六考试刚刚落幕，俗话说，几家欢乐几家愁。认真学习新东方六级阅读课程的同学，应该属于欢乐的那一群人：）

阅读部分，正如我在课上预料的，难度与历次考试持平。提问方式也是中规中矩，细节主旨较容易把握，考生只要抓住文章主旨便可以很好的理解文章意思。

关于文章内容，上过新东方阅读课的同学一定不会陌生：本人在课上讲过，六阅读常考内容：种族歧视，教育问题，医疗改革……这些话题在这次各种版本的题型中都出现了。而且正如我们所讲的，国内英语考试的出题人，基本都是从负面新闻入手的，这次依然不例外。

第一套

Passage One

More than a decade ago, cognitivescientists John Bransford and Daniel Schwartz, both then at VanderbiltUniversity, found that what distinguished young adults from children was notthe ability to retain facts or apply prior knowledge to a new situation but aquality they called “preparation for future learning.” The researchers askedfifth graders and college students to create a recovery plan to protect baldeagles from extinction. Shockingly, the two groups came up with plans ofsimilar quality( although the college students had better spelling skills).From the standpoint of a traditional educator, this outcome indicated that schoolingand failed to help students think about ecosystems and extinction, majorscientific ideas.

The researchers decided to go deeper,however. They asked both groups to generate questions about important issuesneed to create recovery plans. On this task, they found large differences.College students focused on critical issues of interdependence between eaglesand their habitats(栖息地). Fifth graderstended to focus on features of individual eagles(“How big are they?” and “Whatdo they eat?”). The college students had cultivated the ability to askquestions, the cornerstone of critical thinking. They had learned how to learn.

Museums and other institutions ofinformal learning may be better suited to teach this skill than elementary andsecondary schools. At the Exploratorium in San Francisco, we recently studiedhow learning to ask good questions can affect the quality of people’sscientific inquiry. We found that when we taught participants to ask “What if?”and “How can?” questions that nobody present would know the answer to and thatwould spark exploration, they engaged in better inquiry at the next exhibit—asking more questions, performing more experiments and making betterinterpretations of their results. Specifically, their questions became more comprehensiveat the new exhibit. Rather than merely asking about something they wanted totry, they tended to include both cause and effect in their question. Askingjuicy questions appears to be a transferable skill for deepening collaborativeinquiry into the science content found in exhibits.

This type of learning is not confinedto museums or institutional settings. Informal learning environments toleratefailure better than schools. Perhaps many teachers have too little time toallow students to form and pursue their own questions and too much ground tocover in the curriculum. But people must acquire this skill somewhere. Oursociety depends on them being able to make critical decisions about their ownmedical treatment, say, or what we must do about global energy needs anddemands. For that, we have a robust informal learning system that gives nogrades, takes all comers, and is available even on holidays and weekends.

56. What is traditional educators’interpretation of the research outcome mentioned in the first paragraph?

A)  Students are notable to apply prior knowledge to new problems.

B)  College studentsare no better than fifth grader in memorizing facts.

C)  Education has notpaid enough attention to major environmental issues.

D)  Education hasfailed to lead students to think about major scientific ideas.

57. In what way are college studentsdifferent from children?

A) They have learned to thinkcritically.

B) They are concerned about socialissues.

C) They are curious about specificfeatures.

D) They have learned to workindependently.

58. What is the benefit of askingquestions with no ready answers?

A)  It arousesstudents’ interest in things around them.

B)  It cultivatesstudents’ ability to make scientific inquiries.

C)  It trains students’ability to design scientific experiments.

D)  It helps studentsrealize not every question has an answer.

59. What is said to be the advantageof informal learning?

A)  It allows forfailures.

B)  It charges notuition.

C)  It isentertaining.

D)  It meetspractical needs.

60. What does the author seem toencourage educators to do at the end of the passage?

A)  Train students tothink about global issues.

B)  Design moreinteractive classroom activities.

C)  Make full use ofinformal learning resources.

D)  Includecollaborative inquiry in the curriculum

答案：DABAC 

Passage Two

“There’s an old saying in the spaceworld: amateurs talk about technology, professionals talk about insurance.” Inan interview last year with The Economist, George Whitesides, chiefexecutive of space-tourism firm Virgin Galactic, was placing his company in thelatter category. But insurance will be cold comfort following the failure onOctober 31st of VSS Enterprise, resulting in the death of one pilot and thesevere injury to another.

On top of the tragic loss of life, theaccident in California will cast a long shadow over the future of spacetourism, even before it has properly begun.

The notion of space tourism took holdin 2001 with a29million flight aboard a Russian spacecraft by DennisTito, a millionaire engineer with an adventurous streak. Just half a dozenholiday-makers have reached orbit since then, for similarly astronomical pricetags. But more recently, companies have begun to plan more affordable“suborbital” flights—briefer ventures just to the edge of space’s vastdarkness. Virgin Galactic had, prior to this week’s accident, seemed closet tostarting regular flights. The company has already taken deposits from around800 would be space tourists, including Stephen Hawking.

After being dogged by technical delaysfor years, Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Galactic’s founder, had recentlysuggested that a SpaceShipTwo craft would carry its first payingcustomers as soon as February 2015. That now seems an impossible timeline. InJuly, a sister craft of the crashed spaceplane was reported to be abouthalf-finished. The other half will have to wait, as authorities of America’sFederal Aviation Administration(FAA) and National Transportation Safety Boardwork out what went wrong.

In the meantime, the entire spacetourism industry will be on tenterhooks(坐立不安). The 2004Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act, intended to encourage private spacevehicles and services, prohibits the transportation secretary (and thereby theFAA) from regulating the design or operation of private spacecraft, unless theyhave resulted in a serious or fatal injury to crew or passengers. That meansthat the FAA could suspend Virgin Galactic’s license to fly. It could alsoinsist on checking private manned spacecraft as thoroughly as it doescommercial aircraft.

While that may make suborbital travel safer, it would addsignificant cost and complexity to an emerging industry that has until nowoperated largely as the playground of billionaires and dreamy engineers.HowVirgin Glactic, regulators and the public respond to this most recent tragedywill determine whether and how soon private space travel can transcend thatplayground. There is no doubt that spaceflight entails risks, and to pioneer anew mode of travel is to face those risks, and to reduce them with the benefitof hard-won experience.

61. What is said about the failure ofVSS Enterprise?

A)  It may lead to thebankruptcy of Virgin Galactic.

B)  It has a strongnegative impact on space tourism.

C)  It may discouragerich people from space travel.

D)  It has arousedpublic attention to safety issues.

62. What do we learn about thespace-tourism firm Virgin Galactic?

A)  It has just built acraft for commercial flights.

B)  It has sent half adozen passengers into space.

C)  It was about readyto start regular business.

D)  It is the first tolaunch “suborbital” flights.

63. What is the purpose of the 2004Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act?

A)  To ensure spacetravel safety.

B)  To limit the FAA’sfunctions.

C)  To legalize privatespace explorations.

D)  To promote thespace tourism industry.

64. What might the FAA do after therecent accident in California?

A)  Impose more rigidsafety standards.

B)  Stop certifying newspace-tourist agencies.

C)  Amend its 2004Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act

D)  Suspend VirginGalactic’s license to take passengers into space.

65. What does the author think ofprivate space travel?

A)  It is worthpromoting despite the risks involved.

B)  It should not beconfined to the rich only.

C)  It should bestrictly regulated.

D)  It is too risky tocarry on.

答案： BCDDA

第二套

Passage One

One hundred years ago, “Colored ” was the typical was of referring to Americans of African descent……

关于种族歧视的议论文,文章探讨了非洲血统的美国人被称为“黑人”和“非裔美国人”时人们的不同态度。

56-60题答案

　　56. 【A】 It is free from racial biases.

　　57. 【D】It is politically sensitive.

　　58.【A】 Racial biases are widespread in the professional world.

　　59. 【C】People’s conception of a person has much to do with the way he or she is labeled.

　　60. 【D】 All ethnic groups share the nation’s continued progress.

Passage Two

这是一篇关于美国高等教育的议论文，出自网站time。文章指出，如今美国的高等教育存在问题，教学课程不合理，过分关注学生的非学术活动，而忽略了高水平的技能教授，使得学生不能很好地应对当今社会的需求。不过文章最后指出，美国高等教育的现状将很快得到改善。

61-65题答案

　　61. 【B】 It fails to prepare students to face the challenges of modern times.

　　62. 【A】The diluted college curriculum.

　　63. 【D】 They prioritize non-academic activities.

　　64. 【D】 They can climb the social ladder even without a degree.

　　65. 【C】 The current situation in American higher education may not last long

第三套：

Passage One

美国医疗改革话题

Saying they can no longer ignore the rising prices of health care, some of the most influential medical groups in the nation are recommending that doctors weight the cost

56．What do some most influential medical groups recommend doctors do?

【C】Take costs into account when making treatment decisions

57. What were doctors mainly concerned about in the past?

【B】Effects of medical treatment

58. What may the new guideline being developed lead to

【C】The redefining of doctor’s roles

59. What risk do doctors see in their dual role as patient care providers and financial overseers ?

【D】They may lose the respect of patients

60. What do some experts say about doctors’ involvement in medical cost analysis?

【D】It results from society’s failure to tackle the problem

Passage Two

奥巴马，美国经济话题，不平等

Economic inequality is the “defining challenge of our time,” President BarackObama declared in a speech last month to the Center for American Progress.

61.How does Obama view economic inequality?

【A】It is the biggest obstacle to social mobility

62.What do we learn about the inequality gap from Scott Winship’s data analysis?

【B】It is not a reliable indicator of economic mobility

63. Compared with Atlanta, metropolitan Salt Lake City is said to_________

【C】offer poor children more chances to climb the social ladder

64. What is strongly correlated with social mobility according to economist Raj Chetty?

【A】Family Structure

65.What does the author seem to suggest?

【D】It is better to start from community to help poor children move up the social ladder