Archive四月 2018

2017年06月英语六级第1套听力原文及题目

2017年06月英语六级第1套听力原文及题目

Section A
Direction: 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 I with a single line through the centre.

Conversation 1
W: Welcome to Workplace. And in today’s program, we’re looking at the results of two recently published surveys, which both deal with the same topic—happiness at work. John, tell us about the first survey.
M: Well, this was done by a human resources consultancy, who interviewed more than 1,000 workers, and established a top ten of the factors, which make people happy at work. The most important factor for the majority of the people interviewed was having friendly, supportive colleagues. In fact, 73% of people interviewed put their relationship with colleagues as the key factor contributing to happiness at work, which is a very high percentage. The second most important factor was having work that is enjoyable. The two least important factors were having one’s achievements recognized, and rather surprisingly, earning a competitive salary.
W: So, we are not mainly motivated by money?
M: Apparently not.
W: Any other interesting information in the survey?
M: Yes. For example, 25% of the working people interviewed described themselves as ‘very happy’ at work. However, 20% of employees described themselves as being unhappy.
W: That’s quite a lot of unhappy people at work every day.
M: It is, isn’t it? And there were several more interesting conclusions revealed by the survey. First of all, small is beautiful: people definitely prefer working for smaller organizations or companies with less than 100 staff. We also find out that, generally speaking, women were happier in their work than men.
W: Yes, we are, aren’t we?
M: And workers on part-time contracts, who only work 4 or 5 hours a day, are happier than those who work full-time. The researchers concluded that this is probably due to a better work-life balance.
W: Are bosses happier than their employees?
M: Yes, perhaps not surprisingly, the higher people go in a company, the happier they are. So senior managers enjoy their jobs more than people working under them.
Questions 1 to 4 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
Question 1: What is the No. 1 factor that made employees happy according to the survey?
Question 2: What is the percentage of the people surveyed who felt unhappy at work?
Question 3: What kind of companies are popular with employees?
Question 4: What is the possible reason for people on part-time contracts to be happier?

1.
A) Doing enjoyable work.
B) Having friendly colleagues.
C) Earning a competitive salary.
D) Working for supportive bosses.

2.
A) 31%.
B) 20%.
C) 25%.
D) 73%.

3.
A) Those of a small size.
B) Those run by women.
C) Those that are well managed.
D) Those full of skilled workers.

4.
A) They can hop from job to job easily.
B) They can win recognition of their work.
C) They can better balance work and life.
D) They can take on more than one job.

Conversation 2
W: Mr. De Keyzer, I’m a great lover of your book Moments Before the Flood. Can you tell us how you first became interested in this subject matter?
M: In 2006, when the concert hall of the city of Bruges asked me to take some pictures for a catalogue for a new concert season around the theme of water, I found myself working along the Belgian coastline. As there had been numerous alarming articles in the press about a climate catastrophe waiting to happen, I started looking at the sea and the beach very differently, a place where I spent so many perfect days as a child. This fear of a looming danger became the subject of a large-scale photo project.
W: You wrote in the book: “I don’t want to photograph the disaster, I want to photograph the disaster waiting to happen.” Can you talk a bit about that?
M: It is clear now that it is a matter of time before the entire European coastline disappears under water. The same goes for numerous big cities around the world. My idea was to photograph this beautiful and very unique coastline, rich in history, before it’s too late—as a last witness.
W: Can you talk a bit about how history plays a role in this project?
M: Sure. The project is also about the history of Europe looking at the sea and wondering when the next enemy would appear. In the images, you see all kinds of possible defense constructions to hold back the Romans, Germans, Vikings, and now nature as enemy number one. For example, there is the image of the bridge into the sea taken at the Normandy D-Day landing site. Also, Venice, the city eternally threatened by the sea, where every morning wooden pathways have to be set up to allow tourists to reach their hotels.
W: Thank you, Mr. De Keyzer. It was a pleasure to have you with us today.
Questions 5 to 8 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
Question 5: What does the man say about the book Moments Before the Flood?
Question 6: When did the man get his idea for the work?
Question 7: What will happen when the climate catastrophe occurs?
Question 8: What does the man say about Venice?

5.
A) It is a book of European history.
B) It is an introduction to music.
C) It is about the city of Bruges.
D) It is a collection of photos.

6.
A) When painting the concert hall of Bruges.
B) When vacationing in an Italian coastal city.
C) When taking pictures for a concert catalogue.
D) When writing about Belgium’s coastal regions.

7.
A) The entire European coastline will be submerged.
B) The rich heritage of Europe will be lost completely.
C) The seawater of Europe will be seriously polluted.
D) The major European scenic spots will disappear.

8.
A) Its waterways are being increasingly polluted.
B) People cannot get around without using boats.
C) It attracts large numbers of tourists from home and abroad.
D) Tourists use wooden paths to reach their hotels in the morning.

Section B
Direction: 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 1
When facing a new situation, some people tend to rehearse their defeat by spending too much time anticipating the worst. I remember talking with a young lawyer who was about to begin her first jury trial. She was very nervous. I asked what impression she wanted to make on the jury. She replied: “I don’t want to look too inexperienced, I don’t want them to suspect this is my first trial.” This lawyer had fallen victims to the “don’ts” syndrome—a form of negative goal setting. The “don’ts” can be self-fulfilling because your mind response to pictures. Research conducted at Stanford University shows a mental image fires the nerve system the same way as actually doing something. That means when a golfer tells himself: “Don’t hit the ball into the water.” His mind sees the image of the ball flying into the water. So guess where the ball will go? Consequently, before going into any stressful situation, focus only on what you want to have happen. I asked the lawyer again how she wanted to appear at her first trial. And this time she said: “I want to look professional and self-assured.” I told her to create a picture of what self-assured would look like. To her, it meant moving confidently around the court room, using convincing body language and projecting her voice, so it could be heard from the judge’s bench to the back door. She also imagined a skillful closing argument and a winning trial. A few weeks after this positive stress rehearsal, the young lawyer did win.
Questions 9 to 12 are based on the passage you have just heard.
Question 9: What do some people do when they face a new situation?
Question 10: What does the research conducted at Stanford University show?
Question 11: What advice does the speaker give to people in a stressful situation?
Question 12: What do we learn about the lawyer in the court?

9.
A) They make careful preparation beforehand.
B) They take too many irrelevant factors into account.
C) They spend too much time anticipating their defeat.
D) They try hard to avoid getting off on the wrong foot.

10.
A) A person’s nervous system is more complicated than imagined.
B) Golfers usually have positive mental images of themselves.
C) Mental images often interfere with athletes’ performance.
D) Thinking has the same effect on the nervous system as doing.

11.
A) Anticipate possible problems.
B) Make a list of do’s and don’ts.
C) Picture themselves succeeding.
D) Try to appear more professional.

12.
A) She wore a designer dress.
B) She won her first jury trial.
C) She did not speak loud enough.
D) She presented moving pictures.

Passage 2
Most Americans don’t eat enough fruits, vegetables or whole grains. Research now says adding fiber to the teen diet may help lower the risk of breast cancer. Conversations about the benefits of fiber are probably more common in nursing homes than high schools. But along comes a new study that could change that. Kristi King, a diet specialist at Texas Children’s Hospital, finds it hard to get teenage patients’ attention about healthy eating. By telling them they are eating lots of high-fiber foods could reduce the risk of breast cancer before middle age. That’s a powerful message. The new finding is based on a study of 44,000 women. They were surveyed about their diets during high school and their eating habits were tracked for two decades. It turns out that those who consumed the highest levels of fiber during adolescents had a lower risk of developing breast cancer, compared to women who ate the least fiber. This important study demonstrates that the more fiber you eat during your high school years, the lower your risk is in developing breast cancer in later life. The finding points to long-standing evidence that fiber may reduce circulating female hormone levels, which could explain the reduced risk. The bottom line here is the more fiber you eat, perhaps, a lower level of hormone in your body, and therefore, a lower lifetime risk of developing breast cancer. High-fiber diets are also linked to a reduced risk of heart disease and diabetes. That’s why women are told to eat 25 grams of fiber a day—man even more.
Questions 13 to 15 are based on the passage you have just heard.
Question 13: What does the new study tell about adding fiber to the teen diet?
Question 14: What do we learn about the survey of the 44,000 women?
Question 15: What explanation does the speaker offer for the research finding?

13.
A) Its long-term effects are yet to be proved.
B) Its health benefits have been overestimated.
C) It helps people to avoid developing breast cancer.
D) It enables patients with diabetes to recover sooner.

14.
A) It focused on their ways of life during young adulthood.
B) It tracked their change in food preferences for 20 years.
C) It focused on their difference from men in fiber intake.
D) It tracked their eating habits since their adolescence.

15.
A) Fiber may help to reduce hormones in the body.
B) Fiber may bring more benefits to women than men.
C) Fiber may improve the function of heart muscles.
D) Fiber may make blood circulation more smooth.

Section C
Direction: 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.

Recording 1
Well, my current research is really about consumer behavior. So recently, I’ve looked at young people’s drinking and it’s obviously a major concern to Government at the moment. I’ve also looked at how older people are represented in the media; again, it’s of major current interest with older people becoming a much larger proportion of UK and indeed, world society. I’m also interested in how consumers operate online, and how that online behavior might be different from how they operate offline when they go to the shops. Well, I think that the important thing here is to actually understand what’s happening from the consumer’s perspective. One of the things that businesses and indeed Government organizations often fail to do is to really see what is happening from the consumer’s perspective. For example, in the case of young people’s drinking, one of the things that I’ve identified is that drinking for people say between the ages of 18 and 24 is all about the social activity. A lot of the Government advertising has been about individual responsibility, but actually understanding that drinking is very much about the social activity and finding ways to help young people get home safely, and not end up in hospital is one of the things that we’ve tried to present there. The key thing about consumer behavior is that it’s very much about how consumers change. Markets always change faster than marketing; so we have to look at what consumers are doing. Currently I teach consumer behavior to undergraduates in their second year and we look at all kinds of things in consumer behavior and particularly how consumers are presented in advertising. So they get involved by looking at advertising and really critically assessing the consumer behavior aspects of it and getting involved sometimes, doing primary research. For example, last year my students spent a week looking at their own purchasing and analyzed it in detail from shopping to the relationship that they have with their retail banks and their mobile phone providers. I think they found it very useful and it also helped them identify just what kind of budgets they had too. The fact of the matter is that there’s a whole range of interesting research out there and I think as the years go on, there’s going to be much more for us to consider and certainly much more for students to become involved in.
Questions 16 to 18 are based on the recording you have just heard.
Question 16: What is the speaker currently doing?
Question 17: What has the speaker found about young people’s drinking?
Question 18: What does the speaker say that his students did last year?

16.
A) Observing the changes in marketing.
B) Conducting research on consumer behavior.
C) Studying the hazards of young people drinking.
D) Investigating the impact of media on government.

17.
A) It is the cause of many street riots.
B) It is getting worse year by year.
C) It is a chief concern of parents.
D) It is an act of socialising.

18.
A) They spent a week studying their own purchasing behavior.
B) They researched the impact of mobile phones on young people.
C) They analysed their family budgets over the years.
D) They conducted a thorough research on advertising.

Recording 2
Sweden was the first European country to print and use paper money, but it may soon do away with physical currencies. Banks can save a lot of money and avoid regulatory headaches by moving to a cash-free system, and they can also avoid bank robberies, theft, and dirty money. Claer Barrett, the editor of Financial Times Money, says the Western world is headed toward a world without physical currency. Andy Holder—the chief economist at The Bank of England—suggested that the UK move towards a government-backed digital currency. But does a cashless society really make good economic sense? “The fact that cash is being drawn out of society, is less a feature of our everyday lives, and the ease of electronic payments—is this actually making us spend more money without realizing it?” Barrett wanted to find out if the absence of physical currency does indeed cause a person to spend more, so she decided to conduct an experiment a few months ago. She decided that she was going to try to just use cash for two weeks to make all of her essential purchases and see what that would do to her spending. She found she did spend a lot less money because it is incredibly hard to predict how much cash one is going to need—she was forever drawing money out of cash points. Months later, she was still finding cash stuffed in her trouser pockets and the pockets of her handbags. During the experiment, Barrett took a train ride. On the way, there was an announcement that the restaurant car was not currently accepting credit cards. The train cars were filled with groans because many of the passengers were traveling without cash. “It underlines just how much things have changed in the last generation,” Barrett says. “My parents, when they were younger, used to budget by putting money into envelopes—they’d get paid and they’d immediately separate the cash into piles and put them in envelopes, so they knew what they had to spend week by week. It was a very effective way for them to keep track of their spending. Nowadays, we’re all on credit cards, we’re doing online purchases, and money is kind of becoming a less physical and more imaginary type of thing that we can’t get our hands around.”
Questions 19 to 22 are based on the recording you have just heard.
Question 19: What do we learn about Sweden?
Question 20: What did Claer Barrett want to find out with her experiment?
Question 21: What did Claer Barrett find on her train ride?
Question 22: How did people of the last generation budget their spending?

19.
A) It is helping its banks to improve efficiency.
B) It is trying hard to do away with dirty money.
C) It is the first country to use credit cards in the world.
D) It is likely to give up paper money in the near future.

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 causes a person to spend more.
D) Whether the absence of physical currency is going to affect everyday life.

21.
A) There was no food service on the train.
B) The service on the train was not good.
C) The restaurant car accepted cash only.
D) The cash in her handbag was missing.

22.
A) By putting money into envelopes.
B) By drawing money week by week.
C) By limiting their day-to-day spending.
D) By refusing to buy anything on credit.

Recording 3
Why should you consider taking a course in demography in college? You’ll be growing up in a generation where the baby boomers are going into retirement and dying. You will face the problems in the aging of the population that have never been faced before. You will hear more and more about migration between countries and between rural areas and cities. You need to understand as a citizen and as a tax payer and as a voter what’s really behind the arguments. I want to tell you about the past, present and future of the human population. So let’s start with a few problems. Right now, a billion people are chronically hungry. That means they wake up hungry, they are hungry all day, and they go to sleep hungry. A billion people are living in slums, not the same billion people, but there is some overlap. Living in slums means they don’t have infrastructure to take the garbage away, they don’t have secure water supplies to drink. Nearly a billion people are illiterate. Try to imagine your life being illiterate. You can’t read the labels on the bottles in the supermarket, if you can get to a supermarket. Two-thirds of those people who are illiterate are women and about 200 to 215 million women don’t have access to birth control they want, so that they can control their own fertility. This is not only a problem in developing countries. About half of all pregnancies globally are unintended. So those are examples of population problems. Demography gives you the tools to understand and to address these problems. It’s not only the study of human population, but the populations of non-human species, including viruses like influenza, the bacteria in your gut, plants that you eat, animals that you enjoy or that provide you with meat. Demography also includes the study of non-living objects like light bulbs and taxi cabs, and buildings because these are also populations. It studies these populations, in the past, present and future, using quantitative data and mathematical models as tools of analysis. I see demography as a central subject related to economics. It is the means to intervene more wisely, and more effectively in the real world, to improve the well-being, not only of yourself—important as that may be—but of people around you and of other species with whom we share the planet.
Questions 23 to 25 are based on the recording you have just heard.
Question 23: What is one of the problems the speaker mentions in his talk?
Question 24: What does the speaker say about pregnancies?
Question 25: How does the speaker view the study of populations?

23.
A) Population explosion.
B) Chronic hunger.
C) Extinction of rare species.
D) Environmental deterioration.

24.
A) They contribute to overpopulation.
B) About half of them are unintended.
C) They have been brought under control.
D) The majority of them tend to end halfway.

25.
A) It is essential to the wellbeing of all species on earth.
B) It is becoming a subject of interdisciplinary research.
C) It is neglected in many of the developing countries.
D) It is beginning to attract postgraduates’ attention.

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2017年06月英语六级第2套听力原文及题目

2017年06月英语六级第2套听力原文及题目

Section A
Direction: 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 I with a single line through the centre.

Conversation 1
W: Mr. Ishiguro, have you ever found one of your books at a second-hand bookstore?
M: Yes. That kind of thing is difficult. If they’ve got my book there, I think “Well, this is an insult! Somebody didn’t want to keep my book.” But if it’s not there, I feel it’s an insult too. I think, “Why aren’t people exchanging my book? Why isn’t it in this store?”
W: Does being a writer require a thick skin?
M: Yes. For example, my wife can be very harsh. I began working on my latest book, The Buried Giant, in 2004, but I stopped after I showed my wife a little section. She thought it was rubbish.
W: Even after you won a Booker Prize?
M: She is not intimidated at all, and she criticises me in exactly the same way she did when I was first unpublished and I was starting.
W: But you would never compromise on your vision?
M: No. I wouldn’t ever compromise on the essential, the ideas, or the themes. This isn’t really what my wife is trying to criticise me about. It’s always about execution.
W: So why did you put your book The Buried Giant aside for so long? Apparently, you started working on it over ten years ago.
M: I’ve often stopped writing the book and left it for a few years. And by the time I come back to it, it may have changed. Usually my imagination has moved on, and I can think of different contexts or a different way to do it.
W: What does it feel like when you finally finish a book?
M: It’s funny you ask that, because I never have this moment when I feel “Ah, I’ve finished!” I watch footballers at the end of the match, you know; the whistle goes and they’ve won or lost. Until then, they’ve been giving everything they have, and at that moment they know it’s over. It’s funny for an author. There’s never a finishing whistle.
Questions 1 to 4 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
Question 1: How would the man feel if he found his book in a second-hand bookstore?
Question 2: What does the man’s wife think of his books?
Question 3: What does the man do when he engages in writing?
Question 4: What does the man want to say by mentioning the football match?

1.
A) He would feel insulted.
B) He would feel very sad.
C) He would be embarrassed.
D) He would be disappointed.

2.
A) They are worthy of a prize.
B) They are of little value.
C) They make good reading.
D) They need improvement.

3.
A) He seldom writes a book straight through.
B) He writes several books simultaneously.
C) He draws on his real-life experiences.
D) He often turns to his wife for help.

4.
A) Writing a book is just like watching a football match.
B) Writers actually work every bit as hard as footballers.
C) He likes watching a football match after finishing a book.
D) Unlike a football match, there is no end to writing a book.

Conversation 2
W: According to a study of Race & Equity in Education, black athletes are dropping out of college across the country at alarming rates. With us to talk about the findings in the study is Washington Post columnist Kevin Blackstone. Good morning!
M: Good morning. How are you?
W: Fine, thank you. What is new that you found in this study?
M: Well, this is Shaun Harper’s study. And he points out that on major college campuses across the country, black males make up less than 3 percent of undergraduate enrollments. Yet, when you look at their numbers or percentages on the revenue-generating sports teams of football and basketball, they make up well into 50-60 percent of those team. So the idea is that they are really there to be part of the revenue-generating working class of athletes on campus, and not necessarily there to be part of the educating class as most students in other groups are.
W: Compared with other groups, I think the numbers in this group at those 65 schools are something like just barely more than half of the black male athletes graduate at all.
M: Exactly. And what’s really bad about this is these athletes are supposedly promised at least one thing as reward for all their blood and sweat. And that is a college degree, which can be a transformative tool in our society when you talk about upward mobility. And that’s really the troubling part about this.
W: Well, this has been talked about so much, really, in recent years. Why hasn’t changed?
M: Well, I think one of the reasons it hasn’t changed is because there is really no economic pressure to change this. All of the incentive is really on winning and not losing on the field or on the court. Coaches do not necessarily have the incentive to graduate players.
Questions 5 to 8 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
Question 5: What are the speakers talking about?
Question 6: What is the new finding about black male athletes in the study?
Question 7: What is the graduation rate of black male athletes?
Question 8: What accounts for black athletes’ failure to obtain a college degree according to the man?

5.
A) Achievements of black male athletes in college.
B) Financial assistance to black athletes in college.
C) High college dropout rates among black athletes.
D) Undergraduate enrollments of black athletes.

6.
A) They display great talent in every kind of game.
B) They are better at sports than at academic work.
C) They have difficulty finding money to complete their studies.
D) They make money for the college but often fail to earn a degree.

7.
A) About 15%.
B) Around 40%.
C) Slightly over 50%.
D) Approximately 70%.

8.
A) Coaches lack the incentive to graduate them.
B) College degrees do not count much to them.
C) They have little interest in academic work.
D) Schools do not deem it a serious problem.

Section B
Direction: 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 1
America’ s holiday shopping season starts on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. It is the busiest shopping day of the year. Retailers make the most money this time of year, about 20 to 30 percent of annual revenue. About 136 million people will shop during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. More and more will shop online. In an era of instant information, shoppers can use their mobile phones to find deals. About 183.8 million people will shop on Cyber Monday, the first Monday after Thanksgiving. More than half of all holiday purchases will be made online. One in five Americans will use a tablet or smartphone. Online spending on black Friday will rise 15 percent to hit 2.7 billion dollars this year. Cyber Monday spending will increase 12 percent to 3 billion dollars. For many, shopping online was “a more comfortable alternative” than crowded malls. The shift to online shopping has had a big impact on traditional shopping malls. Since 2010, more than 24 shopping malls have closed and an additional 60 are struggling. However, Fortune says weakest of the malls have closed. The sector is thriving again. The international Council of Shopping Centers said 94.2 percent of malls were full, or occupied with shops by the end of 2014. That is the highest level in 27 years. Economist, Gus Faucher, said lower unemployment and rising wages could give Americans more money to spend. The average American consumer will spend about 805 dollars on gifts. That’s about 630.5 billion dollars between November and December, an increase of 3.7 percent from last year.
Questions 9 to 12 are based on the passage you have just heard.
Question 9: What is the speaker mainly talking about?
Question 10: How many people will shop on Cyber Monday?
Question 11: What does Fortune say about traditional shopping malls?
Question 12: What is said to account for the increase number of shoppers?

9.
A) Marketing strategies.
B) Holiday shopping.
C) Shopping malls.
D) Online stores.

10.
A) About 50% of holiday shoppers.
B) About 20-30% of holiday shoppers.
C) About 136 million.
D) About 183.8 million.

11.
A) They have fewer customers.
B) They find it hard to survive.
C) They are thriving once more.
D) They appeal to elderly customers.

12.
A) Better quality of consumer goods.
B) Higher employment and wages.
C) Greater varieties of commodities.
D) People having more leisure time.

Passage 2
For years, many of us have relied on antibiotic use to treat various infections. And the reality is that antibiotics have been responsible for saving millions of lives since penicillin, one of the earliest antibiotics who’s first used on a clinical basis 70 years ago. However, today is a new era in witch taking antibiotics can cause some very dangerous and potentially life-threatening situations. In fact, you may have heard about the new “superbugs”, which are antibiotic-resistant bacteria that have developed as a result of overprescribed antibiotics. In the past, health experts warned us that the day would come in which it would become very difficult to provide medical care for even common problems, such as lung infection or severe sore throat. And apparently that day has come, because seemingly routine operations such as knee replacements are now much more hazardous due to the looming threat of these infections. The problem has grown into such epidemic proportions that this severe strain of resistant bacteria is being blamed for nearly 700,000 deaths each year throughout the world. And unfortunately, health experts worry that the number will rise to 10 million or more on a yearly basis by 2050. With such a large life-threatening epidemic, it is sad to say that only 1.2 percent of budgetary money for the National Institutes of Health is currently being spent on research to tackle this problem. This is a far cry from the funds necessary for a problem of such magnitude.
Questions 13 to 15 are based on the passage you have just heard.
Question 13: What do we learn about the “superbugs”?
Question 14: What is the result of the overuse of antibiotics?
Question 15: What is most urgently needed for tackling the large life-threatening epidemic, according to the speaker?

13.
A) They are new species of big insects.
B) They are overprescribed antibiotics.
C) They are life-threatening diseases.
D) They are antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

14.
A) Antibiotics are now in short supply.
B) Many infections are no longer curable.
C) Large amounts of tax money are wasted.
D) Routine operations have become complex.

15.
A) Facilities.
B) Expertise.
C) Money.
D) Publicity.

Section C
Direction: 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.

Recording 1
This is the reason you are here in a university. You are here to be educated. You are here to understand thinking better and to think better yourself. It’s not a chance you are going to have throughout your lifetime. For the next few years, you have a chance to focus on thinking. I think about some of the students who took advantage of their opportunities in a university. One of the stories I always like to tell is about a freshman seminar that I had a chance to teach at Harvard when I was President of the university. I taught a seminar on globalization and I assigned a reading that I had written about global capital flows. And as I did each week, I asked one of the students to introduce the reading. And this younger man in October of his freshman year said something like the following. “The reading by President Simons on the flow of capital across countries, it was kind of interesting, but the data did not come close to supporting the conclusions.” And I thought to myself, “What a fantastic thing this was!” How could somebody who had been there for five weeks tell the person who had the title President that he didn’t really know what he was talking about? And it was a special moment. Now, I don’t want to be misunderstood. I explained to my student that I actually thought he was rather more confused than I was, and I argued back. But what was really important about that was the universities stand out as places that really are about the authority of ideas. You see it in faculty members who are pleased when their students make a discovery that undermines a cherished theory that they had put forward. I think of another students I had who came to me one morning, one evening actually, walked into my office and said that I had written a pretty good paper, but that it had five important mistakes and that he wanted a job. You could debate whether they actually were mistakes, but you couldn’t debate that young man’s hunger to learn. You could not debate that that young man was someone who wanted to make a difference in economics and he is today a professor of economics and his works are more cited as an economist than any other economist in the world.
Questions 16 to 18 are based on the recording you have just heard.
Question 16: What does the speaker say about a university?
Question 17: What do we learn from the speaker’s stories about universities?
Question 18: What does the speaker see in the young man who challenged his paper?

16.
A) It is accessible only to the talented.
B) It improves students’ ability to think.
C) It starts a lifelong learning process.
D) It gives birth to many eminent scholars.

17.
A) They encourage academic democracy.
B) They promote globalization.
C) They uphold the presidents’ authority.
D) They protect students’ rights.

18.
A) His thirst for knowledge.
B) His eagerness to find a job.
C) His contempt for authority.
D) His potential for leadership.

Recording 2
Psychological research shows we consistently underestimate our mental powers. If you think this does not apply to you, then here is a simple test to show you’re wrong. Write down the names of all the American states you can remember. Put the list away, and then set yourself the same task a week later. Provided you have not cheated by consulting an atlas, you will notice something rather surprising. The two lists will contain roughly the same number of states, but they will not be identical. Some names will have slipped away, but others will have replaced them. This suggests that somewhere in your mind you may well have a record of virtually every state. So it is not really your memory letting you down, just your ability to retrieve information from it. We would remember a lot more if we had more confidence in your memories and knew how to use them properly. One useful tip is that things are more likely to be remembered if you are in exactly the same state and place as you were when you learn them. So if you are a student who always reviews over black coffee, perhaps it would be sensible to prime yourself with a cup before the exam. If possible, you should also try to learn information in the room where it is going to be tested. When you learn is also important. Lots of people swear they can absorb new information more efficiently at some times of the day than at others. Research shows this is not just imagination. There is a biological rhythm for learning. Though it affects different people in different ways, for most of us the best plan is to take in new information in the morning, and then try to consolidate it into memory during the afternoon. But this does not apply to everyone, so it is essential to establish your own rhythm. You can do this by learning a set number of lines of poetry at different times of the day, and see when most lines stick. When you have done this, try to organize your life so that the time set aside for learning coincides with the time when your memory is at its best. Avoid learning marathons. They do not make the best use of your mind. Take plenty of breaks, because they offer a double bonus. The time off gives your mind a chance to do some preliminary consolidation, and it also gives a memory boost to the learning.
Questions 19 to 22 are based on the recording you have just heard.
Question 19: What does the simple test suggest?
Question 20: What do we learn about the two lists in the test?
Question 21: What does the speaker suggest about preparing for and taking an exam?
Question 22: What tip does the speaker give on learning?

19.
A) Few people know how to retrieve information properly.
B) People can enhance their memory with a few tricks.
C) Most people have a rather poor long-term memory.
D) People tend to underestimate their mental powers.

20.
A) They present the states in a surprisingly different order.
B) They include more or less the same number of states.
C) They are exactly the same as is shown in the atlas.
D) They contain names of the most familiar states.

21.
A) Focusing on what is likely to be tested.
B) Having a good sleep the night before.
C) Reviewing your lessons where the exam is to take place.
D) Making sensible decisions while choosing your answers.

22.
A) Discover when you can learn best.
B) Change your time of study daily.
B) Give yourself a double bonus afterwards.
D) Follow the example of a marathon runner.

Recording 3
Hello, today I’m going to talk about poverty. Poverty has become a critical issue in today’s world. It concerns not only us sociologists, but also economists, politicians and business people. Poverty has been understood in many different ways. One useful way is to distinguish between three degrees of poverty: extreme poverty, moderate poverty, and relative poverty. The first type of poverty is extreme poverty; it’s also called absolute poverty. In extreme poverty, households cannot meet basic needs for survival. People are chronically hungry. They are unable to access safe drinking water, let alone health care. They cannot afford education for their children. In short, people who live in extreme poverty do not have even the minimum resources to support themselves and their families. Where does extreme poverty occur? Well, you can find it only in developing countries. Well, what about moderate poverty? Unlike extreme poverty, moderate poverty generally refers to conditions of life in which basic needs are met but barely. People living in moderate poverty have the resources to keep themselves alive, but only at a very basic level. For example, they may have access to drinking water, but not clean, safe drinking water. They may have a home to shelter themselves, but it does not have power supply, a telephone or plumbing. The third kind of poverty is relative poverty. Relative poverty is generally considered to be a household income level, which is below a given proportion of average family income. The relatively poor live in high-income countries, but they do not have a high income themselves. The method of calculating the poverty line is different from country to country, but we can say that basically a family living in relative poverty has less than a percentage of the average family income. For example, in the United States, a family can be considered poor if their income is less than 50% of the national average family income. They can meet their basic needs, but they lack access to cultural guts, entertainment and recreation. They also do not have access to quality health care, or other prerequisites for upward social mobility. Well, I have briefly explained to you how poverty can be distinguished as extreme poverty, moderate poverty and relative poverty. We should keep these distinctions in mind when we research people’s living conditions, either in the developing or the developed world.
Questions 23 to 25 are based on the recording you have just heard.
Question 23: What does the speaker do?
Question 24: Where does the speaker say we can find extreme poverty?
Question 25: What do we learn about American people living in relative poverty?

23.
A) He is a politician.
B) He is a businessman.
C) He is a sociologist.
D) He is an economist.

24.
A) In slums.
B) In Africa.
C) In pre-industrial societies.
D) In developing countries.

25.
A) They have no access to health care, let alone entertainment or recreation.
B) Their income is less than 50% of the national average family income.
C) They work extra hours to have their basic needs met.
D) Their children cannot afford to go to private schools.

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2017年12月英语六级第1套听力原文及题目

2017年12月英语六级第1套听力原文及题目

Section A
Direction: 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 I with a single line through the centre.

Conversation 1
M: And now for the lighter side of news, Europe is setting an example for the rest of the world when it comes to food waste.
W: That’s right, John. This week the Italian government passed legislation that aimed to dramatically reduce the amount of food wasted in the country. New laws have been put into place that would make it easier for farms and supermarkets to donate unsold foods to those who’re in need.
M: Yes. In addition to this, businesses will now be rewarded for successful efforts to cut food waste.
W: Italy is not the only country to focus on reducing food waste. Just earlier this year, the European Parliament voted in favor of legislation that would stop grocery giants from unfair trading practices that result in overproduction, thus creating waste.
M: In France, the government has banned supermarkets from throwing away edible foods and imposed harsh penalties on businesses that fail to comply with the regulations.
W: While there is still much progress to be made, other countries could learn a thing or two from the example set by France and Italy. In the United States, up to forty percent of all food goes uneaten despite the fact that one in seven American households lacks regular access to good food. One major cause of this problem is the confusion over food expiration labels, which are currently not regulated by the government.
M: All this could change soon. This wave of new laws in Europe will definitely put more pressure on law makers to reduce food waste here. We turn now to a spokesperson from Harvard University’s Food Law and Policy Clinic for more on the story. And now, let’s welcome Prof. Edward Becker to speak to us.
Questions 1 to 4 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
Question 1: What does the woman say about the new laws in Italy?
Question 2: What did the European Parliament do to reduce food waste?
Question 3: What has the French government done recently?
Question 4: What is the major cause of food waste in the United States?

1.
A) They reward businesses that eliminate food waste.
B) They prohibit the sale of foods that have gone stale.
C) They facilitate the donation of unsold foods to the needy.
D) They forbid businesses to produce more foods than needed.

2.
A) It imposed penalties on businesses that waste food.
B) It passed a law aiming to stop overproduction.
C) It voted against food import from outside Europe.
D) It prohibited the promotion of bulk food sales.

3.
A) It has warmed its people against possible food shortages.
B) It has penalized businesses that keep overproducing foods.
C) It has started a nationwide campaign against food waste.
D) It has banned supermarkets from dumping edible foods.

4.
A) The confusion over food expiration labels.
B) The surplus resulting from overproduction.
C) Americans’ habit of buying food in bulk.
D) A lack of regulation on food consumption.

Conversation 2
M: Thank you for calling Saks Fifth Avenue department store. How can I be of assistance to you today?
W: Hello. I was in your store this past weekend and bought a few items. Yesterday, my friend told me that the annual anniversary sales’d begun. It turned out she bought the same sweater as I did but for a much lower price.
M: Yes. Our anniversary sales started on Monday. We do offer price adjustments within seven days of purchase to ensure our customers’ satisfaction. You said you did the purchase here this past weekend?
W: Yes. I was shopping in your store last Sunday afternoon.
M: That would definitely fall within the price adjustment window. Do you have an account with us? We can credit your account directly with the difference if you wish. Otherwise we can send a gift card by mail if you prefer.
W: Crediting my account would be wonderful. Thank you. Now that you mention there’s a sale going on, I do remember a dress I quite like when I was in the shop on Sunday. Is it on offer as well?
M: Yes, ma’am. All the new arrivals are 15-20% off. In addition to the sale, we’re running a promotion for complimentary tailoring if you need it.
W: That’s good news. The dress really caught my eye but I did have some concerns about the length. How long will the alterations take?
M: Our tailoring department guarantees alterations to be completed within five working days. If you like, I can set one aside for you. If you’re able to come this afternoon, you can give your name to the sales manager and they will be able to assist you.
Questions 5 to 8 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
Question 5: What do we learn about Saks department store?
Question 6: What does the man say Saks department store offers?
Question 7: What does the woman want the store to do to address the price difference?
Question 8: What is the service Saks department store offers in addition to the promotion sale?

5.
A) It has started a week-long promotion campaign.
B) It has just launched its annual anniversary sales.
C) It offers regular weekend sales all the year round.
D) It specializes in the sale of ladies’ designer dresses.

6.
A) Price reductions for its frequent customers.
B) Coupons for customers with bulk purchases.
C) Free delivery of purchases for senior customers.
D) Price adjustments within seven days of purchase.

7.
A) Mail a gift card to her.
B) Allow her to buy on credit.
C) Credit it to her account.
D) Give her some coupons.

8.
A) Refunding for goods returned.
B) Free installing of appliances.
C) Prolonged goods warranty.
D) Complimentary tailoring.

Section B
Direction: 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 1
Barbie dolls have a particular look to them. They’re thin, tall, long-legged and virtually unlike any real human being. Although over the years Barbie has had more than 180 different careers—including football coach, sign language teacher, ambassador, president and astronaut—her body shape hasn’t changed much. Last year Mattel, the company that makes Barbie dolls, added some Barbies to its line that have different skin tones and hair textures. There are now Barbies with one of seven skin tones, 22 eye colours and 24 hair styles to choose from. Last year Mattel also gave Barbie a flat foot, rather than forcing her to be “in heels” all the time like the original Barbie is. Now they are introducing new Barbies with three slightly different body shapes while the original, tall and thin Barbies will continue to be sold. In a statement on its website, the company says it wants Barbies to look more like real people, and to give girls everywhere infinitely more ways to spark their imagination and play out their stories. Although many people say the new Barbies are a step in the right direction, some people say they don’t go far enough. They say that the new body shapes could be even more different from the original, tall, thin Barbies. Sales of Barbie dolls have been falling “every year since 2012,” according to CBC News. The toys aren’t in stores yet but they will be sold online at the Barbie website, starting this week, for $9.99.
Questions 9 to 11 are based on the passage you have just heard.
Question 9: What do we know about the original Barbie dolls?
Question 10: Why do some people feel unsatisfied with the new Barbie dolls?
Question 11: Where will the new Barbie dolls be sold first?

9.
A) They are thin, tall, and unlike real human beings.
B) They have more than twenty different hair textures.
C) They have twenty-four different body shapes in total.
D) They represent people from virtually all walks of life.

10.
A) They do not reflect young girls’ aspirations.
B) They are not sold together with the original.
C) Their flat feet do not appeal to adolescents.
D) Their body shapes have not changed much.

11.
A) In toy stores.
B) In shopping malls.
C) On the Internet.
D) At Barbie shops.

Passage 2
The earliest printed book we know today appeared in China in the year 868 and metal type was in use in Korea at the beginning of the fifteenth century, but it was in Germany around the year 1450 that a printing press using movable metal type was invented. Capitalism turned printing from an invention into an industry. Right from the start, book printing and publishing were organized on capitalist lines. The biggest sixteenth-century printer, Plantin of Antwerp, had twenty-four printing presses and employed more than a hundred workers. Only a small fraction of the population was literate, but the production of books grew at an extraordinary speed. By 1500 some twenty million volumes had already been printed. The immediate effect of printing was to increase the circulation of works that were already popular in a handwritten form, while less popular works went out of circulation. Publishers were interested only in books that would sell fairly quickly in sufficient numbers to cover the costs of production and make a profit. Thus, while printing enormously increased access to books by making cheap, high-volume production possible, it also reduced choice. The great cultural impact of printing was that it facilitated the growth of national languages. Most early books were printed in Latin, but the market for Latin was limited, and in its pursuit of larger markets the book trade soon produced translations into the national languages emerging at the time. Printing indeed played a key role in standardizing and stabilizing these languages by fixing them in print, and producing dictionaries and grammar books.
Questions 12 to 15 are based on the passage you have just heard.
Question 12: What happened in Germany around the year 1450?
Question 13: What does the speaker say about the printer, Plantin of Antwerp?
Question 14: What was the immediate effect of printing?
Question 15: What was the great cultural impact of printing?

12.
A) Moveable metal type began to be used in printing.
B) Chinese printing technology was first introduced.
C) The earliest known book was published.
D) Metal type was imported from Korea.

13.
A) It had more than a hundred printing presses.
B) It was the biggest printer in the 16th century.
C) It helped the German people become literate.
D) It produced some 20 million volumes in total.

14.
A) It pushed handwritten books out of circulation.
B) It boosted the circulation of popular works.
C) It made writing a very profitable career.
D) It provided readers with more choices.

15.
A) It accelerated the extinction of the Latin language.
B) It standardized the publication of grammar books.
C) It turned translation into a welcome profession.
D) It promoted the growth of national languages.

Section C
Direction: 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.

Recording 1
You dream about being a movie star. You’ll live in a big house in Hollywood, go to the Oscars every year—and win! You’ll be rich and famous. Wait a minute, you also hate having your photos taken, and you’re very shy. So how could you ever become a movie star? Choosing a right career can be hard. Many people graduate from school or college not knowing what to do with their lives, and get a job without really thinking about it. For some, things work out fine, but others often find themselves stuck in a job they hate. Your working life lasts an average of forty years, so it’s important to find a job you like and feel enthusiastic about. Luckily, there are many ways you can get help to do this. The Australian website, www. careersonline.com, compares choosing a career with going to the movies. Before you see a movie, you find out what films are showing. The site suggests you should do the same with your career—find out what jobs are available and what your options are. Next, decide which movie you like best; if you’re not a romantic person, you won’t want to see a love story. In other words, with your career, you should decide which job will suit your personality. Finally, decide how to get movie tickets, and find out where the theater is before you go. With your career, you need to find information about where you can work, and how to get a job in that profession. So, how do you start? Begin by asking yourself some questions. Some jobs require you to have certain life experiences: Have you traveled overseas? Do you have any extra certificates besides your degree, such as a first aid license, for example? Your physical state and build can also affect which jobs you can do. A person, for example, who is allergic to cats would probably never become an animal doctor. Flight attendants, firefighters, and police officers have to be over a certain height, and be physically fit. Your personality matters, too. Are you outgoing or shy? If you like working alone, a job that requires lots of teamwork might not suit you. Choosing a career can take time and a lot of thought. However, when you know you can look forward to working in your dream job, you’ll be glad you thought it through.
Questions 16 to 18 are based on the recording you have just heard.
Question 16: What does the speaker say about many college graduates?
Question 17: What does the Australian website suggest you do first to find a suitable job?
Question 18: What should you think about when you look for the right job according to the Australian website?

16.
A) They get bored after working for a period of time.
B) They spend an average of one year finding a job.
C) They become stuck in the same job for decades.
D) They choose a job without thinking it through.

17.
A) See if there will be chances for promotion.
B) Find out what job choices are available.
C) Watch a film about ways of job hunting.
D) Decide which job is most attractive to you.

18.
A) The qualifications you have.
B) The pay you are going to get.
C) The culture of your target company.
D) The work environment you will be in.

Recording 2
Kwanzaa is a cultural festival during which African-Americans celebrate and reflect upon their rich heritage as the products of two worlds. It begins December 26 and lasts for seven days. Kwanzaa was founded in 1966 by Dr. Karenga, a college professor and African-American leader, who believed that a special holiday could help African-Americans meet their goals of building strong families, learning about their history, and creating a sense of unity. After conducting extensive research in which he studied the festivals of many African groups of people, he decided that the new holiday should be a harvest or “first fruits” celebration, incorporating ideas from many different harvest traditions. Kwanzaa is a KiSwahili word meaning “the first fruits of the harvest.” The East African language of KiSwahili was chosen as the official language of Kwanzaa because it is a non-tribal language, spoken by a large portion of the African population. Also, its pronunciation is easy. Kwanzaa is based on seven principles which are unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith. One principle is highlighted each day of the holiday. In preparation for the celebration, a straw mat is placed on the table, along with a candle holder with seven candles, one black, three red, and three green. The black candle represents the African-American people, the red is for their struggles, and the green represents their hopes for the future. Other items placed on the table are a variety of fruit, ears of corns, gifts, and a communal unity cup for pouring and sharing drinks. Each day of Kwanzaa, usually before the evening meal, family and friends gather around the table and someone lights a candle, beginning with the black. After that, candles are lit alternately from left to right. While the candle is being lit, a principle is recited. Then each person present takes a turn to speak about the importance that principle has to himself or herself. Next the ceremony focuses on remembering those who have died. A selected person pours water or juice from the unity cup into a bowl. That person then drinks from the cup and raises it high saying “Harambee” which means “Let’s all pull together.” All repeat “Harambee!” seven times and each person drinks from the cup. Then names of African-American leaders and heroes are called out, and everyone reflects upon the great things these people did. The ceremony is followed by a meal, and then singing and perhaps listening to African music.
Questions 19 to 22 are based on the recording you have just heard.
Question 19: What does the speaker say about Kwanzaa?
Question 20: For what purpose did Dr. Karenga create this special holiday?
Question 21: What does the word “Kwanzaa” mean?
Question 22: What did people do while each candle was being lit at the Kwanzaa celebration?

19.
A) It is as important as Christmas for African-Americans.
B) It is a cultural festival founded for African-Americans.
C) It is an ancient festival celebrated by African-Americans.
D) It is a religious festival celebrated by African-Americans.

20.
A) To urge African-Americans to do more for society.
B) To call on African-Americans to worship their gods.
C) To help African-Americans to realize their goals.
D) To remind African-Americans of their sufferings.

21.
A) Faith in self-determination.
B) The first fruits of the harvest.
C) Unity and cooperative economics.
D) Creative work and achievement.

22.
A) They recite a principle.
B) They take a solemn oath.
C) They drink wine from the unity cup.
D) They call out their ancestors’ names.

Recording 3
The Mediterranean diet is based upon the eating patterns of traditional cultures in the Mediterranean region. Several noted nutritionists and research projects have concluded that this diet is one of the most healthful in the world in terms of preventing such illnesses as heart disease and cancer, and increasing life expectancy. The countries that have inspired the Mediterranean diet all surround the Mediterranean Sea. These cultures have eating habits that developed over thousands of years. In Europe, parts of Italy, Greece, Portugal, Spain, and southern France adhere to principles of the Mediterranean diet, as do Morocco and Tunisia in North Africa. Parts of the Balkan region and Turkey follow the diet, as well as Middle Eastern countries like Lebanon and Syria. The Mediterranean region is warm and sunny, and produces large supplies of fresh fruits and vegetables almost the year round that people eat many times a day. Wine, bread, olive oil, and nuts are other staples of the region, and the Mediterranean Sea has historically yielded abundant quantities of fish. International interest in the therapeutic qualities of the Mediterranean diet began back in the late 1950s, when medical researchers started to link the occurrence of heart disease with diet. Dr. Ancel Keys performed an epidemiological analysis of diets around the world. Entitled the Seven Countries Study, it is considered one of the greatest studies of its kind ever performed. In it, Keys gathered data on heart disease and its potential causes from nearly 13,000 men in Greece, Italy, Croatia, Serbia, Japan, Finland, the Netherlands, and the United States. The study was conducted over a period of decades. It concluded that the Mediterranean people in the study enjoyed some significant health advantages. The Mediterranean groups had lower mortality rates in all age brackets and from all causes, particularly from heart disease. The study also showed that the Mediterranean diet is as high or higher in fat than other diets, obtaining up to 40% of all its calories from fat. It has, however, different patterns of fat intake. Mediterranean cooking uses smaller amounts of saturated fat and higher amounts of unsaturated fat, mostly in the form of olive oil. Saturated fats are fats that are found principally in meat and dairy products, although some nuts and vegetable oils also contain them. Saturated fats are used by the body to make cholesterol, and high levels of cholesterol have since been directly related to heart disease.
Questions 23 to 25 are based on the recording you have just heard.
Question 23: What has research concluded about the Mediterranean diet?
Question 24: What do we learn about the Seven Countries Study?
Question 25: What do we learn about the Mediterranean people from the Seven Countries Study?

23.
A) It is one of the world’s most healthy diets.
B) It contains large amounts of dairy products.
C) It began to impact the world in recent years.
D) It consists mainly of various kinds of seafood.

24.
A) It involved 13, 000 researchers from Asia, Europe and America.
B) It was conducted in seven Mid-Eastern countries in the 1950s.
C) It is regarded as one of the greatest researches of its kind.
D) It has drawn the attention of medical doctors the world over.

25.
A) They care much about their health.
B) They eat foods with little fat.
C) They use little oil in cooking.
D) They have lower mortality rates.

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2017年12月英语六级第2套听力原文及题目

2017年12月英语六级第2套听力原文及题目

Section A
Direction: 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 I with a single line through the centre.

Conversation 1
W: You’re going to give a short speech of thanks for the speaker this evening, aren’t you, Bill?
M: Yes.
W: You don’t sound very enthusiastic. It’s not that bad, is it?
M: No, I don’t mind really. But I can never forget the first speech of thanks I did.
W: Why? What happened?
M: Well, I was in my early twenties. I joined the local history society.
W: Yes.
M: Anyway, I went along to a lecture by a Miss Bligh.
W: Oh. Do go on.
M: She was going to talk with slides about our town amid eighteenth century. She’d just published a book on the subject, which was reckoned to be quite good. So I went along. When I arrived, the secretary asked me if I could give the speech of thanks. Rather stupidly, I said yes.
W: We’ve all done it.
M: Anyway, from that point on, I was scared. What should I say? I decided to make notes during the lecture and refer to interesting parts and thank her on behalf of the society. In fact, by the time Miss Bligh stood up to talk, I was feeling much better. But she was so nervous that she kept forgetting what to say, and she spoke almost in a whisper. People at the back kept calling out “we can’t hear.” It was embarrassing.
W: I can imagine it.
M: At least the slides were good, that is, until the bulb in the projector blew. And she had to finish the talk with no illustrations.
W: So what did you say in your speech of thanks?
M: What can you say? You have to be polite. I mentioned the interesting facts, referred to the excellent slides, and then finished up by saying “we’d all like to thank Miss Bligh for blowing out her slides.”
W: Oh, no.
M: I felt terrible. I tried to apologize, not very successfully.
W: And the speech of thanks this evening?
M: I’ll write down exactly what I’m going to say and read it carefully.
Questions 1 to 4 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
Question 1: What is the man asked to do this evening?
Question 2: What do we learn about the man?
Question 3: What does the man say about Miss Bligh?
Question 4: What does the man say about the first time he gave a speech of thanks?

1.
A) Say a few words to thank the speaker.
B) Introduce the speaker to the audience.
C) Give a lecture on the history of the town.
D) Host a talk on how to give a good speech.

2.
A) He was the founder of the local history society.
B) He has worked with Miss Bligh for 20 years.
C) He has published a book on public speaking.
D) He joined the local history society when young.

3.
A) She was obviously better at talking than writing.
B) She had a good knowledge of the town’s history.
C) Her speech was so funny as to amuse the audience.
D) Her ancestors came to the town in the 18th century.

4.
A) He read exactly what was written in his notes.
B) He kept forgetting what he was going to say.
C) He made an embarrassing remark.
D) He was too nervous to speak up.

Conversation 2
W: Another cup of tea, Paul?
M: No, thanks. Well, what’s new, Lorry?
W: Nothing dramatic. But there’s something you should know about.
M: What’s that?
W: Well, our rivals are offering extended credit terms to some of the retailers in the area.
M: Oh? Which rival is this? We only have two.
W: Barratt’s Company.
M: Oh, them. Well, they’re hardly a threat.
W: I know they’re smaller than us, but we can’t afford to ignore them.
M: Yes, you’re right, Lorry. But I don’t like extended credit. It ties up cash we could put to better use elsewhere. But, I’ll look into it on Monday.
W: Yes. And there’s something else.
M: Don’t tell me! The letter from the tax revenue office?
W: Right. How did you know?
M: Terra told me. What’s the problem?
W: Well, Tom got this letter late yesterday and then went frantic trying to find copies of last year’s accounts.
M: Did he find them?
W: No. And he was away before I could get hold of the letter.
M: How about a drive down to the office now? And we’ll see if everything’s all right. There’s another reason why I wanted a chat with you before Monday.
W: I thought as much. Well, go on, surprise me.
M: How about selling that new motorcycle of yours in Indonesia?
W: What? You mean export? Paul, I think you’ve been away too long. This is Jayal Motors. We’ve never sold a bike abroad.
M: Don’t worry, Lorry. I’m not crazy. I’ve been studying the possibility and I think we should give it a go.
W: It’s not as easy as that though, is it? We’d have to reorganize the whole company.
M: Don’t be silly. I don’t intend starting next week. We’ll have to plan it properly and of course, there’ll be a few problems.
W: A few problems? I can see hundreds! For one thing, transport. I have enough trouble delivering bikes to shops only 40 miles away—never mind 5,000 miles! ?
M: That’s what forwarding agents are for.
Questions 5 to 8 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
Question 5: What does the woman think the man should know?
Question 6: What does the woman think of Barratt’s company?
Question 7: What did the woman say about the letter from the tax revenue office?
Question 8: What is the man thinking of doing?

5.
A) What their retailers demand.
B) What their rivals are doing.
C) How they are going to beat their rivals.
D) How dramatically the market is changing.

6.
A) They should be taken seriously.
B) They are rapidly catching up.
C) Their business strategy is quite effective.
D) Their potential has been underestimated.

7.
A) She had given it to Tom.
B) It simply made her go frantic.
C) She had not seen it yet.
D) It was not much of a big concern.

8.
A) Restructuring the whole company.
B) Employing more forwarding agents.
C) Promoting cooperation with Jayal Motors.
D) Exporting their motorbikes to Indonesia.

Section B
Direction: 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 1
A report on sleep and nutrition released this month found that people who consistently went to bed earlier than 11 p.m. took in fewer calories and ate more healthy food. In contrast, “night owls” who go to bed between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m. tend to consume more coffee, alcohol, refined sugars, and processed meats than early risers. This report corresponds with the existing scientific literature on bedtime and wellness. The relationship between getting more sleep and making better food choices is well-documented. A study published last year in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that people who sleep more tend to eat less unhealthy food than their peers who don’t get as much rest. And a 2015 study from the University of California, Berkeley, found that teens who go to bed late are more likely to gain weight over a five-year period. As a group, “night owl” types tend to eat less healthy food and take in more calories overall than early risers. The later one goes to bed, the more calories one records the next day. It’s as yet a challenge to explain the cause-and-effect relationship between sleep and nutrition. There may be a third factor that impacts both of them, or the relationship could be reversed, that is, people who eat less fall asleep earlier. Still, if late sleepers want to lose a few pounds, they can go to bed earlier than they usually do, thereby reducing their chances of taking snacks before bedtime.
Questions 9 to 11 are based on the passage you have just heard.
Question 9: What do we learn about the report released this month?
Question 10: What does the study from the University of California, Berkeley, find about teens who go to bed late?
Question 11: What should “night owls” do to reduce their consumption of unhealthy food?

9.
A) It makes claims in conflict with the existing research.
B) It focuses on the link between bedtime and nutrition.
C) It cautions against the overuse of coffee and alcohol.
D) It shows that “night owls” work much less efficiently.

10.
A) They pay greater attention to food choice.
B) They tend to achieve less than their peers.
C) They run a higher risk of gaining weight.
D) They stand a greater chance to fall sick.

11.
A) Get up late.
B) Sleep 8 hours a day.
C) Exercise more.
D) Go to bed earlier.

Passage 2
Researchers have found not just a diversity problem in Hollywood, but actually an inclusion crisis. With less than a week before an Oscars ceremony that has already been criticized for an all-white list of acting nominees, a study shows the film industry does worse than television. Just 3.4 percent of film directors were female, and only 7 percent of films had a cast whose balance of race and ethnicity reflected the country’s diversity. When researchers looked at all TV shows, they also found that women of color over 40 were regarded as “largely invisible” and just 22 percent of TV series creators were female. Overall, the study found half the films and TV shows had no Asian speaking characters and more than one-fifth of them had no black characters with dialogue. The film industry still functions as a straight, white, boy’s club. When looking at how women are depicted, the study found female characters were four times more likely to be shown in sexy clothing, and nearly four times as likely to be referred to as physically attractive. But their results also indicated films and TV shows with women or people of color in the important jobs behind the scenes—director, producer or writer—tended to have better diversity numbers. Across TV and film, the underrepresentation of non-white characters falls mostly on Hispanics. Among more than 10,000 characters, proportions of white, black and Asian characters came close to U.S. population figures. But Hispanics were just 5.8 percent of characters, despite being about 17 percent of the U.S. population.
Questions 12 to 15 are based on the passage you have just heard.
Question 12: Why has the Oscars ceremony been criticized?
Question 13: What do we learn from the research?
Question 14: Who are regarded as “largely invisible” on TV shows?
Question 15: What does the speaker say about Hispanics?

12.
A) All of the acting nominees are white.
B) It has got too much publicity on TV.
C) It is prejudiced against foreign films.
D) Only 7% of the nominees are female.

13.
A) 22 percent of movie directors were people of color.
B) Half of the TV programs were ethnically balanced.
C) Only one-fifth of TV shows had black characters.
D) Only 3.4 percent of film directors were women.

14.
A) Non-white males.
B) Program creators.
C) Females of color over 40.
D) Asian speaking characters.

15.
A) They constitute 17% of Hollywood movie characters.
B) They are most underrepresented across TV and film.
C) They contribute little to the U.S. film industry.
D) They account for 8.5% of the U.S. population.

Section C
Direction: 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.

Recording 1
When purchasing life insurance, there are many important factors to consider: one should buy the policies that give the most protection at the least cost, insure the right family members, and consider the family’s financial needs. It’s important to buy the insurance from companies that are financially sound and that are represented by honest, well-trained agents. At various stages in a person’s life, different kinds of life insurance are needed for particular situations. Jerry is single and has no dependents, probably the only life insurance he needs is enough to cover his debts and burial expenses. Insurance can be purchased at a lower rate during the young years, but by buying while young, the premiums are paid in for a longer period of time. In the end, the amount paid for premiums is about the same. A person shouldn’t buy insurance protection that really isn’t necessary. Suppose that Jerry marries Jeannette who is a college graduate and is working. Perhaps enough insurance would be needed to cover their debts and burial expenses. Now, Jeannette has quit work and their first child is on the way. They have purchased a home with a small down payment and a 30-year mortgage. The situation regarding life insurance takes on a different look. There are dependents who need financial protection. How much insurance is needed? As the family increases in size, it is essential to add more insurance on the breadwinner to protect the dependents. When the children are young and depend upon the family for financial needs, families with modest incomes have difficulty providing enough life insurance to protect the mother and the children. Families with modest incomes should insure the breadwinner or breadwinners first. When considering the amount of insurance for the mother with dependent children, substitute child care is a need that should be planned for until the children can care for themselves. The death of a small child would have no effect upon the income of the family. Perhaps a policy to meet funeral expenses would be sufficient for the young child. Although most people do not take out insurance on their young children. As the children become financially independent of the family, the emphasis on family financial security would shift from protection to saving for the retirement years. Every family situation is different, but it is important that each family give adequate thought to planning its financial future.
Questions 16 to 18 are based on the recording you have just heard.
Question 16: What life insurance should a single person buy according to the speaker?
Question 17: What should people do as their family increases in size?
Question 18: When should one change their life insurance?

16.
A) One that can provide for emergency needs.
B) One that can pay for their medical expenses.
C) One that covers their debts and burial expenses.
D) One that ensures a healthy life for their later years.

17.
A) Purchase insurance for their children.
B) Save sufficient money for a rainy day.
C) Buy a home with a small down payment.
D) Add more insurance on the breadwinner.

18.
A) When their children grow up and leave home.
B) When they have saved enough for retirement.
C) When their family move to a different place.
D) When they have found better-paying jobs.

Recording 2
“Stereotype” may sound like a bad word, but there’s nothing bad about it. For one thing, stereotypes are often accurate. When you ask people about their concept of stereotypes, they get it pretty much right. Also, stereotypes are often positive, particularly of groups that we ourselves belong to. Some of the statistical generalizations may be positive as some groups have reputations for being smart, for being loyal, for being brave, for all sorts of things that are not at all negative. And so there’s nothing inherently wrong about stereotypes. But there are problems with stereotypes. For one thing, they’re reliable insofar as they’re based on unbiased samples. But a lot of the information we get about human groups is through biased sources like how they’re represented in the media. And if these sources don’t give you an accurate depiction, your stereotype won’t be accurate. For example, many Jews have been troubled by Shakespeare’s depiction of Shylock. If the only Jew you know is Shakespeare’s Shylock, it’s going to be a very bad impression. So one problem with stereotypes is while we are good at drawing conclusions from them, often our information isn’t reliable. A second problem is that stereotypes, regardless of whether or not they’re accurate, can have a negative effect on the people that they apply to. And this is what psychologist, Claude Steele, described as stereotype threat. He has a vivid example of this. Here’s how to make African-Americans do worse on a math test. You have the test and you put on the test that they have to identify their race. The very act of acknowledging that they are African-American when given a test ignites in them thoughts of their own stereotype, which is negative regarding academics and that makes them do worse. Want to know how to make a woman do worse on a math test? Same thing, get her to write down her sex. One recent study found a sort of clever twist on this. When Asian-American women are given a test and they’re asked to mark down their race, they do better than they would otherwise do. They’re reminded of a positive stereotype that boosts their morale. You ask them, on the other hand, to mark down their sex, they do worse because they are reminded of a negative stereotype. That’s an example of how stereotypes have a potentially damaging effect on people.
Questions 19 to 22 are based on the recording you have just heard.
Question 19: What does the speaker say about stereotypes?
Question 20: What leads to the bias of stereotypes?
Question 21: What does the speaker say is a problem with stereotypes?
Question 22: What did one recent study find about stereotypes?

19.
A) They do more harm than good.
B) They have often been ignored.
C) They do not help build friendship.
D) They may not always be negative.

20.
A) Biased sources of information.
B) Ignorance of cultural differences.
C) Misinterpretation of Shakespeare.
D) Tendency to jump to conclusions.

21.
A) They are hard to dismiss once attached to a certain group.
B) They may have a negative impact on people they apply to.
C) They persist even when circumstances have changed.
D) They are often applied to minorities and ethnic people.

22.
A) They impact people more or less in the same way.
B) Some people are more sensitive to them than others.
C) A positive stereotype may help one achieve better results.
D) A negative stereotype sticks while a positive one does not.

Recording 3
Sometimes when you take a common drug, you may have a side effect. That is, the drug may cause some effect other than its intended one. When these side effects occur, they are called “adverse reactions”. Whenever you have an adverse reaction, you should stop taking the drug right away. Ask your pharmacist whether he can suggest a drug that will relieve the symptoms but that will not cause the adverse reaction. If an adverse reaction to a drug is serious, consult your doctor for advice at once. Drugs that are safe in the dosage stated on the label may be very dangerous in large doses. For example, aspirin is seldom thought of as dangerous, but there are many reports of accidental poisoning of young children who take too many aspirin pills, as well as the possible development of Reye’s syndrome in children with the flu. In adults, excessive use of some painkilling drugs may cause severe kidney damage. Some drugs for relief of stomach upsets, when taken in excess, can perhaps cause serious digestive problems. You should never use any over-the-counter drug on a regular, continued basis, or in large quantities, except on your doctor’s advice. You could be suffering from a serious illness that needs a doctor’s care. Each drug you take not only acts on the body but may also alter the effect of any other drug you are taking. Sometimes this can cause dangerous or even fatal reactions. For example, aspirin increases the blood-thinning effects of drugs given to patients with heart disease. Therefore, a patient who has been taking such a drug may risk bleeding if he or she uses aspirin for a headache. Before using several drugs together you should ask your doctor and follow his advice. Your pharmacist can tell you whether certain drugs can safely be taken together. Alcohol may increase the effect of a drug—sleeping pills combine with alcohol to produce a sleepy feeling. When taking any drug, you should ask your doctor whether drinking alcohol could be dangerous in combination with the medicine. Experts believe there is a relationship between adult abuse of legitimate medicines and the drug culture that has swept our country. You can do your share to reduce the chances that your children will become part of the drug culture by treating all medicines with respect. Always let your children know that medicines and drugs should not be used carelessly.
Questions 23 to 25 are based on the recording you have just heard.
Question 23: What does the speaker say you should do when you have an adverse reaction?
Question 24: What does the speaker say about alcohol drinking?
Question 25: What does the speaker call on parents to do at the end of the talk?

23.
A) Use some over-the-counter medicine instead.
B) Quit taking the medicine immediately.
C) Take some drug to relieve the side effect.
D) Ask your pharmacist to explain why it occurs.

24.
A) It may help patients fall asleep.
B) It may lead to mental problems.
C) It may cause serious harm to one’s liver.
D) It may increase the effect of certain drugs.

25.
A) Tell their children to treat medicines with respect.
B) Keep medicines out of the reach of their children.
C) Make sure their children use quality medicines.
D) Ask their children to use legitimate medicines.

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