2018年12月大学英语六级考试真题（第2套)Part IWriting(30 minutes)Directions:For this part,you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay on how to balance job responsibilities andpersonal interests.You should write at least 150 words but no more than 200 words.Listening Comprehension(30 minutes）SectionADirections:In this section,you will hear two long conversations At the end of each conversation,you will hear fourquestions.Both the conversation and the questions will be spoken only once.After you hear a question,you must choose thebest answer from the four choices marked A),B),C)and D).Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1 witha single line through the centre.Questionsl to 4 are based on the conversation you have just heard.1.A)Stop worrying about him.B)Keep away from the statue.C)Take a picture of him.D)Put on a smile for the photo.2.A)Gaining great fame on the Intemet.B)Publishing a collection of his photos.C)Collecting the best photos in the world.D)Becoming a professional photographer.3.A)Surfing various websites and collecting photos.B)Editing his pictures and posting them online.C)Following similar accounts to compare notes.D)Studying the pictures in popular social media.4.A)They are far from satisfactory.B)They are mostly taken by her mom.C)They make an impressive album.D)They record her fond memories.Questions 5 to 8 are based on the conversation you have just heard.5.A)A journal reporting the latest progress in physics.B)An introductory course of modem physics.C)An occasion for physicists to exchange ideas.D)A series of interviews with outstanding physicists.6.A)The future of the physical world.C)Sources of radiation.D)Particle theory.7.A)How matter collides with anti-matter.B)Whether the universe will tum barren.C)Why there exists anti-matter.D)Why there is a universe at all.8.A)Matter and anti-matter are opposites ofeach other.B)Anti-matter allowed humans to come into existence.C)The universe formed due to a sufficient amount of matter.D)Anti-matter exists in very high-temperature environments.Section BDirections: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 answerfrom the four choices marked A),B),C)and D).Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1 with a single linethrough the centre.Questions 9 to 11 are based on the passage you have just heard.-1-9.A)She found herself speaking a foreign language.B)She woke up speaking with a different accent.C)She found some symptoms of her illness gone.D)She woke up finding herself in another country.10.A)It is usually caused by a stroke or brain injury.B)It has not yet found any effective treatment.C)It leaves the patient with a distorted memory.D)It often happens to people with speech defects.11.A)British.B)Irish.C)Russian.D)Australian.Questions 12 to 15 are based on the passage you have just heard.12.A)Water sports.B)Racing in rivers.C)Stories about women swimmers.D)Books about swimming.13.A)She succeeded in swimming across the English Channel.B)She published a guide to London's best swimming spots.C)She told her story of adventures to some young swimmers.D)She wrote a book about the history of swimwear in the UK14.A)They loved vacationing on the seashore.B)They had a unique notion of modesty.C)They were prohibited from swimming.D)They were fully dressed when swimming.15.A)She designed lots of appropriate swimwear for women.B)She once successfully competed against men in swimming.C)She was the first woman to swim across the English Channel.D)She was an advocate of women's right to swim in public pools.Section CDirections:In this section,you will hear three recordings of lectures or talks followed by three or four questions.Therecordings will be played only once.After you hear a question,you must choose the best answer from the four choicesmarked A),B),C)and D).Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1 with a single line through the centre.Questions 16 to 18 are based on the recording you have just heard.16.A)Build a machine that can detect lies.B)Develop a magnetic brain scanner.C)Test the credibility of court evidence.D)Win people's complete trust in them.17.A)They are optimistic about its potential.B)They are sceptical of its reliability.C)They think it is but business promotion.D)They celebrate it with great enthusiasm.18.A)It is not to be trusted at all.B)It does not sound economical.C)It may intrude into people's privacy.D)It may lead to overuse in court trials.Questions 19 to 21 are based on the recording you have just heard.19.A)Most of its residents speak several languages.B)Some of its indigenous languages are dying outC)Each village there speaks a totally different language.D)Its languages have interested researchers the world over.-2-20.A)They are spread randomly across the world.B)Some are more difficult to leam than others.C)More are found in tropical regions than in the mild zones.D)They enrich and impact each other in more ways than one.21.A)They used different methods to collect and analyze data.B)They identified distinct pattems of language distribution.C)Their conclusions do not correspond to their original hypotheses.D)There is no conclusive account for the cause of language diversity.Questions 22 to 25 are based on the recording you have just heard.22.A)Its middle-class is disappearing.C)Its population is rapidly growing.D)Its cherished dream is coming true.23.A)Success was but a dream without conscientious effort.B)They could realize their dreams through hard work.C)A few dollars could go a long wayD)Wealth was shared by all citizens.24.A)Better working conditions.B)Better-paying jobs.C)High social status.D)Full employment.25.A)Reduce the administrative costs.B)Adopt effective business models.C)Hire part-time employees only.D)Make use of the latest technologyReading Comprehension(40 minutes)SectionADirections:In this section,there is a passage with ten blanks.You are required to select one word for each blank from a listof 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 2with 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.Surfing the Internet during class doesn't just steal focus from the educator;it also hurts students who're alreadystruggling to 26 the material.A new study from Michigan State University,though,argues that allstudents-including high achievers-see a decline in performance when they browse the Intemet during class fornon-academic purposes.To measure the effects of Internet-based distractions during class,researchers27 500 students taking anintroductory psychology class at Michigan State University.Researchers used ACTscores as a measure of intellectual28.Because previous research has shown that people with high intellectual abilities are better at 29outdistractions,researchers believed students with high ACT scores would not show a 30 decrease in performance dueto their use of digital devices.But students who surfed the web during class did worse on their exams regardless of theirACT scores,suggesting that even the academically smartest students are harmed when they're distracted in class.College professors are increasingly 31 alarm bells about the effects smartphones,laptops,and tablets have onacademic performance.One 2013 study of college students found that 80%of students use their phones or laptops duringclass,with the average student checking their digital device 11 times in a 32 class.Aquarter of students report thattheir use of digital devices during class causes their grades to 33Professors sometimes implement policies designed to 34 students'use of digital devices,and some instructorseven confiscate (tablets and phones.In a world where people are increasingly dependent on their phones,though,such strategies often fail.One international study found that 84%of people say they couldn't go a day without theirsmartphones.Until students are able to 35 the pull of social networking,texting,and endlessly surfing the web,they may continue to struggle in their classes.A )aptitude1)obscureB)eradicationC)evaluatedK)raisingD)evaporatedL)resistE)filteringM)significantF)graspN)sufferG)legacyO)typicalH)minimizeSection BDirections:In this section,you are going to read a passage with ten statements attached to it.Each statement containsinformation given in one of the paragraphs.Identify the paragraph from which the information is derived.You may choose aparagraph more than once.Each paragraph is marked with a letter.Answer the questions by marking the correspondingletter on Answer Sheet 2.A Pioneering Woman of Science Re-Emerges after 300 Years[A]Maria Sibylla Merian,like many European women of the 17th century,stayed busy managing a household andrearing children.But on top of that,Merian,a German-born woman who lived in the Netherlands,also managed asuccessful career as an artist,.botanist,naturalist and entomologist(昆虫学家).[B]"She was a scientist on the level with a lot of people we spend a lot of time talking about,"said Kay Etheridge,abiologist at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania who has been studying the scientific history of Merian's work."She didn'tdo as much to change biology as Charles Darwin,but she was significant."[C]At a time when natural history was a valuable tool for discovery,Merian discovered facts about plants and insectsthat were not previously known.Her observations helped dismiss the popular beliefthat insects spontaneously emergedfrom mud.The knowledge she collected over decades didn't just satisfy those curious about nature,but also providedvaluable insights into medicine and science.She was the first to bring together insects and their habitats,including foodthey ate,into a single ecological composition.[D]After years of pleasing a fascinated audience across Europe with books of detailed descriptions and life-sizepaintings of familiar insects,in 1699 she sailed with her daughter nearly 5,000 miles from the Netherlands to South Americato study insects in the jungles of what is now known as Suriname.She was 52 years old.The result was her masterpiece,Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium.[E]In her work,she revealed a side of nature so exotic,dramatic and valuable to Europeans of the time that shereceived much acclaim.But a century later,her findings came under scientific criticism.Shoddy )reproductions ofher work along with setbacks to women's roles in 18th-and 19th-century Europe resulted in her efforts being largelyforgotten..It was kind of stunning when she sort of dropped off into oblivion(遗忘)，”said Dr..Etheridge.“Victoriansstarted putting women in a box,and they're still trying to crawl out of it."[F]Today,the pioneering woman of the sciences has re-emerged.In recent years,feminists,historians and artists haveall praised Merian's tenacity ()talent and inspirational artistic compositions.And now biologists like Dr.Etheridgeare digging into the scientific texts that accompanied her art.Three hundred years after her death,Merian will be celebratedat an intemational symposium in Amsterdam this June.[G]And last month,Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium was republished.It contains 60 plates andoriginal descriptions,along with stories about Merian's life and updated scientific descriptions.Before writingMetamorphosis,Merian spent decades documenting European plants and insects that she published in a series of books.Shebegan in her 20s,making textless,decorative paintings of flowers with insects."Then she got really serious,"Dr.Etheridgesaid.Merian started raising insects at home,mostly butterflies and caterpillars."She would sit up all night until they cameout of the pupa so she could draw them,"she said.[H The results of her decades'worth of careful observations were detailed paintings and descriptions of Europeaninsects,followed by unconventional visuals and stories of insects and animals from a land that most at the time could onlyimagine.It's possible Merian used a magnifying glass to capture the detail of the split tongues of sphinx moths斯飞蛾)depicted in the painting.She wrote that the two tongues combine to form one tube for drinking nectar(花蜜).Some criticized this detail later,saying there was just one tongue,but Merian wasn't wrong She may have observed theadult moth just as it emerged from its pupa.For a brief moment during that stage of its life cycle,the tongue consists oftwo tiny half-tubes before merging into one.[I]It may not have been ladylike to depict a giant spider devouring a hummingbird,but when Merian did it at the tumof the 18th century,surprisingly,nobody objected.Dr.Etheridge called it revolutionary.The image,which also containednovel descriptions of ants,fascinated a European audience that was more concerned with the exotic story unfolding beforethem than the gender of the person who painted it.[J]"All of these things shook up their nice,neat little view,"Dr.Etheridge said.But later,people of the Victorian erathought differently.Her work had been reproduced,sometimes incorrectly.A few observations were deemed impossible."She'd been called a silly woman for saying that a spider could eat a bird,"Dr.Etheridge said.But Henry Walter Bates,afriend of Charles Darwin,observed it and put it in book in 1863,proving Merian was correct.[K]In the same plate,Merian depicted and described leaf-cutter ants for the first time."In America there are large antswhich can eat whole trees bare as a broom handle in a single night,"she wrote in the description.Merian noted how the antstook the leaves below ground to their young.And she wouldn't have known this at the time,but the ants use the leaves tofarm fungi (underground to feed their developing babies.[L]Merian was correct about the giant bird-eating spiders,ants building bridges with their bodies and other details.Butin the same drawing,she incorrectly lumped together ammy and leaf-cutter ants.And instead of showing just the typical pairof eggs in a hummingbird nest,she painted four.She made other mistakes in Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium aswell:not every caterpillar and butterfly matched.M Perhaps one explanation for her mistakes is that she cut short her Suriname trip after getting sick,and completedthe book at home in Amsterdam.And errors are common among some of history's most-celebrated scientific minds,too."These errors no more invalidate Ms.Merian's work than do well-known misconceptions published by Charles Darwin orIsaac Newton,"Dr.Etheridge wrote in a paper that argued that too many have wrongly focused on the mistakes of her work.[N]Merian's paintings inspired artists and ecologists.In an 1801 drawing from his book,General Zoology Amphibia,George Shaw,an English botanist and zoologist,credited Merian for describing a frog in the account of her South Americanexpedition,and named the young tree frog after her in his portrayal of it.It wouldn't be fair to give Merian all the credit.Shereceived assistance naming plants,making sketches and referencing the work of others.Her daughters helped her color herdrawings.[O]Merian also made note of the help she received from the natives of Suriname,as well as slaves or servants thatassisted her.In some instances she wrote moving passages that included her helpers in descriptions.As she wrote in herdescription of the peacock flower,"The Indians,who are not treated well by their Dutch masters,use the seeds to abort theirchildren,so that they will not become slaves like themselves.The black slaves from Guinea and Angola have demanded to