大学英语六级历年真题及答案——1990年6月

1.     A) A new house cost thirty thousand dollars.

B) Bob’s house cost him sixty thousand dollars.

C) Bob didn’t want to buy an old house.

D) Bob decided to buy an old house.（）

2.     A) Yes, but he needs to have the approval of his professor.

B) Yes, he can study there if he is writing a research paper.

C) Yes, because he is a senior student.

D) No, it’s open only to teachers and postgraduates.（）

3.     A) He doesn’t like seafood any more.

B) A seafood dinner is too expensive.

C) He doesn’t have enough money.

D) He likes seafood very much.（）

4.     A) He went to the hospital to take his wife home.

B) He stayed in the hospital until very late.

He tried to call the woman several times.

He went to the hospital at midnight yesterday.

5.     Her errors were mainly in the reading part.

B) It wasn’t very challenging to her.

C) It was more difficult than she had expected.

D) She made very few grammatical mistakes in her test.（）

6.     A) 6 hours.

B) 4 hours.

C) 12 hours.

D) 18 hours.（）

7.     A) It’s dirty.

B) It’s faded.

C) It’s dyed.

D) It’s torn.（）

8.     A) Sixteen dollars.

B) Eight dollars.

C) Ten dollars.

D) Twelve dollars.（）

9.     A) His watch will be fixed no later than next Monday.

B) His watch needs to be repaired.

C) He may come again for his watch at the weekend.

D) The woman won’t repair his watch until next Monday.（）

10.   A) The things to do on Monday morning.

B) The weather on Monday morning.

C) The time to see John.

D) The place John should go to.（）

Questions 11 to 14 are based on the passage you have just heard.

11.   A) The number of its readers.

B) Its unusual location.

C) Its comfortable chairs.

D) Its spacious rooms.（）

12.   A) The latest version of the Bible.

B) A book written by Columbus.

C) A map of the New World.

D) One of the earliest copies of Shakespeare’s work.（）

13.   A) It has too few employees.

B) It lacks money to cover its expenses.

C) It is over crowded.

D) It is growing too rapidly.（）

14.   A) From Monday to Friday.

B) From Monday to Saturday.

C) Every day.

D) On Saturdays and Sundays.（）

Questions 15 to 17 are based on the passage you have just heard.

15.   A) They would train the children to be happy street cleaners.

B) They would make the children great scholars.

C) They intended to train the children as adults were trained.

D) They would give the children freedom to fully develop themselves.（）

16.   A) Some children are good, some are not.

B) Children are good by nature.

C) Most children are nervous.

D) Children are not as brave as adults.（）

17.   A) He thinks a scholar is more respectable than a street cleaner.

B) He thinks highly of teaching as a profession.

C) He thinks all jobs are equally good so long as people like them.

D) He thinks a street cleaner is happier than a scholar.（）

Questions 18 to 20 are based on the passage you have just heard.

18.   A) The daughter of a prison guard.

B) The Emperor of Rome.

C) A Christian couple.

D) A Christian named Valentine.（）

19.   A) To propose marriage.

B) To celebrate Valentine’s birthday.

C) To express their respect for each other.

D) To show their love.（）

20.   A) It is an American folktale.

B) It is something recorded in Roman history.

C) It is one of the possible origins of this holiday.

D) It is a story from the Bible.（）

Questions 21 to 25 are based on the following passage.

One day in January 1913. G. H. Hardy, a famous Cambridge University mathematician received a letter from an Indian named Srinivasa Ramanujan asking him for his opinion of 120 mathematical theorems (定理) that Ramanujan said he had discovered. To Hardy, many of the theorems made no sense. Of the others, one or two were already well-known. Ramanujan must be some kind of trickplayer, Hardy decided, and put the letter aside. But all that day the letter kept hanging round Hardy. Might there be something in those wild-looking theorems?

That evening Hardy invited another brilliant Cambridge mathematician, J. E. Littlewood, and the two men set out to assess the Indian’s worth. That incident was a turning point in the history of mathematics.

At the time, Ramanujan was an obscure Madras Port Trust clerk. A little more than a year later, he was at Cambridge University, and beginning to be recognized as one of the most amazing mathematicians the world has ever known. Though he died in 1920, much of his work was so far in advance of his time that only in recent years is it beginning to be properly understood.

Indeed, his results are helping solve today’s problems in computer science and physics, problems that he could have had no notion of.

For Indians, moreover, Ramanujan has a special significance. Ramanujan, though born in poor and ill-paid accountant’s family 100 years ago, has inspired many Indians to adopt mathematics as career.

Much of Ramanujan’s work is in number theory, a branch of mathematics that deals with the subtle (难以捉摸的) laws and relationships that govern numbers. Mathematicians describe his results as elegant and beautiful but they are much too complex to be appreciated by laymen.

His life, though, is full of drama and sorrow. It is one of the great romantic stories of mathematics, a distressing reminder that genius can surface and rise in the most unpromising circumstances.

21.   When Hardy received the 120 theorems from Ramanujan, his attitude at first might be best described as ________.

A) uninterested

B) unsympathetic

C) suspicious

D) curious（）

22.   Ramanujan’s position in Cambridge University owed much to ________.

A) the judgement of his work by Hardy and Littlewood

B) his letter of application accepted by Hardy

C) his work as a clerk at Madras Port Trust

D) his being recognized by the world as a famous mathematician（）

23.   It may be inferred from the passage that the author ________.

A) feels sorry for Ramanujan’s early death

B) is dissatisfied with the slow development of computer science

C) is puzzled about the complexity of Ramanujan’s theorems

D) greatly appreciates Ramanujan’s mathematical genius（）

24.   In the last paragraph, the author points out that ________.

A) Ramanujan’s mathematical theorems were not appreciated by other mathematicians

B) extremely talented people can prove their worth despite difficult circumstances

C) Ramanujan also wrote a number of stories about mathematics

D) Ramanujan had worked out an elegant but complicated method of solving problems（）

25.   The word “laymen” (Last Para, Lind 6) most probably means ________.

A) people who do not specialize in mathematical science

B) people who are careless

C) people who are not interested in mathematics

D) people who don’t like to solve complicated problems（）

Questions 26 to 30 are based on the following passage.

Even if all the technical and intellectual problems can be solved, there are major social problems inherent in the computer revolution. The most obvious is unemployment, since the basic purpose of commercial computerization is to get more work done by fewer people. One

British study predicts that “automation induced unemployment” in Western Europe could reach

16~, 6 in the next decade, but most analyses are more optimistic. The general rule seems to be that new technology eventually creates as many jobs as it destroys, and often more. “People who put in computers usually increase their staffs as well” says CPT’s Scheff. “Of course,” he adds, “one industry may kill another industry. That’s tough on some people.”

Theoretically, all unemployed workers can be retrained, but retraining programs are not high on the nation’s agenda (议事日程). Many new jobs, moreover, will require an ability in using computers, and the retraining needed to use them will have to be repeated as the technology keeps improving. Says a chilling report by the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment:

“Lifelong retraining is expected to become the standard for many people. “There is a already considerable evidence that the school children now being educated in the use of computers are generally the children of the white middle class. Young blacks, whose unemployment rate stands today at 50 96, will find another barrier in front of them.

Such social problems are not the fault of the computer, of course, but a consequence of the way the American society might use the computer. “Even in the days of the Big, main-frame computers, when they were a machine for the few.” says Katherine Davis Fishman, author of

The Computer Establishment, “it was a tool to help the rich get richer. It still is to a large extent. One of the great values of the personal computer is that smaller firms, smaller organizations can now have some of the advantages of the bigger organizations.”

26.   The closest restatement of “one industry may kill another industry” (Para. 1 Line 11) is that ________.

A) industries tend to compete with one another

B) one industry might be driven out of business by another industry

C) one industry may increase its staff at the expense of another

D) industries tend to combine into bigger ones（）

27.   The word “chilling” (Para. 2, Line 5) most probably means ________.

A) misleading

B) convincing

C) discouraging

D) interesting（）

28.   Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage?

A) Computers are efficient in retraining unemployed workers.

B) Computers may offer more working opportunities than they destroy.

C) Computers will increase the unemployment rate of young blacks.

D) Computers can help smaller organizations to function more effectively.（）

29.   From the passage it can be inferred that ________.

A) all school children are offered a course in the use of computers

B) all unemployed workers are being retrained

C) retraining programmes are considered very important by the government

D) in reality only a certain portion of unemployed workers will be retrained（）

30.   The major problem discussed in the passage is ________.

A) the importance of lifelong retraining of the unemployed workers

B) the social consequences of the widespread use of computers in the United States

C) the barrier to the employment of young people

D) the general rule of the advancement of technology（）

Questions 31 to 35 are based on the following passage.

Mobility of individual members and family groups tends to split up family relationships.

Occasionally the movement of a family away from a situation which has been the source of friction results in greater family organization, but on the whole mobility is disorganizing.

Individuals and families are involved in three types of mobility: movement in space, movement up or down in social status, and the movement of ideas. These are termed respectively spatial, vertical, and ideational mobility.

A great increase in spatial mobility has gone along with improvements in rail and water transportation, the invention and use of the automobile, and the availability of airplane passenger service. Spatial mobility results in a decline in the importance of the traditional home with its emphasis on family continuity and stability. It also means that when individual family members or the family as a whole move away from a community, the person or the family is removed from the pressures of relatives, friends, and community institutions for conventionality and stability. Even more important is the fact that spatial mobility permits some members of a family to come in contact with and possibly adopt attitudes, values, and ways of thinking different from those held by other family members. The presence of different attitudes, values, and ways of thinking with in a family may, and often does, result in conflict and family disorganization. Potential disorganization is present in those families in which the husband, wife, and children are spatially separated over a long period, or are living together but see each other only briefly because of different work schedules.

One index of the increase in vertical mobility is the great increase in the proportion of sons, and to some extent daughters, who engage in occupations other than those of the parents.

Another index of vertical mobility is the degree of intermarriage between racial classes. This occurs almost exclusively between classes which are adjacent to each other. Engaging in a different occupation, or intermarriage, like spatial mobility, allows one to come in contact with ways of behavior different from those of the parental home, and tends to separate parents and their children.

The increase in ideational mobility is measured by the increase in publications, such as newspapers, periodicals, and books, the increase in the percentage of the population owning radios, and the increase in television sets. All these tend to introduce new ideas into the home.

When individual family members are exposed to and adopt the new ideas, the tendency is for conflict to arise and for those in conflict to become psychologically separated from each other.

31.   What the passage tells us can be summarized by the statement:

A) social development results in a decline in the importance of traditional families

B) potential disorganization is present in the American family

C) family disorganization is more or less the result of mobility

D) the movement of a family is one of the factors in raising its social status（）

32.   According to the passage, those who live in a traditional family ________.

A) are less likely to quarrel with others because of conventionality and stability

B) have to depend on their relatives and friends if they do not move away from it

C) can get more help from their family members if they are in trouble

D) will have more freedom of action and thought if they move away from it（）

33.   Potential disorganization exists in those families in which ________.

A) the husband, wife, and children work too hard

B) the husband, wife, and children seldom get together

C) both parents have to work full time

D) the family members are subject to social pressures（）

34.   Intermarriage and different occupations play an important role in family disorganization because ________.

A) they enable the children to travel around without their parents’ permission

B) they allow one to find a good job and improve one’s social status

C) they enable the children to better understand the ways of behavior of their parents

D) they permit one to come into contact with different ways of behavior and thinking（）

35.   This passage suggests that a well-organized family is a family whose members ________.

A) are not psychologically withdrawn from one another

B) never quarrel with each other even when they disagree

C) often help each other with true love and affection

D) are exposed to the same new ideas introduced by books, radios, and TV sets（）

Questions 36 to 40 are based on the following passage.

To call someone bird-brained in English means you think that person is silly or stupid.

But will this description soon disappear from use in the light of recent research? It seems the English may have been unfair in association bird’s brains with stupidity.

In an attempt to find out how different creatures see the world, psychologists at Brown University in the USA have been comparing the behaviour of birds and humans. One experiment has involved teaching pigeons to recognize letters of the English alphabet. The birds study in “classrooms”, which are boxes equipped with a computer. After about four days of studying a particular letter, the pigeon has to pick out that letter from several displayed on the computer screen. Three male pigeons have learnt to distinguish all twenty-six letters of the alphabet in this way.

A computer record of the birds’ four-month study period has shown surprising similarities between the pigeons’ and human performance. Pigeons and people find the same letters easy, or hard, to tell apart. For example, 92 per cent of the time the pigeons could tell the letter D from the letter Z. But when faced with U and V (often confused by English children), the pigeons were right only 34 per cent of the time.

The results of the experiments so far have led psychologists to conclude that pigeons and humans observe things in similar ways. This suggests that there is something fundamental about the recognition process. If scientists could only discover just what this recognition process is it could be very useful for computer designers. The disadvantage of a present computer is that it can only do what a human being has programmed it to do and the programmer must give the computer precise, logical instructions. Maybe in the future, though, computers will be able to think like human beings.

36.   The writer suggests that the expression “bird-brained” might be out of use soon because it is ________.

A) silly

B) impolite

C) unnecessary

D) inappropriate（）

37.   Psychologists have been experimenting with pigeons to find out whether the birds ________.

A) are really silly or stupid

B) can learn to make ideas known to people

C) see the world as human beings do

D) learn more quickly than children（）

38.   U and V are confused by ________.

A) 92 per cent of pigeons

B) many English children

C) most people learning English

D) 34 per cent of English children（）

39.   There are similarities in observing things by pigeons and humans ________.

A) because pigeons are taught by humans

B) because pigeons have brains more developed than other birds

C) because their basic ways to know the world are the same

D) because pigeons and humans have similar brains（）

40.   The research may help ________.

A) computer designers

B) computer salesmen

C) psychologists

D) teachers（）

Directions:  There are 30 incomplete sentences in this part. For each sentence there are four choices marked A), B), C) and D). Choose the ONE that best completes the sentence. Then mark the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet with a single line through the centre.

41.   Germans used to believe that all other races were inferior ________ them.

A) than

B) for

C) to

D) from（C）

42.   The main road through Pittsburgh’s blocked for three hours today after an accident ________ two trucks.

A) connecting

B) combining,

C) including

D) involving（D）

43.   Many parents think that a regular ________ is an excellent way to teach children the value of money.

A) allowance

B) grant

C) aid

D) amount（）

44.   The girl is so sensitive that she is ________ to get angry at the slightest offence.

A) adaptable

B) liable

C) fit

D) suitable（B）

45.   He was at the ________ of his career when he was murdered.

A) glory

B) power

C) pride

D) height（D）

46.   I have never met the professor though I have been in correspondence him for several years.

A) with

B) by

C) of

D) to（）

47.   ________ they must learn in a course is not provided in the classroom．

A) Many things

B) So much

C) Much of what

D) All what（）

48.   Of the immigrants who came to America in the first three quarters of the seventeenth century, the ________ majority was English.

A) overwhelming

B) overflowing

C) overtaking

D) overloading（）

49.   You can’t be ________ careful in making the decision as it is such a critical case.

A) quite

B) too

C) very

D) so（）

50.   By the first decade of the 21st century, international commercial air traffic is expected ________ vastly beyond today’s levels.

A) to have extended

B) to be extending

C) being extended

D) having been extended（）

51.   The doctor warned his patient that ________ should he return to work until he had completely recovered.

A) on all accounts

B) on no account

C) on any account

D) on every account（）

52.   We started burning some leaves in our yard, but the fire got ________ and we had to call the fire department to put it out:

A) out of hand

B) out of order

C) out of the question

D) out of the way（）

53.   If an earthquake occurred, some of the one-storey houses ________.

A) might be standing left

B) might be left standing

C) might leave to be standing

D) might be left to stand（）

54.   The professor picked several students ________ from the class and asked them to help him with the experiment.

A) at ease

B) at all

C) at random

D) at hand（）

55.   Every year there is some ________ of the laws.

A) transformation

B) identification

C) correction

D) alteration（）

56.   Some people believe that proficiency in a foreign language is not achieved through teaching and learning but ________ through actual use.

A) received

B) accepted

C) derived

D) acquired（）

57.   It is said that somewhere between the ages of 6 and 9, children begin to think ________ instead of concretely.

A) logically

B) reasonably

C) abstractly

D) generally（）

58.   Sea food of all kinds is ________ in the states that border the oceans.

A) abandoned

B) advantageous

C) abundant

D) accumulated（）

59.   I can’t back the car because there is a truck ________.

A) in every way

B) in a way

C) in the way

D) in any way:（）

60.   ________ as a poor boy in a family of seventeen children. Benjamin Franklin became famous on both sides of the Atlantic as a statesman, scientist, and author.

A) Starting

B) Started

C) Being started

D) To have started（）

61.   Though I’ve never seen you before. I guess you ________ be the new secretary.

A) should

B) must

C) would

D) could（）

62.   This store has an excellent ________ for fair dealing.

A) repetition

B) reputation

C) authority

D) popularity（）

63.   The atmosphere is as much a part of the earth as ________ its soils and the water of its lakes, rivers and oceans.

A) has

B) do

C) is

D) are（）

64.   Her terror was so great ________ somewhere to escape, she would have run for her life.

A) only if there had been

B) that there had only been

C) that had there only been

D) if there was only（）

65.   While you pedal away on the exercise bicycle, a machine will be ________ your breathing and pulse.

A) reviewing

B) screening

C) surveying

D) monitoring（）

66.   Understanding the cultural habits of another nation, especially ________ containing as many different subcultures as the United States is a complex task.

A) these

B) that

C) one

D) such（）

67.   Their bedroom windows ________ a lovely garden.

A) look up to

B) look out for

C) look forward to

D) look out on（）

68.   I hoped to get the house but a rich man was ________ against me.

A) bidding

B) disputing

C) betting

D) testifying（）

69.   His first novel ‘Night’ was an account of the Nazi crimes ________ through the eyes of a teenaged boy.

A) and were seen

B) which saw

C) but was seen

D) as seen（）

70.   The judge recommended that he ________ for at least three years.

A) was not released

B) not be released

C) had not been released

D) not released（）

Directions:   This part consists of a short passage. In this passage, there are altogether 10 mistakes, one in each numbered line. You may have to change a word, add a word or delete a word. Mark out the mistakes and put the corrections in the blanks provided. If you change a word, cross it out and write the correct word in the corresponding blank. If you add a word, put an insertion mark (∧) in the right place and write the missing word in the blank. If you delete a word, cross it and put a slash (/) in the blank.

Example:

Television is rapidly becoming the literature of our periods╱.          1. time/times/period
Many of the arguments having╱ used for the study of literature as          2. ______________
a school subject are valid for ∧ study of television.                          3. ______the______

Quite recently researchers have reviewed the causes of motion sickness and methods with which it may be suppressed. They concentrated first of all in motion sickness which develops in children (71) travelling in the back seat of cars.

A lot of children suffer terribly from car sick. What’s required is to provide the child with (72) the visual field he has in walk. So objects at (73) a distance in the center of the field remain stationary while those in the peripheral field appear to move. This can be achieved by positioning the child in a raised seat in the front of the car, that, of course, isn’t very (74) sensible in terms of safety.

Looking at the horizon is always beneficial to anyone develops sea sickness, because it’s the (75) only object which doesn’t move. If he is below deck, closing his eyes is helpful. It’s better to have no visual information but something which (76) results in conflict.

Taking drugs is one way to prevent motion sickness. In the fact, it’s interesting to note (77) that these have been excluded in medical kits (78) used in space flights. Astronauts have been known to develop motion sickness, too: Drugs are fine in moderation. We human beings, moreover, are not (79) alone in our suffering. Dogs, cats and horses are also easily effected. Even fish in glass (80) containers on ships sometimes become seasick.

Directions:   For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a composition on the topic: How to Solve the Housing Problem in Big Cities? Four suggested solutions to this problem are listed below. You are supposed to write in favour of one suggestion (ONE only) and against another (ONE only). You should give your reasons in both cases. You should write no less than 120 words. Remember to give a short introduction and a brief conclusion. Write your composition clearly.

四种可能解决住房问题的方案：

1.     多造高层建筑

2.     向地下发展

3.     建造卫星城市

4.     疏散城市人口

How to Solve the Housing Problem in Big Cities?

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