英语六级真题含答案共3套.docx

1、英语六级真题含答案共3套2013年12月大学英语六级考试真题（第1套）Section CDirections:There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A), B), C) and D). You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter o

2、n Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.Passage OneQuestions 56 to 60 are based on the following passage.Among the governments most interesting reports is one that estimates what parents spend on their children. Not surprisingly, the costs are steep. For a middle-class, husband-and-wi

3、fe family (average pretax income in 2009: $76,250), spending per child is about $12,000 a year. With inflation the familys spending on a child will total $286,050 by age 17.The dry statistics ought to inform the ongoing deficit debate, because a budget is not just a catalog of programs and taxes. It

4、 reflects a societys priorities and values. Our society does not despite rhetoric(说辞) to the contraryput much value on raising children. Present budget policies tax parents heavily to support the elderly. Meanwhile, tax breaks for children are modest. If deficit reduction aggravates these biases, mo

5、re Americans may choose not to have children or to have fewer children. Down that path lies economic decline.Societies that cannot replace their populations discourage investment and innovation. They have stagnant (萧条的) or shrinking markets for goods and services. With older populations, theyresist

6、change. To stabilize its populationdiscounting immigrationwomen must have an average of two children. Thats a fertility rate of 2.0.Many countries with struggling economies are well below that.Though having a child is a deeply personal decision, its shaped by culture, religion, economics, and govern

7、ment policy. “No one has a good answer” asto why fertility varies among countries, says sociologist Andrew Cherlin of The Johns Hopkins University. Eroding religious belief in Europe may partly explain lowered birthrates. In Japan young women may be rebelling against their mothers isolated lives of

8、child rearing. General optimism and pessimism count. Hopefulness fueled Americas baby boom. After the Soviet Unions collapse, says Cherlin, “anxiety for the future” depressed birthrates in Russiaand Eastern Europe.In poor societies, people have children to improve their economic well-being by increa

9、sing the number of family workers and providing supports for parents in their old age. In wealthy societies, the logic often reverses. Government now supports the elderly, diminishing the need for children. By some studies, the safety nets for retirees have reduced fertility rates by 0.5 children in

10、 the United States and almost 1.0 in Western Europe, reports economist Robert Stein in the journal National Affairs. Similarly, some couples dont have children because they dont want to sacrifice their own lifestyles to the lime and expense of a family.Young Americans already face a bleak labor mark

11、et that cannot instill (注入) confidence about having children. Piling on higher taxes wont help, “If higher taxes make it more expensive to raise children,” says Nicholas Eberstadt of the American Enterprise Institute, “people will think twice about having another child.” That seems like common sense

12、, despite the multiple influences on becoming parents.注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。56. What do we learn from the government report?A) Inflation increases families expenses.B) Raising children is getting expensive.C) Budget reduction in around the corner.D) Average family expenditure is increasing.57. What is s

13、aid to be the consequence of a shrinking population?A) Weakened national strength. C) Economic downturn.B) Increased immigration. D) Social instability.58. What accounted for Americas baby boom?A) Optimism for the future. C) Religious beliefs.B) Improved living conditions. D) Economic prosperity. 59

14、. Why do people in wealthy countries prefer to have fewer children?A) They want to further improve their economic well-being.B) They cannot afford the time and expenses of rearing children.C) They are concerned about the future of the coming generation.D) They dont rely on their children to support

15、them in old age.60. What is the authors purpose in writing the passage?A) To instill confidence in the young about raising children.B) To advise couples to think twice before having children.C) To encourage the young to take care of the elderly.D) To appeal for tax reduction for raising children.Pas

16、sage TwoQuestions 61 to 65 are based on the following passage.Space exploration has always been the province of dreamers: The human imagination readily soars where human ingenuity (创造力)struggles to follow. A Voyage to the Moon,often cited as the first science fiction story, was written by Cyrano de

17、Bergerac in 1649. Cyrano was dead and buried for a good three centuries before the first manned rockets started to fly.In 1961, when President Kennedy declared that America would send a man to the moon by the decades end, those words, too, had a dreamlike quality. They resonated(共鸣) with optimism an

18、d ambition in much the same way as the most famous dream speech of all, delivered by Martin Luther King Jr. two years later. By the end of the decade, both visions had yielded concrete results and transformed American society. And yet in many ways the two dreams ended up at odds with each other. The

19、 fight for racial and economic equality is intensely pragmatic (讲求实用的) and immediate in its impact. The urge to explore space is just the opposite. It is figuratively and literally otherworldly in its aims.When the dust settled, the space dreamers lost out. There was no grand follow-up to the Apollo

20、 missions. The technologically compromised space shuttle program has just come to an end, with no successor. The perpetual argument is that funds are tight, that we have more pressing problems here on Earth. Amid the current concerns about the federal deficit, reaching toward the stars seems a dispe

21、nsable luxuryas if saving one-thousandth of a single years budget would solve our problems.But human ingenuity struggles on. NASA is developing a series of robotic probes that will get the most bang from a buck. They will serve as modem Magellans, mapping out the solar system for whatever explorers

22、follow, whether man or machine. On the flip side, companies like Virgin Galactic are plotting a bottom-up assault on the space dream by making it a reality to the public. Private spaceflight could lie within reach of rich civilians in a few years. Another decade or two and it could go mainstream.The

23、 space dreamers end up benefiting all of usnot just because of the way they expand human knowledge, or because of the spin-off technologies they produce, but because the two types of dreams feed off each other. Both Martin Luther King and John Kennedy appealed to the idea that humans can transcend w

24、hat were once considered inherent limitations. Today we face seeming challenges in energy, the environment, health care. Tomorrow we will transcend these as well, and the dreamers will deserve a lot of the credit. The more evidence we collect that our species is capable of greatness, the more we wil

25、l actually achieve it.注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。61. The author mentions Cyrano de Bergerac in order to show that_.A) imagination is the mother of inventionB) ingenuity is essential for science fiction writersC) it takes patience for humans to realize their dreamsD) dreamers have always been interested in sc

26、ience fiction62. How did the general public view Kennedys space exploration plan?A) It symbolized the American spirit.B) It was as urgent as racial equality.C) It sounded very much like a dream.D) It made an ancient dream come true.63. What does the author say about Americas aim to explore space?A)

27、It may not bring about immediate economic gains.B) It cannot be realized without technological innovation.C) It will not help the realization of racial and economic equality.D) It cannot be achieved without a good knowledge of the other worlds.64. What is the authors attitude toward space programs?A

28、) Critical. C) Unbiased.B) Reserved. D) Supportive.65. What does the author think of the problems facing human beings?A) They pose a serious challenge to future human existence.B) They can be solved sooner or later with human ingenuity.C) Their solutions need joint efforts of the public and privates

29、ectors.D) They can only be solved by people with optimism andambition.5660 BCADD6165 ACADB2013年12月大学英语六级考试真题（第2套）Section CPassage OneQuestions 56 to 60 are based on the following passage.There was a time not long ago when new science Ph.D.s in the United States were expected to pursue a career path

30、in academia (学术界).But today, most graduates end up working outside academia, not only in industry but also in careers such as science policy, communications, and patent law. Partly this is a result of how bleak the academic job market is, but theres also a rising awareness of career options that Ph.

31、D. scientists havent trained for directlybut for which they have useful knowledge, skills, and experience. Still, theres a huge disconnect between the way we currently train scientists and the actual employment opportunities available for them, and an urgent need for dramatic improvements in trainin

32、g programs to help close the gap. One critical step that could help to drive change would be to require Ph.D. students and postdoctoral scientists to follow an individual development plan (IDP).In 2002 the U.S. Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology recommended that every postdoctoral researcher put together an IDP m consultation with an adviser. Since then, several academic institutions have begun to require IDPsforpostdocs And in June, the U.S. National Institutes of H