大学英语六级真题.docx

1、大学英语六级真题2009年12月CET6真题Part I Writing (30 minutes)Should parents send their kids to art classes?现在有不少家长送孩子参加各种艺术班1、对这种做法有人表示支持2、有人并不赞成3、我认为Part II Reading Comprehension (Skimming and scanning )(15 minutes)Bosses Say Yes to Home WorkRising costs of office space, time lost to stressful commuting, and a

2、 slow recognition that workers have lives beyond the office-all are strong arguments for letting staff work from home. For the small business, there are additional benefits too-staff are more productive, and happier, enabling firms to keep their headcounts(员工数) and their recruitment costs to a minim

3、um. It can also provide a competitive advantage, especially when small businesses want to attract new staff but dont have the budget to offer huge salaries. While company managers have known about the benefits for a long time, many have done little about it, skeptical of whether they could trust the

4、ir employees to work to full capacity without supervision, or concerned about the additional expenses teleworking polices might incur as staff start changing their home phone bills to the business. Yet this is now changing. When communications provider Inter-Tel researched the use of remote working

5、solutions among small-and medium-sized UK businesses in April this year, it found that 28% more companies claimed to have introduced flexible working practices than a year ago. The UK network of Business Links confirms that it too has seen a growing interest in remote working solutions from small bu

6、sinesses seeking its advice, and claims that as many as 60-70% of the businesses that come through its doors now offer some form of remote working support to their workforces. Technology advances, including the widespread availability of broadband, are making the introduction of remote working a pie

7、ce of cake. “If systems are set up properly, staff can have access to all the resources they have in the office wherever they have an internet connection,” says Andy Poulton, e-business advisor at Business Link for Berkshire and Wiltshire. “There are some very exciting developments which have enable

8、d this.” One is the availability of broadband, which now covers almost all of the country (BT claims that, by July, 99.8% of its exchanges will be broadband enabled, with alternative plans in place for even the most remote exchanges). “This is the enabler,” Poulton says. Yet while broadband has come

9、 down in price too, those service providers targeting the business market warn against consumer services masquerading(伪装) as business-friendly broadband. “Broadband is available for as little as 15 a month, but many businesses fail to appreciate the hidden costs of such a service,” says Neil Stephen

10、son, sales and marketing director at Onyx Internet, an internet service provider based in the north-east of England “Providers offering broadband for rock-bottom prices are notorious for poor service, with regular breakdowns and heavily congested(拥堵的) networks. It is always advisable for businesses

11、to look beyond the price tag and look for a business-only provider that can offer more reliability, with good support.” Such services dont cost too much quality services can be found for upwards of 30 a month. The benefits of broadband to the occasional home worker are that they can access email in

12、real time, and take full advantage of services such as internet-based backup or even internet-based phone services. Internet-based telecom, or VoIP(Voice over IP) to give it its technical title, is an interesting tool to any business supporting remote working. Not necessarily because of the promise

13、of free or reduced price phone calls (which experts point out is misleading for the average business), but because of the sophisticated voice services that can be exploited by the remote worker-facilities such as voicemail and call forwarding, which provide a continuity of the company-image for cust

14、omers and business partners. By law, companies must “consider seriously” requests to work flexibly made by a parent with a child under the age of six, or a disabled child under 18. It was the need to accommodate employees with young children that motivated accountancy firm Wright Vigar to begin prom

15、oting teleworking recently, The company, which needed to upgrade its IT infrastructure to provide connectivity with a new, second office, decided to introduce support for remote working at the same time. Marketing director Jack OHern explains that the company has a relatively young workforce, many o

16、f whom are parents: “One of the triggers was when one of our tax managers returned form maternity leave. She was intending to work part time, but could only manage one day a week in the office due to childcare. By offering her the ability to work from home, we have doubled her capacity-now she works

17、 a day a week from home, and a day in the office. This is great for her, and for us as we retain someone highly qualified.” For Wright Vigar, which has now equipped all of its fee-earners to be able to work at maximum productivity when away from the offices (whether thats from home, or while on the

18、road), this strategy is not just about saving on commute time or cutting them loose from the office, but enabling them to work more flexible hours that fit around their home life. OHern says: “Although most of our work is client-based and must fit around this, we cant see any reason why a parent can

19、t be on hand to deal with something important at home, if they have the ability to complete a project late in the day.” Supporting this new way of working came with a price, though. Although the firm was updating its systems anyway, the company spent 10-15% more per user to equip them with a laptop

20、rather than a PC, and about the same to upgrade to a server that would enable remote staff to connect to the company networks and access all their usual resources. Although Wright Vigar hasnt yet quantified the business benefits, it claims that, in addition to being able to retain key staff with you

21、ng families, it is able to save fee-earners a substantial amount of “dead” time in their working days. That staff can do this without needing a fixed telephone line provides even more efficiency savings. “With Wi-Fi(fast, wireless internet connections) popping up all over the place, even on trains ,

22、 our free-earners can be productive as they travel, and between meetings, instead of having to kill time at the shops,” he adds. The company will also be able to avoid the expense of having to relocate staff to temporary offices for several weeks when it begins disruptive office renovations (翻新) soo

23、n. Financial recruitment specialist Lynne Hargreaves knows exactly how much her firm has saved by adopting a teleworking strategy, which has involved handing her companys data management over to a remote hosting company, Datanet, so it can be accessible by all the companys consultants over broadband

24、 internet connections. It has enabled the company to dispense with its business premises altogether, following the realisation that it just didnt need them any more. “The main motivation behind adopting home working was to increase my own productivity, as a single mum to an 11-year-old,” says Hargre

25、aves. “But I soon realised that, as most of our business is done on the phone, email at off site meetings, we didnt need our offices at all. Were now saving 16,000 a year on rent, plus the cost of utilities, not to mention what would have been spent on commuting.”1. What is the main topic of this pa

26、ssage? A) How business managers view hi-tech.B) Benefits of the practice of teleworking. C) How to cut down the costs of small businesses.D) Relations between employers and employees.2. From the research concred by the communication provider Inter-Tel, we learn that_. A) attitudes toward IT technolo

27、gy have changed. B) more employees work to full capacity at home. C) more businesses have adopted remote working solution. D) employees show a growing inrest in small businesses.3. What development has made flexible working practices possible according to Andy Poulton? A) Reduced cost of telecommuni

28、cations. B) Improved reliability of internet service. C) Access to broadban everywhere. D) Availability of VoIP service.4. What is Neil Stephensons advice to firms contracting internet services? A) They contract the cheapest provider. B) They look for reliable business-only providers. C) They contac

29、t providers located nearest to them. D) They carefully examine the contract.5. Internet-based telecoms facilitates remote working by_. A) offering sophisticated voice services B) providing calls completely free of charge C) helping clients discuss business at home D) giving access to emailing in rea

30、l time6.The accountancy firm Wright Vigar promoted teleworking initially in order to_. A) attract young people with IT expertise to work for it B) present a positive image to prospective customers C) reduce operational expenses of a second office D) support its employees with children to take care o

31、f 7. According to marketing director Jack OHern, teleworking enabled the company to_. A) minimise its office space B) keep highly qualified staff C) enhance its market imageD) reduce recruitment costs8.Wright Vigars practice of allowing for more flexible working hours not only benefits the company b

32、ut helps improve employees_.9. With fast, wireless internet connections, employees can still be_ while traveling.10. Single mother Lynne Hargreaves decided to work at home mainly to_.Part III Listening Comprehension (35 minutes)Section A11. A) They prefer to carry cash when traveling abroad. B) They usually carry many things around with them. C) They would rather travel around than stay at home. D) They dont like to spend much money on traveling.12. A) The s