2021年12月大学英语六级真题（第2套）及答案解析

M: Good morning and welcome to People in the News. With me today is Meghan Brown, an environmental activist whose controversial new book Beyond Recycling is making headlines. W: Hi, Brian. Thanks for having me today. I'm excited to explain to the audience what my book is really about. M: Critics of your book assert that you're trying to force radical changes on the entire country. Some claim that you want to force everyone to eat a vegetarian diet and make private transport illegal. W: I'm aware of those claims, but they simply aren't true. People who haven't read the book are making assumptions about my arguments. They know I'm a vegetarian, that I don't wear leather or fur, and that I always use public transportation. So they're depicting me as a radical animal rights activist and environmentalist determined to force my beliefs on others. M: But don't you want others to adopt your practices? You've campaigned for animal rights and the environment for decades. W: I'd love it if people choose to live as I do. But my life choices are based on my personal convictions. They aren't my recommendations for others who don't share those convictions. M: Well, in this excerpt from your book, you argue that meat consumption and private transport are devastating the environment and that the best choices for the planet are vegetarian diets and public transport. W: I did write that. But those are examples of what I call best practices, not what I'm actually suggesting. In my guidelines for saving the environment, I suggest modest changes, like eating vegetarian meals two days a week. M: You also endorse high taxes on meat and other animal products and increased taxes on gasoline. Those taxes could force poor people to adopt your life choices. W: But the taxes I suggest aren't that high, less than 3% only. Plus, the money generated would be allocated to environmental protection, which benefits everyone. Beyond Recycling is making headlines. It has been very favorably received.

M: With me in the studio today is Ms. Jane Logan, author of a new book, Secrets to Success. She claims to have uncovered how people achieve success. So Ms. Logan, in your book, you claim that successful people have many things in common. For instance, they know their strengths when pursuing a goal. W: That's right. They also tend to be motivated by a negative or positive life event. They credit their success to having someone in their life who believes in them. M: You also write that there are a number of different factors related to success. And while successful people are driven to achieve their goals, the ultra successful have even greater ambition. W: Yes, greater ambition as well as a burning desire to be the best of the best is also a common characteristic. M: Right. So those who are determined don't see obstacles as something that prevents success, but mere inconveniences that need to be overcome. W: Absolutely. Successful people are also optimistic as it is important to stay positive while being aware of obstacles that can deter us from achieving our goals. M: That's a good point. All too often, people give up at the first hurdle. Would you say then that most successful people make it all by themselves? W: Not exactly. They are usually good at cooperating with people and understanding the needs of others. M: So people will be willing to help them, I guess. W: That's correct. And this often leads to a great deal of mutual respect, whether it's with a colleague, an assistant or even a receptionist. M: Most successful people I know are very passionate about their work. Would you say that passion is the single biggest key to success? W: Not entirely. There's a prerequisite, that is, you have to work in an environment that nurtures passion. If that exists, success will follow.

The saying "blind as a bat" simply isn't correct. The truth is that all 1100 bat species can see and often their vision is pretty good, although not as excellent as other night-hunting animals. There are two main groups of bats, which are believed to have evolved independently of each other, but both from a common ancestor. The first group, known as the mega bats, are mostly medium-sized or large bats who eat fruits, flowers, and sometimes small animals or fish. These species have distinctive visual centers and big eyes. They use senses of vision and smell to capture their prey. For example, Flying Foxes not only see well during daylight, but can also distinguish colors. They actually rely on their daylight vision and cannot fly during the night with no moonlight. The second group, called micro bats, are smaller in size and mostly eat insects. These species use echolocation to find their way and identify food. Scientists have proven that despite their poorly developed small eyes, these bats still can see during the day. When we consider the nightly lifestyle of these bats, we will see they have to be sensitive to the changing light levels because this is how they sense when to start hunting. Moreover, vision is used by micro bats to travel over long distances, beyond the range of echolocation. So the truth is, there are no bats which are naturally blind. Some species use their sense of hearing more than their eyes as a matter of adaptation to a particular lifestyle, but their eyes are still functional.

A study has found that educational TV shows come with an added lesson that influences the child's behavior. Children who spend more time watching educational programs increase their emotional aggression toward other children. This shows that children can learn the educational lesson that was intended. However, they're also learning other things along the way. This unintended impact has to do with the portrayal of conflict in media and how preschool-age children comprehend that conflict. TV and movie producers often incorporate an element of bad behavior. This is to teach children a lesson at the end of the program. Educational shows have pro-education and pro-social goals. However, conflict between characters is often depicted with characters being unkind to each other or they may use emotionally aggressive tactics with each other. Preschool children really don't get the moral of the story. That's because it requires that they understand how all the parts of the show fit together. You need pretty complicated cognitive skills and memory skills to be able to do that. These are still developing in young children. However, parents shouldn't completely constrain children's viewing. Parents should instead watch with their kids and help them to understand the plot. Parents can comment along the way and then explain the message at the end. They should explain how certain types of behavior were not appropriate. This will help children interpret and get the message and help them learn to watch the show for those messages. aggression toward other children.

While it has long been a practice in Asian countries, many people in Western countries have yet to embrace the no-shoes-in-the-house rule. For many in those countries, wiping their shoes before going inside is regarded as sufficient. After all, they may think a little dirt doesn't hurt anyone. But I can give you several good reasons why people should remove their shoes before going inside their homes. Bacteria are everywhere. They collect on your shoes when you walk along sidewalks, public toilet floors and even office carpets. In one study conducted at an American university, researchers collected microscopic germs from footwear. They found that up to 421,000 units of bacteria can collect on the outside of a single shoe. And it only takes a little bit of dirt to damage your timber floors. The more dirt you track in, the more it scratches and the more often you'd have to clean. The extra scrubbing will harm your floors over time. Shoes can also leave marks and scratches on floors, especially high heels or shoes with pointed or hard parts. These can dent and scratch your floor. And if you live in an apartment building, removing your noisy shoes is the polite thing to do out of consideration for your downstairs neighbors. Walking around with bare feet is actually better for your feet. It strengthens the muscles in your feet. Though many people are accustomed to wearing shoes during all their waking hours, the more time you spend wearing shoes, the more likely you are to incur foot injuries as a result. And if people aren't yet convinced by my arguments, I can give one final reason. The dust and toxic chemicals you bring into your house via your shoes can deteriorate the air quality in your home. Toxic chemicals are everywhere in our lives: insect-killing chemicals used on public grass areas, cleaning chemicals on the floors of public areas. By kicking off your shoes before you enter the home, you are denying entry to these harmful chemicals. Given the amount of time we spend in classrooms, and the number of shoes that pass through them every day, you may well understand me if I were to propose a no-shoes-in-the-classroom rule.

Emotions are an essential and inseparable part of our consciousness. They are part of a built-in mechanism, which allows us to cope with the ups and downs of our lives both physically and mentally. When we hide our emotions and our true feelings, we stop being genuine, spontaneous and authentic in our relationships. When we put on cultivated and polished faces in the company of others, we stop being true to ourselves. Socially, it may be a good tactic to hide our true emotions, but morally it is also a breach of faith and trust. Although humans are more advanced and intelligent, animals are more genuine and authentic in their behavior and responses than human beings. The more educated we are, the less transparent and reliable we become. We are drawn to our pets because pets do not lie. One of the first steps in dealing with emotions such as anger or fear is to acknowledge them as normal and human. There is nothing sinful or immoral about being emotional, unless your emotions make you inhuman, insensitive and cruel to others. Feelings of guilt associated with emotions are more devastating and damaging than the experience of emotion itself. So when you deal with the problem of emotions, you should learn not only how to control them but also how to accept them and manage the guilt and anguish arising from them. Our brains are made up of a primitive inner core and a more evolved and rational outer core. Most of the time, the rational part of the mind controls the information coming from the primitive core and makes its own decisions as to what to do and how to respond. However, during critical situations, especially when a threat is perceived, the outer core loses control and fails to regulate the impulses and instinctual responses coming from the primitive brain. As a result, we let disturbing thoughts and emotions arise in our consciousness and surrender to our primitive behavior. In times of emotional turmoil, remember that emotions arise because your senses are wired to the primitive part of your mind which is self-regulated, autonomous and spontaneous. Your rational mind does not always deal with the messages coming from it effectively. These messages are part of your survival mechanism and should not be stifled simply because emotions are unhealthy and betray your weaknesses. When emotions arise, instead of stifling them, pay attention to them and try to understand the messages they are trying to deliver. This way you make use of your emotions without losing your balance and inner stability. faith and trust.

Good morning, class. My topic today is how to feed a hungry world. The world's population is expected to grow from 6.8 billion today to 9.1 billion by 2050. Meanwhile, the world's population more than doubled from 3 billion between 1961 and 2007. Simultaneously, food production has been constrained by a lack of scientific research. Still, the task of feeding the world's population in 2050 seems easily possible. What is needed is a second green revolution. This is an approach that is described as the sustainable growth of global agriculture. Such a revolution will require a wholesale shift of priorities in agricultural research. There is an urgent need for new crop varieties. They must offer higher yields but use less water, nitrogen-rich fertilizers or other inputs. These new crops must also be more resistant to drought, heat and pests. Equally crucial is lower-tech research into basics such as crop rotation and mixed farming of animals and plants on small farms. Developing nations could score substantial gains in productivity by making better use of modern technologies and practices. But that requires money. It is estimated that to meet the 2050 challenge, investment must double to 83 billion US dollars a year. Most of that money needs to go towards improving agricultural infrastructure. Everything from production to storage and processing must improve. However, research agendas need to be focused on the needs of the poorest and most resource-limited countries. It is there that most of the world's population lives and it is there the population growth over the next decades will be the greatest. To their credit, the world's agricultural scientists are embracing such a broad view. In March, for example, they came together at the first Global Conference on Agricultural Research to begin working out how to change research agendas to help meet the needs of farmers in poorer nations. But these plans will not bear fruit unless they get considerably more support from policy-makers. The growth in public agricultural-research spending peaked in the 1970s and has been shrinking ever since. The big exception is China, where spending has far surpassed other countries over the past decade. China seems set to transition to become the key supplier of relevant science and technology to poorer countries. But developed countries have a humanitarian responsibility too. Calls by scientists for large increases in the appropriation of funds for public spending on agricultural research are more than justified.