剑桥雅思9ReadingTest3详细解释
剑桥雅思阅读7原文难度解析（test3）
剑桥雅思阅读7原文难度解析(test3)为了帮助大家更好地备考雅思阅读，下面小编给大家分享剑桥雅思阅读7原文翻译及答案解析(test3)，希望对你们有用。
剑桥雅思阅读7原文(test3)READING PASSAGE 1You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.Ant IntelligenceWhen we think of intelligent members of the animal kingdom, the creatures that spring immediately to mind are apes and monkeys. But in fact the social lives of some members of the insect kingdom are sufficiently complex to suggest more than a hint of intelligence. Among these, the world of the ant has come in for considerable scrutiny lately, and the idea that ants demonstrate sparks of cognition has certainly not been rejected by those involved in these investigations.Ants store food, repel attackers and use chemical signals to contact one another in case of attack. Such chemical communication can be compared to the human use of visual and auditory channels (as in religious chants, advertising images and jingles, political slogans and martial music) to arouse and propagate moods and attitudes. The biologist Lewis Thomas wrote, ‘Ants are so much like human beings as to be an embarrassment. They farm fungi, raise aphids_as livestock, launch armies to war, use chemical sprays to alarm and confuse enemies, capture slaves, engage in child labour, exchange information ceaselessly. They do everything but watch television.’However, in ants there is no cultural transmission —everything must be encoded in the genes — whereas in humansthe opposite is true. Only basic instincts are carried in the genes of a newborn baby, other skills being learned from others in the community as the child grows up. It may seem that this cultural continuity gives us a huge advantage over ants. They have never mastered fire nor progressed. Their fungus farming and aphid herding crafts are sophisticated when compared to the agricultural skills of humans five thousand years ago but have been totally overtaken by modern human agribusiness.Or have they? The farming methods of ants are at least sustainable. They do not ruin environments or use enormous amounts of energy. Moreover, recent evidence suggests that the crop farming of ants may be more sophisticated and adaptable than was thought.Ants were farmers fifty million years before humans were. Ants can’t digest the cellulose in leaves — but some fungi can. The ants therefore cultivate these fungi in their nests, bringing them leaves to feed on, and then use them as a source of food. Farmer ants secrete antibiotics to control other fungi that might act as ‘weeds’, and spread waste to fertilise the crop.It was once thought that the fungus that ants cultivate was a single type that they had propagated, essentially unchanged from the distant past. Not so. Ulrich Mueller of Maryland and his colleagues genetically screened 862 different types of fungi taken from ants’ nests. These turned out to be highly diverse: it seems that ants are continually domesticating new species. Even more impressively, DNA analysis of the fungi suggests that the ants improve or modify the fungi by regularly swapping and sharing strains with neighbouring ant colonies.Whereas prehistoric man had no exposure to urban lifestyles — the forcing house of intelligence — the evidence suggests thatants have lived in urban settings for close on a hundred million years, developing and maintaining underground cities of specialised chambers and tunnels.When we survey Mexico City, Tokyo, Los Angeles, we are amazed at what has been accomplished by humans. Yet Hoelldobler and Wilson’s magnificent work for ant lovers, The Ants, describes a supercolony of the ant Formica yessensis on the Ishikari Coast of Hokkaido. This ‘megalopolis’ was reported to be composed of 360 million workers and a million queens living in 4,500 interconnected nests across a territory of 2.7 square kilometres.Such enduring and intricately meshed levels of technical achievement outstrip by far anything achieved by our distant ancestors. We hail as masterpieces the cave paintings in southern France and elsewhere, dating back some 20,000 years. Ant societies existed in something like their present form more than seventy million years ago. Beside this, prehistoric man looks technologically primitive. Is this then some kind of intelligence, albeit of a different kind?Research conducted at Oxford, Sussex and Zurich Universities has shown that when desert ants return from a foraging trip, they navigate by integrating bearings and distances, which they continuously update in their heads. They combine the evidence of visual landmarks with a mental library of local directions, all within a framework which is consulted and updated. So ants can learn too.And in a twelve-year programme of work, Ryabko and Reznikova have found evidence that ants can transmit very complex messages. Scouts who had located food in a maze returned to mobilise their foraging teams. They engaged incontact sessions, at the end of which the scout was removed in order to observe what her team might do. Often the foragers proceeded to the exact spot in the maze where the food had been. Elaborate precautions were taken to prevent the foraging team using odour clues. Discussion now centres on whether the route through the maze is communicated as a ‘left-right’ se quence of turns or as a ‘compass bearing and distance’ message.During the course of this exhaustive study, Reznikova has grown so attached to her laboratory ants that she feels she knows them as individuals — even without the paint spots used to mark them. It’s no surprise that Edward Wilson, in his essay, ‘In the company of ants’, advises readers who ask what to do with the ants in their kitchen to: ‘Watch where you step. Be careful of little lives.’Questions 1-6Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?In boxes 1-6 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 Ants use the same channels of communication as humans do.2 City life is one factor that encourages the development of intelligence.3 Ants can build large cities more quickly than humans do.4 Some ants can find their way by making calculations based on distance and position.5 In one experiment, foraging teams were able to use theirsense of smell to find food.6 The essay, ‘In the company of ants’, explores ant communication.Questions 7-13Complete the summary using the list of words, A-O, below.Write the correct letter, A-O, in boxes 7-13 on your answer sheet.Ants as farmersAnts have sophisticated methods of farming, including herding livestock and growing crops, which are in many ways similar to those used in human agriculture. The ants cultivate a large number of different species of edible fungi which convert 7..............into a form which they can digest. They use their own natural 8..............as weed-killers and also use unwanted materials as 9.............. . Genetic analysis shows they constantly upgrade these fungi by developing new species and by 10..............species with neighbouring ant colonies. In fact, the farming methods of ants could be said to be more advanced than human agribusiness, since they use 11..............methods, they do not affect the12..............and do not waste 13.............. .A aphidsB agriculturalC celluloseD exchangingE energyF fertilizersG foodH fungiI growing J interbreeding K natural L other specesM secretions N sustainable O environmentREADING PASSAGE 2You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26, which are based on Reading Passage 2 on the following pages.Questions 14-19Reading Passage 2 has seven sections, A-G.Choose the correct headings for sections A-F from the list ofheadings below.Write the correct number, i-x, in boxes 14-19 on your answer sheet.List of Headingsi The results of the research into blood-variantsii Dental evidenceiii Greenberg’s analysis of the dental and linguistic evidence iv Developments in the methods used to study early population movementsv Indian migration from Canada to the U.S.A.vi Further genetic evidence relating to the three-wave theory vii Long-standing questions about prehistoric migration to Americaviii Conflicting views of the three-wave theory, based on non-genetic evidenceix Questions about the causes of prehistoric migration to Americax How analysis of blood-variants measures the closeness of the relationship between different populations14 Section A15 Section B16 Section C17 Section D18 Section E19 Section FExample AnswerSection G viiiPopulation movements and geneticsA Study of the origins and distribution of human populations used to be based on archaeological and fossil evidence. Anumber of techniques developed since the 1950s, however, have placed the study of these subjects on a sounder and more objective footing. The best information on early population movements is now being obtained from the ‘archaeology of the living body’, the clues to be found in genetic material.B Recent work on the problem of when people first entered the Americas is an example of the value of these new techniques. North-east Asia and Siberia have long been accepted as the launching ground for the first human colonisers of the New World1. But was there one major wave of migration across the Bering Strait into the Americas, or several? And when did this event, or events, take place? In recent years, new clues have come from research into genetics, including the distribution of genetic markers in modern Native Americans2.C An important project, led by the biological anthropologist Robert Williams, focused on the variants (called Gm allotypes) of one particular protein — immunoglobin G — found in the fluid portion of human blood. All proteins ‘drift’, or produce variants, over the generations, and members of an interbreeding human population will share a set of such variants. Thus, by comparing the Gm allotypes of two different populations (e.g. two Indian tribes), one can establish their genetic ‘distance’, which itself can be calibrated to give an indication of the length of time since these populations last interbred.D Williams and his colleagues sampled the blood of over 5,000 American Indians in western North America during a twenty-year period. They found that their Gm allotypes could be divided into two groups, one of which also corresponded to the genetic typing of Central and South American Indians. Other tests showed that the Inuit (or Eskimo) and Aleut3 formed a thirdgroup. From this evidence it was deduced that there had been three major waves of migration across the Bering Strait. The first, Paleo-lndian, wave more than 15,000 years ago was ancestral to all Central and South American Indians. The second wave, about 14,000-12,000 years ago, brought Na-Dene hunters, ancestors of the Navajo and Apache (who only migrated south from Canada about 600 or 700 years ago). The third wave, perhaps 10,000 or 9,000 years ago, saw the migration from North-east Asia of groups ancestral to the modern Eskimo and Aleut.E How far does other research support these conclusion? Geneticist Douglas Wallace has studied mitochondrial DNA4 in blood samples from three widely separated Native American groups: Pima-Papago Indians in Arizona, Maya Indians on the Yucatan peninsula, Mexico, and Ticuna Indians in the Upper Amazon region of Brazil. As would have been predicted by Robert Williams’s work, all three groups appear to be descended from the same ancestral (Paleo-lndian) population.F There are two other kinds of research that have thrown some light on the origins of the Native American population; they involve the study of teeth and of languages. The biological anthropologist Christy Turner is an expert in the analysis of changing physical characteristics in human teeth. He argues that tooth crowns and roots5 have a high genetic component, minimally affected by environmental and other factors. Studies carried out by Turner of many thousands of New and Old World specimens, both ancient and modern, suggest that the majority of prehistoric Americans are linked to Northern Asian populations by crown and root traits such as incisor6 shoveling (a scooping out on one or both surfaces of the tooth), single-rooted upper first premolars6 and triple-rooted lower firstmolars6.According to Turner, this ties in with the idea of a single Paleo-lndian migration out of North Asia, which he sets at before 14,000 years ago by calibrating rates of dental micro-evolution. Tooth analyses also suggest that there were two later migrations of Na-Denes and Eskimo-Aleut.G The linguist Joseph Greenberg has, since the 1950s, argued that all Native American languages belong to a single ‘Amerind’ family, except for Na-Dene and Eskimo-Aleut — a view that gives credence to the idea of three main migrations. Greenberg is in a minority among fellow linguists, most of whom favour the notion of a great many waves of migration to account for the more than 1,000 languages spoken at one time by American Indians. But there is no doubt that the new genetic and dental evidence provides strong backing for Greenberg’s view. Dates given for the migrations should nevertheless be treated with caution, except where supported by hard archaeological evidence.1 New World: the American continent, as opposed to the so-called Old World of Europe, Asia and Africa2 modern Native American: an American descended from the groups that were native to America3 Inuit and Aleut: two of the ethnic groups native to the northern regions of North America (i.e. northern Canada and Greenland)4 DNA: the substance in which genetic information is stored5 crown/root: parts of the tooth6 incisor/premolar/molar: kinds of teethQuestions 20 and 21The discussion of Williams’s research indicates the periods at which early people are thought to have migrated along certainroutes. There are six routes, A-F, marked on map below.Complete the table below.Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 20 and 21 on your answer sheet.Route Period (number of years ago)20.................. 15,000 or more21.................. 600 to 700Early Population Movement to the AmericasQuestions 22-25Reading Passage 2 refers to the three-wave theory of early migration to the Americas. It also suggests in which of these three waves the ancestors of various groups of modern native Americans first reached the continent.Classify the groups named in the table below as originating fromA the first waveB the second waveC the third waveWrite the correct letter, A, B or C, in boxes 22-25 on your answer sheet.Name of group Wave numberInuit 22..................Apache 23..................Pima-Papago 24..................Ticuna 25..................Question 26Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.Write the correct letter in box 26 on your answer sheet.Christy Turn er’s research involved the examination ofA teeth from both prehistoric and modern Americans andAsians.B thousands of people who live in either the New or the Old World.C dental specimens from the majority of prehistoric Americans.D the eating habits of American and Asian populations.READING PASSAGE 3You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40, which are based on Reading Passage 3 below.Forests are one of the main elements of our natural heritage. The decline of Europe’s forests over the las t decade and a half has led to an increasing awareness and understanding of the serious imbalances which threaten them. European countries are becoming increasingly concerned by major threats to European forests, threats which know no frontiers other than those of geography or climate: air pollution, soil deterioration, the increasing number of forest fires and sometimes even the mismanagement of our woodland and forest heritage. There has been a growing awareness of the need for countries to get together to co-ordinate their policies. In December 1990, Strasbourg hosted the first Ministerial Conference on the protection of Europe’s forests. The conference brought together 31 countries from both Western and Eastern Europe. The topics discussed included the coordinated study of the destruction of forests, as well as how to combat forest fires and the extension of European research programs on the forest ecosystem. The preparatory work for the conference had been undertaken at two meetings of experts. Their initial task was to decide which of the many forest problems of concern to Europe involved the largest number of countries and might be thesubject of joint action. Those confined to particular geographical areas, such as countries bordering the Mediterranean or the Nordic countries therefore had to be discarded. However, this does not mean that in future they will be ignored.As a whole, European countries see forests as performing a triple function: biological, economic and recreational. The first is to act as a ‘green lung’ for our planet; by means of photosynthesis, forests produce oxygen through the transformation of solar energy, thus fulfilling what for humans is the essential role of an immense, non-polluting power plant. At the same time, forests provide raw materials for human activities through their constantly renewed production of wood. Finally, they offer those condemned to spend five days a week in an urban environment an unrivalled area of freedom to unwind and take part in a range of leisure activities, such as hunting, riding and hiking. The economic importance of forests has been understood since the dawn of man — wood was the first fuel. The other aspects have been recognised only for a few centuries but they are becoming more and more important. Hence, there is a real concern throughout Europe about the damage to the forest environment which threatens these three basic roles.The myth of the ‘natural’ forest has survived, yet there are effectively no remaining ‘primary’ forests in Europe. All European forests are artificial, having been adapted and exploited by man for thousands of years. This means that a forest policy is vital, that it must transcend national frontiers and generations of people, and that it must allow for the inevitable changes that take place in the forests, in needs, and hence in policy. The Strasbourg conference was one of the first events on such a scale to reach this conclusion. A general declaration wasmade that ‘a central place in any ecologically coherent forest policy must be given to continuity over time and to the possible effects of unforeseen events, to ensure that the full potential of these forests is maintained’.That general declaration was accompanied by six detailed resolutions to assist national policy-making. The first proposes the extension and systematisation of surveillance sites to monitor forest decline. Forest decline is still poorly understood but leads to the loss of a high proportion of a tree’s needles or leaves. The entire continent and the majority of species are now affected: between 30% and 50% of the tree population. The condition appears to result from the cumulative effect of a number of factors, with atmospheric pollutants the principal culprits. Compounds of nitrogen and sulphur dioxide should be particularly closely watched. However, their effects are probably accentuated by climatic factors, such as drought and hard winters, or soil imbalances such as soil acidification, which damages the roots. The second resolution concentrates on the need to preserve the genetic diversity of European forests. The aim is to reverse the decline in the number of tree species or at least to preserve the ‘genetic material’ of all of them. Although forest fires do not affect all of Europe to the same extent, the amount of damage caused the experts to propose as the third resolution that the Strasbourg conference consider the establishment of a European databank on the subject. All information used in the development of national preventative policies would become generally available. The subject of the fourth resolution discussed by the ministers was mountain forests. In Europe, it is undoubtedly the mountain ecosystem which has changed most rapidly and is most at risk. A thinly scattered permanentpopulation and development of leisure activities, particularly skiing, have resulted in significant long-term changes to the local ecosystems. Proposed developments include a preferential research program on mountain forests. The fifth resolution relaunched the European research network on the physiology of trees, called Eurosilva. Eurosilva should support joint European research on tree diseases and their physiological and biochemical aspects. Each country concerned could increase the number of scholarships and other financial support for doctoral theses and research projects in this area. Finally, the conference established the framework for a European research network on forest ecosystems. This would also involve harmonising activities in individual countries as well as identifying a number of priority research topics relating to the protection of forests. The Strasbourg conference’s main concern was to provide for the future. This was the initial motivation, one now shared by all 31 participants representing 31 European countries. Their final text commits them to on-going discussion between government representatives with responsibility for forests.Questions 27-33Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 3?In boxes 27-33 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 this27 Forest problems of Mediterranean countries are to be discussed at the next meeting or experts.28 Problems in Nordic countries were excluded because they are outside the European Economic Community.29 Forests are a renewable source of raw material.30 The biological functions of forests were recognized only in the twentieth century.31 Natural forests still exist in parts of Europe.32 Forest policy should be limited by national boundaries.33 The Strasbourg conference decided that a forest policy must allow for the possibility of change.Questions 34-39Look at the following statements issued by the conference.Which six of the following statements, A-J, refer to the resolutions that were issued?Match the statements with the appropriate resolutions (Questions 34-39).Write the correct letter, A-J, in boxes 34-39 on your answer sheet.A All kinds of species of trees should be preserved.B Fragile mountain forests should be given priority in research programs.C The surviving natural forests of Europe de not need priority treatment.D Research is to be better co-ordinated throughout Europe.E Information on forest fires should be collected and shared.F Loss of leaves from trees should be more extensively and carefully monitored.G Resources should be allocated to research into tree diseases.H Skiing should be encouraged in thinly populated areas.I Soil imbalances such as acidification should be treated with compounds of nitrogen and sulphur.J Information is to be systematically gathered on any declinein the condition of forests.34 Resolution 135 Resolution 236 Resolution 337 Resolution 438 Resolution 539 Resolution 6Question 40Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.Write the correct letter in box 40 on your answer sheet.40 What is the best title for Reading Passage 3?A The biological, economic and recreational role of forestsB Plans to protect the forests of EuropeC The priority of European research into ecosystemsD Proposals for a world-wide policy on forest management剑桥雅思阅读7原文参考译文(test3)TEST 3 PASSAGE 1 参考译文：蚂蚁智能每当我们想到动物界的智能成员时，头脑中立刻出现的会是猿和猴子。
剑桥雅思9听力原文+答案解析Test4Section3
剑桥雅思9听力原文+答案解析Test4Section3真题下载，请点击：剑桥雅思9听力解析：听前预测21 -22题是典型的单选题。
考生需要在录音前先找出题干的定位词，并浏览完所有的选项。
23-25题属于句子填空题。
注意题目的要求是ONE WORD ONLY。
通过快速浏览三个句子，考生很容易凭借语法知识判断出这三个空格处分别需要填写动词原形、形容词和动词原形。
此外，考生还需要快速找出三个句子的定位词。
26-30题属于经典的简答题。
考生需要先划出每一道题的疑问副词或疑问代词(what)推测出答案的大致表述方式，再找出每道题的定位词去录音原文中准确捕捉答案信息。
剑桥雅思9听力答案解析：21. A 该题难度较大，因为对话开始后便出现It must be twelve months since you did our course提示考生查看选项。
在下一个提问之后，Kira说I went straight into third year Pharmacy, They credited me with two years。
此信息很容易误导考生选B。
再后来的I’d already finished a course in it in my country.正对应题干中的信息和选项A。
22. C 在21题后，录音中出现了大量与题干没有直接关联的干扰信息。
但是只要考生跟听到题干中的assignment，并且同时注意三个选项的核心词，就可以定位该题。
因为录音说I’ve found it very difficult to write assignments …，然后又出现一段干扰信息，在定位到People expect you to have problems with the process of reading and writing …这句话时，说明己经读到了选项，同时排除A和B，因为两个选项在并列关系出现时不能同时入选，所以排除。
剑桥雅思精选阅读解析test
P a s s a g e 1Question 1答案： YES关键词： reasons, arguments occur定位原文: 第1段第2、3句“Popular linguistic debate... ”语言学上的普通争论通常会升级为谩骂和论战。
语言属于所有人，所以大多数人认为他们有权保留自己对语言的看法。
解题思路: 题干要判断对于语言的争论，原因是否可以理解。
原文陈述，语言属于所有人，大多数人有权保留对语言的看法，所以人们的观点会产生分歧是可以理解的。
题干与原文完全一致。
Question 2答案： NO关键词： language education, language usage定位原文：第1段第4句“And when opinions differ,…”而当看法出现分歧时，人们可能变得情绪激动。
语言用法方面的一点小事，就能像语言学教育政策中的重大问题一样很容易引起争论。
解题思路：题干要判断人们对待语言教育的态度是否比对待语言用法的态度更加强烈。
原文陈述，语言用法方面的一点小事都能像语言学教育政策中的大事一样引起争论，这说明对待语言用法与语言学教育政策的态度同样强烈。
题干与原文所述观点不一致。
Question 3答案： YES关键词： intelligence, affect定位原文：第2段第2句“No part of society or social…”所有社会组成部分或者社会行为无一例外。
语言因素影响我们如何判断一个人的个性、智力、社会地位、教育程度、工作能力以及许多身份与社会生存的其他方面。
解题思路：题干要判断使用语言的方式是否会影响人们对一个人智力的评估。
原文陈述，语言因素影响我们如何判断一个人的个性、智力……题干与原文完全一致。
Question 4答案： NOT GIVEN关键词： prescriptive, 18th century对应原文：第4段第1句“All the main languages…”解题思路：对所有主要语言的研究都是约定俗成的，尤其在18世纪对语法与词典的编写过程中。
剑桥雅思16test3阅读解析
剑桥雅思16test3阅读解析剑桥雅思16test3阅读解析：1.剑桥雅思16test3阅读概述剑桥雅思16test3阅读部分包含了三篇文章，分别是：教育类、科学与技术类和生态环境类。
本文将针对这三篇文章进行详细解析，帮助考生了解文章主旨、结构以及试题答案。
2.文章主题与结构分析（1）教育类文章：本文讨论了在线教育与传统教育之间的优劣，以及未来教育的发展趋势。
文章结构为：引言-对比分析在线教育与传统教育-阐述在线教育的优势-阐述传统教育的优势-结论。
（2）科学与技术类文章：本文探讨了睡眠对人体健康的重要性，以及睡眠不足带来的负面影响。
文章结构为：引言-睡眠的重要性-睡眠不足的负面影响-建议与措施-结论。
（3）生态环境类文章：本文讲述了全球气候变化对珊瑚礁生态系统的影响，以及科学家采取的保护措施。
文章结构为：引言-气候变化对珊瑚礁的影响-保护措施-措施的效果-结论。
3.试题答案及解析在此部分，我们将提供每篇文章对应的试题答案及详细解析，帮助考生掌握试题规律，提高答题效率。
4.考试技巧与策略针对剑桥雅思16test3阅读部分的试题特点，本文将提供一些实用的考试技巧与策略，包括：（1）提高阅读速度：通过训练提高阅读速度，以便在规定时间内完成试题。
（2）抓住文章主旨：在阅读过程中，关注文章的主题句、段落首尾句，迅速把握文章大意。
（3）利用题干关键词：在解答问题时，利用题干中的关键词在文章中定位答案。
（4）识别题型：熟悉各类题型，掌握解题思路和方法。
5.实战演练与建议根据剑桥雅思16test3阅读部分的试题特点，建议考生在备考过程中进行大量实战演练，提高自己的应试能力。
同时，针对性地总结自己的弱点，加强对各类题型的掌握。
总之，剑桥雅思16test3阅读部分的文章解析为考生提供了很好的学习材料。
通过本文的解析，考生可以更好地理解文章结构、掌握试题答案，并提高自己的阅读技巧。
剑桥雅思阅读8原文翻译及答案（test3）
剑桥雅思阅读8原文翻译及答案(test3)店铺为大家整理收集了剑桥雅思阅读8真题解析：test3阅读原文解析，希望对各位考生的备考有所帮助,祝每位烤鸭考试顺利，都能取得好成绩!剑桥雅思阅读8原文(test3)READING PASSAGE 1You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.Striking Back at LightningWith LasersSeldom is the weather more dramatic than when thunderstorms strike. Their electrical fury inflicts death or serious injury on around 500 people each year in the United States alone. As the clouds roll in, a leisurely round of golf can become a terrifying dice with death — out in the open, a lone golfer may be a lightning bolt’s most inviting target. And there is damage to property too. Lightning damage costs American power companies more than $100 million a year.But researchers in the United States and Japan are planning to hit back. Already in laboratory trials they have tested strategies for neutralising the power of thunderstorms, and this winter they will brave real storms, equipped with an armoury of lasers that they will be pointing towards the heavens to discharge thunderclouds before lightning can strike.The idea of forcing storm clouds to discharge their lightning on command is not new. In the early 1960s, researchers tried firing rockets trailing wires into thunderclouds to set up an easy discharge path for the huge electric charges that these clouds generate. The technique survives to this day at a test site inFlorida 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 usin g 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 p opulated area? ‘What goes up must come down,’ points out Jean-Claude Diels of the University of New Mexico. Diels is leading a project, which is backed by EPRI, to try to use lasers to discharge lightning safely —and safety is a basic requirement since no one wants to put themselves or their expensive equipment at risk. With around $500,000 invested so far, a promising system is just emerging from the laboratory.The idea began some 20 years ago, when high-powered lasers were revealing their ability to extract electrons out of atoms and create ions. If a laser could generate a line of ionisation in the air all the way up to a storm cloud, thisconducting 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. T o 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 (gun) would be cheap enough to be installed around all key power installations, and portable enough to be taken to international sporting events to beam up at brewing storm clouds.A stumbling blockHowever, there is still a big stumbling block. The laser is no nifty portable: it’s a monster that takes up a whole room. Diels is trying to cut down the size and says that a laser around the size of a small table is in the offing. He plans to test this more manageable system on live thunderclouds next summer.Bernstein says that Diels’s system is attracting lots of interest from the power companies. But they have not yet come up with the $5 million that EPRI says 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 $50,000 to $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 justforecasting 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 conf ront some other meteorological menaces. ‘We think we could prevent hail by inducing lightning,’ he says. Thunder, the shock wave that comes from a lightning flash, is thought to be the trigger for the torrential rain that is typical of storms. A laser thunder factory could shake the moisture out of clouds, perhaps preventing the formation of the giant hailstones that threaten crops. With luck, as the storm clouds gather this winter, laser-toting researchers could, for the first time, strike back.Questions 1-3Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.Write the correct letter in boxes 1-3 on your answer sheet.1 The main topic discussed in the text isA the damage caused to US golf courses and golf players by lightning strikes.B the effect of lightning on power supplies in the US and in Japan.C a variety of methods used in trying to control lightning strikes.D a laser technique used in trying to control lightning strikes.2 According to the text, every year lightningA does considerable damage to buildings during thunderstorms.B kills or injures mainly golfers in the United States.C kills or injures around 500 people throughout the world.D damages more than 100 American power companies.3 Researchers at the University of Florida and at the University of New MexicoA receive funds from the same source.B are using the same techniques.C are employed by commercial companies.D are in opposition to each other.Questions 4-6Complete the sentences below.Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.Write your answers in boxes 4-6 on your answer sheet.4 EPRI receives financial support from ..................... .5 The advantage of the technique being developed by Diels is that it can be used.....................6 The main difficulty associated with using the laser equipment is related to its.....................Questions 7-10Complete the summary using the list of words, A-I, below.Write the correct letter, A-I, in boxes 7-10 on your answer sheet.In this method, a laser is used to create a line of ionization by removing electrons from 7 ..................... . This laser is then directed at 8 ..................... in order to control electrical charges, a method which is less dangerous than using 9..................... . As a protection for the lasers, the beams are aimed firstly at10 ..................... .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 1?In 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 2You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26, which are based on Reading Passage 2 below.The Nature of GeniusThere has always been an interest in geniuses and prodigies. The word ‘genius’, from the Latin gens (= family) and the term ‘genius’, meaning ‘begetter’, comes from the ea rly R o m a n c u l t o f a d i v i n i t y a s t h e h e a d o f t h e f a m i l y . I n i t s e a r l i e s t f o r m , g e n i u s w a s c o n c e r n e d w i t h t h e a b i l i t y o f t h e h e a d o f t h e f a m i l y , t h e p a t e r f a m i l i a s , t o p e r p e t u a t e h i m s e l f . G r a d u a l l y , g e n i u s c a m e t o r e p r e s e n t a p e r s o n s c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s a n d t h e n c e a n i n d i v i d u a l s h i g h e s t a t t r i b u t e s d e r i v e d f r o m h i s g e n i u s o r g u i d i n g s p i r i t . T o d a y , p e o p l e s t i l l l o o k t o s t a r s o r g e n e s , a s t r o l o g y o r g e n e t i c s , i n t h e h o p e o f f i n d i n g t h e s o u r c e o f e x c e p t i o n a l a b i l i t i e s o r p e r s o n a l c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s . / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 3 4 " > 0 0 T h e c o n c e p t o f g e n i u s a n d o f g i f t s h a s b e c o m e p a r to f o u r f o l k c u l t u r e , a n d a t t i t u d e s a r e a m b i v a l e n t t o w a r d s t h e m . W e e n v y t h e g i f t e d a n d m i s t r u s t t h e m . I n t h e m y t h o l o g y o f g i f t e d n e s s , i t i s p o p u l a r l y b e l i e v e d t h a t i f p e o p l e a r e t a l e n t e d i n o n e a r e a , t h e y m u s t b e d e f e c t i v e i n a n o t h e r , t h a t i n t e l l e c t u a l s a r e i m p r a c t i c a l , t h a t p r o d i g i e s b u r n t o o b r i g h t l y t o o s o o n a n d b u r n o u t , t h a t g i f t e d p e o p l e a r e e c c e n t r i c , t h a t t h e ya r e p h y s i c a l w e a k l i n g s , t h a t t h e r e s a t h i n l i n eb e t w e e n g e n i u s a n d m a d n e s s , t h a t g e n i u s r u n s i n f a m i l i e s , t h a t t h e g i f t e d a r e s oc l e v e r t h e yd o n t ne e d s p e c i a l h e l p , t h a t g if t e d n e s s i s t h e s a m e a s h a v i ng ahi g h I Q , t h a t s o m e r a c e s a r e m o r e i n t e l l i g e n t o r m u s i c a l o r m a t h e m a t i c a l t h a n o t h e r s , t h a t g e n i u s g o e s u n r e c o g n i s e d a n d u n r e w a r d e d , t h a t a d v e r s i t y m a k e s m e n w i s e o r t h a t p e o p l e w i t h g i f t s h a v e a r e s p o n s i b i l i t y t o u s e t h e m . L a n g u a g e h a s b e e n e n r i c h e d w i t h s u c h t e r m s a s h i g h b r o w , e g g h e a d , b l u e - s t o c k i n g , w i s e a c r e , k n o w - a l l , b o f f i n a n d , f o r m a n y , i n t e l l e c t u a l i s a t e r m o f d e n i g r a t i o n . / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 3 5 " > 0 0 T h e n i n e t e e n t h c e n t u r y s a w c o n s i d e r a b l e i n t e r e s t i n t h e n a t u r e o f g e n i u s , a n d p r o d u c e d n o t a f e w s t u d i e s o f f a m o u s p r o d i g i e s . P e r h a p s f o r u s t o d a y , t w o o f t h e m o s t s i g n i f i c a n t a s p e c t s o f m o s t o f t h e s e s t u d i e s o f g e n i u s a r e t h e f r e q u e n c y w i t h w h i c h e a r l y e n c o u r a g e m e n t a n d t e a c h i n g b y p a r e n t s a n d t u t o r s h a d b e n e f i c i a l e f f e c t s o n t h e i n t e l l e c t u a l , a r t i s t i c o r m u s i c a l d e v e l o p m e n t o f t h e c h i l d re n b u t c a u s e d g r e a t d if f i c u l t i e s o f a d j u s t m e n t l a t e r i n t h e i r l i v e s , a n d t h e f r e q u e n c y w i t h w h i c h a b i l i t i e s w e n t u n r e c og n i s e d b y t e a ch e r s a n d s c h o o l s . H o w e v e r , t h e di f f i c u l t y w i t h t h e e v i d e n c e p r o d u c e d b y t h e s e s t u d i e s , f a s c i n a t i n g a s t h e y a r e i n c o l l e c t i n g t o g e t h e r a n e c d o t e s a n d a p p a r e n t s i m i l a r i t i e s a n d e x c e p t i o n s , i s t h a t t h e y a r e n o t w h a t w e w o u l d t o d a y c a l l n o r m - r e f e r e n c e d . I n o t h e r w o r d s , w h e n , f o r i n s t a n c e , i n f o r m a t i o n i s c o l l a t e d a b o u t e a r l y i l l n e s s e s , m e t h o d s o f u p b r i n g i n g , s c h o o l i n g , e t c . , w e m u s t a l s o t a k e i n t o a c c o u n t i n f o r m a t i o n f r o m o t h e r h i s t o r i c a l s o u r c e s a b o u t h o w c o m m o n o r e x c e p t i o n a l t h e s e w e r e a t t h e t i m e . F o r i n s t a n c e , i n f a n t m o r t a l i t y w a s h i g h a n d l i f e e x p e c t a n c y m u c h s h o r t e r t h a n t o d a y , h o m e t u t o r i n g w a s c o m m o n i n t h e f a m i l i e s o f t h e n o b i l i t y a n d w e a l t h y , b u l l y i n g a n d c o r p o r a l p u n i s h m e n t w e r e c o m m o n a t t h e b e s t i n d e p e n d e n t s c h o o l s a n d , f o r t h e m o s t p a r t , t h e c a s e s s t u d i e d w e r e m e m b e r s o f t h e p r i v i l e g e d c l a s s e s . I t w a s o n l y w i t h t h e g r o w t h o f p a e d i a t r i c s a n d p s y c h o l o g y i n t h e t w e n t i e t h c e n t u r y t h a t s t u d i e s c o u l d b e c a r r i e d o u t o n a m o r e o bj e c t i v e , i f s t i l l n o t a l w a y s v e r y s c i e n t i f i c , b a s i s . / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 3 6 " > 0 0 G e n i u s e s , h o w e v e r t h e y a r e d e f i n e d , a r e b u t t h e p e ak s w h i c h s t a n d o u t t h r o u gh t h e m i s t o f h i s t o r y a n d a r e v i s i b l e t o t h e p a r ti c u l a r o b s e r v e r f r o m h i s o r h e r p a r t i c u l a r v a n t a g e p o i n t . C h a n g e t h e o b s e r v e r s a n d t h e v a nt a g e p o i n t s , c l e a r a w a y s o m e o f t h e m i s t , a n d a d i f f e r e n t l o t o f p e a k s a p p e a r . G e n i u s i s a t e r m w e a p p l y t o t h o s e w h o m w e r e c o g n i s e f o r t h e i r o u t s t a n d i n g a c h i e v e m e n t s a n d w h o s t a n d n e a r t h e e n d o f t h e c o n t i n u u m o f h u m a n a b i l i t i e s w h i c h r e a c h e s b a c k t h r o u g h t h e m u n d a n e a n d m e d i o c r e t o t h e i n c a p a b l e . T h e r e i s s t i l l m u c h t r u t h i n D r S a m u e l J o h n s o n s o b s e r v a t i o n , T h e t r u e g e n i u s i s a m i n d o f l a r g e g e n e r a l p o w e r s , a c c i d e n t a l l y d e t e r m i n e d t o s o m e p a r t i c u l a r d i r e c t i o n . W e m a y d i s a g r e e w i t h t h e g e n e r a l , f o r w e d o u b t i f a l l m u s i c i a n s o f g e n i u s c o u l d ha v eb ec o m e s c i e n t i s t s o f g e n i u s o r v i c e v e r s a ,b u t t h e r e i s n o d o u b t i n g t h e ac c ide n t a l d e t e r m i n a t i o n w h i c h n u r t u r e d o r t r i g g e r e d t h e i r g if t s i n t o t h o s e c h a n n e l s i n t o w h i c h t h e y h a v e p o u r e d t h e i r p o w e r s s o s u c c e s s f u l l y . A l o ng th e c o n ti n u u m o f a b i l i t i e s a r e h u n d r e d s o f t h o u s a n d s o f g i f t e d m e n a n d w o m e n , b o y s a n d g i r l s . / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 3 7 " > 0 0 W h a t w e a p p r e c i a t e , e nj o y o r m a r v e l a t i n t h e w o rk s o f g e n i u s o r t h e a c h i e v e m e n t s o f p r o d i g i e s a r e t h e m a n i f e s t a t i o n s o f s k il l s o r a b i l i t i e s w h i c h a r e s im i l a r t o , b u t s o m u c h s u p e r i o r t o , o u r o wn . B u t t h a t t h e i r m i n d s a r e no t d i f f e r e n t f r o m o u r o w n i s d e m o n s t r a t e d b y t h e f a c t t h a t t h e h a r d - w o n d i s c o v e r i e s o f s c i e n t i s t s l i k e K ep l e r o r E i n s t e i n b e c o m e t h e c o m m o n p l a c e k n o w l e d g e o f s c h o o l c h i l d r e n a n d t h e o n c e o u t r a g e o u s s h a p e s a n d c o l o u r s o f a n a r t i s t l i k e P a u l K l e e s o s o o n a p pe a r o n t h ef a b r i c s w e w e a r . T h i s d o e s n o t m i n i m i s e t h e s u p r e m a c y o f t h e i r a c h i e v e m e n t s , w h i c h o u t s t r i p o u r o w n a s t h e s u b - f o u r - m i n u t e m i l e r s o u t s t r i p o u r j og g i n g . / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 3 8 " > 0 0 T o thi n k o f g e n i u s e s a n d t h e g i f t e d a s h a v i n g u n i q u e l y d i f f e r e n t b r a i n s i s o n l y r e a s o n a b l e i f w e a c c e p t t h a t e a c h h u m a n b r a i n i s u n i q u e l y d i f f e r e n t . T h e p u r p o s e o f i n s t r u c t i o n i s t o m a k e u s e v e n m o r e d i f f e r e n t f r o m o n e a n o t h e r , a n d i n t h e p r o c e s s o f b e i n g e d u c a t e d w e c a n l e a r n f r o m t h e a c h i e v e m e n t s o f t h o s e m o r e g i f t e d t h a n o u r s e l v e s . B u t b e f o r e w e t r y t o e m u l a t e g e n i u s e s o r e n c o u r a g e o u r c h i l d r e n t o d o s o w e s h o u l d n o t e t h a t s o m e o f t h e t h i n g s w e l e a r n f r o m t h e m m a y p r o v e u n p a l a t a b l e . W e m a y e n v y t h e i r a c h i e v e m e n t s a n d f a m e , b u t w e s h o u l d a l s o r e c o g n i s e t h e p r i c e t h e y m a y h a v e p a i d i n t e r m s o f p e r s e v e r a n c e , s i n g l e - m i n d e d n e s s , d e d i c a t i o n , r e s t r i c t i o n s o n t h e i r p e r s o n a l l i v e s , t h e d e m a n d s u p o n t h e i r e n e r g i e s a n d t i m e , a n d h o w o f t e n t h e y h a d t o d i s p l a y g r e a t c o u r a g e t o p r e s e r v e t h e i r i n t e g r i t y o r t o m a k e t h e i r w a y t o t h e t o p . / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 3 9 " > 0 0 G e n i u s a n d g i f t e d n e s s a r e r e l a t i v e d e s c r i p t i v e t e r m s o f n o r e a l s u b s t a n c e . W e m a y , a t b e s t , g i v e t h e m s o m e p r e c i s i o n b y d e f i n i n g t h e m a n d p l a c i n g t h e m i n a c o n t e x t b u t , w h a t e v e r w e d o , w e s h o u l d n e v e r d e l u d e o u r s e l v e s i n t o b e l i e v i n g t h a t g i f t e d c h i l d r e n o r g e n i u s e s a r e d i f f e r e n t f r o m t h e r e s t o f h u m a n i t y , s a v e i n t h e d e g r ee t o w h i c h t h e y h a v e d e v e l o p e d t h e p e rf o r m a n c e o f t h e i r a b i l i t i e s . / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 4 0 " > 0 0 Q u e s t i o n s 1 4 - 1 8 / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 4 1 " > 0 0 C h o o s e F I V E l e t t e r s , A - K . / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 4 2 " > 0 0 W r i t e t h e c o r r e c t l e t t e r s i n b o x e s 1 4 - 1 8 o n y o u r a n s w e r s h e e t . / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 4 3 " > 0 0 N B Y o u r a n s w e r s m a y b eg i v e n i n a n y o r d e r . / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 4 4 " > 0 0 B e l o w a r e l i s t e d s o m e p o p u l a r be l i ef s a b o u tg e n i u s a n d g i f t e d n e s s . / p > p b d sf i d = " 1 4 5 " > 0 0 W h i c h F I V E o f t h e s e b e l i e f s a r e r e p o r t e d b y t h e w r i t e r o f t h e t e x t ? / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 4 6 " > 0 0 A T r u l yg i f t e d p e o p l e a r e t a l e n t ed i n a l l a re a s . / p > p b d sf i d = " 1 4 7 " > 0 0 B T h e t a le n t s ofg e n i u s e s a r e s o o n e xh a u s t e d . / p > p b d s fi d = " 1 4 8 " > 0 0 C G i f t e d p e o p l e s h o u l d u s e t h e i r g i f t s . / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 4 9 " > 0 0 D A g e n i u s a p p e a r s o n c e i n e v e r y g e n e r a t i o n . / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 5 0 " > 0 0 E G e n i u s c a n b e e a s i l y d e s t r o y e d b yd i s c o u r a ge m e n t . / p > p b d sf i d = " 1 5 1 " > 0 0 F Ge n i u s i s i n h e r i t e d . / p > p b d sf i d = " 1 5 2 " > 0 0 G G i f t e d p e o p l e a r e v e r y h a r d t o l i v e w i t h . / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 5 3 " > 0 0 H P e o p l e n e v e r a p p r e c i a t e t r u eg e n i u s . / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 5 4 " > 0 0 I G e n i u s e s a r e n a t u r a l l e a d e r s . / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 5 5 " > 0 0 J G i f t e d p e o p l e d e v e l o p th ei r g r e a t n e s s t h r o u g h d i f f i c u l t i e s . / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 5 6 " > 0 0 K G e n i u s w i l l a l w a y s r e v e a l i t s e l f . / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 5 7 " > 0 0 Q u e s t i o n s 1 9 - 2 6 / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 5 8 " >0 0 D o t h e f o l l o w i n g s t a t e m e n t s a g r e e w i t h t he i nf o r m a t i o ng i v e n i n R e a d i n g P a s s a g e 2 ? / p >p b d s f i d = " 1 5 9 " > 0 0 I n b o x e s 1 9 - 2 6 o n y o u r a n s w e r s h e e t , w r i t e / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 6 0 " > 0 0 T R U E i f t h e s t a t e m e n t a g r e e s w i t h t h e i n f o r m a t i o n / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 6 1 " > 0 0 F A L S E i f t h e s t a t e m e n t c o n t r a d i c t s t h e i n f o r m a t i o n / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 6 2 " > 0 0 N O T G I V E N i f t h e r e i s n o i n f o r m a t i o n o n t h i s / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 6 3 " > 0 0 1 9 N i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y s t u d i e s o f t h e n a t u r e o f g e n i u s f a i l e d t o t a k e i n t o a c c o u n t t h e u n i q u e n e s s o f t h e pe r s o n s u p b r i n g i n g . / p > p b d sf i d = " 1 6 4 " > 0 0 20 N i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y s t u d i e s o f g e n i u s l a c ke d b o t h o b j e c t i v i t y a n d a p r o p e r s c i e n t if i c a p p r o a c h . / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 6 5 " > 0 0 2 1 A t r u eg e n i u sh a s g e n e r a l p o w e r s c a p a b l e o f e x c e l l e n c ei n a n y a r e a . / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 6 6 " > 0 0 2 2 T h e s k i l l s o f o r d i n a r y i n d i v i d u a l s a r e i n e s s e n c e t h e sa m e a s t h e s k i l l s o f p r o d i g i e s . / p > pb d s f i d = "1 6 7 " > 0 023 T h e e a s e w i t h w h i c h t r u l y g r e a t i de a s a r e a c c e p t e d a n d t a k e nf o rg r a n t e d f a i l s t o l e s s e n th ei r s i g n i f i c a n c e . / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 68 " > 0 0 2 4 G i f t e d n e s s a n d g e n i u s d e s e r v e p r o pe r s c i e n t if i c r e s e a r c h i n t o t h e i r t r u e n a t u r e s o t h a t a l l t a l e n t m a y b e r e t a i n e d f o r t h e h u m a n r a c e . / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 6 9 " > 0 0 2 5 G e n i u s e s o f t e n p a y a h igh p ri c e t o a c h i e v e g r e a t n e s s . / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 7 0 " > 0 0 2 6 T o b e a g e n i u s i s w o r t h t h e h i g h p e r s o n a l c o s t . / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 7 1 " > 0 0 R E A D I N G P A S S A G E 3 / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 7 2 " > 0 0 Y o u s h o u l d s p e n d a b o u t 2 0 m i n u t e s o n Q u e s t i o n s 2 7 - 4 0 , w h i c h a r e b a s e d o n R e a d i n g P a s s a g e3 o n t h e f o l l o w i n g p a g e s . / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 7 3 " >0 0 Q u e s t i o n s 2 7 - 3 2 / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 7 4 " > 0 0 Re a d i n g P a s s a g e 3 h a s s e v e n p a r a g r a p h s , A - G . / p > p b d sf i d = " 1 7 5 " > 0 0 C h o o s e t h e c o r r e c t h e a d i ng f o r p a r a g r a ph s B - G f r o m t h e li s t o f h e a d i n g s b e l o w . / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 7 6 " > 0 0 W r i t e t h e c o r r e c t n u m b e r , i - x , i n b o x e s 2 7 - 3 2 o n y o u r a n s w e r s h e e t . / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 7 7 " > 0 0 L i s t o f H e a d i n g s / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 7 8 " > 0 0 i T h e b i o l o g i c a l c l o c k / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 7 9 " > 0 0 i i W h y d y i n g i s b e n e f i c i a l / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 8 0 " > 0 0 i i i T h e a g e i n g p r o c e s s o f m e n a n d w o m e n / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 8 1 " > 0 0 i v P r o l o n g i n g y o u r l i f e / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 8 2 " > 0 0 v L i m i t a t i o n s o f l i f e s p a n / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 8 3 " > 0 0 v i M o d e s o f d e v e l o p m e n t o f d i f f e r e n t s p e c i e s / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 8 4 " > 0 0 v i i A s t a b l e l i f e s p a n d e s p i t e i m p r o v e m e n t s / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 8 5 " > 0 0 v i i i E n e r g y c o n s u m p t i o n / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 8 6 " > 0 0 i x F u n d a m e n t a l d i f f e r e nc e s i n a g e i n g o f o b j e c t s a nd o r g a n i s m s / p > p bd s f i d = " 1 8 7 " > 0 0 x Re p a i r ofg e n e t i c m a t e r i a l / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 8 8 " > 0 0 E x a m p l e A n s w e r / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 8 9 " > 0 0 P a r a g r a ph A v / p > p b d s fi d = " 1 9 0 " > 0 0 2 7 P a r a g r a p h B / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 9 1 " > 0 0 2 8 P a r a g r a p h C / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 9 2 " > 0 0 29 P a r a g r a p h D / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 9 3 " > 0 0 3 0 P a r ag r a p h E / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 9 4 " > 0 0 3 1 P a r a g r a p h F / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 9 5 " > 0 0 3 2 P a r a g r a p h G / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 9 6 " > 0 0 H O W D O E S T H E B I O L O G I C A L C L O C K T I C K ? / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 9 7 " > 0 0 A O u r l if e s p a n i s r e s t r i c t e d . E v e r y o n e a c c e p t s t h i s a s b i o l og i c a l l y o b v i o u s . N o thi n g l i v e s f o r e v e r !H o w e v e r , i n t h i s s t a t e m e n t w e t h i n k o f a r t i f i c i a l l y p r o d u c e d , t e c h n i c a l o b j e c t s , p r o d u c t s w h i c h a r e s u b j e c t e d t o n a t u r a l w e a r a n d t e a r d u r i n g u s e . T h i s l e a d s t o t h e r e s u l t t h a t a t s o m e t i m e o r o t h e r t h e o b j e c t s t o p s w o r k i n g a n d i s u n u s a b l e ( d e a t h i n t h e b i o l o g i c a l s e n s e ) . B u t a r e t h e w e a r a n d t e a r a n d l o s s o f f u n c t i o n o f t e c h n i c a l o b j e c t s a n d t h e d e a t h o f l i v i n g o r g a n i s m s r e a l l y s i m i l a r o r c o m p a r a b l e ? / p > p b d s f i d = " 1 9 8 " > 0 0 B O u r d e a d p r o d u c t s a r e s t a t i c , c l o s e d s y s t e m s . I t i s a l w a y s t h e b a s i c m a t e r i a l w h i c h c o n s t i t u t e s t h e o b j e c t a n d w h i c h , i n t h e n a t u r a l c o u r s e o f t h i n g s , i s w o r n d o w n a n d b e c o m e s o l d e r . A g e i n g i n t h i s c a s e m u s t o c c u r a c c o r d i n g t o t h e l a w s o f p h y s i c a l c h e m i s t r y a n d o f t h e r m o d y n a m i c s . A l t h o u g h t h e s a m e l a w h o l d s f o r a l i v i n g o r g a n i s m , t h e r e s u l t o f t h i s l a w i s n o t i n e x o r a b l e i n t h e s a m e w a y . A t l e a s t a s l o n g a s a b i o l o g i c a l s y s t e m h a s t h e a b i l i t y t o r e n e w i t s e l f i t c o u l d a c t u a l l y b e c o m e o l d e r w i t h o u t a g e i n g ; a n o r g a n i s m i s a n o p e n , d y n a m i c s y s t e m t h r o u g h w h i c h n e w m a t e r i a l c o n t i n u o u s l y f l o w s . D e s t r u c t i o n o f o l d m a t e r i a l a n d f o r m a t i o n o f n e w m a t e r i a l a r e t h u s i n p e r m a n e n t d y n a m i c e q u i l i b r i u m . T h e m a t e r i a l o f w h i c h t h e o r g a n i s m i s f o r m e d c h a n g e s c o n t i n u o u s l y . T h u s o u r b o d i e s c o n t i n u o u s l y e x c h a n g e o l d s u b s t a n c e f o r n e w , j u s t l i k e a s p r i n g w h i c h m o r。
剑桥雅思9听力原文加翻译双语
Text 1Section1W: Good evening。
King's restaurant.W:晚上好.国王的餐厅。
M: Good evening. I'm ringing about the job I understand you have vacant?M:晚上好。
我打电话是关于工作我理解你有空吗?W: Oh, yes。
W:哦，是的。
M: I'd like to find out a few more details if I may。
M:我想如果我可以找到更多的细节。
W：Yes, of course。
Can I take your name？W:是的，当然。
我能把你的名字吗?M: It’s Peter Chin.M：这是彼得的下巴。
W: Ok, Peter. Well, if you want to ask about the job and then if we’re both still interested，we could arrange you to come for an interview.W:好的，彼得。
好吧,如果你想问一下工作，然后如果我们都仍然有兴趣,我们可以安排你来参加面试。
M：Great, thanks. I’m afraid I missed the advert for the job but I heard about it from a friend。
M：很好，谢谢.我恐怕错过了广告的工作,但是我从一个朋友那里听说的。
W：That's no problem at all。
What would you like to know?W：没问题。
你想知道什么？M：Well, um，what sort of work is it- washing up？M：好吧,嗯,什么样的工作——洗餐具吗？W: It's answering the phone。
剑桥雅思9 口语 Test3 参考答案
答案编辑者：上海环球雅思口语名师：李宁（英国剑桥国际考试委员会IGCSE & A Level口语考官）微博：环球雅思李宁Part 1The examiner asks the candidates about him/herself, his/her home, work or studies and other familiar topics.EXAMPLETelephoningHow often do you make telephone calls?[ why/ why not?]Although I generally send emails and text messages, I still make telephone calls on a daily basis. I regularly need to call my colleagues, especially if its urgent or complicated, so its more convenient than sending text messages. However, I also make social phone calls to my friends and family, just to chat and see how their day has been!Who do you spend most time talking to on the telephone?[why]It changes, day to day. I probably make most phone calls to my colleague, Maria, especially as we are also friends outside of work. Sometimes I will call her to ask her a question about work, but I will also call her if I am going shopping to see if she wants anythings from the shops, to see if she wants to come over dinner, or would like to go for a bike ride! I always call my parents twice a week, on Wednesday and Saturday evenings. If I don't call then they will get worried!When do you think you’ll next make a phone call?[why?]I will call my American friend, Jesse, as soon as I finish work to ask him if I can borrow his big cooking pot. I have invited some friends to dinner at my apartment tomorrow evening, and I am planning to cook a big stew, so I will need to borrow his pot.Do you sometimes prefer to send a text message instead of telephoning? [why/ why not?]Yes certainly. I think sending text messages is often more convenient. For example, if I am on a bus or train where its too noisy, or if I am eating in a restaurant where I do not want to annoy other diners, then I will always send a text message. People often send me a text message, because they know I am teaching during the daytime and I cannot answer my phone. So instead, they send me a text message and I will reply as soon as I am free.Part 2Describe a journey [e.g. By car, plane, boat] that you remember well.You should say:Where you wentHow you traveledWhy you went on the journeyand explain why you remember this journey wellYou will have to talk about this topic for one to two minutes.You have one minute to think about what you are going to say.You can make some notes to help you if you wish.In the summer of 2010, I cycled coast-to-coast across the United States of America with two of my best friends from University.The three of us met at university in Liverpool, and we shared an interest in cycling. We regularly went on biking and camping trips into the Lake District at weekends if we had free time. During our final year, we decided it would be a great idea to train up and attempt to cycle across the North American continent to raise money for charity.So in July 2010, after months of training and preparation, we flew across the Atlantic Ocean to begin the 7,000 km journey across the USA.The journey was far more challenging than we thought it would be. Both our mental and physical limits were put to the test as we cycled across mountains, deserts and rivers, sometimes going days without seeing any other people. We had to carry a lot of heavy equipment on our bikes, and we camped almost every night. If we were passing through a large town then we would stay in a hotel, to get a good night sleep and to have a shower! But more often than not, we would camp in the wild and wash in rivers and waterfalls.Our journey began in Maryland and took us west, through the country's capital city, Washington DC, over the Appalachian mountains and the Mississippi River onto the Kansas plains. From there we continued west over the Rocky Mountains and the deserts of Utah and Nevada. Finally, we crossed the Sierra Nevada mountain range and descended through California to San Francisco.Overall, we cycled 7,000 kilomet ers in 49 days, and raised over £4,000 for a children's cancer charity, which I think is an incredible achievement.PART 3Discussion topics :Reasons for daily travelExample questions :Why do people need to travel every day ?People need to travel for lots of different reasons. Almost everybody has to travel to work, so they can earn money and provide for their family. If a person is lucky, then they will live very close to where they work, so they can travel on foot or by bicycle. Sometimes, however, people live very far away, so they must travel by bus, train, car, or even sometimes by plane or boat!Lots of people also travel to see friends and family, who might live in a different city, or even a different country.But often people just like to travel for fun, to go to somewhere new, or to see a famous tourist site or place of natural beauty.What problems can people have when they are on their daily journey ,for example to work or school ? Why is this ?Naturally, the means and frequency by which people choose to travel is a topic that can be controversial. Pollution is becoming an increasing problem all over the world. Whenever possible, we should choose to travel in a way that does the least amount of damage to the environment. This includes walking, cycling, and using public transport such as buses and trains. Besides, if everyone travels in cars, not only will pollution problems persist, but traffic will become more congested. This will cause people to be late to school and work, and also cost businesses money.Some people say that daily journeys like these will not be so common in the future .Do you agree or disagree ?Why ?I agree that in the future, new methods of travel will exist, such as hovercrafts and small flying machines that will solve traffic problems. Or maybe new methods of energy and fuel will be developed which will not be as damaging to the environment, such as hydrogen power. But until such things are a reality, we must all concentrate on minimising our carbon footprint.Benefits of international travelExample questions :What do you think people can learn from travelling to other countries ? Why ?I have travelled to many countries all over the world, in Europe, Africa, North America and Asia. I think travelling has helped me to become a more interesting, knowledgeable and well-rounded individual with a greater understanding and acceptance for world cultures. Many of my friends from my hometown have never left England, and this shows in their ways of thinking, which is often limited and not as progressive. For example, they dislike responsibility, they can't take theinnitiative, they dislike being out of their comfort zone, and they are uncomfortable taking the lead. Moreover, they do not know as much about other cultures' languages, beliefs, history, food, and drink. Subsequently, they can be ignorant and skeptical of foreigners in their country, which can lead to dislike and racism.Can travel make a positive difference to the economy of a country ?How ?I have been to over 25 countries worldwide. Often, this has been a quick trip or tour of a country, where I would see and do as much as I can in the time frame that I have. But I have also lived in two foreign countries; Uganda, where I lived for 4 months, and China, where I have been for over a year now. In both situations, I feel I have contributed to the economy of the respective countries; when I was travelling I contributed by spending money on gifts, food and accommodation, and when I have been living abroad I have paid taxes and offered my skills to the country in the form of work.Do you think a society can benifit its members have experience of travelling to other countries ?In what ways?Yes, I think travelling to other countires will help the individual become more interesting, knowledgeable, creative and well-rounded with a greater understanding and acceptance for world cultures. If more citizens had these progressive qualities, then naturally this will benefit the society.。
剑桥雅思9听力原文加翻译双语
剑桥雅思9听力原文加翻译双语-CAL-FENGHAI.-(YICAI)-Company One1Text 1Section1W: Good evening. King's restaurant.W:晚上好。
国王的餐厅。
M: Good evening. I'm ringing about the job I understand you have vacantM:晚上好。
我打电话是关于工作我理解你有空吗W: Oh, yes.W:哦,是的。
M: I'd like to find out a few more details if I may.M:我想如果我可以找到更多的细节。
W: Yes, of course. Can I take your nameW:是的,当然。
我能把你的名字吗M: It's Peter Chin.M:这是彼得的下巴。
W: Ok, Peter. Well, if you want to ask about the job and then if we're both still interested, we could arrange you to come for an interview.W:好的,彼得。
好吧,如果你想问一下工作,然后如果我们都仍然有兴趣,我们可以安排你来参加面试。
M: Great, thanks. I'm afraid I missed the advert for the job but I heard about it from a friend.M:很好,谢谢。
我恐怕错过了广告的工作,但是我从一个朋友那里听说的。
W: That's no problem at all. What would you like to knowW:没问题。
你想知道什么M: Well, um, what sort of work is it- washing upM:好吧,嗯,什么样的工作——洗餐具吗W: It's answering the phone.W:这是接电话。
剑桥雅思16test3阅读解析
剑桥雅思16test3阅读解析【原创实用版】目录1.剑桥雅思 16test3 阅读解析简介2.文章主题及内容概述3.文章结构分析4.答案解析及解题技巧5.总结正文【剑桥雅思 16test3 阅读解析简介】剑桥雅思 16test3 阅读解析主要针对剑桥雅思真题第 16 套题目的第三篇文章进行解析。
这篇文章的主题是关于植物内部温度测量分子对其生长的影响。
本文将分析文章的主题、结构以及答案解析，并提供解题技巧，帮助考生更好地应对雅思阅读考试。
【文章主题及内容概述】这篇文章主要探讨了植物内部温度测量分子对其生长的影响。
文章首先介绍了植物生长的理想温度范围，并指出温度对植物生长的重要性。
随后，文章引入了温度测量分子的概念，并详细阐述了温度测量分子在植物生长过程中的作用。
最后，文章讨论了通过改变温度测量分子的结构来调控植物生长的可能性。
【文章结构分析】这篇文章可以分为三个部分：1.第一部分（1-3 段）：介绍了植物生长的理想温度范围，并指出温度对植物生长的重要性。
2.第二部分（4-6 段）：引入了温度测量分子的概念，并详细阐述了温度测量分子在植物生长过程中的作用。
3.第三部分（7-9 段）：讨论了通过改变温度测量分子的结构来调控植物生长的可能性。
【答案解析及解题技巧】1.判断题：- 第 1 题：Yes。
根据第一段可知，植物生长需要一个理想的温度范围。
- 第 2 题：No。
根据第二段可知，并非所有植物都在同一个温度下生长最好。
- 第 3 题：Not given。
文章没有提及关于植物生长速度的信息。
2.填空题：- 第 4 题：根据第四段可知，温度测量分子能帮助植物调控生长。
- 第 5 题：根据第五段可知，这些分子能感知周围环境的温度。
- 第 6 题：根据第六段可知，通过改变这些分子的结构，可以调控植物的生长。
3.匹配题：- 第 7 题：根据第七段可知，有些植物能在寒冷环境下生长。
- 第 8 题：根据第八段可知，有些植物能在高温环境下生长。
剑桥雅思阅读5原文精讲（test3）
剑桥雅思阅读5原文精讲(test3)雅思阅读是块难啃的硬骨头，需要我们做更多的题目才能得心应手。
下面小编给大家分享一下剑桥雅思阅读5test3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(test3)READING PASSAGE 1You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.Early Childhood EducationNew Zealand’s National Party spokesman on education, Dr Lockwood Smith,recently visited the US and Britain. Here he reports on the findings of his tripand what they could mean for New Zealand’s education policyA‘Education T o Be More’ was published last August. It was the report of the New Zealand Government’s Early Childhood Care and Education Working Group. The report argued for enhanced equity of access and better funding for childcare and early childhood education institutions. Unquestionably, that’s a real need; but since parents don’t normally send children to pre-schools until the age of three, are we missing out on the most important years of all?BA 13-year study of early childhood development at Harvard University has shown that, by the age of three, most children have the potential to understand about 1000 words —most of the language they will use in ordinary conversation for the rest oftheir lives.Furthermore, research has shown that while every child is born with a natural curiosity, it can be suppressed dramatically during the second and third years of life. Researchers claim that the human personality is formed during the first two years of life, and during the first three years children learn the basic skills they will use in all their later learning both at home and at school. Once over the age of three, children continue to expand on existing knowledge of the world.CIt is generally acknowledged that young people from poorer socio-economic backgrounds tend to do less well in our education system. That’s observed not just in New Zealand, but also in Australia, Britain and America. In an attempt to overcome that educational under-achievement, a nationwide programme call ed ‘Headstart’ was launched in the United States in 1965.A lot of money was poured into it. It took children into pre-school institutions at the age of three and was supposed to help the children of poorer families succeed in school.Despite substantial funding, results have been disappointing. It is thought that there are two explanations for this. First, the programme began too late. Many children who entered it at the age of three were already behind their peers in language and measurable intelligence. Second, the parents were not involved. At the end of each day, ‘Headstart’ children returned to the same disadvantaged home environment.DAs a result of the growing research evidence of the importance of the first three years of a child’s life and the disappointing results from ‘Headstart’, a pilot programme waslaunched in Missouri in the US that focused on parents as the child’s first teachers. The ‘Missouri’ programme was predicated on research showing that working with the family, rather than bypassing the parents, is the most effective way of helping children get off to the best possible start in life. The four-year pilot study included 380 families who were about to have their first child and who represented a cross-section of socio-economic status, age and family configurations. They included single-parent and two-parent families, families in which both parents worked, and families with either the mother or father at home.The programme involved trained parent — educators visiting the parents’ home and working with the parent, or parents, and the child. Information on child development, and guidance on things to look for and expect as the child grows were provided, plus guidance in fostering the child’s intellectual, language, social and motor-skill development. Periodic check-ups of the child’s educational and sensory development (hearing and vision) were made to detect possible handicaps that interfere with growth and development. Medical problems were referred to professionals.Parent-educators made personal visits to homes and monthly group meetings were held with other new parents to share experience and discuss topics of interest. Parent resource centres, located in school buildings, offered learning materials for families and facilitators for child care.EAt the age of three, the children who had been involved in the ‘Missouri’ programme were evaluated alongside a cross-section of children selected from the same range of socio-economic backgrounds and family situations, and also a random sample of children that age. The results were phenomenal. By the age of three, the children in the programme were significantly more advanced in language development than their peers, had made greater strides in problem solving and other intellectual skills, and were further along in social development. In fact, the average child on the programme was performing at the level of the top 15 to 20 per cent of their peers in such things as auditory comprehension, verbal ability and language ability.Most important of all, the traditional measures of ‘risk’, such as parents’ age and education, or whether they were a single parent, bore little or no relationship to the measures of achievement and language development. Children in the programme performed equally well regardless of socio-economic disadvantages. Child abuse was virtually eliminated. The one factor that was found to affect the child’s development was family stress leading to a poor quality of parent-child interaction. That interaction was not necessarily bad in poorer families.FThese research findings are exciting. There is growing evidence in New Zealand that children from poorer socio-economic backgrounds are arriving at school less well developed and that our school system tends to perpetuate that disadvantage. The initiative outlined above could break that cycle of disadvantage. The concept of working with parents in their homes, or at their place of work, contrasts quite markedly with the report of the Early Childhood Care and Education Working Group. Their focus is on getting children and mothers access to childcare and institutionalized early childhood education.Education from the age of three to five is undoubtedly vital, but without a similar focus on parent education and on the vital importance of the first three years, some evidence indicates that it will not be enough to overcome educational inequity.Questions 1-4Reading Passage 1 has six sections, A-F.Which paragraph contains the following information?Write the correct letter A-F in boxes 1-4 on your answer sheet.1 details of the range of family types involved in an education programme2 reasons why a child’s early years are so important3 reasons why an education programme failed4 a description of the positive outcomes of an education programmeQuestions 5-10Classify the following features as characterisingA the ‘Headstart’ programmeB the ‘Missouri’ programmeC both the ‘Headstart’ and the ‘Missouri’ programmesD neither the ‘Headstart’ nor the ‘Missouri’ programmeWrite the correct letter A, B, C or D in boxes 5-10 on your answer sheet.5 was administered to a variety of poor and wealthy families6 continued with follow-up assistance in elementary schools7 did not succeed in its aim8 supplied many forms of support and training to parents9 received insufficient funding10 was designed to improve pre-schoolers’ educational developmentQuestions 11-13Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?In boxes 11-13 on your answer sheet, writeTRUE if the statement agrees with the informationFALSE if the statement contradicts the informationNOT GIVEN if there is no information on this11 Most ‘Missouri’ programme three-year-olds scored highly in areas such as listening speaking, reasoning and interacting with others.12 ‘Missouri’ programme children of young, uneducated, single parents scored less highly on the tests.13 The richer families in the ‘Missouri’ programme had higher stress levels.READING PASSAGE 2You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26, which are based on Reading Passage 2 on the following pages.Questions 14-17Reading Passage 2 has six paragraphs, A-F.Choose the correct heading for paragraphs B and D-F from the list of headings below.Write the correct number i-viii in boxes 14-17 on your answer sheet.List of HeadingsI Effects of irrigation on sedimentationIi The danger of flooding the Cairo areaIii Causing pollution in the MediterraneanIv Interrupting a natural processV The threat to food productionVi Less valuable sediment than beforeVii Egypt’s disappearing coastlineViii Looking at the long-term impactExample Paragraph A Answer vii14 Paragraph BExample Paragraph C Answer vi15 Paragraph D16 Paragraph E17 Paragraph FDisappearing DeltaA The fertile land of the Nile delta is being eroded along Egypt’s Mediterranean coast at an astounding rate，in some parts estimated at 100 metres per year.In the past，land scoured away from the coastline by the currents of the Mediterranean Sea used to be replaced by sediment brought down to the delta by the River Nile，but this is no longer happening.B Up to now, people have blamed this loss of delta land on the two large dams at Aswan in the south of Egypt，which hold back virtually all of the sediment that used to flow down the river. Before the dams were built，the Nile flowed freely carrying huge quantities of sediment north from Africa’s interior to be deposited on the Nile delta.This continued for 7,000 years，eventually covering a region of over 22,000 square kilometres with layers of fertile silt.Annual flooding brought in new, nutrient-rich soil to the delta region，replacing what had been washed away by the sea，and dispensing with the need for fertilizers in Egypt’s richest food-growing area.But when the Aswan dams were constructed in the 20th century to provide electricity and irrigation，and to protect the huge population centre of Cairo and its surrounding areas from annual flooding and drought，most of the sediment with its naturaI fertilizer accumulated upabove the dam in the southern, upstream half of Lake Nasser, instead of passing down to the delta.C Now, however, there turns out to be more to the story.It appears that the sediment-free water emerging from the Aswan dams picks up silt and sand as it erodes the river bed and banks on the 800-kilometre trip to Cairo.Daniel Jean Stanley of the Smithsonian Institute noticed that water samples taken in Cairo，just before the river enters the delta，indicated that the river sometimes carries more than 850 grams of sediment per cubic metre of water — almost half of what it carried before the dams were built. ‘I’m ashamed to say that the significance of this didn’t strike me until after I had read 50 or 60 studies，’ says Stanley in Marine Geology.‘There is still a lot of sediment coming into the delta, but virtually no sediment comes out into the Mediterranean to replenish the coastline.So this sediment must be trapped on the delta itself.’D Once north of Cairo, most of the Nile water is diverted into more than 10,000 kilometres of irrigation canals and only a small proportion reaches the sea directly through the rivers in the delta.The water in the irrigation canals is still or very slow-moving and thus cannot carry sediment, Stanley explains. The sediment sinks to the bottom of the canals and then is added to fields by farmers or pumped with the water into the four large freshwater lagoons that are located near the outer edges of the delta.So very little of it actually reaches the coastline to replace what is being washed away by the Mediterranean currents.E The farms on the delta plains and fishing and aquaculture in the lagoons account for much of Egypt’s food supply.But by the time the sediment has come to rest in the fields and lagoons it is laden with municipal, industrial and agricultural waste fromthe Cairo region, which is home to more than 40 million people.’Pollutants are building up faster and faster,’ says Stanley.Based on his investigations of sediment from the delta lagoons, Frederic Siegel of George Washington University concurs. ‘In Manzalah Lagoon, for example, the increase in mercury, lead, copper and zinc coincided with the building of the High Dam at Aswan, the availability of cheap electricity, and the development of major power-based industries,’ he says. Since that time the concentration of mercury has increased significantly. Lead from engines that use leaded fuels and from other industrial sources has also increased dramatically. These poisons can easily enter the food chain, affecting the productivity of fishing and farming. Another problem is that agricultural wastes include fertilizers which stimulate increases in plant growth in the lagoons and upset the ecology of the area, with serious effects on the fishing industry.F According to Siegel, international environmental organisations are beginning to pay closer attention to the region, partly because of the problems of erosion and pollution of the Nile delta, but principally because they fear the impact this situation could have on the whole Mediterranean coastal ecosystem. But there are no easy solutions. In the immediate future, Stanley believes that one solution would be to make artificial floods to flush out the delta waterways, in the same way that natural floods did before the construction of the dams. He says, however, that in the long term an alternative process such as desalination may have to be used to increase the amount of water available. ‘In my view, Egypt must devise a way to have more water running through the river and the delta,’ saysStanley. Easier said than done in a desert region with a rapidly growing population.Questions 18-23Do the following statements reflect the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 2?In boxes 18-23 on your answer sheet, writeYES if the statement reflects the claims of the writerNO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writerNOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this18 Coastal erosion occurred along Egypt’s Mediterranean coast before the building of the Aswan dams.19 Some people predicted that the Aswan dams would cause land loss before they were built.20 The Aswan dams were built to increase the fertility of the Nile delta.21 Stanley found that the levels of sediment in the river water in Cairo were relatively high.22 Sediment in the irrigation canals on the Nile delta causes flooding.23 Water is pumped from the irrigation canals into the lagoons.Questions 24-26Complete the summary of paragraphs E and F with the list of words A-H below.Write the correct letter A-H in boxes 24-26 on your answer sheet.In addition to the problem of coastal erosion, there has been a marked increase in the level of 24………………contained in the silt deposited in the Nile delta. To deal with this, Stanley suggests theuse of 25………………in the s hort term, and increasing the amount of water available through 26………………in the longer term.A artificial floodsB desalinationC delta waterwaysD natural floodsE nutrientsF pollutantsG population controlH sedimentREADING PASSAGE 3You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40, which are based on Reading Passage 3 below.The Return of Artificial IntelligenceIt is becoming acceptable again to talk of computers performinghuman tasks such as problem-solving and pattern-recognitionA After years i n the wilderness, the term ‘artificial intelligence’ (AI) seems poised to make a comeback. AI was big in the 1980s but vanished in the 1990s. It re-entered public consciousness with the release of AI, a movie about a robot boy. This has ignited public debate about AI, but the term is also being used once more within the computer industry. Researchers, executives and marketing people are now using the expression without irony or inverted commas. And it is not always hype. The term is being applied, with some justification, to products that depend on technology that was originally developed by AI researchers. Admittedly, the rehabilitation of the term has a long way to go, and some firms still prefer to avoid using it. But the fact that others are starting to use it again suggests that AI has moved on from being seen as an over-ambitious and under-achieving field of research.B The field was launched, and the term ‘artificial intelligence’ coined, at a conference in 1956, by a group ofresearchers that included Marvin Minsky, John McCarthy, Herbert Simon and Alan Newell, all of whom went on to become leading figures in the field. The expression provided an attractive but informative name for a research programme that encompassed such previously disparate fields as operations research, cybernetics, logic and computer science. The goal they shared was an attempt to capture or mimic human abilities using machines. That said, different groups of researchers attacked different problems, from speech recognition to chess playing, in different ways; AI unified the field in name only. But it was a term that captured the public imagination.C Most researchers agree that AI peaked around 1985. A public reared on science-fiction movies and excited by the growing power of computers had high expectations. For years, AI researchers had implied that a breakthrough was just around the corner. Marvin Minsky said in 1967 that within a generation the problem of creating ‘artificial intelligence’ would be substantially solved. Prototypes of medical-diagnosis programs and speech recognition software appeared to be making progress. It proved to be a false dawn. Thinking computers and household robots failed to materialise, and a backlash ensued. ‘There was undue optimism in the early 1980s,’ says David Leake, a researcher at Indiana University. ‘Then when people realised these were hard problems, there was retrenchment. By the late 1980s, the term AI was being avoided by many researchers, who opted instead to align themselves with specific sub-disciplines such as neural networks, agent technology, case-based reasoning, and so on."D Ironically, in some ways AI was a victim of its own success. Whenever an apparently mundane problem was solved, such asbuilding a system that could land an aircraft unattended, the problem was deemed not to have been AI in the first place. ‘If it works, it can’t be AI,’ as Dr Leake characterises it. The effect of repeatedly moving the goal-posts in this way was that AI came to refer to ‘blue-sky’ research that w as still years away from commercialisation. Researchers joked that AI stood for ‘almost implemented’. Meanwhile, the technologies that made it onto the market, such as speech recognition, language translation and decision-support software, were no longer regarded as AI. Yet all three once fell well within the umbrella of AI research.E But the tide may now be turning, according to Dr Leake. HNC Software of San Diego, backed by a government agency, reckon that their new approach to artificial intelligence is the most powerful and promising approach ever discovered. HNC claim that their system, based on a cluster of 30 processors, could be used to spot camouflaged vehicles on a battlefield or extract a voice signal from a noisy background — tasks humans can do well, but computers cannot. ‘Whether or not their technology lives up to the claims made for it, the fact that HNC are emphasising the use of AI is itself an interesting development,’ says Dr Leake.F Another factor that may boost the prospects for AI in the near future is that investors are now looking for firms using clever technology, rather than just a clever business model, to differentiate themselves. In particular, the problem of information overload, exacerbated by the growth of e-mail and the explosion in the number of web pages, means there are plenty of opportunities for new technologies to help filter and categorise information —classic AI problems. That may mean that more artificial intelligence companies will start to emerge tomeet this challenge.G The 1969 film, 2001:A Space Odyssey, featured an intelligent computer called HAL 9000. As well as understanding and speaking English, HAL could play chess and even learned to lipread. HAL thus encapsulated the optimism of the 1960s that intelligent computers would be widespread by 2001. But 2001 has been and gone, and there is still no sign of a HAL-like computer. Individual systems can play chess or transcribe speech, but a general theory of machine intelligence still remains elusive. It may be, however, that the comparison with HAL no longer seems quite so important, and AI can now be judged by what it can do, rather than by how well it matches up to a 30-year-old science-fiction film. ‘People are beginning to realise that there are impressive thi ngs that these systems can do.’ says Dr Leake hopefully.Questions 27-31Reading Passage 3 has seven paragraphs, A-G.Which paragraph contains the following information?Write the correct letter A-G in boxes 27-31 on your answer sheet.NB You may use any letter more than once.27 how AI might have a military impact28 the fact that AI brings together a range of separate research areas29 the reason why AI has become a common topic of conversation again30 how AI could help deal with difficulties related to the amount of information available electronically31 where the expression AI was first usedQuestions 32-37Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 3?In boxes 32-37 on your answer sheet, writeTRUE if the statement agrees with the informationFALSE if the statement contradicts the informationNOT GIVEN if there is no information about this32 The researchers who launched the field of AI had worked together on other projects in the past.33 In 1985, AI was at its lowest point.34 Research into agent technology was more costly than research into neural networks.35 Applications of AI have already had a degree of success.36 The problems waiting to be solved by AI have not changed since 1967.37 The film 2001: A Space Odyssey reflected contemporary ideas about the potential of AI computers.Questions 38-40Choose the correct letter A, B, C or D.Write your answers in boxes 38-40 on your answer sheet.38 According to researchers, in the late 1980s there was a feeling thatA a general theory of AI would never be developed.B original expectations of AI may not have been justified.C a wide range of applications was close to fruitionD more powerful computers were the key to further progress.39 In Dr Leake’s opinion, the re putation of AI suffered as a result ofA changing perceptions.B premature implementationC poorly planned projects.D commercial pressures.40 The prospects for AI may benefit fromA existing AI applications.B new business models.C orders from internet-only companies.D new investment priorities.剑桥雅思阅读5原文参考译文(test3)TEST 3 PASSAGE 1 参考译文：Early Childhood EducationNew Zealand’s National Party spokesman on education, Dr Lockwood Smith, recently visited the US and Britain. Here he reports on the findings of his trip and what they could mean for New Zealand’s education policy.儿童早期教育新西兰国家党教育发言人Lockwood Smith博士最近访问了美国和英国。