【正文】 ss. In fact, I‘m sick and tired of restaurant food! Sometimes, I just prefer a homecooked meal. Q: Why does the man say he often eats out? : I was amazed when I heard Tony played piano so expertly! From the way he talked, I thought he was just starting his lessons. M: Oh, no! That‘s the way he always talks! Q: What can we infer about Tony from the conversation? : What do you think of people suing McDonalds for making them fat? W: Well. Its food doesn‘t make you fat. But eating too much of it does! How about chocolate and ice cream? Are they all responsible? It‘s silly! Q: What does the woman think of the lawsuit against McDonalds? : I‘m terribly sorry ma‘a(chǎn)m, but your flight has been cancelled. I won‘t be able to put you on another one until tomorrow morning. W: Well, I certainly hope the airline‘s going to put me up somewhere tonight. Q: What did the woman request the airline do? Passage one You have probably heard of the DuPont pany, which was founded by a family of the same name. But do you know about the museum that one of the family members began? Henry Francis Du Pont was an heir to Delaware‘s DuPont Company fortune. He was one of the first serious collectors of American decorative art objects: furniture, textiles, paintings and other 2020 年 12 月 2020 年 6 月 英語六級聽力原文 7 objects made in United States between 1640 and 1840. American furniture and household objects had been considered inferior to those from Europe. But Du Pont helped develope a new appreciation for American decorative arts. He created a legendary show plays for these objects on his family estate just outside Wilmington, Delaware. In 1951, it was open to the public as the Henry Francis Du Pont Winterthur Museum. The museum assembled objects from Du Pont‘s collection into 175 period rooms, each with examples of American antiques and decorative arts that followed a certain theme of period in early American history. For example, the Du Pont dining room has furniture dating from the late 18th and early 19th centuries. And because this was the time when the United States became a new nation, there‘s a patriotic theme in the room. Another example is the Chinese parlor, which has furnishings that would reflect American‘s fascination with Asian culture during the 18th century. In these period rooms, Du Pont believed he could tell the story of the early United States through furniture and other decorative arts. 11. What is Henry Francis Du Pont noted for? 12. What was the purpose of Du Pont‘s efforts? 13. How were the objects on display arranged? Passage two According to David Grattle, a British language expert, the idea that English will bee the world language is outdated. And people are more likely to switch between two or more languages for routine munication in the future. The share of the world‘s population that speaks English as a native language is falling. Instead, English will play a growing role as a second language. A population speaking more than one language is already the case in much of the world and is being more mon in the United States. Indeed, the census bureau reported last year that nearly one American in five speaks a language other than English at home, with Spanish taking the lead, followed by Chinese. Grattle works for British consulting and publishing business. He anticipates a world with the share of people who are native English speakers slips from 9% in the mid 1990s to 5% in 2050. Grattle says, ―Up until 1995, English was the second most mon native tongue in the world, trailing only Chinese. By 2050, Chinese will continue its predominance with Hindi Woodoo of India and Arabic climbing past English and Spanish nearly equal to it.‖ In contrast, an American language expert, David Harrison noted that the global share of English is much larger if you count second language speakers, and will continue to rise even as the proportion of native speakers declines. Harrison disputed listing Arabic in top three languages because varieties of Arabic spoken in such countries as Egypt and Morocco are mutually inprehensible. 14. What does David Grattle say about the use of languages for daily munication in the future? 15. Why doesn‘t David Harrison include Arabic as one of the top three languages? 16. What can we infer from the passage? Passage three There are about 1 million blind people in the United States. The largest and most influential anization of blind people in this country is the National Federation of the Blind. Its officials say the nation doesn‘t have any colleges or universities that serve only blind students. They say the reason for this is that blind people must learn to live among people who can see. American colleges and universities do accept blind and visually impaired students, and they provide services to help these students succeed. For example, colleges find people who write down what the 2020 年 12 月 2020 年 6 月 英語六級聽力原文 8 professor say in class and they provide technology that can help blind students with their work. However, experts say colleges can best help blind students by making it clear that the students should learn to help themselves. One blind American student named T recently made news because he graduated from medical school from the University of Wisconsin. He said technology was one of the reasons he succeeded. He used a puter that read into his earphone what he was typing. He also used a small printer that permitted him to write notes about his patients in the hospital. He did his undergraduate work at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. National Federation of the Blind officials say blind students from other nations do e to the United States to attend college. Some can even get financial aid. The Federation awards about 30 scholarships each year that have no