总的来说，本次六级考试的完形填空部分难度不大。这道题全文356个单词，共20道题，没有出语法题，全部都是词汇题。在20道词汇题中，有18道考察的是实词，只有2道题考察了虚词。
这2道虚词题是第64和68题。第64题考察介词with最基本的一个用法。在第68题中，短语get us close to identifying的意思是“让我们更清楚地发现”，其中的动词identify稍难，意思相当于“discover”。由于这个词用了动名词形式，可以判断出其前面应该填介词。
在18道实词题中，大部分是词义辨析题，考察习惯搭配的只有3道：第72题考察的是attribute…to…意思是“把……归因于…… ”。第74题中的be related to意思是“与…… 相关”。第80题中的take advantage of意思是“利用”。
题目虽然难度不大，但是这篇文章中有部分单词和短语却有一些难度，可能会对考生理解文章产生一些影响，比如：
第一段
epidemiologist n 流行病学家。这个单词在朗文词典上都查不到，但是我们可以用词根和词缀的知识猜出它的意思。
第二段
At its most straightforward，最简单地说
correlate n. 相关联的因素。词汇表只列出了它做动词的意思。
cognitive adj. 认知的
第三段
grassy adj. 长满草的，这个词的意思也需要用词缀知识猜出来。
body mass index 体重指数，计算公式是：体重（公斤）/身高（米）的平方。
longevity n. 长寿
第四段
causal link 因果联系
initiative n. 积极性
这道题节选自2008年1月17日的《时代周刊》上的一篇文章，编题时只对最后一句做了改动。原文如下（所考词汇由本文作者加粗）：
Slender in the Grass
TIME By Sanjay Gupta, M.D. Thursday, Jan. 17, 2008
There’s one place my young daughters love so much that we have to spell out the word in their presence, lest they go berserk: the p-a-r-k. We regularly use a trip to the park as a bribe, and while that may not be the best parenting technique, in this case it comes with incredible rewards.
A new study found that inner-city kids living in neighborhoods with more green space gained about 13% less weight over a two-year period than kids living amid more concrete and fewer trees. Such findings tell a powerful story. The obesity epidemic began in the 1980s, and many people attribute it to increased portion sizes and inactivity, but that can’t be everything. Big Macs and TVs have been with us for a long time. “Most experts agree that the changes were related to something in the environment,” says social epidemiologist Thomas Glass of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. That something could be a shrinking of the green.
The new research, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, isn’t the first to associate greenery with better health, but it does get us closer to identifying what works and why. At its most straightforward, a green neighborhood simply means more places for kids to play — which is vital since time spent outdoors is one of the strongest correlates of children’s activity levels. But green space is good for the mind too; research by environmental psychologists has shown that it has cognitive benefits for children with attention-deficit/ hyper activity disorder (ADHD). In one study, simply reading outside in a green setting improved kids’ symptoms.
Exposure to grassy areas has also been linked to less stress and a lower body mass index among adults. And an analysis of 3,000 Tokyo residents associated walkable green spaces with greater longevity among senior citizens.
Glass cautions that most studies don’t necessarily prove a causal link between greenness and health, but they’re nonetheless helping spur action. In September the U.S. House of Representatives approved the delightfully named No Child Left Inside Act to encourage public initiatives aimed at exposing kids to the outdoors.
Finding green space is, of course, not always easy, and you may have to work a bit to get your family a little grass and trees. If you live in a suburb or a city with good parks, take advantage of what’s there. Your children in particular will love it — and their bodies and minds will thank you.
