2018年6月大学英语六级真题试卷二听力原文
2018年6月大学英语六级真题试卷二【听力原文】Conversation OneM: 【1-1】Tonight we have a special guest from a local establishment, the Prage café. Welcome! W: Hi! Thanks for having me on your show.M: 【1-2】Thank you for joining us! So please tell us why did you decide to open a café? W: Well, we saw the opportunity to offer something a little special and different from other establishments. Cafés certainly are very a competitive market sector. There are more than plenty in our city. 【2】And we thought they are all rather similar to each other. Wouldn’t you agree?M: Certainly yes! So how is your establishment any different?W: Well. Simply put, we have rabbits wandering freely around the place. Our customers come in and enjoy their food and drinks, while little rabbits play about and brush against their legs. There’s no other place like it.M: That’s amazing! How did you come up with the idea?W: We saw other cafés with cats in them. So we thought why not rabbits? People love rabbits. They are very cute animals.M: But is it safe? Do the rabbits ever bite people or do any customers ever hurt the rabbits?W: It’s perfectly safe for both rabbits and our customers. Rabbits are very peaceful, and certainly do not bite. 【3】Furthermore, our rabbits are regularly cleaned, and have all received required shots, so there is no health risk whatsoever. 【4】 As for ourcustomers, they are all animal lovers, so they would never try to hurt the rabbits. Sometimes the young child may get overexcited and be a little too rough, but it’s never aserious matter. On the contrary, the Prage café offers a great experience for children, a chance for them to learn about rabbits and how to take care of them. M: Well, it’s certainly the first time I’ve heard of a café like that.【杀掉拦路虎】1. establishment [is?t?bli?m?nt]n. 企业;建立;（通常反对变革的）当权派;反对改革的保守当权派2. whatsoever [?w?ts??'ev?] pron.无论什么；任何3. advocate [??dv?keit] vt. 提倡;拥护;鼓吹;为…辩护; n. （辩护）律师;提倡者;支持者4. profitable [?pr?fit?bl]adj. 有利可图的，有益的;可赚钱的，合算的Questions 1 to 4 are based on the conversation you have just heard.5. pose [p?uz]vt.& vi. 使摆姿势;以…身份出现;招摇;炫耀; vt. 提出;造成（威胁、问题等）;引起;产生; n. 姿势;姿态;装腔作势;伪装6. injection [in?d?ek??n]n. 注射;注射剂;[医]充血;（卫星等的）入轨7. tame [teim]adj. 驯服的;平淡的;无精打采的; v. 驯服;抑制1.What do we learn about the woman?A) She advocates animal protection.B) She sells a special kind of coffee.C) She is going to start a cafe chain.D) She is the owner of a special cafe.【答案】D【解析】本题为细节题，由【1】Tonight we have a special guest from a localestablishment, the Prage café. Welcome! 【1-2】Thank you for joining us! So please tell us why did you decide to open a café?可知：今晚我们邀请了一位特殊的嘉宾，她来自于当地企业the Prage café，大家欢迎！后面又说到“欢迎加入我们！请您告诉我为什么要开一家咖啡店？”D选项：她是一种特殊咖啡厅的主人，符合文意。
因此，本题的正确选项为D项。
2.What does the woman say about cafés in her city?A) They bear a lot of similarities.B) They are a profitable business sector.C) They cater to different customers.D) They help take care of customers' pets.【答案】A【解析】本题为推断题，由【2】 And we thought they are all rather similar to each other. Wouldn’t you agree?可知：我认为他们彼此都很相似，你同意吗？，言外之意，它们很相似，A选项：它们有很多相似之处，符合句意，因此，本题的正确选项为A项。
3.How does the Prage café guarantee that its rabbits pose no health threat?A) By giving them regular cleaning and injections.B) By selecting breeds that are tame and peaceful.C) By placing them at a safe distance from customers.D) By briefing customers on how to get along with them.【答案】A【解析】本题为细节题，由【 3】Furthermore, our rabbits are regularly cleaned, and have all received required shots, so there is no health risk whatsoever. 可知：不仅如此，我们的兔子经常清洗，接受常规疫苗注射，因此，这边无论如何也没有健康风险；A选项：通过给他们常规清理和注射疫苗，符合问题的要求，因此，本题的正确选项为A项。
4.What does the woman say about their customers?A) They want to learn about rabbits.B)They like to bring in their children.C) They love the animals in her cafe.D) They give her cafe favorite reviews.【答案】C【解析】本题为细节题，由【 4】 As for our customers, they are all animal lovers, so they would never try to hurt the rabbits. 可知：至于我们的顾客，他们都是动物爱好者，因此他们从来不会尝试着伤害这些兔子，C 选项：在她的咖啡厅里，顾客们爱护这些动物。
符合文意，因此，本题的正确选项为C项。
【听力原文】Conversation TwoM: Hey, there. How are you?W: Oh, hi! I’m great, thanks. And you look great, too.M: Thank you! It’s good to see you shopping at the organic section.I see you got lots of healthy stuff. I wish I could buy more organic products from here. But I find the kids don’t like it. I don’t know about yours, but mine are all about junk food.W: Oh, trust me! I know exactly how you feel. My children are the same. 【5】 What is it with kids these days and all like junk food they eat? 【6-1】I think it’s all that advertising on TV. That’s where they get it. M: 【6-2】 Yes, it must be. My children see something on TV and theyimmediately want it. It’s like they don’t realize it’s just an advertisement. W: Right. And practically everything that advertises for children is unhealthy processed foods. No surprise then, it becomes a battle for us parents to feed our children ordinary fruit and vegetables.M: That’s just the thing! One never sees ordinary ingredients being advertised on TV. It’s never a carrot or a peach. It’s always some garbage like chocolate-covered sweets. Sounhealthy!W: Exactly! 【7】And these big food corporations have so much money to spend on clever tactics designed to make young children want to buy their products. Children never stand the chance. It’s really not fair.M: You are so right! 【8】 When we were children, we barely had any junk food available, and we turned out just fine. W: Yes, my parents don’t understand any of it. Both the TV commercials and the supermarkets are alien to them. Their world was so different back when they were young. M: I don’t know what will happen to the next generation. W: The world is going crazy. M: You bet!【杀掉拦路虎】 1. organic [?:?g?n?k]adj. 有机（体）的;有组织的，系统的;器官的;根本的;2. ingredients [??'ri:d??nts]n. （混合物的）组成部分( ingredient的名词复数 );（烹调的）原料;（构成）要素;因素;3. tactics ['t?kt?ks]Questions 5 to 8 are based on the conversation you have just heard.n. 战术;策略，手段;用兵学;[语]法素学;4. obesity [??'bi:s?t?] n. 肥胖，过胖;肥胖症;5. texture [?tekst??(r)] n. 质地;结构;本质; v. 使具有某种结构;5.What do the speakers say about the food that their children like?A) It contains too many additives.B) It lacks the essential vitamins.C) It can cause obesity.D) It is mostly garbage.【答案】D【解析】本题为细节题，由【5】 What is it with kids these days and all like junk food they eat? 可知:这些天来，孩子们都喜欢吃垃圾食品，这是怎么回事？，D选项：几乎是垃圾食品，符合问题要求。
2018年6月大学英语六级考试听力音频及听力原文
2018年6月大学生英语六级听力原文及答案(第1套) Section AConversation OneM:Tonight we have a special guest from a local establishment,the Parisian café.Welcome!W:Hi!Thanks for having me on your show.M:Thank you for joining us.So please tell us why did you decide to open a café? W:Well,we saw the opportunity to offer something a little special and different from other establishments.Cafés certainly are a very competitive market sector.There are more than plenty in our city,and we found they are all rather similar to each other.Wouldn’t you agree?M:Certainly yes.So how is your establishment any different?W:Well.Simply put,we have rabbits wandering freely around the place.Our customers come in and enjoy their food and drinks,while little rabbits play about and brush against their legs.There’s no other place like it.M:That’s amazing!How did you come up with the idea?W:We saw other cafés with cats in them.So we thought why not rabbits?People love rabbits.They are very cute animals.M:But is it safe?Do the rabbits ever bite people or do any customers ever hurt the rabbits?W:It’s perfectly safe for both rabbits and our customers.Rabbits are very peaceful, and certainly do not bite.Furthermore,our rabbits are regularly cleaned,and have all received required shots,so there is no health risk whatsoever.As for our customers, they are all animals lovers,so they would never try to hurt the rabbits.Sometimes a young child may get overexcited and be a little too rough,but it’s never a serious matter.On the contrary,the Parisian caféoffers a great experience for children,a chance for them to learn about rabbits and how to take care of them.M:Well,it’s certainly the first time I’ve heard of a cafélike that.Q1.What do we learn about the woman?Q2.What does the woman say about cafés in her city?Q3.How does the Parisian caféguarantee that its rabbits pose no health threat?Q4.What does the woman say about their customers?Conversation TwoM:Hey,there.How are you?W:Oh,hi!I’m great,thanks.And you look great,too.M:Thank you!It’s good to see you shopping at the organic section.I see you got lots of healthy stuff.I wish I could buy more organic products from here.But I find the kids don’t like it.I don’t know about yours,but mine are all about junk food.W:Oh,trust me!I know exactly how you feel.My children are the same.What is it with kids these days and all like junk food they eat?I think it’s all that advertising on TV.That’s where they get it.M:Yes,it must be.My children see something on TV and they immediately want it. It’s like they don’t realize it’s just an advertisement.W:Right,and practically everything that advertises for children is unhealthy processed foods.No surprise then,it becomes a battle for us parents to feed our children ordinary fruit and vegetables.M:That’s just the thing!One never sees ordinary ingredients being advertised on TV. It’s never a carrot or a peach.It’s always some garbage like chocolate-covered sweets. So unhealthy!W:Exactly!And these big food corporations have so much money to spend on clever tactics designed to make young children want to buy their products.Children never stand the chance.It’s really not fair.M:You are so right!When we were children,we barely had any junk food available, and we turned out just fine.W:Yes,my parents don’t understand any of it.Both the TV commercials and the supermarkets are alien to them.Their world was so different back when they were young.M:I don’t know what will happen to the next generation.W:The world is going crazy.M:You bet.Q5.What do the speakers say about the food that their children like?Q6.According to the speakers,what affects children’s choice of food most?Q7.What do the speakers believe big food corporations are doing?Q8.What do we know about the speakers when they were children?Section BPassage OneAt some2,300miles in length,the Mississippi is the longest river in the United States;at some1,000miles,the Mackenzie is the longest river in Canada.But these waterways seem minute in comparison to the world’s two lengthiest rivers:the Nile and the Amazon.The Nile,which begins in central Africa and flows over4,100miles north into the Mediterranean,hosted one of the world’s great ancient civilizations along its shores. Calm and peaceful for most of the year,the Nile used to flood annually,thereby creating,irrigating and carrying new topsoil to the nearby farmland on which ancient Egypt depended for livelihood.As a means of transportation,the river carried various vessels up and down its length.A journey through the unobstructed part of this waterway today would pass by the splendid Valley of the Kings,where the tombs of many of these ancient monarchs have stood for over3,000years.Great civilizations and intensive settlement are hardly associated with the Amazon.Yet this4,000-mile long South American river carries about20%of the world’s fresh water,more than the Mississippi,Nile and Yangtze combined.Other statistics are equally astonishing.The Amazon is so wide at some points that from its center neither shore can be seen.Each second the Amazon pours some55 million gallons of water into the Atlantic.There,at its mouth,stands one island larger than Switzerland.Most important of all,the Amazon irrigates the largest tropical rainforest on earth.Q9.What can be found in the Valley of the Kings?Q10.In what way is the Amazon different from other big rivers?Q11.What does the speaker say about the Amazon?Passage TwoHow often do you say to people“I’m busy”or“I haven’t got time for that”?It’s an inevitable truth that all of us live a life in the fast lane,even though we know that being busy is not always particularly healthy.Growing up in New Zealand,everything was always calm and slow.People enjoyed the tranquility of a slower pace of life.But after I moved to Tokyo and lived there for a number of years,I got used to having a pile of to-do lists,and my calendar always looked like a mess,with loads of things to do written across it.I found myself filling my time up with endless work meetings and social events,rushing along as busy as a bee.Then,one day,I came across a book called In Praise of Slowness and realized that being busy is not only detrimental but also has the danger of turning life into an endless race.So,I started practicing the various practical steps mentioned by the author in the book,and began to revolt against the very idea of being too busy.It doesn’t mean that my to-do lists no longer exist,but I’ve become more aware of the importance of slowing down,and making sure that I enjoy the daily activities as I carry them out.From now on,when someone asks you how your life is,try responding with words like“exciting”and“fun”,instead of the cultural norm that says“busy”.See if your experience of tranquility that follows.Q12.What does the speaker think is an inevitable truth?Q13.What does the speaker say about her life in Tokyo?Q14.What made the speaker change her lifestyle?Q15.What happened after the speaker changed her lifestyle?Section CRecording OneGovernments,private groups and individuals spend billions of dollars a year trying to root out non-native organisms that are considered dangerous to ecosystems and to prevent the introduction of new intruders.But a number of scientists question the assumption that the presence of alien species can never be acceptable in the natural ecosystem.They say that portraying introduced species as inherently bad is an unscientific approach.“Distinctions between exotic and native species are artificial,”said Dr.Michael Rosensberg,a professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Arizona.Because they depend on picking a date and calling the plants and animals that show up after that date exotic.“Ecosystem’s free of species to find as exotic are by default considered the most natural.You can’t roll back the clock and remove all exotics or fix habitats,”Dr.Rosensberg said.Both native and exotic species can become invasive and so they all have to be monitored and controlled when they begin to get out of hand.At its core,the debate is about how to manage the world’s remaining natural ecosystems and about how and how much to restore other habitats.Species that invade a territory can harm ecosystems,agriculture and human health.They can threaten some native species or even destroy and replace others.“Next to habitat loss, these invasive species represent the greatest threat to biodiversity worldwide,”many ecologists say.Ecologists generally define an alien species as one that people accidentally or deliberately carried to its new location.Across the American continents,exotic species are those introduced after the first European contact.That date rounded up to 1500AD represents what ecologists consider to have been in major shift in the spread of species including crops and livestock,as they begin to migrate with humans from continent to continent.“Only a small percentage of alien species cause problems in their new habitats,”said Don Smith,professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Tennessee.“Of the7,000alien species in the United States,out of a total of150,000 species,only about10%are invasive,”he pointed out.The other90%have fit intotheir environment and are considered naturalized.Yet appearances can deceive, ecologist caution,and many of these exotics may be considered acceptable only because no one has documented their harmful effects.What is more,non-native species can appear harmless for decades then turn invasive.Q16.What assumption about introduced species is challenged by a number of scientists?Q17.What does Dr.Michael Rosensberg think of the exotic and native species?Q18.What does Professor Don Smith say about alien species?Recording TwoGood morning,ladies and gentlemen,and welcome to the third in our series of business seminars in the program“Doing Business Abroad”.Today,we are going to look at intercultural awareness that is the fact about everyone in British.Not everyone speaks English and not everyone does business in a British way.And why should they?If overseas business people are selling to us,then they will make every effort to speak English and to respect our traditions and methods.It is only polite for us to do the same,when we visit them.It is not only polite,it is essential,if we want to sell British products overseas.First,a short quiz.Let’s see how interculturally where we are.Question1:Where must you not drink alcohol on the first and seventh of every month?Question2: Where should you never admire your host’s possessions?Question3:How should you attract the waiter during a business lunch in Bangkok?And question4:Where should you try to make all your appointments either before2：00or after5：30p.m.OK,everyone has a chance to make some notes.Right,here are the answers. Although I am sure that the information could equally well apply to countries other than those I have chosen.So,No.One,you must not drink alcohol on the first and seventh of the month in India.In international hotels,you may find it served,but if you are having a meal with an Indian colleague,remember to avoid asking for a beer if your arrival coincides with one of those dates.Two,in Arab countries,thepoliteness and generosity of the people is without parallel.If you admire your colleague’s beautiful golden bowls,you may well find yourself being presented with them as a present.This is not a cheap way to do your shopping,however,as your host will quite correctly expect you to respond by presenting him with a gift of equal worth and beauty.In Thailand,clicking the fingers,clapping your hands,or just shouting “waiter”,will embarrass your hosts,fellow diners,the waiter himself,and most of all, you.Place your palm downward,and make an inconspicuous way of gesture,which will produce instant and satisfying result.And finally,in Spain,some businesses maintain the pattern of working until about2：00and then returning to the office from 5：30to8：00,9：00or10：00in the evening.Q19.What should you do when doing business with foreigners?Q20.What must you avoid doing with your Indian colleague?Q21.What do we learn about some Spanish business people?Recording ThreeShortly after he took over the Reader’s Digest Association in1984,George Grune unlocked the company’s boardroom and announced that the room was now open to the employees.It was a symbolic act,indicating that under Grune’s leadership,Reader’s Digest was going to be different.True to his words,Grune has shaken up the culture here.To get an idea of the culture we are talking about,considered the boardroom Grune opened up,it has artworks that any museum in the world would want to collect, paintings by many world-famous artists like Monet and Picasso.Its headquarters houses some3,000works of art.The main building is topped with a Georgian Tower with four sculptures of the mythical winged horse,the magazine’s corporate logo.It sits on127acres of well-trimmed lawns.The editors’office used to be occupied by founder Dewitt Wallace,who along with his wife,Lila Acheson Wallace,launched Reader’s Digest in1922with condensed articles from other publications.It has become the world’s most widely-read magazine,selling28million copies each month in17languages and41different editions.The Wallaces,both children of church ministers,had clearly defined formula for their little magazine.As Reader’s Digest was originally subtitled, articles were to be short,readable and uplifting.Subjects were picked to inspire or entertain.The Wallaces didn’t accept advertising in the US edition until1955.And even then they didn’t allow any ads for cigarettes,liquor or drugs.The Wallaces also had a clear sense of the kind of workplace they wanted.It started as a mama and papa operation and the childless Wallaces always considered employees to be part of their family.Employees still tell stories of how the Wallaces would take care of the employees who had met with misfortunes and they showered their employees with unusual benefits,like a turkey on Thanksgiving and Fridays off in May.This cozy workplace no longer exists here.The Wallaces both died in their90s in the early1980s.George Grune,a former ad salesman who joined the Reader’s Digest in1960has his eye focused on the bottom line.In a few short years,he turned the magazine on its head.He laid off several hundred workers,especially hard hit where the blue-and pink-color departments such as subscription fulfillment.Q22.What did George Grune do in1984?Q23.How did the Wallaces define the formula for Reader’s Digest?Q24.What do we learn about the founder of Reader’s Digest,Dewitt Wallace?Q25.What change took place in Reader’s Digest after the Wallaces’death?答案：1-5ADBCB6-10ABDAB11-15DCBCA16-20CADCB21-25AADCD2018年6月大学生英语六级听力原文及答案(第2套) Conversation OneM:What's all that?Are you going to make a salad?W:No,I'm going to make a gazpacho.M:What's that?W:Gazpacho is a cold soup from Spain.It’s mostly vegetables.I guess you could call it a liquid salad.M:Cold soup?Sounds weird.W:It's delicious.Trust me.I tried it for the first time during my summer vacation in Spain.You see,in the south of Spain,it gets very hot in the summer,up to40°C.So a cold gazpacho is very refreshing.The main ingredients are tomato,cucumber,bell peppers,olive oil and stale bread.M:Stale bread?Surely you mean bread for dipping into the soup?W:No.Bread is crushed and blended in like everything else.It adds texture and thickness to the soup.M:Mm.And is it healthy?W:Sure.As I said earlier it's mostly vegetables.You can also add different things if you like,such as hard-boiled egg or cured ham.M:Cured ham?What’s that?W:That's another Spanish delicacy.Have you never heard of it?It is quite famous. M:No,is it good,too?W:Oh,yeah,definitely it’s amazing.It’s a little dry and salty,and it's very expensive because it comes from a special type of pig that only eats a special type of food.The harm is covered in salt to dry and preserve it.And left to hang for up to2years,it has a very distinct flavor.M:Mm.Sounds interesting.Where can I find some?W:It used to be difficult to get Spanish produce here.But it's now a lot more common.Most large supermarket chains have cured ham in little packets but in Spain you combine a whole leg.M:A whole pig leg?Why would anybody want so much ham?W:In Spain,many people buy a whole leg for special group events,such as Christmas.They cut it themselves into very thin slices with a long flat knife.Q1.What do we learn about gazpacho?Q2.For what purpose is stale bread mixed into gazpacho?Q3.Why does the woman think gazpacho is healthy?Q4.What does the woman say about cured ham?Conversation TwoM:Hello,I wish to buy a bottle of wine.W:Hi,yes.What kind of wine would you like?M:I don't know,sorry.I don’t know much about wine.W:That’s no problem at all.What’s the occasion and how much would you like to spend?M:It's for my boss.It’s his birthday.I know he likes wine,but I don’t know what type.I also do not want anything too expensive,maybe mid-range.How much would you say is a mid-range bottle of wine approximately?W:Well,it varies greatly.Our lowest prices are around$6a bottle,but those are table wines.They are not very special.And I would not suggest them as a gift.On the other hand,our most expensive bottles are over$150.If you are looking for something priced in the middle,I would say anything between$30and$60would make a decent gift.How does that sound?M:Mm,yeah.I guess something in the vicinity of30or40would be good.Which type would you recommend?W:I would say the safest option is always a red wine.They are generally more popular than whites,and can usually be paired with food more easily.Our specialty here are Italian wines,and these tend to be fruity with medium acidity.This one hereis a Chianti,which is perhaps Italy's most famous type of red wine.Alternatively,you may wish to try and surprise your boss with something less common,such as the Zinfandel.The grapes are originally native to Croatia but this winery is in east in Italy and it has a more spicy and peppery flavor.So to summarize,the Chianti is more classical and the Zinfandel more exciting.Both are similarly priced at just under$40. M:I will go with Chianti then.Thanks.Q5.What does the woman think of table wines?Q6.What is the price range of wine the man will consider?Q7.Why does the woman recommend red wines?Q8.What do we learn about the wine the man finally bought?Section BPassage OneMany people enjoy secret codes.The harder the code,the more some people will try to figure it out.In war time,codes are especially important.They help army send news about battles and the size of enemy forces.Neither side wants its codes broken by the other.One very important code was never broken.It was used during World WarⅡby the Americans.It was a spoken code never written down.And it was developed and used by Navajo Indians.They were called“the Navajo code talkers”. The Navajos created the code in their own language.Navajo is hard to learn,and only a few people know it.So it was pretty certain that the enemy would not be able to understand the code talkers.In addition,the talkers used code words.They called a submarine an iron fish and a small bomb thrown by hand a potato.If they wanted to spell something,they used code words for letters of the Alphabet.For instance,the letter A was ant or apple or ax.The code talkers worked mostly in the islands in the Pacific.One or two would be assigned to a group of soldiers.They would send messages by field telephone to the code talker in the next group.And he would relay the information to his commander.The code talkers played an important part in several battles.They helped troops coordinate their movements and attacks.After the war,the ernmenthonored them for what they had accomplished.Theirs was the most successful wartime code ever used.Q9.What does the speaker say many people enjoy doing?Q10.What do we learn about the Navajo code talkers?Q11.What is the speaker mainly talking about?Passage TwoIf you are young and thinking about your career,you want to know where you can make a living.Well,there’s going to be a technological replacement of a lot of knowledge-intensive jobs in the next twenty years,particularly in the two largest sectors of the labor force with professional skills.One is teaching,and the other, healthcare.You have so many applications and software and platforms that are going to come in and provide information and service in these two fields,which means a lot of healthcare and education sectors would be radically changed and a lot of jobs will be lost.Now,where will the new jobs be found?Well,the one sector of the economy that can’t be easily duplicated by even smart technologies is the caring sector,the personal care sector.That is,you can’t really get a robot to do a great massage or physically therapy.Or you can’t get the kind of personal attention you need with regard to therapy or any other personal service.They could be very high and personal services.Therapists do charge a lot of money.I think there’s no limit to the amount of personal attention and personal care people would like if they could afford it.But the real question in the future is how can people afford these things if they don’t have money because they can’t get a job that pays enough.That’s why I wrote this book which is about how to reorganize the economy for the future when technology brings about destructive changes to what we used to consider high income work.Q12.What does the speaker say will happen in the next twenty years?Q13.Where will young people have more chances to find jobs?Q14.What does the speaker say about therapists?Q15.What is the speaker’s book about?Section CRecording OneAmerican researchers have discovered the world’s oldest paved road,a 4,600-year-old highway.It linked a stone pit in the Egyptian desert to waterways that carried blocks to monument sites along the Nile.The eight-mile road is at least500years older than any previously discovered road.It is the only paved road discovered in ancient Egypt,said geologist Thomas Bown of the U.S.Geological Survey.He reported the discovery on Friday.“The road probably doesn’t rank with the pyramids as a construction feat,but it is a major engineering achievement,”said his colleague,geologist James Harrell of the University of Toledo.“Not only is the road earlier than we thought possible,we didn’t even think they built roads.”The researchers also made a discovery in the stone pit at the northern end of the road:the first evidence that the Egyptians used rock saws.“This is the oldest example of saws being used for cutting stone,”said Bown’s colleague James Hoffmeier of Wheaton College in Illinois.“That’s two technologies we didn’t know they had,”Harrell said.“And we don’t know why they were both abandoned.”The road was discovered in the Faiyum Depression,about45miles southwest of Cairo.Short segments of the road had been observed by earlier explorers,Bown said, but they failed to realize its significance or follow up on their observations.Bown and his colleagues stumbled across it while they were doing geological mapping in the region.The road was clearly built to provide services for the newly discovered stone pit.Bown and Harrell have found the camp that housed workers at the stone pit.The road appears today to go nowhere,ending in the middle of the desert.When it was built,its terminal was a dock on the shore of Lake Moeris,which had an elevation of about66feet above sea level,the same as the dock.Lake Moeris received its water from the annual floods of the Nile.At the time of the floods,the river and lake were at the same level and connected through a gap in the hills near the modern villages of el-Lahun and Hawara.Harrell and Bown believethat blocks were loaded onto barges during the dry season,then floated over to the Nile during the floods to be shipped off to the monument sites at Giza and Saqqara.Q16.What do we learn from the lecture about the world’s oldest paved road in Egypt? Q17.What did the researchers discover in the stone pit?Q18.For what purpose was the paved road built?Recording TwoThe thin,extremely sharp needles didn’t hurt at all going in.Dr.Gong pierced them into my left arm,around the elbow that had been bothering me.Other needles were slipped into my left wrist and,strangely,into my right arm,and then into both my closed eyelids.There wasn’t any discomfort,just a mild warming sensation.However,I did begin to wonder what had driven me here,to the office of Dr.James Gong,in New York’s Chinatown.Then I remembered—the torturing pain in that left elbow.Several trips to a hospital and two expensive,uncomfortable medical tests had failed to produce even a diagnosis.“Maybe you lean on your left arm too much,”the doctor concluded, suggesting I see a bone doctor.During the hours spent waiting in vain to see a bone doctor,I decided to take another track and try acupuncture.A Chinese-American friend recommended Dr.Gong.I took the subway to Gong’s second-floor office,marked with a hand-painted sign.Dr.Gong speaks English,but not often.Most of my questions to him were greeted with a friendly laugh,but I managed to let him know where my arm hurt.He asked me to go into a room,had me lie down on a bed,and went to work.In the next room,I learned,a woman dancer was also getting a treatment.As I lay there a while,I drifted into a dream-like state and fantasized about what she looks like.Acupuncturists today are as likely to be found on Park Avenue as on Mott Street. In all,there are an estimated10,000acupuncturists in the country.Nowadays,a lot of M.D.s have learned acupuncture techniques,so have a number of dentists.Reason?Patient demand.Few,though,can adequately explain how acupuncture works.Acupuncturists may say that the body has more than800acupuncture points.A life force called Qi circulates through the body.Points on the skin are energetically connected to specific organs,body structures and systems.Acupuncture points are stimulated to balance the circulation of Qi.The truth is,though acupuncture is at least2,200years old,“nobody really knows what’s happening,”says Paul Zmiewski,a Ph.D.in Chinese studies who practices acupuncture in Philadelphia.After five treatments,there has been dramatic improvement in my arm,and the pain is a fraction of what it was.The mainly silent Dr.Gong finally even offered a diagnosis for what troubled me.“Pinched nerve,”he said.Q19.What does the speaker find especially strange?Q20.Why did the speaker go see Dr.Gong?Q21.What accounts for the growing popularity of acupuncture in the U.S.,according to the speaker?Recording ThreeRonald and Lois married for two decades consider themselves a happy couple.But in the early years of their marriage both were disturbed by persistent arguments that seem to fade away without ever being truly resolved.They uncovered clues towards what was going wrong by researching a fascinating subject:How birth order affects not only your personality but also how compatible you are with your mate.Ronald and Lois are only children,and“onlies”grow up accustomed to be the apple of parents’eyes.Match two“onlies”,and you have partners who subconsciously expect each other to continue fulfilling this expectation,while neither has much experience in the giving end.Here is a list of common birth order characteristics,and some thoughts on the best and worst marriage or matches for each.The oldest tends to be self-assured,responsible,a high-achiever and relatively。
2018年度6月大学英语六级第二套真命题试题及答案解析
2017年6月大学英语六级真题试卷及答案（二）Part I Writing (30 minutes)(请于正式开考后半小时内完成该部分，之后将进行听力考试)Directions:Suppose you are asked to give advice on whether to major in science or humanities at college，write an essay to state your opinion. You are required to write at least 150 words but no more than 200 words.Part II Listening Comprehension (30 minutes) Section ADirections:In this section, you will hear two long conversations. At the end of each conversation, you will hear four questions. Both the conversation 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 1 with a single line through the centre.注意：此部分试题请在答题卡1上作答。
Questions 1 to 4 are based on the conversation you have just heard.1.A) Doing enjoyable work.B) Earning a competitive salary. C) Having friendly colleagues.D) Working for supportive bosses.2.A) 20%.B) 25%. C)31%.D) 73%.3.A) Those full of skilled workers.B) Those that are well managed.C) Those run by women.D) Those of a small size.4.A) They can win recognition of their work.B) They can better balance work and life.C) They can hop from job to job easily.D) They can take on more than one job.Questions 5 to 8 are based on the conversation you have just heard.5. A) It is a collection of photos. B) It is an introduction to music.C) It is about the city of Bruges. D) It is a book of European history.6.A) When writing about Belgium’s coastal regions.B) When taking pictures for a concert catalogue.C) When vacationing in an Italian coastal city.D) When painting the concert hall of Bruges.7.A) The rich heritage of Europe will be lost completely.B)The seawater of Europe will be seriously polluted.C) The entire European coastline will be submerged.D)The major European scenic spots will disappear.8.A) Tourists use wooden paths to reach their hotels in the morning.B)It attracts large numbers of tourists from home and abroad.C) People cannot get around without using boats.D)Its waterways are being increasingly polluted.Section BDirections: In this section, you will hear two passages. At the end of each passage, you will hear three or four 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 1 with a single line through the centre.Questions9 to 12 are based on the passage you have just heard.9.A) They try hard to avoid getting off on the wrong foot.B)They spend too much time anticipating their defeat.C) They take too many irrelevant factors into account.D) They make careful preparations beforehand.10.A) Mental images often interfere with athletes’performance.B)Golfers usually have positive mental images of themselves.C) Thinking has the same effect on the nervous system as doing.D) A person’s nervous system is more complicated than imagined.11.A) Anticipate possible problems.B) Make a list of do’s and don’ts.C) Try to appear more professional.D) Picture themselves succeeding.12.A) She won her first jury trial. B) She wore a designer dress.C) She presented moving pictures. D) She did not speak loud enough.Questions 13 to 15 are based on the passage you have just heard.13.A) It enables patients with diabetes to recover sooner.B)Its health benefits have been overestimated.C) Its long-term effects are yet to be proved.D) It helps people to avoid developing breast cancer.14.A) It tracked their eating habits since their adolescence.B)It focused on their difference from men in fiber intake.C) It tracked their change in food preferences for 20 years.D) It focused on their ways of life during young adulthood.15.A) Fiber may bring more benefits to women than men.B)Fiber may improve the function of heart muscles.C) Fiber may make blood circulation more smooth.D) Fiber may help to reduce hormones in the body.Section CDirections: In this section, you will hear three recordings of lectures or talks followed by three or four questions. The recordings will be played 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 1 with a single line through the centre.Questions 16 to18 are based on the recording you have just heard.16.A) Investigating the impact of media on government.B)Studying the hazards of young people drinking.C) Conducting research on consumer behaviour.D) Observing the changes in marketing.17.A) It is a chief concern of parents. B) It is an act of socialising.C) It is the cause of many street riots. D) It is getting worse year byyear.18.A) They researched the impact of mobile phones on young people.B)They spent a week studying their own purchasing behaviour.C) They conducted a thorough research on advertising.D) They analysed their family budgets over the years.Questions 19 to 22 are based on the recording you have just heard.19. A) It is likely to give up paper money in the near future.B) It is the first country to use credit cards in the world.C) It is trying hard to do away with dirty money.D) It is helping its banks to improve efficiency.20. A) Whether it is possible to travel without carrying any physical currency.B)Whether it is possible to predict how much money one is going to spend.C) Whether the absence of physical currency is going to affect everyday life.D) Whether the absence of physical currency causes a person to spend more.21.A) The cash in her handbag was missing. B) The service on the train was not good.C) The restaurant car accepted cash only. D) There was no food service on the train.22.A) By drawing money week by week. B) By putting money into envelopes.C) By limiting their day-to-day spending. D) By refusing to buy anything on credit.Questions 23 to 25 are based on the recordingyou have just heard.23. A) Population explosion. B) Extinction of rare species.C) Chronic hunger. D) Environmental deterioration.24. A) About half of them are unintended. B) They contribute to overpopulation.C) They have been brought under control. D) The majority of them tend to end halfway.25. A) It is beginning to attract postgraduates’attention.B) It is neglected in many of the developing countries.C) It is becoming a subject of interdisciplinary research.D) It is essential to the wellbeing of all species on earth.Part II Listening Comprehension (30 minutes)Section ADirections: In this section, you will hear two long conversations. At the end of each conversation, you mil hear four questions. Both the conversation 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 1 with a single line through the centre.Questions 1 to 4 are based on the conversation you have just heard.1. A) Doing enjoyable work. B) Having friendly colleagues.C)Earning a competitive salary. D) Working for supportive bosses.【答案】B【解析】对话中关于第一个调查，男士说有十大因素影响着人们在工作中的幸福感。
2018年6月英语听力听力原文(两套全)
201806CET6（1）长对话1：西班牙蔬菜汤M: What’s all that? Are you going to make a salad?W: No, I’m going to make a gazpacho.M: What’s that?W: Gazpacho is a cold soup from Spain. It’s mostly vegetables. I guess you can call it a liquid salad.M: Cold soup? Sounds weird.W: It’s delicious. Trust me! I tried it for the first time during my summer vacation in Spain. You see, in the south of Spain, it gets very hot and summer, up to 42 degrees Celsius, so a cold gazpacho is very refreshing. The main ingredients are tomato, cucumber, bell peppers, olive oil and stale bread.M: Stale bread? Surely you mean bread for dipping into the soup.W: No. bread is crushed and blended in, like everything else. It adds texture and thickness to the soup.M: um…and is it healthy?W: Sure. As I said earlier, it’s mostly vegetables. You can also add different things if you like such as half-boiled eggs or cured ham.M: Cured ham? What’s that?W: That’s another Spanish delicacy. Have you never heard of it? It’s quite famous.M: No. Is it good too?W: Oh, yeah, definitely. It’s amazing. It’s a little dry and salty. And it is very expensive because it comes from a special type of pig that only eats a special type of food. The ham is covered in salt to dry and preserve it, and left hung for up to two years. It has a very distinct favor.M: um, sounds interesting. Where can I find some?W: It used to be difficult to get Spanish produce here, but it's now a lot more common. Most large supermarket chains have cured ham in little packets. But in Spain, you can buy a whole leg.M: A whole pig leg? Why would anybody want so much ham?W: In Spain, many people buy a whole leg for special group events such as Christmas. They cut it themselves into very thin slices with a long flat knife.Q1 What do we learn about gazpacho?Q2 For what purpose is stale bread mixed into gazpacho?Q3 Why does the woman think gazpacho is healthy?Q4 what does the women say about cured ham?1 A It is a Spanish soup2 C To make it thicker3 B It is mainly made of vegetables4 D It comes from a special kind of pig长对话2：买酒送上司M: Hello, I wish to buy a bottle of wine.W: Hi, yes. What kind of wine would you like?M: I don’t know. Sorry, I don’t know much about wine.W: That’s no problem at all. What’s the occasion and how much would you like to spend?M: It’s for my boss. It’s his birthday. I know he likes wine but I don’t know what type. I also did not want anything too expensive. Maybe middle range. How much would you say is a middle range bottle of a wine approximately?W: Well, it varies greatly. Our lowest prices are around 60 dollars a bottle but those are table wines. They are not very special and I would not suggest them as a gift. On the other hand, our most expensive bottles are over a hundred and fifty dollars. If you are looking for something priced in the middle, I would say anything between 30 dollars and 60 dollars would make a decent gift. How does that sound?M: um, yeah. I guess something in the vicinity of 30 or 40 would be good. Which type wouldyou recommend?W: I would say the safest option is always a red wine. They are generally more popular than whites and can usually be paired with food more easily. Our specialty here are Italian wines and these tend to be fruity with medium acidity. This one here is a Chianti which is perhaps Italy's most famous type of red wine. Alternatively, you may wish to try and surprise your boss with something less common such as this Zinfandel. The grapes are originally native to Croatia, but this winery is in eastern Italy. And it has more spicy and peppery flavor. So, to summarize, the Chianti is more classical and Zinfandel more exciting. Both are similarly priced, and just under 40 dollars.M: I'll go with Chianti then, thanks.Q5 What does the woman think of table wines?Q6 What is the price range of wine the man will consider?Q7 Why does the woman recommend red wines?Q8 What do we learn about the wine the man finally bought?5 C They do not make decent gifts6 D $30-$407 A They go well with different kinds of food8 C It is Italy’s most famous type of red winePassage One ：战时密码Many people enjoy secret codes. The harder the code, the more some people will try to figure it out. In wartime, codes are especially important. They help army send news about battles and the sizes of enemy forces. Neither side wants its codes broken by the other. One very important code was never broken. It was used during World War II by the Americans. It was a spoken code never written down. And it was developed and used by Navajo Indians. They were called “the Navajo code talkers” the Navajos created the code in their own language. Navajo is hard to learn. Only a few people know it. So it was pretty certain that the enemy would not be able to understand the cold talkers. In addition, the talkers used code words. They called a submarine an iron fish and a small bomb thrown by hand a potato. If they wanted to spell something, they used code words for letters of the alphabet. For instance, the letter A was ant or apple or eggs. The code talkers worked mostly in the islands in the Pacific. One or two would be assigned to a group of soldiers. They would send messages by field telephone to the code talker in the next group. And he would relay the information to his commander. The code talkers played an important part in several battles. They helped troops coordinate their movements and attacks. After the war, the US government honored them for what they had accomplished. Theirs was the most successful wartime code ever used.Q9 What does the speaker say many people enjoy doing?Q10 What do we learn about Navajo code talkers?Q11 What is the speaker mainly talking about?9 B Decoding secret message10 D They helped the U.S army in World War Two11 A A military code that was never brokenPassage Two：科技会给未来经济/工作带来哪些变化If you are young and thinking about your career. You want to know where you can make a living. Well, it’s going to be a technological replacement of a lot of knowledge-intensive jobs in the next twenty years. Particularly, in the two largest sectors of labor force with professional skills. One is teaching and the other healthcare. You have so many applications and software and platforms that are going to come in and provide information and service in these two fields, which means a lot of healthcare and education sectors would be radically changed and a lot of jobs will be lost. Now, where will the new jobs be found? Well, the one extra economy can’t be easily duplicated by even smart technologies is the caring sector, the personal care sector. That is, you can’t really get a robot to do a great massage or physically therapy. Or you can’t get the kind ofpersonal attention your need with regard to therapy or any other personal services. They could be very high and personal services. Therapists do charge a lot of money. I think there’s no limit to the amount of personal attention and personal care people would like if they could afford it. But the real question in the future is how come people afford these things if they don’t have money because they can’t get a job that pays enough. That’s why I wrote this book which is about how to reorganize the economy for the future when technology brings about destructive changes to what we used to consider high income work.Q12 What does the speaker say will happen in the next 20 years?Q13 Where will young people have more chances to find jobs?Q14 What does the speaker say about therapists?Q15 What is the speaker’s book about?12 C A lot of knowledge-intensive jobs will be replaced13 D In the personal care sector14 B They charge high prices15 D The tremendous changes new technology will bring to people’s livesRecording 1：美国发现世界上最早铺设的高速公路American researchers have discovered the world's oldest paved road, a 4,600-year-old highway. it linked a stone pit in the Egyptian desert to waterways that carried blocks to monument sites along the Nile.The eight-mile road is at least 500 years older than any previously discovered road. It is the only paved road discovered in ancient Egypt, said geologist Thomas Bown of the U.S. Geological Survey. He reported the discovery Friday, "The road probably doesn't rank with the pyramids as a construction feat, but it is a major engineering achievement," said his colleague, geologist James Harrell of the University of Toledo. "Not only is the road earlier than we thought possible, we didn't even think they built roads."The researchers also made a discovery in the stone pit at the northern end of the road: the first evidence that the Egyptians used rock saws. "This is the oldest example of saws being used for cutting stone," said Bown’s colleague, James Hoffmeier of Wheaton College in Illinois,"That's two technologies we didn't know they had," Harrell said. "And we don't know why they were both abandoned."The road was discovered in the Faiyum Depression, about 45 miles southwest of Cairo. Short segments of the road had been observed by earlier explorers, Bown said, but they failed to realize its significance or follow up on their observations. Bown and his colleagues stumbled across it while they were doing geological mapping in the region.The road was clearly built to provide services for the newly discovered stone pit. Bown and Harrell have found the camp that housed workers at the stone pit. The road appears today to go nowhere, ending in the middle of the desert. When it was built, its terminal was a dock on the shore of Lake Moeris, which had an elevation of about 66 feet above sea level, the same as the dock.Lake Moeris received its water from the annual floods of the Nile. At the time of the floods, the river and lake were at the same level and connected through a gap in the hills near the modern villages of el-Lahun and Hawara. Harrell and Bown believe that blocks were loaded onto barges during the dry season, then floated over to the Nile during the floods to be shipped off to the monument sites at Giza and Saqqara.Q16: What do we learn from the lecture about the world's oldest paved road in Egypt?Q17: What did the researchers discover in the stone pit?Q18: For what purpose was the paved road built?16 C it linked a stone pit to some waterways17 B saws used for cutting stone18 A to provide services for the stone pitRecording 2：中国针灸疗法The thin, extremely sharp needles didn’t hurt at all going in. Dr. Gong pierced them into myleft arm around the elbow that had been bothering me. Other needles were slipped into my left wrist and, strangely, into my right arm, and then into both my closed eyelids. There wasn’t any discomfort, just a mild warming sensation. However, I did begin to wonder what had driven me here, to the office of Dr. James Gong in New York’s Chinatown.Then I remembered the torturing pain in that left elbow. Several trips to a hospital and two expensive, uncomfortable medical tests had failed to produce even a diagnosis. “Maybe you lean on your left arm too much,” the doctor concluded, suggesting I see a bone doctor.During the hours spent waiting in vain to see a bone doctor, I decided to take another track and try acupuncture. A Chinese-American friend recommended Dr. Gong. I took the subway to Gong’s second-floor office, marked with a hand-painted sign.Dr. Gong speaks English, but not often. Most of my questions to him were greeted with a friendly laugh, but I managed to let him know where my arm hurt. He asked me to go into a room, had me lie down on a bed, and went to work. In the next room, I learned, a woman dancer was also getting a treatment. As I lay there a while, I drifted into a dream-like state and fantasized about what she looked like.Acupuncturists today are as likely to be found on Park Avenue as on Mott Street. In all there are an estimated 10,000 acupuncturists in the country. Nowadays, a lot of medical doctors have learned acupuncture techniques. So have a number of dentists. Reason? Patient demand. Few, though, can adequately explain how acupuncture works.Acupuncturists may say that the body has more than 800 acupuncture points. A life force called Qi circulates through the body. Points on the skin are energetically connected to specific organs, body structures and systems. Acupuncture points are stimulated to balance the circulation of Qi.The truth is, though acupuncture is at least 2,200 years old, “nobody really knows what’s happening,” says Paul Zmiewski, a Ph.D. in Chinese studies who practices acupuncture in Philadelphia.After five treatments, there has been dramatic improvement in my arm, and the pain is a fraction of what it was. The mainly silent Dr. Gong finally even offered a diagnosis for what troubled me. “Pinched nerve,” he said.Q19: What does the speaker find especially strange?Q20: Why did the speaker go see Dr. Gong?Q21: What accounts for the growing popularity of acupuncture in the United States according to the speaker?19 B Dr Gong slipped in needles where he felt no pain20 D previous medical treatments failed to relieve his pain21 C more and more patients ask for the treatmentRecording 3：出生顺序对性格以及你与伴侣合拍度的影响Ronald and Louis married for 2 decades consider themselves a happy couple but in the early years of their marriage both were disturbed by persistent arguments that seemed to fade away without ever being truly resolved. They uncovered clues towards what was going wrong by researching a fascinating subject: How birth order affects not only your personality but also how compatible you are with your mate.Ronald and Louis are only children, and "onlys" grow up accustomed to be the apple of parents’ eyes. Match two “onlys”, and you have partners who subconsciously expect each other to continue fulfilling this expectation, while neither has much experience in the giving end. Here is a list of common birth order characteristics, and some thoughts on the best and worst, marriage would match for each.The oldest tends to be self-assured, responsible, a high-achiever and relatively serious and reserved. He may be slow to make friends, perhaps contained with only one companion. The best matches are with a youngest, an only or a mate raised in a large family. The worst match is with another oldest, since the two will be too sovereign to share a household comfortably.The youngest child of the family thrives on attention, and tends to be out-going, adventurous, optimistic, creative and less ambitious than others in the family. He may lack self-discipline, and have difficulty making decisions on his own.A youngest brother of brothers, often unpredictable and romantic, will match best with an oldest sister of brothers. The youngest sister of brothers is best matched with an oldest brother of sisters who will happily indulge these traits.The middle child is influenced by many variables; However, "middles" are less likely to take initiative, and more anxious and self-critical than others. "Middles" often successfully marry other "middles", since both are strong untacked, not so strong on aggressiveness, and tend to crave affection.The only child is often most comfortable when alone. But since an only tends to be a well-adjusted individual, she’ll eventually learn to relate to any chosen spouse. The male only child expects his wife to make life easier without getting much in return. He is sometimes best matched with a younger sister of brothers. The female only child who tends to be slightly more flexible is well matched with an older man who will indulge her tendency to test his love. Her worst match? Another only. Of course.Q22: What does the speaker say about Ronald and Louis’s early years of married life?Q23: What do we learn about Ronald and Louis?Q24: What does the speaker say about the oldest child in a family?Q25: What does the speaker say about the only children?22 B they quarreled a lot and never resolved their argument23 C Neither of them has any sisters and brothers24 A They tend to be self-assured and responsible25 D they tend to be well adjusted201806CET6（2）Conversation 1：M：1.Tonight we have a special guest from the local establishment the Prage Cafe。
2018年6月英语六级考试真题及答案解析和听力原文 (第2套)
2018年6月英语六级考试真题及答案解析和听力原文 (第2套)2018年6月英语六级考试真题 (第2套)Part I Writing (30 minutes)Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay on the importance of building trust between teachers and students. You can cite examples to illustrate your views. You should write at least 150 words but no more than 200 words.Part II Listening Comprehension (30 minutes)Section ADirections: In this section, you will hear two long conversations. At the end of each conversation, you will hear four questions. Both the conversation 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 1 with a single line through the centre.Questions 1 to 4 are based on the conversation you have just heard.1. A) She advocates animal protection.B) She sells a special kind of coffee. C) She is going to start a café chain.D) She is the owner of a special café.2. A) They bear a lot of similarities.B) They are a profitable business sector. C) They cater to different customers.D) They help take care of customers' pets.3. A) By giving them regular cleaning and injections.B) By selecting breeds that are tame and peaceful.C) By placing them at a safe distance from customers.D) By briefing customers on how to get along with them.4. A) They want to learn about rabbits.B) They like to bring in their children. C) They love the animals in her café.D) They give her café favorite reviews.Questions 5 to 8 are based on the conversation you have just heard.5. A) It contains too many additives.B) It lacks the essential vitamins. C) It can cause obesity.D) It is mostly garbage.6. A) Its fancy design. B) TV commercials. C) Its taste and texture. D) Peer influence.7. A) Investing heavily in the production of sweet foods.B) Marketing their products with ordinary ingredients.C) Trying to trick children into buying their products.D) Offering children more varieties to choose from.8. A) They hardly ate vegetables.B) They seldom had junk food. C) They favored chocolate-coated sweets.D) They liked the food advertised on TV.Section BDirections: In this section, you will hear two passages. At the end of each passage, you will hear three or four 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 1 with a single line through the centre.Questions 9 to 11 are based on the passage you have just heard.9. A) Stretches of farmland.B) Typical Egyptian animal farms. C) Tombs of ancient rulers.D) Ruins left by devastating floods.10. A) It provides habitats for more primitive tribes.B) It is hardly associated with great civilizations.C) It has not yet been fully explored and exploited.D) It gathers water from many tropical rain forests.11. A) It carries about one fifth of the world's fresh water.B) It has numerous human settlements along its banks.C) It is second only to the Mississippi River in width.D) It is as long as the Nile and the Yangtze combined.Questions 12 to 15 are based on the passage you have just heard.12. A) Living a life in the fast lane leads to success.B) We are always in a rush to do various things.C) The search for tranquility has become a trend.D) All of us actually yearn for a slow and calm life.13. A) She had trouble balancing family and work. C) She was accustomed to tight schedules.B) She enjoyed the various social events. D) She spent all her leisure time writing books.14. A) The possibility of ruining her family.B)Becoming aware of her declining health. C) The fatigue from living a fast-paced life.D) Reading a book about slowing down.15. A) She started to follow the cultural norms. C) She learned to use more polite expressions.B) She came to enjoy doing everyday tasks. D) She stopped using to-do lists and calendars. Section CDirections: In this section, you will hear three recordings of lectures or talks followed by three or four questions. The recordings will be played 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 1 with a single line through centre.Questions 16 to 18 are based on the recording you have just heard.16. A) They will root out native species altogether.B) They contribute to a region's biodiversity.C) They pose a threat to the local ecosystem.D) They will crossbreed with native species.17. A) Their classifications are meaningful.B) Their interactions are hard to define. C) Their definitions are changeable.D) Their distinctions are artificial.18. A) Only a few of them cause problems to native species.B) They may turn out to benefit the local environment.C) Few of them can survive in their new habitats.D) Only 10 percent of them can be naturalized.Questions 19 to 21 are based on the recording you have just heard.19. A) Respect their traditional culture.B) Attend their business seminars. C) Research their specific demands.D) Adopt the right business strategies.20. A) Showing them your palm. C) Drinking alcohol on certain days of a month.B) Giving them gifts of great value. D) Clicking your fingers loudly in their presence.21. A) They are very easy to satisfy.B) They have a strong sense of worth. C) They tend to be friendly and enthusiastic.D) They have a break from 2:00 to 5:30 p.m.Questions 22 to 25 are based on the recording you have just heard.22. A) He completely changed the company's culture.B) He collected paintings by world-famous artists.C) He took over the sales department of Reader's Digest.D) He had the company's boardroom extensively renovated.23. A) It should be sold at a reasonable price.B) Its articles should be short and inspiring.C) It should be published in the world's leading languages.D) Its articles should entertain blue- and pink-collar workers.24. A) He knew how to make the magazine profitable.B) He served as a church minister for many years.C) He suffered many setbacks and misfortunes in his life.D) He treated the employees like members of his family.25. A) It carried many more advertisements. C) Several hundred of its employees got fired.B) George Grune joined it as an ad salesman. D) Its subscriptions increased considerably. Part III Reading Comprehension (40 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.Did Sarah Josepha Hale write "Mary's Little Lamb," the eternal nursery rhyme (儿歌) about a girl named Mary with a stubborn lamb? This is still disputed, but it's clear that the woman __26 for writing it was one of America's most fascinating 27 . In honor of the poem's publication on May 24, 1830, here's more about the 28 author's life.Hale wasn't just a writer, she was also a 29 social advocate, and she was particularly __30 with an ideal New England, which she associated with abundant Thanksgiving meals that she claimed had " a deep moral influence. " She began a nationwide __31 to have a national holiday declared that would bring families together while celebrating the 32 festivals.In 1863, after 17 years of advocacy including letters to five presidents, Hale got it. President Abraham Lincoln, during the Civil War, issued a 33 setting aside the last Thursday in November for the holiday.The true authorship of "Mary's Little Lamb" is disputed. According to the New EnglandHistorical Society, Hale wrote only part of the poem, but claimed authorship. Regardless of the author, it seems that the poem was 34 by a real event.When young Mary Sawyer was followed to school by a lamb in 1816, it caused some problems. A bystander named John Roulstone wrote a poem about the event, then, at some point, Hale herself seems to have helped write it. However, if a 1916 piece by her great-niece is to be trusted, Hale claimed for the 35 of her life that "some other people pretended that someone else wrote the poem".A) campaignB) careerC) characters D) featuresE) fierceF) inspiredG) latterH) obsessedI) proclamationJ) rectifiedK) reputedL) restM) supposedN) traditionalO) versatileSection BDirections: In this section, you are going to read a passage with ten statements attached to it. Each statement contains information given in one of the paragraphs. Identify the paragraph from which the information is derived. You may choose a paragraph more than once. Each paragraph is marked with a letter. Answer the questions by marking the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2.Grow Plants Without Water[A] Ever since humanity began to farm our own food, we’ve faced the unpredictable rain that is both friend and enemy. It comes and goes without much warning, and a field of lush (茂盛的) leafy greens one year can dry up and blow away the next. Food security and fortunes depend on sufficient rain, and nowhere more so than in Africa, where 96% of farmland depends on rain instead of the irrigation common in more developed places. It has consequences: South Africa's ongoing drought—the worst in three decades—will cost at least a quarter of its corn crop this year.[B] Biologist Jill Farrant of the University of Cape Town in South Africa says that nature has plenty of answers for people who want to grow crops in places with unpredictable rainfall. She is hard at work finding a way to take traits from rare wild plants that adapt to extreme dry weather and use them in food crops. As the earth's climate changes and rainfall becomes even less predictable in some places, those answers will grow even more valuable. "The type of farming I'm aiming for is literally so that people can survive as it's going to get more and more dry," Farrantsays.[C] Extreme conditions produce extremely tough plants. In the rusty red deserts of South Africa, steep-sided rocky hills called inselbergs rear up from the plains like the bones of the earth. The hills are remnants of an earlier geological era, scraped bare of most soil and exposed to the elements. Yet on these and similar formations in deserts around the world, a few fierce plants have adapted to endure under ever-changing conditions.[D]Farrant calls them resurrection plants (复苏植物). During months without water under a harsh sun, they wither, shrink and contract until they look like a pile of dead gray leaves. But rainfall can revive them in a matter of hours. Her time-lapse (间歇性拍摄的) videos of the revivals look like someone playing a tape of the plant's death in reverse.[E]The big difference between "drought-tolerant" plants and these tough plants: metabolism. Many different kinds of plants have developed tactics to weather dry spells. Some plants store reserves of water to see them through a drought; others send roots deep down to subsurface water supplies. But once these plants use up their stored reserve or tap out the underground supply, they cease growing and start to die. They may be able to handle a drought of some length, and many people use the term "drought tolerant" to describe such plants, but they never actually stop needing to consume water, so Farrant prefers to call them drought resistant.[F]Resurrection plants, defined as those capable of recovering from holding less than 0.1 grams of water per gram of dry mass, are different. They lack water-storing structures, and their existence on rock faces prevents them from tapping groundwater, so they have instead developed the ability to change their metabolism. When they detect an extended dry period, they divert their metabolisms, producing sugars and certain stress-associated proteins and other materials in their tissues. As the plant dries, these resources take on first the properties of honey, then rubber, and finally enter a glass-like state that is "the most stable state that the plant can maintain," Farrant says. That slows the plant's metabolism and protects its dried-out tissues. The plants also change shape, shrinking to minimize the surface area through which their remaining water might evaporate. They can recover from months and years without water, depending on the species.[G] What else can do this dry-out-and-revive trick? Seeds—almost all of them. At the start of her career, Farrant studied "recalcitrant seeds (顽拗性种子)," such as avocados, coffee andlychee. While tasty, such seeds are delicate—they cannot bud and grow if they dry out (as you may know if you've ever tried to grow a tree from an avocado pit). In the seed world, that makes them rare, because most seeds from flowering plants are quite robust. Most seeds can wait out the dry, unwelcoming seasons until conditions are right and they sprout (发芽). Yet once they start growing, such plants seem not to retain the ability to hit the pause button on metabolism in their stems or leaves.[H] After completing her Ph. D. on seeds, Farrant began investigating whether it might be possible to isolate the properties that make most seeds so resilient (迅速恢复活力的) and transfer them to other plant tissues. What Farrant and others have found over the past two decades is that there are many genes involved in resurrection plants' response to dryness. Many of them are the same that regulate how seeds become dryness-tolerant while still attached to their parent plants. Now they are trying to figure out what molecular signaling processes activate those seed-building genes in resurrection plants—and how to reproduce them in crops. "Most genes are regulated by a master set of genes," Farrant says. "We're looking at gene promoters and what would be their master switch."[I] Once Farrant and her colleagues feel they have a better sense of which switches to throw, they will have to find the best way to do so in useful crops. "I'm trying three methods of breeding," Farrant says: conventional, genetic modification and gene editing. She says she is aware that plenty of people do not want to eat genetically modified crops, but she is pushing ahead with every available tool until one works. Farmers and consumers alike can choose whether or not to use whichever version prevails："I'm giving people an option."[J] Farrant and others in the resurrection business got together last year to discuss the best species of resurrection plant to use as a lab model. Just like medical researchers use rats to test ideas for human medical treatments, botanists use plants that are relatively easy to grow in a lab or greenhouse setting to test their ideas for related species. The Queensland rock violet is one of the best studied resurrection plants so far, with a draft genome (基因图谱) published last year by a Chinese team. Also last year, Farrant and colleagues published a detailed molecular study of another candidate, Xerophyta viscosa, a tough-as-nail South African plant with lily-like flowers, and she says that a genome is on the way. One or both of these models will help researchers test their ideas—so far mostly done in the lab—on test plots.[K] Understanding the basic science first is key. There are good reasons why crop plants do not use dryness defenses already. For instance, there's a high energy cost in switching from a regular metabolism to an almost-no-water metabolism. It will also be necessary to understand what sort of yield farmers might expect and to establish the plant's safety. "The yield is never going to be high," Farrant says, so these plants will be targeted not at Iowa farmers trying to squeeze more cash out of high-yield fields, but subsistence farmers who need help to survive a drought like the present one in South Africa. "My vision is for the subsistence farmer," Farrant says. "I'm targeting crops that are of African value."36.There are a couple of plants tough and adaptable enough to survive on bare rocky hills and in deserts.37. Farrant is trying to isolate genes in resurrection plants and reproduce them in crops.38. Farmers in South Africa are more at the mercy of nature, especially inconsistent rainfall.39.Resurrection crops are most likely to be the choice of subsistence farmers.40.Even though many plants have developed various tactics to cope with dry weather, they cannot survive a prolonged drought.41.Despite consumer resistance, researchers are pushing ahead with genetic modification of crops.42.Most seeds can pull through dry spells and begin growing when conditions are ripe, but once this process starts, it cannot be held back.43.Farrant is working hard to cultivate food crops that can survive extreme dryness by studying the traits of rare wild plants.44.By adjusting their metabolism, resurrection plants can recover from an extended period of drought.45. Resurrection plants can come back to life in a short time after a rainfall.Section CDirections: 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 2 with a single line through the centre.Passage OneQuestions 46 to 50 are based on the following passage.Human memory is notoriously unreliable. Even people with the sharpest facial-recognition skills can only remember so much.It's tough to quantify how good a person is at remembering. No one really knows how many different faces someone can recall, for example, but various estimates tend to hover in the thousands—based on the number of acquaintances a person might have.Machines aren't limited this way. Give the right computer a massive database of faces, and it can process what it sees—then recognize a face it's told to find—with remarkable speed and precision. This skill is what supports the enormous promise of facial-recognition software in the 21st century. It's also what makes contemporary surveillance systems so scary.The thing is, machines still have limitations when it comes to facial recognition. And scientists are only just beginning to understand what those constraints are. To begin to figure out how computers are struggling, researchers at the University of Washington created a massive database of faces—they call it MegaFace—and tested a variety of facial-recognition algorithms (算法) as they scaled up in complexity. The idea was to test the machines on a database that included up to 1 million different images of nearly 700,000 different people—and not just a large database featuring a relatively small number of different faces, more consistent with what's been used in other research.As the databases grew, machine accuracy dipped across the board. Algorithms that were right 95% of the time when they were dealing with a 13,000-image database, for example, were accurate about 70% of the time when confronted with 1 million images. That's still pretty good, says one of the researchers, Ira Kemelmacher-Shlizerman. "Much better than we expected," she said.Machines also had difficulty adjusting for people who look a lot alike—either doppelgangers (长相极相似的人), whom the machine would have trouble identifying as two separate people, or the same person who appeared in different photos at different ages or in different lighting, whom the machine would incorrectly view as separate people."Once we scale up, algorithms must be sensitive to tiny changes in identities and at the same time invariant to lighting, pose, age," Kemelmacher-Shlizerman said.The trouble is, for many of the researchers who'd like to design systems to address thesechallenges, massive datasets for experimentation just don't exist—at least, not in formats that are accessible to academic researchers. Training sets like the ones Google and Facebook have are private. There are no public databases that contain millions of faces. MegaFace's creators say it's the largest publicly available facial-recognition dataset out there."An ultimate face recognition algorithm should perform with billions of people in a dataset," the researchers wrote.46. Compared with human memory, machines can ________.A) identify human faces more efficiently C) store an unlimited number of human facesB) tell a friend from a mere acquaintance D) perceive images invisible to the human eye47. Why did researchers create MegaFace?A) To enlarge the volume of the facial-recognition database.B) To increase the variety of facial-recognition software.C) To understand computers' problems with facial recognition.D) To reduce the complexity of facial-recognition algorithms.48. What does the passage say about machine accuracy?A) It falls short of researchers' expectations. C) It varies greatly with different algorithms.B) It improves with added computing power. D) It decreases as the database size increases.49. What is said to be a shortcoming-of facial-recognition machines?A) They cannot easily tell apart people with near-identical appearances.B) They have difficulty identifying changes in facial expressions.C) They are not sensitive to minute changes in people's mood.D) They have problems distinguishing people of the same age.50. What is the difficulty confronting researchers of facial-recognition machines?A) No computer is yet able to handle huge datasets of human faces.B) There do not exist public databases with sufficient face samples.C) There are no appropriate algorithms to process the face samples.D) They have trouble converting face datasets into the right format.Passage TwoQuestions 51 to 55 are based on the following passage.There're currently 21.5 million students in America, and many will be funding their collegeon borrowed money. Given that there's now over $1.3 trillion in student loans on the books, it's pretty clear that many students are far from sensible. The average student's debt upon graduation now approaches $40,000, and as college becomes ever more expensive, calls to make it "free" are multiplying. Even Hillary Clinton says that when it comes to college, "Costs won't be a barrier."But the only way college could be free is if the faculty and staff donated their time, the buildings required no maintenance, and campuses required no utilities. As long as it's impossible to produce something from nothing, costs are absolutely a barrier.The actual question we debate is who should pay for people to go to college. If taxpayers are to bear the cost of forgiving student loans, shouldn't they have a say in how their money is used?At least taxpayers should be able to decide what students will study on the public dime. If we're going to force taxpayers to foot the bill for college degrees, students should only study those subjects that're of greatest benefit to taxpayers. After all, students making their own choices in this respect is what caused the problem in the first place. We simply don't need more poetry, gender studies, or sociology majors. How do we know which subjects benefit society? Easy.Average starting salaries give a clear indication of what type of training society needs its new workers to have. Certainly, there're benefits to a college major beyond the job a student can perform. But if we're talking about the benefits to society, the only thing that matters is what the major enables the student to produce for society. And the value of what the student can produce is reflected in the wage employers are willing to pay the student to produce it.A low wage for elementary school teachers, however, doesn't mean elementary education isn't important. It simply means there're too many elementary school teachers already.Meanwhile, there're few who're willing and able to perform jobs requiring a petroleum engineering major, so the value of one more of those people is very high.So we can have taxpayers pick up students' tuition in exchange for dictating what those students will study. Or we can allow students both to choose their majors and pay for their education themselves. But in the end, one of two things is true:Either a college major is worth its cost or it isn't. If yes, taxpayer financing isn't needed. If not, taxpayer financing isn't desirable. Either way, taxpayers have no business paying for students'college education.51. What does the author think of college students funding their education through loans?A) They only expect to get huge returns.B) They are acting in an irrational way. C) They benefit at taxpayers' expense.D) They will regret doing so someday.52. In the author's opinion, free college education is ________.A) impractical B) unsustainable C) a goal to strive for D) a way to social equality53. What should students do if taxpayers are to bear their college costs?A) Work even harder to repay society.B) Choose their subjects more carefully.C) Choose majors that will serve society's practical needs.D) Allow taxpayers to participate in college administration.54. What does the author say about the value of a student's college education?A) It is underestimated by profit-seeking employers.B) It is to be proved by what they can do on the job.C) It is well reflected in their average starting salary.D) It is embodied in how they remove social barriers.55. What message does the author want to convey in the passage?A) Students should think carefully whether to go to college.B) Taxpayers should only finance the most gifted students.C) The worth of a college education is open to debate.D) College students should fund their own education.Part IV Translation (30 minutes)Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to translate a passage from Chinese into English. You should write your answer on Answer Sheet 2.中国目前拥有世界上最大最快的高速铁路网。
2018年6月英语六级听力原文
2018年6月英语六级听力原文长对话1：西班牙蔬菜汤M: What’s all that? Are you going to make a salad?W: No, I’m going to make a gazpacho.M: What’s that?vegetables. I guess you can call it a liquidW: Gazpacho is a cold soup from Spain. It’s mostlysalad.M: Cold soup? Sounds weird.W: It’s delicious. Trust me! I tried it for the first time during my summer vacation in Spain. Yousee, in the south of Spain, it gets very hot and summer, up to 42 degrees Celsius, so a coldgazpacho is very refreshing. The main ingredients are tomato, cucumber, bell peppers, olive oiland stale bread.M: Stale bread? Surely you mean bread for dipping into the soup.W: No. bread is crushed and blended in, like everything else. It adds texture and thickness to thesoup.M: um…and is it healthy?W: Sure. As I said earlier, it’s mostly vegetables. You can also add different things if you like suchas half-boiled eggs or cured ham.M: Cured ham? What’s that?W: That’s another Spanish delicacy. Have you never heard of it? It’s quite famous.M: No. Is it good too?W: Oh, yeah, definitely. It’s amazing. It’s a little dry and salty. And it is very expensive because it comes from a special type of pig that only eats a special type of food. The ham is covered in salt todry and preserve it, and left hung for up to two years. It has a very distinct favor.M: um, sounds interesting. Where can I find some?W: It used to be difficult to get Spanish produce here, but it's now a lot more common. Most largesupermarket chains have cured ham in little packets. But in Spain, you can buy a whole leg.M: A whole pig leg? Why would anybody want so much ham?W: In Spain, many people buy a whole leg for special group events such as Christmas. They cut itthemselves into very thin slices with a long flat knife.Q1 What do we learn about gazpacho?Q2 For what purpose is stale bread mixed into gazpacho?Q3 Why does the woman think gazpacho is healthy?Q4 what does the women say about cured ham?1。
2018年6月英语六级考试真题试卷附答案第2套
2018年6月英语六级考试真题试卷附答案第2套2018年6月英语六级考试真题试卷附答案(完整版第2套)Part I Writing (30 minutes)Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay on the importance of building trust between teachers and students. You can cite examples to illustrate your views. You should write at least 150 words but no more than 200 words.________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________Part Ⅰ WritingThe Importance of Building Trust Between T eachers and StudentsA good relationship between a teacher and a student can have a major influence on a kid's development, and trust is crucial and indispensable不可或缺的in maintaining the relationship.To begin with, only when a student believes in his or her teacher is he or she willing to learn from the teacher or look to the teacher for guidance and support. In reality, too many students are weary of study and even drop out of school only because they dislike their teachers, which may transform their whole life. Besides, a teacher who has the full trust of his or her students is more motivated to help them improve the consciousness意识、知觉、觉悟and initiative主动、主动性、首创精神of learning, which in turn依次、转而、轮流benefits the students most. However, the credibility公信力between teachersand students is not something that can be built in a day. On the one hand, teachers should comprehend the students' actual demands and offer timely help. On the other hand, students should always be respectful to their teachers.All in all, trust in a teacher-student relationship is a must to achieve effective teaching an learning.Part II Listening Comprehension (30 minutes)Section ADirections: In this section, you will hear two long conversations. At the end of each conversation, you will hear four questions. Both the conversation 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 1 with a single line through the centre.Questions 1 to 4 are based on the conversation you have just heard.1. A) She advocates animal protection.B) She sells a special kind of coffee.C) She is going to start a café chain.D) She is the owner of a special café.2. A) They bear具有、承受、忍受a lot of similarities相似性、相同点.B) They are a profitable business sector.C) They cater to different customers.D) They help take care of customers' pets.3. A) By giving them regular cleaning and injections.B) By selecting breeds that are tame and peaceful.C) By placing them at a safe distance from customers.D) By briefing customers on how to get along with them.4. A) They want to learn about rabbits.B) They like to bring in their children.C) They love the animals in her café.D) They give her café favorite reviews.Questions 5 to 8 are based on the conversation you have just heard.5. A) It contains too many additives.B) It lacks the essential vitamins.C) It can cause obesity.D) It is mostly garbage.6. A) Its fancy design.B) TV commercials.C) Its taste and texture.D) Peer influence.7. A) Investing heavily in the production of sweet foods.B) Marketing their products with ordinary ingredients.C) Trying to trick children into buying their products.D) Offering children more varieties to choose from.8. A) They hardly ate vegetables.B) They seldom had junk food垃圾食品、没有营养的食品.C) They favored chocolate-coated sweets.D) They liked the food advertised on TV.Section BDirections: In this section, you will hear two passages. At the end of each passage, you will hear three or four 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 1 with a single line through the centre.Questions 9 to 11 are based on the passage you have just heard.9. A) Stretches of farmland.B) Typical Egyptian animal farms.C) Tombs of ancient rulers.D) Ruins left by devastating floods.10. A) It provides habitats for more primitive tribes.B) It is hardly associated with great civilizations.C) It has not yet been fully explored and exploited.D) It gathers water from many tropical rain forests.11. A) It carries about one fifth of the world's fresh water.B) It has numerous human settlements along its banks.C) It is second only to the Mississippi River in width.D) It is as long as the Nile and the Yangtze combined.Questions 12 to 15 are based on the passage you have just heard.12. A) Living a life in the fast lane leads to success.B) We are always in a rush to do various things.C) The search for tranquility has become a trend.D) All of us actually yearn for a slow and calm life.13. A) She had trouble balancing family and work.B) She enjoyed the various social events.C) She was accustomed to tight schedules.D) She spent all her leisure time writing books.14. A) The possibility of ruining her family.B) Becoming aware of her declining health.C) The fatigue from living a fast-paced life.D) Reading a book about slowing down.15. A) She started to follow the cultural norms.B) She came to enjoy doing everyday tasks.C) She learned to use more polite expressions.D) She stopped using to-do lists and calendars.Section CDirections: In this section, you will hear three recordings of lectures or talks followed by three or four questions. The recordings will be played 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 1 with a single line through centre.Questions 16 to 18 are based on the recording you have just heard.16. A) They will root out native species altogether.B) They contribute to a region's biodiversity.C) They pose a threat to构成威胁the local ecosystem.D) They will crossbreed with native species.17. A) Their classifications are meaningful.B) Their interactions are hard to define.C) Their definitions are changeable.D) Their distinctions区别、特质、区分are artificial人为的、人造的.18. A) Only a few of them cause problems to native species.B) They may turn out to benefit the local environment.C) Few of them can survive in their new habitats.D) Only 10 percent of them can be naturalized.Questions 19 to 21 are based on the recording you have just heard.19. A) Respect their traditional culture.B) Attend their business seminars.C) Research their specific demands.D) Adopt the right business strategies.20. A) Showing them your palm.B) Giving them gifts of great value.C) Drinking alcohol on certain days of a month.D) Clicking your fingers loudly in their presence.21. A) They are very easy to satisfy.B) They have a strong sense of worth.C) They tend to be friendly and enthusiastic.D) They have a break休息一下from 2:00 to 5:30 p.m.Questions 22 to 25 are based on the recording you have just heard.22. A) He completely changed the company's culture.B) He collected paintings by world-famous artists.C) He took over the sales department of Reader's Digest.D) He had the company's boardroom extensively renovated.23. A) It should be sold at a reasonable price.B) Its articles should be short and inspiring.C) It should be published in the world's leading languages.D) Its articles should entertain blue- and pink-collar workers.24. A) He knew how to make the magazine profitable.B) He served as a church minister for many years.C) He suffered many setbacks and misfortunes in his life.D) He treated the employees like members of his family.25. A) It carried many more advertisements.B) George Grune joined it as an ad salesman.C) Several hundred of its employees got fired.D) Its subscriptions increased considerably.Part III Reading Comprehension (40 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 ofchoices 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.Did Sarah Josepha Hale write "Mary's Little Lamb羔羊," the eternal nursery托儿所、幼儿园rhyme (儿歌) about a girl named Mary with a stubborn倔强的、顽固的lamb? This is still disputed 有争议的, but it's clear that the woman K26 reputed挂名的、号称的 for writing it was one of America's mostfascinating C27characters人物、特性、描述 . In honor of为庆祝、为纪念the poem's publication on May 24, 1830, here's more about the M28supposed假定的、期望的、推定、据说的author's life.Hale wasn't just a writer, she was also a E29fierce凶狠的、凶猛的、激烈的social advocate拥护者、倡导者、辩护者、辩护律师, and she was particularly H30obsessed着迷、痴迷with an ideal New England, which she associated with abundant Thanksgiving meals that she claimed had "a deep moral influence." She began a nationwide A31campaign活动、战役、运动 to have a national holiday declared that would bring familiestogether while celebrating the N32traditional festivals. In 1863, after 17 years of advocacy倡导、鼓吹、主张、拥护including letters to five presidents, Hale got it. President Abraham Lincoln, during the Civil War 南北战争, issued a I33proclamation宣言书、声明、公告 setting aside the last Thursday in November for the holiday.The true authorship作者身份、原创作者of "Mary's Little Lamb" is disputed有争议的. According to the New EnglandHistorical Society, Hale wrote only part of the poem, but claimed authorship. Regardless of the author, it seems that the poem was F34inspired受启发的、鼓舞的 by a real event. When young Mary Sawyer was followed to school by a lamb in 1816, it caused some problems. A bystander named John Roulstone wrote a poem about the event, then, at some point, Hale herself seems to have helped write it. However, if a 1916 piece by her great-niece is to be trusted, Hale claimed for the L35rest of her life that "some other people pretended that someone else wrote the poem".A) campaign B) career C) characters D) features E) fierce F) inspired G) latter H) obsessed I) proclamation J) rectified K) reputed L) rest M) supposed N) traditional O) versatile Section BDirections: In this section, you are going to read a passage with ten statements attached to it. Each statement contains information given in one of the paragraphs. Identify the paragraph from which the information is derived. You may choose a paragraph more than once. Each paragraph is marked with a letter. Answer the questions by marking the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2.Grow Plants Without WaterA) Ever since humanity began to farm our own food, we’ve faced the unpredictable rain that is both friend and enemy. It comes and goes without much warning, and a field of lush (茂盛的) leafy greens one year can dry up and blow away the next. Food security and fortunes depend on sufficient rain, and nowhere more so than in Africa, where 96% of farmland depends on rain instead of the irrigation common in more developed places. It has consequences: South Africa's ongoing drought—the worst in three decades—will cost at least a quarter of its corncrop this year.B) Biologist Jill Farrant of the University of Cape Town in South Africa says that nature has plenty of answers for people who want to grow crops in places with unpredictable rainfall. She is hard at work finding a way to take traits from rare wild plants that adapt to extreme dry weather and use them in food crops. As the earth's climate changes and rainfall becomes even less predictable in some places, those answers will grow even more valuable. "The type of farming I'm aiming for is literally so that people can survive as it's going to get more and more dry," Farrant says.C) Extreme conditions produce extremely tough plants. In the rusty red deserts of South Africa,steep-sided rocky hills called inselbergs rear up from the plains like the bones of the earth. The hills are remnants of an earlier geological era, scraped bare of most soil and exposed to the elements. Yet on these and similar formations in deserts around the world, a few fierce plants have adapted to endure under ever-changing conditions.D) Farrant calls them resurrection plants (复苏植物). During months without water under a harsh sun, they wither, shrink and contract until they look like a pile of dead gray leaves. But rainfall can revive them in a matter of hours. Her time-lapse (间歇性拍摄的) videos of the revivals look like someone playing a tape of the plant's death in reverse.E) The big difference between "drought-tolerant" plants and these tough plants: metabolism. Many different kinds of plants have developed tactics to weather dry spells. Some plants store reserves of water to see them through a drought; others send roots deep down to subsurface water supplies. Butonce these plants use up their stored reserve or tap out the underground supply, they cease growing and start to die. They may be able to handle a drought of some length, and many people use the term "drought tolerant" to describe such plants, but they never actually stop needing to consume water, so Farrant prefers to call them drought resistant.F) Resurrection plants, defined as those capable of recovering from holding less than 0.1 grams of water per gram of dry mass, are different. They lack water-storing structures, and their existence on rock faces prevents them from tapping groundwater, so they have instead developed the ability to change their metabolism. When they detect an extended dry period, they divert their metabolisms, producing sugars and certain stress-associated proteins and other materials in their tissues. As the plant dries, these resources take on first the properties of honey, then rubber, and finally enter a glass-like state that is "the most stable state that the plant can maintain," Farrant says. That slows the plant's metabolism and protects its dried-out tissues. The plants also change shape, shrinking to minimize the surface area through which their remaining water might evaporate. They can recover from months and years without water, depending on the species.G) What else can do this dry-out-and-revive trick? Seeds—almost all of them. At the start of her career, Farrant studied "recalcitrant seeds (顽拗性种子)," such as avocados, coffee and lychee. While tasty, such seeds are delicate—they cannot bud and grow if they dry out (as you may know if you've ever tried to grow a tree from an avocado pit). In the seed world, that makes them rare, because most seeds from flowering plants are quite robust. Most seeds can wait out the dry, unwelcoming seasons untilconditions are right and they sprout (发芽). Yet once they start growing, such plants seem not to retain the ability to hit the pause button on metabolism in their stems or leaves.H) After completing her Ph. D. on seeds, Farrant began investigating whether it might be possible to isolate the properties that make most seeds so resilient (迅速恢复活力的) and transfer them to other plant tissues. What Farrant and others have found over the past two decades is that there are many genes involved in resurrection plants' response to dryness. Many of them are the same that regulate how seeds become dryness-tolerant while still attached to their parent plants. Now they are trying to figure out what molecular signaling processes activate those seed-building genes in resurrection plants—and how to reproduce them in crops. "Most genes are regulated by a master set of genes," Farrant says. "We're looking at gene promoters and what would be their master switch."I) Once Farrant and her colleagues feel they have a better sense of which switches to throw, they will have to find the best way to do so in useful crops. "I'm trying three methods of breeding," Farrant says: conventional, genetic modification and gene editing. She says she is aware that plenty of people do not want to eat genetically modified crops, but she is pushing ahead with every available tool until one works. Farmers and consumers alike can choose whether or not to use whichever version prevails："I'm giving people an option."J) Farrant and others in the resurrection business got together last year to discuss the best species of resurrection plant to use as a lab model. Just like medical researchers use rats to test ideas for human medical treatments, botanists use plants that are relatively easy to grow in a lab or greenhouse setting totest their ideas for related species. The Queensland rock violet is one of the best studied resurrection plants so far, with a draft genome (基因图谱) published last year by a Chinese team. Also last year, Farrant and colleagues published a detailed molecular study of another candidate, Xerophyta viscosa, a tough-as-nail South African plant with lily-like flowers, and she says that a genome is on the way. One or both of these models will help researchers test their ideas—so far mostly done in the lab—on test plots. K) Understanding the basic science first is key. There are good reasons why crop plants do not usedryness defenses already. For instance, there's a high energy cost in switching from a regular metabolism to an almost-no-water metabolism. It will also be necessary to understand what sort of yield farmers might expect and to establish the plant's safety. "The yield is never going to be high," Farrant says, so these plants will be targeted not at Iowa farmers trying to squeeze more cash out of high-yield fields, but subsistence farmers who need help to survive a drought like the present one in South Africa. "My vision is for the subsistence farmer," Farrant says. "I'm targeting crops that are of African value."36. There are a couple of plants tough and adaptable enough to survive on bare rocky hills and in deserts.C37. Farrant is trying to isolate genes in resurrection plants and reproduce them in crops.H38. Farmers in South Africa are more at the mercy of nature, especially inconsistent rainfall.A39. Resurrection crops are most likely to be the choice of subsistence farmers.K40. Even though many plants have developed various tactics to cope with dry weather, they cannot survive a prolongeddrought.E41. Despite consumer resistance, researchers are pushing ahead with genetic modification of crops.I42. Most seeds can pull through dry spells and begin growing when conditions are ripe, but once this process starts, it cannot be held back.G43. Farrant is working hard to cultivate food crops that can survive extreme dryness by studying the traits of rare wild plants.B44. By adjusting their metabolism, resurrection plants can recover from an extended period of drought.F45. Resurrection plants can come back to life in a short time after a rainfall.DSection CDirections: 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 2 with a single line through the centre.Passage OneQuestions 46 to 50 are based on the following passage.Human memory is notoriously unreliable. Even people with the sharpest facial-recognition skills can only remember so much.It's tough to quantify how good a person is at remembering. No one really knows how many different faces someone can recall, for example, but various estimates tend to hover in the thousands—based on the number of acquaintances a person might have.Machines aren't limited this way. Give the right computer a massive database of faces, and it can process what it sees—thenrecognize a face it's told to find—with remarkable speed and precision. This skill is what supports the enormous promise of facial-recognition software in the 21st century. It's also what makes contemporary surveillance systems so scary.The thing is, machines still have limitations when it comes to facial recognition. And scientists are only just beginning to understand what those constraints are. To begin to figure out how computers are struggling, researchers at the University of Washington created a massive database of faces—they call it MegaFace—and tested a variety of facial-recognition algorithms (算法) as they scaled up in complexity. The idea was to test the machines on a database that included up to 1 million different images of nearly 700,000 different people—and not just a large database featuring a relatively small number of different faces, more consistent with what's been used in other research.As the databases grew, machine accuracy dipped across the board. Algorithms that were right 95% of the time when they were dealing with a 13,000-image database, for example, were accurate about 70% of the time when confronted with 1 million images. That's still pretty good, says one of the researchers, Ira Kemelmacher-Shlizerman. "Much better than we expected," she said.Machines also had difficulty adjusting for people who look a lot alike—either doppelgangers (长相极相似的人), whom the machine would have trouble identifying as two separate people, or the same person who appeared in different photos at different ages or in different lighting, whom the machine would incorrectly view as separate people."Once we scale up, algorithms must be sensitive to tiny changes in identities and at the same time invariant to lighting,pose, age," Kemelmacher-Shlizerman said.The trouble is, for many of the researchers who'd like to design systems to address these challenges, massive datasets for experimentation just don't exist—at least, not in formats that are accessible to academic researchers. Training sets like the ones Google and Facebook have are private. There are no public databases that contain millions of faces. MegaFace's creators say it's the largest publicly available facial-recognition dataset out there."An ultimate face recognition algorithm should perform with billions of people in a dataset," the researchers wrote.46. Compared with human memory, machines can ________.A) identify human faces more efficientlyB) tell a friend from a mere acquaintanceC) store an unlimited number of human facesD) perceive images invisible to the human eye47. Why did researchers create MegaFace?A) To enlarge the volume of the facial-recognition database.B) To increase the variety of facial-recognition software.C) To understand computers' problems with facial面部的recognition识别.D) To reduce the complexity of facial-recognition algorithms.48. What does the passage say about machine accuracy准确性?A) It falls short of researchers' expectations.B) It improves with added computing power.C) It varies greatly with different algorithms.D) It decreases as the database数据库size increases.49. What is said to be a shortcoming-of facial-recognition machines?A) They cannot easily tell apart分别、区别people with near-identical同一的、完全相同的appearances.B) They have difficulty identifying changes in facial expressions.C) They are not sensitive to minute changes in people's mood.D) They have problems distinguishing people of the same age.50. What is the difficulty confronting面对、对抗researchers of facial-recognition machines?A) No computer is yet able to handle huge datasets of human faces.B) There do not exist public databases with sufficient足够的face samples样本、采样.C) There are no appropriate algorithms to process the face samples.D) They have trouble converting face datasets into the right format.Passage TwoQuestions 51 to 55 are based on the following passage.There're currently 21.5 million students in America, and many will be funding their college on borrowed money. Given that there's now over $1.3 trillion in student loans on the books, it's pretty clear that many students are far from sensible. The average student's debt upon graduation now approaches $40,000, and as college becomes ever more expensive, calls to make it "free" are multiplying. Even Hillary Clinton says that when it comes to college, "Costs won't be a barrier."But the only way college could be free is if the faculty and staff donated their time, the buildings required no maintenance, and campuses required no utilities. As long as it's impossible toproduce something from nothing, costs are absolutely a barrier.The actual question we debate is who should pay for people to go to college. If taxpayers are to bear the cost of forgiving student loans, shouldn't they have a say in how their money is used?At least taxpayers should be able to decide what students will study on the public dime. If we're going to force taxpayers to foot the bill for college degrees, students should only study those subjects that're of greatest benefit to taxpayers. After all, students making their own choices in this respect is what caused the problem in the first place. We simply don't need more poetry, gender studies, or sociology majors. How do we know which subjects benefit society? Easy.Average starting salaries give a clear indication of what type of training society needs its new workers to have. Certainly, there're benefits to a college major beyond the job a student can perform. But if we're talking about the benefits to society, the only thing that matters is what the major enables the student to produce for society. And the value of what the student can produce is reflected in the wage employers are willing to pay the student to produce it.A low wage for elementary school teachers, however, doesn't mean elementary education isn't important. It simply means there're too many elementary school teachers already.Meanwhile, there're few who're willing and able to perform jobs requiring a petroleum engineering major, so the value of one more of those people is very high.So we can have taxpayers pick up students' tuition in exchange for dictating what those students will study. Or we can allow students both to choose their majors and pay for theireducation themselves. But in the end, one of two things is true: Either a college major is worth its cost or it isn't. If yes, taxpayer financing isn't needed. If not, taxpayer financing isn't desirable. Either way, taxpayers have no business paying for students' college education.51. What does the author think of college students funding their education through loans借贷?A) They only expect to get huge returns.B) They are acting in an irrational非理性的way.C) They benefit at taxpayers' expense.D) They will regret doing so someday.52. In the author's opinion, free college education is ________.A) impractical 不切实际的、不现实的B) unsustainableC) a goal to strive forD) a way to social equality53. What should students do if taxpayers纳税人are to bear their college costs?A) Work even harder to repay society.B) Choose their subjects more carefully.C) Choose majors专业、主修that will serve society's practical needs.D) Allow taxpayers to participate in college administration.54. What does the author say about the value of a student's college education?A) It is underestimated by profit-seeking employers.B) It is to be proved by what they can do on the job.C) It is well reflected in their average starting salary起薪.D) It is embodied in how they remove social barriers.55. What message does the author want to convey in the。
2018年6月六级听力第二套
2018年6月六级听力第二套六级听力考试作为英语六级考试的一部分，对考生的听力能力进行测试。
以下将对2018年6月六级听力第二套试题进行分析和解析。
Part I：Listening ComprehensionSection A：Mini-lectureIn this section, candidates will hear a mini-lecture on a particular topic. They need to answer the questions based on the information provided. In the June 2018 exam, the topic of the mini-lecture is "The Importance of Time Management".The Importance of Time ManagementThe mini-lecture emphasizes the significance of effective time management in both personal and professional life. According to the speaker, time management is crucial for various reasons.Firstly, effective time management allows individuals to prioritize their tasks and allocate time for each task accordingly. By organizing and planning their time effectively, individuals can maximize productivity and achieve better results in their endeavors.Secondly, efficient time management helps reduce stress and prevents procrastination. By having a clear plan and schedule, individuals can stay focused and avoid unnecessary stress caused by time pressure. Procrastination, on the other hand, can be minimized through proper time management as it encourages individuals to tackle tasks in a timely manner.Furthermore, good time management facilitates work-life balance. By allocating time for work, personal activities, and leisure, individuals can maintain a healthy and fulfilling lifestyle. Effective time management enables individuals to avoid burnout and ensures that they have enough time for rest and relaxation.In conclusion, time management plays a vital role in personal and professional success. It helps individuals prioritize tasks, reduce stress, prevent procrastination, and maintain a healthy work-life balance. Therefore, it is important for everyone to develop effective time management skills.Section B: News ReportIn this section, candidates will hear a news report and answer questions based on the information provided. In the June 2018 exam, the news report is about "The Benefits of Outdoor Exercise".The Benefits of Outdoor ExerciseThe news report highlights the advantages of engaging in outdoor exercise and its positive impact on both physical and mental health.Firstly, outdoor exercise allows individuals to take in fresh air and enjoy nature. Compared to indoor exercise, outdoor activities such as jogging, hiking, or cycling provide a refreshing and invigorating experience. Breathing fresh air not only enhances cardiovascular health but also increases oxygen intake, benefiting overall body functions.Secondly, outdoor exercise exposes individuals to natural sunlight, which boosts vitamin D production. Vitamin D is essential for maintaining healthy bones and teeth, as well as supporting immune system function.Regular exposure to sunlight during outdoor exercise contributes to the prevention of vitamin D deficiency and related health issues.Moreover, outdoor exercise creates opportunities for social interactions. Participating in outdoor group activities, such as team sports or community events, allows individuals to meet new people and build social connections. Social interactions during outdoor exercise can enhance overall well-being and reduce feelings of loneliness or isolation.In summary, outdoor exercise offers numerous benefits for physical and mental health. It provides fresh air, increases vitamin D levels, and promotes social interactions. Incorporating outdoor exercise into daily routines can contribute to a healthier and happier lifestyle.Part II: Listening and TranslationIn this section, candidates will hear a passage in English and are required to translate it into Chinese. The June 2018 exam includes a passage about "The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on the Job Market".The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on the Job MarketThe passage discusses the potential effects of the increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) on employment opportunities. While AI technology has the potential to improve efficiency and productivity in various industries, it also raises concerns about job displacement.One possible impact of AI on the job market is the automation of repetitive and mundane tasks. Machines and AI systems can perform tasks that do not require complex decision-making or creativity, resulting in thedecrease in demand for certain positions. This may lead to unemployment for individuals whose jobs are replaced by AI.On the other hand, the rise of AI also creates new job opportunities. As AI technology continues to advance, new roles requiring specialized skills in managing AI systems, analyzing data, and developing AI algorithms will emerge. The job market will demand individuals who possess such skills to ensure the smooth operation and development of AI systems.In conclusion, the increasing use of artificial intelligence has both positive and negative implications for the job market. While certain jobs may be replaced by AI, new job opportunities will also arise. Therefore, it is crucial for individuals to adapt, upgrade their skills, and embrace the potential of AI in order to thrive in the changing job market.Part III: Listening ComprehensionSection A: ConversationIn this section, candidates will hear a conversation between two or more speakers and answer questions based on the dialogue. The conversation in the June 2018 exam revolves around "Summer Internship Programs".The conversation discusses the benefits and considerations of participating in summer internship programs. Firstly, the speakers emphasize that internships provide valuable work experience and allow students to apply theoretical knowledge in real-world settings. Internships also help students develop practical skills and build professional networks, which can improve their future job prospects.However, the speakers also mention some considerations for choosing summer internships. It is important for students to select internships that align with their career goals and interests. Additionally, students should consider the location, duration, and compensation offered by the internship program to ensure that it suits their needs.Section B: PassageIn this section, candidates will hear a passage and answer questions based on the information provided. The passage in the June 2018 exam focuses on "Effective Study Strategies".The passage provides tips and strategies for studying effectively. The speaker advises students to break their study sessions into manageable chunks to enhance concentration and retention. It is also important to create a conducive study environment that is free from distractions and conducive to learning.Additionally, the speaker suggests utilizing active learning techniques such as note-taking and summarizing key points to improve understanding and knowledge retention. Regular review and practice are also essential to reinforce learning and ensure long-term retention of information.In conclusion, effective study strategies involve breaking study sessions into manageable chunks, creating a conducive study environment, utilizing active learning techniques, and regular review and practice. By implementing these strategies, students can maximize their learning potential and achieve academic success.。
2018年6月大学英语六级真题试卷及答案(三套全)
2018年6月大学英语六级真题试卷及答案（三套全）目录2018年6月大学英语六级真题试卷及答案（一） (1)快速对答案 (16)2018年6月大学英语六级真题试卷及答案（二） (17)快速对答案 (32)2018年6月大学英语六级真题试卷及答案（三） (32)快速对答案 (42)2018年6月大学英语六级真题试卷及答案（一）Part I Writing(30minutes) (请于正式开考后半小时内完成该部分，之后将进行听力考试)Directions:For this part,you are allowed30minutes to write an essay on the importance of building trust between employers and employees.You can cite examples to illustrate your views.you should write at least150words but no more than200words.Part II Listening Comprehension(30minutes) Section ADirections:In this section,you will hear two long conversations.At the end of each conversation,you will hear four questions.Both the conversation 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 Sheet1with a single line through the centre.注意：此部分试题请在答题卡1上作答。
大学英语四六级考试-四级听力原文 2018年6月第二套
Listening ComprehensionPartSection ANews Report OneA message in a bottle sent out to sea by a New Hampshire man more than five decades ago was found1500miles away and has been returned to his daughter.The long lost message was discovered by Clint Buffington of Utah while he was vacationing.Buffington says he found a soda bottle half-buried in the sand that looked like it had been there since the beginning of time.The note inside the bottle said,“Return to419Ocean Street and receive a reward of $150from Richard and Tina Pierce,owners of the Beachcomber Motel.”The motel was owned by the parents of Paula Pierce in1960.Her father had written the note as a joke and had thrown it into the Atlantic Ocean.Buffington flew to New Hampshire to deliver the message to Paula Pierce.She held up to her fathers promise giving Buffington that reward.But the biggest reward is the message in a bottle finding its way back home.50多年前新罕布什尔州的一位男子把一张便条放进瓶子里并扔进大海，现在这个便条在1500英里以外的地方被发现了，并被送回到那位男子的女儿手里。
2018年6月英语六级考试真题试卷附答案(完整版-第2套-精品)
2018年6月英语六级考试真题试卷附答案(完整版-第2套-精品)2018年6月英语六级考试真题试卷附答案（完整版第2套）Part I Writing (30 minutes)Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay on the importance of building trust between teachers and students. You can cite examples to illustrate your views. You should write at least 150 words but no more than 200 words._________________________________________ _________________________________________ _________________________________________ _________________________________________ _________________________________________ ___________Part II Listening Comprehension (30 minutes) 听力音频MP3文件，点击进入听力真题页面Section ADirections: In this section, you will hear twolong conversations. At the end of each conversation, you will hear four questions. Both the conversation 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 1 with a single line through the centre.Questions 1 to 4 are based on the conversation you have just heard.1. A) She advocates animal protection.B) She sells a special kind of coffee.C) She is going to start a café chain.D) She is the owner of a special café.2. A) They bear a lot of similarities.B) They are a profitable business sector.C) They cater to different customers.D) They help take care of customers' pets.3. A) By giving them regular cleaning and injections.B) By selecting breeds that are tame andpeaceful.C) By placing them at a safe distance from customers.D) By briefing customers on how to get along with them.4. A) They want to learn about rabbits.B) They like to bring in their children.C) They love the animals in her café.D) They give her café favorite reviews.Questions 5 to 8 are based on the conversation you have just heard.5. A) It contains too many additives.B) It lacks the essential vitamins.C) It can cause obesity.D) It is mostly garbage.6. A) Its fancy design.B) TV commercials.C) Its taste and texture.D) Peer influence.7. A) Investing heavily in the production ofsweet foods.B) Marketing their products with ordinary ingredients.C) Trying to trick children into buying their products.D) Offering children more varieties to choose from.8. A) They hardly ate vegetables.B) They seldom had junk food.C) They favored chocolate-coated sweets.D) They liked the food advertised on TV. Section BDirections: In this section, you will hear two passages. At the end of each passage, you will hear three or four 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 1 with a single line through thecentre.Questions 9 to 11 are based on the passage you have just heard.9. A) Stretches of farmland.B) Typical Egyptian animal farms.C) Tombs of ancient rulers.D) Ruins left by devastating floods.10. A) It provides habitats for more primitive tribes.B) It is hardly associated with great civilizations.C) It has not yet been fully explored and exploited.D) It gathers water from many tropical rain forests.11. A) It carries about one fifth of the world's fresh water.B) It has numerous human settlements along its banks.C) It is second only to the Mississippi River in width.D) It is as long as the Nile and the Yangtze combined.Questions 12 to 15 are based on the passage you have just heard.12. A) Living a life in the fast lane leads to success.B) We are always in a rush to do various things.C) The search for tranquility has become a trend.D) All of us actually yearn for a slow and calm life.13. A) She had trouble balancing family and work.B) She enjoyed the various social events.C) She was accustomed to tight schedules.D) She spent all her leisure time writing books.14. A) The possibility of ruining her family.B) Becoming aware of her declining health.C) The fatigue from living a fast-paced life.D) Reading a book about slowing down.15. A) She started to follow the cultural norms.B) She came to enjoy doing everyday tasks.C) She learned to use more polite expressions.D) She stopped using to-do lists and calendars.Section CDirections: In this section, you will hear three recordings of lectures or talks followed by three or four questions. The recordings will be played 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 1 with a single line through centre.Questions 16 to 18 are based on the recording you have just heard.16. A) They will root out native species altogether.B) They contribute to a region's biodiversity.C) They pose a threat to the local ecosystem.D) They will crossbreed with native species.17. A) Their classifications are meaningful.B) Their interactions are hard to define.C) Their definitions are changeable.D) Their distinctions are artificial.18. A) Only a few of them cause problems to native species.B) They may turn out to benefit the local environment.C) Few of them can survive in their new habitats.D) Only 10 percent of them can be naturalized.Questions 19 to 21 are based on the recording you have just heard.19. A) Respect their traditional culture.B) Attend their business seminars.C) Research their specific demands.D) Adopt the right business strategies.20. A) Showing them your palm.B) Giving them gifts of great value.C) Drinking alcohol on certain days of a month.D) Clicking your fingers loudly in their presence.21. A) They are very easy to satisfy.B) They have a strong sense of worth.C) They tend to be friendly and enthusiastic.D) They have a break from 2:00 to 5:30 p.m.Questions 22 to 25 are based on the recording you have just heard.22. A) He completely changed the company's culture.B) He collected paintings by world-famous artists.C) He took over the sales department of Reader's Digest.D) He had the company's boardroom extensively renovated.23. A) It should be sold at a reasonable price.B) Its articles should be short and inspiring.C) It should be published in the world's leading languages.D) Its articles should entertain blue- and pink-collar workers.24. A) He knew how to make the magazine profitable.B) He served as a church minister for many years.C) He suffered many setbacks and misfortunes in his life.D) He treated the employees like members of his family.25. A) It carried many more advertisements.B) George Grune joined it as an ad salesman.C) Several hundred of its employees got fired.D) Its subscriptions increased considerably. Part III Reading Comprehension (40 minutes) Section ADirections: In this section, there is a passagewith 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.Did Sarah Josepha Hale write "Mary's Little Lamb," the eternal nursery rhyme (儿歌) about a girl named Mary with a stubborn lamb? This is still disputed, but it's clear that the woman 26 for writing it was one of America's most fascinating 27 . In honor of the poem's publication on May 24, 1830, here's more about the 28 author's life.Hale wasn't just a writer, she was also a 29 social advocate, and she was particularly 30 with an ideal New England, which she associated with abundant Thanksgiving mealsthat she claimed had "a deep moral influence." She began a nationwide 31 to have a national holiday declared that would bring families together while celebrating the 32 festivals. In 1863, after 17 years of advocacy including letters to five presidents, Hale got it. President Abraham Lincoln, during the Civil War, issued a 33 setting aside the last Thursday in November for the holiday.The true authorship of "Mary's Little Lamb" is disputed. According to the New England Historical Society, Hale wrote only part of the poem, but claimed authorship. Regardless of the author, it seems that the poem was 34 by a real event. When young Mary Sawyer was followed to school by a lamb in 1816, it caused some problems. A bystander named John Roulstone wrote a poem about the event, then, at some point, Hale herself seems to have helped write it. However, if a 1916 piece by her great-niece is to be trusted, Hale claimed for the 35 of her life that "some other people pretended that someoneelse wrote the poem".A) campaign B) career C) characters D) features E) fierce F) inspired G) latter H) obsessed I) proclamation J) rectified K) reputed L) rest M) supposed N) traditional O) versatileSection BDirections: In this section, you are going to read a passage with ten statements attached to it. Each statement contains information given in one of the paragraphs. Identify the paragraph from which the information is derived. You may choose a paragraph more than once. Each paragraph is marked with a letter. Answer the questions by marking the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2.Grow Plants Without WaterA) Ever since humanity began to farm our own food, we’ve faced the unpredictable rain that isboth friend and enemy. It comes and goes without much warning, and a field of lush (茂盛的) leafy greens one year can dry up and blow away the next. Food security and fortunes depend on sufficient rain, and nowhere more so than in Africa, where 96% of farmland depends on rain instead of the irrigation common in more developed places. It has consequences: South Africa's ongoing drought—the worst in three decades—will cost at least a quarter of its corn crop this year.B) Biologist Jill Farrant of the University of Cape Town in South Africa says that nature has plenty of answers for people who want to grow crops in places with unpredictable rainfall. She is hard at work finding a way to take traits from rare wild plants that adapt to extreme dry weather and use them in food crops. As the earth's climate changes and rainfall becomes even less predictable in some places, those answers will grow even more valuable. "The type of farming I'm aiming for is literally so thatpeople can survive as it's going to get more and more dry," Farrant says.C) Extreme conditions produce extremely tough plants. In the rusty red deserts of South Africa, steep-sided rocky hills called inselbergs rear up from the plains like the bones of the earth. The hills are remnants of an earlier geological era, scraped bare of most soil and exposed to the elements. Yet on these and similar formations in deserts around the world, a few fierce plants have adapted to endure under ever-changing conditions.D) Farrant calls them resurrection plants (复苏植物). During months without water under a harsh sun, they wither, shrink and contract until they look like a pile of dead gray leaves. But rainfall can revive them in a matter of hours. Her time-lapse (间歇性拍摄的) videos of the revivals look like someone playing a tape of the plant's death in reverse.E) The big difference between "drought-tolerant" plants and these toughplants: metabolism. Many different kinds of plants have developed tactics to weather dry spells. Some plants store reserves of water to see them through a drought; others send roots deep down to subsurface water supplies. But once these plants use up their stored reserve or tap out the underground supply, they cease growing and start to die. They may be able to handle a drought of some length, and many people use the term "drought tolerant" to describe such plants, but they never actually stop needing to consume water, so Farrant prefers to call them drought resistant.F) Resurrection plants, defined as those capable of recovering from holding less than 0.1 grams of water per gram of dry mass, are different. They lack water-storing structures, and their existence on rock faces prevents them from tapping groundwater, so they have instead developed the ability to change their metabolism. When they detect an extended dry period, they divert their metabolisms, producing sugars andcertain stress-associated proteins and other materials in their tissues. As the plant dries, these resources take on first the properties of honey, then rubber, and finally enter a glass-like state that is "the most stable state that the plant can maintain," Farrant says. That slows the plant's metabolism and protects its dried-out tissues. The plants also change shape, shrinking to minimize the surface area through which their remaining water might evaporate. They can recover from months and years without water, depending on the species.G) What else can do this dry-out-and-revive trick? Seeds—almost all of them. At the start of her career, Farrant studied "recalcitrant seeds (顽拗性种子)," such as avocados, coffee and lychee. While tasty, such seeds are delicate—they cannot bud and grow if they dry out (as you may know if you've ever tried to grow a tree from an avocado pit). In the seed world, that makes them rare, because most seeds from flowering plants are quite robust. Most seedscan wait out the dry, unwelcoming seasons until conditions are right and they sprout (发芽). Yet once they start growing, such plants seem not to retain the ability to hit the pause button on metabolism in their stems or leaves.H) After completing her Ph. D. on seeds, Farrant began investigating whether it might be possible to isolate the properties that make most seeds so resilient (迅速恢复活力的) and transfer them to other plant tissues. What Farrant and others have found over the past two decades is that there are many genes involved in resurrection plants' response to dryness. Many of them are the same that regulate how seeds become dryness-tolerant while still attached to their parent plants. Now they are trying to figure out what molecular signaling processes activate those seed-building genes in resurrection plants—and how to reproduce them in crops. "Most genes are regulated by a master set of genes," Farrant says. "We're looking at gene promoters and what would betheir master switch."I) Once Farrant and her colleagues feel they have a better sense of which switches to throw, they will have to find the best way to do so in useful crops. "I'm trying three methods of breeding," Farrant says: conventional, genetic modification and gene editing. She says she is aware that plenty of people do not want to eat genetically modified crops, but she is pushing ahead with every available tool until one works. Farmers and consumers alike can choose whether or not to use whichever version prevails："I'm giving people an option."J) Farrant and others in the resurrection business got together last year to discuss the best species of resurrection plant to use as a lab model. Just like medical researchers use rats to test ideas for human medical treatments, botanists use plants that are relatively easy to grow in a lab or greenhouse setting to test their ideas for related species. The Queensland rock violet is one of the best studied resurrectionplants so far, with a draft genome (基因图谱) published last year by a Chinese team. Also last year, Farrant and colleagues published a detailed molecular study of another candidate, Xerophyta viscosa, a tough-as-nail South African plant with lily-like flowers, and she says that a genome is on the way. One or both of these models will help researchers test their ideas—so far mostly done in the lab—on test plots.K) Understanding the basic science first is key. There are good reasons why crop plants do not use dryness defenses already. For instance, there's a high energy cost in switching from a regular metabolism to an almost-no-water metabolism. It will also be necessary to understand what sort of yield farmers might expect and to establish the plant's safety. "The yield is never going to be high," Farrant says, so these plants will be targeted not at Iowa farmers trying to squeeze more cash out of high-yield fields, but subsistence farmers who need help tosurvive a drought like the present one in South Africa. "My vision is for the subsistence farmer," Farrant says. "I'm targeting crops that are of African value."36. There are a couple of plants tough and adaptable enough to survive on bare rocky hills and in deserts.37. Farrant is trying to isolate genes in resurrection plants and reproduce them in crops.38. Farmers in South Africa are more at the mercy of nature, especially inconsistent rainfall.39. Resurrection crops are most likely to be the choice of subsistence farmers.40. Even though many plants have developed various tactics to cope with dry weather, they cannot survive a prolonged drought.41. Despite consumer resistance, researchers are pushing ahead with genetic modification of crops.42. Most seeds can pull through dry spells and begin growing when conditions are ripe, butonce this process starts, it cannot be held back.43. Farrant is working hard to cultivate food crops that can survive extreme dryness by studying the traits of rare wild plants.44. By adjusting their metabolism, resurrection plants can recover from an extended period of drought.45. Resurrection plants can come back to life ina short time after a rainfall.Section CDirections: 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 2 with a single line through the centre.Passage OneQuestions 46 to 50 are based on the following passage.Human memory is notoriously unreliable. Even people with the sharpest facial-recognition skills can only remember so much.It's tough to quantify how good a person is at remembering. No one really knows how many different faces someone can recall, for example, but various estimates tend to hover in the thousands—based on the number of acquaintances a person might have.Machines aren't limited this way. Give the right computer a massive database of faces, and it can process what it sees—then recognize a face it's told to find—with remarkable speed and precision. This skill is what supports the enormous promise of facial-recognition software in the 21st century. It's also what makes contemporary surveillance systems so scary. The thing is, machines still have limitations when it comes to facial recognition. Andscientists are only just beginning to understand what those constraints are. To begin to figure out how computers are struggling, researchers at the University of Washington created a massive database of faces—they call it MegaFace—and tested a variety of facial-recognition algorithms (算法) as they scaled up in complexity. The idea was to test the machines on a database that included up to 1 million different images of nearly 700,000 different people—and not just a large database featuring a relatively small number of different faces, more consistent with what's been used in other research.As the databases grew, machine accuracy dipped across the board. Algorithms that were right 95% of the time when they were dealing with a 13,000-image database, for example, were accurate about 70% of the time when confronted with 1 million images. That's still pretty good, says one of the researchers, Ira Kemelmacher-Shlizerman. "Much better thanwe expected," she said.Machines also had difficulty adjusting for people who look a lot alike—either doppelgangers (长相极相似的人), whom the machine would have trouble identifying as two separate people, or the same person who appeared in different photos at different ages or in different lighting, whom the machine would incorrectly view as separate people."Once we scale up, algorithms must be sensitive to tiny changes in identities and at the same time invariant to lighting, pose, age," Kemelmacher-Shlizerman said.The trouble is, for many of the researchers who'd like to design systems to address these challenges, massive datasets for experimentation just don't exist—at least, not in formats that are accessible to academic researchers. Training sets like the ones Google and Facebook have are private. There are no public databases that contain millions of faces. MegaFace's creators say it's the largest publicly availablefacial-recognition dataset out there."An ultimate face recognition algorithm should perform with billions of people in a dataset," the researchers wrote.46. Compared with human memory, machines can ________.A) identify human faces more efficientlyB) tell a friend from a mere acquaintanceC) store an unlimited number of human facesD) perceive images invisible to the human eye47. Why did researchers create MegaFace?A) To enlarge the volume of the facial-recognition database.B) To increase the variety of facial-recognition software.C) To understand computers' problems with facial recognition.D) To reduce the complexity of facial-recognition algorithms.48. What does the passage say about machine accuracy?A) It falls short of researchers' expectations.B) It improves with added computing power.C) It varies greatly with different algorithms.D) It decreases as the database size increases.49. What is said to be a shortcoming-of facial-recognition machines?A) They cannot easily tell apart people with near-identical appearances.B) They have difficulty identifying changes in facial expressions.C) They are not sensitive to minute changes in people's mood.D) They have problems distinguishing people of the same age.50. What is the difficulty confronting researchers of facial-recognition machines?A) No computer is yet able to handle huge datasets of human faces.B) There do not exist public databases with sufficient face samples.C) There are no appropriate algorithms to process the face samples.D) They have trouble converting face datasetsinto the right format.Passage TwoQuestions 51 to 55 are based on the following passage.There're currently 21.5 million students in America, and many will be funding their college on borrowed money. Given that there's now over $1.3 trillion in student loans on the books, it's pretty clear that many students are far from sensible. The average student's debt upon graduation now approaches $40,000, and as college becomes ever more expensive, calls to make it "free" are multiplying. Even Hillary Clinton says that when it comes to college, "Costs won't be a barrier."But the only way college could be free is if the faculty and staff donated their time, the buildings required no maintenance, and campuses required no utilities. As long as it'simpossible to produce something from nothing, costs are absolutely a barrier.The actual question we debate is who should pay for people to go to college. If taxpayers are to bear the cost of forgiving student loans, shouldn't they have a say in how their money is used?At least taxpayers should be able to decide what students will study on the public dime. If we're going to force taxpayers to foot the bill for college degrees, students should only study those subjects that're of greatest benefit to taxpayers. After all, students making their own choices in this respect is what caused the problem in the first place. We simply don't need more poetry, gender studies, or sociology majors. How do we know which subjects benefit society? Easy. Average starting salaries give a clear indication of what type of training society needs its new workers to have. Certainly, there're benefits to a college major beyond the job a student can perform. But if we're talking about the benefitsto society, the only thing that matters is what the major enables the student to produce for society. And the value of what the student can produce is reflected in the wage employers are willing to pay the student to produce it.A low wage for elementary school teachers, however, doesn't mean elementary education isn't important. It simply means there're too many elementary school teachers already. Meanwhile, there're few who're willing and able to perform jobs requiring a petroleum engineering major, so the value of one more of those people is very high.So we can have taxpayers pick up students' tuition in exchange for dictating what those students will study. Or we can allow students both to choose their majors and pay for their education themselves. But in the end, one of two things is true:Either a college major is worth its cost or it isn't. If yes, taxpayer financing isn't needed. If not, taxpayer financing isn't desirable. Either way,taxpayers have no business paying for students' college education.51. What does the author think of college students funding their education through loans?A) They only expect to get huge returns.B) They are acting in an irrational way.C) They benefit at taxpayers' expense.D) They will regret doing so someday.52. In the author's opinion, free college education is ________.A) impracticalB) unsustainableC) a goal to strive forD) a way to social equality53. What should students do if taxpayers are to bear their college costs?A) Work even harder to repay society.B) Choose their subjects more carefully.C) Choose majors that will serve society's practical needs.D) Allow taxpayers to participate in college administration.54. What does the author say about the value ofa student's college education?A) It is underestimated by profit-seeking employers.B) It is to be proved by what they can do on the job.C) It is well reflected in their average starting salary.D) It is embodied in how they remove social barriers.55. What message does the author want to convey in the passage?A) Students should think carefully whether to go to college.B) Taxpayers should only finance the most gifted students.C) The worth of a college education is open to debate.D) College students should fund their own education.Part IV Translation (30 minutes)Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to translate a passage from Chinese into English. You should write your answer on Answer Sheet 2.中国目前拥有世界上最大最快的高速铁路网。