剑桥雅思阅读理解解析含翻译

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剑桥雅思阅读4-14原文+译文+解析

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

这有利于我们从阅读原文中找到答案。

接下来一起来看看剑桥雅思14Test1阅读Passage1真题内容。

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

剑桥雅思阅读5原文翻译及答案（test1）

剑桥雅思阅读5原文翻译及答案(test1)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。

下面小编给大家分享一下剑桥雅思阅读5test1原文翻译及答案解析，希望可以帮助到大家。

剑桥雅思阅读5原文(test1)剑桥雅思系列真题是剑桥大学考试委员会外语考试部出版各类考试真题的唯一官方出版社出版的权威教材，书中包含最新的雅思全真试题资料，是各类雅思考生备考过程中必不可少的参考书。

非常适合学生自学的习题解答和听力录音文本。

READING PASSAGE 1You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.Johnson’s DictionaryFor the centur y before Johnson’s Dictionary was published in 1775, there had been concern about the state of the English language. There was no standard way of speaking or writing and no agreement as to the best way of bringing some order to the chaos of English spelling. Dr Johnson provided the solution.There had, of course, been dictionaries in the past, the first of these being a little book of some 120 pages, compiled by a certain Robert Cawdray, published in 1604 under the title A Table Alphabeticall ‘of hard usuall English wordes’. Like the various dictionaries that came after it during the seventeenth century, Cawdray’s tended to concentrate on ‘scholarly’ words; one function of the dictionary was to enable its student to convey an impression of fine learning.Beyond the practical need to make order out of chaos, the rise of dictionaries is associated with the rise of the English middle class, who were anxious to define and circumscribe thevarious worlds to conquer —lexical as well as social and commercial. it is highly appropriate that Dr Samuel Johnson, the very model of an eighteenth-century literary man, as famous in his own time as in ours, should have published his Dictionary at the very beginning of the heyday of the middle class.Johnson was a poet and critic who raised common sense to the heights of genius. His approach to the problems that had worried writers throughout the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries was intensely practical. Up until his time, the task of producing a dictionary on such a large scale had seemed impossible without the establishment of an academy to make decisions about right and wrong usage. Johnson decided he did not need an academy to settle arguments about language; he would write a dictionary himself and he would do it single-handed. Johnson signed the contract for the Dictionary with the bookseller Robert Dosley at a breakfast held at the Golden Anchor Inn near Holbom Bar on 18 June 1764.He was to be paid ￡1.575 in instalments, and from this he took money to rent Gou gh Square, in which he set up his ‘dictionary workshop’.James Boswell, his biographer, described the garret where Johnson worked as ‘fitted up like a counting house’ with a long desk running down the middle at which the copying clerks would work standing up. Johnson himself was stationed on a rickety chair at an ‘old crazy deal table’ surrounded by a chaos of borrowed books. He was also helped by six assistants, two of whom died whilst the Dictionary was still in preparation.The work was immense; filling about eighty large notebooks (and without a library to hand), Johnson wrote the definitions of over 40,000 words, and illustrated their many meanings with some 114,000 quotations drawn from English writing on everysubject, from the Elizabethans to his own time. He did not expect to achieve complete originality. Working to a deadline, he had to draw on the best of all previous dictionaries, and to make his work one of heroic synthesis. In fact, it was very much more. Unlike his predecessors, Johnson treated English very practically, as a living language, with many different shades of meaning. He adopted his definitions on the principle of English common law —according to precedent. After its publication, his Dictionary was not seriously rivalled for over a century.After many vicissitudes the Dictionary was finally published on 15 April 1775. It was instantly recognised as a landmark throughout Europe. ‘This very noble work,’ wrote the leading Italian lexicographer, ‘will be a perpetual monument of Fame to the Author, an Honour to his own Country in particular, and a general Benefit to the republic of Letters throughout Europe" The fact that Johnson had taken on the Academies of Europe and matched them (everyone knew that forty French academics had taken forty years to produce the first French national dictionary) was cause for much English celebration.Johnson had worked for nine years, ‘with little assistance of the learned, and without any patronage of the great; not in the soft obscurities of retirement, or under the shelter of academic bowers, but amidst inconvenience and distraction, in sickness and in sorrow’. For all its faults and eccentricities his two-volume work is a masterpiece and a landmark, in his own words, ‘setting the orthography, displaying the analogy, regulating the structures, and ascertaining the significations of English words’. It is the cornerstone of Standard English an achievement which, in James Boswell’s words ‘conferred stability on the language of his country.’The Dictionary, together with his other writing, made Johnson famous and so well esteemed that his friends were able to prevail upon King George Ⅲ to offer him a pension. From then on, he was to become the Johnson of folklore.Questions 1-3Choose THREE letters A-H.Write your answers in boxes 1-3 on your answer sheet.NB Your answers may be given in any order.Which THREE of the following statements are true of Johnson’s Dictionary?A It avoided all scholarly words.B It was the only English dictionary in general use for 200 years.C It was famous because of the large number of people involved.D It focused mainly on language from contemporary texts.E There was a time limit for its completion.F It ignored work done by previous dictionary writers.G It took into account subtleties of meaning.H Its definitions were famous for their originality.Questions 4-7Complete the summary.Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.Write your answers in boxes 4-7 on your answer sheet.In 1764 Dr Johnson accepted the contract to produce a dictionary. Having rented a garret, he took on a number of 4…………, who stood at a long central desk. Johnson did not have a 5………… available to him, but eventually produced definitions of in excess of 40,000 words written down in 80 large notebooks.On publications, the Dictionary was immediately hailed in many European countries as a landmark. According to his biographer, James Boswell, Johnson’s principal achievement was to bring 6……… to the English language. As a reward for his ha rd work, he was granted a 7………by the king.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 The growing importance of the middle classes led to an increased demand for dictionaries.9 Johnson has become more well known since his death.10 Johnson had been planning to write a dictionary for several years.11 Johnson set up an academy to help with the writing of his Dictionary.12 Johnson only received payment for his Dictionary on its completion.13 Not all of the assistants survived to see the publication of the Dictionary.READING PASSAGE 2You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26, which are based on Reading Passage 2 below.Nature or Nurture?A A few years ago, in one of the most fascinating and disturbing experiments in behavioural psychology, Stanley Milgram of Yale University tested 40 subjects from all walks of lifefor their willingness to obey instructions given by a ‘leader’ in a situation in which the subjects might feel a personal distaste for the actions they were called upon to perform. Specifically M ilgram told each volunteer ‘teacher-subject’ that the experiment was in the noble cause of education, and was designed to test whether or not punishing pupils for their mistakes would have a positive effect on the pupils’ ability to learn.B Milgram’s expe rimental set-up involved placing the teacher-subject before a panel of thirty switches with labels ranging from ‘15 volts of electricity (slight shock)’ to ‘450 volts (danger —severe shock)’ in steps of 15 volts each. The teacher-subject was told that whenever the pupil gave the wrong answer to a question, a shock was to be administered, beginning at the lowest level and increasing in severity with each successive wrong answer. The supposed ‘pupil’ was in reality an actor hired by Milgram to simulate receiving the shocks by emitting a spectrum of groans, screams and writings together with an assortment of statements and expletives denouncing both the experiment and the experimenter. Milgram told the teacher-subject to ignore the reactions of the pupil, and to administer whatever level of shock was called for, as per the rule governing the experimental situation of the moment.C As the experiment unfolded, the pupil would deliberately give the wrong answers to questions posed by the teacher, thereby bringing on various electrical punishments, even up to the danger level of 300 volts and beyond. Many of the teacher-subjects balked at administering the higher levels of punishment, and turned to Milgram with questioning looks and/or complaints about continuing the experiment. In these situations, Milgramcalmly explained that the teacher-subject was to ignore the pupil’s cries for mercy and carry on with the experiment. If the subject was still reluctant to proceed, Milgram said that it was important for the sake of the experiment that the procedure be followed through to the end. His final argument was ‘you have no other choice. You must go on’. What Milgram was trying to discover was the number of teacher-subjects who would be willing to administer the highest levels of shock, even in the face of strong personal and moral revulsion against the rules and conditions of the experiment.D Prior to carrying out the experiment, Milgram explained his idea to a group of 39 psychiatrists and asked them to predict the average percentage of people in an ordinary population who would be willing to administer the highest shock level of 450 volts. The overwhelming consensus was that virtually all the teacher-subjects would refuse to obey the experimenter. The psychiatrists felt that ‘most subjects would not go beyond 150 volts’ and they further anticipated that only four per cent would go up to 300 volts. Furthermore, they thought that only a lunatic fringe of about one in 1,000 would give the highest shock of 450 volts.E What were the actual results? Well, over 60 per cent of the teacher-subjects continued to obey Milgram up to the 450-volt limit in repetitions of the experiment in other countries, the percentage of obedient teacher-subjects was even higher, reaching 85 per cent in one country. How can we possibly account for this vast discrepancy between what calm, rational, knowledgeable people predict in the comfort of their study and what pressured, flustered, but cooperative ‘teachers’ actually do in the laboratory of real life?F One’s first inclination might be to argue that there must be some sort of built-in animal aggression instinct that was activated by the experiment, and that Milgram’s teache-subjects were just following a genetic need to discharge this pent-up primal urge onto the pupil by administering the electrical shock. A modern hard-core sociobiologist might even go so far as to claim that this aggressive instinct evolved as an advantageous trait, having been of survival value to our ancestors in their struggle against the hardships of life on the plains and in the caves, ultimately finding its way into our genetic make-up as a remnant of our ancient animal ways.G An alternative to this notion of genetic programming is to see the teacher-subjects’ actions as a result of the social environment under which the experiment was carried out. As Milgram himself pointed out, ‘Most subjects in the experiment see their behaviour in a larger context that is benevolent and useful to society —the pursuit of scientific truth. The psychological laboratory has a strong claim to legitimacy and evokes trust and confidence in those who perform there. An action such as shocking a victim, which in isolation appears evil, acquires a completely different meaning when placed in this se tting.’H Thus, in this explanation the subject merges his unique personality and personal and moral code with that of larger institutional structures, surrendering individual properties like loyalty, self-sacrifice and discipline to the service of malevolent systems of authority.I Here we have two radically different explanations for why so many teacher-subjects were willing to forgo their sense of personal responsibility for the sake of an institutional authorityfigure. The problem for biologists, psychologists and anthropologists is to sort out which of these two polar explanations is more plausible. This, in essence, is the problem of modern sociobiology — to discover the degree to which hard-wired genetic programming dictates, or at least strongly biases, the interaction of animals and humans with their environment, that is, their behaviour. Put another way, sociobiology is concerned with elucidating the biological basis of all behaviour.Questions 14-19Reading Passage 2 has nine paragraphs, A-I.Which paragraph contains the following information?Write the correct letter A-I in boxes 14-19 on your answer sheet.14 a biological explanation of the teacher-subjects’ behaviour15 the explanation Milgram gave the teacher-subjects for the experiment16 the identity of the pupils17 the expected statistical outcome18 the general aim of sociobiological study19 the way Milgram persuaded the teacher-subjects to continueQuestions 20-22Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.Write your answers in boxes 20-22 on your answer sheet.20 The teacher-subjects were told that were testing whetherA a 450-volt shock was dangerous.B punishment helps learning.C the pupils were honest.D they were suited to teaching.21 The teacher-subjects were instructed toA stop when a pupil asked them to.B denounce pupils who made mistakes.C reduce the shock level after a correct answer.D give punishment according to a rule.22 Before the experiment took place the psychiatristsA believed that a shock of 150 volts was too dangerous.B failed to agree on how the teacher-subjects would respond to instructions.C underestimated the teacher-subjects’ willingness to comply with experimental procedure.D thought that many of the teacher-subjects would administer a shock of 450 volts.Questions 23-26Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2?In boxes 23-26 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 this23 Several of the subjects were psychology students at Yale University.24 Some people may believe that the teacher-subjects’ behaviour could be explained as a positive survival mechanism.25 In a sociological explanation, personal values are more powerful than authority.26 Milgram’s experiment solves an important question in sociobiology.READING PASSAGE 3You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40,which are based on Reading Passage 3 below.The Truth about the EnvironmentFor many environmentalists, the world seems to be getting worse. They have developed a hit-list of our main fears: that natural resources are running out; that the population is ever growing, leaving less and less to eat; that species are becoming extinct in vast numbers, and that the planet’s air and water are becoming ever more polluted.But a quick look at the facts shows a different picture. First, energy and other natural resources have become more abundant, not less so, since the book ‘The Limits to Growth’ was published in 1972 by a group of scientists. Second, more food is now produced per head of the world’s population than at any time in history. Fewer people are starving. Third, although species are indeed becoming extinct, only about 0.7% of them are expected to disappear in the next 50 years, not 25-50%, as has so often been predicted. And finally, most forms of environmental pollution either appear to have been exaggerated, or are transient —associated with the early phases of industrialisation and therefore best cured not by restricting economic growth, but by accelerating it. One form of pollution — the release of greenhouse gases that causes global warming — does appear to be a phenomenon that is going to extend well into our future, but its total impact is unlikely to pose a devastating problem. A bigger problem may well turn out to be an inappropriate response to it.Yet opinion polls suggest that many people nurture the belief that environmental standards are declining and four factors seem to cause this disjunction between perception and reality.One is the lopsidedness built into scientific research. Scientific funding goes mainly to areas with many problems. That may be wise policy, but it will also create an impression that many more potential problems exist than is the case.Secondly, environmental groups need to be noticed by the mass media. They also need to keep the money rolling in. Understandably, perhaps, they sometimes overstate their arguments. In 1997, for example, the World Wide Fund for Nature issued a press release entitled: ‘Two thirds of the world’s forests lost forever.’ The truth turns out to be nearer 20%.Though these groups are run overwhelmingly by selfless folk, they nevertheless share many of the characteristics of other lobby groups. That would matter less if people applied the same degree of scepticism to environmental lobbying as they do to lobby groups in other fields. A trade organisation arguing for, say, weaker pollution controls is instantly seen as self-interested. Yet a green organisation opposing such a weakening is seen as altruistic, even if an impartial view of the controls in question might suggest they are doing more harm than good.A third source of confusion is the attitude of the media. People are clearly more curious about bad news than good. Newspapers and broadcasters are there to provide what the public wants. That, however, can lead to significant distortions of perception. An example was America’s encounter with El Nino in 1997 and 1998. This climatic phenomenon was accused of wrecking tourism, causing allergies, melting the ski-slopes and causing 22 deaths. However, according to an article in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, the damage it did was estimated at US$4 billion but the benefits amounted to some US$19 billion. These came from higher winter temperatures(which saved an estimated 850 lives, reduced heating costs and diminished spring floods caused by meltwaters).The fourth factor is poor individual perception. People worry that the endless rise in the amount of stuff everyone throws away will cause the world to run out of places to dispose of waste. Yet, even if America’s trash output continues to rise as it has done in the past, and even if the American population doubles by 2100, all the rubbish America produces through the entire 21st century will still take up only one-12,000th of the area of the entire United States.So what of global warming? As we know, carbon dioxide emissions are causing the planet to warm. The best estimates are that the temperatures will rise by 2-3℃ in this century, causing considerable problems, at a total cost of US$5,000 billion.Despite the intuition that something drastic needs to be done about such a costly problem, economic analyses clearly show it will be far more expensive to cut carbon dioxide emissions radically than to pay the costs of adaptation to the increased temperatures. A model by one of the main authors of the United Nations Climate Change Panel shows how an expected temperature increase of 2.1 degrees in 2100 would only be diminished to an increase of 1.9 degrees. Or to put it another way, the temperature increase that the planet would have experienced in 2094 would be postponed to 2100.So this does not prevent global warming, but merely buys the world six years. Yet the cost of reducing carbon dioxide emissions, for the United States alone, will be higher than the cost of solving the world’s single, most pressing health problem: providing universal access to clean drinking water and sanitation. Such measures would avoid 2 million deaths every year, andprevent half a billion people from becoming seriously ill.It is crucial that we look at the facts if we want to make the best possible decisions for the future. It may be costly to be overly optimistic — but more costly still to be too pessimistic.Questions 27-32Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 3?In boxes 27-32 on your answer sheet, writeYES if the statement ag rees with the writer’s claimsNO if the statement contradicts the writer’s clamsNOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this27 Environmentalists take a pessimistic view of the world fora number of reasons28 Data on the Earth’s natural resources has only been collected since 1972.29 The number of starving people in the world has increased in recent years.30 Extinct species are being replaced by new species.31 Some pollution problems have been correctly linked to industrialisation.32 It would be best to attempt to slow down economic growth.Questions 33-37Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.Write your answers in boxes 33-37 on your answer sheet.33 What aspect of scientific research does the writer express concern about in paragraph 4?A the need to produce resultsB the lack of financial supportC the selection of areas to researchD the desire to solve every research problem34 The writer quotes from the Worldwide Fund for Nature to illustrate howA influential the mass media can be.B effective environmental groups can be.C the mass media can help groups raise funds.D environmental groups can exaggerate their claims.34 What is the writer’s main point about lobby groups in paragraph 6?A Some are more active than others.B Some are better organised than others.C Some receive more criticism than others.D Some support more important issues than others.35 The writer suggests that newspapers print items that are intended toA educate readers.B meet their readers’ expec tations.C encourage feedback from readers.D mislead readers.36 What does the writer say about America’s waste problem?A It will increase in line with population growth.B It is not as important as we have been led to believe.C It has been reduced through public awareness of the issues.D It is only significant in certain areas of the country.Questions 38-40Complete the summary with the list of words A-I below.Write the correct letter A-I in boxes 38-40 on your answer sheet.GLOBAL WARMINGThe writer admits that global warming is a 38…………….challenge, but says that it will not have a catastrophic impact on our future, if we deal with it in the 39…………… way. If we try to reduce the levels of greenhouse gases, he believes that it would only have a minimal impact on rising temperatures. He feels it would be better to spend money on the more 40………… health problem of providing the world’s population with clean drinking water.A unrealisticB agreedC expensiveD rightE long-termF usualG surprisingH personalI urgent剑桥雅思阅读5原文参考译文(test1)TEST 1 PASSAGE 1参考译文：Johnson’s Dictionary约翰逊博士的字典For the century before Johnson’s Dictionary was published in 1775, there had been concern about the state of the English language. There was no standard way of speaking or writing and no agreement as to the best way of bringing some order to the chaos of English spelling. Dr Johnson provided the solution.约翰逊博士的《字典》于1775年出版，在此之前的一个世纪，人们一直对英语的发展状况担忧。

剑桥雅思阅读9(test1)原文答案解析

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

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

剑桥雅思阅读4test1原文翻译及答案解析

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剑桥雅思阅读4原文(test1)READING PASSAGE 1You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-14 which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.Adults and children are frequently confronted with statements about the alarming rate of loss of tropical rainforests. For example, one graphic illustration to which children might readily relate is the estimate that rainforests are being destroyed at a rate equivalent to one thousand football fields every forty minutes — about the duration of a normal classroom period. In the face of the frequent and often vivid media coverage, it is likely that children will have formed ideas about rainforests —what and where they are, why they are important, what endangers them — independent of any formal tuition. It is also possible that some of these ideas will be mistaken.Many studies have shown that children harbour misconceptions about ‘pure’, curriculum science. These misconceptions do not remain isolated but become incorporated into a multifaceted, but organised, conceptual framework, making it and the component ideas, some of which are erroneous, more robust but also accessible to modification. These ideas may be developed by children absorbing ideas through the popular media. Sometimes this information may be erroneous. It seems schools may not be providing an opportunity for children to re-express their ideas and so have them tested and refined byteachers and their peers.Despite the extensive coverage in the popular media of the destruction of rainforests, little formal information is available about children’s ideas in this area. The aim of the present study is to start to provide such information, to help teachers design their educational strategies to build upon correct ideas and to displace misconceptions and to plan programmes in environmental studies in their schools.The study surveys children’s scientific knowledge and attitudes to rainforests. Secondary school children were asked to complete a questionnaire containing five open-form questions. The most frequent responses to the first question were descriptions which are self-evident from the term ‘rainforest’. Some children described them as damp, wet or hot. The second question concerned the geographical location of rainforests. The commonest responses were continents or countries: Africa (given by 43% of children), South America (30%), Brazil (25%). Some children also gave more general locations, such as being near the Equator.Responses to question three concerned the importance of rainforests. The dominant idea, raised by 64% of the pupils, was that rainforests provide animals with habitats. Fewer students responded that rainforests provide plant habitats, and even fewer mentioned the indigenous populations of rainforests. More girls (70%) than boys (60%) raised the idea of rainforest as animal habitats.Similarly, but at a lower level, more girls (13%) than boys (5%) said that rainforests provided human habitats. These observations are generally consistent with our previous studies of pupils’ views about the use and conservation of rainforests,in which girls were shown to be more sympathetic to animals and expressed views which seem to place an intrinsic value on non-human animal life.The fourth question concerned the causes of the destruction of rainforests. Perhaps encouragingly, more than half of the pupils (59%) identified that it is human activities which are destroying rainforests, some personalising the responsibility by the use of terms such as ‘we are’. About 18% of the pupils referred specifically to logging activity.One misconception, expressed by some 10% of the pupils, was that acid rain is responsible for rainforest destruction; a similar proportion said that pollution is destroying rainforests. Here, children are confusing rainforest destruction with damage to the forests of Western Europe by these factors. While two fifths of the students provided the information that the rainforests provide oxygen, in some cases this response also embraced the misconception that rainforest destruction would reduce atmospheric oxygen, making the atmosphere incompatible with human life on Earth.In answer to the final question about the importance of rainforest conservation, the majority of children simply said that we need rainforests to survive. Only a few of the pupils (6%) mentioned that rainforest destruction may contribute to global warming. This is surprising considering the high level of media coverage on this issue. Some children expressed the idea that the conservation of rainforests is not important.The results of this study suggest that certain ideas predominate in the thinking of children about rainforests. Pupils’responses indicate some misconceptions in basic scientific knowledge of rainforests’ ecosystems such as their ideas aboutrainforests as habitats for animals, plants and humans and the relationship between climatic change and destruction of rainforests.Pupils did not volunteer ideas that suggested that they appreciated the complexity of causes of rainforest destruction. In other words, they gave no indication of an appreciation of either the range of ways in which rainforests are important or the complex social, economic and political factors which drive the activities which are destroying the rainforests. One encouragement is that the results of similar studies about other environmental issues suggest that older children seem to acquire the ability to appreciate, value and evaluate conflicting views. Environmental education offers an arena in which these skills can be developed, which is essential for these children as future decision-makers.Questions 1-8Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?In boxes 1-8 on your answer sheet writeTRUE if the statement agrees with the informationFALSE if the statement contradicts the informationNOT GIVEN if there is no information on this1 The plight of the rainforests has largely been ignored by the media.2 Children only accept opinions on rainforests that they encounter in their classrooms.3 It has been suggested that children hold mistaken views about the ‘pure’ science that they study at school.4 The fact that children’s ideas about science form part ofa larger framework of ideas means that it is easier to changethem.5 The study involved asking children a number of yes/no questions such as ‘Are there any rainforests in Africa?’6 Girls are more likely than boys to hold mistaken views about the rainforests’ destruction.7 The study reported here follows on from a series of studies that have looked at children’s understanding of rainforests.8 A second study has been planned to investigate primary school children’s ideas about rainforests.Questions 9-13The box below gives a list of responses A-P to the questionnaire discussed in Reading Passage 1.Answer the following questions by choosing the correct responses A-P.Write your answers in boxes 9-13 on your answer sheet.9 What was the children’s most frequent response when asked where the rainforests were?10 What was the most common response to the question about the importance of the rainforests?11 What did most children give as the reason for the loss of the rainforests?12 Why did most children think it important for the rainforests to be protected?13 Which of the responses is cited as unexpectedly uncommon, given the amount of time spent on the issue by the newspapers and television?A There is a complicated combination of reasons for the loss of the rainforests.B The rainforests are being destroyed by the same things that are destroying the forests of Western Europe.C Rainforests are located near the Equator.D Brazil is home to the rainforests.E Without rainforests some animals would have nowhere to live.F Rainforests are important habitats for a lot of plants.G People are responsible for the loss of the rainforests.H The rainforests are a source of oxygen.I Rainforests are of consequence for a number of different reasons.J As the rainforests are destroyed, the world gets warmer.K Without rainforests there would not be enough oxygen in the air.L There are people for whom the rainforests are home.M Rainforests are found in Africa.N Rainforests are not really important to human life.O The destruction of the rainforests is the direct result of logging activity.P Humans depend on the rainforests for their continuing existence.Question 14Choose the correct letter, A, B, C, D or E.Write your answer in box 14 on your answer sheet.Which of the following is the most suitable title for Reading Passage 1?A The development of a programme in environmental studies within a science curriculumB Children’s ideas about the rainforests and the implications for course designC The extent to which children have been misled by the media concerning the rainforestsD How to collect, collate and describe the ideas of secondary school children.E The importance of the rainforests and the reasons for their destructionREADING PASSAGE 2You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 15-26 which are based on Reading Passage 2 below.What Do Whales Feel?An examination of the functioning of the senses in cetaceans, the group of mammals comprising whales, dolphins and porpoisesSome of the senses that we and other terrestrial mammals take for granted are either reduced or absent in cetaceans or fail to function well in water. For example, it appears from their brain structure that toothed species are unable to smell. Baleen species, on the other hand, appear to have some related brain structures but it is not known whether these are functional. It has been speculated that, as the blowholes evolved and migrated to the top of the head, the neural pathways serving sense of smell may have been nearly all sacrificed. Similarly, although at least some cetaceans have taste buds, the nerves serving these have degenerated or are rudimentary.The sense of touch has sometimes been described as weak too, but this view is probably mistaken. Trainers of captive dolphins and small whales often remark on their animals’responsiveness to being touched or rubbed, and both captive and free-ranging cetacean individuals of all species (particularly adults and calves, or members of the same subgroup) appear to make frequent contact. This contact may help to maintain order within a group, and stroking or touching are part of the courtshipritual in most species. The area around the blowhole is also particularly sensitive and captive animals often object strongly to being touched there.The sense of vision is developed to different degree in different species. Baleen species studied at close quarters underwater — specifically a grey whale calf in captivity for a year, and free-ranging right whale and humpback whales studied and filmed off Argentina and Hawaii —have obviously tracked objects with vision underwater, and they can apparently see moderately well both in water and in air. However, the position of the eyes so restricts the field of vision in baleen whales that they probably do not have stereoscopic vision.On the other hand, the position of the eyes in most dolphins and porpoises suggests that they have stereoscopic vision forward and downward. Eye position in freshwater dolphins, which often swim on their side or upside down while feeding, suggests that what vision they have is stereoscopic forward and upward. By comparison, the bottlenose dolphin has extremely keen vision in water. Judging from the way it watches and tracks airborne flying fish, it can apparently see fairly well through the air-water interface as well. And although preliminary experimental evidence suggests that their in-air vision is poor, the accuracy with which dolphins leap high to take small fish out of a trainer’s hand provides anecdotal evidence to the contrary.Such variation can no doubt be explained with reference to the habitats in which individual species have developed. For example, vision is obviously more useful to species inhabiting clear open waters than to those living in turbid rivers and flooded plains. The South American boutu and Chinese Beiji, for instance, appear to have very limited vision, and the Indian susus are blind,their eyes reduced to slits that probably allow them to sense only the direction and intensity of light.Although the senses of taste and smell appear to have deteriorated, and vision in water appears to be uncertain, such weaknesses are more than compensated for by cetaceans’ well-developed acoustic sense. Most species are highly vocal, although they vary in the range of sounds they produce, and many forage for food using echolocation1. Large baleen whales primarily use the lower frequencies and are often limited in their repertoire. Notable exceptions are the nearly song-like choruses of bowhead whales in summer and the complex, haunting utterances of the humpback whales. Toothed species in general employ more of the frequency spectrum, and produce a wider variety of sounds, than baleen species (though the sperm whale apparently produces a monotonous series of high-energy clicks and little else). Some of the more complicated sounds are clearly communicative, although what role they may play in the social life and ‘culture’ of cetaceans has been more the subject of wild speculation than of solid science.1. echolocation: the perception of objects by means of sound wave echoes.Questions 15-21Complete the table below.Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from Reading Passage 2 for each answer.Write your answers in boxes 15-21 on your answer sheet.SENSE SPECIES ABILITY COMMENTSSmell toothed no evidence from brain structurebaleen not certain related brain structures are presentTaste some types poor nerves linked to their 15………areunderdevelopedTouch all yes region around the blowhole very sensitiveVision 16……… yes probably do not have stereoscopic vision Dolphins, porpoises yes probably have stereoscopic vision 17………and………18………yes probably have stereoscopic vision forward and upward Bottlenose dolphins yes exceptional in 19………and good in air-water interfaceBoutu and beiji poor have limited visionIndian susu no probably only sense direction and intensity of lightHearing most large baleen yes usually use 20………; repertoire limited21………whales and ………whalesyes song-likeToothed yes use more of frequency spectrum; have wider repertoireQuestions 22-26Answer the questions below using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.Write your answers in boxes 22-26 on your answer sheet.22 Which of the senses is described here as being involved in mating?23 What species swims upside down while eating?24 What can bottlenose dolphins follow from under the water?25 Which type of habitat is related to good visual ability?26 Which of the senses is best developed in cetaceans?READING PASSAGE 3You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40 which are based on Reading Passage 3 below.Visual Symbols and the BlindPart 1From a number of recent studies, it has become clear that blind people can appreciate the use of outlines and perspectives to describe the arrangement of objects and other surfaces in space. But pictures are more than literal representations. This fact was drawn to my attention dramatically when a blind woman in one of my investigations decided on her own initiative to draw a wheel as it was spinning. To show this motion, she traced a curve inside the circle (Fig. 1). I was taken aback. Lines of motion, such as the one she used, are a very recent invention in the history of illustration. Indeed, as art scholar David Kunzle notes, Wilhelm Busch, a trend-setting nineteenth-century cartoonist, used virtually no motion lines in his popular figures until about 1877.When I asked several other blind study subjects to draw a spinning wheel, one particularly clever rendition appeared repeatedly: several subjects showed the wheel’s spokes as curved lines. When asked about these curves, they all described them as metaphorical ways of suggesting motion. Majority rule would argue that this device somehow indicated motion very well. But was it a better indicator than, say, broken or wavy lines — or any other kind of line, for that matter? The answer was not clear. So I decided to test whether various lines of motion were apt ways of showing movement or if they were merely idiosyncratic marks. Moreover, I wanted to discover whether there were differences in how the blind and the sighted interpreted lines of motion.To search out these answers, I created raised-line drawingsof five different wheels, depicting spokes with lines that curved, bent, waved, dashed and extended beyond the perimeter of the wheel. I then asked eighteen blind volunteers to feel the wheels and assign one of the following motions to each wheel: wobbling, spinning fast, spinning steadily, jerking or braking. My control group consisted of eighteen sighted undergraduates from the University of Toronto.All but one of the blind subjects assigned distinctive motions to each wheel. Most guessed that the curved spokes indicated that the wheel was spinning steadily; the wavy spokes, they thought, suggested that the wheel was wobbling; and the bent spokes were taken as a sign that the wheel was jerking. Subjects assumed that spokes extending beyond the wheel’s perimeter signified that the wheel had its brakes on and that dashed spokes indicated the wheel was spinning quickly.In addition, the favoured description for the sighted was the favoured description for the blind in every instance. What is more, the consensus among the sighted was barely higher than that among the blind. Because motion devices are unfamiliar to the blind, the task I gave them involved some problem solving. Evidently, however, the blind not only figured out meanings for each line of motion, but as a group they generally came up with the same meaning at least as frequently as did sighted subjects.Part 2Words associated Agreementwith circle/square amongsubjects (%)SOFT-HARD 100MOTHER-FATHER 94HAPPY-SAD 94GOOD-EVIL 89LOVE-HATE 89ALIVE-DEAD 87BRIGHT-DARK 87LIGHT-HEAVY 85WARM-COLD 81SUMMER-WINTER 81WEAK-STRONG 79FAST-SLOW 79CAT-DOG 74SPRING-FALL 74QUIET-LOUD 62WALKING-STANDING 62ODD-EVEN 57FAR-NEAR 53PLANT-ANIMAL 53DEEP-SHALLOW 51Fig. 2 Subjects were asked which word in each pair fits best with a circle and which with a square. These percentages show the level of consensus among sighted subjects.We have found that the blind understand other kinds of visual metaphors as well. One blind woman drew a picture of a child inside a heart — choosing that symbol, she said, to show that love surrounded the child. With Chang Hong Liu, a doctoral student from China, I have begun exploring how well blind people understand the symbolism behind shapes such as hearts that do not directly represent their meaning.We gave a list of twenty pairs of words to sighted subjects and asked them to pick from each pair the term that best related to a circle and the term that best related to a square. For example,we asked: What goes with soft? A circle or a square? Which shape goes with hard?All our subjects deemed the circle soft and the square hard.A full 94% ascribed happy to the circle, instead of sad. But other pairs revealed less agreement: 79% matched fast to slow and weak to strong, respectively. And only 51% linked deep to circle and shallow to square. (See Fig. 2.) When we tested four totally blind volunteers using the same list, we found that their choices closely resembled those made by the sighted subjects. One man, who had been blind since birth, scored extremely well. He made only one match differing from the consensus, assigning ‘far’to square and ‘near’ to circle. In fact, only a small majority of sighted subjects —53% —had paired far and near to the opposite partners. Thus, we concluded that the blind interpret abstract shapes as sighted people do.Questions 27-29Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.Write your answers in boxes 27-29 on your answer sheet.27 In the first paragraph the writer makes the point that blind people.A may be interested in studying art.B can draw outlines of different objects and surfaces.C can recognise conventions such as perspective.D can draw accurately.28 The writer was surprised because the blind womanA drew a circle on her own initiative.B did not understand what a wheel looked like.C included a symbol representing movement.D was the first person to use lines of motion.29 From the experiment described in Part 1, the writer foundthat the blind subjectsA had good understanding of symbols representing movement.B could control the movement of wheels very accurately.C worked together well as a group in solving problems.D got better results than the sighted undergraduates.Questions 30-32Look at the following diagrams (Questions 30-32), and the list of types of movement below. Match each diagram to the type of movement A-E generally assigned to it the experiment. Choose the correct letter A-E and write them in boxes 30-32 on your answer sheet.A steady spinningB jerky movementC rapid spinningD wobbling movementE use of brakesQuestions 33-39Complete the summary below using words from the box.Write your answers in boxes 33-39 on your answer sheet.NB You may use any word more than once.In the experiment described in Part 2, a set of word 33……was used to investigate whether blind and sighted people perceived the symbolism in abstract 34……in the same way. Subjects were asked which word fitted best with a circle and which with a square. From the 35… volunteers, everyone thought a circle fitted ‘soft’ while a square fitted ‘hard’.However, only 51% of the 36…… volunteers assigned a circle to 37…… . When the test was later repeated with 38…… volunteers, it was found that they made 39…… choices.associations blind deep hardhundred identical pairs shapessighted similar shallow softwordsQuestion 40Choose the correct letter, A, B, C, or D.Write your answer in box 40 on your answer sheet.Which of the following statements best summarises the writer’s general conclusion?A The blind represent some aspects of reality differently from sighted people.B The blind comprehend visual metaphors in similar ways to sighted people.C The blind may create unusual and effective symbols to represent reality.D The blind may be successful artists if given the right training.剑桥雅思阅读4原文参考译文(test1)Passage1参考译文Adults and children are frequently confronted with statements about the alarming rate of loss of tropical rainforests. For example, one graphic illustration to which children might readily relate is the estimate that rainforests are being destroyed at a rate equivalent to one thousand football fields every forty minutes — about the duration of a normal classroom period. In the face of the frequent and often vivid media coverage, it is likely that children will have formed ideas about rainforests —what and where they are, why they are important, what endangers them — independent of any formal tuition. It is also possible thatsome of these ideas will be mistaken.无论大人还是孩子都经常会遇到这样的报道，那就是热带雨林正在以惊人的速度消失。

剑桥雅思阅读11真题及答案解析（test3）

剑桥雅思阅读11真题及答案解析(test3)雅思阅读部分一直都是中国考生比较重视的题目，并且也是很有难度的题目，针对于雅思阅读真题资料也是大家需要重点分析的。

今天小编就给大家带来了关于剑桥雅思阅读11原文参考译文以及答案(test3)的内容，一起来分析一下吧。

剑桥雅思阅读11原文(test3)READING PASSAGE 1You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.THE STORY OF SILKThe history of the world’s most luxurious fabric, from ancient China to the present daySilk is a fine, smooth material produced from the cocoons —soft protective shells —that are made by mulberry silkworms (insect larvae). Legend has it that it was Lei Tzu, wife of the Yellow Emperor, ruler of China in about 3000 BC, who discovered silkworms. One account of the story goes that as she was taking a walk in her husband’s gardens, she discovered that silkworms were responsible for the destruction of several mulberry trees. She collected a number of cocoons and sat down to have a rest. It just so happened that while she was sipping some tea, one of the cocoons that she had collected landed in the hot tea and started to unravel into a fine thread. Lei Tzu found that she could wind this thread around her fingers. Subsequently, she persuaded her husband to allow her to rear silkworms on a grove of mulberry trees. She also devised a special reel to draw the fibres from the cocoon into a single thread so that they would be strong enough to be woven into fabric. While it is unknown just how much of this is true, it is certainly known that silk cultivationhas existed in China for several millennia.Originally, silkworm farming was solely restricted to women, and it was they who were responsible for the growing, harvesting and weaving. Silk quickly grew into a symbol of status, and originally, only royalty were entitled to have clothes made of silk. The rules were gradually relaxed over the years until finally during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911 AD), even peasants, the lowest caste, were also entitled to wear silk. Sometime during the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD), silk was so prized that it was also used as a unit of currency. Government officials were paid their salary in silk, and farmers paid their taxes in grain and silk. Silk was also used as diplomatic gifts by the emperor. Fishing lines, bowstrings, musical instruments and paper were all made using silk. The earliest indication of silk paper being used was discovered in the tomb of a noble who is estimated to have died around 168 AD.Demand for this exotic fabric eventually created the lucrative trade route now known as the Silk Road, taking silk westward and bringing gold, silver and wool to the East. It was named the Silk Road after its most precious commodity, which was considered to be worth more than gold. The Silk Road stretched over 6,000 kilometres from Eastern China to the Mediterranean Sea, following the Great Wall of China, climbing the Pamir mountain range, crossing modern-day Afghanistan and going on to the Middle East, with a major trading market in Damascus. From there, the merchandise was shipped across the Mediterranean Sea. Few merchants travelled the entire route; goods were handled mostly by a series of middlemen.With the mulberry silkworm being native to China, the country was the world’s sole producer of silk for many hundreds of years. The secret of silk-making eventually reached the rest ofthe world via the Byzantine Empire, which ruled over the Mediterranean region of southern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East during the period 330-1453 AD. According to another legend, monks working for the Byzantine emperor Justinian smuggled silkworm eggs to Constantinople (Istanbul in modern-day Turkey) in 550 AD, concealed inside hollow bamboo walking canes. The Byzantines were as secretive as the Chinese, however, and for many centuries the weaving and trading of silk fabric was a strict imperial monopoly. Then in the seventh century, the Arabs conquered Persia, capturing their magnificent silks in the process. Silk production thus spread through Africa, Sicily and Spain as the Arabs swept through these lands. Andalusia in southern Spain was Europe’s main silk-producing centre in the tenth century. By the thirteenth century, however, Italy had become Europe’s leader in silk production and export. Venetian merchants traded extensively in silk and encouraged silk growers to settle in Italy. Even now, silk processed in the province of Como in northern Italy enjoys an esteemed reputation.The nineteenth century and industrialisation saw the downfall of the European silk industry. Cheaper Japanese silk, trade in which was greatly facilitated by the opening of the Suez Canal, was one of the many factors driving the trend. Then in the twentieth century, new manmade fibres, such as nylon, started to be used in what had traditionally been silk products, such as stockings and parachutes. The two world wars, which interrupted the supply of raw material from Japan, also stifled the European silk industry. After the Second World War, Japan’s silk production was restored, with improved production and quality of raw silk. Japan was to remain the world’s biggest producer of raw silk, and practically the only major exporter of raw silk, untilthe 1970s. However, in more recent decades, China has gradually recaptured its position as the world’s biggest producer and exporter of raw silk and silk yarn. Today, around 125,000 metric tons of silk are produced in the world, and almost two thirds of that production takes place in China.Questions 1-9Complete the notes below.Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.Write your answers in boxes 1-9 on your answer sheet.THE STORY OF SILKEarly silk production in ChinaAround 3000 BC, according to legend:- silkworm cocoon fell into emperor’s wife’s 1 __________- emperor’s wife invented a 2 __________ to pull out silk fibresOnly 3 __________ were allowed to produce silkOnly 4 __________ were allowed to wear silkSilk used as a form of 5 __________- e.g. farmers’ taxes consisted partly of silkSilk used for many purposes- e.g. evidence found of 6 __________ made from silk around 168 ADSilk reaches rest of worldMerchants use Silk Road to take silk westward and bring back 7 __________ and precious metals550 AD: 8 __________ hide silkworm eggs in canes and take them to ConstantinopleSilk production spreads across Middle East and Europe20th century: 9 __________ and other manmade fibres cause decline in silk productionQuestions 10-13Do the following statements agree with the information in Reading Passage 1?In boxes 10-13 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 this10 Gold was the most valuable material transported along the Silk Road.11 Most tradesmen only went along certain sections of the Silk Road.12 The Byzantines spread the practice of silk production across the West.13 Silk yarn makes up the majority of silk currently exported from China.READING PASSAGE 2You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26, which are based on Reading Passage 2 below.Great MigrationsAnimal migration, however it is defined, is far more than just the movement of animals. It can loosely be described as travel that takes place at regular intervals ?— often in an annual cycle — that may involve many members of a species, and is rewarded only after a long journey. It suggests inherited instinct. The biologist Hugh Dingle has identified five characteristics that apply, in varying degrees and combinations, to all migrations. They are prolonged movements that carry animals outside familiar habitats; they tend to be linear, not zigzaggy; they involve special behaviours concerning preparation (such as overfeeding) and arrival; they demand special allocations of energy. And onemore: migrating animals maintain an intense attentiveness to the greater mission, which keeps them undistracted by temptations and undeterred by challenges that would turn other animals aside.An arctic tern, on its 20,000 km flight from the extreme south of South America to the Arctic circle, will take no notice of a nice smelly herring offered from a bird-watcher’s boat along the way. While local gulls will dive voraciously for such handouts, the tern flies on. Why? The arctic tern resists distraction because it is driven at that moment by an instinctive sense of something we humans find admirable: larger purpose. In other words, it is determined to reach its destination. The bird senses that it can eat, rest and mate later. Right now it is totally focused on the journey; its undivided intent is arrival.Reaching some gravelly coastline in the Arctic, upon which other arctic terns have converged, will serve its larger purpose as shaped by evolution: finding a place, a time, and a set of circumstances in which it can successfully hatch and rear offspring.But migration is a complex issue, and biologists define it differently, depending in part on what sorts of animals they study. Joe! Berger, of the University of Montana, who works on the American pronghorn and other large terrestrial mammals, prefers what he calls a simple, practical definition suited to his beasts: ‘movements from a seasonal home area away to another home area and back again’. Generally the reason for such seasonal back-and-forth movement is to seek resources that aren’t available within a single area year-round.But daily vertical movements by zooplankton in the ocean —upward by night to seek food, downward by day to escapepredators —can also be considered migration. So can the movement of aphids when, having depleted the young leaves on one food plant, their offspring then fly onward to a different host plant, with no one aphid ever returning to where it started.Dingle is an evolutionary biologist who studies insects. His definition is more intricate than Berger’s, citing those five features that distinguish migration from other forms of movement. They allow for the fact that, for example, aphids will become sensitive to blue light (from the sky) when it’s time for takeoff on their big journey, and sensitive to yellow light (reflected from tender young leaves) when it’s appropriate to land. Birds will fatten themselves with heavy feeding in advance of a long migrational flight. The value of his definition, Dingle argues, is that it focuses attention on what the phenomenon of wildebeest migration shares with the phenomenon of the aphids, and therefore helps guide researchers towards understanding how evolution has produced them all.Human behaviour, however, is having a detrimental impact on animal migration. The pronghorn, which resembles an antelope, though they are unrelated, is the fastest land mammal of the New World. One population, which spends the summer in the mountainous Grand Teton National Park of the western USA, follows a narrow route from its summer range in the mountains, across a river, and down onto the plains. Here they wait out the frozen months, feeding mainly on sagebrush blown clear of snow. These pronghorn are notable for the invariance of their migration route and the severity of its constriction at three bottlenecks. If they can’t pass through each of the three during their spring migration, they can’t reach their bounty of summer grazing; if they can’t pass through again in autumn, escaping south ontothose windblown plains, they are likely to die trying to overwinter in the deep snow. Pronghorn, dependent on distance vision and speed to keep safe from predators, traverse high, open shoulders of land, where they can see and run. At one of the bottlenecks, forested hills rise to form a V, leaving a corridor of open ground only about 150 metres wide, filled with private homes. Increasing development is leading toward a crisis for the pronghorn, threatening to choke off their passageway.Conservation scientists, along with some biologists and land managers within the USA’s National Park Service and other agencies, are now working to preserve migrational behaviours, not just species and habitats. A National Forest has recognised the path of the pronghorn, much of which passes across its land, as a protected migration corridor. But neither the Forest Service nor the Park Service can control what happens on private land at a bottleneck. And with certain other migrating species, the challenge is complicated further —by vastly greater distances traversed, more jurisdictions, more borders, more dangers along the way. We will require wisdom and resoluteness to ensure that migrating species can continue their journeying a while longer.Questions 14-18Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2?In boxes 14-18 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 Local gulls and migrating arctic terns behave in the same way when offered food.15 Experts’ definitions of migration tend to vary accordingto their area of study.16 Very few experts agree that the movement of aphids can be considered migration.17 Aphids’ journeys are affected b y changes in the light that they perceive.18 Dingle’s aim is to distinguish between the migratory behaviours of different species.Questions 19-22Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-G, below.Write the correct letter, A-G, in boxes 19-22 on your answer sheet.19 According to Dingle, migratory routes are likely to20 To prepare for migration, animals are likely to21 During migration, animals are unlikely to22 Arctic terns illustrate migrating animals’ ability toA be discouraged by difficulties.B travel on open land where they can look out for predators.C eat more than they need for immediate purposes.D be repeated daily.E ignore distractions.F be governed by the availability of water.G follow a straight line.Questions 23-26Complete the summary below.Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.Write your answers in boxes 23-26 on your answer sheet.The migration of pronghornsPronghorns rely on their eyesight and 23 __________ to avoid predators. One particular pop ulation’s summer habitat is a national park, and their winter home is on the 24 __________,where they go to avoid the danger presented by the snow at that time of year. However, their route between these two areas contains three 25 __________. One problem is the construction of new homes in a narrow 26 __________ of land on the pronghorns’ route.READING PASSAGE 3You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40, which are based on Reading Passage 3 below.Preface to ‘How the other half thinks: Adventu res in mathematical reasoning’A Occasionally, in some difficult musical compositions, there are beautiful, but easy parts — parts so simple a beginner could play them. So it is with mathematics as well. There are some discoveries in advanced mathematics that do not depend on specialized knowledge, not even on algebra, geometry, or trigonometry. Instead they may involve, at most, a little arithmetic, such as ‘the sum of two odd numbers is even’, and common sense. Each of the eight chapters in this book illustrates this phenomenon. Anyone can understand every step in the reasoning.The thinking in each chapter uses at most only elementary arithmetic, and sometimes not even that. Thus all readers will have the chance to participate in a mathematical experience, to appreciate the beauty of mathematics, and to become familiar with its logical, yet intuitive, style of thinking.B One of my purposes in writing this book is to give readers who haven’t had the opportunity to see and enjoy real mathematics the chance to appreciate the mathematical way of thinking. I want to reveal not only some of the fascinating discoveries, but, more importantly, the reasoning behind them.In that respect, this book differs from most books on mathematics written for the general public. Some present the lives of colorful mathematicians. Others describe important applications of mathematics. Yet others go into mathematical procedures, but assume that the reader is adept in using algebra.C I hope this book will help bridge that notorious gap that separates the two cultures: the humanities and the sciences, or should I say the right brain (intuitive) and the left brain (analytical, numerical). As the chapters will illustrate, mathematics is not restricted to the analytical and numerical; intuition plays a significant role. The alleged gap can be narrowed or completely overcome by anyone, in part because each of us is far from using the full capacity of either side of the brain. To illustrate our human potential, I cite a structural engineer who is an artist, an electrical engineer who is an opera singer, an opera singer who published mathematical research, and a mathematician who publishes short stories.D Other scientists have written books to explain their fields to non-scientists, but have necessarily had to omit the mathematics, although it provides the foundation of their theories. The reader must remain a tantalized spectator rather than an involved participant, since the appropriate language for describing the details in much of science is mathematics, whether the subject is expanding universe, subatomic particles, or chromosomes. Though the broad outline of a scientific theory can be sketched intuitively, when a part of the physical universe is finally understood, its description often looks like a page in a mathematics text.E Still, the non-mathematical reader can go far in understanding mathematical reasoning. This book presents thedetails that illustrate the mathematical style of thinking, which involves sustained, step-by-step analysis, experiments, and insights. You will turn these pages much more slowly than when reading a novel or a newspaper. It may help to have a pencil and paper ready to check claims and carry out experiments.F As I wrote, I kept in mind two types of readers: those who enjoyed mathematics until they were turned off by an unpleasant episode, usually around fifth grade, and mathematics aficionados, who will find much that is new throughout the book.This book also serves readers who simply want to sharpen their analytical skills. Many careers, such as law and medicine, require extended, precise analysis. Each chapter offers practice in following a sustained and closely argued line of thought. That mathematics can develop this skill is shown by these two testimonials:G A physician wrote, ‘The discipline of analytical thought processes [in mathematics] prepared me extremely well for medical school. In medicine one is faced with a problem which must be thoroughly analyzed before a solution can be found. The proces s is similar to doing mathematics.’A lawyer made the same point, ‘Although I had no background in law — not even one political science course — I did well at one of the best law schools. I attribute much of my success there to having learned, through the study of mathematics, and, in particular, theorems, how to analyze complicated principles. Lawyers who have studied mathematics can master the legal principles in a way that most others cannot.’I hope you will share my delight in watching as simple, even na?ve, questions lead to remarkable solutions and purely theoretical discoveries find unanticipated applications.Questions 27-34Reading Passage 3 has seven sections, A-G.Which section contains the following information?Write the correct letter, A-G, in boxes 27-34 on your answer sheet.NB You may use any letter more than once.27 a reference to books that assume a lack of mathematical knowledge28 the way in which this is not a typical book about mathematics29 personal examples of being helped by mathematics30 examples of people who each had abilities that seemed incompatible31 mention of different focuses of books about mathematics32 a contrast between reading this book and reading other kinds of publication33 a claim that the whole of the book is accessible to everybody34 a reference to different categories of intended readers of this bookQuestions 35-40Complete the sentences below.Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.Write your answers in boxes 35-40 on your answer sheet.35 Some areas of both music and mathematics are suitable for someone who is a __________.36 It is sometimes possible to understand advanced mathematics using no more than a limited knowledge of __________.37 The writer intends to show that mathematics requires__________ thinking, as well as analytical skills.38 Some books written by __________ have had to leave out the mathematics that is central to their theories.39 The writer advises non-mathematical readers to perform __________ while reading the book.40 A lawyer found that studying __________ helped even more than other areas of mathematics in the study of law.剑桥雅思阅读11原文参考译文(test3)PASSAGE 1 参考译文：丝绸的故事世上最昂贵奢华织物的历史，从古代中国直到今天丝绸是种细软、光滑的布料，产自桑蚕(该昆虫的幼体形态)制作出的蚕茧——即其柔软的保护性外壳。

剑桥雅思14test3阅读解析

剑桥雅思14test3阅读解析
摘要：
1.剑桥雅思14test3 阅读passage1 原文翻译：智力的概念
2.剑桥雅思14test3 阅读passage2 答案解析
3.剑桥雅思14test3 阅读passage3 原文翻译及答案解析
正文：
剑桥雅思14test3 阅读解析
剑桥雅思14test3 阅读passage1 原文翻译：智力的概念
本文着重介绍了智力内隐理论及智力与社会关系的内隐理论。

文章结构主要内容如下：
a 部分：智力的概念
b 部分：智力的内隐理论
c 部分：智力与社会关系的内隐理论
剑桥雅思14test3 阅读passage2 答案解析
Passage 2 主要讨论了人们在日常生活中如何做出决策。

文章通过一个实验来说明，人们在面临决策时，通常会根据过去的经验和现有的信息来判断。

文章结构如下：
a 部分：决策的重要性
b 部分：决策的影响因素
c 部分：实验说明
剑桥雅思14test3 阅读passage3 原文翻译及答案解析
Passage 3 探讨了全球化对教育和培训行业的影响。

文章指出，全球化带
来了更多的机遇和挑战，教育和培训行业需要不断适应变化的环境。

文章结构如下：
a 部分：全球化的定义和影响
b 部分：教育和培训行业的变化
c 部分：未来的挑战和机遇
通过以上对剑桥雅思14test3 阅读解析的内容，考生可以更好地理解文章内容，提高阅读能力。

剑桥雅思12test1passage1阅读原文翻译

剑桥雅思12test1passage1阅读原文翻译摘要：1.了解睡眠的重要性2.分析现代社会睡眠质量下降的原因3.介绍睡眠研究领域的最新发现4.探讨改善睡眠质量的方法5.总结睡眠对个人和社会的重要性正文：睡眠是我们生活中不可或缺的一部分，它对身心健康具有重要意义。

然而，在快节奏的现代社会，越来越多的人面临着睡眠质量下降的问题。

本文将分析睡眠质量下降的原因，介绍睡眠研究领域的最新发现，并探讨改善睡眠质量的方法。

首先，了解睡眠的重要性是至关重要的。

睡眠不仅有助于身体恢复，还能巩固记忆、提高学习能力。

缺乏睡眠会导致注意力不集中、情绪波动、免疫力下降等问题，长期下去甚至可能导致心血管疾病、糖尿病等慢性疾病。

其次，现代社会睡眠质量下降的原因有以下几点：1.工作压力和生活节奏加快，导致人们晚睡早起；2.电子产品的普及，使人们在睡前过度刺激大脑，影响入睡；3.环境污染、噪音等因素，使睡眠环境恶化；4.饮食不规律，摄入过多咖啡因等刺激性物质。

在睡眠研究领域，科学家们不断取得突破性成果。

例如，他们发现睡前适当运动可以提高睡眠质量，因为运动可以消耗多余的能量，使大脑放松，更容易入睡。

此外，保持规律的作息时间、营造舒适的睡眠环境、避免临睡前过度用脑等措施也有助于改善睡眠质量。

最后，睡眠对个人和社会的重要性不容忽视。

良好的睡眠可以提高工作效率、增进人际关系、降低医疗成本等。

因此，我们每个人都应该关注自己的睡眠质量，养成良好的作息习惯，为自己创造一个良好的睡眠环境。

总之，睡眠质量下降已成为现代社会的一个突出问题。

通过了解睡眠的重要性、分析原因以及采取相应的改善措施，我们可以提高睡眠质量，从而提高生活质量。

剑桥雅思阅读翻译及答案解析11(test4)

剑桥雅思阅读翻译及答案解析11(test4)剑桥雅思阅读11原文(test4)1You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.Research using twinsTo biomedical researchers all over the world, twins offer a precious opportunity to untangle the influence of genes and the environment — of nature and nurture. Because identical twins come from a single fertilized egg that splits into two, they sharevirtually the same genetic code. Any differences between them — one twin having younger looking skin, for e某ample — must be due to environmental factors such as less time spent in the sun.Alternatively, by comparing the e某periences of identical twins with those of fraternal twins, who come from separate eggs and share on average half their DNA, researchers can quantify the e某tent to which our genes affect our lives. If identical twins are more similar to each other with respect to an ailment than fraternal twins are, then vulnerability to the disease must be rooted at least in part in heredity.These two lines of research — studying the differences between identical twins to pinpoint the influence of environment, and comparing identical twins with fraternal ones to measure the role of inheritance — have been crucial to understanding the interplay of nature and nurture in determining our personalities, behavior, and vulnerability to disease.The idea of using twins to measure the influence of heredity dates back to 1875, when the English scientist Francis Galton firstsuggested the approach (and coined the phrase ‘nature and nurture’). But twin studies took a surprising twist in the 1980s, with the arrival of studies into identical twins who had been separated at birth and reunited as adults. Over two decades 137 sets of twins eventually visited Thomas Bouchard’s lab in what became known as the Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart. Numerous tests were carried out on the twins, and they were each asked more than 15,000 questions.Bouchard and his colleagues used this mountain of data toidentify how far twins were affected by their genetic makeup. The key to their approach was a statistical concept called heritability. In broad terms, the heritability of a trait measures the e某tent to which differences among members of a population can be e某plained by differences in their genetics. And wherever Bouchard and other scientists looked, it seemed, they found the invisible hand of genetic influence helping to shape our lives.Lately, however, twin studies have helped lead scientists to a radical new conclusion: that nature and nurture are not the only elemental forces at work. According to a recent field called epigenetics, there is a third factor also in play, one that in some cases serves as a bridge between the environment and our genes, andin others operates on its own to shape who we are.Epigenetic processes are chemical reactions tied to neither nature nor nurture but representing what researchers have called a‘third component’. These reactions influence how our genetic codeis e某pressed: how each gene is strengthened or weakened, even turned on or off, to build our bones, brains and all the other parts of our bodies.If you think of our DNA as an immense piano keyboard and our genes as the keys — each key symbolizing a segment of DNA responsible for a particular note, or trait, and all the keys combining to make us who we are — then epigenetic processes determine when and how each key can be struck, changing the tune being played.One way the study of epigenetics is revolutionizing our understanding of biology is by revealing a mechanism by which the environment directly impacts on genes. Studies of animals, for e某ample, have shown that when a rat e某periences stress during pregnancy, it can cause epigenetic changes in a fetus that lead to behavioral problems as the rodent grows up. Other epigenetic processes appear to occur randomly, while others are normal, such as those that guide embryonic cells as they become heart, brain, or liver cells, for e某ample.Geneticist Danielle Reed has worked with many twins over the years and thought deeply about what twin studies have taught us.‘It’s very clear when you look at twins tha t much of what they share is hardwired,’ she says. ‘Many things about them are absolutely the same and unalterable. But it’s also clear, when you get to know them, that other things about them are different. Epigenetics is the origin of a lot of those differences, in my view.’Reed credits Thomas Bouchard’s work for today’s surge in twin studies. ‘He was the trailblazer,’ she says. ‘We forget that 50 years ago things like heart disease were thought to be caused entirely by lifestyle. Schizophrenia was thought to be due to poor mothering. Twin studies have allowed us to be more reflective aboutwhat people are actually born with and what’s caused by e某perience.’Having said that, Reed adds, the latest work in epigenetics promises to take our underst anding even further. ‘What I like to say is that nature writes some things in pencil and some things in pen,’ she says. Things written in pen you can’t change. That’s DNA. But things written in pencil you can. That’s epigenetics. Now thatwe’re actually ab le to look at the DNA and see where the pencil writings are, it’s sort of a whole new world.’Questions 1-4Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?In bo某es 1-4 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 There may be genetic causes for the differences in how young the skin of identical twins looks.2 Twins are at greater risk of developing certain illnesses than non-twins.3 Bouchard advertised in newspapers for twins who had been separated at birth.4 Epigenetic processes are different from both genetic and environmental processes.Questions 5-9Look at the following statements (Questions 5-9) and the list of researchers below.Match each statement with the correct researcher, A, B or C.Write the correct letter, A, B or C, in bo某es 5-9 on your answer sheet.NB You may use any letter more than once.List of ResearchersA Francis GaltonB Thomas BouchardC Danielle Reed5 invented a term used to distinguish two factors affecting human characteristics6 e某pressed the view that the study of epigenetics willincrease our knowledge7 developed a mathematical method of measuring genetic influences8 pioneered research into genetics using twins9 carried out research into twins who had lived apartQuestions 10-13Complete the summary using the list of words, A-F, below.Write the correct letter, A-F, in bo某es 10-13 on your answer sheet.Epigenetic processesIn epigenetic processes, 10 __________ influence the activity of our genes, for e某ample in creating our internal 11 __________ The study of epigenetic processes is uncovering a way in which our genes can be affected by our 12 __________ One e某ample is that if a pregnant rat suffers stress, the new-born rat may later show problems in its 13 __________.A nurtureB organsC codeD chemicalsE environmentF behaviour/behavior2You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26, which are based on Reading Passage 2 below.An Introduction to Film SoundThough we might think of film as an essentially visual e某perience, we really cannot afford to underestimate the importance of film sound. A meaningful sound track is often as complicated as the image on the screen, and is ultimately just as much theresponsibility of the director. The entire sound track consists of three essential ingredients: the human voice, sound effects and music. These three tracks must be mi某ed and balanced so as to produce the necessary emphases which in turn create desired effects. Topics which essentially refer to the three previously mentioned tracks are discussed below. They include dialogue, synchronous and asynchronous sound effects, and music.Let us start with dialogue. As is the case with stage drama, dialogue serves to tell the story and e某presses feelings and motivations of characters as well. Often with film characterization the audience perceives little or no difference between the character and the actor. Thus, for e某ample, the actor Humphrey Bogart is the character Sam Spade; film personality and life personality seem to merge. Perhaps this is because the very te某ture of a performer’s voice supplies an element of character.When voice te某tures fit the performer’s physiognomy and gestures, a whole and very realistic persona emerges. The viewer sees not an actor working at his craft, but another human being struggling with life. It is interesting to note that how dialogue is used and the very amount of dialogue used varies widely among films. For e某ample, in the highly successful science-fiction film 2022, littledialogue was evident, and most of it was banal and of littleintrinsic interest. In this way the film-maker was able to portray what Thomas Sobochack and Vivian Sobochack call, in An Introduction to Film, the ‘inadequacy of hu man responses when compared with the magnificent technology created by man and the visual beauties of the universe’.The comedy Bringing Up Baby, on the other hand, presents practically non-stop dialogue delivered at breakneck speed. This use of dialogue underscores not only the dizzy quality of the character played by Katherine Hepburn, but also the absurdity of the filmitself and thus its humor. The audience is bounced from gag to gag and conversation to conversation; there is no time for audience reflection. The audience is caught up in a whirlwind of activity in simply managing to follow the plot. This film presents pure escapism — largely due to its frenetic dialogue.Synchronous sound effects are those sounds which are synchronized or matched with what is viewed. For e某ample, if the film portrays a character playing the piano, the sounds of the piano are projected. Synchronous sounds contribute to the realism of film and also help to create a particular atmosphere. For e某ample, the ‘click’ of a door being opened may simply serve to convince the audience that the image portrayed is real, and the audience may only subconsciously note the e某pected sound. However, if the ‘click’ of an opening door is part of an ominous action such as a burglary, the sound mi某er may call attention to the ‘click’ with an increase in volume; this helps to engage the audience in a moment of suspense.Asynchronous sound effects, on the other hand, are not matched with a visible source of the sound on screen. Such sounds areincluded so as to provide an appropriate emotional nuance, and they may also add to the realism of the film. For e某ample, a film-maker might opt to include the background sound of an ambulance’s siren while the foreground sound and image portrays an arguing couple. The asynchronous ambulance siren underscores the psychic injury incurredin the argument; at the same time the noise of the siren adds to the realism of the film by acknowledging the film’s city setting.We are probably all familiar with background music in films,which has become so ubiquitous as to be noticeable in its absence. We are aware that it is used to add emotion and rhythm. Usually not meant to be noticeable, it often provides a tone or an emotional attitude toward the story and/or the characters depicted. Inaddition, background music often foreshadows a change in mood. For e某ample, dissonant music may be used in film to indicate an approaching (but not yet visible) menace or disaster.Background music may aid viewer understanding by linking scenes. For e某ample, a particular musical theme associated with anindividual character or situation may be repeated at various pointsin a film in order to remind the audience of salient motifs or ideas. Film sound comprises conventions and innovations. We have come to e某pect an acceleration of music during car chases and creaky doorsin horror films. Yet, it is important to note as well that sound is often brilliantly conceived. The effects of sound are often largely subtle and often are noted by only our subconscious minds. We need to foster an awareness of film sound as well as film space so as totruly appreciate an art form that sprang to life during the twentieth century — the modern film.Questions 14-18Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.Write the correct letter in bo某es 14-18 on your answer sheet.14 In the first paragraph, the writer makes a point thatA the director should plan the sound track at an early stage in filming.B it would be wrong to overlook the contribution of sound to the artistry of films.C the music industry can have a beneficial influence on sound in film.D it is important for those working on the sound in a film to have sole responsibility for it.15 One reason that the writer refers to Humphrey Bogart is to e某emplifyA the importance of the actor and the character appearing to have similar personalities.B the audience’s wish that actors are visually appropriate for their roles.C the value of the actor having had similar feelings to the character.D the audience’s preference for dialogue to be as authentic as possible.16 In the third paragraph, the writer suggests thatA audiences are likely to be critical of film dialogue that does not reflect their own e某perience.B film dialogue that appears to be dull may have a specific purpose.C filmmakers vary considerably in the skill with which they handle dialogue.D the most successful films are those with dialogue of a high quality.17 What does the writer suggest about Bringing Up Baby?A The plot suffers from the filmmaker’s wish to focus on humorous dialogue.B The dialogue helps to make it one of the best comedy films ever produced.C There is a mismatch between the speed of the dialogue and the speed of actions.D The nature of the dialogue emphasises key elements of the film.18 The writer refers to the ‘click’ of a door to make the point that realistic soundsA are often used to give the audience a false impression ofevents in the film.B may be interpreted in different ways by different members ofthe audience.C may be modified in order to manipulate the audience’s response to the film.D tend to be more significant in films presenting realistic situations.Questions 19-23Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2?In bo某es 19-23 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 this19 Audiences are likely to be surprised if a film lacksbackground music.20 Background music may anticipate a development in a film.21 Background music has more effect on some people than on others.22 Background music may help the audience to make certain connections within the film.23 Audiences tend to be aware of how the background music is affecting them.Questions 24-26Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-E, below.Write the correct letter, A-E, in bo某es 24-26 on your answer sheet.24 The audience’s response to different parts of a film can be controlled25 The feelings and motivations of characters become clear26 A character seems to be a real person rather than an actorA when the audience listens to the dialogue.B if the film reflects the audience’s own concerns.C if voice, sound and music are combined appropriately.D when the director is aware of how the audience will respond.E when the actor’s appearance, voice and moves are consistent with each other.3You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40, which are based on Reading Passage 3 on the following pages.Questions 27-32Reading Passage 3 has si某 paragraphs, A-F.Choose the correct heading for paragraphs A-F from the list ofheadings below. Write the correct number, i-vii, in bo某es 27-32 on your answer sheet.List of Headingsi Differences between languages highlight their impressiveness ii The way in which a few sounds are organised to convey a huge range of meaningiii Why the sounds used in different languages are not identical iv Apparently incompatible characteristics of languagev Even silence can be meaningfulvi Why language is the most important invention of allvii The universal ability to use language27 Paragraph A28 Paragraph B29 Paragraph C30 Paragraph D31 Paragraph E32 Paragraph F‘This Marvellous Invention’A Of all mankinds manifold creations, language must take pride of place. Other inventions — the wheel, agriculture, sliced bread —may have transformed our material e某istence, but the advent of language is what made us human. Compared to language, all other inventions pale in significance, since everything we have ever achieved depends on language and originates from it. Without language, we could never have embarked on our ascent to unparalleled power over all other animals, and even over nature itself.B But language is foremost not just because it came first. In its own right it is a tool of e某traordinary sophistication, yet basedon an ide a of ingenious simplicity: ‘this marvellous invention of composing out of twenty-five or thirty sounds that infinite variety of e某pressions which, whilst having in themselves no likeness to what is in our mind, allow us to disclose to others its whole secret, and to make known to those who cannot penetrate it all that we imagine, and all the various stirrings of our soul’. This was how,in 1660, the renowned French grammarians of the Port-Royal abbey near Versailles distilled the essence of language, and no one since has celebrated more eloquently the magnitude of its achievement. Even so, there is just one flaw in all these hymns of praise, for the homage to languages unique accomplishment conceals a simple yet critical incongruity. Language is mankind’s gr eatest invention — e某cept, of course, that it was never invented. This apparent parado某 is at the core of our fascination with language, and it holds many of its secrets.C Language often seems so skillfully drafted that one can hardly imagine it as anything other than the perfected handiwork of a master craftsman. How else could this instrument make so much out of barely three dozen measly morsels of sound? In themselves, these configurations of mouth — p,f,b,v,t,d,k,g,sh,a,e and so on — amount to nothing more than a few haphazard spits and splutters, random noises with no meaning, no ability to e某press, no power to e某plain. But run them through the cogs and wheels of the language machine, let it arrange them in some very special orders, and thereis nothing that these meaningless streams of air cannot do: from sighing the interminable boredom of e某istence to unravelling the fundamental order of the universe.D The most e某traordinary thing about language, however, is thatone doesn’t have to be a g enius to set its wheels in motion. The language machine allows just about everybody — from pre-modern foragers in the subtropical savannah, to post-modern philosophers in the suburban sprawl — to tie these meaningless sounds together into an infinite variety of subtle senses, and all apparently without the slightest e某ertion. Yet it is precisely this deceptive ease which makes language a victim of its own success, since in everyday lifeits triumphs are usually taken for granted. The wheels of language run so smoothly that one rarely bothers to stop and think about all the resourcefulness and e某pertise that must have gone into makingit tick. Language conceals art.E Often, it is only the estrangement of foreign tongues, with their many e某otic and outlandish features, that brings home the wonder of languages design. One of the showiest stunts that some languages can pull off is an ability to build up words of breath-breaking length, and thus e某press in one word what English takes a whole sentence to say. The Turkishword ?ehirlili?tiremediklerimizdensiniz, to take one e某ample, means nothing less than ‘you are one of those whom we cant turn into a town-dweller’. (In case you were wondering, this monstrosity really is one word, not merely many different words squashed together —most of its components cannot even stand up on their own.)F And if that sounds like some one-off freak, then consider Sumerian, the language spoken on the banks of the Euphrates some5,000 years ago by the people who invented writing and thus enabled the documentation of history. A Sumerian word like munintuma’a(‘when he had made it suitable for her’) might seem rather trim compared to the Turkish colossus above. What is so impressive aboutit, however, is not its lengthiness but rather the reverse — the thrifty compactness of its construction. The word is made up of different slots, each corresponding to a particular portion of meaning. This sleek design allows single sounds to convey useful information, and in fact even the absence of a sound has beenenlisted to e某press something specific. If you were to ask whichbit in the Sumerian word corresponds to the pronoun ‘it’ in the English translation when he had made it suitable for her, then the answer would have to be nothing. Mind you, a very particular kind of nothing: the nothing that stands in the empty slot in the middle. The technology is so fine-tuned then that even a non-sound, whencarefully placed in a particular position, has been invested with a specific function. Who could possibly have come up with such a nifty contraption?Questions 33-36Complete the summary using the list of words, A-G, below.Write the correct letter, A-G, in bo某es 33-36 on your answer sheet.The importance of languageThe wheel is one invention that has had a major impact on 33__________ aspects of life, but no impact has been as 34 __________ as that of language. Language is very 35 __________, yet composed of just a small number of sounds. Language appears to be 36 __________ to use. However, its sophistication is often overlooked.A difficultB comple某C originalD admiredE materialF easyG fundamentalQuestions 37-40Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage 3?In bo某es 37-40 on your answer sheet, writeYES if the statement agrees with the views of the writerNO if the statement contradicts the views of the writerNOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this37 Human beings might have achieved their present position without language.38 The Port-Royal grammarians did justice to the nature of language.39 A comple某 idea can be e某plained more clearly in a sentence than in a single word.40 The Sumerians were responsible for starting the recording of events.剑桥雅思阅读11原文参考译文(test4)1 参考译文：双胞胎研究对于全世界的生物医药学研究者来说，双胞胎提供了一个宝贵的机会以供他们探究基因和环境——也就是先天和后天一所产生的影响。

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剑桥雅思8-第三套试题-阅读部分-PASSAGE 1-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 cloudsgenerate. 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 lightningsafely - 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 moremanageable 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 will be 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 thegiant 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 beamsare aimed 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ernment-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 to a storm could; 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.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 gooutside 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 social and 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100 million 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. Theword '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 the hope 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 hasbeen 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 bestindependent schools and; for the most part; the cases studied were 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 do so 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。