大学英语六级阅读历年真题训练unit1
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Passage Three Questions 31 to 35 are based on the following passage: When imaginative men turn their eyes towards space and wonder whether life exist in any part of it, they may cheer themselves by remembering that life need not resemble closely the life that exists on Earth. Mars looks like the only planet where life like ours could exist, and even this is doubtful. But there may be other kinds of life based on other kinds of chemistry, and they may multiply on Venus or Jupiter. At least we cannot prove at present that they do not. Even more interesting is the possibility that life on their planets may be in a more advanced stage of evolution. Present-day man is in a peculiar and probably temporary stage. His individual units retain a strong sense of personality. They are, in fact, still capable under favorable circumstances of leading individual lives. But man’s societies are already sufficiently developed to have enormously more power and effectiveness than the individuals have. It is not likely that this transitional situation will continue very long on the evolutionary time scale. Fifty thousand years from now man’s societies may have become so close-knit that the individuals retain no sense of separate personality. Then little distinction will remain between the organic parts of the multiple organism and the inorganic parts (machines) that have been constructed by it. A million years further on man and his machines may have merged as closely as the muscles of the human body and the nerve cells that set them in motion. The explorers of space should be prepared for some such situation. If they arrive on a foreign planet that has reached an advanced stage (and this is by no means impossible), they may find it being inhabited by a single large organism composed of many closely cooperating units. The units may be “secondary” — machines created millions of years ago by a previous form of life and given the will and ability to survive and reproduce. They may be built entirely of metals and other durable materials. If this is the case, they may be much more tolerant of their environment, multiplying under conditions that would destroy immediately any organism made of carbon compounds and dependent on the familiar carbon cycle. Such creatures might be relics(遗物) of a past age, many millions of years ago, when their planet was favorable to the origin of life, or they might be immigrants from a favored planet. 31. What does the word “cheer” (Line 2, Para. 1) imply? A) Imaginative men are sure of success in finding life on other planets. B) Imaginative men are delighted to find life on other planets. C) Imaginative men are happy to find a different kind of life existing on other planets. D) Imaginative men can be pleased with the idea that there might exist different forms of life on other planets. 32. Humans on Earth today are characterized by . A) their existence as free and separate beings B) their capability of living under favorable conditions C) their great power and effectiveness D) their strong desire for living in a close-knit society 33. According to this passage, some people believe that eventually . A) human societies will be much more cooperative B) man will live in a highly organized world C) machines will replace man D) living beings will disappear from Earth 34. Even most imaginative people have to admit that . A) human societies are as advanced as those on some other planets B) planets other than Earth are not suitable for life like ours to stay C) it is difficult to distinguish between organic parts and inorganic parts of the human body D) organism are more creative than machines 35. It seems that the writer . A) is interested in the imaginary life forms B) is eager to find a different form of life C) is certain of the existence of a new life form D) is critical of the imaginative people Passage Four Questions 36 to 40 are based on the following passage: The American baby boom after the war made unconvincing U.S. advice to poor countries that they restrain their births. However, there has hardly been a year since 1957 in which birth rates have not fallen in the United States and other rich countries, and in 1976 the fall was especially sharp. Both East Germany and West Germany have fewer births than they have deaths, and the United States is only temporarily able to avoid this condition because the children of the baby boom are now an exceptionally large group of married couples. It is true that Americans do not typically plan their births to set an example for developing nations. We are more affected by women’s liberation: once women see interesting and well-paid jobs and careers available, they are less willing to provide free labor for child raising. From costing nothing, children suddenly come to seem impossibly expensive. And to the high cost of children are added the uncertainties introduced by divorce; couples are increasingly unwilling to subject children to the terrible experience of marital (婚姻的) breakdown and themselves to the difficulty of raising a child alone. These circumstances — women working outside the home and the instability of marriage — tend to spread with industrial society and they will affect more and more countries during the remainder of this century. Along with them goes social mobility, ambition to rise in the urban world, a main factor in bringing down the births in Europe in the nineteenth century. Food shortage will happen again when the reserves resulting from the good harvests of 1976 and 1977 have been consumed. Urbanization is likely to continue, with the cities of the developing nations struggling under the weight of twice their present populations by the year 2000. The presently rich countries are approaching a stable population largely because of the changed place of women, and they incidentally are setting an example of restraint to the rest of the world. Industrial society will spread to the poor countries, and aspirations (渴望) will exceed resources. All this will lead to a population in the twenty-first century that is smaller than was feared a few years ago. For those anxious to see world population brought under control the news is encouraging. 36. During the years from 1957 to 1976, the birth rate of the United States . A) increased B) was reduced C) experienced both falls and rises D) remained stable 37. What influences the birth rate most in the United States is . A) highly paid jobs B) women’s desire for independence C) expenses of child raising D) high divorce rate 38. The sentence “From costing nothing, children suddenly come to seem impossibly expensive.” (Line 4, Para. 2) implies that . A) food and clothing for babies are becoming incredibly expensive B) prices are going up dramatically all the time C) to raise children women have to give up interesting and well-paid jobs D) social development has made child-raising inexpensive 39. A chief factor in bringing down the births in Europe in the 19th century is . A) birth control B) the desire to seek fortune in cities C) the instability of marriage D) the changed place of women 40. The population in the 21st century, according to the writer, . A) will be smaller than a few years ago B) will not be as small as people expect C) will prove to be a threat to the world D) will not constitute as serious a problem as expected 相关资料 |
