1、大学英语六级分类模拟题 316 及答案解析(总分：100.00，做题时间：90 分钟)一、Reading Comprehensio(总题数：0，分数：0.00)More than a decade ago, cognitive scientists John Bransford and Daniel Schwartz, both then at Vanderbilt University, found that what distinguished young adults from children was not the ability to retain facts or apply p
2、rior knowledge to a new situation but a quality they called “preparation for future learning.“ The researchers asked fifth graders and college students to create a recovery plan to protect bald eagles from extinction. Shockingly, the two groups came up with plans of similar quality (although the col
3、lege students had better spelling skills). From the standpoint of a traditional educator, this outcome indicated that schooling had failed to help students think about ecosystems and extinction, major scientific ideas. The researchers decided to go deeper, however. They asked both groups to generate
4、 questions about important issues needed to create recovery plans. On this task, they found large differences. College students focused on critical issues of interdependence between eagles and their habitats(栖息地). Fifth graders tended to focus on features of individual eagles(“How big are they?“ and
5、 “What do they eat?“). The college students had cultivated the ability to ask questions, the corner-stone of critical thinking. They had learned how to learn. Museums and other institutions of informal learning may be better suited to teach this skill than elementary and secondary schools. At the Ex
6、ploratorium in San Francisco, we recently studied how learning to ask good questions can affect the quality of people“s scientific inquiry. We found that when we taught participants to ask “What if?“ and “How can?“ questions that nobody present would know the answer to and that would spark explorati
7、on, they engaged in better inquiry at the next exhibitasking more questions, performing more experiments and making better interpretations of their results. Specifically, their questions became more comprehensive at the new exhibit. Rather than merely asking about something they wanted to try, they
8、tended to include both cause and effect in their question. Asking juicy questions appears to be a transferable skill for deepening collaborative inquiry into the science content found in exhibits. This type of learning is not confined to museums or institutional settings. Informal learning environme
9、nts tolerate failure better than schools. Perhaps many teachers have too little time to allow students to form and pursue their own questions and too much ground to cover in the curriculum. But people must acquire this skill somewhere. Our society depends on them being able to make critical decision
10、s about their own medical treatment, say, or what we must do about global energy needs and demands. For that, we have a robust informal learning system that gives no grades, takes all comers, and is available even on holidays and weekends.（分数：20.00）(1).What is traditional educators“ interpretation o
11、f the research outcome mentioned in the first paragraph?（分数：4.00）A.Students are not able to apply prior knowledge to new problems.B.College students are no better than fifth graders in memorizing facts.C.Education has not paid enough attention to major environmental issues.D.Education has failed to
12、lead students to think about major scientific ideas.(2).In what way are college students different from children?（分数：4.00）A.They have learned to think critically.B.They are concerned about social issues.C.They are curious about specific features.D.They have learned to work independently.(3).What is
13、the benefit of asking questions with no ready answers?（分数：4.00）A.It arouses students“ interest in things around them.B.It cultivates students“ ability to make scientific inquiries.C.It trains students“ ability to design scientific experiments.D.It helps students realize not every question has an ans
14、wer.(4).What is said to be the advantage of informal learning?（分数：4.00）A.It allows for failures.B.It charges no tuition.C.It is entertaining.D.It meets practical needs.(5).What does the author seem to encourage educators to do at the end of the passage?（分数：4.00）A.Train students to think about global
15、 issues.B.Design more interactive classroom activities.C.Make full use of informal learning resources.D.Include collaborative inquiry in the curriculum.“There“s an old saying in the space world: amateurs talk about technology, professionals talk about insurance.“ In an interview last year with The E
16、conomist, George Whitesides, chief executive of space-tourism firm Virgin Galactic, was placing his company in the latter category. But insurance will be cold comfort following the failure on October 31 st of VSS Enterprise, resulting in the death of one pilot and the severe injury to another. On to
17、p of the tragic loss of life, the accident in California will cast a long shadow over the future of space tourism, even before it has properly begun. The notion of space tourism took hold in 2001 with a $29 million flight aboard a Russian space-craft by Dennis Tito, a millionaire engineer with an ad
18、venturous streak. Just half a dozen holiday-makers have reached orbit since thenfor similarly astronomical price tagsBut more recently，companies have begun to plan more affordable “suborbital“ flights-briefer ventures just to the edge of space“s vast darkness. Virgin Galactic had, prior to this week
19、“s accident, seemed closet to starting regular frights. The company has already taken deposits from around 800 would be space tourists, including Stephen Hawking. After being dogged by technical delays for years, Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Galactic“s founder, had recently suggested that a Space Shi
20、p Two craft would carry its first paying customers as soon as February 2015. That now seems an impossible timeline. In July, a sister craft of the crashed spaceplane was reported to be about haft-finished. The other haft will have to wait, as authorities of America“s Federal Aviation Administration(
21、FAA) and National Transportation Safety Board work out what went wrong. In the meantime, the entire space tourism industry will be on tenterhooks(坐立不安). The 2004 Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act, intended to encourage private space vehicles and services, prohibits the transportation secretary
22、(and thereby the FAA) from regulating the design or operation of private spacecraft, unless they have resulted in a serious or fatal injury to crew or passengers. That means that the FAA could suspend Virgin Galactic“s license to fly. It could also insist on checking private manned spacecraft as tho
23、roughly as it does commercial aircraft. While that may make suborbital travel safer, it would add significant cost and complexity to an emerging industry that has until now operated largely as the playground of billionaires and dreamy engineers. How Virgin Glactic, regulators and the public respond
24、to this most recent tragedy will determine whether and how soon private space travel can transcend that playground. There is no doubt that spaceflight en-tails risks, and to pioneer a new mode of travel is to face those risks, and to reduce them with the benefit of hard-won experience.（分数：20.00）(1).
25、What is said about the failure of VSS Enterprise?（分数：4.00）A.It may lead to the bankruptcy of Virgin Galactic.B.It has a strong negative impact on space tourism.C.It may discourage rich people from space travel.D.It has aroused public attention to safety issues.(2).What do we learn about the space-to
26、urism firm Virgin Galactic?（分数：4.00）A.It has just built a craft for commercial flights.B.It has sent half a dozen passengers into space.C.It was about ready to start regular business.D.It is the first to launch “suborbital“ flights.(3).What is the purpose of the 2004 Commercial Space Launch Amendmen
27、ts Act?（分数：4.00）A.To ensure space travel safety.B.To limit the FAA“s functions.C.To legalize private space explorations.D.To promote the space tourism industry.(4).What might the FAA do after the recent accident in California?（分数：4.00）A.Impose more rigid safety standards.B.Stop certifying new space-
28、tourist agencies.C.Amend its 2004 Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act.D.Suspend Virgin Galactic“s license to take passengers into space.(5).What does the author think of private space travel?（分数：4.00）A.It is worth promoting despite the risks involved.B.It should not be confined to the rich only.C
29、.It should be strictly regulated.D.It is too risky to carry on.The fridge is considered a necessity. It has been so since the 1960s when packaged food first appeared with the label: “store in the refrigerator.“ In my fridgeless fifties childhood, I was fed well and healthily. The milkman came daily,
30、 the grocer, the butcher, the baker, and the ice-cream man delivered two or three times a week. The Sunday meat would last until Wednesday and surplus bread and milk became all kinds of cakes. Nothing was wasted, and we were never troubled by rotten food. Thirty years on food deliveries have ceased,
31、 flesh vegetables are almost unobtainable in the country. The invention of the fridge contributed comparatively little to the art of food preservation. A vast way of well-tried techniques already existednatural cooling, drying, smoking, salting, sugaring, bottling. What refrigeration did promote was
32、 marketingmarketing hardware and electricity, marketing soft drinks, marketing dead bodies of animals around the globe in search of a good price. Consequently, most of the world“s fridges are to be found, not in the tropics where they might prove useful, but in the wealthy countries with mild temper
33、atures where they are climatically almost unnecessary. Every winter, millions of fridges hum away continuously, and at vast expense, busily maintaining an artificially-cooled space inside an artificially-heated housewhile outside, nature provides the desired temperature free of charge. The fridge“s
34、effect upon the environment has been evident, while its contribution to human happiness has been insignificant, If you don“t believe me, try it yourself, invest in a food cabinet and turn off your fridge next winter. You may miss the hamburgers, but at least you“ll get rid of that terrible hum.（分数：2
35、0.00）(1).The statement “In my fridgeless fifties childhood, I was fed well and healthily.“ (Line 1, Para. 2) suggests that _.（分数：4.00）A.the author was well-fed and healthy even without a fridge in his fiftiesB.the author was not accustomed to use fridges even in his fiftiesC.there was no fridge in t
36、he author“s home in the 1950sD.the fridge was in its early stage of development in the 1950s(2).Why does the author say that nothing was wasted before the invention of fridges?（分数：4.00）A.People would not buy more food than was necessary.B.Food was delivered to people two or three times a week.C.Food
37、 was sold fresh and did not get rotten easily.D.People had effective ways to preserve their food.(3).Who benefited the least from fridges according to the author?（分数：4.00）A.Inventors.B.Consumers.C.Manufacturers.D.Travelling salesmen.(4).Which of the following phrases in the fifth paragraph indicates
38、 the fridge“s negative effect on the environment?（分数：4.00）A.“Hum away continuously“.B.“Climatically almost unnecessary“.C.“Artificially-cooled space“.D.“With mild temperatures“.(5).What is the author“s overall attitude toward fridges?（分数：4.00）A.Neutral.B.Critical.C.Objective.D.Compromising.The human
39、 brain contains 10 thousand million cells and each of these may have a thousand connections. Such enormous numbers used to discourage us and cause us to dismiss the possibility of making a machine with human-like ability, but now that we have grown used to moving forward at such a pace we can be les
40、s sure. Quite soon, in only 10 or 20 years perhaps, we will be able to assemble a machine as complex as the human brain, and if we can we will. It may then take us a long time to render it intelligent by loading in the right software(软件)or by altering the architecture but that too will happen. I thi
41、nk it certain that in decades, not centuries, machines of silicon(硅)will arise first to rival and then exceed their human ancestors. Once they exceed us they will be capable of their own de-sign. In a real sense they will be able to reproduce themselves. Silicon will have ended carbon“s long control
42、. And we will no longer be able to claim ourselves to be the finest intelligence in the known universe. As the intelligence of robots increases to match that of humans and as their cost declines through economies of scale we may use them to expand our frontiers, first on earth through their ability
43、to withstand environments. harmful to ourselves. Thus, deserts may bloom and the ocean beds be mined. Further ahead, by a combination of the great wealth this new age will bring and the techno-logy it will provide, the construction of a vast, man-created world in space, home to thousands of millions
44、 of people, will be within our power.（分数：20.00）(1).In what way can we make a machine intelligent?（分数：4.00）A.By making it work in such environments as deserts. oceans or space.B.By working hard for 10 or 20 years.C.By either properly programming it or changing its structure.D.By reproducing it.(2).Wh
45、at does the writer think about machines with human-like ability?（分数：4.00）A.He believes they will be useful to human beings.B.He believes that they will control us in the future.C.He is not quite sure in what way they may influence us.D.He doesn“t consider the construction of such machines possible.(
46、3).The word carbon(Line 3, Para.2)stands for “_“.（分数：4.00）A.intelligent robotsB.a chemical elementC.an organic substanceD.human beings(4).A robot can be used to expand our frontiers when _.（分数：4.00）A.its intelligence and cost are beyond questionB.it is able to bear the rough environmentC.it is made
47、as complex as the human brainD.its architecture is different from that of the present ones(5).It can be inferred from the passage that _.（分数：4.00）A.after the installation of a great number of cells and connections, robots will be capable of self-reproductionB.with the rapid development of technology
48、, people have come to realize the possibility of making a machine with human-like abilityC.once we make a machine as complex as the human brain, it will possess intelligenceD.robots will have control of the vast, man-made world in spaceSaying they can no longer ignore the rising prices of health car
49、e, some of the most influential medical groups in the nation are recommending that doctors weigh the costs, not just the effective- ness of treatment, as they make decisions about patient care. The shift, little noticed outside the medical establishment but already controversial inside it, suggests that doctors are starting to redefine their roles, from being concerned exclusively about individual patients to exerting influence on how health care dollars are spent. In practical terms, the new guidelines being developed could result in doctors choosing one drug over an
