Below America‘s waters,there is a junkyard(垃圾场).Every year, thousands of boats and ships sink or are abandoned in the U.S.and most of them are never found back again.’You go to any harbor in the country and you‘ll find abandoned ships,’ said Doug Helton, Director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NOAA data suggests there are at least 10,000 abandoned ships along the U.S. coast, but experts predict there can be far more.Abandoned ships damage the ecosystem(生态系统）long after they‘ve sunk. They produce toxic chemicals harming or destroying sea life and, by entering the food chain, the chemicals are finally digested by humans. Sometimes they help the growth of new sea life that threatens the present local ecosystem. On Palmyra Atoll, for example, a ‘population explosion’ of corallimorph, an aggressive creature similar to coral, killed almost all the coral growing around a fishing boat that sank in 1991. The corallimorph were probably attracted to the leaching iron produced by the abandoned boat, growing fast and threatening other sea life on the reef.Of course, there are governmental policies to prevent people from abandoning boats and ships. State laws fine (罚款) and sometimes jail those irresponsible ship owners. However, there’s a big financial problem regarding retrieving(回收）and recycling sunken ship: it takes owners on average $5,000 to $10,000 to retrieve a 40-foot yacht, while the fines for abandonment are much lower - only $100. Besides, definitions of ‘abandonment’ are quite different among states, which means that ship owners can sometimes sink boats and get off the responsibility. Meanwhile, federal law deals with only pollution caused by ships, not with ship abandonment itself.The environmental impact of undersea boats and ships can’t always be seen easily from the shore, says Helton. It would help if owners of small fishing boats as well as big ships could keep in mind that ‘ when a boat or ship is lost, it’s not gone.1.The main idea of the passage is（）.A、poisonous chemicals‘ influences on sea lifeB、policies of retrieving abandoned shipsC、how corallimorph threatens coralD、the sunken ships and its trouble2. According to the passage, abandoned ships damage the ecosystem in these ways EXCEPT（）.A、producing toxic chemicalsB、entering the food chainC、helping corallimorph growD、poisoning the fishing boat3.The example of corallimorph is to show how abandoned ships（）.A、produce toxic chemicals which harm sea lifeB、foster new sea life threatening the ecosystemC、are protected under governmental policiesD、are retrieved and recycled in cheaper ways4.The third paragraph implies that（）.A、The fact that sunk ships can never be repaired.B、There are no financial problems of retrieving sunken ships.C、It doesn’t matter if we don’ t have a common definition of ‘abandonment’.D、Federal laws concerned only with pollution.5.The Helton‘ s attitude to lost ships is（）.A、indifferentB、disapprovingC、supportiveD、worried

第1题

Much of the language used to describe monetary policy, such as "steering the economy to a

soft landing" or "a touch on the brakes", makes it sound like a precise science. Nothing could be further from the truth. The link between interest rates and inflation is uncertain. And there are long, variable lags before policy changes have any effect on the economy. Hence the analogy that likens the conduct of monetary policy to driving a car with a blackened windscreen, a cracked rear view mirror and a faulty steering wheel.

Given all these disadvantages, central bankers seem to have had much to boast about of late. Average inflation in the big seven industrial economies fell to a mere 2.3% last year, close to its lowest level in 30 years, before rising slightly to 2.5% this July. This is a long way below the double-digit rates which many countries experienced in the 1970s and early 1980s.

It is also less than most forecasters had predicated, In late 1994 the panel of economists which The Economist Polls each month said that America's inflation rate would average 3.5% in 1995, In fact, it fell to 2.6% in August, and is expected to average only about 3% for the year as a whole. In Britain and Japan inflation is running half a percentage point below the rate predicted at the end of last year. This is no flash in the pan; over the past couple of years, inflation has been consistently lower than expected in Britain and America.

Economists have been particularly surprised by favorable inflation figures in Britain and the United States, since conventional measures suggest that both economies, and especially America's, have little productive slack, America's capacity utilization, for example, his historically high levels earlier this year, and its jobless rate (5.6% in August) has fallen be low most estimates of the natural rate of unemployment—the rate below which inflation has taken off on the past.

Why has inflation proved so mild？ The most thrilling explanation is, unfortunately, a little defective. Some economists argue that powerful structural changes in the world have upended the old economic models that were based upon the historical link between growth and inflation.

From the passage we learn that ______.

A．there is a definite relationship between inflation and interest rates

B．economy will always follow certain models

C．the economic situation is better than expected

D．economists had foreseen the present economic situation

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第2题

Media mogul Ted Turner yesterday sold more than half of his AOL Time Warner Inc. holdings

for about $ 780 million, a move that reflects his efforts to slash his financial stake in the media giant.

After the close of regular trading yesterday, Turner sold a block of 60 million shares to Goldman Sachs & Co. for $ 13.07 per share, or 31 cents below the stock's closing price yesterday. Goldman was said by Wall Street sources to be offering the stock to major investors for $ 13.15.

An outspoken critic of the corporation, Turner remains AOL Time Warner's largest individual shareholder, with 45 million shares, and a member of its board of directors. A spokeswoman for Turner referred questions to AOL Time Warner.

At his peak Turner owned about 130 million shares, but he lost billions of dollars in wealth and grew bitter after the stock plunged following the merger of America Online and Time Warner in January 2001.

Turner, who initially supported the merger, later expressed outrage over revelations that America Online had manipulated its financial results. The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating AOL, and the corporation has acknowledged discovering tens of millions of dollars of overstated revenue.

Turner resigned as vice chairman earlier this year and has been spending less of his time on AOL Time Warner matters. He stepped down after achieving his goal of pressuring America Online founder Steve Case to resign as the corporation's chairman. Case said he was giving up the post to avoid a braising public battle for reelection at next week's annual meeting.

In the effort to oust Case, Turner teamed up with Gordon Crawford, the senior media portfolio manager at Capital Research & Management, the largest institutional shareholder in AOL Time Warner. Capital Research has indicated it will vote against Case's election to remain on the board of directors next week--a position that analysts said should not affect the outcome. Turner, meanwhile, has said he will support the management slate that includes Case and will make Richard D. Parsons the company's chairman and chief executive.

Turner, a visionary who started Cable News Network, is in the midst of rolling out a new chain of restaurants, Ted's Montana Grill, featuring bison burgers. He recently moved his residence from Georgia to Florida for estate planning purposes and is spending time and money on his independent film company, which lost millions of dollars on a lengthy movie about the Civil War.

From the first three paragraphs, we learn that ______.

A．Goldman has made a profit from this transaction of shares with Turner

B．Turner always expresses his dissatisfaction with the corporation openly

C．Goldman bought the block of shares in order to become a member of the board

D．Turner sold a large portion of his shares to retreat from the media business

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第3题

Benefit Payments to American WorkersGerman Chancellor （首相)Otto Von Bismarck may be most

Benefit Payments to American Workers

German Chancellor (首相)Otto Von Bismarck may be most famous for his military and diplomatic talent, but his legacy (遗产) includes many of today's social insurance programs. During the middle of the 19th century, Germany, along with other European nations, experienced an unprecedented rash of workplace deaths and accidents as a result of growing industrialization. Motivated in part by Christian compassion (怜悯)for the helpless as well as a practical political impulse to undercut the support of the socialist labor movement.' Chancellor Bismarck created the world's first workers' compensation law in 1884.

By 1908, the United States was the only industrial nation in the world that lacked workers' compensation insurance. America's injured workers could sue for damages in a court of law, but they still faced a number of tough legal barriers. For example, employees had to prove that their injuries directly resulted from employer negligence and that they themselves were ignorant about potential hazards in the workplace. The first state workers' compensation law in the country passed in 1911, and the program soon spread throughout the nation.

After World War Ⅱ, benefit payments to American workers did not keep up with the cost of living. In fact, real benefit levels were lower in the 1970s than they were in the 1940s, and in most states the maximum benefit was below the poverty level for a family of four. In 1970, President Richard Nixon set up a national commission to study the problems of workers' compensation. Two years later, the commission issued 19 key recommendations, including one that called for increasing compensation benefit levels to 100 percent of the states' average weekly wages.

In fact, the average compensation benefit in America has climbed from 55 percent of the states' average weekly wages in 1972 to 97 percent today. But, as most studies show, every 10 percent increase in compensation benefits results in a 5 percent increase in the numbers of workers who file for claims. And with so much more money floating in the workers' compensation system, it's not surprising that doctors and lawyers have helped themselves to a large slice of the growing pie.

The world's first workers' compensation law was introduced by Bismarck______.

A．for fear of losing the support of the socialist labor movement

B．out of religious and political considerations

C．to speed up the pace of industrialization

D．to make industrial production safer

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第4题

Bankers have been blaming themselves for their troubles in public. Behind the scenes, they

have been taking aim at someone else: the accounting standard-setters. Their rules, moan the banks, have forced them to report enormous losses, and it's just not fair. These rules say they must value some assets at the price a third party would pay, not the price managers and regulators would like them to fetch.

Unfortunately, banks' lobbying now seems to be working. The details may be unknowable, but the independence of standard-setters, essential to the proper functioning of capital markets, is being compromised. And, unless banks carry toxic assets at prices that attract buyers, reviving the banking system will be difficult.

After a bruising encounter with Congress, America's Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) rushed through rule changes. These gave banks more freedom to use models to value illiquid assets and more flexibility in recognizing losses on long-term assets in their income statements. Bob Herz, the FASB's chairman, cried out against those who "question our motives." Yet bank shares rose and the changes enhance what one lobbying group politely calls "the use of judgment by management."

European ministers instantly demanded that the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) do likewise. The IASB says it does not want to act without overall planning, but the pressure to fold when it completes its reconstruction of rules later this year is strong. Charlie McCreevy, a European commissioner, warned the IASB that it did "not live in a political vacuum" but "in the real world" and that Europe could yet develop different rules.

It was banks that were on the wrong planet, with accounts that vastly overvalued assets. Today they argue that market prices overstate losses, because they largely reflect the temporary illiquidity of markets, not the likely extent of bad debts. The truth will not be known for years. But banks' shares trade below their book value, suggesting that investors are skeptical. And dead markets partly reflect the paralysis of banks which will not sell assets for fear of booking losses, yet are reluctant to buy all those supposed bargains.

To get the system working again, losses must be recognized and dealt with. America's new plan to buy up toxic assets will not work unless banks mark assets to levels which buyers find attractive. Successful markets require independent and even combative standard-setters. The FASB and IASB have been exactly that, cleaning up rules on stock options and pensions, for example, against hostility from special interests. But by giving in to critics now they are inviting pressure to make more concessions.

Bankers complained that they were forced to ______.

A．follow unfavorable asset evaluation rules.

B．collect payments from third parties.

C．cooperate with the price managers.

D．reevaluate some of their assets.

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第5题

仔细阅读：What can be done about mass unemployment？ All the wise heads agree: there’re no quick or

Passage two 2016年6月英语六级卷一试题

What can be done about mass unemployment？ All the wise heads agree: there’re no quick or easy answers. There’s work to be done, but workers aren’t ready to do it—they’re in the wrong places, or they have the wrong skills, Our problems are “structural, ”and will take many years to solve.

But don’t bother asking for evidence that justifies this bleak view. There isn’t any. On the contrary, all the facts suggest that high unemployment in America is the result of inadequate demand. saying that there’re no easy answers sounds wise. But it’s actually foolish: our unemployment crisis could be cured very quickly if we had the intellectual clarity and political will to act. In other words, structural unemployment is a fake problem, which mainly serves as an excuse for not pursing real solutions.

The fact is job openings have plunged in every major sector, while the number of workers forced into part-time employment in almost all industries has soared. Unemployment has surged in every major occupational category. Only three states. With a combined population not much larger than that of Brooklyn, have unemployment rates below 5%. So the evidence contradicts the claim that we’re mainly suffering from structural unemployment. Why, then, has this claim become so popular？

Part of the answer is that this is what always happens during periods of high unemployment—in part because experts and analysts believe that declaring the problem deeply rooted, with no easy answers, makes them sound serious.

I’ve been looking at what self-proclaimed experts were saying about unemployment during the Great Depression; it was almost identical to what Very Serious People are saying now. Unemployment cannot be brought down rapidly, declared one 1935 analysis, because the workforce is“unadaptable and untrained. It cannot respond to the opportunities which industry may offer. ”A few years later, a large defense buildup finally provided a fiscal stimulus adequate to the economy’s needs—and suddenly industry was eager to employ those“unadaptable and untrained”workers.

But now, as then, powerful forces are ideologically opposed to the whole idea of government action on a sufficient scale to jump-start the economy. And that, fundamentally, is why claims that we face huge structural problems have been multiplying: they offer a reason to do nothing about the mass unemployment that is crippling out economy and our society.

So what you need to know is that there’s no evidence whatsoever to back these claims. We aren’t suffering from a shortage of needed skills, We’re suffering from a lack of policy resolve. As I said, structural unemployment isn’t a real problem, it’s an excuse—a reason not to act on America’s problems at a time when action is desperately needed.

51. What does the author think is the root cause of mass unemployment in America？

A)Corporate mismanagement.

B)Insufficient demand.

C)Technological advances.

D)Workers’ slow adaptation.

52. What does the author think of the experts’ claim concerning unemployment？

A)Self-evident.

B)Thought-provoking.

C)Irrational.

D)Groundless.

53. What does the author say helped bring down unemployment during the Great Depression？

A)The booming defense industry.

B)The wise heads’ benefit package.

C)Nationwide training of workers.

D)Thorough restructuring of industries.

54. What has caused claims of huge structural problems to multiply？

A)Powerful opposition to government’s stimulus efforts.

B)Very Serious People’s attempt to cripple the economy.

C)Evidence gathered from many sectors of the industries.

D)Economists’ failure to detect the problems in time.

55. What is the author’s purpose in writing the passage？

A)To testify to the experts’ analysis of America’s problems.

B)To offer a feasible solution to the structural unemployment.

C)To show the urgent need for the government to take action.

D)To alert American workers to the urgency for adaptation.

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第6题

Today the world's economy is going through two great changes, both bigger

Today the world's economy is going through two great changes, both bigger than an Asian financial crisis here or a European monetary union there.

The first change is that a lot of industrial_67_is moving from the United States, Western Europe and Japan to _68 _countries in Latin America, South-East Asia and Eastern Europe. In 1950, the United States alone _69_ for more than half of the world's economy output. In 1990, its _70_ was down to a quarter. By 1990, 40% of IBM's employees were non-Americans; Whirlpool, America's leading _71_ of domestic appliances, cut its American labor force _72_ 10%. Quite soon now, many big western companies will have more _73_ (and customers) in poor countries than in rich _74_ .

The second great change is _75_, in the rich countries of the OECD, the balance of economic activity is _76_ from manufacturing to _77_. In the United States and Britain, the _78_ of workers in manufacturing has _79_ since 1900 from around 40% to barely half that. _80_ in Germany and Japan, which rebuilt so many _81_after 1945, manufacturing's share of jobs is now below 30%. The effect of the _82 is increased _83_ manufacturing moves from rich countries to the developing ones, _84_ cheap labor _85_ them a sharp advantage in many of the _86_ tasks required by mass production.

67. A. product B. production C. products D. productivity

68. A. other B. small C. capitalistic D. developing

69. A. accounted B. occupied C. played D. shared

70. A. output B. development C. share D. economy

71. A. state B. consumer C. representative D. supplier

72. A. by B. at C. through D. in

73. A. products B. market C. employees D. changes

74. A. one B. ones C. times D. time

75. A. what B. like C. that D. how

76. A. ranging B. varying C. swinging D. getting

77. A. producing B. products C. servicing D. services

78. A. proportion B. number C. quantity D. group

79. A. changed B. gone C. applied D. shrunk

80. A. Furthermore B. Even C. Therefore D. Hence

81. A. armies B. weapons C. factories D. countries

82. A. question B. manufacturing C. shift D. rebuilding

83. A. with B. as C. given D. if

84. A. while B. whose C. who's D. which

85. A. give B. is giving C. gives D. gave

86. A. repetitive B. various C. creative D. enormous

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第7题

Emerging from the 1980 census is the picture of a nation developing more and more regional

competition, as population growth in the Northeast and Midwest reaches a near standstill.

This development—and its strong implications for U.S. politics and economy in years ahead—has enthroned the South as America's most densely-populated region for the first time in the history of the nation's head counting.

Altogether, the U.S. population rose in the 1970s by 23.2 million people—numerically the third-largest growth ever re corded in a single decade. Even so, that gain adds up to only 11.4 percent, lowest in American annual records except for the Depression years.

Americans have been migrating south and west in larger numbers since World War Ⅱ, and the pattern still prevails.

Three sun-bait states—Florida, Texas and California—together had nearly 10 million more people in 1980 than a decade earlier. Among large cities, San Diego moved from 14th to 8th and San Antonio from 15th to 10th—with Cleveland and Washington DC, dropping out of the top 10.

Not all that shift can be attributed to the movement out of the snow belt, census officials say. Nonstop waves of immigrants played a role, too—and so did bigger crops of babies as yesterday's "baby boom" generation reached its child-bearing years.

Moreover, demographers see the continuing shift south and west as joined by a related but newer phenomenon: more and more, Americans apparently are looking not just for places with more jobs but with fewer people, too. Some instances:

Regionally, the Rocky Mountain states reported the most rapid growth rate—37.1 percent since 1970 in a vast area with only 5 percent of the U.S. population.

Among states, Nevada and Arizona grew fastest of all: 63.5 and 53.1 percent respectively. Except for Florida and Texas, the top 10 in rate of growth is composed of Western states with 7.5 million people—about 9 per square mile.

The flight from overcrowdedness affects the migration from snow belt to more bearable climates.

Nowhere do 1980 census statistics dramatize more the American search for spacious living than in the Far West. There, California added 3.7 million to its population in the 1970s, more than any other state.

In that decade, however, large numbers also migrated from California, mostly to other parts of the West. Often they chose—and still are choosing—somewhat colder climates such as Oregon, Idaho and Alaska in order to escape smog, crime and other plagues of urbanization in the Golden State.

As a result, California's growth rate dropped during the 1970s, to 18.5 percent—little more than two thirds the 1960s growth figure and considerably below that of other Western states.

Discerned from the perplexing picture of population growth the 1980 census provided, America in 1970s ______.

A．enjoyed the lowest net growth of population in history

B．witnessed a southwestern shift of population

C．underwent an unparalleled period of population growth

D．brought to a standstill its pattern of migration since World War Ⅱ

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第8题

In the author's opinion, America's health system is ______.A．inefficientB．feasibleC．unpopu

In the author's opinion, America's health system is ______.

A．inefficient

B．feasible

C．unpopular

D．successful

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第9题

What is the author's attitude toward America's policies on global warming？A．CriticalB．Indi

What is the author's attitude toward America's policies on global warming？

A．Critical

B．Indifferent

C．Supportive

D．Compromising

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第10题

America's Top 5 Cleanest CitiesWhat Is a Clean City？Ideally, it's a place where the air qu

America's Top 5 Cleanest Cities

What Is a Clean City？

Ideally, it's a place where the air quality is good, the water is safe to drink, and factories aren't dumping harmful chemical waste into the environment. It's also a place where you look up and down streets that are free of garbage, and stroll through parks without wading through litter.

San Francisco

Background: Once a prominent shipping and manufacturing center, San Francisco now has booming financial and business sectors. Since 1980, the city's population has increased by more than a third and its per capita income ranks among the nation's highest. Few places have a citizenry that is more environmentally conscious.

Problems: Like nearly every traffic-clogged urban California area, San Francisco has struggled with high emissions of greenhouse gases. Its Hunter's Point area is home to two polluting power plants and a highly contaminated Naval Shipyard. In 2002, a national report found that while San Francisco's source water was safe, its tap water contained high levels of a cancer-causing pollutant known as TTHM.

Solutions: The city's Environment Department--something many municipalities lack--is seeking to close the power plants at Hunter's Point, and the federal EPA is overseeing a massive cleanup of the shipyard there. Meanwhile, San Francisco is in the forefront of efforts to promote the use of clean-air vehicles, with its public transit leading the way. The city's bus fleet includes over 700 electric-drive vehicles, with plans to convert all the buses to this clean-air technology by 2020. As for concerns about its drinking water, San Francisco responded by modifying its water treatment process, which brought the TTHM levels back down into the safe zone. Finally, the local government is finding ways to push energy savings.

Columbus, Ohio

Background: Ohio's capital, according to the latest census, was the only major city in the state to grow in population. And Columbus's geographical expansion continues. Its economy is light on industry-less than 12% of its job force works in the manufacturing sector. The big growth has been in financial and insurance businesses, as well as retail. Meanwhile, per capita income here is slightly below our 50-city average.

Problems: Columbus's steady development has made it tough to keep the city's watersheds clean. Also, an aging storm water and sewage system has caused overflows and backups in recent years. Litter has been a manageable problem, although Columbus has a recycling rate of just 4%, which Mayor Michael Coleman calls "pitiful." And finally, the late 1990s were marked by a sudden increase in ugly graffiti (涂鸦) on both public and private property.

Solutions: The mayor recently unveiled a new initiative, "Get Green Columbus", which established an office of Environmental Stewardship. Also underway is a program to update the sewage and storm water systems. To spruce up unsightly areas, Columbus has committed to removing graffiti within two days of its appearance. Through the city's Neighborhood Pride program, a handful of communities each year get a solid week of concentrated cleanup, including tree trimming (修剪), bulk trash pickup and litter removal.

Buffalo, New York

Background: Long known as a Rust Belt City where steel was king, Buffalo was hit hard when that industry went into steep decline more than two decades ago. As steel plants shut down, Buffalo was forced to rebuild its economy from the ground up. But by leveraging its assets, including a low cost of living and cheap, clean hydroelectric energy generated by nearby Niagara Falls, Buffalo has begun luring new, non-manufacturing businesses to the area.

Problems: A heavily polluted Buffalo River, acres of brown-fields, dwindling population, shrinking tax base and fiscal problems meant drastic cuts in city services

A．Y

B．N

C．NG

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第11题

Where is London？ It’s in_____.

A.America

B.Japan

C.English

D.England

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