2013年12月英语六级真题第三套及答案

三 Part I Writing (30 minutes) Directions:For this part you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay commenting on the remark "The greatest use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it." You can give examples to illustrate your point and then explain what you will do to make your life more meaningful. You should write at least 150 words but no more than 200 words. 1. A) Dr. Smith's waiting room isn't tidy. B) Dr. Smith enjoys reading magazines. C) Dr. Smith has left a good impression on her. D) Dr. Smith may not be a good choice. 2. A) The man will rent the apartment when it is available. B) The man made a bargain with the landlady over the rent. C) The man insists on having a look at the apartment first. D) The man is not fully satisfied with the apartment. 3. A) Packing up to go abroad. B) Brushing up on her English. C) Drawing up a plan for her English course. D) Applying for a visa to the United States. 4. A) He is anxious to find a cure for his high blood pressure. B) He doesn't think high blood pressure is a problem for him. C) He was not aware of his illness until diagnosed with it. D) He did not take the symptoms of his illness seriously. 5. A) To investigate the causes of AIDS. B) To raise money for AIDS patients. C) To rally support for AIDS victims in Africa. D) To draw attention to the spread of AIDS in Asia. 6. A) It has a very long history. B) It is a private institution. C) It was founded by Thomas Jefferson. D) It stresses the comprehensive study of nature. 7. A) They can't fit into the machine. B) They have not been delivered yet. C) They were sent to the wrong address. D) They were found to be of the wrong type. 8. A) The food served in the cafeteria usually lacks variety. B) The cafeteria sometimes provides rare food for the students. C) The students find the service in the cafeteria satisfactory. D) The cafeteria tries hard to cater to the students' needs. Questions 9 to 12 are based on the conversation you have just heard. 9. A) He picked up some apples in his yard. B) He cut some branches off the apple tree. C) He quarreled with his neighbor over the fence. D) He cleaned up all the garbage in the woman's yard. 10. A) Trim the apple trees in her yard. B) Pick up the apples that fell in her yard. C) Take the garbage to the curb for her. D) Remove the branches from her yard. 11. A) File a lawsuit against the man. B) Ask the man for compensation. C) Have the man's apple tree cut down. D) Throw garbage into the man's yard. 12. A) He was ready to make a concession. B) He was not prepared to go to court. C) He was not intimidated. D) He was a bit concerned. Questions 13 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard. 13. A) Bad weather. B) Human error. C) Breakdown of the engines D) Failure of the communications system. 14. A) Two thousand feet. B) Twelve thousand feet. C) Twenty thousand feet. D) Twenty-two thousand feet. 15. A) Accurate communication is of utmost importance. B) Pilots should be able to speak several foreign languages. C) Air controllers should keep a close watch on the weather. D) Cooperation between pilots and air controllers is essential. Passage One Questions 16 to 19 are based on the conversation you have just heard. 16. A) His father caught a serious disease. B) His mother passed away. C) His mother left him to marry a rich businessman. D) His father took to drinking. 17. A) He disliked being disciplined. B) He was expelled by the university. C) He couldn't pay his gambling debts. D) He enjoyed working for a magazine. 18. A) His poems are heavily influenced by French writers. B) His stories are mainly set in the State of Virginia. C) His work is difficult to read. D) His language is not refined. 19. A) He grieved to death over the loss of his wife. B) He committed suicide for unknown reasons. C) He was shot dead at the age of 40. D) He died of heavy drinking. Passage Two Questions 20 to 22 are based on the passage you have just heard. 20. A) Women. B) Prisoners. C) Manual workers. D) School age children. 21. A) He taught his students how to pronounce the letters first. B) He matched the letters with the sounds familiar to the learners. C) He showed the learners how to combine the letters into simple words. D) He divided the letters into groups according to the way they are written. 22. A) It can help people to become literate within a short time. B) It was originally designed for teaching the English language. C) It enables the learners to master a language within three months. D) It is effective in teaching any alphabetical language to Brazilians. Passage Three Questions 23 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard. 23. A) The crop's blooming period is delayed. B) The roots of crops are cut off. C) The topsoil is seriously damaged. D) The growth of weeds is accelerated. 24. A) It's a new way of applying chemical fertilizer. B) It's an improved method of harvesting crops. C) It's a creative technique for saving labor. D) It's a farming process limiting the use of ploughs. 25. A) In areas with few weeds and unwanted plants. B) In areas with a severe shortage of water. C) In areas lacking in chemical fertilizer. D) In areas dependent on imported food. Adults are getting smarter about how smart babies are. Not long ago. researchers learned that 4-day-old could understand (26)______ and subtraction. Now. British research psychologist Graham Schafer has discovered that infants can learn words for uncommon things long before they can speak. He found that 9-month-old infants could be taught, through repeated show-and-tell, to (27)______ the names of objects that were foreign to them, a result that (28)______ in some ways the received wisdom that, apart from learning to (29)______ things common to their daily lives, children don't begin to build vocabulary until well into their second year. "It's no (30)______ that children learn words, but the words they tend to know arc words linked to (31)______ situations in the home." explains Schafer. "This is the first demonstration that we can choose what words the children will learn and that they can respond to them with an unfamiliar voice (32)______ in an unfamiliar setting." Figuring out how humans acquire language may (33)______ why some children learn to read and write later than others. Schafer says, and could lead to better treatments for developmental problems. What's more, the study of language (34)______ offers direct insight into how humans learn. "Language is a test case for human cognitive development." says Schafer. But parents eager to teach their infants should take note: even without being taught new words, a control group (35)______ the other infants within a few months. "This is not about advancing development." he says. "It's just about what children can do at an earlier age than what educators have often thought." Questions 36 to 45 are based on the following passage. Cell phones provide instant access to people. They are creating a major (36)______ in the social experiences of both children and adolescents. In one recent US survey, about half the teens polled said that their cell phone had (37)______ their communication with friends. Almost all said that their cell phone was the way they stayed in touch with peers, one-third had used the cell phone to help a peer in need- and about 80% said the phone made them feel safer. Teenagers in Australia, (38)______, said that their mobile phones provided numerous benefits and were an (39)______ part of their lives; some were so (40)______ to their phones that the researchers considered it an addiction. In Japan, too, researchers are concerned about cell phone addiction. Researchers in one study in Tokyo found that more than half of junior high school students used their phones to exchange e-mails with schoolmates more than 10 times a day. Cell phones (41)______ social connections with peers across time and space. They allow young people to exchange moment-by-moment experiences in their daily lives with special partners and thus to have a more (42)______ sense of connection with friends. Cell phones also can (43)______ social tolerance because they reduce children's interactions with others who are different from them. In addition to connecting peers, cell phones connect children and parents. Researchers studying teenagers in Israel concluded that-in that (44)______ environment, mobile phones were regarded as "security objects" in parent-teen relationships-important because they provided the possibility of (45)______ and communication at all times. 注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2 上作答。 Taste Not, Want Not Feeding the 9 Billion: The Tragedy of Waste A) By 2075, the United Nations' mid-range projection for global population is about 9.5 billion. This means that there could be an extra three billion mouths to feed by the end of the century, a period in which substantial changes are anticipated in the wealth, calorie intake and dietary preferences of people in developing countries across the world. Such a projection presents mankind with wide-ranging social, economic, environmental and political issues that need to be addressed today to ensure a sustainable future for all. One key issue is how to produce more food in a world of finite resources. B) Today, we produce about four billion metric tonnes of food per year. Yet due to poor practices in harvesting, storage and transportation, as well as market and consumer wastage, it is estimated that 30-50% of all food produced never reaches a human stomach. Furthermore, this figure does not reflect the fact that large amounts of land, energy, fertilisers and water have also been lost in the production of foodstuffs which simply end up as waste. This level of wastage is a tragedy that cannot continue if we are to succeed in the challenge of sustainably meeting our future food demands. Where Food Waste Happens C) In 2010, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers identified three principal emerging population groups across the world, based on characteristics associated with their current and projected stage of economic development. - Fully developed, mature, post-industrial societies, such as those in Europe, characterised by stable or declining populations which are increasing in age. - Late-stage developing nations that are currently industrialising rapidly, for example China, which will experience declining rates of population growth, coupled with increasing affluence(富裕) and age profile. - Newly developing countries that are beginning to industrialise, primarily in Africa, with high to very high population growth rates, and characterised by a predominantly young age profile. D) Each group over the coming decades will need to address different issues surrounding food production, storage and transportation, as well as consumer expectations, if we are to continue to feed all our people. E) In less-developed countries, such as those of sub-Saharan Africa and South-East Asia, wastage tends to occur primarily at the farmer-producer end of the supply chain. Inefficient harvesting, inadequate local transportation and poor infrastructure(基础设施) mean that produce is frequently handled inappropriately and stored under unsuitable farm site conditions. F) In mature, fully developed countries such as the UK. more-efficient farming practices and better transport, storage and processing facilities ensure that a larger proportion of the food produced reaches markets and consumers. However, characteristics associated with modern consumer culture mean produce is often wasted through retail and customer behaviour. G) Major supermarkets, in meeting consumer expectations, will often reject entire crops of perfectly edible fruit and vegetables at the farm because they do not meet exacting marketing standards for their physical characteristics, such as size and appearance. H) Of the produce that does appear in the supermarket, commonly used sales promotions frequently encourage customers to purchase excessive quantities which, in the case of perishable foodstuffs, inevitably generate wastage in the home. Overall between 30% and 50% of what has been bought in developed countries is thrown away by the purchaser. Better Use of Our Finite Resources I) Wasting food means losing not only life-supporting nutrition but also precious resources, including land, water and energy. As a global society, therefore, tackling food waste will help contribute towards addressing a number of key resource issues. J) Land Usage: Over the last five decades, improved farming techniques and technologies have helped to significantly increase crop yields along with a 12% expansion of farmed land use. However, a further increase in farming area without impacting unfavourably on what remains of the world's natural ecosystems appears unlikely. The challenge is that an increase in animal-based production will require more land and resources, as livestock(牲畜) farming demands extensive land use. K) Water Usage: Over the past century, human use of fresh water has increased at more than double the rate of population growth. Currently about 3.8 trillion m3 of water is used by humans per year. About 70% of this is consumed by the global agriculture sector, and the level of use will continue to rise over the coming decades. L) Better irrigation can dramatically improve crop yield and about 40% of the world's food supply is currently derived from irrigated land. However, water used in irrigation is often sourced unsustainably. In processing foods after the agricultural stage, there are large additional uses of water that need to be tackled in a world of growing demand. This is particularly crucial in the case of meat production, where beef uses about 50 times more water than vegetables. In the future, more effective washing techniques, management procedures, and recycling and purification of water will be needed to reduce wastage. M) Energy Usage; Energy is an essential resource across the entire food production cycle, with estimates showing an average of 7-10 calories of input being required in the production of one calorie of food. This varies dramatically depending on crop, from three calories for plant crops to 35 calories in the production of beef. Since much of this energy comes from the utilisation of fossil fuels, wastage of food potentially contributes to unnecessary global warming as well as inefficient resource utilisation. N) In the modern industrialised agricultural process-which developing nations ar