2011-6英語六級(jí)真題及答案.doc

2011年6月大學(xué)英語六級(jí)真題及答案詳解Part II Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Minority ReportAmerican universities are accepting more minorities than ever. Graduating them is another matter.Barry Mills, the president of Bowdoin College, was justifiably proud of Bowdoins efforts to recruit minority students. Since 2003 the small, elite liberal arts school in Brunswick, Maine, has boosted the proportion of so-called under-represented minority students in entering freshman classes from 8% to 13%. It is our responsibility to reach out and attract students to come to our kinds of places, he told aNEWSWEEKreporter. But Bowdoin has not done quite as well when it comes to actually graduating minorities. While 9 out of 10 white students routinely get their diplomas within six years, only 7 out of 10 black students made it to graduation day in several recent classes.If you look at who enters college, it now looks like America, says Hilary Pennington, director of postsecondary programs for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has closely studied enrollment patterns in higher education. But if you look at who walks across the stage for a diploma, its still largely the white, upper-income population.The United States once had the highest graduation rate of any nation. Now it stands 10th. For the first time in American history, there is the risk that the rising generation will be less well educated than the previous one. The graduation rate among 25- to 34-year-olds is no better than the rate for the 55- to 64-year-olds who were going to college more than 30 years ago. Studies show that more and more poor and non-white students want to graduate from college but their graduation rates fall far short of their dreams. The graduation rates for blacks, Latinos, and Native Americans lag far behind the graduation rates for whites and Asians. As the minority population grows in the United States, low college graduation rates become a threat to national prosperity.The problem is pronounced at public universities. In 2007 the University of Wisconsin-Madison one of the top five or so prestigious public universities graduated 81% of its white students within six years, but only 56% of its blacks. At less-selective state schools, the numbers get worse. During the same time frame, the University of Northern Iowa graduated 67% of its white students, but only 39% of its blacks. Community colleges have low graduation rates generally but rock-bottom rates for minorities. A recent review of California community colleges found that while a third of the Asian students picked up their degrees, only 15% of African-Americans did so as well.Private colleges and universities generally do better, partly because they offer smaller classes and more personal attention. But when it comes to a significant graduation gap, Bowdoin has company. Nearby Colby College logged an 18-point difference between white and black graduates in 2007 and 25 points in 2006. Middlebury College in Vermont, another top school, had a 19-point gap in 2007 and a 22-point gap in 2006. The most selective private schools Harvard, Yale, and Princeton show almost no gap between black and white graduation rates. But that may have more to do with their ability to select the best students. According to data gathered by Harvard Law School professor Lain Gainer, the most selective schools are more likely to choose blacks who have at least one immigrant parent from Africa or the Caribbean than black students who are descendants of American slaves.Higher education has been able to duck this issue for years, particularly the more selective schools, by saying the responsibility is on the individual student, says Pennington of the Gates Foundation. If they fail, its their fault. Some critics blame affirmative action students admitted with lower test scores and grades from shaky high schools often struggle at elite schools. But a bigger problem may be that poor high schools often send their students to colleges for which they are under matched: they could get into more elite, richer schools, but instead go to community colleges and low-rated state schools that lack the resources to help them. Some schools out for profit cynically increase tuitions and count on student loans and federal aid to foot the bill knowing full well that the students wont make it. The school keeps the money, but the kid leaves with loads of debt and no degree and no ability to get a better job. Colleges are not holding up their end, says Amy Wilkins of the Education Trust.A college education is getting ever more expensive. Since 1982 tuitions have been rising at roughly twice the rate of inflation. In 2008 the net cost of attending a four-year public university after financial aid equaled 28% ofmedian(中間的)family income, while a four-year private university cost 76% of median family income. More and more scholarships are based on merit, not need. Poorer students are not always the best-informed consumers. Often they wind up deeply in debt or simply unable to pay after a year or two and must drop out.There once was a time when universities took pride in their dropout rates. Professors would begin the year by saying, Look to the right and look to the left. One of you is not going to be here by the end of the year. But such a Darwinian spirit is beginning to give way as at least a few colleges face up to the graduation gap. At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the gap has been roughly halved over the last three years. The university has poured resources into peer counseling to help students from inner-city schools adjust to therigor(嚴(yán)格要求)and faster pace of a university classroom and also to help minority students overcome the stereotype that they are less qualified. Wisconsin has a laser like focus on building up student skills in the first three months, according to vice provost(教務(wù)長(zhǎng))Damon Williams.State and federal governments could sharpen that focus everywhere by broadly publishing minority graduation rates. For years private colleges such as Princeton and MIT have had success bringing minorities onto campus in the summer before freshman year to give them some prepare Tory courses. The newer trend is to start recruiting poor and non-white students as early as the seventh grade, using innovative tools to identify kids with sophisticated verbal skills. Such programs can be expensive, of course, but cheap compared with the millions already invested in scholarships and grants for kids who have little chance to graduate without special support.With effort and money, the graduation gap can be closed. Washington and Lee is a small, selective school in Lexington, Va. Its student body is less than 5% black and less than 2% Latino. While the school usually graduated about 90% of its whites, the graduation rate of its blacks and Latinos had dipped to 63% by 2007. We went through a dramatic shift, says Dawn Watkins, the vice president for student affairs. The school aggressively pushedmentoring(輔導(dǎo)) of minorities by other students and partnering with parents at a special pre-enrollment session. The school had its first-ever black homecoming. Last spring the school graduated the same proportion of minorities as it did whites. If the United States wants to keep up in the global economic race, it will have to pay systematic attention to graduating minorities, not just enrolling them.注意：此部分試題請(qǐng)?jiān)诖痤}卡1上作答。1. What is the authors main concern about American higher education?A)The small proportion of minority students.B)The low graduation rates of minority students.C)The growing conflicts among ethnic groups.D)The poor academic performance of students.2. What was the pride of President Barry Mills of Bowdoin College?A) The prestige of its liberal arts programs.B)Its ranking among universities in Maine.C)The high graduation rates of its students.D) Its increased enrollment of minority students.3. What is the risk facing America?A) Its schools will be overwhelmed by the growing number of illegal immigrants.B)The rising generation will be less well educated than the previous one.C)More poor and non-white students will be denied access to college.D) It is going to lose its competitive edge in higher education.4. How many African-American students earned their degrees in California community colleges according to a recent review?A)Fifty-six percent. B)Thirty-nine percent. C) Fifteen percent D) Sixty-seven percent.5. Harvard, Yale, and Princeton show almost no gap between black and white graduation rates mainly because .A) Their students work harder B)They recruit the best students C) Their classes are generally smaller D) They give students more attention6.How does Amy Wilkins of the Education Trust view minority students failure to get a degree?A) Universities are to blame.B)Students dont work hard.C)The government fails to provide the necessary support.D) Affirmative action should be held responsible.7. Why do some students drop out after a year or two according to the author?A) They have lost confidence in themselves.B)They cannot afford the high tuition.C)They cannot adapt to the rigor of the school.D) They fail to develop interest in their studies.8.To tackle the problem of graduation gap, the University of Wisconsin-Madison helps minority students get over the stereotype that _.9. For years, private colleges such as Princeton and MIT have provided minority students with _ during the summer before freshman year.10. Washington and Lee University is cited as an example to show that the gap of graduation rates between whites and minorities can _.Part IV Questions 47 to 51 are based on the following passage.How good are you at saying no? For many, its surprisingly difficult. This is especially true of editors, who by nature tend to be eager and engaged participants in everything they do. Consider these scenarios:Its late in the day. That front-page package youve been working on is nearly complete; one last edit and its finished. Enter the executive editor, who makes a suggestion requiring a more-than-modest rearrangement of the design and the addition of an information box. You want to scream: No! Its done! What do you do?The first rule of saying no to the boss is doing say no. She probably has something in mind when she makes suggestions, and its up to you to find out what. The second rule is doing raise the stakes by challenging her authority. That issue is already decided. The third rule is to be ready to cite options and consequences. The bosss suggestions might be appropriate, but there are always consequences. She might not know about the pages backing up that need attention, or about the designer who had to go home sick. Tell her she can have what she wants, but explain the consequences. Understand what shes trying to accomplish and propose a Plan B that will make it happen without destroying what youve done so far.Heres another case. Your least-favorite reporter suggests a dumb story idea. This one should be easy, but its not. If you say no, even politely, you risk inhibiting further ideas, not just from that reporter, but from others who heard that you turned down the idea. This scenario is common in newsrooms that lack a systematic way to filter story suggestions.Two steps are necessary. First, you need a system for how stories are proposed and reviewed. Reporters can tolerate rejection of their ideas if they believe they were given a fair hearing. Yourgut reaction(本能反應(yīng)) and dismissive rejection, even of a worthless idea, might not qualify as systematic or fair.Second, the people you work with need to negotiate a What if .? agreement covering What if my idea is turned down? How are people expected to react? Is there an appeal process? Can they refine the idea and resubmit it? By anticipating What if.? situations before they happen, you can reach understanding that will help ease you out of confrontations.47. Instead of directly saying no to your boss, you should find out _.48. The authors second warning is that we should avoid running a greater risk by _.49. one way of responding to your bosss suggestion is to explain the _ to her and offer an alternative solution.50. To ensure fairness to reporters, it is important to set up a system for stories to _.51. People who learn to anticipate What if.? situations will be able to reach understanding and avoid _.Section BAt the heart of the debate over illegal immigration lies one key question: are immigrants good or bad for the economy? The American public overwhelmingly thinks theyre bad. Yet the consensus among most economists is that immigration, both legal and illegal, provides a small net boost to the economy. Immigrants provide cheap labor, lower the prices of everything from farm produce to new homes, and leave consumers with a little more money in their pockets. So why is there such a discrepancy between the perception of immigrants impact on the economy and the reality?There are a number of familiar theories. Some argue that people are anxious and feel threatened by an inflow of new workers. Others highlight the strain that undocumented immigrants place on public services, like schools, hospitals, and jails. Still others emphasize the role of race, arguing that foreigners add to the nations fears and insecurities. Theres some truth to all these explanations, but they arent quite sufficient.To get a better understanding of whats going on; consider the way immigrations impact is felt. Though its overall effect may be positive, its costs and benefits are distributed unevenly. David Card, an economist at UC Berkeley, notes that the ones who profit most directly from immigrants low-cost labor are businesses and employers meatpacking plants in Nebraska, for instance, or agricultural businesses in California. Granted, these producers savings probably translate into lower prices at the grocery store, but how many consumers make that mental connection at the checkout counter? As for the drawbacks of illegal immigration, these, too, are concentrated. Native low-skilled workers suffer most from the competition of foreign labor. According to a study by George Boras, a Harvard economist, immigration reduced the wages of American high-school dropouts by 9% between 1980-2000.Among high-skilled, better-educated employees, however, opposition was strongest in states with both high numbers of immigrants and relatively generous social services. What worried them most, in other words, was thefiscal(財(cái)政的)burden of immigration. That conclusion was reinforced by another finding: that their opposition appeared to soften when that fiscal burden decreased, as occurred with welfare reform in the 1990s, which curbed immigrants access to certain benefits.The irony is that for all the overexcited debate, the net effect of immigration is minimal. Even for those most acutely affected say, low-skilled workers, or California residents the impact isnt all that dramatic. The unpleasant voices have tended to dominate our perceptions, says Daniel Michener, a political science professor at the University of Oregon. But when all those factors are put together and the economists calculate the numbers, it ends up being a net positive, but a small one. Too bad most people dont realize it.注意：此部分試題請(qǐng)?jiān)诖痤}卡2上作答。52. What can we learn from the first paragraph?A)Whether immigrants are good or bad for the economy has been puzzling economists.B)The American economy used to thrive on immigration but now its a different story.C)The consensus among economists is that immigration should not be encouraged.D)The general public thinks differently from most economists on the impact of immigration.53. In what way does the author think ordinary Americans benefit from immigration?A)They can access all kinds of public services.B)They can get consumer goods at lower prices.C)They can mix with people of different cultures.D)They can avoid doing much of the manual labor.54. Why do native low-skilled workers suffer most from illegal immigration?A)They have greater difficulty getting welfare support.B)They are more likely to encounter interracial conflicts.C)They have a harder time getting a job with decent pay.D)They are no match for illegal immigrants in labor skills.55. What is the chief concern of native high-skilled, better-educated employees about the inflow of immigrants?A)It may change the existing social structure.B)It may pose a threat to their economic status.C)It may lead to social instability in the country.D)It may place a great strain on the state budget.56. What is the irony about the debate over immigration?A) Even economists cant reach a consensus about its impact.B)Those who are opposed to it turn out to benefit most from it.C)People are making too big a fuss about something of small impact.D) There is no essential difference between seemingly opposite opinions.Passage TwoPicture a typical MBA lecture theatre twenty years ago. In it the majority of students will have conformed to the standard model of the time: male, middle class and Western. Walk into a class today, however, and youll get a completely different impression. For a start, you will now see plenty more women the University of Pennsylvanias Wharton School, for example, boasts that 40% of its new enrolment is female. You will also see a wide range of ethnic groups and nationals of practically every country.It might be tempting, therefore, to think that the old barriers have been broken down and equal opportunity achieved. But, increasingly, this apparent