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2018 年 6 月大学英语六级考试真题 (第 2 套）
Part I Writing (30minutes)
Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay commenting on the importance of
building trust between teachers and students. Youcan cite examples to illustrate your views.You
shouldwriteatleast150wordsbutnomore than 200words.
Part II Listening Comprehension (30minutes)
Section A
Directions: In this section, you will hear two long conversations At the end of each conversation, you will
hear four questions. Both the conversation and the questions will be spoken only once. After you
hearaquestion,youmustchoosethebestanswerfromthefourchoicesmarkedA),B),C)andD).
ThenmarkthecorrespondingletteronAnswer Sheet 1withasinglelinethroughthecentre.
Questions1to4arebasedontheconversationyouhavejustheard.
1. A).Sheadvocatesanimalprotection. B).Shesellsaspecialkindofcoffee.
C).Sheisgoingtostartacafechain. D).Sheistheownerofaspecialcafe.
2. A).Theybearalotof similarities. B).Theyareaprofitablebusinesssector.
C).Theycatertodifferentcustomers. D).Theyhelptakecareofcustomers'pets.
3. A).Bygivingthemregularcleaningandinjections.
B).Byselectingbreedsthataretameandpeaceful.
C).Byplacingthematasafedistancefromcustomers.
D).Bybriefingcustomersonhowtogetalongwiththem.
4. A).Theywanttolearnaboutrabbits. B).Theyliketobringintheirchildren.
C).Theylovetheanimalsinhercafe. D).Theygivehercafefavoritereviews.
Questions5to8arebasedontheconversationyouhavejustheard.
5. A).Itcontainstoomanyadditives. B).Itlackstheessentialvitamins.
C).Itcancauseobesity. D).Itismostlygarbage.
6. A).Itsfancydesign. B).TVcommercials.
C).Itstasteandtexture. D).Peerinfluence.
7. A).Investingheavilyintheproductionofsweetfoods.
B).Marketingtheirproductswithordinary ingredients.
C).Tryingtotrickchildrenintobuyingtheirproducts.
D).Offering childrenmorevariabletochoose from.
8. A).Theyhardlyatevegetables. B).Theyseldomhadjunkfood.
C).Theyfavoredchocolate-coatedsweets. D).TheylikethefoodadvertisedonTV.
第1页Section B
Directions: In this section, youwill heartwo passages.At the endofeachpassage, youwill hearthree or four
questions. Both the passage and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question, you must
choosethe bestanswer from the four choices marked A), B), C)and D). Then mark the corresponding letter on
Answer Sheet 1withasinglelinethroughthecentre.
Questions9to11arebasedonthepassageyouhavejustheard.
9. A).Stretchesoffarmland. B).TypicalEgyptiananimalfarms.
C).Tombsofancientrulers. D).Ruinsleftbydevastatingfloods.
10.A).Itprovideshabitatsformoreprimitivetribes.
B).Itishardlyassociatedwithgreat civilizations.
C).Ithasnotyetbeenfullyexploredandexploited.
D).Itgatherswaterfrommanytropicalrainforests.
11.A).Itcarriesaboutonefifthof theword'freshwater.
B).Ithasnumeroushumansettlementsalongitsbanks.
C).ItissecondonlytotheMississippiRiverinwidth.
D).ItisaslongastheNileandtheYangtzecombined.
Questions12to15arebasedonthepassageyouhavejustheard.
12.A).Livingalifeinthefastlaneleadstosuccess.
B).Wearealwaysinarushtodovariousthings.
C).Thesearchfortranquilityhasbecomeatrend.
D).Allofusactuallyyearnforaslowandcalmlife.
13.A).Shehadtroublebalancingfamilyandwork. B).Sheenjoyedthevarioussocialevents.
C).Shewasaccustomedtotightschedules. D).Shespentallherleisuretimewritingbooks.
14.A).Thepossibilityofruiningherfamily. B).Becomingawareofherdeclininghealth.
C).Thefatiguefromlivingafast-pacedlife. D).Readingabookaboutslowingdown.
15.A).Shestartedtofollowtheculturalnorms. B).Shecametoenjoydoingeverydaytasks.
C).Shelearntousemorepoliteexpressions. D).Shestoppedusingto-dolistsandcalendars.
Section C
Directions: In this section, you will hear three recordings of lectures or talks followed by three or four
questions.Therecordingswillbeplayedonlyonce.Afteryouhearaquestion,youmustchoosethebestanswer
from the four choices marked A), B), C)and D).Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1 with
asinglelinethroughthecentre.
Questions16to18arebasedontherecordingyouhavejustheard.
16. A).Theywillrootoutnativespeciesaltogether. B).Theycontributetoaregion'sbiodiversity.
C).Theyposeathreattothelocalecosystem. D).Theywillcrossbreedwithnative species.
17. A).Theirclassificationsaremeaningful. B).Theirinteractionsarehardtodefine.
C).Theirdefinitionsarechangeable. D).Theirdistinctionsareartificial.
18. A).Onlyafewofthemcauseproblemstonative
species.
B).Theymayturntobenefitthelocalenvironment
C).Fewofthemcansurviveintheirnewhabitats.
第2页D).Only10percentofthemcanbenaturalized.
Questions19to21arebasedontherecordingyouhavejustheard.
19. A).Respecttheirtraditionalculture. B).Attendtheirbusinessseminars.
C).Researchtheirspecificdemands. D).Adopttherightbusinessstrategies.
20. A).Showingthemyourpalm.
B).Givingthemgiftsofgreatvalue.
C).Drinkingalcoholoncertaindaysofamonth.
D).Clickingyourfingersloudlyintheirpresence.
21. A).Theyareveryeasytosatisfy. B).Theyhaveastrongsenseofworth.
C).Theytrendtofriendlyandenthusiastic. D).Theyhaveabreakfrom2:00to5:30p.m.
Questions22to25arebasedontherecordingyouhavejustheard.
22. A).Hecompletelychangedthecompany'sculture.
B).Hecollectedpaintingsbyworld-famousartists.
C).HetookoverthesalesdepartmentofReader'sDigest.
D).Hehadthecompany’sboardroomextensivelyrenovated.
23. A).Itshouldbesoldatareasonableprice.
B).Itsarticlesshouldbeshortandinspiring.
C).Itshouldbepublishedintheworld'sleading languages.
D).Itsarticlesshouldentertainblue-andpink-collar workers.
24. A). Heknewhowtomakethemagazineprofitable.
B).Heservedasachurchminsterformanyyears.
C).Hesufferedmanysetbacksandmisfortunesinhislife.
D).Hetreatedtheemployeeslikemembersofhisfamily.
25. A).Itcarriedmanymoreadvertisements. B).George Grunejoineditasanadsalesman.
C).Severalhundredofitsemployeesgotfired. D).Itssubscriptionsincreased considerably.
Part III Reading Comprehension (40minutes)
Section A
Directions: In this section, there is a passage with ten blanks. You are required to select one word for each
blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage. Read the passage through carefully
before making your choices. Each choice in the bank is identified by a letter. Please mark the corresponding
letter for each item on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre. You may not use any of the
wordsinthebankmorethanonce.
Questions26to35arebasedonthefollowingpassage.
DidSarah Josepha Halewrite“Mary 's Little Lamb,” the eternalnurseryrhyme (儿歌)about agirl named
Marywithastubborn lamb? Thisisstilldispute ,butit’sclearthat the woman 26 forwritingitwasone of
America's mostfascinating 27_.Inhonorofthepoem'spublicationonMay24，1830， here’smoreabout the
28 author's life.
Halewasn’tjustawriter,shewasalsoa 29 socialadvocate,andshewas particularly 30_ withan ideal
NewEngland,whichsheassociatedwithabundantThanksgivingmealsthatsheclaimedhad“adeepmoral influence.”
she began a nationwide 31 to have a national holiday declared that would bring families together while
第3页celebratingthe 32 festivals.In1863, after17yearsofadvocacyincludingletterstofivepresidents， Halegot it.
PresidentAbrahamLincoln,duringtheCivilWar, issued a 33 settingasidethelastThursdayinNovember for
theholiday.
Thetrueauthorshipof“Mary’sLittleLamb”isdisputed..AccordingtoNewEnglandHistoricalSociety,Hale
wrote only one part of the poem, but claimed authorship. Regardless of the author, it seems that the poem was
34 bya real event. When young Mary Sawyer was followed toschool byalamb in 1816, itcaused some
problems.AbystandernamedJohnRoulstonewroteapoemabouttheevent,then,atsomepoint,Haleherselfseems
tohavehelpedwriteit.However,ifa1916piecebyhergreat-nieceistobetrusted,Haleclaimedforthe 35 of
herlifethat“Someotherpeoplepretendedthatsomeoneelsewrotethepoem”.
A). campaign B).career
C).characters D).features
E).fierce F).inspired
G). latter H).obsessed
I). proclamation J).rectified
K).reputed L).rest
M). supposed N). traditional
O). versatile
SectionB
Directions: In thissection, you are going to read a passage with ten statements attached to it.Each statement
contains information given in one of the paragraphs. Identify the paragraph from which the information is
derived. You may choose a paragraph more than once. Each paragraph is marked with a letter. Answer the
questionsbymarkingthecorrespondingletteronAnswerSheet2.
GrowPlantsWithoutWater
[A]. Ever since humanity began to farm our own food, we've faced the unpredictable rain that is both
friend and enemy. It comes and goes without much warning, and a field of lush (茂盛的) leafy
greens one year can dry up and blow away the next. Food security and fortunes depend on sufficient
rain, and nowhere more so than in Africa, where 96% of farmland depends on rain instead of the
irrigation common in more developed places. It has consequences : South Africa's ongoing drought—
the worstinthree decades—willcostatleastaquarter of its comcropthis year.
[B]. Biologist Jill Farrant of the University of Cape Town in South Africa says that nature has plenty of
answers for people who want to grow crops in places with unpredictable rainfall. She is hard at
work finding a way to take traits from rare wild plants that adapt to extreme dry weather and use
them in food crops. As the earth's climate changes and rainfall becomes even less predictable in
some places, those answers will grow even more valuable."The type of farming I'm aiming for is
literallysothatpeoplecansurvive asit'sgoingtoget moreandmoredry,"Farrant says.
[C]. Extreme conditions produce extremely tough plants. In the rusty red deserts of South Africa, steep-
sided rocky hills called inselbergs rear up from the plains like the bones of the earth. The hills are
remnants of an earlier geological era, scraped bare of most soil and exposed to the elements. Yet on
these and similar formations in deserts around the world, a few fierce plants have adapted to endure
underever-changing conditions.
[D].Farrantcalls themresurrection plants (复苏植物).Duringmonthswithoutwaterunderaharshsun.
They wither, shrink and contract until they look like a pile of dead gray leaves. But rainfall can
revive them in a matter of hours. Her time-lapse (间歇性拍摄的) videos of the revivals look like
someone playingatape oftheplant'sdeathin reverse.
第4页[E]. The big difference between "drought-tolerant" plants and these tough plants: metabolism. Many
different kinds of plants have developed tactics to weather dry spells. Some plants store reserves of
water to see them through a drought ; others send roots deep down to subsurface water supplies. But
once these plants use up their stored reserve or tap out the underground supply, they cease growing
and start to die. They may be able to handle a drought of some length, and many people use the term
"drought tolerant" to describe such plants, but they never actually stop needing to consume water, so
Farrantprefers tocallthemdrought resistant.
[F]. Resurrection plants, defined as those capable of recovering from holding less than 0.1 grams of water
per gram of dry mass, are different. They lack water-storing structures, and their existence on rock
faces prevents them from tapping groundwater, so they have instead developed the ability to change
their metabolism .When they detect an extended dry period, they divert their metabolisms, producing
sugars and certain stress-associated proteins and other materials in their tissues. As the plant dries,
these resources take on first the properties of honey, then rubber, and finally enter a glass-like state
that is "the most stable state that the plant can maintain," Farrant says. That slows the plant's
metabolism and protects its dried-out tissues. The plants also change shape, shrinking to minimize the
surface area through which their remaining water might evaporate. They can recover from months
andyearswithout water,depending onthe species.
[G]. What else can do this dry-out-and-revive trick? Seeds-almost all of them. At the start of her career,
Farrant studied . recalcitrant seeds (执拗性种子) ," such as avocados, coffee and lychee. While tasty,
suchseedsare delicate--they cannot budand growif theydryout (as you may knowif you've ever
tried to grow a tree from an avocado pit). In the seed world, that makes them rare, because most seeds
from flowering plants are quite robust. Most seeds can wait out the dry, unwelcoming seasons until
conditions are right andthey sprout (发芽 ).Yet once theystart growing,such plants seem not to
retainthe abilitytohitthe pausebuttonon metabolismintheirstemsor leaves.
[H]. After completing her Ph. D. on seeds, Farrant began investigating whether it might be possible to
isolate the properties that make most seeds so resilient (迅速恢复活力的) and transfer them to other
plant tissues. What Farrant and others have found over the past two decades is that there are many
genes involved in resurrection plants' response to dryness. Many of them are the same that regulate
how seeds become dryness-tolerant while still attached to their parent plants. Now they are trying to
figure outwhatmolecularsignaling processes activate thoseseed-building genesin resurrection plants—
and how to reproduce them in crops."Most genes are regulated by a master set of genes,"Farrant
says."We're lookingatgenepromotersandwhatwouldbe their masterswitch."
[I]. Once Farrant and her colleagues feel they have a better sense of which switches to throw, they will
havetofindthebestwaytodosoinusefulcrops."I'm trying three methodsofbreeding,"Farrant says:
conventional, genetic modificationaridgeneediting. She sayssheisaware thatplentyofpeopledo
notwanttoeatgenetically modified crops, but she ispushingahead with everyavailable tool until
oneworks.Farmers andconsumersalike canchoose whether or not to use whichever version
prevails :"I'm givingpeopleanoption. "
[J]. Farrant and others in the resurrection business got together last year to discuss the best species of
resurrection plant to use as a lab model. Just like medical researchers use rats to test ideas for human
medical treatments, botanists use plants that are relatively easy to grow in a lab or greenhouse setting
to test their ideas for related species. The Queensland rock violet is one of the best studied
resurrection plants so far, with a draft genome (基因图谱) published last year by a Chinese team.
Also last year, Farrant and colleagues published a detailed molecular study of another candidate,
Xerophyta viscosa, a tough-as-nail south African plant with lily-like flowers, and she says that a
genome is on the way. one or both of these models will help researchers test their ideas — so far
mostlydoneinthelab—ontest plots.
[K]. Understanding the basic science first is key. There are good reasons why crop plants do not use
dryness defenses already. For instance, there's a high energy cost in switching from a regular
metabolism to an almost-no-water metabolism. It will also be necessary to understand what sort of
yield farmers might expect and to establish the plant's safety."The yield is never going to be
high,"Farrant says,sothese plants willbe targetednot at Iowa farmers tryingtosqueeze more cash
第5页out of high-yield fields, but subsistence farmers who need help to survive a drought like the present
one in South Africa."My vision is for the subsistence farmer," Farrant says."I'm targeting crops that are
ofAfricanvalue.".
36. There are a couple of plants tough and adaptable enough to survive on bare rocky hills and in deserts.
37. Farrant is trying to isolate genes in resurrection plants and reproduce them in crops.
38. Farmers inSouth Africaare moreatthemercyofnature, especiallyinconsistent rainfall.
39. Resurrectioncropsaremostlikelytobethechoiceofsubsistence farmers.
40.Eventhoughmanyplants havedevelopedvarious tacticstocopewith dry weather, they cannot
survive aprolonged drought.
41. Despite consumer resistance, researchers are pushing ahead with genetic modification of crops.
42. Mostseedscanpullthrough dry spellsandbegingrowingwhenconditions areripe,butoncethis
processstarts,itcannotbeheld back.
43. Farrantis workinghardtocultivatefoodcrops that call survive extreme dryness by studyingthe
traits ofrarewild plants.
44. Byadjustingtheir metabolism, resurrectionplantscanrecover fromanextendedperiodofdrought.
45. Resurrectionplants cancomebacktolife inashorttimeafter a rainfall.
SectionC
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
singlelinethroughthecentre
passageone
Questions46to 50are based onthe followingpassage.
Human memory is notoriously unreliable. Even people with the sharpest facial-recognition
skillscan only remember somuch.
It's tough to quantify how good a person is at remembering. No one really knows how many
different faces someone can recall, for example, but various estimates tend to hover in the
thousands-based onthenumberof acquaintances a person mighthave.
Machines aren't limited this way, Give the right computer a massive database of faces, and it
can process what it sees-then recognize a face it's told to find-with remarkable speed and precision.
This skill is what supports the enormous promise of facial-recognition software in the 2lst century.
It's also what makes contemporary surveillance systems soscary.
Thething is, machines stillhave limitations when it comes tofacial recognition. And scientists
are only just beginning to understand what those constraints are. To begin to figure out how
computers are struggling, researchers at theUniversity ofWashington created a massivedatabase of
faces- they call it MegaFace- and tested a variety of facial-recognition algorithms (算法) as they
scaled up in complexity. The idea was to test the machines on a database that included up to 1
million different images of nearly 700,000 different people-and not just a large database featuring a
relatively smallnumber ofdifferent faces, moreconsistent withwhat's been used in otherresearch.
As the databases grew, machine accuracy dipped across the board. Algorithms that were right
95% of the time when they were dealing with a 13, 000-image database, for example, were accurate
about 70% of the time when confronted with 1 million images. That's still pretty good, says one of
theresearchers, Ira Kemelmacher-Shlizerman."Much better thanwe expected, "shesaid.
Machines also had difficulty adjusting for people who look a lot alike-either doppelgangers(长
相极相似的人),whom the machine would have trouble identifying as two separate people, or the
same person who appeared in different photos at different ages or in different lighting, whom the
第6页machine would incorrectly viewas separatepeople.
"Once we scale up, algorithms must be sensitive to tiny changes in identities and at the same
timeinvariant to lighting, pose, age, "Kemelmacher-Shlizermansaid.
The trouble is, for many of the researchers who'd like to design systems to address these
challenges, massive datasets for experimentation just don't exist--at least, not in formats that are
accessible to academic researchers.Training sets like the ones Google and Facebook have are
private. There are no public databases that contain millions of faces. MegaFace's creators say it's
thelargest publicly availablefacial-recognition dataset outthere.
“An ultimate face recognition algorithm should perform with billions ofpeople in adataset, ”the
researcherswrote.
46. Compared with human memory, machines can .
A)identify human faces moreefficiently
B)tell afriend from a mereacquaintance
C)storean unlimited number ofhumanfaces
D) perceiveimages invisibletothehumaneye
47. Whydidresearchers createMegaFace?
A) To enlarge thevolumeofthefacial-recognitiondatabase
B) To increase thevariety of facial-recognition software
C)To understand computers' problems withfacialrecognition
D)To reduce thecomplexity offacial-recognition algorithms
48.Whatdoes the passage say about machineaccuracy?
A)It falls short ofresearchers'expectations.
B) It improves with added computingpower.
C)Itvaries greatly with differentalgorithms.
D) It decreases as thedatabase sizeincreases.
49. What issaid tobe ashortcoming offacial-recognitionmachines?
A) They cannot easily tell apart peoplewith near-identicalappearances.
B) They have difficulty identifying changes infacialexpressions
C) They are notsensitiveto minutechanges in people'smood
D) They haveproblems distinguishing people ofthesameage
50. What isthe difficulty confronting researchers offacial-recognitionmachines?
A)No computeris yet able to handlehuge datasets ofhumanfaces
B) There donot existpublicdatabases with sufficient facesampler
C)There are noappropriate algorithmsto process thefacesamples
D) They havetroubleconverting face datasets into therightformat.
PassageTwo
Questions51to 55are basedon thefollowingpassage.
There’re currently 21.5 million students in America, and many will be funding their college on
borrowed money. Given that there's now over $1.3 trillion in student loans on the books, it's pretty
clear that many students are far from sensible. The average student's debt upon graduation now
第7页approaches $40, 000, and as college becomes ever more expensive, calls to make it "free" are
multiplying. Even Hillary Clinton says that when itcomes tocollege, "Costs won't bea barrier."
But the only way college could be free is if the faculty and staff donated their time, the
buildings required no maintenance, and campuses required no utilities. As long as it's impossible
toproduce something from nothing costs are absolutely abarrier.
The actual question we debate is who should pay for people to go to college. If taxpayers are
tobear thecost of forgiving studentloans, shouldn't theyhave a say inhow theirmoney isused?
At least taxpayers should be able to decide what students will study on the public dime. If
we're going to force taxpayers to foot the bill for college degrees, students should only study those
subjects that’re of greatest benefit to taxpayers. After all, students making their own choices in this
respect is what caused the problem in the first place. We simply don't need more poetry, gender
studies, orsociology majors. How doweknowwhich subjects benefit society?Easy.
Average starting salaries give a clear indication of what type of training society needs its new
workers to have. Certainly, there're benefits to a college major beyond the job a student can
perform. But if we're talking about the benefits to society, the only thing that matters is what the
major enables the student to produce for society. And the value of what the student can produce is
reflected inthe wage employers are willing topay thestudent to produceit.
A low wage for elementary school teachers, however, doesn't mean elementary education isn’t
important. Itsimply means there're toomany elementary school teachersalready.
Meanwhile, there're few who're willing and able to perform jobs requiring a petroleum
engineering major, so thevalueofone moreof thosepeopleis veryhigh
So we can have taxpayers pick up students' tuition in exchange for dictating what those
students will study. Or we can allow students both to choose their majors and pay for their
education themselves. But intheend ,one oftwo things istrue:
Either a college major is worth its cost or it isn't. If yes, taxpayer financing isn't needed If not
taxpayer financing isn't desirable. Either way, taxpayers have no business paying for students'
collegeeducation.
51. What does theauthorthink of collegestudents funding theireducation throughloans?
A)They only expect toget hugereturns.
C) They benefit at taxpayersexpense.
B)They are acting in an irrationalway.
D) They will regret doing sosomeday.
52. Inthe author's opinion,free collegeeducation is .
A)impractical B)unsustainable
C)agoaltostrivefor D)awaytosocialequality
53. Whatshould students doiftaxpayers are to bear theircollegecosts?
A) Workeven harder to repaysociety.
B) Choosetheirsubjects morecarefully.
C) Choosemajors that willserve society's practicalneed.
D) Allowtaxpayers to participatein collegeadministration.
54. Whatdoes theauthorsay about thevalue ofastudent's collegeeducation?
A) It isunderestimated byprofit-seekingemployers.
B) It isto be proved bywhat they can doonthejob.
C)Itis well reflected intheir averagestartingsalary.
D)It is embodied in howthey remove socialbarriers.
第8页55. Whatmessage does theauthor want to convey in thepassage?
A)Students should thinkcarefully whether togo tocollege
B) Taxpayers shouldonly finance themost giftedstudents.
C)Theworth ofacollege education isopen todebate.
D)College students should fund theirowneducation..
Part I Translation (30minutes)
Directions： Forthispart,youareallowed30minutestotranslateapassagefromChineseintoEnglish.You
shouldwriteyouransweronAnswerSheet2.
中国目前拥有世界上最大最快的高速铁路网。高铁列车的运行速度还将继续提升，更多的城市将
修建高铁站。高铁大大缩短了人们出行的时间。相对飞机而言，高铁列车的突出优势在于准时，因为
基本不受天气或交通管制的影响。高铁极大地改变了中国人的生活方式。如今，它已经成了很多人商
务旅行的首选交通工具。越来越多的人也在假日乘高铁外出旅游。还有不少年轻人选择在一个城市工
作而在邻近城市居住，每天乘高铁上下班。
第9页
