1、英语六级真题及答案2011年12月大学英语六级真题及答案Part IWriting(30 minutes)Directions:For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay entitledThe Way to Successby commenting on Abraham Lincolns famous remark, Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I will spend, the first four sharpening the axe. You
2、should write at least150words but no more than200words.The Way to Success注意:此部分试题请在答题卡1上作答。Part IIReading 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 onAnswer Sheet 1.For questions 1-7, cho
3、ose the best answer fromthe four choices marked A), B), C) and 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 worki
4、ng hard to makedigital copies of books. So far, Google has scanned more than 10 million titles from libraries inAmerica and Europe-including half a million volumes held by the Bodleian in Oxford. The exactmethod it uses is unclear; the company does not allow outsiders to observe the process.Why is G
5、oogle undertaking such a venture? Why is it even interested 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 organizethe worlds infor
6、mation, so it would be odd if that information did not include 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 possibl
7、e to search the millions of books that exist today, we hopeto expand the frontiers of human knowledge.Dan Clancy, the chief architect of Google Books, does seem genuine in his conviction that this is primarily aphilanthropic(慈善的) exercise. Googles core business is search and find, so obviously what
8、helps improve Googles search engine is good for Google, he says. But we have never built aspreadsheet(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
9、 by their missionary passion.But Googles book-scanning project is proving controversial. Several opponents have recentlyemerged, 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 leve
10、led two setsof criticisms at Google.First, they have questioned whether the primary responsibility for digitally archiving the worldsbooks should be allowed to fall to a commercial company. In a recent essay in theNew York Review of Books,Robert Danton, the head of Harvard Universitys library, argue
11、d that because such books are a common resource 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 becomingmired in(陷入) a legal bat
12、tle whose scope and complexity makesthe Jaundice and Jaundice case in Charles DickensBleak Houselook straightforward.At its centre, however, is one simple issue: that of copyright. The inconvenient fact about mostbooks, to which Google has arguably paid insufficient attention, is that they are prote
13、cted bycopyright. Copyright laws differ from country to country, but in general protection extends for theduration 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 cour
14、se, thatalmost all of the books published in the 20th century are still under copyrightand the last centurysaw more books published than in all previous centuries combined. Of the roughly 40 millionbooks in US libraries, for example, an estimated 32 million are in copyright. Of these, some 27million
15、 are out of print.Outside the US, 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 ofMiddlemarch,which anyone can read for free on Google Books Search).But, within the US, the company has scanned both in-copyri
16、ght and out-of-copyright works. In its defense, Google points out that it displays only small segments of books that are in copyrightarguing that such displays are fair use. But critics allege that by making electronic copies ofthese books without first seeking the permission of copyright holders, G
17、oogle has committed piracy.The key principle of copyright law has always been that works can be copied only onceauthors have expressly given their permission, says Piers Bluffed, of the Sheila Land literary agencyin London. Google has reversed this it has simply copied all these works without bother
18、ing task.In 2005, the Authors 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
19、full details are complicated - the text alone runs to 385 pagesand 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 aut
20、hors and publisherswhose 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 ho
21、ldersto exploit its database of out-of-print books. It can include them in subscription dealssold 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
22、 right to commercially 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 ou
23、t James Grimmelman, associate professor at New York Law School. Now, he says, because of the settlements provisions, Google couldbecome a significant force in bookselling.Interest in this aspect of the settlement has focused on orphan works, where there is no known copyright holderthese make up an e
24、stimated 5-10% of the 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 deal
25、s to libraries and sell them to individualbuyers under the consumer license.It is by no means certain that the settlement will beenacted(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 ascopyright violations in the US are
26、concerned. Many 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
27、science writer and member of the Authors Guild, points out, is that the company probably doesnt even know itself. Butwhat is certain is that, in some way or other, Googles entrance into digital bookselling will have asignificant impact on the book world in the years to come.注意:此部分试题请在答题卡1上作答。1.Googl
28、e claims its plan for the worlds 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
29、_.A)broaden humanitys 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 organizationsC) m
30、ultinational companiesB)the worlds leading librariesD) 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 an
31、d out-of-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 for 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)
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