英语六级历年真题

2003

年

9

月试卷< /p>

Part Ⅰ

Listening Comprehension

(20 minutes)

Section A

Directions: In this section, you will hear 10 short conversations. At the end of each

conversation, a question will be asked about what war said. Both the conversation and

the

question

will

be

spoken

only

once:

After

each

question

there

will

be

a

pause.

During

the pause, you maxi read the four choices marked A), B), C) and D), and decide which

is,

the

best

answer.

Then

mark

the

corresponding

letter

on

the

Answer

Sheet

with

a

single

line through the centre.

Example: You will hear:

You will read:

A) 2 hours.

B) 3 hours.

C) 4 hours.

D) 5 hours.

From the conversation we know that the two are talking about some work they will start

at 9 o

’

clock in the morning and have to finish by 2 in the afternoon. Therefore, D)

with a single line through the centre.

Sample Answer [A] [B] [C] [D]

1. A) The lecture for next Monday is cancelled.

B) The lecture wasn

’

t as successful as expected.

C) The woman doesn't want to attend the lecture.

D) The woman may attend next Monday

’

s lecture.

2. A) The woman has a very tight budget.

B) He does not think the fur coat is worth buying.

C) He's willing to lend the woman money for the fur coat.

D) The woman is not careful enough in planning her spending.

3. A) Clean the kitchen.

B) Ask someone to fix the sink.

C) Find a bigger apartment for the lady.

D) Check the work done by the maintenance man.

4. A) The lens.

C) The flash.

B) The price.

D) The leather case.

5. A) She needs another haircut soon.

B) She thinks it worthwhile to try Santerbale

’

s

C) She knows a less expensive place for a haircut.

D) She would like to make an appointment for the man.

6. A) The woman doesn't want Io cook a meal.

B) The woman wants to have a picnic.

C) The woman has a poor memory.

D) The woman likes Mexican food.

7. A) Everyone enjoyed himself at John's panics.

B) The woman didn't enjoy John's parties at all.

C) It will be the first time for the man to attend John's party.

D) The woman is glad to be invited to John

’

s house-warming party.

8. A) She lacks confidence in herself.

B) She is not interested in computer programming.

C) She has never signed up for any competition before.

D) She is sure to win the programming contest.

9. A) The man has an enormous amount of work to do.

B) The man has made plans for his vacation.

C) The man

’

ll take work with him on his vacation.

D) Work stacked up during the man

’

s last vacation.

10. A) She likes the job of feeding fish.

B) She finds her new job interesting.

C) She feels unfit for her new job.

D) She's not in good health.

Section B

Directions:

In

this

section,

you

will

hear

3

short

passages.

At

the

end

of

each

passage,

you will hear some questions. Both the passage and the questions will be spoken only

once. After you hear a question, you must choose the best answer from the four choices

marked A), B), C) and D). Then mark the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet with

a single line through the centre.

Passage One

Questions 11 to 13 are based on the passage you have just heard.

11. A) Rally support for their movement.

B) Liberate women from tedious housework.

C) Claim their rights to equal job opportunities.

D) Express their anger against sex discrimination.

12. A) It will bring a lot of trouble to the local people.

B) It is a popular form of art.

C) It will spoil the natural beauty of their surroundings.

D) It is popular among rock stars.

13. A) To show that mindless graffiti can provoke violence.

B) To show that Londoners have a special liking for graffiti.

C) To show that graffiti, in some cases, can constitute a crime.

D) To show that graffiti can make the environment more colorful.

Passage Two

Questions 14 to 16 are bawd on the passage you have just heard.

14. A) The Asian elephant is easier to tame.

B) The Asian elephant's skin is more valuable.

C) The Asian elephant is less popular with tourists.

D) The Asian elephant produces ivory of a better quality.

15. A) From the captured or tamed elephants.

B) From the British wildlife protection group.

C) From elephant hunters in Thailand and Burma.

D) From tourists visiting the Thai-Burmese border.

16. A) Their taming for circuses and zoos.

B) The destruction of their natural homes.

C) Man's lack of knowledge about their behavior.

D) The greater vulnerability to extinction than other species.

Passage Three

Questions 17 to 20 are based on the passage you have just heard.

17. A) They had lost their jobs as a result of the Industrial Revolution.

B) They had been suffering from political and religious oppression.

C) They wanted to flee from the widespread famine in Northern Europe.

D) They wanted to make a fortune there by starting their own businesses.

18.

A)

They

might

lose

control

of

their

members

because

of

the

increase

in

immigration.

B) Their members might find it difficult to get along with the newcomers.

C) The working condition of their members might deteriorate.

D) Their members might lose their jobs to the newcomers.

19. A) To impose restrictions on further immigration.

B) To improve the working conditions of immigrants.

C) To set a minimum wage level for new immigrants.

D) To put requirements on languages for newcomers.

20. A) They were looked down upon by European immigrants.

B) They had a hard time seeking equal job opportunities.

C) They worked very hard to earn a decent living.

D) They strongly opposed continued immigration.

Part Ⅱ

Reading Comprehension

(35 minutes)

Directions:

There

are

4

passages

in

this

part,

Each

passage

is

followed

by

some

questions

at

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

on

the

Answer

Sheet with a single line through the centre.

Passage One

Questions 21 to 25 are based on the following passage.

In 1985 when a Japan Air Lines (JAL) jet crashed, its president, Yasumoto Takagi,

called

each

victim’s

family

to

apologize,

and

then

promptly

resigned.

And

in

1987,

when

a subsidiary of Toshiba sole sensitive military

technology

to

the former

Soviet Union,

the chairman of Toshiba gave up his post.

These executive actions, which Toshiba calls

“

the highest form of apology,

”

may

seem bizarre to US managers. No one at Boeing resigned after the JAL crash, which may

have been caused by a faulty Boeing repair.

The difference between the two business cultures centers around different

definitions of delegation. While US executives give both responsibility and authority

to

their

employees,

Japanese

executives

delegate

only

authority

—

the

responsibility

is

still

theirs.

Although

the

subsidiary

that

sold

the

sensitive

technology

to

the

Soviets

had its own management, the Toshiba top executives said they “must take personal

responsibility for not creating an atmosphere throughout the Toshiba group that would

make such activity unthinkable, even in an independently run subsidiary.”

Such acceptance of community responsibility is not unique to businesses in Japan.

School

principals

in

Japan

have

resigned

when

their

students

committed

major

crimes

after

school hours. Even if they do not quit, Japanese executives will often accept primary

responsibility

in

other

ways,

such

as

taking

the

first

pay

cut

when

a

company

gets

into

financial trouble. Such personal sacrifices, even if they are largely symbolic, help

to create the sense of community and employee loyalty that is crucial to the Japanese

way of doing business.

Harvard Business School professor George Lodge calls the ritual acceptance of

blame

“

almost

a

feudal

(

封建的

)

way

of

purging

(

清除)

the

community

of

dishonor,”

and

to some in the United States, such resignations look cowardly. However, in an era in

which both business and governmental leaders seem particularly good at evading

responsibility, many US managers would probably welcome an infusion (

灌输

) of the

Japanese sense of responsibility, If, for instance, US automobile company executives

offered to reduce their own salaries before they asked their workers to take pay cuts,

negotiations would probably take on a very different character.

21. Why did the chairman of Toshiba resign his position in 1987?

A) In Japan, the leakage of a slate secret to Russians is a grave came.

B) He had been under attack for shifting responsibility to his subordinates.

C) In Japan, the chief executive of a corporation is held responsible for the mistake

made by its subsidiaries.

D) He had been accused of being cowardly towards crises that were taking place in his

corporation.

22.

According

to

the

passage

if

you

want

to

be

a

good

manager

in

Japan,

you

have

to

________.

A) apologize promptly for your subordinates' mistakes

B) be skillful in accepting blames from customers

C) make symbolic sacrifices whenever necessary

D) create a strong sense of company loyalty

23. What’s Professor George Lodge’s attitude towards the resignations of Japanese

corporate leaders?

A) Sympathetic

C) Critical

B) Biased.

D) Approving.

24. Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A) Boeing had nothing to do with the JAL air crash in 1985.

B) American executives consider authority and responsibility inseparable.

C) School principals bear legal responsibility for students' crimes.

D) Persuading employees to take pay cuts doesn’t help solve corporate crises.

25. The passage is mainly about ________.

A) resignation as an effective way of dealing with business crises

B) the importance of delegating responsibility to employees

C) ways of evading responsibility in times of crises

D) the difference between two business cultures

Passage Two

Questions 26 to 30 are based on the following passage.

As

machines

go,

the

car

is

not

terribly

noisy,

nor

terribly

polluting,

nor

terribly

dangerous; and on all those dimensions it has become better as the century has grown

older.

The

main

problem

is

its

prevalence,

and

the

social

costs

that

ensue

from

the

use

by everyone of something that would be fairly harmless if, say, only the rich were to

use it. It is a price we pay for equality.

Before becoming too gloomy, it is worth recalling why the car has been arguably the

most

successful

and

popular

product

of

the

whole

of

the

past

100

years

—

and

remains

so.

The

story

begins

with

the

environmental

improvement

it

brought

in

the

1900s.

In

New

York

city

in

1900,

according

to

the

Car

Culture.

A

1975

book

by

J.

Flink,

a

historian,

horses

deposited 2.5 millioo pounds of manure(

粪

)and 60,000 gallons of urine (

尿

) every day.

Every year, the city authorities had to remove an average of 15,000 dead horses from

the streets, It made cars smell of roses.

Cars were also wonderfully flexible. The main earlier solution to horse pollution

and traffic jams was the electric trolley bus (

电车

). But that required fixed overhead

wires,

and

rails

and

platforms,

which

were

expensive,

ugly,

and

inflexible,

The

car

could

go

from any A to any B, and allowed towns to

develop in

all directions with

low-density

housing,

rather

than

just

being

concentrated

along

the

trolley

or

rail

lines.

Rural

areas

benefited too, for they became less remote.

However, since pollution became a concern in the 1950s, experts have predicted

—

wrongly

—

tha t

the

car

boom

was

about

to

end.

In

his

book

Mr.

Flink

argued

that

by

1973

the American market had become saturated, at one car for every 2.25 people, and so had

the markets of Japan and Western Europe (because of land shortages). Environmental

worries and diminishing oil reserves would prohibit mass car use anywhere else.

He

was

wrong,

Between

1970

and

1990,

whereas

America

’

s

population

grew

by

23%,

the

aumber

of

cars

on

its

roads

grew

by

60%,

There

is

now

one

car

for

every

1.7

people

there,

one for every 2.1 in Japan, one for every 5.3 in Britain. Around 550 million cars are

already

on

the

roads,

not

to

mention

all

the

trucks

and

mocorcyeles,

and

about

50

million

new ones are made each year worldwide. Will it go on? Undoubtedly, because people want

it to.

26. As is given in the first paragraph, the reason why the car has become a problem is

that ________.

A) poor people can’t afford it

B) it is too expensive to maintain

C) too many people are using it

D) it causes too many road accidents

27. According to the passage, the car started to gain popularity because ________.

A) it didn’t break down as easily as a horse

B) it had a comparatively pleasant odor

C) it caused less pollution than horses

D) it brightened up the gloomy streets

28. What impact did the use of cars have on society?

A) People were compelled to leave downtown areas.

B) People were able to live in less crowded suburban areas.

C) Business along trolley and rail lines slackened.

D) City streets were free of ugly overhead wires.

29. argued in his book that cars would not be widely used in other countries

because ________.

A) the once booming car market has become saturated

B) traffic jams in those countries are getting more and more serious

C) expensive motorways are not available in less developed countries

D) people worry about pollution and the diminishing oil resources

30. What’s wrong with ’s prediction?

A) The use of automobiles has kept increasing worldwide.

B) New generations of cars are virtually pollution free.

C) The population of America has not increased as fast.

D) People’s environmental concerns are constantly increasing.

Passage Three

Questions 31 to 35 are based on the following passage.

Crying

is

hardly

an

activity

encouraged

by

society.

Tears,

be

they

of

sorrow,

anger,

on

joy,

typically

make

Americans

feel

uncomforuble

and

embarrassed.

The

shedder

of

tears

is

likely

to

apologize,

even

when

a

devastating

(

毁灭性的

)

tragedy

was

the

provocation.

The

observer

of

tears

is

likely

to

do

everything

possible

to

put

an

end

to

the

emotional

outpouring. But judging form recent studies of crying behavior, links between illness

and

crying

and

the

chemical

composition

of

tears,

both

those

responses

to

tears

are

often

inappropriate and may even be counterproductive.

Humans are the only animals definitely known to shed emotiomal tears. Since

evolution has given rise to few, if any, purposeless physiological responset, it is

logical to assume that crying has one or more functions that enhance survival.

Although some observers have suggested that crying is a way to clicit assistance form

others

(as

a

crying

baby

might

from

its

mother),

the

shedding

of

tears

is

hardly

necessary

to get help. Vocal cries would have been quite enough, more likely than tears to gain

attention, So, it appears, there must be something special about tears themselves.

Indeed, the new studies suggest that emotional tears may play a direct role in

alleviating stress, University of Minnesota researchers who are studying the chemical

composition

of

tears

have

recently

isolated

two

important

chemicals

from

emotional

tears.