大学英语六级考试(CET6)历年真题听力

　　Section A

　　11. M: I need to find a dentist; you said you know Dr. Smith well, do you recommend her?

　　W: Well, I had to see her a few times, but what impressed me most was the magazines in her waiting room.

　　Q: What does the woman imply ?

　　12. W: I m afraid I can t show you the apartment at the moment, because the tenant is still living in it. It s really a lovely place with a big kitchen and a sunny window for only two hundred dollars a month.

　　M: Sounds good, but we really can t rent an apartment without seeing it first.

　　Q: What do we learn from the conversation?

　　13. M: So, that s what s been keeping you so busy recently!

　　W: Yes, I ve been tied up with my studies. You know I m planning to go to the United States this coming summer, but I m a bit nervous about my English.

　　Q: What is the woman busy doing ?

　　14. W: How did you feel when you found out you had high blood pressure?

　　M: Shocked! The problem for me was that there no symptoms ; it seemed to have sneaked up on me.

　　Q: What does the man mean?

　　15. W: So, you re just back from a trip to India. What were you doing there?

　　M: The trip was intended to bring to the world s attention the fact that AIDS is not just an African disease; it s also endangering other countries , notably, India and Thailand.

　　Q: What was the purpose of the man s trip to India?

　　16. M: It s quite clear from my visit this is a full-size comprehensive university. So why is it still called a college?

　　W: The College of William and Mary is the second oldest institution of higher learning in this country. We have nurtured great minds like Thomas Jefferson and we re proud of our name.

　　Q: What do we learn from this conversation about the College of William and Mary?

　　17. M: Have the parts we need for the photocopying machine arrived yet?

　　W: I ordered them last week, but something is holding them up .

　　Q: What does the woman say about the part needed for the photocopying machine?

　　18. W: The cafeteria provided many kinds of dishes for us today. Did you notice that?

　　M: Yes. Kind of rare, isn t it?

　　Q: What does the man imply?

　　Conversation One

　　W: Hello, Patrick, is that you?

　　M: Yeah Jane, what can I do for you ?

　　W: I was calling about the apple tree that you were trimming yesterday.

　　M: That was hard work!

　　W: I m sure it was. It sure looked difficult.

　　M: Yeah, I m glad it s finished. Hauling the branches to the front for garbage pickup was no fun either.

　　W: Well, I don t think you re quite finished yet; some of the larger branches fell over into my yard, and I think you should come and get them.

　　M: Listen Jane, I don t see why I should do that. You eat all the apples that fall in your yard and you ve never complained about that before.

　　W: Well, it s easier to pick up apples than to drag tree branches all the way to the curb. My kids pick up the apples, and the branches are just too big for them to drag.

　　M: Well, I guess you ll just have to do it yourself Jane.

　　W: Patrick, I wish you would reconsider . We ve always gotten along fairly well, but I think you re out of line here. The branches are your responsibility.

　　M: Sorry Jane, I disagree! You take the benefits of the apple tree, but refuse to deal with the bad side of it !

　　W: Get the branches off my property or I ll have to sue you.

　　M: Yeah? For what? You re taking those law classes too seriously ! I ll gotta go, I have to pick up my son.

　　W: You ll be hearing from me. M: Yeah, yeah. See you in court Jane.

　　Questions 19 to 22 are based on the conversation you have just heard.

　　19. What did the man do yesterday?

　　20. What did the woman ask the man to do?

　　21. What did the woman threaten to do?

　　22. What was the man s reaction to the woman s threat?

　　Conversation Two

　　M: Did you hear about the air crash that occurred in South America recently? It was quite a tragic accident!

　　W: No, I didn t see anything in the news about it. What happened?

　　M: A foreign airliner was attempting to land at night in a mountainous area of Argentina and flew into a hill!

　　W: That sounds really terrible! Did anyone survive?

　　M: No, everyone aboard, including the crew, was killed instantly.

　　W: What were the circumstances? Was there bad weather, a fire, or an engine failure?

　　M: Apparently, there were some low clouds in the area, but mostly it was just miscommunication between the pilots and the air traffic controllers.

　　W: Weren t they both speaking in English, the official international aviation language?

　　M: Yes, they were. But the transmission from poor-quality radios was slightly distorted and the accents of the Spanish speaking controllers were so strong that the pilots misunderstood a vital instruction.

　　W: How could a misunderstanding like that cause such a serious accident?

　　M: The pilots were told Descend to 2-2, 000 feet. The instruction actually meant 22,000 feet, but they thought they heard descend to 2,000 feet. That s a huge difference, and it should have been confirmed, but it was not. Unfortunately, the terrain of the mountains in that region extends up to 2,000 feet.

　　W: So the pilots did descend to the wrong altitude then, thinking they were following the air controllers instructions.

　　M: Sadly enough, yes they did. It was a really bad mistake. Many people died as a result of this simple misunderstanding.W: Wow, that s a powerful lesson in how important it can be to accurately communicate with each other.

　　Questions 23 to 25 are based on the conversation you have just heard.

　　23. What was the cause of the tragedy?

　　24. How high are the mountains in the region?

　　25. What lesson could be drawn from the accident?

　　Section B

　　Passage One

　　Edgar Poe, an American writer, was born in 1809. His parents were actors. Edgar was a baby when his father left the family. He was two years old when his mother died. He was taken into the home of a wealthy business man named John Allen. He then received his new name, Edgar Allen Poe. As a young man, Poe attended the University of Virginia. He was a good student, but he liked to drink alcohol and play card games for money. As an unskilled game player, he often lost money. Since he couldn t pay his gambling losses, he left university and began working for magazines. He worked hard, yet he was not well-paid, or well-known. A t the age of 27, he got married. For a time it seemed that Poe would find happiness, but his wife was sick for most of their marriage, and died in 1847. Through all his crises, Poe produced many stories and poems which appeared in different publications, yet he didn t become famous until 1845, when his poem, The Raven, was published. There is a question, however, about Poe s importance in American literature. Some critics say Poe was one of America s best writers, but others disagree. They say Poe s work is difficult to understand and most of his writing describes very unpleasant situations and events. Edgar Allen Poe died in 1849 when he was 40 years old. It is said that he was found dead after days of heavy drinking.

　　26. What happened to Edgar Allen Poe s family when he was only two years old?

　　27.Why did Edgar Allen Poe leave the University of Virginia?

　　28.What do some critics say about Edgar Allen Poe?

　　29.How did Edgar Allen Poe s life come to an end?

　　Passage Two

　　More than fifty years ago, the United Nations declared that literacy is a basic human right. It s very important for improving the lives of individuals. However, it is estimated that 880 million adults around the world are illiterate, that is, they are unable to read or write. A majority of them are women. More than 110 million school age children in the world do not attend school. Many others complete school or fail to finish their studies without learning to read or write. Many countries depend on the efforts of people who offer their time to help illiterate individuals. For example, John Mogger became concerned about the problem of illiteracy three years ago, so he started teaching five prisoners in Brazil. In his teaching, he developed a system with this group of prisoners. He says his way of teaching can help anyone learn how to read and write with about thirty hours of study. To learn his system, people must first know how to write letters of the alphabet and learn which sounds they represent. The system divides letters into three groups . The first group of letters can be written between two lines. The second can be written between two lines but part of the letter is above the top line. The third group has letters that are partly written below the lower line. John Mogger taught his students to write simple words from the letters. In this way, his students learned more than seven hundred words. Many of them can now write to family members. They also can read newspapers and magazines.

　　30. According to the speaker, which group of people make up the illiterate population?

　　31.What is the most important feature of John Mogger s method of teaching the alphabet?

　　32.What does John Mogger say about his teaching method?

　　Passage Three

　　Farmers usually use ploughs to prepare their fields for planting crops. Ploughs cut into the ground, and lift up weeds, and other unwanted plants. However, ploughing is blamed for causing severe damage to topsoil by removing the plants that protect the soil from being blown or washed away. Many farmers in South Asia are now trying a process called Low Till Farming. Low Till Farming limits the use of ploughs. in this method of farming seeds and fertilizer are put into the soil through small cuts made in the surface of the ground. Low Till Agriculture leaves much or all the soil and remains of plants on the ground. They serve as a natural fertilizer and help support the roots of future crops. They take in rain and allow it to flow into the soil instead of running off. It has been proved that Low Till Farming increases harvests and reduces water use, and this method reduces the need for chemical products because there are fewer unwanted plants. Scientists say Low Till Farming is becoming popular in South Asia, which is facing a severe water shortage. They say the area will become dependent in imported food unless water is saved through methods like Low Till Farming. Currently, more than 150 million people in South Asia depend on local rice and wheat crops. Farmers grow rice during wet weather. During the dry season they grow wheat in the same fields. Farmers are using the Low Till method to plant wheat after harvesting rice. Scientists say Low Till Agriculture is one of the best examples in the world of technologies working for both people and the environment.

　　33. What is the main problem caused by the usual way of ploughing?

　　35.Where is Low Till Farming becoming popular?

　　Section C

　　Adults are getting smarter about how smart babies are. Not long ago, researchers learned that 4-day-oldscould understand addition and subtraction. Now, British research psychologist Graham Schafer has discovered that infants can learn words for uncommon things long before they can speak. He found that 9-month-oldinfants could be taught, through repeated show-and-tell, to recognize the names of objects that were foreign to them, a result that challenges in some ways the received wisdom that, apart from learning to identify things common to their daily lives, children don t begin to build vocabulary until well into their second year. It s no secret that children learn words, but the words they tend to know are words linked to specific situations in the home, explains Schafer. This is the first demonstration that we can choose what words the children will earn and they can respond to them with an unfamiliar voice giving instructions in an unfamiliar setting. Figuring out how humans acquire language may shed light on why some children learn to read and write later than others, Schafer says, and could lead to better treatments for developmental problems. What s more, the study of language acquisition offers direct insight into how humans learn. Language is a test case for human cognitive development, says Schafer. But parents eager to teach their infants should take note: Even without being taught new words, a control group caught up with the other infants within a few moths . This is not about advancing development, he says. It s just about what children can do at an earlier age than what educators have often thought.