2004年6月大学英语六级(CET-6)真题试卷B卷(2)Part II Reading Comprehension (35 minutes)Directions: There tire 4 passages in this part. 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 the, Answer Sheet with a single line through the centre. Passage OneQuestions 21 to 25 are based on the following passage. Given the lack of fit between gifted students
and their schools, it is not surprising that such students often have little
good to say ‘about their school experience. In one study of 400 adults who had
achieved distinction in all areas of life, researchers found that three-fifths
of these individuals either did badly in school or were unhappy in school. Few
MacArthur Prize fellows, winners of the MacArthur Award for creative
accomplishment, had good things to say about their precollegiate schooling if
they had not been placed in advanced programs. Anecdotal (名人轶事) reports support this. Pablo Picasso, Charles Darwin, Mark Twain,
Oliver Goldsmith, and William Butler Yeats all disliked school. So did Winston
Churchill, who almost failed out of Some of these gifted people may have done poorly in school because their gifts were not scholastic. Maybe we can account for Picasso in this way. But most fared poorly in school not because they lacked ability but because they found school unchallenging and consequently lost interest. Yeats described the lack of fit between his mind and school: “Because I had found it difficult to attend to anything less interesting than my own thoughts, I was difficult to teach.” As noted earlier, gifted children of all kinds tend to be strong-willed nonconformists. Nonconformity and stubbornness (and Yeats’s level of arrogance and self-absorption) are likely to lead to Conflicts with teachers. When highly gifted students in any domain
talk about what was important to the development of their abilities, they are
far more likely to mention their families than their schools or teachers. A
writing prodigy (神童) studied by David Feldman and
Lynn Goldsmith was taught far more about writing by his journalist father than
his English teacher. High-IQ children, in 21. The main point the author is making about schools is that ________. A) they should enroll as many gifted students as possible B) they should organize their classes according to the students’ ability C) they are often incapable of catering to the needs of talented students D) they should satisfy the needs of students from different family backgrounds 22. The author quotes the remarks of one of Oliver Goldsmith’s teachers ________. A) to show how poor Oliver’s performance was at school B) to illustrate the strong will of some gifted children C) to explain how dull students can also be successful D) to provide support for his argument 23. Pablo Picasso is listed among the many gifted children who ________. A) could not cope with their studies at school successfully B) paid no attention to their teachers in class C) contradicted their teachers much too often D) behaved arrogantly and stubbornly in the presence of their teachers 24. Many gifted people attributed their success ________. A) less to their systematic education than to their talent B) mainly to parental help and their education at home C) both to school instruction and to their parents’ coaching D) more to their parents’ encouragement than to school training 25. The root cause of many gifted students having bad memories of their school years is that ________. A) they were seldom praised by their teachers B) school courses failed to inspire or motivate them C) their nonconformity brought them a lot of trouble D) teachers were usually far stricter than their parents Passage TwoQuestions 26 to 30 are based on the following passage. It’s hardly news that the immigration system
is a mess. Foreign nationals have long been slipping across the border with
fake papers, and visitors who arrive in the But this laxness (马虎) toward immigration fraud may be about to change. Congress has already taken some modest steps. The U.S.A. Patriot Act, passed in the wake of the Sept. 11 tragedy, requires the FBI, the Justice Department, the State Department and the INS to share more data, which will make it easier to stop watch-listed terrorists at the border. But what’s really needed, critics say, is even tougher laws and more resources aimed at tightening up border security. Reformers are calling for a rollback of rules that hinder law enforcement. They also want the INS to hire hundreds more border patrol agents and investigators to keep illegal immigrants out and to track them down once they’re here. Reformers also want to see the INS set up a database to monitor whether visa holders actually leave the country when they are required to. All these proposed changes were part of a new border-security bill that passed the House of Representatives but died in the Senate last week. Before Sept. 11, legislation of this kind had been blocked by two powerful lobbies: universities, which rely on tuition from foreign students who could be kept out by the new law, and business, which relies on foreigners for cheap labor. Since the attacks, they’ve backed off. The bill would have passed this time but for congressional maneuverings and is expected to be reintroduced and to pass next year. Also on the agenda for next year: a proposal, backed by some influential law-makers, to split the INS into two agencies-a good cop that would tend to service functions like processing citizenship papers and a bad cop that would concentrate on border inspections, deportation and other functions. One reason for the division, supporters say, is that the INS has in recent years become too focused on serving tourists and immigrants. After the Sept, 11 tragedy, the INS should pay more attention to serving the millions of ordinary Americans who rely on the nation’s border security to protect them from terrorist attacks. 26. Terrorists have obviously taken advantage of ________. A) the irresponsibility of the officials at border checkpoints B) the legal privileges granted to foreigners C) the excessive hospitality of the American people D) the low efficiency of the Immigration and Naturalization Service 27. We
learn from the passage that coordinated efforts will be made by various A) limit the number Of immigrants to the B) prevent the forgery of immigration papers C) ward off terrorist suspects at the border D) refuse the renewing of expired visas 28. It can be inferred from the passage that before Sept. 11, aliens with expired visas ________. A) might stay on for as long as [hey wished B) would be closely watched by FBI agents C) would live in constant fear of deportation D) might have them extended without trouble 29. It is believed by many that all these years the INS ________. A) has been serving two contradictory functions B) has ignored the pleas of the two powerful lobbies C) has over-emphasized its service functions at the expense of the nation’s security D) has been too liberal in granting visas to tourists and immigrants indiscriminately 30. Before Sept. 11, the U.S. Congress had been unable to pass stricter immigration laws because ________. A) education and business circles cared little about national security B) resources were not available for their enforcement C) it was difficult to coordinate the efforts of the congressmen D) they might have kept away foreign students and cheap labor Passage ThreeQuestions 31 to 35 are based on the following passage. It was the worst tragedy in maritime (航海的) history, six times more deadly than the Titanic. When the German cruise ship Wilhelm Gustloff was hit by torpedoes (鱼雷) fired from a Russian submarine in the final winter of World War II, more than 10,000 people-mostly women, children and old people fleeing the final Red Army push into Nazi Germany-were packed aboard. An ice storm had turned the decks into frozen sheets that sent hundreds of families sliding into the sea as the ship tilted and began to go down. Others desperately tried to put lifeboats down. Some who succeeded fought off those in the water who had the strength to try to claw their way aboard. Most people froze immediately. I’ll never forget the screams,” says Christa Ntitzmann, 87, one of the 1,200 survivors. She recalls watching the ship, brightly lit, slipping into its dark grave-and into seeming nothingness, rarely mentioned for more than half a century. Now The long silence about the sinking of the
Wilhelm Gustloff was probably unavoidable-and necessary. By unreservedly owning
up to their country’s monstrous crimes in the Second World War, Germans have
managed to win acceptance abroad,
marginalize (使…不得势) the
neo-Nazis at home and make peace with their neighbors. Today’s unified 31. Why does the author say the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff was the worst tragedy in maritime history? A) It was attacked by Russian torpedoes. B) It caused the largest number of casualties. C) Most of its passengers were frozen to death. D) Its victims were mostly women and children. 32. Hundreds of families dropped into the sea when ________. A) the badly damaged ship leaned toward one side B) a strong ice storm tilted the ship C) the cruise ship sank all of a sudden D) the frightened passengers fought desperately for lifeboats 33. The Wilhelm Gustloff tragedy was little talked about for more than half a century because Germans ________. A) were eager to win international acceptance B) had been pressured to keep silent about it C) were afraid of offending their neighbors D) felt guilty for their crimes in World War II 34. How does Gunter Grass revive the memory of the Wilhelm Gustloff tragedy? A) By describing the ship’s sinking in great detail. B) By giving an interview to the weekly Die Woche. C) By presenting the horrible scene of the torpedo attack. D) By depicting the survival of a young pregnant woman. 35. It can be learned from the passage that Germans no longer think that ________. A) the Wilhelm Gustloff tragedy is a reasonable price to pay for the nation’s past misdeeds B) C) they will be misunderstood if they talk about the Wilhelm Gustloff tragedy D) it-is wrong to equate their sufferings with those of other countries Passage FourQuestions 36 to 40 are based on the following passage. When we worry about who might be spying on
our private lives, we usually think about the Federal agents. But the private
sector outdoes the government every time. It’s Linda Tripp, not the FBI, who is
facing charges under Consumer activists are pressing Congress for better privacy laws without much result so far. The legislators lean toward letting business people track our financial habits virtually at will. As an example of what’s going on, consider
U.S. Bancorp, which was recently sued for deceptive practices by the state of With these customer lists in hand, Member Works started dialing for dollars-selling dental plans, videogames, computer software and other products and services. Customers who accepted a “free trial offer” had 30 days to cancel. If the deadline passed, they were charged automatically through their bank or credit-card accounts. U.S. Bancorp collected a share of the revenues. Customers were doubly deceived, the lawsuit claims. They, didn’t know that the bank was giving account numbers to MemberWorks. And if customers asked, they were led to think the answer was no. The state sued MemberWorks separately for deceptive selling. The company denies that it did anything wrong. For its part, U.S. Bancorp settled without admitting any mistakes. But it agreed to stop exposing its customers to nonfinancial products sold by outside firms. A few top banks decided to do the same. Many other banks will still do business with MemberWorks and similar firms. And banks will still be mining data from your account in order to sell you financial products, including things of little value, such as credit insurance and credit-card protection plans. You have almost no protection from businesses that use your personal accounts for profit. For example, no federal law shields “transaction and experience” information-mainly the details of your bank and credit-card accounts. Social Security numbers are for sale by private firms. They’ve generally agreed not to sell to the public. But to businesses, the numbers are an open book. Self-regulation doesn’t work. A firm might publish a privacy-protection policy, but who enforces it? Take U.S. Bancorp again. Customers were told, in writing, that “all personal information you supply to us will be considered confidential.” Then it sold your data to MemberWorks. The bank even claims that it doesn’t “sell” your data at all. It merely “shares” it and reaps a profit. Now you know. 36. Contrary to popular belief, the author finds that spying on people’s privacy ________. A) is practiced exclusively by the FBI B) is more prevalent in business circles C) has been intensified with the help of the IRS D) is mainly carried out by means of secret taping 37. We know from the passage that ________. A) the state of B) most states are turning a blind eye to the deceptive practices of private businesses C) legislators are acting to pass a law to provide better privacy protection D) lawmakers are inclined to give a free hand to businesses to inquire into customers’ buying habits 38. When the “free trial” deadline is over, you’ll be charged without notice for a product or service if ________. A) you happen to reveal your credit card number B) you fail to cancel it within the specified period C) you fail to apply for extension of the deadline D) you find the product or service unsatisfactory 39. Businesses do not regard information concerning personal bank accounts as private because ________. A) it is considered “transaction and experience” information unprotected by law B) it has always been considered an open secret by the general public C) its sale can be brought under control through self-regulation D) its revelation will do no harm to consumers under the current protection policy 40. We can infer from the passage that ________. A) banks will have to change their ways of doing business B) “free trial” practice will eventually be banned C) privacy protection laws will soon be enforced D) consumers’ privacy will continue to be invaded |