2023年7月六级真题.docx

2023年7月大学英语六级考试真题

Part I Writing (30 minutes)
Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a letter to a foreign friend who wantsto learn Chinese. Please recommend a city to him. You should write at least 120 words but no morethan 180 words.

PartⅡ Listening Comprehension (25 minutes)
Section A
Directions: In this section, you will hear three news reports. At the end of each news report, you willhear two or three questions. Both the news report and then questions will be spoken only once. Afteryou hear a question, you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A） , B), C) andD).Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1 with a single line through the centre.
Questions l and 2 are based on the news report you have just heard.
1. A) Many facilities were destroyed by a wandering cow.
B) A wandering cow knocked down one of its fences.
C) Some tourists were injured by a wandering cow.
D) A wandering cow was captured by the police.
2. A) It was shot to death by a police officer.
B) It found its way back to the park’s zoo.
C) It became a great attraction for tourists.
D) It was sent to the animal control department.
Questions 3 and 4 are based on the news report you have just heard.
3. A) It is the largest of its kind. B) It is going to be expanded.
C) It is displaying more fossil specimens. D) It is starting an online exhibition.
4. A) A collection of bird fossils from Australia.
B) Photographs of certain rare fossil exhibits.
C) Some ancient wall paintings from Australia.
D) Pictures by winners of a wildlife photo contest.
Questions 5 to 7 are based on the news report you have just heard.
5. A) Pick up trash. B) Amuse visitors.
C) Deliver messages. D) Play with children.
6. A) They are especially intelligent. B) They are children’s favorite.
C) They are quite easy to tame. D) They are clean and pretty.
7. A) Children may be harmed by the rooks. B) Children may be tempted to drop litter.
C) Children may contract bird diseases. D) Children may overfeed the rooks.

Section B
Directions: In this section, you will hear two long conversations. At the end of each conversation, youwill hear four questions. Both the conversation and the questions will be spoken only once. After youhear 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.
Questions 8 to 11 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
8. A) It will be produced at Harvard University.
B) It will be hosted by famous professors.
C) It will cover different areas of science.
D) It will focus on recent scientific discoveries.
9. A) It will be more futuristic. B) It will be more systematic.
C) It will be more entertaining. D) It will be easier to understand.
10. A) People interested in science. B) Youngsters eager to explore.
C) Children in their early teens. D) Students majoring in science. 3
11. A) Offer professional advice.
B) Provide financial support.
C) Help promote it on the Internet.
D) Make episodes for its first season.
Questions 12 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
12. A) Unsure. B) Helpless. C) Concerned. D) Dissatisfied.
13. A) He is too concerned with being perfect. B) He loses heart when faced with setbacks.
C) He is too ambitious in achieving goals. D) He takes on projects beyond his ability.
14. A) Embarrassed. B) Unconcerned. C) Miserable. D) Resentful.
15. A) Try to be optimistic whatever happens. B) Compare his present with his past only.
C) Always learn from others’ achievements. D) Treat others the way he would be treated.

Section C
Directions: In this section, you will hear three passages. At the end of each passage, you will hearthree or four questions. Both the passage and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear aquestion, you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A), B), C) and D). Then markthe corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1 with a single line through the centre.
Questions 16 to 18 are based on the passage you have just heard.
16. A) They have a stronger sense of social responsibility.
B) They are more likely to succeed in the humanities.
C) They are more likely to become engineers.
D) They have greater potential to be leaders.
17. A) Praise girls who like to speak up frequently.
B) Encourage girls to solve problems on their own.
C) Insist that boys and girls work together more.
D) Respond more positively to boys’ comments. 418. A) Offer personalized teaching materials.
B) Provide a variety of optional courses.
C) Place great emphasis on test scores.
D) Pay extra attention to top students.
Questions 19 to 21 are based on the passage you have just heard.
19. A) It often rains cats and dogs. B) It seldom rains in summer time.
C) It does not rain as much as people think. D) It is one of the most rainy cities in the US.
20. A) They drive most of the time. B) The rain is usually very light.
C) They have got used to the rain. D) The rain comes mostly at night.
21. A) It has a lot of places for entertainment.
B) It has never seen thunder and lighting.
C) It has fewer cloudy days than any other coastal city.
D) It has mild weather both in summer and in winter.
Questions 22 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard.
22. A) It occurs when people are doing a repetitive activity.
B) It results from exerting one’s muscles continuously.
C) It happens when people engage in an uncommon activity.
D) It comes from staining one’s muscles in an unusual way.
23. A) Blood flow and body heat increase in the affected area.
B) Body movements in the affected area become difficult.
C) They begin to make repairs immediately.
D) They gradually become fragmented.
24. A) About one week. B) About two days.
C) About ten days. D) About four weeks. 525. A) Apply muscle creams. B) Drink plenty of water.
C) Have a hot shower. D) Take pain-killers.

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 foreach blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage. Read the passagethrough carefully before making your choices. Each choice in the bank is identified by a letter. Pleasemark 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 26 to 35 are based on the following passage.
When travelling overseas, do you buy water in plastic bottles or take your chances with tap water?Imagine you are wandering about on a Thai island or 26 the ruins of Angkor. It’s hot so you graba bottle of water from a local vendor. It’s the safe thing to do, right? The bottle is 27 , and thelabel says “pure water”, but maybe what’s inside is not so 28 . Would you still be drinking it if you knew that more than 90 percent of all bottled water sold around the world 29microplastics?That’s the conclusion of a recently 30 study, which analyzed 259 bottles from 11 brands soldin nine countries, 31 an average of 325 plastic particles per liter of water. These microplasticsincluded a 32 commonly known as PET and are widely used in the manufacture of clothing andfood and 33 containers. The study was conducted at the State University of New York on behalfof Orb Media, a journalism organization. About a million bottles are bought every minute, not only bythirsty tourists but also by many of the 2.1 billion worldwide who live with unsafe drinking water.
Confronted with this 34 , several bottled-water manufacturers including Nestle and CocoCola undertook their own studies using the same methodology. These studies showed that their waterdid contain microplastics, but far less than the Orb study suggested. Regardless, the World HealthOrganization has now launched a review into the 35 health risks of drinking water from plasticbottles.

A) adequate F) instant K) releasedB) admiring G) liquid L) revealingC) contains H) modified M) sealedD) defending I) natural N) solvesE) evidence J) potential O) substance

Section B
Directions: In this section, you are going to read a passage with ten statements attached to eachstatement contains information given in one of the paragraphs. Identify the paragraph from which the 6information is derived. You may choose a paragraph more than once. Each paragraph is marked witha letter. Answer the questions by marking the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2.
The Quiet Heroism of Mail Delivery
A) On Wednesday, a polar wind brought bitter cold to the Midwest. Overnight, Chicago reached a lowof 21 degrees Fahrenheit below zero, making it slightly colder than Antarctica(南极洲), Alaska,and the North Pole. Wind chills were 64 degrees below zero in Park Rapids, Minnesota, and 45degrees below zero in Buffalo, North Dakota, according to the National Weather Service. Schools,restaurants, and businesses closed, and more than 1,000 flights have been canceled.
B) Even the United States Postal Service (USPS) suspended mail delivery. “Due to this arctic outbreakand concerns for the safety of USPS employees,” USPS announced Wednesday morning, “thePostal Service is suspending delivery Jan. 30 in the following 3-digit ZIP Code locations.” Twelveregions were listed as unsafe on Wednesday; on Thursday, eight remained.
C) As global surface temperatures increase, so does the likelihood of extreme weather. In 2023 alone,wildfires, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, mudslides, and other natural disasters cost at least $49billion in the United States. As my colleague Vann Newkirk reported, Puerto Rico is stillconfronting economic and structural destruction and resource scarcity from 2023’s HurricaneMaria. Natural disasters can wreck a community’s infrastructure, disrupting systems for months oryears. Some services, however, remind us that life will eventually return, in some form, to normal.
D) Days after the deadly 2023 wildfires in Santa Rosa, California, a drone(无人机) caught footage(持续镜头) of a USPS worker, Trevor Smith, driving through burned homes in that familiar whitevan, collecting mail in an affected area. The video is striking: The operation is familiar, but thescene looks like the end of the world. According to Rae Ann Haight, the program manager for thenational-preparedness office at USPS, Smith was fulfilling a request made by some of the homeowners to pick up any mail that was left untouched. For Smith, this was just another day on the job.
“I followed my route like I normally do,” Smith told a reporter. “As I came across a box that wasup but with no house, I checked, and there was mail—outgoing mail—in it. And so I picked thoseup and carried on.”E) USPS has sophisticated emergency plans for natural disasters. Across the country, 285 emergencymanagement teams are devoted to crisis control. These teams are trained annually using aframework known as the three Ps: people, property, product. After mail service stops due toweather, the agency’s top priority is ensuring that employees are safe. Then it evaluates the healthof infrastructure, such as the roads that mail carriers drive on. Finally, it decides when and how tore-open operations. If the destruction is extreme, mail addressed to the area will get sent elsewhere.
In response to Hurricane Katrina in 2023, USPS redirected incoming New Orleans mail to existingmail facilities in Houston. Mail that was already processed in New Orleans facilities was moved toan upper floor so it would be protected from water damage.
F) As soon as it’s safe enough to be outside, couriers(邮递员) start distributing accumulated mailon the still-accessible routes. USPS urges those without standing addresses to file change-of-address 7forms with their new location. After Hurricane Katrina hit in 2023, mail facilities were set up indozens of other locations across the country in the two weeks that USPS was unable to provide streetdelivery.
G) Every day, USPS processes, on average, 493.4 million pieces of mail—anything from postcards toSocial Security checks to medicine. Spokespeople from both USPS and UPS told me all mail isimportant. But some mail can be extremely sensitive and timely. According to data released inJanuary 2023, 56 percent of bills are paid online, which means that just under half of payments stillrely on delivery services to be completed.
H) It can be hard to identify which parcels are carrying crucial items such as Social Security checks,but USPS and UPS try their best to prioritize sensitive material. They will coordinate with theSocial Security Administration to make sure that Social Security checks reach the right people in atimely fashion. After Hurricane Florence and Hurricane Michael last fall, USPS worked with stateand local election boards to make sure that absentee ballots were available and received on time.
I) Mail companies are logistics(物流) companies, which puts them in a special position to help whendisaster strikes. In a 2023 USPS case study, the agency emphasized its massive infrastructure as a“unique federal asset” to be called upon in a disaster or terrorist attack. “I think we’re unique as afederal agency,” USPS official Mike Swigart told me, “because we’re in literally every communityin this country … We’re obligated to deliver to that point on a daily basis.”J) Private courier companies, which have more dollars to spend, use their expertise in logistics to helprevitalize damaged areas after a disaster. For more than a decade, FedEx has supported the AmericanRed Cross in its effort to get emergency supplies to areas affected by disasters, both domesticallyand internationally. In 2023, the company distributed more than 1,200 MedPacks to Medical ReserveCorps groups in California. They also donated space for 3.1 million pounds of charitable shippingglobally. Last October, the company pledged $1 million in cash and transportation support forHurricanes Florence and Michael. UPS’s charitable arm, the UPS Foundation, uses the company’slogistics to help disaster-struck areas rebuild. “We realize that as a company with people, trucks,warehouses, we needed to play a larger role,” said Eduardo Martinez, the president of the UPSFoundation. The company employs its trucks and planes to deliver food, medicine, and water. Theday before I spoke to Martinez in November, he had been touring the damage from Hurricane Michael in Florida with the American Red Cross. “We have an obligation to make sure our communities are thriving,” he said.
K) Rebuilding can take a long time, and even then, impressions of the disaster may still remain.
Returning to a sense of normalcy can be difficult, but some small routines—mail delivery being one of them—may help residents remember that their communities are still their communities.
“When they see that carrier back out on the street,” Swig