2021年12月~六级听力~第一套

2021年12月英语六级考试听力原文（第1套）

Listening Comprehension

Section A

Conversation 1

W: Hi, David, Ihaven't seen you in class for almost two weeks. We thought you had disappearedon holiday early or something.

M: Hi Sarah. Well,it's a bit of a long story, I'm afraid. I got a throat infection last week andhad to go to the hospital to get some antibiotics as I really wasn't gettingany better.

W:Oh, yeah.There' ve been so many viruses going around this winter. The weather has beenso awful for the last few weeks.

M: And, on theway back from the hospital, I slipped on some ice and fell and then had to goto the hospital to get an x-ray because I basically thought I'd broken mywrist. Although thankfully it's not broken. But I need to be careful with itfor the next few weeks.

W: Oh, that'stoo bad. How unfortunate.

M: To makethings worse, I managed to fall right in front of four girls from the ninthgrade. So, it was utterly humiliated. Plus, the laptop in my bag was brokentoo.

W: No! What acomplete catastrophe! Is the laptop's still under warranty? If it is, then youcan easily send it back to the manufacturer and they'll send you a brand newone for free, surely.

M: The warrantyran out three days before I broke it. And all my essays are in there and I needto have them in before we break for the Christmas holidays.

W:Listen, I havethe number of a really good affordable computer repair shop at home. My dad hasused this guy before and he can work miracles. Let's go back to my house and wecan call the repair shop, and you could have some tea and cookies too.

M: Wow. Thanks,Sarah. That would be great. Let me just call my mom and let her know I be homea little bit later.

Q1:What did Sarathink David was doing for the last two weeks?

Q2: Whathappened to David on his way back from the hospital?

Q3: What doesSarah say they should do with the damaged computer?

Q4: What doesSarah say she is going to do?

Conversation 2

M: Welcome tothis week's episode of Book Talk. With me today is Heidi Brown, a historian whohas written five critically acclaimed books about military history.

W: Thanks forhaving me, John. I'm so excited to talk about my latest book, which waspublished last month.

M: So this bookis a novel, your first attempt at that genre. And that's a bit of a departurefor you.

W: I'd say it'sa major departure as it's not just a work of fiction, it's set 200 years in thefuture.

M: Right. So howdid that happen? You spent three decades writing about the past and focusing onthe 18th and 19th centuries. And now you're speculating about the future.

W: Well, afteryears of researching soldiers and chronicling their lives during battle, I juststarted wondering about other facets of their lives, especially their personallives.

M: I can seethat. Your novel is about soldiers, but it focuses on their relationships,especially the bonds between sons and mothers, and men and their wives.

W: Yes. Thatfocus came about when I still intended to write another book of history,Istarted by researching soldier's actual personal lives, studying their lettershome.

M: So how didthat history book become a novel?

W: Well, Irealized that the historical record was incomplete. So I'd either have to leavea lot of gaps or make a lot more assumptions than a historian should.

M: But why writea novel set in the future, when your credentials are perfect for a historicalnovel? As a historian, any historical novel you write would have a lot ofcredibility.

W:I felt tooconstrained working with the past. Like what I wrote needed to be fact asopposed to fiction. But writing about the future gave me more freedom toimagine, to invent.

M: Well, havingread your book, I'm glad you made that choice to move into fiction.

Q5:What does theman say about the woman?

Q6: What doesthe woman say about her newly published book?

Q7:What did thewoman do before writing her new book?

Q8: What doesthe woman say about her writing history books?

Section B

Passage 1

Whether it's inthe hands of animated polar bears or Santa Claus, there's one thing you'll findin nearly all ads for Coca-Cola, the characteristic glass bottle. MostAmericans don't drink soda out of the glass bottles seen in Coke's ads anymore.But this week,the company is celebrating a century of the bottle that's beensold in more than 200 countries. Flashback to 1915, when a bottle of Coca-Colacosts just a nickel as the soft drink gained in popularity, it faced a growingnumber of competitors, counterfeits,even trying to copy Coke's logo.Soaccording to Coca-Cola historian, Ted Ryan, the company decided to come up withpackaging that couldn't be duplicated. A product request was sent to eightdifferent glass makers. Workers at the root glass company got the request andbegan flipping through the encyclopedia at the local library, Landy gone cocoa'sseed.

The cocoa's seedis not an ingredient of the soda. They designed their bottle based on the seedsthat shape and large middle. It wasn't overcoat executive's in Atlanta andwould go on to receive its own trademark spur collections and earn Coca-Cola aniconic image that made it part of American culture for a century.

It was 100 yearsago this week that the bottle earned a package by world war Ⅱ, Coke bottle sales had balloonedinto billions. Americans mostly consumed Coke out of aluminum or plastic today,but the glass bottle remains a symbol of America that's readily recognizedaround the world.

Q9. What doesthe passage say appears in almost all ads for Coca-Cola.

Q10.Why did theCoca-Cola company decide to have special packaging designed? Q11. What do theylearn about the Coca-Cola bottle designed by the root glass company?

Passage 2

Trying to createsome measurable improvement in mood. But most of us are reluctant to startthese conversations because we presume the opposite. In an experiment,commuters who talk to nearby strangers found that commute more enjoyable thanthose who didn't. They were asked to predict whether they'd enjoy the commutemore if they converse with other people. Intriguingly, most expect the moresolitary experience to be more pleasurable. Why is this? Social anxiety appearsto be the problem. People's reluctance to start conversations with nearbystrangers comes partly from underestimating others' interest in connecting.

The sad thing isthat people presume that a nearby stranger doesn't want to converse and don'tstart a conversation. Only those who force themselves to chat because it wasrequired by the experiment found out what a pleasant experience it could be.Human beings are social animals. Those who misunderstand the impact of socialinteractions may not, in some context, be social enough for their own wellbeing.You should be chatting with the strangers you encounter. You mayoccasionally have a negative encounter that might stick in your memory. This isbecause the human brain is biased to dwell on negative events. But startingconversations with strangers is still well worth the risk of rejection.

It may surpriseyou that conversing with strangers will make them happier too. The pleasure ofconnection seems contagious. People who I talk to have equally positiveexperiences as those who initiate a conversation.

Q12:What doesresearch show about a conversation between strangers?

Q13: Whatprevents people from starting a conversation with strangers?

Q14: Why does a negativeencounter with strangers stick in one's memory?

Q15: What doesthe passage say the pleasure of connection seems to be?

Lecture 1

The Caribbeanislands are divided into two worlds, a rich one, and a poor one. This tropicalregion's economy is based mainly on farming. Farmers are of two types. One isthe plantation owner who may have hundreds of thousands of acres. In contrast,this small cultivator is working only a few acres of land.

Most visitors tothe Caribbean are rich. Like the plantation owner. They do not realize or donot want to realize that many farm families barely managed to get by on whatthey grow. The Caribbean produces many things. Sugar is the main product. Otherexport crops are tobacco coffee, bananas, spices, and citrus fruits, such asorange lemon or grapefruit.

From the westIndies also come oil, mineral pitch, and many forest products. Jamaica'saluminum or supplies are the world's largest. Oil comes from Trinidad, Arubaand Carolco, but for many of the smaller islands, sugar is the only export. Rum,a strong alcoholic. We just distilled from sugar cane is also an export.

The world's bestrum comes from this area. Local kinds vary from the light rums of Puerto Ricoto the heavier, darker rums of Barbados and Jamaica. American tourists enjoystocking up on inexpensive high-quality Caribbean rum while they're onvacation. In correct. the well-known vicar of that name is made for the thick,outer skin of a native orange ever since America's colonial days, the Caribbeanislands have been favorite places to visit.

Since world warll, tourism has increased rapidly because great numbers of people go there. TheIslanders have built elaborate resorts, developed harbors and airfields,improved beaches and have expanded sea and air routes. Everything is at theresort, hotel, beach, shopping and recreation, the vacationer never has anyreason to explore the island.

As in mostplaces, those who have money live well, indeed, those who don't have money liveat various levels of poverty, but here the poor greatly outnumber the wealthy. Avisitor will find rich people living in apartments or Spanish houses at theseaside or in the countryside. Their service might include a cook, a maid and anurse for the children.

Most of thepeople live well below the poverty level. In towns, they live crowded togetherin tiny houses. Islanders make the best they can of what they have. Their homesare quite Chevy. Sadly, most tourists never see this side of the Caribbean.

Q16:What doesthe speaker say about the economy of the Caribbean islands?

Q17:What is themain product of the Caribbean islands?

Q18:What do welearn about the majority of people in the Caribbean islands?

Lecture 2

Talk to anyonewho is a generation or too older, and they would most likely comment thatchildren are most spoiled these days, no one wants to have, or be arounddemanding, selfish and spoiled children. Those who get bad temper will silentlybrood when they're not given everything they want immediately.

Paradoxically,the parents of such children courage this demanding behavior in the mistakenbelief that by giving that children everything they can, that children will behappy.in the short term perhaps they are right. But in the longer term, suchchildren end up lonely dependent, chronically dissatisfied and resentful of theparents who tried so hard to please them.

Undoubtedly,parents want to raise happy children who are confident, capable, and likablerather than spoiled and miserable.(20) One factor hindering this is thatparents can't, or don't spend enough quality time with their kids andsubstitute. this deficit with Loinbo toys, games, gadgets, and the like. Ratherthan getting material things, children need parents devoted attention.

The quantity oftime spent together is less important than the content of that time. Instead ofinstantly satisfying their wishes, parents should help them work out a plan toearn things they'd like to have. This teaches them to value the effort as wellas what it achieves, allow them to enjoy anticipation.

Numerouspsychological studies have demonstrated that children who learn to wait forthings they desire are more likely to succeed in a number of ways later inlife.

One famousexperiment in the 1960s, involved 3 to 6 year old children. They were given achoice between receiving a small reward, such as a cookie immediately. Or ifthey waited 15 minutes, they could have two.

Follow-upstudies have found that those who chose to delay satisfaction are now moreacademically successful, have greater self worth, and even tend to behealthier. If they failed, children should be encouraged to keep trying, ratherthan to give up, if they really want the desired result. This teaches them howto handle and recover from disappointment, which is associated with greatersuccess and satisfaction academically, financially, and in personalrelationships. And lastly, parents should encourage their children to look atlife from other points of view, as well as their own.

This teachesthem to be understanding of and sympathetic towards others.

Qualities?shorter? take them a long way in life.

Q19: What willhappen to children if they always get immediate satisfaction?

Q20: What mayprevent parents from raising confident and capable children?

Q21: Why shouldchildren be encouraged to keep trying when they fail?

Lecture 3

It's not hard tomess up an interview. Most people feel nervous sittig across from a hiringmanager, answering questions that effectively opened themselves up forjudgement. And your chances of being more carefully considered for the job canquickly go downhill just by saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. The mostobvious thing not to do is complain. Employers want to hire positive people.Talking about a previous job negatively raises concerns that you might bedifficult to manage, or you might be someone that blames management for yourown poor performance. Don't say that you've moved around in jobs because youhaven't found the right fit or feel that you were not challenged enough.Statements like these will make you sound aimless and lost. And interviewer maywell think why would this role be any different for you. You will probablyleave here in six months. It also begs the question of what type ofrelationship you had with your manager. It doesn't sound like you had opencommunication with him or her. Managers usually love people who canself-sustain and enable growth through taking initiative, who are strong atfollowing through their work and who bring ideas and solutions to the table. Ifyou were in a management or leadership position when discussing your currentrole, never take all the credit for accomplishments or achievements. Emphasizeyour team and how through their talents your vision was realized. Mostsuccessful leaders know that they are only as good as their team. Andacknowledging this in an interview will go a long way towards suggesting thatyou might be the right person for the position you are applying for. Lastly,have a good idea of what your role is. And try and convey the idea that you'reflexible. Asking what your role will be suggest you will limit yourself purelyto what is expected of you. In reality, your role is whatever you make of it.This is especially true in small companies, where the ability to adapt and takeon new responsibilities is highly valued. And this is equally important, ifyou're just starting out. Entry level interviewees would do well to demonstratea broad set of skill in most interviews. It's important to have a wide skillset, as many startups and small companies are moving really fast. Employers arelooking for candidates that are intelligent and can quickly adapt and excel ina growing company.

Q22: What doesthe speaker say can easily prevent an interviewee from getting a job?

Q23: What shouldthe interviewee avoid doing in an interview?

Q24: What kindof employees do companies like to recruit?

Q25: What isespecially important for those working in a small company?