2018年12月英语六级听力试题解析-第一套

　　Passage 2

　　Q12: A good dose of willpower is often necessary to see any task through whether it’s sticking to a spending plan or finishing a great novel. And if you want to increase that willpower. A new study suggests you just simply have to believe you have it. According to this study, Q13: what matters most is what we think about our willpower. If we believe it’s a finite resource,we act that way,we feel exhausted and need breaks between demanding mental tasks. However,people who view their willpower as a limitless resource get energized instead. The researchers used a psychological assessment tool to test the validity of the study. They asked 1100 Americans and 1600 Europeans to grade different statements such as after a challenging mental activity, my energy is depleted and I must rest to get it refueled again or I can focus on a mental task for long periods without feeling tired.

　　Q14: Although there was little difference between men and women overall. Americans were more likely to admit to needing breaks after completing mentally challenging tasks European participants on the other hand claimed they were able to keep going. Based on the findings, the researchers suggest that the key to boosting your willpower is to believe that you have an abundant supply of it. Q15: Your feelings about your willpower affect the way you behave. But these feelings are changeable, they said.Changing your beliefs about the nature of your self-control can have positive effects on character development. This leads to healthier behaviors and perceptions of other people.

　　Question 12 : What is often necessary for carrying through a task?

　　答案：A strong determination

　　原文：A good dose of willpower is often necessary to see any task through whether it’s sticking to a spending plan or finishing a great novel.

　　选项a strong determination是原文a good dose of willpower的同义替换。因此是正确答案。

　　Question 13 : What is the finding of the new study?

　　答案：It is most important to have confidence in one’s willpower.

　　原文：A new study suggests you just simply have to believe you have it. According to this study, what matters most is what we think about our willpower.If we believe it’s a finite resource, we act that way, we feel exhausted and need breaks between demanding mental tasks

　　文中有提示词A new study suggests…表明了新的研究的主要观点。选项it is important to have confidence in one’s willpower.是正确选项。后面的内容是对这一结论的详细叙述，且分情况进行了讨论。

　　Question 14 : What do we learn about European participants as compared with their American counterparts?

　　答案：They could keep on working longer

　　原文：Although there was little difference between men and women overall. Americans were more likely to admit to needing breaks after completing mentally challenging tasks European participants on the other hand claimed they were able to keep going.

　　有although提示词。选项they could keep on working longer.是对文中European participants on the other hand claimed they were able to keep going的同义替换。

　　Question 15: What do the research say concerning people’s feelings about willpower?

　　答案：They are subject to change.

　　原文：Your feelings about your willpower affect the way you behave. But these feelings are changeable, they said.

　　选项be subject to受…支配;从属于…的意思。因此选项they are subject to change表达了原文的意思。

　　Lecture 1

　　Here is my baby niece Sarah. Her mum is a doctor and her dad is a lawyer. By the time Sarah goes to college the jobs her parents do are going to look dramatically different. In 2013, Q16: researchers at Oxford University did a study on the future of work. They concluded that almost one in every two jobs has a high risk of being automated by machines. Machine learning is the technology that’s responsible for most of this disruption. It’s the most powerful branch of artificial intelligence. It allows machines to learn from data and copy some of the things that humans can do. My company, Kaggle, operates on the cutting edge of machine learning. We bring together hundreds of thousands of experts to solve important problems for industry and academia. This gives us a unique perspective on what machines can do, what they can’t do and what jobs they might automate or threaten. Machine learning started making its way into industry in the early 90s. It started with relatively simple tasks. It started with things like assessing credit risk from loan applications, sorting the mail by reading handwritten zip codes. Over the past few years, we have made dramatic breakthroughs. Machine learning is now capable of far, far more complex tasks. In 2012,Q17: Kaggle challenged its community to build a program that could grade high school essays. The winning programs were able to match the grades given by human teachers. Now given the right data, machines are going to outperform humans at tasks like this. A teacher might read 10000 essays over a 40-year career. A machine can read millions of essays within minutes. We have no chance of competing against machines on frequent high-volume tasks, but there are things we can do that machines cannot. Where machines have made very little progress is in tackling novel situations. Machines can’t handle things they haven’t seen many times before. Q18: The fundamental limitation of machine learning is that it needs to learn from large volumes of past data. But humans don’t. We have the ability to connect seemingly different threads to solve problems we’ve never seen before.

　　Question 16 : What did the researchers at Oxford University conclude?

　　答案：About half of current jobs might be automated.

　　原文：Researchers at Oxford University did a study on the future of work. They concluded that almost one in every two jobs has a high risk of being automated by machines.

　　They conclude that…明显提示词后面的内容即是答案。所以About half of current jobs might be automated.是正确选项。half即是one in every two的替换。

　　Question 17: What do we learn about Kaggle companies winning programs?

　　答案：They could grade high-school essays just like human teachers.

　　原文：Kaggle challenged its community to build a program that could grade high school essays. The winning programs were able to match the grades given by human teachers.

　　They could grade high-school essays just like human teachers原文同意替换。

　　Question 18: What is the fundamental limitation on machine learning?

　　答案：It has to rely on huge amounts of previous data.

　　原文：The fundamental limitation of machine learning is that it needs to learn from large volumes of past data. But humans don’t.

　　It has to rely on huge amounts of previous data是对原文learn from large volumes of past data的同义替换。

　　Lecture 2

　　Q19: We’ve talked recently about the importance of sustainable energy. We’ve also talked about the different theories on how that can be done. So far, our discussions have all been theoretical. Now I have a practical question for you all. Can you run a 140,000 kilogram train on just the steam generated by solar power? Well, one engineer, Tim Casselman, believes it’s possible. And his home city of Sacramento, California should see the technology’s first test as part of the upgrading of its rail yard. Q20: Casselman, who is an inventor and self-proclaimed steam visionary, is campaigning for a new steam train that runs without any fire and could run on an existing 10 kilometer line drawing tourists and perhaps offering city commuters a green alternative to their cars.Q20 Casselman wants to build an array of solar magnifying mirrors at one end of the line to collect and focus heat onto water filled tubes. This would generate steam that could be used to fill tanks on a small steam train without the use of fire. Supplying power to trains in this way would offer the shortest distance from well to wheels he says with the least amount of energy lost. According to Harry Valentijn, a Canadian engineer who is researching modern steam technology, a special tank measuring 2 by 10 metres could store over 750 kilowatt hours of energy as high pressure steam enough to pull a two car train for an hour or so. Q21: Energy to drive a steam locomotive can be stored in other materials besides water. for example a team at Tohoku University in Japan has studied materials that can store large amounts of heat when heated. These materials turn from a solid into a liquid absorbing energy as they change phase. The liquid is maintained above its melting point until steam is required at which point the liquid is allowed to turn back into a solid releasing its stored energy. Another team at Nagoya University in Japan has tested calcium compound as an energy storage material. Heating this chemical compound drives off carbon dioxide gas leaving calcium oxide the gas can be stored under pressure and attain to recover the energy the gas is fed back over the calcium oxide. In theory says Valentin this can create a high enough temperature to generate superheated steam.

　　Question 19：What has the speaker previously talked about?

　　答案：The theoretical aspects of sustainable energy.

　　解析：该题需要对原文的we’ve talked recently about the importance of sustainable energy. We’ve also talked about the different theories on how that can be done. So far, our discussions have all been theoretical.这三句话进行综合归纳。

　　Question 20：What is Tim Casselman trying to do in Sacramento?

　　答案：Drive trains with solar energy.

　　解析：该题需要对原文的Casselman is campaigning for a new steam train以及Casselman wants to build an array of solar magnifying mirrors at one end of the line to collect and focus heat onto water filled tubes. This would generate steam that could be used to fill tanks on a small steam train without the use of fire.两处进行归纳，从而将太阳能、蒸汽以及火车驱动三者联系起来。

　　Question 21：What has a Japanese research team tried to do?

　　答案：Find a new material for storing energy

　　解析：该题需要对原文的Energy to drive a steam locomotive can be stored in other materials besides water. 以及for example a team at Tohoku University in Japan has studied materials that can store large amounts of heat when heated. 两处进行归纳，举日本团队的例子是为了论证前面的观点，有一定难度。

　　总评：该篇演讲围绕可持续能源的实践应用研究展开，Q19,Q20和Q21三题均需要对原文内容进行归纳，难度较高。