雅思阅读精讲-READING-PASSAGE-1
雅思阅读第043套P1-Voya...
雅思阅读第043套P1-Voya...雅思阅读第043套P1-Voyage of Going: beyond the blue line 2 READING PASSAGE 1You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.Voyage of Going: beyond the blue line 2A One feels a certain sympathy for Captain James Cook on the day in 1778 that he "discovered" Hawaii. Then on his third expedition to the Pacific, the British navigator had explored scores of islands across the breadth of the sea, from lush New Zealand to the lonely wastes of Easter Island. This latest voyage had taken him thousands of miles north from the Society Islands to an archipelago so remote that even the old Polynesians back on Tahiti knew nothing about it. Imagine Cook's surprise, then, when the natives of Hawaii came paddling out in their canoes and greeted him in a familiar tongue, one he had heard on virtually every mote of inhabited land he had visited. Marveling at the ubiquity of this Pacific language and culture, he later wondered in his journal: "How shall we account for this Nation spreading it self so far over this Vast ocean?"B Answers have been slow in coming. But now a startling archaeological find on the island of Efate, in the Pacific nation of Vanuatu, has revealed an ancient seafaring people, the distant ancestors of today's Polynesians, taking their first steps into the unknown. The discoveries there have also opened a window into the shadowy world of those early voyagers. At the same time, other pieces of this human puzzle are turning up in unlikelyplaces. Climate data gleaned from slow-growing corals around the Pacific and from sediments in alpine lakes in South America may help explain how, more than a thousand years later, a second wave of seafarers beat their way across the entire Pacific.C "What we have is a first- or second-generation site containing the graves of some of the Pacific's first explorers," says Spriggs, professor of archaeology at the Australian National University and co-leader of an international team excavating the site. It came to light only by luck. A backhoe operator, digging up topsoil on the grounds of a derelict coconut plantation, scraped open a grave - the first of dozens in a burial ground some 3,000 years old. It is the oldest cemetery ever found in the Pacific islands, and it harbors the bones of an ancient people archaeologists call the Lapita, a label that derives from a beach in New Caledonia where a landmark cache of their pottery was found in the 1950s. They were daring blue-water adventurers who roved the sea not just as explorers but also as pioneers, bringing along everything they would need to build new lives - their families and livestock, taro seedlings and stone tools.D Within the span of a few centuries the Lapita stretched the boundaries of their world from the jungle-clad volcanoes of Papua New Guinea to the loneliest coral outliers of T onga, at least 2,000 miles eastward in the Pacific. Along the way they explored millions of square miles of unknown sea, discovering and colonizing scores of tropical islands never before seen by human eyes: Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Fiji, Samoa.E What little is known or surmised about them has been pieced together from fragments of pottery, animal bones, obsidian flakes, and such oblique sources as comparative linguistics and geochemistry. Although their voyages can betraced back to the northern islands of Papua New Guinea, their language - variants of which are still spoken across the Pacific - came from Taiwan. And their peculiar style of pottery decoration, created by pressing a carved stamp into the clay, probably had its roots in the northern Philippines. With the discovery of the Lapita cemetery on Efate, the volume of data available to researchers has expanded dramatically. The bones of at least 62 individuals have been uncovered so far - including old men, young women, even babies - and more skeletons are known to be in the ground. Archaeologists were also thrilled to discover six complete Lapita pots; before this, only four had ever been found. Other discoveries included a burial urn with modeled birds arranged on the rim as though peering down at the human bones sealed inside. It's an important find, Spriggs says, for it conclusively identifies the remains as Lapita. "It would be hard for anyone to argue that these aren't Lapita when you have human bones enshrined inside what is unmistakably a Lapita urn."F Several lines of evidence also undergird Spriggs's conclusion that this was a community of pioneers making their first voyages into the remote reaches of Oceania. For one thing, the radiocarbon dating of bones and charcoal places them early in the Lapita expansion. For another, the chemical makeup of the obsidian flakes littering the site indicates that the rock wasn't local; instead it was imported from a large island in Papua New Guinea's Bismarck Archipelago, the springboard for the Lapita's thrust into the Pacific. A particularly intriguing clue comes from chemical tests on the teeth of several skeletons. DNA teased from these ancient bones may also help answer one of the most puzzling questions in Pacific anthropology: Did all Pacific islanders spring from one source or many? Was there only oneoutward migration from a single point in Asia, or several from different points? "This represents the best opportunity we've had yet," says Spriggs, "to find out who the Lapita actually were, where they came from, and who their closest descendants are today."G There is one stubborn question for which archaeology has yet to provide any answers: How did the Lapita accomplish the ancient equivalent of a moon landing, many times over? No one has found one of their canoes or any rigging, which could reveal how the canoes were sailed. Nor do the oral histories and traditions of later Polynesians offer any insights, for they segue into myth long before they reach as far back in time as the Lapita. "All we can say for certain is that the Lapita had canoes that were capable of ocean voyages, and they had the ability to sail them," says Geoff Irwin, a professor of archaeology at the University of Auckland and an avid yachtsman. Those sailing skills, he says, were developed and passed down over thousands of years by earlier mariners who worked their way through the archipelagoes of the western Pacific making short crossings to islands within sight of each other. Reaching Fiji, as they did a century or so later, meant crossing more than 500 miles of ocean, pressing on day after day into the great blue void of the Pacific. What gave them the courage to launch out on such a risky voyage?H The Lapita's thrust into the Pacific was eastward, against the prevailing trade winds, Irwin notes. Those nagging headwinds, he argues, may have been the key to their success. "They could sail out for days into the unknown and reconnoiter, secure in the knowledge that if they didn't find anything, they could turn about and catch a swift ride home on the trade winds. It's what made the whole thing work." Once out there, skilledseafarers would detect abundant leads to follow to land: seabirds and turtles, coconuts and twigs carried out to sea by the tides, and the afternoon pileup of clouds on the horizon that often betokens an island in the distance. Some islands may have broadcast their presence with far less subtlety than a cloud bank. Some of the most violent eruptions anywhere on the planet during the past 10,000 years occurred in Melanesia, which sits nervously in one of the most explosive volcanic regions on Earth. Even less spectacular eruptions would have sent plumes of smoke billowing into the stratosphere and rained ash for hundreds of miles. It's possible that the Lapita saw these signs of distant islands and later sailed off in their direction, knowing they would find land. For returning explorers, successful or not, the geography of their own archipelagoes provided a safety net to keep them from overshooting their home ports and sailing off into eternity.I However they did it, the Lapita spread themselves a third of the way across the Pacific, then called it quits for reasons known only to them. Ahead lay the vast emptiness of the central Pacific, and perhaps they were too thinly stretched to venture farther. They probably never numbered more than a few thousand in total, and in their rapid migration eastward they encountered hundreds of islands - more than 300 in Fiji alone. Still, more than a millennium would pass before the Lapita's descendants, a people we now call the Polynesians, struck out in search of new territory.SECTION 1: QUESTIONS 1-13Questions 1-7Do the following statements agree with the informationgiven in Reading Passage?In boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet, write1 _________________ Captain cook once expected the Hawaii might speak another language of people from other pacific islands.2 _________________N Captain cook depicted number of cultural aspects of Polynesians in his journal.3 _________________ Professor Spriggs and his research team went to the Efate to try to find the site of ancient cemetery.4 _________________ The Lapita completed a journey of around 2,000 miles in a period less than a centenary.5 _________________ The Lapita were the first inhabitants in many pacific islands.6 _________________ The unknown pots discovered in Efate had once been used for cooking.7 _________________ The urn buried in Efate site was plain as it was without any decoration.Questions 8-10Complete the following summary of the paragraphs of Reading Passage, using NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the Reading Passage for each answer.Write your answers in boxes 8-10 on your answer sheet.Questions 11-13Answer the questions below.Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.Write your answers in boxes 11-13 on your answer sheet.What did the Lapita travel in when they crossed the oceans?11 _________________In Irwins's view, what would the Latipa have relied on to bring them fast back to the base?12 _________________Which sea creatures would have been an indication to the Lapita of where to find land?13 _________________。
剑桥雅思阅读11（test1）答案精讲
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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。
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。
剑桥雅思阅读理解解析含翻译
剑桥雅思8-第三套试题-阅读部分-P A S S A G E1-阅读真题原文部分:READING PASSAGE 1You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13 which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.Striking Back at Lightning With LasersSeldom is the weather more dramatic than when thunderstorms strike. Their electrical fury inflicts death or serious injury on around 500 people each year in the United States alone. As the clouds roll in, a leisurely round of golf can become a terrifying dice with death - out in the open, a lone golfer may be a lightning bolt's most inviting target. And there is damage to property too. Lightning damage costs American power companies more than $100 million a year.But researchers in the United States and Japan are planning to hit back. Already in laboratory trials they have tested strategies for neutralising the power of thunderstorms, and this winter they will brave real storms, equipped with an armoury of lasers that they will be pointing towards the heavens to discharge thunderclouds before lightning can strike.The idea of forcing storm clouds to discharge their lightning on command is not new. In the early 1960s, researchers tried firing rockets trailing wires into thunderclouds to set up an easy discharge path for the huge electric charges that these clouds generate. The technique survives to this day at a test site in Florida run by the University of Florida, with support from the Electrical Power Research Institute EPRI, based in California. EPRI, which is funded by power companies, is looking at ways to protect the United States' power grid from lightning strikes. 'We can cause the lightning to strike where we want it to using rockets, ' says Ralph Bernstein, manager of lightning projects at EPRI. The rocket site is providing precise measurements of lightning voltages and allowing engineers to check how electrical equipment bears up.Bad behaviourBut while rockets are fine for research, they cannot provide the protection from lightning strikes that everyone is looking for. The rockets cost around $1, 200 each, can only be fired at a limited frequency and their failure rate is about 40 per cent. And even when they do trigger lightning, things still do not always go according to plan. 'Lightning is not perfectly well behaved, ' says Bernstein. 'Occasionally, it will take a branch and go someplace it wasn't supposed to go. ' And anyway, who would want to fire streams of rockets in a populated area 'What goes up must come down, ' points out Jean-Claude Diels of the University of New Mexico. Diels is leading a project, which is backed by EPRI, to try to use lasers to discharge lightning safely - and safety is a basic requirement since no one wants to put themselves or their expensive equipment at risk. With around $500, 000 invested so far, a promising system is just emerging from the laboratory.The idea began some 20 years ago, when high-powered lasers were revealing their ability to extract electrons out of atoms and create ions. If a laser could generate a line of ionisation in the air all the way up to a storm cloud, this conducting path could be used to guide lightning to Earth, before the electric field becomes strong enough to break down the air in an uncontrollable surge. To stop the laser itself being struck, it would not be pointed straight at the clouds. Instead it would be directed at a mirror, and from there into the sky. The mirror would be protected by placing lightning conductors close by. Ideally, the cloud-zapper gunwould be cheap enough to be installed around all key power installations, and portable enough to be taken to international sporting events to beam up at brewing storm clouds.A stumbling blockHowever, there is still a big stumbling block. The laser is no nifty portable: it's a monster that takes up a whole room. Diels is trying to cut down the size and says that a laser around the size of a small table is in the offing. He plans to test this more manageable system on live thunderclouds next summer.Bernstein says that Diels's system is attracting lots of interest from the power companies. But they have not yet come up with the $5 million that EPRI says willbe needed to develop a commercial system, by making the lasers yet smaller and cheaper. 'I cannot say I have money yet, but I'm working on it, ' says Bernstein. He reckons that the forthcoming field tests will be the turning point - and he's hoping for good news. Bernstein predicts 'an avalanche of interest and support' if all goes well. He expects to see cloud-zappers eventually costing 100, 000 each.Other scientists could also benefit. With a lightning 'switch' at their fingertips, materials scientists could find out what happens when mighty currents meet matter. Diels also hopes to see the birth of 'interactive meteorology' - not just forecasting the weather but controlling it. 'If we could discharge clouds, we might affect the weather, ' he says.And perhaps, says Diels, we'll be able to confront some other meteorological menaces. 'We think we could prevent hail by inducing lightning, ' he says. Thunder, the shock wave that comes from a lightning flash, is thought to be the trigger for the torrential rain that is typical of storms. A laser thunder factory could shake the moisture out of clouds, perhaps preventing the formation of the giant hailstones that threaten crops. With luck, as the storm clouds gather this winter, laser-toting researchers could, for the first time, strike back.Questions 1-3Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.Write the correct letter in boxes 1-3 on your answer sheet.1 The main topic discussed in the text isA the damage caused to US golf courses and golf players by lightning strikes.B the effect of lightning on power supplies in the US and in Japan.C a variety of methods used in trying to control lightning strikes.D a laser technique used in trying to control lightning strikes.2 According to the text, every year lightningA does considerable damage to buildings during thunderstorms.B kills or injures mainly golfers in the United States.C kills or injures around 500 people throughout the world.D damages more than 100 American power companies.3 Researchers at the University of Florida and at the University of New MexicoA receive funds from the same source.B are using the same techniques.C are employed by commercial companies.D are in opposition to each other.Questions 4-6Complete the sentences below.Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.Write your answers in boxes 4-6 on your answer sheet.4 EPRI receives financial support from………………………….5 The advantage of the technique being developed by Diels is that it can be used……………… .6 The main difficulty associated with using the laser equipment is related to its……………….Questions 7-10Complete the summary using the list of words, A-I, below.Write the correct letter, A-I, in boxes 7-10 on your answer sheet.In this method, a laser is used to create a line of ionisation by removing electrons from 7 …………………………. This laser is then directed at 8 ………………………… in order to control electrical charges, a method which is less dangerous than using 9 …………………………. As a protection for the lasers, the beams are ai med firstly at 10………………………….A cloud-zappersB atomsC storm cloudsD mirrorsE techniqueF ionsG rockets H conductors I thunderQuestions 11-13Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1In boxes 11-13 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 thinks about this11 Power companies have given Diels enough money to develop his laser.12 Obtaining money to improve the lasers will depend on tests in real storms.13 Weather forecasters are intensely interested in Diels's system. READING PASSAGE 1篇章结构体裁说明文主题用激光回击闪电结构第1段：闪电带来的危害第2段：科研人员正在研究回击闪电的方法第3段：先前的闪电回击术介绍第4段：火箭回击术的缺陷第5段：更安全的激光回击术第6段：激光回击术的技术原理第7段：激光回击术的缺陷第8段：通过实地实验改进激光回击术第9段：激光回击术对其他学科也有益处第10段：激光回击术的其他用途解题地图难度系数：★★★解题顺序：按题目顺序解答即可友情提示：烤鸭们注意：本文中的SUMMARY题目顺序有改变,解题要小心；MULTIPLE CHOICE的第三题是个亮点,爱浮想联翩的烤鸭们可能会糊掉;必背词汇1. inflict v. 造成The strikes inflicted serious damage on the economy. 罢工给经济造成了重大损失;2. inviting adj. 吸引人的The log fire looked warm and inviting. 篝火看上去温暖而诱人;3. property n. 财产；属性The hotel is not responsible for any loss or damage to guests’ personal property.酒店不承担宾客的任何个人财产的丢失或损坏;a herb with healing properties具有治疗效果的草药physical/chemical properties物理特性/化学特性4. fund v. 资助,投资The project is jointly funded by several local companies. 这个项目得到了当地几家公司的联合资助;government-funded research政府资助的研究5. back v. 支持,帮助The scheme has been backed by several major companies in the region.这个项目得到了该地区几家大公司的支持;Some suspected that the rebellion was backed and financed by the US.有人怀疑这次叛乱是由美国主使并资助的;6. discharge v. 放电；排出Both forms are readily gasified by electrical discharge without leaving any tangible residue.两种形态都易被放电气化而不剩任何可触察的残余;7. emerge v. 出现,浮现The sun emerged from behind the clouds. 太阳从云朵中探出头来;Eventually the truth emerged. 真相最终浮出水面;8. reveal v. 展现,显示；揭示,泄露He may be prosecuted for revealing secrets about the security agency.他可能会因为泄露国安局机密而遭检控;He revealed that he had been in prison twice before. 他透露说他曾经坐过两次牢;9. generate v. 使产生The program would generate a lot of new jobs. 这项计划会创造很多新职位;Tourism generates income for local communities. 旅游业给当地社区带来了收入;10. surge n. 涌流：猛增a surge of excitement一阵兴奋a surge of refugees into the country 涌入该国的难民潮a surge in food costs食品价格猛涨11. install v. 安装They've installed the new computer network at last. 他们最终安装了新的计算机网络;Security cameras have been installed in the city centre. 市中心安装了安全摄像头;12. nifty adj. 灵便的a nifty little gadget for squeezing oranges一个榨橘子汁用的灵便小工具13. in the offing即将发生的Big changes were in the offing. 剧变即将发生;认知词汇dramatic adj. 激动人心的fury n. 狂怒,狂暴本文中指雷暴电流leisurely adv. 轻松地dice with death拿性命开玩笑neutralize v. 中和brave v. 勇敢地面对armoury n. 军械库on command 按指令power grid 电力网precise adj. 精确的voltages n. 电压frequency n. 频率failure rate 失败率trigger v. 激发,触发branch n. 岔路populated adj. 人口密集的extract v. 提取atom n. 原子ion n. 离子ionization n. 离子化electric field 电场conductor n. 导体sporting event体育项目stumbling block 绊脚石monster n. 庞然大物manageable adj. 易管理的yet adv. 尚未；还没有come up with 准备好；提供reckon v. 料想,预计forthcoming adj. 即将来临的field test 实地测试turning point 转折点an avalanche of似雪片般的current n. 电流matter n. 物质interactive meteorology互动气象学confront v. 面临,对抗menace n. 威胁hail n. 冰雹torrential rain 暴雨moisture n. 水汽giant hailstone 大冰雹佳句赏析1. If a laser could generate a line of ionisation in the air all the way up toa storm could, this conducting path could be used to guide lightning to Earth, beforethe electric field becomes strong enough to break down the air in an uncontrollable surge.参考译文：如果激光器能够生成一条直达暴雨云的离子线,就可以在闪电电场增强为一股无法控制的涌流并击破空气之前,用这条传导通道把电荷引导到地面上来;语言点：状语从句——条件状语从句条件状语从句的连接词主要有：if, unless,as/so long as,on condition that等;此处为if引导的条件状语从句;例句：Just imagine how horrible the world would be if humans are the only creature in the world.想一想,如果人类是这世界上唯一的生物,这世界会变得多可怕;Some animal species are under threat if they stay in their natural habitat.如果留在自然栖息地,某些动物物种会面临威胁;If引导的条件句有真实条件句和非真实条件句两种;非真实条件句可以表示：1同现在事实相反的假设：从句一般过去时+主句should/would+动词原形2与过去事实相反的假设：从句过去完成时+主句should/would have+过去分词3对将来的假设：从句一般过去时+主句should+动词原形；从句were+不定式/should+动词原形+主句would+动词原形例句：If drug use were to be legalized,considerable police time would be spent in dealing with other more serious problems.如果吸食毒品合法化,警察大量的时间就将用于解决其他更严重的问题;2. A laser thunder factory could shake the moisture out of clouds, perhaps preventing the formation of the giant hailstones that threaten crops.参考译文：一个激光雷工厂可以把水汽从云层中震出,这样也许可以阻止威胁庄稼的大冰雹的形成;语言点：现在分词作状语例句：Facing high competition,people may suffer great pressure.面对高度竞争,人们可能会承受巨大的压力;Being confronted with economic pressure,women have to go outside to work.面临经济压力,妇女不得不外出工作;Not wearing proper clothes people will be considered those who do not know socialand interpersonal skills.如果衣着不当,人们会被当成是不懂社交和人际关系技巧的人;试题解析Questions 1-3题目类型：MULTIPLE CHOICES题目解析：解题小窍门：读清题干巧定位,四个选项要读完,绝对only排除掉,正确选项在中间;题号定位词题目解析1main topic 题目：本文讨论的主题是A闪电攻击对美国高尔夫场地和高尔夫选手造成的损失;B闪电对美国和日本电力供应的影响;C试图用来控制闪电袭击的各种方式;D一种试图用来控制闪电袭击的激光技术;正确翻译后,选项A和B比较容易排除,选项C比较具有迷惑性,但是只要看看文章标题,就不难发现本文主题是laser,所以正确答案是D;2 lightning 题目：根据文章,每年闪电会A在暴风雨期间对建筑物造成相当大的破坏;B在美国主要导致高尔夫球手死亡或受伤;C在全世界范围内导致500人死亡或受伤;D破坏了100多家美国电力公司;选项C和D中的具体数字是很好的定位词,可定位至文章第一段;文中提到,只是在美国,闪电每年就能杀伤500人,而不是世界范围内,因此排除选项C;而100这个数字在文中是100million a year,说的是每年闪电会让电力公司损失超过一亿美元,而不是说毁掉100多家电力公司,因此排除选项D;文中提到了云层翻滚而来时在户外打高尔夫是非常危险的,并没有说每年因雷击而死伤的是高尔夫球手,因此排除选项B;文中提到,there is damage to property too. buildings属于property的范畴,因此正确答案为A;3University of Florida,University of New Mexico 题目：佛罗里达大学和新墨西哥大学的研究员们A有同样的资金来源;B使用同样的技术C受雇于商业公司;D互相反对;此题是不可过多联想的典型,越直白的想法越能解题;一般来讲,带有金钱的选项应该去掉,但是此题剑走偏锋,偏偏选了带funds一词的选项A;文中有两处支持这个答案：第一处在第三段：…with support from the Electrical Power Research Institute EPRI…另一处在第五段：…which is backed by EPRI…两处暗示两项研究都得到了EPRI的资助,因此答案为A;选项B可以从文中说的一个主张用火箭,一个主张用激光来排除；选项C在文中并没有提及；选项D则是过多推理的结果,尽管使用技术不同,但是并不代表两者互相反对;Questions 4—6题目类型：SENTENCE COMPLETION题目解析：题号定位词文中对应点题目解析4 EPRI,financialsupport 第三段：EPRI,which is funded bypower companies…用EPRI定位到文章第三段,EPRI第一次出现之后即指出其是由电力公司资助的,原文中的funded等同于题干中的receives financial support from,因此答案应该填power companies;注意不要写成单数;5Diels 第五段：…to try to use lasers todischarge lightning safely…用人名Diels在文中定位到第五段,从题目看出这里应填入一个副词,所以可以在人名周围寻找use或者use的替换词,并且在其周围找带有-ly形式的词,这样正确答案safely很快就能浮出水面了;6 difficulty,laser equipment 第七段：The laser is no nifty portable：it’s a monster that takes up a whole room. Diels is trying to cut down the size…这道题目的定位稍微有一些困难,需要将difficulty一词与文章中的stumbling block联系起来,进而找到第七段中的laser一词;文中提到,该激光设备并不方便携带,它是个体积占据了一整间房间的庞然大物;看到这里,通过理解,考生们可以想到激光设备最大的问题就是体积太大,不好携带,所以正确答案是size;Questions 7-10题目类型：SUMMARY COMPLETION解题小窍门：题目解析：解题小窍门：1. 理解词库里的单词,并将其按词性归类;2. 带动整道题的定位词是第一行的ionisation,比较容易定位到文章第六段,那么整个summary的答案就应该在这个词周围寻找;题号定位词文中对应点题目解析7electrons 第六段：…to extract electrons out of atoms…本题关键是要理解题目中的remove…from…与文中的extract…out of…属于同义替换,这里要表达的是从原子atoms中提取电荷electrons;故正确答案是B;8 directed at 第六段：If a laser could generate a line of ionization in the air all the way up to a storm cloud…注意文中generate是“产生”的意思；directed at对应文中的all the way up to,其后的a storm cloud 即对应空格处要填的内容;因此正确答案是C;9 less dangerous 第五段：…who would want to fire streams of rockets in a populated area…to try to use lasers to discharge lightning safely…这道题比较麻烦,对于只是按照顺序寻找答案的考生,定位答案会比较困难;这里需要联系第五段中的信息,参照词库里的单词,推测出空格所在句的意思是“用激光控制闪电是比用火箭更安全less dangerous的方式”;正确答案是G; 10 protection,aimed firstly at 第六段：To stop the laser itself beingstruck…Instead it would be directed at amirror…protection对应文中的stop…being struck；at是解题关键词,即使不知道文中的directed和题目中的aimed是同义词,也可以从词组的形式上看出来两者是同位的,其后的名词即为答案;由此可知答案是D;Questions 11-13题目类型：YES/NO/NOT GIVEN题目解析：11. Power companies have given Diels enough money to develop his laser.参考译文电力公司已经向Diels提供了足够的资金来研发他的激光器;定位词Diels,money解题关键词have given…enough money文中对应点由定位词及顺序规律可以定位到第八段：“I cannot say I have money yet, but I am working on it. ”“我还不能说我已经拿到钱了,但是我正在为之努力;”看到这句话,再联系上句：Bernstein says that Diels’ system is attracting lotsof interest from the power companies. But they have not yet come up with the 5 million that EPRI says will be needed to develop a commercial system… Bernstein表示,Diels的激光系统正在引起各电力公司的广泛兴趣;但他们还没有准备好EPRI提出的500万美元——开发一个……的商用系统的所需资金;这两句话足以证明Diels的系统还没有得到足够的资金支持;答案NO12. Obtaining money to improve the lasers will depend on tests in real storms.参考译文获得改善激光器所需的资金依赖于在真正的暴风雨中进行的试验;定位词obtaining money. tests in real storms解题关键词tests in real storms文中对应点第八段：第11题对应的原文下一句提到：He reckons that the forthcoming field tests will be the turning point…其中turning point是“转折点”的意思,联系上题中说到的,目前该项目还没有拿到钱,可知这句话的意思是field tests就是得到资金的转折点;field tests=tests in real storms答案YES13. Weather forecasters are intensely interested in Diels's system.参考译文天气预报员们对Diels的系统设备特别感兴趣;定位词Diels,weather forecasters解题关键词intensely interested文中对应点这是一道典型的完全未提及的题目,interest一词出现在第八段的末尾,而weather forecasters这两个词也仅在第九段最后两句中出现：…not just forecasting the weather butcontrolling it…,而具体内容则完全不相干;答案NOT GIVEN参考译文用激光回击闪电很少有比雷暴天气更令人感到恐怖的天气了;仅在美国,猛烈的雷暴电流每年都会造成大约500人死亡或重伤;云层翻滚而来的时候,在户外打一场轻松的高尔夫成了一件异常可怕的事情,无异于是在拿自己的性命开玩笑——孤身一人在户外的高尔夫球手可能是闪电最喜欢攻击的目标;此外,闪电也会带来财产损失;每年闪电会对美国电力公司造成超过一亿美元的损失;不过,美国和日本的研究人员正在策划回击闪电的方案;他们已开始通过实验测试中和雷暴电荷的各种方法;今年冬天,他们将直面雷暴：使用配备的激光器射向空中的雨云,使其在闪电出现之前放电;迫使雨云根据指令释放闪电并非一个新想法;早在20世纪60年代早期,研究者们就尝试过把带着拖曳线的火箭射入雨云,以期为这些云层发出的庞大的电荷群搭建起便捷的放电路径;由于受到建在加利福尼亚的电力研究所EPRI的支持,这一技术在佛罗里达的州立大学试验基地幸存到了今天;EPRI由电力公司资助,现正致力于研究保护美国输电网不受闪电袭击的方法;“我们可以通过火箭让闪电击向我们想让它去的地方,”EPRI的闪电项目经理Ralph Bemstein如此说道;该火箭基地现在能对闪电电压进行精确测量,并可以让工程师们检测电气设备的负载;不良行为虽然火箭在研究中功不可没,但它们无法提供闪电来袭时所有人都希求的保护;每支火箭造价大约1,200美元,发射频率有限,而失败率却高达40％;即使它们确实能够引发闪电,事情也无法总是按计划顺利进行;“闪电可不那么听话,”Bernstein说,“它们偶尔会走岔路,射到它们本不该去的地方;”但不管怎样,有谁会想在人口密集的地区发射成群的火箭呢“射上去的肯定会掉下来,”新墨西哥大学的Jean-Claude Diels指出;Diels现在正在负责一个项目,该项目由ERPI所支持,试图通过发射激光使闪电安全放电——安全是一项基本要求,因为没人愿意把他们自己的性命或他们的昂贵设备置于危险之中;有了迄今为止的50万美元的投入,一套有巨大潜力的系统装置正在该实验室慢慢成形;这一系统装置的想法始于大约20年前,当时正在开发大功率激光器从原子中提取电荷并生成离子的能力;如果激光器能够生成一条直达暴雨云的离子线,就可以在闪电电场增强为一股无法控制的涌流并击破空气之前,用这条传导通道把电荷引导到地面上来;为了防止激光器本身受到电击,不能把它直接对准云层,而是要把它对准一面镜子,让激光通过镜子折射向天空;要在靠近镜子的四局布置闪电传导器从而对其进行保护;理想的做法是,云层遥控器枪要比较廉价,以便能够把它们安装在所有重点电力设备周围；另外还要方便携带,以便在国际运动赛事场地中用于使逐渐聚积的雨云失去威力;绊脚石可是,仍存在巨大的绊脚石;激光器并不方便携带：它是个能占据整个房间的庞然大物;Diels一直想要缩小它的体积,并表示很快就会有小型桌子大小的激光器了;他计划在明年夏天用真正的雨云来实际测试这个更容易操作的激光系统;Bemstein表示,Diels的激光系统正在引起各电力公司的广泛兴趣;但他们还没有准备好EPRI提出的500万美元——开发一个让激光器更小巧、价格也更便宜的商用系统的所需资金;Bernstein说：“我还不能说我已经拿到钱了,但是我正在为之努力;”他认为,即将进行的实地测试会成为一个转折点,而且他也在期待着好消息;Bemstein预言,如果一切顺利,这将吸引“排山倒海般的兴趣和支持”;他希望看到云层遥控器的最终价格能定在每台5万到10万美元之间;其他科学家也能从中受益;如果手上有了控制闪电的“开关”,材料科学家就可以了解强大的电流遇到物质时会发生什么现象;Diels也希望看到“互动气象学”问世——不仅仅是预测天气,而且能控制天气;“如果我们能使云层放电,我们也许就能左右天气,”他说;而且也许,Diels说,我们将能够对抗一些其他的气象威胁;“我们认为我们也许能通过引导闪电来阻止冰雹,”他说;雷,来自于闪电的冲击波,被认为是大暴雨——典型的雷暴天气——的触发器;一个激光雷工厂可以把水汽从云层中震出,这样也许可以阻止威胁庄稼的大冰雹的形成;如果运气好的话,在今年冬天雨云聚积的时候,持有激光器的研究者们就能第一次对其进行回击了;剑桥雅思8-第三套试题-阅读部分-PASSAGE 2-阅读真题原文部分:READING PASSAGE 2You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26, which are based on Reading Passage 2 below.The Nature of GeniusThere has always been an interest in geniuses and prodigies. The word 'genius', from the Latin gens = family and the term 'genius', meaning 'begetter', comes from the early Roman cult of a divinity as the head of the family. In its earliest form, genius was concerned with the ability of the head of the family, the paterfamilias, to perpetuate himself. Gradually, genius came to represent a person's characteristics and thence an individual's highest attributes derived from his 'genius' or guiding spirit. Today, people still look to stars or genes, astrology or genetics, in thehope of finding the source of exceptional abilities or personal characteristics.The concept of genius and of gifts has become part of our folk culture, and attitudes are ambivalent towards them. We envy the gifted and mistrust them. In the mythology of giftedness, it is popularly believed that if people are talented in one area, they must be defective in another, that intellectuals are impractical, that prodigies burn too brightly too soon and burn out, that gifted people are eccentric, that they are physical weaklings, that there's a thin line between genius and madness, that genius runs in families, that the gifted are so clever they don't need special help, that giftedness is the same as having a high IQ, that some races are more intelligent or musical or mathematical than others, that genius goes unrecognised and unrewarded, that adversity makes men wise or that people with gifts have a responsibility to use them. Language has been enriched with such terms as 'highbrow', 'egghead', 'blue-stocking', 'wiseacre', 'know-all', 'boffin' and, for many, 'intellectual' is a term of denigration.The nineteenth century saw considerable interest in the nature of genius, and produced not a few studies of famous prodigies. Perhaps for us today, two of the most significant aspects of most of these studies of genius are the frequency with which early encouragement and teaching by parents and tutors had beneficial effects on the intellectual, artistic or musical development of the children but caused great difficulties of adjustment later in their lives, and the frequency with which abilities went unrecognised by teachers and schools. However, the difficulty with the evidence produced by these studies, fascinating as they are in collecting together anecdotes and apparent similarities and exceptions, is that they are not what we would today call norm-referenced. In other words, when, for instance, information is collated about early illnesses, methods of upbringing, schooling, etc. , we must also take into account information from other historical sources about how common or exceptional these were at the time. For instance, infant mortality was high and life expectancy much shorter than today, home tutoring was common in the families of the nobility and wealthy, bullying and corporal punishment were common at the best independent schools and, for the most part, the cases studiedwere members of the privileged classes. It was only with the growth of paediatrics and psychology in the twentieth century that studies could be carried out on a more objective, if still not always very scientific, basis.Geniuses, however they are defined, are but the peaks which stand out through the mist of history and are visible to the particular observer from his or her particular vantage point. Change the observers and the vantage points, clear away some of the mist, and a different lot of peaks appear. Genius is a term we apply to those whom we recognise for their outstanding achievements and who stand near the end of the continuum of human abilities which reaches back through the mundane and mediocre to the incapable. There is still much truth in Dr Samuel Johnson's observation, 'The true genius is a mind of large general powers, accidentally determined to some particular direction'. We may disagree with the 'general', for we doubt if all musicians of genius could have become scientists of genius or vice versa, but there is no doubting the accidental determination which nurtured or triggered their gifts into those channels into which they have poured their powers so successfully. Along the continuum of abilities are hundreds of thousands of gifted men and women, boys and girls.What we appreciate, enjoy or marvel at in the works of genius or the achievements of prodigies are the manifestations of skills or abilities which are similar to, but so much superior to, our own. But that their minds are not different from our own is demonstrated by the fact that the hard-won discoveries of scientists like Kepler or Einstein become the commonplace knowledge of schoolchildren and the once outrageous shapes and colours of an artist like Paul Klee so soon appear on the fabrics we wear. This does not minimise the supremacy of their achievements, which outstrip our own as the sub-four-minute milers outstrip our jogging.To think of geniuses and the gifted as having uniquely different brains is only reasonable if we accept that each human brain is uniquely different. The purpose of instruction is to make us even more different from one another, and in the process of being educated we can learn from the achievements of those more gifted than ourselves. But before we try to emulate geniuses or encourage our children to doso we should note that some of the things we learn from them may prove unpalatable. We may envy their achievements and fame, but we should also recognise the price they may have paid in terms of perseverance, single-mindedness, dedication, restrictions on their personal lives, the demands upon their energies and time, and how often they had to display great courage to preserve their integrity or to make their way to the top.Genius and giftedness are relative descriptive terms of no real substance. We may, at best, give them some precision by defining them and placing them in a context but, whatever we do, we should never delude ourselves into believing that gifted children or geniuses are different from the rest of humanity, save in the degree to which they have developed the performance of their abilities.Questions 14-18Choose FIVE letters, A-K.Write the correct letters in boxes 14-18 on your answer sheet.NB Your answers may be given in any order.Below are listed some popular beliefs about genius and giftedness.Which FIVE of these beliefs are reported by the writer of the textA Truly gifted people are talented in all areas.B The talents of geniuses are soon exhausted.C Gifted people should use their gifts.D A genius appears once in every generation.E Genius can be easily destroyed by discouragement.F Genius is inherited.G Gifted people are very hard to live with.H People never appreciate true genius.I Geniuses are natural leaders.J Gifted people develop their greatness through difficulties.K Genius will always reveal itself.Questions 19-26Reading。
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”
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。
剑桥雅思阅读5原文精讲（test3）
剑桥雅思阅读5原文精讲(test3)雅思阅读是块难啃的硬骨头，需要我们做更多的题目才能得心应手。
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剑桥雅思阅读5原文(test3)READING PASSAGE 1You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.Early Childhood EducationNew Zealand’s National Party spokesman on education, Dr Lockwood Smith,recently visited the US and Britain. Here he reports on the findings of his tripand what they could mean for New Zealand’s education policyA‘Education T o Be More’ was published last August. It was the report of the New Zealand Government’s Early Childhood Care and Education Working Group. The report argued for enhanced equity of access and better funding for childcare and early childhood education institutions. Unquestionably, that’s a real need; but since parents don’t normally send children to pre-schools until the age of three, are we missing out on the most important years of all?BA 13-year study of early childhood development at Harvard University has shown that, by the age of three, most children have the potential to understand about 1000 words —most of the language they will use in ordinary conversation for the rest oftheir lives.Furthermore, research has shown that while every child is born with a natural curiosity, it can be suppressed dramatically during the second and third years of life. Researchers claim that the human personality is formed during the first two years of life, and during the first three years children learn the basic skills they will use in all their later learning both at home and at school. Once over the age of three, children continue to expand on existing knowledge of the world.CIt is generally acknowledged that young people from poorer socio-economic backgrounds tend to do less well in our education system. That’s observed not just in New Zealand, but also in Australia, Britain and America. In an attempt to overcome that educational under-achievement, a nationwide programme call ed ‘Headstart’ was launched in the United States in 1965.A lot of money was poured into it. It took children into pre-school institutions at the age of three and was supposed to help the children of poorer families succeed in school.Despite substantial funding, results have been disappointing. It is thought that there are two explanations for this. First, the programme began too late. Many children who entered it at the age of three were already behind their peers in language and measurable intelligence. Second, the parents were not involved. At the end of each day, ‘Headstart’ children returned to the same disadvantaged home environment.DAs a result of the growing research evidence of the importance of the first three years of a child’s life and the disappointing results from ‘Headstart’, a pilot programme waslaunched in Missouri in the US that focused on parents as the child’s first teachers. The ‘Missouri’ programme was predicated on research showing that working with the family, rather than bypassing the parents, is the most effective way of helping children get off to the best possible start in life. The four-year pilot study included 380 families who were about to have their first child and who represented a cross-section of socio-economic status, age and family configurations. They included single-parent and two-parent families, families in which both parents worked, and families with either the mother or father at home.The programme involved trained parent — educators visiting the parents’ home and working with the parent, or parents, and the child. Information on child development, and guidance on things to look for and expect as the child grows were provided, plus guidance in fostering the child’s intellectual, language, social and motor-skill development. Periodic check-ups of the child’s educational and sensory development (hearing and vision) were made to detect possible handicaps that interfere with growth and development. Medical problems were referred to professionals.Parent-educators made personal visits to homes and monthly group meetings were held with other new parents to share experience and discuss topics of interest. Parent resource centres, located in school buildings, offered learning materials for families and facilitators for child care.EAt the age of three, the children who had been involved in the ‘Missouri’ programme were evaluated alongside a cross-section of children selected from the same range of socio-economic backgrounds and family situations, and also a random sample of children that age. The results were phenomenal. By the age of three, the children in the programme were significantly more advanced in language development than their peers, had made greater strides in problem solving and other intellectual skills, and were further along in social development. In fact, the average child on the programme was performing at the level of the top 15 to 20 per cent of their peers in such things as auditory comprehension, verbal ability and language ability.Most important of all, the traditional measures of ‘risk’, such as parents’ age and education, or whether they were a single parent, bore little or no relationship to the measures of achievement and language development. Children in the programme performed equally well regardless of socio-economic disadvantages. Child abuse was virtually eliminated. The one factor that was found to affect the child’s development was family stress leading to a poor quality of parent-child interaction. That interaction was not necessarily bad in poorer families.FThese research findings are exciting. There is growing evidence in New Zealand that children from poorer socio-economic backgrounds are arriving at school less well developed and that our school system tends to perpetuate that disadvantage. The initiative outlined above could break that cycle of disadvantage. The concept of working with parents in their homes, or at their place of work, contrasts quite markedly with the report of the Early Childhood Care and Education Working Group. Their focus is on getting children and mothers access to childcare and institutionalized early childhood education.Education from the age of three to five is undoubtedly vital, but without a similar focus on parent education and on the vital importance of the first three years, some evidence indicates that it will not be enough to overcome educational inequity.Questions 1-4Reading Passage 1 has six sections, A-F.Which paragraph contains the following information?Write the correct letter A-F in boxes 1-4 on your answer sheet.1 details of the range of family types involved in an education programme2 reasons why a child’s early years are so important3 reasons why an education programme failed4 a description of the positive outcomes of an education programmeQuestions 5-10Classify the following features as characterisingA the ‘Headstart’ programmeB the ‘Missouri’ programmeC both the ‘Headstart’ and the ‘Missouri’ programmesD neither the ‘Headstart’ nor the ‘Missouri’ programmeWrite the correct letter A, B, C or D in boxes 5-10 on your answer sheet.5 was administered to a variety of poor and wealthy families6 continued with follow-up assistance in elementary schools7 did not succeed in its aim8 supplied many forms of support and training to parents9 received insufficient funding10 was designed to improve pre-schoolers’ educational developmentQuestions 11-13Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?In boxes 11-13 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 this11 Most ‘Missouri’ programme three-year-olds scored highly in areas such as listening speaking, reasoning and interacting with others.12 ‘Missouri’ programme children of young, uneducated, single parents scored less highly on the tests.13 The richer families in the ‘Missouri’ programme had higher stress levels.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 six paragraphs, A-F.Choose the correct heading for paragraphs B and D-F from the list of headings below.Write the correct number i-viii in boxes 14-17 on your answer sheet.List of HeadingsI Effects of irrigation on sedimentationIi The danger of flooding the Cairo areaIii Causing pollution in the MediterraneanIv Interrupting a natural processV The threat to food productionVi Less valuable sediment than beforeVii Egypt’s disappearing coastlineViii Looking at the long-term impactExample Paragraph A Answer vii14 Paragraph BExample Paragraph C Answer vi15 Paragraph D16 Paragraph E17 Paragraph FDisappearing DeltaA The fertile land of the Nile delta is being eroded along Egypt’s Mediterranean coast at an astounding rate，in some parts estimated at 100 metres per year.In the past，land scoured away from the coastline by the currents of the Mediterranean Sea used to be replaced by sediment brought down to the delta by the River Nile，but this is no longer happening.B Up to now, people have blamed this loss of delta land on the two large dams at Aswan in the south of Egypt，which hold back virtually all of the sediment that used to flow down the river. Before the dams were built，the Nile flowed freely carrying huge quantities of sediment north from Africa’s interior to be deposited on the Nile delta.This continued for 7,000 years，eventually covering a region of over 22,000 square kilometres with layers of fertile silt.Annual flooding brought in new, nutrient-rich soil to the delta region，replacing what had been washed away by the sea，and dispensing with the need for fertilizers in Egypt’s richest food-growing area.But when the Aswan dams were constructed in the 20th century to provide electricity and irrigation，and to protect the huge population centre of Cairo and its surrounding areas from annual flooding and drought，most of the sediment with its naturaI fertilizer accumulated upabove the dam in the southern, upstream half of Lake Nasser, instead of passing down to the delta.C Now, however, there turns out to be more to the story.It appears that the sediment-free water emerging from the Aswan dams picks up silt and sand as it erodes the river bed and banks on the 800-kilometre trip to Cairo.Daniel Jean Stanley of the Smithsonian Institute noticed that water samples taken in Cairo，just before the river enters the delta，indicated that the river sometimes carries more than 850 grams of sediment per cubic metre of water — almost half of what it carried before the dams were built. ‘I’m ashamed to say that the significance of this didn’t strike me until after I had read 50 or 60 studies，’ says Stanley in Marine Geology.‘There is still a lot of sediment coming into the delta, but virtually no sediment comes out into the Mediterranean to replenish the coastline.So this sediment must be trapped on the delta itself.’D Once north of Cairo, most of the Nile water is diverted into more than 10,000 kilometres of irrigation canals and only a small proportion reaches the sea directly through the rivers in the delta.The water in the irrigation canals is still or very slow-moving and thus cannot carry sediment, Stanley explains. The sediment sinks to the bottom of the canals and then is added to fields by farmers or pumped with the water into the four large freshwater lagoons that are located near the outer edges of the delta.So very little of it actually reaches the coastline to replace what is being washed away by the Mediterranean currents.E The farms on the delta plains and fishing and aquaculture in the lagoons account for much of Egypt’s food supply.But by the time the sediment has come to rest in the fields and lagoons it is laden with municipal, industrial and agricultural waste fromthe Cairo region, which is home to more than 40 million people.’Pollutants are building up faster and faster,’ says Stanley.Based on his investigations of sediment from the delta lagoons, Frederic Siegel of George Washington University concurs. ‘In Manzalah Lagoon, for example, the increase in mercury, lead, copper and zinc coincided with the building of the High Dam at Aswan, the availability of cheap electricity, and the development of major power-based industries,’ he says. Since that time the concentration of mercury has increased significantly. Lead from engines that use leaded fuels and from other industrial sources has also increased dramatically. These poisons can easily enter the food chain, affecting the productivity of fishing and farming. Another problem is that agricultural wastes include fertilizers which stimulate increases in plant growth in the lagoons and upset the ecology of the area, with serious effects on the fishing industry.F According to Siegel, international environmental organisations are beginning to pay closer attention to the region, partly because of the problems of erosion and pollution of the Nile delta, but principally because they fear the impact this situation could have on the whole Mediterranean coastal ecosystem. But there are no easy solutions. In the immediate future, Stanley believes that one solution would be to make artificial floods to flush out the delta waterways, in the same way that natural floods did before the construction of the dams. He says, however, that in the long term an alternative process such as desalination may have to be used to increase the amount of water available. ‘In my view, Egypt must devise a way to have more water running through the river and the delta,’ saysStanley. Easier said than done in a desert region with a rapidly growing population.Questions 18-23Do the following statements reflect the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 2?In boxes 18-23 on your answer sheet, writeYES if the statement reflects the claims of the writerNO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writerNOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this18 Coastal erosion occurred along Egypt’s Mediterranean coast before the building of the Aswan dams.19 Some people predicted that the Aswan dams would cause land loss before they were built.20 The Aswan dams were built to increase the fertility of the Nile delta.21 Stanley found that the levels of sediment in the river water in Cairo were relatively high.22 Sediment in the irrigation canals on the Nile delta causes flooding.23 Water is pumped from the irrigation canals into the lagoons.Questions 24-26Complete the summary of paragraphs E and F with the list of words A-H below.Write the correct letter A-H in boxes 24-26 on your answer sheet.In addition to the problem of coastal erosion, there has been a marked increase in the level of 24………………contained in the silt deposited in the Nile delta. To deal with this, Stanley suggests theuse of 25………………in the s hort term, and increasing the amount of water available through 26………………in the longer term.A artificial floodsB desalinationC delta waterwaysD natural floodsE nutrientsF pollutantsG population controlH sedimentREADING PASSAGE 3You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40, which are based on Reading Passage 3 below.The Return of Artificial IntelligenceIt is becoming acceptable again to talk of computers performinghuman tasks such as problem-solving and pattern-recognitionA After years i n the wilderness, the term ‘artificial intelligence’ (AI) seems poised to make a comeback. AI was big in the 1980s but vanished in the 1990s. It re-entered public consciousness with the release of AI, a movie about a robot boy. This has ignited public debate about AI, but the term is also being used once more within the computer industry. Researchers, executives and marketing people are now using the expression without irony or inverted commas. And it is not always hype. The term is being applied, with some justification, to products that depend on technology that was originally developed by AI researchers. Admittedly, the rehabilitation of the term has a long way to go, and some firms still prefer to avoid using it. But the fact that others are starting to use it again suggests that AI has moved on from being seen as an over-ambitious and under-achieving field of research.B The field was launched, and the term ‘artificial intelligence’ coined, at a conference in 1956, by a group ofresearchers that included Marvin Minsky, John McCarthy, Herbert Simon and Alan Newell, all of whom went on to become leading figures in the field. The expression provided an attractive but informative name for a research programme that encompassed such previously disparate fields as operations research, cybernetics, logic and computer science. The goal they shared was an attempt to capture or mimic human abilities using machines. That said, different groups of researchers attacked different problems, from speech recognition to chess playing, in different ways; AI unified the field in name only. But it was a term that captured the public imagination.C Most researchers agree that AI peaked around 1985. A public reared on science-fiction movies and excited by the growing power of computers had high expectations. For years, AI researchers had implied that a breakthrough was just around the corner. Marvin Minsky said in 1967 that within a generation the problem of creating ‘artificial intelligence’ would be substantially solved. Prototypes of medical-diagnosis programs and speech recognition software appeared to be making progress. It proved to be a false dawn. Thinking computers and household robots failed to materialise, and a backlash ensued. ‘There was undue optimism in the early 1980s,’ says David Leake, a researcher at Indiana University. ‘Then when people realised these were hard problems, there was retrenchment. By the late 1980s, the term AI was being avoided by many researchers, who opted instead to align themselves with specific sub-disciplines such as neural networks, agent technology, case-based reasoning, and so on."D Ironically, in some ways AI was a victim of its own success. Whenever an apparently mundane problem was solved, such asbuilding a system that could land an aircraft unattended, the problem was deemed not to have been AI in the first place. ‘If it works, it can’t be AI,’ as Dr Leake characterises it. The effect of repeatedly moving the goal-posts in this way was that AI came to refer to ‘blue-sky’ research that w as still years away from commercialisation. Researchers joked that AI stood for ‘almost implemented’. Meanwhile, the technologies that made it onto the market, such as speech recognition, language translation and decision-support software, were no longer regarded as AI. Yet all three once fell well within the umbrella of AI research.E But the tide may now be turning, according to Dr Leake. HNC Software of San Diego, backed by a government agency, reckon that their new approach to artificial intelligence is the most powerful and promising approach ever discovered. HNC claim that their system, based on a cluster of 30 processors, could be used to spot camouflaged vehicles on a battlefield or extract a voice signal from a noisy background — tasks humans can do well, but computers cannot. ‘Whether or not their technology lives up to the claims made for it, the fact that HNC are emphasising the use of AI is itself an interesting development,’ says Dr Leake.F Another factor that may boost the prospects for AI in the near future is that investors are now looking for firms using clever technology, rather than just a clever business model, to differentiate themselves. In particular, the problem of information overload, exacerbated by the growth of e-mail and the explosion in the number of web pages, means there are plenty of opportunities for new technologies to help filter and categorise information —classic AI problems. That may mean that more artificial intelligence companies will start to emerge tomeet this challenge.G The 1969 film, 2001:A Space Odyssey, featured an intelligent computer called HAL 9000. As well as understanding and speaking English, HAL could play chess and even learned to lipread. HAL thus encapsulated the optimism of the 1960s that intelligent computers would be widespread by 2001. But 2001 has been and gone, and there is still no sign of a HAL-like computer. Individual systems can play chess or transcribe speech, but a general theory of machine intelligence still remains elusive. It may be, however, that the comparison with HAL no longer seems quite so important, and AI can now be judged by what it can do, rather than by how well it matches up to a 30-year-old science-fiction film. ‘People are beginning to realise that there are impressive thi ngs that these systems can do.’ says Dr Leake hopefully.Questions 27-31Reading Passage 3 has seven paragraphs, A-G.Which paragraph contains the following information?Write the correct letter A-G in boxes 27-31 on your answer sheet.NB You may use any letter more than once.27 how AI might have a military impact28 the fact that AI brings together a range of separate research areas29 the reason why AI has become a common topic of conversation again30 how AI could help deal with difficulties related to the amount of information available electronically31 where the expression AI was first usedQuestions 32-37Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 3?In boxes 32-37 on your answer sheet, writeTRUE if the statement agrees with the informationFALSE if the statement contradicts the informationNOT GIVEN if there is no information about this32 The researchers who launched the field of AI had worked together on other projects in the past.33 In 1985, AI was at its lowest point.34 Research into agent technology was more costly than research into neural networks.35 Applications of AI have already had a degree of success.36 The problems waiting to be solved by AI have not changed since 1967.37 The film 2001: A Space Odyssey reflected contemporary ideas about the potential of AI computers.Questions 38-40Choose the correct letter A, B, C or D.Write your answers in boxes 38-40 on your answer sheet.38 According to researchers, in the late 1980s there was a feeling thatA a general theory of AI would never be developed.B original expectations of AI may not have been justified.C a wide range of applications was close to fruitionD more powerful computers were the key to further progress.39 In Dr Leake’s opinion, the re putation of AI suffered as a result ofA changing perceptions.B premature implementationC poorly planned projects.D commercial pressures.40 The prospects for AI may benefit fromA existing AI applications.B new business models.C orders from internet-only companies.D new investment priorities.剑桥雅思阅读5原文参考译文(test3)TEST 3 PASSAGE 1 参考译文：Early Childhood EducationNew Zealand’s National Party spokesman on education, Dr Lockwood Smith, recently visited the US and Britain. Here he reports on the findings of his trip and what they could mean for New Zealand’s education policy.儿童早期教育新西兰国家党教育发言人Lockwood Smith博士最近访问了美国和英国。
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剑桥雅思阅读7原文(test4)READING PASSAGE 1You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.Pulling strings to build pyramidsNo one knows exactly how the pyramids were built. Marcus Chown reckons the answer could be ‘hanging in the air’.The pyramids of Egypt were built more than three thousand years ago, and no one knows how. The conventional picture is that tens of thousands of slaves dragged stones on sledges. But there is no evidence to back this up. Now a Californian software consultant called Maureen Clemmons has suggested that kites might have been involved. While perusing a book on the monuments of Egypt, she noticed a hieroglyph that showed a row of men standing in odd postures. They were holding what looked like ropes that led, via some kind of mechanical system, to a giant bird in the sky. She wondered if perhaps the bird was actually a giant kite, and the men were using it to lift a heavy object.Intrigued, Clemmons contacted Morteza Gharib, aeronautics professor at the California Institute of Technology. He was fascinated by the idea. ‘Coming from Iran, I have a keen interest in Middle Eastern science,’ he says. He too was puzzled by the picture that had sparked Clemmons’s interest. The object in the sky apparently had wings far too short and wide for a bird. ‘The possibility certainly existed that it was a kite,’ he says. And sincehe needed a summer project for his student Emilio Graff, investigating the possibility of using kites as heavy lifters seemed like a good idea.Gharib and Graff set themselves the task of raising a 4.5-metre stone column from horizontal to vertical, using no source of energy except the wind. Their initial calculations and scale-model wind-tunnel experiments convinced them they wouldn’t need a strong wind to lift the 33.5-tonne column. Even a modest force, if sustained over a long time, would do. The key was to use a pulley system that would magnify the applied force. So they rigged up a tent-shaped scaffold directly above the tip of the horizontal column, with pulleys suspended from the scaffold’s apex. The idea was that as one end of the column rose, the base would roll across the ground on a trolley.Earlier this year, the team put Clemmons’s unlikely theory to the test, using a 40-square-metre rectangular nylon sail. The kite lifted the column clean off the ground. ‘We were absolutely stunned,’ Gharib says. ‘The instant the sail opened into the wind, a huge force was generated and the column was raised to the vertical in a mere 40 seconds.’The wind was blowing at a gentle 16 to 20 kilometres an hour, little more than half what they thought would be needed. What they had failed to reckon with was what happened when the kite was opened. ‘There was a huge initial force — five times larger than the steady state force,’ Gharib says. This jerk meant that kites could lift huge weights, Gharib realised. Even a 300-tonne column could have been lifted to the vertical with 40 or so men and four or five sails. So Clemmons was right: the pyramid builders could have used kites to lift massive stones into place. ‘Whether they actually did is another matter,’ Gharib says.There are no pictures showing the construction of the pyramids, so there is no way to tell what really happened. ‘The evidence for using kites to move large stones is no better or worse than the evidence for the brute force method,’ Gh arib says.Indeed, the experiments have left many specialists unconvinced. ‘The evidence for kite-lifting is non-existent,’ says Willeke Wendrich, an associate professor of Egyptology at the University of California, Los Angeles.Others feel there is more of a case for the theory. Harnessing the wind would not have been a problem for accomplished sailors like the Egyptians. And they are known to have used wooden pulleys, which could have been made strong enough to bear the weight of massive blocks of stone. In addition, there is some physical evidence that the ancient Egyptians were interested in flight. A wooden artefact found on the step pyramid at Saqqara looks uncannily like a modern glider. Although it dates from several hundred years after the building of the pyramids, its sophistication suggests that the Egyptians might have been developing ideas of flight for a long time. And other ancient civilisations certainly knew about kites; as early as 1250 BC, the Chinese were using them to deliver messages and dump flaming debris on their foes.The experiments might even have practical uses nowadays. There are plenty of places around the globe where people have no access to heavy machinery, but do know how to deal with wind, sailing and basic mechanical principles. Gharib has already been contacted by a civil engineer in Nicaragua, who wants to put up buildings with adobe roofs supported by concrete arches on a site that heavy equipment can’t reach. His idea is to build the arches horizontally, then lift them into place using kites.‘We’ve given him some design hints,’ says Gharib. ‘We’re just waiting for him to report back.’ So whether they were actually used to build the pyramids or not, it seems that kites may make sensible construction tools in the 21st century AD.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 It is generally believed that large numbers of people were needed to build the pyramids.2 Clemmons found a strange hieroglyph on the wall of an Egyptian monument.3 Gharib had previously done experiments on bird flight.4 Gharib and Graff tested their theory before applying it.5 The success of the actual experiment was due to the high speed of the wind.6 They found that, as the kite flew higher, the wind force got stronger.7 The team decided that it was possible to use kites to raise very heavy stones.Questions 8-13Complete the summary below.Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.Write your answers in boxes 8-13 on your answer sheet.Additional evidence for theory of kite-liftingThe Egyptians had 8.................., which could lift large pieces of9.................., and they knew how to use the energy of the wind from their skill as 10.................. .The discovery on one pyramid of an object which resembled a 11.................. suggests they may have experimented with 12.................. . In addition, over two thousand years ago kites were used in China as weapons, as well as for sending 13 .................. .READING PASSAGE 2You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26, which are based on Reading Passage 2 below.Endless HarvestMore than two hundred years ago, Russian explorers and fur hunters landed on the Aleutian Islands, a volcanic archipelago in the North Pacific, and learned of a land mass that lay farther to t he north. The islands’ native inhabitants called this land mass Aleyska, the ‘Great Land’; today, we know it as Alaska.The forty-ninth state to join the United States of America (in 1959), Alaska is fully one-fifth the size of the mainland 48 states combined. It shares, with Canada, the second longest river system in North America and has over half the coastline of the United States. The rivers feed into the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska —cold, nutrient-rich waters which support tens of millions of seabirds, and over 400 species of fish, shellfish, crustaceans, and molluscs. Taking advantage of this rich bounty, Alaska’s commercial fisheries have developed into some of the largest in the world.According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G), A laska’s commercial fisheries landed hundreds of thousands of tonnes of shellfish and herring, and well over a million tonnes of groundfish (cod, sole, perch and pollock) in 2000. The true cultural heart and soul of Alaska’s fisheries,however, is salmon. ‘Salmon,’ notes writer Susan Ewing in The Great Alaska Nature Factbook, ‘pump through Alaska like blood through a heart, bringing rhythmic, circulating nourishment to land, animals and people.’ The ‘predictable abundance of salmon allowed some native cultur es to flourish,’ and ‘dying spawners_feed bears, eagles, other animals, and ultimately the soil itself.’ All five species of Pacific salmon — chinook, or king; chum, or dog; coho, or silver; sockeye, or red; and pink, or humpback —spawn_ in Alaskan waters, and 90% of all Pacific salmon commercially caught in North America are produced there. Indeed, if Alaska was an independent nation, it would be the largest producer of wild salmon in the world. During 2000, commercial catches of Pacific salmon in Alaska exceeded 320,000 tonnes, with an ex-vessel value of over $US260 million.Catches have not always been so healthy. Between 1940 and 1959, overfishing led to crashes in salmon populations so severe that in 1953 Alaska was declared a federal disaster area. With the onset of statehood, however, the State of Alaska took over management of its own fisheries, guided by a state constitution which mandates that Alaska’s natural resources be managed on a sustainable basis. At that time, statewide harvests totalled around 25 million salmon. Over the next few decades average catches steadily increased as a result of this policy of sustainable management, until, during the 1990s, annual harvests were well in excess of 100 million, and on several occasions over 200 million fish.The primary reason for such increases is what is known as ‘In-Season Abundance-Based Management’. There are biologists throughout the state constantly monitoring adult fish as they show up to spawn. The biologists sit in streamsidecounting towers, study sonar, watch from aeroplanes, and talk to fishermen. The salmon season in Alaska is not pre-set. The fishermen know the approximate time of year when they will be allowed to fish, but on any given day, one or more field biologists in a particular area can put a halt to fishing. Even sport fishing can be brought to a halt. It is this management mechanism that has allowed Alaska salmon stocks —and, accordingly, Alaska salmon fisheries — to prosper, even as salmon populations in the rest of the United States are increasingly considered threatened or even endangered.In 1999, the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC)__commissioned a review of the Alaska salmon fishery. The Council, which was founded in 1996, certifies fisheries that meet high environmental standards, enabling them to use a label that recognises their environmental responsibility. The MSC has established a set of criteria by which commercial fisheries can be judged. Recognising the potential benefits of being identified as environmentally responsible, fisheries approach the Council requesting to undergo the certification process. The MSC then appoints a certification committee, composed of a panel of fisheries experts, which gathers information and opinions from fishermen, biologists, government officials, industry representatives, non-governmental organisations and others.Some observers thought the Alaska salmon fisheries would not have any chance of certification when, in the months leading up to MSC’s final decision, salmon runs throughout we stern Alaska completely collapsed. In the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers, chinook and chum runs were probably the poorest since statehood; subsistence communities throughout the region, who normally have priority over commercial fishing, were devastated.The crisis was completely unexpected, but researchers believe it had nothing to do with impacts of fisheries. Rather, they contend, it was almost certainly the result of climatic shifts, prompted in part by cumulative effects of the el nino/la nina phenomenon on Pacific Ocean temperatures, culminating in a harsh winter in which huge numbers of salmon eggs were frozen. It could have meant the end as far as the certification process was concerned. However, the state reacted quickly, closing down all fisheries, even those necessary for subsistence purposes.In September 2000, MSC announced that the Alaska salmon fisheries qualified for certification. Seven companies producing Alaska salmon were immediately granted permission to display the MSC logo on their products. Certification is for an initial period of five years, with an annual review to ensure that the fishery is continuing to meet the required standards._spawners: fish that have released eggs_ spawn: release eggs__MSC: a joint venture between WWF (World Wildlife Fund) and Unilever, a Dutch-based multi-nationalQuestions 14-20Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2?In boxes 14-20 on your answer sheet, writeTRUE if the statement agrees with the information.FALSE if the statement contradicts the informationNOT GIVEN if there is no information on this14 The inhabitants of the Aleutian islands renamed their islands ‘Aleyska.’15 Alaska’s fisheries are owned by some of the world’s largest companies.16 Life in Alaska is dependent on salmon.17 Ninety per cent of all Pacific salmon caught are sockeye or pink salmon.18 More than 320,000 tonnes of salmon were caught in Alaska in 2000.19 Between 1940 and 1959, there was a sharp decrease in Alaska’s salmon populati on.20 During the 1990s, the average number of salmon caught each year was 100 million.Questions 21-26Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-K, below.Write the correct letter, A-K, in boxes 21-26 on your answer sheet.21 In Alaska, biologists keep a check on adult fish22 Biologists have the authority23 In-Season Abundance-Based Management has allowed the Alaska salmon fisheries24 The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) was established25 As a result of the collapse of the salmon runs in 1999, the state decided26 In September 2000, the MSC allowed seven Alaska salmon companiesA to recognize fisheries that care for the environment.B to be successful.C to stop fish from spawning.D to set up environmental protection laws.E to stop people fishing for sport.F to label their products using the MSC logo.G to ensure that fish numbers are sufficient to permit fishing.H to assist the subsistence communities in the region.I to freeze a huge number of salmon eggs.J to deny certification to the Alaska fisheries.K to close down all fisheries.READING PASSAGE 3You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40, which are based on Reading Passage 3 below.EFFECTS OF NOISEIn general, it is plausible to suppose that we should prefer peace and quiet to noise. And yet most of us have had the experience of having to adjust to sleeping in the mountains or the countryside because it was initially ‘too quiet’, an experience that suggests that humans are capable of adapting to a wide range of noise levels. Research supports this view. For example, Glass and Singer (1972) exposed people to short bursts of very loud noise and then measured their ability to work out problems and their physiological reactions to the noise. The noise was quite disruptive at first, but after about four minutes the subjects were doing just as well on their tasks as control subjects who were not exposed to noise. Their physiological arousal also declined quickly to the same levels as those of the control subjects.But there are limits to adaptation and loud noise becomes more troublesome if the person is required to concentrate on more than one task. For example, high noise levels interfered with the performance of subjects who were required to monitor three dials at a time, a task not unlike that of an aeroplane pilot or an air-traffic controller (Broadbent, 1957). Similarly, noise did not affect a subject’s ability to track a moving line with a steering wheel, but it did interfere with the subject’s ability to repeat numbers while tracking (Finkelman and Glass, 1970).Probably the most significant finding from research on noise is that its predictability is more important than how loud it is. We are much more able to ‘tune out’ chronic background noise, even if it is quite loud, than to work under circumstances with unexpected intrusions of noise. In the Glass and Singer study, in which subjects were exposed to bursts of noise as they worked on a task, some subjects heard loud bursts and others heard soft bursts. For some subjects, the bursts were spaced exactly one minute apart (predictable noise); others heard the same amount of noise overall, but the burstsUnpredictable Noise Predictable Noise AverageLoud noise 40.1 31.8 35.9Soft noise 36.7 27.4 32.1Average 38.4 29.6Table 1: Proofreading Errors and Noiseoccurred at random intervals (unpredictable noise). Subjects reported finding the predictable and unpredictable noise equally annoying, and all subjects performed at about the same level during the noise portion of the experiment. But the different noise conditions had quite different after-effects when the subjects were required to proofread written material under conditions of no noise. As shown in Table 1 the unpredictable noise produced more errors in the later proofreading task than predictable noise; and soft, unpredictable noise actually produced slightly more errors on this task than the loud, predictable noise.Apparently, unpredictable noise produces more fatigue than predictable noise, but it takes a while for this fatigue to take its toll on performance.Predictability is not the only variable that reduces oreliminates the negative effects of noise. Another is control. If the individual knows that he or she can control the noise, this seems to eliminate both its negative effects at the time and its after-effects. This is true even if the individual never actually exercises his or her option to turn the noise off (Glass and Singer, 1972). Just the knowledge that one has control is sufficient.The studies discussed so far exposed people to noise for only short periods and only transient effects were studied. But the major worry about noisy environments is that living day after day with chronic noise may produce serious, lasting effects. One study, suggesting that this worry is a realistic one, compared elementary school pupils who attended schools near Los Angeles’s busiest airport with students who attended schools in quiet neighbourhoods (Cohen et al., 1980). It was found that children from the noisy schools had higher blood pressure and were more easily distracted than those who attended the quiet schools. Moreover, there was no evidence of adaptability to the noise. In fact, the longer the children had attended the noisy schools, the more distractible they became. The effects also seem to be long lasting. A follow-up study showed that children who were moved to less noisy classrooms still showed greater distractibility one year later than students who had always been in the quiet schools (Cohen et al, 1981). It should be noted that the two groups of children had been carefully matched by the investigators so that they were comparable in age, ethnicity, race, and social class.Questions 27-29Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.Write the correct letter in boxes 27-29 on your answer sheet.27 The writer suggests that people may have difficultysleeping in the mountains becauseA humans do not prefer peace and quiet to noise.B they may be exposed to short bursts of very strange sounds.C humans prefer to hear a certain amount of noise while they sheep.D they may have adapted to a higher noise level in the city.28 In noise experiments, Glass and Singer found thatA problem-solving is much easier under quiet conditions.B physiological arousal prevents the ability to work.C bursts of noise do not seriously disrupt problem-solving in the long term.D the physiological arousal of control subjects declined quickly.29 Researchers discovered that high noise levels are not likely to interfere with theA successful performance of a single task.B tasks of pilots or air traffic controllers.C ability to repeat numbers while tracking moving lines.D ability to monitor three dials at once.Questions 30-34Complete the summary using the list of words and phrases, A-J, below.Write the correct letter, A-J, in boxes 30-34 on your answer sheet.NB You may use any letter more than once.Glass and Singer (1972) showed that situations in which there is intense noise have less effect on performance than circumstances in which 30..................noise occurs. Subjects were divided into groups to perform a task. Some heard loud burstsof noise, others soft. For some subjects, the noise was predictable, while for others its occurrence was random. All groups were exposed to 31..................noise. The predictable noise group 32..................the unpredictable noise group on this task.In the second part of the experiment, the four groups were given a proofreading task to complete under conditions of no noise. They were required to check written material for errors. The group which had been exposed to unpredictable noise 33..................the group which had been exposed to predictable noise. The group which had been exposed to loud predictable noise performed better than those who had heard soft, unpredictable bursts. The results suggest that 34..................noise produces fatigue but that this manifests itself later.A no control overB unexpectedC intenseD the same amount ofE performed better thanF performed at about the same level asG noH showed more irritation thanI made more mistakes thanJ different types ofQuestions 35-40Look at the following statements (Questions 35-40) and the list of researchers below.Match each statement with the correct researcher(s), A-E.Write the correct letter, A-E, in boxes 35-40 on your answer sheet.NB You may use any letter more than once.35 Subjects exposed to noise find it difficult at first to concentrate on problem-solving tasks.36 Long-term exposure to noise can produce changes in behaviour which can still be observed a year later.37 The problems associated with exposure to noise do not arise if the subject knows they can make it stop.38 Exposure to high-pitched noise results in more errors than exposure to low-pitched noise.39 Subjects find it difficult to perform three tasks at the same time when exposed to noise.40 Noise affects a subject’s capacity to repeat numbers while carrying out another task.List of ResearchersA Glass and SingerB BroadbentC Finkelman and GlassD Cohen et al.E None of the above剑桥雅思阅读7原文参考译文(test4)PASSAGE 1 参考译文：线牵金字塔没有人知道金字塔到底是怎么建成的。
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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; 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。
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。