2016年12月大学英语六级考试真题第二套
2016年12月大学英语六级考试真题答案与详解(第2套)
Part I Writing (30 minutes) Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay on innovation. Youressay should include the importance of innovation and measures to be taken to encourageinnovation. You are required to write at least 150 words but no more than 200 words.
Part Ⅱ Listening Comprehension (30 minutes) Section A
Directions: In this section, you will hear two long conversations. At the end of eachconversation, you will hear four questions. Both the conversation and thequestions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question, you mustchoose the best answer from the four choices marked A, B, C and D.Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1 with a single linethrough the centre. Questions 1 to 4 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
1. A. They were all good at cooking.
B. They were particular about food.
C. They were proud of their cuisine.
D. They were fond of bacon and eggs.
2. A.His parents.
B. His friends.
C. His schoolmates.
D. His parents' friends.
3. A. No tea was served with the meal.
B. It was the real English breakfast.
C. No one of the group ate it.
D. It was a little overcooked.
4. A. It was full of excitement.
B. It was really extraordinary.
C. It was a risky experience.
D. It was rather disappointing.
Questions 5 to 8 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
5. A.The woman's relationship with other shops.
B. The business success of the woman's shop.
C. The key to running a shop at a low cost.
D. The woman's earnings over the years.
6. A. Improve its customer service.
B. Expand its business scale.
C. Keep down its expenses.
D. Upgrade the goods it sells.
7. A. They are sold at lower prices than in other shops.
B. They are very-popular with the local residents.
C. They are delivered free of charge.
D. They are in great demand.
8. A.To follow the custom of the local shopkeepers.
B. To attract more customers in the neighborhood.
C. To avoid being put out of business in competition.
D. To maintain friendly relationships with other shops.
Section B
Directions: In this section, you will hear two passages. At the end of each passage, you will hearthree or four 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 markedA, B, Cand D. Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1 with asingle line through the centre.
Questions 9 to 12 are based on the passage you have just heard.
9. A. They can be used to deliver messages in times of emergency.
B. They deliver pollutants from the ocean to their nesting sites.
C. They carry plant seeds and spread them to faraway places.
D. They are on the verge of extinction because of pollution.
10. A. They migrate to the Arctic Circle during the summer.
B. They originate from Devon Island in the Arctic area.
C. They travel as far as 400 kilometers in search of food.
D. They have the ability to survive in extreme weathers.
11. A. They were carried by the wind.
B. They had become more poisonous.
C. They were less than on the continent.
D. They poisoned some of the fulmars.
12. A. The threats humans pose to Arctic seabirds,
B. The diminishing colonies for Arctic seabirds.
C. The harm Arctic seabirds may cause to humans.
D. The effects of the changing climate on Arctic seabirds.
Questions 13 to 15 are based on the passage you have just heard.
13. A. It has decreased.
B. It has been exaggerated.
C. It has become better understood.
D. It has remained basically the same.
14. A. It develops more easily in centenarians not actively engaged.
B. It is now the second leading cause of death for centenarians.
C. It has had no effective cure so far.
D. It calls for more intensive research.
15. A. They care more about their physical health.
B. Their quality of life deteriorates rapidly.
C. Their minds fall before their bodies do.
D. They cherish their life more than ever.
Section C
Directions:In this section, you will hear three recordings of lectures or talks followed by three orfour questions. The recordings will be played only once. After you hear a question, youmust choose the best answer from the four choices
marked A, B, C and D Thenmark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1 with a single line through the centre.
Questions 16 to 18 are based on the recording you have just heard.
16. A. They are focused more on attraction than love.
B. They were done by his former colleague at Yale.
C. They were carried out over a period of some thirty years.
D. They form the basis on which he builds his theory of love.
17. A. The relationship cannot last long if no passion is involved.
B. Intimacy is essential but not absolutely indispensable to love.
C. It is not love if you don't wish to maintain the relationship.
D. Romance is just impossible without mutual understanding.
18. A.Which of them is considered most important.
B. Whether it is true love without commitment.
C. When the absence of any one doesn't affect the relationship.
D. How the relationship is to be defined if any one is missing.
Questions 19 to 22 are based on the recording you have just heard.
19. A. Social work as a profession.
B. The history of social work.
C. Academic degrees required of social work applicants.
D. The aim of the National Association of Social Workers.
20. A. They try to change people's social behavior.
B. They help enhance the well-being of the underprivileged.
C. They raise people's awareness of the environment.
D. They create a lot of opportunities for the unemployed.
21. A. They have all received strict clinical training.
B. They all have an academic degree in social work.
C. They are all members of the National Association.
D. They have all made a difference through their work.
22. A.The promotion of social workers' social status.
B. The importance of training for social workers.
C. Ways for social workers to meet people's needs.
D. Social workers' job options and responsibilities.
Questions 23 to 25 are based on the recording you have just heard.
23. A.To fight childhood obesity.
B. To help disadvantaged kids.
C. To encourage kids to play more sports.
D. To urge kids to follow their role models.
24. A. They best boost product sales when put online.
B. They are most effective when appearing on TV.
C. They are becoming more and more prevalent.
D. They impress kids more than they do adults.
25. A. Always place kids' interest first.
B. Do what they advocate in public.
C. Message positive behaviors at all times.
D. Pay attention to their image before children.
Part Ⅲ Reading Comprehension (40 minutes)
Section A
In this section, there is a passage with ten blanks. You are required to select one wordfor each blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage. Read thepassage through carefully before making your choices. Each choice in the bank isidentified by a letter. Please mark the corresponding letter for each item on AnswerSheet 2 with a single line through the centre. You may not use any of the words in thebank more than once.
Questions 26 to 35 are based on the following passage.
The tree people in the Lord of the Rings--the Ents--can get around by walking. But for real trees,it's harder to uproot. Because they're literally rooted into the ground, they are unable to leave and go26 .
When a tree first starts growing in a certain area, it's likely that the 27 envelope—thetemperature, humidity, rainfall patterns and so on--suits it. Otherwise, it would be unable to growfrom a seedling. But as it 28, these conditions may change and the area around it may no longer besuitable for its 29 .
When that happens, many trees like walnuts, oaks and pines, rely 30on so-called "scatterhoarders," such as birds, to move their seeds to new localities. Many birds like to store food for thewinter, which they 31retrieve.when the birds forget to retrieve their food--and they do sometimes--a seedling has a chance togrow. The bird Clark's nutcracker, for example, hides up to 100,000 seeds per year, up to 30kilometers away from the seed source, and has a very close symbiotic (共生的) relationship withseveral pine species, most 32 the whitebark pine. As trees outgrow their ideal 33in the face of climate change, these flying ecosystem engineerscould be a big help in 34 trees. It's a solution for
us--getting birds to do the work is cheap andeffective--and it could give 35oaks
Directions :In this section, you are going to read a passage with ten statements attached to it. Eachstatement contains information given in one of the paragraphs. Identify the paragraphfrom 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 thecorresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2.
The American Workplace Is Broken. Here's How We Can Start Fixing It.
[A] Americans are working longer and harder hours than ever before.83% of workers say they'restressed about their jobs, nearly 50% say work-related stress is interfering with their sleep, and60% use their smartphones to check in with work outside of normal working hours. No wonderonly 13% of employees worldwide feel
engaged in their occupation.
[B] Glimmers (少许) of hope, however, are beginning to emerge in this bruising environment:Americans are becoming aware of the toll their jobs take on them, and employers are exploringways to alleviate the harmful effects of stress and overwork. Yet much more work remains to bedone. To call stress an epidemic isn't exaggeration. The 83% of American employees who arestressed about their jobs--up from 73% just a year before--say that poor compensation and anunreasonable workload are their number-one sources of stress. And if you suspected that theworkplace had gotten more stressful than it was just a few decades ago, you're right. Stress levelsincreased 18% for women and 24% for men from 1983 to 2009. Stress is also starting earlier in life,with some data suggesting that today's teens are even more stressed than adults.
[C] Stress is taking a significant toll on our health, and the collective public health cost may beenormous. Occupational stress increases the risk of heart attack and diabetes, accelerates theaging process, decreases longevity, and contributes to depression and anxiety, among numerousother negative health outcomes. Overall, stress-related health problems account for up to 90% ofhospital visits, many of them preventable. Your job is "literally killing you," as The WashingtonPost put it. It's also hurting our relationships. Working parents say they feel stressed, tired,rushed and short on quality time with their children, friends and partners.
[D] Seven in 10 workers say they struggle to maintain work-life balance. As technology (and with it,work emails) seeps (渗入) into every aspect of our lives, work-life balance has become an almostmeaningless term. Add a rapidly changing economy and an uncertain future to this 24/7connectivity, and you've got a recipe for overwork, according to Phyllis Moen. "There's risingwork demand coupled with the insecurity of mergers, takeovers, downsizing and other factors,"Moen said. "Part of the work-life issue has to talk about uncertainty about the future."
[E] These factors have converged to create an increasingly impossible situation with many employeesoverworking to the point of burnout. It's not only unsustainable for workers, but also for thecompanies that employ them. Science has shown a clear correlation between high stress levels inworkers and absenteeism ( 旷工 ), reduced productivity, disengagement and high tttrnover. Toomany workplace policies effectively prohibit employees from developing a healthy work-lifebalance by barring them from taking time off, even when they need it most.
[F] The U. S. trails far behind every wealthy nation and many developing ones that have family-friendly work policies including paid parental leave, paid sick days and breast-feeding support.according to a 2007 study. The U. S. is also the only advanced economy that does not guaranteeworkers paid vacation time, and it's one of only two countries in the world that does not offerguaranteed paid maternity leave. But even when employees are given paid time off, workplacenorms and expectations that pressure them to overwork often prevent them from taking it. Fulltime employees who do have paid vacation days only use
half of them on average.
[G] Our modern workplaces also operate based on outdated time constraints. The practice of clockingin for an eight-hour workday is a leftover from the days of the Industrial Revolution, as reflectedin the then-popular saying, "Eight hours labor, eight hours recreation, eight hours rest."
[H] We've held on to this workday structure--but thanks to our digital devices, many employees neverreally clock out. Today, the average American spends 8.8 hours at work daily, and the majority ofworking professionals spend additional hours checking in with work during evenings, weekendsand even vacations. The problem isn't the technology itself, but that the technology is being usedto create more flexibility for the employer rather than the employee. In a competitive workenvironment, employers are able to use technology to demand more from their employees ratherthan motivating workers with flexibility that benefits them.
[I] In a study published last year, psychologists coined the term "workplace telepressure" to describean employee's urge to immediately respond to emails and engage in obsessive thoughts aboutreturning an email to one's boss, colleagues or clients. The researchers found that telepressure isa major cause of stress at work, which over time contributes to physical and mental burnout. Ofthe 300 employees participating in the study, those who experienced high levels of telepressurewere more likely to agree with statements assessing burnout, like "I've no energy for going towork in the morning," and to report feeling fatigued and unfocused. Telepressure was alsocorrelated with sleeping poorly and missing work.
[J] Harvard Business School professor Leslie Perlow explains that when people feel the pressure to bealways "on," they fmd ways to accommodate that pressure, including altering their schedules,work habits and interactions with family and friends. Perlow calls this vicious cycle the "cycle ofresponsiveness" : Once bosses and colleagues experience an employee's increased responsiveness,they increase their demands on the employee's time. And because a failure to accept theseincreased demands indicates a lack of commitment to one's work, the employee complies.
[K] To address skyrocketing employee stress levels, many companies have implemented workplacewellness programs, partnering with health care providers that have created programs to promoteemployee health and well-being. Some research does suggest that these programs hold promise. Astudy of employees at health insurance provider Aetna revealed that roughly one quarter of thosetaking in-office yoga and mindfulness classes reported a 28% reduction in their stress levels and a20% improvement in sleep quality. These less-stressed workers gained an average of 62 minutesper week of productivity. While yoga and meditation (静思) are scientifically proven to reducestress levels, these programs do little to target the root causes of burnout and disengagement. Theconditions creating the stress are long hours, unrealistic demands and deadlines, and
work-lifeconflict.
[L] Moen and her colleagues may have found the solution. In a 2011 study, she investigated the effectsof implementing a Results Only Work Environment (ROWE. on the productivity and well-being ofemployees at Best Buy's corporate headquarters.
[M] For the study,325 employees spent six months taking part in ROWE, while a control group of 334employees continued with their normal workflow. The ROWE participants were allowed to freelydetermine when, where and how they worked--the only thing that mattered was that they got thejob done. The results were striking. After six months, the employees who participated in ROWEreported reduced work-family conflict and a better sense of control of their time, and they weregetting a full hour of extra sleep each night. The employees were less likely to leave their jobs,resulting in reduced turnover. It's important to note that the increased flexibility didn't encouragethem to work around the clock. "They didn't work anywhere and all the time--they were betterable to manage their work," Moen said. "Flexibility and control is key," she continued.
36. Workplace norms pressure employees to overwork, deterring them from taking paid time off.
37. The overwhelming majority of employees attribute their stress mainly to low pay and an excessiveworkload.
38. According to Moen, flexibility gives employees better control over their work and time.
39. Flexibility resulting from the use of digital devices benefits employers instead of employees.
40. Research finds that if employees suffer from high stress, they will be less motivated, lessproductive and more likely to quit.
41. In-office wellness programs may help reduce stress levels, but they are hardly an ultimate solutionto the problem.
42. Health problems caused by stress in the workplace result in huge public health expenses.
43. If employees respond quickly to their job assignments, the employer is likely to demand more fromthem.
44. With technology everywhere in our life, it has become virtually impossible for most workers to keepa balance between work and life.
45. In America today, even teenagers suffer from stress, and their problem is even more serious thangrown-ups'.
Section C
Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions orunfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C andD. You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on AnswerSheet 2 with a single line through the centre. Passage OneQuestions 46 to 50 are based on the following passage.
Dr. Donald Sadoway at MIT started his own battery company with the hope of changing the world'senergy future. It's a dramatic endorsement for a technology most people think about only when theirsmartphone goes dark. But Sadoway isn't
alone in trumpeting energy storage as a missing link to acleaner, more efficient, and more equitable energy future.
Scientists and engineers have long believed in the promise of batteries to change the world.Advanced batteries are moving out of specialized markets and creeping into the mainstream, signaling atipping point for forward-looking technologies such as electric cars and rooftop solar propels.
The ubiquitous (无所不在的) battery has already come a long way, of course. For better orworse, batteries make possible our mobile-first lifestyles, our screen culture, our increasinglyglobalized world. Still, as impressive as all this is, it may be trivial compared with what comesnext.Having already enabled a communications revolution, the battery is now poised to transform just abouteverything else.
The wireless age is expanding to include not just our phones, tablets, and laptops, but also ourcars, homes, and even whole communities. In emerging economies, rural communities are bypassingthe wires and wooden poles that spread power. Instead, some in Africa and Asia are seeing their firstlightbulbs illuminated by the power of sunlight stored in batteries.
Today, energy storage is a $ 33 billion global industry that generates nearly 100 gigawatt-hours ofelectricity per year. By the end of the decade, it's expected to be worth over $ 50 billion and generate160 gigawatt-hours, enough to attract the attention of major companies that might not otherwise beinterested in a decidedly pedestrian technology. Even utility companies, which have long Viewedbatteries and alternative forms of energy as a threat, are learning to embrace the technologies asenabling rather than disrupting.
Today's battery breakthroughs come as the. world looks to expand modern energy access to thebillion or so people without it, while also cutting back on fuels that warm the planet.Thosesimultaneous challenges appear less overwhelming with increasingly better answers to a centuries-oldquestion: how to make power portable.
To be sure, the battery still has a long way to go before the nightly recharge completely replacesthe weekly trip to the gas station. A battery-powered world comes with its own risks, too. Whathappens to the centralized electric grid, which took decades and billions of dollars to build, as moreand more people become "prosumers," who produce and consume their own energy onsite?
No one knows which--if any--battery technology will ultimately dominate, but one thing remainsclear. The future of energy is in how we store it.
46. What does Dr. Sadoway think of energy storage?
A. It involves the application of sophisticated technology.
B. It is the direction energy development should follow.
C. It will prove to be a profitable business.
D. It is a technology benefiting everyone.
47. What is most likely to happen when advanced batteries become widely used?
A. Mobile-first lifestyles will become popular.
B. The globalization process will be accelerated.
C. Communications will take more diverse forms.
D. The world will undergo revolutionary changes.
48. In some rural communities of emerging economies, people have begun to
___________.
A.find digital devices simply indispensable
B. communicate primarily by mobile phone
C. light their homes with stored solar energy
D. distribute power with wires and wooden poles
49. Utility companies have begun to realize that battery technologies
___________.
A. benefit their business
B. transmit power faster
C. promote innovation
D. encourage competition
50. What does the author imply about the centralized electric grid?
A. It might become a thing of the past.
B. It might turn out to be a "prosumer".
C. It will be easier to operate and maintain.
D. It will have to be completely transformed.
Passage TwoQuestions 51 to 55 are based on the following passage.
More than 100 years ago, American sociologist W. E. B. Du Bois was concerned that race wasbeing used as a biological explanation for what he understood to be social and cultural differencesbetween different populations of people. He spoke out against the idea of "white" and "black" asdistinct groups, claiming that these distinctions ignored the scope of human diversity.
Science would favor Du Bois. Today, the mainstream belief among scientists is that race is a socialconstruct without biological meaning. In an article published in the journal Science, four scholars sayracial categories need to be phased out."Essentially, I could not agree more with the authors," said Svante P??bo, a biologist and directorof the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany. In one example thatdemonstrated genetic differences were not fixed along racial lines, the full genomes (基因组) of JamesWatson and Craig Venter, two famous American scientists of European ancestry, were compared tothat of a Korean scientist, Seong-Jin Kim. It turned out that Watson and Venter shared fewer variationsin their genetic sequences than they each shared with Kim.
Michael Yudell, a professor of public health at Drexel University in Philadelphia, said that modemgenetics research is operating in a paradox: on the one hand, race is understood to be a useful tool toilluminate human genetic diversity, but on the other hand, race is also understood to be a poorlydefined marker of that diversity.
Assumptions about genetic differences between people of different races could be particularlydangerous in a medical setting. "If you make clinical predictions based on somebody's race, you'regoing to be wrong a good chunk of the time,"
Yudell told Live Science. In the paper, he and hiscolleagues used the example of cystic fibrosis, which is underdiagnosed in people of African ancestrybecause it is thought of as a "white" disease.
So what other variables could be used if the racial concept is thrown out? Yudell said scientistsneed to get more specific with their language, perhaps using terms like "ancestry" or "population" thatmight more precisely reflect the relationship between humans and their genes, on both the individualand population level. The researchers also acknowledged that there are a few areas where race as aconstruct might still be useful in scientific research: as a political and social, but not biological,variable.
"While we argue phasing out racial terminology (术语) in the biological sciences, we alsoacknowledge that using race as a political or social category to study racism, although filled with lots ofchallenges, remains necessary given our need to understand how structural inequities anddiscrimination produce health disparities (差异) between groups. " Yudell said.
51. Du Bois was opposed to the use of race as ________.
A. a basis for explaining human genetic diversity
B. an aid to understanding different populations
C. an explanation for social and cultural differences
D. a term to describe individual human characteristics
52. The study by Svante P??bo served as an example to show ________.
A. modern genetics research is likely to fuel racial conflicts
B. race is a poorly defined marker of human genetic diversity
C. race as a biological term can explain human genetic diversity
D. genetics research should consider social and cultural variables
53. The example of the disease cystic fibrosis underdiagnosed in people of African ancestry demonstratesthat ________.
A. it is absolutely necessary to put race aside in making diagnosis
B. it is important to include social variables in genetics research
C. racial categories for genetic diversity could lead to wrong clinical predictions
D. discrimination against black people may cause negligence in clinical treatment
54. What is Yudell's suggestion to scientists?
A. They be more precise with the language they use.
B. They refrain from using politically sensitive terms.
C. They throw out irrelevant concepts in their research.
D. They examine all possible variables in their research.
55. What can be inferred from Yudell's remark in the last paragraph?
A. Clinging to racism prolongs inequity and discrimination.
B. Physiological disparities are quite striking among races.
C. Doing away with racial discrimination is challenging.
D. Racial terms are still useful in certain fields of study.
Part Ⅳ Translation (30 minutes)
Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to translate a passage from Chinese intoEnglish. You should write your answer on Answer Sheet 2.
随着中国经济的蓬勃发展，学汉语的人数迅速增加，使汉语成了世界上人们最爱学的语言之一。近年来，中国大学在国际上的排名也有了明显的提高。由于中国教育的巨大进步，中国成为最受海外学生欢迎的留学目的地之一就不足为奇了。2015年，近四十万国际学生蜂拥来到中国学习。他们学习的科目已不再限于中国语言和文化，而包括科学与工程。在全球教育市场上，美国和英国仍占主导地位，但中国正在迅速赶上。
Part I Writing My View on Innovation
① I'm not sure if you have heard one of Steve Jobs'famous remarks, " Innovation distinguishes between aleader and a follower", which stresses the significance of innovation. ② It goes without saying that innovation canpromote the advancement of society and is the most essentialquality for anyone who wants to achieve suc cess. ③Withinnovation, any progress will be possible; however, once indulged in conservatism, everything will remain stagnant.
④Therefore, by some means or other we must cometo know how to be innovative.
⑤On the one hand, from thestandpoint of a nation, the government should encourageinnovation and foster the mindset of continuous learning.⑥ Only by doing this can our nation achieve new breakthroughs in all walks of life. ⑦ On the other hand,from the perspective of individuals, we should enrich
our knowledge reserves and arm ourselves with up-to-dateknowledge. ⑧ Only when we are equipped with vast storesof knowledge can we think out different methods whensolving a problem.
⑨We should always commit it to our memory thatinnovation is of great significance to u s a J1. ⑩ In our dailylife, we need to cultivate the habit of applying new thoughtsand methods into practice.
PartⅡ Listening Comprehension
Questions 1 to 4 axe based on the conversation you have just heard.
Conversation Two
M: (5) You say your shop has been doing well. Could you give me some idea of what "doing well" means infacts and figures?
W: Well, "doing well" means averaging ￡1,200 or more a week for about 7 years, making almost a quarter ofa million pounds. And "doing well" means your earnings are rising. Last year, we did slightly over 50,000and this year, we hope to do more than 60,000. So, that's good if we continue to rise.
M: Now, that's gross earnings, I assume. What about your expenses?
W: Yes, that's gross. The expenses, of course, go up steadily. And since we've moved to this new shop, theexpenses have increased greatly, because it's a much bigger shop. So I couldn't say exactly what ourexpenses are. They are something in the region of six or seven thousand pounds a year, which is not high. (6) Commercially speaking, it's fairly low, and we try to keep our expenses as low as we can.
M: (7) And your prices are much lower than the same goods in shops round about. How do the localshopkeepers feel about having a shop doing so well in their midst? W: Perhaps a lot of them don't realize how well we are doing, because we don't make a point of publicizing.That was a lesson we learned very early on. (8) We were very friendly with all local shopkeepers and wehappened to mention to a local shopkeeper how much we had made that week. He was very unhappy andnever as friendly again. So we make a point of never publicizing the amount of money
we make. But we areon very good terms with all the shops. None of them have ever complained that we are putting them out ofbusiness or anything like that. I think it's a nice friendly relationship. Maybe if they did know what wemade, perhaps they wouldn't be so friendly.
Birds are famous for carrymg things around．Some，like homing pigeons，can be trained to delivermessages and packages．Other birds unknowingly carry seeds that cling to them for the ride．(9)Canadianscientists have found a worrisome．new example of the power that birds have to spread stuff around．Way upnorth in the Canadian ArctiC．seabirds are picking up dangerous chemicals in the ocean and delivering them toponds near where the birds five．
Some l0．000 pairs of the birds，called flllitlars，a kind of ArctiC seabird．make their nests on DevonIsland．north of the Arctic Circle．(10)The fllfinars travel some 400 kilometers over the sea to find food．
When they return home，their droppings end up all around their nesting sites，including in nearby ponds．
(11)Previously．scientists noticed ponutants arriving in the Arctic with the wind．Salmon also carrydangerous chemicals as the fish migrate between rivers and the sea．The bodies of fish and other meat—eatersCan build up high levels of the chemicals．
To test the polluting power of fulmars，researchers coUected samples of deposit from 11 ponds on DevonIsland．In ponds closest to the colony，the results showed there were far more pollutants than in ponds lessaffected by the birds．The poHutantS in the ponds appear to come from fish that fulIIlars eat when they’re outon the ocean．(12)People who five，hunt，or fish near bird colonies need to be carefitl，the researchers say．The birds don’t mean to cause harm，but the chemicals they calTy Can cause major problems．
预览三道题各选项，由选项中出现的centenarians，death，cure，health，fail，life 等词可以推测，短文内容与百岁老人的身体健康状况以及导致他们死亡的疾病有关。13．A。14．B。15．What is characteristic of people who live up t0100 years and beyond?C。短文中提到，那些能够身体健康地活到百岁以上的老人们，最终向诸如老年痴呆症这样影响精神与认知功能的疾病屈服了，换言之，他们的精神似乎在他们的身体出问题前就先出问题了，故答案为C。
23．What is the aim of Michelle Obama’s campaign?
A。讲座开头提到，米歇尔·奥巴马的“Let’s Move!”是通过鼓励孩子们多做体育运动以减少儿童期肥胖现象的活动。因此，该活动的目的在于对抗儿童肥胖，故答案为A。24．What does research find about advertisements featuring professional athletes?
D。讲座中提到，2010年，研究人员在报告中说，12至17岁的青少年看运动员所宣传的食品和饮料类商业广告比成年人多。因此，由职业运动员代言的广告给儿童留下的印象甚于给成年人留下的印象，故答案为D.。
25．What does the speaker think kids’idols should do?
C。讲座最后提到，如果儿童以运动员为偶像，那么偶像言行一致对他们才最有利。偶像们言行一致地传达积极的行为，才能给孩子们提供可以效仿的更加健康的生活方式，Part Ⅲ Reading Comprehension
名词：H.habitats栖息地，生长环境；I.legacy遗产；K.offspring子孙，后代
动词：A.ages长大，变老；B.breathing呼吸；
L.replanting重新种植；O.withdraws撤退，移开
形容词：C.climatic气候的；G.fruitful果实累累的，富有成效的；
N.vulnerable脆弱的，易受伤害的
副词：D.elsewhere其他地方，别处；E.exclusively专有地，排外地，唯一地；
F.forever永远；J.notably显著地，尤其；M.subsequently随后，后来
34．L.replanting。35．N.vulnerable。
美国工作场所已经瓦解。我们应按以下方法着手解决此问题。
[A]美国人的工作时间比以往任何时候都长。83％的人表示工作压力大，近50％的人表示工作压力已经影响了他们的睡眠，60％的人在非工作时间用智能手机工作。难怪全世界只有13％的员工喜欢自己所从事的工作。
[B]然而，现在这种激烈的竞争环境已经开始露出了一线曙光：美国人现在开始意识到了工作对自己的影响，而雁主也在探索如何减少压力和过度劳累所带来的负面影响。但还是任重道远。把压力比喻成一种流行病，这种说法一点也不夸张。(37)在感到工作压力大的美国员工中，有83％(去年仅为73％)的人表示，他们最大的压力主要源于低报酬和不合理的工作量。如果你猜想现在工作比几十年前压力大，这种想法一点没错。从l983年到2009年，女性和男性的压力水平分别增长了18％和24％。(45)同时，压力也开始呈现“年轻化”的趋势，一些数据表明，当今青少年的压力比成年人还大。
[C](42)压力对我们的健康影响非常大，并且由此可能会导致巨额的公共卫生花费。职业压力增加了患心脏病和糖尿病的风险，同时还会加速老龄化，减少寿命，导致抑郁和焦虑，并且带来其他各种健康问题。总体而言，与压力相关的健康问题占医院总就诊量的90％，而其中许多健康问题都是可预防的。正如《华盛顿邮报》所说，工作是真会“要了你的命啊”。同时工作压力大也伤害到了我们与他人的关系。在职的家长表示，他们感到压力大，很疲惫，总是匆匆忙忙，陪伴孩子、朋友和爱人的高质量时间实在是太少了。
[D]十分之七的员工表示很难保持工作与生活的平衡。(44)随着科技的发展，尤其是工作电子邮件已经渗透到了我们生活的方方面面，“保持工作生活平衡”几乎成了一个没有意义的术语。菲利斯·摩恩说道，瞬息万变的经济、不确定的未来，再加上一周七天，一天二十四小时全天候的连接，这就是过度劳累的原因。摩恩说：“工作需求，以及兼并，收购，裁员等其他不安全性因素都日益上升。难以保持工作生活平衡的部分原因就是来自于未来的不确定性”。
[E]这些因素凑在一起，造成了越来越多不可能维持的情况，许多员工都因过度工作到了倦怠点。这不仅对员工而言是不可持续的，对于雇用他们的公司来说也是不可持续的。
(40)科学表明员工们长时间处于高压力与他们缺勤，生产力降低和高离职率之间有着明显的相关性。太多的工作场所政策缺乏灵活性，甚至在员工最需要休息的时候，也不允许他们休息，这使得员工无法保持工作与生活健康的平衡关系。
[F]根据2007年的一项研究，美国在家庭福利政策方面，例如带薪育儿假，带薪病假和支持母乳喂养，远远落后于每一个发达国家，以及许多发展中国家。美国也是世界上唯一不提供带薪休假的发达国家，世界上仅有的两个不提供带薪产假的国家之一。(36)但是，即使员工得到带薪休假的机会，工作场所的规则和期望也会迫使他们过度工作，从而没有机会去使用它。得到带薪休假的全职员工们通常只用了一半的假期。
[G]我们现在的工作时间也是按照过时的作息时间安排的。8小时工作日的做法是3-业革命时代的产物，当时流行的一句话特别能体现出这一点，“八小时劳动，八小时娱乐，八小时休息。”
[H]我们坚持这种工作日的结构——但是数字设备使许多员工从来没有真正下班过。当今，美国人平均每天工作8．8小时，而大多数的职场人士在晚上、周末甚至在休假期间，都会花额外时间工作。(39)技术本身并不是问题，问题是技术被用来为雇主创造更多的灵活性，而不是为雇员提供了便利。在竞争激烈的工作环境中，雇主利用高科技手段要求员工提供更多的服务，而不是使用技术为员工提供福利，让员工更加灵活地工作，以此来激励他们。
[I]在去年发表的一项研究中，心理学家创造了一个术语“工作场所远程压力”，来描述员工想要立即回复邮件的强烈欲望．和想要立即回复老板、同事或客户电子邮件的痴迷。研究人员发现，远程压力是工作压力的主要原因，随着时间的推移，还会造成身体和精神的倦怠。在参加此项研究的300名员工中，那些经历过高度远程压力的员工更有可能会认同倦怠的评价，例如“我早晨上班时没有精力”，并说自己感到疲劳和无法专心工作。远程压力也与睡眠不足和工作失误相关。
[J]哈佛商学院教授莱斯利·佩洛解释说，当人们感受到总是需要“在线”的压力时，就会找到办法来适应这种压力，例如，改变日程表、工作习惯和减少与家人和朋友的互动。佩洛将这种恶性循环称为“响应周期”：
(43)一旦老板和同事发现某个员工，工作完成得更快了，就会要求该员工工作更长时间。不接受这些增加的工作就会表明自己对工作不尽忠尽责，所以该员工只好选择服从。[K](41-1)为解决员工压力暴增的问题，许多公司已经实施了工作场所健康计划，他们与医疗保健供应商合作，由其提供促进员工健康和福利的项目。一些研究确实表明这些方案有希望。健康保险提供商Aetna做的一项员工研究表明，参加办公室瑜伽和正念课程的人中，大约四分之一的人报告其压力水平减少了28％，睡眠质量改善了20％。这些压力减缓的员工，平均每周增加了62分钟的生产率。(41-2)虽然科学证明瑜伽和冥想可以减少压力，但这些计划几乎没有针对倦怠和脱节的根本原因。造成压力大的根本原因是长时间工作，不切买际的要求和完成工作的期限，以及工作生活的冲突。
[L]摩恩和她同事可能已经找到了解决方案。在2011年的一项研究中，她调查了实施“以
成果为宗旨的工作环境”(ROW E.计划对百思买公司总部员工的生产力和福利的影响。[M]在这项研究中，325名员工花了6个月参加ROWE计划，而实验对照组中有334名员工继续正常的工作流程。ROWE参与者可以自由决定在何时、何地以及以何种方式工作——只要完成工作就行。这项实验的结果非常惊人。六个月后，参与ROWE的员工报告说，工作、家庭冲突减少了，他们可以更好地管理自己的时间，同时每晚可多睡一个小时。这些员工跳槽的可能性也减少了，因此降低了雇员流失率。必须指出的是，增加工作灵活性，但并不鼓励员工全天候工作。(38)“员工并没有在任何地方，任何时间都在
Passage One
51. A。52．B。53．C。根据题干中的cystic fibrosis和underdiagnosed in people of African ancestry定位到文章第五段最后两句：“If you make clinical predictions based on somebody’S race，you’re going to be wrong a good chunk of the time．”YudeH told Live Science．In the paper，he and his coHeagues used theexample of cystic fibrosis，which is underdiagnosed in people of African ancestry because it is thought of as a“white”disease．
推理判断题。定位句的第一句指出，亚戴尔认为如果临床预测是基于病人的种族做出的，那
么大部分时候结果都是错的，紧接着在下一句里亚戴尔举出囊性纤维化的例子，该疾病被认为是“白种人”的疾病，因此很容易在非裔人身上漏诊，由此可以推出，亚戴尔以囊性纤维化为例是想说明上一句话里的观点，即对遗传多样性进行种族分类可能导致错误的临床预测，故答案为C.。
A.“诊断时不去考虑种族是绝对必要的”，定位句只是说依据种族做出的临床预测大部分时
候都是错的，该选项的表述过于绝对，故排除；B.“让遗传研究包含社会变量很重要”，第六段最后一句提到社会变量，但该句是指种族作为社会变量可能在科学研究中仍有用，这是研究人员的观点，并非囊性纤维化的例子想要说明的问题，故排除；D.“对黑人的歧视可能导致临床治疗上的疏忽”，文中没有提到对黑人的歧视，且定位句提及的是临
床预测而不是临床治疗，故排除。54．A。55．D。由题于中的the last paragraph定
位到文章最后一段：“…we also acknowledge that using race as a political or social category to study racism，although filled with lots of challenges，remainsnecessary given our need to understand how structural inequities and discrimination produce healthdisparities(差异)between groups，”Yudeli said．推理判断题。定位句指出，亚戴尔说道：“……我们也承认，考虑到我们需要了解结构性的不平等和歧视是如何使群体之间产生健康差异的，将种族用作研究种族主义的政治或社会范畴仍有必要，尽管这充满了挑战。”由此可知，在研究种族歧视的这些领域里，种族术语仍有用，故答案为D.。
A.“坚持种族主义使不公和歧视更加持久”，原文只指出将种族用作研究种族主义的政治或社会范畴仍有必要，而不是坚持种族主义，故排除A.；
B.“种族之间的生理学差异非常惊人”，第三段最后一句提到在一项研究中，两位欧裔美国科学家共有的基因序列
变异少于他们每个人与韩国科学家共有的基因序列变异，这说明遗传差异不会按照种族界限固定下来，因此B.与原文表述相反，故排除；
C.“消除种族歧视具有挑战性”，定位段指出充满挑战的是将种族用作研究种族主义的政治或社会范畴，而不是消除种族歧视，故该选项是对原文的曲解，故排除。
Part Ⅳ Translation
As China's economy surges, so does the number of people learning Chinese, which makes it become oneof the favorite languages to be learned in the world. In recent years, Chinese universities have also madenotable gains in the international university league table. Owing to the great progress of China's education, it'sno wonder that China has become one of the most popular destinations for overseas students to study abroad.
In 2015, nearly four hundred thousand international students flocked into China to study. Their courses ofstudy are no longer confined to the Chinese language and culture, but include Science and Engineering. In theglobal education market, America and Britain still play a leading role, but China is rapidly catching up.