大學英語六級聽力1991年

　　1991年6月六級聽力原文

　　Section A

　　1. M:Now, what’s your problem, Madam?

　　W: Oh, yes. My husband bought this yellowskirt here yesterday. It is very nice, but it’s not the colour I want. Have yougot any blue ones?

　　Q: What does the woman want to do?

　　2. M:The city council has finally voted the funds to build a new high school.

　　W: It’s about time they did it. I don’tknow what took them so long.

　　Q: What’s the woman’s opinion about theschool?

　　3. M:Last night, jack left his car parked in front of his girl-friend’s house andwhen he came out to go home, it was gone.

　　W: Wow! That’s really tough. He justbought it last month, didn’t he?

　　Q: What do you think happened?

　　4. M:Some people know a lot more than they tell.

　　W: Unfortunately the reverse is alsotrue.

　　Q: What does the man mean?

　　5. W:We all talk about how liberated we are, but in fact women are still not equallytreated.

　　M: I don’t think so. You’ve got the vote,you’ve got your careers—I think you’ve go everything important.

　　Q: What are they arguing about?

　　6. M:It’s partly your own fault. You should never let in anyone like that unless you’reexpecting him.

　　W: It’s all very well to say that, butsomeone cones to the door and says” electricity “or “gas” and you automaticallythink he is OK, especially if he shows you a card.

　　Q: How does the woman feel about the man’sremarks?

　　7. M:Your yard is always so beautiful, Cathy. You must have a gardener.

　　W: Oh, no. It would cost at least amonth to hire someone to do the work, so I do most of it myself. I enjoy takingcare of the flowers, but I have to force myself to do the weeding and cut thegrass.

　　Q: What does Cathy like to do?

　　8. M:I’d like to make two reservations on Flight 651 for June 8th.

　　W: I’m sorry, we’re booked up on the 8th.But we still have a few seats available on the 9th.

　　Q: When does the man want to leave?

　　9. M:I have to think about your offer. I can’t say “yes” or “no” at the moment.

　　W: You can take your time. It will do ifyou let me know your decision in a day or two.

　　Q: Which of the following is true?

　　10. M:Well, this is a pleasant surprise. It seems to me we ran into each other herelast week too.

　　W: You and I must have the same idea. Theonly way to beat the crowds when you do the grocery shopping on Saturday is tobe here when they open at 9:00 o’clock sharp!

　　Q: Why did both of them do groceryshopping at 9:00 o’clock sharp?

　　SectionB

　　Passage One

　　In recent years, many Americans of both sexesand various ages have become interested in improving their bodies. They havebecome devoted to physical fitness.

　　Many persons have a strong desire to be morephysically fit. By nature, Americans are enthusiastic and energetic abouthobbies or pastimes.

　　Many of them apply this enthusiasm, optimism,and energy to running. As a result, there are running clubs to join andnumerous books and magazines to read about running.

　　The desire to be physically fit is explainedby a “passion” for good health. The high rate of heart attacks in the 1960scaused an increase of interest in improving the human body.

　　Middle-aged men especially suffer from heartattacks. Thus, they are one group strongly interested in more physicalexercises. In fact, many doctors encourage their patients to become morephysically active, especially those who have inactive jobs. It is interestingto note that the rate of heart attacks began to decease between 1972 and 1974and it is still decreasing. Physical fitness has now become a new “love” ofAmericans. Will it last long? Only time will tell-or until another “newpassion” comes along?

　　Questions 11 to 13 are based on the passageyou have just heard.

　　11. Whyare Americans so interested in physical exercises?

　　12. Whatabout the rate of heart attacks between 1972 and 1974 in the United States?

　　13. Whatkind of patients are especially encouraged to take part in physical exercises?

　　Passage Two

　　Telephone books in the United States have white, blue andyellow pages.

　　The white pages list people with phones bylast name. The blue pages contain numbers of city services, governmentagencies, and public schools. Businesses and professional services are listedin special section-the Yellow Pages.

　　To make a long distance call, you need anarea code. Each area in the U.S.has an area code. The area covered by one area code may be small or large. Forexample, New York City has one area code, but sodoes the whole state of Oregon.If you want to know the area code of a place, you can look it up in the areacode map which is printed in the front of the white pages.

　　There are a lot of public telephones in the U.S..They have their own numbers. If you are making a long distance call on a publictelephone and run out of money, give the number on your phone to the person you’retalking to. Then hang up the receiver and he can call you back. If you make along distance call and get a wrong number, call the operator and explain whathappened. This means that you can make the call again to the right numberwithout having to pay more money.

　　Questions 14 to 16 are based on the passageyou have just heard.

　　14. Wherecan you find the telephone number of a city council in the telephone book?

　　15. Wherecan you find an area code map of the U.S.?

　　16. Whatare you advised to do when you get a wring number in making a long distancecall?

　　Passage Three

　　Federal Express is a private airline servicewhich expands the Postal Service in the United States. It is the only U.S. airlinespecializing in the transportation of small packages-35 kilos or less.

　　Federal express links 130 major U.S.cities and 10,000 surrounding communities. An urgent package picked up in onepart of the country this afternoon can be delivered to any other part of thecountry tomorrow morning. All of the Federal Express jets fly into the International Airportat Memphis, Tennessee,because it is located in the center of the United States.

　　The sorting facility for Federal Express iscalled “The Hub.” Every night, from about 12 midnight to 30 a.m., the packagesare gathered and sorted into shipments for specific destinations. The mainlabor force is comprised of students working part-time.

　　Since Federal Express started business in1971, it has flown millions of air kilometers without fail. In the space of onehour, 39 jets will take off to destinations all across the United States.

　　Questions 17 to 20 are based on the passageyou have just heard.

　　17. Whatmakes the Federal Express so unique in the U.S. airline service business?

　　18. Howmany major U.S.cities does Federal Express link?

　　19. Whydo all of the Federal Express jets fly into the InternationalAirport at Memphis, Tennessee?

　　20. Whocomprise the main labor force of Federal Express?

　　Part II ReadingComprehension (35 minutes)

　　Questions 21 to 25 are based on the followingpassage.

　　It is natural for young people to be criticalof their parents at times and to blame them for most of the misunderstandingsbetween them. They have always complained, more or less justly, that theirparents are out of touch with modern ways; that they are possessive anddominant that they do not trust their children to deal with crises; that theytalk too much about certain problems and that they have no sense of humour, atleast in parent-child relationships.

　　I think it is true that parents oftenunderestimate their teenage children and also forget how they themselves feltwhen young.

　　Young people often irritate their parentswith their choices in clothes and hairstyles, in entertainers and music. Thisis not their motive. They feel cut off from the adult world into which theyhave not yet been accepted. So they create a culture and society of their own.Then, if it turns out that their music or entertainers or vocabulary or clothesor hairstyles irritate their parents, this gives them additional enjoyment.They feel they are superior, at least in a small way, and that they are leadersin style and taste.

　　Sometimes you are resistant and proud becauseyou do not want your parents to approve of what you do. If they did approve, itlooks as if you are betraying your own age group. But in that case, you areassuming that you are the underdog: you can’t win but at least you can keepyour honour. This is a passive way of looking at things. It is natural enoughafter long years of childhood, when you were completely under your parents’control. But it ignores the fact that you are now beginning to be responsiblefor yourself.

　　If you plan to control your life,co-operation can be part of that plan. You can charm others, especiallyparents, into doing things the ways you want. You can impress others with yoursense of responsibility and initiative, so that they will give you theauthority to do what you want to do.

　　21. Theauthor is primarily addressing ________.

　　A) parents of teenagers

　　B) newspaper readers

　　C) those who give advice to teenagers

　　D) teenagers

　　22. Thefirst paragraph is mainly about ________.

　　A) the teenagers’ criticism of theirparents

　　B) misunderstandings between teenagersand their parents

　　C) the dominance of the parents overtheir children

　　D) the teenagers’ ability to deal withcrises

　　23. Teenagerstend to have strange clothes and hairstyles because they ________.

　　A) want to show their existence bycreating a culture of their own

　　B) have a strong desire to be leaders instyle and taste

　　C) have no other way to enjoy themselvesbetter

　　D) want to irritate their parents

　　24. Teenagersdo not want their parents to approve of whatever they do because they ________.

　　A) have already been accepted into theadult world

　　B) feel that they are superior in a smallway to the adults

　　C) are not likely to win over the adults

　　D) have a desire to be independent

　　25. Toimprove parent-child relationships, teenagers are advised to be ________.

　　A) obedient

　　B) responsible

　　C) co-operative

　　D) independent

　　Questions 26 to 30 are based on the followingpassage.

　　The long years of food shortage in thiscountry have suddenly given way to apparent abundance. Stores and shops arechoked with food. Rationing (定量供應) is virtually suspended, andoverseas suppliers have been asked to hold back deliveries. Yet, instead ofjoy, there is widespread uneasiness and confusion. Why do food prices keep onrising, when there seems to be so much more food about? Is the abundance onlytemporary, or has it come to stay? Does it mean that we need to think less nowabout producing more food at home? No one knows what to expect.

　　The recent growth of export surpluses on theworld food market has certainly been unexpectedly great, partly because astrange sequence of two successful grain harvests. North America is now being followed by a third. Most of Britain’soverseas suppliers of meat, too, are offering more this year and homeproduction has also risen.

　　But the effect of all this on the foodsituation in this country has been made worse by a simultaneous rise in foodprices, due chiefly to the gradual cutting down of government support for food.The shops are overstocked with food not only because there is more foodavailable, but also because people, frightened by high prices, are buying lessof it.

　　Moreover, the rise in domestic prices hascome at a time when world prices have begun to fall, with the result thatimported food, with the exception of grain, is often cheaper than the home-producedvariety. And now grain prices, too, are falling. Consumers are beginning to askwhy they should not be enabled to benefit from this trend.

　　The significance of these developments is notlost on farmers. The older generation have seen it all happen before. Despitethe present price and market guarantees, farmers fear they are about to besqueezed between cheap food imports and a shrinking home market. Presentproduction is running at 51 per cent above pre-war levels, and the governmenthas called for an expansion to 60 per cent by 1956; but repeated Ministerialadvice is carrying little weight and the expansion programme is not workingvery well.

　　26. Whyis there “wide-spread uneasiness and confusion about the food situation in Britain?”

　　A) The abundant food supply is notexpected to last.

　　B) Britain is importing less food.

　　C) Despite the abundance, food priceskeep rising.

　　D) Britain will cut back on itsproduction of food.

　　27. Themain reason for the rise in food prices is that ________.

　　A) people are buying less food

　　B) the government is providing lessfinancial support for agriculture

　　C) domestic food production has decreased

　　D) imported food is driving prices higher

　　28. Whydidn’t the government’s expansion programme work very well?

　　A) Because the farmers were uncertainabout the financial support the government guaranteed.

　　B) Because the farmers were uncertainabout the benefits of expanding production.

　　C) Because the farmers were uncertainabout whether foreign markets could be found for their produce.

　　D) Because the older generation offarmers were strongly against the programmer.

　　29. Thedecrease in world food price was a result of ________.

　　A) a sharp fall in the purchasing powerof the consumers

　　B) a sharp fall in the cost of foodproduction

　　C) the overproduction of food in thefood-importing countries

　　D) the overproduction on the part of themain food-exporting countries

　　30. Whatdid the future look like for Britain’sfood production at the time this article was written?

　　A) The fall in world food prices wouldbenefit British food producers.

　　B) An expansion of food production was athand.

　　C) British food producers would receivemore government financial support.

　　D) It looks depressing despite governmentguarantees.

　　Questions 31 to 35 are based on the followingpassage.

　　It is hard to predict how science is going toturn out, and if it is really good science it is impossible to predict. If thethings to be found are actually new, they are by definition unknown in advance.You cannot make choices in this matter. You either have science or you don’t,and if you have it you are obliged to accept the surprising and disturbingpieces of information, along with the neat and promptly useful bits.

　　The only solid piece of scientific truthabout which I feel totally confident is that we are profoundly ignorant aboutnature. Indeed, I regard this as the major discovery of the past hundred yearsof biology. It is, in its way, an illumination piece of news. It would haveamazed the brightest minds of the 18th century Enlightenment (啟蒙運動) to be told by any of us how little we know and how bewilderingseems the way ahead. It is this sudden confrontation with the depth and scopeof ignorance that represents the most significant contribution of the 20thcentury science to the human intellect. In earlier times, we either pretendedto understand how things worked or ignored the problem, or simply made upstories to fill the gaps. Now that we have begun exploring in earnest, we aregetting glimpses of how huge the questions are, and how far from beinganswered. Because of this, we are depressed. It is not so bad being ignorant ifyou are totally ignorant; the hard thing is knowing in some detail the realityof ignorance, the worst spots and here and there the not-so-bad spots, but notrue light at the end of the tunnel nor even any tunnels that can yet betrusted.

　　But we are making a beginning, and thereought to be some satisfaction. There are probably no questions we can think upthat can’t be answered, sooner or later, including even the matter ofconsciousness. To be sure, there may well be questions we can’t think up, ever,and therefore limits to the reach of human intellect, but that is anothermatter. Within our limits, we should be able to work our way through to all ouranswers, if we keep at it long enough, and pay attention.

　　31. Accordingto the author, really good science ________.

　　A) would surprise the brightest minds ofthe 18th century Enlightenment

　　B) will produce results which cannot beforeseen

　　C) will help people to make the rightchoice in advance

　　D) will bring about disturbing results

　　32. Itcan be inferred from the passage that scientists of the 18th century ________.

　　A) thought that they knew a great dealand could solve most problems of science

　　B) were afraid of facing up to therealities of scientific research

　　C) knew that they were ignorant andwanted to know more about nature

　　D) did more harm than good in promotingman’s understanding of nature

　　33. Whichof the following statements is NOT true of scientists in earlier times?

　　A) They invented false theories toexplain things they didn’t understand.

　　B) They falsely claimed to know all aboutnature.

　　C) They did not believe in results fromscientific observation.

　　D) They paid little attention to the problemsthey didn’t understand.

　　34. Whatis the author’s attitude towards science?

　　A) He is depressed because of theignorance of scientists.

　　B) He is doubtful because of the enormousdifficulties confronting it.

　　C) He is confident though he is aware ofthe enormous difficulties confronting it.

　　D) He is delighted because of theilluminating scientific findings.

　　35. Theauthor believes that ________.

　　A) man can find solutions to whateverquestions concerning nature he can think up

　　B) man cannot solve all the problems hecan think up because of the limits of human intellect

　　C) sooner or later man can think up allthe questions concerning nature and answer them

　　D) questions concerning consciousness areoutside the scope of scientific research

　　Questions 36 to 40 are based on the followingpassage.

　　Greenspace facilities are contributing to animportant extent to the quality of the urban environment. Fortunately it is nolonger necessary that every lecture or every book about this subject has tostart with the proof of this idea. At present, it is generally accepted,although more as a self-evident statement than on the base of aclosely-reasoned scientific proof. The recognition of the importance ofgreenspaces in the urban environment is a first step on the right way, thisdoes not mean, however, that sufficient details are known about the functionsof greenspace in towns and about the way in which the inhabitants are usingthese spaces. As to this rather complex subject I shall, within the scope ofthis lecture, enter into one aspect only, namely the recreative function ofgreenspace facilities.

　　The theoretical separation of living,working, traffic and recreation which for many years has been used intown-and-country planning, has in my opinion resulted in disproportionateattention for forms of recreation far from home, whereas there was relativelylittle attention for improvement of recreative possibilities in the directneighbourhood of the home. We have come to the conclusion that this is notright, because an important part of the time which we do not pass in sleepingor working, is used for activities at and around home. So it is obvious thatrecreation in the open air has to begin at the street-door of the house. Theurban environment has to offer as many recreation activities as possible, andthe design of these has to be such that more obligatory activities can alsohave a recreative aspect.

　　The very best standard of living is nothingif it is not possible to take a pleasant walk in the district, if the childrencannot be allowed to play in the streets, because the risks of traffic are toogreat, if during shopping you can nowhere find a spot for enjoying for a momentthe nice weather, in short, if you only feel yourself at home after thestreet-door of your house is closed after you.

　　36. Accordingto the author, the importance of greenspaces in the urban environment ________.

　　A) is still unknown

　　B) is usually neglected

　　C) is being closely studied

　　D) has been fully recognized

　　37. Thetheoretical separation of living, working, traffic and recreation has led to________.

　　A) the disproportion of recreationfacilities in the neighbourhood

　　B) the location of recreation facilitiesfar from home

　　C) relatively little attention forrecreative possibilities

　　D) the improvement of recreativepossibilities in the neighbourhood

　　38. Theauthor suggests that the recreative possibilities of green space should beprovided ________.

　　A) in special areas

　　B) in the suburbs

　　C) in the neighbourhood of the house

　　D) in gardens and parks

　　39. Accordingto the author, greenspace facilities should be designed in such a way that________.

　　A) more obligatory activities might takeon a recreative aspect

　　B) more and more people might have accessto them

　　C) an increasing number of recreativeactivities might be developed

　　D) recreative activities might be broughtinto our homes

　　40. Themain idea of this passage is that ________.

　　A) better use of greenspace facilitiesshould be made so as to improve the quality of our life

　　B) attention must be directed to theimprovement of recreative possibilities

　　C) the urban environment is providingmore recreation activities than it did many years ago

　　D) priority must be given to thedevelopment of obligatory activities

　　21. D 22. A 23. A 24. D 25. C

　　26. C 27. B 28. B 29. D 30. D

　　31. B 32. A 33. C 34. C 35. A

　　36. D 37. B 38. C 39. A 40. A