07年6月英语六级考试模拟试卷(八)

Passage three
　　The Internet, E-commerce and globalization are making a new economic era possible. By the middle of the 21st century, capitalist markets will largely be replaced by a new kind of economic system based on networked relationships, contractual arrangements and access rights.
　　Has the quality of our lives at work, at home and in our communities increased in direct proportion to all the new Internet and business-to-business Internet services being introduced into our lives? I have asked this question of hundreds of CEOS and corporate executives in Europe and the United States. Surprisingly, virtually everyone has said, “ No ,quite contrary.”
The very people responsible for ushering（展示）in what some have called a “technological renaissance” say they are working longer hours, feel more stressed, are more impatient, and are even less civil in their dealings with colleagues and friends---not to mention strangers. And what’s more revealing, they place much of the blame on the very same technologies they are so aggressively championing.
　　The techno gurus(领袖) promised us that access would make life more convenient and give us more time. Instead, the very technological wonders that were supposed to liberate us have begun to enslave us in a web of connections from which there seems to be no easy escape.
　　If an earlier generation was preoccupied with the quest to enclose a vast geographic frontier, the .com generation, it seems, is more caught up in the colonization of time. Every spare moment of our time is being filled with some form of commercial connection, making time itself the most scarce of all resources. Our e-mail, voice mail and cell phones, our 24-hour Internet news and entertainment all holler(唤起) for our attention
　　And while we have created every kind of labor-and time-saving device to service our needs, we are beginning to feel like we have less time available to us than any other humans in history. That is because the great proliferation of labor-and-time-saving services only increases the diversity, pace and flow of commodified (商业化的) activity around us. For example, e-mail is a great convenience. However, we now find ourselves spending much of our day frantically responding to each other’s electronic messages. The cell phone is a great time-saver. Except now we are always potentially in reach of someone else who wants our attention.
　　Social conservatives talk about the decline in civility and blame it on the loss of a moral compass and religious values .Has anyone bothered to ask whether the hyperspeed culture is making all of us less patient and less willing to listen and defer, consider and reflect?
　　Maybe we need to ask what kinds of connections really count and what types of access really matter in the e-economy era. If this new technology revolution is only about hyperefficiency, then we risk losing something even precious than time -----our sense of what it means to be a caring human being.
　　31. The author suggests that the most resource in today’s society is .
　　A technology B economic assets C access to information D time
　　32.We learn from this passage that many executives feel that
　　A technological advances are essential to today’s economic system
　　B technology has actually led to decline in their quality of life
　　C longer hours are making their workers more impatient and uncivil
　　D technology can be blamed for many of today’s social problems
　　33.The phrase “the colonization of time” (line 2,para.4) refers to .
　　A the filling of every moment of time with commercial transactions
　　B the quest for efficiency in the workplace
　　C the growing use of electronic mail and other time-saving services
　　D the impact of technology on our sense of time
　　34. In the fifth paragraph the author suggests that .
　　A new technologies may make people more impatient
　　B social conservatives do not understand the importance of technology
　　C the speed of modern culture may impact our moral and religious values.
　　D people in the technology sector are less civil than those in other fields
　　35. The best title for the passage could be .
　　A The future of the technological Renaissance
　　B Even Corporate Executives Get the Blues
　　C The New Internet Economy
　　D The Disadvantages of Too much Access
Passage four
　　According to sociologists, there are several different ways in which a person may become recognized as the leader of a social group. In the family, traditional cultural patterns confer leadership on one or both of the parents. In other cases, such as friendship groups, one or more persons may gradually emerge as leaders, although there is no formal process of selection. In larger groups, leaders are usually chosen formally through election or recruitment.

　　Although leaders are often thought to be people with unusual personal ability, decades of research have failed to produce consistent evidence that there is any category of “natural leaders”. It seems that there is no set of personal qualities that all leaders have in common; rather, virtually any person may be recognized as a leader if the person has qualities that meet the needs of that particular group.
　　Research suggests that there are typically two different leadership roles that are held by different individuals. Instrumental leadership is leadership that emphasizes the completion of tasks by a social group. Group members look to instrumental leaders to “get things done.” Expressive leadership, on the other hand, is leadership that emphasizes the collective well-beings of a social group’s members. Expressive leaders are less concerned with the overall goals of the group than with providing emotional support to group members and attempting to minimize tension and conflict among them.
　　Instrumental leaders are likely to have a rather secondary relationship to other group members. They give others and may discipline group members who inhibit the attainment of the group’s goals. Expressive leaders cultivate a more personal or primary relationship to others in the group. They offer sympathy when someone experiences difficulties and try to resolve issues that threaten to divide the group. As the difference in these two roles suggest, expressive leaders generally receive more personal affection from group members; instrumental leaders, if they are successful in promoting group goals, may enjoy a more distant respect.
　　36. What does the passage mainly discuss?
　　A The problems faced by leaders.
　　B How leadership differs in small and large groups.
　　C How social groups determine who will lead them.
　　D The role of leaders in social groups.
　　37. The passage mentions all of the following ways by which people can become leaders EXCEPT
　　A recruitment
　　B formal election process
　　C specific leadership training
　　D traditional cultural patterns
　　38. Which of the following statements about leadership can be inferred from paragraph 2?
　　A A person who is an effective leader of a particular group may not be an effective leader in another group
　　B Few people succeed in sharing a leadership role with another person
　　C A person can best learn how to be an effective leader by studying research on leadership.
　　D Most people desire to be leaders but can produce little evidence of their qualifications.
　　39. In mentioning “natural leaders” in line 8, the author is making the point that
　　A few people qualify as “natural leaders”.
　　B there is no proof that “natural leaders” exist.
　　C “natural leaders” are easily accepted by the members of a group.
　　D “natural leaders” share a similar set of characteristics
　　40. The passage indicates that instrumental leaders generally focus on
　　A ensuring harmonious relationships.
　　B sharing responsibility with group members.
　　C identifying new leaders.
　　D achieving a goal.