2017年6月大學(xué)英語六級真題完整版（第一套）

part i writing （30 minutes）

（請于正式開考后半小時內(nèi)完成該部分，之后將進(jìn)行聽力考試）

directions: suppose you are asked to give advice on whether to major in science or humanities at college， write an essay to state your opinion. you are required to 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.

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

1. a） doing enjoyable work.

c） earning a competitive salary.

b） having friendly colleagues.

d） working for supportive bosses.

2. a） 31%.

b） 20%.

c） 25%.

d） 73%.

3.a） those of a small size.

b） those run by women.

c） those that are well managed.

d） those full of skilled workers.

4. a） they can hop from job to job easily.

b） they can win recognition of their work.

c） they can better balance work and life.

d） they can take on more than one job.

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

5.  a） it is a book of european history. b） it is an introduction to music.

c） it is about the city of bruges. d） it is a collection of photos.

6.a） when painting the concert hall of bruges.

b） when vacationing in an italian coastal city.

c） when taking pictures for a concert catalogue.

d） when writing about belgium’s coastal regions.

7.a） the entire european coastline will be submerged.

b） the rich heritage of europe will be lost completely.

c） the seawater of europe will be seriously polluted.

d）the major european scenic spots will disappear.

8.a） its waterways are being increasingly polluted.

b） people cannot get around without using boats.

c） it attracts large numbers of tourists from home and abroad.

d） tourists use wooden paths to reach their hotels in the morning.

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） they make careful preparations beforehand.

b） they take too many irrelevant factors into account.

c） they spend too much time anticipating their defeat.

d） they try hard to avoid getting off on the wrong foot.

10.a） a person’s nervous system is more complicated than imagined.

b）golfers usually have positive mental images of themselves.

c） mental images often interfere with athletes’ performance.

d） thinking has the same effect on the nervous system as doing.

11.a） anticipate possible problems.

b） make a list of do’s and don’ts.

c） picture themselves succeeding.

d） try to appear more professional.

12.a） she wore a designer dress.     b） she won her first jury trial.

c） she did not speak loud enough. d） she presented moving pictures.

questions 13 to 15 are based on the passage you have just heard.

13.a） its long-term effects are yet to be proved.

b）its health benefits have been overestimated.

c） it helps people to avoid developing breast cancer.

d） it enables patients with diabetes to recover sooner.

14.a） it focused on their ways of life during young adulthood.

b） it tracked their change in food preferences for 20 years.

c） it focused on their difference from men in fiber intake.

d） it tracked their eating habits since their adolescence.

15.a） fiber may help to reduce hormones in the body.

b） fiber may bring more benefits to women than men.

c） fiber may improve the function of heart muscles.

d） fiber may make blood circulation more smooth.

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 to18 are based on the recording you have just heard.

16.a） observing the changes in marketing.

b） conducting research on consumer behaviour.

c） studying the hazards of young people drinking.

d） investigating the impact of media on government.

17.a） it is the cause of many street riots.    b） it is getting worse year by year.

c） it is a chief concern of parents. d） it is an act of socialising.

18.a） they spent a week studying their own purchasing behaviour.

b） they researched the impact of mobile phones on young people.

c） they analysed their family budgets over the years.

d） they conducted a thorough research on advertising.

questions 19 to 22 are based on the recording you have just heard.

19.  a） it is helping its banks to improve efficiency.

b） it is trying hard to do away with dirty money.

c） it is the first country to use credit cards in the world.

d） it is likely to give up paper money in the near future.

20. a） whether it is possible to travel without carrying any physical currency.

b）whether it is possible to predict how much money one is going to spend.

c） whether the absence of physical currency causes a person to spend more.

d） whether the absence of physical currency is going to affect everyday life.

21.a） there was no food service on the train. b） the service on the train was not good.

c） the restaurant car accepted cash only.     d） the cash in her handbag was missing.

22.a） by putting money into envelopes.    b） by drawing money week by week.

c） by limiting their day-to-day spending. d） by refusing to buy anything on credit.

questions 23 to 25 are based on the recordingyou have just heard.

23. a） population explosion. b） extinction of rare species.

c） chronic hunger.     d） environmental deterioration.

24. a） they contribute to overpopulation.    b） about half of them are unintended.

c） they have been brought under control. d） the majority of them tend to end halfway.

25. a） it is essential to the wellbeing of all species on earth.

b） it is becoming a subject of interdisciplinary research.

c） it is neglected in many of the developing countries.

d） it is beginning to attract postgraduates’ attention.

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.

questions 26 to 35 are based on the following passage.

after becoming president of purdue university in 2013, mitch daniels asked the faculty to prove that their students have actually achieved one of higher education's most important goals: critical thinking skills. two years before, a nationwide study of college graduates had shown that more than a third had made no __26__ gains in such mental abilities during their school years. mr. daniels needed to __27__ the high cost of attending purdue to its students and their families. after all, the percentage of americans who say a college degree is "very important" has fallen __28__ in the last 5-6 years.

purdue now has a pilot test to assess students' critical thinking skills. yet like many college teachers around the u.s., the faculty remain __29__ that their work as educators can be measured by a "learning __30__" such as a graduate's ability to investigate and reason. however, the professors need not worry so much. the results of a recent experiment showed that professors can use __31__ metrics to measure how well students do in three key areas: critical thinking, written communication, and quantitative literacy.

despite the success of the experiment, the actual results are worrisome, and mostly __32__ earlier studies. the organizers of the experiment concluded that far fewer students were achieving at high levels on critical thinking than they were doing for written communication or quantitative literacy. and that conclusion is based only on students nearing graduation.

american universities, despite their global __33__ for excellence in teaching, have only begun to demonstrate what they can produce in real-world learning. knowledge-based de(grees are still important, but employers are __34__ advanced thinking skills from college graduates. if the intellectual worth of a college degree can be __35__ measured, more people will seek higher education—and come out better thinkers.

a） accurately  b） confirm  c） demanding  d） doubtful  e） drastically  f） justify  g） monopolized  h） outcome   i） predominance  j） presuming  k） reputation  l） significant  m） signify

n） simultaneously   o） standardized

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.

the price of oil and the price of carbon

a） fossil fuel prices are likely to stay "low for long". notwithstanding important recent progressin developing renewable fuel sources, low fossil fuel prices could discourage further innovationin, and adoption of, cleaner energy technologies. the result would be higher emissions ofcarbon dioxide and other house gases.

b） policymakers should not allow low energy prices to derail the clean energy transition. actionto restore appropriate price incentives, notably through corrective carbon pricing, is urgentlyneeded to lower the risk of irreversible and potentially devastating effects of climate change. that approach also offers fiscal benefits.

c） oil prices have dropped by over 60% since june 2014. a commonly held view in the oilindustry is that "the best cure for low oil prices is low oil prices". the reasoning behind thissaying is that low oil prices discourage investment in new production capacity, eventuallyshifting the oil supply curve backward and bringing prices back up as existing oil fields—whichcan be tapped at relatively low marginal cost—are depleted. in fact, in line with past experience, capital expenditure in the oil sector has dropped sharply in many producing countries, including the united states. the dynamic adjustment to low oil prices may, however, bedifferent this time around.

d） oil prices are expected to remain lower for longer. the advent of new technologies has addedabout 4.2 million barrels per day to the crude oil market, contributing to a global over-supply. in addition, other factors are putting downward pressure on oil prices: change in thestrategic behavior of the organization of petroleum exporting countries, the projectedincrease in iranian exports, the scaling-down of global demand （especially from emergingmarkets）, the long-term drop in petroleum consumption in the united states, and somedisplacement of oil by substitutes. these likely persistent forces, like the growth of shale （頁巖） oil, point to a "low for long" scenario. futures markets, which show only a modest recovery ofprices to around $60 a barrel by 2019, support this view.

e） natural gas and coal—also fossil fuels—have similarly seen price declines that look to be long-lived. coal and natural gas are mainly used for electricity generation, whereas oil is used mostlyto power transportation, yet the prices of all these energy sources are linked. the northamerican shale gas boom has resulted in record low prices there. the recent discovery of thegiant zohr gas field off the egyptian coast will eventually have impact on pricing in themediterranean region and europe, and there is significant development potential in many otherplaces, notably argentina. coal prices also are low, owing to over-supply and the scaling-downof demand, especially from china, which bums half of the world's coal.

f） technological innovations have unleashed the power of renewables such as wind, hydro, solar, and geothermal （地?zé)幔? even africa and the middle east, home to economies that areheavily dependent on fossil fuel exports, have enormous potential to develop renewables. for example, the united arab emirates has endorsed an ambitious target to draw 24% of itsprimary energy consumption from renewable sources by 2021.

g） progress in the development of renewables could be fragile, however, if fossil fuel pricesremain low for long. renewables account for only a small share of global primary energyconsumption, which is still dominated by fossil fuels—30% each for coal and oil, 25% for naturalgas. but renewable energy will have to displace fossil fuels to a much greater extent in thefuture to avoid unacceptable climate risks.

h） unfortunately, the current low prices for oil, gas, and coal may provide little incentive forresearch to find even cheaper substitutes for those fuels. there is strong evidence that bothinnovation and adoption of cleaner technology are strongly encouraged by higher fossil fuelprices. the same is true for new technologies for alleviating fossil fuel emissions.

i） the current low fossil fuel price environment will thus certainly delay the energy transitionfrom fossil fuel to clean energy sources. unless renewables become cheap enough thatsubstantial carbon deposits are left underground for a very long time, if not forever, theplanet will likely be exposed to potentially catastrophic climate risks.

j） some climate impacts may already be discernible. for example, the united nations children'sfund estimates that some 11 million children in africa face hunger, disease, and watershortages as a result of the strongest el nino （厄爾尼諾） weather phenomenon in decades. many scientists believe that el nino events, caused by warming in the pacific, are becoming moreintense as a result of climate change.

k） nations from around the world have gathered in paris for the united nations climate changeconference, cop 21, with the goal of a universal and potentially legally-binding agreement onreducing house gas emissions. we need very broad participation to fully address theglobal tragedy that results when countries fail to take into account the negative impact oftheir carbon emissions on the rest of the world. moreover, non-participation by nations, ifsufficiently widespread, can undermine the political will of participating countries to act.

l） the nations participating at cop 21 are focusing on quantitative emissions-reductioncommitments. economic reasoning shows that the least expensive way for each country is toput a price on carbon emissions. the reason is that when carbon is priced, those emissionsreductions that are least costly to implement will happen first. the international monetaryfund calculates that countries can generate substantial fiscal revenues by eliminating fossilfuel subsidies and levying carbon charges that capture the domestic damage caused byemissions. a tax on upstream carbon sources is one easy way to put a price on carbonemissions, although some countries may wish to use other methods, such as emissions tradingschemes. in order to maximize global welfare, every country's carbon pricing should reflectnot only the purely domestic damage from emissions, but also the damage to foreigncountries.

m） setting the right carbon price will therefore efficiently align the costs paid by carbon userswith the true social opportunity cost of using carbon. by raising relative demand for cleanenergy sources, a carbon price would also help align the market return to clean-energyinnovation with its social return, spurring the refinement of existing technologies and thedevelopment of new ones. and it would raise the demand for technologies such as carboncapture and storage, spurring their further development. if not corrected by the appropriatecarbon price, low fossil fuel prices are not accurately signaling to markets the true socialprofitability of clean energy. while alternative estimates of the damage from carbon emissionsdiffer, and it's especially hard to reckon the likely costs of possible catastrophic climate events, most estimates suggest substantial negative effects.

n） direct subsidies to research and development have been adopted by some governments butare a poor substitute for a carbon price: they do only part of the job, leaving in place marketincentives to over-use fossil fuels and thereby add to the stock of atmospherichousegases without regard to the collateral （附帶的） costs.

o） the hope is that the success of cop 21 opens the door to future international agreement oncarbon prices. agreement on an international carbon-price floor would be a good starting pointin that process. failure to address comprehensively the problem of house gasemissions, however, exposes all generations, present and future, to incalculable risks.

36. a number of factors are driving down the global oil prices not just for now but in theforeseeable future.

37. pricing carbon proves the most economical way to reduce house gas emissions.

38. it is estimated that extreme weather conditions have endangered the lives of millions ofafrican children.

39. the prices of coal are low as a result of over-supply and decreasing demand.

40. higher fossil fuel prices prove to be conducive to innovation and application of cleanertechnology.

41. if fossil fuel prices remain low for a long time, it may lead to higher emissions of house gases.

42. fossil fuels remain the major source of primary energy consumption in today's world.

43. even major fossil exporting countries have great potential to develop renewable energies.

44. house gas emissions, if not properly dealt with, will pose endless risks for mankind.

45. it is urgent for governments to increase the cost of using fossil fuels to an appropriatelevel to lessen the catastrophic effects of climate change.

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.

open data sharers are still in the minority in many fields. although many researchers broadlyagree that public access to raw data would accelerate science, most are reluctant to post theresults of their own labors online.

some communities have agreed to share online—geneticists, for example, post dna sequencesat the genbank repository （庫） , and astronomers are accustomed to accessing images ofgalaxies and stars from, say, the sloan digital sky survey, a telescope that has observed some 500 million objects—but these remain the exception, not the rule. historically, scientists haveobjected to sharing for many reasons: it is a lot of work; until recently, good databases did notexist; grant funders were not pushing for sharing; it has been difficult to agree on standardsfor formatting data; and there is no agreed way to assign credit for data.

but the barriers are disappearing, in part because journals and funding agencies worldwide areencouraging scientists to make their data public. last year, the royal society in london said inits report that scientists need to "shift away from a research culture where data is viewed as aprivate preserve". funding agencies note that data paid for with public money should be publicinformation, and the scientific community is recognizing that data can now be shared digitally inways that were not possible before. to match the growing demand, services are springing up tomake it easier to publish research products online and enable other researchers to discover andcite them.

although calls to share data often concentrate on the moral advantages of sharing, thepractice is not purely altruistic （利他的）. researchers who share get plenty of personal benefits, including more connections with colleagues, improved visibility and increased citations. themost successful sharers—those whose data are downloaded and cited the most often---getnoticed, and their work gets used. for example, one of the most popular data sets onmultidisciplinary repository dryad is about wood density around the world; it has beendownloaded 5,700 times. co-author amy zanne thinks that users probably range from climate-change researchers wanting to estimate how much carbon is stored in biomass, to foresterslooking for information on different grades of timber. "i'd much prefer to have my data used bythe maximum number of people to ask their own questions," she says. "it's important to allowreaders and reviewers to see exactly how you arrive at your results. publishing data and codeallows your science to be reproducible."

even people whose data are less popular can benefit. by making the effort to organize andlabel files so others can understand them, scientists become more organized and betterdisciplined themselves, thus avoiding confusion later on.

46. what do many researchers generally accept?

a） it is imperative to protect scientists' patents.

b） repositories are essential to scientific research.

c） open data sharing is most important to medical science.

d） open data sharing is conducive to scientific advancement.

47. what is the attitude of most researchers towards making their own data public?

a） opposed.

b） ambiguous.

c） liberal.

d） neutral.

48. according to the passage, what might hinder open data sharing?

a） the fear of massive copying.

b） the lack of a research culture.

c） the belief that research data is private intellectual property.

d） the concern that certain agencies may make a profit out of it.

49. what helps lift some of the barriers to open data sharing?

a） the ever-growing demand for big data.

b） the advancement of digital technology.

c） the changing attitude of journals and funders.

d） the trend of social and economic development.

50. dryad serves as an example to show how open data sharing ________.

a） is becoming increasingly popular

b） benefits sharers and users alike

c） makes researchers successful

d） saves both money and labor

passage two

questions 51 to 55 are based on the following passage.

macy's reported its sales plunged 5.2% in november and december at stores open more than ayear, a disappointing holiday season performance that capped a difficult year for adepartment store chain facing wide-ranging challenges. its flagship stores in major u.s. citiesdepend heavily on international tourist spending, which shrank at many retailers due to a strongdollar. meanwhile, macy's has simply struggled to lure consumers who are more interested inspending on travel or dining out than on new clothes or accessories.

the company blamed much of the poor performance in november and december onunseasonably warm weather. "about 80% of our company's year-over-year declines incomparable sales can be attributed to shortfalls （短缺） in cold-weather goods," said chiefexecutive teny lundgren in a press release. this prompted the company to cut its forecastsfor the full fourth quarter.

however, it's clear that macy's believes its troubles run deeper than a temporary aberration （偏離） off the thermometer. the retail giant said the poor financial performance this year haspushed it to begin implementing $400 million in cost-cutting measures. the company pledged tocut 600 back-office positions, though some 150 workers in those roles would be reassigned toother jobs. it also plans to offer "voluntary separation" packages to 165 senior executives. itwill slash staffing at its fleet of 770 stores, a move affecting some 3,000 employees.

the retailer also announced the locations of 36 stores it will close in early 2016. the companyhad previously announced the planned closures, but had not said which locations would beaffected. none of the chain's stores in the washington metropolitan area are to be closed.

macy's has been moving aggressively to try to remake itself for a new era of shopping. it hasplans to open more locations of macy's backstage, a newly-developed off-price concept whichmight help it better compete with ambitious t. j. maxx. it's also pushing ahead in 2016 withan expansion of bluemercury, the beauty chain it bought last year. at a time when youngbeauty shoppers are often turning to sephora or ulta instead of department store beautycounters, macy's hopes bluemercury will help strengthen its position in the category.

one relative bright spot for macy's during the holiday season was the online channel, where itrang up "double-digit" increases in sales and a 25% increase in the number of orders it filled. that relative strength would be consistent with what was seen in the wilder retail industryduring the early part of the holiday season. while thanksgiving, black friday and cyber mondayall saw record spending online, in-store sales plunged over the holiday weekend.

51. what does the author say about the shrinking spending of international tourists in theu.s.?

a） it is attributable to the rising value of the u.s. dollar.

b） it is a direct result of the global economic recession.

c） it reflects a shift of their interest in consumer goods.

d） it poses a potential threat to the retail business in the u.s.

52. what does macy's believe about its problems?

a） they can be solved with better management.

b） they cannot be attributed to weather only.

c） they are not as serious in its online stores.

d） they call for increased investments.

53. in order to cut costs, macy's decided to ________.

a） cut the salary of senior executives

b） relocate some of its chain stores

c） adjust its promotion strategies

d） reduce the size of its staff

54. why does macy's plan to expand bluemercury in 2016?

a） to experiment on its new business concept.

b） to focus more on beauty products than clothing.

c） to promote sales of its products by lowering prices.

d） to be more competitive in sales of beauty products.

55. what can we learn about macy's during the holiday season?

a） sales dropped sharply in its physical stores.

b） its retail sales exceeded those of t. j. maxx.

c） it helped bluemercury establish its position worldwide.

d） it filled its stores with abundant supply of merchandise.

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.

明朝統(tǒng)治中國276年，被人們描繪成人類歷史上治理有序、社會穩(wěn)定的最偉大的時代之一。這一時期，手工業(yè)的發(fā)展促進(jìn)了市場經(jīng)濟(jì)和城市化。大量商品，包括酒和絲綢，都在市場銷售。同時，還進(jìn)口許多外國商品，如時鐘和煙草。北京、南京、揚(yáng)州、蘇州這樣的大商業(yè)中心相繼形成。也是在明代，由鄭和率領(lǐng)的船隊曾到印度洋進(jìn)行了七次大規(guī)模探險航行。還值得一提的是，中國文學(xué)的四大經(jīng)典名著中有三部寫于明代。