2012年12月大学英语六级阅读真题

　　2012年12月大学英语六级考试已结束，新东方在线第一时间收集整理试题及参考答案，以下是2012年12月大学英语六级真题供考生参考。
　　深度阅读_SA：

　　47. others

　　解析：关键词 evaluate ourselves

　　迅速定位到 第一段第一句话所以答案是 others

　　48. similar to peers

　　解析：关键词 adolescence

　　迅速定位到 第一段中间 所以答案是 similar to peers.

　　49. a good listener

　　解析：关键词 self- awareness

　　迅速定位到 第二段第一句 所以答案是a good listener

　　50. They seek professional help

　　解析：关键词 unacceptable to family or friends

　　迅速定位到 第二段第七行 所以答案是They can seek professional help.

　　51. a normal reaction

　　解析：关键词 Counselors 和assure

　　迅速定位到 第二段倒数第三行 所以答案是a normal reaction

　　深度阅读SB_1

　　Amid all the job losses of the Great Recession, there is one category of worker that the economic disruption has been good for: nonhumans.

　　From self-service checkout lines at the supermarket to industrial robots armed with saws and taught to carve up animal carcasses in slaughter-houses, these ever-more-intelligent machines are now not just assisting workers but actually kicking them out of their jobs.

　　Automation isn’t just affecting factory workers, either. Some law firms now use artificial intelligence software to scan and read mountains of legal documents, work that previously was performed by highly paid human lawyers.

　　“Robots continue to have an impact on blue-collar jobs, and white-collar jobs are under attack by microprocessors,” says Edward Leamer, an economics professor at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management and director of the UCLA Anderson Forecast, a survey of the U.S. and California economies. Leamer says the recession permanently wiped out 2.5 million jobs. U.S. gross domestic product has climbed back to pre-recession levels, meaning we’re producing as much as before, only with 6 percent fewer workers. To be sure, robotics are not the only job killers out there, with outsourcing stealing far more gigs than automation.

　　Jeff Burnstein, president of the Robotics Industry Association, a trade group in Ann Arbor, Mich., argues that robots actually save U.S. jobs. His logic: companies that embrace automation might use fewer workers, but that’s still better than firing everyone and moving the work overseas.

　　It’s not that robots are cheaper than humans, though often they are. It’s that they are better. “In some cases the quality requirements are so stringent that even if you wanted to have a human do the job, you couldn’t,” Burnstein says.

　　Same goes for surgeons, who are using robotic systems to perform an ever-growing list of operations—not because the machines save money but because, thanks to the greater precision of robots, the patients recover in less time and have fewer complications, says Dr. Myriam Curet.

　　Surgeons may survive the robot invasion, but others at the hospital might not be so lucky, as iRobot, maker of the Roomba, a robot vacuum cleaner, has been showing off Ava, a three-foot-tall droid on wheels that carries a tablet computer. iRobot reckons Ava could be used as a courier in a hospital. And once you’re home, recovering, Ava could let you talk to your doctor, so there’s no need to send someone to your house. That “mobile telepresence” could be useful at the office. If you’re away on a trip, you can still attend a meeting. Just connect via videoconferencing software, so your face appears on Ava’s screen.

　　Is any job safe? I was hoping to say “journalist,” but researchers are already developing algorithms that can gather facts and write a news story. Which means that a few years from now, a robot could be writing this column. And who will read it? Well, there might be a lot of us hanging around with lots of free time on our hands.

　　52. What do we learn from the first few paragraphs?

　　答案：The robotic industry has benefited from the economic recession.

　　53. What caused the greatest loss of jobs in America?

　　答案：Moving production to other countries.

　　54. What does Jeff Burnstein say about robots?

　　答案：They compete with human workers.

　　55. What are robotic systems replacing surgeons in more and more operations according to Dr. Myriam Curet?

　　答案：They beat humans in precision.

　　56. What does the author imply about robotics?

　　答案：It will be applied in any field imaginable.

　　【解析】这是一篇讨论机器人取代人类的科技说明文，话题是考生比较熟悉的科技类文章。文中指出在大萧条时期众多失业的情况下，有一类工人却受益于经济混乱：机器人。机器人和业务外包比自动化分流了更多的岗位。但是专家指出，并不是因为机器人比人廉价，而是它们比人类更优秀。在很多具体工作上，人类无法做到像机器人那样精确。文章最后一段探讨还有那些岗位能免于机器人取代的危机，作者本以为记者行业可以，但是结果却不是这样，几乎所有岗位都面临这种趋势，从而紧扣文章原文题目和主题：Who Needs Humans?人类还有何用?

　　本文选材虽然是科技相关，但是词汇都比较简单，没有太偏的词汇。而这几道题相比而言，难度又低了不少，很多选项直接可以通过对比原文排除，如54题谈到对机器人的看法，其中B选项说机器人比人类工作更省钱更便宜，而文中已经特别清晰的表明立场，It’s not that …此外，词汇复现也能帮助大家准备做对题目，如第52题的答案中benefit from就对应了原文中的be good for，所以很快很轻松的就选出来了。因此考生只要明确文中几个人物各自的观点，勾画好关键词，整体上来讲，5道题都做对基本可以做到的。

　　深度阅读SB_2

　　You've now heard it so many times, you can probably repeat it in your sleep. President Obama will no doubt make the point publicly when he gets to Beijing: the Chinese need to spend more; they need to consume more; they need — believe it or not — to become more like Americans, for the sake of the global economy.

　　And it's all true. But the other side of that equation is that the U.S. needs to save more. For the moment, American households actually are doing so. After the personal-savings rate dipped to zero in 2005, the shock of the economic crisis last year prompted people to snap shut their wallets.

　　In China, the household-savings rate exceeds 20%. It is partly for policy reasons. As we've seen, wage earners are expected to care for not only their children but also their aging parents. And there is, to date, only the flimsiest(脆弱的) of publicly-funded health care and pension systems, which increases incentives for individuals to save while they are working. But China is a society that has long esteemed personal financial prudence(谨慎)for centuries. There is no chance that will change anytime soon, even if the government creates a better social safety net and successfully encourages greater consumer spending.

　　Why does the U.S. need to learn a little frugality(节俭)? Because healthy savings rates are one of the surest indicators of a country's long-term financial health. High savings lead, over time, to increased investment, which in turn generates productivity gains, innovation and job growth. In short, savings are the seed corn of a good economic harvest.

　　The U.S. government thus needs to act as well. By running constant deficits, it is dis-saving, even as households save more. Peter Orszag, Obama's Budget Director, recently called the U.S. budget deficits unsustainable and he's right. To date, the U.S. has seemed unable to have what Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels has called an "adult conversation" about the consequences of spending so much more than is taken in. That needs to change. And though Hu Jintao and the rest of the Chinese leadership aren't inclined to lecture visiting Presidents, he might gently hint that Beijing is getting a little nervous about the value of the dollar — which has fallen 15% since March, in large part because of increasing fears that America's debt load is becoming unmanageable.

　　That's what happens when you're the world's biggest creditor: you get to drop hints like that, which would be enough by themselves to create international economic chaos if they were ever leaked. (Every time any official in Beijing deliberately publicly about seeking an alternative to the U.S. dollar for the $2.1 trillion China holds in reserve, currency traders have a heart attack.) If Americans saved more and spent less, consistently over time, they wouldn't have to worry about all that.

　　【点评】

　　本文讲述了在全球经济危机的背景下，美国人要向中国人学习勤俭，学会储蓄。为什么这样做呢?文章中指出良好的储蓄率能够推动经济的繁荣。但即使美国家庭开始储蓄更多，如果政府常年赤字的话，对美国来说还是“反储蓄”的。所以文章的目的是敦促美国政府降低赤字，并在文末再一次强调要坚持向中国学习存多花少，

　　57. How did the economic crisis affect Americans?

　　They had to tighten their belts.

　　【解析】细节题。从原文第二段最后一句话“the shock of the economic crisis last year prompted people to snap shut their wallets”可见，经济危机使得美国民众关紧钱包，即少花钱，也就是答案中tighten their belts(勒紧腰带，节省开支)的意思。所以正确答案为A。

　　58. What should be done to encourage Chinese people to consume?

　　Improving China’s social security system.

　　【解析】细节题。从原文中的“even if the government creates a better social safety net and successfully encourages greater consumer spending”可见，如要鼓励中国人消费更多，这需要提高社会安全系统。

　　59. What does the author mean by saying “savings are the seed corn of a good economic harvest” (Line 4, Para. 4)?

　　A healthy savings rate promotes economic prosperity.

　　【解析】细节题。根据题干提示，定位至第四段最后一句，我们发现这句话是前面几句话的概括，那根据前面“High savings lead, over time, to increased investment, which in turn generates productivity gains, innovation and job growth.”可知，高储蓄率能够促进投资，进而促进生产率、创新和岗位增长，即促进经济的繁荣。所以正确答案为D。

　　60. In what circumstances do currency traders become scared?

　　When Beijing mentions in public the huge debts America owes China.

　　【解析】细节题。从原文中的“Every time any official in Beijing deliberately publicly about seeking an alternative to the U.S. dollar for the $2.1 trillion China holds in reserve, currency traders have a heart attack.”可知，每当中国政府公开提到美国欠我国的大量债务，货币交易员们就担惊受怕。因为本段一开始提到作为最大的债权国，财政上的漏洞会造成经济的混乱。所以正确答案为D。

　　61. What is the author’s purpose of writing the passage?

　　To urge the American government to cut defictis.

　　【解析】主旨题。纵观全文，作者一直在强调美国应该向中国学习勤俭，文中第五段的第一句话“By running constant deficits, it is dis-saving, even as households save more.”也给到我们提示，既然长期运行赤字是不利于储蓄的，那美国政府应该做的是降低赤字。所以正确答案是A。