英语6级真题.docx

1、英语6级真题2011年12月大学英语六级真题Part II Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning) (15 minutes)Directions: In this part, you will have 15 minutes to go over the passage quickly and answer the questions on Answer Sheet 1. For questions 1-7, choose the best answer from the four choices marked A), B), C) and

2、D). For questions 8-10, complete the sentences with the information given in the passage.Googles Plan for Worlds Biggest Online Library: Philanthropy Or Act of Piracy?In recent years, teams of workers dispatched by Google have been working hard to make digital copies of books. So far, Google has sca

3、nned more than 10 million titles from libraries in America and Europe - including half a million volumes held by the Bodleian in Oxford. The exact method it uses is unclear; the company does not allow outsiders to observe the process.Why is Google undertaking such a venture? Why is it even intereste

4、d in all those out-of-print library books, most of which have been gathering dust on forgotten shelves for decades? The company claims its motives are essentially public-spirited. Its overall mission, after all, is to organize the worlds information, so it would be odd if that information did not in

5、clude books.The company likes to present itself as having lofty aspirations. This really isnt about making money. We are doing this for the good of society. As Santiago de la Mora, head of Google Books for Europe, puts it: By making it possible to search the millions of books that exist today, we ho

6、pe to expand the frontiers of human knowledge.Dan Clancy, the chief architect of Google Books, does seem genuine in his conviction that this is primarily a philanthropic (慈善的) exercise. Googles core business is search and find, so obviously what helps improve Googles search engine is good for Google

7、, he says. But we have never built a spreadsheet (电子数据表) outlining the financial benefits of this, and I have never had to justify the amount I am spending to the companys founders.It is easy, talking to Clancy and his colleagues, to be swept along by their missionary passion. But Googles book-scann

8、ing project is proving controversial. Several opponents have recently emerged, ranging from rival tech giants such as Microsoft and Amazon to small bodies representing authors and publishers across the world. In broad terms, these opponents have leveled two sets of criticisms at Google.First, they h

9、ave questioned whether the primary responsibility for digitally archiving the worlds books should be allowed to fall to a commercial company. In a recent essay in the New York Review of Books, Robert Danton, the head of Harvard Universitys library, argued that because such books are a common resourc

10、e the possession of us all only public, not-for-profit bodies should be given the power to control them. The second related criticism is that Googles scanning of books is actually illegal. This allegation has led to Google becoming mired in (陷入) a legal battle whose scope and complexity makes the Ja

11、undice and Jaundice case in Charles Dickens Bleak House look straightforward.At its centre, however, is one simple issue: that of copyright. The inconvenient fact about most books, to which Google has arguably paid insufficient attention, is that they are protected by copyright. Copyright laws diffe

12、r from country to country, but in general protection extends for the duration of an authors life and for a substantial period afterwards, thus allowing the authors heirs to benefit. (In Britain and America, this post-death period is 70 years.) This means, of course, that almost all of the books publ

13、ished in the 20th century are still under copyright and the last century saw more books published than in all previous centuries combined. Of the roughly 40 million books in US libraries, for example, an estimated 32 million are in copyright. Of these, some 27 million are out of print.Outside the US

14、, Google has made sure only to scan books that are out of copyright and thus in the public domain (works such as the Bodleians first edition of Middlemarch, which anyone can read for free on Google Books Search).But, within the US, the company has scanned both in-copyright and out-of-copyright works

15、. In its defense, Google points out that it displays only small segments of books that are in copyright arguing that such displays are fair use. But critics allege that by making electronic copies of these books without first seeking the permission of copyright holders, Google has committed piracy.T

16、he key principle of copyright law has always been that works can be copied only once authors have expressly given their permission, says Piers Bluffed, of the Sheila Land literary agency in London. Google has reversed this it has simply copied all these works without bothering task.In 2005, the Auth

17、ors Guild of America, together with a group of US publishers, launched a class action suit (集团诉讼) against Google that, after more than two years of negotiation, ended with an announcement last October that Google and the claimants had reached an out-of-court settlement. The full details are complica

18、ted - the text alone runs to 385 pages and trying to summarize it is no easy task. Part of the problem is that it is basically incomprehensible, says Bluffed, one of the settlements most vocal British critics.Broadly, the deal provides a mechanism for Google to compensate authors and publishers whos

19、e rights it has breached (including giving them a share of any future revenue it generates from their works). In exchange for this, the rights holders agree not to sue Google in future.This settlement hands Google the power - but only with the agreement of individual rights holders to exploit its da

20、tabase of out-of-print books. It can include them in subscription deals sold to libraries or sell them individually under a consumer license. It is these commercial provisions that are proving the settlements most controversial aspect.Critics point out that, by giving Google the right to commerciall

21、y exploit its database, the settlement paves the way for a subtle shift in the companys role from provider of information to seller. Googles business model has always been to provide information for free, and sell advertising on the basis of the traffic this generates, points out James Grimmelman, a

22、ssociate professor at New York Law School. Now, he says, because of the settlements provisions, Google could become a significant force in bookselling.Interest in this aspect of the settlement has focused on orphan works, where there is no known copyright holder these make up an estimated 5-10% of t

23、he books Google has scanned. Under the settlement, when no rights holders come forward and register their interest in a work, commercial control automatically reverts to Google. Google will be able to display up to 20% of orphan works for free, include them in its subscription deals to libraries and

24、 sell them to individual buyers under the consumer license.It is by no means certain that the settlement will be enacted (执行) it is the subject of fairness hearing in the US courts. But if it is enacted, Google will in effect be off the hook as far as copyright violations in the US are concerned. Ma

25、ny people are seriously concerned by this - and the company is likely to face challenges in other courts around the world.No one knows the precise use Google will make of the intellectual property it has gained by scanning the worlds library books, and the truth, as Gerick, an American science write

26、r and member of the Authors Guild, points out, is that the company probably doesnt even know itself. But what is certain is that, in some way or other, Googles entrance into digital bookselling will have a significant impact on the book world in the years to come.1. Google claims its plan for the wo

27、rlds biggest online library is _.A) to serve the interest of the general publicB) to encourage reading around the worldC) to save out-of-print books in librariesD) to promote its core business of searching2. According to Santiago de la Mora, Googles book-scanning project will _.A) broaden humanitys

28、intellectual horizonsB) help the broad masses of readersC) revolutionize the entire book industryD) make full use of the power of its search engine3. Opponents of Google Books believe that digitally archiving the worlds books should be controlled by _.A) non-profit organizations C) multinational com

29、paniesB) the worlds leading libraries D) the worlds tech giants4. Google has involved itself in a legal battle as it ignored _.A) the copyright of authors of out-of-print booksB) the copyright of the books it scannedC) the interest of traditional booksellersD) the differences of in-print and out-of-

30、print books5. Google defends its scanning in-copyright books by saying that _.A) it displays only a small part of their contentB) it is willing to compensate the copyright holdersC) making electronic copies of books is not a violation of copyrightD) the online display of in-copyright books is not fo

31、r commercial use6. What do we learn about the class action suit against Google?A) It ended in a victory for the Authors Guild of America.B) It was settled after more than two years of negotiation.C) It failed to protect the interests of American publishers.D) It could lead to more out-of-court settl

32、ements of such disputes.7. What remained controversial after the class action suit ended?A) The compensation for copyright holders.B) The change in Googles business model.C) Googles further exploitation of its database.D) The commercial provisions of the settlement.8. While _, Google makes money by selling advertising.9. Books whose copyright holders are not known are called _.10. Googles entrance into digital bookselling will tremendously _ in the future.Part III Listening