英语六级阅读真题.pdf

英语六级阅读真题1.1990 年A Automation refers to the introduction of electronic control and automatic operation ofproductive machinery.It reduces the human factors,mental and physical,in production,and isdesigned to make possible the manufacture of more goods with fewer workers.The developmentof automation in American industry has been called the“Second Industrial Revolution”.Labours concern over automation arises from uncertainty about the effects onemployment,and fears of major changes in jobs.In the main,labour has taken theview that resistance to technical change is unfruitful.Eventually,the result ofautomation may well be an increase in employment,since it is expected that vastindustries will grow up around manufacturing,maintaining,and repairing automationequipment.The interest of labour lies in bringing about the transition with a minimumof inconvenience and distress to the workers involved.Also,union spokesmenemphasize that the benefit of the increased production and lower costs made possibleby automation should be shared by workers in the form of higher wages,more leisure,and improved living standards.To protect the interests of their members in the era of automation,unions haveadopted a number of new policies.One of these is the promotion of supplementaryunemployment benefit plans.It is emphasized that since the employer involved insuch a plan has a direct financial interest in preventing unemployment,he will have astrong drive for planning new installations so as to cause the least possible problemsin jobs and job assignment.Some unions are working for dismissal pay agreements,requiring that permanently dismissed workers be paid a sum of money based onlength of service.Another approach is the idea of the improvement factor，whichcalls for wage increases based on increases in productivity.It is possible,however,that labour will rely mainly on reduction in working time.21.Though labour worries about the effect of automation,it does not doubt thatA)automation will eventually prevent unemploymentB)automation will help workers acquire new skillsC)automation will eventually benefit the workers no less that the employersD)automation is a trend which cannot be stopped22.The idea of the improvement factor”(Line 6,Para.3)probably implies thatA)wages should be paid on the basis of length of serviceB)the benefit of increased production and lower costs should be shared byworkersC)supplementary unemployment benefit plans should be promotedD)the transition to automation should be brought about with the minimum ofinconvenience and distress to workers23.In order to get the full benefits of automation,labour will depend mostly onA)additional payment to the permanently dismissed workersB)the increase of wages in proportion to the increase in productivityC)shorter working hours and more leisure timeD)a strong drive for planning new installations24.Which of the following can best sum up the passage?A)Advantages and disadvantages of automation.B)Labour and the effects of automation.C)Unemployment benefit plans and automation.D)Social benefits of automation.Questions 25 to 30 are based on the following passage.The case for college has been accepted without question for more than ageneration.All high school graduates ought to go,says conventional wisdom andstatistical evidence,because college will help them earn more money,become“better“people,and learn to be more responsible citizens than those who dont go.But college has never been able to work its magic for everyone.And now thatclose to half our high school graduates are attending,those who dont fit the patternare becoming more numerous,and more obvious.College graduates are selling shoesand driving taxis;college students interfere with each others experiments and writefalse letters of recommendation in the intense competition for admission to graduateschool.Others find no stimulation in their studies,and drop out-often encouraged bycollege administrators.Some observers say the fault!Is with the young people themselves-they arespoiled and they are expecting too much.But thats a condemnation of the students asa whole,and doesnt explain all campus unhappiness.Others blame the state of theworld,and they are partly right.Weve been told that young people have to go tocollege because our economy cant absorb an army of untrained eighteen-year-olds.But disappointed graduates are learning that it can no longer absorb an army oftrained twenty-two-year-olds,either.Some adventuresome educators and campus watchers have openly begun tosuggest that college may not be the best,the proper,the only place for every youngperson after the completion of high school.We may have been looking at all thosesurveys and statistics upside down,it seems,and through the rosy glow of our ownremembered college experiences.Perhaps college doesnt make people intelligent,ambitious,happy,liberal,quick-learning people are merely the ones who have beenattracted to college in the first place.And perhaps all those successful collegegraduates would have been successful whether they had gone to college or not.This isheresy(异端邪说)to those of us who have been brought up to believe that if a littleschooling is good,more has to be much better.But contrary evidence is beginning tomount up.25.According to the passage,the author believes that.A)people used to question the value of college educationB)people used to have full confidence in higher educationC)all high school graduates went to collegeD)very few high school graduates chose to go to college26.In the 2nd paragraph,those who dont fit the pattern refers to.A)high school graduates who arent suitable for college educationB)college graduates who are selling shoes and driving taxisC)college students who arent any better for their higher educationD)high school graduates who failed to be admitted to college27.The drop-out rate of college students seems to go up b e c a u s e.A)young people are disappointed with the conventional way of teaching atcollegeB)many young people are required to join the armyC)young people have little motivation in pursuing a higher educationD)young people dont like the intense competition for admission to graduateschool28.According to the passage the problems of college education partly arise from thefact that.A)society cannot provide enough jobs for properly trained college graduatesB)high school graduates do not fit the pattern of college educationC)too many students have to eai*n their own livingD)college administrators encourage students to drop out29.In this passage the author argues that.A)more and more evidence shows college education may not be the best thingfor high school graduatesB)college education is not enough if one wants to be successfulC)college education benefits only the intelligent,ambitious,and quick-learningpeopleD)intelligent people may learn quicker if they dont go to college30.The“surveys and statistics“mentioned in the last paragraph might have shownthat.A)college-educated people are more successful than non-college-educatedpeopleB)college education was not the first choice of intelligent peopleC)the less schooling a person has the better it is for himD)most people have sweet memories of college lifeQuestions 31 to 35 are based on the following passage.Ours has become a society of employees.A hundred years or so ago only one outof every five Americans at work was employed,i.e.,worked fbr somebody else.Today only one out of five is not employed but working for himself.And when fiftyyears ago being employed meant working as a factory labourer or as a farmhand,the employee of today is increasingly a middle-class person with a substantial formaleducation,holding a professional or management job requiring intellectual andtechnical skills.Indeed,two things have characterized American society during thesefifty years:middle-class and upper-class employees have been the fastest-growinggroups in our working population-growing so fast that the industrial worker,thatoldest child of the Industrial Revolution,has been losing in numerical importancedespite the expansion of industrial production.Yet you will find little if anything written on what it is to be an employee.Youcan find a great deal of very dubious advice on how to get a job or how to get apromotion.You can also find a good deal of work in a chosen field,whether it be themechanists trade or bookkeeping(簿记).Every one of these trades requires differentskills,sets different standards,and requires a different preparation.Yet they all haveemployeeship in common.And increasingly,especially in the large business or ingovernment,employeeship is more important to success than the special professionalknowledge or skill.Certainly more people fail because they do not know therequirements of being an employee than because they do not adequately possess theskills of their trade;the higher you climb the ladder,the more you get intoadministrative or executive work,the greater the emphasis on ability to work withinthe organization rather than on technical abilities or professional knowledge.31.It is implied that fifty years ago.A)eighty per cent of American working people were employed in factoriesB)twenty per cent of American intellectuals were employeesC)the percentage of intellectuals in the total work force was almost the same asthat of industrial workersD)the percentage of intellectuals working as employees was not so large as thatof industrial workers32.According to the passage,with the development of modem i n d u s t r y,.A)factory labourers will overtake intellectual employees in numberB)there are as many middle-class employees as factory labourersC)employers have attached great importance to factory labourersD)the proportion of factory labourers in the total employee population hasdecreased33.The word“dubious”(L.2,Para.2)most probably me a ns.A)valuable B)useful C)doubtful D)helpful34.According to the writer,professional knowledge or skill is.A)less importance than awareness of being a good employeeB)as important as the ability to deal with public relationsC)more important than employer-employee relationsD)more important as the ability to co-operate with others in the organization35.From the passage it can be seen that employeeship helps one.A)to be more successful in his career B)to be more specialized in his fieldC)to solve technical problems D)to develop his professional skillQuestions 36 to 40 are based on the following passage.We all know that the normal human daily cycle of activity is of some 7-8 hourssleep alternation with some 16-17 hours wakefulness and that,broadly speaking,thesleep normally coincides with the hours of darkness.Our present concern is with howeasily and to what extent this cycle can be modified.The question is no mere academic one.The ease,for example,with which peoplecan change from working in the day to working at night is a question of growingimportance in industry where automation calls for round-the-clock working ofmachines.It normally takes from five days to one week for a person to adapt toreversed routine of sleep and wakefulness,sleeping during the day and working atnight.Unfortunately,it is often the case in industry that shifts are changed every week;a person may work from 12 midnight to 8 a.m.one week,8 a.m.to 4 p.m.the next,and 4 p.m.to 12 midnight the third and so on.This means that no sooner has he gotused to one routine than he has to change to another,so that much of his time is spentneither working nor sleeping very efficiently.The only real solution appears to be to hand over the night shift to a number ofpermanent night workers.An interesting study of the domestic life and health ofnight-shift workers was carried out by Brown in 1957.She found a high incidence(发生率)of disturbed sleep and other disorders among those on alternating day and nightshifts,but no abnormal occurrence of these phenomena among those on permanentnight work.This latter system then appears to be the best long-term policy,but meanwhilesomething may be done to relieve the strains of alternate day and night work byselecting those people who can adapt most quickly to the changes of routine.One wayof knowing when a person has adapted is by measuring his body temperature.Peopleengaged in nonnal daytime work will have a high temperature during the hours ofwakefulness and a low one at night;when they change to night work the pattern willonly gradually go back to match the new routine and the speed with which it does soparallels,broadly speaking,the adaptation of the body as a whole,particularly interms of performance.Therefore,by taking body temperature at intervals of two hoursthroughout the period of wakefulness it can be seen how quickly a person can adapt toa reversed routine,and this could be used as a basis for selection.So far,however,such a form of selection does not seem to have been applied in practice.36.Why is the question of“how easily people can get used to working at night”nota mere academic question?A)Because few people like to reverse the cycle of sleep and wakefulness.B)Because sleep normally coincides with the hours of darkness.C)Because people are required to work at night in some fields of industry.D)Because shift work in industry requires people to change their sleeping habits.37.The main problem of the round-the-clock working system lies in.A)the inconveniences brought about to the workers by the introduction ofautomationB)the disturbance of the daily life cycle of workers who have to change shiftstoo frequentlyC)the fact that people working at night are often less effectiveD)the fact that it is difficult to find a number of good night workers38.The best solution for implementing the 24-hour working system seems to beA)to change shifts at longer intervals B)to have longer shiftsC)to arrange for some people to work on night shifts onlyD)to create better living conditions for night workers39.It is possible to find out if a person has adapted to the changes of routine bymeasuring his body temperature b e c a u s e.A)body temperature changes when the cycle of sleep and wakefulness alternatesB)body temperature changes when he changes to night shift or backC)the temperature reverses when the routine is changedD)people have higher temperatures when they are working efficiently40.Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE?A)Body temperature may serve as an indication of a worker performance.B)The selection of a number of permanent night shift workers has proved to bethe best solution to problems of the round-the-clock working system.C)Taking body temperature at regular intervals can show how a person adapts tothe changes of routine.D)Disturbed sleep occurs less frequently among those on permanent night orday shifts.Questions 21 to 25 are based on the following passage.One day in January 1913.G.H.Hardy,a famous Cambridge Universitymathematician received a letter from an Indian named Srinivasa Ramanujan askinghim for his opinion of 120 mathematical theorems(定理)that