2018年12月大学英语六级听力试题解析-第一套

　　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?

　　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?

　　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?

　　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?

　　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?

　　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?

　　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。

　　Lecture 3

　　Q22: Today’s crisis in care for older people in England has two main causes.

　　First, people are living longer with a lot more complex needs. Second, they rely on a system that has long been marked by a poor relation between national health and social-care services.

　　Current services originate in two key measures. They are the National Health Service and the 1948 National Assistance Act. This required local government to provide residential accommodation for older people and supervise care homes run by independent organizations.

　　They also provided home and community services including meals, day centers and home helpers and other subsidized services. The National Health Service was free and wholly publicly provided. It delivered the best health-care for all. No such vision guided residential and community care though. Q23: The care was substantially provided by voluntary services which worked together with local authorities as they long had with eligibility based on income. Today, life expectancy has risen from 66 for a male at birth in 1948 to around 80 now. In addition, there is better overall health and improved medical knowledge and care. This means an unprecedented number of people are surviving longer in conditions requiring expert support. Families provide at least as much care as they ever did. Even so, they can rarely without subsidised support address serious personal needs. Care for older people faced persistent criticism as these trends became apparent. From the early 1960s, local authorities were required to plan health and welfare services. The aim was to enable older people to remain in their own homes for as long as possible, but this increased concern about the lack of coordination between free health and paid-for social care. Through the 1970s, a number of measures sought to improve matter. However at a time of financial crisis, funding diminished and little changed. In the 1980s, the government cut spending. Q24: Meanwhile, preference for private over public services made management even more difficult. Simultaneously, the number of sick older people grew. Governments emphasized the need to improve services. They did so though while doing little to stop the erosion of available aid. Services were irregular across authorities. Unless you were prepared to pay, they were increasingly difficult to obtain for any but the most severely disabled. Why has 60 years of criticism produced so little change. Q25: Discrimination against older people has a long history. Additionally, those affected by inadequate health and social care are too vulnerable to launch the protests that have addressed other forms of discrimination.

　　Question 22: What is one cause of the current crisis in care for the elderly in England?

　　The poor relation between national health and social care services.

　　原文：Today’s crisis in care for older people in England has two main causes.

　　First, people are living longer with a lot more complex needs. Second, they rely on a system that has long been marked by a poor relation between national health and social-care services.

　　First, Second很明显的提示词，First后的内容太简单不容易出题，所以Second后的内容肯定是答案。the poor relation between national health and social-care services基本上是原文。

　　Question 23: What does the speaker say about residential and community care?

　　It was mainly provided by voluntary services.

　　原文：The care was substantially provided by voluntary services which worked together with local authorities as they long had with eligibility based on income.

　　原文中第二段首句提到了问题问的关键词，因此听到community service的时候就应该注意后面听到的内容了。结合上面标出的原文因此It was mainly provided by voluntary services是正确选项。

　　Question 24: What made management of care for the elderly more difficult in the 1980s?

　　Their preference for private services.

　　解析：原文直接提及的明示信息preference for private over public services made management even more difficult.

　　Question 25: What does the speaker say about older people in England?

　　They have long been discriminated against.

　　解析：原文直接提及的明示信息Discrimination against older people has a long history. 其中选项they are vulnerable to illness and diseases干扰较大，主要利用常识以及原文中提及的are too vulnerable to 干扰，但原文并未提及illness and diseases而是too vulnerable to launch the protests ，属于偷换概念。

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