大学英语六级第一次模考试题阅读.doc

大学英语六级第一次模考试题阅读

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Passage One
Questions 52 to 56 are based on the following passage.
The 35 percent of African-American youth living in poverty are the most visible victims of what is often called the achievement gap. But black children of all socioeconomic levels perform worse on national tests and graduate in fewer numbers than their white middle-class peers.52
A study by the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics found that African-American students scored, on average, 26 points lower than white students on their reading and math tests.
Some say, as Harvard psychologist Richard J. Herrnstein and American Enterprise Institute political scientist Charles Murray did in their 1994 book, The Bell Curve, that the cause is genetic. 53
And though The Bell Curve has been discredited in scientific circles, the idea that IQ is somehow linked to race53
has been slow to retreat.
Others, like Cornell University researchers Gary Evans and Michelle Schamberg, believe that “physiological stress is a plausible model for how poverty could get into the brain and eventually interfere with achievement,54，stress – brain – achievement == indirectly
” as they wrote in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Our best efforts at narrowing the gap nationally — think No Child Left Behind — haven’t worked.
But locally, there are now signs of hope. At the Harlem Children’s Zone’s Promise Academy charter schools, at least 97 percent of third graders scored at or above grade level on a statewide math test in , outperforming the average scores of both black and white children in New York City and New York State.
What the HCZ does is first recognize that the amelioration (改进) of poverty does not begin and end with an excellent education, but also requires a full belly, parental education, safety, advocacy, and the expectation that every student will succeed.55,
“We help parents and kids through the system,” HCZ founder Geoffrey Canada says. “We get them past every hindrance put in their way, whether it be at home or with social services. We can advocate on a child’s behalf, whether it be at home or in the classroom or with the juvenile justice system.”
Indeed, the HCZ starts early: it provides new parents with a Baby College to teach parenting skills during the crucial first three years of a child’s life and a preschool Gems program, where kids learn not only French and Spanish but healthy eating habits to combat childhood obesity.
The Zone also offers the HCZ Asthma Initiative to provide medical care and education to families, thus drastically cutting down on the number of school days missed by students suffering from asthma (哮´). And it has a network of afterschool programs that teach media literacy, karate (空手道), and computer skills. It’s called the pipeline — once families enter, it’s hoped that they’ll stay until their child graduates from college.56 == integrated
The idea is to create a safety net woven so tightly that kids can’t slip through.

52. What does the author say about African-American youth as a whole?
A) They have more graduates from community colleges.
B) They score far below the average education level.
C) They obviously are victims of the American education system.
D) Their academic performances are worse than their white peers.

53. According to the passage, the book The Bell Curve ________.
A) has sparked a heated debate in the scientific field
B) leads to the study on the link between race and IQ
C) states that intelligence has a lot to do with race
D) is against the idea that intelligence is decided by race

54. Experts like Michelle Schamberg think that ________.
A) the achievement gap can be narrowed easily
B) it is unreasonable to relate low achievement to poverty
C) physiological stress works on achievement indirectly
D) it is impossible to achieve the goal of equal performance

55. When it comes to fighting poverty, the Harlem Children’s Zone ________.
A) stresses more on crime prevention B) emphasizes an all-around system
C) condemns parents as a hindrance D) sees excellent education as the sole way

56. According to the passage, the purpose of HCZ’s black education is to ________.
A) offer students an integrated system
B) reduce the number of asthmatic children
C) get rid of poverty at the first place
D) set up a network to protect students from hazards

Passage Two
Questions 57 to 61 are based on the following passage.
Since Andrew Benton graduated from college less than four years ago, he has dropped out of a Princeton Ph.D. program in economics, moved to rural Georgia to start a Web-software company that he’s trying to sell, and now works freelance (自由职业) for a cloud-computing company in Silicon Valley. He buys his own health insurance and contributes to his retirement accounts; neither his policy nor his accounts receive corporate contributions. 57
Does his job instability and lack of benefits worry him? Nope. The 26-year-old does not expect to hold a traditional 9-to-5 job unless he starts his own business again, and he is not overly pessimistic about the recession’s long-term effect on his career. “I don’t pay that much attention to what is going on in the economy,” he says. “I just found stuff I was interested in.58
”
Whatever you make of this attitude — smart, entitled, tech savvy (聪明的), risky, or bold — Benton is arguably the prototype (典型) of the new and perhaps ideal worker in the post-recession economy.
Still, this savvy demographic group isn’t immune from the career setbacks of the recession.59
Workers born after 1980, who are having a harder time gaining a foothold in the job market, may face lower earnings over the next several years of their careers.
Those who opt for traditional corporate careers have had to readjust their expectations. For some young, well-educated workers such as 24-year-old Adrian Muniz, the recession has been startling. Muniz graduated from Brown University in and moved to New York City, expecting to easily find work at a magazine. Instead, he ended up working at high-end retail stores for the past three years and doing media internships on the side to build up his résumé.
When the economy does pick up, experts warn that millennials, i.e. people born in or after 1980, may leave their companies for better jobs and higher paychecks. They will quit to travel the world, or simply because they did not like their boss. When more jobs become available, the millennials will use their tech savvy to promote themselves on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks. They will have no problem accepting contract, short-term work in place of a steadier paycheck. “The economy is actually creating a type of work that suits millennials well and does not suit baby boomers,” says Karl Ahlrichs, a human-resources consultant. In part, that’s because the economy is generating jobs in technology, computers, education, and health care that require serious technological, entrepreneurial, and creative skills as opposed to expertise in operations or management.60

Armed with their education, parental support, or savings, millennials seem to have plenty of answers when it comes to dealing with the current economy. Still, questions remain. In their 30s and 40s, will they start their own businesses rather than joining the ranks of middle management? Will their innovative and entrepreneurial streak survive as they move through adult rites (仪式) of passage such as buying houses, raising children, or caring for aging parents? Ask a millennial and they’ll tell you that they’ll find or invent new answers to such age-old questions.61

57. What do we learn about Andrew Benton’s work experience?
A) He has now an unsteady job without corporate welfare benefits.
B) Without a Ph.D., he was at a disadvantage when applying for job.
C) He gave up the chance to take a traditional corporate job.
D) It takes about four years for him to realize what he wants to be.

58. What is a main concern of Andrew Benton?
A) Whether the economy is going to pick up quickly.
B) When he should start and run another software firm.
C) Whether the job interests him and arouses his curiosity.
D) How he can find an ideal job unaffected by the recession.

59. According to the passage, in the job market, workers born after 1980 ________.
A) earn much more than their predecessors
B) have been affected by the economic downturn
C) gain a competitive edge with good education
D) are undoubtedly ideal workers for the economy

60. What accounts for millennials’ being suitable for work created by the current economy?
A) Their desire to promote themselves.
B) Their strong sense of looking after families.
C) Their special skills in running and managing firms.
D) Their embrace of tech skills and innovative ideas.

61. What can we infer from the passage about millennials’ attitude towards their future?
A) Negative. B) Uncertain. C) Positive. D) Conservative.

Part V Cloze (15 minutes)
Directions: There are 20 blanks in the following passage. For each blank there are four choices marked A), B), C) and D) on the right side of the paper. You should choose the ONE that best fits into the passage. Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.

Enter the information age. Information is the raw material for many of the business activities 62 this new era, just as iron and steel were the basic commodities in the 63 of the industrial age.
The world’s knowledge is said to be doubling every eight years. This knowledge 64 is stimulating economic progress. The need to collect, analyze, and communicate great 65 of information is producing new products and services, creating jobs, and 66 career opportunities.
The information age is 67 considered to be a phenomenon of the service sector of the economy, 68 than a product of heavy industry. Certainly, rocketing information technologies are creating new capabilities 69 knowledge-based service spheres. 70 changes just as dramatic are 71 industry, giving people the 72 to do challenging work in exciting new ways.
Manufacturing is full 73 in the information age. From design to production, the manufacturing 74 has long been information-intensive. It always has required exacting communication to describe what goes into products and how to make them. Now, computer technology is giving factory managers new 75 to gather all of this information and use it to control production.
Telecommunications are producing error-free communication between the design office and the factory. Computer-aided design is enabling engineers to 76 product performances and manufacturing process on video displays, before resources are committed to build and test prototypes. Techniques like these are bringing 77 new advances in manufacturing productivity. Just as coal fueled the 78 to an industrial society, so microelectronics is powering the 79 of the information age. Microelectronic information management tools are 80 U.S. industrial capabilities, which remains 81 to America’s economic wellbeing and national security.
62. A) seeking B) stimulating
C) shaping D) securing
63. A) dawning B) origin
C) derivation D) foundation
64. A) inflation B) explosion
C) extension D) exploitation
65. A) extent B) number
C) ranges D) quantities
66. A) widening B) stretching
C) enlarging D) broadening
67. A) generally B) relatively
C) surprisingly D) comparatively
68. A) other B) better
C) rather D) worse
69. A) with B) in
C) by D) on
70. A) Therefore B) Even
C) However D) But
71. A) transmitting B) transporting
C) transferring D) transforming
72. A) pressure B) future
C) opportunity D) possibility
73. A) producer B) involver
C) contributor D) participant
74. A) practice B) procedure
C) process D) program
75. A) facility B) capability
C) competence D) liability
76. A) evaluate B) appreciate
C) estimate D) approximate
77. A) out B) off
C) about D) forward
78. A) transaction B) transition
C) transmission D) transformation
79. A) raise B) rise
C) hike D) spiral
80. A) increasing B) promoting
C) enhancing D) aggravating
81. A) fatal B) mortal
C) vital D) rational