2010年12月英语六级考试模拟试题及答案(2)

　　Part IV Reading Comprehension (Reading in Depth) (25 minutes)

　　Section A

　　Directions: In this section, there is a short passage with 5 questions or incomplete statements. Read the passage carefully. Then answer the questions or complete statements in the fewest possible words. Please write your answers on Answer Sheet 2.

　　By the mind-nineteenth century, the term "icebox" had entered the American language, but ice was still only beginning to affect the diet of ordinary citizens in the United States. The ice trade grew with the growth of cities. Ice was used in hotels, taverns(酒馆), and hospitals, and by some forward-looking city dealers in fresh meat, fresh fish, and butter. After the Civil War (1861-1865), as ice was used to refrigerate freight cars, it also came into household use. Even before 1880, half of the ice sold in New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, and one-third of that sold in Boston and Chicago, went to families for their own use. This had become possible because a new household convenience, the icebox, a precursor of the modern fridge, had been invented.

　　Making an efficient icebox as not as easy as we might now suppose. In the early nineteenth century, the knowledge of the physics of heat, which was essential to a science of refrigeration, was rudimentary(未发展的). The commonsense notion that the best icebox was one that prevented the ice from melting was of course mistaken, for it was the melting of the ice that performed the cooling. Nevertheless, early efforts to economize ice included wrapping up the ice in blankets, which kept the ice from doing its job. Not until near the end of the nineteenth century did inventors achieve the delicate balance of insulation and circulation needed for an efficient icebox.

　　But as early as 1803, and ingenious Maryland farmer, Thomas Moore, had been on the right track. He owned a farm about twenty miles outside the city of Washington, for which the village of Georgetown was the market center. When he used an icebox of his own design to transport his butter to market, he found that customers would pass up the rapidly melting stuff in the tubs of his competitors to pay a premium price for his butter, still fresh and hard in neat, one-pound bricks. One advantage of his icebox, Moore explained, was that farmers would no longer have to travel to market at night in order to keep their produce cool.

　　47. What is the topic of the passage?

　　48. Where was ice used after the Civil War?

　　49. What was essential to a science of refrigeration according to the passage?

　　50. It can be inferred from the passage that the theoretical foundation of ice box should be that ________.

　　51. Without an ice box, farmers had to go to the market at night because ________.

　　Section B

　　Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked [A], [B], [C] and [D]. You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the center.

　　Passage One

　　Questions 52 to 66 are based on the following passage.

　　Racket, din clamor, noise. Whatever you want to call it, unwanted sound is America's most widespread nuisance. But noise is more than just a nuisance. It constitutes a real and present danger to people's health. Day and night, at home, at work, and at play, noise can produce serious physical and psychological stress. No one is immune to this stress. Though we seem to adjust to noise by ignoring it, the ear, in fact, never closes and the body still responds—sometimes with extreme tension, as to a strange sound in the night.

　　The annoyance we feel when faced with noise is the most common outward symptom of the stress building up inside us. Indeed, because irritability is so apparent, legislators have made public annoyance the basis of many noise abatement(消除) programs. The more subtle and more serious health hazards associated with stress caused by noise traditionally have been given much less attention. Nevertheless, when we are annoyed or made irritable by noise, we should consider these symptoms fair warning that other things may be happening to us, some of which may be damaging to our health.

　　Of the many health hazards related to noise, hearing loss is the most clearly observable and measurable by health professionals. The other hazards are harder to pin down. For many of us, there may be a risk that exposure to the stress of noise increases susceptibility to disease and infection. The more susceptible among us may experience noise as a complicating factor in heart problems and other diseases. Noise that causes annoyance and irritability in healthy persons may have serious consequences for those already ill in mind or body.

　　Noise affects us throughout our lives. For example, there are indications of effects on the unborn child when mothers are exposed to industrial and environmental noise. During infancy and childhood, youngsters exposed to high noise levels may have trouble falling asleep and obtaining necessary amounts of rest.

　　why, then, is there not greater alarm about these dangers? Perhaps it is because the link between noise and many disabilities or diseases has not vet been conclusively demonstrated. Perhaps it is because we tend to dismiss annoyance as a price to pay for living in the modern world. It may also be because we still think of hearing loss as only an occupational hazard.

　　52. The phrase "immune to" (Line 3, Para. 1) are used to mean ________.

　　[A] unaffected by [B] hurt by

　　[C] unlikely to be seen by [D] unknown by

　　53. The author's attitude toward noise would best be described as ________.

　　[A] unrealistic [B] traditional [C] concerned [D] hysterical

　　54. Which of the following best states the main idea of the passage?

　　[A] Noise is a major problem; most people recognize its importance.

　　[B] Although noise can be annoying, it is not a major problem.

　　[C] Noise is a major problem and has not yet been recognized as such.

　　[D] Noise is a major problem about which nothing can be done.

　　55. The author condemns noise essentially because it ________.

　　[A] is against the law [B] can make some people irritable

　　[C] is a nuisance [D] is a danger to people's health

　　56. The author would probably consider research about the effects noise has on people to be ________.

　　[A] unimportant [B] impossible

　　[C] a waste of money [D] essential

　　Passage Two

　　Questions 57 to 61 are based on the following passage.

　　Freshwater life itself has never come easy in the Middle East. Ever since The Old Testament(旧约全书), God punished man with 40 days and 40 nights of rain. Water supplies here have been dwindling. The rainfall only comes in winter and drains quickly through the semiarid land, leaving the soil to bake and to thirst for next November.

　　The region's accelerating population, expanding agriculture, industrialization, and higher living standards demand more freshwater. Drought and pollution limit its a availability. War and mismanagement waste it. Said Joyce Starr of the Global Water Summit Initiative, based in Washington, D.C. "Nations like Israel and Jordan are swiftly sliding into that zone where they are suing all the water resources available to them. They have only 15 to 20 years left before their agriculture, and ultimately their food security, is threatened."

　　I came here to examine this crisis in the making, to investigate fears that "water wars" are imminent, that water has replaced oil as the region's most contentious commodity. For more than two months I traveled through three river valleys and seven nations—from southern Turkey down the Euphrates River to Syria, Iraq, and on to Kuwait; to Israel and Jordan, neighbors across the valley of the Jordan; to the timeless Egyptian Nile.

　　Even amid the scarcity there are haves and have-nots. compared with the United States, which in 1990 had freshwater potential of 10,000 cubic meters (2.6 million gallons) a year for each citizen, Iraq had 5,500, Turkey had 4,000, and Syria had more than 2,800. Egypt's potential was only 1,100. Israel had 460. Jordan had a meager 260. But these are not firm figures, because upstream use of river water can dramatically alter the potential downstream.

　　Scarcity is only one element of the crisis. Inefficiency is another, as is the reluctance of some water-poor nations to change priorities from agriculture to less water-intensive enterprises. Some experts suggest that if nations would share both water technology and resources, they could satisfy the region's population, currently 159 million. But in this patchwork of ethnic and religious rivalries, water seldom stands alone as an issue. It is entangled in the politics that keep people from trusting and seeking help from one another. Here, where water, like truth, is precious, each nation tends to find its own water and supply its own truth.

　　As Israeli hydrology professor Uri Shamir told me:" If there is political will for peace, water will not be a hindrance. If you want reasons to fight, water will not be a hindrance. If you want reasons to fight, water will give you ample opportunities."

　　57. Why does the author use the phrase "for next November" (Line 3, Para. 1)?

　　[A] According to the Old Testament freshwater is available only in November.

　　[B] Rainfall comes only in winter starting from November.

　　[C] Running water systems will not be ready until next November.

　　[D] It is a custom in that region that irrigation to crops is done only in November.

　　58. What is NOT the cause for the imminent water war?

　　[A] Lack of water resources. [B] Lack of rainfall.

　　[C] Inefficient use of water. [D] Water has replaced oil.

　　59. One way for the region to use water efficiently is to ________.

　　[A] develop other enterprises that cost less water

　　[B] draw a plan of irrigation for the various nations

　　[C] import water from water-rich nations

　　[D] stop wars of any sort for good and all

　　60. Uri Shamir's viewpoint is that ________.

　　[A] nations in that region are just fighting for water

　　[B] people there are thirsty for peace instead of water

　　[C] water is no problem as long as there is peace

　　[D] those nations have every reason to fight for water

　　61. The author's tone in the article can be described as ________.

　　[A] depressing [B] urgent [C] joking [D] mocking