2007年6月英语六级真题精讲：听力
Section B
【听力短文·指点迷津】
听力段落信息比较集中，考生应学会通过选项来猜测段落大意，判断听力重点，用自己的方式做笔记，强化自己的记忆。
Passage One
【听力原文】
The New Year always brings with it a cultural tradition of new possibilities. 【26】We see it as a chance for renewal. We begin to dream of new possible selves. We design our ideal self or an image that is quite different from what we are now. For some of us, we roll that dreamy film in our heads just because it is the beginning of the New Year, but we are serious about making changes. We just make some half heart resolution and it evaporates after a week or two. The experience makes us less successful and leads us to discount ability to change in the future. It's not the changes impossible but it won't last unless our resolutions are supported with plans for implementation. 【27】We have to make our intensions manageable by detailing the specific steps that will carry us to our goal. Say your goal is to lose weight by dieting and cutting off sweets. But one night you just have to have a cookie. And you know there is a bag of your favorites in the cupboard. You want one, you eat two, you check the bag and find out that you've just shot 132 calories. You say to yourself, "What the hell. I'll polish off the whole bag." Then you begin to draw all kinds of unpleasant conclusions about yourself. To protect your sense of yourself, you begin to discount the goal. You may think, "Well, dieting wasn't that important to me and I wouldn't make it anyhow." 【28】So you'll abandon the goal and return to your bad habits.
26.
【题目】
What do people usually wish to do at the beginning of a New Year?
A) Improve themselves.
B) Get rid of empty dreams.
C) Follow the cultural tradition.
D) Attempt something impossible.
【答案解析】
A)这篇听力开篇就谈到新年，对考生来讲相对比较简单，因为符合中国人的习惯。新年新决定，但很多时候人们会半途而废。随后说我们把新年当做自我更新的机会，我们做与现在的我们完全不一样的计划安排。
27.
【题目】
How can people turn their New Year's resolutions into reality?
A) By finding sufficient support for implementation.
B) By taking into account their own ability to change.
C) By constantly keeping in mind their ultimate goals.
D) By making detailed plans and carrying them out.
【答案解析】
D)by+doing表示方式方法。在26题的基础上，考生可以推测问题有可能是人们通过什么方式来实现自己给自已设计的目标。段落中间为了实现目标，我们应该列出具体步骤并在生活中践行。
28.
【题目】
Why does the speaker mention the example of sweets and cookies?
A) To show people how to get their lives back to normal.
B) To show how difficult it is for people to lose weight.
C) To remind people to check the calories on food bags.
D) To illustrate how easily people abandon their goals.
【答案解析】
D)to show, to remind, to illustrate等词的不定式一般表示目的。段落最后举了个戒掉糖果来减肥的例子。最后说人们放弃了自己的目标，又回到自己的坏习惯中。这些做法也出现在我们的现实生活中，很容易理解。
Passage Two
【听力原文】
25 years ago, Ray Anderson, a single parent with a one-year-old son, witnessed a terrible accident which took place when the driver of a truck ran a red light and collided with the car of Sandra Drinkens. 【29】The impact of the collision killed Sandra instantly, but her three-month-old daughter was left trapped in the burning car. While others looked on in horror, 【30】Anderson jumped out of his vehicle and crawled into the car through the shattered rear window to try to free the infant. Seconds later, the car was enclosed in flames, but to everyone's amazement, Anderson was able to pull the baby to safety. While the baby was all right, Anderson was seriously injured. Two days later, he died. But his heroic act was published widely in the media. His son was soon adopted by relatives. The most remarkable part of this story unfolded only last week. Karen and her boyfriend Michael were looking through some old boxes when they came across some old newspaper clippings. "This is me when I was a new born baby. I was rescued from a burning car but my mother died in the accident," explained Karen. Although Michael knew Karen's mother had died years earlier, he never fully understood the circumstances until he skimmed over the news paper article. To Karen's surprise, Michael was absorbed in the details of the accident and 【31】he began to cry uncontrollably. Then he revealed that the man that pulled Karen from the flames was the father he never knew. The two embraced and shed many tears, recounting stories told to them about their parents.
29.
【题目】
What happened 25 years ago?
A) Michael's parents got divorced.
B) Karen was adopted by Ray Anderson.
C) Karen's mother died in a car accident.
D) A truck driver lost his life in a collision.
【答案解析】
C)通看选项可以判断很有可能是篇记叙文，过去时态表明发生在过去的事情。听力开始讲在事故中Sandra当场死亡，而她三个月的女儿还在车中。Karen是个女姓名，考生可以推测是女儿的名字，听力最后也可确认推测是正确的。
30.
【题目】
What does the speaker say about Michael's father?
A) He ran a red light and collided with a truck.
B) He sacrificed his life to save a baby girl.
C) He was killed instantly in a burning car.
D) He got married to Karen's mother.
【答案解析】
B)看过选项，考生应该把听力注意力集中在一位男性的所作所为。Sandra当场死亡，Anderson去救婴儿，受重伤，两天后死亡。
31.
【题目】
Why did Michael cry uncontrollably when he skimmed over the newspaper article?
A) The reported hero turned out to be his father.
B) He did not understand his father till too late.
C) Such misfortune should have fallen on him.
D) It reminded him of his miserable childhood.
【答案解析】
A)听力一开始说到Anderson是个单身父亲，小男孩一岁多。考生可以猜测Michael可能是这个男孩的名字。听力最后，Michael才意识到那位英雄是自己从未谋面的父亲。
Passage Three
【听力原文】
Americans suffer from an overdose of work. Regardless of who they are or what they do, Americans spend more time at work than at any time since World War II. In 1950, the US had fewer working hours than any other industrialized country. 【32】Today, it exceeds any country but Japan, where industrial employees log 2,155 hours a year, compared with 1,951 in the US, and 1,603 in the former West Germany. Between 1969 and 1989, employed Americans added an average of 138 hours to their yearly work schedules. 【33】The workweek has remained at about 40 hours, but people are working more weeks each year. Specifically paid time-off holidays, vacations, sick leave shrank by 50 % in the 1980s. 【34】As corporations have experienced stiff competition and slower growth productivity, they have pressed employees to work longer. Cost cutting lay-offs in the 1980s reduced the professional and managerial ranks, leaving fewer people to get the job done. In lower paid occupations where wages have been reduced, workers have added hours in overtime or extra jobs to preserve their living standards. The government estimates that more than 7 million people hold a second job. 【35】 For the first time, large numbers of people say they want to cut back on working hours even if it means earning less money. But most employers are unwilling to let them do so. The government, which has stepped back from its traditional role as a regulator of work time should take steps to make shorter hours possible.
32.
【题目】
In which country do the employees work the longest hours?
A) Germany. B) Japan.
C) The U.S. D) The U.K.
【答案解析】
B)四个国家名，考生应注意听力的话题。开篇说道美国人工作超时，考生可断定本段文章讨论超时工作。接着，听力中说它超过了除了日本的其他任何国家，"它"在这里指代美国。考生可简单按照工作时间从多到少将提到的国家排序。
33.
【题目】
How do employed Americans manage to work more hours?
A) By doing odd jobs at weekends.
B) By working long hours every day.
C) By putting in more hours each week.
D) By taking shorter vacations each year.
【答案解析】
D)by+doing表示方式方法。听力主要讨论超时工作，考生可推测此题是讨论如何做到这一点的。四个选项都是合理的方法，所以考生要注意听力细节，哪一个是文章提到的。听力中间讲人们每年工作的周数增多了，具体的讲他们的假期降了50%，考生注意shrink的理解，"缩减"。
34.
【题目】
Why do corporations press the employees to work longer hours according to the speaker?
A) To combat competition and raise productivity.
B) To provide them with more job opportunities.
C) To help them maintain their living standard.
D) To prevent them from holding a second job.
【答案解析】
A)to do不定式一般表目的，前后相互联系，考生要关注超时工作的目的和原因。中间讲公司经历了残酷的竞争，生产力低下，所以他们强迫工人超时工作。反言之，超时工作的目的是为了与竞争抗衡，提高生产力。
35.
【题目】
What does the speaker say many Americans prefer to do?
A) Change their jobs.
B) Earn more money.
C) Reduce their working hours.
D) Strengthen the government's role.
【答案解析】
C)四个选项表明采取的措施。听力最后，人们想减少工作时间，哪怕这意味着自己的收入降低了。cut back on意为"减少"。
