2006年12月24日英语六级真题及答案

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Part I Writing (30 minutes)

Directions:F o r t h i s p a r t , y o u a r e a l l o w e d 3 0 m i n u t e s t o w r i t e a s h o r t e s s a y

entitled The Importance of Reading Classics. You should write at least

150 words following the outline given below.

1. 阅读经典书籍对人的成长至关重要

2. 现在愿意阅读经典的人却越来越少，原因是…

3. 我们大学生应该怎么做

The Importance of Reading Classics

Part II Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning) (15 minutes)

Directions:In this part, you will have 15 minutes to go over the passage quickly

and answer the questions on Answer Sheet 1.

For questions 1-4, mark

Y (for YES) if the statement agrees with the information given in

the passage;

N (for NO) if statement contradicts the information given in the

passage;

NG (for NOT GIVEN) if the information is not given in the passage.

For questions 5-10, complete the sentences with the information given in the

passage.

Space Tourism

Make your reservations now. The space tourism industry is officially open for

business, and tickets are going for a mere $20 million for a one-week stay in

space. Despite reluctance from National Air and Space Administration (NASA)，Russia

made American businessman Dennis Tito the world’s first space tourist. Tito flew

into space aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket that arrived at the International Space

Station (ISS) on April 30, 2001. The second space tourist, South African

businessman Mark Shuttleworth, took off aboard the Russian Soyuz on April 25, 2002,

also bound for the ISS.

Lance Bass of ‘N Sync was supposed to be the third to make the $20 million

trip, but he did not join the three-man crew as they blasted off on October 30,

2002, due to lack of payment. Probably the most incredible aspect of this proposed

space tour was that NASA approved of it.

T h e s e t r i p s a r e t h e b e g i n n i n g o f w h a t c o u l d b e a p r o f i t a b l e 2 1 s t c e n t u r y

i n d u s t r y . T h e r e a r e a l r e a d y s e v e r a l s p a c e t o u r i s m c o m p a n i e s p l a n n i n g t o b u i l d

suborbital vehicles and orbital cities within the next two decades. These companies

have invested millions, believing that the space tourism industry is on the verge

of taking off.

In 1997, NASA published a report concluding that selling trips into space to

p r i vate c i t i z e n s c o u l d b e w o r t h b i l l i o n s o f d o l l a r s . A J a p a n e s e r e p o r t s u p p o r t s

the se f indi n g s , and p ro ject s th at s p a ce tou r i sm cou l d b e a $ 1 0 bill i o n per y e ar

ind us t r y wi t h i n the n ex t tw o de cade s . T he o n l y obst a c le s to o pe ning u p spac e to

tourists are the space agencies, who are concerned with safety and the development

of a reliable, reusable launch vehicle.

Space Accommodations

Russia’s Mir space station was supposed to be the first destination for space

tourists. But in March 2001，the Russian Aerospace Agency brought Mir down into the

P a c i f i c O c e a n . A s i t t u r n ed o ut , br in gi ng d ow n M i r o n l y t e m p o r a r i l y d e l a y e d t h e

first tourist trip into space.

T h e M i r c r a s h d i d c a n c e l p l a n s f o r a n e w r e a l i t y - b a s e d g a m e s h o w f r o m N B C ,

which was going to be called Destination Mir. The Survivor-like TV show was

scheduled to air in fall 2001, Participants on the show were to go through training

at Russia’s

cosmonaut

(宇航员) training center, Star City. Each week, one of the

participants would be eliminated from the show, with the winner receiving a trip to

the Mir space station. The Mir crash has ruled out NBC’s space plans for now. NASA

is against beginning space tourism until the International Space Station is

completed in 2006.

Russia is not alone in its interest in space tourism. There are several

projects underway to commercialize space travel. Here are a few of the groups that

might take tourists to space:

Space Island Group is going to build a ring-shaped, rotating “commercial

space

infrastructure

(基础结构)” that will resemble the Discovery spacecraft in

the movie “2001: A Space Odyssey.” Space Island says it will build its space city

out of empty NASA space-shuttle fuel tanks (to start, it should take around 12 or

so), and place it about 400 miles above Earth. The space city will rotate once per

minute to create a gravitational pull one-third as strong as Earth’s.

According to their vision statement. Space Adventures plans to “fly tens

of thou sand of peop le in space ov er t he n ext 10-15 year s an d be yond , around the

moon, a nd b ack, fro m spaceports b oth on E arth and in sp ace, to and from private

space stations, and board dozen of different vehicles...”

E v e n H i l t o n H o t e l s h a s s h o w n i n t e r e s t i n t h e s p a c e t o u r i s m i n d u s t r y a n d

possibility of building or co-funding a space hotel. However, the company did say

that it believes such a space hotel is 15 to 20 years away.

Initially, space tourism will offer simple accommodations at best. For

instance, if the International Space Station is used as a tourist attraction,

guests won’t find the luxurious surroundings of a hotel room on Earth. It has been

designed for conducting research, not entertainment. However, the first generation

of space hotels should offer tourists a much more comfortable experience.

In re g a rd t o a conc e p t for a sp ace h o te l in i t ia lly p l an ned b y S pace I sl and,

such a hote l co uld offer guests e very con veni ence they migh t fi nd a t a hotel on

Earth, and some they might not. The small gravitational pull created by the

r o t a t i n g s p a c e c i t y w o u l d a l l o w s p a c e - t o u r i s t s a n d r e s i d e n t s t o w a l k a r o u n d a n d

function facilities would be possible. Additionally, space tourists would even be

able to take space walks.

Many of these companies believe that they have to offer an extremely enjoyable

experience in order for passengers to pay thousands, if not millions, of dollars to

ride into space. So will space create another separation between the haves and

have-nots?

The Most Expensive Vacation

Will space be an exotic retreat reserved for only the wealthy? Or will middle-

class folks have a chance to take their families to space? Make no mistake about

it, going to space will be the most expensive vacation you ever take. Prices right

now are in the tens of millions of dollars. Currently, the only vehicles that can

take you into space are the space shuttle and the Russian Soyuz, both of which are

terribly inefficient. Each spacecraft requires millions of pounds of fuel to take

off into space, which makes them expensive to launch. One pound of

payload

(有效载

重) costs about $10,000 to put into Earth’s orbit.

NASA and Lockheed Martin are currently developing a single-stage-to-orbit

launch space plane, called the VentureStar, that could be launched for about a

tenth of what the space shuttle costs to launch. If the VentureStar takes off, the

number of people who could afford to take a trip into space would move into the

millions.

I n 1 9 9 8 , a j o i n t r e p o r t f r o m N A S A a n d t h e S p a c e T r a n s p o r t a t i o n A s s o c i a t i o n

stated that improvements in technology could push fares for space travel as low as

$50,000, and possibly down to $20,000 or $10,000 a decade later. The report

concluded that a ticket price of $50,000, there could be 500,000 passengers flying

into space each year. While still leaving out many people, these prices would open

up space to a tremendous amount of traffic.

Since the beginning of the space race, the general public has said, “Isn’t

t h a t g r e a t — w h e n d o I g e t t o g o ? ” W e l l , o u r c h a n c e m i g h t b e c l o s e r t h a n e v e r .

Within the next 20 years, space planes could be taking off for the Moon at the same

frequency as airplanes flying between New York and Los Angles.

注意：此部分试题请在答题卡1上作答。

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