2015年12月大学英语六级真题（第1套）及答案解析

W: Charles, as a singer, do you ever make yourself cry when you sing?

W: I wonder if you could tell me a little bit about your job as a radio announcer. What do you actually do and how do you prepare for your job? M: Well, in the news room I'm sitting with the reporters and the news subs, as though I'm sitting in a newspaper news room. W: Sorry, what do you mean by news subs? M: They are sub-editors. They are the people who write the news stories as they come in. The stories are then passed to the senior duty editor and the assistant editor. As stories go through the chain of people, they are refined, corrected and sorted out until they come finally to me and I have a chance to read through most stories before I go on the air. Of course, sometimes things happen at the last moment and I don't have a chance. So I've just got to do my best, and take a couple of seconds to look through the first few lines before I launch into something. Because it's such a pity if you start off in a bright tone on a story and suddenly realize you are talking about some people having been killed in a road crash. It's very important to just have a quick flip through. W: There's nothing to mark what sort of event it is on your piece of paper? M: No, I have my own little mark. If it's something sad, I put a small cross at the top. That's my little clue. So while I'm working on the news, I'm just absorbing the news and checking pronunciations. actually do and how do you prepare for your job?

If sheer numbers provide any proof, America's universities are the envy of the world. For all their troubles, the United States' 3,500 institutions were flooded with more than half a million students from 193 countries last year. Asia led the way, with the biggest number from China followed by Japan and India. Most European and Asian universities provide an elite service to a small number of people. While fully 60% of all US high school graduates attend college at some point in their life, just 30% of the comparable German population, 28% of the French, 20% of the British, and 37% of the Japanese proceed beyond high school. Britains who pass their A-Levels may still not qualify for a top university at home, but find American universities far more welcoming. Some US schools acknowledge the rigor of European secondary training, and will give up to a year's credit to foreigners who have passed their high school exams. The conception that everyone has a right to an education appropriate to his potential is a highly democratic and compassionate standard, says Marvin Bresler, a professor at Princeton University. True, not all US students can match the performance of their foreign counterparts, but American institutions do offer students from rich and poor families alike the chance to realize their full potential. "America educates so many more people at university that one can't expect all those who go to be as intelligent as the much narrower band in British universities," says Prof. Christopher Ricks at Boston University. "I'm not against elitism, but I happen to like having people who are more eager to learn." million students from 193 countries last year. attract students from all over the world They admit more students than they can handle.

Every year, people in America use energy equal to over 30 million barrels of oil each day. That's energy in all forms: oil, gas, coal, nuclear, solar and even wind power. Viewed from a scientist's standpoint, all of the energy contained in fuel, either now or in the future, becomes heat. Some of the heat is used directly or produces useful work. The rest is lost or rejected, radiated into the atmosphere from the engines, motors, boilers and all the other energy-consuming machinery that makes America's wheels go around. If we could figure out how to improve the efficiency with which we use energy, we could do a lot more work with the energy that is available. With money and careful planning, we can boost efficiency up to a point. Yet improvement won't come easily. It won't come overnight and there are limits beyond which not even science can take us. According to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, about three quarters of the energy we use to move things, including ourselves, accomplishes no useful work. In terms of efficiency and cleanness, buses, trains and other forms of public or mass transportation are superior to the private automobile, but only if they operate at near capacity. Otherwise, their overall efficiency is poor. For some people, mass transit may answer all transportation needs. For others, a combination of mass transit and private transportation may be desirable. Better design and wiser use of both mass transit systems and private vehicles will play an important part in helping America get more out of energy used for transportation. It equals more than 30 million barrels of oil each day. It has a direct impact on the international oil market.

Moderator: Hello, ladies and gentlemen. It is my honour to introduce our keynote speaker for today's lecture, Gretchen Rubin. Ms. Rubin received international attention for her 2009 best-selling book, The Happiness Project, in which she re-examines her own happiness and tries to develop mood-boosting habits. Today, Rubin will share with us her mood-boosting experience. Welcome, Ms. Rubin. Ms.

I would like to talk about interesting words that have something to do with money today. Almost every language in the world has a saying that a person can never be too rich. Americans, like people in other countries, always want more money. One way they express this is by protesting that their jobs do not pay enough. A common expression is, "I am working for chickenfeed." It means working for very little money. The expression probably began because seeds fed to chickens made people think of small change. Small change means metal coins of not much value, like nickels which are worth five cents. An early use of the word chickenfeed appeared in an American publication in 1930. It told about a rich man and his son. Word expert Mitford Mathews says it read, "I'll bet neither the kid nor his father ever saw a nickel or a dime. They would not have been interested in such chickenfeed." Chickenfeed also has another interesting meaning known to history experts and World War I spies and soldiers. Spy expert Henry S. A. Becket writes that some German spies working in London during the war also worked for the British. The British government had to make the Germans believe their spies were working. So, British officials gave them mostly false information. It was called chickenfeed. The same person who protests that he is working for chickenfeed may also say, "I am working for peanuts." She means she is working for a small amount of money. It is a very different meaning from the main one in the dictionary. That meaning is small nuts that grow on a plant. No one knows for sure how a word for something to eat also came to mean something very small. But, a peanut is a very small food. The expression is an old one. Word expert Mitford Mathews says that as early as 1854, an American publication used the words "peanut agitators". That meant political troublemakers who did not have a lot of support. Another reason for the saying about working for peanuts may be linked to elephants. Think of how elephants are paid for their work in the circus. They receive food, not money. One of the foods they like best is peanuts. When you add the word "gallery" to the word "peanut" you have the name of an area in an American theatre. A gallery is a high seating area or balcony above the main floor. The "peanut gallery" got its name because it is the part of the theatre most distant from where the show takes place. So, peanut gallery tickets usually cost less than other tickets. People pay a small amount of money for them.

The family is changing in the US as in many other countries in the world. About fifty years ago in the traditional families the father was boss. Now in a modern family both the father and the mother are equal partners. There are some great differences between the traditional family and the modern family. The first important difference is in the man's role. The traditional husband was the head of the household, because he was the only one who worked outside the home. If the wife worked for pay, then the husband was not considered to be a good provider. In many families today, both husband and wife work for pay. Therefore, they share the role of head of household. In addition, the traditional husband usually made the big decisions about spending money. However, the modern husband shares these decisions with his working wife. Also, the traditional husband did not help his wife with the housework or meal preparation. Dinner was ready when he came home. In contrast, the modern husband helps his working wife at home. He may do some of the household jobs, and it is not unusual for him to cook. The second difference is in the woman's role. In the traditional family, the woman may have worked for pay during her first years of marriage. However, after she became pregnant, she would usually give up her job. Her primary role was to take care of her family. In contrast, in many families today, the modern woman works outside the home even after she has children. She's doing two jobs instead of one, so she is busier than the traditional mother was. The traditional wife learned to live within her husband's income. However, the modern wife does not have to live within her husband's income because the family has two incomes. The final difference is in the role of the children. In the traditional family, the children were taken care of by the mother because she did not work outside the home. However, today preschool children may go to a child care centre or to a baby-sitter regularly because the mother works. The school-age children of a traditional family were more dependent. Their mother was there to help them to get ready for school and to make their breakfast. In contrast, modern children are more independent. They have to get up early in the morning and get ready for school. Their mother is busy getting ready for work, so they may even have to make their own breakfast. In conclusion, the American family today is quite different from the family of fifty years ago. In the modern family, the roles of the father, mother, and children have changed as more and more women work outside the home. The next century may bring more important changes to the American family structure. she has children.