layered2014年6月六级真题第3套

2021年1月20日发(作者：punchlist)
2014
年
6
月大学英语六级考试真题
(
三
)
Part I






















Writing






















(30 minutes)
Directions:
For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay explaining
why it is unwise
to put all your eggs in one basket.
You can give examples to illustrate your point. You
should write at least
150
words but no more than
200
words.

Part II













Listening Comprehension















(30 minutes)
说明：
2014
年
6
月六级真题全国共考了两套听力。本套（即第三套）的听力内容与第二套的
完全一样，只是选项的顺序 不一样而已，故在本套中不再重复给出。


Part III














Reading

Comprehension













(40 minutes)
Section A
Directions:

In this section, there is a passage with ten blanks. You are required to select one word for
each blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage. Read the
passage
through
carefully
before
making
your
choices.
Each
choice
in
the
bank
is
identified
by
a
letter.
Please
mark
the
corresponding
letter
for
each
item
on
Answer
Sheet 2
with a single line through the centre. You may not use any of the words in the
bank more than once.
Questions 36 to 45 are based on the following passage.




Millions of Americans are entering their 60s and are more concerned than ever about retirement.
They know they need to save, but how much? And what exactly are they saving for
—
to spend more
time


36



the
grandkids,
go
traveling,
or
start
another
career?
It
turns
out
that
husbands
and
wives may have


37


different ideas about, the subject.




The
deepest
divide
is
in
the
way
spouses
envisage
their
lifestyle
in
their
later
years.
Fidelity
Investments Inc. found 41 percent of the 500 couples it surveyed


38


on whether both or at least
one spouse will work in retirement. Wives are generally right regarding their husbands
’
retirement
age, but men


39


the age their wives will be when they stop working. And husbands are slightly
more


40


about their standard of living than wives are.




Busy juggling (
穷于应付
) careers and families, most couples don
’
t take the time to sit down,

41


or
together,
and
think
about
what
they
would
like
to
do
5,10
or
20
years
from
now.
They



42


they are on the same page, but the


43


is they have avoided even talking about it.






If you are self-employed or in a job that doesn
’
t have a standard retirement age, you may be
more apt to delay thinking about these issues. It is often a



44


retirement date that provides the
catalyst
(
催化剂
)
to
start
planning.
Getting
laid
off
or
accepting
an
early-retirement


45


can
force your hand. But don
’
t wait until you get a severance (
遣散费
) check to begin planning.
注意：此部分试题请在答题卡
2
上作答。




A) assume
I) optimistic

B) confidential
J) package


C) disagree
K) radically

D) formula
L) reality

E) forthcoming

M) separately

F) illustrating
N) spoiling

G) mysteriously
O) underestimate

H) observe


Section B
Directions:

In this section, you are going to read a passage with ten statements attached to it. Each
statement contains information given in one of the paragraphs. Identify the paragraph
from which the information is derived.

You may choose a paragraph more than once.
Each
paragraph
is
marked
with
a
letter.
Answer
the
questions
by
marking
the
corresponding letter on
Answer Sheet 2.

What If Middle-Class Jobs Disappear?
A) The most recent recession in the United States began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009,
according to the National Bureau of Economic Research. However, two years after the official end of
the recession, few Americans would say that economic troubles are behind us. The unemployment
rate,
in
particular,
remains
above
9%.
Some
labor
market
indicators,
such
as
the
proportion
of
long-term unemployed, are worse now than for any postwar recession.

B) There are two widely circulated narratives to explain what
’
s going on. The Keynesian narrative is
that there has been a major drop in aggregate demand. According to this narrative, the slump can be
largely cured by using monetary and fiscal (
财政的
) stimulus. The main anti-Keynesian narrative is
that businesses are suffering from uncertainty and over-regulation. According to this narrative, the
slump can be cured by having the government commit to and follow a more hands-off approach.

C) I want to suggest a third interpretation. Without ruling out a role for aggregate demand or for the
regulatory environment, I wish to suggest that structural change is an important factor in the current
rate of high unemployment. The economy is in a state of transition, in which the middle-class jobs
that emerged after World War II have begun to decline. As Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee
put it in a recent e-book Race Against the Machine :
“
The root of our problems is not that we
’
re in a
great recession, or a great stagnation (
停滞
), but rather that we are in the early throes (
阵痛
) of a
great restructuring.
”




D) In fact, I believe the Great Depression of the 1930s can also be interpreted in part as an economic
transition. The impact of the internal combustion engine (
内燃机
) and the small electric motor on
farming and manufacturing reduced the value of uneducated laborers. Instead, by the 1950s, a middle
class of largely clerical (
从事文秘工作的
) workers was the most significant part of the labor force.






Between 1930 and 1950, the United States economy underwent a great transition. Demand fell
for
human
effort
such
as
lifting,
squeezing,
and
hammering.
Demand
increased
for
workers
who

could read and follow directions. The evolutionary process eventually changed us from a nation of
laborers to a nation of clerks.



E) The proportion of employment classified as
“
clerical workers
”
grew from 5.2% in 1910 to a peak
of 19.3% in 1980. (However, by 2000 this proportion had edged down to 17.4%.) Overall, workers
classified as clerical workers, technical workers, managers and officials exceeded 50% of the labor
force by 2000. Corresponding declines took place in the manual occupations. Workers classified as
laborers, other than farm hands or miners, peaked at 11.4% of the labor force in 1920 but were barely
6% by 1950 and less than 4% by 2000. Farmers and farm laborers fell from 33% of the labor force in
1910 to less than 15% by 1950 and only 1.2% in 2000.



F) The introduction of the tractor and improvements in the factory rapidly reduced the demand for
uneducated workers.
By the 1930s, a marginal farm hand
could
not
produce enough to
justify his
employment. Sharecropping, never much better than a subsistence occupation, was no longer viable
(
可行的
).
Meanwhile,
machines
were
replacing
manufacturing
occupations
like
cigar
rolling
and
glass blowing for light bulbs.



G) The structural-transition interpretation of the unemployment problem of the 1930s would be that
the demand for uneducated workers in the United States had fallen, but the supply remained high.
The high school graduation rate was only 8.8% in 1912 and still just 29% in 1931. By 1950, it had
reached
59%.
With
a
new
generation
of
workers
who
had
completed
high
school,
the
mismatch
between skills and jobs had been greatly reduced.

H)
What
took
place
after
World
War
II
was
not
the
revival
of
a
1920s
economy,
with
its
small
farming units, urban manufacturing, and plurality of laborers. Instead, the 1950s saw the creation of
a new suburban economy, with a plurality of white-collar workers. With an expanded transportation
and
communications
infrastructure
(
基础设施
),
businesses
needed
telephone
operators,
shipping
clerks and similar occupations. If you could read, follow simple instructions, and settle into a routine,
you could find a job in the post-war economy.



I) The trend away from manual labor has continued. Even within the manufacturing sector, the share
of production and non- supervisory workers in manufacturing employment went from over 85% just
after World War [I to less than 70% in more recent years. To put this another way, the proportion of
white-collar work in manufacturing has doubled over the past 50 years. On the factory floor itself,
work has become less physically demanding. Instead, it requires more cognitive skills and the ability
to understand and carry out well-defined procedures.



J) As noted earlier, the proportion of clerical workers in the economy peaked in 1980. By that date,
computers
and
advanced
communications
equipment
had
already
begun
to
affect
telephone
operations and banking. The rise of the personal computer, and the Internet has widened the impact
of these technologies to include nearly every business and industry.



K)
The
economy
today
differs
from
that
of
a
generation
ago.
Mortgage
and
consumer
loan
underwriters (
风险评估人
) have been replaced by credit scoring. Record stores have been replaced

by
music
downloads.
Book
stores
are
closing,
while
sales
of
books
on
electronic
readers
have
increased. Data entry has been moved off shore. Routine customer support also has been outsourced
(
外包
) overseas.



L) These trends serve to limit the availability of well-defined jobs. If a job can be characterized by a
precise
set
of instructions,
then that job
is
a candidate to
be automated
or outsourced to
modestly
educated workers in developing countries. The result is what David Autor calls the polarization of
the American job market.


M) Using the latest Census Bureau data, Matthew Slaughter found that from 2000 to 2010 the real
earnings of college graduates (with no advanced degree) fell by more in percentage terms than the
earnings of high school graduates. In fact, over this period the only education category to show an
increase in earnings was those with advanced degrees.


N) The outlook for mid-skill jobs would not appear to be bright. Communications technology and
computer
intelligence
continue
to
improve,
putting
more
occupations
at
risk.
For
example,
many
people earn a living as drivers, including trucks and taxicabs. However, the age of driverless vehicles
appears to
be moving closer. Another example is in
the field
of
education.
In the fall of 2011,
an
experiment with an online course in artificial intelligence conducted by two Stanford professors drew
tens of thousands of registrants (
报名者
). This increases the student-teacher ratio by a factor of close
to a thousand. Imagine the number of teaching jobs that might be eliminated if this could be done for
math, economics, chemistry, and so on.


O) It
’
s important to bear in mind that when we offer a structural interpretation of unemployment, a
“
loss
of
jobs
”

means
an
increase
in
productivity.
Traditionally,
economists
have
argued
that
productivity
increases
are
a
good
thing,
even
though
they
may
cause
unemployment
for
some
workers in the short run. In the long run, the economy does not run out .of jobs. Rather, new jobs
emerge as old jobs disappear. The story we tell is that average well-being rises, and the more people
are able to adapt, the more widespread the improvement becomes.


46.
Even
factory
floor
work
today
has
become
intellectually
challenging
rather
than
physically
demanding.
47. Increases in productivity prove beneficial though some people may lose their jobs temporarily.
48. The unemployment rate remained high even two years after the government declared the recent
recession was over.
49. The author suggests that the recent high unemployment rate is mainly caused by a decrease of
middleclass jobs.
50. The creation of a suburban economy in the 1950s created lots of office jobs.
51.
In
the
first
decade
of
the
21st
century,
only
people
with
postgraduate
degrees
experienced
an
increase in earnings.
52.
One
economics
theory
suggests
using
monetary
and
fiscal
stimulus
to
cope
with
an
economic
recession.
53. The popularity of online courses may eliminate many teaching jobs.
54. Computer technology has brought about revolutionary changes in the record and book business.