WRI, maintain that environmental progress needs to go hand-in-hand with economic development, others argue that the priority is to build a thriving economy, and then use the wealth created to tackle environmental degradation.
41. E)Managing ecosystems sustainably is more profitable than exploiting them, according to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. But finding hard evidence to support the thesis is not so easy. Thoughts turn first to some sort of global statistic, some indicator which would rate the wealth of nations in both economic and environmental terms and show a relationship between the two.
42. G)The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, a vast four-year global study which reported its initial conclusions earlier this year, found reasons to believe that managing ecosystems sustainably—working with nature rather than against—might be less profitable in the short term, but certainly brings long-term rewards.
43. A) “If our economies are to flourish, if global poverty is to be eliminated and if the well-being of the world's people enhanced—not just in this generation but in succeeding generations—we must make sure we take care of the natural environment and resources on which our economic activity depends.” That statement comes not, as you might imagine, from a stereotypical tree-hugging, save-the-world greenie （环保主义者）, but from Gordon Brown, a politician with a reputation for rigour, thoroughness and above all, caution.
44. N)A case can be made that rich nations export environmental problems, the most graphic example being climate change. As a country's wealth grows, so do its greenhouse gas emissions. The figures available will not be completely accurate. Measuring emissions is not a precise science, particularly when it comes to issues surrounding land use; not all nations have released up-to-date data, and in any case, emissions from some sectors such as aviation are not included in national statistics. But the data is exact enough for a clear trend to be easily discernible. As countries become richer, they produce more greenhouse gases; and the impact of those gases will fall primarily in poor parts of the world.
45. J)There is a view that modern humans are inevitably sowing the seeds of a global Grand Banks-style disaster. The idea is that we are taking more out of what you might call the planet's environmental bank balance than it can sustain; we are living beyond our ecological means. One
recent study attempted to calculate the extent of this “ecological overshoot of the human economy”, and found that we are using 1.2 Earth's-worth of environmental goods and services—the implication being that at some point the debt will be called in, and all those services—the things which the planet does for us for free—will grind to a halt.
Section CPassage One
46. D) Interactive television advertising has not achieved the anticipated results.47. C) Somewhat doubtful.
48. C) It has placed TV advertising at a great disadvantage.49. B) It has done well in engaging the viewers.50. A) They may be due to the novel way of advertising.
Passage Two
51. B) Insufficient demand.52. D) Groundless.
53. A) The booming defense industry.
54. A) Powerful opposition to government's stimulus efforts.55. C) To show the urgent need for the government to take action.
六级第二套
Section A
26. A)arises27. D)combination28. F)eventually29. O)widespread30. C)bound31. H)invade32. N)victims33. J)penalties34. K)preserving35. L)programmed
Section B
36. F)The Senate Finance bill would impose an excise tax (消费税) on health insurance plans that cost more than ＄8,000 for an individual or ＄21,000 for a family. It would most likely cause insurers to redesign plans to fall beneath the threshold. Enrollees would have to pay more money for many services out of their own pockets, and that would encourage them to think twice about whether an expensive or redundant test was worth it. Economists project that most employers would shift money from expensive health benefits into wages. The House bill has no similar tax. The final legislation should.
37. J)Testing innovations do no good unless the good experiments are identified and expanded and the bad ones are dropped. The Senate bill would create an independent commission to monitor the pilot programs and recommend changes in Medicare's payment policies to urge providers to adopt reforms that work. The changes would have to be approved or rejected as a whole by Congress, making it hard for narrow-interest lobbies to bend lawmakers to their will.
38. A) Americans are deeply concerned about the relentless rise in health care costs and health insurance premiums. They need to know if reform will help solve the problem. The answer is that no one has an easy fix for rising medical costs. The fundamental fix—reshaping how care is delivered and how doctors are paid in a wasteful, abnormal system—is likely to be achieved only through trial and error and incremental (渐进的) gains.
39. G)Any doctor who has wrestled with multiple forms from different insurers, or patients who have tried to understand their own parade of statements, know that simplification ought to save money. When the health insurance industry was still cooperating in reform efforts, its trade group offered to provide standardized forms for automated processing. It estimated that step would save hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decade. The bills would lock that pledge into law.
40. L)The final legislation might throw a public plan into the competition, but thanks to the fierce opposition of the insurance industry and Republican critics, it might not save much money. The one in the House bill would have to negotiate rates with providers, rather than using Medicare rates, as many reformers wanted.
41. H)The stimulus package provided money to convert the inefficient, paper-driven medical system to electronic records that can be easily viewed and transmitted. This requires open investments to help doctors convert. In time it should help restrain costs by eliminating redundant tests, preventing drug interactions, and helping doctors find the best treatments.
42. C)Medical spending, which typically rises faster than wages and the overall economy, is propelled by two things: the high prices charged for medical services in this country and the volume of unnecessary care delivered by doctors and hospitals, which often perform a lot more tests and treatments than a patient really needs.
43. I)Virtually all experts agree that the fee-for-service system—doctors are rewarded for the quantity of care rather than its quality or effectiveness—is a primary reason that the cost of care is so high. Most agree that the solution is to push doctors to accept fixed payments to care for a particular illness or for a patient's needs over a year. No one knows how to make that happen quickly. The bills in both houses would start pilot projects within Medicare. They include such
measures as accountable care organizations to take charge of a patient's needs with an eye on both cost and quality, and chronic disease management to make sure the seriously ill, who are responsible for the bulk of all health care costs, are treated properly. For the most part, these experiments rely on incentive payments to get doctors to try them.
44. P)The House bill would authorize the secretary of health and human services to negotiate drug prices in Medicare and Medicaid. Some authoritative analysts doubt that the secretary would get better deals than private insurers already get. We believe negotiation could work. It does in other countries.
45. K)The bills in both chambers would create health insurance exchanges on which small businesses and individuals could choose from an array of private plans and possibly a public option. All the plans would have to provide standard benefit packages that would be easy to compare. To get access to millions of new customers, insurers would have a strong incentive to sell on the exchange. And the head-to-head competition might give them a strong incentive to lower their prices, perhaps by accepting slimmer profit margins or demanding better deals from providers.
Section CPassage One
46. C) Its benefits outweigh the hazards involved.
47. C) Farmers and consumers may be affected by harmful bacteria.48. A) Favorable.
49. B) They can be dealt with through education.50. A) He echoes Pay Drechsel's opinion on the issue.
Passage Two
[vip专享]【星火英语版】2016年6月大学英语六级真题参考答案
