英语周报：2009年6月英语六级听力全真模拟题(二)

　　M: For example?

　　W: Like, you know, the “buffet bye-bye”—what my cute name for “Well, I’ve really got to get a drink” or “I’m starving—that thing you’re eating is making me even more hungry. I’ll be back。” and never come back. At a party you’re allowed to do that。

　　M: OK. I heard that in every culture certain subjects are maybe off-limits or you really shouldn’t talk about them unless you know a person well. What do you think about that?

　　W: In American culture, three that come to mind are money, religion and politics. The two safe subjects used to be your health and the weather. Well, the weather now leads you to topics of global warming and your health, you can easily start talking about health insurance。

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

　　22. What does the woman suggest doing if one doesn’t know anybody in a group of people?

　　23. Which is the best topic to open a talk with a group of strangers in a party?

　　24. What does it take for people to go up to someone or a group directly according to the woman?

　　25. What do we know about “buffet bye-bye” according to the woman?

　　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

　　In much of the United States, winter means the return of snow. Snow is a subject of great interest to weather experts. Experts sometimes have difficulty estimating where, when or how much snow will fall. One reason is that heavy amounts of snow fall in surprisingly small areas. Another reason is that a small change in temperature can mean the difference between snow and rain。

　　Snow is a form of frozen water. It contains many groups of tiny ice particles called snow crystals. These crystals grow from water particles in cold clouds. They usually grow around a piece of dust. All snow crystals have six sides, but they grow in different shapes. The shape depends mainly on the temperature and water levels in the air。

　　Snow crystals grow in one of two designs—platelike and columnar. Platelike crystals are flat. They form when the air temperature is about fifteen degrees below zero. Columnar snow crystals look like sticks of ice. They form when the temperature is about five degrees below zero。

　　The shape of a snow crystal may change from one form to another as the crystal passes through levels of air with different temperatures. When melting snow crystals or raindrops fall through very cold air, they freeze to form small particles of ice, called sleet。

　　When snow crystals stick together, they produce snowflakes. Snowflakes come in different sizes. As many as one hundred crystals may join together to form a snowflake larger than two and one-half centimeters. Under some conditions, snowflakes can form that are five centimeters long. Usually, this requires near freezing temperatures, light winds and changing conditions in Earth’s atmosphere.

　　Snow contains much less water than rain. About fifteen centimeters of wet snow has as much water as two and a half centimeters of rain. About seventy-six centimeters of dry snow equals the water in two and one-half centimeters of rain。

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

　　26. What’s the main subject of this passage?

　　27. Which statement is true about snow crystals?

　　28. What do we learn about snowflakes from the passage?

　　Passage Two

　　Some unusual words describe how a person spends his or her time. For example, someone who likes to spend a lot of time sitting or lying down while watching television is sometimes called a couch potato. A couch is a piece of furniture that people sit on while watching television。

　　Robert Armstrong, an artist from California, developed the term couch potato in 1976. Several years later, he listed the term as a trademark with the United States government. Mr. Armstrong also wrote a funny book about life as a full-time television watcher. It is called the “Official Couch Potato Handbook。”

　　Couch potatoes enjoy watching television just as mouse potatoes enjoy working on computers. A computer mouse is the device that moves the pointer, on a computer screen. The description of mouse potato became popular in 1993. American writer Alice Kahn is said to have invented the term to describe young people who spend a lot of time using computers。