2011年6月大学英语六级考试阅读真题及答案

　　Section B

　　Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. 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 Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.

　　Passage One

　　Questions 52 to 56 are based on the following passage.

　　At the heart of the debate over illegal immigration lies one key question: are immigrants good or bad for the economy? The American public overwhelmingly thinks they're bad. Yet the consensus among most economists is that immigration, both legal and illegal, provides a small net boost to the economy. Immigrants provide cheap labor, lower the prices of everything from farm produce to new homes, and leave consumers with a little more money in their pockets. So why is there such a discrepancy between the perception of immigrants' impact on the economy and the reality?

　　There are a number of familiar theories. Some argue that people are anxious and feel threatened by an inflow of new workers. Others highlight the strain that undocumented immigrants place on public services, like schools, hospitals, and jails. Still others emphasize the role of race, arguing that foreigners add to the nation's fears and insecurities. There's some truth to all these explanations, but they aren't quite sufficient.

　　To get a better understanding of what's going on, consider the way immigration's impact is felt. Though its overall effect may be positive, its costs and benefits are distributed unevenly. David Card, an economist at UC Berkeley, notes that the ones who profit most directly from immigrants' low-cost labor are businesses and employers – meatpacking plants in Nebraska, for instance, or agricultural businesses in California. Granted, these producers' savings probably translate into lower prices at the grocery store, but how many consumers make that mental connection at the checkout counter? As for the drawbacks of illegal immigration, these, too, are concentrated. Native low-skilled workers suffer most from the competition of foreign labor. According to a study by George Borjas, a Harvard economist, immigration reduced the wages of American high-school dropouts by 9% between 1980-2000.

　　Among high-skilled, better-educated employees, however, opposition was strongest in states with both high numbers of immigrants and relatively generous social services. What worried them most, in other words, was the fiscal (财政的)burden of immigration. That conclusion was reinforced by another finding: that their opposition appeared to soften when that fiscal burden decreased, as occurred with welfare reform in the 1990s, which curbed immigrants' access to certain benefits.

　　The irony is that for all the overexcited debate, the net effect of immigration is minimal. Even for those most acutely affected – say, low-skilled workers, or California residents – the impact isn't all that dramatic. "The unpleasant voices have tended to dominate our perceptions," says Daniel Tichenor, a political science professor at the University of Oregon. "But when all those factors are put together and the economists calculate the numbers, it ends up being a net positive, but a small one." Too bad most people don't realize it.

　　注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。

　　52. What can we learn from the first paragraph?

　　A) Whether immigrants are good or bad for the economy has been puzzling economists.

　　B) The American economy used to thrive on immigration but now it's a different story.

　　C) The consensus among economists is that immigration should not be encouraged.

　　D) The general public thinks differently from most economists on the impact of immigration.

　　53. In what way does the author think ordinary Americans benefit from immigration?

　　A) They can access all kinds of public services.

　　B) They can get consumer goods at lower prices.

　　C) They can mix with people of different cultures.

　　D) They can avoid doing much of the manual labor.

　　54. Why do native low-skilled workers suffer most from illegal immigration?

　　A) They have greater difficulty getting welfare support.

　　B) They are more likely to encounter interracial conflicts.

　　C) They have a harder time getting a job with decent pay.

　　D) They are no match for illegal immigrants in labor skills.

　　55. What is the chief concern of native high-skilled, better-educated employees about the inflow of immigrants?

　　A) It may change the existing social structure.

　　B) It may pose a threat to their economic status.

　　C) It may lead to social instability in the country.

　　D) It may place a great strain on the state budget.

　　56. What is the irony about the debate over immigration?

　　A) Even economists can't reach a consensus about its impact.

　　B) Those who are opposed to it turn out to benefit most from it.

　　C) People are making too big a fuss about something of small impact.

　　D) There is no essential difference between seemingly opposite opinions.

　　Passage Two

　　Questions 57 to 61 are based on the following passage.

　　Picture a typical MBA lecture theatre twenty years ago. In it the majority of students will have conformed to the standard model of the time: male, middle class and Western. Walk into a class today, however, and you'll get a completely different impression. For a start, you will now see plenty more women – the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, for example, boasts that 40% of its new enrolment is female. You will also see a wide range of ethnic groups and nationals of practically every country.

　　It might be tempting, therefore, to think that the old barriers have been broken down and equal opportunity achieved. But, increasingly, this apparent diversity is becoming a mask for a new type of conformity. Behind the differences in sex, skin tones and mother tongues, there are common attitudes, expectations and ambitions which risk creating a set of clones among the business leaders of the future.

　　Diversity, it seems, has not helped to address fundamental weaknesses in business leadership. So what can be done to create more effective managers of the commercial world? According to Valerie Gauthier, associate dean at HEC Paris, the key lies in the process by which MBA programmes recruit their students. At the moment candidates are selected on a fairly narrow set of criteria such as prior academic and career performance, and analytical and problem solving abilities. This is then coupled to a school's picture of what a diverse class should look like, with the result that passport, ethnic origin and sex can all become influencing factors. But schools rarely dig down to find out what really makes an applicant succeed, to create a class which also contains diversity of attitude and approach – arguably the only diversity that, in a business context, really matters.

　　Professor Gauthier believes schools should not just be selecting candidates from traditional sectors such as banking, consultancy and industry. They should also be seeking individuals who have backgrounds in areas such as political science, the creative arts, history or philosophy, which will allow them to put business decisions into a wider context.

　　Indeed, there does seem to be a demand for the more rounded leaders such diversity might create. A study by Mannaz, a leadership development company, suggests that, while the bully-boy chief executive of old may not have been eradicated completely, there is a definite shift in emphasis towards less tough styles of management – at least in America and Europe. Perhaps most significant, according to Mannaz, is the increasing interest large companies have in more collaborative management models, such as those prevalent in Scandinavia, which seek to integrate the hard and soft aspects of leadership and encourage delegated responsibility and accountability.

　　注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。

　　57. What characterises the business school student population of today?

　　A) Greater diversity.

　　B) Intellectual maturity.

　　C) Exceptional diligence.

　　D) Higher ambition.

　　58. What is the author's concern about current business school education?

　　A) It will arouse students' unrealistic expectations.

　　B) It will produce business leaders of a uniform style.

　　C) It focuses on theory rather than on practical skills.

　　D) It stresses competition rather than cooperation.

　　59. What aspect of diversity does Valerie Gauthier think is most important?

　　A) Age and educational background.

　　B) Social and professional experience.

　　C) Attitude and approach to business.

　　D) Ethnic origin and gender.

　　60. What applicants does the author think MBA programmes should consider recruiting?

　　A) Applicants with prior experience in business companies.

　　B) Applicants with sound knowledge in math and statistics.

　　C) Applicants from outside the traditional sectors.

　　D) Applicants from less developed regions and areas.

　　61. What does Mannaz say about the current management style?

　　A) It is eradicating the tough aspects of management.

　　B) It encourages male and female executives to work side by side.

　　C) It adopts the bully-boy chief executive model.

　　D) It is shifting towards more collaborative models.

　　参考答案

　　SECTION B

　　PASSAGE 1

　　52. What can we learn from the first paragraph?

　　D) The general public thinks differently from most economists on the impact of immigration.

　　53. In what way does the author think ordinary Americans benefits from immigration?

　　B) They can get consumer goods at lower prices.

　　54. Why do native low-skilled workers suffer most from illegal immigration?

　　C) They have a harder time getting a job with decent pay.

　　55. What is the chief concern of native high-skilled, better-educated employees about the inflow of immigrants?

　　D) It may place great strain on the state budget.

　　56. What is the irony about the debate over immigration?

　　C) People are making too big a fuss about something of small impact.

　　PASSAGE 2

　　57. What characterizes the business school student population of today?

　　A) Greater diversity.

　　58. What is the author's concern about current business school education?

　　B) It will produce business leaders of a uniform style.

　　59. What aspect of diversity does Valerie Gauthier think is most important?

　　C) Attitude and approach to business.

　　60. What applicants does the author think MBA programmes should consider recruiting?

　　C) Applicants from outside the traditional sectors.

　　61. What does Mannaz say about the current management style?

　　D) It is shifting towards more collaborative models.