英语六级阅读训练.doc

如有侵权，请联系网站删除，仅供学习与交流英语六级阅读训练【精品文档】第 13 页英语六级阅读训练The "standard of living" of any country means the average person's share of the goods and services which the country produces. A country's standard of living, therefore, depends first and foremost on its capacity to produce wealth. "Wealth" in this sense is not money, for we do not live on money but on things that money can buy: "goods" such as food and clothing, and "services" such as transport and entertainment.A country's capacity to produce wealth depends upon many factors, most of which have an effect on one another. Wealth depends to a great extent upon a country's natural resources, such as coal, gold, and other minerals, water supply and so on. Some regions of the world are well supplied with coal and minerals, and have a fertile soil and a favorable climate; other regions possess perhaps only one of these things, and some regions possess none of them. The U. S. A is one of the wealthiest regions of the world because she has vast natural resources within her borders, her soil is fertile, and her climate is varied. The Sahara Desert, on the other hand, is one of the least wealthy.Next to natural resources comes the ability to turn them to use. China is perhaps as well off as the U. S. A. in natural resources, but suffered for many years from civil and external wars, and for this and other reasons was. unable to develop her resources. Sound and stable political conditions, and freedom from foreign invasion, enable a country to develop its natural resources peacefully and steadily, and to produce more wealth than another country equally well served by nature but less well ordered. Another important factor is the technical efficiency of a country's people. Old countries that have, through many centuries, trained up numerous skilled craftsmen and technicians are better placed to produce wealth than countries whose workers are largely unskilled. Wealth also produces wealth. As a country becomes wealthier, its people have a large margin for saving, and can put their savings into factories and machines which will help workers to turn out more goods in their working day.1. A country's wealth depends upon_. ,A. its standard of living B. its moneyC. its ability to provide goods and services D. its ability to provide transport and entertainment2. The word "foremost" means_.A. most importantly B. firstlyC. largely D. for the most part3. The main idea of the second paragraph is that_.A. a country's wealth depends on many factors B. the U. S. A. is one of the wealthiest countries in the worldC. the Sahara Desert is a very poor region D. natural resources are an important factor in the wealth or poverty of a country4. The third paragraph mentions some of the advantages which one country may have over another in making use of its resources. How many such advantages are mentioned in this paragraph?A. 2 B. 3C. 4 D. 55. The second sentence.in Paragraph 3 is_.A. the main idea of the paragraphB. an example supporting the main idea of the paragraphC. the conclusion of the paragraphD. not related to the paragraph1. C 2. A 3. A 4. B 5. BThe productivity of Americans employed in private businesses has declined. The productivity of workers in countries such as Japan and Germany is increasing. American machine tools, on average, are old, relatively inefficient, and rapidly becoming obsolete, whereas those of our competitors overseas, in comparison, are newer and more efficient. We are no longer the most productive workers in the world. We are no longer the leaders in industrial innovation (革新). We are an immenselywealthy nation of educated men and women who seem to have lost sight of the fact that everythingfrom the simplest necessities to the finest luxuriesmust be produced through our own collective hard work. We have come to expect automatic increases in our collective standard of living, but we seem to have forgotten that these increases are possible only when our productivity continues to grow.One thing that must change is the rate at which we substitute capital equipment for human labor. Simply put, our labor force has increased at a far greater rate than has our stock of capital investment. We seem to have forgotten that our past productivity gains, to a large extent, were realized from substitutions of capital for human labor. Today, 3 times as many robots are listed as capital assets by Japanese firms as by United States firms.There is no doubt that robots will become a common sight in American factories. Representing a new generation of technology, robots will replace factory labor much as the farm tractor replaced the horse. Robot technology has much to offer. It offers higher levels of productivity and quality at lower costs; in promises to free men and women from the dull, repetitious toil of the factory, it is likely to have an impact on society comparable to that made by the growth of computer technology.1. The word "obsolete"(Para. 1) most probably means_.A. weak B. oldC. new D. out of date2. The author is anxious about_.A. his people no longer taking the lead in industrial innovationB. his country no longer being a wealthy nationC. his people forgetting to raise their productivityD. his country falling behind other industrial nations3. According to the author, in his country_.A. the proportion of labor force to capital investment is quite lowB. the growth rate of labor force should be greater than that of capital investmentC. the productivity increases should be achieved by the increases of labor forceD. capital investment should have increased more rapidly than labor force4. So far as the influence on society is concerned, _.A. robot technology seems to be much more promising than computer technologyB. computer technology has less to offer than robot technologyC. robot technology can be compared with computer technologyD. robot technology cannot be compared with computer technology5. The purpose of the author in writing this passage is to show that_.A. robots will help increase labor productivityB. robots will rule American factoriesC. robots are cheaper than human laborersD. robots will finally replace humans in factories1. D 2. C 3. D 4. C 5. APronouncing a language is a skill. Every normal person is expert in the skill of pronouncing his own language; but few people are even moderately proficient at pronouncing foreign languages. Now there are many reasons for this, some obvious, some perhaps not so obvious. But I suggest that the fundamental reason why people in general do not speak foreign languages very much better than they do is that they fail to grasp the true nature of the problem of learning to pronounce, and consequently never set about tackling it in the right way. Far too many people fail to realize that pronouncing a foreign language is a skillone that needs careful training of a special kind, and one that cannot be acquired by just leaving it to take care of itself. I think even teachers of language, while recognizing the importance of a good accent, tend to neglect, in their practical teaching, the branch of study concerned with speaking the language. So the first point I want to make is that English pronunciation must be taught; the teacher should be prepared to devote some of the lesson time to this, and should get the student to feel that here is a matter worthy of receiving his close attention. So, there should be occasions when other aspects of English, such as grammar or spelling, are allowed for the moment to take second place.Apart from this question of the time given to pronunciation, there are two other requirements for the teacher: the first, knowledge; the second, technique.It is important that the teacher should be in possession of the necessary information. This can generally be obtained from books. It is possible to get from books some idea of the mechanics of speech, and of what we call general phonetic theory. It is also possible in this way to get a clear mental picture of the relationship between the sounds of different languages, between the speech habits of English people and those, say, of your students. Unless the teacher has such a picture, any comments he may make on his students' pronunciation are unlikely to be of much use, and lesson time spent on pronunciation may well be time wasted.26. What does the writer actually say about pronouncing foreign languages?A. Only a few people are really proficient.B. No one is really an expert in the skill.C. There aren't many people who are even fairly good.D. There are even some people who are moderately proficient.27. The writer argues that going about the problem of pronunciation in the wrong way isA. an obvious cause of not grasping the problem correctlyB. a fundamental consequence of not speaking wellC. a consequence of not grasping the problem correctlyD. not an obvious cause of speaking poorly28. The best way of learning to speak a foreign language, he suggests, is by_.A. picking it up naturally as a childB. learning from a native speakerC. not concentrating on pronunciation as suchD. undertaking systematic work29. The value the student puts on correct speech habits depends upon_.A. how closely he attends to the matterB. whether it is English that is being taughtC. his teacher's approach to pronunciationD. the importance normally given to grammar and spelling30. How might the teacher find himself wasting lesson time?A. By spending lesson time on pronunciation.B. By making ill-informed comments upon pronunciation.C. By not using books on phonetics in the classroom.D. By not giving students a clear mental picture of the difference between sounds.26. C 27. C 28. D 29. C 30.BAn industrial society, especially one as centralized and concentrated as that of Britain, is heavily dependant on certain essential services: for instance, electricity supply, water, rail and road transport, the harbors. The area of dependency has widened to include removing rubbish, hospital and ambulance services, and, as the economy develops, central computer and information services as well. If any of these services ceases to operate, the whole economic system is in danger.It is this interdependency of the economic system that makes the power of trade unions such an important issue. Single trade unions have the ability to cut off many economic blood supplies. This can happen more easily in Britain than in some other countries, in part because the labor force is highly organized. About 55 per cent of British workers belong to unions, compared to under a quarter in the United States. For historical reasons, Britain's unions have tended to develop along trade and occupational lines, rather than on an industry-by-industry basis, which makes wage policy, democracy in industry and the improvement of procedures for fixing wage levels difficult to achieve.There are considerable strains and tensions in the trade union movement, some of them arising from their outdated and inefficient structure. Some unions have lost many members because of industrial changes. Others are involved in arguments about who should represent workers in new trades. Unions for skilled trades are separate from general unions, which means that different levels of wages for certain jobs are often a source of bad feeling between unions. In traditional trades which are being pushed out of existence by advancing technologies, unions can fight for their members' disappearing jobs to the point where the jobs of other union's members are threatened or destroyed. The printing of newspapers both in the United States and in Britain has frequently been halted by the efforts of printers to hold on to their traditional highly-paid jobs.1. Why is the question of trade union power important in Britain?A. The economy is very much interdependent.B. Unions have been established a long time.C. There are more unions in Britain than elsewhere.D. There are many essential services.2. Because of their out-of-date organization some unions find it difficult to_.A. change as industries change B. get new members to join themC. learn new technologies D. bargain for high enough wages3. Disagreements arise between unions because some of themA. try to win over members of other unionsB. ignore agreementsC. protect their own members at the expense of othersD. take over other union's jobs 4. It is difficult to improve the procedures for fixing wage levels because_.A. some industries have no unionsB. unions are not organized according to industriesC. only 55 per cent of workers belong to unionsD. some unions are too powerful5. Which of the following is NOT TRUE?A. There are strains and tensions in the trade union movement.B. Some unions have lost many members.C. Some unions exist in the outdated structure.D. A higher percentage of American workers belong to unions than that of British workers.1. A 2. A 3. C 4. B 5. DIt's a hot summer day, and you, your family, and friends decide to drive to the beach for a cookout.When you get to the beach, the sand and the rocks are so hot that they hurt your bare feet. You put on sneakers in a hurry. The water is so bright and shining in the sun that you can hardly look at it. While the charcoal (木炭) fire is starting to burn in the cookout stove, every one goes for a swim. The water feels goodwarm at the top, but cooler down around your toes.A little wind is blowing when you come out. The fire isn't quite ready for cooking yet, so you play tag (儿童捉人游戏) or read.For lunch there are hot dog, corn, salad and rolls, sodas, fruit, and coffee for the adults. By the time the coffee water boils and the corn and hot dogs are cooked, all the bathing suits are dry. So are the towels spread out on the rocks, in the sun.Lunch is good. Just as you are finishing, it starts to rain so you pack up and run. But nobody minds the rain. It will cool things off.At the same time you were having fun at the beach, work was being done. Energy from the sun was doing work. Energy, in one form or another, does all the work in the world.Heat energy from the sun dried the towels. It heated the sand and the rocks, the water and