2017 年 06 月大学英语六级考试真题（第 2 套）

Let's all stop judging people who talk to themselves. New research says that those who can't seem to keep their inner monologues (独白) in are actually more likely to stay on task, remain __26__ better and show improved perception capabilities. Not bad, really, for some extra muttering.

According to a series of experiments published in the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology by professors Gary Lupyan and Daniel Swignley, the act of using verbal clues to __27__ mental pictures helps people function quicker.

In one experiment, they showed pictures of various objects to twenty __28__; and asked them to find just one of those, a banana. Half were __29__ to repeat out loud what they were looking for and the other half kept their lips __30__ Those who talked to themselves found the banana slightly faster than those who didn't, the researchers say. In other experiments, Lupyan and Swignley found that __31__ the name of a common product when on the hunt for it helped quicken someone's pace, but talking about uncommon items showed no advantage and slowed you down.

Common research has long held that talking themselves through a task helps children learn, although doing so when you've __32__ matured is not a great sign of __33__ The two professors hope to refute that idea, __34__ that just as when kids walk themselves through a process, adults can benefit from using language not just to communicate, but also to help "augment thinking".

Of course, you are still encouraged to keep the talking at library tones and, whatever you do, keep the information you share simple, like a grocery list. At any __35__, there's still such a thing as too much information.

Tennessee's technical and community colleges will not outsource (外包) management of their facilities to a private company, a decision one leader said was bolstered by an analysis of spending at each campus.

In an email sent Monday to college presidents in the Tennessee Board of Regents system, outgoing Chancellor John Morgan said an internal analysis showed that each campus' spending on facilities management fell well below the industry standards identified by the state. Morgan said those findings — which included data from the system's 13 community colleges, 27 technical colleges and six universities — were part of the decision not to move forward with Governor Bill Haslam's proposal to privatize management of state buildings in an effort to save money.

"While these numbers are still being validated by the state, we feel any adjustments they might suggest will be immaterial," Morgan wrote to the presidents. "System institutions are operating very efficiently based on this analysis, raising the question of the value of pursuing a broad scale outsourcing initiative."

Workers' advocates have criticized Haslam's plan, saying it would mean some campus workers would lose their jobs or benefits. Haslam has said colleges would be free to opt in or out of the outsourcing plan, which has not been finalized.

Morgan notified the Haslam administration of his decision to opt out in a letter sent last week. That letter, which includes several concerns Morgan has with the plan, was originally obtained by The Commercial Appeal in Memphis.

In an email statement from the state's Office of Customer Focused Government, which is examining the possibility of outsourcing, spokeswoman Michelle R. Martin said officials were still working to analyze the data from the Board of Regents. Data on management expenses at the college system and in other state departments will be part of a "business justification" the state will use as officials deliberate the specifics of an outsourcing plan.

"The state's facilities management project team is still in the process of developing its business justification and expects to have that completed and available to the public at the end of February," Martin said. "At this time there is nothing to take action on since the analysis has yet to be completed."

Morgan's comments on outsourcing mark the second time this month that he has come out against one of Haslam's plans for higher education in Tennessee. Morgan said last week that he would retire at the end of January because of the governor's proposal to split off six universities of the Board of Regents system and create separate governing boards for each of them. In his resignation letter, Morgan called the reorganization "unworkable."

Beginning in the late sixteenth century, it became fashionable for young aristocrats to visit Paris, Venice, Florence, and above all, Rome, as the culmination (终极) of their classical education. Thus was born the idea of the Grand Tour, a practice which introduced Englishmen, Germans, Scandinavians, and also Americans to the art and culture of France and Italy for the next 300 years. Travel was arduous and costly throughout the period, possible only for a privileged class — the same that produced gentlemen scientists, authors, antique experts, and patrons of the arts.

The Grand Tourist was typically a young man with a thorough grounding in Greek and Latin literature as well as some leisure time, some means, and some interest in art. The German traveler Johann Winckelmann pioneered the field of art history with his comprehensive study of Greek and Roman sculpture; he was portrayed by his friend Anton Raphael Mengs at the beginning of his long residence in Rome. Most Grand Tourists, however, stayed for briefer periods and set out with less scholarly intentions, accompanied by a teacher or guardian, and expected to return home with souvenirs of their travels as well as an understanding of art and architecture formed by exposure to great masterpieces.

London was a frequent starting point for Grand Tourists, and Paris a compulsory destination; many traveled to the Netherlands, some to Switzerland and Germany, and a very few adventurers to Spain, Greece, or Turkey. The essential place to visit, however, was Italy. The British traveler Charles Thompson spoke for many Grand Tourists when in 1744 he described himself as "being impatiently desirous of viewing a country so famous in history, a country which once gave laws to the world, and which is at present the greatest school of music and painting, contains the noblest productions of sculpture and architecture, and is filled with cabinets of rarities, and collections of all kinds of historical relics." Within Italy, the great focus was Rome, whose ancient ruins and more recent achievements were shown to every Grand Tourist. Panini's Ancient Rome and Modern Rome represent the sights most prized, including celebrated Greco-Roman statues and views of famous ruins, fountains, and churches. Since there were few museums anywhere in Europe before the close of the eighteenth century, Grand Tourists often saw paintings and sculptures by gaining admission to private collections, and many were eager to acquire examples of Greco-Roman and Italian art for their own collections. In England, where architecture was increasingly seen as an aristocratic pursuit, noblemen often applied what they learned from the villas of Palladio in the Veneto and the evocative (唤起回忆的) ruins of Rome to their own country houses and gardens.