星火：2008年12月英语六级模拟试卷样题及解析

　　Section B

　　Passage One

　　One of the most popular myths about the United States in the 19th century was that the free and simple life of the farmer. It was said that the farmers worked hard on their own land to produce whatever their families needed. They might sometimes trade with their neighbors, but in general they could get along well by relying on themselves, (26) not on commercial ties with others. This is how Thomas Jefferson idealized the farmer. At the beginning of the 19th century, sweeping changes in agriculture were well under way as farmers began to specialize in the raising of crops such as cotton or wheat.

　　By late in the century revolutionary advances in farm machinery had vastly increased production of specialized crops and expensive network of railroads had linked farmers throughout the country to markets in the east and even overseas. By raising and selling specialized crops, farmers could afford more and finer goods and achieved a much higher standard of living but at a low price. Now farmers are no longer dependent just on the weather and their own efforts. (27)Their lives are increasingly controlled by banks, which have power to grant or deny loans for new machinery, (27)and by the railroads which set the rates for shipping their crops to markets. As businessmen, (28) farmers now have to worry about the national economic depressions and the influence of the 19th century. The era of Jefferson's independent farmer had come to a close.

　　预览三道题的选项可以推测，短文内容可能是关于一类人的生活状态。

　　26. Which of the following is Thomas Jefferson's ideal of farmers?

　　D)。 [听前猜测] 四个选项都是以They开头，由此可以猜测，本题考查内容可能是关于某一类人的描述有关的。

　　[精解] 文中提出大多数农民，跟其他人并没有商业联系(not on commercial ties with others)，可知，Thomas Jefferson把农民形象理想化了(idealized)。故正确答案为D)。

　　27. Which of the following is increasingly controlling the farmers' lives?

　　A)。 [听前猜测] 四个选项都是描述事物，且差异较大，由此推断，本题考查的内容可能是某件事情的原因或者影响。

　　[精解] 文中提出了农民的生活越来越受到银行(banks)和铁路(railroads)的影响和控制。故正确答案为A)。

　　28. What can we learn about today's farmers according to the passage?

　　B)。 [听前猜测] 从选项中的in the 19th century，in the past可以推断，本题考查的内容侧重于今昔对比。

　　[精解] 文章结尾处提到了农民现在不得不担心国家经济衰退(the national economic depressions)等问题，由此可推断与过去相比，他们现在需要担心更多的问题。故正确答案为B)。

　　Passage Two

　　(29) Of all the folk artists in the United States, the most well-known of the 20th century is certainly Grandma Moses-Anna Mary Robertson Moses (1860-1961). She was also the most successful within her lifetime and her work was reproduced on greeting cards and calendars and in prints. Like many folk artists, (30) her career as a painter started late in life, at the age of 67, but she continued painting until her death at the age of 101, so her active painting life still spanned over 34 years.

　　Her painting was preceded by the production of landscapes in needlework. From these early sources she began to compose original paintings such as "Housick Falls", "New York in Winter"(1944) that replied on her surroundings and her memories of country life and activities; these paintings display an increasing technical ability. Her subjects are based on the New England countryside and evoke a strong mood of nostalgia. By 1940s her work had become a marketable commodity and collectors created a demand for her paintings.

　　Like many painters of the 19th and 20th centuries, (31) Grandma Moses made use of photographs for information, for figures, for fragments of landscape, and for buildings, but her work, especially that of her later years, was not a mindless copying of these but compositions using them as source material. Her output was remarkable, and consequently her work is varying quality. Although much of her public appeal is based on the touchy image of the "Grandma" figure producing naive pictures of country life, her paintings place her among the top folk painters of the 19th and 20th centuries.

　　预览三道题的选项，从第29 题每个选项中出现的Grandma Moses，art和painting等词可以推测，短文内容可能是关于一位叫作Grandma Moses的艺术家。

　　29. What is the main topic of the passage?

　　C)。 [听前猜测] 根据四个选项可以推测本题考查的内容必然和Grandma Moses有关。

　　[精解] 通篇讲的都是Grandma Moses的民间艺术，她作品的材料，她的影响和她的生活只是其中的一部分。故正确答案为C)。

　　30. How did Grandma Moses start her painting career?

　　B)。 [听前猜测] 四个选项都以She started it 开头，可以推测本题考查的内容跟人物开始从事某项活动的情况有关。

　　[精解] 主人公在67岁的高龄时，绘画生涯才开始(her career as a painter started)。故正确答案为B)。