1、 2021 年 12 月大学英语六级考试真题（第 3 套） Part I Writing (30 minutes) (请于正式开考后半小时内完成该部分，之后将进行听力考试) Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay based on the short passage given below. In your essay, you are to comment on the phenomenon described in the passage and suggest measures to
2、address the issue. You should write at least 150 words but no more than 200 words. Young people spend a lot of time on the internet. However, they are sometimes unable to recognize false information on the internet, judge the reliability of online information sources, or tell real news stories from
3、fake ones. Part II （略） Listening Comprehension Reading Comprehension (30 minutes) (40 minutes) Part III Section A （略） Section B Directions: In this section, you are going to read a passage with ten statements attached to it. Each statement contains information given in one of the paragraphs. Identif
4、y the paragraph from which the information is derived. You may choose a paragraph more than once. Each paragraph is marked with a letter. Answer the questions by marking the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2. Do music lessons really make children smarter? AA recent analysis found that most rese
5、arch mischaracterizes the relationship between music and skills enhancement. BIn 2004, a paper appeared in the journal Psychological Science, titled “ Music Lessons Enhance IQ.” The author; composer and psychologist Glenn Schellenberg had conducted an experiment with 144 children randomly assigned t
6、o four groups: one learned the keyboard for a year, one took singing lessons, one joined an acting class, and a control group had no extracurricular training. The IQ of the children in the two musical groups rose by an average of seven points in the course of a year; those in the other .two groups g
7、ained an average of 4.3 points. C Schellenberg had 1ong been skeptical of the science supporting claims hat music education enhances childrens abstract reasoning, math, or language sills. If children who play the piano are smarter, he says, it doesnt necessarily mean they are smarter because they pl
8、ay the piano. It could be that the youngsters who play the piano also 1 happen to be more ambitious or better at focusing on a task. Correlation, after all, does not prove causation. D The 2004 paper was specifically designed to address those concerns. And as a passionate musician, Schellenberg was
9、delighted when he turned up credible evidence that music has transfer effects on general intelligence. But nearly a decade later, in 2013, the Education Endowment Foundation funded a bigger study with more than 900 students. That study failed to confirm Schellenbergs findings, producing no evidence
10、that music lessons improved math and literacy skills. E Schellenberg took that news in stride while continuing to cast a skeptical eye on the research in his field, Recently, he decided to formally investigate just how often his fellow researchers in psychology and neuroscience make what he believes
11、 are erroneousor at least prematurecausal connections between music and intelligence. His results, published in May, suggest hat many of his peers do just that. FFor his recent study, Schellenberg asked two research assistants to look for correlational studies on the effects of music education. They
12、 found a total of 114 papers published since 2000. To assess whether the authors claimed any causation, researchers then looked for telltale verbs in each papers title and abstract, verbs like “enhance” ,“promote” ,“facilitate” , and “strengthen” . The papers were categorized as neuroscience if the
13、study employed a brain imaging method like magnetic resonance, or if the study appeared in a journal that had “brain”, “neuroscience”, or a related term in its title. Otherwise the papers were categorized as psychology. Schellenberg didnt tell his assistants what exactly he was trying to prove. G Af
14、ter computing their assessments, Schellenberg concluded that the majority of the articles erroneously claimed that music training had a causal effect. The overselling, he also found, was more prevalent among neuroscience studies, three quarters of which mischaracterized a mere association between mu
15、sic training and skills enhancement as a cause-and-effect relationship. This may come as a surprise to some. Psychologists have been battling charges that they dont do “real” science for some time in large part because many findings from classic experiments have proved unreproducible. Neuroscientist
16、s, on the other hand, armed with brain scans and EEGs(脑电图), have not been subject to the same degree of critique. H To argue for a cause-and-effect relationship, scientists must attempt to explain why and how a connection could occur. When it comes to transfer effects of music, scientists frequently
17、 point to brain plasticity the fact that the brain changes according to how we use it. When a child learns to play the violin, for example, several studies have shown that the brain region responsible for the fine motor skills of the left hands fingers is likely to grow. And many experiments have sh
18、own that musical training improves certain hearing capabilities, like filtering voices from background noise or distinguishing the difference between the consonants (辅音) b and g. IBut Schellenberg remains highly critical of how the concept of plasticity has been applied in his field. “Plasticity has
19、 become an industry of its own,” he wrote in his May paper. Practice does change the brain, he allows, but what is questionable is the assertion that these changes affect other brain regions, such as those responsible for 2 spatial reasoning or math problems. JNeuropsychologist Lutz J ncke agrees. “
20、Most of these studies dont allow for causal inferences,” he said. For over two decades, J ncke has researched the effects of music lessons, and like Schellenberg, he believes that the only way to truly understand their effects is to run longitudinal studies. In such studies, researchers would need t
21、o follow groups of children with and without music lessons over a long period of timeeven if the assignments are not completely random. Then they could compare outcomes for each group. K Some researchers are staring to do just that. The neuroscientist Peter Schneider from Heidelberg University in Ge
22、rmany, for example, has been following a group of children for ten years now. Some of them were handed musical instruments and given lessons through a school-based program in the Ruhr region of Germany called Jedem Kind ein Instrument, or“an instrument for every child,” which was carried out with go
23、vernment funding. Among these children, Schneider has found that those who were enthusiastic about music and who practiced voluntarily showed improvements in hearing ability, as well as in more general competencies, such as the ability to concentrate. L To establish whether effects such as improved
24、concentration are caused by music participation itself, and not by investing time in an extracurricular activity of any kind, Assal Habibi, a psychology professor at the s University of Southern California, is conducing a five-year longitudinal study with children from low-income communities in Los
25、Angeles. The youngsters fall into three groups: those who take after school music, those who do after-school sports, and those with no structured after-school program at all. After two years, Habibi and her colleagues reported seeing structural changes in the brains of the musically trained children
26、, both locally and in the pathways connecting different parts of the brain. M That may seem compelling, but Habibis children were not selected randomly. Did the children who were drawn to music perhaps have something in them from the start that made them different but eluded the brain scanners? “As
27、somebody who started taking piano lessons at the age of five and got up every morning at seven to practice, that experience changed me and made me part of who I am today,” Schellenberg said. “The question is whether those kinds of experiences do so systematically across individuals and create exactl
28、y the same changes. And I think that is that huge leap of faith.” N Did he have a hidden talent that others didnt have? Or more endurance than his peers? Music researchers tend, like Schellenberg, to be musicians themselves, and as he noted in his recent paper, “the idea of positive cognitive and ne
29、ural side effects from music training (and other pleasurable activities) is inherently appealing.” He also admits that if he had children of his own, he would encourage them to take music lessons and go to university. “I would think that it makes them better people, more critical, just wiser in gene
30、ral,” he said. O But those convictions should be checked at the entrance to the lab, he added. Otherwise, the work becomes religion or faith. “You have to let go of your faith if you want to be a scientist.” 3 36. Glenn Schellenbergs latest research suggests many psychologists and neuroscientists wr
31、ongly believe in the causal relationship between music and IQ. 37. The belief in the positive effects of music training appeals to many researchers who are musicians themselves. 38. Glenn Schellenberg was doubtful about the claim that music education helps enhance childrens intelligence. 39. Glenn S
32、chellenberg came to the conclusion that most of the papers assessed made the wrong claim regarding musics effect on intelligence. 40.You must abandon your unverified beliefs before you become a scientist. 41. Lots of experiments have demonstrated that people with music training can better differenti
33、ate certain sounds. 42. Glenn Schellenbergs findings at the beginning of this century were not supported by a larger study carried out some ten years later. 43. One researcher shares Glenn Schellenbergs view that it is necessary to conduct long-term developmental studies to understand the effects of
34、 music training. 44. Glenn Schellenbergs research assistants had no idea what he was trying to prove in his new study. 45. Glenn Schellenberg admits that practice can change certain areas of the brain but doubts that the change can affect other areas. Section C Directions: There are 2 passages in th
35、is 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 46
36、to 50 are based on the following passage. The trend toward rationality and enlightenment was endangered long before the advent of the World Wide Web. As Neil Postman noted in his 1985 book Amusing Ourselves to Death, the rise of television introduced not just a new medium hut a new discourse: a grad
37、ual shift from a typographic (印刷的) culture to a photographic one, which in turn meant a shift from rationality to emotions, exposition to entertainment. In an image-centered and pleasure-driven world, Postman noted, there is no place for rational thinking, because you simply cannot think with images
38、. It is text that enables us to “uncover lies, confusions and overgeneralizations, and to detect abuses of logic and common sense. It also means to weigh ideas, to compare and contrast assertions, to connect one generalization to another.” The dominance of television was not confined to our living r
39、ooms. It overturned all of those habits of mind, fundamentally changing our experience of the world, affecting the constructively and tactfully, exactly how their inflated sense of 4 deservingness is somewhat distorted. Theyd then go further to explain the specific, and objective, criteria the emplo
40、yee must meet to receive their desired rewards. This shift away from unrealistic expectations is successful because entitled employees feel more confident that ethical leaders will deliver on their promises. This occurs because theyre perceived to be fair and trustworthy. The researchers, however, e
41、xercise caution by warning no one single response in the perfect remedy. But theres no denying ethical leadership is at least a critical step in the right direction. 51. What does a recent study find about a growing number of workers? A) They attempt to make more contributions. B) They feel they des
42、erve mote than they get. C) They attach importance to job satisfaction. D) They try to diminish workplace dysfunction. 52. Why dont some employees work hard according to many scholars? A) They lack a strong sense of self-worth. B) They were spoiled when growing up. C) They have received unfair treat
43、ment. D) They are overindulged by their boss. 53. What is a manager supposed to do to enable workers to do a better job? A) Be aware of their emotions. B) Give them timely promotions. C) Keep a record of their performance. D) Seek ways to sustain their motivation. 54. What do the research findings r
44、eveal about ethical leaders? A) They are held accountable by their employees. B) They are always transparent in their likes and dislikes. C) They convey their requirements in a straightforward way. D) They make it a point to be on good term with their employees. 55. What kind of leaders are viewed a
45、s ethical by entitled employees? A) Those who can be counted on to fulfill commitments. B) Those who can do things beyond normal expectations. C) Those who exercise caution in making major decisions. D) Those who know how to satisfy their employees needs. 49. What does the passage say about the Worl
46、d Wide Web? A) It was developed primarily for universities worldwide. B) It was created to connect people in different countries. C) It was viewed as a means to quest for knowledge. D) It was designed as a discussion forum for university students. 50.What do we learn about users of social media? 5 A
47、)They are bent on looking for an alternative space for escape. B)They are constantly seeking approval from their audience. C)They are forever engaged in hunting for new information. D)They are unable to focus their attention on tasks for long. Passage Two Questions 51 to 55 are based on the followin
48、g passage. According to a recent study, a small but growing proportion of the workforce is affected to some degree by a sense of entitlement. Work is less about what they can contribute but more about what they can take. It can lead to workplace dysfunction and diminish their own job satisfaction. I
49、m not referring to employees who are legitimately dissatisfied with their employment conditions due to, say, being denied fair pay or flexible work practices. Im talking about those who consistently believe they deserve special treatment and generous rewards. Its an expectation that exists irrespect
50、ive of their abilities or levels of performance. As a result of that discrepancy between the privileges they feel theyre owed and their inflated sense of self-worth, they dont work as hard for their employer. They prefer instead to slack off. Its a tendency which many scholars believe begins in chil
