1997年6月大学英语六级考试试题
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Part I Listening comprehension (20 minutes)
略
Part II Reading Comprehension (35 minutes)
Direction : There are 4 reading passages in this part. Each passage
is following 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 and mark the
corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet with a single line through
the centre .
Question 21 to 25 are based on the following passage:
It is said that the public and Congressional concern about deceptive
packaging rumpus started because Senator Hart discovered that the
boxes of cereals consumed by him, Mrs. Hart, and their children were
becoming higher and narrower, with a decline of net weight from 12
to 10. 5 ounces, without any reduction in price. There were still
twelve biscuits, but they had been reduced in size. Later, the
Senator rightly complained of a store-bought pie in a handsomely
illustrated box that pictured, in a single slice, almost as many
cherries as there were in the whole pie.
The manufacturer who increases the unit price of his product by
changing his package size to lower the quantity delivered can,
without undue hardship, put his product into boxes, bags, and tins
that will contain even 4-ounce, 8-ounce, one-pound,
Two-pound quantities of breakfast foods, cake mixes, etc. A study of
drugstore and supermarket shelves will convince any observer that
all possible size and shapes of boxes, jars, bottles, and tins are
in use at the same time and, as the package journals show, week by
week, there is never any hesitation in introducing a new size. and
shape of box or bottle when it aids in product differentiation. The
producers of packaged products argue strongly against changing sizes
of packages to contain even weights and volumes, but no one in the
trade comments unfavorably on the huge costs incurred by endless
changes of package sizes, materials, shape, art work, and net
weights that are used for improving a product's market position.
When a packaging expert explained that he was able to multiply the
price of hard sweets by 2.5, from I dollar to 2.50 dollars by
changing to a fancy jar, or that he had made a 5-ounce bottle look
as though it held 8 ounces, he was in effect telling the public that
packaging can be a very expensive luxury. It evidently does come
high, when an average family pays about 200 dollars a year for
bottles, cans, boxes, jars and other containers, most of which can'
t be used anything but stuffing the garbage can .
21 . What started the public and Congressional concern about
deceptive packaging rumpus?
A) Consumers' complaints about the changes in the package size.
B) Expensive packaging for poor quality products.
C) A senator's discovery of the tricks in packaging.
D) The rise in the unit price for many products.
22. The word "undue" (Para. 2) means "__________".
A) improper B)adequate C)unexpected D)excessive
23. Consumers are concerned about the changes in the package size,
mainly because __________.
A) they hate to see any changes in things they are familiar with
B) they unit price for a product often rises as a result
C) they have to pay for the cost of changing package sizes
D) this entails an increase in the cost of packaging
24. According to this passage, various types of packaging come into
existence to __________.
A) meet the needs of consumers
B) suit all kinds of products
C) enhance the market position of products
D) introduce new products
25. The author is critical mainly of _________.
A) dishonest packaging
B) inferior packaging
C) the changes in package size
D) exaggerated illustrations on packages
Questions 26 to 30 are based on the following passage:
If sustainable competitive advantage depends on work-force skills,
American firms have a problem. Human-resource management is not
traditionally seen as central to the competitive survival of the
firm in United States. Skill acquisition is considered an individual
responsibility. Labour is simply another factor of production to be
hired-rented at the lowest possible cost-much as one buys raw
materials or equipment.
The lack of importance attached to human-resource management can be
seen in the corporate hierarchy. In an American firm the chief
financial officer is almost always second in command. The post of
head of human-resource management is usually a specialized job, off
at the edge of the corporate hierarchy. The executive who holds it
is never consulted on major strategic decisions and has no chance to
move up to Chief Executive Officer (CEO). By way of contrast, in
Japan the head of human-resource management is central-usually the
second most important executive, after the CEO, in the firm's
hierarchy.
While American firms often talk about the vast amounts spent on
training their work forces, in fact they invest less in the skills
of their employees than do either Japanese or German firms. The
money they do invest is also more highly concentrated on
professional and managerial employees. And the limited investments
that are made in training workers are also much more narrowly
focused on the specific skills necessary to do the next job rather
than on the basic background skills that make it possible to absorb
new technologies.
As a result, problems emerge when new breakthrough technologies
arrive. If American workers, for example, take much longer to learn
how to operate new flexible manufacturing stations than workers in
Germany (as they do), the effective cost of those stations is lower
in Germany than it is in the United States. More time is required
before equipment is up and running at capacity, and the need for
extensive retraining generates costs and creates bottlenecks that
limit the speed with which new equipment can be employed. The result
is as lower pace of technological change. And in the end the skills
of the population affect the wages of the top half. If the bottom
half can't effectively staff the processes that have to be operated,
the management and professional jobs that to with these processes
will disappear.
26. Which of the following applies to the management of human
resources in American companies?
A) They hire people at the lowest cost regardless of their skills.
B) They see the gaining of skills as their employees' own business.
C) They attach more importance to workers than equipment.
D) They only hire skilled workers because of keen competition.
27. What is the position of the head of human-resource management in
an American firm?
A) He is one of the most important executives in firms.
B) His post is likely to disappear when new technologies are
introduced.
C) He is directly under the chief financial executives in the firms.
D) He has no say in making important decisions in the firm.
28. The money most American firms put in training mainly goes to
______.
A) workers who can operate new equipment
B) technological and managerial staff
C) workers who lack basic background skills
D) top executives
29. According to the passages, the decisive factor in maintaining a
firm's competitive advantage is _________.
A) the introduction of new technologies
B) the improvement of worker's basic skills .
C) the rational composition of professional and managerial employees
D) the attachment of importance to the bottom half of the employees
30. What is the main idea of the passage?
A) American firms are different from Japanese and German firms in
human-resource management.
B) Extensive retraining is indispensable to effective human-resource
management.
C) The head of human-resource management must be in the central
position in a firm's hierarchy.
D) The human-resource management strategies of American firms affect
their competitive capacity.
Questions 31 to 35 are based on the following passage:
The biographer has to dance between two shaky positions with respect
to the subject . Too close a relation, and the writer may be
objectivity. Not close enough, and the writer may lack the sympathy
necessary to any effort to portray a mind, a soul-the quality of
life. Who should write the biography of a family, for example?
Because of their closeness to the subject, family members may have
special information, but by the same token, they may not have the
distance that would allow them to be fair. Similarly, a king' s
servant might not be the best one to write a biography of that king.
But a foreigner might not have the knowledge and sympathy necessary
to write the king' s biography-not for a readership from within the
kingdom, at any rate.
There is no ideal position for such a task. The biographer has to
work with the position he or she has in the world, adjusting that
position as necessary to deal with the subject. Every position has
strengths and weaknesses: to thrive, a writer must try to become
aware of these, evaluate them in terms of the subject, and select a
position accordingly.
When their subjects are heroes or famous figures, biographies often
reveal a democratic motive: they attempt to show that their subjects
are only human, no better than anyone else. Other biographies are
meant to change us, to invite us to become better than we are. The
biographies of Jesus found in the Bible are in this class.
Biographers may claim that their account is the "authentic" one. In
advancing this claim, they are helped if the biography is
"authorized" by the subject, this presumably allows the biographer
special access to private information. "Unauthorized" biographies
also have their appeal, however, since they can suggest an
independence of mind in the biographer. In book promotions, the
"unauthorized" characterisation usually suggests the prospect of
juicy gossip that the subject had hoped to suppress. A subject might
have several biographies, even several "authentic" ones. We sense
intuitively that no one is in a position to tell the story of a
life, perhaps not even the subject, and this has been proved by .the
history of biography.
31 . According to the author, an ideal biographer would be one who
_______ .
A) knows the subject very well and yet maintains a proper distance
from him .
B) is close to the subject and knows the techniques of biography
writing
C) is independent and treats the subject with fairness and
objectivity .
D) possesses special private information and is sympathetic toward
the subject
32 . The author cites the biographies of Jesus in the Bible in order
to show that _______.
A) the best biographies are meant to transform their readers
B) biographies are authentic accounts of their subjects' lives
C) the best biographies are the of heroes and famous figures
D) biographies can serve different purpose
33 . Which of the following statements is true, according to the
passage?
A) An authentic biography seldom appeals to its readers.
B) An authentic biography is one authorized by the subject.
C) No one can write a perfect biography.
D) Authorized biographies have a wider readership.
34 . An unauthorized biography is likely to attract more readers
because ______.
A) it portrays the subject both faithfully and vividly
B) it contains interesting information about the subject's private
life
C) it reveals a lot of accurate details unknown to outsiders
D) it usually gives a sympathetic description of the subject's
character
35. In this passage, the author focuses on __________.
A) the difficulty of a biographer in finding the proper perspective
to do his job
B) the secret of a biographer to win more readers
C) the techniques required of a biographer to write a food biography
D) the characteristics of different kinds of biographies .
Questions 36 to 40 are based on the following passage:
Whether the eyes are "the windows of the soul" is debatable, that
they are intensely important in interpersonal communication is a
fact. During the first two months of a baby's life, the stimulus
that produces a smile is a pair of eyes. The eyes need not be real:
a mask with two dots will produce a smile. Significantly, a real
human face with eyes then the face will not motivate a smile, nor
will the sight of only one eye then the face is presented in
profile. This attraction to eyes as opposed to the nose or mouth
continues as the baby matures. In one study, when American
four-year-olds were asked to draw people, 75 percent of them drew
people with mouths , but 99 percent of them drew people with eyes.
In Japan, however, where babies are carried on their mother's back,
infants to not acquire as much attachment to eyes as they do in
other cultures. As a result, Japanese adults make little use of the
face either to encode or decode meaning. In fact, Argyle reveals
that the "proper place to focus one's gaze during a conversation in
Japan is on the neck of one's conversation partner."
The role of eye contact in a conversational exchange between two
Americans is well defined: speakers make contact with the eyes of
their listener for about one second, then glance away as they talk;
in a few moments they re-establish eye contact with the listener or
reassure themselves that their audience is still attentive, then
shift their gaze away once more. Listeners, meanwhile, keep their
eyes on the face of the speaker, allowing themselves-to glance away
only briefly. It is important that they be looking at the speaker at
the `precise moment when the speaker reestablishes eye contact: if
they are not looking, the speaker assumes that they are
disinterested and either will pause until eye contact is resumed or
will terminate the conversation. Just how critical this eye
maneuvering is to the maintenance of conversational flow becomes
evident when two speakers are wearing dark glasses: there may be a
sort of traffic jam of words caused by interruption, false starts,
and unpredictable pauses.
36. The author is convinced that the eyes are_______ .
A) of extreme importance in expressing feelings and exchanging ideas
B) something through which one can see a person' s inner world
C) of considerable significance in making conversati6ns interesting
D) something the value of which is largely a matter of long debate
37 . Babies will not be stimulated to smile by a person _______.
A) whose front view is fully perceived
B) whose face is covered with a mask
C) whose face is seen from the side
D) whose face is free of any covering
38 . According to the passage, the Japanese fix their gaze on their
conversation partner' s neck because _________.
A) they don't like to keep their eyes on the face of the speaker
B) they need not communicate through eye contact
C) they don't think it polite to have eye contact
D) they didn't have much opportunity to communicate through eye
contact in babyhood
39 . According to the passage, a conversation between two Americans
may break down due to _________.
A) one temporarily glancing away from the other
B) eye contact of more than one second
C) improperly-timed ceasing of eye contact
D) constant adjustment of eye contact
40. To keep a conversation flowing smoothly, it is better for the
participants _______.
A) not to wear dark spectacles B) not to make any interruptions
C) not to glance away from each other D) not to make unpredictable
pauses
Part III Vocabulary and Structure
Directions: There are 30 incomplete sentences in this pert . For
each sentence there are four choices marked A ) , B ) , C ) and D )
. Choose the ONE that best completes the sentence . Then mark the
corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet with a single line through
the centre .
41 . By _______computation, he estimated that the repairs on the
house would cost him a thousand dollars.
A) coarse B) rude C) crude D) rough
42 . Your story about the frog turning into a prince is
_______nonsense.
A) sheer B) shear C) shield D) sheet
43 . I could see that my wife was ________ having that fur coat,
whether I approved of it or not.
A) adequate for B) intent on C) short of D) deficient in
44 . The _______ runner can run 2 miles in fifteen minutes.
A) common B) usual C) average D) general
45 . One of his eyes was injured in an accident, but after a
operation, he quickly recovered his sight.
A) delicate B) considerate C) precise D) sensitive
46 . As an excellent shooter, Peter practised aiming at both _______
targets and moving targets.
A) standing B) stationary C) still D) stable
47 . In American universities, classes are often arranged in more
flexible _______ and many jobs on campus are reserved for students .
A) scales B) patterns C) grades D) ranks
48 . The insurance company paid him $10, 000 in _______ after his
accident.
A) compensation B) installment C) substitution D) commission
49 . The political future of the president is now hanging by a
_______.
A) thread B) cord C)string D) rope
50 . The statue would be perfect but for a few small _______ in its
be.
A) mistakes B) weaknesses c) flaws D) errors
51 . Why should anyone want to read _______ of books by great
authors when the real pleasure comes from reading the originals,
A) themes B) insights C) digests D) leaflets
52 . Parents have a legal _______ to ensure that their children are
provided with efficient education suitable to their age.
A) impulse B) influence C) obligation D) sympathy
53 . Most nurses are women, but in the higher ranks of the medical
profession women are in a _______.
A) scarcity B) minority C) minimum D) shortage
54 . David likes country life and has decided to _______ farming.
A) go in for B)go back on
C) go through with D) go along with .
55 . Jack was about to announce our plan but I _______ .
A) put him through B) turned him out
C) gave him up D) cut him short
56. I am sore I can _______ him into letting us stay in the h6tel
for the night.
A) speak B) say C) talk D) tell
57. Last year, the crime rate in Chicago has sharply _______.
A) declined B) lessened C) descended D) slipped
58 . The republication of the pet' s most recent works will
certainly _______ his national reputation.
A) magnify B) strengthen C) enlarge D) enhance
59 . Recently a number of cases have been reported of young children
_______ a violent act previously seen on television.
A) modifying B) duplicating C) accelerating D) stimulating
60 . This kind of material can _______ heat and moisture.
A) delete B) `compel C) constrain D) repel
61 . Reading _______ the mind only with materials of knowledge; it
is thinking that makes what we read ours.
A) rectifies B) prolongs C) minimizes D) furnishes
62. If the fire alarm is sounded, all residents are requested to
_______ in the courtyard.
A) assemble B) converge C) crowd D) accumulate
63 . The work in the office was _______ by a constant stream of
visitors.
A) confused B) hampered C) reverend D) perplexed
64. The joys of travel, having long _______ the disabled, are
opening up to virtually anyone who has the means.
A) omitted B) missed C) neglected D) discarded
65 . Fewer and fewer of today's workers expect to spend their
working lives in the same field, _______ the same company.
A) all else B) much worse C) less likely D) let alone
66. When he finally emerged from the cave after thirty days, John
was _______ pale.
A) enormously B) startlingly C) uniquely D) dramatically
67 . Thank you for applying for a position with our firm. We do not
have any openings at this time, but we shall keep your application
on _______ for two months.
A) pile B) segment C) sequence D) file
68. It will be safer to walk the streets because people will not
need to carry large amounts of cash; virtually all financial _______
will be conducted by computer.
A) transactions B) transmissions C) transitions D) transformations
69. The of a cultural phenomenon is usually a logical consequence of
some physical aspect in the life style of the people.
A) implementation B) manifestation C) demonstration D) expedition
70 . The new technological revolution in American newspapers has
brought increase, a wider range of publications and an expansion of
newspaper jobs.
A) manipulation B) reproduction C) circulation D) penetration
Part IV short Answer Questions (15 minutes)
Directions: In this part there is a short passage with five
questions or incomplete statements. Read the passage carefully. Then
answer the questions or complete the statements is the fewest
possible word.
I once knew a dog named Newton who had a unique sense of humour.
Whenever I tossed out a Frisbee for him to chase, he'd take off in
hot pursuit but then seem to lose track of it. Moving back and forth
only a yard of two from the toy, Newton would look all around, even
up into the trees. He seemed genuinely puzzled. Finally, I'd give up
and head into the field to help him out. But no sooner would I get
within 10 ft. Of him than he would run invariably straight over to
the Frisbee, grab it and start running like mad, looking over his
shoulder with what looked suspiciously like a grin.
Just about every pet owner has a story like this and is eager to
share it with anyone who will listen. On very short notice, TIME
reporters cam up with 25 stories about what each is convinced is the
smartest pet in the world. Among them: the cat who closes the door
behind him when he goes into the bathroom; the cat who uses a toilet
instead of a litter box... and flushes it afterward; the dog who
goes wild when he sees his owner putting on blue jeans instead of a
dress because jeans mean it is time to play; and the cat who used to
wait patiently at the bus stop every day for a little girl, then
walk her the six blocks home. And so on.
These behaviours are certainly clever, but what do they mean? Was
Newton really deceiving? Can a cat really desire privacy in the
toilet? In short, do household pets really have a mental and
emotional life? Their owners think so, but until recently,
animal-behaviour exports would have gone mad on hearing such a
question. The worst sin in the worst sin in their moral vocabulary
was anthropomorphism, projecting human traits onto animals. A dog or
a cat might behave as if it were angry, lonely, sad, happy or
confused, but that was only in the eye of the viewer. What was going
on, they insisted was that the dog or cat had been conditioned,
through a perhaps unintentional series of punishments and rewards,
the behave certain way. The behaviour was a mechanical result of the
training.
71. What did Newton seem puzzled about?
72. Why does the author say Newton had unique sense of humour?
73. What made it possible for the TIME reporters to come up with so
many interesting stories about pets?
74. What belief about pet behaviour was unacceptable to experts of
animal behaviour?
75. What is the explanation of animal-behaviour experts for the
"clever"behaviour of pets?
Part V Writing (30 minutes)
Directions : For this part , you are allowed thirty minutes to write
a composition on the topic My View on Job-Hopping. You should write
at least 120 words and you should abase your composition on the
outline ( given in Chinese ) below :
1.有些人喜欢始终从事一种工作,因为 ...
2.有些人喜欢经常更换工作,因为...
3.我的看法
My View on Job-Hopping
参考答案
Part I (略)
Part II Reading Comprehension (35 minutes)
21. C 22. D 23. B 24. C 25. A
26. B 27. D 28. B 29. B 30. D
31. A 32. D 33. C 34. B 35. A
36. A 37. C 38. D 39. C 40. A
Part III Vocabulary and Structure
41. D 42. A 43. B 44. C 45. A
46. C 47. B 48. A 49. A 50. C
51. C 52. C 53. B 54. A 55. D
56. C 57. A 58. D 59. B 60. D
61. D 62. A 63. B 64. C 65. D
66. B 67. D 68. A 69. B 70. C
Part IV Short Answer Question
71. Not knowing the Fribee's track.
72. Because Newton intended to deceive him.
73. That the owners want others to share their stories.
74. That animals have a mental and emotional life.
75. Mechanical result of training.
Part V Writing(略)
