1、2010 年 12 月英语六级听力原文及答案Section A短对话（1118）11.W: This is one of our best and least expensive two-bedroom listings. Its located in a quiet building and its close to bus lines.M: That maybe true. But look at it, its awful, the paint has peeled off and carpet is worn and the stove is ancient.Q: What can w
2、e infer from the conversation?12.M: The pictures we took at the botanical garden should be ready tomorrow.W: I cant wait to see them, Im wondering if the shots I took are as good as I thought.Q: What is the woman eager to know?13.W: The handle of the suitcase is broken. Can you have it fixed by next
3、 Tuesday?M: Let me see, I need to find a handle that matches but that shouldnt take too long.Q: What does the man mean?14.M: This truck looks like what I need but Im worried about maintenance. For us itll have to operate for long periods of time in very cold temperatures.W: We have several models th
4、at are especially adaptive for extreme conditions. Would you like to see them?Q: What do we learn about the man from the conversation?15.M: I think your boss would be very upset when he gets your letter of resignation.W: That may be so. But in the letter, I just told him frankly I could no longer li
5、ve with his poor management and stupid decisions.Q: What do we learn about the woman?16.W Id like to exchange the shirt. Ive learned that the person bought it for allergic to wool.M Maybe we can find something in cotton or silk. Please come this way.Q；What does the women want to do？17.M: Excuse me,
6、Miss？Did anyone happen to turn in a new handbag? You know, its a birthday gift for my wife.W: Let me see. Oh, weve got quite a lot of womens bags here. Can you give me more detailed information, such as the color, the size and the trademark?Q: Where does this conversation most probably take place?18
7、.M What are you going to do with the old house you are in heritage from your grandfather?W I once intended to sell it, but now, Im thinking of turning it into a guest house, because its still a solid structure.Q: What does the man plan to do with his old house?长对话（1925）W: When you write a novel, do
8、you know where youre going, Dr. James?M: Yes, you must, really, if youre writing the classical detective story, because it must be so carefully plotted and so carefully clued. I have schemes. I have charts. I have diagrams. It doesnt mean to say that I always get it right, but I do plan before I beg
9、in writing. But what is so fascinating is how a book changes during the process of writing. It seems to me that creative writing is a process of recalibration, really, rather than of creativity in the ordinary sense.W: When youre planning the basic structure, do you like to go away to be sure that y
10、oure by yourself?M: I need to be by myself certainly, absolutely. I cant even bare anybody else in the house. I dont mind much where I am as long as Ive got enough space to write, but I need to be completely alone.W: Is that very important to you?M: Oh, yes. Ive never been lonely in all my life.W: H
11、ow extraordinary! Never?M: No, never.W: Youre very lucky. Someone once said that theres a bit of ice at the heart of every writer.M: Yes. I think this is true. The writer can stand aside from experience and look at it, watch it happening. There is this detachment and I realize that there are obvious
12、ly experiences which would overwhelm everyone. But very often, a writer can appear to stand aside, and this detachment makes people feel theres a bit of ice in the heart.Questions 19 to 21 are based on the conversation you have just heard.19. What is the key to write a good classical detective story
13、 according to the man?20. What does the man mainly need when working on a book?21. What does the man say about writers?W: There is an element there about competition then, isnt there? Because British railways are a nationalized industry. Theres only one railway system in the country. If you dont lik
14、e a particular kind of big beans, you can go and buy another. But if you dont like a particular railway, you cant go and use another.M: Some people who write to me say this. They say that if you didnt have monopoly, you wouldnt be able to do the things you do. Well, I dont think we do anything delib
15、erately to upset our customers. We have particular problems. Since 1946, when the Transport Act came in, we were nationalized.W: Do you think thats a good thing? Has it been a good thing for the railways, do you think, to be nationalized?M: Oh I think so, yes. Because in general, modes of transport
16、are all around. Lets face the fact. The car arrived. The car is here to stay. There is no question about that.W: So what are you saying then? Is it if the railways happen being nationalized, they would simply have disappeared?M: Oh, I think they would have. Theyre disappearing fast in America. Er, t
17、he French railways lose 1 billion ponds a year. The German railways, 2 billion ponds a year. But you see, those governments are preparing to pour money into the transport system to keep it going.W: So in a sense, you cope between two extremes. On the one hand, youre trying not to lose too much money
18、. And on the other hand, youve got to provide the best service.M: Yes, you are right.Questions 22 to 25 are based on the conversation you have just heard.22. What does the woman say about British railways?23. What do some people who write to the man complain about?24. What does the man say threatens
19、 the existence of railways?25. What does the man say about railways in other countries?Section BPassage OneAmong global warmings most frightening threats is the prediction is that the polar ice-caps will melt, raising sea level so much that coastal cities from New York to Los Angles to Shanghai will
20、 be flooded. Scientists agree that key player in this scenario is the West Antarctic ice sheet, a Brazil-size mass of frozen water that is much as 7000 feet thick. Unlike floating ice shelves which have little impact on sea level when they break up, the ice sheet is anchored to bedrock will blow the
21、 sea surface. Surrounded by open ocean, it is also vulnerable, but Antarctic experts disagree strongly on just how unstable it is. Now, new evidence reveals that all or most of the Antarctic ice sheet collapsed at least once during the past 1.3 million years, a period when global temperatures probab
22、ly were not significantly higher than they are today. And the ice sheet was assumed to have been stable. In geological time, a million years is recent history. The proof, which was published last week in Science, comes from a team of scientists from Uppsala University in Sweden and California Instit
23、ute of Technology who drew deep holes near the edge of ice sheet. Within samples collected from the solid substances lying beneath the ice. They found fossils of microscopic marine plants which suggest that the region was once open ocean not solid ice. As Herman Engleheart, a co-author from the Cali
24、fornia Institute of Technology says, the West Antarctic ice sheet disappear once and can disappear again.26. What is one of the most frightening threats of global warming according to the passage?27. What did scientists disagree on?28. What is the latest information revealed about the West Antarctic
25、 ice sheet?29. What the scientists latest findings suggest?Passage TwoIts always fun to write about research that you can actually try out for yourself.Try this: Take a photo and upload it to Facebook, then after a day or so, note what the URL link to the picture is and then delete it. Come back a m
26、onth later and see if the link works. Chances are: It will.Facebook isnt alone here. Researchers at Cambridge University have found that nearly half of the social networking sites dont immediately delete pictures when a user requests they be removed. In general, photo-centric websites like Flickr we
27、re found to be better at quickly removing deleted photos upon request.Why do “deleted“ photos stick around so long? The problem relates to the way data is stored on large websites: While your personal computer only keeps one copy of a file, large-scale services like Facebook rely on what are called
28、content delivery networks to manage data and distribution. Its a complex system wherein data is copied to multiple intermediate devices, usually to speed up access to files when millions of people are trying to access the service at the same time. But because changes arent reflected across the conte
29、nt delivery networks immediately, ghost copies of files tend to linger for days or weeks.In the case of Facebook, the company says data may hang around until the URL in question is reused, which is usually “after a short period of time“, though obviously that time can vary considerably.30. What does
30、 the speaker ask us to try out?31. What accounts for the failure of some websites to remove photos immediately?32. When will the unwanted data eventually disappear from Facebook according to the company?Passage ThreeEnjoying an iced coffee? Better skip dinner or hit the gym afterwards, with a cancer
31、 charity warning that some iced coffees contain as many calories as a hot dinner.The World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) conducted a survey of iced coffees sold by some popular chains in Britain including Starbucks, Caffe Nero and Costa Coffee to gauge the calories as studies increasingly link obesity
32、 with cancer.The worst offender - a coffee from Starbucks - had 561 calories. Other iced coffees contained more than 450 calories and the majority had an excess of 200.Health experts advise that the average woman should consume about 2,000 calories a day and a man about 2,500 calories to maintain a
33、healthy weight. Dieters aim for 1,000 to 1,500 calories a day.“The fact that there is an iced coffee on the market with over a quarter of a womans daily calories allowance is alarming,“ Dr Rachel Thompson, science programme manager at London-based WCRF, said in a widely-reported statement.“This is t
34、he amount of calories you might expect to have in an evening meal, not in a drink.“The WCRF has estimated that 19,000 cancers a year in Britain could be prevented if people lost their excess weight with growing evidence that excess body fat increases the risk of various cancers.“If you are having th
35、ese types of coffee regularly then they will increase the chances of you becoming overweight, which in turn increases your risk of developing cancer, as well as other diseases such as heart disease.“ she added.33. What warning did some health experts give?34. What does the author suggest people do a
36、fter they have an iced coffee?35. What could British people expect if they maintain a normal body weight according to the WCRF?Section CPsychologists are finding that hope plays a surprisingly vital role in giving people a measurable advantage in realms as diverse as academic achievement, bearing up
37、 in tough jobs and coping with tragic illness. And, by contrast, the loss of hope is turning out to be a stronger sign that a person may commit suicide than other factors long thought to be more likely risks.Hope has proven a powerful predictor of outcome in every study weve done so far, said Doctor
38、 Charles R. Snyder, a psychologist, who has devised a scale to assess how much hope a person has.For example, in research with 3,920 college students, Dr. Snyder and his colleagues found that the level of hope among freshmen at the beginning of their first semester was a more accurate predictor of t
39、heir college grades than were their S.A.T. scores or their grade point averages in high school, the two measures most commonly used to predict college performance.Students with high hope set themselves higher goals and know how to work to attain them, Doctor Snyder said. When you compare students of
40、 equivalent intelligence and past academic achievements, what sets them apart is hope.In devising a way to assess hope scientifically, Dr. Snyder went beyond the simple notion that hope is merely the sense that everything will turn out all right. That notion is not concrete enough, and it blurs two
41、key components of hope, Doctor Snyder said, Having hope means believing you have both the will and the way to accomplish your goals, whatever they may be.答案与解析11. What can we infer from the conversation?【答案】C. The man is looking for an apartment.【解析】从对话中看出女士在推销，而男士正在找 apartment building。12. What is
42、the woman eager to know?【答案】B How the pictures will turn out.【解析】女士想知道的是 if the shots I took are as good as I thought. 照片是不是和她想的异样好。这里 shots 指照片。turn out 指照片拍出来的效果。因此选 B。13. What does the man mean?【答案】C The suitcase can be fixed in time.【解析】男士说到 find a handle 后面提到 but that shouldnt take too long 说明不
43、是没有handle 可以匹配。因此排除 A,B。14. What do we learn about the man from the conversation?【答案】B He needs a vehicle to be used in harsh weather.【解析】男士说到 truck 需要 operate for long periods of time in very cold temperatures，因此选择选项 B。very cold temperatures 对应 harsh weather.15. What do we learn about the woman?【答案
44、】A She has made up her mind to resign.【解析】从文中女士强硬的口气 I could no longer live with可以看出她下定决心。因此选择 A。16. What does the women want to do？【答案】D Replace the shirt with one of some other material.【解析】女士首先提到 exchange the shirt，后面又解释了原因 allergic to wool，从男士的回答也可以看出换成别的材质。因此选择 D。17. Where does this conversatio
45、n most probably take place?【答案】D At a “Lost and Found”【解析】男士首先问 Did anyone happen to turn in a new handbag?，女士又问了他 handbag 的详细信息，可见是在失物招领处，选 D。18. What does the man plan to do with his old house?【答案】C Convert in into a hotel【解析】but 后面是真正意图 : turning it into a guest house。guest house 意为宾馆，因此选C。19. Wh
46、at is the key to write a good classical detective story according to the man?【答案】D Careful plotting and clueing.【解析】对话中提到 it must be so carefully plotted and so carefully clued，对应 D 选项。20. What does the man mainly need when working on a book?【答案】D To be entirely alone.【解析】对话中 cant even bare anybody
47、else, be completely alone 都说明该作家需要独立的写作空间，因此选择 D。21. What does the man say about writers?【答案】C They look at the world in a detached manner.【解析】关键词 detachment 分离。作家提到作者的经历和写作。虽然说道 some experiences overwhelm everyone, 但是后面的 but 暗示了答案，stand aside、detachment 都对应了 C 选项。22. What does the woman say about B
48、ritish railways?【答案】B Like it or not, you have to use them.【解析】在对话一开始，女士就提到了 Theres only one railway system, if you dont like a particular railway, you cant go and use another. 因为只有一条铁路，即使不喜欢，也只能乘坐，换句话说不论喜欢与否都得用它。因此选择 B。23. What do some people who write to the man complain about?【答案】D The monopoly o
49、f British Railways.【解析】对话中谈及 monopoly，铁路垄断，因此选 D。其他选项均未涉及。24. What does the man say threatens the existence of railways?【答案】B Competition from other modes of transport.【解析】对话中 modes of transport are all around 对应选项 B。25. What does the man say about railways in other countries?【答案】D They lose a lot of money.【解析】男士以德、法两国铁路为例，每年铁路都有大量亏损。因此选择 D。而 B 选项中disappearing 仅仅是美国的情况。文章解析：本文是一篇地理科学类文章，有点难度，关键是对一些专有名词的把握。文章开始先指出全球变暖带来最主要的威胁是极地冰盖的融化，并给出了相应的事实和数据加以证明。接着更多例子表明南极洲的冰盖在过去的 130 万年间至少坍塌过一次。相关高等学府的学者和科学家也相继用实验证明南极洲西部曾是一片汪洋。最后引用 He
