2011年6月大学英语六级真题及答案

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2011 年 6 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The Certificate Craze. You should write at least 150 words following

the outline given below

1．现在许多人热衷于各类证书考试

2．其目的各不相同

3．在我看来……

The Certificate Craze

注意：此部分试题在答题卡 1 上。

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 sen tences with the information given in the passage.

Minority Report

American universities are accepting more minorities than ever. Graduating them

is another matter.

Barry Mills, the president of Bowdoin College, was justifiably proud of

Bowdoin's efforts to recruit minority students. Since 2003 the small, elite

liberal arts school in Brunswick, Maine, has boosted the proportion of so-

called under-represented minority students in entering freshman classes from 8%

to 13%. "It is our responsibility to reach out and attract students to come to

our kinds of places," he told a

NEWSWEEK

reporter. But Bowdoin has not done

quite as well when it comes to actually graduating minorities. While 9 out of

10 white students routinely get their diplomas within six years, only 7 out of

10 black students made it to graduation day in several recent classes.

"If you look at who enters college, it now looks like America," says Hilary

Pennington, director of postsecondary programs for the Bill & Melinda Gates

Foundation, which has closely studied enrollment patterns in higher education.

"But if you look at who walks across the stage for a diploma, it's still

largely the white, upper-income population."

The United States once had the highest graduation rate of any nation. Now it

stands 10th. For the first time in American history, there is the risk that the

rising generation will be less well educated than the previous one. The

graduation rate among 25- to 34-year-olds is no better than the rate for the

55- to 64-year-olds who were going to college more than 30 years ago. Studies

show that more and more poor and non-white students want to graduate from

college – but their graduation rates fall far short of their dreams. The

graduation rates for blacks, Latinos, and Native Americans lag far behind the

graduation rates for whites and Asians. As the minority population grows in the

United States, low college graduation rates become a threat to national

prosperity.

The problem is pronounced at public universities. In 2007 the University of

Wisconsin-Madison – one of the top five or so prestigious public universities

– graduated 81% of its white students within six years, but only 56% of its

blacks. At less-selective state schools, the numbers get worse. During the same

time frame, the University of Northern Iowa graduated 67% of its white

students, but only 39% of its blacks. Community colleges have low graduation

rates generally – but rock-bottom rates for minorities. A recent review of

California community colleges found that while a third of the Asian students

picked up their degrees, only 15% of African-Americans did so as well.

Private colleges and universities generally do better, partly because they

offer smaller classes and more personal attention. But when it comes to a

significant graduation gap, Bowdoin has company. Nearby Colby College logged an

18-point difference between white and black graduates in 2007 and 25 points in

2006. Middlebury College in Vermont, another top school, had a 19-point gap in

2007 and a 22-point gap in 2006. The most selective private schools – Harvard,

Yale, and Princeton – show almost no gap between black and white graduation

rates. But that may have more to do with their ability to select the best

students. According to data gathered by Harvard Law School professor Lani

Guinier, the most selective schools are more likely to choose blacks who have

at least one immigrant parent from Africa or the Caribbean than black students

who are descendants of American slaves.

"Higher education has been able to duck this issue for years, particularly the

more selective schools, by saying the responsibility is on the individual

student," says Pennington of the Gates Foundation. "If they fail, it's their

fault." Some critics blame affirmative action – students admitted with lower

test scores and grades from shaky high schools often struggle at elite schools.

But a bigger problem may be that poor high schools often send their students to

colleges for which they are "undermatched": they could get into more elite,

richer schools, but instead go to community colleges and low-rated state

schools that lack the resources to help them. Some schools out for profit

cynically increase tuitions and count on student loans and federal aid to foot

the bill – knowing full well that the students won't make it. "The school

keeps the money, but the kid leaves with loads of debt and no degree and no

ability to get a better job. Colleges are not holding up their end," says Amy

Wilkins of the Education Trust.

A college education is getting ever more expensive. Since 1982 tuitions have

been rising at roughly twice the rate of inflation. In 2008 the net cost of

attending a four-year public university – after financial aid – equaled 28%

of

median

(中间的)family income, while a four-year private university cost

76% of median family income. More and more scholarships are based on merit, not

need. Poorer students are not always the best-informed consumers. Often they

wind up deeply in debt or simply unable to pay after a year or two and must

drop out.

There once was a time when universities took pride in their dropout rates.

Professors would begin the year by saying, "Look to the right and look to the

left. One of you is not going to be here by the end of the year." But such a

Darwinian spirit is beginning to give way as at least a few colleges face up to

the graduation gap. At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the gap has been

roughly halved over the last three years. The university has poured resources

into peer counseling to help students from inner-city schools adjust to

the

rigor

(严格要求)and faster pace of a university classroom –and also to

help minority students overcome the stereotype that they are less qualified.

Wisconsin has a "laserlike focus" on building up student skills in the first

three months, according to vice

provost

(教务长)Damon Williams.

State and federal governments could sharpen that focus everywhere by broadly

publishing minority graduation rates. For years private colleges such as

Princeton and MIT have had success bringing minorities onto campus in the

summer before freshman year to give them some prepara tory courses. The newer

trend is to start recruiting poor and non-white students as early as the

seventh grade, using innovative tools to identify kids with sophisticated

verbal skills. Such pro grams can be expensive, of course, but cheap compared

with the millions already invested in scholarships and grants for kids who have

little chance to graduate without special support.

With effort and money, the graduation gap can be closed. Washington and Lee is

a small, selective school in Lexington, Va. Its student body is less than 5%

black and less than 2% Latino. While the school usually graduated about 90% of

its whites, the graduation rate of its blacks and Latinos had dipped to 63% by

2007. "We went through a dramatic shift," says Dawn Watkins, the vice president

for student affairs. The school aggressively pushed

mentoring

(辅导) of

minorities by other students and "partnering" with parents at a special pre-

enrollment session. The school had its first-ever black homecoming. Last spring

the school graduated the same proportion of minorities as it did whites. If the

United States wants to keep up in the global economic race, it will have to pay

systematic attention to graduating minorities, not just enrolling them.

注意：此部分试题请在答题卡 1 上作答。

1. What is the author's main concern about American higher education?

A)The small proportion of minority students.

B)The low graduation rates of minority students.

C)The growing conflicts among ethnic groups.

D)The poor academic performance of students.

2. What was the pride of President Barry Mills of Bowdoin College?

A) The prestige of its liberal arts programs.

B)Its ranking among universities in Maine.

C)The high graduation rates of its students.

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