) (15 minutes) Directions:In this part, you will have 15 minutes to go over the passage quickly and answer the questions on Answer Sheet 1. For questions 1-7, choose the best answer from the four choices marked A), B), C) and D). For questions 8-10, complete the sentences with the information given in the passage.Can Digital Textbook Truly Replace the Print Kind?The shortcomings of tradit ional print edition textbooks are obvious: For starters they’re heavy, with the average physics textbook weighing 3.6 pounds. They’re also expensive, especially when you factor in the average college student’s limited budget, typically costing hundreds of dollars every semester.But the worst part is that print version of textbooks are constantly undergoing revisions. Many professors require that their students use only the latest versions in the classroom, essentially rendering older texts unusable. For s tudents, it means they’re basically stuck with a four pound paper-weight that they can’t sell back.Which is why digital textbooks, if they live up to their promise, could help ease many of these shortcomings. But till now, they’ve been something like a mirage（幻影）in the distance, more like a hazy（模糊的）dream than an actual reality. Imagine the promise: Carrying all your textbooks in a 1.3 pound iPad? It sounds almost too good to be true.But there are a few pilot schools already making the transition（过渡）over to digital books. Universities like Cornell and Brown have jumped onboard. And one medical program at the University of California, Irvine, gave their entire class iPads with which to download textbooks just last year.But not all were eager to jump aboard.“People were tired of using the iPad textbook besides using it for reading,” says Kalpit Shah, who will be going into his second year at Irvine’s medical program this fall. “They weren’t using it as a source of communication because they couldn’t read or write in it. So a third of the people in my program were using the iPad in class to take notes, the other third were using laptops and the last third were using paper and pencil.”The reason it hasn’t caught on yet, he tells me, is that the functionality of e-edition textbooks is incredibly limited, and some students just aren’t motivated to learn new study behavior.But a new application called Inkling might change all that. The company just released an updated version last week, and it’ll be utilized in over 50 undergraduate and graduate classrooms this coming school year.“Digital textbooks are not going to catch on,” says Inkling CEO Matt Maclnnis as he’s giving me a demo（演示）over coffee. “What I mean by that is the current perspective of the digital t extbook is it’s an exact copy of the print book. There’s Course Smart, etc., these guys who take any image of the page and put it on a screen. If that’s how we’re defining digital textbooks, there’s no hope of that becoming a mainstream product.”He calls Inkling a platform for publishers to build rich multimedia content from the ground up, with a heavy emphasis on real-world functionality. The traditional textbook merely serves as a skeleton.At first glance Inkling is an impressive experience. After swiping（敲击）into the iPad app (应用软件), which you can get for free here, he opens up a few different types of textbooks.Up first is a chemistry book. The boot time is pretty fast, and he navigates through (浏览) afew chapters before swiping into a fully rendered 3D molecule that can be spun around to view its various building blocks. “Publishers give us all of the source media, artwork, videos,” he says, “We help them think through how to actually build something for this platform.”Next he pulls up a music c omposition textbook, complete with playable demos. It’s a learning experience that attacks you from multiple sensory directions. It’s clear why this would be something a music major would love.But the most exciting part about Inkling, to me, is its notation（批注）system. Here’s how it works!When you purchase a used print book, it comes with its previous owner’s highlights and notes in the margins. It uses the experience of someone who already went through the class to help improve your reading (how much you trust each notation is obviously up to you).But with lnkling, you can highlight a piece of content and make notes. Here’s where things get interesting, though: If a particularly important passage is highlighted by multiple lnkling users, that information is stored on the cloud and is available for anyone reading the same textbook to come across. That means users have access to notes from not only their classmates and Facebook friends, but anyone who purchased the book across the country. The best comments are then sorted democratically by a voting system, meaning that your social learning experience is shared with the best and brightest thinkers.As a bonus, professors can even chime in (插话) on discussions. They’ll be able to answer the questions of students who are in their class directly via the interactive book.Of course, Inkling addresses several of the other shortcomings in traditional print as well. Textbook versions are constanly updated, motivating publishers by minimizing production costs (the big ones like McGraw-Hill are already onboard). Furthermore, students will be able to purchase sections of the text instead of buying the whole thing, with individual chapters costing as little as $2.99.There are, however, challenges.“It takes efforts to build each book,” Maclnnis tells me. And it’s clear why.Each interactive textbook is a media-heavy experience built from the ground up, and you can tell that it takes a respectable amount of manpower to put together each one.For now the app is also iPad-exclusive, and though a few of these educational institutions are giving the hardware away for free, for other students who don’t have such a luxury it’s an added layer of cost — and an expensive one at that.But this much is clear. The traditional textbook model is and has been broken for quite some time. Whether digitally interactive ones like Inkling actually take off or not remains to be seen, and we probably won’t have a definite answer for the next few years.However the solution to any problem begins with a step in a direction. And at least for now, that hazy mirage in the distance? A little more tangible (可触摸的), a little less of a dream.1. The biggest problem with traditional print textbooks is that _____.A) they are not reused once a new edition comes outB) they cost hundreds of dollars every semesterC) they are too heavy to carry aroundD) they take a longer time to revise2. What does the author say about digital textbooks?D) Someone willing to work beyond regular hours.24. A) Travel opportunities.B) Handsome pay.C) Prospects for promotion.D) Flexible working hours.25. A) It depends on the working hours.B) It’s about 500 pound a week.C) It will be set by the Human Resources.D) It is to be negotiated.Section BDirections:In this section you will hear 3 short passages. At the end of each passage, you will hear some questions. Both the passage and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question, you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A), B), C) and D). Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.Passage OneQuestions 26 to 29 are based on the passage you have just heard.26. A) To give customers a wider range of choices.B) To make shoppers see as many items as possible.C) To supply as many varieties of goods as it can.D) To give space for more profitable products.27. A) On the top shelves.B) On the bottom shelves.C) On easily accessible shelves.D) On clearly marked shelves.28. A) Many of them buy things on impulse.B) A few of them are fathers with babies.C) A majority of them are young couples.D) Over 60% of them make shopping lists.29. A) Sales assistants promoting high margin goods.B) Sales assistants following customers around.C) Customers competing for good bargains.D) Customers losing all sense of time.Passage TwoQuestions 30 to 32 are based on the passage you have just heard.30. A) Teaching mathematics at a school.B) Doing research in an institute.C) Studying for a college degree.D) Working in a high-tech company.31. A) He studied the designs of various choices.B) He did experiments to different materials.C) He bought an alarm clock with a pig face.D) He asked different people for their opinions.32. A) Its automatic mechanism.B) Its manufacturing pattern.C) Its way of waking people up.D) Its funny-looking pig face.Questions 33 to 35 are based on the passage you have just heard.33. A) It’s often caused by a change of circumstances.B) It usually doesn’t require an y special attention.C) It usually appears all of a sudden.D) It usually lasts for several years.34. A) They can’t mix well with others.B) They emotionally receive their friends.C) They depend severely on family members.D) They share similar interests with friends.35. A) They lack consistent support from peers.B) They doubt their own popularity.C) They were born psychologically weak.D) They focus too much attention on themselves.Section CDirections:In this section, you will hear a passage three times. When the passage is read for the first time, you should listen carefully for its general idea. When the passage is read for the second time, you are required to fill in the blanks numbered from 36 to 43 with the exact words you have just heard. For blanks numbered from 44 to 46 you are required to fill in the missing information. For these blanks you can either use the exact words you have just heard or write down the main points in your own words. Finally when the passage is read for the third time, you should check what you have written.There was a time when any personal information that was gathered about us was typed on a piece of paper and (36) ________ away in a file cabinet. It could remain there for years and, often (37) ________, never reach the outside world.Things have done a complete about-face since then. (38) ________ for the change has been the astonishingly (39) ________ development in recent years of the computer. Today, any data that is(40) ________ about us in one place or another — and for one reason or another — can be stored in a computer bank. It can then be easily passed to other computer banks. They are owned by (41) ________ and by private businesses and corporations, lending (42) ________, direct mailing and telemarketing firms, credit bureaus, credit card companies, and government (43) ________ at the local, state, and federal level.A growing number of Americans are seeing the accumulation and distribution of computerized date as a frightening invasion of their privacy. (44) ___________ _________________________________________________________ as the computer becomesincreasingly efficient, easier to operate, and less costly to purchase and maintain. In 1970, a national survey showed that (45) ___________________________________________________ _________________. Seven years later, 47 percent expressed the same worry. (46) ____________ ________________________________________________________.Part IV Reading Comprehension (Reading in Depth) (25 minutes)Section ADirections:In this section, there is a passage with ten blanks. You are required to select one word for each blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage. Read the passage through carefully before making your choices. Each choice in the bank is identified by a letter. Please mark the corresponding letter for each item on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre. You may not use any of the words in the bank more than once.Questions 47 to 56 are based on the following passage.Walking, if you do it vigorously enough, is the overall best exercise for regular physical activity. It requires no equipment, everyone knows how to do it and it carries the 47 risk of injury. The human body is designed to walk. You can walk in parks or along a river or in your neighborhood. To get 48 benefit from walking, aim for 45 minutes a day, an average of five days a week.Strength training is another important 49 of physical activity. Its purpose is to build and 50 bone and muscle mass, both of which shrink with age. In general, you will want to do strength training two or three days a week, 51 recovery days between sessions.Finally, flexibility and balance training are 52 important as the body ages. Aches and pains are high on the list of complaints in old age. The result of constant muscle tension and stiffness of joints, many of them are 53 , and simple flexibility training can 54 these by making muscles stronger and keeping joints lubricated (润滑). Some of this you do whenever you stretch. If you watch dogs and cats, you’ll get an idea of how natural it is. The general55 is simple: whenever the body has been in one position for a while, it is good to 56 stretch it in an opposite position.Section BDirections: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A), B), C) and D). You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2with a single line through the centre.Passage OneQuestions 57 to 61 are based on the following passage.Junk food is everywhere. We’re eating way too much of it. Most of us know what we’re doing and yet we do it anyway.So here’s a suggestion offered by two researchers at the Rand Corporation: Why not take a lesson from alcohol control policies and apply them to where food is sold and how it’s displayed?“Many policy measures to control obesity（肥胖症）assume that people consciously and rationally choose what and how much they eat and therefore focus on providing information and more access to healthier foods,” note the two researchers.“In contrast,” the researchers continue, “many regulations that don’t assu me people make rational choices have been successfully applied to control alcohol, a substance — like food — of which immoderate consumption leads to serious health problems.”The research references studies of people’s behavior with food and alcohol and results of alcohol restrictions, and then lists five regulations that the researchers think might be promising if applied to junk foods. Among them:Density restrictions: licenses to sell alcohol aren’t handed out unplanned to all comers but a re allotted（分配）based on the number of places in an area that already sell alcohol. These make alcohol less easy to get and reduce the number of psychological cues to drink.Similarly, the researchers say, being presented with junk food stimulates our desire to eat it. So why not limit the density of food outlets, particularly ones that sell food rich in empty calories? And why not limit sale of food in places that aren’t primarily food stores?Display and sales restrictions: California has a rule prohibiting alcohol displays near the cash registers in gas stations, and in most places you can’t buy alcohol at drive-through facilities. At supermarkets, food companies pay to have their wares in places where they’re easily seen. One could remove junk food to the back of the store and ban them from the shelves at checkout lines. The other measures include restricting portion sizes, taxing and prohibiting special price deals for junk foods, and placing warning labels on the products.57. What does the author say about junk food?A) People should be educated not to eat too much.B) It is widely consumed despite its ill reputation.C) Its temptation is too strong for people to resist.D) It causes more harm than is generally realized.58. What do the Rand researchers think of many of the policy measures to control obesity?A) They should be implemented effectively.B) They provide misleading information.C) They are based on wrong assumptions.D) They help people make rational choices.59. Why do policymakers of alcohol control place density restrictions?A) Few people are able to resist alcohol’s temptations.B) There are already too many stores selling alcohol.C) Drinking strong alcohol can cause social problems.D) Easy access leads to customers’ o ver-consumption.60. What is the purpose of California’s rule about alcohol display in gas stations?A) To effectively limit the density of alcohol outlets.B) To help drivers to give up the habit of drinking.C) To prevent possible traffic jams in nearby areas.D) To get alcohol out of drivers’ immediate sight.61. What is the general guideline the Rand researchers suggest about junk food control?A) Guiding people to make rational choices about food.B) Enhancing people’s awareness of their own he alth.C) Borrowing ideas from alcohol control measures.D) Resorting to economic, legal and psychological means.Passage TwoQuestions 62 to 66 are based on the following passage.Kodak’s decision to file for bankruptcy（破产）protection is a sad, though not unexpected, turning point for a leading American corporation that pioneered consumer photography and dominated the film market for decades, but ultimately failed to adapt to the digital revolution.Although many attribute Kodak’s downfall to “complacency(自满) ,” t hat explanation doesn’t acknow-ledge the lengths to which the company went to reinvent itself. Decades ago, Kodak anticipated that digital photography would overtake film — and in fact, Kodak invented the first digital camera in 1975 — but in a fateful decision, the company chose to shelf its new discovery to focus on its traditional film business.It wasn’t that Kodak was blind to the future, said Rebecca Henderson, a professor at Harvard Business School, but rather that it failed to execute on a strategy to confront it. By the time the company realized its mistake, it was too late.Kodak is an example of a firm that was very much aware that they had to adapt, and spent a lot of money trying to do so, but ultimately failed. Large companies have a difficult time switching into new markets because there is a temptation to put existing assets into the new businesses.Although Kodak anticipated the inevitable rise of digital photography, its corporate（企业的）culture was too rooted in the successes of the past for it to make the clean break necessary to fully embrace the future. They were a company stuck in time. Their history was so important to them. Now their history has become a liability.Kodak’s do wnfall over the last several decades was dramatic. In 1976, the company commanded 90% of the market for photographic film and 85% of the market for cameras. But the 1980s brought new competition from Japanese film company Fuji Photo, which undermined Kodak by offering lower prices for film and photo suppli es. Kodak’s decision not to pursue the role of official film for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics was a major miscalculation. The bid went instead to Fuji, which exploited its sponsorship to win a permanent foothold in the marketplace.62. What do we learn about Kodak?A) It went bankrupt all of a sudden.B) It is approaching its downfall.C) It initiated the digital revolution in the film industry.D) It is playing a dominant role in the film market.63. Why does the author mention Kodak’s invention of the first digital camera?A) To show its early attempt to reinvent itself.B) To show its effort to overcome complacency.C) To show its quick adaptation to the digital revolution.D) To show its will to compete with Japan’s Fuji photo.64. Why do large companies have difficulty switching to new markets?A) They find it costly to give up their existing assets.B) They tend to be slow in confronting new challenges.C) They are unwilling to invest in new technology.D) They are deeply stuck in their glorious past.65. What does the author say Kodak’s history has become?A) A burden.B) A mirror.C) A joke.D) A challenge.66. What was Kodak’s fatal mistake?A) Its blind faith in traditional photography.B) Its failure to see Fuji photo’s emergence.C) Its refusal to sponsor the 1984 Olympics.D) Its overconfidence in its corporate culture.Part V Cloze (15 minutes)Directions:There are 20 blanks in the following passage. For each blank there are four choices marked A), B), C) and D). You should choose the ONE that best fits into the passage. Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.Whether you think you need daytime rest or not, picking up a nap（午睡）habit is a smart, healthy move. The Mayo Clinic says naps 67 relaxation, better mood and alertness, and a sharper working 68 . A 2008 British study found that compared to getting more nighttime sleep, a mid-day nap was the best way to cope 69 the mid-afternoon sleepiness.According to the Harvard Health Letter, several studies have shown that people 70 new information better when they take a nap shortly after learning it. And, most 71 , a 2007 study of nearly 24,000 Greek adults in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that people who napped 72 had a 37 percent reduced risk of dying 73 heart disease compared to people who didn’t nap.Of course, napping isn’t74 for everyone. If you’re suffering from i nability to sleep, naps that are too long or taken too late in the day can 75 with your ability to fall or stay asleep at night.But for most, naps can make you feel sharper and happier. Naps provide different benefits 76 on how long they are. A 20-minute nap will boost alertness and concentration; a 90-minute snooze （小睡）can 77 creativity.According to , you 78 a natural dip in body temperature 79 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. A short nap at this time can boost alertness 80 several hours and, for most people, shouldn’t81 being able to fall asleep at night.Pick a dark, cozy place that’s not too warm or too chilly. 82 snappingon the couch instead of in bed, so you’re less83 to snooze for too long.Surprisingly, the best place to take a nap may be a hammock（吊床）if you have one. A Swiss study 84 last year found that people fell asleep faster and had deeper sleep when they napped in a hammock than in a bed. That same rocking 85 that puts babies to sleep works 86 for grown-ups, too.67. A) enforce B) promote C) operate D) support68. A) feeling B) frame C) sense D) mind69. A) with B) aside C) about D) upon70. A) remark B) consider C) remember D) concern71. A) reportedly B) incredibly C) constantly D) frankly72. A) regularly B) enormously C) heavily D) strongly73. A) off B) under C) against D) from74. A) exact B) correct C) right D) precise75. A) influence B) eliminate C) compete D) interfere76. A) focusing B) depending C) relying D) basing77. A) enlarge B) engage C) enhance D) enlighten78. A) explore B) experience C) exercise D) execute79. A) between B) amidst C) among D) besides80. A) of B) beyond C) during D) for81. A) produce B) dispose C) affect D) hasten82. A) illustrates B) decides C) predicts D) recommends83. A) inclined B) involved C) adopted D) attracted84. A) pronounced B) published C) discovered D) cultivated85. A) mood B) model C) motion D) motive86. A) wonders B) passions C) mystery D) pleasurePart VI Translation (5 minutes)Directions:Complete the sentences by translating into English the Chinese given in brackets. Please write you translation on Answer Sheet 2.87. Although only in her teens, my sister is looking forward to _________________（独自去海外学习).88. It’s true that we are not always going to succeed in our ventures, _______________（即使我们投入时间和金钱).89. The old couple hoped that their son ________________（将不辜负他们的期望).90. So badly _________________(他在车祸中受伤)that he had to stay in the hospital for a whole year.91. Nowadays, some people still have trouble ________________（从网上获取信息). 2013年6月英语四级答案详解Part I Writing对白子：Dad, I'm a bit worried about disposing of nuclear waste（处理核废料）父：If you can empty the dustbin（垃圾筒） here, you can do anything范文：The picture shows us a dialogue between a father and a son. The son told his father, “Dad, I’m a bit worried about disposing of nuclear waste”. While his father told him, “If you can empty the dustbin here you can do anything”. It revea ls the importance of doing small things well before undertaking something big. There is also an old Chinese saying to go with this that a person can’t sweep the world before he can sweep his own room.Unquestionably, doing small things is the first step of success and will layroot for doing something big. By doing something small, we are enabled to accumulate experience, master skills and train ourselves to be more patient. In other word, we can be well prepared for further challenges in the course of fulfilling small things. By contrast, those who set out to do something big will be constantly haunted by disappointment, frustrations or even failures. As when opportunity “something big” appears, they can hardly seize them because of the lack of experience and confidence stems from doing small things.Taking the picture presented above as a case in point, how can the little boy succeed in disposing ofnuclear weapons if he even doesn’t know how to empty the dustbin?From my perspective, under no circumstances should we undervalue the power of doing small things. Instead, we should regard small things as the source of experience, skills and the prerequisite of success. “Great achievement only belongs to those who can do small things perfectly.” Aristotle once said.Part II Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning)1.A. they are not rescued once a new edition comes out2. B. They haven’t fixed all the shortcomings of print books.3. A. they find it troublesome to take notes with an iPad.4. D. they are no more than print versions put on a screen5. C. a platform for building multimedia content6. A. share his learning experience with the best and brightest thinkers7. C. professors can join in students’ online discussions8. manpower to put together each one9. cost10. remains to be seen【整体点评】这是一篇讨论电子课本能否取代纸质课本的议论文。
2013年6月四级考试真题(第1套)
2013年6月四级考试真题（第一套）Part I Writing(30 minutes)Directions:For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay. You should start your essay with a brief description of the picture and then express your views on theimportance of reading literature. You should write at least 120words but no morethan 180 words.Part II Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning) (15 minutes)Directions: In this part, you will have 15 minutes to go over the passage quickly and answer the questions on Answer Sheet 1. For questions 1–7, choose the best answer from thefour choices marked A), B), C) and D). For questions 8–10, complete the sentenceswith the information given in the passage.Surviving the RecessionAmerica’s recession began quietly at the end of 2007. Since then it has evolved into a globalcrisis. Reasonable people may disagree about whom to blame. Financiers who were not as cleveras they thought they were? Regulators falling asleep at work? Consumers who borrowed too much? Politicians who thoughtlessly promoted home-ownership for those who could not afford it? All areguilty; and what a mess they have created.Since 2007 America has shed 5 million jobs. More than 15% of the workforce are jobless or underemployed —roughly 25 million workers. The only industries swelling their payrolls arehealth care, utilities and the federal government. The value of listed shares in American firmscollapsed by 57% from its peak in October 2007 to a low in March this year, though it has sincebounced back somewhat. Industrial production fell by 12.8% in the year to March, the worst slidesince the Second World War. Mark Zandi, an economist at Moody’s , predicts thatthe re cession will shrink America’s economy by 3.5% in total. For most executives, this is theworst business environment they’ve ever seen.Times are so tough that even bosses are taking pay cuts. Median (中位数的) pay for chief executives of S&P 500 companies fell 6.8% in 2008. The overthrown giants of Wall Street took the biggest knock, with average pay cuts of 38% and median bonuses of zero. But there was some pain for everyone: median pay for chief executives of non-financial firms in the S&P 500 fell by 2.7%.Nearly every business has a sad tale to tell. For example, Arne Sorenson, the president of Marriott hotels, likens the crisis to the downturn that hit his business after September 11th, 2001. When the twin towers fell, Americans stopped travelling. Marriott had its worst quarter ever, with revenues per room falling by 25%. This year, without a terrorist attack, the hotel industry is “putting the same numbers on the board”, says Mr Sorenson.The hotel bust (不景气), like most busts, was preceded by a breathtaking boom. Although many other big firms resisted the temptation to over-borrow, developers borrowed heavily and built bigger and fancier hotels as if the whole world were planning a holiday in Las Vegas. When the bubble burst, demand collapsed. Hotel owners found themselves with a huge number of empty rooms even as a lot of unnecessary new hotels were ready to open.Other industries have suffered even more. Large numbers of builders, property firms and retailers have gone bankrupt. And a disaster has hit Detroit. Last year the American car industry had the capacity to make 17 million vehicles. Sales in 2009 could be barely half of that. The Big Three American carmakers—General Motors, Ford and Chrysler—accumulated ruinous costs over the post-war years, such as gold-plated health plans and pensions for workers who retired as young as 48. All three are desperately restructuring. Only Ford may survive in its current form.Hard times breed hard feelings. Few Americans understand what caused the recession. Some are seeking scapegoats(替罪羊). Politicians are happy to take advantage. Bosses have been summoned to Washington to be scolded on live television. The president condemns their greed. Extravagance (奢侈) is outBusinessfolk are bending over backwards to avoid seeming extravagant. Meetings at resorts are suddenly unacceptable. Goldman Sachs, an investment bank, cancelled a conference in Las Vegas at the last minute and rebooked it in San Francisco, which cost more but sounded less fun.Anyway, the pain will eventually end. American business will regain its shine. Many firms will die, but the survivors will emerge leaner and stronger than before. The financial sector’s share of the economy will shrink, and stay shrunk for years to come. The importance of non-financial firms will accordingly rise, along with their ability to attract the best talent. America will remain the best place on earth to do business, so long as Barack Obama and the Democrats in Congress resist the temptation to interfere too much, and so long as organised labour does not overplay its hand.The crisis will prove hugely disruptive(破坏性的), however. Bad management techniques will be exposed. Necessity will force the swift adoption of more efficient ones. At the same time, technological innovation (创新) will barely pause for breath, and two big political changes seem likely.Mr Obama’s p lan to curb carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions (排放), though necessary, will be far from cost-free, whatever his sunny speeches on the subject might suggest. The shift to a low-carbon economy will help some firms, hurt others and require every organisation that uses much energy to rethink how it operates. It is harder to predict how Mr Obama’s proposed reforms to the failing health-care system will turn out. If he succeeds in curbing costs—a big if—it would be a huge gain for America. Some businesses will benefit but the vast bulk of the savings will be captured by workers, not their employers.In the next couple of years the businesses that thrive will be those that are tight with costs, careful of debt, cautious with cash flow and extremely attentive to what customers want. They will include plenty of names no one has yet heard of.Times change, and corporations change with them. In 1955 Time’s Man of the Year was Harlow Curtice, the boss of GM. His firm was leading America towards “a new economic order”, the magazine wrote. Thanks to men like Curtice, “the bonds of scarcity” had been broken and America was rolling “to an all-time high of prosperity”. Soon, Americans would need to spend “comparatively little time earning a living”.Half a century later GM is a typical example of poor management. In March its chief executive was fired by Time’s current Man of the Year, Mr Obama. The government now backs up the domestic car industry, lending it money and overseeing its turnaround plans. With luck, thiswill be short-lived. But there is a danger that Washington will end up micromanaging not only Detroit but also other parts of the economy. And clever as Mr Obama’s advisers are, history suggests they will be bad at this.1. From the first paragraph, we learn that America’s recession is the result of ______.A) a messy real estate market C) unregulated competitionB) a combination of causes D) financiers’ mismanagement2. At the worst time, the total value of listed shares in American firms shrank by ______.A) 57% C) 12.8%B) 15% D) 3.5%3. According to Arne Sorenson, the president of Marriott hotels, the current recession ______.A) was the worst he had ever seen since World War IIB) reduced his revenues to a quarter of normal yearsC) hit his business as hard as the 9/11 terrorist attackD) spoiled his plans to build more hotels in Las Vegas4. The Big Three American carmakers need restructuring to survive because ______.A) their production capacity has shrunk to less than half of the previous yearB) their technology has fallen behind their competitors’ elsewhere in the worldC) they have borrowed too heavily and accumulated too large amounts of debtD) they cannot cope with the ruinous costs accumulated over the post-war years5. Goldman Sachs, an investment bank, cancelled a conference in Las Vegas in order to ______.A) raise its efficiency C) avoid seeming wastefulB) cut unnecessary costs D) have fun in San Francisco6. The author of this report seems to be ______.A) against too much government interference in the economyB) optimistic about Obama’s effort to reduce CO2 emissionsC) interested in political and economic reformsD) concerned about the interests of the workforce7. According to the author, Obama’s plan to limit carbon dioxide emissions will ______.A) not benefit America’s industry C) do good to the environmentB) benefit the whole nation D) by no means be inexpensive8. Because Harlow Curtice’s firm was leading America in creating “a new economic order”, he was named by Time magazine as ______________________________ in 1955.9. In March, General Motors’chief executive was fired by Mr Obama for ______________________________.10. The author is afraid that the Obama administration will end up______________________________ America’s economy.Part III Listening Comprehension(35 minutes)Section ADirections: In this section, you will hear 8 short conversations and 2 long conversations. At the end of each conversation, one or more questions will be asked about what was said.Both the conversation and the questions will be spoken only once. After eachquestion there will be a pause. During the pause, you must read the four choicesmarked A), B), C) and D), and decide which is the best answer. Then mark thecorresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.11. A) The woman is the manager’s secretary.B) The man found himself in a wrong place.C) The man is the manager’s business associate.D) The woman was putting up a sign on the wall.12. A) He needs more time for the report.B) He needs help to interpret the data.C) He is sorry not to have helped the woman.D) He does not have sufficient data to go on.13. A) A friend form New York. C) A postal delivery.B) A message from Tony. D) A change in the weather.14. A) She is not available until the end of next week.B) She is not a reliable source of information.C) She does not like taking exams.D) She does not like psychology.15. A) He will help the woman carry the suitcase.B) The woman’s watch is twenty minutes fast.C) The woman shouldn’t make such a big fuss.D) There is no need for the woman to be in a hurry.16. A) Mary is not so easygoing as her.B) Mary and she have a lot in common.C) She finds it hard to get along with Mary.D) She does not believe what her neighbors said.17. A) At an information service. C) At a repair shop.B) At a car wash point. D) At a dry cleaner’s.18. A) The woman came to the concert at the man’s request.B) The man is already fed up with playing the piano.C) The piece of music the man played is very popular.D) The man’s unique talents are the envy of many people.Questions 19 to 22 are based on the conversation you have just heard.19. A) He has taught Spanish for a couple of years at a local school.B) He worked at the Brownstone Company for several years.C) He owned a small retail business in Michigan years ago.D) He has been working part-time in a school near Detroit.20. A) He prefers a full-time job with more responsibility.B) He is eager to find a job with an increased salary.C) He likes to work in a company close to home.D) He would rather get a less demanding job.21. A) Sports. C) Foreign languages.B) Travel. D) Computer games.22. A) When he is supposed to start work.B) What responsibilities he would have.C) When he will be informed about his application.D) What career opportunities her company can offer.Questions 23 to 25 are based on the conversation you have just heard.23. A) She is pregnant. C) She has just finished her project.B) She is over 50. D) She is a good saleswoman.24. A) He takes good care of Lisa. C) He is good at business management.B) He is the CEO of a giant company. D) He works as a sales manager.25. A) It is in urgent need of further development.B) It produces goods popular among local people.C) It has been losing market share in recent years.D) It is well positioned to compete with the giants.Section BDirections:In this section, you will hear 3 short passages. At the end of each passage, you will hear some questions. Both the passage and the questions will bespoken only once. After you hear a question, you must choose the bestanswer from the four choices marked A), B), C) and D). Then mark thecorresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2with a single line through thecentre.Passage OneQuestions 26 to 29 are based on the passage you have just heard.26. A) It is lined with tall tress. C) It has high buildings on both sides.B) It was widened recently. D) It used to be dirty and disorderly.27. A) They repaved it with rocks. C) They beautified it with plants.B) They built public restrooms on it. D) They set up cooking facilities near it.28. A) What makes life enjoyable. C) What a community means.B) How to work with tools. D) How to improve health.29. A) They were obliged to fulfill the signed contract.B) They were encouraged by the city officials’ praise.C) They wanted to prove they were as capable as boys.D) The derived happiness from the constructive work.Passage TwoQuestions 30 to 32 are based on the passage you have just heard.30. A) The majority of them think it less important than computers.B) Many of them consider it boring and old-fashioned.C) The majority of them find it interesting.D) Few of them read more than ten books a year.31. A) Novels and stories. C) History and science books.B) Mysteries and detective stories. D) Books on culture and tradition.32. A) Watching TV. C) Reading magazines.B) Listening to music. D) Playing computer games.Passage ThreeQuestions 33 to 35 are based on the passage you have just heard.33. A) Advice on the purchase of cars.B) Information about the new green-fuel vehicles.C) Trends for the development of the motor car.D) Solutions to global fuel shortage.34. A) Limited driving range. C) The short life of batteries.B) Huge recharging expenses. D) The unaffordable high price.35. A) They need to be further improved.B) They can easily switch to natural gas.C) They are more cost-effective than vehicles powered by solar energy.D) They can match conventional motor cars in performance and safety.Section CDirections:In this section, you will hear a passage three times. When the passage is read for the first time, you should listen carefully for its general idea. When the passage isread for the second time, you are required to fill in the blanks numbered from 36to 43 with the exact words you have just heard. For blanks numbered from 44 to46 you are required to fill in the missing information. For these blanks, you caneither use the exact words you have just heard or write down the main points inyour own words. Finally, when the passage is read for the third time, you shouldcheck what you have written.My favorite T.V. show? “The Twilight Zone.” I (36) ________ like the episode called “The Printer’s Devil.” It’s about a newspaper editor who’s being (37) ________out of business by a big newspaper syndicate—you know, a group of papers (38) ________by the same people.He’s about to (39) ________ suicide when he’s interrupted by an old man who says his name is Smith. The editor is not only offered $5,000 to pay off his newspaper’s (40) ________, but this Smith character also offers his (41) ________for free. It turns out that the guy (42) ________ the printing machine with amazing speed, and soon he’s turning out newspapers with (43) ________ headlines. The small paper is successful again. The editor is amazed at how quickly Smith gets his stories—only minutes after they happen—but soon he’s presented with a contract to sign. Mr. Smith, it seems, is really the devil! (44) _______________________________________________________________________________ _____, so he agrees to sign. But soon Smith is reporting the news even before it happens—and it’s all terrible—one disaster after another.(45) _______________________________________________________________________________ ____. I really like these old episodes of “The Twilight Zone” because the stories are fascinating.(46)____________________________________________________________________________________Part IV Reading Comprehension (Reading in Depth) (25 minutes)Section ADirections:In this section, there is a passage with ten blanks. You are required to select one word for each blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following thepassage. Read the passage through carefully before making your choices. Eachchoice in the bank is identified by a letter. Please mark the corresponding letterfor each item on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre. You maynot use any of the words in the bank more than once.Questions 47 to 56 are based on the following passage.Just when you had figured out how to manage fat in your diet, researchers are now warning against another common mealtime pitfall (陷阱) —salt.A study by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), Stanford University and Columbia University shows that even a 47 decrease in daily salt intake (摄入) can lead to dramatic health benefits. The authors 48 an annual drop of as many as 120,000 cases of heart disease, 66,000 49 of stroke and 99,000 heart attacks 50 by high blood pressure after a 3-g-per-day reduction in salt.The advantages, not surprisingly, were greater for African Americans, who are more likely to 51 high blood pressure than other ethnic groups, and for the elderly, since blood vessels stiffen with age, which can lead to higher blood pressure.“Everyone in the U.S. is consuming salt far in52 of what is good for them,” says lead author Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo of UCSF. “What we are suggesting is that a population-wide effort to reduce salt intake, even 53 , will have health benefits.”The team conducted a computer-based analysis to determine the 54 of a 3-g-per-day reduction in salt intake on rates of heart disease and death. They also calculated the cost savingsemerging from the amount of disease that would be 55 because of lower blood pressure. The conclusion: by cutting salt intake nationwide, the U.S. could save $10 billion to $24 billion 56 in health care costs.A) accidents I) excessB) annually J) impactC) avoided K) instancesD) caused L) modestE) considerable M) revisedF) develop N) slightlyG) documented O) undertakeH) dramaticallySection BDirections: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A), B), C) andD). You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter onAnswer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.Passage OneQuestions 57 to 61 are based on the following passage.The Gatais used to frown when they received power bills that routinely topped $200. Last September the couple moved into a 1,500-square-foot home in Premier Gardens, a subdivision of 95 “zero-energy homes”(ZEH) just outside town. Now they’re actually eager to see their electricity bills. The grand total over the 10 months they’ve lived in the three-bedroom house: $75. For the past two months they haven’t paid a cent.ZEH communities are the leading edge of technologies that might someday create houses that produce as much energy as they consume. Premier Gardens is one of a half-dozen subdivisions inCalifornia where every home cuts power consumption by 50%, mostly by using low-power appliances and solar panels.Aside from the panels on the roof, Premier Gardens looks like a community of conventional homes. But inside, special windows cut power bills by blocking solar heat in summer and retaining indoor warmth in winter.The rest of the energy savings comes from the solar units. They don’t just feed the home they serve. If they generate more power than the home is using, the excess flows into the utility’s power grid (电网). The residents are billed by “net metering”: they pay for the a mount of power they tap off the grid, less the kilowatts (千瓦) they feed into it. If a home generates more power than it uses, the bill is zero.That sounds like a bad deal for the power company, but it’s not. Solar homes produce the most power on the hot sunny afternoons when everyone rushes home to turn up the air conditioner. “It helps us lower usage at peak power times,” says solar expert Mike Keesee. “That lets us avoid building costly plants or buying expensive power at peak usage time.”What’s n ot to like? Mostly the costs. The special features can add $25,000 or more to the purchase price of a house. Tax breaks bring the cost down, especially in California, but in many states ZEHs can be prohibitively expensive. For the consumer, it’s a matter o f paying now for the hardware to save later on the utilities.57. Why are the Gatais eager to see their electricity bills now?A) They want to see how much they have saved.B) They want to cut down their utility expenses.C) They want to know if they are able to pay.D) They want to avoid being overcharged.58. What is special about the ZEH communities?A) They have created cutting-edge technologies.B) They aim to be self-sufficient in power supply.C) They are subdivided into half a dozen sections.D) They are built in harmony with the environment.59. How are the residents in the ZEH communities billed for electricity use?A) They are only charged for the amount of power they consume on rainy days.B) They needn’t pay a single cen t for their power consumption on sunny days.C) They only pay for the excess power that fl ows into the utility’s power grid.D) They pay for the electricity from the grid less their home-generated power.60. What does the “net metering” practice mean to the power company?A) More pressure at peak time. C) Increased electricity output.B) Less profits in the short term. D) Reduced operational costs.61. The author believes that buying a house in a ZEH community ______.A) is but a dream for average consumersB) gives the owner substantial tax benefitsC) is a worthy investment in the long runD) contributes to environmental protectionPassage TwoQuestions 62 to 66 are based on the following passage.Romantic love has clear evolutionary roots but our views about what makes an ideal romantic relationship can be swayed by the society we live in. So says psychologist Maureen O’Sullivan from the University of San Francisco. She suggests that humans have always tried to strengthen the pair-bond to maximise (使最大化) reproductive success.Many societies throughout history and around the world today have cultivated strong pressures to stay married. In those where ties to family and community are strong, lifelong marriages can be promoted by practices such as the cultural prohibition of divorce and arranged marriages that are seen as a contract between two families, not just two individuals. In modern western societies, however, the focus on individuality and independence means that people areless concerned about conforming to (遵守) the dictates of family and culture. In the absence of societal pressures to maintain pair-bonds, O’Sullivan suggests that romantic love has increasingly come to be seen as the factor that should determine who we stay with and for how long. “That’s why historically we see an increase in romantic love as a basis for forming long-term relationships,” she says.According to O’Sullivan culture also shapes the sorts of feelings we expect to have, and actually do experience, when in love. Although the negative emotions associated with romantic love —fear of loss, disappointment and jealousy —are fairly consistent across cultures, the positive feelings can vary. “If you ask Japanese students to list the positive attributes they expect in a romantic partner, th ey rate highly things like loyalty, commitment and devotion,”says O’Sullivan.“If you ask American college women, they expect everything under the sun: in addition to being committed, partners have to be amusing, funny and a friend.”We judge a potential partner according to our specific cultural expectations about what romantic love should feel like. If you believe that you have found true romance, and your culture tells you that this is what a long-term relationship should be based on, there is less need to rely on social or family pressures to keep couples together, O’Sullivan argues.62. What does the author say about people’s views of an ideal romantic relationship?A) They vary from culture to culture.B) They ensure the reproductive success.C) They reflect the evolutionary process.D) They are influenced by psychologists.63. We can infer from the passage that strong family and community ties ______.A) largely rely on marriage contractsB) can contribute to stable marriagesC) often run counter to romantic loveD) make divorces virtually unacceptable64. Without social pressures to keep pair-bonds, romantic love ______.A) will be a substitute for marriage in human relationshipsB) plays a key role in maintaining long-term relationshipsC) is likely to replace the dictates of family and societyD) is a way to develop individuality and independence65. O’Sullivan believes that when people from different cultures fall in love, ______.A) they expect different things from their partnerB) they tend to exaggerate each other’s positive qualitiesC) they often fail to see each other’s negative qualitiesD) they lay more emphasis on commitment and devotion66. We can conclude from the passage that______.A) cultural differences often tear apart a family built on romantic loveB) marriages are hard to sustain without social or family pressuresC) romantic love is becoming increasingly important in family relationshipsD) romantic love tends to yield where family or social pressures are strongPart V Cloze(15 minutes)Directions:There are 20 blanks in the following passage. For each blank there are four choices marked A), B), C) and D) on the right side of the paper. You should choosethe ONE that best fits into the passage. Then mark the corresponding letter onAnswer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.Whether you think you need daytime rest or not, picking up a nap（午睡）habit is a smart, healthy move. The Mayo Clinic says naps 67 67. A) enforce C) operateB) promote D) support68. A) feeling C) senserelaxation, better mood and alertness, and a sharper working 68 . A 2008 British study found that compared to getting more nighttime sleep, a mid-day nap was the best way to cope 69 the mid-afternoon sleepiness.According to the Harvard Health Letter, several studies have shown that people 70 new information better when they take a nap shortly after learning it. And, most 71 , a 2007 study of nearly 24,000 Greek adults in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that people who napped 72 had a 37 percent reduced risk of dying 73 heart disease compared to people who didn’t nap.Of course, napping isn’t 74 for everyone. If you’re suffering from inability to sleep, naps that are too long or taken too late in the day can 75 with your ability to fall or stay asleep at night.But for most, naps can make you feel sharper and happier. Naps provide different benefits, 76 on how long they are. A 20-minute nap will boost alertness and concentration; a 90-minute snooze(小睡) can 77 creativity.According to , you 78 a natural dip in body temperature 79 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. A short nap at this time can boost alertness 80 several hours and, for most people, should n’t 81 being able to fall asleep at night.Pick a dark, nice place that’s not too warm orB) frame D) mind69. A) with C) aboutB) aside D) upon70. A) remark C) rememberB) consider D) concern71. A) reportedly C) constantlyB) incredibly D) frankly72. A) regularly C) heavilyB) enormously D) strongly73. A) off C) againstB) under D) from74. A) exact C) rightB) correct D) precise75. A) influence C) competeB) eliminate D) interfere76. A) focusing C) relyingB) depending D) basing77. A) enlarge C) enhanceB) engage D) enlighten78. A) explore C) exerciseB) experience D) execute79. A) between C) amongB) amidst D) besides80. A) of C) duringB) beyond D) for81. A) produce C) affectB) dispose D) hasten82. A) illustrates C) predictsB) decides D) recommends。
2013雅思阅读模拟试题与答案解析
Sleep medication linked to bizarre behaviourNew evidence has linked a commonly prescribed sleep medication with bizarre behaviours， including a case in which a woman painted her front door in her sleep.UK and Australian health agencies have released information about 240 cases of odd occurrences， including sleepwalking， amnesia and hallucinations among people taking the drug zolpidem.While doctors say that zolpidem can offer much-needed relief for people with sleep disorders， they caution that these newly reported cases should prompt a closer look at its possible side effects.Zolpidem， sold under the brand names Ambien， Stilnoct and Stilnox， is widely prescribed to treat insomnia and other disorders such as sleep apnea. Various forms of the drug， made by French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi-Aventis， were prescribed 674，500 times in 2005 in the UK.A newly published report from Australia’s Federal Health Department describes 104 cases of hallucinations and 62 cases of amnesia experienced by people taking zolpidem since marketing of the drug began there in 2000. The health department report also mentioned 16 cases of strangesleepwalking by people taking the medication.Midnight snackIn one of these sleepwalking cases a patient woke with a paintbrush in her hand after painting the front door to her house. Another case involved a woman who gained 23 kilograms over seven months while taking zolpidem. “It was only when she was discovered in front of an open refrigerator while asleep that the problem was resolved，” according to the report.The UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency， meanwhile，has recorded 68 cases of adverse reactions to zolpidem from 2001 to 2005.The newly reported cases in the UK and Australia add to a growing list of bizarre sleepwalking episodes linked to the drug in other countries， including reports of people sleep-driving while on the medication. In one case， a transatlantic flight had to be diverted after a passenger caused havoc after taking zolpidem.Hypnotic effectsThere is no biological pathway that has been proven to connect zolpidem with these behaviours. The drug is a benzodiazepine-like hypnotic that promotes deep sleep by interacting with brain receptors for a chemical called gamma-aminobutyric acid. While parts of the brain become less active during deep sleep， the body can still move， making sleepwalking a possibility.The product information for prescribers advises that psychiatric adverse effects， including hallucinations， sleepwalking and nightmares， are more likely in the elderly， and treatment should be stopped if they occur.Patient advocacy groups say they would like government health agencies and drug companies to take a closer look at the possible risks associated with sleep medicines. They stress that strange sleepwalking and sleep-driving behaviours can have risky consequences.“When people do something in which they’re not in full control it’s always a danger，” says Vera Sharav of the New York-based Alliance for Human Research Protection， a US network that advocates responsible and ethical medical research practices.Tried and tested“The more reports that come out about the potential side effects of the drug，the more research needs to be done to understand if these are real side effects，” says sleep researcher Kenneth Wright at the University of Colorado in Boulder，US.Millions of people have taken the drug without experiencing any strange sideeffects， points out Richard Millman at Brown Medical School， director of the Sleep Disorders Center of Lifespan Hospitals in Providence， Rhode Island， US. He says that unlike older types of sleep medications， zolpidem does not carry as great a risk of addiction.And Wright notes that some of the reports of “sleep-driving” linke d to zolpidem can be easily explained： some patients have wrongly taken the drug right before leaving work in hopes that the medicine will kick in by the time they reach home. Doctors stress that the medication should be taken just before going to bed.The US Food & Drug Administration says it is continuing to "actively investigate" and collect information about cases linking zolpidem to unusual side effects.The Ambien label currently lists strange behaviour as a “special concern” for people taking the drug. “It’s a possible rare adverse event，” says Sanofi-Aventis spokesperson Melissa Feltmann， adding that the strange sleepwalking behaviours “may not necessarily be caused by the drug” but instead result from an underlying disorder. She says that “the s afety profile [of zolpidem] is well established”. The drug received approval in the US in 1993.Questions 1-6 Do the following statements agree with the information given in the reading passage？In boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet writeTRUE if the statement is true according to the passageFALSE if the statement is false according to the passageNOT GIVEN if the information is not given in the passage1. Ambien， Stilnoct and Stilnox are brand names of one same drug treating insomnia.2. The wo man’s obesity problem wasn’t resolved until she stopped taking zolpidem.3. Zolpidem received approval in the UK in 2001.4. The bizarre behaviour of a passenger after taking zolpidem resulted in the diversion of a flight bound for the other side of the Atlantic.5. Zolpidem is the only sleep medication that doesn’t cause addiction.6. The sleep-driving occurrence resulted from the wrong use of zolpidem by an office worker.Question 7-9 Choose the appropriate letters A-D and Write them in boxes 7-9 on your answer sheet.7. How many cases of bizarre behaviours are described in an official report from Australia？A. 68B. 104C. 182D. 2408. Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the product information about zolpidem？A. Treatment should be stopped if side effects occur.B. Medication should be taken just before going to bed.C. Adverse effects are more likely in the elderly.D. Side effects include nightmares， hallucinations and sleepwalking.9. Who claimed that the safety description of zolpidem was well established？A. Kenneth WrightB. Melissa FeltmannC. Richard MillmanD. Vera SharavQuestions 10-13 Answer the following questions with NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS each in boxes 10-13.10. How many times was French-made zolpidem prescribed in 2005 in Britain？11. What kind of hypnotic is zolpidem as a drug which promotes deep sleep in patients？12. What can sleepwalking and sleep-driving behaviours cause according to patient advocacy groups？13. What US administration says that it has been investigating the cases relating zolpidem to unusual side effects？Answer keys and explanations：1. TrueSee para.3 from the beginning： Zolpidem， sold under the brand names Ambien，Stilnoct and Stilnox， is widely prescribed to treat insomnia and other disorders such as sleep apnea.2. FalseSee para.1 under the subtitle “Midnight snack”： Another case involved a woman who gained 23 kilograms over seven months while taking zolpidem. “It was only when she was discovered in front of an open refrigerator while asleep that the problem was resolved”…3. Not GivenSee para.2 under the subtitle “Midnight snack”：The UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency， meanwhile， has recorded 68 cases of adverse reactions to zolpidem from 2001 to 2005. (The time the drug was approved in the UK was not mentioned.)4. TrueSee para.3 under the subtitle “Midnight snack”： In one case， a transatlantic flight had to be diverted after a passenger caused havoc after taking zolpidem.5. FalseSee para.2 under the subtitle “Tried and tested”： He says that unlike older types of sleep medications， zolpidem does not carry as great a risk of addiction.6. Not GivenSee para.3 under the subtitle “Tried and tested”： And Wright notes that some of the reports of “sleep-driving” linked to zolpidem can be easily explained：some patients have wrongly taken the drug right before leaving work in hopes that the medicine will kick in by the time they reach home. (No patients as office workers are mentioned in the passage.)7. CSee para.4 from the beginning： A newly published report from Australia’s Federal Health Department describes 104 cases of hallucinations and 62 cases of amnesia experienced by people taking zolpidem since marketing of the drug began there in 2000. The health department report also mentioned 16 cases of strange sleepwalking by people taking the medication.8. BSee the sentence in para.2 under the subtitle “Hypnotic effects” (The productinformation for prescribers advises that psychiatric adverse effects， including hallucinations， sleepwalking and nightmares， are more likely in the elderly，and treatment should be stopped if they occur.) and the sentence in para.3 under the subtitle “Tried and tested” (Doctors “not the product information” stress that the medication should be taken just before going to bed.)9. BSee para.5 under the subtitle “Tried and tested”： Sanofi-Aventis spokesperson Melissa Feltmann … says that “the safety profile [of zolpidem] is well established”.10. 674，500 (times)See para.3 from the beginning： Various forms of the drug， made by French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi-Aventis， were prescribed 674，500 times in 2005 in the UK.11. (a) benzodiazepine-like (hypnotic)See para.1 under the subtitle “Hypnotic effects”： The drug is a benzodiazepine-like hypnotic (类苯二氮催眠药)that promotes deep sleep by interacting with brain receptors for a chemical called gamma-aminobutyric acid.12. risky consequencesSee para.3 under the subtit le “Hypnotic effects”：Patient advocacy groups … stress that strange sleepwalking and sleep-driving behaviours can have risky consequences.13. Food & Drug (Administration)See para.4 under the subtitle “Tried and tested”： The US Food & Drug Administration says it is continuing to "actively investigate" and collect information about cases linking zolpidem to unusual side effects.以上就是新东方网雅思频道为大家整理的2013年雅思阅读模拟试题及答案解析，非常实用。