vertically2012年12月英语六级阅读真题及解析

2021年1月8日发(作者：包释修)
2012年12月大学英语六级考试真题
Passage One
Questions 52 to 56 are based on the following passage.
Amid all the job losses, there’s one category of worker that the
economic disruption has been good for: nonhumans.
From self-service checkout lines at the supermarket to industrial robots
armed with saws and taught to carve up animal bodies in slaughter-houses,
these ever-more-intelligent machines are now not just assisting workers
but actually kicking them out of their jobs.
Automation isn’t just affecting factory workers, either. Some law firms
now use artificial intelligence software to scan and read mountains of legal
documents, work that previously was performed by highly-paid human
lawyers.
“Robots continue to have an impact on blue-collar jobs, and white-collar
jobs are under attack by microprocessors,” says economics professor
Edward Leamer. The recession permanently wiped out 2.5 million jobs.
U.S. gross domestic product has climbed back to pre-recession levels,
meaning we’re producing as much as before, only with 6% fewer workers.
To be sure, robotics are not the only job killers out there,
with outsourcing (外包) stealing far more jobs than automation.
Jeff Burnstein, president of the Robotics Industry Association, argues
that robots actually save U.S. jobs. His logic: companies that embrace
automation might use fewer workers, but that’s still better than firing
everyone and moving the work overseas.
It’s not that robots are cheaper than humans, though often they are. It’s
that they’re better. “In some cases the quality requirements are so exacting
that even if you wanted to have a human do the job, you couldn’t,”
Burnstein says.
Same goes for surgeons, who’re using robotic systems to perform an
ever-growing list of operations—not because the machines save money but
because, thanks to the greater precision of robots, the patients recover in
less time and have fewer complications, says Dr. Myriam Curet.
Surgeons may survive the robot invasion, but others at the hospital
might not be so lucky, as iRobot, maker of the Roomba, a robot vacuum
cleaner, has been showing off Ava, which could be used as a messenger in
a hospital. And once you’re home, recovering, Ava could let you talk to
your doctor, so there’s no need to send someone to your house. That
“mobile telepresence” could be useful at the office. If you’re away on a
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trip, you can still attend a meeting. Just connect via videoconferencing
software, so your face appears on Ava’s screen.
Is any job safe? I was hoping to say “journalist,” but researchers are
already developing software that can gather facts and write a news story.
Which means that a few years from now, a robot could be writing this
column. And who will read it? Well, there might be a lot of us hanging
around with lots of free time on our hands.
注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。
52. What do we learn from the first few paragraphs?
A) The over-use of robots has done damage to American economy.
B) It is hard for robots to replace humans in highly professional work.
C) Artificial intelligence is key to future technological innovations.
D) The robotic industry has benefited from the economic recession.
53. What caused the greatest loss of jobs in America?
A) Using microprocessors extensively.
B) Moving production to other countries.
C) The bankruptcy of many companies.
D) The invasion of migrant workers.
54. What does Jeff Burnstein say about robots?
A) They help companies to revive.
B) They are cheaper than humans.
C) They prevent job losses in a way.
D) They compete with human workers.
55. Why are robotic systems replacing surgeons in more and more
operations according to Dr. Myriam Curet?
A) They save lots of money for the patients.
B) They beat humans in precision.（精确度）
C) They take less time to perform a surgery.
D) They make operations less painful.
56. What does the author imply about robotics?
A) It will greatly enrich literary creation.
B) It will start a new technological revolution.
C) It will revolutionize scientific research.
D) It will be applied in any field imaginable.
Passage Two
Questions 57 to 61 are based on the following passage.
You’ve now heard it so many times, you can probably repeat it in your
sleep. President Obama will no doubt make the point publicly when he
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