03.最新6级预测卷第三套
2016-04-27
大学英语六级级考试预测卷（三）
PART II
Listening Comprehension
Section A
Directions:
in this section,
you will hear two long conversations.
At the end of each conversation,
you will hear four questions.
Both the conversation 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 Answer Sheet
1 with a single line through the centre.
Now you will haer the two long conversations
Conversation One
M:Hello, is that Greenland Properties?
W:Yes, that`s right. How can I help you?
M:Oh, I`m ringing just to make enquiries about renting a house.
My name`s Jack Black.
W:Yes, Mr. Black. What sort of thing were you looking for?
M:Three bedroomed house with garden.
W:Well…yes, sir, that shouldn`t be any problem.
Which would you prefer, the city centre or the south suburbs?
M:Oh well…we were most interested in the southern areas actually.
W:Right…yes…What sort of price were you think of?
Usually it ranges from $250 per month…
M:Only $250?
W:Yes, to about $500 depending on a number of different factors.
M:What does it depend on?
W:Well, obviously the quality of the area.
And then whether there`s a garden. And a garage pushes up the price.
M:As I said, we`d want a garden.
But we wouldn`t necessarily need a garage.
I think about $350 a month would be our limit.
W:OK. Looking at our files…
I think we`ve got two which might suit you…
There`s one on West Park Road which is $325 a month including the water bill.
And the second house is on Lincoln Road which is
$380 including the telephone rental.
So, when would you be available to see them?
M:Well, I`ll be in town next week…say…Thursday?
W:No, I`m sorry we don`t have any availability for Thursday.
How about Friday morning?
M:OK. That`s fine. Would 10 o`clock be OK?
W:Yes, fine. 10 o`clock it is.
Just comes to the Greenland offices.
M:No problem. Thanks very much. Bye.
W:Good bye.
Questions 1 to 4 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
1.Where does the man want to rent the house?
2.Which factor is NOT mentioned which can influence the house rent?
3.What did the woman say about the rent for the two houses?
4.What time will the man go to see houses?
Conversation Two
M:Hi, Mary. What`s up?
W:Oh, hi, I just got out a Chinese literary class.
I had to give a presentation.
M:How did it go?
W:Terribly. I`m sure I made a fool of myself.
M:Why? Weren`t you prepared?
W:No, it was not that.
I just get so embarrassed and nervous whenever
I have to speak in front of a group of people.
I stand up and my face gets red and then I get even more nervous
because I know everyone can see me blushing.
M:It`s not so bad to blush.
W:But it happens all the time.
If the professor asks a question and I know the answer,
I blush like crazy. Doesn`t that ever happen to you?
M:No, not really. Maybe you should just try to forget about the people.
Look at something else in the room.
W:I guess I could try that but I doubt it`ll help.
M:You know we talked about it in psychology class.
Blushing, even though it`s involuntary,
is more or less a learned behavior.
W:What do you mean?
M:Children hardly ever blush at all.
And among adults, supposedly, women blush more than men.
W:I wonder why?
M:I don`t know, but I have a friend at high schools, John White.
It was really easy to make him blush.
He turned red whenever a waitress would ask him for his order.
W:I`m not that bad. Well,
I`ve got to get going for my next class.
I`ll talk to you later.
Questions 5 to 8 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
5.How does the woman feel after the presentation?
6.Why the woman gets even more nervous?
7.What suggestion does the man give to the woman?
8.What does the man learn in his psychology class?
Section B
Directions:
In this section,
you will hear two 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 Answer Sheet
1 with a single line through the centre.
Passage One
Lula, 64, was a genuine son of Latin America`s working class—in fact,
a founding member of the Workers` Party—who`d
once been jailed for leading a strike.
By the time Lula finally won the presidency,
after three failed attempts,
he was a familiar figure in Brazilian national life.
But what led him to politics in the first place?
Was it his personal knowledge of how hard many Brazilians
must work just to get by?
Being forced to leave school after fifth grade to support his family?
Working as a shoeshine boy?
Losing part of a finger in a factory accident?
No, it was when, at age 25,
he watched his wife Maria die during the eighth month of her pregnancy,
along with their child, because they couldn`t afford decent medical care.
There`s a lesson here for the world`s billionaires:
let people have good health care,
and they`ll cause much less trouble for you.
And here`s a lesson for the rest of us:
the great irony of Lula`s presidency is that even
as he tries to propel Brazil into
the First World with government social programs,
and with plans to improve the education
available to members of Brazil`s working class,
the U.S. looks more like the old Third World every day.
What Lula wants for Brazil is what we used to call the American Dream.
We in the U.S., by contrast, where the richest 1% now own
more financial wealth than the bottom 95% combined,
are living in a society that is fast becoming more like Brazil.
Questions 9 to 11 are based on the passage you have just heard.
9.Which description of Lula is not true?
10.What lead Lula to step into the political world at the very beginning?
11.Why does the author say that U.S. is becoming more like Brazil?
Passage Two
In late 2004 and early 2005, disastrous earthquakes shook Sumatra,
an island in western Indonesia.
The two earthquakes are both among the biggest on record,
yet the first quake produced the deadliest tsunami in modern history,
while the second quake`s tsunami was far less dramatic.
A new study reveals why.
On Dec. 26, 2004 a 9.1 magnitude undersea earthquake
broke out near Sumatra and stretched 750 miles to the north.
The resulting tsunami waves are up to 100 feet high.
More than 230,000 people died and millions were left homeless.
Three months later in 2005,
an 8.7 magnitude earthquake hit immediately to the south
and triggered a smaller tsunami that killed 1,300 people.
Scientists were unsure why the quakes produced tsunamis that were so different
since they were happened on adjacent segments of the Earth`s crust.
The new study, detailed in the July 9 issue of the journal Science,
has revealed that the part of the Earth`s crust that cracked in 2004 was
able to move much more of the seafloor than the quake that followed it.
Because tsunami waves are generated by the motion of the seafloor
—acting much like a giant underwater paddle
—a quake that moves more seafloor creates a larger tsunami.
“Both earthquakes occurred 19 to 25 miles below the seabed,”
said geologist Simon Dean of the University of Southampton in England.
“Our results will help us understand why different parts of the
Earth`s crust behave differently during earthquake slip
which then influences tsunami generation.”
Questions 12 to 15 are based on the passage you have just heard.
12.What`s the difference between the two earthquakes happened in western Indonesia?
13.What are scientists unsure about at first?
14.Why does it say that tsunamis generated by earthquakes?
15.What does Simon say about the similarities of the two earthquakes?
Section C
Directions:
In this section,
you will hear recordings of lectures or talks followed by some questions.
The recordings will be played 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 Answer Sheet 1 with a single line through the centre.
Passage One
Now listen to the following recording and answer questions 16 to 19.
The representatives from 18 African states
and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) say Africa
could have more e waste than Europe by 2017.
That`s not only because of an increase in discarded lap tops,
mobile phones and other products from Europe,
but to increased demand in Africa for new electronic devices.
Ali D. Mohamed, Kenya`s Permanent Secretary in the Ministry
of Environment and Mineral Resources,
says the problem of e waste is a real threat.
Electronic waste such as old televisions,
computers, radios and cell phones is a growing environmental problem.
Africa`s environmental challenges are growing by the day,“ he said, ”
This includes the exponential growth of electronic waste.
The numbers of people in our countries are exploding.
In Kenya, we now have 40 plus million people, many of whom are urbanizing very rapidly...
That means the consumption and production patterns of our
society will change very much and we will be using many of the
gadgets that will eventually end up as hazardous waste,
including the ewaste.“ Kenya generates 3,000 tons of electronic
waste per year a figure that is set to rise as demand for electronic goods increases.
Mohamed says priority actions for reducing the environmental
and health impacts of the growing levels of e waste are being pursued,
alongside promoting the sector`s potential for green jobs and economic development. ”
We are trying to cope up with the challenges,“ said Mohamed. ”
What we have done is to try to address this issue through
new legislative guidelines and policies.”
The recycling of ewaste in most of Africa today
occurs at informal dumpsites or landfills.
Hazardous substances can be released during these dismantling and disposal operations.
Open burning of cables, for example,
is a major source of dioxin emissions;
a persistent organic pollutant that travels over long distances and can end up in food chain.
However, there have been some innovative projects in Kenya that aims at reversing the trend,
such as the Computer for Schools, which refurbishes
second`hand computers and sends them back to schools with an extended life.
“ I was so impressed when I went to their facility in Mombasa to see seven tons
of iron that had been recycled from e waste
that is sent back to the industries,” said Mohamed.
Speaking at the forum, Achim Steiner, UNEP Executive Director,
said sustainable management of e waste can combat poverty
and generate green jobs through recycling and safeguard the environment
and human health from the hazards posed by rising levels of discarded electronics.
“If you take a ton of cell phones today and remove the batteries and recycle the handsets,”
explained Steiner, “you will be able to recover 3.5 kilos of silver,
340 grams of gold, 130 kilograms of copper.
These numbers may even be overtaken because other substances are being taken.
What it shows you is that if you take that mountain of e waste,
which is growing exponentially globally and also on the African continent,
you begin to create a different framework for managing the e waste
and instead of having the problem of dumping and posing health risks,
you turn this into job opportunities.”
With just a months to go before the kick off of the Rio+20 conference in Brazil,
the event has underlined how smart public policies, creative financial incentives
and technology transfer can turn e waste from a challenge
into an important resource for sustainable development.
Katharina Kummer Peiry, Executive Secretary of the Basel Convention
told the delegates that priority existing laws need to be
enforced to improve the environmentally sound management of e waste in Africa.
These would include implementation and enforcement
by African states of the Basel Convention on the Control
of Trans boundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal and the Bamako Convention.
It bans the import of hazardous wastes into Africa,
the development of national systems to improve the collection,
recycling, transport, storage and disposal of e waste.
16.What is another reason for increasing amount of E waste
in Africa along with the import of e waste from Europe?
17.How is done to deal with e waste in most African countries?
18.What does Achim Steiner, UNEP Executive Director, indicate at forum?
19.What do Basel Convention and other conventions focus on in dealing with e waste?
Passage Two
Now listen to the following recording and answer questions 20 to 22.
A humanitarian group says if women farmers had the
same rights as men much more could be done to reduce world hunger.
Bread for the World says equal access to agricultural
resources would help ensure food security and boost economic growth.
Bread for the World`s new report Empowering Women in Agriculture
says women are “active players”
in achieving the Millennium Development Goals.
But Faustine Wabwire says they receive little compensation for toiling in the fields.
Wabwire, a Kenyan, is the group`s foreign assistance analyst.
“Women constituted half of the agricultural labor force in not just Africa,
but the developing countries as a whole.
And when you think of Africa alone it`s more
than 60 percent of the total agricultural labor force being provided by women,” she said.
Few women landowners
The reports says, “In most countries, women in rural areas
who earn an income are more likely than men to hold seasonal,
part time, and low wage jobs. Women also receive less pay for the same work.”
Wabwire said women farmers lack access to seeds,
fertilizer, proper tools, credit and especially land.
“For most of Africa, we have about 80 percent of the population
living in rural areas and they subsist on agriculture.
Now women make 60 percent of the agricultural labor force
and they have no access to resources.
So for example, land is one good example where less
than 20 percent of all landholders are women,” she said.
That`s often been the case for both legal and cultural reasons.
“Women, who have lost their husbands, because they have no control,
and no legal rights over the land, the only way they could sustain
that land is (if) they got married to say a brother of the deceased husband.
So constraints like this are still very prevalent in most African societies
and they continue to impede women` ability to fully enjoy their human rights,” she said.
Feeding the future
However, she said the role of women in agriculture has become more visible.
For example, the new Kenya constitution grants women the right to own land.
But she said there`s still a long way to go.
That`s why Bread for the World is lobbying the U.S. to maintain or increase
funding for poverty related development assistance.
“This assistance through programs such as Feed the Future,
which is the U.S. government`s agriculture program,
is helping to elevate the status of women.
It`s enabling women to access productive resources such as seeds.
They are able to have access to extension services,
which will enable them to produce more and contribute to healthy societies,” she said.
But Wabwire said more African governments must recognize the
major role that women play in agriculture and elsewhere.
The Bread for the World report said,
“Putting more income in the hands of women translates into improved child nutrition,
health, and education.” It adds if women change their economic status,
they will “transform the economic life of the communities and countries in which they live.”
It estimates that if women had equal access to agricultural resources,
hunger could be reduced for an extra 100 million to 150 million people.
20.What is it like if women farmers had the same rights as men in agriculture resources?
21.What can be inferred from the passage?
22.What is the common case in most African countries if women lost their husbands?
Passage Three
Now listen to the following recording and answer questions 23 to 25.
Many people believe that teaching children music makes them smarter,
better able to learn new things.
But the organizers of a new study say there`s no scientific evidence
that early musical training affects the intelligence of young people.
An estimated 80 percent of American adults think music
lessons improve children`s ability to learn or their performance in school.
They say that the satisfaction for learning to play
a new song helps a child express creativity.
Researchers at Harvard University, however,
have found that there`s one thing musical training does not do.
They say it does not make children more intelligent.
Samuel Mehr is a graduate student at Harvard`s School of Education.
He said it is wrong to think that learning to play a musical instrument
improves a child`s intellectual development.
He says the evidence comes from studies that measured the mental
ability of two groups of 4 year olds and their parents.
One group attended music class;
the other went to a class that places importance on the visual arts—arts that can be seen.
“The evidence there is ‘no’. We found no evidence for any advantage
on any of these tests for the kids participating in these music classes.”
Samuel Mehr says researchers have carried out many studies in an effort to learn
whether musical training can make children smarter. He says the results have been mixed.
He says only one study seems to show a small percentage increase in IQ,
intellectual scores among students after one year of music lessons.
He does not believe that IQ is a good measure of a child`s intelligence.
He says researchers in his study compared how well
children in the musical training group did on mental processing tasks or projects
Then the results were compared to those of children who did not take lessons.
There was no evidence that the musical training group did
much better on the mental tasks than the other group.
The researchers confirmed the results with a larger group of children and their parents.
Mr. Mehr says music lessons may not offer children a fast
easy way to gain entry to the best schools later of their life.
But he says the training is still important for cultural reasons. In his words,
“We teach music because music is important for us.”
He notes that the works of writer William Shakespeare are not taught,
so the children will do better in physics.
He says Shakespeare is taught because it is important.
“And I don`t think music needs to be any different than that.”
A report on the benefits of musical training in children was published in the journal PLOS ONE.
And that`s the Education Report from VOA Learning English.
For more news about education, go to our website tingvoa.com.
I`m Jerilyn Watson.
23.What can you infer from this passage?
24. What is Samuel Mehr?
25.What have researchers found from the studies about music?