1996年1月大学英语六级真题

part i listening comprehension (20 minutes)
section a
directions: in this section, you will hear 10 short conversations. at the end of each conversation, a question will be asked about what was said. both the conversation and the question will be spoken only once. after each question there will be a pause. during the pause, you must read the four choices marked a),b),c) and d), and decide which is the best answer. then mark the corresponding letter on the answer sheet with a single line through the centre .

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section b
directions: in this section, you will hear 3 short passages. at the end of passage , you will hear some questions. both the passage and the questions will be spoken only once . after you hear question, you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked a), b), c) and d) . then mark the corresponding letter on the answer sheet with a single line through the centre .

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part ii reading comprehension (35 minutes)
direction : there are 4 reading passages in this part. each passage is following 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 and mark the corresponding letter on the answer sheet with a single line through the centre .

question 21 to 25 are based on the following passage:

material culture refers to the touchable, material "things"-physical objects that can be seen, held, felt, used-that a culture produces. examining a culture's tools and technology can tell us about the group's history and way of life. similarly, research into the material culture of music can help us to understand the music-culture. the most vivid body of "things" in it, of course, are musical instruments. we cannot hear for ourselves the actual sound of any musical performance before the 1870s when the phonograph was invented, so we rely on instruments for important information about music-cultures it the remote past and their development. here we have two kinds of evidence: instruments well preserved and instruments pictures in art. through the study of instruments, as well preserved paintings, written documents, and so on, we can explore the movement of music from the neat east to china over a thousand years ago, or we can outline the spread of near eastern influence to europe that results in the development of most of the instruments on the symphony orchestra.
sheet music or printed music, too is material culture. scholars once defined folk music-cultures as those in with people learn and sing music by ear rather than from print, but research show mutual influence among oral and written sources during the past few centuries in europe, britain, and america, printed versions limit variety because they tend to standardize any song, yet they stimulate people to create new and different songs. besides, the ability to read music notation has a far-reaching effect on musicians and, when it becomes widespread, on the music-culture as a whole.
one more important part of music's material culture should be singled out the influence of the electronic media-radio, record player, tape recorder, television, and videocassette, with the future promising talking and singing computers and other developments. this all part of the "information revolution," a twentieth century phenomenon as important as the industrial revolution was in the nineteenth. these electronic media are not just limited to modem nations; they have affected music-cultures all over the globe.

21. research into the material culture of a nation's of great importance ______.
a) it helps produce new cultural tools and technology
b) it can reflect the development of the nation
c) it helps understand the nation's fast and present
d) it can demonstrate the nation's civilization
22. it can be learned from this passage that ______.
a) the existence of the symphony was attributed to the spread of near eastern and chinese music
b) near eastern music had influence on the of the instruments in the symphony orchestra
c) the development of the symphony shows the mutual influence of eastern and western music
d) the musical instruments in the symphony basis of near eastern music
23. according to the author, music notation is important because______ .
a) it has a great effect on the music-culture as more and more people are able to read it
b) it tends to standard folk sings when it is used by folk musicians ______.
c) it is the printed version of standardized folk music
d) it encourages people to popularize printed versions of songs
24. it can be concluded from the passage that the introduction of electronic media into the world of music ______.
a) has brought about an information revolution
b) has speeded up the arrival of a new generation of computers
c) has given rise to new forms of music culture
d) has given to the transformation of traditional musical instruments
25 . which of the following best summarized the main idea of the passage?
a) musical instruments developed through the years will sooner later be replaced by computers.
b) cannot be passed on to future generation unless it is recorded.
c) folk songs cannot spread far unless they are printed on music sheets
d) the development of music culture is highly dependent or its material aspect

questions 26 to 30 are based on the following passage:
the question of whether war is inevitable is one which has concerned many of the world's great writers. before considering this question, it will useful to introduce some related concepts. conflict, defined as opposition among social entities directed against one another is distinguished from competition, defined as opposition among social entities independently striving for some thing which is in inadequate supply. competitors may not be aware of one another, while the parties to a conflict are. conflict and vice of one another.
opposition is thus contrasted with cooperation, the process by which social entities function in the service of one another. these definitions are necessary because it is important to emphasize that competition between individuals or groups is inevitable in a world of limited resources, but conflict is not. conflict, nevertheless, is very likely to occur, and is probably an essential and desirable element of human societies.
many authors have argued for the inevitability of war from the premise that in the struggle for existence among animal species, only the fittest survive. in general, however this struggle in nature s competition, not conflict. social animals, such as monkeys and cattle, fight to win or maintain leadership of the group. the struggle for existence occurs not in such fights but in the competition for limited feeding areas and for the occupancy of areas free from meet-eating animals. those who fail in competition starve to death or become victims to other species. this struggle for existence does not resemble human war, but rather the competition of individuals for jobs, markets, and materials. the essence of the struggle is the competition for the necessities of life that are insufficient to satisfy all.
among nations there is competition in developing resources trades, skills. and a satisfactory way of life. the successful nations grow and prosper; the unsuccessful decline while it is true that this competition may induce efforts to expand territory at the expense of others, and thus lead to conflict, it cannot be said that war-like conflict among nations is inevitable, although competition is.

26. in the first paragraph, the author gives the definitions of some term in order to _______.
a) argue for the similarities between and human societies
b) smooth out the conflicts in human societies
c) distinguish between two kinds of op