2008年12月英语六级真题及答案

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2008年12月英语六级真题及答案

Part I Writing (30 minutes)

Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay entitled How

to improve psychological health? You should write at least 150 words following the outline

given below.

1. 学生心理健康的重要性

2. 学校应该怎样做

3. 学生自己应该怎样做

How to improve psychological health

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 1-7, choose the best answer from the

four choices marked A), B), C) and D). For questions 8-10, complete the sentences with the

information given in the passage.

Supersize SurpriseAsk anyone why there is an obesity epidemic and they will tell you that

it's all down to eating too much and burning too few calories. That explanation appeals to

common sense and has dominated efforts to get to the root of the obesity epidemic and

reverse it. Yet obesity researchers are increasingly dissatisfied with it. Many now believe

that something else must have changed in our environment to

precipitate

(促成) such

dramatic rises in obesity over the past 40 years or so. Nobody is saying that the “big

two” – reduced physical activity and increased availability of food – are not important

contributors to the epidemic, but they cannot explain it all.

Earlier this year a review paper by 20 obesity experts set out the 7 most plausible

alternative explanations for the epidemic. Here they are.

1. Not enough sleep

It is widely believed that sleep is for the brain, not the body. Could a shortage of shut-

eye also be helping to make us fat?

Several large-scale studies suggest there may be a link. People who sleep less than 7 hours

a night tend to have a higher body mass index than people who sleep more, according to data

gathered by the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Similarly, the US

Nurses' Health Study, which tracked 68,000 women for 16 years, found that those who slept

an average of 5 hours a night gained more weight during the study period than women who

slept 6 hours, who in turn gained more than those who slept 7.

It's well known that obesity impairs sleep, so perhaps people get fat first and sleep less

afterward s. But the n urses' study sugge sts th at it can wo rk in the ot her di rectio n too:

sleep loss may precipitate weight gain.

Although getting figures is difficult, it appears that we really are sleeping less. In 1960

people in the US slept an average of 8.5 hours per night. A 2002 poll by the National Sleep

Foundation suggests that the average has fallen to under 7 hours, and the decline is

mirrored by the increase in obesity.

2. Climate control

We humans, like all warm-blooded animals, can keep our core body temperatures pretty much

constant regardless of what's going on in the world around us. We do this by altering our

me t ab o l ic

(新陈代新的 ) ra t e , shiv e r ing o r swe a t i n g. K e e ping w arm a n d stay i n g co o l tak e

energy unless we are in the “thermo-neutral zone”, which is increasingly where we choose

to live and work.

There is no denying that

ambient

temperatures

(环境温度) have changed in the past few

decades. Between 1970 and 2000, the average British home warmed from a chilly 13℃ to 18℃.

In the US, the changes have been at the other end of the thermometer as the proportion of

homes with air conditionings rose from 23% to 47% between 1978 and 1997. In the southern

states – where obesity rates tend to be highest – the number of houses with air

conditioning has shot up to 71% from 37% in 1978.

C o u l d a i r c o n d i t i o n i n g i n s u m m e r a n d h e a t i n g i n w i n t e r r e a l l y m a k e a d i f f e r e n c e t o o u r

w e i g h t ? S a d l y , t h e r e i s s o m e e v i d e n c e t h a t i t d o e s – a t l e a s t w i t h r e g a r d t o h e a t i n g .

Studies show that in comfortable temperatures we use less energy.

3. Less smoking

Bad news: smokers really do tend to be thinner than the rest of us, and quitting really

does pack on the pounds, though no one is sure why. It probably has something to do with

the fact that nicotine is an appetite suppressant and appears to up your metabolic rate.

K a t h e r i n e F l e g a l a n d c o l l e a g u e s a t t h e U S N a t i o n a l C e n t e r f o r H e a l t h S t a t i s t i c s i n

Hyattsville, Maryland, have calculated that people kicking the habit have been responsible

f o r a s m a l l b u t s i g n i f i c a n t p o r t i o n o f t h e U S e p i d e m i c o f f a t n e s s . F r o m d a t a c o l l e c t e d

aro u n d 19 9 1 b y th e US N a t iona l H e alth a nd N u t riti o n E xami n a tion S urve y , t hey w o rked o ut

that people who had quit in the previous decade were much more likely to be overweight than

smokers and people who had never smoked. Among men, for example, nearly half of quitters

were overweight compared with 37% of non-smokers and only 28% of smokers.

4. Genetic effects

Y o u r c h a n c e s o f b e c o m i n g f a t m a y b e s e t , a t l e a s t i n p a r t , b e f o r e y o u w e r e e v e n b o r n .

Children of obese mothers are much more likely to become obese themselves later in life.

Offspring of mice fed a high-fat diet during pregnancy are much more likely to become fat

than the offspring of identical mice fed a normal diet. Intriguingly, the effect persists

for two or three generations. Grandchildren of mice fed a high-fat diet grow up fat even if

their own mother is fed normally – so your fate may have been sealed even before you were

conceived.

5. A little older …

Some groups of people just happen to be fatter than others. Surveys carried out by the US

Nat ional Center for H ealth Statis tics f ound t hat ad ults a ged 40 to 79 were around three

times as likely to be obese as younger people. Non-white females also tend to fall at the

fatter end of the spectrum: Mexican-American women are 30% more likely than white women to

be obese, and black women have twice the risk.

In t h e US , th ese g r oups a ccou n t f or a n incr e a sing p e r cent a g e of t he p o p u l atio n . Bet w e en

1 9 7 0 a n d 2 0 0 0 t h e U S po pu l a t i o n a g e d 3 5 t o 4 4 g re w by 4 3 % . T h e p r o p o r t i o n o f Hi sp a n i c -

A m e r i c a n s a l s o g r e w , f r o m u n d e r 5 % t o 1 2 . 5 % o f t h e p o p u l a t i o n , w h i l e t h e p r o p o r t i o n o f

b l a c k A m e r i c a n s i n c r e a s e d f r o m 1 1 % t o 1 2 . 3 % . T h e s e c h a n g e s m a y a c c o u n t i n p a r t f o r t h e

increased prevalence of obesity.

6. Mature mums

M o t h e r s a r o u n d t h e wo rl d a r e g e t t i n g o l d e r . I n th e UK , t h e m e a n a g e f o r h av in g a f i r s t

c h i l d i s 2 7 . 3 , c o m p a r e d w i t h 2 3 . 7 i n 1 9 7 0 . M e a n a g e a t f i r s t b i r t h i n t h e U S h a s a l s o

increased, rising from 21.4 in 1970 to 24.9 in 2000.

This would be neither here nor there if it weren't for the observation that having an older

mot her se ems to be an indep endent risk factor for o besity . Resu lts fr om the US Na tional

Heart, Lung and Blood Institute's study found that the odds of a child being obese increase

14% for every five extra years of their mother's age, though why this should be so is not

entirely clear.

Michael Symonds at the university of Nottingham, UK, found that first-born children have

m o r e f a t t h a n y o u n g e r o n e s . A s f a m i l y s i z e d e c r e a s e s , f i r s t b o r n s a c c o u n t f o r a g r e a t e r

share of the population. In 1964, British women gave birth to an average of 2.95 children;

by 2005 that figure had fallen to 1.79. In the US in 1976, 9.6% of women in their 40s had

only one child; in 2004 it was 17.4%. This combination of older mothers and more single

children could be contributing to the obesity epidemic.

7. Like marrying like

J u s t a s p e o p l e p a i r o f f a c c o r d i n g t o l o o k s , s o t h e y d o f o r s i z e . L e a n p e o p l e a r e m o r e

l i k e l y t o m a r r y l e a n a n d f a t m o r e l i k e l y t o m a r r y f a t . O n i t s o w n , l i k e m a r r y i n g l i k e

cannot account for any increase in obesity. But combined with others – particularly the

fact that obesity is partly genetic, and that heavier people have more children – it

amplifies the increase from other causes.

注意：此部分试题请在答题卡1上作答。

1. What is the passage mainly about?

A) Effects of obesity on people's health.

B) The link between lifestyle and obesity.

C) New explanations for the obesity epidemic.

D) Possible ways to combat the obesity epidemic

2. In the US Nurses' Health Study, women who slept an average of 7 hours a night

________.

A) gained the least weight

B) were inclined to eat less

C) found their vigor enhanced

D) were less susceptible to illness

3. The popular belief about obesity is that ________.

A) it makes us sleepy

B) it causes sleep loss

C) it increases our appetite

D) it results from lack of sleep

4. How does indoor heating affect our life?

A) It makes us stay indoors more.

B) It accelerates our metabolic rate.

C) It makes us feel more energetic.

D) It contributes to our weight gain.

5. What does the author say about the effect of nicotine on smokers?

A) It threatens their health.

B) It heightens their spirits.

C) It suppresses their appetite.

D) It slows down their metabolism.

6. Who are most likely to be overweight according to Katherine Flegal's study?

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