2018年12月英语六级阅读理解试题库及答案3篇

　　Passage 1

The productivity of Americans employed in private businesses has declined.The productivity of workers in countries such as Japan and Germany is increasing.American machine tools,on average,are old,relatively inefficient,and rapidly becoming obsolete,whereas those of our competitors overseas,in comparison,are newer and more efficient.We are no longer the most productive workers in the world.We are no longer the leaders in industrial innovation(革新).We are an immensely

wealthy nation of educated men and women who seem to have lost sight of the fact that everything—from the simplest necessities to the finest luxuries—must be produced through our own collective hard work.We have come to expect automatic increases in our collective standard of living,but we seem to have forgotten that these increases are possible only when our productivity continues to grow.

One thing that must change is the rate at which we substitute capital equipment for human labor.Simply put,our labor force has increased at a far greater rate than has our stock of capital investment.We seem to have forgotten that our past productivity gains,to a large extent,were realized from substitutions of capital for human labor.Today,3 times as many robots are listed as capital assets by Japanese firms as by United States firms.

There is no doubt that robots will become a common sight in American factories.Representing a new generation of technology,robots will replace factory labor much as the farm tractor replaced the horse.Robot technology has much to offer.It offers higher levels of productivity and quality at lower costs;in promises to free men and women from the dull,repetitious toil of the factory,it is likely to have an impact on society comparable to that made by the growth of computer technology.

1.The word"obsolete"(Para.1)most probably means_______.

[A].weak

[B].old

[C].new

[D].out of date

2.The author is anxious about_______.

[A].his people no longer taking the lead in industrial innovation

[B].his country no longer being a wealthy nation

[C].his people forgetting to raise their productivity

[D].his country falling behind other industrial nations

3.According to the author,in his country_______..

[A].the proportion of labor force to capital investment is quite low

[B].the growth rate of labor force should be greater than that of capital investment

[C].the productivity increases should be achieved by the increases of labor force

[D].capital investment should have increased more rapidly than labor force

4.So far as the influence on society is concerned,_______.

[A].robot technology seems to be much more promising than computer technology

[B].computer technology has less to offer than robot technology

[C].robot technology can be compared with computer technology

[D].robot technology cannot be compared with computer technology

5.The purpose of the author in writing this passage is to show that_______.

[A].robots will help increase labor productivity

[B].robots will rule American factories

[C].robots are cheaper than human laborers

[D].robots will finally replace humans in factories

　　答案: D C D C A

Passage 2

Pronouncing a language is a skill.Every normal person is expert in the skill of pronouncing his own language;but few people are even moderately proficient at pronouncing foreign languages.Now there are many reasons for this,some obvious,some perhaps not so obvious.But I suggest that the fundamental reason why people in general do not speak foreign languages very much better than they do is that they fail to grasp the true nature of the problem of learning to pronounce,and consequently never set about tackling it in the right way.Far too many people fail to realize that pronouncing a foreign language is a skill—one that needs careful training of a special kind,and one that cannot be acquired by just leaving it to take care of itself.I think even teachers of language,while recognizing the importance of a good accent,tend to neglect,in their practical teaching,the branch of study concerned with speaking the language.So the first point I want to make is that English pronunciation must be taught;the teacher should be prepared to devote some of the lesson time to this,and should get the student to feel that here is a matter worthy of receiving his close attention.So,there should be occasions when other aspects of English,such as grammar or spelling,are allowed for the moment to take second place.

Apart from this question of the time given to pronunciation,there are two other requirements for the teacher:the first,knowledge;the second,technique.

It is important that the teacher should be in possession of the necessary information.This can generally be obtained from books.It is possible to get from books some idea of the mechanics of speech,and of what we call general phonetic theory.It is also possible in this way to get a clear mental picture of the relationship between the sounds of different languages,between the speech habits of English people and those,say,of your students.Unless the teacher has such a picture,any comments he may make on his students’ pronunciation are unlikely to be of much use,and lesson time spent on pronunciation may well be time wasted.

6.What does the writer actually say about pronouncing foreign languages?

[A].Only a few people are really proficient.

[B].No one is really an expert in the skill.

[C].There aren’t many people who are even fairly good.

[D].There are even some people who are moderately proficient.

7.The writer argues that going about the problem of pronunciation in the wrong way is

[A].an obvious cause of not grasping the problem correctly

[B].a fundamental consequence of not speaking well

[C].a consequence of not grasping the problem correctly

[D].not an obvious cause of speaking poorly

8.The best way of learning to speak a foreign language,he suggests,is by_______.

[A].picking it up naturally as a child

[B].learning from a native speaker

[C].not concentrating on pronunciation as such

[D].undertaking systematic work

9.The value the student puts on correct speech habits depends upon_______.

[A].how closely he attends to the matter

[B].whether it is English that is being taught

[C].his teacher’s approach to pronunciation

[D].the importance normally given to grammar and spelling

10.How might the teacher find himself wasting lesson time?

[A].By spending lesson time on pronunciation.

[B].By making ill-informed comments upon pronunciation.

[C].By not using books on phonetics in the classroom.

[D].By not giving students a clear mental picture of the difference between sounds.

　　答案: C C D C B

Passage 3

An industrial society,especially one as centralized and concentrated as that of Britain,is heavily dependant on certain essential services:for instance,electricity supply,water,rail and road transport,the harbors.The area of dependency has widened to include removing rubbish,hospital and ambulance services,and,as the economy develops,central computer and information services as well.If any of these services ceases to operate,the whole economic system is in danger.

It is this interdependency of the economic system that makes the power of trade unions such an important issue.Single trade unions have the ability to cut off many economic blood supplies.This can happen more easily in Britain than in some other countries,in part because the labor force is highly organized.About 55 per cent of British workers belong to unions,compared to under a quarter in the United States.For historical reasons,Britain’s unions have tended to develop along trade and occupational lines,rather than on an industry-by-industry basis,which makes wage policy,democracy in industry and the improvement of procedures for fixing wage levels difficult to achieve.

There are considerable strains and tensions in the trade union movement,some of them arising from their outdated and inefficient structure.Some unions have lost many members because of industrial changes.Others are involved in arguments about who should represent workers in new trades.Unions for skilled trades are separate from general unions,which means that different levels of wages for certain jobs are often a source of bad feeling between unions.In traditional trades which are being pushed out of existence by advancing technologies,unions can fight for their members’ disappearing jobs to the point where the jobs of other union’s members are threatened or destroyed.The printing of newspapers both in the United States and in Britain has frequently been halted by the efforts of printers to hold on to their traditional highly-paid jobs.

11.Why is the question of trade union power important in Britain?

[A].The economy is very much interdependent.

[B].Unions have been established a long time.

[C].There are more unions in Britain than elsewhere.

[D].There are many essential services.

12.Because of their out-of-date organization some unions find it difficult to______.

[A].change as industries change

[B].get new members to join them

[C].learn new technologies

[D].bargain for high enough wages

13.Disagreements arise between unions because some of them

[A].try to win over members of other unions

[B].ignore agreements

[C].protect their own members at the expense of others

[D].take over other union’s jobs

14.It is difficult to improve the procedures for fixing wage levels because______.

[A].some industries have no unions

[B].unions are not organized according to industries

[C].only 55 per cent of workers belong to unions

[D].some unions are too powerful

15.Which of the following is NOT TRUE?

[A].There are strains and tensions in the trade union movement.

[B].Some unions have lost many members.

[C].Some unions exist in the outdated structure.

[D].A higher percentage of American workers belong to unions than that of British workers.

答案: A A C B D