大学英语六级考试2015年6月真题(第二套)

Part I Writing (30 minutes)

Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay commenting on
Albert Einstein’s remark “ I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.”
You can give an example or two to illustrate your point of view. You should write at least
150 words but no more than 200 words.

Part I Listening Comprehension (30minutes)

Section A
Directions: 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.
Conversation One
Questions 1 to 4 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
1. A) Providing aid to the disabled. C) Promoting products for manufacturers.
B) Selling products made for left-handers. D) Printing labels for manufactured goods.
2. A) About half of them are unavailable on the market.
B) The kitchenware in his shop is of unique design.
C) All of them are manufactured in his own plant.
D) Most of them are specially made for his shop.
3. A) It is the man who is talking that set up the business.
B) There was more competition in the business about 30 years ago.
C) There are more left-handed products on the market now.
D) People in the business should run stores to sell products.
4. A) They specialise in one product only. C) They run chain stores in central London.
B) They have outlets throughout Britain. D) They sell by mail order only.
Conversation Two
Questions 5 to 8 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
5. A) It publishes magazines. C) It sponsors trade fairs.
B) It is engaged in product design. D) It runs sales promotion campaigns.
6. A) The woman’s company failed to make payments in time.
B) The ad specifications had not been given in detail.
C) The woman’s company made last-minute changes.
D) Organising the promotion was really time-consuming.
7. A) Run another four-week campaign. C) Extend the campaign to next year.
B) Give her a 10 percent discount. D) Cut the fee by half for this year.
8. A) Calm down and make peace. C) Stop negotiating for the time being.
B ) Improve their promotion plans. D) Reflect on their respective mistakes.

Section B
Directions: 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.
Passage One
Questions 9 to 12 are based on the passage you have just heard.
9. A) They are labeled pet animals by the researchers.
B) They look spotlessly clean throughout their lives.
C) They are looked after by animal-care organizations.
D) They sacrifice their lives for the benefit of humans.
10. A) They may behave abnormally.
B) They may breed out of control.
C) They may affect the results of experiments.
D) They may cause damage to the environment.
11. A) When they are no longer useful. C) When they become escapees.
B ) when they become ill. D) when they get too old.
12. A) While holding a burial ceremony for a pet mouse, they were killing pest mice.
B) While advocating freedom for animals, they kept their pet mouse in a cage.
C) While calling for animal rights, they allowed their kids to keep pet animals.
D) While launching animal protection campaigns, they were trapping kitchen mice.
Passage Two
Questions 13 to 15 are based on the passage you have just heard.
13. A) They contribute most to it. C) They often find fault with it.
B) They are crazy about it. D) They take it for granted.
14. A) Tidal restlessness. C) Economic prosperity.
B) Heat and light. D) Historical continuity.
15. A) They lack knowledge of the culture of the city.
B) They are adventurers from all over the world.
C) They have difficulty surviving.
D) They find the city alien to them.
Section C
Directions: 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 to 18 are based on the recording you have just heard.
16. A) Protein was recognized as an essential component of diet.
B) Vitamins were synthesized from foods.
C) Effective measures of weight loss were determined.
D) Certain foods were found to be harmful to good health.
17. A) In order to urge medical doctors to participate in research studies on nutrition.
B) In order to encourage medical doctors to apply concepts of nutrition in the treatment of disease.
C) In order to persuade doctors to conduct experimental vitamin therapies on their patients.
D) In order to support the creation of artificial vitamins.
18. A) The public lost interest in vitamins.
B) Medical schools stopped teaching nutritional concepts.
 C) Nutritional research was of poor quality.
D) Claims for the effectiveness of vitamin therapy were exaggerated.
Questions 19 to 22 are based on the recording you have just heard.
19. A) How babies differentiate between the sound of the human voice and other sounds.
B) The differences between a baby’s and an adult’s ability to comprehend language.
C) How babies perceive and respond to the human voice in their early stages of language development.
D) The response of a baby to sounds other than the human voice.
20. A) To contrast the reactions of babies to human and nonhuman sounds.
B) To give examples of sounds that will cause a baby to cry.
C) To explain how babies distinguish between different nonhuman sounds.
D) To give examples of typical toys that babies do not like.
21. A) Babies who are exposed to more than one language can acquire languages earlier than those to a single language.
B)Mothers from different cultures speak to their babies in a similar way.
C)Babies ignore facial expressions in comprehending their parents’ language.
D) The mothers observed by the researchers were consciously teaching their babies to speak.
22. A)They understand the rhythm. C) They can remember them easily.
B)They enjoy the sounds of them. D) They focus on their parents’ words.
Questions 23 to 25 are based on the recording you have just heard.
23. A) Britain. C) France.
B)Germany. D) Japan.
24. A) The United States had a leading position on the world market by the start of World War I.
B) The centre of film-making moved eastwards from Hollywood to New York.
C) Many film industries could compete with that of Hollywood.
D) The film markets of Russia and Japan were the only promising ones.
25. A) Indifferent. C) Negative.
B)Biased. D)Neutral.

Part Ⅱ Reading Comprehension (40 minutes)

Section A
Directions: In this section, there is a passage with ten blanks. You are required to select
one word for each blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage.
Read the passage through carefully before making your choices. Each choice in the bank
is identified by a letter. Please mark the corresponding letter for each item on Answer
Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre. You may not use any of the words in the
bank more than once.
Questions 26 to 35 are based on the following passage.
“ That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” But parents can’t handle it when
teenagers put this __26__ into practice. Now technology has become the new field for
the age-old battle between adults and their freedom-seeking kids.
Locked indoors, unable to get on their bicycles and hang out with their friends, teens
have turned to social media and their mobile phones to socialize with their peers. What
they do online often __27__ what they might otherwise do if their mobility weren ’ t so
heavily __28__ in the age of helicopter parenting. Social media and smart-phone apps
have become so popular in recent years because teens need a place to call their own. They
want the freedom to __29__ their identity and the world around them. Instead of __30__
out, they jump online.
As teens have moved online, parents have projected their fears onto the Internet,
imagining all the __31__ dangers that youth might face —from __32__ strangers to
cruel peers to pictures or words that could haunt them on Google for the rest of their lives.
Rather than helping teens develop strategies for negotiating public life and the risks
of __33__ with others, fearful parents have focused on tracking, monitoring and blocking.
These tactics（策略）don’t help teens develop the skills they need to manage complex
social situations, __34__ risks and get help when they’re in trouble. “Protecting” kids
may fell like the right thing to do, but it __35__ the learning that teens need to do as they
come of age in a technology-soaked world.

A) assess K) potential
B) constrained L) sneaking
C) contains M) sticking
D) explore N) undermines
E) influence O) violent
F) interacting
G) interpretation
H) magnified
I) mirrors
J) philosophy

Section B
Directions: 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.
Inequality Is Not Inevitable

[A] An dangerous trend has developed over this past third of a century. A country that
experienced shared growth after World War Ⅱ began to tear apart, so much so that
when the Great Recession hit in late 2007, one could no longer ignore the division
that had come to define the American economic landscape. How did this “shining city
on a hill” become the advanced country with the greatest level of inequality?
[B] Over the past year and a half, The Great Divide, a series in The New York Times, has
presented a wide range of examples that undermine the notion that there are any truly
fundamental laws of capitalism. The dynamics of the imperial capitalism of the 19th
century needn’t apply in the democracies of the 21st. We don’t need to have this much
inequality in America.
[C] Our current brand of capitalism is a fake capitalism. For proof of this go back to our
response to the Great Recession, where we socialized losses, even as we privatized
gains. Perfect competition should drive profits to zero, at least theoretically, but we
have monopolies making persistently high profits. C. E. O. s enjoy incomes that are
on average 295 times that of the typical worker, a much higher ratio than in the past,
without any evidence of a proportionate increase in productivity.
[D] If it is not the cruel laws of economics that have led to America’s great divide, what is
it? The straightforward answer: our policies and our politics! People get tired of
hearing about Scandinavian success stories, but the fact of the matter is that Sweden,
Finland and Norway have all succeeded in having about as much or faster growth in
 per capita（人均的）incomes than the United States and with far greater equality.
[E] So why has America chosen these inequality-enhancing policies? Part of the answer is
that as World War II faded into memory, so too did the solidarity it had created. As
America triumphed in the Cold War, there didn’t seem to be a real competitor to our
economic model. Without this international competition, we no longer had to show
that our system could deliver for most of our citizens.
[F] Ideology and interests combined viciously. Some drew the wrong lesson from the
collapse of the Soviet system in 1991. The pendulum swung from much too much
government there to much too little here. Corporate interests argued for getting rid of
regulations, even when those regulations had done so much to protect and improve
our environment, our safety, our health and the economy itself.
[G] But this ideology was hypocritical （ 虚 伪 的 ） . The bankers, among the strongest
advocates of laissez-faire（自由放任的）economics, were only too willing to accept
hundreds of billions of dollars from the government in the aid programs that have
been a recurring feature of the global economy since the beginning of the Thatcher-
Reagan era of “free” markets and deregulation.
[H] The American political system is overrun by money. Economic inequality translates
into political inequality, and political inequality yields increasing economic inequality.
So corporate welfare increases as we reduce welfare for the poor. Congress maintains
subsidies for rich farmers as we cut back on nutritional support for the needy. Drug
companies have been given hundreds of billions of dollars as we limit Medicaid
benefits. The banks that brought on the global financial crisis got billions while a tiny
bit went to the homeowners and victims of the same banks’ predatory（掠夺性的）
lending practices. This last decision was particularly foolish. There were alternatives
to throwing money at the banks and hoping it would circulate through increased
lending.
[I] Our divisions are deep. Economic and geographic segregation have immunized those
at the top from the problems of those down below. Like the kings of ancient times,
they have come to perceive their privileged positions essentially as a natural right.
[J] Our economy, our democracy and our society have paid for these gross inequalities.
The true test of an economy is not how much wealth its princes can accumulate in tax
havens（庇护所）,but how well off the typical citizen is. But average incomes are
lower than they were a quarter-century ago. Growth has gone to the very, very top,
whose share has almost increased four times since 1980. Money that was meant to
have trickled （ 流 淌 ） down has instead evaporated in the agreeable climate of the
Cayman Islands.
[K] With almost a quarter of American children younger than 5 living in poverty, and
with America doing so little for its poor, the deprivations of one generation are being
visited upon the next. Of course, no country has ever come close to providing
complete equality of opportunity. But why is America one of the advanced countries
where the life prospects of the young are most sharply determined by the income and
education of their parents?
[L] Among the most bitter stories in The Great Divide were those that portrayed the
frustrations of the young, who long to enter our shrinking middle class. Soaring
tuitions and declining incomes have resulted in larger debt burdens. Those with only a
high school diploma have seen their incomes decline by 13 percent over the past 35
years.
[M] Where justice is concerned, there is also a huge divide. In the eyes of the rest of the
 world and a significant part of its own population, mass imprisonment has come to
define America—a country, it bears repeating, with about 5 percent of the world’s
population but around a fourth of the world’s prisoners.
[N] Justice has become a commodity, affordable to only a few. While Wall Street
executives used their expensive lawyers to ensure that their ranks were not held
accountable for the misdeeds that the crisis in 2008 so graphically revealed, the banks
abused our legal system to foreclose（取消赎回权）on mortgages and eject tenants,
some of whom did not even owe money.
[O] More than a half-century ago, America led the way in advocating for the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations in 1948. Today, access
to health care is among the most universally accepted rights, at least in the advanced
countries. America, despite the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, is the
exception. In the relief that many felt when the Supreme Court did not overturn the
Affordable Care Act, the implications of the decision for Medicaid were not fully
appreciated. Obamacare’s objective —to ensure that all Americans have access to
health care—has been blocked: 24 states have not implemented the expanded
Medicaid program, which was the means by which Obamacare was supposed to
deliver on its promise to some of the poorest.
[P] We need not just a new war on poverty but a war to protect the middle class. Solutions
to these problems do not have to be novel. Far from it. Making markets act like
markets would be a good place to start. We must end the rent-seeking society we have
gravitated toward, in which the wealthy obtain profits by manipulating the system.
[Q] The problem of inequality is not so much a matter of technical economics. It’s really
a problem of practical politics. Inequality is not just about the top marginal tax rate
but also about our children’s access to food and the right to justice for all. If we spent
more on education, health and infrastructure（基础设施）, we would strengthen our
economy, now and in the future.
36.In theory, free competition is supposed to reduce the margin of profits to the minimum.
37.The United States is now characterized by a great division between the rich and the
poor.
38.America lacked the incentive to care for the majority of its citizens as it found no rival
for its economic model.
39.The wealthy top have come to take privileges for granted.
40.Many examples show the basic laws of imperial capitalism no longer apply in present-
day America.
41.The author suggests a return to the true spirit of the market.
42.A quarter of the world’s prisoner population is in America.
43.Government regulation in America went from one extreme to the other in the past two
decades.
44.Justice has become so expensive that only a small number of people like corporate
executives can afford it.
45.No country in the world so far has been able to provide completely equal opportunities
for all.

Section C
Directions: 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 One
Questions 46 to 50 are based on the following passage.
I’ll admit I’ve never quite understood the obsession （ 难 以 破 除 的 成 见 ）
surrounding genetically modified (GM) crops. To environmentalist opponents, GM foods
are simply evil, an understudied, possibly harmful tool used by big agricultural businesses
to control global seed markets and crush local farmers. They argue that GM foods have
never delivered on their supposed promise, that money spent on GM crops would be
better channeled to organic farming and that consumers should be protected with warning
labels on any products that contain genetically modified ingredients. To supporters, GM
crops are a key part of the effort to sustainably provide food to meet a growing global
population. But more than that, supporters see the GM opposition of many
environmentalists as fundamentally anti-science, no different than those who question the
basics of man-made climate change.
For both sides, GM foods seem to act as a symbol: you’re pro-agricultural business
or anti-science. But science is exactly what we need more of when it comes to GM foods,
which is why I was happy to see Nature devote a special series of articles to the GM food
controversy. The conclusion: while GM crops haven’t yet realized their initial promise
and have been dominated by agricultural businesses, there is reason to continue to use and
develop them to help meet the enormous challenge of sustainably feeding a growing
planet.
That doesn’t mean GM crops are perfect, or a one-size-fits-all solution to global
agriculture problems. But anything that can increase farming efficiency—the amount of
crops we can produce per acre of land—will be extremely useful. GM crops can and
almost certainly will be part of that suite of tools, but so will traditional plant breeding,
improved soil and crop management—and perhaps most important of all, better storage
and transport infrastructure（基础设施）, especially in the developing world. (It doesn’t
do much good for farmers in places like sub-Saharan Africa to produce more food if they
can’t get it to hungry consumers.) I’d like to see more non-industry research done on GM
crops—not just because we’d worry less about bias, but also because seed companies
like Monsanto and Pioneer shouldn’t be the only entities working to harness genetic
modification. I’d like to see GM research on less commercial crops, like corn. I don’t
think it’s vital to label GM ingredients in food, but I also wouldn’t be against it—and
industry would be smart to go along with labeling, just as a way of removing fears about
the technology.
Most of all, though, I wish a tenth of the energy that’s spent endlessly debating GM
crops was focused on those more pressing challenges for global agriculture. There are
much bigger battles to fight.

46.How do environmentalist opponents view GM foods according to the passage?

A) They will eventually ruin agriculture and the environment.
B) They are used by big businesses to monopolize agriculture.
C) They have proved potentially harmful to consumers’ health.
D) They pose a tremendous threat to current farming practice.

47.What does the author say is vital to solving the controversy between the two sides of
the debate?
A) Breaking the GM food monopoly.
B) More friendly exchange of ideas.
C) Regulating GM food production.
D) More scientific research on GM crops.
48.What is the main point of the Nature articles?
A) Feeding the growing population makes it imperative to develop GM crops.
B) Popularizing GM technology will help it to live up to its initial promises.
C) Measures should be taken to ensure the safety of GM foods.
D) Both supporters and opponents should make compromises.
49.What is the author’s view on the solution to agricultural problems?
A) It has to depend more and more on GM technology.
B) It is vital to the sustainable development of human society.
C) GM crops should be allowed until better alternatives are found.
D) Whatever is useful to boost farming efficiency should be encouraged.
50.What does the author think of the ongoing debate around GM crops?
A) It arises out of ignorance of and prejudice against new science.
B) It distracts the public attention from other key issues of the world.
C) Efforts spent on it should be turned to more urgent issues of agriculture.
D) Neither side is likely to give in until more convincing evidence is found.
Passage Two
Questions 51 to 55 are based on the following passage.
Early decision—you apply to one school? and admission is binding—seems like a
great choice for nervous applicants. Schools let in a higher percentage of early-decision
applicants, which arguably means that you have a better chance of getting in. And if you
do, you’re done with the whole agonizing process by December. But what most students
and parents don’t realize is that schools have hidden motives for offering early decision.
Early decision, since it’s binding, allows schools to fill their classes with qualified
students; it allows admissions committees to select the students that are in particular
demand for their college and know those students will come. It also gives schools a higher
yield rate, which is often used as one of the ways to measure college selectivity and
popularity.
The problem is that this process effectively shortens the window of time students
have to make one of the most important decisions of their lives up to that point. Under
regular admissions, seniors have until May 1 to choose which school to attend; early
decision effectively steals six months from them, months that could be used to visit more
schools, do more research, speak to current students and alumni （ 校 友 ） and arguably
make a more informed decision.
There are, frankly, an astonishing number of exceptional colleges in America, and
for any given student, there are a number of schools that are a great fit. When students
become too fixated（专注）on a particular school early in the admissions process, that
fixation can lead to severe disappointment if they don’t get in or, if they do? the
possibility that they are now bound to go to a school that, given time for further reflection,
may not actually be right for them.
Insofar as early decision offers a genuine admissions edge, that advantage goes
largely to students who already have numerous advantages. The students who use early
decision tend to be those who have received higher-quality college guidance, usually a
result of coming from a more privileged background. In this regard, there’s an argument
against early decision, as students from lower-income families are far less likely to have
the admissions know-how to navigate the often confusing early deadlines.
Students who have done their research and are confident that there’s one school they
would be thrilled to get into should, under the current system, probably apply under early
decision. But for students who haven’t yet done enough research, or who are still
constantly changing their minds on favorite schools, the early-decision system needlessly
and prematurely narrows the field of possibility just at a time when students should be
opening themselves to a whole range of thrilling options.
51.What are students obliged to do under early decision?
A) Look into a lot of schools before they apply.
B) Attend the school once they are admitted.
C) Think twice before they accept the offer.
D) Consult the current students and alumni.
52.Why do schools offer early decision?
A) To make sure they get qualified students.
B) To avoid competition with other colleges.
C) To provide more opportunities for applicants.
D) To save students the agony of choosing a school.
53.What is said to be the problem with early decision for students?
A) It makes their application process more complicated.
B) It places too high a demand on their research ability.
C) It allows them little time to make informed decisions.
D) It exerts much more psychological pressure on them.
54.Why are some people opposed to early decision?
A) It interferes with students’ learning in high school.
B) It is biased against students at ordinary high schools.
C) It causes unnecessary confusion among college applicants.
D) It places students from lower-income families at a disadvantage.
55.What does the author advise college applicants to do?
A) Refrain from competing with students from privileged families.
B) Avoid choosing early decision unless they are fully prepared.
C) Find sufficient information about their favorite schools.
D) Look beyond the few supposedly thrilling options.

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.

汉朝是中国历史上最重要的朝代之一。汉朝统治期间有很多显著的成就。它
最先向其他文化敞开大门,对外贸易兴旺。汉朝开拓的丝绸之路通向了中西亚乃至
罗马。各类艺术一派繁荣,涌现了很多文学、历史、哲学巨著。公元100年中国第
一部字典编纂完成,收人9000个字,提供释义并列举不同的写法。其间,科技方面也
取得了很大进步,发明了纸张、水钟、日晷(sundials )以及测量地震的仪器。汉朝历
经400年,但统治者的腐败最终导致了它的灭亡。