2016年6月英语六级阅读理解真题「第二套」

　　"We needto accept that fact across much of the planet, so waste with little or no treatment will be usedin agriculture for good reason."

　　46. What does the author say about the use of raw sewage for farming? A. Its risks cannot be overestimated.

　　B. It should be forbidden altogether.

　　C. Its benefits outweigh the hazards involved.

　　D. It is polluting millions of acres of cropland.

　　47. What is the main problem caused by the use of wastewater for irrigation?

　　A. Rivers and lakes nearby will gradually become contaminated.

　　B. It will drive producers of chemical fertilizers out of business.

　　C. Farmers and consumers may be affected by harmful bacteria.

　　D. It will make the farm produce less competitive on the market.

　　48. What is environmental scientist Pay Drechsel's attitude towards the use of untreatedhuman waste in agriculture?

　　A. Favorable.

　　B. Skeptical. C. Indifferent.

　　D. Responsible.

　　49. What does Pay Drechsel think of the risks involved in using untreated human waste forfarming?

　　A. They have been somewhat exaggerated.

　　B. They can be dealt with through education.

　　C. They will be minimized with new technology.

　　D. They can be addressed by improved sanitation.

　　50. What do we learn about James Bartram's position on the use of human waste for farming?

　　A. He echoes Pay Drechsel's opinion on the issue.

　　B. He challenges Liqa Raschid-Sally's conclusion.

　　C. He thinks it the only way out of the current food crisis.

　　D. He deems it indispensable for combating global poverty.

　　Passage Two

　　Questions 51 to 55 are based on the following passage. These days, nobody needs to cook. Families graze on high-cholesterol take-aways andmicrowaved ready-meals. Cooking is an occasional hobby and a vehicle for celebrity chefs.Which makes it odd that the kitchen has become the heart of the modem house: what thegreat hall was to the medieval castle, the kitchen is to the 21st-century home. The money spent on kitchens has risen with their status. In America the kitchen market is nowworth $170 billion, five times the country's film industry. In the year to August 2007, IKEA, aSwedish furniture chain, sold over one million kitchens worldwide. The average budget for a"major" kitchen overhaul in 2006, calculates Remodeling magazine, was a staggering $54,000;even a "minor" improvement cost on average $18,000.

　　Exclusivity, more familiar in the world of high fashion, has reached the kitchen: Robinson& Cornish, a British manufacturer of custom-made kitchens, offers a Georgian-style onewhich would cost ￡145,000-155,000—excluding building, plumbing and electrical work. Its bigselling point is that nobody else will have it: "You won't see this kitchen anywhere else in theworld."

　　The elevation of the room that once belonged only to the servants to that of design showcasefor the modem family tells the story of a century of social change. Right into the early 20thcentury, kitchens were smoky, noisy places, generally located underground, or to the back ofthe house, and as far from living space as possible. That was as it should be: kitchens were forservants, and the aspiring middle classes wanted nothing to do with them.

　　But as the working classes prospered and the servant shortage set in, housekeeping became amatter of interest to the educated classes. One of the pioneers of a radical new way of thinkingabout the kitchen was Catharine Esther Beecher, sister of Harriet Beecher Stowe. In AmericanWoman's Home, published in 1869, the Beecher sisters recommended a scientific approach tohousehold management, designed to enhance the efficiency of a woman's work and promoteorder.

　　Many contemporary ideas about kitchen design can be traced back to another American,Christine Frederick, who set about enhancing the efficiency of the housewife. Her 1919 work,Household Engineering: Scientific Management in the Home, was based on detailedobservation of a housewife's daily routine. She borrowed the principle of efficiency on thefactory floor and applied it to domestic tasks on the kitchen floor.

　　Frederick's central idea, that stove, sink and kitchen table must be placed in such a relationthat useless steps are avoided entirely", inspired the first fully fitted kitchen, designed in the1920s by Margarete Schütter-Lihotsky. It was a modernist triumph, and many elementsremain central features of today's kitchen.

　　51. What does the author say about the kitchen of today?

　　A. It is where housewives display their cooking skills.

　　B. It is where the family entertains important guests. C. It has become something odd in a modem house.

　　D. It is regarded as the center of a modem home.

　　52. Why does the Georgian-style kitchen sell at a very high price?

　　A. It is believed to have tremendous artistic value.

　　B. No duplicate is to be found in any other place. C. It is manufactured by a famous British company.

　　D. No other manufacturer can produce anything like it.

　　53. What does the change in the status of the kitchen reflect?

　　A. Improved living conditions.

　　B. Women's elevated status. C. Technological progress.

　　D. Social change.