历年大学英语六级考试阅读理解真题.pdf

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1、历年大学英语六级考试阅读理解真题2007年 6 月大学英语六级考试阅读理解真题You hear the refrain all the time:the U.S.economy looks good statistically,but itdoesn*t feel good.Why doesn,t ever-greater wealth promote ever-greater happiness?It is a question that dates at least to the appearance in 1958 of The Affluent（富裕的）Society by John

2、Kenneth Galbraith,who died recently at 97.The Affluent Society is a modern classic because it helped define a new moment inthe human condition.For most of history,“hunger,sickness,and cold”threatenednearly everyone,Galbraith wrote.Poverty was found everywhere in that world.Obviously it is not of our

3、s.”After World War II,the dread of another GreatDepression gave way to an economic boom.In the 1930s unemployment hadaveraged 18.2 percent;in the 1950s it was 4.5 percent.To Galbraith,materialism had gone mad and would breed discontent.Throughadvertising,companies conditioned consumers to buy things

4、 they didn t really wantor need.Because so much spending was artificial,it would be unfulfilling.Meanwhile,government spending that would make everyone better off was beingcut down because people instinctivelyand wronglylabeled government only as anecessary eviLIt s often said that only the rich are

5、 getting ahead;everyone else is standing stillor falling behind.Well,there are many undeserving rich-overpaid chief executives,for instance.But over any meaningful period,most people s incomes are increasing.From 1995 to 2004,inflation-adjusted average family income rose 14.3 percent,to$43,200.peopl

6、e feel“squeezed“because their rising incomes often dont satisfy theirrising wants-for bigger homes,more health care,more education,faster Internetconnections.The other great frustration is that it has not eliminated insecurity.People regard jobstability as part of their standard of living.As corpora

7、te layoffs increased,that part haseroded.More workers fear they ve become“the disposable American/9 as LouisUchitelle puts it in his book by the same name.Because so much previous suffering and social conflict stemmed from poverty,thearrival of widespread affluence suggested utopian（乌托邦式的）possibilit

8、ies.Up to apoint,affluence succeeds.There is much les physical misery than before.People arebetter off.Unfortunately,affluence also creates new complaints andcontradictions.Advanced societies need economic growth to satisfy the multiplying wants of theircitizens.But the quest for growth lets loose n

9、ew anxieties and economic conflicts thatdisturb the social order.Affluence liberates the individual,promising that everyonecan choose a unique way to self-fulfillment.But the promise is soextravagant that it predestines many disappointments and sometimes inspireschoices that have anti-social consequ

10、ences,including family breakdown and obesity（月 巴 月 半 症）.Statistical indicators of happiness have not risen with incomes.Should we be surprised?Not really.We ve simply reaffirmed an old truth:thepursuit of affluence does not always end with happiness.52.What question does John Kenneth Galbraith raise

11、 in his book The AffluentSociety?A)Why statistics don t tell the truth about the economy.1B)Why affluence doesn t guarantee happiness.C)How happiness can be promoted today.D)What lies behind an economic boom.53.According to Galbraith,people feel discontented b e c a u s e.A)public spending hasn t be

12、en cut down as expectedB)the government has proved to be a necessary evilC)they are in fear of another Great DepressionD)materialism has run wild in modem society54.Why do people feel squeezed when their average income rises considerably?A)Their material pursuits have gone far ahead of their earning

13、s.B)Their purchasing power has dropped markedly with inflation.C)The distribution of wealth is uneven between the r5ich and the poor.D)Health care and educational cost have somehow gone out of control.55.What does Louis Uchitelle mean by“the disposable American(Line 3,Para.5)?A)Those who see job sta

14、bility as part of their living standard.B)People full of utopian ideas resulting from affluence.C)People who have little say in American politics.D)Workers who no longer have secure jobs.56.What has affluence brought to American society?A)Renewed economic security.B)A sense of self-fulfillment.C)New

15、 conflicts and complaints.D)Misery and anti-social behavior.Passage TwoThe use of deferential(敬重的)language is symbolic of the Confucian ideal of thewoman,which dominates conservative gender norms in Japan.This ideal presents awoman who withdraws quietly to the background,subordinating her life and n

16、eeds tothose of her family and its male head.She is a dutiful daughter,wife,and mother,master of the domestic arts.The typical refined Japanese woman excels in modestyand delicacy;she“treads softly(谨言慎行)in the world,“elevating feminine beautyand grace to an art form.Nowadays,it is commonly observed

17、that young women are not conforming to thefeminine linguistic(语言的)ideal.They are using fewer of the very deferential“women s forms,and even using the few strong forms that are know as men s.This,of course,attracts considerable attention and has led to an outcry in the Japanesemedia against the defem

18、inization of womens language.Indeed,we didn t hear about“men s language“until people began to respond to girls appropriation of formsnormally reserved for boys and men.There is considerable sentiment about the“corruption“of women s language-which of course is viewed as part of the loss offeminine id

19、eals and morality-and this sentiment is crystallized by nationwideopinion polls that are regularly carried out by the media.Yoshiko Matsumoto has argued that young women probably never used as many ofthe highly deferential forms as older women.This highly polite style is no doubtsomething that young

20、 women have been expected to“grow into”after all,it isassign not simply of femininity,but of maturity and refinement,and its use could betaken to indicate a change in the nature of one s social relations as well.One mightwell 2imagine little girls using exceedingly polite forms when playing house or

21、 imitatingolder womenin a fashion analogous to little girls use of a high-pitched voice to doteacher talk or mother talk in role play.The fact that young Japanese women are using less deferential language is a suresign of changeof social change and of linguistic change.But it is most certainly nota

22、sign of the Umasculization,5 of girls.In some instances,it may be a sign that girls aremaking the same claim to authority as boys and men,but that is very different fromsaying that they are trying to be“masculine.Katsue Reynolds has argued that girlsnowadays are using more assertive language strateg

23、ies in order to be able to competewith boys in schools and out.Social change also brings not simply different positionsfor women and girls,but different relations to life stages,and adolescent girls areparticipating in new subcultural forms.Thus what may,to an older speaker,seem like“masculine“speec

24、h may seem to an adolescent like“liberated”or hip”speech.57.The first paragraph describes in det ai l.A)the standards set for contemporary Japanese womenB)the Confucian influence on gender norms in JapanC)the stereotyped role of women in Japanese familiesD)the norms for traditional Japanese women to

25、 follow58.What change has been observed in today s young Japanese women?A)They pay less attention to their linguistic behavior.B)The use fewer of the deferential linguistic forms.C)They confuse male and female forms of language.D)They employ very strong linguistic expressions.59.How do some people r

26、eact to women s appropriation of men,s language formsas reported in the Japanese media?A)They call for a campaign to stop the defeminization.B)The see it as an expression of women s sentiment.C)They accept it as a modern trend.D)They express strong disapproval.60.According to Yoshiko Matsumoto,the l

27、inguistic behavior observed in today?syoung wome n.A)may lead to changes in social relationsB)has been true of all past generationsC)is viewed as a sign of their maturityD)is a result of rapid social progress61.The author believes that the use of assertive language by young Japanese womenis.A)a sure

28、 sign of their defeminization and maturationB)an indication of their defiance against social changeC)one of their strategies to compete in a male-dominated society D)an inevitabletrend of linguistic development in Japan today2007年 12月大学英语六级考试阅读理解真题Passage OneLike most people,V ve long understood tha

29、t I will be judged by my occupation,3that my profession is a gauge people use to see how smart or talented I am.Recently,however,I was disappointed to see that it also decides how V m treated as a person.Last year I left a professional position as a small-town reporter and took a jobwaiting tables.A

30、s someone paid to serve food to people.I had customers say and dothings to me I suspect they d never say or do to their most casual acquaintances.Onenight a man talking on his cell phone waved me away,then beckoned(示意)me backwith his finger minute later,complaining he was ready to order and asking w

31、here I dbeen.I had waited tables during summers in college and was treated like a peon(勤杂工)plenty of people.But at 19 years old,I believed I deserved inferior treatment fromprofessional adults.Besides,people responded to me differently after I told them Iwas in college.Customers would joke that one

32、day r d be sitting at their table,waiting to be served.Once I graduated I took a job at a community newspaper.From my first day,I hearda respectful tone from everyone who called me.I assumed this was the way theprofessional world worked-cordially.I soon found out differently.I sat several feet away

33、from an advertising salesrepresentative with a similar name.Our calls would often get mixed up and someoneasking for Kristen would be transferred to Christie.The mistake was immediatelyevident.Perhaps it was because money was involved,but people used a tone withKristen that they never used with me.M

34、y job title made people treat me with courtesy.So it was a shock to return to therestaurant industry.It，s no secret that there?s a lot to put up with when waiting tables,and fortunately,much of it can be easily forgotten when you pocket the tips.The service industry,bydefinition,exists to cater to o

35、thers needs.Still,it seemed that many of my customersdidn t get the difference between server and servant.r m now applying to graduated school,which means someday V 1 1 return to aprofession where people need to be nice to me in order to get what they want,I thinkr 1 1 take them to dinner first,and

36、see how they treat someone whose only job is toserve them.52.The author was disappointed to find t hat.A)one,s position is used as a gauge to measure one,s intelligenceB)talented people like her should fail to get a respectable jobC)one,s occupation affects the way one is treated as a personD)profes

37、sionals tend to look down upon manual workers53 What does the author intend to say by the example in the second paragraph?A)Some customers simply show no respect to those who serve them.B)People absorbed in a phone conversation tend to be absent-minded.C)Waitresses are often treated by customers as

38、casual acquaintances.D)Some customers like to make loud complaints for no reason at all.54.How did the author feel when waiting tables at the age of 19?A)She felt it unfair to be treated as a mere servant by professional.B)She felt badly hurt when her customers regarded her as a peon.C)She was embar

39、rassed each time her customers joked with her.D)She found it natural for professionals to treat her as inferior.455.What does the author imply by saying”,many of my customers didn,t getthe difference between server and servant”(Lines 3-4,Para.7)?A)Those who cater to others needs are destined to be l

40、ooked down upon.B)Those working in the service industry shouldn,t be treated as servants.C)Those serving others have to put up with rough treatment to earn a living.D)The majority of customers tend to look on a servant as server nowadays.56.The author says she 1 1 one day take her clients to dinner

41、in order to.A)see what kind of person they areB)experience the feeling of being servedC)show her generosity towards people inferior to herD)arouse their sympathy for people living a humble lifePassage TwoWhat s hot for 2007 among the very rich?A$7.3million diamond ring.A trip toTanzania to hunt wild

42、 animals.Oh,and income inequality.Sure,some leftish billionaires like George Soros have been railing against incomeinequality for years.But increasingly,centrist and right-wing billionaires are staringto worry about income inequality and the fate of the middle class.In December,Mortimer Zuckerman wr

43、ote a column in U.S.News&WorldReport,which he owns,“our nation,s core bargain with the middle class isdisintegrating,5,lamented(哀 叹)the 117th-richest man in America.Most of oureconomic gains have gone to people at the very top of the income ladder.Averageincome for a household of people of worki

44、ng age,by contrast,has fallen five years ina raw.He noted that“Tens of millions of Americans live in fear that a major healthproblem can reduce them to bankruptcy.Wilbur Ross Jr.has echoed Zuckerman?s anger over the bitter struggles faced bymiddle-class Americans.ttIt,s an outrage that any American?

45、s life expectancy shouldbe shortened simply because the company they worked for went bankrupt and endedhealth-care coverage,M said the former chairman of the International Steel Group.What s happening?The very rich are just as trendy as you and I,and can be sowhen it comes to politics and policy.Giv

46、en the recent change of control in Congress,the popularity of measures like increasing the minimum wage,and efforts byCalifornia?s governor to offer universal health care,these guys don,t need theirown personal weathermen to know which way the wind blows.It s possible that plutocrats(有钱有势的人)are expr

47、essing solidarity with thestruggling middle class as part of an effort to insulate themselves from confiscatory(没收性的)tax policies.But the prospect that income inequality will lead to highertaxes on the wealthy doesn t keep plutocrats up at night.They can live with that.No,what they fear was that the

48、 political challenges of sustaining support for globaleconomic integration will be more difficult in the United States because of what hashappened to the distribution of income and economic insecurity.In other words,if middle-class Americans continue to struggle financially as theultra wealthy grow

49、ever wealthier,it will be increasingly difficult to maintain politicalsupport for the free flow of goods,services,and capital across borders.And when theUnited States places obstacles in the way of foreign investors and foreign goods,it slikely to encourage reciprocal action abroad.For people who bu

50、y and sell companies,or who allocate capital to markets all around the world,that s the 5real nightmare.57.What is the current topic of common interest among the very rich in America?A)The fate of the ultrawealthy people.B)The disintegration of the middle class.C)The inequality in the distribution o