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2012 年 6 月大学英语六级阅读真题试卷
PartⅣ Reading Comprehension(Reading in Depth) (25minutes)
SectionA
Directions: In this section, there is a short passage with 5 questions or incomplete statements. Read
the passage carefully. Then answer the questions or complete the statements in the fewest possible
words. Pleasewrite your answers onAnswer Sheet 2
Questions47to 51arebased onthefollowing passage.
In face of global warming, much effort has been focused onreducing greenhouse gas emissions
through a variety of strategies. But while much of the research and innovation has concentrated on
finding less-polluting energy alternatives, it may be decades before clean technologies like wind and
solarmeet a significant portionof ourenergy needs.
In the meantime, the amount of CO2 in the air is rapidly approaching the limits proposed by
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). “As long as we’re consuming fossil fuels,
we’re putting out CO2,”says Klaus Lackner, a geophysicist at Columbia, University” We cannot let
theCO2in theatmosphere rise indefinitely.”
That sense of urgency has increased interest in capturing and storing CO2, which the IPCC
says could provide the more than 50% reduction in emissions thought needed to reduce global
warming.“We see the potential for capture and storage to play an integral role in reducing
emissions,” says Kim Corley, Shell’s senior advisor of CO2 and environmental affairs. That forward
thinking strategy is gaining support. The U.S. Department of Energy recently proposed putting $1
billion into a new $2.4 billion coal-burning energy plant. The plant’s carbon-capture technologies
would serveas apilotproject for othernew coal-burning plants.
But what do you do with the gas once you’ve captured it? One option is to put it to new uses.
Dakota Gasification of North Dakota captures CO2 at a plant that converts coal into synthetic
natural gas. It then ships the gas 200 miles by pipeline to Canada, where it is pumped underground
in oil recovery operations. In the Netherlands, Shell delivers CO2 to farmers who pipe it into their
greenhouses, increasing theiryield offruits and vegetables.
However, scientists say that the scale of CO2 emissions will require vast amounts of long-term
storage. Some propose storing the CO2 in coal mines or liquid storage in the ocean, Shell favors
storing CO2 in deep geological structures such as saline(盐的) formations and exhausted oil and gas
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注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。
47.What are suggested as renewable and less-pollutingenergy alternatives?
48. What does the author say is a forward thinking strategy concerning the reduction of CO2
emissions?
49.Oneway ofhanding thecaptured CO2as suggested bytheauthor isto store itand .
50.Through using CO2, Dutch farmers havebeen ableto .
51.Long-term storage ofCO2 is noeasy jobbecause of.
SectionB
Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. 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 Answer sheet 2 with a single
linethrough thecentre.
Passage One
Questions52to 56arebased onthefollowing passage.
As anyone who has tried to lose weight knows, realistic goal-setting generally produces the
best results. That's partially because it appears people who set realistic goals actually work more
efficiently,andexert more effort, to achieve thosegoals.
What's far less understood by scientists, however, are the potentially harmful effects of
goal-setting.
Newspapers relay daily accounts of goal-setting prevalent in industries and businesses up and
down both Wall Street and Main Street , yet there has been surprisingly little research on how the
long-trumpeted practice of setting goals may have contributed to the current economic crisis , and
unethical (不道德的)behavioringeneral.
“Goals are widely used and promoted as having really beneficial effects. And yet, the same
motivation that can push people to exert more effort in a constructive way could also motivate
people to be more likely to engage in unethical behaviors,” says Maurice Schweitzer, an associate
professor at Penn’sWhartonSchool.
“It turns out there’s no economic benefit to just having a goal—you just get a psychological
benefit” Schweitzer says. “But in many cases, goals have economic rewards that make them more
powerful.”
淘宝店铺：https://shop499712503.taobao.com/ 店主旺旺：慧园文化A prime example Schweitzer and his colleagues cite is the 2004 collapse of energy-trading
giant Enron, where managers used financial incentives to motivate salesmen to meet specific
revenue goals.Theproblem, Schweitzersays, is theactual trades were not profitable.
Other studies have shown that saddling employees with unrealistic goals can compel them to
lie, cheat or steal. Such was the case in the early 1990s when Sears imposed a sales quota on its auto
repair staff. It prompted employees to overcharge for work and to complete unnecessary repairs on a
companywidebasis.
Schweitzer concedes his research runs counter to a very large body of literature that commends
the many benefits of goal-setting. Advocates of the practice have taken issue with his team’s use of
such evidence as news accounts to support hisconclusion thatgoal-setting iswidely over-prescribed
In a rebuttal ( 反 驳 ) paper, Dr. Edwin Locke writes:“Goal-setting is not going away.
Organizations cannot thrive without being focused on their desired end results any more than an
individualcan thrivewithout goals toprovide asense ofpurpose.”
But Schweitzer contends the “mounting causal evidence” linking goal-setting and harmful
behavior should be studied to help spotlight issues that merit caution and further investigation.
“Even a fewnegative effects could beso largethat they outweigh many positiveeffects,” hesays.
“Goal-setting does help coordinate and motivate people. My idea would be to combine that
with careful oversight, a strong organizational culture, and make sure the goals that you use are
going to beconstructive and notsignificantly harm the organization,”Schweitzer says.
注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。
52.What message does theauthor try to convey about goal-setting?
A)Its negative effects have long been neglected.
B)Thegoal increase people’s work efficiency.
C)Its rolehas been largely underestimated.
D)The goals mostpeople set are unrealistic.
53.What does MauriceSchweitzer want to showbyciting theexampleofEnron?
A)Settingrealisticgoals can turn afailing business intosuccess.
B) Businesses are less likely tosucceed withoutsetting realisticgoals.
C)Financial incentives ensure companies meet specific revenue goals.
D)Goals with financial rewards have strong motivational power.
54. Howdid Sears’goal-setting affect itsemployees?
淘宝店铺：https://shop499712503.taobao.com/ 店主旺旺：慧园文化A)They were obliged towork more hours to increase their sales.
B)They competed with oneanother to attract more customers.
C)They resorted to unethical practice to meet theirsales quota.
D)They improved theircustomer service onacompanywide basis.
55.What doadvocates of goal-setting thinkof Schweitzer’s research?
A)Its findings are not ofmuch practical value.
B) It exaggerates thesideeffects of goal-setting.
C)Its conclusion isnot based onsolidscientific evidence.
D)It runs counter totheexisting literatureonthe subject.
56.What is Schweitzer’scontention against Edwin Locke?
A)The linkbetween goal-setting and harmful behavior deserves further study.
B) Goal-setting has become toodeep-rooted incorporate culture.
C)Thepositiveeffects of goal-setting outweigh itsnegative effects.
D)Studying goal-setting can throwmore light onsuccessful business practices.
PassageTwo
Questions57to 61arebased onthefollowing passage.
For most of the 20th century,Asia asked itself what it could learn from the modern, innovating
West. Now the question must be reversed. What can the West’s overly indebted and sluggish (经济
滞长的)nations learn from aflourishingAsia?
Just a few decades ago, Asia’s two giants were stagnating(停滞不前) under faulty economic
ideologies. However, once China began embracing free-market reforms in the 1980s, followed by
India in the 1990s, both countries achieved rapid growth. Crucially, as they opened up their markets,
they balanced market economy with sensible government direction. As the Indian economist
Amartya Sen has wisely said, “The invisible hand of the market has often relied heavily on the
visiblehand of government.”
Contrast this middle path with America and Europe, which have each gone ideologically
over-board in their own ways. Since the 1980s, America has been increasingly clinging to the
ideology of uncontrolled free markets and dismissing the role of government—following Ronald
Regan’s idea that “government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. “Of
course, when the markets came crashing down in 2007, it was decisive government intervention that
saved theday.Despite thisfact, manyAmericans are stillstrongly opposed to “big government.”
淘宝店铺：https://shop499712503.taobao.com/ 店主旺旺：慧园文化IfAmericans could only free themselves from their antigovernment doctrine, they would begin
to see that the America’s problems are not insoluble.A few sensible federal measures could put the
country back on the right path.Asimple consumption tax of, say, 5% would significantly reduce the
country’s huge government deficit without damaging productivity.A small gasoline tax would help
free America from its dependence on oil imports and create incentives for green energy
development. In the same way, a significant reduction of wasteful agricultural subsidies could also
lower the deficit. But in order to take advantage of these common-sense solutions, Americans will
have to put aside their own attachment to the idea of smaller government and less regulation.
American politicians will have to develop the courage to follow what is taught in all American
public-policy schools: that there are good taxes and bad taxes. Asian countries have embraced this
wisdom,and have built sound long-term fiscal (财政的)policies as a result.
Meanwhile, Europe has fallen prey to a different ideological trap: the belief that European
governments would always have infinite resources and could continue borrowing as if there were no
tomorrow. Unlike the Americans, who felt that the markets knew best, the Europeans failed to
anticipate how the markets would react to their endless borrowing. Today, the European Union is
creating a $580 billion fund to ward off sovereign collapse. This will buy the EU time, but it will
notsolvethebloc’s larger problem.
57.What has contributed totherapid economic growth in ChinaandIndia?
A)Copying western-style economicbehavior.
B) Heavy reliance onthehand of government.
C)Timely reform ofgovernment at all levels.
D)Free market plus government intervention.
58.What does RonaldReagan mean bysaying “government is theproblem” (line4,Para. 3)?
A)Many social evils are caused bywrong government policies.
B) Many social problems arise from government’sinefficiency.
C)Government action iskey to solvingeconomic problems.
D)Government regulation hinders economicdevelopment.
59.What stopped theAmerican economy from collapsing in2007?
A)Self-regulatory repairmechanisms ofthefree market.
B) Cooperation between thegovernment andbusinesses.
C)Abandonment of big government bythepublic.
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60.What is theauthor’s suggestion to theAmerican publicin face ofthepublicgovernment deficit?
A)They urge thegovernment to revise itsexisting publicpolicies.
B)They develop green energy to avoid dependence onoilimport.
C)They give upthe ideaofsmaller government and less regulation.
D)They putupwith theinevitablesharp increase ofdifferent taxes.
61.What’s theproblem with theEuropean Union?
A)Conservative ideology. B) Shrinkingmarket.
C)Lack of resources. D)Excessiveborrowing.
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