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剑桥雅思阅读4-14原文+译文+解析

剑桥雅思阅读4-14原文+译文+解析

剑桥雅思阅读4-14原文+译文+解析剑桥雅思14Test1阅读Passage1文章题目为儿童游戏的重要性,这篇文章考试题型比较经典,是按照顺序出题的。

这有利于我们从阅读原文中找到答案。

接下来一起来看看剑桥雅思14Test1阅读Passage1真题内容。

剑桥雅思14Test1阅读Passage1真题文本READING PASSAGE 1You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.THE IMPORTANCE OF CHILDREN’ S PLAYBrick by brick, six-year-old Alice is building a magical kingdom. Imagining fairy-tale turrets and fire-breathing dragons, wicked witch es and gallant heroes, she’s creating an enchanting world. Although she isn’t aware of it, this fantasy is helping her take her first steps towards her capacity for creativity and so it will have important repercussions in her adult life.Minutes later, Alice has abandoned the kingdom in favour of playing schools with her younger brother. When she bosses him around as his ‘teacher’, she’s practising how to regulate her emotions through pretence. Later on, when they tire of this and settle down with a board game, she’s learning about the need to follow rules and take turns with a partner.‘Play in all its rich variety is one of the highest achievements of the human species,’ says Dr David Whitebread from the Faculty of Education at the University of Cambridge, UK. ‘It underpins how we develop as intellectual, problem-solving adults and is crucial to our success as a highly adaptable species.’Recognising the importance of play is not new: over two millennia ago, the Greek philosopher Plato extolled its virtues asa means of developing skills for adult life, and ideas about play-based learning have been developing since the 19th century.But we live in changing times, and Whitebread is mindful of a worldwide decline in play, pointing out that over half the peopl e in the world now live in cities. ‘The opportunities for free play, which I experienced almost every day of my childhood, are becoming increasingly scarce,’ he says. Outdoor play is curtailed by perceptions of risk to do with traffic, as well as parents’ increased wish to protect their children from being the victims of crime, and by the emphasis on ‘earlier is better’ which is leading to greater competition in academic learning and schools.International bodies like the United Nations and the European Union have begun to develop policies concerned with children’s right to play, and to consider implications for leisure facilities and educational programmes. But what they often lack is the evidence to base policies on.‘The type of play we are interested in is child-initiated, spontaneous and unpredictable - but, as soon as you ask a five-year-old “to play”, then you as the researcher have intervened,’ explains Dr Sara Baker. ‘And we want to know what the long-term impact of play is. It’s a real challenge.’Dr Jenny Gibson agrees, pointing out that although some of the steps in the puzzle of how and why play is important have been looked at, there is very little data on the impact it has on the child’s later life.Now, thanks to the university’s new Centre for Research on Play in Education, Development and Learning (PEDAL), Whitebread, Baker, Gibson and a team of researchers hope to provide evidence on the role played by play in how a child develops.‘A strong possibility is that play supports the early develop ment of children’s self-control,’ explains Baker. ‘This is our ability to develop awareness of our own thinking processes —it influences how effectively we go about undertaking challenging activities.’In a study carried out by Baker with toddlers and young pre-schoolers, she found that children with greater self-control solved problems more quickly when exploring an unfamiliar set-up requiring scientific reasoning. ‘This sort of evidence makes us think that giving children the chance to play will make them more successful problem-solvers in the long run.’If playful experiences do facilitate this aspect of development, say the researchers, it could be extremely significant for educational practices, because the ability to self-regulate has been shown to be a key predictor of academic performance.Gibson adds: ‘Playful behaviour is also an important indicator of healthy social and emotional development. In my previous research, I investigated how observing children at play can give us important clues about their well-being and can even be useful in the diagnosis of neurodevelopmental disorders like autism.’Whitebread’s recent research has involved developing a play-based approach to supporting children’s writing. ‘Many primary school children find writing difficult, but we showed in a previous study that a playful stimulus was far more effective than an instructional one.’ Children wrote longer and better-structured stories when they first played with dolls representing characters in the story. In the latest study, children first created their story with Lego_ with similar results. ‘Many teachers commented that they had always previously had children sayingthey didn’t know what to write about. With the Lego building, however, not a single child said this through the whole year of the project.’Whitebread, who directs PEDAL, trained as a primary school teacher in the early 1970s, when, as he describes, ‘the teaching of young children was largely a quiet backwater, untroubled by any serious intellectual debate o r controversy.’ Now, the landscape is very different, with hotly debated topics such as school starting age.‘Somehow the importance of play has been lost in recent decades. It’s regarded as something trivial, or even as something negative that contrasts w ith “work”. Let’s not lose sight of its benefits, and the fundamental contributions it makes to human achievements in the arts, sciences and technology. Let’s make sure children have a rich diet of play experiences.’_Lego: coloured plastic building blocks and other pieces that can be joined togetherQuestions 1-8Complete the notes below.Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.Write your answers in boxes 1-8 on your answer sheet.Questions 9-13Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?In boxes 9-13 on your answer sheet, writeTRUE if the statement agrees with the informationFALSE if the statement contradicts the informationNOT GIVEN if there is no information on this9 Children with good self-control are known to be likely to do well at school later on.10 The way a child plays may provide information about possible medical problems.11 Playing with dolls was found to benefit girls’ writing more than boys’ writing.12 Children had problems thinking up ideas when they first created the story with Lego.13 People nowadays regard children’s play as less significant than they did in the past.剑桥雅思14test1阅读passage1原文译文passage 1儿童嬉戏玩耍的重要性THE IMPORTANCE OF CHILDREN’S PLAYBrick by brick, six-year-old Alice is building a magical kingdom. Imagining fairy-tale turrets and fire-breathing dragons, wicked witches and gallant heroes, she’s creating an enchanting world. Although she isn’t aware of it, this fantasy is helping her take her first steps towards her capacity for creativity and so it will have important repercussions in her adult life.一块又一块积木,六岁的Alice正在搭建一个魔法王国。

【雅思真题】剑6Test1阅读Passage1真题及解析汇报

【雅思真题】剑6Test1阅读Passage1真题及解析汇报

【雅思真题】剑6Test1阅读Passage1真题及解析READING PASSAGE 1You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.AUSTRALIA'S SPORTING SUCCESSA They play hard, they play often, and they play to win. Australian sports teams win more than their fair share of titles, demolishing rivals with seeming ease. How do they do it? A big part of the secret is an extensive and expensive network of sporting academies underpinned by science and medicine. At the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), hundreds of youngsters and pros live and train under the eyes of coaches. Another body, the Australian Sports Commission (ASC), finances programmes of excellence in a total of 96 sports for thousands of sportsmen and women. Both provide intensive coaching, training facilities and nutritional advice.B Inside the academies, science takes centre stage. The AIS employs more than 100 sports scientists and doctors, and collaborates with scores of others in universities and research centres. AIS scientists work across a number of sports, applying skills learned in one - such as building muscle strength in golfers - to others, such as swimming and squash. They are backed up by technicians who design instruments to collect data from athletes. They all focus on one aim: winning. ‘We can't waste our time looking at ethereal scientific questions that don't help the coach work with an athlete and improve performance,' says Peter Fricker, chief of science at AIS.C A lot of their work comes down to measurement - everything from the exact angle of a swimmer’s dive to the second-by-second power output of a cyclist. This data is used to wring improvements out of athletes. The focus is on individuals, tweaking performances to squeeze an extra hundredth of a second here, an extra millimetre there. No gain is too slight to bother with. It’s the tiny, gradual improvements that add up to world-beating results. To demonstrate how the system works, Bruce Mason at AIS shows off the prototype of a 3D analysis tool for studying swimmers. A wire-frame model of a champion swimmer slices through the water, her arms moving in slow motion. Looking side-on, Mason measures the distance between strokes. From above, he analyses howher spine swivels. When fully developed, this system will enable him to build a biomechanical profile for coaches to use to help budding swimmers. Mason's contribution to sport also includes the development of the SWAN (SWimming ANalysis)system now used in Australian national competitions. It collects images from digital cameras running at 50 frames a second and breaks down each part of a swimmer's performance into factors that can be analysed individually - stroke length, stroke frequency, average duration of each stroke, velocity, start, lap and finish times, and so on. At the end of each race, SWAN spits out data on each swimmerD ‘Take a look,' says Mason, pulling out a sheet of data. He points out the data on the swimmers in second and third place, which shows that the one who finished third actually swam faster. So why did he finish 35 hundredths of a second down? ‘His turn times were 44 hundredths of a second behind the other guy,' says Mason. ‘If he can improve on his turns, he can do much better’This is the kind of accuracy that AIS scientists' research is bringing to a range of sports.With the Cooperative Research Centre for Micro Technology in Melbourne, they are developing unobtrusive sensors that will be embedded in an athlete's clothes or running shoes to monitor heart rate, sweating, heat production or any other factor that might have an impact on an athlete's ability to run. There's more to it than simply measuring performance. Fricker gives the example of athletes who may be down with coughs and colds 11 or 12 times a year. After years of experimentation, AlS and the University of Newcastle in New South Wales developed a test that measures how much of the immune-system protein immunoglobulin A is present in athletes' saliva. If IgA levels suddenly fall below a certain level, training is eased or dropped altogether. Soon, IgAlevels start rising again, and the danger passes. Since the tests were introduced, AIS athletes in all sports have been remarkably successful at staying healthy.E Using data is a complex business. Well before a championship, sports scientists and coaches start to prepare the athlete by developing a‘competition model', based on what they expect will be the winning times.‘You design the model to make that time,' says Mason. ‘A start of this much, each free-swimming period has to be this fast, with a certain stroke frequency and stroke length, with turns done in these times.' All the training is thengeared towards making the athlete hit those targets, both overall and for each segment of the race. Techniques like these have transformed Australia into arguably the world's most successful sporting nation.F Of course, there's nothing to stop other countries copying-and many have tried. Some years ago, the AIS unveiled coolant-lined jackets for endurance athletes. At the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996, these sliced as much as two per cent off cyclists' and rowers' times. Now everyone uses them. The same has happened to the ‘altitude tent', developed by AIS to replicate the effect of altitude training at sea level. But Australia's success story is about more than easily copied technological fixes, and up to now no nation has replicated its all-encompassing system.Questions 1-7Reading Passage 1 has six paragraphs, A-F.Which paragraph contains the following information?Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet.NB You may use any letter more than once.1 a reference to the exchange of expertise between different sports2 an explanation of how visual imaging is employed in investigations3 a reason for narrowing the scope of research activity4 how some AIS ideas have been reproduced5 how obstacles to optimum achievement can be investigated6 an overview of the funded support of athletes7 how performance requirements are calculated before an eventQuestions 8-11Classify the following techniques according to whether the writer states theyA are currently exclusively used by AustraliansB will be used in the future by AustraliansC are currently used by both Australians and their rivalsWrite the correct letter, A, B or C, in boxes 8-11 on your answer sheet.8 cameras9 sensors10 protein tests11 altitude tentsQuestions 12 and 13Answer the questions below.Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.Write your answers in boxes 12 and 13 on your answer sheet.12 What is produced to help an athlete plan their performance in an event?13 By how much did some cyclists' performance improve at the 1996 Olympic Games? READING PASSAGE 1真题解析:篇章结构体裁说明文主题澳大利亚的体育成就结构 A段:澳大利亚体育成绩斐然 B段:科技是第一生产力C段:精确测量和数据分析 D段:精确测量和数据分析的实例E段:数据的实际应用 F段:不可复制的成功必背词汇A段fair adj.合理的pro n.职业运动员demolish v.击败;破坏,毁坏 under the eye of 在……的注意下rival n.竞争者,对手 body n.团体,机构seeming adj.表面上的(通常事实并非如此) finance v.给……提供经费ease n.不费力,轻松 excellence n.优秀,卓越extensive adj.广泛的,涉及面广的 intensive adj.强化的underpin v.以……为稳固基础 nutritional adj.营养的B段centre stage 中心地位 squash n.壁球collaborate v.合作 instrument n.仪器,器械golfer n.打高尔夫球的人 ethereal adj.飘渺的,引申为不切实际的C段come down to(sth.)可归结为 wire-frame adj.线框的second-by-second 每秒的 slice v.划开;切开output n.输出 slow motion 慢动作wring…out of 原义为扭,榨取,此处引申为从……中(经过努力)获得 side-on 从侧面stroke n.划动,划水tweak v.扭,用力拉 spine n.脊柱world-beating adj.举世瞩目的 swivel v.旋转prototype n.原型 biomechanical adj.生物力(学)的profile n.原义为轮廓、外形,此处意为模型 velocity n.速度,速率lap n.一圈budding adj.发展中的 spit out 原义是吐出,此处引申为显示出、分析出frame n.帧,画面D段turn time 转身时间 immunoglobulin n.免疫球蛋白unobtrusive adj.不显眼的,不醒目的 present adj.存在的sensor n.传感器 saliva n.唾液embed v.使插入;使嵌入 ease v.减轻,减弱sweat v.出汗,发汗 remarkably adv.显著地,引人注目地;非常地experimentation n.实验,试验immune-system 免疫系统的E段complex adj.复杂的 transform v.转换,转变,改变championship n.冠军赛 arguably adv.可论证地(可辩论地),有理由说地gear v.调整,(使)适合segment n.部分F段unveil v.展示(新产品);揭开 altitude tent 高原帐篷coolant-lined 流线型散热 replicate v.复制endurance n.耐力;忍耐力 encompass v.包含或包括某事物slice v.减少,降低难句解析1. A lot of their work comes down to measurement—everything from the exact angle of a swimmer's dive to the second-by-second power output of a cyclist.参考译文:许多工作都涉及具体测量,测量内容包括从游泳运动员潜水的精确角度到自行车运动员每秒功率输出的所有数据。

剑桥雅思阅读9(test1)原文答案解析

剑桥雅思阅读9(test1)原文答案解析

剑桥雅思阅读9(test1)原文答案解析雅思阅读部分的真题资料,同学们需要进行一些细致的总结,比如说解析其实就是很重要的内容,接下来就是店铺给同学们带来的关于剑桥雅思阅读9原文解析(test1)的内容,一起来详细的分析一下吧,希望对你们的备考有所帮助。

剑桥雅思阅读9原文(test1)READING PASSAGE 1You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.William Henry PerkinThe man who invented synthetic dyesWilliam Henry Perkin was born on March 12, 1838, in London, England. As a boy, Perkin’s curiosity prompted early intere sts in the arts, sciences, photography, and engineering. But it was a chance stumbling upon a run-down, yet functional, laboratory in his late grandfather’s home that solidified the young man’s enthusiasm for chemistry.As a student at the City of London School, Perkin became immersed in the study of chemistry. His talent and devotion to the subject were perceived by his teacher, Thomas Hall, who encouraged him to attend a series of lectures given by the eminent scientist Michael Faraday at the Royal Institution. Those speeches fired the young chemist’s enthusiasm further, and he later went on to attend the Royal College of Chemistry, which he succeeded in entering in 1853, at the age of 15.At the time of Perkin’s enrolment, the Royal College of Chemistry was headed by the noted German chemist August Wilhelm Hofmann. Perkin’s scientific gifts soon caught Hofmann’s attention and, within two years, he becameHofmann’s youngest assistant. Not long after that, Perkin made the scientific breakthrough that would bring him both fame and fortune.At the time, quinine was the only viable medical treatment for malaria. The drug is derived from the bark of the cinchona tree, native to South America, and by 1856 demand for the drug was surpassing the available supply. Thus, when Hofmann made some passing comments about the desirability of a synthetic substitute for quinine, it was unsurprising that his star pupil was moved to take up the challenge.During his vacation in 1856, Perkin spent his time in the laboratory on th e top floor of his family’s house. He was attempting to manufacture quinine from aniline, an inexpensive and readily available coal tar waste product. Despite his best efforts, however, he did not end up with quinine. Instead, he produced a mysterious dark sludge. Luckily, Perkin’s scientific training and nature prompted him to investigate the substance further. Incorporating potassium dichromate and alcohol into the aniline at various stages of the experimental process, he finally produced a deep purple solution. And, proving the truth of the famous scientist Louis Pasteur’s words ‘chance favours only the prepared mind’, Perkin saw the potential of his unexpected find.Historically, textile dyes were made from such natural sources as plants and animal excretions. Some of these, such as the glandular mucus of snails, were difficult to obtain and outrageously expensive. Indeed, the purple colour extracted from a snail was once so costly in society at the time only the rich could afford it. Further, natural dyes tended to be muddy in hue and fade quickly. It was against this backdrop that Perkin’sdiscovery was made.Perkin quickly grasped that his purple solution could be used to colour fabric, thus making it the world’s first synthetic dye. Realising the importance of this breakthrough, he lost no time in patenting it. But perhaps the most fascinating of all Perkin’s reactions to his find was his nearly instant recognition that the new dye had commercial possibilities.Perkin originally named his dye Tyrian Purple, but it later became commonly known as mauve (from the French for the plant used to make the colour violet). He asked advice of Scottish dye works owner Robert Pullar, who assured him that manufacturing the dye would be well worth it if the colour remained fast (i.e. would not fade) and the cost was relatively low. So, over the fierce objections of his mentor Hofmann, he left college to give birth to the modern chemical industry.With the help of his father and brother, Perkin set up a factory not far from London. Utilising the cheap and plentiful coal tar that was an almost unlimited byproduct of London’s gas street lighting, the dye works began producing the world’s first synthetically dyed material in 1857. The company received a commercial boost from the Empress Eugenie of France, when she decided the new colour flattered her. Very soon, mauve was the necessary shade for all the fashionable ladies in that country. Not to be outdone, England’s Queen Victoria also appeared in public wearing a mauve gown, thus making it all the rage in England as well. The dye was bold and fast, and the public clamoured for more. Perkin went back to the drawing board.Although Perkin’s fame was achieved and fortune assured by his first discovery, the chemist continued his research. Among other dyes he developed and introduced were aniline red (1859)and aniline black (1863) and, in the late 1860s, Perkin’s green. It is important to note that Perkin’s synthetic dye discoveries had outcomes far beyond the merely decorative. The dyes also became vital to medical research in many ways. For instance, they were used to stain previously invisible microbes and bacteria, allowing researchers to identify such bacilli as tuberculosis, cholera, and anthrax. Artificial dyes continue to play a crucial role today. And, in what would have been particularly pleasing to Perkin, their current use is in the search for a vaccine against malaria.Questions 1-7Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?In boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet, writeTRUE if the statement agrees with the informationFALSE if the statement contradicts the informationNOT GIVEN if there is no information on this1 Michael Faraday was the first person to recognise Perkin’s ability as a student of chemistry.2 Michael Faraday suggested Perkin should enrol in the Royal College of Chemistry.3 Perkin employed August Wilhelm Hofmann as his assistant.4 Perkin was still young when he made the discovery that made him rich and famous.5 The trees from which quinine is derived grow only in South America.6 Perkin hoped to manufacture a drug from a coal tar waste product.7 Perkin was inspired by the discoveries of the famous scientist Louis Pasteur.Questions 8-13Answer the questions below.Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.Write your answers in boxes 8-13 on your answer sheet.8 Before Perkin’s discovery, with what group in society was the colour purple associated?9 What potential did Perkin immediately understand that his new dye had?10 What was the name finally used to refer to the first colour Perkin invented?11 What was the name of the person Perkin consulted before setting up his own dye works?12 In what country did Perkin’s newly invented colour first become fashionable?13 According to the passage, which disease is now being targeted by researchers using synthetic dyes?READING PASSAGE 2You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26, which are based on Reading Passage 2 on the following pages.Questions 14-17Reading Passage 2 has five paragraphs, A-E.Choose the correct heading for paragraphs B-E from the list of headings below.Write the correct number, i-vii, in boxes 14-17 on your answer sheet.List of Headingsi Seeking the transmission of radio signals from planetsii Appropriate responses to signals from other civilisations iii Vast distances to Earth’s closest neighboursiv Assumptions underlying the search for extra-terrestrial intelligencev Reasons for the search for extra-terrestrial intelligencevi Knowledge of extra-terrestrial life formsvii Likelihood of life on other planetsExample AnswerParagraph A v14 Paragraph B15 Paragraph C16 Paragraph D17 Paragraph EIS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE?The Search for Extra-terrestrial IntelligenceThe question of whether we are alone in the Universe has haunted humanity for centuries, but we may now stand poised on the brink of the answer to that question, as we search for radio signals from other intelligent civilisations. This search, often known by the acronym SETI (search for extra-terrestrial intelligence), is a difficult one. Although groups around the world have been searching intermittently for three decades, it is only now that we have reached the level of technology where we can make a determined attempt to search all nearby stars for any sign of life.AThe primary reason for the search is basic curiosity hethe same curiosity about the natural world that drives all pure science. We want to know whether we are alone in the Universe. We want to know whether life evolves naturally if given the right conditions, or whether there is something very special about the Earth to have fostered the variety of life forms that, we seearound us on the planet. The simple detection of a radio signal will be sufficient to answer this most basic of all questions. In this sense, SETI is another cog in the machinery of pure science which is continually pushing out the horizon of our knowledge. However, there are other reasons for being interested in whether life exists elsewhere. For example, we have had civilisation on Earth for perhaps only a few thousand years, and the threats of nuclear war and pollution over the last few decades have told us that our survival may be tenuous. Will we last another two thousand years or will we wipe ourselves out? Since the lifetime of a planet like ours is several billion years, we can expect that, if other civilisations do survive in our galaxy, their ages will range from zero to several billion years. Thus any other civilisation that we hear from is likely to be far older, on average, than ourselves. The mere existence of such a civilisation will tell us that long-term survival is possible, and gives us some cause for optimism. It is even possible that the older civilisation may pass on the benefits of their experience in dealing with threats to survival such as nuclear war and global pollution, and other threats that we haven’t yet discovered.BIn discussing whether we are alone, most SETI scientists adopt two ground rules. First, UFOs (Unidentified Flying Objects) are generally ignored since most scientists don’t consider the evidence for them to be strong enough to bear serious consideration (although it is also important to keep an open mind in case any really convincing evidence emerges in the future). Second, we make a very conservative assumption that we are looking for a life form that is pretty well like us, since if it differs radically from us we may well not recognise it as a life form,quite apart from whether we are able to communicate with it. In other words, the life form we are looking for may well have two green heads and seven fingers, but it will nevertheless resemble us in that it should communicate with its fellows, be interested in the Universe, live on a planet orbiting a star like our Sun, and perhaps most restrictively, have a chemistry, like us, based on carbon and water.CEven when we make these assumptions, our understanding of other life forms is still severely limited. We do not even know, for example, how many stars have planets, and we certainly do not know how likely it is that life will arise naturally, given the right conditions. However, when we look at the 100 billion stars in our galaxy (the Milky Way), and 100 billion galaxies in the observable Universe, it seems inconceivable that at least one of these planets does not have a life form on it; in fact, the best educated guess we can make, using the little that we do know about the conditions for carbon-based life, leads us to estimate that perhaps one in 100,000 stars might have a life-bearing planet orbiting it. That means that our nearest neighbours are perhaps 100 light years away, which is almost next door in astronomical terms.DAn alien civilistation could choose many different ways of sending information across the galaxy, but many of these either require too much energy, or else are severely attenuated while traversing the vast distances across the galaxy. It turns out that, for a given amount of transmitted power, radio waves in the frequency range 1000 to 3000 MHz travel the greatest distance, and so all searches to date have concentrated on looking forradio waves in this frequency range. So far there have been a number of searches by various groups around the world, including Australian searches using the radio telescope at Parkes, New South Wales. Until now there have not been any detections from the few hundred stars which have been searched. The scale of the searches has been increased dramatically since 1992, when the US Congress voted NASA $10 million per year for ten years to conduct, a thorough search for extra-terrestrial life. Much of the money in this project is being spent on developing the special hardware needed to search many frequencies at once. The project has two parts. One part is a targeted search using the world’s largest radio telescopes, the American-operated telescope in Arecibo, Puerto Rico and the French telescope in Nancy in France. This part of the project is searching the nearest 1000 likely stars with high sensitivity for signals in the frequency rang 1000 to 3000 MHz. The other part of the project is an undirected search which is monitoring all of space with a lower sensitivity, using the smaller antennas of NASA’s Deep Space Network.EThere is considerable debate over how we should react if we detect a signal from an alien civilisation. Everybody agrees that we should not reply immediately. Quite apart from the impracticality of sending a reply over such large distances at short notice, it raises a host of ethical questions that would have to be addressed by the global community before any reply could be sent. Would the human race face the culture shock if faced with a superior and much older civilisation? Luckily, there is no urgency about this. The stars being searched are hundreds of light years away, so it takes hundreds of years for their signal toreach us, and a further few hundred years for our reply to reach them. It’s not important, then, if there’s a delay of a few years, or decades, while the human race debates the question of whether to reply, and perhaps carefully drafts a reply.Questions 18-20Answer the questions below.Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.Write your answers in boxes 18-20 on your answer sheet.18 What is the life expectancy of Earth?19 What kind of signals from other intelligent civilisations are SETI scientists searching for?20 How many stars are the world’s most powerful radio telescopes searching?Questions 21-26Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage 2?In boxes 21-26 on your answer sheet, writeYES if the statement agrees with the views of the writerNO if the statement contradicts the views of the writerNOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this21 Alien civilisations may be able to help the human race to overcome serious problems.22 SETI scientists are trying to find a life form that resembles humans in many ways.23 The Americans and Australians have co-operated on joint research projects.24 So far SETI scientists have picked up radio signals from several stars.25 The NASA project attracted criticism from some members of Congress.26 If a signal from outer space is received, it will be important to respond promptly.READING PASSAGE 3You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40, which are based on Reading Passage 3 below.The history of the tortoiseIf you go back far enough, everything lived in the sea. At various points in evolutionary history, enterprising individuals within many different animal groups moved out onto the land, sometimes even to the most parched deserts, taking their own private seawater with them in blood and cellular fluids. In addition to the reptiles, birds, mammals and insects which we see all around us, other groups that have succeeded out of water include scorpions, snails, crustaceans such as woodlice and land crabs, millipedes and centipedes, spiders and various worms. And we mustn’t forget the pla nts, without whose prior invasion of the land none of the other migrations could have happened.Moving from water to land involved a major redesign of every aspect of life, including breathing and reproduction. Nevertheless, a good number of thorough going land animals later turned around, abandoned their hard-earned terrestrial re-tooling, and returned to the water again. Seals have only gone part way back. They show us what the intermediates might have been like, on the way to extreme cases such as whales and dugongs. Whales (including the small whales we call dolphins) and dugongs, with their close cousins the manatees, ceased to be land creatures altogether and reverted to the full marine habits of their remote ancestors. They don’t even come ashoreto breed. They do, however, still breathe air, having never developed anything equivalent to the gills of their earlier marine incarnation. Turtles went back to the sea a very long time ago and, like all vertebrate returnees to the water, they breathe air. However, they are, in one respect, less fully given back to the water than whales or dugongs, for turtles still lay their eggs on beaches.There is evidence that all modern turtles are descended from a terrestrial ancestor which lived before most of the dinosaurs. There are two key fossils called Proganochelys quenstedti and Plaeochersis talampayensis dating from early dinosaur times, which appear to be close to the ancestry of all modern turtles and tortoises. You might wonder how we can tell whether fossil animals lived on land or in water, especially if only fragments are found. Sometimes it’s obvious. Ichthyosaurs were reptilian contemporaries of the dinosaurs, with fins and streamlined bodies. The fossils look like dolphins and they surely lived like dolphins, in the water. With turtles it is a little less obvious. One way to tell is by measuring the bones of their forelimbs.Walter Joyce and Jacques Gauthier, at Yale University, obtained three measurements in these particular bones of 71 species of living turtles and tortoises. They used a kind of triangular graph paper to plot the three measurements against one another. All the land tortoise species formed a tight cluster of points in the upper part of the triangle; all the water turtles cluster in the lower part of the triangular graph. There was no overlap, except when they added some species that spend time both in water and on land. Sure enough, these amphibious species show up on the triangular graph approximately half way between the ‘wet cluster’ of sea turtles and the ‘dry cluster’of land tortoises. The next step was to determine where the fossils fell. The bones of P. quenstedti and P. talampayensis leave us in no doubt. Their points on the graph are right in the thick of the dry cluster. Both these fossils were dry-land tortoises. They come from the era before our turtles returned to the water.You might think, therefore, that modern land tortoises have probably stayed on land ever since those early terrestrial times, as most mammals did after a few of them went back to the sea. But apparently not. If you draw out the family three of all modern turtles and tortoises, nearly all the branches are aquatic. Today’s land tortoises constitute a single branch, deeply nested among branches consisting of aquatic turtles. This suggests that modern land tortoises have not stayed on land continuously since the time of P. quenstedti and P. talampayensis. Rather, their ancestors were among those who went back to the water, and they then reemerged back onto the land in (relatively) more recent times.Tortoises therefore represent a remarkable double return. In common with all mammals, reptiles and birds, their remote ancestors were marine fish and before that various more or less worm-like creatures stretching back, still in the sea, to the primeval bacteria. Later ancestors lived on land and stayed there for a very large number of generations. Later ancestors still evolved back into the water and became sea turtles. And finally they returned yet again to the land as tortoises, some of which now live in the driest of deserts.Questions 27-30Answer the questions below.Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.Write your answers in boxes 27-30 on your answer sheet.27 What had to transfer from sea to land before any animals could migrate?28 Which TWO processes are mentioned as those in which animals had to make big changes as they moved onto lands?29 Which physical feature, possessed by their ancestors, do whales lack?30 which animals might ichthyosaurs have resembled?Questions 31-33Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 3?In boxes 31-33 on your answer sheet, writeTRUE if the statement agrees with the informationFALSE if the statement contradicts the informationNOT GIVEN if there is no information on this31 Turtles were among the first group of animals to migrate back to the sea.32 It is always difficult to determine where an animal lived when its fossilised remains are incomplete.33 The habitat of ichthyosaurs can be determined by the appearance of their fossilised remains.Questions 34-39Complete the flow-chart below.Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.Write your answers in boxes 34-39 on your answer sheet.Method of determining where the ancestors of turtles and tortoises come fromStep 171 species of living turtles and tortoises were examined anda total of 34 ……………………. were taken from the bones of theirforelimbs.Step 2The data was recorded on a 35 ……………….. (necessary for comparing the information).Outcome: Land tortoises were represented by a dense 36 …………………………… of points towards the top.Sea turtles were grouped together in the bottom part.Step 3The same data was collected from some living 37 ………………. species and added to the other results.Outcome: The points for these species turned out to be positioned about 38 ……………… up the triangle between the land tortoises and the sea turtles.Step 4Bones of P. quenstedti and P. talampayensis were examined in a similar way and the results added.Outcome: The position of the points indicated that both these ancient creatures were 39…………..Question 40Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.Write the correct letter in box 40 on your answer sheet.According to the writer, the most significant thing about tortoises is thatA they are able to adapt to life in extremely dry environments.B their original life form was a kind of primeval bacteria.C they have so much in common with sea turtles.D they have made the transition from sea to land more than once.剑桥雅思阅读9原文参考译文(test1)PASSAGE 1参考译文:William Henry Perkin 合成染料的发明者Wiliam Henry Perkin于1838年3月12日出生于英国伦敦。

剑桥雅思阅读11(test1)答案精讲

剑桥雅思阅读11(test1)答案精讲

剑桥雅思阅读11(test1)答案精讲剑桥雅思阅读部分的题目可以进行一些分类总结,因为考试的常见内容一般都会在下次考试中出现的。

下面就是今天小编给大家带来的剑桥雅思阅读11原文和答案的内容,希望能够帮助同学们备考雅思考试。

剑桥雅思阅读11原文(test1)READING PASSAGE 1You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.Crop-growing skyscrapersBy the year 2050, nearly 80% of the Earth’s population will live in urban centres. Applying the most conservative estimates to current demographic trends, the human population will increase by about three billion people by then. An estimated 109 hectares of new land (about 20% larger than Brazil) will be needed to grow enough food to feed them, if traditional farming methods continue as they are practised today. At present, throughout the world, over 80% of the land that is suitable for raising crops is in use. Historically, some 15% of that has been laid waste by poor management practices. What can be done to ensure enough food for the world’s population to live on?The concept of indoor farming is not new, since hothouse production of tomatoes and other produce has been in vogue for some time. What is new is the urgent need to scale up this technology to accommodate another three billion people. Many believe an entirely new approach to indoor farming is required, employing cutting-edge technologies. One such proposal is for the ‘Vertical Farm’. The concept is of multi-storey buildings in which food crops are grown in environmentally controlledconditions. Situated in the heart of urban centres, they would drastically reduce the amount of transportation required to bring food to consumers. Vertical farms would need to be efficient, cheap to construct and safe to operate. If successfully implemented, proponents claim, vertical farms offer the promise of urban renewal, sustainable production of a safe and varied food supply (through year-round production of all crops), and the eventual repair of ecosystems that have been sacrificed for horizontal farming.It took humans 10,000 years to learn how to grow most of the crops we now take for granted. Along the way, we despoiled most of the land we worked, often turning verdant, natural ecozones into semi-arid deserts. Within that same time frame, we evolved into an urban species, in which 60% of the human population now lives vertically in cities. This means that, for the majority, we humans have shelter from the elements, yet we subject our food-bearing plants to the rigours of the great outdoors and can do no more than hope for a good weather year. However, more often than not now, due to a rapidly changing climate, that is not what happens. Massive floods, long droughts, hurricanes and severe monsoons take their toll each year, destroying millions of tons of valuable crops.The supporters of vertical farming claim many potential advantages for the system. For instance, crops would be produced all year round, as they would be kept in artificially controlled, optimum growing conditions. There would be no weather-related crop failures due to droughts, floods or pests. All the food could be grown organically, eliminating the need for herbicides, pesticides and fertilisers. The system would greatly reduce the incidence of many infectious diseases that areacquired at the agricultural interface. Although the system would consume energy, it would return energy to the grid via methane generation from composting non-edible parts of plants. It would also dramatically reduce fossil fuel use, by cutting out the need for tractors, ploughs and shipping.A major drawback of vertical farming, however, is that the plants would require artificial light. Without it, those plants nearest the windows would be exposed to more sunlight and grow more quickly, reducing the efficiency of the system. Single-storey greenhouses have the benefit of natural overhead light: even so, many still need artificial lighting. A multi-storey facility with no natural overhead light would require far more. Generating enough light could be prohibitively expensive, unless cheap, renewable energy is available, and this appears to be rather a future aspiration than a likelihood for the near future.One variation on vertical farming that has been developed is to grow plants in stacked trays that move on rails. Moving the trays allows the plants to get enough sunlight. This system is already in operation, and works well within a single-storey greenhouse with light reaching it from above: it is not certain, however, that it can be made to work without that overhead natural light.Vertical farming is an attempt to address the undoubted problems that we face in producing enough food for a growing population. At the moment, though, more needs to be done to reduce the detrimental impact it would have on the environment, particularly as regards the use of energy. While it is possible that much of our food will be grown in skyscrapers in future, most experts currently believe it is far more likely that we will simply use the space available on urban rooftops.Questions 1-7Complete the sentences below.Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.Write your answers in boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet.Indoor farming1 Some food plants, including __________, are already grown indoors.2 Vertical farms would be located in __________, meaning that there would be less need to take them long distances to customers.3 Vertical farms could use methane from plants and animals to produce __________.4 The consumption of __________ would be cut because agricultural vehicles would be unnecessary.5 The fact that vertical farms would need __________ light is a disadvantage.6 One form of vertical farming involves planting in __________ which are not fixed.7 The most probable development is that food will be grown on __________ in towns and cities.Questions 8-13Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?In boxes 8-13 on your answer sheet, writeTRUE if the statement agrees with the informationFALSE if the statement contradicts the informationNOT GIVEN if there is no information on this8 Methods for predicting the Earth’s population have recently changed.9 Human beings are responsible for some of the destruction to food-producing land.10 The crops produced in vertical farms will depend on the season.11 Some damage to food crops is caused by climate change.12 Fertilisers will be needed for certain crops in vertical farms.13 Vertical farming will make plants less likely to be affected by infectious diseases.READING PASSAGE 2You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26, which are based on Reading Passage 2 below.THE FALKIRK WHEELA unique engineering achievementThe Falkirk Wheel in Scotland is the world’s first and only rotating boat lift. Opened in 2002, it is central to the ambitious £84.5m Millennium Link project to restore navigability across Scotland by reconnecting the historic waterways of the Forth & Clyde and Union Canals.The major challenge of the project lay in the fact that the Forth & Clyde Canal is situated 35 metres below the level of the Union Canal. Historically, the two canals had been joined near the town of Falkirk by a sequence of 11 locks — enclosed sections of canal in which the water level could be raised or lowered — that stepped down across a distance of 1.5 km. This had been dismantled in 1933, thereby breaking the link. When the project was launched in 1994, the British Waterways authority were keen to create a dramatic twenty-first-century landmark which would not only be a fitting commemoration of the Millennium, but also a lasting symbol of the economic regeneration of the region.Numerous ideas were submitted for the project, includingconcepts ranging from rolling eggs to tilting tanks, from giant see-saws to overhead monorails. The eventual winner was a plan for the huge rotating steel boat lift which was to become The Falkirk Wheel. The unique shape of the structure is claimed to have been inspired by various sources, both manmade and natural, most notably a Celtic double-headed axe, but also the vast turning propeller of a ship, the ribcage of a whale or the spine of a fish.The various parts of The Falkirk Wheel were all constructed and assembled, like one giant toy building set, at Butterley Engineering’s Steelworks in Derbyshire, some 400 km from Falkirk. A team there carefully assembled the 1,200 tonnes of steel, painstakingly fitting the pieces together to an accuracy of just 10 mm to ensure a perfect final fit. In the summer of 2001, the structure was then dismantled and transported on 35 lorries to Falkirk, before all being bolted back together again on the ground, and finally lifted into position in five large sections by crane. The Wheel would need to withstand immense and constantly changing stresses as it rotated, so to make the structure more robust, the steel sections were bolted rather than welded together. Over 45,000 bolt holes were matched with their bolts, and each bolt was hand-tightened.The Wheel consists of two sets of opposing axe-shaped arms, attached about 25 metres apart to a fixed central spine. Two diametrically opposed water-filled ‘gondolas’, each with a capacity of 360,000 litres, are fitted between the ends of the arms. These gondolas always weigh the same, whether or not they are carrying boats. This is because, according to Archimedes’principle of displacement, floating objects displace their own weight in water. So when a boat enters a gondola, the amount ofwater leaving the gondola weighs exactly the same as the boat. This keeps the Wheel balanced and so, despite its enormous mass, it rotates through 180°in five and a half minutes while using very little power. It takes just 1.5 kilowatt-hours (5.4 MJ) of energy to rotate the Wheel — roughly the same as boiling eight small domestic kettles of water.Boats needing to be lifted up enter the canal basin at the level of the Forth & Clyde Canal and then enter the lower gondola of the Wheel. Two hydraulic steel gates are raised, so as to seal the gondola off from the water in the canal basin. The water between the gates is then pumped out. A hydraulic clamp, which prevents the arms of the Wheel moving while the gondola is docked, is removed, allowing the Wheel to turn. In the central machine room an array of ten hydraulic motors then begins to rotate the central axle. The axle connects to the outer arms of the Wheel, which begin to rotate at a speed of 1/8 of a revolution per minute. As the wheel rotates, the gondolas are kept in the upright position by a simple gearing system. Two eight-metre-wide cogs orbit a fixed inner cog of the same width, connected by two smaller cogs travelling in the opposite direction to the outer cogs — so ensuring that the gondolas always remain level. When the gondola reaches the top, the boat passes straight onto the aqueduct situated 24 metres above the canal basin.The remaining 11 metres of lift needed to reach the Union Canal is achieved by means of a pair of locks. The Wheel could not be constructed to elevate boats over the full 35-metre difference between the two canals, owing to the presence of the historically important Antonine Wall, which was built by the Romans in the second century AD. Boats travel under this wall via a tunnel, then through the locks, and finally on to the Union Canal.Questions 14-19Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2?In boxes 14-19 on your answer sheet, writeTRUE if the statement agrees with the informationFALSE if the statement contradicts the informationNOT GIVEN if there is no information on this14 The Falkirk Wheel has linked the Forth & Clyde Canal with the Union Canal for the first time in their history.15 There was some opposition to the design of the Falkirk Wheel at first.16 The Falkirk Wheel was initially put together at the location where its components were manufactured.17 The Falkirk Wheel is the only boat lift in the world which has steel sections bolted together by hand.18 The weight of the gondolas varies according to the size of boat being carried.19 The construction of the Falkirk Wheel site took into account the presence of a nearby ancient monument.Questions 20-26Label the diagram below.Choose ONE WORD from the passage for each answer.Write your answers in boxes 20-26 on your answer sheet.How a boat is lifted on the Falkirk WheelREADING PASSAGE 3You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40, which are based on Reading Passage 3 below.Reducing the Effects of Climate ChangeMark Rowe reports on the increasingly ambitious geo-engineering projects being explored by scientistsA Such is our dependence on fossil fuels, and such is the volume of carbon dioxide already released into the atmosphere, that many experts agree that significant global warming is now inevitable. They believe that the best we can do is keep it at a reasonable level, and at present the only serious option for doing this is cutting back on our carbon emissions. But while a few countries are making major strides in this regard, the majority are having great difficulty even stemming the rate of increase, let alone reversing it. Consequently, an increasing number of scientists are beginning to explore the alternative of geo-engineering — a term which generally refers to the intentional large-scale manipulation of the environment. According to its proponents, geo-engineering is the equivalent of a backup generator: if Plan A — reducing our dependency on fossil fuels — fails, we require a Plan B, employing grand schemes to slow down or reverse the process of global warming.B Geo-engineering has been shown to work, at least on a small localised scale. For decades, May Day parades in Moscow have taken place under clear blue skies, aircraft having deposited dry ice, silver iodide and cement powder to disperse clouds. Many of the schemes now suggested look to do the opposite, and reduce the amount of sunlight reaching the planet. The most eye-catching idea of all is suggested by Professor Roger Angel of the University of Arizona. His scheme would employ up to 16 trillion minute spacecraft, each weighing about one gram, to form a transparent, sunlight-refracting sunshade in an orbit 1.5 million km above the Earth. This could, argues Angel, reduce the amount of light reaching the Earth by two per cent.C The majority of geo-engineering projects so far carried out — which include planting forests in deserts and depositing ironin the ocean to stimulate the growth of algae — have focused on achieving a general cooling of the Earth. But some look specifically at reversing the melting at the poles, particularly the Arctic. The reasoning is that if you replenish the ice sheets and frozen waters of the high latitudes, more light will be reflected back into space, so reducing the warming of the oceans and atmosphere.D The concept of releasing aerosol sprays into the stratosphere above the Arctic has been proposed by several scientists. This would involve using sulphur or hydrogen sulphide aerosols so that sulphur dioxide would form clouds, which would, in turn, lead to a global dimming. The idea is modelled on historic volcanic explosions, such as that of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines in 1991, which led to a short-term cooling of global temperatures by 0.5℃. Scientists have also scrutinised whether it’s possible to preserve the ice sheets of Greenland with reinforced high-tension cables, preventing icebergs from moving into the sea. Meanwhile in the Russian Arctic, geo-engineering plans include the planting of millions of birch trees. Whereas the region’s native evergreen pines shade the snow and absorb radiation, birches would shed their leaves in winter, thus enabling radiation to be reflected by the snow. Re-routing Russian rivers to increase cold water flow to ice-forming areas could also be used to slow down warming, say some climate scientists.E But will such schemes ever be implemented? Generally speaking, those who are most cautious about geo-engineering are the scientists involved in the research. Angel says that his plan is ‘no substitute for developing renewable energy: the only permanent solution’. And Dr Phil Rasch of the US-based Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is equally guarded about the roleof geo-engineering: ‘I think all of us agree that if we were to end geo-engineering on a given day, then the planet would return to its pre-engineered condition very rapidly, and probably within ten to twenty years. That’s certainly something to worry about.’F The US National Center for Atmospheric Research has already suggested that the proposal to inject sulphur into the atmosphere might affect rainfall patterns across the tropics and the Southern Ocean. ‘Geo-engineering plans to inject stratospheric aerosols or to seed clouds would act to cool the planet, and act to increase the extent of sea ice,’ says Rasch. ‘But all the models suggest some impact on the distribution of precipitation.’G ‘A further risk with geo-engineering projects is that you can “overshoot”,’says Dr Dan Lunt, from the University of Bristol’s School of Geophysical Sciences, who has studied the likely impacts of the sunshade and aerosol schemes on the climate. ‘You may bring global temperatures back to pre-industrial levels, but the risk is that the poles will still be warmer than they should be and the tropics will be cooler than before industrialisation.’ To avoid such a scenario, Lunt says Angel’s project would have to operate at half strength; all of which reinforces his view that the best option is to avoid the need for geo-engineering altogether.H The main reason why geo-engineering is supported by many in the scientific community is that most researchers have little faith in the ability of politicians to agree — and then bring in —the necessary carbon cuts. Even leading conservation organisations see the value of investigating the potential of geo-engineering. According to Dr Martin Sommerkorn, climatechange advisor for the World Wildlife Fund’s International Arctic Programme, ‘Human-induced climate change has brought humanity to a position where we shouldn’t exclude thinking thoroughly about this topic and its possibilities.’Questions 27-29Reading Passage 3 has eight paragraphs A-H.Which paragraph contains the following information?Write the correct letter, A-H, in boxes 27-29 on your answer sheet.27 mention of a geo-engineering project based on an earlier natural phenomenon28 an example of a successful use of geo-engineering29 a common definition of geo-engineeringQuestions 30-36Complete the table below.Choose ONE WORD from the passage for each answer.Write your answers in boxes 30-36 on your answer sheet.GEO-ENGINEERING PROJECTSProcedure Aimput a large number of tiny spacecraft into orbit far above Earth to create a 30 __________ that would reduce the amount of light reaching Earthplace 31 __________ in the sea to encourage 32 __________ to formrelease aerosol sprays into the stratosphere to create 33 __________ that would reduce the amount of light reaching Earth fix strong 34 __________ to Greenland ice sheets to prevent icebergs moving into the seaplant trees in Russian Arctic that would lose their leaves in winter to allow the 35 __________ to reflect radiationchange the direction of 36 __________ to bring more cold water into ice-forming areasQuestions 37-40Look at the following statements (Questions 37-40) and the list of scientists below.Match each statement with the correct scientist, A-D.Write the correct letter, A-D, in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet.37 The effects of geo-engineering may not be long-lasting.38 Geo-engineering is a topic worth exploring.39 It may be necessary to limit the effectiveness of geo-engineering projects.40 Research into non-fossil-based fuels cannot be replaced by geo-engineering.List of ScientistsA Roger AngelB Phil RaschC Dan LuntD Martin Sommerkorn剑桥雅思阅读11原文参考译文(test1)PASSAGE 1参考译文:作物生长的“摩天大厦”到2050年,近80%的地球人口将在城市中心生活。

雅思阅读精讲-READING-PASSAGE-1

雅思阅读精讲-READING-PASSAGE-1

Why pagodas don’t fall downAIn a land swept by typhoons and shaken by earthquakes, how have Japan's tallest and seemingly flimsiest 不结实的; 易损坏的(原型flimsy)old buildings —500 or so wooden pagodas宝塔—remain ed standing for centuries? Records show that only two have collapsed during the past 1400 years. (第1题)Those that have disappeared were destroyed by fire as a result of lightning or civil war. The disastrous损失惨重的Hanshin earthquake in 1995 killed 6,400 people,topple d elevated highways, flatten ed使…成为平地office blocks and devastate d 毁灭; 摧毁the port area of Kobe. Yet it left the magnificent five-storey pagoda at the Toji temple in nearby Kyoto unscathed未受损伤; 未遭伤害(第2题) though it levelled夷平a number of buildings in the neighborhood.Topple: ~ (over) be unsteady and fall 不稳而倒下:The pile of books toppled over onto the floor. 那一摞书倒在地板上了.B Japanese scholars have been mystified for ages about why these tall, slender buildings are so stable. It was only thirty years ago that the building industry felt confident enough to erect office blocks of steel and reinforced concrete that had more than a dozen floors.(第3题)With its special shock absorbers 减震器to dampen 抑制the effect of sudden sideways movements from an earthquake, the thirty-six-storey Kasumigaseki building in central Tokyo — Japan's first skyscraper 摩天楼— was considered a masterpiece of modern engineering when it was built in 1968.【重要词汇】mystify/ ˈmɪstɪfaɪ; ˋmɪstəˏfaɪ/ v(pt, pp -fied) [Tn] make (sb) confused through lack of understanding; puzzle; bewilder 使(某人)困惑不解; 使迷惑: I'm mystified; I just can't see how he did it. 我大惑不解, 就是不明白他是怎麽做到的. * her mystifying disappearance她神秘的失踪.dampen (down )to make something such as a feeling or activity less strongThe light rain dampened the crowd's enthusiasm.Raising interest rates might dampen the economy.to make a sound or movement less loud or strongThe spring dampens the shock of the impact.C Yet in 826, with only pegs短桩and wedges楔子to keep his wooden structure upright, the master builder Kobodaishi had no hesitation in sending his majestic雄伟的Toji pagoda soaring fifty-five metres into the sky —nearly half as high as the Kasumigaseki skyscraper built some eleven centuries later. Clearly, Japanese carpenters of the day knew a few tricks about allowing a building to sway and settleitself rather than fight nature's forces.(第4题)But what sort of tricks?D The multi-storey pagoda came to Japan from China in the sixth century. As in China, they were first introduced with Buddhism and were attached to important temples. (第9题) The Chinese built their pagodas in brick or stone, with inner staircases, and used them in later centuries mainly as watchtower s(第5题和第7题)瞭望塔. When the pagoda reached Japan, however, its architecture was freely adapted to local conditions —they were built less high, typically five rather than nine storeys, made mainly of wood and the staircase was dispense d(第5题)免除,省掉with because the Japanese pagoda did not have any practical use but became more of an art object. Because of the typhoons that batter接连猛击Japan in the summer, Japanese builders learned to extend the eave s屋檐of buildings further beyond the walls.(第6题)This prevents rainwater gush ing 流出, 泻出, 涌出down the walls. Pagodas in China and Korea have nothing like the overhang that is found on pagodas in Japan.【重要词组】dispense with sb/sth manage without sb/sth; get rid of sb/sth 用不着某人[某事物]; 摆脱某人[某事物]: He is not yet well enough to dispense with the pills. 他尚未痊愈, 仍需吃药.adapte (oneself) (to sth) become adjusted to new conditions, etc 适应(新环境等): Our eyes slowly adapted to the dark. 我们的眼睛慢慢地适应了黑暗的环境.【重要词汇】overhang / ˈəuvəhæŋ; ˋovɚˏhæŋ/ n part that overhangs 悬垂的部分: a bird's nest under the overhang of the roof房檐下的鸟巢.E The roof of a Japanese temple building can be made to overhang the sides of the structure by fifty per cent or more of the building's overall width.(第8题)For the same reason, the builders of Japanese pagodas seem to have further increased their weight by choosing to cover these extended eaves not with the porcelain瓷tile s 瓦of many Chinese pagodas but with much heavier earthenware陶器tiles.【难句解析】The roof of a Japanese temple building can be made to overhang the sides of the structure by fifty per cent or more of the building's overall width.句子结构the roof… can be made to….by…日本寺庙的屋顶可以被建造成各面都延伸出庙宇本身,延伸的范围在该寺庙整体宽度的50%或者更多。

剑桥雅思阅读10答案精讲(test1)

剑桥雅思阅读10答案精讲(test1)

剑桥雅思阅读10答案精讲(test1)雅思阅读部分的真题资料,同学们需要进行一些细致的总结,比如说解析其实就是很重要的内容,接下来就是小编给同学们带来的关于剑桥雅思阅读10原文翻译解析(test1)的内容,一起来详细的分析一下吧,希望对你们的备考有所帮助。

剑桥雅思阅读10原文(test1)READING PASSAGE 1You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13,which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.StepwellsA millennium ago, stepwells were fundamental to life in the driest parts of India. Richard Cox travelled to north-western India to document these spectacular monuments from a bygone era During the sixth and seventh centuries, the inhabitants of the modern-day states of Gujarat and Rajasthan in north-western India developed a method of gaining access to clean, fresh groundwater during the dry season for drinking, bathing, watering animals and irrigation. However, the significance of this invention —the stepwell —goes beyond its utilitarian application.Unique to this region, stepwells are often architecturally complex and vary widely in size and shape. During their heyday, they were places of gathering, of leisure and relaxation and of worship for villagers of all but the lowest classes. Most stepwells are found dotted round the desert areas of Gujarat (where they are called vav) and Rajasthan (where they are called baori), while a few also survive in Delhi. Some were located in or near villages as public spaces for the community; others were positioned beside roads as resting places for travellers.As their name suggests, stepwells comprise a series of stone steps descending from ground level to the water source (normally an underground aquifer) as it recedes following the rains. When the water level was high, the user needed only to descend a few steps to reach it; when it was low, several levels would have to be negotiated.Some wells are vast, open craters with hundreds of steps paving each sloping side, often in tiers. Others are more elaborate, with long stepped passages leading to the water via several storeys. Built from stone and supported by pillars, they also included pavilions that sheltered visitors from the relentless heat. But perhaps the most impressive features are the intricate decorative sculptures that embellish many stepwells, showing activities from fighting and dancing to everyday acts such as women combing their hair or churning butter.Down the centuries, thousands of wells were constructed throughout north?western India, but the majority have now fallen into disuse; many are derelict and dry, as groundwater has been diverted for industrial use and the wells no longer reach the water table. Their condition hasn’t been helped by recent dry spells: southern Rajasthan suffered an eight-year drought between 1996 and 2004.However, some important sites in Gujarat have recently undergone major restoration, and the state government announced in June last year that it plans to restore the stepwells throughout the state.In Patan, the state’s ancient capital, the stepwell of Rani Ki Vav (Queen’s Stepwell) is perhaps the finest current example. It was built by Queen Udayamati during the late 11th century, but became silted up following a flood during the 13th century. Butthe Archaeological Survey of India began restoring it in the 1960s, and today it is in pristine condition. At 65 metres long, 20 metres wide and 27 metres deep, Rani Ki Vav features 500 sculptures carved into niches throughout the monument. Incredibly, in January 2001, this ancient structure survived an earthquake that measured 7.6 on the Richter scale.Another example is the Surya Kund in Modhera, northern Gujarat, next to the Sun Temple, built by King Bhima I in 1026 to honour the sun god Surya. It actually resembles a tank (kund means reservoir or pond) rather than a well, but displays the hallmarks of stepwell architecture, including four sides of steps that descend to the bottom in a stunning geometrical formation. The terraces house 108 small, intricately carved shrines between the sets of steps.Rajasthan also has a wealth of wells. The ancient city of Bundi, 200 kilometres south of Jaipur, is renowned for its architecture, including its stepwells.One of the larger examples is Raniji Ki Baori,which was built by the queen of the region, Nathavatji, in 1699. At 46 metres deep, 20 metres wide and 40 metres long, the intricately carved monument is one of 21 baoris commissioned in the Bundi area by Nathavatji.In the old ruined town of Abhaneri, about 95 kilometres east of Jaipur, is Chand Baori, one of India’s oldest and deepest wells; aesthetically it’s perhaps one of the most dramatic. Built in around 850 AD next to the temple of Harshat Mata, the baori comprises hundreds of zigzagging steps that run along three of its sides, steeply descending 11 storeys, resulting in a striking pattern when seen from afar. On the fourth side, verandas which are supported by ornate pillars overlook the steps.Still in public use is Neemrana Ki Baori, located just off the Jaipur-Delhi highway. Constructed in around 1700, it is nine storeys deep, with the last two being underwater. At ground level, there are 86 colonnaded openings from where the visitor descends 170 steps to the deepest water source.Today, following years of neglect, many of these monuments to medieval engineering have been saved by the Archaeological Survey of India, which has recognised the importance of preserving them as part of the country’s rich history. T ourists flock to wells in far-flung corners of north?-western India to gaze in wonder at these architectural marvels from hundreds of years ago, which serve as a reminder of both the ingenuity and artistry of ancient civilisations and of the value of water to human existence.Questions 1-5Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?In boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet, writeTRUE if the statement agrees with the informationFALSE if the statement contradicts the informationNOT GIVEN if there is no information on this1 Examples of ancient stepwells can be found all over the world.2 Stepwells had a range of functions, in addition to those related to water collection.3 The few existing stepwells in Delhi are more attractive than those found elsewhere.4 It took workers many years to build the stone steps characteristic of stepwells.5 The number of steps above the water level in a stepwellaltered during the course of a year.Questions 6-8Answer the questions below.Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.Write your answers in boxes 6-8 on your answer sheet6 Which part of some stepwells provided shade for people?7 What type of serious climatic event, which took place in southern Rajasthan, is mentioned in the article?8 Who are frequent visitors to stepwells nowadays?Questions 9-13Complete the table below.Choose ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 9-13 on your answer sheetStepwell Date Features Other notesRani Ki Vav Late11thcentury As many as 500 sculptures decorate the monument Restored in the 1960sExcellent condition, despite the 9 _______ of 2001Surya Kund 1026 Steps on the10 ______ produce ageometrical patternCarved shrines Looks more like a 11 _______than a wellRaniji Ki Baori 1699 Intricately carved monument One of 21 baoris in the area commissioned by Queen Nathavatji Chand Baori 850 AD Steps take you down 11 storeys to the bottom Old, deep and very dramaticHas 12 _____ whichprovide a view of the stepsNeemrana Ki Baori 1700 Has two 13 ______levels Used by public todayREADING PASSAGE 2You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26, which are based on Reading Passage 2 on the following pages.Questions 14-21Reading Passage 2 has nine paragraphs, A-I.Choose the correct heading for paragraphs A-E and G-I from the list of headings below.Write the correct number,i-xi, in boxes 14-21 on your answer sheetList of Headingsi A fresh and important long-term goalii Charging for roads and improving other transport methods iii Changes affecting the distances goods may be transportediv Taking all the steps necessary to change transport patterns v The environmental costs of road transportvi The escalating cost of rail transportvii The need to achieve transport rebalanceviii The rapid growth of private transportix Plans to develop major road networksx Restricting road use through charging policies alonexi Transport trends in countries awaiting EU admission14 Paragraph A 19 Paragraph G15 Paragraph B 20 Paragraph H16 Paragraph C 21 Paragraph I17 Paragraph D18 Paragraph EExample AnswerParagraph F viiEUROPEAN TRANSPORT SYSTEMS1990-2010What have been the trends and what are the prospects for European transport systems?A It is difficult to conceive of vigorous economic growth without an efficient transport system. Although modern information technologies can reduce the demand for physical transport by facilitating teleworking and teleservices, the requirement for transport continues to increase. There are two key factors behind this trend. For passenger transport, the determining factor is the spectacular growth in car use. The number of cars on European Union (EU) roads saw an increase of three million cars each year from 1990 to 2010, and in the next decade the EU will see a further substantial increase in its fleet.B As far as goods transport is concerned, growth is due to a large extent to changes in the European economy and its system of production. In the last 20 years, as internal frontiers have been abolished, the EU has moved from a ‘stock’ economy to a ‘flow’ economy. This phenomenon has been emphasised by the relocation of some industries, particularly those which are labour intensive, to reduce production costs, even though the production site is hundreds or even thousands of kilometres away from the final assembly plant or away from users.C The strong economic growth expected in countries which are candidates for entry to the EU will also increase transport flows, in particular road haulage traffic. In 1998, some of these countries already exported more than twice their 1990 volumes and imported more than five times their 1990 volumes. And although many candidate countries inherited a transport systemwhich encourages rail, the distribution between modes has tipped sharply in favour of road transport since the 1990s. Between 1990 and 1998,road haulage increased by 19.4%, while during the same period rail haulage decreased by 43.5%, although — and this could benefit the enlarged EU — it is still on average at a much higher level than in existing member states.D However, a new imperative — sustainable development —offers an opportunity for adapting the EU’s common transport policy. This objective, agreed by the Gothenburg European Council, has to be achieved by integrating environmental considerations into Community policies, and shifting the balance between modes of transport lies at the heart of its strategy. The ambitious objective can only be fully achieved by 2020, but proposed measures are nonetheless a first essential step towards a sustainable transport system which will ideally be in place in 30 years’ time, that is by 2040.E In 1998,energy consumption in the transport sector was to blame for 28% of emissions of CO2,the leading greenhouse gas. According to the latest estimates, if nothing is done to reverse the traffic growth trend, CO2 emissions from transport can be expected to increase by around 50% to 1,113 billion tonnes by 2020,compared with the 739 billion tonnes recorded in 1990. Once again, road transport is the main culprit since it alone accounts for 84% of the CO2 emissions attributable to transport. Using alternative fuels and improving energy efficiency is thus both an ecological necessity and a technological challenge.F At the same time greater efforts must be made to achieve a modal shift. Such a change cannot be achieved overnight, all the less so after over half a century of constant deterioration infavour of road. This has reached such a pitch that today rail freight services are facing marginalisation, with just 8% of market share, and with international goods trains struggling along at an average speed of 18km/h. Three possible options have emerged.G The first approach would consist of focusing on road transport solely through pricing. This option would not be accompanied by complementary measures in the other modes of transport. In the short term it might curb the growth in road transport through the better loading ratio of goods vehicles and occupancy rates of passenger vehicles expected as a result of the increase in the price of transport. However, the lack of measures available to revitalise other modes of transport would make it impossible for more sustainable modes of transport to take up the baton.H The second approach also concentrates on road transport pricing but is accompanied by measures to increase the efficiency of the other modes (better quality of services, logistics, technology). However, this approach does not include investment in new infrastructure, nor does it guarantee better regional cohesion. It could help to achieve greater uncoupling than the first approach, but road transport would keep the lion’s share of the market and continue to concentrate on saturated arteries, despite being the most polluting of the modes. It is therefore not enough to guarantee the necessary shift of the balance.I The third approach, which is not new, comprises a series of measures ranging from pricing to revitalising alternative modes of transport and targeting investment in the trans-European network. This integrated approach would allow the market shares of the other modes to return to their 1998 levels and thus makea shift of balance. It is far more ambitious than it looks, bearing in mind the historical imbalance in favour of roads for the last fifty years, but would achieve a marked break in the link between road transport growth and economic growth, without placing restrictions on the mobility of people and goods.Questions 22-26Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2?In boxes 22-26 on your answer sheet, writeTRUE if the statement agrees with the informationFALSE if the statement contradicts the informationNOT GIVEN if there is no information on this22 The need for transport is growing, despite technological developments.23 To reduce production costs, some industries have been moved closer to their relevant consumers.24 Cars are prohibitively expensive in some EU candidate countries.25 The Gothenburg European Council was set up 30 years ago.26 By the end of this decade, CO2 emissions from transport are predicted to reach 739 billion tonnes.READING PASSAGE 3You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40, which are based on Reading Passage 3 below.The psychology of innovationWhy are so few companies truly innovative?Innovation is key to business survival,and companies put substantial resources into inspiring employees to develop new ideas. There are, nevertheless, people working in luxurious, state-of-the-art centres designed to stimulate innovation who find that their environment doesn’t make them feel at all creative. And there are those who don’t have a budget, or much space, but who innovate successfully.For Robert B. Cialdini, Professor of Psychology at Arizona State University, one reason that companies don’t succeed as often as they should is that innovation starts with recruitment. Research shows that the fit between an employee’s values and a company’s values makes a difference to what contribution they make and whether, two years after they join, they’re still at the company. Studies at Harvard Business School show that, although some individuals may be more creative than others, almost every individual can be creative in the right circumstances.One of the most famous photographs in the story of rock’n’roll emphasises Ciaidini’s views. The 1956 picture of singers Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis jamming at a piano in Sun Studios in Memphis tells a hi dden story. Sun’s ‘million-dollar quartet’ could have been a quintet. Missing from the picture is Roy Orbison, a greater natural singer than Lewis, Perkins or Cash. Sam Phillips, who owned Sun, wanted to revolutionise popular music with songs that fused black and white music, and country and blues. Presley, Cash, Perkins and Lewis instinctively understood Phillips’s ambition and believed in it. Orbison wasn’t inspired by the goal, and only ever achieved one hit with the Sun label.The value fit matters, says Cialdini, because innovation is, in part, a process of change, and under that pressure we, as a species,behave differently, ‘When things change, we are hard-wired to play it safe.’ Managers should therefore adopt an approach that appears counter?intuitive — they should explainwhat stands to be lost if the company fails to seize a particular opportunity. Studies show that we invariably take more gambles when threatened with a loss than when offered a reward.Managing innovation is a delicate art. It’s eas y for a company to be pulled in conflicting directions as the marketing, product development, and finance departments each get different feedback from different sets of people. And without a system which ensures collaborative exchanges within the company, it’s also easy for small ‘pockets of innovation’ to disappear. Innovation is a contact sport. You can’t brief people just by saying, ‘We’re going in this direction and I’m going to take you with me.’Cialdini believes that this ‘follow-the-leader syndrome is dangerous, not least because it encourages bosses to go it alone. ‘It’s been scientifically proven that three people will be better than one at solving problems, even if that one person is the smartest person in the field.’ To prove his point, Cialdini cites an interview with molecular biologist James Watson. Watson, together with Francis Crick, discovered the structure of DNA, the genetic information carrier of all living organisms. ‘When asked how they had cracked the code ahead of an array of highly accomplished rival investigators, he said something that stunned me. He said he and Crick had succeeded because they were aware that they weren’t the most intelligent of the scientists pursuing the answer. The smartest scientist was called Rosalind Franklin who, Watson said, “was so intelligent she rarely sought advice”.’Teamwork taps into one of the basic drivers of human behaviour. ‘The principle of social proof is so pervasive that we don’t even recognise it,’ says Cialdini. ‘If your project is beingresisted, for example, by a group of veteran employees, ask another old-timer to speak up for it.’ Cialdini is not alone in advocating this strategy. Research shows that peer power, used horizontally not vertically, is much more powerful than any boss’s speec h.Writing, visualising and prototyping can stimulate the flow of new ideas. Cialdini cites scores of research papers and historical events that prove that even something as simple as writing deepens every individual’s engagement in the project. It is, he says, the reason why all those competitions on breakfast cereal packets encouraged us to write in saying, in no more than 10 words: ‘I like Kellogg’s Com Flakes because… .’ The very act of writing makes us more likely to believe it.Authority doesn’t have to inhibit innovation but it often does. The wrong kind of leadership will lead to what Cialdini calls ‘captainitis, the regrettable tendency of team members to opt out of team responsibilities that are properly theirs’. He calls it captainitis because, he says, ‘crew members of multipilot aircraft exhibit a sometimes deadly passivity when the flight captain makes a clearly wrong-headed decision’. This behaviour is not, he says, unique to air travel, but can happen in any workplace where the leader is overbearing.At the other end of the scale is the 1980s Memphis design collective, a group of young designers for whom ‘the only rule was that there were no rules’. This environment encouraged a free interchange of ideas, which led to more creativity with form, function, colour and materials that revolutionised attitudes to furniture design.Many theorists believe the ideal boss should lead from behind, taking pride in collective accomplishment and givingcredit where it is due. Cialdini says: ‘Leaders should en courage everyone to contribute and simultaneously assure all concerned that every recommendation is important to making the right decision and will be given full attention.’ The frustrating thing about innovation is that there are many approaches, but no magic formula. However, a manager who wants to create a truly innovative culture can make their job a lot easier by recognising these psychological realities.Questions 27-30Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.Write the correct letter in boxes 27-30 on your answer sheet.27 The example of the ‘million-dollar quartet’ underlines the writer’s point aboutA recognising talent.B working as a team.C having a shared objective.D being an effective leader.28 James Watson suggests that he and Francis Crick won the race to discover the DNA code because theyA were conscious of their own limitations.B brought complementary skills to their partnership.C were determined to outperform their brighter rivals.D encouraged each other to realise their joint ambition.29 The writer mentions competitions on breakfast cereal packets as an example of how toA inspire creative thinking.B generate concise writing.C promote loyalty to a group.D strengthen commitment to an idea.30 In the last paragraph, the writer suggests that it isimportant for employees toA be aware of their company’s goals.B feel that their contributions are valued.C have respect for their co-workers’ achievements.D understand why certain management decisions are made.Questions 31-35Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-G, below.Write the correct letter, A-G, in boxes 31-35 on your answer sheet31 Employees whose values match those of their employers are more likely to32 At times of change, people tend to33 If people are aware of what they might lose, they will often34 People working under a dominant boss are liable to35 Employees working in organisations with few rules are more likely toA take chances.B share their ideas.C become competitive.D get promotion.E avoid risk.F ignore their duties.G remain in their jobs.Questions 36-40Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 3?In boxes 36-40 on your answer sheet, writeYES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writerNO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writerNOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinksabout this36 The physical surroundings in which a person works play a key role in determining their creativity.37 Most people have the potential to be creative.38 Teams work best when their members are of equally matched intelligence.39 It is easier for smaller companies to be innovative.40 A manager’s approval of an idea is more persuasive than that of a colleague.剑桥雅思阅读10原文参考译文(test1)Passage 1 参考译文:梯水井一千年前,对存活于印度最干旱的地区的生命来说,阶梯水丼是非常重要的。

WORD版-雅思系列-剑14阅读TEST 1, PASSAGE 1 中英文文本大师带你读

WORD版-雅思系列-剑14阅读TEST 1, PASSAGE 1 中英文文本大师带你读

剑14 TEST 1 READING PASSAGE 1篇章背景:这篇文章和C4T2R3 Play Is a Serious Business的主题相似,都是关于小孩“玩耍”对大脑和身体机能的发育,以及对学习和社会能力促进的重要作用。

文章难度属于初级,所配题型是note填空题和判断题这两种比较典型的顺序题型,并且呈现“前后分割”的情况,也就是说,前一个题型对应文章的前半部分,后一个题型对应文章的后半部分,非常有利于确定原文依据的位置。

重点词汇:1.Regulate: v. 管理,控制(control)2.Underpin:v. 巩固,支持,构成……的基础(s upport or form the basis for…)3.Curtail:v. 缩减,限制(reduce or limit)4.Scarce:adj. 缺乏的,不足的(not enough,insufficient)5.Extol:v. 赞美,颂扬(praise)6.Virtue:n. 优点(advantage)7.Impact:n. 影响(effect or influence)8.Undertake:v. 从事,承担(start to do sth.)9.Facilitate:v. 促进,帮助,使容易(promote,make an action or a process easier)10.Clue:n. 线索,提示(cue)11.Diagnosis:n. 诊断(the act of identifying the exact cause of an illness)12.Disorder:n. 不适,疾病(disease,medical problem)13.Previous:adj. 以前的(former)14.Trivial:adj. 不重要的,琐碎的(unimportant,not serious or valuable )问题解析:1.信号词:magical kingdom,help第1题是在讲儿童玩耍的作用之一:搭建“魔法王国”可以帮助建立……;可以确定出题位置在第一段,第一句和第二句在讲玩什么游戏,怎样想象。

剑桥雅思11雅思阅读Test1passage1原文+译文:作物生长的“摩天大厦”

剑桥雅思11雅思阅读Test1passage1原文+译文:作物生长的“摩天大厦”

雅思给大家带来了剑11雅思阅读Test1passage1原文+参考译文,更多真题解析,请点击:剑桥雅思11阅读解析READING PASSAGE 1Crop-growing skyscrapersBy the year 2050, nearly 80% of the Earth’s population will live in urban centres. Applying the most conservative estimates to current demographic trends, the human population will increase by about three billion people by then. An estimated 109 hectares of new land (about 20% larger than Brazil) will be needed to grow enough food to feed them, if traditional farming methods continue as they are practised today. At present, throughout the world, over 80% of the land that is suitable for raising crops is in use. Historically, some 15% of that has been laid waste by poor management practices. What can be done to ensure enough food for the world’s population to live on?The concept of indoor farming is not new, since hothouse production of tomatoes and other produce has been in vogue for some time. What is new is the urgent need to scale up this technology to accommodate another three billion people. Many believe an entirely new approach to indoor farming is required, employing cutting-edge technologies. One such proposal is for the ‘Vertical Farm’. The concept is of multi-storey buildings in which food crops are grown in environmentally controlled conditions. Situated in the heart of urban centres, they would drastically reduce the amount of transportation required to bring food to consumers. Vertical farms would need to be efficient, cheap to construct and safe to operate. If successfully implemented, proponents claim, vertical farms offer the promise of urban renewal, sustainable production of a safe and varied food supply (through year-round production of all crops), and the eventual repair of ecosystems that have been sacrificed for horizontal farming.It took humans 10,000 years to learn how to grow most of the crops we now take for granted. Along the way, we despoiled most of the land we worked, often turning verdant, natural ecozones into semi-arid deserts. Within that same time frame, we evolved into an urban species, in which 60% of the human population now lives vertically in cities. This means that, for the majority, we humans have shelter from the elements, yet we subject our food-bearing plants to the rigours of the great outdoors and can do no more than hope for a good weather year. However, more often than not now, due to a rapidly changing climate, that is not what happens. Massive floods, long droughts, hurricanes and severe monsoons take their toll each year, destroying millions of tons of valuable crops.The supporters of vertical farming claim many potential advantages for the system. For instance, crops would be produced all year round, as they would be kept in artificially controlled, optimum growing conditions. There would be no weather-related crop failures due to droughts, floods or pests. All the food could be grown organically, eliminating the need for herbicides, pesticides and fertilisers. The system would greatly reduce the incidence of many infectious diseases that are acquired at theagricultural interface. Although the system would consume energy, it would return energy to the grid via methane generation from composting non-edible parts of plants. It would also dramatically reduce fossil fuel use, by cutting out the need for tractors, ploughs and shipping.A major drawback of vertical farming, however, is that the plants would require artificial light. Without it, those plants nearest the windows would be exposed to more sunlight and grow more quickly, reducing the efficiency of the system. Single-storey greenhouses have the benefit of natural overhead light: even so, many still need artificial lighting. A multi-storey facility with no natural overhead light would require far more. Generating enough light could be prohibitively expensive, unless cheap, renewable energy is available, and this appears to be rather a future aspiration than a likelihood for the near future.One variation on vertical farming that has been developed is to grow plants in stacked trays that move on rails. Moving the trays allows the plants to get enough sunlight. This system is already in operation, and works well within a single-storey greenhouse with light reaching it from above: it is not certain, however, that it can be made to work without that overhead natural light.Vertical farming is an attempt to address the undoubted problems that we face in producing enough food for a growing population. At the moment, though, more needs to be done to reduce the detrimental impact it would have on the environment, particularly as regards the use of energy. While it is possible that much of our food will be grown in skyscrapers in future, most experts currently believe it is far more likely that we will simply use the space available on urban rooftops.作物生长的“摩天大厦”到2050年,近80%的地球人口将在城市中心生活。

雅思真题剑6Test1阅读Passage1真题及解析.docx

雅思真题剑6Test1阅读Passage1真题及解析.docx

【雅思真题】剑6Test1阅读Passage1真题及解析READING PASSAGE 1You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based onReading Passage 1 below.AUSTRALIA'S SPORTING SUCCESSA They play hard, they play often, and they play to win. Australian sportsteams win more than their fair share of titles, demolishing rivals with seemingease. How do they do it? A big part of the secret is an extensive and expensivenetwork of sporting academies underpinned by science and medicine. At theAustralian Institute of Sport (AIS), hundreds of youngsters and pros live andtrain under the eyes of coaches. Another body, the Australian Sports Commission (ASC), finances programmes of excellence in a total of 96 sports for thousandsof sportsmen and women. Both provide intensive coaching, training facilitiesand nutritional advice.B Inside the academies, science takes centre stage. The AIS employs morethan 100 sports scientists and doctors, and collaborates with scores of others in universities and research centres. AIS scientists work across a number of sports, applying skills learned in one - such as building muscle strength in golfers - toothers, such as swimming and squash. They are backed up by technicians whodesign instruments to collect data from athletes. They allfocus on one aim: winning. ‘We can't waste our time looking at etherealscientific questions that don't help the coach work with an athlete and improve performance,' says Peter Fricker, chief of science at AIS.C A lot of their work comes down to measurement - everything from the exactangle of a swimmer’s dive to the second-by-second power output of a cyclist. This data is used to wring improvements out of athletes. The focus is onindividuals, tweaking performances to squeeze an extra hundredth of a second’s here , an extra millimetre there. No gain is too slight to bother with. Itthe tiny, gradual improvements that add up to world-beating results. Todemonstrate how the system works, Bruce Mason at AIS shows off the prototype ofa 3D analysis tool for studying swimmers. A wire-frame model of a championswimmer slices through the water, her arms moving in slow motion. Looking side-on, Mason measures the distance between strokes. From above, he analyses howher spine swivels. When fully developed, this system will enable him to build a biomechanical profile for coaches to use to help budding swimmers. Mason's contribution to sport also includes the development of the SWAN (SWimmingANalysis)system now used in Australian national competitions. It collectsimages from digital cameras running at 50 frames a second and breaks down eachpart of a swimmer's performance into factors that can be analysed individually-stroke length, stroke frequency, average duration of each stroke, velocity,start, lap and finish times, and so on. At the end of each race, SWAN spits outdata on each swimmerD ‘Take a look,' says Mason, pulling out a sheet of data. He points out the dataon the swimmers in second and third place, which shows that the one whofinished third actually swam faster. So why did he finish 35 hundredths of asecond down? ‘His turn times were 44 hundredths of a second behind the otherguy,' says Mason. ‘If he can improve on his turns, he can do much better ’ This is the kind of accuracy that AIS scientists' research is bringing to arange of sports.With the Cooperative Research Centre for Micro Technology in Melbourne,they are developing unobtrusive sensors that will be embedded in an athlete'sclothes or running shoes to monitor heart rate, sweating, heat production or anyother factor that might have an impact on an athlete's ability to run.There's more to it than simply measuring performance. Fricker gives theexample of athletes who may be down with coughs and colds 11 or 12 times ayear. After years of experimentation, AlS and the University of Newcastle in NewSouth Wales developed a test that measures how much of the immune-systemprotein immunoglobulin A is present in athletes' saliva. If IgA levels suddenly fallbelow a certain level, training is eased or dropped altogether. Soon, IgAlevels start rising again, and the danger passes. Since the tests wereintroduced, AIS athletes in all sports have been remarkably successful atstaying healthy.E Using data is a complex business. Well before a championship, sportsscientists and coaches start to prepare the athlete by developing a‘competition model', based on what they expect will be the winning times.‘You design the model to make that time,' says Mason.‘A start of this much, each free-swimming period has to be this fast, with a certain stroke frequencyand stroke length, with turns done in these times.' All the training is thengeared towards making the athlete hit those targets, both overall and foreach segment of the race. Techniques like these have transformed Australiainto arguably the world's most successful sporting nation.F Of course, there's nothing to stop other countries copying-and many have tried. Some years ago, the AIS unveiled coolant-lined jackets for endurance athletes.At the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996, these sliced as much as two per cent off cyclists' and rowers' times. Now everyone uses them. The same has happenedto the ‘altitude tent', developed by AIS to replicate the effect of altitude training atsea level. But Australia's success story is about morethan easily copied technological fixes, and up to now no nation has replicatedits all-encompassing system.Questions 1-7Reading Passage 1 has six paragraphs, A-F.Which paragraph contains the following information?Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet.NB You may use any letter more than once.1 a reference to the exchange of expertise between different sports2 an explanation of how visual imaging is employed in investigations3 a reason for narrowing the scope of research activity4 how some AIS ideas have been reproduced5 how obstacles to optimum achievement can be investigated6 an overview of the funded support of athletes7 how performance requirements are calculated before an eventQuestions 8-11Classify the following techniques according to whether the writer states theyA are currently exclusively used by AustraliansB will be used in the future by AustraliansC are currently used by both Australians and their rivalsWrite the correct letter, A, B or C, in boxes 8-11 on your answer sheet.8cameras9sensors10protein tests11altitude tentsQuestions 12 and 13Answer the questions below.Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.Write your answers in boxes 12 and 13 on your answer sheet.12 What is produced to help an athlete plan their performance in an event?13 By how much did some cyclists' performance improve at the 1996 Olympic Games? READING PASSAGE 真1解析:篇章构体裁明文主澳大利的体育成就构 A 段:澳大利体育成斐然 B 段:科技是第一生力C段:精确量和数据分析 D 段:精确量和数据分析的例E 段:数据的用F 段:不可复制的成功必背A 段fair adj.合理的 pro n. 运demolish v.;破坏,坏under the eye of在⋯⋯的注意下rival n.争者,手 body n.体,机构seeming adj.表面上的 ( 通常事并非如此 ) finance v.⋯⋯提供ease n. 不力,松 excellence n.秀,卓越extensive adj.广泛的,涉及面广的intensive adj.化的underpin v.以⋯⋯固基nutritional adj.养的B 段centre stage中心地位 squash n.壁球collaborate v.合作 instrument n.器,器械golfer n.打高夫球的人 ethereal adj.渺的,引申不切的C段come down to(sth.)可 wire-frame adj.框的second-by-second每秒的 slice v.划开;切开output n.出 slow motion慢作wring ⋯out of 原扭,榨取,此引申从⋯⋯中( 努力 ) 得 side-on从面stroke n.划,划水tweak v.扭,用力拉 spine n.脊柱world-beating adj.世瞩目的 swivel v.旋prototype n.原型 biomechanical adj.生物力 ( 学 ) 的profile n.原廓、外形,此意模型velocity n.速度,速率lap n. 一圈budding adj.展中的 spit out原是吐出,此引申示出、分析出frame n.,画面D段turn time身 immunoglobulin n.免疫球蛋白unobtrusive adj.不眼的,不醒目的present adj.存在的sensor n.感器 saliva n.唾液embed v. 使插入;使嵌入 ease v.减,减弱sweat v.出汗,汗remarkably adv.著地,引人注目地;非常地experimentation n.,immune-system免疫系的E段complex adj.复的transform v.,,改championship n.冠arguably adv.可地(可地),有理由地gear v.整,(使)适合segment n. 部分F 段unveil v.展示(新品);揭开altitude tent高原篷coolant-lined流型散replicate v.复制endurance n.耐力;忍耐力encompass v.包含或包括某事物slice v.减少,降低句解析1. A lot of their work comes down to measurement—everything from the exact angle of a swimmer's dive to the second-by-second power output of a cyclist.参考文:多工作都涉及具体量,量内容包括从游泳运潜水的精确角度到自行运每秒功率出的所有数据。

雅思剑12阅读真题Test5Passage1真题精讲

雅思剑12阅读真题Test5Passage1真题精讲

雅思剑12阅读真题Test5Passage1真题精讲雅思剑12阅读真题Test5Passage1原文及答案!剑桥雅思真题练习是权威的复习资料,建议每一位考生都应该做相关练习,目前剑桥雅思已经更新到12了,下面小编为大家带来雅思剑12阅读真题Test5Passage1原文及答案,供大家复习。

雅思剑12阅读真题Test5Passage1原文及题目READING PASSAGE 1You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.CorkCork - the thick bark of the cork oak tree (Quercus suber) - is a remarkable material. It is tough, elastic, buoyant, and fire-resistant, and suitable for a wide range of purposes. It has also been used for millennia: the ancient Egyptians sealed their sarcophagi (stone coffins) with cork, while the ancient Greeks and Romans used it for anything from beehives to sandals.And the cork oak itself is an extraordinary tree. Its bark grows up to 20 cm in thickness, insulating the tree like a coat wrapped around the trunk and branches and keeping the inside at a constant 20℃all year round. Developed most probably as a defence against forest fires, the bark of the cork oak has a particular cellular structure - with about 40 million cells per cubic centimetre - that technology has never succeeded in replicating. The ceils are filled with air, which is why cork is so buoyant.It also has an elasticity that means you can squash it and watch it spring back to its original size and shape when you release the pressure.Cork oaks grow in a number of Mediterranean countries, including Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece and Morocco. Theyflourish in warm, sunny climates where there is a minimum of 400 millimetres of rain per year, and not more than 800 millimetres. Like grape vines, the trees thrive in poor soil, putting down deep roots in search of moisture and nutrients. Southern Portugal’s Alentejo region meets all of these requirements, which explains why, by the early 20th century, this region had become the world’s largest producer of cork, and why today it accounts for roughly half of all cork production around the world.Most cork forests are family-owned. Many of these family businesses, and indeed many of the trees themselves, are around 200 years old. Cork production is, above all, an exercise in patience. From the planting of a cork sapling to the first harvest takes 25 years, and a gap of approximately a decade must separate harvests from an individual tree. And for top-quality cork, it’s necessary to wait a further 15 or 20 years. You even have to wait for the right kind of summer’s day to harvest cork. If the bark is stripped on a day when it’s too cold - or when the air is damp - the tree will be damaged.Cork harvesting is a very specialised profession. No mechanical means of stripping cork bark has been invented, so the job is done by teams of highly skilled workers. First, they make vertical cuts down the bark using small sharp axes, then lever it away in pieces as large as they can manage. The most skilful cork- strippers prise away a semi-circular husk that runs the length of the trunk from just above ground level to the first branches. It is then dried on the ground for about four months, before being taken to factories, where it is boiled to kill any insects that might remain in the cork. Over 60% of cork then goes on to be made into traditional bottle stoppers, with most of the remainder being used in the construction trade. Corkboard andcork tiles are ideal for thermal and acoustic insulation, while granules of cork are used in the manufacture of concrete.Recent years have seen the end of the virtual monopoly of cork as the material for bottle stoppers, due to concerns about the effect it may have on the contents of the bottle. This is caused by a chemical compound called 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (TCA), which forms through the interaction of plant phenols, chlorine and mould. The tiniest concentrations - as little as three or four parts to a trillion - can spoil the taste of the product contained in the bottle. The result has been a gradual yet steady move first towards plastic stoppers and, more recently, to aluminium screw caps. These substitutes are cheaper to manufacture and, in the case of screw caps, more convenient for the user.The classic cork stopper does have several advantages, however. Firstly, its traditional image is more in keeping with that of the type of high quality goods with which it has long been associated. Secondly - and very importantly - cork is a sustainable product that can be recycled without difficulty. Moreover, cork forests are a resource which support local biodiversity, and prevent desertification in the regions where they are planted. So, given the current concerns about environmental issues, the future of this ancient material once again looks promising.following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?In boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet, writeTRUE if the statement agrees with the informationFALSE if the statement contradicts the informationNOT GIVEN if there is no information on this1 The cork oak has the thickest bark of any living tree.2 Scientists have developed a synthetic cork with the same cellular structure as natural cork.3 Individual cork oak trees must be left for 25 years between the first and second harvest.4 Cork bark should be stripped in dry atmospheric conditions.5 The only way to remove the bark from cork oak trees is by hand.Questions 6-13Complete the notes below.Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.Write your answers in boxes 6-13 on your answer sheet.Comparison of aluminium screw caps and cork bottle stoppersAdvantages of aluminium screw capsdo not affect the 6 ______ of the bottle contentsare 7 ______ to produceare 8 ______ to useAdvantages of cork bottle stopperssuit the 9 ______ of quality productsmade from a 10 ______ materialeasily 11 ______cork forests aid 12 ______cork forests stop 13 ______ happening雅思剑12阅读Test5 Passage1答案解析Test 5 Passage 1Question 1答案:NOT GIVEN关键词:cork oak; thickest bark定位原文:第二段第二句“Its bark grows up to 20cm in thickness, insulating the tree….”解题思路:原文只提到软木橡树的树皮能长到20厘米的厚度,并未提到它的树皮是否是所有树中最厚的。

雅思阅读精讲READINGPASSAGE1

雅思阅读精讲READINGPASSAGE1

雅思阅读精讲READINGPASSAGE1Why pagodas don’t fall downAIn a land swept by typhoons and shaken by earthquakes, how have Japan's tallest and seemingly flimsiest 不结实的; 易损坏的(原型flimsy)old buildings —500 or so wooden pagodas 宝塔—remained standing for centuries? Records show that only two have collapsed during the past 1400 years. (第1题)Those that have disappeared were destroyed by fire as a result of lightning or civil war. The disastrous损失惨重的Hanshin earthquake in 1995 killed 6,400 people, toppled elevated highways, flattened使…成为平地office blocks and devastated 毁灭; 摧毁the port area of Kobe. Yet it left the magnificent five-storey pagoda at the Toji temple in nearby Kyoto unscathed未受损伤; 未遭伤害(第2题)though it levelled夷平a number of buildings in the neighborhood.Topple: ~ (over) be unsteady and fall 不稳而倒下:The pile of books toppled over onto the floor. 那一摞书倒在地板上了.B Japanese scholars have been mystified for ages about why these tall, slender buildings are so stable. It was only thirty years ago that the building industry felt confident enough to erect office blocks of steel and reinforced concrete that had more than a dozen floors.(第3题)With its special shock absorbers 减震器to dampen抑制the effect of sudden sideways movements from an earthquake, the thirty-six-storey Kasumigaseki building in central Tokyo —Japan's first skyscraper摩天楼— was considered a masterpiece of modern engineering when it was built in 1968.【重要词汇】mystify/ ˈmɪstɪfaɪ; ˋmɪstəˏfaɪ/ v(pt, pp -fied) [Tn] make (sb) confused through lack of understanding; puzzle; bewilder 使(某人)困惑不解; 使迷惑: I'm mystified; I just can't see how he did it. 我大惑不解, 就是不明白她是怎麽做到的. * her mystifying disappearance她神秘的失踪.dampen (down )to make something such as a feeling or activity less strongThe light rain dampened the crowd's enthusiasm.Raising interest rates might dampen the economy.to make a sound or movement less loud or strongThe spring dampens the shock of the impact.C Yet in 826, with only pegs短桩and wedges楔子to keep his wooden structure upright, the master builder Kobodaishi had no hesitation in sending his majestic 雄伟的Toji pagoda soaring fifty-five metres into the sky — nearly half ashigh as the Kasumigaseki skyscraper built some eleven centuries later. Clearly, Japanese carpenters of the day knew a few tricks about allowing a building to sway and settle itself rather than fight nature's forces.(第4题)But what sort of tricks?D The multi-storey pagoda came to Japan from China in the sixth century. As in China, they were first introduced with Buddhism and were attached to important temples. (第9题) The Chinese built their pagodas in brick or stone, with inner staircases, and used them in later centuries mainly as watchtowers(第5题和第7题)瞭望塔. When the pagoda reached Japan, however, its architecture was freely adapted to local conditions —they were built less high, typically five rather than nine storeys, made mainly of wood and the staircase was dispensed (第5题)免除,省掉with because the Japanese pagoda did not have any practical use but became more of an art object. Because of the typhoons that batter接连猛击Japan in the summer, Japanese builders learned to extend the eaves屋檐of buildings further beyond the walls.(第6题)This prevents rainwater gushing 流出, 泻出, 涌出down the walls. Pagodas in China and Korea have nothing like the overhang that is found on pagodas in Japan.【重要词组】dispense with sb/sth manage without sb/sth; get rid of sb/sth 用不着某人[某事物]; 摆脱某人[某事物]: He is not yet well enough to dispense with the pills. 她尚未痊愈, 仍需吃药.adapte (oneself) (to sth) become adjusted to new conditions, etc 适应(新环境等): Our eyes slowly adapted to the dark. 我们的眼睛慢慢地适应了黑暗的环境.【重要词汇】overhang / ˈəuvəhæŋ; ˋovɚˏhæŋ/ n part that overhangs 悬垂的部分: a bird's nest under the overhang of the roof房檐下的鸟巢.E The roof of a Japanese temple building can be made to overhang the sides of the structure by fifty per cent or more of the building's overall width.(第8题)For the same reason, the builders of Japanese pagodas seem to have further increased their weight by choosing to cover these extended eaves not with the porcelain瓷tiles 瓦of many Chinese pagodas but with much heavier earthenware陶器tiles.【难句解析】The roof of a Japanese temple building can be made to overhang the sides of the structure by fifty per cent or more of the building's overall width.句子结构the roof… can be made to….by…日本寺庙的屋顶能够被建造成各面都延伸出庙宇本身,延伸的范围在该寺庙整体宽度的50%或者更多。

剑桥雅思阅读10原文翻译答案精讲(test3)

剑桥雅思阅读10原文翻译答案精讲(test3)

剑桥雅思阅读10原文翻译答案精讲(test3)剑桥雅思阅读部分的题目可以进行一些分类总结,因为考试的常见内容一般都会在下次考试中出现的。

下面就是今天小编给大家带来的剑桥雅思阅读10(test3)的翻译及答案精讲内容,希望能够帮助同学们备考雅思考试。

剑桥雅思阅读10原文(test3)READING PASSAGE 1You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 1 on the following pages.Questions 1-4Reading Passage 1 has five paragraphs, A-E.Choose the correct heading for paragraphs B-E from the list of headings below.Write the correct number, i-vii, in boxes 1-4 on your answer sheetList of Headingsi Economic and social significance of tourismii The development of mass tourismiii Travel for the wealthyiv Earning foreign exchange through tourismv Difficulty in recognising the economic effects of tourismvi The contribution of air travel to tourismvii The world impact of tourismviii The history of travelExample AnswerParagraph A viii1 Paragraph B2 Paragraph C3 Paragraph D4 Paragraph EThe Context, Meaning and Scope of TourismA Travel has existed since the beginning of time, when primitive man set out, often traversing great distances in search of game, which provided the food and clothing necessary for his survival. Throughout the course of history, people have travelled for purposes of trade, religious conviction, economic gain, war, migration and other equally compelling motivations. In the Roman era, wealthy aristocrats and high government officials also travelled for pleasure. Seaside resorts located at Pompeii and Herculaneum afforded citizens the opportunity to escape to their vacation villas in order to avoid the summer heat of Rome. Travel, except during the Dark Ages, has continued to grow and, throughout recorded history, has played a vital role in the development of civilisations and their economies.B Tourism in the mass form as we know it today is a distinctly twentieth-century phenomenon. Historians suggest that the advent of mass tourism began in England during the industrial revolution with the rise of the middle class and the availability of relatively inexpensive transportation. The creation of the commercial airline industry following the Second World War and the subsequent development of the jet aircraft in the 1950s signalled the rapid growth and expansion of international travel. This growth led to the development of a major new industry: tourism. In turn, international tourism became the concern of a number of world governments since it not only provided new employment opportunities but also produced a means of earning foreign exchange.C Tourism today has grown significantly in both economic and social importance. In most industrialised countries over thepast few years the fastest growth has been seen in the area of services. One of the largest segments of the service industry, although largely unrecognised as an entity in some of these countries, is travel and tourism. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (1992), ‘Travel and tourism is the largest industry in the world on virtually any economic measure including value-added capital investment, employment and tax contributions’. In 1992, the industry’s gross output was estimated to be $3.5 trillion, over 12 per cent of all consumer spending. The travel and tourism industry is the world’s largest employer with almost 130 million jobs, or almost 7 per cent of all employees. This industry is the world’s leading industrial contributor, producing over 6 per cent of the world’s national product and accounting for capital investment in excess of $422 billion in direct, indirect and personal taxes each year. Thus, tourism has a profound impact both on the world economy and, because of the educative effect of travel and the effects on employment, on society itself.D However, the major problems of the travel and tourism industry that have hidden, or obscured, its economic impact are the diversity and fragmentation of the industry itself. The travel industry includes: hotels, motels and other types of accommodation; restaurants and other food services; transportation services and facilities; amusements, attractions and other leisure facilities; gift shops and a large number of other enterprises. Since many of these businesses also serve local residents, the impact of spending by visitors can easily be overlooked or underestimated. In addition, Meis (1992) points out that the tourism industry involves concepts that have remained amorphous to both analysts and decision makers.Moreover, in all nations this problem has made it difficult for the industry to develop any type of reliable or credible tourism information base in order to estimate the contribution it makes to regional, national and global economies. However, the nature of this very diversity makes travel and tourism ideal vehicles for economic development in a wide variety of countries, regions or communities.E Once the exclusive province of the wealthy, travel and tourism have become an institutionalised way of life for most of the population. In fact, McIntosh and Goeldner (1990) suggest that tourism has become the largest commodity in international trade for many nations and, for a significant number of other countries, it ranks second or third. For example, tourism is the major source of income in Bermuda, Greece, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and most Caribbean countries. In addition, Hawkins and Ritchie, quoting from data published by the American Express Company, suggest that the travel and tourism industry is the number one ranked employer in the Bahamas, Brazil, Canada, France, (the former) West Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States. However, because of problems of definition, which directly affect statistical measurement, it is not possible with any degree of certainty to provide precise, valid or reliable data about the extent of world-wide tourism participation or its economic impact. In many cases, similar difficulties arise when attempts are made to measure domestic tourism.Questions 5-10Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?In boxes 5-10 on your answer sheet, writeTRUE if the statement agrees with the informationFALSE if the statement contradicts the informationNOT GIVEN if there is no information on this5 The largest employment figures in the world are found in the travel and tourism industry.6 Tourism contributes over six per cent of the Australian gross national product.7 Tourism has a social impact because it promotes recreation.8 Two main features of the travel and tourism industry make its economic significance difficult to ascertain.9 Visitor spending is always greater than the spending of residents in tourist areas.10 It is easy to show statistically how tourism affects individual economies.Questions 11-13Complete the sentences below.Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.Write your answers in boxes 11-13 on your answer sheet.11 In Greece, tourism is the most important .12 The travel and tourism industry in Jamaica is the major .13 The problems associated with measuring international tourism are often reflected in the measurement of .READING PASSAGE 2You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26, which are based on Reading Passage 2 below.Autumn leavesCanadian writer Jay Ingram investigates the mystery of why leaves turn red in the fallA One of the most captivating natural events of the year inmany areas throughout North America is the turning of the leaves in the fall. The colours are magnificent, but the question of exactly why some trees turn yellow or orange, and others red or purple, is something which has long puzzled scientists.B Summer leaves are gr e e n b e c a u s e t h e y a r e f u l l o f c h l o r o p h y l l , t h e m o l e c u l e t h a t c a p t u r e s s u n l i g h t a n d c o n v e r t s t h a t e n e r g y i n t o n e w b u i l d i n g m a t e r i a l s f o r t h e t r e e . A s f a l l a p p r o a c h e s i n t h e n o r t h e r n h e m i s p h e r e , t h e a m o u n t o f s o l a r e n e r g y a v a i l a b l e d e c l i n e s c o n s i d e r a b l y .F o r m a n y t r e e s e v e r g r e e n c o n i f e r s b e i n g a n e x c e p t i o n t h e b e s t s t r a t e g y i s t o a b a n d o n p h o t o s y n t h e s i s _ u n t i l t h e s p r i n g . S o r a t h e r t h a n m a i n t a i n i n g t h e n o w r e d u n d a n t l e a v e s t h r o u g h o u t t h e w i n t e r , t h e t r e e s a v e s i t s p r e c i o u s r e s o u r c e s a n d d i s c a r d s t h e m . B u t b e f o r e l e t t i n g i t s l e a v e s g o , t h e t r e e d i s m a n t l e s t h e i r c h l o r o p h y l l m o l e c u l e s a n d s h i p s t h e i r v a l u a b l e n i t r o g e n b a c k i n t o t h e t w i g s . A s c h l o r o p h y l l i s d e p l e t e d , o t h e r c o l o u r s t h a t h a v e b e e n d o m i n a t e d b y i t t h r o u g h o u t t h e s u m m e r b e g i n t o b e r e v e a l e d . T h i s u n m a s k i n g e x p l a i n s t h e a u t u m n c o l o u r s o f y e l l o w a n d o r a n g e , b u t n o t t h e b r i l l i a n t r e d s a n d p u r p l e s o f t r e e s s u c h a s t h e m a p l e o r s u m a c . / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 2 5 " > 0 0 C T h e s o u r c e o f t h e r e d i s w i d e l y k n o w n : i t i s c r e a t e d b y a n t h o c y a n i n s , w a t e r - s o l u b l e p l a n t p i g m e n t s r e f l e c t i n g t h e r e d t o b l u e r a n g e o f t h e v i s i b l e s p e c t r u m . T h e y b e l o n g t o a c l a s s o f s u g a r - b a s e d c h e m i c a l c o m p o u n d s a l s o k n o w n a s f l a v o n o id s . W h a t s p u z z l i n g i s t h a t a n t h o c y a n i n s a re a c t u a l l y n e w l y m i n t e d , m a d e i n t h e l e a v e s a t t h e s a m e t i m e a s t h e t r e e i s p r e p a r i n g t o d r o p t h e m . B u t i t i s h a r d t o m a k e s e n s e of t h e m a n u f a c t u r e o f a n t h o c y a n i n s w h y s h o u l d a t r e e b o t h e r m a k i ng n e w ch e mi c a l s i n i t s l e a v e s w h e n i t s a l r e a d y s c r a m b l i n g t o w i t h d r a w a n d p r e s e r v e th e o n e s a l r e a d y t h e r e ? / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 2 6 " > 00 D S o m e t h e o r i e s a b o u t a n t h o c y a n i n s h a v e a rg u e d t h a t t h e y m i g h t a c t a s a c h e m i c a l d e f e n c e a g a i n s t a t t a c k s b y i n s e c t s o r f u n g i , o r t h a t t h e y m i g h t a t t r a c t f r u i t - e a t i n g b i r d s o r i n c r e a s e a l e a f s t o l e r a n c e t o f r e e z i n g . H o w e v e r t h e r e a r e p r o b l e m s w i t h e a c h o f t h e s e t h e o r i e s , i n c l u d i n g t h e f a c t t h a t l e a v e s a r e r e d f o r s u c h a r e l a t i v e l y s h o r t p e r i o d t h a t t h e e x p e n s e o f e n e r g y n e e d e d t o m a n u f a c t u r e t h e a n t h o c y a n i n s w o u l d o u t w e i g h a n y a n t i - f u n g a l o r a n t i - h e r b i v o r e a c t i v i t y a c h i e v e d . / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 2 7 " >0 0 _ p h o t o s y n t h e s i s : t h e p r o d u c t i o n o f n e w ma t e r i a l f r o m s u n l i g h t , w a t e r a n d c a rb o n d i o x i d e / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 2 8 " > 0 0 E I t h a s a l s o b e e n p r o p o s e d t h a t t r e e s m a y p r o d uc e v i v id re d c o l o u r s t o c o n v i n c e h e r b i v o r o u s i n s e c t s t h a t t h e y a r e h e a l t h y a n d r o b u s t a n d w o u l d b e e a s i l y a b l e t o m o u n t c h e m i c a l d ef e n c e s ag a i n s t i n f e s t a t i o n . I f i n s e c t s p a i d a t t e n t i o n t o s u ch a d v e r ti s e m e n t s , t h e y m i g h t b e p r o m p t e d t o l a y t h e i r e g g s o n a d u l l e r , a n d p r e s u m a b l y l e s s r e s i s t a n t h o s t . T h e f l a w i n t h i s t h e o r y l i e s i n t h e l a c k of p r o o f t o s u p p o r t i t . N o o n e h a s a s y e t a s c e r t a i n e d w h e t h e r m o r e r o b u s t t r e e s s p o r t t h e b r igh t e s t l e a v e s , o r w h e t h e ri n s e c t s m a k e c h o i c e s a c c o r d i n g t o c o l o u r i n t e n s i t y . / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 2 9 " > 0 0 F P e r h a p s t h e m o s t p l a u s i b l e s u g g e s t i o n a s t o w h y l e a v e s w o u l d g o t o t h e t r o u b l e o f m a k i n g a n t h o c y a n i n s w h e n t h e y r e b u s y p a c k i n g u p f o r t h e w i n t e r i s t h e t h e o r y k n o w n a s t h e l i g h t s c r e e n h y p o t h e s i s . I t s o u n d s p a r a d o x i c a l , b e c a u s e t h e i d e a b e h i n d t h i s h y p o t h e s i s i s t h a t t h e r e d p i g m e n t i s m a d e i n a u t u m n l e a v e s t o p r o t e c t c h l o r o p h y l l , t h e l i g h t - a b s o r b i n g c h e m i c a l , f r o m t o o m u c h l i g h t . W h y d o e s c h l o r o p h y l l n e e d p r o t e c t i o n w h e n i t i s t h e n a t u r a l w o r l d s s u p r e m e l i g h t a b s o r b e r ? W h y p r o t e c t c h l o r o p h y l l a t a t i m e w h e n t h e t r e e i s b r e a k i n g i t d o w n t o s a l v a g e a s m u c h o f i t a s p o s s i b l e ? / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 3 0 " > 0 0 G C h l o r o p h y l l , a l t h o u g h e x q u i s i t e l y e v o l v e d t o c a p t u r e t h e e n e r g y o f s u n l i g h t , c a n s o m e t i m e s b e o v e r w h e l m e d b y i t , e s p e c i a l l y i n s i t u a t i o n s o f d r o u g h t , l o w t e m p e r a t u r e s , o r n u t r i e n t d e f i c i e n c y . M o r e o v e r , t h e p r o b l e m o f o v e r s e n s i t i v i t y t o l i g h t i s e v e n m o r e a c u t e i n t h e f a l l , w h e n t h e l e a f i s b u s y p r e p a r i n g f o r w i n t e r b y d i s m a n t l i n g i t s i n t e r n a l m a c h i n e r y . T h e e n e r g y a b s o r b e d b y t h e c h l o r o p h y l l m o l e c u l e s o f t h e u n s t a b l e a u t u m n l e a f i s n o t i m m e d i a t e l y c h a n n e l l e d i n t o u s e f u l p r o d u c t s a n d p r o c e s s e s , a s i t w o u l d b e i n a n i n t a c t s u m m e r l e a f . T h e w e a k e n e d f a l l l e a f t he n b e c o m e s v u l n e r a b l e t o t h e h i g h l y d e s t r u c t i v e ef f e c t s o f t h e o x yg e n c r e a t e d b y th e e x ci t e d c h l o r o p h y l l m o l e c u l e s . / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 3 1 " > 0 0 H E v e n i f y o u h a d n e v e r s u s p e c t e d t h a t t h i s i s w h a t w a s g o i n g o n w h e n l e a v e s t u r n r e d , t h e r e a r e c l u e s o u t t h e r e . O n e i s s t r a i g h t f o r w a r d : o n m a n y t r e e s , t h e l e a v e s t h a t a r e t h e r e d d e s t a r e t h o s e o n t h e s i d e o f t h e t r e e w h i c h g e t s m o s t s u n . N o t o n l y t h a t , b u t t h e r e d i s b r i g h t e r o n t h e u p p e r s i d e o f t h e l e a f . I t h a s a l s o b e e n r e c o g n i s e d f o r d e c a d e s t h a t t h e b e s t c o n d i t i o n s f o r i n t e n s e r e d c o l o u r s a r e d r y , s u n n y d a y s a n d c o o l n i g h t s , c o n d i t i o n s t h a t n i c e l y m a t c h t h o s e t h a t m a k e l e a v e s s u s c e p t i b l e t o e x c e s s l i g h t . A n d f i n a l l y , t r e e s s u c h a s m a p l e s u s u a l l y g e t m u c h r e d d e r t h e m o r e n o r t h y o u t r a v e l i n t h e n o r t h e r n h e m i s p h e r e . I t s c o l d e r t h e r e , t h e y r e m o r e s t r e s s e d , t h e i r c h l o r o p h y l l i s m o r e s e n s i t i v e a n d i t n e e d s m o r e s u n b l o c k . / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 3 2 " > 0 0 I W h a t i s s t i l l n o t f u l l y u n d e r s t o o d , h o w e v e r , i s w h y s o m e t r e e s r e s o r t t o p r o d u c i n g r e d p i g m e n t s w h i l e o t h e r s d o n t b o t h e r , a n d s i m p l y r e v e a l t h e i r o r a n g e o r y e l l o w h u e s .D o t h e s e t r e e s h a v e o t h e r m e a n s a t t h e i r d i s p o s a l t o p r e v e n t o v e r e x p o s u r e t o l i g h t i n a u t u m n ? T h e i r s t o r y , t h o u g h n o t a s s p e c t a c u l a r t o t h e e y e , w i l l s u r e l y t u r n o u t t o b e a s s u b t l e a n d a sc o m p l e x . / p > p bd s f i d = " 1 3 3 " > 0 0 Q ue s t i o n s1 4 - 1 8 / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 3 4 " > 0 0 R e a d i n g P a s s ag e 2 h a s n i n e p a r a g r a p h s , A - I . / p > p b d s f i d = " 13 5 " > 0 0 W h i c h p a r a g r a p h c o n t a i n s t h e f o l l o wi n g i n f o r m a t i o n ? / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 3 6 " > 0 0 W r i t e t h e c o r r e c t l e t t e r , A - I , i n b o x e s 1 4 - 1 8 o n y o u r a n s w e r s h e e t . / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 3 7 " > 0 0 N B Y o u m a y u s e a n y l e t t e r m o r e t h a n o n c e . / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 3 8 " > 0 0 1 4 a d e s c r i p t i o n o f t h e s u b s t a n c e r e s p o n s i b l e f o r t h e r e d c o l o u r a t i o n o f l e a v e s / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 3 9 " > 0 0 1 5 t h e r e a s o n w h y t r e e s d r o p t h e i r l e a v e s i n a u t u m n / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 4 0 " > 0 0 1 6 s o m e e v i d e n c e t o c o n f i r m a t h e o r y a b o u t t h e p u r p o s e o f t h e r e d l e a v e s / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 4 1 " > 0 0 1 7 a n e x p l a n a t i o n o f t h e f u nc t i o n o f c h l o r o p h y l l / p > p bd s f i d = " 1 4 2 " > 0 0 18 a s u g g e s t i o n t h a t t h e r e d c o l o u r a t i o n i n l e a ve s c o u l d s e r v e a s a w a r n i n g s i g n a l / p > p b d sf i d = " 1 4 3 " > 0 0 Q u e s t i o n s 1 9 - 2 2 / p > p b d s f i d = " 14 4 " > 0 0 C o m p l e t e t h e n o t e s b e l o w . / p > p b d s fi d = " 1 4 5 " > 0 0 C h o o s e O N E W O R D O N L Y f r o m t h e p a s s a g e f o r e a c h a n s w e r . / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 4 6 " > 0 0 W r i t e y o u r a n s w e r s i n b o x e s 1 9 - 2 2 o n y o u r a n s w e r s h e e t . / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 4 7 " > 0 0 W h y b e l i e v e t h e l i g h t s c r e e n h y p o t h e s i s ? / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 4 8 " > 0 0 ? T h e m o s t v i v i d l y c o l o u r e d r e d l e a v e s a r e f o u n d o n t h e s i d e o f t h e t r e e f a c i n g t h e 1 9 . / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 4 9 " > 0 0 T h e 2 0 s u r f a c e s o f l e a v e s c o n t a i n t h e m o s t r e d p i g m e n t . / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 5 0 " > 0 0 R e d l e a v e s a r e m o s t a b u n d a n t w h e n d a y t i m e w e a t h e r c o n d i t i o n s a r e 2 1 a n d s u n n y . / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 5 1 " > 0 0 T h e i n t e n s i t y o f t h e r e d c o l o u r o f l e a v e s i n c r e a s e s a s y o ug o f u r t h e r 2 2 . / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 5 2 " > 0 0 Q u e s t i o n s 2 3 - 2 5 / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 5 3 " > 0 0 D o t h e f o l l o w i n g s t a t e m e n t s a g r e e w i t h t h e i n f o r m a t i o ng i v e n i n R e a d i n g P a s s a g e 2 ? / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 54 " > 0 0 I n b o x e s 2 3 - 25 o n y o u r a n s w e r s h e e t , w ri t e / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 5 5 " > 0 0 T R U E i f t h e s t a t e m e n t a g r e e s w i t h t h e i n f o r m a t i o n / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 5 6 " > 0 0 F A L S E i f t h e s t a t e m e n t c o n t r a d i c t s t h e i n f o r m a t i o n / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 5 7 " > 0 0 N O T G I V E N i f t h e r e i s n o i n f o r m a t i o n o n t h i s / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 5 8 " > 0 0 2 3 I t i s l i k e l y t h a t t h e r e d p i g m e n t s h e l p t o p r o t e c t t h e l e a f f r o m f r e e z i n g t e m p e r a t u r e s . / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 5 9 " > 0 0 2 4 T h e l i g h t s c r e e n h y p o t h e s i s w o u l d i n i t i a l l y s e e m t o c o n t r a d i c t w h a t i s k n o w n a b o u t c h l o r o p h y l l . / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 6 0 " > 0 0 2 5 L e a v e s w h i c h t u r n c o l o u r s o t h e r t h a n r e d a r e m o r e l i k e l y t o b e d a m a g e d b y s u n l i g h t . / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 6 1 " > 0 0 Q u e s t i o n 2 6 / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 6 2 " > 0 0 C h o o s e th e c o r r e c t l e t t e r A , B , C o r D . / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 63 " > 0 0 W r i t e t h e c o r r e c t l e t t e r i n b o x 2 6 o n y o u r a n s w e r s h e e t . / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 64 " > 0 0 F o r w h i c h o f t h e f o l l o w i n g q u e s t i o n s d o e s t h e w r i t e r o f f e r a n e x p l a n a t i o n ? / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 65 " > 00 A w h y c o n i f e r s r e m a i n g r e e n i n w i n t e r / p > p bd s f i d = " 1 6 6 " > 0 0 B h o w le a v e s t u r n o r a n g e a n d y e l l o w i n a u t u m n / p > p b d sf i d = " 1 6 7 " > 0 0 C h o w h e r b i v o r o u s i n s e c t s c h o o s e w h i c h t r e e s t o l a y t h e i r eg g s i n / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 6 8 " > 0 0 D wh y a n t h o c y a ni n s a r e r e s t r i c t e d t o c e r t a i n t r e e s /p > p b d s f i d = " 1 6 9 " > 0 0 R E A D I N G P A S S A G E 3 / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 7 0 " > 0 0 Y o u s h o u l d s p e n d a b o u t 2 0 m i n u t e s o n Q u e s t i o n s 2 7 - 4 0 , w h i c h a r e b a s e d o n R e a d i n g P a s s a g e 3 b e l o w . / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 7 1 " > 0 0 B e y o n d t h e b l u e h o r i z o n / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 7 2 " > 0 0 A n c i e n t v o y a g e r s w h o s e t t l e d t h e f a r - f l u n g i s l a n d s o f t h e P a c i f i c O c e a n / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 7 3 " > 0 0 A n i m p o r t a n t a r c h a e o l o g i c a l d i s c o v e r y o n t h e i s l a n d o f E f a t e i n t h e P a c i f i c a r c h i p e l a g o o f V a n u a t u h a s r e v e a l e d t r a c e s o f a n a n c i e n t s e a f a r i n g p e o p l e , t h e d i s t a n t a n c e s t o r s o f t o d a y s P o l y n e s i a n s . T h e s i t e c a m e t o l i g h t o n l y b y c h a n c e . A n a g r i c u l t u r a l w o r k e r , d i g g i n g i n t h e g r o u n d s o f a d e r e l i c t p l a n t a t i o n , s c r a p e d o p e n a g r a v e t h e f i r s t o f d o z e n s i n a b u r i a l g r o u n d s o m e 3 , 0 0 0 y e a r s o l d . I t i s t h e o l d e s t c e m e t e r y e v e r f o u n d i n t h e P a c i f i c i s l a n d s , a n d i t h a r b o r s t h e r e m a i n s o f a n a n c i e n t p e o p l e a r c h a e o l o g i s t s c a l l t h e L a p i t a . / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 7 4 " > 0 0 T h e y w e r e d a r i n g b l u e - w a t e r a d v e n t u r e r s w h o u s e d b a s i c c a n o e s t o r o v e a c r o s s t h e o c e a n . B u t t h e y w e r e n o t j u s t e x p l o r e r s . T h e y w e r e a l s o p i o n e e r s w h o c a r r i e d w i t h t h e m e v e r y t h i n g t h e y w o u l d n e e d t o b u i l d n e w l i v e s t h e i r l i v e s t o c k , t a r o s e e d l i n g s a n d s t o n e t o o l s . W i t h i n t h e s p a n o f s e v e r a l c e n t u r i e s , t h e L a p i t a s t r e t c h e d t h e b o u n d a r i e s o f t h e i r w o r l d f r o m t h e j u n g l e - c l a d v o l c a n o e s o f P a p u a N e w G u i n e a t o t h e l o n e l i e s t c o r a l o u t l i e r s o f T o n g a . / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 7 5 " > 0 0 T h e L a p i t a l e f tp r e c i o u s f e w c l u e s a b o u t t h e m s e l v e s , b u t E f a t e e x p a n d s t h e v o l u m e o f d a t a a v a i l a b l e t o r e s e a r c h e r s d r a m a t i c a l l y . T h e r e m a i n s o f 6 2 i n d i v i d u a l s h a v e b e e n u n c o v e r e d s o f a r , a n d a r c h a e o l o g i s t s w e r e a l s o t h r i l l e d t o f i n d s i x c o m p l e t e L a p i t a p o t s . O t h e r i t e m s i n c l u d e d a L a p i t a b u r i a l u r n w i t h m o d e l e d b i r d s a r r a n g e d o n t h e r i m a s t h o u g h p e e r i n g d o w n a t t h e h u m a n r e m a i n s s e a l e d i n s i d e . I t s a n i m p o r t a n t d i s c o v e r y , s a y s M a t t h e w S p r i g g s , p r o f e s s o r o f a r c h a e o l o g y a t t h e A u s t r a l i a n N a t i o n a l U n i v e r s i t y a n d h e a d o f t h e i n t e r n a t i o n a l t e a m d i g g i n g u p th e s i t e , f o r i t c o n c l u s i v e l y i d e n t i f i e s t h e r e m ai n s a s L a p i t a . / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 7 6 " > 0 0 D N A t e a s e d f r o m t h e s e h u m a n r e m a i n s m a y h e l p a n s w e r o n e o f t h e m o s t p u z z l i n g q u e s t i o n s i n P a c i f i c a n t h r o p o l o g y : d i d a l l P a c i f i c i s l a n d e r s s p r i n g f r o m o n e s o u r c e o r m a n y ? W a s t h e r e o n l y o n e o u t w a r d m i g r a t i o n f r o m a s i n g l e p o i n t i n A s i a , o r s e v e r a l f r o m d i f f e r e n t p o i n t s ? T h i s r e p r e s e n t s t h e b e s t o p p o r t u n i t y w e v e h a d y e t , s a y s S p r i g g s , t o f i n d o u t w h o t h e L a p i t a a c t u a l l y w e r e , w h e r e t h e y c a m e f r o m , a n d w h o t h e i r c l o s e s t d e s c e n d a n t s a r e t o d a y . / p > p b d s f i d = " 17 7 " > 0 0 T h e r e i s o n e s t u b b o r n q u e s t i o n f o r w hi c h a r c h a e o l o g y h a s y e t t o p r o v i d e a n y a n s w e r s : h o w d i d t h e L a p i t a a c c o m p l i s h t h e a n c i e n t e q u i v a l e n t o f a m o o n l a n d i n g , m a n y t i m e s o v e r ? N o - o n e h a s f o u n d o n e o f t h e i r c a n o e s o r a n y r i g g i n g , w h i c h c o u l d r e v e a l h o w t h e c a n o e s we r e s a i l e d . N o r d o t h e o r a l h i s t o r i e s a n d t r a d i t i o n s of l a t e r P o l y n e s i a n s o f f e r a n y i n s igh t s , f o r t h e y t u r ni n t o m y t h s l o n g b e f o r e t h e y r e a c h a s f a r b a c k i n t i m e a s t h e L a p i t a . / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 7 8 " > 0 0 A l l w e c a n s a y f o r c e r t a i n i s t h a t t h e L a p i t a h a d c a n o e s t h a t w e r e c a p a b l e o f o c e a n v o y a g e s , a n d t h e y h a d t h e a b i l i t y t o s a i l t h e m , s a y s G e o f f I r w i n , a p r o f e s s o r o f a r c h a e o l o g y a t t h e U n i v e r s i t y o f A u c k l a n d . T h o s e s a i l i n g s k i l l s , h e s a y s , w e r e d e v e l o p e d a n d p a s s e d d o w n o v e r t h o u s a n d s o f y e a r s b y e a r l i e r m a r i n e r s w h o w o r k e d t h e i r w a y t h r o u g h t h e a r c h i p e l a g o e s o f t h e w e s t e r n P a c i f i c , m a k i n g s h o r t c r o s s i n g s t o n e a r b y i s l a n d s . T h e r e a l a d v e n t u r e d i d n t b e g i n , h o w e v e r , u n t i l t h e i r L a p i t a d e s c e n d a n t s s a i l e d o u t o f s i g h t o f l a n d , w i t h e m p t y h o r i z o n s o n e v e r y s i d e . T h i s m u s t h a v e b e e n a s d i f f i c u l t f o r t h e m a s l a n d i n g o n t h e m o o n i s f o r u s t o d a y . C e r t a i n l y i t d i s t i n g u i s h e d t h e m f r o m t h e i r a n c e s t o r s , b u t w h a t g a v e t h e m t h e c o u r a g e t o l a u n c h o u t o n s u c h r i s k y v o y a g e s ? / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 7 9 " > 0 0 T h e L a p i t a s t h r u s t i n t o t h e P a c i f i c w a s e a s t w a r d , a g a i n s t t h e p r e v a i l i n g t r a d e w i n d s , I r w i n n o t e s . T h o s e n a g g i n g h e a d w i n d s , h e a r g u e s , m a y h a v e b e e n t h e k e y t o t h e i r s u c c e s s . T h e y c o u l d s a i l o u t f o r d a y s i n t o t h e u n k n o w n a n d a s s e s s t h e a r e a , s e c u r e i n t h e k n o w l e d g e t h a t i f t h e y d i d n t f i n d a n y t h i n g , t h e y c o u l d t u r n a b o u t a n d c a t c h a s w i f t r i d e b a c k o n t h e t r a d e w i n d s . T h i s i s w h a t w o u l d h a v e m a d e t。

雅思剑桥8test1passage1阅读

雅思剑桥8test1passage1阅读

雅思剑桥8 Test 1 Passage 1 阅读概述本文主要介绍了雅思剑桥8 Test 1 Reading Passage 1的内容。

阅读中,作者探讨了石油与经济之间的关系。

文章介绍了石油的历史背景、生产过程、利用领域以及对经济和环境的影响。

正文I. 石油的历史背景石油是一种可以从地下提炼出的燃料,经过精炼后可以用于动力、照明、加热等多个领域。

其使用历史可以追溯到数千年前。

最早被人类使用的石油是自然出露的油脂,人们将其当作药品或建筑材料使用。

II. 石油的生产过程石油的生产过程通常包括勘探、开采和提炼。

勘探是指找到潜在的石油资源,并确定其储量和质量。

开采是指采取合适的技术手段,将石油从地下取出。

提炼是指将原油中的杂质去除,并通过不同的精炼工艺分离出不同的产品。

III. 石油的利用领域石油广泛应用于交通运输、工业生产和能源供应等领域。

在交通中,石油被用作燃料,如汽车、飞机和船只等都需要石油来提供动力。

工业生产中,石油往往被用作原料,如化学工业中的塑料制品等。

此外,石油也是许多国家能源供应体系的重要组成部分。

IV. 石油对经济的影响石油对经济有着深远的影响。

首先,石油是许多国家的重要能源资源,其价格的波动会直接影响全球经济形势。

石油价格的上升会增加国家的石油进口成本,导致能源供应紧张和通货膨胀等问题。

其次,石油产业本身也是一个庞大的经济体系,涉及到勘探、开采、提炼和销售等多个环节,创造了大量的就业机会和财富。

最后,石油产业的发展还会带动相关产业的发展,如石油设备、化工产品和运输等。

V. 石油对环境的影响石油的使用对环境有着重要的影响。

首先,石油的燃烧会产生大量的二氧化碳等温室气体,加剧了全球气候变暖的问题。

其次,石油的开采和提炼过程会对地下水和土壤造成污染。

此外,油船事故和石油泄漏也是石油对环境的一种影响,这些事故会导致海洋生态系统的破坏和鱼类资源的减少。

结论综上所述,石油作为一种重要的能源资源,对经济和环境都有着深远的影响。

雅思阅读真题集1(附答案)

雅思阅读真题集1(附答案)

SECTION 1: QUESTIONS 1-13READING PASSAGE 1You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.William Gilbert and MagnetismAThe 16th and 17th centuries saw two great pioneers of modern science: Galileo and Gilbert. The impact of their findings is eminent. Gilbert was the first modern scientist, also the accredited father of the science of electricity and magnetism, an Englishman of learning and a physician at the court of Elizabeth. Prior to him, all that was known of electricity and magnetism was what the ancients knew, nothing more than that the lodestone possessed magnetic properties and that amber and jet, when rubbed, would attract bits of paper or other substances of small specific gravity. However, he is less well known than he deserves.BGilbert’s birth pre-dated Galileo. Born in an eminent local family in Colchester County in the UK, on May 24, 1544, he went to grammar school, and then studied medicine at St John’s College, Cambridge, graduating in 1573. Later he travelled in the continent and eventually settled down in London.CHe was a very successful and eminent doctor. All this culminated in his election to the president of the Royal Science Society. He was also appointed personal physician to the Queen (Elizabeth I), and later knighted by the Queen. He faithfully served her until her death. However, he didn’t outlive the Queen for long and died on November 30, 1603, only a few months after his appointment as personal physician to King James.DGilbert was first interested in chemistry but later changed his focus due to the large portion of mysticism of alchemy involved (such as the transmutation of metal). He gradually developed his interest in physics after the great minds of the ancient, particularly about the knowledge the ancient Greeks had about lodestones, strange minerals with the power to attract iron. In the meantime, Britain became a major seafaring nation in 1588 when the Spanish Armada was defeat­ed, opening the way to British settlement of America. British ships depended on the magnetic compass, yet no one understood why it worked. Did the Pole Star attract it, as Columbus once speculated; or was there a magnetic mountain at the pole, as described in Odyssey, which ships would never approach, because the sail­ors thought its pull would yank out all their iron nails and fittings? For nearly 20 years, William Gilbert conducted ingenious experiments to understand magnet­ism. His works include On the Magnet, Magnetic Bodies, and the Great Magnet of the Earth.EGilbert’s discovery was so important to modern physics. He investigated the nature of magnetism and electricity. He even coined the word “electric”. Though the early beliefs of magnetism were also largely entangled with superstitions such as that rubbing garlic on lodestone can neutralise its magnetism, one example being that sailors even believed the smell of garlic would even interfere with the action of compass, which is why helmsmen were forbidden to eat it near a ship’s compass. Gilbert also found that metals can be magnetised by rubbing mater­ials such as fur, plastic or the like on them. He named the ends of a magnet “north pole” and “south pole”. The magnetic poles can attract or repel, depending on polarity. In addition, however, ordinary iron is always attracted to a magnet. Though he started to study the relationship between magnetism and electricity, sadly he didn’t complete it. His research of static electricity using amber and jet only demonstrated that objects with electrical charges can work like magnets attracting small pieces of paper and stuff. It is a French guy named du Fay that discovered that there are actually two electrical charges, positive and negative.FHe also questioned the traditional astronomical beliefs. Though a Copernican, he didn’t express in his quintessential beliefs whether the earth is at the centre of the universe or in orbit around the sun. However, he believed that stars are not equidistant from the earth but have their own earth-like planets orbiting around them. The earth itself is like a giant magnet, which is also why compasses always point north. They spin on an axis that is aligned with the earth’s polarity. He even likened the polarity of the magnet to the polarity of the earth and built an entire magnetic philosophy on this analogy. In his explanation, magnetism is the soul of the earth. Thus a perfectly spherical lodestone, when aligned with the earth’s poles, would wobble all by itself in 24 hours. Further, he also believed that the sun and other stars wobble just like the earth does around a crystal core, and speculated that the moon might also be a magnet caused to orbit by its magnetic attraction to the earth. This was perhaps the first proposal that a force might cause a heavenly orbit.GHis research method was revolutionary in that he used experiments rather than pure logic and reasoning like the ancient Greek philosophers did. It was a new attitude towards scientific investigation. Until then, scientific experiments were not in fashion. It was because of this scientific attitude, together with his contri­bution to our knowledge of magnetism, that a unit of magneto motive force, also known as magnetic potential, was named Gilbert in his honour. His approach of careful observation and experimentation rather than the authoritative opinion or deductive philosophy of others had laid the very foundation for modern science.Questions 1-7Reading Passage 1 has seven paragraphs A-G.Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below.Write the correct number i-x in boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet.List of headingsi Early years of Gilbertii What was new about his scientific research methodiii The development of chemistryiv Questioning traditional astronomyv Pioneers of the early sciencevi Professional and social recognitionvii Becoming the president of the Royal Science Societyviii The great works of Gilbertix His discovery about magnetismx His change of focus1 _____ Paragraph A2 _____ Paragraph B3 _____ Paragraph C4 _____ Paragraph D5 _____ Paragraph E6 _____ Paragraph F7 _____ Paragraph GQuestions 8-10Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1? In boxes 8-10 on your answer sheet, writeTRUE if the statement agrees with the informationFALSE if the statement contradicts the informationNOT GIVEN If there is no information on this8 _____ He is less famous than he should be.9 _____ He was famous as a doctor before he was employed by the Queen.10 _____ He lost faith in the medical theories of his time.Questions 11-13Choose THREE letters A-F.Write your answers in boxes 11-13 on your answer sheet.Which THREE of the following are parts of Gilbert’s discovery?A _____ Metal can be transformed into another.B _____ Garlic can remove magnetism.C _____ Metals can be magnetized.D _____ Stars are at different distances from the earth.E _____ The earth wobbles on its axis.F _____ There are two charges of electricity.SECTION 2: QUESTIONS 14-26READING PASSAGE 2You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26, which are based on Reading Passage 2 below.The 2003 Heat waveIt was the summer, scientists now realise, when global warming at last made itself unmistakably felt. We knew that summer 2003 was remarkable: Britain experienced its record high temperature and continental Europe saw forest fires raging out of control, great rivers drying to a trickle and thousands of heat-related deaths. But just how remarkable is only now becoming clear.The three months of June, July and August were the warmest ever recorded in western and central Europe, with record national highs in Portugal, Germany and Switzerland as well as in Britain. And they were the warmest by a very long way. Over a great rectangular block of the earth stretching from west of Paris to northern Italy, taking in Switzerland and southern Germany, the average temperature for the summer months was 3.78°C above the long-term norm, said the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia in Norwich, which is one of the world's leading institutions for the monitoring and analysis of temperature records.That excess might not seem a lot until you are aware of the context - but then you realise it is enormous. There is nothing like this in previous data, anywhere. It is considered so exceptional that Professor Phil Jones, the CRU's director, is prepared to say openly - in a way few scientists have done before - that the 2003 extreme may be directly attributed, not to natural climate variability, but to global warming caused by human actions.Meteorologists have hitherto contented themselves with the formula that recent high temperatures are “consistent with predictions” of climate change. For the great block of the map - that stretching between 35-50N and 0-20E - the CRU has reliable temperature records dating back to 1781. Using as a baseline the average summer temperature recorded between 1961 and 1990, departures from the temperature norm, or “anomalies”, over the area as a whole can easily be plotted. As the graph shows, such is the variability of our climate that over the past 200 years, there have been at least half a dozen anomalies, in terms of excess temperature - the peaks on the graph denoting very hot years - approaching, or even exceeding, 2°C. But there has been nothing remotely like 2003, when the anomaly is nearly four degrees.“This is quite remarkable,’ Professor Jones told The Independent. “It’s very unusual in a statisticalsense. If this series had a normal statistical distribution, you wouldn’t get this number. The return period [how often it could be expected to recur] would be something like one in a thousand years. If we look at an excess above the average of nearly four degrees, then perhaps nearly three degrees of that is natural variability, because we’ve seen that in past summers. But the final degree of it is likely to be due to global warming, caused by human actions.”The summer of 2003 has, in a sense, been one that climate scientists have long been expecting. Until now, the warming has been manifesting itself mainly in winters that have been less cold than in summers that have been much hotter. Last week, the United Nations predicted that winters were warming so quickly that winter sports would die out in Europe’s lower-level ski resorts. But sooner or later, the unprecedented hot summer was bound to come, and this year it did.One of the most dramatic features of the summer was the hot nights, especially in the first half of August. In Paris, the temperature never dropped below 23°C (73.4°F) at all between 7 and 14 August, and the city recorded its warmest-ever night on 11-12 August, when the mercury did not drop below 25.5°C (77.9°F). Germany recorded its warmest-ever night at Weinbiet in the Rhine Valley with a lowest figure of 27.6°C (80.6°F) on 13 August, and similar record-breaking nighttime temperatures were recorded in Switzerland and Italy.The 15,000 excess deaths in France during August, compared with previous years, have been related to the high night-time temperatures. The number gradually increased during the first 12 days of the month, peaking at about 2,000 per day on the night of 12-13 August, then fell off dramatically after 14 August when the minimum temperatures fell by about 5°C. The elderly were most affected, with a 70 per cent increase in mortality rate in those aged 75-94.For Britain, the year as a whole is likely to be the warmest ever recorded, but despite the high temperature record on 10 August, the summer itself - defined as the June, July and August period -still comes behind 1976 and 1995, when there were longer periods of intense heat. “At the moment, the year is on course to be the third hottest ever in the global temperature record, which goes back to 1856, behind 1998 and 2002, but when all the records for October, November and December are collated, it might move into second place/' Professor Jones said. The ten hottest years in the record have all now occurred since 1990. Professor Jones is in no doubt about the astonishing nature of European summer of 2003. “The temperatures recorded were out of all proportion to the previous record," he said.“It was the warmest summer in the past 500 years and probably way beyond that. It was enormously exceptional."His colleagues at the University of East Anglia's Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research are now planning a special study of it. “It was a summer that has not been experienced before, either in terms of the temperature extremes that were reached, or the range and diversity of the impacts of the extreme heat," said the centre's executive director, Professor Mike Hulme.“It will certainly have left its mark on a number of countries, as to how they think and plan for climate change in the future, much as the 2000 floods have revolutionised the way the Government is thinking about flooding in the UK. The 2003 heatwave will have similar repercussions across Europe."Questions 14-19Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2? In boxes14-19 on your answer sheet writeYES if the statement agrees with the views of the writerNO if the statement contradicts the views of the writerNOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this14 _____ The average summer temperature in 2003 is almost 4 degrees higher than the average temperature of the past.15 _____ Global warming is caused by human activities.16 _____ Jones believes the temperature variation is within the normal range.17 _____ The temperature is measured twice a day in major cities.18 _____ There were milder winters rather than hotter summers.19 _____ Governments are building new high-altitude ski resorts.Questions 20-21Answer the questions below using NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR NUMBERS from the passage for each answer.Write your answers in boxes 20-21 on your answer sheet.What are the other two hottest years in Britain besides 2003?20 _____What has also influenced government policies like the hot summer in 2003?21 _____Questions 22-25Complete the summary below using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.Write your answers in boxes 22-25 on your answer sheet.The other two hottest years around the globe were 22 _____The ten hottest years on record all come after the year 23 _____This temperature data has been gathered since 24 _____Thousands of people died in the country of 25_____Question 26Choose the correct letter A, B, C or D.Write your answer in box 26 on your answer sheet.26 _____Which one of the following can be best used as the title of this passage?A Global WarmingB What Caused Global WarmingC The Effects of Global WarmingD That Hot Year in EuropeSECTION 3: QUESTIONS 27-40READING PASSAGE 3You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40, which are based on Reading Passage 3 below.Amateur NaturalistsFrom the results of an annual Alaskan betting contest to sightings of migra­tory birds, ecologists are using a wealth of unusual data to predict the impact of climate change.ATim Sparks slides a small leather-bound notebook out of an envelope. The book's yellowing pages contain bee-keeping notes made between 1941 and 1969 by the late Walter Coates of Kilworth, Leicestershire. He adds it to his growing pile of local journals, birdwatchers' lists and gardening diaries. "We're uncovering about one major new record each month," he says, "I still get surprised." Around two centuries before Coates, Robert Marsham, a landowner from Norfolk in the east of England, began recording the life cycles of plants and animals on his estate - when the first wood anemones flowered, the dates on which the oaks burst into leaf and the rooks began nesting. Successive Marshams continued compiling these notes for 211 years.BToday, such records are being put to uses that their authors could not pos­sibly have expected. These data sets, and others like them, are proving in­valuable to ecologists interested in the timing of biological events, or phen­ology. By combining the records with climate data, researchers can reveal how, for example, changes in temperature affect the arrival of spring, al­lowing ecologists to make improved predictions about the impact of climate change. A small band of researchers is combing through hundreds of years of records taken by thousands of amateur naturalists. And more systematic projects have also started up, producing an overwhelming response. "The amount of interest is almost frightening," says Sparks, a climate researcher at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in Monks Wood, Cambridgeshire.CSparks first became aware of the army of "closet phenologists”, as he de­scribes them, when a retiring colleague gave him the Marsham records. He now spends much of his time followingleads from one historical data set to another. As news of his quest spreads, people tip him off to other historical records, and more amateur phenologists come out of their closets. The Brit­ish devotion to recording and collecting makes his job easier - one man from Kent sent him 30 years' worth of kitchen calendars, on which he had noted the date that his neighbour's magnolia tree flowered.DOther researchers have unearthed data from equally odd sources. Rafe Sa­garin, an ecologist at Stanford University in California, recently studied records of a betting contest in which participants attempt to guess the exact time at which a specially erected wooden tripod will fall through the surface of a thawing river. The competition has taken place annually on the Tenana River in Alaska since 1917, and analysis of the results showed that the thaw now arrives five days earlier than it did when the contest began.EOverall, such records have helped to show that, compared with 20 years ago, a raft of natural events now occur earlier across much of the northern hemi­sphere, from the opening of leaves to the return of birds from migration and the emergence of butterflies from hibernation. The data can also hint at how nature will change in the future. Together with models of climate change, amateurs' records could help guide conservation. Terry Root, an ecologist at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, has collected birdwatchers' counts of wildfowl taken between 1955 and 1996 on seasonal ponds in the Ameri­can Midwest and combined them with climate data and models of future warming. Her analysis shows that the increased droughts that the models predict could halve the breeding populations at the ponds. "The number of waterfowl in North America will most probably drop significantly with global warming," she says.FBut not all professionals are happy to use amateur data. "A lot of scientists won't touch them, they say they're too full of problems," says Root. Because different observers can have different ideas of what constitutes, for example, an open snowdrop. "The biggest concern with ad hoc observations is how carefully and systematically they were taken," says Mark Schwartz of the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, who studies the interactions between plants and climate. "We need to know pretty precisely what a person's been observing - if they just say 'I noted when the leaves came out', it might not be that useful." Measuring the onset of autumn can be particularly problem­atic because deciding when leaves change colour is a more subjectivepro­cess than noting when they appear.GOverall, most phenologists are positive about the contribution that ama­teurs can make. "They get at the raw power of science: careful observation of the natural world," says Sagarin. But the professionals also acknowledge the need for careful quality control. Root, for example, tries to gauge the quality of an amateur archive by interviewing its collector. "You always have to worry -things as trivial as vacations can affect measurement. I disregard a lot of records because they're not rigorous enough," she says. Others suggest that the right statistics can iron out some of theproblems with amateur data. Together with colleagues at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, environmental scientist Arnold van Vliet is developing statistical techniques to account for the uncertainty in amateur phenological data. With the en­thusiasm of amateur phenologists evident from past records, professional researchers are now trying to create standardised recording schemes for fu­ture efforts. They hope that well-designed studies will generate a volume of observations large enough to drown out the idiosyncrasies of individual recorders. The data are cheap to collect, and can provide breadth in space, time and range of species. "It's very difficult to collect data on a large geo­graphical scale without enlisting an army of observers," says Root.HPhenology also helps to drive home messages about climate change. "Be­cause the public understand these records, they accept them," says Sparks.It can also illustrate potentially unpleasant consequences, he adds, such as the finding that more rat infestations are reported to local councils in warmer years. And getting people involved is great for public relations. "People are thrilled to think that the data they've been collecting as a hobby can be used for something scientific - it empowers them," says Root.Questions 27-33Reading Passage 3 has eight paragraphs A-H.Which paragraph contains the following information?Write the correct letter A-H in boxes 27-33 on your answer sheet.27 _____ The definition of phenology28 _____ How Sparks first became aware of amateur records29 _____ How people reacted to their involvement in data collection30 _____ The necessity to encourage amateur data collection31 _____ A description of using amateur records to make predictions32 _____ Records of a competition providing clues to climate change33 _____ A description of a very old record compiled by generations of amateur naturalistsQuestions 34-36Complete the sentences below with NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.Write your answers in boxes 34-36 on your answer sheet.Walter Coates’s records largely contain the information of 34 _____Robert Marsham is famous for recording the 35_____ of animals and plants on his land.According to some phenologists, global warming may cause the number of waterfowl in NorthAmerica to drop significantly due to increased 36 _____ Questions 37-40Choose the correct letter A, B, C or D.Write your answers in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet.37 _____Why do a lot of scientists discredit the data collected by amateurs?A Scientific methods were not used in data collection.B Amateur observers are not careful in recording their data.C Amateur data is not reliable.D Amateur data is produced by wrong candidates.38 _____Mark Schwartz used the example of leaves to illustrate thatA amateur records can’t be used.B amateur records are always unsystematic.C the colour change of leaves is hard to observe.D valuable information is often precise.39 _____How do the scientists suggest amateur data should be used?A Using improved methodsB Being more careful in observationC Using raw materialsD Applying statistical techniques in data collection40 _____What’s the implication of phenology for ordinary people?A It empowers the public.B It promotes public relations.C It warns people of animal infestation.D It raises awareness about climate change in the public.参考答案2. i3. vi4. x5. ix6. iv7. ii8. TRUE9. TRUE10. NOT GIVEN多选11-13C Metals can be magnetized.D Stars are at different distances from the earth.E The earth wobbles on its axis.14. YES15. YES16. No17. NOT GIVEN18. YES19. NOT GIVEN20. 1976 and 199521. 2000 floods22. 1998 and 200223. 199024. 185625. France26. D27. B28. C29. H31. E32. D33. A34. bee-keeping notes35. life cycle(s)36. drought(s)37. C38. D39. A40. D。

剑桥雅思阅读6原文(test1)答案精讲

剑桥雅思阅读6原文(test1)答案精讲

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剑桥雅思阅读6原文(test1)READING PASSAGE 1You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.AUSTRALIA’S SPORTING SUCCESSA They play hard, they play often, and they play to win. Australian sports teams win more than their fair share of titles, demolishing rivals with seeming ease. How do they do it? A big part of the secret is an extensive and expensive network of sporting academies underpinned by science and medicine. At the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), hundreds of youngsters and pros live and train under the eyes of coaches. Another body, the Australian Sports Commission (ASC), finances programmes of excellence in a total of 96 sports for thousands of sportsmen and women. Both provide intensive coaching, training facilities and nutritional advice.B Inside the academies, science takes centre stage. The AIS employs more than 100 sports scientists and doctors, and collaborates with scores of others in universities and research centres. AIS scientists work across a number of sports, applying skills learned in one —such as building muscle strength in golfers —to others, such as swimming and squash. They are backed up by technicians who design instruments to collect data from athletes. They all focus on one aim: winning. ‘We can’t waste our time looking at ethereal scientific questions thatdon’t hel p the coach work with an athlete and improve performance,’ says Peter Fricker, chief of science at AIS.C A lot of their work comes down to measurement —everything from the exact angle of a swimmer’s dive to the second-by-second power output of a cyclist. This data is used to wring improvements out of athletes. The focus is on individuals, tweaking performances to squeeze an extra hundredth of a second here, an extra millimetre there. No gain is too slight to bother with. It’s the tiny, gradual improvement s that add up to world-beating results. To demonstrate how the system works, Bruce Mason at AIS shows off the prototype of a 3D analysis tool for studying swimmers. A wire-frame model of a champion swimmer slices through the water, her arms moving in slow motion. Looking side-on, Mason measures the distance between strokes. From above, he analyses how her spine swivels. When fully developed, this system will enable him to build a biomechanical profile for coaches to use to help budding swimmers. Mason’s con tribution to sport also includes the development of the SWAN (Swimming Analysis) system now used in Australian national competitions. It collects images from digital cameras running at 50 frames a second and breaks down each part of a swimmer’s performance into factors that can be analysed individually — stroke length, stroke frequency, average duration of each stroke, velocity, start, lap and finish times, and so on. At the end of each race, SWAN spits out data on each swimmer.D ‘Take a look,’ says Mason, pulling out a sheet of data. He points out the data on the swimmers in second and third place, which shows that the one who finished third actually swam faster. So why did he finish 35 hundredths of a second down?‘His turn times were 44 hundredths of a s econd behind the other guy,’ says Mason. ‘If he can improve on his turns, he can do much better.’ This is the kind of accuracy that AIS scientists’ research is bringing to a range of sports. With the Cooperative Research Centre for Micro Technology in Melbourne, they are developing unobtrusive sensors that will be embedded in an athlete’s clothes or running shoes to monitor heart rate, sweating, heat production or any other factor that might have an impact on an athlete’s ability to run. There’s more to it than simply measuring performance. Fricker gives the example of athletes who may be down with coughs and colds 11 or 12 times a year. After years of experimentation, AIS and the University of Newcastle in New South Wales developed a test that measures how much of the immune-system protein immunoglobulin A is present in athletes’ saliva. If IgA levels suddenly fall below a certain level, training is eased or dropped altogether. Soon, IgA levels start rising again, and the danger passes. Since the tests were introduced, AIS athletes in all sports have been remarkably successful at staying healthy.E Using data is a complex business. Well before a championship, sports scientists and coaches start to prepare the athlete by developing a ‘competition model’, based on what they expect will be the winning times.’ You design the model to make that time,’ says Mason.’ A start of this much, each free-swimming period has to be this fast, with a certain stroke frequency and stroke length, with turns done in these times.’ All the training is then geared towards making the athlete hit those targets, both overall and for each segment of the race. Techniques like these have transformed Australia into arguably the world’s most successful sporting nation.F Of course, there’s no thing to stop other countries copying —and many have tried. Some years ago, the AIS unveiled coolant-lined jackets for endurance athletes. At the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996, these sliced as much as two per cent off cyclists’ and rowers’ times. Now ever yone uses them. The same has happened to the ‘altitude tent’, developed by AIS to replicate the effect of altitude training at sea level. But Australia’s success story is about more than easily copied technological fixes, and up to now no nation has replicated its all-encompassing system.Questions 1-7Reading Passage 1 has six paragraphs, A-F.Which paragraph contains the following information?Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet.NB You may use any letter more than once.1 a reference to the exchange of expertise between different sports2 an explanation of how visual imaging is employed in investigations3 a reason for narrowing the scope of research activity4 how some AIS ideas have been reproduced5 how obstacles to optimum achievement can be investigated6 an overview of the funded support of athletes7 how performance requirements are calculated before an eventQuestions 8-11Classify the following techniques according to whether the writer states theyA are currently exclusively used by AustraliansB will be used in the future by AustraliansC are currently used by both Australians and their rivalsWrite the correct letter, A, B or C, in boxes 8-11 on your answer sheet.8 cameras9 sensors10 protein tests11 altitude tentsQuestions 12 and 13Answer the questions below.Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS ANDIOR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.Write your answers in boxes 12 and 13 on your answer sheet.12 What is produced to help an athlete plan their performance in an event?13 By how much did some cyclists’ performance improve at the 1996 Olympic Games?READING PASSAGE 2You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26, which are based on Reading Passage 2 below.DELIVERING THE GOODSThe vast expansion in international trade owes much to a revolution in the business of moving freightA International trade is growing at a startling pace. While the global economy has been expanding at a bit over 3% a year, the volume of trade has been rising at a compound annual rate of about twice that. Foreign products, from meat to machinery, play a more important role in almost every economy in the world, and foreign markets now tempt businesses that never much worriedabout sales beyond their nation’s borders.B What lies behind this explosion in international commerce? The general worldwide decline in trade barriers, such as customs duties and import quotas, is surely one explanation. The economic opening of countries that have traditionally been minor players is another. But one force behind the import-export boom has passed all but unnoticed: the rapidly falling cost of getting goods to market. Theoretically, in the world of trade, shipping costs do not matter. Goods, once they have been made, are assumed to move instantly and at no cost from place to place. The real world, however, is full of frictions. Cheap labour may make Chinese clothing competitive in America, but if delays in shipment tie up working capital and cause winter coats to arrive in spring, trade may lose its advantages.C At the turn of the 20th century, agriculture and manufacturing were the two most important sectors almost everywhere, accounting for about 70% of total output in Germany, Italy and France, and 40-50% in America, Britain and Japan. International commerce was therefore dominated by raw materials, such as wheat, wood and iron ore, or processed commodities, such as meat and steel. But these sorts of products are heavy and bulky and the cost of transporting them relatively high.D Countries still trade disproportionately with their geographic neighbours. Over time, however, world output has shifted into goods whose worth is unrelated to their size and weight. Today, it is finished manufactured products that dominate the flow of trade, and, thanks to technological advances such as lightweight components, manufactured goods themselves have tended to become lighter and less bulky. As aresult, less transportation is required for every dollar’s worth of imports or exports.E To see how this influences trade, consider the business of making disk drives for computers. Most of the world’s disk-drive manufacturing is concentrated in South-east Asia. This is possible only because disk drives, while valuable, are small and light and so cost little to ship. Computer manufacturers in Japan or Texas will not face hugely bigger freight bills if they import drives from Singapore rather than purchasing them on the domestic market. Distance therefore poses no obstacle to the globalisation of the disk-drive industry.F This is even more true of the fast-growing information industries. Films and compact discs cost little to transport, even by aeroplane. Computer software can be ‘exported’ without ever loading it onto a ship, simply by transmitting it over telephone lines from one country to another, so freight rates and cargo-handling schedules become insignificant factors in deciding where to make the product. Businesses can locate based on other considerations, such as the availability of labour, while worrying less about the cost of delivering their output.G In many countries deregulation has helped to drive the process along. But, behind the scenes, a series of technological innovations known broadly as containerisation and inter-modal transportation has led to swift productivity improvements in cargo-handling. Forty years ago, the process of exporting or importing involved a great many stages of handling, which risked portions of the shipment being damaged or stolen along the way. The invention of the container crane made it possible to load and unload containers without capsizing the ship and the adoption of standard container sizes allowed almost any box to betransported on any ship. By 1967, dual-purpose ships, carrying loose cargo in the hold_and containers on the deck, were giving way to all-container vessels that moved thousands of boxes at a time.H The shipping container transformed ocean shipping into a highly efficient, intensely competitive business. But getting the cargo to and from the dock was a different story. National governments, by and large, kept a much firmer hand on truck and railroad tariffs than on charges for ocean freight. This started changing, however, in the mid-1970s, when America began to deregulate its transportation industry. First airlines, then road hauliers and railways, were freed from restrictions on what they could carry, where they could haul it and what price they could charge. Big productivity gains resulted. Between 1985 and 1996, for examp le, America’s freight railways dramatically reduced their employment, trackage, and their fleets of locomotives —while increasing the amount of cargo they hauled. Europe’s railways have also shown marked, albeit smaller, productivity improvements.I In America the period of huge productivity gains in transportation may be almost over, but in most countries the process still has far to go. State ownership of railways and airlines, regulation of freight rates and toleration of anti-competitive practices, such as cargo-handling monopolies, all keep the cost of shipping unnecessarily high and deter international trade. Bringing these barriers down would help the world’s economies grow even closer.hold: ship’s storage area below beckQuestions 14-17Reading Passage 2 has nine paragraphs, A-I.Which paragraph contains the following information?Write the correct letter, A-I, in boxes 14-17 on your answer sheet.14 a suggestion for improving trade in the future15 the effects of the introduction of electronic delivery16 the similar cost involved in transporting a product from abroad or from a local supplier17 the weakening relationship between the value of goods and the cost of their deliveryQuestions 18-22Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2?In boxes 18-22 on your answer sheet, writeTRUE if the statement agrees with the informationFALSE if the statement contradicts the informationNOT GIVEN if there is no information on this18 International trade is increasing at a greater rate than the world economy.19 Cheap labour guarantees effective trade conditions.20 Japan imports more meat and steel than France.21 Most countries continue to prefer to trade with nearby nations.22 Small computer components are manufactured in Germany.Questions 23-26Complete the summary using the list of words, A-K, below.Write the correct letter, A-K, in boxes 23-26 on your answer sheet.THE TRANSPORT REVOLUTIONModern Cargo-handing methods have had a significanteffect on 23............ as the business of moving freight around the world becomes increasingly streamlined.Manufacturers of computers, for instance, are able to import 24............ from overseas, rather than having to rely on a local supplier. The introduction of 25............ has meant that bulk cargo can be safely and efficiently moved over long distances. While international shipping is now efficient, there is still a need for governments to reduce 26............: in order to free up the domestic cargo sector.A tariffsB componentsC container shipsD outputE employeesF insurance costsG trade H freight I faresJ software K international standardsREADING PASSAGE 3You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40, which are based on Reading Passage 3 on the following pages.Question 27-32Reading Passage 3 has seven paragraphs, A-G.Choose the correct heading for paragraphs B-G from the list of headings below.Write the correct number, i-ix, in boxes 27-32 on you answer sheet.List of Headingsi The reaction of the Inuit community to climate changeii Understanding of climate change remains limitediii Alternative sources of essential suppliesiv Respect for Inuit opinion growsv A healthier choice of foodvi A difficult landscapevii Negative effects on well-beingviii Alarm caused by unprecedented events in the Arcticix The benefits of an easier existenceExample AnswerParagraph A viii27 Paragraph B28 Paragraph C29 Paragraph D30 Paragraph E31 Paragraph F32 Paragraph GClimate Change and the InuitThe threat posed by climate change in the Arctic and the problems faced by Canada’s Inuit peopleA Unusual incidents are being reported across the Arctic. Inuit families going off on snowmobiles to prepare their summer hunting camps have found themselves cut off from home by a sea of mud, following early thaws. There are reports of igloos losing their insulating properties as the snow drips and refreezes, of lakes draining into the sea as permafrost melts, and sea ice breaking up earlier than usual, carrying seals beyond the reach of hunters. Climate change may still be a rather abstract idea to most of us, but in the Arctic it is already having dramatic effects — if summertime ice continues to shrink at its present rate, the Arctic Ocean could soon become virtually ice-free in summer. The knock-on effects are likely to include more warming, cloudier skies, increased precipitation and higher sea levels. Scientists are increasingly keen to find out what’s going on because they consider the Arctic the ‘canary in the mine’ for global warming —a warning of what’s in store for the rest of the world.B For the Inuit the problem is urgent. They live in precariousbalance with one of the toughest environments on earth. Climate change, whatever its causes, is a direct threat to their way of life. Nobody knows the Arctic as well as the locals, which is why they are not content simply to stand back and let outside experts tell them what’s happening. In Canada, where the Inuit people are jealously guarding their hard-won autonomy in the country’s newest territory, Nunavut, they believe their best hope of survival in this changing environment lies in combining their ancestral knowledge with the best of modern science. This is a challenge in itself.C The Canadian Arctic is a vast, treeless polar desert that’s covered with snow for most of the year. Venture into this terrain and you get some idea of the hardships facing anyone who calls this home. Farming is out of the question and nature offers meagre pickings. Humans first settled in the Arctic a mere 4,500 years ago, surviving by exploiting sea mammals and fish. The environment tested them to the limits: sometimes the colonists were successful, sometimes they failed and vanished. But around a thousand years ago, one group emerged that was uniquely well adapted to cope with the Arctic environment. These Thule people moved in from Alaska, bringing kayaks, sleds, dogs, pottery and iron tools. They are the ancestors of today’s Inuit people.D Life for the descendants of the Thule people is still harsh. Nunavut is 1.9 million square kilometres of rock and ice, and a handful of islands around the North Pole. It’s currently home to 2,500 people, all but a handful of them indigenous Inuit. Over the past 40 years, most have abandoned their nomadic ways and settled in the territory’s 28 isolated communities, but they still rely heavily on nature to provide food and clothing. Provisions available in local shops have to be flown into Nunavut on one ofthe most costly air networks in the world, or brought by supply ship during the few ice-free weeks of summer. It would cost a family around £7,000 a year to replace meat they obtained themselves through hunting with imported meat. Economic opportunities are scarce, and for many people state benefits are their only income.E While the Inuit may not actually starve if hunting and trapping are curtailed by climate change, there has certainly been an impact on people’s health. Obesity, heart disease and diabetes are beginning to appear in a people for whom these have never before been problems. There has been a crisis of identity as the traditional skills of hunting, trapping and preparing skins have begun to disappear. In Nunavut’s ‘igloo and email’ society, where adults who were born in igloos ha ve children who may never have been out on the land, there’s a high incidence of depression.F With so much at stake, the Inuit are determined to play a key role in teasing out the mysteries of climate change in the Arctic. Having survived there for centuries, they believe their wealth of traditional knowledge is vital to the task. And Western scientists are starting to draw on this wisdom, increasingly referred to as ‘Intelligence Quotient’, or IQ. ‘In the early days scientists ignored us when they came up here to study anything. They just figured these people don’t know very much so we won’t ask them,’ says John Amagoalik, an Inuit leader and politician. ‘But in recent years IQ has had much more credibility and weight.’ In fact it is now a requirement for anyone hoping to get permission to do research that they consult the communities, who are helping to set the research agenda to reflect their most important concerns. They can turn downapplications from scientists they believe will work against their interests, or research projects that will impinge too much on their daily lives and traditional activities.G Some scientists doubt the value of traditional knowledge because the occupation of the Arctic doesn’t go back far enough. Others, however, point out that the first weather stations in the far north date back just 50 years. There are still huge gaps in our environmental knowledge, and despite the scientific onslaught, many predictions are no more than best guesses. IQ could help to bridge the gap and resolve the tremendous uncertainty about how much of what we’re seeing is natural capriciousness and how much is the consequence of human activity.Questions 33-40Complete the summary of paragraphs C and D below.Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from paragraphs C and D for each answer.Write you answers in boxes 33-40 on your answer sheet.If you visit the Canadian Arctic, you immediately appreciate the problems faced by people for whom this is home. It would clearly be impossible for the people to engage in 33............... as a means of supporting themselves. For thousands of years they have had to rely on catching 34...............and 35...............as a means of sustenance. The harsh surroundings saw many who tried to settle there pushed to their limits, although some were successful. The 36...............people were an example of the latter and for them the environment did not prove unmanageable. For the present inhabitants, life continues to be a struggle. The territory of Nunavut consists of little more than ice, rock and a few 37............... . In recent years, many of them have been obliged togive up their 38............... lifestyle, but they continue to depend mainly on 39............... for their food and clothes.40...............produce is particularly expensive.剑桥雅思阅读6原文参考译文(test1)TEST 1 PASSAGE 1参考译文:AUSTRALIA’S SPORTING SUCCESS澳大利亚的体育成就A They play hard, they play often, and they play to win. Australian sports teams win more than their fair share of titles, demolishing rivals with seeming ease. How do they do it? A big part of the secret is an extensive and expensive network of sporting academies underpinned by science and medicine. At the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), hundreds of youngsters and pros live and train under the eyes of coaches. Another body, the Australian Sports Commission (ASC), finances programmes of excellence in a total of 96 sports for thousands of sportsmen and women. Both provide intensive coaching, training facilities and nutritional advice.A他们努力竞争,他们积极参与,他们参加比赛完全为了取胜。

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Why pagodas don’t fall downAIn a land swept by typhoons and shaken by earthquakes, how have Japan's tallest and seemingly flimsiest 不结实的; 易损坏的(原型flimsy)old buildings —500 or so wooden pagodas宝塔—remain ed standing for centuries? Records show that only two have collapsed during the past 1400 years. (第1题)Those that have disappeared were destroyed by fire as a result of lightning or civil war. The disastrous损失惨重的Hanshin earthquake in 1995 killed 6,400 people,topple d elevated highways, flatten ed使…成为平地office blocks and devastate d 毁灭; 摧毁the port area of Kobe. Yet it left the magnificent five-storey pagoda at the Toji temple in nearby Kyoto unscathed未受损伤; 未遭伤害(第2题) though it levelled夷平a number of buildings in the neighborhood.Topple: ~ (over) be unsteady and fall 不稳而倒下:The pile of books toppled over onto the floor. 那一摞书倒在地板上了.B Japanese scholars have been mystified for ages about why these tall, slender buildings are so stable. It was only thirty years ago that the building industry felt confident enough to erect office blocks of steel and reinforced concrete that had more than a dozen floors.(第3题)With its special shock absorbers 减震器to dampen 抑制the effect of sudden sideways movements from an earthquake, the thirty-six-storey Kasumigaseki building in central Tokyo — Japan's first skyscraper 摩天楼— was considered a masterpiece of modern engineering when it was built in 1968.【重要词汇】mystify/ ˈmɪstɪfaɪ; ˋmɪstəˈfaɪ/ v(pt, pp -fied) [Tn] make (sb) confused through lack of understanding; puzzle; bewilder 使(某人)困惑不解; 使迷惑: I'm mystified; I just can't see how he did it. 我大惑不解, 就是不明白他是怎麽做到的. * her mystifying disappearance她神秘的失踪.dampen (down )to make something such as a feeling or activity less strongThe light rain dampened the crowd's enthusiasm.Raising interest rates might dampen the economy.to make a sound or movement less loud or strongThe spring dampens the shock of the impact.C Yet in 826, with only pegs短桩and wedges楔子to keep his wooden structure upright, the master builder Kobodaishi had no hesitation in sending his majestic雄伟的Toji pagoda soaring fifty-five metres into the sky —nearly half as high as the Kasumigaseki skyscraper built some eleven centuries later. Clearly, Japanese carpenters of the day knew a few tricks about allowing a building to sway and settleitself rather than fight nature's forces.(第4题)But what sort of tricks?D The multi-storey pagoda came to Japan from China in the sixth century. As in China, they were first introduced with Buddhism and were attached to important temples. (第9题) The Chinese built their pagodas in brick or stone, with inner staircases, and used them in later centuries mainly as watchtower s(第5题和第7题)瞭望塔. When the pagoda reached Japan, however, its architecture was freely adapted to local conditions —they were built less high, typically five rather than nine storeys, made mainly of wood and the staircase was dispense d(第5题)免除,省掉with because the Japanese pagoda did not have any practical use but became more of an art object. Because of the typhoons that batter接连猛击Japan in the summer, Japanese builders learned to extend the eave s屋檐of buildings further beyond the walls.(第6题)This prevents rainwater gush ing 流出, 泻出, 涌出down the walls. Pagodas in China and Korea have nothing like the overhang that is found on pagodas in Japan.【重要词组】dispense with sb/sth manage without sb/sth; get rid of sb/sth 用不着某人[某事物]; 摆脱某人[某事物]: He is not yet well enough to dispense with the pills. 他尚未痊愈, 仍需吃药.adapte (oneself) (to sth) become adjusted to new conditions, etc 适应(新环境等): Our eyes slowly adapted to the dark. 我们的眼睛慢慢地适应了黑暗的环境.【重要词汇】overhang / ˈəuvəhæŋ; ˋovɚˈhæŋ/ n part that overhangs 悬垂的部分: a bird's nest under the overhang of the roof房檐下的鸟巢.E The roof of a Japanese temple building can be made to overhang the sides of the structure by fifty per cent or more of the building's overall width.(第8题)For the same reason, the builders of Japanese pagodas seem to have further increased their weight by choosing to cover these extended eaves not with the porcelain瓷tile s 瓦of many Chinese pagodas but with much heavier earthenware陶器tiles.【难句解析】The roof of a Japanese temple building can be made to overhang the sides of the structure by fifty per cent or more of the building's overall width.句子结构the roof… can be made to….by…日本寺庙的屋顶可以被建造成各面都延伸出庙宇本身,延伸的范围在该寺庙整体宽度的50%或者更多。

F But this does not totally explain the great resilience弹性of Japanese pagodas. Is the answer that, like a tall pine tree, the Japanese pagoda —with its massive trunk-like central pillar柱子known as shinbashira —simply flex es伸缩,弯曲and sway s摇动, 摇摆during a typhoon or earthquake? For centuries, many thought so. But the answer is not so simple (11题B选项)because the startling令人吃惊的thing is that the shinbashira actually carries no load 不负重at all.(11题A选项)In fact, in some pagoda designs, it does not even rest on the ground接触地面, but is suspend ed悬挂from the top of the pagoda —hanging loosely down through the middle of the building. (11题C选项)The weight of the building is supported entirely by twelve outer and four inner columns.G And what is the role of the shinbashira, the central pillar? The best way to understand the shinbashira's role is to watch a video made by Shuzo Ishida, a structural engineer at Kyoto Institute of Technology. Mr Ishida, known to his students as 'Professor Pagoda' because of his passion to understand the pagoda, has built a series of models and tested them on a 'shake- table' in his laboratory. In short, the shinbashira was acting like an enormous stationary pendulum钟摆. The ancient craftsmen, apparently without the assistance of very advanced mathematics, seemed to grasp the principles that were, more than a thousand years later, applied in the construction of Japan's first skyscraper. What those early craftsmen had found by trial and error was that under pressure a pagoda's loose stack of floors could be made to slither to and fro来回地; 往复地independent of one another. Viewed from the side, the pagoda seemed to be doing a snake dance —with each consecutive连续的floor moving in the opposite direction to its neighbours above and below. The shinbashira, running up through a hole in the centre of the building, constrained individual storeys from moving too far because, after moving a certain distance, they banged into it, transmitting energy away along the column. (11题D 选项)【重要词汇】Stack:pile or heap, usu neatly arranged 堆, 摞(通常指堆放得整齐的): a wood stack 木材堆* a stack of newspapersslither:slide or slip unsteadily摇晃不稳地滑动或滑行: slithering dangerously (on the muddy path) (在泥泞的路上)危险地滑行*【重要词组】bang into sb/sth collide with sb/sth violently 猛撞着某人[某物]: He ran round the corner and banged straight into a lamp-post. 他跑过拐角处时迎面撞在灯柱上.【难句解析】The ancient craftsmen, apparently without the assistance of very advanced mathematics, seemed to grasp the principles that were, more than a thousand years later, applied in the construction of Japan's first skyscraper. 古代的工匠在明显没有先进的数学知识的情况下,似乎已经掌握了一千年以后应用于日本第一摩天大楼的理论。

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