1、4/42012年12月大学英语六级真题听力原文Section A11.M:This is the second time this week my boss asked me to work extra hours. Im glad to get a bigger paycheck, but I dont want such a heavy schedule.W:Better watch your step. A lot of people would like to trade places with you.Q:What does the woman imply the man shoul
2、d do?12.W:Oh, there you are. Your wife just called. I told her you were around somewhere, but I couldnt find you. Shes like you to call her at home.M:At home? She should be at work. I hope nothing is wrong.Q:What does the man imply?13.M:We have to get up early tomorrow if we want to be at the railwa
3、y station by 8:00. Perhaps we should go to bed now.W:I suppose so, but I have to finish this memo and put it in the mail.Q:What do we learn from the conversation?14.W:Let me check, sir. A suite on the third floor was reserved by a Mr. Colmar form July 10th to 16th.M:Im afraid theres a mistake, madam
4、. I told my secretary to book a specious double room rather than a luxurious suite.Q:What is the wrong of the reservation?15.W:Profits are down considerably this quarter. Do you have any idea what might be the problem?M:I guess its just that this is a slack time of the year. I hear other companies a
5、re having the same problem.Q:What are the speakers talking about?16.M:I forgot to pick up the groceries on the way home. Ill just rest a minute and then go and get them.W:No problem. We can make do with whats left here, and get them tomorrow.Q:What does the woman suggest they man do?17.W:Somebody sh
6、ould do something about the air-conditioning. Its ridiculous. I have to wear a sweater to work in the middle of summer.M:I agree. Its been like this for weeks.Q:What are the speakers talking about?18.W:I lost the diamond out of my ring. Do you know where I could have it replaced?M:Ive never had a st
7、one put in anything, but I know that the jewelry shop on Oxford Street has a good reputation.Q:What does the woman intend to do?Now youll hear two long conversionsConversation OneW:Mr. Stern, may I ask you? Do you think it was necessary and fair to arrest Steve Bril?M:I dont know whether you realise
8、 that this man has been eating a part of park for five years. And he is encouraging other people to do the same thing every single day. He has been organizing groups to destroy our urban wildlife.W:But Mr. Stern, this situation has been going on happily for five years. Why do you suddenly decide to
9、do something about it?M:Well, at first, we just thought he was eccentric person, a bit odd, you know. But over the years we came to realise that he is a dangerous guy. He has been ruining our city environment. Parks are to look at, not to eat. Its just as if youre going to allow people walk through
10、a zoo, and eat the baby bears.W:But surely you or your park keepers, Mr. Stern, could have discouraged Mr. Bril from his activity without going such drastic measures, without arresting him.M:Steve is a nice fellow, but what he is doing is illegal. He knows an awful lot about wild weeds. Well be very
11、 happy to let him organize tours if he just wouldnt eat the plants and wouldnt encourage other people to do so, too. You never know what this could lead to, all sorts of people ruining our park in all sorts of ways. This kind of thing is very definitely criminal behavior and must be stopped.Question
12、s 19 to 22 are based on the conversation you have just heard19.What does the man say Steve Bril has been doing?20.Why was Steve Bril not arrested years ago?21.What does the woman think of the action taken against Steve Bril?22.What finally net to Steve Brils arrest?Conversation TwoM:Mary, are your c
13、hildren still at school?W:Yes, my eldest boy, Martin, left school last year. He works at a day center nearby for physically handicapped adults. My daughter Liz is in the fourth year at a comprehensive school.M:How is her foreign language?W:Very good. She likes French and German. She is not very scie
14、ntific. Christopher, my youngest child, is in the last year of junior school. He is much more practically oriented, strong in math and science.M:He will be going to a comprehensive school, I suppose.W:We have the choice of three comprehensive schools.M:Really? Its unusual to have so many to choose f
15、rom.W:Well, yes. Parter school seems to have done all right. Were err um. Therere certain criticisms about it, but on the whole, we are not too dissatisfied.M:Well, generally speaking, what do you think one considers when one is trying to choose? Well, I dont know if one can really choose one school
16、 actually you tend to. Children go where theyre sent.W:You cant err um very easily unless you are very rich and can afford to choose a private school. And since were not very rich, weve got all three children to consider. We cant do that. So they go to the local comprehensive school. What really mat
17、ters is, you know, the quality of the staff, the size of the school. I think the size of the school has a lot of to do with it.Questions 23 to 25 are based on the conversation you have just heard.23.What do we learn about the womans daughter Liz?24.What does the woman say about her youngest child, C
18、hristopher?25.What can we conclude from the conversation?Section BPassage OneYears ago, when I was a young assistant professor at the Harvard Business School, I thought that the key to developing managerial leadership lay in raw brain power. I thought the role of business schools was to develop futu
19、re managers who knew all about the various functions of business. My thinking gradually became tempered by living and working outside the United States and by serving seven years as a college president. During my presidency of Babson College, I added several traits or skills that I felt a good manag
20、er must possess. The first is the ability to express oneself in a clear, articulate fashion. Good oral and written communication skills are absolutely essential if one is to be an effective manager. Second, one must possess the required set of qualities called leadership skills. To be a good leader,
21、 one must understand and be sensitive to people and be able to inspire them toward the achievement of common goals. Next, I concluded that effective managers must be broad human beings who not only understand the world of business but also have a sense of the cultural, social, political, historical,
22、 and the international aspects of life and society. This suggests that exposure to the liberal arts and humanities should be part of every managers education. Finally, as I pondered the business and government-related scandals that have occupied the front pages of newspapers, it became clear that a
23、good manager in todays world must have courage and a strong sense of integrity. He must know where to draw the line between right and wrong.Questions 26 to 29 are based on the passage you have just heard.26. What did the speaker use to think business schools should do to produce managers?27. What mi
24、ght have changed the speakers view of point?28. What does the speaker stress as part of managers education?29. What convinced the speaker that managers need a sense of integrity?Passage TwoWith top colleges charging as much as $50,000 per year, the idea that students may spend their first two years
25、learning next-to-nothing is enough to make parents pause. How can you make that investment worthwhile? And does going to college really make you smarter? It depends on what you study and whether you study enough.Adiscussionat The New York Times this week tackled the issue, with several academics wei
26、ghing in on whether college is worthwhile, and whether schools are dumbing down their curricula to appeal to more people. In their new book Academically Adrift,sociologists Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa found that 32 percent of the students they followed did not take “any courses with more than 40 p
27、ages of reading per week” in a typical semester, and half of the students didnt take “any courses in which they had to write more than 20 pages for the class”. Using these criteria, they determined that 45 percent of college students make little academic progress during the first two years of a four
28、-year degree.Their research raises a few red flags. On the one hand, is it any surprise that a public school system forced to “teach to the test” produces large numbers of students who are unwilling to think analytically, learn on their own, or write a research paper? On the other, does the number o
29、f pages read plus the number of pages written equals an accurate assessment of academic progress? A literature or history major, for instance, would have far more reading to do than a math major, but the math workload isnt lighter lifting just because it involves reading fewer pages per week.Questio
30、ns 30 to 32 are based on the passage you have just heard.30. Why do parents hesitate to pay for their kids college education according to the speaker?31. What does the survey by the 2 sociologists show about the students?32. What does the speaker imply about the research by the 2 sociologists?Passag
31、e ThreeEntertaining a close circle of friends isnt usually difficult. You all know each other so theres no problem about conversation. And even if the food is a bit sketchy, no one really minds because theyve come to see you, not a free meal. Well, most of them anyway. Its the guests you dont know v
32、ery well who present unexpectable traps. Therefore, in such categories, as the new husband or wife, boyfriend or girlfriend of an intimate friend, the business acquaintances who may be useful to your career, worst of all, the totally unpredictable friend of a friend, my advice in such cases is if yo
33、ure an indifferent cook, dont do any cooking. Its far better to stick to coffee and drinks, with a few expensive biscuits on the side. You can always plead that your flat is so small for more than 2 to eat comfortably, that you get home too late to prepare a decent meal, that your oven is on the bli
34、nk. Any reasonable excuses will do, even its not believed. If you fancy yourself as a cook, and are anxious to make a good impression, do your homework first. Nothing is more discouraging than to spend hours preparing a delicious meat dish followed by, say, fresh strawberries, only to discover that
35、your first-time guest is a strict vegetarian or is on a slimming diet. This may result in the rest of you tucking into a vast meal while your guest toys suspiciously with a few sides of tomato. “No, thank you, I wont have any creamed carrots out for my waist line.”Questions 33 to 35 are based on the
36、 passage you have just heard.33. What kind of guest is most likely to give you a hard time according to the speaker?34. What should you do before preparing a meal for your guests?35. What is the speaker mainly talking about?Section CPeople with disabilities comprise a large but diverse segment of th
37、e population. It is estimated that over 35 million Americans have physical, mental, or other disabilities. Approximately, half of these disabilities are “developmental,” i.e., they occur prior to the individuals twenty-second birthday, often from genetic conditions, and are severe enough to affect t
38、hree or more areas of development, such as mobility, communication and employment. Most other disabilities are considered accidental, i.e., caused by outside forces.Before the 20th century, only a small percentage of people with disabilities survived for long. Medical treatment for such conditions a
39、s stroke or spinal cord injury was unavailable. People whose disabilities should not have inherently affected their life span were often so mistreated that they perished. Advancements in medicine and social services have created a climate in which people with disabilities can expect to have such bas
40、ic needs as food, shelter and medical treatment met. Unfortunately, these basics are often all that is available. Civil liberties, such as the right to vote, marry, get an education, and gain an employment have historically been denied on the basis of disability.In recent decades, the disability rig
41、hts movement has been organized to combat these violations of civil rights. Disabled people formed grassroots coalitions to advocate their rights to integration and meaningful equality of opportunity. Congress responded by passing major legislation, recognizing people with disabilities as a protected class. In the mid-1970s, critical legislation mandated access to education, public transportation, and public facilities, and prohibited employment discrimination by federal agencies or employers receiving federal funds.
