2018年6月大学英语六级真题试卷及答案（三套全）

目录

2018年6月大学英语六级真题试卷及答案（一） 1

快速对答案 16

2018年6月大学英语六级真题试卷及答案（二） 17

快速对答案 32

2018年6月大学英语六级真题试卷及答案（三） 32

快速对答案 42

2018年6月大学英语六级真题试卷及答案（一）

Part I Writing (30 minutes)

(请于正式开考后半小时内完成该部分，之后将进行听力考试)

Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay on  the importance of building trust between employers and employees. You can cite examples to illustrate your views. you should write at least 150 words but no more than 200 words.

Part II Listening Comprehension (30 minutes)

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.

注意：此部分试题请在答题卡1上作答。

Questions 1 to 4 are based on the conversation you have just heard.

1. A) It is a typical salad.

B) It is a Spanish soup.

C) It is a weird vegetable.

D) It is a kind of spicy food.

2. A) To make it thicker.

B) To make it more nutritious.

C) To add to its appeal.

D) To replace an ingredient.

3. A) It contains very little fat.

B) It uses olive oil in cooking.

C) It uses no artificial additives.

D) It is mainly made of vegetables.

4. A) It does not go stale for two years.

B) It takes no special skill to prepare.

C) It comes from a special kind of pig.

D) It is a delicacy blended with bread.

Questions 5 to 8 are based on the conversation you have just heard.

5. A) They come in a great variety.

B) They do not make decent gifts.

C) They do not vary much in price.

D) They go well with Italian food.

6. A) $30 - $40. C) $50 - $60.

B) $40 - $50. D) Around $150.

7. A) They are a healthy choice for elderly people.

B)They are especially popular among Italians.

C)They symbolize good health and longevity.

D)They go well with different kinds of food.

8. A) It in a wine imported from California.

B)It is less spicy than all other red wines.

C)It is far more expensive than he expected.

D) It is Italy's most famous type of red wine.

Section B

Directions: In this section, you will hear two passages. At the end of each passage, you will hear three or four 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.

Questions9 to 12 are based on the passage you have just heard.

9. A) Learning others' secrets. C) Decoding secret messages.

B)Searching for information. D) Spreading sensational news.

10. A) They helped the U. S. army in World War Two.

B)They could write down spoken codes promptly.

C)They were assigned to decode enemy messages.

D)They were good at breaking enemy secret codes.

11. A) Important battles fought in the Pacific War.

B)Decoding of secret messages in war times.

C)A military code that was never broken.

D)Navajo Indians' contribution to code breaking.

Questions 12 to 15 are based on the passage you have just heard.

12. A) All services will be personalized.

B)A lot of knowledge-intensive jobs will be replaced.

C)Technology will revolutionize all sectors of industry.

D)More information will be available.

13. A) In the robotics industry. C) In the personal care sector.

B)In the information service. D) In high-end manufacturing.

14. A) They charge high prices.

B)They need lots of training.

C)They cater to the needs of young people.

D)They focus on customers' specific needs.

15. A) The rising demand in education and healthcare in the next 20 years.

B)The disruption caused by technology in traditionally well-paid jobs.

C)The tremendous changes new technology will bring to people's lives.

D)The amazing amount of personal attention people would like to have.

Section C

Directions: In this section, you will hear three recordings of lectures or talks followed by three or four 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.

Questions 16 to 18 are based on the recording you have just heard.

16. A) It was the longest road in ancient Egypt.

B)It was constructed some 500 years ago.

C)It lay 8 miles from the monument sites.

D)It linked a stone pit to some waterways.

17. A) Saws used for cutting stone.

B) Traces left by early explorers.

C) An ancient geographical map.

D) Some stone tool segments.

18. A) To transport stones to block floods.

B) To provide services for the stone pit.

C) To link the various monument sites.

D) To connect the villages along the Nile.

Questions 19 to 21 are based on the recording you have just heard.

19. A) Dr. Gong didn't give him any conventional tests.

B)Dr. Gong marked his office with a hand-painted sign.

C)Dr. Gong didn't ask him any questions about his pain.

D)Dr. Gong slipped in needles where he felt no pain.

20. A) He had heard of the wonders acupuncture could work.

B)Dr. Gong was very famous in New York's Chinatown.

C)Previous medical treatments failed to relieve his pain.

D)He found the expensive medical tests unaffordable.

21. A) More and more patients ask for the treatment.

B)Acupuncture techniques have been perfected.

C)It doesn't need the conventional medical tests.

D)It does not have any negative side effects.

Questions 22 to 25 are based on the recording you have just heard.

22. A) They were on the verge of breaking up.

B)They were compatible despite differences.

C)They quarreled a lot and never resolved their arguments.

D)They argued persistently about whether to have children.

23. A) Neither of them has any brothers or sisters.

B)Neither of them won their parents' favor.

C)They weren't spoiled in their childhood.

D)They didn't like to be the apple of their parents' eyes.

24. A) They are usually good at making friends.

B)They tend to be adventurous and creative.

C)They are often content with what they have.

D)They tend to be self-assured and responsible.

25. A) They enjoy making friends.

B)They tend to be well adjusted.

C)They are least likely to take initiative.

D)They usually have successful marriages.

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.

When Elon Musk says that his new priority is using artificial intelligence to build domestic robots, we should look forward to the day in admiration.

Mr. Musk is a guy who gets things done. The founder of two tech companies, Tesla Motors and SpaceX, is bringing electric vehicles to mass market and (26)_______ humans to live on other planets. This sounds like so much hot air, but the near $13 billion fortune this entrepreneur has (27)_______ comes from practical achievements rather than hypothetical ones.

A lot of clever people are (28)_______ about artificial intelligence, fearing that robots will one day become so (29)_______ that they’ll murder all of us. These fears are mostly (30)_______ : as with hysteria about genetic modification, we humans are generally wise enough to manage these problems with speed and care.

And just think of how wonderful it would be if you had a live-in robot. It could, (31)_______, be like having a babysitter and a nurse rolled into one—or, if that required (32)_______ intelligence beyond the power of Mr. Musk’ s imagined machine, at least someone to chop the carrots, wash the car and mow the lawn. Once purchased and trained, this would allow the (33)_______user to save money and time, freeing up (34)_______space in our busy lives to read a good book.

That is why we welcome Mr. Musk' s latest (35)_______ , and wish him well. As long as robots add to the sum of human happiness, reduce suffering, and create time to read world-class journalism, we should be their fans. Especially since journalism is one job robots will never do.

注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。

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.

In the Real World, Nobody Cares that You Went to an Ivy League School

[A] As a high school junior, everything in my life revolved around getting into the right college. I diligently attended my SAT, ACT, and Advanced Placement test preparation courses. I juggled (尽力应付）cross-country and track schedules, newspaper staff, and my church's youth group and drama team. I didn't drink, party, or even do much dating. The right college, I thought, was one with prestige, one with a name. It didn't have to be the Ivy League, but it needed to be a "top school".

[B] Looking back now, nine years later, I can't remember exactly what it was about these universities that made them seem so much better. Was it a curriculum that appeared more rigorous, perhaps? Or an alumni network that I hoped would open doors down the line? Maybe. "I do think there are advantages to schools with more recognition,"notes Marybeth Gasman, a professor of higher education at the University of Pennsylvania. "I don't necessarily think that's a reason to go to one. "

[C] In reflection, my firm belief in the power of the brand was naive, not to mention a bit snobby. I quickly passed over state schools and southern schools, believing their curriculums to be automatically inferior to northeastern or western counterparts. Instead, I dreamed of living in New York City and my parents obliged me with a visit to New York University's (NYU) campus. During the tour, tuition fees were discussed. (NYU is consistently ranked one of the country, s most expensive schools, with room and board costs totaling upwards of $64,000 a year. ) Up until then, I hadn't truly realized just how expensive an education can be. Over the next few months, I realized not only could I not afford my dream school, I couldn't even afford the ones where I'd been accepted. City University of New York (CUNY)，Rutgers University, and Indiana University were out of reach as were Mississippi State and the University of Alabama, where I would have to pay out-of-state fees. Further complicating my college search was a flourishing track career—I wanted to keep running but my times weren't quite fast enough to secure a scholarship.

[D] And so, at 11 pm on the night of Georgia State University's (GSU) midnight deadline, I applied online. Rated No. 466 overall on Forbes' Lists Top Colleges, No. 183 in Research Universities, and No. 108 in the South, I can't say it was my top choice. Still, the track coach had offered me a walk-on spot, and I actually found the urban Atlanta campus a decent consolation prize after New York City.

[E] While it may have been practical, it wasn't prestigious. But here's the thing： I loved my "lower-tier (低层次的)university. (I use the term "low-tier" cautiously, because GSU is a well-regarded research institution that attracts high quality professors and faculty from all over the country. ) We are taught to believe that only by going to the best schools and getting the best grades can we escape the rat race and build a better future. But what if lower-tier colleges and universities were the ticket to escaping the rat race? After all，where else can you leave school with a decent degree—but without a lifetime of debt?

[F] My school didn’t come pre-packaged like the more popular options, so we were left to take care of ourselves, figuring out city life and trying to complete degree programs that no one was championing for us to succeed in. What I'm saying is, I loved my university because it taught us all to be resourceful and we could make what we wanted out of it.

[G] I was lucky enough to have my tuition covered by a lottery-funded scholarship called HOPE (Helping Outstanding Pupils Educationally). When I started college, the HOPE scholarship was funded by the state of Georgia and offered to graduating high school seniors with a GPA of 3. 0 or higher. Living costs and books I paid for with money earned during high school, supplemented by a small college fund my deceased grandfather left for me and a modest savings account my parents created when I was born.

[H]So what about all that name recognition? Sure, many of my colleagues and competitors have more glamorous alma maters (母校) than I do. As a journalist, I have competed against NYU, Columbia, and Northeastern graduates for jobs. And yet, not a single interviewer has ever asked me about my educational background. In fact, almost every interview I've ever had was due to a connection—one that I've gained through pure determination, not a school brand.

[I] According to The Boston Globe, students who earned their bachelor's in 2012 have an average monthly loan payment of $ 312, which is one-third more than those who graduated in 2004. Ultimately, that's the thing universities don't want to admit. Private universities are money-making institutions. If you can afford to buy prestige, that's your choice. For the rest of us, however, our hearty lower-tiered universities are just fine, thank you.

[J] Wealthy universities talk up the benefits their name will give graduates: namely, strong alumni networks, star faculty, and a resume boost. But you needn't attend an Ivy League school to reap those rewards. Ludacris and the former CEO of Bank of America Ken Lewis are alumni of my college, as well as VICE's first female editor-in-chief, Ellis Jones. Successful people tend to be successful no matter where they go to school, and lower-tier schools can have alumni networks just as strong as their big name counterparts. In fact, lower-tier school alumni networks are arguably stronger, because fellow alumni recognize that you didn’t necessarily have an easy path to follow. They might be more willing to offer career help, because your less famous school denotes that, like them, you are also full of energy and perseverance.

[K] The Washington Post reported on a recent study by Princeton economists, in which college graduates who applied to the most selective schools in the 12th grade were compared to those who applied to slightly less selective schools. They found that students with more potential earned more as adults,and the reverse held true as well, no matter where they went to school.

[L]Likewise, star faculty are not always found where you'd expect. Big name schools are not necessarily the best places for professors； plus,many professors split teaching time between multiple colleges and/or universities. This means, for instance, a CUNY student could reasonably expect to receive the same quality of instruction from a prestigious professor as they would if they were enrolled in the same class at NYU.

[M] It's possible that some hiring managers may be drawn to candidates with a particular educational resume, but it's no guarantee. According to a 2012 survey described in The Atlantic, college reputation ranked lowest in relative importance of attributes in evaluating graduates for hire, beaten out by top factors like internships, employment during college, college major, volunteer experience, and extracurriculars.

[N] Maybe students who choose less prestigious universities are bound to succeed because they are determined to. I tend to think so. In any case, if I could do it again, I'd still make the same choice. Today I'm debt-free, resourceful—and I understand that even the shiniest packaging can't predict what you'll find on the inside.

注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。

36.Modest institutions can also have successful graduates and strong alumni networks.

37.The money the author made in high school helped pay for her living expenses and books at college.

38.The author came to see how costly college education could be when she was trying to choose a university to attend.

39.A recent study found that a graduate's salary is determined by their potential, not the university they attended.

40.The author cannot recall for sure what made certain top universities appear a lot better.

41.None of the author's job interviewers cared which college she went to.

42.The author thinks she did the right thing in choosing a less prestigious university.

43.In order to be admitted to a prestigious university, the author took part in various extracurricular activities and attended test preparation courses.

44.The author liked her university which was not prestigious but less expensive.

45.Colleges are reluctant to admit that graduates today are in heavier debt.

Section C

Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or 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 Answer Sheet 2with a single line through the centre.

Passage One

Questions 46 to 50 are based on the following passage.

Economically speaking, are we better off than we were ten years ago? Twenty years ago?

In their thirst for evidence on this issue, commentators seized on the recent report by the Census Bureau，which found that average household income rose by 5.2% in 2015. Unfortunately, that conclusion puts too much weight on a useful, but flawed and incomplete, statistic. Among the more significant problems with the Census’s measure are that： 1) it excludes taxes, transfers, and compensation like employer-provided health insurance ； and 2) it is based on surveys rather than data. Even if precisely measured, income data exclude important determinants of economic well-being, such as the hours of work needed to earn that income.

While thinking about the question, we came across a recently published article by Charles Jones and Peter Klenow, which proposes an interesting new measure of economic welfare. While by no means perfect, it is considerably more comprehensive than average income, taking into account not only growth in consumption per person but also changes in working time, life expectancy, and inequality. Moreover, it can be used to assess economic performance both across countries and over time.

The Jones-Klenow method can be illustrated by a cross-country example. Suppose we want to compare the economic welfare of citizens of the U. S. and France in 2005.

In 2005, as the authors observe, real consumption per person in France was only 60% as high as the U. S. , making it appear that Americans were economically much better off than the French on average. However, that comparison omits other relevant factors: leisure time, life expectancy, and economic inequality. The French take longer vacations and retire earlier, so typically work fewer hours； they enjoy a higher life expectancy, presumably reflecting advantages with respect to health care, diet, lifestyle, and the like； and income and consumption are somewhat more equally distributed there than in the U. S. Because of these differences, comparing France's consumption with the U. S.'s overstates the gap in economic welfare.

Similar calculations can be used to compare the U. S. and other countries. For example, this calculation puts economic welfare in the United Kingdom at 97% of U. S. levels, but estimates Mexican well-being at 22%.

The Jones-Klenow measure can also assess an economy's performance over time. According to this measure, as of the early-to-mid-2000s, the U. S. had the highest economic welfare of any large country. Since 2007 , economic welfare in the U. S. has continued to improve. However, the pace of improvement has slowed markedly.

Methodologically, the lesson from the Jones-Klenow research is that economic welfare is multidimensional. Their approach is flexible enough that in principle other important quality-of-life changes could be incorporated—for example, decreases in total emissions of pollutants and declines in crime rates.

注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。

46.What does the author think of the 2015 report by the Census Bureau?

A)It is based on questionable statistics.

B)It reflects the economic changes.

C)It evidences the improved welfare.

D)It provides much food for thought.

47.What does the author say about the Jones-Klenow method?

A)It is widely used to compare the economic growth across countries.

B)It revolutionizes the way of measuring ordinary people's livelihood.

C)It focuses on people's consumption rather than their average income.

D)It is a more comprehensive measure of people's economic well-being.

48.What do Jones and Klenow think of the comparison between France and the U. S. in terms of real consumption per person?

A)It reflected the existing big gap between the two economies.

B)It neglected many important indicators of people’s welfare.

C)It covered up the differences between individual citizens.

D)It failed to count in their difference in natural resources.

49.What is an advantage of the Jones-Klenow method?

A) It can accurately pinpoint a country's current economic problems.

B) It can help to raise people's awareness of their economic well-being.

C) It can diagnose the causes of a country's slowing pace of economic improvement.

D) It can compare a country's economic conditions between different periods of time.

50.What can we infer from the passage about American people's economic well-being?

A) It is much better than that of their European counterparts.

B) It has been on the decline ever since the turn of the century.

C) It has not improved as much as reported by the Census Bureau.

D) It has not been accurately assessed and reported since mid-2000s.

Passage Two

Questions 51 to 55 are based on the following passage.

If you've ever started a sentence with, "If I were you…" or found yourself scratching your head at a colleague's agony over a decision when the answer is crystal-clear, there's a scientific reason behind it. Our own decision-making abilities can become depleted over the course of the day causing indecision or poor choices，but choosing on behalf of someone else is an enjoyable task that doesn't suffer the same pitfalls.

The problem is "decision fatigue", a psychological phenomenon that takes a toll on the quality of your choices after a long day of decision making, says Evan Polman, a leading psychologist.

Physicians who have been on the job for several hours, for example, are more likely to prescribe antibiotics to patients when it's unwise to do so. " Presumably it's because it's simple and easy to write a prescription and consider a patient case closed rather than investigate further," Polman says.

But decision fatigue goes away when you are making the decision for someone else. When people imagine themselves as advisers and imagine their own choices as belonging to someone else, they feel less tired and rely less on decision shortcuts to make those choices. "By taking upon the role of adviser rather than decision maker, one does not suffer the consequences of decision fatigue，" he says. "It's as if there's something fun and liberating about making someone else's choice.''

Getting input from others not only offers a fresh perspective and thought process, it often also includes riskier choices. While this sounds undesirable, it can be quite good, says Polman. "When people experience decision fatigue—when they are tired of making choices—they have a tendency to choose to go with the status quo (现状)，" he says. "But the status quo can be problematic, since a change in the course of action can sometimes be important and lead to a positive outcome. "

In order to achieve a successful outcome or reward, some level of risk is almost always essential. "People who are susceptible to decision fatigue will likely choose to do nothing over something," he says. "That's not to say that risk is always good, but it is related to taking action, whereas decision fatigue assuredly leads to inaction and the possible chagrin (澳恼)of a decision maker who might otherwise prefer a new course but is unfortunately hindered. "

Just because you can make good choices for others doesn’t mean you'11 do the same for yourself, Polman cautions. "Research has found that women negotiate higher salaries for others than they do for themselves," he says, adding that people slip in and out of decision roles.

注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。

51.What does the author say about people making decisions?

A)They may become exhausted by making too many decisions for themselves.

B)They are more cautious in making decisions for others than for themselves.

C)They tend to make decisions the way they think advantageous to them.

D)They show considerable differences in their decision-making abilities.

52.What does the example about the physicians illustrate?

A)Patients seldom receive due care towards the end of the day.

B)Prescription of antibiotics can be harmful to patients’ health.

C)Decision fatigue may prevent people making wise decisions.

D)Medical doctors are especially susceptible to decision fatigue.

53.When do people feel less decision fatigue?

A)When they take decision shortcuts.

B)When they help others to make decisions.

C)When they have major decisions to make.

D)When they have advisers to turn to.

54.What are people likely to do when decision fatigue sets in?

A)They turn to physicians for advice.

B)They tend to make risky decisions.

C)They adopt a totally new perspective.

D)They refrain from trying anything new.

55.What does the passage say about taking some risk in decision making?

A)It is vital for one to reach the goal desired.

B)It is likely to entail serious consequences.

C)It will enable people to be more creative.

D)It will more often than not end in regret.

Part IV Translation (30 minutes)

Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to translate a passage from Chinese into English. You should write your answer on Answer Sheet 2.

中国目前拥有世界上最大最快的高速铁路网。高铁列车的运行速度还将继续提升，更多的城市将修建高铁站。高铁大大缩短了人们出行的时间。相对飞机而言，高轶列车的突出优势在于准时，因为基本不受天气或交通管制的影响。高铁极大地改变了中国人的生活方式。如今，它已经成了很多人商务旅行的首选交通工具。越来越多的人也在假日乘高铁外出旅游。还有不少年轻人选择在一个城市工作而在邻近城市居住，每天乘高铁上下班。

注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。

快速对答案

2018年6月大学英语六级真题试卷及答案（二）

Part I Writing (30 minutes)

(请于正式开考后半小时内完成该部分，之后将进行听力考试)

Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay on  the importance of building trust between businesses and consumers. You can cite examples to illustrate your views. you should write at least 150 words but no more than 200 words.

Part II Listening Comprehension (30 minutes)

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.

注意：此部分试题请在答题卡1上作答。

Questions 1 to 4 are based on the conversation you have just heard.

1. A) She advocates animal protection.

B) She sells a special kind of coffee.

C) She is going to start a cafe chain.

D) She is the owner of a special cafe.

2. A) They bear a lot of similarities.

B) They are a profitable business sector.

C) They cater to different customers.

D) They help take care of customers' pets.

3. A) By giving them regular cleaning and injections.

B) By selecting breeds that are tame and peaceful.

C) By placing them at a safe distance from customers.

D) By briefing customers on how to get along with them.

4. A) They want to learn about rabbits.

B)They like to bring in their children.

C) They love the animals in her cafe.

D) They give her cafe favorite reviews.

Questions 5 to 8 are based on the conversation you have just heard.

5. A) It contains too many additives.

B) It lacks the essential vitamins.

C) It can cause obesity.

D) It is mostly garbage.

6. A) Its fancy design.

B)TV commercials.

C) Its taste and texture.

D) Peer influence.

7. A) Investing heavily in the production of sweet foods.

B) Marketing their products with ordinary ingredients.

C) Trying to trick children into buying their products.

D) Offering children more varieties to choose from.

8. A) They hardly ate vegetables.

B)They seldom had junk food.

C) They favored chocolate-coated sweets.

D) They liked the food advertised on TV.

Section B

Directions: In this section, you will hear two passages. At the end of each passage, you will hear three or four 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.

Questions9 to 12 are based on the passage you have just heard.

9. A) Stretches of farmland. C) Tombs of ancient rulers.

B) Typical Egyptian animal farms. D) Ruins left by devastating floods.

10. A) It provides habitats for more primitive tribes.

B) It is hardly associated with great civilizations.

C) It has not yet been fully explored and exploited.

D) It gathers water from many tropical ruin forests.

11. A) It carries about one fifth of the world’s fresh water.

B) It has numerous human settlements along its banks.

C) It is second only to the Mississippi River in width.

D) It is as long as the Nile and the Yangtze combined.

Questions 12 to 15 are based on the passage you have just heard.

12. A) Living a life in the fast lane leads to success.

B) We are always in a rush lo do various things.

C) The search for tranquility has become a trend.

D) All of us actually yearn for a slow and calm life.

13. A) She had trouble balancing family and work

B) She enjoyed the various social events.

C) She was accustomed to tight schedules.

D) She spent all her leisure time writing books.

14. A) The possibility of ruining her family.

B) Becoming aware of her declining health.

C) The fatigue from living a fast-paced life.

D) Reading a book about slowing down.

15. A) She started to follow the cultural norms.

B) She came to enjoy doing everyday tasks.

C) She learned to use more polite expressions.

D) She stopped using to-do lists and calendars.

Section C

Directions: In this section, you will hear three recordings of lectures or talks followed by three or four 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.

Questions 16 to 18 are based on the recording you have just heard.

16. A) They will root out native species altogether.

B) They contribute to a region's biodiversity.

C) They pose a threat to the local ecosystem,

D) They will crossbreed with native species.

17. A) Their classifications are meaningful.

B) Their interactions are hard to define.

C) Their definitions are changeable.

D) Their distinctions are artificial.

18. A) Only a few of them cause problems to native species.

B) They may turn out to benefit the local environment.

C) Few of them can survive in their new habitats.

D) Only 10 percent of them can be naturalized.

Questions 19 to 21 are based on the recording you have just heard.

19. A) Respect their traditional culture.

B) Attend their business seminars.

C) Research their specific demands.

D) Adopt the right business strategies.

20. A) Showing them your palm.

B) Giving them gifts of great value.

C) Drinking alcohol on certain days of a month.

D) Clicking your fingers loudly in their presence.

21. A) They are very easy to satisfy.

B) They have a strong sense of worth.

C)They tend to be friendly and enthusiastic.

D)They have a break from 2:00 to 5:30 p. m

Questions 22 to 25 are based on the recording you have just heard.

22. A) He completely changed the company 's culture.

B) He collected paintings by world-famous artists.

C) He took over the sales department of Reader’s Digest.

D) He had the company's boardroom extensively renovated.

23. A) It should be sold at a reasonable price.

B) Its articles should be short and inspiring.

C) It should be published in the world's leading languages.

D) Its articles should entertain blue- and pink-collar workers.

24. A) He knew how to make the magazine profitable.

B) He served as a church minister for many years.

C) He suffered many setbacks and misfortunes in his life.

D) He treated the employees like members of his family.

25. A) It carried many more advertisements.

B) George Grune joined it as an ad salesman.

C) Several hundred of its employees got fired.

D) Its subscriptions increased considerably.

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.

Did Sarah Josepha Hale write "Mary 's Little Lamb"，the eternal nursery rhyme (儿歌）about a girl named Mary with a stubborn lamb? This is still disputed, but it's clear that the woman (26)_______ for writing it was one of America's most fascinating (27)_______ .In honor of the poem's publication on May 24, 1830, here's more about the (28)_______ author's life.

Hale wasn’t just a writer, she was also a (29)_______ social advocate, and she was particularly (30)_______with an ideal New England, which she associated with abundant Thanksgiving meals that she claimed had "a deep moral influence". She began a nationwide (31)_______to have a national holiday declared that would bring families together while celebrating the (32)_______ festivals. In 1863, after 17 years of advocacy including letters to five presidents, Hale got it. President Abraham Lincoln, during the Civil War, issued a (33)_______ setting aside the last Thursday in November for the holiday.

The true authorship of "Mary 's Little Lamb" is disputed. According to the New England Historical Society, Hale wrote only part of the poem, but claimed authorship. Regardless of the author, it seems that the poem was (34)_______ by a real event. When young Mary Sawyer was followed to school by a lamb in 1816，it caused some problems. A bystander named John Roulstone wrote a poem about the event, then, at some point, Hale herself seems to have helped write it. However, if a 1916 piece by her great-niece is to be trusted, Hale claimed for the (35)_______of her life that “some other people pretended that someone else wrote the poem”.

注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。

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.

Grow Plants Without Water

[A] Ever since humanity began to farm our own food，we've faced the unpredictable rain that is both friend and enemy. It comes and goes without much warning, and a field of lush (茂盛的）leafy greens one year can dry up and blow away the next. Food security and fortunes depend on sufficient rain, and nowhere more so than in Africa, where 96% of farmland depends on rain instead of the irrigation common in more developed places. It has consequences: South Africa s ongoing drought—the worst in three decades一will cost at least a quarter of its corn crop this year.

[B] Biologist Jill Farrant of the University of Cape Town in South Africa says that nature has plenty of answers for people who want to grow crops in places with unpredictable rainfall. She is hard at work finding a way to take traits from rare wild plants that adapt to extreme dry weather and use them in food crops. As the earth's climate changes and rainfall becomes even less predictable in some places, those answers will grow even more valuable. The type of farming I'm aiming for is literally so that people can survive as it's going to get more and more dry," Farrant says.

[C] Extreme conditions produce extremely tough plants. In the rusty red deserts of South Africa, steep- sided rocky hills called inselbergs rear up from the plains like the bones of the earth. The hills are remnants of an earlier geological era, scraped bare of most soil and exposed to the elements. Yet on these and similar formations in deserts around the world, a few fierce plants have adapted to endure under ever-changing conditions.

[D] Farrant calls them resurrection plants (复苏植物）.During months without water under a harsh sun, they wither, shrink and contract until they look like a pile of dead gray leaves. But rainfall can revive them in a matter of hours. Her time-lapse (间歇性拍摄的）videos of the revivals look like someone playing a tape of the plant's death in reverse.

[E] The big difference between "drought-tolerant" plants and these tough plants: metabolism. Many different kinds of plants have developed tactics to weather dry spells. Some plants store reserves of water to see them through a drought ； others send roots deep down to subsurface water supplies. But once these plants use up their stored reserve or tap out the underground supply, they cease growing and start to die. They may be able to handle a drought of some length, and many people use the term "drought tolerant" to describe such plants, but they never actually stop needing to consume water, so Farrant prefers to call them drought resistant.

[F] Resurrection plants, defined as those capable of recovering from holding less than 0.1 grams of water per gram of dry mass, are different. They lack water-storing structures, and their existence on rock faces prevents them from tapping groundwater, so they have instead developed the ability to change their metabolism. When they detect an extended dry period, they divert their metabolisms producing sugars and certain stress-associated proteins and other materials in their tissues As the plant dries, these resources take on first the properties of honey, then rubber, and finally enter a glass-like state that is "the most stable state that the plant can maintain"，Farrant says That slows the plant's metabolism and protects its dried-out tissues. The plants also change shape shrinking to minimize the surface area through which their remaining water might evaporate They can recover from months and years without water, depending on the species.

[G] What else can do this dry-out-and-revive trick? Seeds—almost all of them. At the start of her career, Farrant studied "recalcitrant seeds (顽拗性种子）''，such as avocados, coffee and lychee. While tasty, such seeds are delicate—they cannot bud and grow if they dry out (as you ma know if you've ever tried to grow a tree from an avocado pit). In the seed world, that makes them rare,because most seeds from flowering plants are quite robust. Most seeds can wait out the dry,unwelcoming seasons until conditions are right and they sprout (发芽）.Yet once they start growing,such plants seem not to retain the ability to hit the pause button on metabolism in their stems or leaves.

[H] After completing her Ph. D. on seeds, Farrant began investigating whether it might be possible to isolate the properties that make most seeds so resilient (迅速恢复活力的）and transfer them to other plant tissues. What Farrant and others have found over the past two decades is that there are many genes involved in resurrection plants' response to dryness. Many of them are the same that regulate how seeds become dryness-tolerant while still attached to their parent plants. Now they are trying to figure out what molecular signaling processes activate those seed-building genes in resurrection plants—and how to reproduce them in crops. Most genes are regulated by a master set of genes,'' Farrant says."We're looking at gene promoters and what would be their master switch. ''

[I] Once Farrant and her colleagues feel they have a better sense of which switches to throw，they will have to find the best way to do so in useful crops. "I'm trying three methods of breeding," Farrant says: conventional, genetic modification and gene editing. She says she is aware that plenty of people do not want to eat genetically modified crops, but she is pushing ahead with every available tool until one works. Farmers and consumers alike can choose whether or not to use whichever version prevails: "I'm giving people an option. "

[J] Farrant and others in the resurrection business got together last year to discuss the best species of resurrection plant to use as a lab model. Just like medical researchers use rats to test ideas for human medical treatments, botanists use plants that are relatively easy to grow in a lab or greenhouse setting to test their ideas for related species. The Queensland rock violet is one of the best studied resurrection plants so far, with a draft genome (基因图谱）published last year by a Chinese team. Also last year, Farrant and colleagues published a detailed molecular study of another candidate, Xerophyta viscosa, a tough-as-nail South African plant with lily-like flowers, and she says that a genome is on the way. One or both of these models will help researchers test their ideas一so far mostly done in the lab—on test plots.

[K] Understanding the basic science first is key. There are good reasons why crop plants do not use dryness defenses already. For instance, there's a high energy cost in switching from a regular metabolism to an almost-no-water metabolism. It will also be necessary to understand what sort of yield farmers might expect and to establish the plant 's safety. " The yield is never going to be high，" Farrant says, so these plants will be targeted not at Iowa farmers trying to squeeze more cash out of high-yield fields, but subsistence farmers who need help to survive a drought like the present one in South Africa. "My vision is for the subsistence farmer," Farrant says. "I，m targeting crops that are of African value. "