大学英语六级真题阅读:长篇阅读答案及解析

　　Section B

　　Directions:In this section, you are going to read a passage with ten statements attached to it. Each statement contains information given in one of the paragraphs. Identify the paragraph from which the information is derived. You may choose a paragraph more than once. Each paragraph is marked with a letter. Answer the questions by marking the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2.

　　The College Essay: Why Those 500 Words Drive Us Crazy

　　A) Meg is a lawyer-mom in suburban Washington, D.C., where lawyer-moms are thick on the ground. Her son Doug is one of several hundred thousand high-school seniors who had a painful fall. The deadline for applying to his favorite college was Nov. 1,and by early October he had yet to fill out the application. More to the point, he had yet to settle on a subject for the personal essay accompanying the application. According to college folklore, a well-turned essay has the power to seduce an admissions committee. He wanted to do one thing at a time, Meg says, explaining her son s delay. But really, my son is a huge procrastinator . The essay is the hardest thing to do, so he s put it off the longest. Friends and other veterans of the process have warned Meg that the back and forth between editing parent and writing student can be traumatic .

　　B) Back in the good old days say, two years ago, when the last of my children suffered the ordeal a high-school student applying to college could procrastinate all the way to New Year s Day of their senior year, assuming they could withstand the parental pestering .But things change fast in the nail-biting world of college admissions.The recent trend toward early decision and early action among selective colleges and universities has pushed the traditional deadline of January up to Nov. 1 or early December for many students.

　　C) If the time for heel-dragging has been shortened, the true source of the anxiety and panic remains what it has always been. And it s not the application itself. A college application is a relatively straightforward questionnaire asking for the basics: name, address, family history employment history. It would all be innocent enough 20 minutes of busy work except it comes attached to a personal essay.

　　D) There are good reasons it causes such anxiety, says Lisa Sohmer, director of college counseling at the Garden School in Jackson Heights, N.Y. It s not just the actual writing. By noweverything else is already set. Your course load is set, your grades are set, your test scores are set. But the essay is something you can still control, and it s open-ended. So the temptation is to write and rewrite and rewrite. Or stall and stall and stall.

　　E) The application essay, along with its mythical importance, is a recent invention. In the 1930s,when only one in 10 Americans had a degree from a four-year college, an admissionscommittee was content to ask for a sample of applicants school papers to assess their writing ability. By the 1950s, most schools required a brief personal statement of why the student had chosen to apply to one school over another.

　　F) Today nearly 70 percent of graduating seniors go off to college, including two-year and four-year institutions. Even apart from the increased competition, the kids enter a process that has been utterly transformed from the one baby boomers knew. Nearly all application materials are submitted online, and the Common Application provides a one-size-fits form accepted by more than 400 schools, including the nation s most selective.

　　G) Those schools usually require essays of their own, but the longest essay, 500 words maximum, is generally attached to the Common Application. Students choose one of six questions. Applicants are asked to describe an ethical dilemma they ve faced and its impact on them, or discuss a public issue of special concern to them, or tell of a fictional character or creative work that has profoundly influenced them. Another question invites them to write about the importance of diversity―a word that has assumed magic power in American higher education. The most popular option: write on a topic of your choice.

　　H) Boys in particular look at the other questions and say, Oh, that s too much work, says John Boshoven, a counselor in the Ann Arbor, Mich., public schools. They think if they do a topic of their choice, I ll just go get that history paper I did last year on the Roman Empire and turn it into a first-person application essay! And they end up producing something utterly ridiculous.

　　I) Talking to admissions professionals like Boshoven, you realize that the list of don ts in essay writing is much longer than the dos. No book reports, no history papers, no character studies, says Sohmer.

　　J) It drives you crazy, how easily kids slip into clich s, says Boshoven. They don t realize how typical their experiences arc. I scored the winning goal in soccer against our arch-rival. My grandfather served in World War II, and I hope to be just like him someday. That may mean a lot to that particular kid. But in the world of the application essay, it s nothing. You ll lose the reader in the first paragraph.

　　K) The greatest strength you bring to this essay, says the College Board s how-to book, is 17 years or so of familiarity with the topic: YOU. The form and style are very familiar, and best of all, you are the world-class expert on the subject of YOU ... It has been the subject of your close scrutiny every morning since you were tall enough to see into the bathroom mirror. Thekey word in the Common Application prompts is you.

　　L) The college admission essay contains the grandest American themes―status anxiety, parental piety , intellectual standards and so it is only a matter of time before it becomes infected by the country s culture of excessive concern with self-esteem. Even if the question isostensibly about something outside the self , the essay invariably returns to the favorite topic: what is its impact on YOU?

　　M) For all the anxiety the essay causes, says Bill McClintick of Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania, it s a very small piece of the puzzle. I was in college admissions for 10 years. I saw kids and parents beat themselves up over this. And at the vast majority of places, it is simply not a big variable in the college s decision-making process.

　　N) Many admissions officers say they spend less than a couple of minutes on each application, including the essay. According to a recent survey of admissions officers, only one in four private colleges say the essay is of considerable importance in judging an application. Among public colleges and universities, the number drops to roughly one in 10. By contrast, 86 percent place considerable importance on an applicant s grades, 70 percent on strength of curriculum.

　　O) Still, at the most selective schools, where thousands of candidates may submit identically high grades and test scores, a marginal item like the essay may serve as a tie-breaker between two equally qualified candidates. The thought is certainly enough to keep the pot boiling under parents like Meg, the lawyer-mom, as she tries to help her son choose an essay topic. For a moment the other day, she thought she might have hit on a good one. His father s from France, she says. I said maybe you could write about that, as something that makes you different. You know: half French, half American. I said, You could write about your identity issues. He said, I don t have any identity issues! And he s right. He s a well-adjusted, normal kid. But that doesn t make for a good essay, does it?

　　注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。

　　46.Today many universities require their applicants to write an essay of up to five hundred words.

　　47.One recent change in college admissions is that selective colleges and universities have movedthe traditional deadline to earlier dates.

　　48.Applicants and their parents are said to believe that the personal essay can sway the admissions committee.

　　49.Applicants are usually better off if they can write an essay that distinguishes them from the rest.

　　50.Not only is the competition getting more intense, the application process today is also totally different from what baby boomers knew.

　　51.In writing about their own experiences many applicants slip into clich s, thus failing to engage the reader.

　　52.According to a recent survey, most public colleges and universities consider an applicant s grades highly important.

　　53.Although the application essay causes lots of anxiety, it does not play so important a role in the college sdecision-making process.

　　54.The question you aresupposed to write about may seem outside the self, but the theme of the essay should center around its impact on you.

　　55.In the old days, applicants only had to submit a sample of their school papers to show their writing ability.

　　参考答案

　　46.ANSWER 答案

　　2013年12月六级阅读长篇阅读解析：同义转述题。由题干中的up to five hundred words定位到G)段第一句。定位句提到,那些学校通常 要求申请人提供原创论文,但是最长的论文一般和通用申请表一起提交。本题题干将定位句简化为 很多大学要求申请人撰写一篇最多500字的论文 ,是对原文的同义转述,故答案为G)。

　　47.ANSWER 答案

　　2013年12月六级阅读长篇阅读解析：细节归纳题。由题干中的selective colleges and universities, traditional deadline 定位到B)段最后两句。B)段倒数第二句提到,大学 录取方面的事情瞬息万变。接着在最后一句中具 体指出最近发生的变化:人学申请的截止日期由传统的1月份提前到11月1日或者12月初。题干中的 申请截止日期提前了一些 是对原文中提 到的具体日期进行的概括性说明。其中的 I moved... to...是对原文中 pushed... up to...的 同义转述。由此可确定本题的答案为B)。

　　48.ANSWER 答案

　　2013年12月六级阅读长篇阅读解析：细节推断题。由题干中的sway, admissions committee 定位到A)段第五句。A)段以Meg母子为例介绍 了学生和家长们对个人论文的看法:措辞优美的 论文足以对录取委员会产生诱惑，即影响其做出的录取决定。题干中的sway意为 影响，使改变看法 ，与原文中的seduce意思相近，题干中的 can是对原文中的has the power的同义转述,故答案为A)。

　　49.ANSWER 答案

　　2013年12月六级阅读长篇阅读解析：细节归纳题。由题干中的better off, distinguishes定位到O)段第一句。定位句提到,在一些最具竞争力的高校里,候选人所提交的成绩和测验分数 同样都很高,对于两位具有相同资格的候选人来 说,论文之类的边缘项目可能会起到决定成败的 作用。题干中的are usually better off是对原文中的 serve as a tie-breaker的同义转述，故答案为O)。

　　50.ANSWER 答案

　　2013年12月六级阅读长篇阅读解析：同义转述题。由题干中的competition, intense, application process, what baby boomers knew 定位到F)段第二句。F)段第二句提到，即使不考虑竞争加剧的因素，现在的孩子们需要经历的过程与婴儿潮时期出生的那代人所经历的过程完全不同。这说明现在的人学申请竞争不断加剧，而且申请程序也与以前完全不同。题干中的the competition getting more intense 是对原文中的 the increased competition的同义转述,题干中的 totally different from 和原文中的 has been utterly transformed from意思相同，故确定本题 答案为F)。

　　51.ANSWER 答案

　　2013年12月六级阅读长篇阅读解析：归纳概括题。由题干中的 slip into cliches, failing to engage the reader 定位到J)段。J)段第一句提到Boshoven 对孩子们写作的评价,孩子们写作的内容往往是 一些老生常谈的问题,会让人感到抓狂。最后一 句提到,对于这样的论文,读者读完第一段就不愿 意继续读下去了。题干将原文中具有因果关系的两件事情明确地表述了出来。题干中的slip into cliches和原文表述完全一致,题干中的failing to engage the reader 是对原文中的 lose the reader in the first paragraph的同义转述,故确定答案力J)。

　　52.ANSWER 答案

　　2013年12月六级阅读长篇阅读解析：细节推断题。由题干中的 According to a recent survey, an applicant s grades, highly important 定位至N)段。N)段介绍了一项最近开展 的对招生负责人的调研结果。本段最后一句提到,86%的学校认为申请人的成绩 非常重要 。 题干中的According to a recent survey与原文表述完全一致,题干中的most 词是对86 percent 的总结,题f巾的consider... important与原文中 的 place considerable importance on 意思相同， W此确定答案为N)。

　　53.ANSWER 答案

　　2013年12月六级阅读长篇阅读解析：细节辨认题。由题干中的 causes lots of anxiety, in the college s decision-making process 定位到 M)段。M)段第一句中提到了入学申请论文会导致很多焦虑。最后一句中提到，在绝大多数地方,论文在大学作录取决定的过程中并不是一个多么重要的因素。题干则是借助连词 Although把原文中开头和结尾两个具有让步关系 的句子连接起来。题于中的causes lots of anxiety 和原义中的 an the anxiety the essay causes 意思相同，题干中的 does not play so important a role 是对原文中的simply not a big variable的同义转述题干中的 in the college s decision-making

　　process和原文中的表述完全一致，因此确定答案 为 M)。

　　54.ANSWER 答案

　　2013年12月六级阅读长篇阅读解析：细节推断题。由题干中的 outside the self，its impact on you定位到L)段最后一句。L)段最后一句提到，即使 表面上看问题是关于自我之外的东西,但论文仍然会回到那个最受人喜爱的话题：它对 你自己 有什么影响?题干中的outside the self与原文中的表述完全一致，题干中的should center around 是对原文中的 invariably returns to the favorite topic的同义转述,题干中的its impact on you 是对原文中的 what is its impact on YOU? 的简化。由此可确定答案力L)。

　　55.ANSWER 答案

　　2013年12月六级阅读长篇阅读解析：细节推断题。由题干中的a sample of their school papers, writing ability 定位到 E)段第二句。定位句中提到，在20世纪30年代,录取委员会如何评估申请人的写作能力：要求申请人提供在校期间的论文样本,这样就以评估他们的写作能力。题干中的In the old days是对原文中的In the 1930s的模糊化处理,题干中的 applicants only had to submit 和原文中的 an admissions committee was content to ask for 对应,题干中的 a sample of their school papers 和 writing ability与原文中的表述完全一致,因此E) 为本题的答案。