六级考前模考试卷.doc

六级考前模考试卷（三）Part II Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning) (15 minutes)Auto-Tune: Why Pop Music Sounds PerfectIf you havent been listening to pop radio in the past few months, youve missed the rise of two seemingly opposing trends. In a medium in which mediocre (平庸的) singing has never been a bar to entry, a lot of pop vocals suddenly sound great. Better than great: note- and pitch-perfect, as if theres been an unspoken tightening of standards at record labels or an evolutionary leap in the development of vocal cords. At the other extreme are a few hip-hop singers who also hit their notes but with a precision so exaggerated that on first listen, their songs sound comically artificial, like a chorus of 50s robots singing Motown.The force behind both trends is an ingenious plug-in called Auto-Tune, a downloadable studio trick that can take a vocal and instantly nudge it onto the proper note or move it to the correct pitch. Its like Photoshop for the human voice. Auto-Tune doesnt make it possible for just anyone to sing like a pro, but used as its creator intended, it can transform a wavering (颤抖的) performance into something technically flawless. “Right now, if you listen to pop, everything is in perfect pitch, perfect time and perfect tune,” says producer Rick Rubin. “Thats how widespread Auto-Tune is.” Auto-Tunes inventor is a man named Andy Hildebrand, who worked for years interpreting seismic (i.e. relating to earthquakes) data for the oil industry. Using a mathematical formula called autocorrelation, Hildebrand would send sound waves into the ground and record their reflections, providing an accurate map of potential drill sites. Its a technique that saves oil companies lots of money and allowed Hildebrand to retire at 40. He was debating the next chapter of his life at a dinner party when a guest challenged him to invent a box that would allow her to sing in tune. After he worked on autocorrelation for a few months, Auto-Tune was born in late 1996.Almost immediately, studio engineers adopted it as a trade secret to fix flubbed (搞砸了的) notes, saving them the expense and trouble of having to redo sessions. The first time common ears heard Auto-Tune was on the immensely irritating 1998 Cher hit “Believe”. In the first verse, when Cher sings “I cant break through” as though shes standing behind an electric fan, thats Auto-Tune but its not the way Hildebrand meant it to be used. The programs retune speed, which adjusts the singers voice, can be set from zero to 400. “If you set it to 10, that means that the output pitch will get halfway to the target pitch in 10 milliseconds,” says Hildebrand. “But if you let that parameter go to zero, it finds the nearest note and changes the output pitch instantaneously” eliminating the natural transition between notes and making the singer sound jumpy and automated. “I never figured anyone in their right mind would want to do that,” he says.Like other trends set by Cher, the creative abuse of Auto-Tune quickly went out of fashion, although it continued to be an indispensable part of the engineers toolbox. But in 2003, T-Pain (Faheem Najm), a little-known rapper and singer, accidentally stumble onto the Cher effect while Auto-Tuning some of his vocals. “It just worked for my voice,” says T-Pain in his natural Tallahassee accent. “And there wasnt anyone else doing it.”Since his 2005 first album, T-Pain has sent a dozen mechanically cheery singles into the Top 10. He contributed to four nominated songs at this years Grammys on Feb. 8, and his influence is still spreading. When Kanye West was looking for an effect to match some heartbroken lyrics, he flew T-Pain to Hawaii to see how many ways they could adjust Auto-Tune. Diddy gave a percentage of his upcoming albums profits to T-Pain in exchange for some lessons. Even Prince is rumored to be experimenting with Auto-Tune on his new record. “I know Auto-Tune better than anyone,” says T-Pain. “And even Im just figuring out all the ways you can use it to change the mood of a record.” Rubin, whos produced artists as diverse as the Dixie Chicks and Metallica, worries that the safety net of Auto-Tune is making singers lazy. “Sometimes a singer will do lots of takes when theyre recording a song, and you really can hear the emotional difference when someone does a great performance vs. an average one,” says Rubin. “If youre pitch-correcting, you might not bother to make the effort. You might just get it done and put it through the machine so its all in tune.” Rubin has taken to having an ethical conversation before each new recording session. “I encourage artists to embrace a natural process,” he says.With the exception of Milli Vanillis, pop listeners have always been fairly indulgent about performers ethics. It hits that matter, and the average person listening to just one pop song on the radio will have a hard time hearing Auto-Tunes impact; its effectively deceptive. But when track after track has perfect pitch, the songs are harder to differentiate from one another which explains why pop is in a pretty serious lull (停滞) at the moment. It also changes the way we hear unaffected voices. “The other day, someone was talking about how Aretha Franklin at the Inauguration was a bit pitchy,” says Anderson. “I said, Of course! She was singing! And that was a musician talking. People are getting used to hearing things dead on pitch, and its changed their expectations.”Despite Randy Jacksons stock American Idol critique “A little pitchy, dawg” many beloved songs are actually off-pitch or out of tune. Theres Ringo Starr on “With a Little Help from My Friends”, of course, and just about every blues song slides into notes as opposed to hitting them dead on. Even Norah Jones, the poster girl of pure vocals, isnt perfect. “Theres some wonderful imperfections of pitch on Dont Know Why from Come Away with Me,” says Anderson, “and most of the other tunes on the album as well. But I wouldnt want to change a single note.”Lets hope that pops fetish for uniform perfect pitch will fade, even if the spread of Auto-Tune shows no signs of slowing. A $99 version for home musicians was released in November 2007, and T-Pain and Auto-Tunes parent company are finishing work on an iPhone app. “Its gonna be real cool,” says T-Pain. “Basically, you can add Auto-Tune to your voice and send it to your friends and put it on the Web. Youll be able to sound just like me.” Asked if that might render him no longer unique, T-Pain laughs: “Im not too worried. I got lots of tricks you aint seen yet. Its everybody else that needs to step up their game.”1. What is the force of the rise of two trends which appear opposite to each other? A) The development of pop radio. B) Photoshop that can edit human voice.C) A vocal software called Auto-Tune. D) The popularity of a pop singer named Cher.2. Originally the creator intended to use Auto-Tune to _.A) change a poorly-sung song into a perfect one B) make everyone sing like a professional singer C) inject some vitality into the pop industryD) bring the flaw of pop songs into public3. Before Andy Hildebrand retired at 40, he worked for _.A) the seismological bureau B) Auto-Tunes parent companyC) oil companies D) a tape-recorder factory4. Studio engineers benefit greatly from Auto-Tune in that _.A) they no longer need to correct wrong notesB) it helps them keep songs secret before going publicC) it is totally free and thus saves them lots of moneyD) they dont have to waste time on recording music again5. What does the author say about the craze for Auto-Tune which trendy Cher started?A) It faded soon. B) It lasted for many years.C) It made engineers lazy. D) It harmed peoples creativity.6. According to the passage, what happened to T-Pain since 2005?A) He had to give up Auto-Tune.B) He became very successful.C) He made a fortune working for the Prince.D) He won fame as teachers of well-known singers.7. According to Rubin, the effect of Auto-Tune on singers may be _.A) positiveB) negative C) exaggerated D) underestimated8. During the recording session, singers are encouraged by Rubin to sing in a way.9. In general, when it comes to the issue of pop singers ethics, average listeners are .10. Although many songs in Norah Joness album were out of tune, Anderson would rather make no to the songs.Part IV Reading Comprehension (Reading in Depth) (25 minutes)Section AMore than two million people in Europe now have fibre broadband direct to their home, suggests a survey.The latest figures on superfast broadband delivered by fibre to the home (FTTH) shows 18% growth over the last survey compiled in late 2008.The continued growth suggests that the global economic downturn has not hit plans to build a fibre infrastructure (基础设施).Sweden tops the list of nations rolling out the technology, with 10.9% of its broadband customers using fibre.Karel Helsen, president of Europes Fibre-To-The-Home Council, said the growth matched predictions that were revised when the credit crunch (信用紧缩) started to make itself felt.“The numbers in 2009 are in line with the latest forecasts,” said Mr. Helsen.By 2012, the FTTH Council expects that 13 million people across 35 European nations will have their broadband delivered by fibre. Such services would start at speeds of 100 megabits per second (mbps), said Mr. Helsen.Around Europe more than 233 projects were underway to lay the fibres that would connect homes or buildings to the net, said Mr. Helsen. Many of those, he said, were being operated by local governments or smaller net firms.Local governments were interested in FTTH because of the economic and social benefits it brought in its wake, said Mr. Helsen.The low latency or delay inherent in high-speed fibre networks made possible novel uses of broadband, he said. “No delay is very important,” he said, “specifically if you talk about applications that are time-dependent such as personal communications, conference calls or video calls where delays cause a lot of interference.”While early FTTH services were concentrated in cities, said Mr. Helsen, many more were reaching out to rural areas for e-health and e-learning projects.Separate studies show that an FTTH infrastructure can have a direct impact on local economic output, said Mr. Helsen.The UK, France and Germany have yet to break into the list of top ten FTTH nations. TOP FIBRE NATIONS:1) Sweden - 10.9% 2) Norway - 10.2% 3) Slovenia - 8.9% 4) Andorra - 6.6% 5) Denmark- 5.7% 6) Iceland - 5.6% 7) Lithuania - 3.3% 8) Netherlands - 2.5% 9) Slovakia - 2.5% 10) Finland - 2.4%47.Despite the worsening global economy, the number of Europeans using fibre broadband .48.When the credit crunch emerged, peoples forecasts about the growth of FTTH were .49. According to Karel Helsen, who were mainly in charge of Europeans fibre-laying projects?50.Superfast broadband delivered by fibre saves users of instant communication from delays which .51.Different from the past, now more and more fibre projects are carried out in .Section BPassage OneQuestions 52 to 56 are based on the following passage.Musicians from karaoke singers to professional cello players are better able to hear targeted sounds in a noisy environment, according to new research that adds to evidence that music makes the brain work better.“In the past ten years theres been an explosion of research on music and the brain,” Aniruddh Patel, Senior Fellow at the Neurosciences Institute in San Diego, said today at a press briefing.Most recently brain-imaging studies have shown that music activates many diverse parts of the brain, including an overlap in where the brain processes music and language.Language is a natural aspect to consider in looking at how music affects the brain, Patel said. Like music, language is “universal, theres a strong learning component, and it carries complex meanings”.For example, brains of people exposed to even casual musical training have an enhanced ability to generate the brain wave patterns associated with specific sounds, be they musical or spoken, said study leader Nina Kraus, director of the Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory at Northwestern University in Illinois.But for people without a trained ear for music, the ability to make these patterns decreases as background noise increases, experiments show. Musicians, by contrast, have subconsciously trained their brains to better recognize selective sound patterns, even as background noise goes up.At the same time, people with certain developmental disorders, such as dyslexia (诵读困难), have a harder time hearing sounds amid the continuing loud confused noise a serious problem, for example, for students straining to hear the teacher in a noisy classroom.Musical experience could therefore be a key therapy for children with dyslexia and similar language-related disorders, Kraus said.In a similar vein, Harvard Medical School neuroscientist Gottfried Schlaug has found that stroke patients who have lost the ability to speak can be trained to say hundreds of phrases by singing them first.In research also presented today at the AAAS meeting Schlaug demonstrated the results of intensive musical therapy on patients with lesions (损伤) on the left sides of their brains, those areas most associated with language.Before the therapy, these stroke patients responded to questions with largely incoherent sounds and phrases. But after just a few minutes with therapists (治疗师), who asked them to sing phrases and tap their hands to the rhythm, the patients could sing “Happy Birthday”, recite their addresses, and communicate if they were thirsty.“The underdeveloped systems on the right side of the brain that respond to music became enhanced and changed structures,” Schlaug said.Overall, Schlaug said, the experiments show that “music might be an alternative medium for engaging parts of the brain that are otherwise not engaged”.52. What do we learn from the first paragraph?A) Music training can improve the function of the brain.B) Singers or instrument players tend to have better hearing.C) There has been little evidence to prove the power of music.D) Musicians are born with ability to hear targeted sound amid noise.53. According to Aniruddh Patel, language is usually under consideration when _.A) musicians explain the complex meaning behind the musicB) therapists try to treat patients who suffer from strokeC) people research the connection between music and the brainD) researchers study the functions of different parts of the brain54. Whether people can hear selective sounds amid noise depends on their ability to _.A) neglect the influence of the noiseB) remember the meaning of the soundsC) make the associated brain wave patternsD) tell musical sounds from spoken ones55. According to Kraus, the significance of identifying the link between music and brain is that _. A) music training can be a way to enhance poor hearingB) singing can be used to treat people with language disordersC) intensive musical therapy may make a mute person speakD) all brain disorders can be cured by learning musical sounds56. The musical training therapists gave to the stroke patients actually _.A) enhanced the parts of the left brain which are under constant use B) restored the language function of the damaged system in the left brainC) hindered the damaged systems in the brain from deteriorating sharplyD) changed the structures of the underdeveloped systems in the right brainPassage TwoQuestions 57 to 61 are based on the following passage.As Sesame Street kicks off its 40th anniversary season Tuesday, with first lady Michelle Obama and Broadway star Lin-Manuel Miranda as guests, it is indisputably the most beloved childrens show in history, and one of televisions biggest and most enduring success stories.The series holds a record 122 Emmy Awards, not including a lifetime-achievement trophy (奖杯) award, and has been adapted in more than 120 countries and territories around the globe. An estimated 100,000 Sesame products have been made available internationally, from T-shirts and costumes to high-tech toys such as Elmo Live. Sesames cross-cultural, multi-generational appeal has a lot to do with the specific age group it targets. “The bulk of our audience is in the 2s and 3s, though we shoot for 2 to 4,” says executive producer Carol-Lynn Parente. At that early stage, says Spinney who is 75, and has been with the show since Day 1 (he plays Oscar as well) “children are basically the same, and have been through the years”.But if preschoolers fundamental needs and sensibilities havent changed much, the world around them has not least of all on the media landscape, where Sesame Street now competes with many other kids shows and an ever-expanding array of new media.In 2000, the Childrens Television Workshop, the organization through which creator Joan Ganz Cooney launched Sesame Street on PBS predecessor NET, changed its title to Sesame Workshop, to reflect its expansion into the digital, interactive age.Content and presentation continue to evolve on TV as well. The shows famously catchy theme song, Sunny Day, now has a hip-hop beat and a jazzier arrangement. Parente stresses that its just as imp