6月英语六级听力全真模拟题(二)

　　听力部分

　　English Weekly CET-6 Listening Practice Test Ⅵ

　　Part III Listening Comprehension

　　Section A

　　Directions: In this section, you will hear 8 short conversations and 2 long conversations. At the end of each conversation, one or more questions will be asked about what was said. Both the conversation and the questions will be spoken only once. After each question there will be a pause. During the pause, you must read the four choices marked A)， B)， C) and D)， and decide which is the best answer. Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre。

　　11. W: Im afraid the project has to be given up. You know, my partner always turns a deaf ear to me whenever we have any difference。

　　M: Why dont you communicate with each other? There must be some misunderstandings。

　　Q: Whats the woman complaining about?

　　12. M: Now I know what has been keeping you so busy these days!

　　W: Yes, Ive been tied up with these application forms and resumes. The ten candidates are scheduled to have interviews with the human resource manager tomorrow。

　　Q: What is the woman busy doing?

　　13. M: Ill go dinner with some of my colleagues Sunday night. How about Flower Garden? I remember youve visited there several times。

　　W: Yes, but the only thing that impressed me was the elegant table cloth。

　　Q: What does the woman imply?

　　14. M: Who were you talking to just now? I kept calling you but it was always busy。

　　W: Oh, sorry. Its Stella, you know, shes always well-informed of the latest news in our class so I cant wait to talk with her。

　　Q: What do we learn from the conversation?

　　15. M: Do you believe that a neighbor is more dependable than a distant relative?

　　W: Exactly. But the closeness that was once typical in a traditional courtyard is gone now since people moved into the high-rise apartment buildings。

　　Q: What does the woman imply?

　　16. W: Mike didnt complain about his working load this morning, and we could finish the conference half an hour earlier。

　　M: Its kind of rare, isnt it?

　　Q: What does the man imply?

　　17. M: How can we decide to buy the house without having a close look at it!

　　W: Well arrange that for you provided that you can pay this $1,000 as the warranty fee。

　　Q: What can we learn from the conversation?

　　18. M: I heard the percentage of college students suicide has been increasing in the past several years。

　　W: Im afraid so. But weve been trying to offer them free psychological counseling and courses. So it will only be a matter of time to see the improvement。

　　Q: What can we learn from the conversation?

　　Now youll hear two long conversations。

　　Conversation One

　　W: Im Avi Arditti, and today we are going to continue our interview with Arthur Schulman. Hes compiled a book of words and definitions set forth by Noah Webster in his 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language. Tell us a little bit about Noah Webster, who he was and how he came about writing his dictionary。

　　M: Well, he did a lot of things. He was a patriot. He was at Yale University when the American revolution broke out, and then he had to leave school for the revolution. He came back and finished his degree there. After the revolution, he was an early newspaperman, a columnist. And then he was a federalist―until his death, I think, but certainly early on, defending the revolution and a great supporter of it。

　　W: And as I understand it, he believed that the nation―the new nation―really needed a national language。

　　M: Thats right. And so he was a considerable educator. In fact, his first books were called―there were three books, all parts of what he called the Grammatical Institute, and the first one was the Speller, which continued in print until well past 1900s. So that book was in print for more than a hundred years。

　　W: Did he have a problem or an issue, that all these different spellings he wanted to

　　M: Well, early on he, like Ben Franklin, was interested in reforming spelling and really making radical changes so that the written language could be read and sound like the spoken language. But I think everybody gave that up as an impossible job after a while。

　　W: And what was the product that he produced in 1828?

　　M: In 1828 he produced a dictionary of seventy thousand words that he had been working on for well over twenty years―actually, I think more like twenty-five years. And he did that because he felt very strongly that the country needed a dictionary to reflect the language that existed here, which was no longer exactly the same as the language that existed in the home country。

　　W: And what does this dictionary tell us about the American character―who were we as Americans in 1828?

　　M: Well, it tells us a lot about Websters character. He was a great moralist. He tells us how to behave. He tells us whats right. He tells us that we should educate our children. He tells us that slavery is evil。

　　Questions 19 to 21 are based on the conversation you have just heard。

　　19. What do we know about the personal experience of Noah Webster according to the conversation?

　　20. Why did Webster spend over two decades on his dictionary published in 1828?

　　21. What does his dictionary published in 1828 tell us about Webster?

　　Conversation Two

　　M: A friend of mine is studying in the United States who is with a group of Americans and wants to mingle. What kind of advice would you give to him about how to start and go through his day?

　　W: When I dont know anybody, I will go up to someone or a group of people and say, Hi, my name is Jeanne Martinet and I dont know a single soul at this party。 That is really important to throw yourself in a little bit asking for help from other people. It is usually not a bad idea because it usually gives you a warm response。

　　M: But this takes courage and skill。

　　W: It doesnt, it takes practice. When it happens a couple of times, you will start to lose your fear. You have to remember that nobody is thinking about you, theyre only thinking about themselves. So its sort of helpful to remember this to become less self-conscious。

　　M: Sounds great. You know, mixing with people at parties leaves me at a loss for words. Could you offer me some help? Give us some tips―what works?

　　W: Well, what doesnt work is that you should never walk up to somebody and ask them right away what they do for a living. Its not only sort of rude, but its sort of like who are you, are you worth my time?

　　M: Then how shall I open the conversation?

　　W: Theres an opening technique, which works very well if that person has an unusual pair of earrings or tie on. You can walk up to somebody and say Hey, I really like that pair of earrings. I think the mistake that people make is they think that the only way to talk to people is to ask them questions。

　　M: Yes. But do you have any suggestions about ending an unpleasant conversation?

　　W: Sure. You can do one of many escape techniques that can help you save face or even get you away from someone that you discover that you dont want to talk to。

　　M: For example?

　　W: Like, you know, the buffet bye-bye―what my cute name for Well, Ive really got to get a drink or Im starving―that thing youre eating is making me even more hungry. Ill be back。 and never come back. At a party youre allowed to do that。

　　M: OK. I heard that in every culture certain subjects are maybe off-limits or you really shouldnt talk about them unless you know a person well. What do you think about that?

　　W: In American culture, three that come to mind are money, religion and politics. The two safe subjects used to be your health and the weather. Well, the weather now leads you to topics of global warming and your health, you can easily start talking about health insurance。

　　Questions 22 to 25 are based on the conversation you have just heard。

　　22. What does the woman suggest doing if one doesnt know anybody in a group of people?

　　23. Which is the best topic to open a talk with a group of strangers in a party?

　　24. What does it take for people to go up to someone or a group directly according to the woman?

　　25. What do we know about buffet bye-bye according to the woman?

　　Section B

　　Directions: In this section, you will hear 3 short passages. At the end of each passage, you will hear some questions. Both the passage and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question, you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A)， B)， C) and D). Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre。

　　Passage One

　　In much of the United States, winter means the return of snow. Snow is a subject of great interest to weather experts. Experts sometimes have difficulty estimating where, when or how much snow will fall. One reason is that heavy amounts of snow fall in surprisingly small areas. Another reason is that a small change in temperature can mean the difference between snow and rain。

　　Snow is a form of frozen water. It contains many groups of tiny ice particles called snow crystals. These crystals grow from water particles in cold clouds. They usually grow around a piece of dust. All snow crystals have six sides, but they grow in different shapes. The shape depends mainly on the temperature and water levels in the air。

　　Snow crystals grow in one of two designs―platelike and columnar. Platelike crystals are flat. They form when the air temperature is about fifteen degrees below zero. Columnar snow crystals look like sticks of ice. They form when the temperature is about five degrees below zero。

　　The shape of a snow crystal may change from one form to another as the crystal passes through levels of air with different temperatures. When melting snow crystals or raindrops fall through very cold air, they freeze to form small particles of ice, called sleet。

　　When snow crystals stick together, they produce snowflakes. Snowflakes come in different sizes. As many as one hundred crystals may join together to form a snowflake larger than two and one-half centimeters. Under some conditions, snowflakes can form that are five centimeters long. Usually, this requires near freezing temperatures, light winds and changing conditions in Earths atmosphere.

　　Snow contains much less water than rain. About fifteen centimeters of wet snow has as much water as two and a half centimeters of rain. About seventy-six centimeters of dry snow equals the water in two and one-half centimeters of rain。

　　Questions 26 to 28 are based on the passage you have just heard。

　　26. Whats the main subject of this passage?

　　27. Which statement is true about snow crystals?

　　28. What do we learn about snowflakes from the passage?

　　Passage Two

　　Some unusual words describe how a person spends his or her time. For example, someone who likes to spend a lot of time sitting or lying down while watching television is sometimes called a couch potato. A couch is a piece of furniture that people sit on while watching television。

　　Robert Armstrong, an artist from California, developed the term couch potato in 1976. Several years later, he listed the term as a trademark with the United States government. Mr. Armstrong also wrote a funny book about life as a full-time television watcher. It is called the Official Couch Potato Handbook。

　　Couch potatoes enjoy watching television just as mouse potatoes enjoy working on computers. A computer mouse is the device that moves the pointer, on a computer screen. The description of mouse potato became popular in 1993. American writer Alice Kahn is said to have invented the term to describe young people who spend a lot of time using computers。

　　Too much time inside the house using a computer or watching television can cause someone to get cabin fever. A cabin is a simple house usually built far away from the city. People go to a cabin to relax and enjoy quiet time。

　　Cabin fever is not really a disease. However, people can experience boredom and restlessness if they spend too much time inside their homes. This is especially true during the winter when it is too cold or snowy to do things outside. Often children get cabin fever if they cannot go outside to play. So do their parents. This happens when there is so much snow that schools and even offices and stores are closed。

　　Some people enjoy spending a lot of time in their homes to make them nice places to live. This is called nesting or cocooning. Birds build nests out of sticks to hold their eggs and baby birds. Some insects build cocoons around themselves for protection while they grow and change. Nests and cocoons provide security for wildlife. So people like the idea of nests and cocoons, too。

　　Questions 29 to 31 are based on the passage you have just heard。

　　29. What do we know about the Official Couch Potato Handbook?

　　30. What does the writer say about cabin fever?

　　31. Which statement is true according to the passage?

　　Passage Three

　　If you can read a clock, you can know the time of day. But no one knows what time itself is. We cannot see it. We cannot touch it. We cannot hear it. We know it only by the way we mark its passing. For all our success in measuring the smallest parts of time, time remains one of the great mysteries of the universe。

　　One way to think about time is to imagine a world without time. There could be no movement, because time and movement cannot be separated. A world without time could exist only as long as there were no changes. For time and change are linked. We know that time has passed when something changes. In the real world―the world with time―changes never stop. Some changes happen only once in a while, like an eclipse of the moon. Others happen repeatedly, like the rising and setting of the sun. Humans always have noted natural events that repeat themselves. When people began to count such events, they began to measure time。

　　In early human history, the only changes that seemed to repeat themselves evenly were the movements of objects in the sky. The most easily seen result of these movements was the difference between light and darkness。

　　The sun rises in the eastern sky, producing light. It moves across the sky and sinks in the west, causing darkness. The appearance and disappearance of the sun were even and unfailing. The periods of light and darkness it created were the first accepted periods of time. We have named each period of light and darkness―one day。

　　People saw the sun rise higher in the sky during the summer than in winter. They counted the days that passed from the suns highest position until it returned to that position. They counted three hundred and sixty-five days. We now know that is the time Earth takes to move once around the sun. We call this period of time a year。

　　Questions 32 to 35 are based on the passage you have just heard。

　　32. What is the only way people know what time itself is?

　　33. When did people begin to measure time?

　　34. What is the most easily seen result of the objects movements in the sky?

　　35. What is the main subject of this passage?

　　Section C

　　Directions: In this section, you will hear a passage three times. When the passage is read for the first time, you should listen carefully for its general idea. When the passage is read for the second time, you are required to fill in the blanks numbered from 36 to 43 with the exact words you have just heard. For blanks numbered from 44 to 46 you are required to fill in the missing information. For these blanks, you can either use the exact words you have just heard or write down the main points in your own words. Finally, when the passage is read for the third time, you should check what you have written。

　　Within the halls of the North American International Auto Show, the worlds automakers were jockeying yesterday to promote their electric cars. But outside in the ever-changing marketplace, automakers could face a number of obstacles to selling electric vehicles。

　　For one, gas prices have been falling. The auto industry has had similar experience before. In the 1970s gas crisis, Detroits automakers jumped to produce profitable trucks and SUVs while neglecting smaller car lines. When oil prices spiked again, the companies were unprepared for consumer purchases to swing back to fuel-efficient vehicles. Over this summer, as oil prices spiked at an all-time high, consumers cried for smaller, more energy-saving vehicles. Now that prices at the pump are under $2 a gallon, analysts say consumers are migrating back to trucks and sport-utility vehicles。

　　Also complicating the move toward electric cars is that individual states are pursuing different environmental agendas. Last month, Hawaii teamed up with Silicon Valley upstart Better Place to build electric-car recharging stations at parking spaces. But California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has thrown his weight behind an approach centered on hydrogen fuel cells, launching a program to ensure that every Californian has access to hydrogen fuel along the states major highways by 2010。

　　Moreover, the infrastructure for electric cars is missing. While plug-in vehicles are ideal for urban drivers, few will have access to a plug to charge the car overnight. Meanwhile, utilities arent about to invest in thousands of public plug-in stations until there are thousands of plug-in drivers on the road。

　　And then theres the battery dilemma. Automakers cant afford the batteries for these electric vehicles until they are manufactured in high volumes. But batteries cant be produced in such large quantities until automakers produce a high volume of electric cars。