历年真题回顾：2013年12月英语六级真题及答案（一）_第5页

　　Passage Two

　　Questions 61 to 65 are based on the following passage.

　　Space exploration has always been the province of dreamers: The human imagination readily soars where human ingenuity (创造力)struggles to follow. A Voyage to the Moon,often cited as the first science fiction story, was written by Cyrano de Bergerac in 1649. Cyrano was dead and buried for a good three centuries before the first manned rockets started to fly.

　　In 1961, when President Kennedy declared that America would send a man to the moon by the decade’s end, those words, too, had a dreamlike quality. They resonated(共鸣) with optimism and ambition in much the same way as the most famous dream speech of all, delivered by Martin Luther King Jr. two years later. By the end of the decade, both visions had yielded concrete results and transformed American society. And yet in many ways the two dreams ended up at odds with each other. The fight for racial and economic equality is intensely pragmatic (讲求实用的) and immediate in its impact. The urge to explore space is just the opposite. It is figuratively and literally otherworldly in its aims.

　　When the dust settled, the space dreamers lost out. There was no grand follow-up to the Apollo missions. The technologically compromised space shuttle program has just come to an end, with no successor. The perpetual argument is that funds are tight, that we have more pressing problems here on Earth. Amid the current concerns about the federal deficit, reaching toward the stars seems a dispensable luxury—as if saving one-thousandth of a single year’s budget would solve our problems.

　　But human ingenuity struggles on. NASA is developing a series of robotic probes that will get the most bang from a buck. They will serve as modem Magellans, mapping out the solar system for whatever explorers follow, whether man or machine. On the flip side, companies like Virgin Ga­lactic are plotting a bottom-up assault on the space dream by making it a reality to the public. Private spaceflight could lie within reach of rich civilians in a few years. Another decade or two and it could go mainstream.

　　The space dreamers end up benefiting all of us—not just because of the way they expand human knowledge, or because of the spin-off technologies they produce, but because the two types of dreams feed off each other. Both Martin Luther King and John Kennedy appealed to the idea that humans can transcend what were once considered inherent limitations. Today we face seeming challenges in energy, the environment, health care. Tomorrow we will transcend these as well, and the dreamers will deserve a lot of the credit. The more evidence we collect that our species is capable of greatness, the more we will actually achieve it.

　　注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。

　　61. The author mentions Cyrano de Bergerac in order to show that_________.

　　A) imagination is the mother of invention

　　B) ingenuity is essential for science fiction writers

　　C) it takes patience for humans to realize their dreams

　　D) dreamers have always been interested in science fiction

　　62. How did the general public view Kennedy’s space exploration plan?

　　A) It symbolized the American spirit.

　　B) It was as urgent as racial equality.

　　C) It sounded very much like a dream.

　　D) It made an ancient dream come true.

　　63. What does the author say about America’s aim to explore space?

　　A) It may not bring about immediate economic gains.

　　B) It cannot be realized without technological innovation.

　　C) It will not help the realization of racial and economic equality.

　　D) It cannot be achieved without a good knowledge of the other worlds.

　　64. What is the author’s attitude toward space programs?

　　A) Critical. C) Unbiased.

　　B) Reserved. D) Supportive.

　　65. What does the author think of the problems facing human beings?

　　A) They pose a serious challenge to future human existence.

　　B) They can be solved sooner or later with human ingenuity.

　　C) Their solutions need joint efforts of the public and privatesectors.

　　D) They can only be solved by people with optimism andambition.

　　Part IV Translation(30 minutes)

　　Directions:For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to translate a passage from Chinese intoEnglish. You should write your answer on Answer Sheet 2.

　　中国园林(the Chinese garden)是经过三千多年演变而成的独具一格的园林景观(landscape)。它既包括为皇室成员享乐而建造的大型花园，也包括学者、商人和卸任的政府官员为摆脱嘈杂的外部世界而建造的私家花园。这些花园构成了一种意在表达人与自然之间应有的和稭关系的微缩景观。典型的中国园林四周有围墙，园内有池塘、假山(rockwork)、树木、花草以及各种各样由蜿蜒的小路和走廊连接的建筑。漫步在花园中，人们可以看到一系列精心设计的景观犹如山水画卷(scroll)一般展现在面前。

　　注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。

　　答案

　　1~5 CDADB 6~10 ABCAC 11~15 BDCBA 16~20 DDCBA 21~25 CADBB

　　26. Legislation 27. instruction 28. efficient 29. dropout 30. motivation

　　31. discipline 32. contend 33. in favor of 34. at their disposal 35. inferior to

　　36~40 HLIJA 41~45 FGNBK 46~50 GBAOF 51~55 JNMLE 56~60 BCADD

　　61~65 ACADB