2016年12月英语六级阅读理解专项试题(含答案)

　　Text 1

The moden world only recently reached the Yanomano, a native people of the Amazon basin. Sheltered by thick rainforest,the Yanomano lived a self-contained existence until gold was discovered in their jungle homeland. Miners flocked into the forests, cutting down trees and bringing disease and shot those Yanomano who would not get out of the way. In just seven years from the early 1980s, the population fell 20 per cent.

Hands Around the World, a native American cultural association, says the Yanomano are believed to be the most culturally intact people in the world. They wear loin cloths, use fire sticks and decorate their bodies with dye from a red berry(桨果). They don’t use the wheel and the only metal they use is what has been traded to them by outsiders. When a Yanomano dies, the body is burned and the remaining bones crushed into a powder and turned into a drink that is later consumed by mourners in memory of the dead.

A Hands Around the World report says that in South America not only are the cultures and traditions in danger of disappearing, but some tribes are in danger of extinction. “The Yanomano is a well-known tribe that is rapidly losing its members through the destruction of Western disease,” the report says. Before illegal gold miners entered their rainforest, the Yanomano were isolated from modern sociaty.

They occupy dense jungle north of the Amazon River between Venezuela and Brazil and are catalogued by anthropologists(人类学家) as neo-indians with cultural characteristics that date back more than 8,000 years. Each community lives in a circular communal house, some of which sleep up to 400, built around a central square.

Though many Yanomano men are monogamous, it is not unusual for them to have two or more wives. Anthropologists from the University of Wisconsin say polygamy is a way to increase one’s wealth because having a large family increases help with hunting and cultivating the land. These marriages result in a shortage of women for other men to marry, which has led to inter-tribal wars.

Each Yanomano man is responsible for clearing his land for gardening, using slash-and-hum farming methods. They grow plantains, a type of banana eaten cooked, and hunt game animals, fish and anaconda(南美热带蟒蛇) using bows and arrows.

1. Miners flocked into the forest and shot those Yanomano who _______.

A. sheltered in thick rainforest　　B. would not leave their jungle homeland

C. lived a self-contained existence　　D. would stand in their way

2. The organization called Hands Around the World believes that culturally, the Yanomano is the world’s__________.

A. most primitive people　B. most backward people

C. most advanced people　　D. oldest people

3. Which of the following is NOT true according to an American cultural association report?

A. In South America, the cultures are on the verge of extinction.

B. In South America, the traditions are on the verge of extinction.

C. In South America, the Yanomano can survive extinction.

D. In South America, some tribes are on the verge of extinction.

4. ___caused the Yanomano to have inter-tribal wars.

A. The shortage of women resulting from polygamy

B. The difference in wealth resulting from polygamy

C. The shortage of women resulting from monogamy

D. The difference in wealth resulting from monogamy

5. We can infer from the passage that it is imperative for us to protect the Yanomano because__________.

A. it is a clturally most intact people

B. it is a primitive people deep in jungle

C. it is a native people of the Amazon basin

D. it is primitive people in danger of disappearing

【答案】： DACCD

　　Text 2

It is a curious paradox that we think of the physical sciences as “hard”, the social sciences as “soft,” and the biological sciences as somewhere in between. This is interpreted to mean that our knowledge of physical system is more certain than our knowledge of biological systems, and these in turn are more certain than our knowledge of social systems. In terms of our capacity of sample the relevant universes, however, and the probability that our images of these universes are at least approximately correct, one suspects that a reverse order is more reasonable. We are able to sample earth’s social systems with some degree of confidence that we have a reasonable sample of the total universe being investigated. Our knowledge of social systems, therefore, while it is in many ways extremely inaccurate, is not likely to be seriously overturned by new discoveries. Even the folk knowledge in social systems on which ordinary life is based in earning, spending, organizing, marrying, taking part in political activities, fighting and so on, is not very dissimilar from the more sophisticated images of the social system derived form the social sciences, even though it is built upon the very imperfect samples of personal experience. In contrast, our image of the astronomical universe, or even if earth’s geological history, ca easily be subject to revolutionary changes as new data come in and new theories are worked out. If we define the “security” of our image of various parts of the total system as the probability of their suffering significant changes, then we would reverse the order for hardness and as the most secure, the physical sciences as the least secure, and again the biological sciences as somewhere in between. Our image of the astronomical universe is the least secure of all simply because we observe such a fantastically small sample of it and its record-keeping is trivial records of biological systems. Records of the astronomical universe, despite the fact that we learnt things as they were long age, are limited in the extreme. Even in regard to such a close neighbor as the moon, which we have actually visited, theories about its origin and history are extremely different, contradictory, and hard to choose among. Our knowledge of physical evolution is incomplete and insecure.

word “paradox” (Line 1, Para. 1) means “_____”.

ication radiction rpretation usion

oding to the author, we should reverse our classification of the physical sciences as “hard” and the social sciences as “soft” because _______.

A.a reverse ordering will help promote the development of the physical sciences

knowledge of physical systems is more reliable than that of social systems

understanding of the social systems is approximately correct

are better able to investigate social phenomena than physical phenomena

author believes that our knowledge of social systems is more secure than that of physical systems because______.

is not based on personal experience

discoveries are less likely to occur in social sciences

is based on a fairly representative quantity of data

records of social systems are more reliable

chances of the physical sciences being subject to great changes are the biggest because _____.

radictory theories keep emerging all the time

information is constantly coming in

direction of their development is difficult to predict

knowledge of the physical world is inaccurate

know less about the astronomical universe than we don about any social system because ______.

ries of its origin and history are varied

knowledge of it is highly insecure

a very small sample of it has been observed

scientists are involved in the study of astronomy

答案：ACDAD