2010年12月英語六級考試模擬試題及答案(6)

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

　　Section A

　　Directions: In this section, there is a passage with ten blanks. You are required to select one word for each blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage. Read the passage through carefully before making your choices. Each choice in bank is identified by a letter. Please mark the corresponding letter for each item on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the center. You may not use any of the words in the bank more than once.

　　Questions 47 to 56 are based on the following passage.

　　The whole world put attention to the South Asia where the tsunami happened. Before, musicians produced a "sonic tsunami", Wall Street analysts 47 "tsunamis" of bad earnings news and Japanese restaurants served "tsunami" sushi rolls. The word was used in dozens of different 48 , but now it likely will appear with just one tragic meaning.

　　Because of the South Asian tsunami disaster that has killed more than 150,000 people, the word assumes a(n) 49 solemn use, much the way "Ground Zero", for the site of the World Trade Center, had its meaning 50 from "starting point" to the center of the Sept. 11 tragedy, said Paul Payack, head of Global Language Monitor. Payack said that since the Dec. 26 tsunami, the 51 word has appeared more than 18.5 million times and been the subject of 88,000 articles in major media.

　　"Before Sept. 11, 2001, the term ground zero was a business cliche meaning starting point, especially when 52 a project over again as in 'going back to ground zero'. That term now represents what many consider to be hallowed ground and its old usage is rarely 53 ," he said.

　　"In the same manner, we envision that the word tsunami will be the subject of considerable discretion before being used in any thing other than a most 54 manner," he said. Payack said thousands of 55 teams around the world use tsunami into their names, like the Tsunami Aquatics Swim team of Livermore, California.

　　He said there are also some 10,000 products called tsunami, like Tsunami Point-to-Point Wireless Bridges, Tsunami Multimedia Speakers and Tsunami Image Processors. Newspaper headline writers also liked the 56 word, as the Detroit News' "Ford Releases a Tsunami of New Products" and "Heading for the presidency on a tsunami of visions" in London's The Times.

　　[A] colorful [I] foolish

　　[B] concerts [J] solely

　　[C] serious [K] thought

　　[D] changed [L] Japanese

　　[E] pursuing [M] employed

　　[F] contexts [N] foresaw

　　[G] usually [O] sports

　　[H] beginning

　　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 57 to 61 are based on the following passage.

　　Let us suppose that you are in the position of a parent. Would you allow your children to read any book they wanted to without first checking its contents? Would you take your children to see any film without first finding out whether it is suitable for them? If your answer to these questions is "yes", then you are either extremely permissive. If your answer is "no", then you are exercising your right as a parent to protect your children from what you consider to be undesirable influences. In other words, by acting as a censor yourself, you are admitting that there is a strong case for censorship.

　　Now, of course, you will say that it is one thing to exercise censorship where children are concerned and quite another to do the same for adults. Children need protection and it is the parents' responsibility to provide it. But what about adults? Aren't they old enough to decide what is good for them? The answer is that many adults are, but don't make the mistake of thinking that all adults are like you. Censorship is for the good of society as a whole. Like the law, censorship contributes to the common good.

　　Some people think that it is disgraceful that a censor should interfere with works of art. Who is this person, they say, to ban this great book or cut that great film? No one can set himself up as a superior being. But we must remember two things. Firstly, where genuine works of art are concerned, modern censors are extremely liberal in their views—often far more liberal than a large section of the public. Artistic merit is something which censors clearly recognize. And secondly, we must bear in mind that the great proportion of books, plays and films which come before the censor are very far from being "works of art".

　　When discussing censorship, therefore, we should not confine our attention to great masterpieces, but should consider the vast numbers of publications and films which make up the bulk of the entertainment industry. When censorship laws are relaxed, immoral people are given a license to produce virtually anything in the name of "art". There is an increasing tendency to equate artistic with "pornographic". The vast market for pornography would rapidly be exploited. One of the great things that censorship does is to prevent certain people from making fat profits by corrupting the minds of others. To argue in favor of absolute freedom is to argue in favor of anarchy.

　　Society would really be the poorer if it deprived itself of the wise counsel and the restraining influence which a censor provides.

　　57. Permissive parents would ________.

　　[A] let their children read any books they like to

　　[B] not let their children see any films they like to

　　[C] not let their children read any books without first checking their contents

　　[D] let their children see the films with their first checking

　　58. The fact that parents check the contents of the book or the film for their children to read or see shows ________.

　　[A] the necessity of censorship

　　[B] many books and films are bad

　　[C] children need their parents to help them understand more

　　[D] the parents are permissive

　　59. Which of the following statements is NOT true?

　　[A] Some adults can't tell right from wrong.

　　[B] Censorship is compared to the law because both of them perform good service to society as a whole.

　　[C] Censors pay attention only to genuine works of art.

　　[D] Censorship is necessary because many books, plays and films are far from being “works of art”.

　　60. What does the word “corrupt” (Line 5, Para 4) mean?

　　[A] Make morally bad. [B] Hurt. [C] Injure. [D] Damage.

　　61. What would be the best title of this passage?

　　[A] Permissive Parents and Responsible Parents.

　　[B] Censorship and the law.

　　[C] Censors Value Artistic Merits.

　　[D] Censorship Performs Good Service to Society.

　　Passage Two

　　Questions 62 to 66 are based on the following passage.

　　One thing the tour books don’t tell you about London is that 2,000 of its residents are foxes. As native as the royal family, they fled the city about centuries ago after developers and pollution moved in. But now that the environment is cleaner, the foxes have come home, one of the many wild animals that have moved into urban areas around the world.

　　“The number and variety of wild animals in urban areas is increasing,” says Gomer Jones, president of the National Institute for Urban Wildlife, in Columbia, Maryland. A survey of the wildlife in New York’s Central Park last year tallied the species of mammals, including muskrats, shrews and flying squirrels. A similar survey conducted in the 1890s counted only five species. One of the country’s largest populations of raccoons(浣熊)now lives in Washington D.C., and moose(駝鹿)are regularly seen wandering into Maine towns. Peregrine falcons(游隼)dive from the window ledges of buildings in the largest U.S. cities to prey on pigeons.

　　Several changes have brought wild animals to the cities. Foremost is that air and water quality in many cities has improved as a result of the 1970s’ pollution-control efforts. Meanwhile, rural areas have been built up, leaving many animals on the edges of suburbia. In addition, conservationists have created urban wildlife refuges.

　　The Greater London Council last year spent $750,000 to buy land and build 10 permanent wildlife refuges in the city. Over 1,000 volunteers have donated money and cleared rubble from derelict lots. As a result, pheasants now strut in the East End and badgers scuttle across lawns near the center of town. A colony of rare house martins nests on a window ledge beside Harrods, and one evening last year a fox was seen on Westminster Bridge looking up at Big Ben.

　　For peregrine falcons, cities are actually safer than rural cliff dwellings. By 1970 the birds were extinct east of the Mississippi because the DDT had made their eggs too thin to support life. That year, ornithologist Tom Cade of Cornell University began rising the birds for release in cities, for cities afforded abundant food and contained none of the peregrine’s natural predators.

　　"Before they were exterminated, some migrated to cities on their own because they had run out of cliff space," Cade says. “To peregrines, buildings are just like cliffs.” He has released about 30 birds since 1975 in New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Norfolk, and of the 20 pairs now living in the East, half are urbanites. “A few of the young ones have gotten into trouble by falling down chimneys and crashing into window-glass, but overall their adjustment has been successful.”

　　62. The first paragraph suggests that ________.

　　[A] environment is crucial for wildlife

　　[B] tour books are not always a reliable source of information

　　[C] London is a city of fox

　　[D] foxes are highly adaptable to environment

　　63. The selection is primarily concerned with ________.

　　[A] wildlife of all kinds returning to large cities to live

　　[B] falcons in New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Norfolk

　　[C] moose stumbling into plate-glass storefronts

　　[D] foxes returning to London

　　64. In the 4th paragraph the pheasants, badgers, and martins etc. are mentioned to ________.

　　[A] explain their living habit

　　[B] make known their habitat

　　[C] show the endeavors of Londoners to make the city habitable for wildlife

　　[D] encourage volunteers to do something for the species

　　65. The main idea of paragraph 3 is ________.

　　[A] that air and water quality has improved in the cities

　　[B] why wildlife likes the noise and commotion in the cities

　　[C] that wildlife refuges have been built in the cities

　　[D] why wildlife is returning to cities

　　66. Cities make good homes for peregrine falcons because they provide ________.

　　[A] bountiful nesting areas, abundant food, and rainwater control basins

　　[B] abundant food, buildings that resemble cliffs, and no natural predators

　　[C] large buildings with chimneys other wildlife, and well-lighted nesting areas

　　[D] abundant food, chimneys, rubble, and window sills