2005年6月18日英语六级试题及答案_第2页

　　注意： 听力理解的B节（Section B）为复合式听写（Compound Dictation），题目在试卷二上，现在请取出试卷二。

　　Directions: There are 4 passages in this part. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A),B),C),and D). You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet with a single line through the center.

　　Passage One

　　Questions 11 to 15 are based on the following passage.

　　Low-level slash-and-burn farming doesn't harm rainforest. On the contrary, it helps farmers and improves forest soils. This is the unorthodox view of a German soil scientist who has shown that burnt clearings in the Amazon, dating back more than 1,000 years, helped create patches of rich, fertile soil that farmers still benefit from today.

　　Most rainforest soils are thin and poor because they lack minerals and because the heat and heavy rainfall destroy most organic matter in the soils within four years of it reaching the forest floor. This means topsoil contains few of the ingredients needed for long-term successful farming.

　　But Bruno Glaser, a soil scientist of the University of Bayreuth, has studied unexpected patches of fertile soils in the central Amazon. These soils contain lots of organic matter.

　　Glaser has shown that most of this fertile organic matter comes from "black carbon"-the organic particles from camp fires and charred (烧成炭的) wood left over from thousands of years of slash-and-burn farming. "The soils, known as Terra Preta, contained up to 70times more black carbon than the surrounding soil, "says Glaser.

　　Unburnt vegetation rots quickly, but black carbon persists in the soil for many centuries. Radiocarbon dating shows that the charred wood in Terra Preta soils is typically more than 1,000 years old.

　　"Slash-and-burn farming can be good for soils provided it doesn't completely burn all the vegetation, and leaves behind charred wood," says Glaser. "It can be better than manure (粪肥)." Burning the forest just once can leave behind enough black carbon to keep the soil fertile for thousands of years. And rainforests easily regrow after small-scale clearing. Contrary to the conventional view that human activities damage the environment, Glaser says: "Black carbon combined with human wastes is responsible for the richness of Terra Preta soils."

　　Terra Preta soils turn up in large patches all over the Amazon, where they are highly prized by farmers. All the patches fall within 500 square kilometers in the central Amazon. Glaser says the widespread presence of pottery (陶器) confirms the soil's human origins.

　　The findings add weight to the theory that large areas of the Amazon have recovered so well from past periods of agricultural use that the regrowth has been mistaken by generations of biologists for "virgin" forest.

　　During the past decade, researchers have discovered hundreds of large earth works deep in the jungle. They are up to 20 meters high and cover up to a square kilometer. Glaser claims that these earth works, built between AD 400 and 1400, were at the heart of urban civilizations. Now it seems the richness of the Terra Preta soils may explain how such civilizations managed to feed themselves.

　　11. We learn from the passage that the traditional view of slash-and-burn farming is that        .

　　A) it does no harm to the topsoil of the rainforest

　　B) it destroys rainforest soils

　　C) it helps improve rainforest soils

　　D) it diminishes the organic matter in rainforest soils

　　12. Most rainforest soils are thin and poor because       .

　　A) the composition of the topsoil is rather unstable

　　B) black carbon is washed away by heavy rains

　　C) organic matter is quickly lost due to heat and rain

　　D) long-term farming has exhausted the ingredients essential to plant growth

　　13. Glaser made his discovery by        .

　　A) studying patches of fertile soils in the central Amazon

　　B) examining pottery left over by ancient civilizations

　　C) test-burning patches of trees in the central Amazon

　　D) radiocarbon-dating ingredients contained in forest soils

　　14. What does Glaser say about the regrowth of rainforests?

　　A) They take centuries to regrow after being burnt.

　　B) They cannot recover unless the vegetation is burnt completely.

　　C) Their regrowth will be hampered by human habitation.

　　D) They can recover easily after slash-and-burn farming.

　　15. From the passage it can be inferred that           .

　　A) human activities will do grave damage to rainforests

　　B) Amazon rainforest soils used to be the richest in the world

　　C) farming is responsible for the destruction of the Amazon rainforests

　　D) there once existed an urban civilization in the Amazon rainforests

　　Questions 16 to 20 are based on the following passage.

　　As a wise man once said, we are all ultimately alone. But an increasing number of Europeans are choosing to be so at an ever earlier age. This isn't the stuff of gloomy philosophical contemplations, but a fact of Europe's new economic landscape, embraced by sociologists, real-estate developers and ad executives alike. The shift away from family life to solo lifestyle, observes a French sociologist, is part of the "irresistible momentum of individualism" over the last century. The communications revolution, the shift from a business culture of stability to one of mobility and the mass entry of women into the workforce have greatly wreaked havoc on(扰乱) Europeans' private lives.

　　Europe's new economic climate has largely fostered the trend toward independence. The current generation of home-aloners came of age during Europe's shift from social democracy to the sharper, more individualistic climate of American style capitalism. Raised in an era of privatization and increased consumer choice, today's tech-savvy(精通技术的) workers have embraced a free market in love as well as economics. Modern Europeans are rich enough to afford to live alone, and temperamentally independent enough to want to do so.

　　Once upon a time, people who lived alone tended to be those on either side of marriage-twenty something professionals or widowed senior citizens. While pensioners, particularly elderly women, make up a large proportion of those living alone, the newest crop of singles are high earners in their 30s and 40s who increasingly view living alone as a lifestyle choice. Living alone was conceived to be negative-dark and cold, while being together suggested warmth and light. But then came along the idea of singles. They were young, beautiful, strong! Now, young people want to live alone.

　　The booming economy means people are working harder than ever. And that doesn't leave much room for relationships. Pimpi Arroyo, a 35-year-old composer who lives alone in a house in Paris, says he hasn't got time to get lonely because he has too much work. "I have deadlines which would make life with someone else fairly difficult." Only an Ideal Woman would make him change his lifestyle, he says. Kaufmann, author of a recent book called "The Single Woman and Prince Charming," thinks this fierce new individualism means that people expect more and more of mates, so relationships don't last long-if they start at all. Eppendorf, a blond Berliner with a deep tan, teaches grade school in the mornings. In the afternoon she sunbathes or sleeps, resting up for going dancing. Just shy of 50, she says she'd never have wanted to do what her mother did-give up a career to raise a family. Instead, "I've always done what I wanted to do: live a self-determined life."

　　16. More and more young Europeans remain single because                             .

　　A) they are driven by an overwhelming sense of individualism

　　B) they have entered the workforce at a much earlier age

　　C) they have embraced a business culture of stability

　　D) they are pessimistic about their economic future

　　17. What is said about European society in the passage?

　　A) It has fostered the trend towards small families.

　　B) It is getting closer to American-style capitalism.

　　C) It has limited consumer choice despite a free market.

　　D) It is being threatened by irresistible privatization.

　　18. According to Paragraph 3, the newest group of singles are         .

　　A) warm and lighthearted      B) on either side of marriage

　　C) negative and gloomy       D) healthy and wealthy

　　19. The author quotes Eppendorf to show that        .

　　A) some modern women prefer a life of individual freedom

　　B) the family is no longer the basic unit of society in present-day Europe

　　C) some professional people have too much work to do to feel lonely

　　D) most Europeans conceive living a single life as unacceptable

　　20. What is the author's purpose in writing the passage?

　　A) To review the impact of women becoming high earners.

　　B) To contemplate the philosophy underlying individualism.

　　C) To examine the trend of young people living alone.

　　D) To stress the rebuilding of personal relationships.