07年6月英语六级考试模拟试卷（九）

Part ⅡReading Comprehension (35 minutes)

　　Directions: There are 4 passages in this part. 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 the Answer Sheet with a single line through the centre.

　　Passage One

　　Questions 21 to 25 are based on the following passage.

　　In a few weeks, high school students face the prospect of taking the much-publicized new SAT Reasoning Test, which for the first time will require them to write a timed essay. Yet colleges continue to send confusing signals about whether students applying in the fall to attend college must take the new exam.

　　Some schools, including Harvard, say they will accept scores from either the new test or the old SAT I, which was administered for the last time in January and did not contain a writing section. The University of Central Florida, for example, will require the new test, which will be given for the first time on March 12. Still others, such as the University of Virginia, strongly recommend that prospective applicants take the new test but under some circumstances also will accept the old SAT. A number of colleges are delaying a decision. The College Board, which administers the SAT, surveyed more than 1,900 four-year schools and has heard back from slightly more than 500. Of those, 81% say they will require the new test, including schools such as Harvard that are giving students a choice in what will be a year of transition.

　　"Anything new goes through a special lens of evaluation," says Lee Stetson, admissions dean at the University of Pennsylvania, which judiciously will use results from the new writing section until officials have a chance to study the revised SAT's predictive validity.

　　A number of admissions deans are skeptical that the new exam will be an improvement. Charles Deacon, dean of undergraduate admissions at Georgetown University, says adding the essay "will create more barriers to poor kids who are less well-prepared". The test was rushed to market because the University of California system, a major College Board customer, threatened to stop requiring the SAT, he says. The test "was developed and marketed for all the wrong reasons". Deacon, who says he has been "badgered" by the College Board to endorse the new exam, has refused to do so.

　　Some schools, including Georgetown, Iowa's Grinnell College and Pennsylvania's Franklin and Marshall College, say that at least for now, they will not even look at scores from the writing section when making admission decisions. "We have adopted a wait-and-see attitude," says Dennis Trotter of Franklin and Marshall.

　　College Board officials counter that based on extensive field tests, they are confident the test is as reliable a predictor of freshman-year performance as the old SAT. Moreover, they say, well-trained scorers, many of them high school English teachers, will grade the essays, which student have 25 minutes to write.

　　Amidst all the confusion, what should students do? Admissions deans and school counselors say to be sure to check with each college for requirements.

　　21. If a student took the SAT in October last year, he has to take another test if he applies for .

　　A) University of Virginia B) Georgetown University

　　C) the University of Central Florida D) Harvard University

　　22. What does the article tell us about Harvard University?

　　A) It will only accept the new SAT this fall.

　　B) It has not made a decision on whether to accept the old SAT this fall.

　　C) It will require scores from the writing section this fall.

　　D) It will ask all applicants to take the new test a year later.

　　23. An important reason for negative attitudes towards the new writing examination is that .

　　A) the examination will add to the difficulty for those students from financially underprivileged families

　　B) the examination was marketed much too quickly without careful consideration

　　C) the examination will cause short-term confusion and lead to no long-term benefits

　　D) the examination was a product of the College Board and various universities

　　24. According to the author, what should students do at the moment?

　　A) Students should make clear which test is acceptable.

　　B) Students should contact the university for the arrangement of the test.

　　C) Students should ask the College Board for the latest information about the program.

　　D) Students should get prepared for the new examination in less that a year.

　　25. What can we infer from the passage about the test?

　　A) Students who have taken the old test are strongly advised not to take the new test.

　　B) As compared with the old test, the new one requires the student to write an essay in a shorter period of time.

　　C) The College Board has decided to invite university teachers to grade the essays.

　　D) The College Board has appealed to many universities to support the new examination.

　　Passage Two

　　Questions 26 to 30 are based on the following passage.

　　Would George W. Bush have been reelected president if the public understood how much responsibility his administration bears for allowing the 9/11 attacks to succeed?

　　The answer is unknowable and, at this date, meaningless. Yet it was appalling to learn that the White House suppressed until after the election a report that exposes the administration as woefully incompetent if not criminally negligent. Belatedly declassified excerpts from the 9/11 commission report, which focus on the failure of the Federal Aviation Administration to heed multiple warnings that Al Qaeda (基地组织) terrorists were planning to hijack planes as suicide weapons, make clear that this tragedy could have been avoided.

　　For the last three years, administration apologists have tried to make the FAA the scapegoat for the 9/11 attacks. But it is the president who ultimately is responsible for national security.

　　The terrible fact is that the administration took none of the steps that would have put the protection of human life ahead of a diverse set of economic and political interests, which included not offending our friends the Saudis and not hurting the share prices of airline corporations.

　　The warnings provided by intelligence agencies to the FAA were far clearer and more specific than suggested by Condoleezza Rice's testimony before the 9/11 commission when she reluctantly conceded the existence of a presidential briefing that warned of impending Al Qaeda attacks.

　　Given this shocking record of indifference on the part of the administration, it is politically understandable that it tried to prevent the formation of the 9/11 commission in the first place, and then for five months prevented the declassification of key sections of the final report.

　　Had the business-friendly administration put safety first, nearly 3,000 people might not have died that day. And had the president of the United States taken some time from his ranch vacation that August to order a nationwide airport alert, two bloody wars abroad probably would not have happened.

　　Instead, an administration that resisted spending the tens of millions required to fortify airline security before 9/11 is nearing the $300-billion mark on Afghanistan and Iraq. And declassified documents have unmistakably said the latter had nothing to do with 9/11, while those countries that at least indirectly did have been let off the hook.

　　Indeed, the 9/11 commission was not allowed to get near that story: The basic narrative on the tragedy derives from the interrogations of key detainees whom the 9/11 commissioners were not allowed to interview. Nor were they permitted to even take testimony from the U.S. intelligence personnel who interrogated those prisoners.

　　As a result, the public is simply incapable of making informed decisions on the most crucial decisions we face-starting with whom we elect as our commander in chief.

　　26. According to the author, who should shoulder the major responsibility for allowing the 9/11 tragedy to happen?

　　A) Saddam Hussein. B) FAA.

　　C) George W. Bush. D) Condoleezza Rice.

　　27. What does the word "declassify" (Line 3, Para. 2) most probably mean?

　　A) To hide the important details of B) To report or represent in a untrue way

　　C) To form a large group D) To become no longer secret

　　28. What do we learn from the passage about Afghanistan and Iraq?

　　A) Al Qaeda terriorists had gained support from at least one of the governments.

　　B) 9/11 was the chief reason for the Bush government to initiate both wars.

　　C) The two wars had already cost the Americans tens of millions of dollars.

　　D) These two countries should be held responsible for 9/11.

　　29. What can we infer from the passage?

　　A) The Federal Aviation Administration was not to blame in this tragedy.

　　B) Consideration of economic interests had hindered life protection.

　　C) The Bush government had paid such a high price for poor information collection.

　　D) Some government officials had been bribed by Al Qaeda terrorists.

　　30. What is the author's opinion towards President Bush?

　　A) He had been intentionally misleading as to the reasons of initiating the two wars.

　　B) He had been late in preventing the attacks because of a personal vocation.

　　C) He had done everything to help the 9/11 commission do a better job.

　　D) He will have probably failed to be reelected if the public had been well informed