2023年3月大學(xué)英語六級(jí)考試聽力真題及答案

Section A

Conversation One

M: Thanks for inviting me out tonight. I've been wanting to try this place for weeks. I usually pass it on my way home from work but never seem to have time to stop.

W: [1]I've been dying to come here as well. I was worried that the menu might not be accommodating. But one of my close friends ate here last week. She's a vegetarian. She told me that there were a lot of options for her, and they offered alternative dishes.

M: But you' re not vegetarian, are you?

W: [2] Well, not entirely. I don't eat meat at all. But I don't have a problem eating fish, seafood, or eggs.

M: Isn't that very difficult? I can't imagine giving up a premium juicy steak or bacon cheeseburgers.

W: I wouldn't know. My parents followed the same diet. Even when I was younger, we never had meat during meals. And I never really had a craving to try it.[3]I bet it would be hard though, giving up something you're accustomed to eating. I tried cutting back on coffee in the morning and it was awful. Come to think of it. It was probably even worse for my colleagues that had to deal with me at morning meetings.

M: That's even harder to imagine you without coffee. So you say your parents also followed a partially vegetarian diet?Why did they decide to do that?

W: That's an interesting question. I never thought to ask them though. My best guess is for health reasons. They're not terribly active or knowledgeable about animal preservation efforts, but they' re serious about their health. Both are in their 70s now but eat organic as often as possible and take part in regular physical exercise.[4] Neither of them has any health problems and they hardly ever get sick.

M: In that case, I might give it a try someday.

W: Now back to the menu. What' re you going to have?

1.Where does the conversation most probably take place?

2.What do we learn about the woman?

3.What would be a difficult thing to do according to the woman?

4.What does the woman say about her parents?

Conversation Two

W: How did your annual performance evaluation meeting with your manager go? Did you get much in the way of praise?

M: [5] Next to zero. When we came to the part about discussing my areas for growth, he bluntly told me that I had an attitude problem. But he wouldn't really expand on that description. He said it's the little things I do and say.

W: Did you ask him for a specific example?

M: I did ask him a few more questions to try to narrow it down. He said my constant questioning of him and his decisions was the most obvious example he could give. Then our conversation was swiftly brought to a close.

W: I had a similar experience once. My manager told me I was too honest. In most cases, I thought my honesty was helpful, as did my colleagues, but my manager thought otherwise.[6] Some managers really adopt manipulative language to disguise the unreasonable choices they have made. They don't use the rational power of arguments to resolve issues of conflict or complaints about unfairness.

M: Right. Some employ their persuasive vocabulary and influential communication style to win workplace arguments by compelling people to perform the intended action.

W: Exactly. Too honest? Isn't that a good thing?I thought that's surely something we should have covered earlier in the section discussing strengths and talents, but now...[7] Honesty was deemed to be more of a sin than a virtue, since it made people feel uncomfortable or at least it made the most powerful folks feel uncomfortable.

M: Indeed. Rhetoric is viewed by many philosophers as the method through which the powerful accumulate more power. By virtue of having the loudest voice, they're able to command greater attention and further asser t their dominance, even when what they' re saying doesn't really make much sense.

W: [8] And retaining their power and prestige is their priority.

M: It's what makes the most sense to a lot of them.

5.What was the manager's reason for giving little praise for the man's performance?

6.What does the woman say about some managers?

7.According to the woman, what do some managers think of honesty?

8.What does the woman think is the priority of many managers? 

Section B

Passage One

[9] Athletes are seen as heroes because they can do things that most of us can't do. They can hit fastballs coming at them at nearly 100 miles an hour, and leap and hang in the air, seemingly defying gravity. They get paid millions of dollars for their efforts, and their names and faces appear on everything from running shoes to advertising boards. Athletes who are champions also show qualities such as perseverance, dedication, and the ability to keep their cool under pressure. Many show those same qualities off the playing field, too. Stories about super-star athletes teach us about working hard and believing in ourselves and in being passionate about what we do.

Although it's usually bad behavior that gets an athlete a spot on the Six O' clock News,[10] many high-profile players work hard to be positive role models to children. They raise money for charities and act as mentors, talking to student groups and volunteering their time to programs that help children keep off drugs and stay in school.

Still, even the greatest champions have flaws. Just because an athlete has the perfect golf swing doesn't mean he is the perfect parent, friend, or spokesperson. They also make mistakes. [11] Separating an athlete's professional and personal lives can be tough. When a sports star gets in trouble with the law or does something wrong in their private life, fans are often left disappointed. Before he died, baseball star, Mickey Mantle, who was plagued with alcohol problems, told young ball players and the fans who admired him, “To play like me; don't be like me!”

9.Why does the speaker say athletes are often viewed as heroes?

10.What does the speaker say many high-profile players do?

11.What does the speaker say can be difficult? 

Passage Two

[12] We don't need to tell you that weddings can get expensive. Even with the most meticulous budgeting, a few unexpected costs are bound to occur. While most brides tend to accept this as fact, one Canadian woman, who is only known as“Susan”, attempted to avoid all wedding costs. She did this by asking her friends and family to pay up to attend her wedding. It went about as well as you'd expect.

Susan is causing quite the debate online after posting a bizarre Facebook complaint about her now-cancelled wedding.[13] Yes, the couple called off the wedding just days before their wedding vows, since the guests refused to pay the $1,500 attendance fee. The $60,000 dream wedding was put on permanent hold. In her long explanation filled with cursing and swearing, the bride accused her friends and family of ruining her marriage and her life. She stated that each guest would only need to pay $1,500, while she sacrificed everything for the day.[14] Her maid of honor told her to stick to the budget, as she was asking too much from her guests, but Susan ignored her. Not surprisingly, only 8 people responded positively to the wedding invitations and money requests.

Realizing they would not be able to afford their dream wedding, Susan's future husband suggested getting married in Las Vegas.[15] The bride quickly shut down the idea, saying she did not want a wedding of gambling and heavy drinking. It seems her dream wedding has now become a nightmare.

12.What does the speaker say about weddings?

13.What do we learn about the wedding of the Canadian woman Susan?

14.What did Susan's maid of honor advise her to do? 

15.How did Susan respond to her future husband's suggestion?

Section C

Recording One

It has long been scientifically established that weather changes can affect people's moods. [16] Now,a new study has provided evidence that temperature can influence people's personalities. This study of over 1.6 million people revealed that 22°C is the perfect air temperature to live in. A city, with an average annual temperature closer to 22, tends to have a population who are more agreeable, conscientious, emotionally stable, and outgoing. It is the least taxing temperature for the body to regulate its own temperature. The study was observational and didn't show cause and effect, but the scientists behind it theorize that better weather leads people to leave their home more often. This, in turn, leads to more social interaction, which encourages them to develop a friendlier and socially more acceptable personality.[17] Warmer climates also make people feel more positive in general. They tend to be more agreeable and conscientious. The findings might help explain why colder and warmer countries tend to produce people with different personalities.

Roughly speaking, about 40% of a person's personality is determined by their genes, the other 60% by their environment. It was already well known that personality traits vary across geographic regions. Scientists also knew that these geographic personality traits are associated with a broad range of consequential outcomes. These outcomes include economic activity, for example, entrepreneurial startup rates and also crime rates, health behaviors, and health outcomes. And it is well established that personality traits differ between countries.

The research team speculated the two might be linked. To test this, they gave online personality tests to 5,587 Chinese students and 1.66 million Americans. They then compared the results with the average annual temperature where they grew up. The tests measured personality along five well-studied characteristics. The five were agreeability, conscientiousness, emotional stability, outgoingness, and openness to new experiences. In both groups, the researchers found the closer a town's average annual temperature was to 22 degrees, the more its population exhibited those personality characteristics. [18] However, the findings were much stronger for the Chinese group than the Americans studied, which suggests that though temperature plays a role, it does not play a dominant role. The effects are fairly weak. It's unlikely to lead to many arguments over the temperature setting of the office air conditioner.

16.What has a new study revealed about temperature?

17.What does the speaker say about warmer climates?

18.What did the online personality tests suggest?

Recording Two

Today we are talking about loneliness. Loneliness and social isolation are growing public health concerns for people of all ages in the United States, from adolescence to the elderly. Public health experts are worried, because loneliness seems to be on the rise, and studies have long found correlations between loneliness and an assortment of medical conditions that threaten health and longevity.

The problem of loneliness may be even greater than we thought. A new national poll found that about a third of older Americans are lonely, and almost as many seniors feel isolated.[19] This is a serious problem as research shows that chronic loneliness is particularly harmful to senior citizens. That's because it can impair older adults' memory and damage their physical and mental health. Chronic loneliness even impacts the life expectancy of seniors, increasing their risk of early mortality.

Let's take a closer look at that poll now. More than a third of seniors in the poll said they felt lonely at least some of the time, and 27% said they sometimes or often felt isolated. This reflects how much time the seniors spent with others. Almost 30% said they socialized with friends, family or neighbors once a week or less. Women were more likely than men to report loneliness.

[20] But there is good news. It looks like loneliness can be reversed, but researchers are still trying to determine the best way to do so. Why is that? Resolving the problem of loneliness among seniors often isn't as simple as getting them together with others or moving them in with their children. In fact, the poll found that seniors who lived with their children were more likely to report feeling lonely than those who didn't. This may be because loneliness refers to the discrepancy between actual and desired relationships. So it's possible that someone who lives alone doesn't meet that definition, while someone in a house full of busy people does.

How can we solve the problem? Well, the researchers assert that it's important to address each person's underlying cause of loneliness, whether it's the death of a spouse, medical problems, or social expectations that haven't been fulfilled. It's noteworthy that there is one general recommendation.[21] While finding solutions for loneliness is highly personal, research suggests the best interventions are those that involve meaningful social contact, at least once a week. depending on the person that could mean volunteering, seeing an old friend or something else.

19.Why does the speaker say the finding of a new national poll reveals a serious problem?

20.What is the good news the speaker talks about? 

21.What is the key to solving the loneliness problem, according to the speaker?

Recording Three

Hello, I am co-founder of the popular female travel community, We Are Travel Girls. We collect and publish stories from women traveling all over the world. We promote women's blogs. We host meetings and events, and are getting ready to launch our“Travel with Us” trips in Bali, Japan and Malawi.

[22] Before I started We Are Travel Girls, I had a successful 10-year career in finance in London where I advised private clients on their investments. Having always had a huge love for travel,I finally took the leap and left finance to pursue my dream of starting a travel company.

For as long as I can remember, I wanted to be a travel writer. Before blogs existed and everything we read was online, I would go to travel writing seminar s by writers who were published in travel magazines. I was desperate to write for one of those magazines, but didn't know how to break into that industry. After university, I ended up working in finance, but always had a desire to travel and write about it.

[23] In 2015,I was looking at ways to leave finance, and my best friend Vanessa, who grew up on a ranch on the central coast of California, suggested starting a blog. But when we started creating it, we realized that was the same thing every girl was doing. So we turned our attention to creating a community among these women. This led us to start We Are Travel Girls, which has now grown into a community of over 200,000 followers.

[24] To anyone thinking about becoming a travel writer, I would suggest they first try and look for a unique way to enter the industry. There are a lot of travel writers now and it can be hard to stand out from the crowd, which is really why we started We Are Travel Girls. Be prepared to work hard if you want to turn it into a full-time business.[25] And try not to rush to selling advertising spaces before you have created a dedicated audience. The size of your audience doesn't necessarily need to be huge, but you want them to be engaged.[25] lf you post too many promotions early on, you will turn many people off.

22.What do we learn about the speaker before she created the community We Are Travel Girls?

23.What did the speaker's friend suggest they do in 2015?

24.What does the speaker advise people to do if they want to become travel writers?

25.What is the speaker's advice on winning a loyal audience?