英语周报：2008年12月六级听力模拟试题(三)

　　M: I bet you do, madam. Well, I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to come along with me.

　　W: How dare you! I don’t go out with strange men. And anyway I told you I have a train to catch.

　　M: I’m afraid you won’t be catching it today, madam. Now are you going to come along quietly or am I going to have to call for help?

　　W: But this is outrageous! (Start fade) I shall complain to my MP. One has to carry one’s valuables around these days; one’s house might be broken into while one’s out …

　　Questions 22 to 25 are based on the conversation you have just heard.

　　22. What is the possible relationship between the two speakers?

　　23. Where does this conversation probably take place?

　　24. Why does the man stop the woman?

　　25. What adjectives can be used to describe the man and the woman respectively?

　　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

　　When viewed within the entire range of past and present human societies, marriage can be described as a more or less durable union, sanctioned by society, between one or more men and one or more women. To obtain the sanction of society it is necessary that the relationship be formed and conducted in accordance with unwritten customs and taboos, as in primitive societies, or in accordance with established laws, as in more sophisticated societies. The sanction of society distinguishes marriage from other relationships between men and women and from air bonding, a reasonably long-term relationship between male and female. All societies have rules or shared patterns of behavior that regulate sexuality, birth, and child rearing. Marriage is the institution that encompasses these rules and patterns of behavior.

　　According to one definition, which emphasizes relationship between the spouses, marriage is a socially legitimate sexual union. It is begun with a public announcement and usually with a public rite in a form recognized by the society. The union is undertaken with some idea of permanence and with a contract that defines the obligations between the spouses and of the spouses toward any children they may have.

　　Another definition emphasizes the importance of marriage as a means of providing social legitimacy for the children of the union. In this sense marriage is a relationship between a woman and one or more persons that provides that any child she bears under the rules of the relationship will receive the status and rights common to other members of the society. In this view, the importance of marriage is that it provides a way to distinguish between legitimate and illegitimate births. The assumption is that the child must have a “social father” to ensure proper social development and entrance into the social order. According to this definition, a marriage is a “licensing of parenthood.”

　　In nearly all societies the greatest emphasis is on having acceptable social fatherhood, which is quite different from physiological fatherhood. Social fatherhood can be assumed by a variety of individuals and by women as well as men. Not all societies have well-defined rules based on physiological fatherhood.

　　Questions 26 to 28 are based on the passage you have just heard.

　　26. How would one obtain the sanction of society in the union between males and females in modern societies?

　　27. Which one of the following statements about the definition of marriage is not true?

　　28. What is the greatest emphasis of marriage in nearly all societies?

　　Passage Two

　　Today I would like to tell you about the effects of old age on health. Actually today a lot of improvements have taken place in the care of old people and old people’s health is not nearly so bad as it used to be.

　　Probably many of the fears that people have of growing old are greatly exaggerated. Most people, for example, dread becoming senile. But in fact very few people become senile. Perhaps only about 15% of those over 65 become senile. Actually, a much more common problem is in fact caused by doctors like ourselves. And that is over-medication. Nearly 80% of people over 65 have at least one serious illness, such as high blood pressure, hearing difficulty or heart disease. And very often to combat these they take a number of drugs and of course sometimes there are interactions among these drugs as well as simply being too many. This can cause a lot of complications from mental confusion, very commonly, to disturbance of the heart rhythm. So this is a problem that doctors have to watch out for.

　　Probably the most ignored disorder among old people is depression. Maybe about 15% of older people suffer from this condition. A lot of it is caused by this over-medication which we mentioned.