2007年最新大学英语六级考试模拟测试二（王长喜版）

Section C (Compound Dictation)略

Questions 21 to 24 are based on the following passage:

Over 60 million persons in the United States own a credit card. For these millions of Americans a credit card is coined freedom. It has had effect of increasing consumption possibilities for households by allowing them to purchase thousands of dollars of merchandise, ranking from autos, clothing, to electrical appliances. The widespread use of credit card nowadays staggers the imagination to the point where one wonders whether the total amount of consumption spending each year would be the same if this plastic money were not around. Credit cards have also been of significant importance to the national economy. Businessmen have been encouraged to expand plant and equipment and hire additional personnel to meet the heavy demand for their products. The tendency of employment and income would rise significantly.

Unfortunately, the ease with which buyers can increase their purchase with credit cards have caused them to overlook the additional costs. Purchase on credit cards are postponed payments. Buy now，pay-later encourages buyers to use credit cards extensively. Since the buyer is in effect borrowing money for a special purpose, he must expect to pay an interest charge. Interest is the price of using money over a long period of time. A close analysis of the use for credit cards for heavy purchases will show that the buyer has added to the cost of making these purchases. It must also be kept in mind that unpaid monthly balances means added interest charges. Furthermore, the use of credit cards will add to the cost of the product since the shopkeeper does not receive the money at the time of the purchase. Shopkeepers might add on the cost of handing credit cards to the bill. One of the arguments against the use of credit cards has been that those who do pay cash at the time if purchase finance the use of a credit card by another person. This is so, the argument runs, because the price of a product will include the cost of another person's use of a credit card.

21. Which of the following is NOT true about credit cards?

A. It can encourage great sums of consumption.

B. Shopkeepers, among others, object to the use of credit cards because they add on the cost of the merchandise.

C. Credit card holders actually pay for their shopping goods after the purchase has been completed.

D. The national economy enjoys extensive growth because of the use of credit cards.

22. What is the main topic of the passage?

A. Advantages and disadvantages of credit cards.

B. Economic growth backed up by the use of credit cards.

C. Arguments against the use of credit cards.

D. Credit cards make life easier.

23. What does the word “stagger” in the first paragraph mean?

A. shock B. exceed C. create D. trigger

24. What are the arguments against the use of credit cards?

A. It may lead to the overgrowth of the national economy.

B. The delay in the payment of shopping goods may bring damage to shopkeepers' profits.

C. Some people may intentionally purchase goods that they cannot possibly afford.

D. Those who pay by cash at the purchase will have to pay for the cost added tot he product as the interest charge of credit cards.

Questions 25 to 30 are based on the following passage:

When nature is left alone, a balance is reached among the animals and plants living in one area. But when man interferes with nature, the balance is upset. He grows a crop and takes it away to eat; then there are no dead leaves to fall on the ground, holding water while it sinks into the surface, or decaying and adding humus (腐殖质) to the soil. Unless a farmer acts with knowledge and skill, he tends therefore to make the land poorer. To take the place of the organic matter in the crops that he removes, he uses some kind of fertilizer. Chemical fertilizers are very helpful, but the waste products of animals and the decaying remains of plants should also be put on the land. In some places it is a habit to burn waste material lying about, but such burning destroys the organic matter in the dead plants. Although the ashes that are left are valuable when put on the land, a better practice is to bury the waste, so that it decays and increases the humus in the soil.

In the past when the world population was much lower than it is now, a man had little difficulty in ordinary times in growing the food that was needed. When a field had been cultivated for some years and had become tired, the farmer could move to another place. The tired land then slowly recovered. Gradually grasses and other plants would appear on it and its productive power would be slowly restored by their decay. But nature, left alone, would take a long time to bring back the land to its former state; the length of time required would depend on local conditions, but it might well be ten years.

It is a bad practice to grow the same crop in a field year after year. If the crop is changed, the land will suffer less because it is treated and used in different ways—different plants affect the soil differently. Consequently a change of crop will do less harm than the growing of the same crop year after year and a periodical change to grass will benefit the soil. Much will therefore be gained if different crops are grown one after the other, a method known as the rotation of crops.

25. The author points out that to keep the balance of nature it is best to _____ .

A. leave the waste products of animals and the decaying remains of plants on the land

B. bury the burning wastes of plants to increase the humus in the soil

C. use chemical fertilizers to make up for the organisms removed from the soil by harvesting

D. keep population growth under control

26. What is implied in the passage?

A. It takes ten years for the tired land to restore to its formal state if it is left alone.

B. The productive power of land is enhanced by the decays of grass and weeds.

C. If the same crop is grown year after year it will eventually deplete the humus in the soil.

D. Even a farmer with knowledge and skill could sometimes make the land poorer by his practice.

27. It is implied that a farmer cannot move to another place to allow the tired land to recover because _____.

A. it takes ten years for him to cultivate a new field

B. he has to remove all the weeds and grass in the field

C. there is very little uncultivated field left due to the population explosion

D. the new field may not be as productive as the old one

28. It can be inferred that the tired land cannot be fully recovered until ____.

A. decayed matter of grass and other plants has appeared again

B. a new kind of crop has been introduced

C. the land has been lying idle for ten years

D. a more experienced and skillful farmer takes it over

29. In the following text the author will most probably go on to _____.

A. introduce another way of bringing the tired land to its formal state

B. comment on the benefits of leaving nature alone

C. comment on the benefits of rotation of crops

D. explain what rotation of crops is

30. Whom is the passage most probably addressed to?

A. high-school students learning the word humus

B. a group of experienced farmers

C. college students learning about agriculture

D. experts on demography (人口学)