2011年12月大学英语六级真题及答案解析Part I Writing (30 minutes)Directions:For this part,you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay entitled The Way toSuccess by commenting on Abraham Lincoln's famous remark,"Give me six hours tochop down a tree,and I will spend,the first four sharpening the axe."You shouldwrite at least 150 words but no more than 200 words.The Way to Success注意：此部分试题请在答题卡1上作答。Part II Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning)(15 minutes)Directions:In this part,you will have 15 minutes to go over the passage quickly and answerthequestions on Answer Sheet 1.For questions 1-7,choose the best answer from thefour choices marked A),B),C)and D).For questions 8-10,complete the sentences withthe information given in the passage.Google's Plan for World's Biggest Online Library:Philanthropy Or Act of Piracy?In recent years,teams of workers dispatched by Google have been working hard tomake digital copies of books.So far,Google has scanned more than 10 million titles from librariesin America and Europe-including half a million volumes held by the Bodleian in Oxford.Theexact method it uses is unclear,the company does not allow outsiders to observe the process.Why is Google undertaking such a venture?Why is it even interested in all thoseout-of-printlibrary books,most of which have been gathering dust on forgotten shelves for decades?Thecompany claims its motives are essentially public-spirited.Its overall mission,after all,is to"organise the world's information",so it would be odd if that information did not include books.The company likes to present itself as having lofty aspirations."This really isn't about makingmoney.We are doing this for the good of society."As Santiago de la Mora,head of Google Books forEurope,puts it:"By making it possible to search the millions of books that exist today,we hope toexpand the frontiers of human knowledge."Dan Clancy,the chief architect of Google Books,does seem genuine in his conviction that this isprimarily a philanthropic (exercise."Google's core business is search and find,so obviouslywhat helps improve Google's search engine is good for Google,"he says."But we have never builta spreadsheet(电子数据表)outlining the financial benefits of this,and I have never had to justifythe amount I am spending to the company's founders."It is easy,talking to Clancy and his colleagues,to be swept along by their missionary passion.ButGoogle's book-scanning project is proving controversial.Several opponents have recently emerged,ranging from rival tech giants such as Microsoft and Amazon to small bodies representing authors andpublishers across the world.In broad terms,these opponents have levelled two sets of criticisms atGoogle.First,they have questioned whether the primary responsibility for digitally archiving theworlds books should be allowed to fall to a commercial company.In a recent essay in the New YorkReview of Books,Robert Darnton,the head of Harvard University's library,argued that because suchbooks are a common resource-the possession of us all-only public,not-for-profit bodies should begiven the power to control them.The second related criticism is that Google's scanning of books is actually illegal.This allegationhas led to Google becoming mired in (a legal battle whose scope and complexity makes theJamdyce and Jarndyce case in Charles Dickens'Bleak House look straightforward.At its centre,however,is one simple issue:that of copyright.The inconvenient fact aboutmost books,to which Google has arguably paid insufficient attention,is that they are protectedby copyright.Copyright laws differ from country to country,but in general protection extends forthe duration of an author's life and for a substantial period afterwards,thus allowing the author's heirsto benefit.(In Britain and America,this post-death period is 70 years.)This means,of course,that almost all of the books published in the 20th century are still under copyright-and the lastcentury saw more books published than in all previous centuries combined.Of the roughly 40million books in US libraries,for example,an estimated 32 million are in copyright.Of these,some27 million are out of print.Outside the US,Google has made sure only to scan books that are out of copyright and thus in the"public domain"(works such as the Bodleian's first edition of Middlemarch,which anyone can read forfree on Google Books Search).But,within the US,the company has scanned both in-copyright and out-of-copyright works.In itsdefence,Google points out that it displays only small segments of books that are incopyright-arguing that such displays are "fair use".But critics allege that by makingelectronic copies of these books without first seeking the permission of copyright holders,Googlehas committed piracy."The key principle of copyright law has always been that works can be copied onlyonce authors have expressly given their permission,"says Piers Blofeld,of the Sheil Land literaryagency in London."Google has reversed this-it has simply copied all these works without botheringtoask."In 2005,the Authors Guild of America,together with a group of US publishers,launched aclass action suit (against Google that,after more than two years of negotiation,ended withan announcement last October that Google and the claimants had reached an out-of-courtsettlement.The full details are complicated-the text alone runs to 385 pages-and trying to sumarise it is no easy task."Part of the problem is that it is basically incomprehensible,"says Blofeld,one of the settlement's most vocal British critics.Broadly,the deal provides a mechanism for Google to compensate authors andpublishers whose rights it has breached(including giving them a share ofany future revenue it generatesfrom their works).In exchange for this,the rights holders agree not to sue Google in future.This settlement hands Google the power-but only with the agreement of individual rightsholders-to exploit its database of out-of-print books.It can include them in subscription deals soldto libraries or sell them individually under a consumer licence.It is these commercial provisions thatare proving the settlement's most controversial aspect.Critics point out that,by giving Google the right to commercially exploit its database,thesettlement paves the way for a subtle shift in the company's role from provider of information to seller."Google's business model has always been to provide information for free,and sell advertising on thebasis of the traffic this generates,"points out James Grimmelmann,associate professor at New YorkLaw School.Now,he says,because of the settlement's provisions,Google could become a significantforce in bookselling.Interest in this aspect of the settlement has focused on "orphan"works,where there isnoknown copyright holder these make up an estimated 5-10%of the books Google hasscanned.Under the settlement,when no rights holders come forward and register their interest in awork,commercial control automatically reverts to Google.Google will be able to display up to 20%of orphan works for free,include them in its subscription deals to libraries and sell them toindividual buyers under the consumer licence.It is by no means certain that the settlement will be enacted ()-it is the subject of afairness hearing in the US courts.But if it is enacted,Google will in effect be off the hook as faras copyright violations in the US are concerned.Many people are seriously concerned by this-andthe company is likely to face challenges in other courts around the world.No one knows the precise use Google will make of the intellectual property it has gained byscanning the worlds library books,and the truth,as Gleick,an American science writer and member ofthe Authors Guild,points out,is that the company probably doesn't even know itself.But what iscertain is that,in some way or other,Google's entrance into digital bookselling will have a significantimpact on the book world in the years to come.注意：此部分试题请在答题卡1上作答。1.Google claims its plan for the world's biggest online library isA)to serve the interest of the general publicB)to encourage reading around the worldC)to save out-of-print books in librariesD)to promote its core business of searching2.According to Santiago de la Mora,Google's book-scanning project willA)broaden humanity's intellectual horizonsB)help the broad masses of readersC)revolutionise the entire book industryD)make full use of the power of its search engine3.Opponents of Google Books believe that digitally archiving the world's books should becontrolled by_A)non-profit organisationsC)multinational companiesB)the world's leading librariesD)the world's tech giants4.Google has involved itself in a legal battle as it ignoredA)the copyright of authors of out-of-print booksB)the copyright of the books it scanned