2019 年 12 月英语六级真题及答案(第三套)
Part Ⅰ
Writing
(30 minutes)
Directions:For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay
on the importance of having a sense of community responsibility. You should
write at least 150 words but no more than 200 words.
Part Ⅱ Listening Comprehension (25 minutes)
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Part ⅡI Reading Comprehension (40 minutes)
Section A
Directions: In this section, there is a passage with ten blanks. You are
required to select one word for each blank from a list of choices given in a
word bank following the passage. Read the passage through carefully before
making your choices. Each choice in the bank is identified by a letter. Please
mark the corresponding letter for each item on Answer Sheet 2 with a single
line through the centre. You may not use any of the words in the bank more
than once.
Questions 26 to 35 are based on the following passage.
The number of devices you can talk to is multiplying—first it was your
phone, then your car, and now you can tell your kitchen appliances what to
do. But even without gadgets that understand our spoken commands,
research suggests that, as bizarre as it sounds, under certain 26 , people
regularly ascribe human traits to everyday objects.
Sometimes we see things as human because we are 27 . In one
experiment, people who reported feeling isolated were more likely than others
to attribute 28 to various gadgets. In turn, feeling close to objects can 29
loneliness. When college students were reminded of a time they had been 30
in a social setting, they compensated by exaggerating their number of friends
—unless they were first given tasks that caused them to interact with their
phone as if it had human qualities. According to the researchers, the
participants' phones 31 substituted for real friends.
At other times, we personify products in an effort to understand them.
One study found that three in four respondents yelled at their computer.
Further, the more their computer gave them problems, the more likely the
respondents were to report that it had its own “beliefs and 32 .”
So how do people assign traits to an object? In part, we rely on looks.
On humans, wide faces are 33 with dominance. Similarly, people rated cars,
clocks, and watches with wide faces as more dominant-looking than narrowfaced ones, and preferred them—especially in 34 situations. An analysis of car
sales in Germany found that cars with gills ( 护 栅 ) that were upturned like
smiles sold best. The purchasers saw this 35 as increasing a car's friendliness.
A) alleviate
B) apparently
C) arrogant
D) associated
E) circumstances
F) competitive
G) conceded
H) consciousness
I) desires
J) excluded
K) feature
L) lonely
M) separate
N) spectacularly
O) warrant
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.
[A] Though he didn’t come from a farming family, from a young age Tim
Joseph was fascinated by the idea of living off the land. Reading magazines
like The Stockman Grass Farmer and Graze, he got hooked on the idea of
grass-fed agriculture. The idea that all energy and wealth comes from the sun
really intrigued him He thought the shorter the distance between the sun and
the end product, the higher the profit to the farmer.
[B] Joseph wanted to put this theory to the test. In 2009, he and his wife
Laura launched Maple Hill Creamery, an organic, all grass-fed yogurt company
in northern New York. He quickly learned what the market has demonstrated:
Demand for grass-fed products currently exceeds supply. Grass-fed beef is
enjoying a 25-30% annual growth rate. Sales of grass-fed yogurt and kefir ( 发
酵乳饮品) on the other hand, have in the last year increased by over 38%. This
is in comparison with a drop of just under 1% in the total yogurt and kefir
market according to natural and organic market research company SPINS.
Joseph’s top priority became getting his hands on enough grass-fed milk to
keep customers satisfied, since his own 64-cow herd wasn’t going to suffice
[C] His first partnership was with Paul and Phyllis Amburgh, owners of the
Dharma Lea farm in New York. The Amburghs, too, were true believers in
grass-fed. In addition to supplying milk from their own 85-head herd, they
began to help other farmers in the area convent from conventional to certified
organic and grass-fed in order to enter the Maple Hill supply chain. Since
2010, the couple has helped 125 small dairy farms convert to grass-fed, with
more than 80% of those farms coming on board during the last two years.
[D] All this conversion has helped Maple Hill grow 40-50% every year
since it began with no end in sight. Joseph has learned that a farmer has to
have a certain mindset to successfully convert. But convincing open-minded
dairy people is actually not that hard, when you look at the economics. Grassfed milk can fetch up to 2.5 times the price of conventional milk. Another
factor is the squeeze that conventional dairy farmers have felt as the price of
grain they feed their cows has gone up, tightening their profit margins. By
replacing expensive grain feed with regenerative management practices,
grass-fed farmers are insulated from jumps in the price of feed. These
practices include grazing animals on grasses grown from the pastureland’s
natural seed bunk, and fertilized by the cows’ own fertilizer
[E] Champions of this type of regenerative grazing also point to its animal
welfare, climate and health benefits: Grass-fed animals live longer out of
confinement. Grazing herds stimulate microbial ( 微生物的) activity in the soil,
helping to capture water and separate carbon. And grass-fed dairy and meat
have been shown to be higher in certain nutrients and healthy fats.
[F] In the grass fed system, farmers are also not subject to the wildly
fluctuating milk prices of the international commodity market. The
unpredictability of global demand and the lag-time it takes to add more cows
to a herd to meet demand can result in events like the recent cheese surplus.
Going grass-fed is a safe refuge, a way for family-scale farms to stay viable.
Usually a farmer will get to the point where financially, what they’re doing is
not working. That’s when they call Maple Hill. If the farm is well managed and
has enough land, and the desire to convert is sincere, a relationship can
begin. Through regular regional educational meetings, a large annual
meeting, individual farm visits and thousands of phone calls, the Amburghs
pass on the principles of pasture management. Maple Hill signs a contract
pledging to buy the farmer’s milk at a guaranteed base price, plus quality
premiums and incentives for higher protein, butter fat and other solids.
[G] While Maple Hill's conversion program is unusually hands on and
comprehensive, it’s just one of a growing number of businesses committed to
slowly changing the way America farms. Joseph calls sharing his knowledge
network through peer-to-peer learning a core piece of the company’s culture.
Last summer, Massachusetts grass-fed beef advocate John Smith launched
Big Picture Beef, a network of small grass-fed beef farms in New England and
New York that is projected to bring to market 2,500 head of cattle from 125
producers this year. Early indications are that Smith will have no shortage of
farm members. Since he began to informally announce the network at farming
conferences and on social media, he’s received a steady stream of inquiries
from interested farmers.
[H] Smith says he’ll provide services ranging from formal seminars to on-
farm workshops on holistic (整体的) management, to one-on-one hand-holding
and an almost 24/7 phone hotline for farmers who are converting. In
exchange, he guarantees an above-market price for each animal and a calf-tocustomer electronic ear tag ID system like that used in the European Union.
[1] Though advocates portray grass fed products as a win-win situation for
all, they do have downsides. Price, for one, is an issue. Joseph says his
products are priced 10-20% above organic versions, but depending on the
product chosen, compared to non-organic conventional yogurt, consumers
could pay a premium of 30-50% or more for grass-fed. As for the meat, Smith
says his grass-fed hamburger will be priced 20-25% over the conventional
alternative. But a look at the prices on online grocer Fresh Direct suggests a
grass-fed premium of anywhere from 35-60%,
[J] And not every farmer has the option of going grass-fed. For both beef
and dairy production it requires, at least in the beginning, more pastureland.
Grass-fed beef production tends to be more labor-intensive as well. But Smith
counters that if you factor in the hidden cost of government corn subsidies,
environment degradation, and decreased human heath and animal welfare,
grass-fed is the more cost-effective model. “The sun provides the lowest cost
of production and the cheapest meat,” he says.
[K] Another grass-fed booster spurring farmers to convert is EPIC, which
makes meat-based protein bars. Founders Taylor Collins and his wife, Katie
Forrest, used to be endurance athletes; now they’re advocates of grass-fed
meat. Soon after launching EPIC’S most successful product - the Bison Bacon
Cranberry Bar - Collins and Forrest found they’d exhausted their sources for
bison (北美野牛) raised exclusively on pasture. When they started researching
the supply chain, they learned that only 2-3% of all bison is actually grass-fed.
The rest is feed-lot confined and fed grain and corn.
[L] But after General Mills bought EPIC in 2016, Collins and Forrest
suddenly had the resources they needed to expand their supply chain. So the
company teamed up with Wisconsin-based rancher Northstar Bison. EPIC
fronted the money for the purchase of $2.5 million worth of young bison that
will be raised according to its grass-fed protocols, with a guaranteed purchase
price. The message to young people who might not otherwise be able to
afford to break into the business is,“You can purchase this $3 million piece of
land here, because I’m guaranteeing you today you'll have 1,000 bison on it.’
We’re bringing new blood into the old, conventional farming ecosystem, which
is really cool to see,” Collins explains.
36. Farmers going grass-fed are not affected by the ever-changing milk
prices of the global market.
37. Over the years, Tim Joseph’s partners have helped many dairy farmers
to switch to grass-fed.
38. One advocate believes that many other benefits should be taken into
consideration when we assess the cost-effectiveness of grass-fed farming.
39. Many dairy farmers were persuaded to switch to grass-fed when they
saw its advantage in terms of profits.
40. Tim Joseph’s grass-fed program is only one example of how American
farming practice is changing.
41. Tim Joseph was fascinated by the notion that sunlight brings energy
and wealth to mankind.
42. One problem with grass-fed products is that they are usually more
expensive than conventional ones.
43. Grass fed products have proved to be healthier and more nutritious.
44. When Tim Joseph started his business, he found grass-fed products fell
short of demand.
45. A snack bar producer discovered that the supply of purely grass-fed
bison met was scarce.
Section C
Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed
by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four
choices marked A), B), C) and D). You should decide on the best choice and
mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through
the centre.
Passage One
Questions 46 to 50 are based on the following passage.
Schools are not just a microcosm(缩影) of society: they mediate it too. The
best seek to alleviate the external pressures on their pupils while equipping
them better to understand and handle the world outside-- at once sheltering
them and broadening their horizons. This is ambitious in any circumstances.
and in a divided and unequal society the two ideals can clash outright(直接地).
Trips that many adults would consider the adventure of a lifetime-treks in
Borneo, a sports tour to Barbados-appear to have become almost routine at
some state schools. Parents are being asked for thousands of pounds. Though
schools cannot profit from these trips, the companies that arrange them do.
Meanwhile, pupils arrive at school hungry because their families can’t afford
breakfast. The Child Poverty Action Group says nine out of 30 in every
classroom fall below the poverty line. The discrepancy is startlingly apparent.
Introducing a fundraising requirement for students does not help, as better-off
children can tap up richer aunts and neighbours.
Probing the rock pools of a local beach or practising French on a language
exchange can fire children’s passions, boost their skills and open their eyes to
life’s possibilities. Educational outings help bright but disadvantaged students
to get better scores in A-level tests. In this globalised age, there is a good
case for international travel. and some parents say they can manage the cost
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