2019年12月英语六级考试试题第3套PartⅡListening Comprehension(30 minutes)特别说明<<<六级考试每次仅考两套听力<<<第三套听力试题同第一套或第二套试题一致AReading Comprehension(40 minutes)Section ADirections:In this section,there is a passage with ten blanks.You are required to select one word foreach blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage.Read thepassage through carefully before making your choices.Each choice in the bank is identifiedby a letter.Please mark the corresponding letter for each item on Answer Sheet 2 with asingle line through the centre.You may not use any of the words in the bank more thanonceThe number of devices you can talk to is multiplying-first it was your phone,then your car,and now you can tell your kitchen appliances what to do.But even without gadgets that understandour spoken commands,research suggests that,as bizarre as it sounds,under certain 26,peopleregularly ascribe human traits to everyday objects.Sometimes we see things as human because we are 27.In one experiment,people whoreported feeling isolated were more likely than others to attribute 28 to various gadgets.In tur,feeling close to objects can 29 loneliness.When college students were reminded of a time theyhad been 30 in a social setting,they compensated by exaggerating their number of friends-unlessthey were first given tasks that caused them to interact with their phone as if it had human qualities.According to the researchers,the participants'phones 31 substituted for real friends.At other times,we personify products in an effort to understand them.One study found thatthree in four respondents yelled at their computer.Further,the more their computer gave themproblems,the more likely the respondents were to report that it had its own "beliefs and 32."So how do people assign traits to an object?In part,we rely on looks.On humans,wide facesare 33 with dominance.Similarly,people rated cars,clocks,and watches with wide faces as moredominant-looking than narrow-faced ones,and preferred them-especially in 34 situations.Ananalysis of car sales in Germany found that cars with grilles that were upturned like smilessold best.The purchasers saw this 35 as increasing a car's friendliness.第1/9页A)alleviatedesiresB)apparentlyexcludedarrogantK)featureD)associatedL)lonelyE)circumstancesM)separateF)competitiveN)spectacularlyG)concededO)warrantH)Section BDirections:In this section,you are going to read a passage with ten statements attached to it.Eachstatement contains information given in one of the paragraphs.Identify the paragraph fromwhich the information is derived.You may choose a paragraph more than once.Eachparagraph is marked with a letter.Answer the questions by marking the corresponding letteron Answer Sheet 2.Why More Farmers Are Making The Switch to Grass-Fed Meat and Dairy[A]Though he didn't come from a farming family,from a young age Tim Joseph was fascinated bythe idea of living off the land.Reading magazines like The Stockman Grass Farmer and Graze,hegot hooked on the idea of grass-fed agriculture.The idea that all energy and wealth comes fromthe sun really intrigued him.He thought the shorter the distance between the sun and the endproduct,the higher the profit to the farmer.[B]Joseph wanted to put this theory to the test.In 2009,he and his wife Laura launched Maple HillCreamery,an organic,all grass-fed yogurt company in northern New York.He quickly leamedwhat the market has demonstrated:Demand for grass-fed products currently exceeds supply.Grass-fed beef is enjoying a 25-30%annual growth rate.Sales of grass-fed yogurt and kefir酵乳饮品)，on the other hand,have in the last year increased by over38%.This is incomparison with a drop of just under 1%in the total yogurt and kefir market,according tonatural and organic market research company SPINS.Joseph's top priority became getting hishands on enough grass-fed milk to keep customers satisfied,since his own 64-cow herd wasn'tgoing to suffice.[C]His first partnership was with Paul and Phyllis Amburgh,owners of the Dharma Lea farm inNew York.The Amburghs,too,were true believers in grass-fed.In addition to supplying milkfrom their own 85-head herd,they began to help other farmers in the area convert fromconventional to certified organic and grass-fed in order to enter the Maple Hill supply chain.第2/9页Since 2010,the couple has helped 125 small dairy farms convert to grass-fed,with more than80%of those farms coming on board during the last two years.[D]All this conversion has helped Maple Hill grow 40-50%every year since it began,with no endin sight.Joseph has learned that a farmer has to have a certain mindset to successfully convertBut convincing open-minded dairy people is actually not that hard,when you look at theeconomics.Grass-fed milk can fetch up 2.5 times the price of conventional milk.Another factoris the squeeze that conventional dairy farmers have felt as the price of grain they feed their cowshas gone up,tightening their profit margins.By replacing expensive grain feed with regenerativemanagement practices,grass-fed farmers are insulated from jumps in the price of feed.Thesepractices include grazing animals on grasses grown from the pastureland's natural seed bank,and fertilized by the cows'own fertilizer.[E]Champions of this type of regenerative grazing also point to its animal welfare,climate andhealth benefits:Grass-fed animals live longer out of confinement.Grazing herds stimulatemicrobial(微生物的)activity in the soil,helping to capture water and separate carbon.Andgrass-fed dairy and meat have been shown to be higher in certain nutrients and healthy fats.[F]In the grass fed system,farmers are also not subject to the wildly fluctuating milk prices of theinternational commodity market.The unpredictability of global demand and the lag-time it takesto add more cows to a herd to meet demand can result in events like the recent cheese surplus.Going grass-fed is a safe refuge,a way for family-scale farms to stay viable.Usually a farmerwill get to the point where financially,what they're doing is not working.That's when they callMaple Hill.If the farm is well managed and has enough land,and the desire to convert issincere,a relationship can begin.Through regular regional educational meetings,a large annualmeeting,individual farm visits and thousands of phone calls,the Amburghs pass on theprinciples of pasture management.Maple Hill signs a contract pledging to buy the farmer's milkat a guaranteed base price,plus quality premiums and incentives for higher protein,butter-fatand other solids.[G]While Maple Hill's conversion program is unusually hands-on and comprehensive,it's just oneof a growing number of businesses committed to slowly changing the way America farms.Joseph calls sharing his knowledge network through peer-to-peer learning a core piece of thecompany's culture.Last summer,Massachusetts grass-fed beef advocate John Smith launchedBig Picture Beef,a network of small grass-fed beef farms in New England and New York that isprojected to bring to market 2,500 head of cattle from 125 producers this year.Early indicationsare that Smith will have no shortage of farm members.Since he began to informally announcethe network at farming conferences and on social media,he's received a steady stream ofinquiries from interested farmers.第3/9页[H]Smith says he'll provide services ranging from formal seminars to on-farm workshops on holistic(management,to one-on-one hand-holding and an almost 24/7 phone hotline forfarmers who are converting.In exchange,he guarantees an above-market price for each animaland a calf-to-customer electronic ear tag ID system like that used in the European Union.[I]Though advocates portray grass fed products as a win-win situation for all,they do havedownsides.Price,for one,is an issue.Joseph says his products are priced 10-20%above organicversions,but depending on the product chosen,compared to non-organic conventional yogurt,consumers could pay a premium of 30-50%or more for grass-fed.As for the meat,Smith sayshis grass-fed hamburger will be priced 20-25%over the conventional alternative.But a look atthe prices on online grocer Fresh Direct suggests a grass-fed premium of anywhere from35-60%.[J]And not every farmer has the option of going grass-fed.For both beef and dairy production itrequires,at least in the beginning,more pastureland.Grass-fed beef production tends to be morelabor-intensive as well.But Smith counters that if you factor in the hidden cost of govermentcorn subsidies,environment degradation,and decreased human heath and animal welfare,grass-fed is the more cost-effective model."The sun provides the lowest cost of production and thecheapest meat,"he says.[K]Another grass-fed booster spurring farmers to convert is EPIC,which makes meat-based proteinbars.Founders Taylor Collins and his wife,Katie Forrest,used to be endurance athletes;nowthey're advocates of grass-fed meat.Soon afiter launching EPIC's most successful product-theBison Bacon Cranberry Bar-Collins and Forrest found they'd exhausted their sources for bison(北美野牛)raised exclusively on pasture.When they started researching the supply chain,.theylearned that only 2-3%of all bison is actually grass-fed.The rest is feed-lot confined and fedgrain and corn.[L]But after General Mills bought EPIC in 2016,Collins and Forrest suddenly had the resourcesthey needed to expand their supply chain.So the company teamed up with Wisconsin-basedrancher Northstar Bison.EPIC fronted the money for the purchase of $2.5 million worth ofyoung bison that will be raised according to its grass-fed protocols,with a guaranteed purchaseprice.The message to young people who might not otherwise be able to affiord to break into thebusiness is,"You can purchase this $3 million piece of land here,because I'm guaranteeingyou today you'll have 1,000 bison on it.'We're bringing new blood into the old,conventionalfarming ecosystem,which is really cool to see,"Collins explains.36.Farmers going grass-fed are not affected by the ever-changing milk prices of the global market.37.Over the years,Tim Joseph's partners have helped many dairy farmers to switch to grass-fed.第4/9页38.One advocate believes that many other benefits should be taken into consideration when we assessthe cost-effectiveness of grass-fed farming.39.Many dairy farmers were persuaded to switch to grass-fed when they saw its advantage in termsof profits.40.Tim Joseph's grass-fed program is only one example of how American farming practice ischanging.41.Tim Joseph was fascinated by the notion that sunlight brings energy and wealth to mankind.42.One problem with grass-fed products is that they are usually more expensive than conventionalones.43.Grass fed products have proved to be healthier and more nutritious.44.When Tim Joseph started his business,he found grass-fed products fell short of demand.45.A snack bar producer discovered that the supply of purely grass-fed bison meat was scarce.Section CDirections:There are 2 passages in this section.Each passage is followed by some questions orunfinished statements.For each of them there are four choices marked A),B),C)andD).You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on AnswerSheet 2 with a single line through the centre.Passage OneQuestions 46 to 50 are based on the following passage.Schools are not just a microcosm (of society;they mediate it too.The best seek toalleviate the external pressures on their pupils while equipping them better to understand and handlethe world outside-at once sheltering them and broadening their horizons.This is ambitious in anycircumstances,and in a divided and unequal society the two ideals can clash outright ()Trips that many adults would consider the adventure of a lifetime-treks in Borneo,a sports tourto Barbados-appear to have become almost routine at some state schools.Parents are being askedfor thousands of pounds.Though schools cannot profit from these trips,the companies that arrangethem do.Meanwhile,pupils arrive at school hungry because their families can't afford breakfast.TheChild Poverty Action Group says nine out of 30 in every classroom fall below the poverty line.Thediscrepancy is startlingly apparent Introducing a fundraising requirement for students does not help,as better-off children can tap up richer aunts and neighbours.Probing the rock pools of a local beach or practising French on a language exchange can fire第5/9页