2007年12月英语六级真题及答案

2007 年 12 月英语六级真题及答案 Part I Writing （30 minutes） Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay entitled Digital Age. You should write at least 150 words following the outline given below. 1. 如今数字化产品得到越来越广泛的使用，并举例 2. 数字化产品的使用对人工作，学习，生活产生的影响 Digital Age ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ Part II Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning) (15 minutes) Directions: In this part, you will have 15 minutes to go over the passage quickly and answer the questions on Answer Sheet 1. For questions 1-7, choose the best answer from the four choices marked [A], [B], [C] and [D]. For questions 8 -10, complete the sentences with the information given in the passage. Seven Ways to Save the World Forget the old idea that conserving energy is a form of self-denial — riding bicycles, dimming the lights, and taking fewer showers. These days conservation is all about efficiency: getting the same — or better — results from just a fraction of the energy. When a slump in business travel forced Ulrich Rǒmer to cut cost costs at his family-owned hotel in Germany, he replaced hundreds of the hotel’s wasteful light bulbs, getting the same light for 80 percent less power. He bought a new water boiler with a digitally controlled pump, and wrapped insulation around the pipes. Spending about € 100,000 on these and other improvements, he slashed his € 90,000 fuel and power bill by € 60,000. As a bonus, the hotel’s lower energy needs have reduced its annual carbon emissions by more than 200 metric tons. “For us, saving energy has been very, very profitable,” he says. “And most importantly, we’re not giving up a single comfort for our guests.” Efficiency is also a great way to lower carbon emissions and help slow global warming. But the best argument for efficiency is its cost — or, more precisely, its profitability. That’s because quickly growing energy demand requires immense investment in new supply, not to mention the drain of rising energy prices. No wonder efficiency has moved to the top of the political agenda. On Jan. 10, the European Union unveiled a plan to cut energy use across the continent by 20 percent by 2020. Last March, China imposed a 20 percent increase in energy efficiency by 2020. Even George W. Bush, the Texas oilman, is expected to talk about energy conversation in his State of the Union speech this week. The good news is that the world is full of proven, cheap ways to save energy. Here are the seven that could have the biggest impact: Insulate Space heating and cooling eats up 36 percent of all the world’s energy. There’s virtually no limit to how much of that can be saved, as prototype “zero-energy homes” in Switzerland and Germany have shown. There’s been a surge in new ways of keeping heat in and cold out (or vice versa). The most advanced insulation follows the law of increasing returns: if you add enough, you can scale down or even eliminate heating and air1 conditioning equipment, lowering costs even before you start saving on utility bills. Studies have shown that green workplaces (ones that don’t constantly need to have the heat or air-conditioner running) have higher worker productivity and lower sick rates. Change Bulbs Lighting eats up 20 percent of the world’s electricity, or the equivalent of roughly 600,000 tons of coal a day. Forty percent of that powers old-fashioned incandescent light bulbs — a 19th-century technology that wastes most of the power it consumes on unwanted heat. Compact fluorescent lamps, or CFLs, not only use 75 to 80 percent less electricity than incandescent bulbs to generate the same amount of light, but they also last 10 times longer. Phasing old bulbs out by 2030 would save the output of 650 power plants and avoid the release of 700 million tons of carbon into the atmosphere each year. Comfort Zone Water boilers, space heaters and air conditioners have been notoriously inefficient. The heat pump has altered that equation. It removes heat from the air outside or the ground below and uses it to supply heat to a building or its water supply. In the summer, the system can be reversed to cool building as well. Most new residential buildings in Sweden are already heated with ground-source heat pumps. Such systems consume almost no conventional fuel at all. Several countries have used subsidies to jump-start the market, including Japan, where almost 1 million heat pumps have been installed in the past two years to heat water for showers and hot tubs. Remake Factories From steel mills to paper factories, industry eats up about a third of the world’s energy. The opportunities to save are vast. In Ludwigshafen, German chemicals giant BASF runs an interconnected complex of more than 200 chemical factories, where heat produced by one chemical process is used to power the next. At the Ludwigshafen site alone, such recycling of heat and energy saves the company € 200 million a year and almost half its CO 2 emissions. Now BASF is doing the same for new plants in China. “Optimizing (优化) energy efficiency is a decisive competitive advantage, ” says BASF CEO Jǔrgen Hambrecht. Green Driving A quarter of the world’s energy — including two thirds of the annual production of oil — is used for transportation. Some savings come free of charge: you can boost fuel efficiency by 6 percent simply by keeping your car’s tires properly inflated (充气). Gasolineelectric hybrid ( 混 合 型 ) models like the Toyota Prius improve mileage by a further 20 percent over conventional models. A Better Fridge More than half of all residential power goes into running household appliances，producing a fifth of the world’s carbon emissions. And that’s true even though manufacturers have already hiked the efficiency of refrigerators and other white goods by as much as 70 percent since the 1980s. According to an International Energy Agency study, if consumers chose those models that would save them the most money over the life of the appliance, they’d cut global residential power consumption and their utility bills by 43 percent. Flexible Payment Who says you have to pay for all your conservation investment ？ “ Energy service contractors” will pay for retrofitting (翻折改造) in return for a share of the client’s annual 2 utility-bill savings. In Beijing, Shenwu Thermal Energy Technology Co. specializes in retrofitting China’s steel furnaces. Shenwu puts up the initial investment to install a heat exchanger that preheats the air going into the furnace ， slashing the client’s fuel costs . Shenwu pockets a cut of those savings, so both Shenwu and the client profit. If saving energy is so easy and profitable, why isn’t everyone doing it? It has to do with psychology and a lack of information. Most of us tend to look at today’s price tag more than tomorrow’s potential savings. That holds double for the landlord or developer, who won’t actually see a penny of the savings his investment in better insulation or a better heating system might generate. In many people’s minds, conservation is still associated with self-denial. Many environmentalists still push that view. Smart governments can help push the market in the right direction. The EU’s 1994 law on labeling was such a success that it extended the same idea to entire buildings last year. To boost the market value of efficiency, all new buildings are required to have an “energy pass” detailing power and heating consumption. Countries like Japan and Germany have successively tightened building codes, requiring an increase in insulation levels but leaving it up to builders to decide how to meet them. The most powerful incentives, of course, will come from the market itself. Over the past year, sky-high fuel prices have focused minds on efficiency like never before. Everincreasing pressure to cut costs has finally forced more companies to do some math on their energy use. Will it be enough? With global demand and emissions rising so fast, we may not have any choice but to try. Efficient technology is here now, proven and cheap. Compared with all other options, it’s the biggest, easiest and most profitable bang for the buck. 1. What is said to be the best way to conserve energy nowadays? [A] Raising efficiently. [B] Cutting unnecessary costs. [C] Finding alternative resources [D] Sacrificing some personal comforts. 2. What does the European Union plan to do? [A] Diversify energy supply. [B] Cut energy consumption. [C] Reduce carbon emissions. [D] Raise production efficiency. 3. If you add enough insulation to your house, you may be able to _______. [A] improve your work environment [B] cut your utility bills by half. [C] get rid of air-conditioners [D] enjoy much better health 4. How much of the power consumed by incandescent bulbs is converted into light? [A] A small portion. [B] Some 40 percent [C] Almost half. [D] 75 to 80 percent. 5. Some countries have tired to jump-start the market of heat pumps by_________. [A] upgrading the equipment [B] encouraging investments [C] implementing high-tech [D] providing subsidies 6. German chemicals giant BASF saves € 200 million a year by_________. [A] recycling heat and energy [B] setting up factories in China [C] using the newest technology [D] reducing the CO 2 emissions of its plants 7. Global residential power consumption can be cut by 43 percent if________. [A] we increase the insulation of walls and water pipes [B] we choose simpler models of electrical appliances [C] we cut down on the use of refrigerators and other white goods [D] we choose the most efficient models of refrigerators and other white goods 3 8. Energy service contractors profit by taking a part of clients’__________. 9. Many environmentalists maintain the view that conservation has much to do with___________. 10. The strongest incentive energy conservation will drive from_____________. Part III Listening Comprehension (35 minutes) Section A Directions: In this section, you will hear 8 short conversations and 2 long conversations. At the end of each conversation, one or more questions will be asked about what was said. Both the conversation and the questions will be spoken only once. After each question there will be a pause. During the pause, you must read the four choices marked [A], [B], [C] and [D], and decide which is the best answer. Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre. 11. [A] Proceed in his own way. [B] Stick to the original plan. [C] Compromise with his colleague. [D] Try to change his colleague’s mind. 12. [A] Many has a keen eye for style. [B] Nancy regrets buying the dress. [C] Nancy and Mary went shopping together in Rome. [D] Nancy and Mary like to follow the latest fashion. 13. [A] Wash the dishes. [B] Go to the theatre. [C] Pick up George and Martha. [D] Take her daughter to hospital. 14. [A] She enjoys making up stories about other people. [B] She can never keep anything to herself for long. [C] She is eager to share news with the woman. [D] She is the best informed woman in town. 15. [A] A car dealer. [B] A mechanic. [C] A driving examiner. [D] A technical consultant. 16. [A] The shopping mall has been deserted recently. [B] Shoppers can only find good stores in the mall. [C] Lots of people moved out of the downtown area. [D] There isn’t much business downtown nowadays. 17. [A] He will help the woman with her reading. [B] The lounge is not a place for him to study in. [C] He feels sleepy whenever he tries to study. [D] A cozy place is rather hard to find on campus. 18. [A] To protect her from getting scratches. [B] To help relieve her of the pain. [C] To prevent mosquito bites. [D] To avoid getting sun burnt. Questions 19 to 22 are based on the conversation you have just heard. 19. [A] In a studio. [B] In a clothing store. [C] At a beach resort. [D] At a fashion show. 20. [A] To live there permanently. [B] To stay there for half a year. [C] To find a better job to support herself. [D] To sell leather goods for a British company. 21. [A] Designing fashion items for several companies. 4 [B] Modeling for a world-famous Italian company. [C] Working as an employee for Ferragamo. [D] Serving as a sales agent for Burberrys. 22. [A] It has seen a steady decline in its profits. [B] It has become much more competitive. [C] It has lost many customers to foreign companies. [D] It has attracted a lot more designers from abroad. Questions 23 to 25 are based on the conversation you have just heard. 23. [A] It helps her to attract more public attention. [B] It improves her chance of getting promoted. [C] It strengthens her relationship with students. [D] It enables her to understand people better. 24. [A] Passively. [B] Positively. [C] Skeptically. [D] Sensitively. 25. [A] It keeps haunting her day and night. [B] Her teaching was somewhat affected by it. [C] It vanishes the moment she steps into her role. [D] Her mind goes blank once she gets on the stage. Section B Directions: In this section, you will hear 3 short passages. At the end of each passage, you will hear some questions. Both the passage and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question, you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked [A], [B], [C] and [D]. Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre. Passage One Questions 26 to 29 are based on the passage you have just heard. 26. [A] To win over the majority of passengers from airlines in twenty years. [B] To reform railroad management in western European countries. [C] To electrify the railway lines between major European cities. [D] To set up an express train network throughout Europe. 27. [A] Major European airlines will go bankrupt. [B] Europeans will pay much less for traveling. [C] Traveling time by train between major European cities will be cut by half. [D] Trains will become the safest and most efficient means of travel in Europe. 28. [A] Train travel will prove much more comfortable than air travel. [B] Passengers will feel much safer on board a train than on a plane. [C] Rail transport will be environmentally friendlier than air transport. [D] Traveling by train may be as quick as, or even quicker than, by air. 29. [A] In 1981. [B] In 1989. [C] In 1990. [D] In 2000. Passage Two Questions 30 to 32 are based on the passage you have just heard. 30. [A] There can be no speedy recovery for mental patients. [B] Approaches to healing patients are essentially the same. [C] The mind and body should be taken as an integral whole. [D] There is no clear division of labor in the medical profession. 31. [A] A doctor’s fame strengthens the patients’ faith in them. 5