2024年4月11日发(作者：)

2018年12月六级考试真题参考答案（全三套）

第一套

六级听力原文

conversation 1

Hey I just read a great book about physics。 I think you‘d like it。

It’s called the physics of the world。 It‘s written by a scientist named

Sylvia Mendez。

Oh I read that book。 It was great。 The writer is a warm and

competent guide to the mysteries of physics。 I think it promises

enrichment for any reader from those who know little about science to the

career physicist。

And it‘s refreshing to see a strong curious clever woman adding her

voice to the scientific discourse and a field that has been traditionally

dominated by men。 I think she has to be commended for making an effort

to include anecdotes about little known female scientists。 You know they

were often victims of a generation firmly convinced that the woman’s place

was in the home。

I like how the book is clearly written with each chapter brought to life

by pieces of fascinating knowledge。 For example in one chapter she

exposes a myth that I‘ve heard taught by university physics professors。

I’ve often heard that medieval glass windows are thicker at the bottom

because glass flows like a fluid。 This， she shows， is not true。 The

distortion is actually thanks to a peculiarity of the glassmakers process。

Yeah I like how she cultivates scientific engagement by providing a

host of Do It Yourself experiments that bring the same foundational

principles of classical physics that govern everything from the solar system

to your kitchen table。 From using complex laws of physics to test whether

a spinning egg is cooked to measuring atmospheric pressure by lifting a

piece of cardboard。 Her hands-on examples make her book a truly

interactive read。

Yes I must say this a equation-free book is an ideal read for scientists

of all stripes， anyone teaching science and even people who dislike

physics。

Question 1： what does the woman say about the book the man

recommended？

Question 2： what can we find in the book the man recommended。？

Question 3： How does the author bring her book to life？

Question 4： How does the book cultivate readers interest in physics。

conversation 2

A：Hi professor。 I was hoping I could have a moment of your time

if you‘re not too busy。 I’m having some problems getting started on my

dissertation and I was hoping you could give me some advice on how to

begin。

B：Sure。 I have quite a few students can you remind me

what your topic is？

A：the general topic I chose is aesthetics， but that‘s as far as I’ve

got I don‘t really know where to go from there。

B：Yeah，that‘s much too large a topic。 You really need to narrow

it down in order to make it more accessible。 Otherwise you’ll be writing

a book。

A：Exactly。 That‘s what I wanted to ask you about。 I was hoping

it would be possible for me to change topics。 I’m really more interested

in nature than beauty。

B：I‘m afraid you have to adhere to the assigned topic。 Still， If

you’re interested in nature， then that certainly can be worked into your

dissertation。 We‘ve talked about Hume before in class right。

A：Oh yeah， he‘s the philosopher who wrote about where our ideas

of beauty come from。

B：Exactly。 I suggest you go to the library and get a copy of his

biography。 Start from there。 But remember to stick to the parameters

of the assignment。 This paper is a large part of your cumulative grade。

So make sure to follow the instructions。 If you take a look at his biography。

You can get a good idea of how his life experiences manifest themselves

in his theories of beauty。 specifically the way he looked towards nature

as the origin of what we find beautiful。

A：Great。 Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions，

Professor。 I‘ll let you get back to class now。

B：If there‘s anything else you need， please come see me in my

office any time。

Question 5： What is the man‘s problem？

Question 6 What does the professor think of the man‘s topic？

Question 7 What’s the man really more interested in？

Question 8 what does the professor say the man has to do？

passage 1

During the arctic winter from October to March， the average

temperature in the frozen north typically hovers around minus 20 degrees

Celsius。 But this year the Arctic is experiencing much higher

temperatures。 On February the 20th the temperature in Greenland climbed

above freezing or zero degrees Celsius and it stayed there for over 24 hours。

Then on February the 24th the temperature on Greenland‘s northern tip

reached six degrees Celsius。 Climate scientists describe the phenomenon

as stunning。 Weather conditions that drive this bizarre temperature surge

have visited the Arctic before。 They typically appear about once in a

decade。 However， the last such increase in temperature took place two

years ago。 This is troubling as climbing arctic temperatures combined

with rapid sea ice loss are creating a new type of climate feedback loop

which could accelerate Arctic warming。 Indeed， sea ice cover in the

Arctic is melting faster than expected。 Without those masses of cooling

sea ice， warm air brought to the Arctic can penetrate further inland than

it ever did before。 The air can stay warmer longer too。 This drives

additional melting。 Overall earth is warming at a rapid pace。 2014

through 2017 rank as the hottest years on record and the Arctic is warming

twice as fast as any place else on earth。 This raises unique challenges for

Arctic wildlife and indigenous people who depend on Arctic ecosystems to

survive。 Previously climate forecasts predicted that Arctic summer ice

would disappear entirely by around 2060， but based on what scientists

are seeing now the Arctic may be facing summers without ice within 20

years。

Question 9。 What did climate scientists describe as stunning？

A） The unprecedented high temperature in Greenland。

Question 10。 What does the passage say about that temperature surge

in the Arctic？

Question 11。 what may occur in 20 years according to scientists’

recent observations？

Passage2

A good dose of willpower is often necessary to see any task through

whether it‘s sticking to a spending plan or finishing a great novel。 And

if you want to increase that willpower。 A new study suggests you just

simply have to believe you have it。 According to this study， what matters

most is what we think about our willpower。 If we believe it’s a finite

resource， we act that way， we feel exhausted and need breaks between

demanding mental tasks。 However， people who view their willpower

as a limitless resource get energized instead。 The researchers used a

psychological assessment tool to test the validity of the study。 They asked

1100 Americans and 1600 Europeans to grade different statements such as

after a challenging mental activity， my energy is depleted and I must rest

to get it refueled again or I can focus on a mental task for long periods

without feeling tired。

[00：01：08] Although there was little difference between men and

women overall。 Americans were more likely to admit to needing breaks

after completing mentally challenging tasks European participants on the

other hand claimed they were able to keep going。 Based on the findings，

the researchers suggest that the key to boosting your willpower is to believe

that you have an abundant supply of it。 Your feelings about your

willpower affect the way you behave。 But these feelings are changeable，

they said。 Changing your beliefs about the nature of your self-control can

have positive effects on character development。 This leads to healthier

behaviors and perceptions of other people。

Question 12 What is often necessary for carrying through a task？

Question 13 What is the finding of the new study？

Question 14 What do we learn about European participants as

compared with their American counterparts？

Question 15 What do the research say concerning people‘s feelings

about willpower？

lecture 1

Here is my baby niece Sarah。 Her mum is a doctor and her dad is a

lawyer。 By the time Sarah goes to college the jobs her parents do are

going to look dramatically different。 In 2013，researchers at Oxford

University did a study on the future of work。 They concluded that almost

one in every two jobs has a high risk of being automated by machines。

Machine learning is the technology that‘s responsible for most of this

disruption。 It’s the most powerful branch of artificial intelligence。 It

allows machines to learn from data and copy some of the things that

humans can do。 My company， Kaggle， operates on the cutting edge

of machine learning。 We bring together hundreds of thousands of experts

to solve important problems for industry and academia。 This gives us an

unique perspective on what machines can do， what they can‘t do and what

jobs they might automate or threaten。 Machine learning started making

its way into industry in the early 90s。 It started with relatively simple

tasks。 It started with things like assessing credit risk from loan

applications， sorting the mail by reading handwritten zip codes。 Over

the past few years， we have made dramatic breakthroughs。 Machine

learning is now capable of far， far more complex tasks。 In 2012， Kaggle

challenged its community to build a program that could grade high school

essays。 The winning programs were able to match the grades given by

human teachers。 Now given the right data， machines are going to

outperform humans at tasks like this。 A teacher might read 10000 essays

over a 40-year career。 A machine can read millions of essays within

minutes。 We have no chance of competing against machines on frequent

high-volume tasks， but there are things we can do that machines cannot。

Where machines have made very little progress is in tackling novel

situations。 Machines can’t handle things they haven‘t seen many times

before。 The fundamental limitation of machine learning is that it needs

to learn from large volumes of past data。 But humans don’t。 We have

the ability to connect seemingly different threads to solve problems we‘ve

never seen before。

Question 16 what did the researchers at Oxford University conclude？

Question 17。 What do we learn about Kaggle companies winning

programs？

Question 18。 What is the fundamental limitation on machine learning？

lecture 2

we‘ve talked recently about the importance of sustainable energy。

We’ve also talked about the different theories on how that can be done。

So far， our discussions have all been theoretical。 Now I have a practical

question for you all。 Can you run a 140，000 kilogram train on just the

steam generated by solar power？ Well， one engineer， Tim Casselman，

believes it‘s possible。 And his home city of Sacramento， California

should see the technology’s first test as part of the upgrading of its rail

yard。 Casselman， who is an inventor and self-proclaimed steam

visionary， is campaigning for a new steam train that runs without any fire

and could run on an existing 10 kilometer line drawing tourists and perhaps

offering city commuters a green alternative to their cars。 Casselman wants

to build an array of solar magnifying mirrors at one end of the line to collect

and focus heat onto water filled tubes。 This would generate steam that

could be used to fill tanks on a small steam train without the use of fire。

Supplying power to trains in this way would offer the shortest distance

from well to wheels he says with the least amount of energy lost。

According to Harry Valentijn， a Canadian engineer who is researching

modern steam technology， a special tank measuring 2 by 10 metres could

store over 750 kilowatt hours of energy as high pressure steam enough to

pull a two car train for an hour or so。 Energy to drive a steam locomotive

can be stored in other materials besides water for example a team at Tohoku

University in Japan has studied materials that can store large amounts of

heat when heated。 These materials turn from a solid into a liquid

absorbing energy as they change phase。 The liquid is maintained above

its melting point until steam is required at which point the liquid is allowed

to turn back into a solid releasing its stored energy another team at Nagoya

University in Japan has tested calcium compound as an energy storage

material。 Heating this chemical compound drives off carbon dioxide gas

leaving calcium oxide the gas can be stored under pressure and attain to

recover the energy the gas is fed back over the calcium oxide。 In theory

says Valentijn this can create a high enough temperature to generate

superheated steam。

Question 19： What has the speaker previously talked about？

Question 20： What is Tim Casselman trying to do in Sacramento？

Question 21： what has a Japanese research team tried to do？

Lecture 3

Today‘s crisis in care for older people in England has two main causes。

First，people are living longer with a lot more complex needs。

Second， they rely on a system that has long been marked by a poor relation

between national health and social-care services。

Current services originate in two key measures。 They are the

National Health Service and the 1948 National Assistance Act。 This

required local government to provide residential accommodation for older

people and supervise care homes run by independent organizations。

They also provided home and community services including meals，

day centers and home helpers and other subsidized services。 The National

Health Service was free and wholly publicly provided。 It delivered the

best health-care for all。 No such vision guided residential and community

care though。 The care was substantially provided by voluntary services

which worked together with local authorities as they long had with

eligibility based on income。 Today， life expectancy has risen from 66

for a male at birth in 1948 to around 80 now。 In addition， there is better

overall health and improved medical knowledge and care。 This means an

unprecedented number of people are surviving longer in conditions

requiring expert support。 Families provide at least as much care as they

ever did。 Even so， they can rarely without subsidised support address

serious personal needs。 Care for older people faced persistent criticism