解读剑桥雅思8阅读真题1

解读剑桥雅思8阅读真题

TEST 1

READING PASSAGE 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.

A Chronicle of Timekeeping

Our conception of time depends on the way we measure it.

A According to archaeological evidence, at least 5, 000 years ago, and long before the advent of the Roman Empire, the Babylonians began to measure time, introducing calendars to co-ordinate communal activities, to plan the shipment of goods and, in particular, to regulate planting and harvesting. They based their calendars on three natural cycles: the solar day, marked by the successive periods of light and darkness as the earth rotates on its axis; the lunar month, following the phases of the moon as it orbits the earth; and the solar year, defined by the changing seasons that accompany our planet's revolution around the sun.

B Before the invention of artificial light, the moon had greater social impact. And, for those living near the equator in particular, its waxing and waning was more conspicuous than the passing of the seasons. Hence, the calendars that were developed at the lower latitudes were influenced more by the lunar cycle than by the solar year. In more northern climes, however, where seasonal agriculture was practised, the solar year became more crucial. As the Roman Empire expanded northward, it organised its activity chart for the most part around the solar year.

C Centuries before the Roman Empire, the Egyptianshad formulated a municipal calendar having 12 months of 30 days, with five days added to approximate the solar year. Each period of ten days was marked by the appearance of special groups of stars called decans. At the rise of the star Sirius just before sunrise, which occurred around the all-important annual flooding of the Nile, 12 decans could be seen spanning the heavens. The cosmic significance the Egyptians placed in the 12 decans led them to develop a system in which each interval of darkness (and later, each interval of daylight) was divided into a dozen equal parts. These periods became known as temporal hours because their duration varied according to the changing length of days and nights with the passing of the seasons. Summer hours were long, winter ones short; only at the spring and autumn equinoxes were the hours of daylight and darkness equal. Temporal hours, which were first adopted by the Greeks and then the Romans, who disseminated them through Europe, remained in use for more than 2, 500 years.

D In order to track temporal hours during the day, inventors created sundials, which indicate time by the length or direction of the sun's shadow. The sundial's counterpart, the water clock, was designed to measure temporal hours at night. One of the first water clocks was a basin with a small hole near the bottom through which the water dripped out. The falling water level denoted the passing hour as it dipped below hour lines inscribed on the inner surface. Although these devices performed satisfactorily around the Mediterranean, they could not always be depended on in the cloudy and often freezing weather of northern Europe.

E The advent of the mechanical clock meant that although it could be adjusted to maintain temporal hours, it was naturally suited to keeping equal ones. With these, however, arose the question of when to begin counting, and so, in the early 14th century, a number of systems evolved. The schemes that divided the day into 24 equal parts varied according to the start of the count: Italianhours began at sunset, Babylonian hours at sunrise, astronomical hours at midday and 'great clock' hours, used for some large public clocks in Germany, at midnight. Eventually these were superseded by 'small clock', or Frenchhours, which split the day into two 12-hour periods commencing at midnight.

F The earliest recorded weight-driven mechanical clock was built in 1283 in Bedfordshire in England.The revolutionary aspect of this new timekeeper was neither the descending weight that provided its motive force nor the gear wheels (which had been around for at least 1, 300 years) that transferred the power; it was the part called the escapement. In the early 1400s came the invention of the coiled spring or fusee which maintained constant force to the gear wheels of the timekeeper despite the changing tension of its mainspring. By the 16th century, a pendulum clock had been devised, but the pendulum swung in a large arc and thus was not very efficient.

G To address this, a variation on the original escapement was invented in 1670, in England. It was called the anchor escapement, which was a lever-based device shaped like a ship's anchor. The motion of a pendulum rocks this device so that it catches and then releases each tooth of the escape wheel, in turn allowing it to turn a precise amount. Unlike the original form used in early pendulum clocks, the anchor escapement permitted the pendulum to travel in a very small arc. Moreover, this invention allowed the use of a long pendulum which could beat once a second and thus led to the development of a new floor-standing case design, which became known as the grandfather clock.

H Today, highly accurate timekeeping instruments set the beat for most electronic devices. Nearly all computers contain a quartz-crystal clock to regulate their operation. Moreover, not only do time signals beamed down from Global Positioning System satellites calibrate the functions of preciseon navigation equipment, they do so as well for mobile phones, instant stock-trading systems and nationwide power-distribution grids. So integral have these time-based technologies become to day-to-day existence that our dependency on them is recognised only when they fail to work.

Questions 1-4

Reading Passage 1 has eight paragraphs, A-H.

Which paragraph contains the following information?

Write the correct letter, A-H, in boxes 1-4 on your answer sheet.

1 a description of an early timekeeping invention affected by cold temperatures

本题要求找出相关描述。核心部分为an early timekeeping invention（早期的用来计时的发明）invention 后面又出现了一个定语（affected by cold temperatures），这个定语是过去分词来充当的，表示被动（被寒冷天气所影响的）。题要求找到有关描写“人们早期发明的但容易受到寒冷天气影响的计时器”的段落。

分析：

前面的ABC段都是在概述人类农业历法的历史，并没有具体到如何计时。而在D段中，出现了inventors created，was designed to measure等关键词，还出现了Although these devices performed satisfactorily around the Mediterranean，they could not always be depended on in the cloudyand often freezing weather of northern Europe. 等关键句，所以答案为D

2 an explanation of the importance of geography in the development of the calendar in farming communities

本题的要求是找出关于“在以农业为主的社会，地理位置变化对于历法发展的重要性”的解释，要在ABC段中找。B段中标红的一句话是关键信息

In more northern climes, however, where seasonal agriculture was practised, the solar year became more crucial. 然而，南部地区所实行的是季节性耕种，所以，以太阳为依据的一年四季就更为重要了。所以答案为B

3 a description of the origins of the pendulum clock

本题要求描述“摆钟的起源”。注意看F段的第一句The earliest recorded weight-driven mechanical clock was built in 1283 in Bedfordshire in England.这句话包含的信息为：“有记录的

最早的重量驱动的机械钟于1283年在英国的贝德福德郡被创造出来。”答案为F

4 details of the simultaneous efforts of different societies to calculate time using uniform hours

本题要求寻找有关“不同的社会同时都在努力使用统一的时间单位来计时”的详细描述。题干中涉及到different societies，那么就要在出现不同国家名称或地区名称的段落中寻找。E 段符合这一特点。答案为E

Questions 5-8

Look at the following events (Questions 5-8) and the list of nationalities below. Match each event with the correct nationality, A-F. Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 5-8 on your answer sheet. 该题要求事件与国籍相匹配

List of Nationalities

A Babylonians

B Egyptians

C Greeks

D English

E Germans

F French

5 They devised a civil calendar in which the months were equal in length.

题干的信息：他们设计了一种将每个月份成相等长度的民间历法。看关键信息the months were equal in length。C段的第一句中，municipal calendar 是题干中civil calendar的同义词，而且having 12 months of 30 days表示“12个月，每个月30天”。第一句话的主语是埃及人，所以答案是B

6 They divided the day into two equal halves.

题干信息：他们将一天平分为两部分。这个问题同计时机械的发明相关，所以要在E段中寻找答案。该段最后一句Eventually these were superseded by 'small clock', or Frenchhours, which split the day into two 12-hour periods commencing at midnight.

法国计时法将将一天分成（split）两个部分，每部分为12小时，从午夜开始计算。所以，

答案为F

7 They developed a new cabinet shape for a type of timekeeper.

题干信息：他们发明了一种新的盒子形状的计时器。G段中最后一句中，led to the development of a new floor-standing case design导致了一种新的落地钟壳的设计的出现，这件事情发生在英国，所以答案为D。题干中cabinet和文章中case是同意词。

8 They created a calendar to organise public events and work schedules.

题干信息：他们创造了一种历法来组织公众活动以及安排工作时间。第一段中就提到了这个问题，the Babyloniansbegan to measure time, introducing calendars to co-ordinate communal activities, to planthe shipment of goods and, in particular, to regulateplanting and harvesting.

所以，答案毫无疑问是A

解题思路：

1、彻底读懂题干，找准定位答案信息。

2、注意文章中的逻辑关系，读懂关键句

3、平时加强对语法和词汇的修炼，尤其是题干中关键词在段落中会用相应的同义词来表达，需要留意积累。

4、雅思的阅读文章多出自上个世纪的科学文献，难度很大。

全文翻译：

计时器发展史

时间的概念取决于人们计时的方式。

根据考古学的记载，至少在五千年前，早在罗马帝国到来之前，巴比伦人就开始衡量时间了。他们采用历法来协调一些共同的活动，来计划货物的运输，特别是用来指导人们播种和收割。他们将历法建立在三个自然循环之上，地球自转所产生的日夜周期(日);月球绕地球公转的朔望周期(月);地球绕日公转的四季周期(年).

人工照明装置发明以前,月亮拥有较大的社会影响力.尤其对赤道附近的人来说,月亮的盈亏比起季节的变迁要来得显眼,因此从低纬度社会所发展出来的历法,受到月亮周期的影响要大於太阳周期.不过在较北的地带,由於农业与季节的关系密切,於是太阳年就格外重要了.当罗马帝国往北延伸后,罗马历法的组成大部分都是以太阳年为基础.

早在罗马帝国建立前的几个世纪，古埃及人便形成了庶民历法，每月有30天,一年有12个月,再加上额外的五天以接近太阳年.另外他们以每10天为一单位,用一组天空出现的星群来标记,称为「星宿」(decan).每年当尼罗河要开始氾滥时,天狼星就会在日出前升起,同时有12个星宿横跨星空.由於埃及人认为12星宿的出现意义深重,这促使他们发明一种系统,将黑夜等分成12个单位(后来白昼也同样12等分).这个时间单位被称为「真时」(temporal hour),因为它会依季节而变换，所以会产生昼夜长短不同的变化,夏季白天的真时较长,冬季白天的真时较短,只有在春分或秋分时,白天与夜晚的真时才会一样长.真时后来被希腊人采用,并由罗马人将它传播到整个欧洲去,使用的寿命长达2500年之久.

当时的发明家制造了日晷,利用太阳阴影的长度或角度,来测量白天真时的变化.到了晚上,则用水钟取代日晷,量测晚上的真时.第一个水钟是一个底部有小洞的水盆,水由小洞慢慢流出;流出的水量代表消逝的时间,而水量多寡则可从盆内下降水位的刻度得知.在地中海地区,这些计时装置算是相当适用,但对多云又严寒冬日里滴水成冰的北欧地区来说,就不那么可靠了.

机械钟的到来意味着：人们虽然可以通过调节机械钟而得到及时的真时，但必须得到均时,然而，首先需要解决的问题是一天时间从何时起算.14世纪初,出现了好几种均时系统,它们将一天划分成24小时,差别只在於起算的时间:「意大利时」从日落时起算,「巴比伦时」从日出时起算,「天文时」由正午开始,而「大钟时」(源自德国的大型公众时钟)则由凌晨开始.最后的竞争胜利者是「小钟时」(或称「法国时」),我们今天所采用的就是这种均时制:将一天分成两个12小时的周期,并由凌晨起算.

史上第一座以砝码带动的机械钟,于1283年装设在英格兰贝德福郡的丹斯塔布修道院。这种新计时装置中最具革命性的一环,既不是提供动力来源的下垂砝码,也不是传动力量的齿轮(这至少在公元1300年之前就出现了),而是「擒纵器」(escapement).经由它才能控制齿轮的转动,将维持振荡器运动的力量传送出去;因为有了擒纵器,这种新的计时装置才能调节速率准确计时。到16世纪时，人们已经发明了摆钟，但钟摆的摆动弧度过大，计时不十分准确。

为了解决这一问题，1670年英国出现了各种各样的纵擒装置其中有一种以控制杆为核心的锚形擒纵器，其外形酷似船锚，实质上是一种立轴擒纵器。钟摆的运动带动了纵擒器，每次刚好释放纵擒齿轮上的一个齿，这样一来，时钟就可以准确计时了。立轴纵擒器可以让钟摆以非常小的弧度运动，这一点很大程度上区别于先前的各种摆钟。不仅如此，这一发明能够令摆钟每秒摆动一次，因此，人们便设计了落地式钟壳，今天人们将这种时钟称为“爷爷钟”。

今天,高度精确的计时器为我们大部分电子仪器校准时间.几乎所有的电脑都有一个石英钟为整部电脑的运作校时,而从全球定位系统卫星传送下来的时间讯号,不但为高精密度的航行仪器校时,这项功能还遍及手机,即时股票交易系统与全国电力配置网.这些以时间为基础的科技整合得完美无缺,成为我们日常生活的一环,不到它们发生事故,我们都无法感觉到自己对这些技术的倚赖.