1、大学英语六级分类模拟题 468 及答案解析(总分：270.50，做题时间：90 分钟)一、Part Reading Compr(总题数：0，分数：0.00)二、Section A(总题数：1，分数：25.00)Norman Borlaug: Father of the “Green Revolution“A. Few people have quietly changed the world for the better more than this rural lad from the midwestern state of Iowa in the United States. The ma
2、n in focus is Norman Borlaug, the Father of the “ Green Revolution“ , who died on September 12, 2009 at age 95. Norman Borlaug spent most of his 60 working years in the farmlands of Mexico, South Asia and later in Africa, fighting world hunger, and saving by some estimates up to a billion lives in t
3、he process. An achievement, fit for a Nobel Peace Prize. Early Years B. “I“m a product of the great depression“ is how Borlaug described himself. A great-grandson of Norwegian immigrants to the United States, Borlaug was born in 1914 and grew up on a small farm in the northeastern comer of Iowa in a
4、 town called Cresco. His family had a 40-hectare(公顷) farm on which they grew wheat, maize (玉米) and hay and raised pigs and cattle. Norman spent most of his time from age 7-17 on the farm, even as he attended a one-room, one-teacher school at New Oregon in Howard County. C. Borlaug didn“t have money
5、to go to college. But through a Great Depression era programme, known as the National Youth Administration, Borlaug was able to enroll in the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis to study forestry. He excelled in studies and received his Ph.D. in plant pathology (病理学) and genetics in 1942. From 19
6、42 to 1944, Borlaug was employed as a microbiologist at DuPont in Wilmington. However, following the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, Borlaug tried to join the military, but was rejected under wartime labour regulations. In Mexico D. In 1944, many experts warned of mass starvation in develop
7、ing nations where populations were expanding faster than crop production. Borlaug began work at a Rockefeller Foundation-funded project in Mexico to increase wheat production by developing higher-yielding varieties of the crop. It involved research in genetics, plant breeding, plant pathology, entom
8、ology (昆虫学), agronomy (农艺学), soil science, and cereal technology. The goal of the project was to boost wheat production in Mexico, which at the time was importing a large portion of its grain. Borlaug said that his first couple of years in Mexico were difficult. He lacked trained scientists and equi
9、pment. Native farmers were hostile towards the wheat programme because of serious crop losses from 1939 to 1941 due to stem rust. E. Wheat varieties that Borlaug worked with had tall, thin stalks. While taller wheat competed better for sunlight, they had a tendency to collapse under the weight of ex
10、tra graina trait called lodging. To overcome this, Borlaug worked on breeding wheat with shorter and stronger stalks, which could hold on larger seed heads. Borlaug“s new semi-dwarf, disease-resistant varieties, called Pitic 62 and Penjamo 62, changed the potential yield of Mexican wheat dramaticall
11、y. By 1963 wheat production in Mexico stood six times more than that of 1944. Green Revolution in India F. During the 1960s, South Asia experienced severe drought condition and India had been importing wheat on a large scale from the United States. Borlaug came to India in 1963 along with Dr. Robert
12、 Anderson to duplicate his Mexican success in the sub-continent. The experiments began with planting a few of the high-yielding variety strains in the fields of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute at Pusa in New Delhi, under the supervision of Dr. M. S. Swaminathan. These strains were subsequ
13、ently planted in test plots at Ludhiana, Pantnagar, Kanpur, Pune and Indore. The results were promising, but large-scale success, however, was not instant. Cultural opposition to new agricultural techniques initially prevented Borlaug from going ahead with planting of new wheat strains in India. By
14、1965, when the drought situation turned alarming, the Government took the lead and allowed wheat revolution to move forward. By employing agricultural techniques he developed in Mexico, Borlaug was able to nearly double South Asian wheat harvests between 1965 and 1970. G. India subsequently made a h
15、uge commitment to Mexican wheat, importing some 18,000 tonnes of seed. By 1968, it was clear that the Indian wheat harvest was nothing short of revolutionary. It was so productive that there was a shortage of labour to harvest it, of bull carts to haul it to the threshing floor (打谷场), of jute (黄麻) b
16、ags to store it. Local governments in some areas were forced to shut down schools temporarily to use them as store houses. H. United Nation“s Food and Agriculture Organization(FAO) observed that in 40 years between 1961 and 2001, “India more than doubled its population, from 452 million to more than
17、 1 billion. At the same time, it nearly tripled its grain production from 87 million tonnes to 231 million tonnes. It accomplished this feat while increasing cultivated grain acreage (土地面积) a mere 8 percent.“ It was in India that Norman Borlaug“s work was described as the “Green Revolution“. In Afri
18、ca I. Africa suffered widespread hunger and starvation through the 70s and 80s. Food and aid poured in from most developed countries into the continent, but thanks to the absence of efficient distribution system, the hungry remained empty-stomach. The then Chairman of the Nippon Foundation, Ryoichi
19、Sasakawa wondered why the methods used in Mexico and India were not extended to Africa. He called up Norman Borlaug, now leading a semi-retired life, for help. He managed to convince Borlaug to help with his new effort and subsequently founded the Sasakawa Africa Association. Borlaug later recalled,
20、 “but after I saw the terrible circumstances there, I said, “Let“s just start growing.“ “ J. The success in Africa was not as spectacular as it was in India or Mexico. Those elements that allowed Borlaug“s projects to succeed, such as well-organized economies and transportation and irrigation system
21、s, were severely lacking throughout Africa. Because of this, Borlaug“s initial projects were restricted to developed regions of the continent. Nevertheless, yields of maize, sorghum (高粱) and wheat doubled between 1983 and 1985. Nobel Prize K. For his contributions to the world food supply, Borlaug w
22、as awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970. Norwegian officials notified his wife in Mexico City at 4:00 a. m., but Borlaug had already left for the test fields in the Toluca valley, about 65 km west of Mexico City. A chauffeur (司机) took her to the fields to inform her husband. In his acceptance speec
23、h, Borlaug said, “the first essential component of social justice is adequate food for all mankind. Food is the moral right of all who are born into this world. Yet, 50 percent of the world population goes hungry.“ Green Revolution vs Environmentalists L. Borlaug“s advocacy of intensive high-yield a
24、griculture came under severe criticism from environmentalists in recent years. His work faced environmental and socio-economic criticisms including charges that his methods have created dependence on monoculture crops, unsustainable farming practices, heavy indebtedness among subsistence farmers, an
25、d high levels of cancer among those who work with agriculture chemicals. There are also concerns about the long-term sustainability of farming practices encouraged by the Green Revolution in both the developed and the developing world. M. In India, the Green Revolution is blamed for the destruction
26、of Indian crop diversity, drought vulnerability, dependence on agro-chemicals that poison soils but reap large-scale benefits mostly to the American multi-national corporations. What these critics overwhelmingly advocate is a global movement towards “organic“ or “sustainable“ fanning practices that
27、avoid using chemicals and high technology in favour of natural fertilizers, cultivation and pest-control programmes.（分数：25.00）(1).Borlaug“s new varieties of wheat have shorter stems and stronger resistance to disease.（分数：2.50）(2).A large part of Borlaug“s life was spent in increasing food supply of
28、poor countries and combating hunger.（分数：2.50）(3).Borlaug“s wheat programme met with resistance during his first couple of years in Mexico.（分数：2.50）(4).In both developed and developing countries there are concerns whether in the long run Borlaug“s farming practices will be sustainable.（分数：2.50）(5).Th
29、e lack of necessary supporting facilities in Africa prevented Borlaug from achieving brilliant success.（分数：2.50）(6).Borlaug was not able to get ahead with his experiments in India until the government intervened.（分数：2.50）(7).Borlaug believes that elimination of hunger is one essential element in ens
30、uring social justice.（分数：2.50）(8).The poorly-managed distribution system prevented the food aid from feeding the hungry in Africa.（分数：2.50）(9).Statistics indicate that India achieved a dramatic increase of grain production with a modest increase of farming land.（分数：2.50）(10).Critics blame Green Revo
31、lution for producing a huge profit for the American agro-chemical corporations.（分数：2.50）三、Section B(总题数：0，分数：0.00)四、Passage One(总题数：2，分数：142.00)Interactive television advertising, which allows viewers to use their remote controls to click on advertisements, has been pushed for years. Nearly a decade
32、 ago it was predicted that viewers of “Friends“, a popular situation comedy, would soon be able to purchase a sweater like Jennifer Aniston“s with a few taps on their remote control. “It“s been the year of interactive television advertising for the last ten or twelve years,“ says Colin Dixon of a di
33、gital-media consultancy. So the news that Cablevision, an American cable company, was rolling out interactive advertisements to all its customers on October 6th was greeted with some skepticism. During commercials, an overlay will appear at the bottom of the screen, prompting viewers to press a butt
34、on to request a free sample or order a catalogue. Cablevision hopes to allow customers to buy things with their remote controls early next year. Television advertising could do with a boost. Spending fell by 10% in the first half of the year. The popularization of digital video recorders has caused
35、advertisers to worry that their commercials will be skipped. Some are turning to the Internet, which is cheaper and offers concrete measurements like click-through ratesespecially important at a time when marketing budgets are tight. With the launch of interactive advertising, “many of the dollars t
36、hat went to the Internet will come back to the TV,“ says David Kline of Cablevision. Or so the industry hopes. In theory, interactive advertising can engage viewers in a way that 30-second spots do not. Unilever recently ran an interactive campaign for its Axe deodorant (除臭剂), which kept viewers eng
37、aged for more than three minutes on average. The amount spent on interactive advertising on television is still small. Magna, an advertising agency, reckons it will be worth about $138 million this year. That falls far short of the billions of dollars people once expected it to generate. But DirecTV
38、, Comcast and Time Warner Cable have all invested in it. A new effort led by Canoe Ventures, a coalition of leading cable providers, aims to make interactive advertising available across America later this year. BrightLine iTV, which designs and sells interactive ads, says interest has surged: it ex
39、pects its revenues almost to triple this year. BSkyB, Britain“s biggest satellite-television service, already provides 9 million customers with interactive ads. Yet there are doubts whether people watching television, a “lean back“ medium, crave interaction. Click-through rates have been high so far
40、 (around 3-4%, compared with less than 0.3% online), but that may be a result of the novelty. Interactive ads and viewers might not go well together.（分数：71.00）(1).What does Colin Dixon mean by saying “It“s been the year of interactive television advertising for the last ten or twelve years“ (Line 4,
41、 Para. 1)?（分数：14.20）A.Interactive television advertising will become popular in 10-12 years.B.Interactive television advertising has been under debate for the last decade or so.C.Interactive television advertising is successful when incorporated into situation comedies.D.Interactive television adver
42、tising has not achieved the anticipated results.(2).What is the public“s response to Cablevision“s planned interactive TV advertising program?（分数：14.20）A.Pretty positive.B.Totally indifferent.C.Somewhat doubtful.D.Rather critical.(3).What is the impact of the wide use of digital video recorders on T
43、V advertising?（分数：14.20）A.It has made TV advertising easily accessible to viewers.B.It helps advertisers to measure the click-through rates.C.It has placed TV advertising at a great disadvantage.D.It enables viewers to check the sales items with ease.(4).What do we learn about Unilever“s interactive
44、 campaign?（分数：14.20）A.It proves the advantage of TV advertising.B.It has done well in engaging the viewers.C.It helps attract investments in the company.D.It has boosted the TV advertising industry.(5).How does the author view the hitherto high click-through rates?（分数：14.20）A.They may be due to the
45、novel way of advertising.B.They signify the popularity of interactive advertising.C.They point to the growing curiosity of TV viewers.D.They indicate the future direction of media reform.The longest bull run in a century of art-market history ended on a dramatic note with a sale of 56 works by Damie
46、n Hirst, “Beautiful Inside My Head Forever“, at Sotheby“s in London on September 15th 2008. All but two pieces sold, fetching more than $70m, a record for a sale by a single artist. It was a last victory. As the auctioneer called out bids, in New York one of the oldest banks on Wall Street, Lehman B
47、rothers, filed for bankruptcy, triggering the most severe financial crisis since the 1920s. The world art market had already been losing momentum for a while after rising bewilderingly since 2003. At its peak in 2007 it was worth some $65 billion, reckons Clare McAndrew, founder of Arts Economics, a
48、 research firmdouble the figure five years earlier. Since then it may have come down to 50 billion. But the market generates interest far beyond its size because it brings together great wealth, enormous egos, greed, passion and controversy in a way matched by few other industries. In the weeks and
49、months that followed Mr. Hirst“s sale, spending of any sort became deeply unfashionable. In the art world that meant collectors stayed away from galleries and salerooms. Sales of contemporary art fell by two-thirds, and in the most overheated sector, they were down by nearly 90% in the year to November 2008. Within weeks the world“s two biggest auction houses, Sotheby“s and Christie“s, had to pay out nearly $200m in guarantees to clients who had placed works for sale with them. The current downturn in the art market is the worst since the Japanese stopped buying Impressionists at the end
