雅思真題試卷

雅思真題試卷（精選13套）

　　雅思考試， 全稱為“國際英語測試系統”，簡稱“雅思（IELTS）”，是著名的國際性英語標準化水平測試之一。雅思考試于1989年設立，由英國文化教育協會、劍橋大學考試委員會和澳大利亞教育國際開發署（IDP）共同管理。以下是小編幫大家整理的雅思真題試卷，歡迎大家借鑒與參考，希望對大家有所幫助。

　　雅思真題試卷 1

　　Birthdays often involve surprises. But this year’s surprise on the birthday of the great British playwright William Shakespeare is surely one of the most dramatic.

　　On April 22, one day before his 441st birthday anniversary, experts discovered that one of the most recognizable portraits of William Shakespeare is a fake. This means that we no longer have a good idea of what Shakespeare looked like. "It’s very possible that many pictures of Shakespeare might be unreliable because many of them are copies of this one," said an expert from Britain’s National Portrait Gallery.

　　The discovery comes after four months of testing using X-rays, ultraviolet light, microphotography and paint samples. The experts from the gallery say the image—commonly known as the “Flower portrait” —was actually painted in the 1800s, about two centuries after Shakespeare’s death. The art experts who work at the gallery say they also used modern chemistry technology to check the paint on the picture. These checks found traces of paint dating from about 1814. Shakespeare died in 1616, and the date that appears on the portrait is 1609.

　　“We now think the portrait dates back to around 1818 to 1840. This was when there was a renewed interest in Shakespeare’s plays,” Tarnya Cooper, the gallery’s curator(館長), told the Associated President.

　　The fake picture has often been used as a cover for collections of his plays. It is called the Flower portrait because one of its owners, Desmond Flower, gave it to the Royal Shakespeare Company.

　　“There have always been questions about the painting,” said David Howells, curator for the Royal Shakespeare Company. “Now we know the truth, we can put the image in its proper place in the history of Shakespearean portraiture.”

　　Two other images of Shakespeare, are also being studied as part of the investigation(調查) and the results will come out later this month.

　　______________________________________________________________.

　　1. Why this year’s surprise on the birthday of Shakespeare is dramatic?

　　_______________________________________________________________________________

　　2. Now we know what Shakespeare looked like. (T/F)

　　3. “Flower portrait” was actually painted using X-rays, ultraviolet light, microphotography and paint samples. (T/F)

　　4. In histor

　　y, many people doubted the painting. (T/F)

　　5.Which is the best sentence to fill in the blank in the last paragraph?

　　A.Soon we’ll know which portrait is reliable.

　　B.Maybe we cannot find a real portrait of Shakespeare.

　　C.If the two portraits are found to be false, they will test more.

　　D.For now what Shakespeare really looked like will remain a mystery.

　　1.The Flower portrait has been found to be a fake.

　　2. F

　　3. F

　　4. T

　　5. D

　　雅思真題試卷 2

　　1.Do you work or are you a student?

　　Im a student at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

　　Im a student, and Im a freshman in Tsinghua University.

　　Im a student, a high school student.

　　2.What subject are you studying?

　　Im studying for a Masters degree in Tsinghua University, specializing in the field of Math Studies.

　　3.Why did you choose that subject?

　　I chose math because I liked it in high school. I was always strong in math and science, so it seemed like a natural progression. Also, I did some research on career opportunities, and it seemed to be a subject with a promising future.

　　4.What would you like to do in the future?

　　I would love to be a teacher. Most of the women in my family are teachers, they have a huge impact on my life. I think it is wonderful to get to change peoples lives by what I say or do on the stage. It requires a person to be responsible and caring, and I want to be such a person.

　　5.What are the most popular subjects in China?

　　Its hard to say nowadays. You know, due to the globalization, our country is much more developed than ever. Every subject has something to offer to the society. Students just choose their subjects based on what they are interested in, which then, in turn, can become a trend.

　　6.Do you think its important to choose a subject you like?

　　Definitely! I think interest is the best motivator, if I choose something Im keen on, I will be willing to sacrifice my leisure time because it is a worthwhile sacrifice to me. In addition, when I face some difficulties, I will do my best to overcome the problems. Quitting in the middle will never be an option. We should consider carefully our choice from the start, rather than carelessly choosing the wrong path, then regretting it.

　　7.Are you looking forward to working?

　　I have been wanting to work full time, thats for sure. I can now imagine myself waking up early in the morning, getting my business attire on and sitting behind my office desk. I wonder how it feels to work with other professionals and with the boss always around… It could be stressful but interesting, I guess. The best part I would say would be to finally receive a salary and spend my own money. I would not have to bother my parents then. But, like most things in life, it really depends on what the job is and whether the environment is positive or not.

　　8.Do you like your subject? (Why? / Why not?)

　　Honestly, I dont. I am halfway through my college career. But reality struck me when the material we learned in class was much more difficult and the assignments werent fun. Im thinking about changing my own major now.

　　9.Do you prefer to study in the mornings or in the afternoons?

　　I am not a morning person, Im afraid. But to be honest, studying in the afternoon is even worse. I get really sleepy from one to four in the afternoon. So, actually, my brain is at its best in the evening. It works better then. I can stay sharp even until very late at night.

　　10.Is your subject interesting to you?

　　Absolutely. I find computer science really stimulating. Imagine creating something useful just using codes and numbers. It requires a good level of imagination and quite a good level of number skills, critical thinking and logic skills as well as a keen ability to solve problems.

　　11.Is there any kind of technology you can use in study?

　　For studying I use a computer and my phone. I often download research papers and read them on my phone and make notes onto the notes section of my phone too. I use my computer to actually write essays and do other homework tasks.

　　1.What work do you do?

　　I am a teacher at a high school. I started there in Jan 2015 after graduating from college. I would say it is a pretty challenging job.

　　2. Why did you choose to do that type of job?

　　Teaching is my passion. I dont view my career as a "job" per say. I see it more as my calling in life. It is my lifes purpose.

　　3. Do you like your job?

　　Definitely! I enjoy the variety and special projects where I can take ownership of the final product. My job provides me with both, so yes, it is a good job and I find it very rewarding.

　　Im not interested in my job… because it is so mundane and repetitive, two traits I despise and try to stay away from. I hope to find a better job that challenges me to aspire to new heights.

　　4. Do you miss being a student?

　　I definitely do! Sometimes I just wonder what would have happened if I had studied harder when I was in university. I just miss the days when I had nothing to worry about but the exams. Now, all the pressure from work and family is difficult to deal with.

　　5. Is it very interesting?

　　Most of the time, yes! The daily challenges from new projects provide constant opportunities to learn new things and to some extent re-invent myself. Every day is unique. My colleagues provide me with support but also healthy competition. I find my job most interesting when I am challenged to reach outside of my comfort zone.

　　6.Is there any kind of technology you use at work?

　　I use mainly a laptop computer and my phone at work. Sometimes I also use a photocopier scanner, and a video camera if Im making short promotional videos with my company. But mainly, I just use a computer.

　　7.Can you manage your time well when you work?

　　Yes, I am a project manager in my office, so I am quite good at managing my time and the other peoples time on the team. Ive worked as an IT manager for several years now.

　　8.Who helps you most at work?

　　My team members – I have a great team and they are all hardworking, supportive, smart and attentive to the needs of others and the project goals.

　　雅思真題試卷 3

　　1. You are an university student who are living in the accommodation at the campus. One day you find something wrong with your accommodation. So you write a letter to the House Officer to tell them what happened, the reason you think, what you decide to do, and whether if it is right.

　　2. It is wrong that our government pay more money to the artist projects, for instance, there are more and more paintings and sculptures appearing at the public places, because there are more important thing to do. What‘s you opinion? Do you agree or disagree with it?

　　3. writing to an English speaking college about qualification, accommodation, fee, what courses do you want to choose and why.

　　4. Participating in a sport is as important for psychological health as it is for physical condition and social development.

　　5. You have left college. But you didn‘t say goodbye to your friend who live in the room with you because he had a course at that time. Write a letter to him to appology and tell hem how you spend that days before you leave and how you get home. Then invite him to visit you.

　　6. Some people say the parents should except school to conduct their children‘s behavior and tell them what is ‘right‘ or ‘wrong‘. Others say schools should take this responsibility. Please give your point about it.

　　7. Write to the agency officer and complain about the rent car which has sth wrong. Tell them the problems of the car you rent from the agency and your requiring.

　　8. As the developing countries and the third world countries, there are a funds, how to use it? Invest in the basic education or in the high-technology, for instance, computer? What‘s your opinion?

　　9. You are a foreign student. Write to the Student Union, introduce your hobbies and interests and ask information of clubs and societies. You want to join a club or society enjoy your time when you study there.

　　10. Fast food is developing more and more popular. It replaces other traditional food. Some people think it is good, some people disagree with it. What‘s your opinion about it. Give some reason of your opinion.

　　11. A friend will visit Beijing. You will meet him at airport. But for some reason, you have to be late. Explain the reason. Since you haven‘t meet each other, tell the friend where you will meet and how to recognize each other.

　　12. More and more children‘s writing & math ability are affected by computers and calculators. We should limit the use of those tools. Disagree or agree.

　　雅思真題試卷 4

　　Study or Work

　　1. Do you work or are you a student?

　　2. Do you like your major? Why/ Why not.

　　3. Is this major what you expected?

　　4. What is the most interesting part of your study?

　　5. Who plays a more important role in your study, the teachers or the classmates?

　　6. Are there any public facilities near your university/school?

　　7. Are you looking forward to start working soon?

　　Work

　　1. What job do you do?

　　2. Do you like your work?

　　3. Have you received training before/ during this job?

　　4. Which day of a week would you like to change, and how would you want to make the change?

　　5. Would you feel sad if you leave your job?

　　Accommodation

　　1. Do you live in a house or an apartment?

　　2. Which is your favorite room?

　　3. Would you change anything about your home? Why / why not?

　　4. What kind of accommodation would you like to live in the future?

　　5. What are the good places to eat around where you live?

　　6. What do you like about your house?

　　7. What can you see when you look out of your apartment window?

　　8. Do you always invite friends to come to your home? What do you do when they visit?

　　Hometown

　　1. Where is your hometown?

　　2. Are there any specialties in your hometown?

　　3. Has your hometown had any changes in recent years?

　　4. Is it suitable for children to live?

　　5. Do you plan to live in your hometown in the future?

　　6. What changes do you believe will happen in your hometown in the future?

　　Activity near water

　　1. What activities would you do if you were having some leisure time at a beach or near the water?

　　2. Why do some people like water sports?

　　3. Do you think the government should invest money in developing facilities for water sports?

　　4. Do you think that human activity is posing a threat to the oceans of the world?

　　5. What do you think are the advantages disadvantages of traveling on the ocean?

　　6. Do you think it’s important for children to learn how to swim?

　　7. Do you think it’s best for a child to be taught to swim by a parent or by someone else?

　　Advertisements

　　1. Are there many advertisements in your hometown?

　　2. What do you think of advertisements?

　　3. Are you easily influenced by advertisements?

　　4. Why do you think there are so many advertisements now?

　　Art

　　1. Do you like art?

　　2. Do you think art classes affect children’s development?

　　3. What kind of paintings do Chinese people like?

　　4. What can you learn from western paintings?

　　5. What benefits can you get from painting as a hobby?

　　6. Do you think art classes are necessary?

　　Bags

　　1. Do you have many bags?

　　2. Do you use different bags on different occasions?

　　3. What are the things that you consider when you choose to use a bag?

　　4. Do you like bags?

　　5. What types of bags do you like?

　　6. Do you usually carry a bag?

　　7. What types of bags do you use?

　　8. What do you put in these bags?

　　9. What sorts of bags do women like to buy?

　　Celebrity

　　1. Who is your favorite celebrity in China?

　　2. Do you like any foreign celebrities?

　　3. Would you want to be a celebrity in the future?

　　4. Do you think we should protect famous people’s privacy?

　　5. How do celebrities influence their fans in China?

　　Chocolate

　　1. How often do you eat chocolate?

　　2. What’s your favorite flavor?

　　3. Is chocolate expensive in China?

　　4. When was the first time you ate chocolate?

　　5. Is chocolate popular in China?

　　雅思真題試卷 5

　　A.

　　Neoclassical economics is built on the assumption that humans are rational beings who have a clear idea of their best interests and strive to extract maximum benefit (or utility， in economist-speak) from any situation. Neoclassical economics assumes that the process of decision-making is rational. But that contradicts growing evidence that decision-making draws on the emotions—even when reason is clearly involved.

　　B.

　　The role of emotions in decisions makes perfect sense. For situations met frequently in the past， such as obtaining food and mates， and confronting or fleeing from threats， the neural mechanisms required to weigh up the pros and cons will have been honed by evolution to produce an optimal outcome. Since emotion is the mechanism by which animals are prodded towards such outcomes， evolutionary and economic theory predict the same practical consequences for utility in these cases. But does this still apply when the ancestral machinery has to respond to the stimuli of urban modernity?

　　C.

　　One of the people who thinks that it does not is George Loewenstein， an economist at Carnegie Mellon University， in Pittsburgh. In particular， he suspects that modern shopping has subverted the decision-making machinery in a way that encourages people to run up debt. To prove the point he has teamed up with two psychologists， Brian Knutson of Stanford University and Drazen Prelec of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology， to look at what happens in the brain when it is deciding what to buy.

　　D.

　　In a study， the three researchers asked 26 volunteers to decide whether to buy a series of products such as a box of chocolates or a DVD of the television show that were flashed on a computer screen one after another. In each round of the task， the researchers first presented the product and then its price， with each step lasting four seconds. In the final stage， which also lasted four seconds， they asked the volunteers to make up their minds. While the volunteers were taking part in the experiment， the researchers scanned their brains using a technique called functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)。 This measures blood flow and oxygen consumption in the brain， as an indication of its activity.

　　E.

　　The researchers found that different parts of the brain were involved at different stages of the test. The nucleus accumbens was the most active part when a product was being displayed. Moreover， the level of its activity correlated with the reported desirability of the product in question.

　　F.

　　When the price appeared， however， fMRI reported more activity in other parts of the brain. Excessively high prices increased activity in the insular cortex， a brain region linked to expectations of pain， monetary loss and the viewing of upsetting pictures. The researchers also found greater activity in this region of the brain when the subject decided not to purchase an item.

　　G.

　　Price information activated the medial prefrontal cortex， too. This part of the brain is involved in rational calculation. In the experiment its activity seemed to correlate with a volunteer’s reaction to both product and price， rather than to price alone. Thus， the sense of a good bargain evoked higher activity levels in the medial prefrontal cortex， and this often preceded a decision to buy.

　　H.

　　People’s shopping behaviour therefore seems to have piggy-backed on old neural circuits evolved for anticipation of reward and the avoidance of hazards. What Dr Loewenstein found interesting was the separation of the assessment of the product (which seems to be associated with the nucleus accumbens) from the assessment of its price (associated with the insular cortex)， even though the two are then synthesised in the prefrontal cortex. His hypothesis is that rather than weighing the present good against future alternatives， as orthodox economics suggests happens， people actually balance the immediate pleasure of the prospective possession of a product with the immediate pain of paying for it.

　　I.

　　That makes perfect sense as an evolved mechanism for trading. If one useful object is being traded for another (hard cash in modern time)， the future utility of what is being given up is embedded in the object being traded. Emotion is as capable of assigning such a value as reason. Buying on credit， though， may be different. The abstract nature of credit cards， coupled with the deferment of payment that they promise， may modulate the con side of the calculation in favour of the pro。

　　J.

　　Whether it actually does so will be the subject of further experiments that the three researchers are now designing. These will test whether people with distinctly different spending behaviour， such as miserliness and extravagance， experience different amounts of pain in response to prices. They will also assess whether， in the same individuals， buying with credit cards eases the pain compared with paying by cash. If they find that it does， then credit cards may have to join the list of things such as fatty and sugary foods， and recreational drugs， that subvert human instincts in ways that seem pleasurable at the time but can have a long and malign aftertaste.

　　Questions 1-6

　　Do the following statemets reflect the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 1?

　　Write your answer in Boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet.

　　TRUE if the statement reflets the claims of the writer

　　FALSE if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer

　　NOT GIVEN if it is possbile to say what the writer thinks about this

　　1. The belief of neoclassical economics does not accord with the increasing evidence that humans make use of the emotions to make decisions.

　　2. Animals are urged by emotion to strive for an optimal outcomes or extract maximum utility from any situation.

　　3. George Loewenstein thinks that modern ways of shopping tend to allow people to accumulate their debts.

　　4. The more active the nucleus accumens was， the stronger the desire of people for the product in question became.

　　5. The prefrontal cortex of the human brain is linked to monetary loss and the viewing of upsetting pictures.

　　6. When the activity in nucleus accumbens was increased by the sense of a good bargain， people tended to purchase coffee.

　　Questions 7-9

　　Choose the appropriate letters A-D and write them in boxes 7-9 on your answe sheet.

　　7. Which of the following statements about orthodox economics is true?

　　A. The process which people make their decisions is rational.

　　B. People have a clear idea of their best interests in any situation.

　　C. Humans make judgement on the basis of reason rather then emotion.

　　D. People weigh the present good against future alternatives in shopping.

　　8. The word miserliness in line 3 of Paragraph J means__________.

　　A. people’s behavior of buying luxurious goods

　　B. people’s behavior of buying very special items

　　C. people’s behavior of being very mean in shopping

　　D. people’s behavior of being very generous in shopping

　　9. The three researchers are now designing the future experiments， which test

　　A. whether people with very different spending behaviour experience different amounts of pain in response to products.

　　B. whether buying an item with credit cards eases the pain of the same individuals compared with paying for it by cash.

　　C. whether the abstract nature of credit cards may modulate the con side of the calculation in favour of the pro。

　　D. whether the credit cards may subvert human instincts in ways that seem pleasurable but with a terrible effect.

　　Questions 10-13

　　Complete the notes below.

　　Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from Reading Passage 1 for each answer.

　　Write your answers in boxes 10-13 on your answer sheet.

　　To find what happens in the brain of humans when it is deciding things to buy， George Loewenstein and his co-researchers did an experiment by using the technique of fMRI. They found that different parts of the brain were invloved in the process. The activity in …10… was greatly increased with the displaying of certain product. The great activity was found in the insular cortex when …11…and the subject decided not to buy a product. The activity of the medial prefrontal cortex seemed to associate with both …12…informaiton. What interested Dr Loewenstein was the …13… of the assessment of the product and its price in different parts of the brain.

　　Part II

　　Notes to Reading Passage 1

　　1. the nucleus accumbens， the insular cortex， and the medial prefrontal cortex：

　　大腦的'不同部位 (皮層，皮質等)

　　e.g. cerebellar cortex 小腦皮層cerebral cortex 大腦皮層

　　2. hone：

　　珩磨，磨快，磨練，訓練使。更完美或有效。

　　3. subvert：

　　毀滅，破壞;摧毀：

　　4. piggyback：

　　騎在肩上;在肩上騎

　　5. deferment：

　　推遲、延遲、分期付款

　　6. aftertaste：

　　余味，回味事情或經歷結束后的感覺，特指令人不快的感覺

　　Part III

　　Keys and explanations to the Questions 1-13

　　1. TRUE

　　See the second and third sentence in Paragraph A Neoclassical economics assumes that the process of decision-making is rational. But that contradicts growing evidence that decision-making draws on the emotions—even when reason is clearly involved.

　　2. TRUE

　　See the third sentence in Paragrph B Since emotion is the mechanism by which animals are prodded towards such outcomes， evolutionary and economic theory predict the same practical consequences for utility in these cases.

　　3. FALSE

　　See the second sentence in Paragrph C In particular， he suspects that modern shopping has subverted the decision-making machinery in a way that encourages people to run up debt.

　　4. TRUE

　　See the last sentence in Paragrph E Moreover， the level of its activity correlated with the reported desirability of the product in question.

　　5. FALSE

　　See the second sentence in Paragrph F and G respectively Excessively high prices increased activity in the insular cortex， a brain region linked to expectations of pain， monetary loss and the view

　　雅思真題試卷 6

　　1. The failure of a high-profile cholesterol drug has thrown a spotlight on the complicated machinery that regulates cholesterol levels. But many researchers remain confident that drugs to boost levels of ’good’ cholesterol are still one of the most promising means to combat spiralling heart disease.

　　2. Drug company Pfizer announced on 2 December that it was cancelling all clinical trials of torcetrapib， a drug designed to raise heart-protective high-density lipoproteins (HDLs)。 In a trial of 15000 patients， a safety board found that more people died or suffered cardiovascular problems after taking the drug plus a cholesterol-lowering statin than those in a control group who took the statin alone.

　　3. The news came as a kick in the teeth to many cardiologists because earlier tests in animals and people suggested it would lower rates of cardiovascular disease. There have been no red flags to my knowledge， says John Chapman， a specialist in lipoproteins and atherosclerosis at the National Institute for Health and Medical Research (INSERM) in Paris who has also studied torcetrapib. This cancellation came as a complete shock.

　　4. Torcetrapib is one of the most advanced of a new breed of drugs designed to raise levels of HDLs， which ferry cholesterol out of artery-clogging plaques to the liver for removal from the body. Specifically， torcetrapib blocks a protein called cholesterol ester transfer protein (CETP)， which normally transfers the cholesterol from high-density lipoproteins to low density， plaque-promoting ones. Statins， in contrast， mainly work by lowering the ’bad’ low-density lipoproteins.

　　Under pressure

　　5. Researchers are now trying to work out why and how the drug backfired， something that will not become clear until the clinical details are released by Pfizer. One hint lies in evidence from earlier trials that it slightly raises blood pressure in some patients. It was thought that this mild problem would be offset by the heart benefits of the drug. But it is possible that it actually proved fatal in some patients who already suffered high blood pressure. If blood pressure is the explanation， it would actually be good news for drug developers because it suggests that the problems are specific to this compound. Other prototype drugs that are being developed to block CETP work in a slightly different way and might not suffer the same downfall.

　　6. But it is also possible that the whole idea of blocking CETP is flawed， says Moti Kashyap， who directs atherosclerosis research at the VA Medical Center in Long Beach， California. When HDLs excrete cholesterol in the liver， they actually rely on LDLs for part of this process. So inhibiting CETP， which prevents the transfer of cholesterol from HDL to LDL， might actually cause an abnormal and irreversible accumulation of cholesterol in the body. You’re blocking a physiologic mechanism to eliminate cholesterol and effectively constipating the pathway， says Kashyap.

　　Going up

　　7. Most researchers remain confident that elevating high density lipoproteins levels by one means or another is one of the best routes for helping heart disease patients. But HDLs are complex and not entirely understood. One approved drug， called niacin， is known to both raise HDL and reduce cardiovascular risk but also causes an unpleasant sensation of heat and tingling. Researchers are exploring whether they can bypass this side effect and whether niacin can lower disease risk more than statins alone. Scientists are also working on several other means to bump up high-density lipoproteins by， for example， introducing synthetic HDLs. The only thing we know is dead in the water is torcetrapib， not the whole idea of raising HDL， says Michael Miller， director of preventive cardiology at the University of Maryland Medical Center， Baltimore.

　　(613 words nature)

　　Questions 1-7

　　This passage has 7 paragraphs 1-7.

　　Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below.

　　Write the correct number i-ix in boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet.

　　List of Headings

　　i. How does torcetrapib work?

　　ii. Contradictory result prior to the current trial

　　iii. One failure may possibly bring about future success

　　iv. The failure doesn’t lead to total loss of confidence

　　v. It is the right route to follow

　　vi. Why it’s stopped

　　vii. They may combine and theoretically produce ideal result

　　viii. What’s wrong with the drug

　　ix. It might be wrong at the first place

　　Example answer

　　Paragraph 1 iv

　　1. Paragraph 2

　　2. Paragraph 3

　　3. Paragraph 4

　　4. Paragraph 5

　　5. Paragraph 6

　　6. Paragraph 7

　　Questions 7-13

　　Match torcetrapib，HDLs，statin and CETP with their functions (Questions 8-13)。

　　Write the correct letter A， B， C or D in boxes 8-13 on your answer sheet.

　　NB You may use any letter more than once.

　　7.It has been administered to over 10，000 subjects in a clinical trial.

　　8.It could help rid human body of cholesterol.

　　9.Researchers are yet to find more about it.

　　10. It was used to reduce the level of cholesterol.

　　11. According to Kashyap， it might lead to unwanted result if it’s blocked.

　　12. It produced contradictory results in different trials.

　　13. It could inhibit LDLs.

　　List of choices

　　A. Torcetrapic

　　B. HDLS

　　C. Statin

　　D. CETP

　　(by Zhou Hong)

　　Suggested Answers and Explanations

　　1. vi

　　2. ii

　　3. vii 本段介紹了torcetrapib和statin的治病原理，但是同時短語in contrast與之前第二段后半段的內容呼應，暗示了這兩種藥在理論上能相輔相成，是理想的搭配。第一個選項無法涵蓋整段意義，故選擇i是錯誤的`。

　　4. iii 本段分析了可能導致torcetrapibl臨床試驗失敗的原因，后半段指出如果以上推測正確，那么未來的藥物可借鑒這個試驗，設法避免torcetrapib的缺陷，研制出有效的藥物。viii選項無法涵蓋后半段的意思。

　　5. ix 見首句。

　　6. v

　　7. A 見第二段。題目中administer一詞意為用藥，subject一詞為實驗對象之意。

　　8. B 見第四段… to raise levels of HDLs， which ferry cholesterol out of artery- clogging plaques to the liver for removal from the body.即HDLs的作用最終是將 choleserol清除出人體：… for removal from the body。

　　9. B 見第四段But HDLs are complex and not entirely understood.

　　10. C 見第二段… plus a cholesterol-lowering statin，即statin是可以降低cholesterol的。

　　11. D 見第六段 So inhibiting CETP， … might actually cause an abnormal and irreversible accumulation of cholesterol in the body.

　　12. A 見第三段。

　　13. C 見第四段Statins， in contrast， mainly work by lowering the ’bad’ low-density lipoproteins.

　　雅思真題試卷 7

　　Coastal Archaeology of Britain

　　A

　　The recognition of the wealth and diversity of England’s coastal archaeology has been one of the most important developments of recent years. Some elements of this enormous resource have long been known. The so-called ‘submerged forests’ off the coasts of England, sometimes with clear evidence of human activity, had attracted the interest of antiquarians since at least the eighteenth century but serious and systematic attention has been given to the archaeological potential of the coast only since the early 1980s.

　　B

　　It is possible to trace a variety of causes for this concentration of effort and interest. In the 1980s and 1990s scientific research into climate change and its environmental impact spilt over into a much broader public debate as awareness of these issues grew; the prospect of rising sea levels over the next century, and their impact on current coastal environments, has been a particular focus for concern. At the same time, archaeologists were beginning to recognize that the destruction caused by natural processes of coastal erosion and by human activity was having an increasing impact on the archaeological resource of the coast.

　　C

　　The dominant process affecting the physical form of England in the post-glacial period has been the rise in the altitude of sea level relative to the land, as the glaciers melted and the landmass readjusted. The encroachment of the sea, the loss of huge areas of land now under the North Sea and the English Channel, and especially the loss of the land bridge between England and France, which finally made Britain an island, must have been immensely significant factors in the lives of our prehistoric ancestors. Yet the way in which prehistoric communities adjusted to these environmental changes has seldom been a major theme in discussions of the period. One factor contributing to this has been that, although the rise in relative sea level is comparatively well documented, we know little about the constant reconfiguration of the coastline. This was affected by many processes, mostly quite, which have not yet been adequately researched. The detailed reconstruction of coastline histories and the changing environments available for human use will be an important theme for future research.

　　D

　　So great has been the rise in sea level and the consequent regression of the coast that much of the archaeological evidence now exposed in the coastal zone, whether being eroded or exposed as a buried land surface, is derived from what was originally terrestrial occupation. Its current location in the coastal zone is the product of later unrelated processes, and it can tell us little about past adaptations to the sea. Estimates of its significance will need to be made in the context of other related evidence from dry land sites. Nevertheless, its physical environment means that preservation is often excellent, for example in the case of the Neolithic structure excavated at the Stumble in Essex.

　　E

　　In some cases, these buried land surfaces do contain evidence for human exploitation of what was a coastal environment, and elsewhere along the modern coast, there is similar evidence. Where the evidence does relate to past human exploitation of the resources and the opportunities offered by the sea and the coast, it is both diverse and as yet little understood. We are not yet in a position to make even preliminary estimates of answers to such fundamental questions as the extent to which the sea and the coast affected human life in the past, what percentage of the population at any time lived within reach of the sea, or whether human settlements in coastal environments showed a distinct character from that inland.

　　F

　　The most striking evidence for use of the sea is in the form of boats, yet we still have much to learn about their production and use. Most of the known wrecks around our coast are not unexpectedly of post-medieval date and offer an unparalleled opportunity for research which has as yet been little used. The prehistoric sewn-plank boats such as those from the Humber estuary and Dover all seem to belong to the second millennium BC; after this, there is a gap in the record of a millennium, which cannot yet be explained, before boats reappear, but built using a very different technology. Boatbuilding must have been an extremely important activity around much of our coast, yet we know almost nothing about it. Boats were some of the most complex artefacts produced by pre-modern societies, and further research on their production and use make an important contribution to our understanding of past attitudes to technology and technological change.

　　G

　　Boats needed landing places, yet here again, our knowledge is very patchy. In many cases the natural shores and beaches would have sufficed, leaving little or no archaeological trace, but especially in later periods, many ports and harbors, as well as smaller facilities such as quays, wharves, and jetties, were built. Despite a growth of interest in the waterfront archaeology of some of our more important Roman and medieval towns, very little attention has been paid to the multitude of smaller landing places. Redevelopment of harbor sites and other development and natural pressures along the coast are subjecting these important locations to unprecedented threats, yet few surveys of such sites have been undertaken.

　　H

　　One of the most important revelations of recent research has been the extent of industrial activity along the coast. Fishing and salt production are among the better-documented activities, but even here our knowledge is patchy. Many forms of fishing will eave little archaeological trace and one of the surprises of the recent survey has been the extent of past investment in facilities for procuring fish and shellfish. Elaborate wooden fish weirs, often of considerable extent and responsive to aerial photography in shallow water, have been identified in areas such as Essex and the Severn estuary. The production of salt, especially in the late Iron Age and early Roman periods, has been recognized for some time, especially in the Thames estuary and around the Solent and Poole Harbor, but the reasons for the decline of that industry and the nature of later coastal salt working are much less well understood. Other industries were also located along the coast, either because the raw materials outcropped there or for ease of working and transport: mineral resources such as sand, gravel, stone, coal, ironstone, and alum were all exploited. These industries are poorly documented, but their remains are sometimes extensive and striking.

　　I

　　Some appreciation of the variety and importance of the archaeological remains preserved in the coastal zone, albeit only in preliminary form, can thus be gained from recent work, but the complexity of the problem of managing that resource is also being realised. The problem arises not only from the scale and variety of the archaeological remains, but also from two other sources: the very varied natural and human threats to the resource, and the complex web of organisations with authority over, or interests in, the coastal zone. Human threats include the redevelopment of historic towns and old dockland areas, and the increased importance of the coast for the leisure and tourism industries, resulting in pressure for the increased provision of facilities such as marinas. The larger size of ferries has also caused an increase in the damage caused by their wash to fragile deposits in the intertidal zone. The most significant natural threat is the predicted rise in sea level over the next century especially in the south and east of England. Its impact on archaeology is not easy to predict, and though it is likely to be highly localised, it will be at a scale much larger than that of most archaeological sites. Thus protecting one site may simply result in transposing the threat to a point further along the coast. The management of the archaeological remains will have to be considered in a much longer time scale and a much wider geographical scale than is common in the case of dry land sites, and this will pose a serious challenge for archaeologists.

　　Questions 1-3

　　Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

　　Write your answers in boxes 1-3 on your answer sheet.

　　1 What has caused public interest in coastal archaeology in recent years?

　　A Golds and jewelleries in the ships that have submerged

　　B The rising awareness of climate change

　　C Forests under the sea

　　D Technological advance in the field of sea research

　　2 What does the passage say about the evidence of boats?

　　A We have a good knowledge of how boats were made and what boats were for prehistorically

　　B Most of the boats discovered was found in harbors

　　C The use of boats had not been recorded for a thousand years

　　D The way to build boats has remained unchanged throughout human history

　　3 What can be discovered from the air?

　　A Salt mines

　　B Shellfish

　　C Ironstones

　　D Fisheries

　　Questions 4-10

　　Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?

　　In boxes 4-10 on your answer sheet, write

　　TRUE if the statement is true

　　FALSE if the statement is false

　　NOT GIVEN if the information is not given in the passage

　　4 England lost much of its land after the ice-age due to the rising sea level.

　　5 The coastline of England has changed periodically.

　　6 Coastal archaeological evidence may be well-protected by seawater.

　　7 The design of boats used by pre-modern people was very simple.

　　8 Similar boats were also discovered in many other European countries.

　　9 There are a few documents relating to mineral exploitation.

　　10 Large passenger boats are causing increasing damage to the seashore.

　　Questions 11-13

　　Choose THREE letters A-G

　　Write your answer in boxes 11-13 on your answer sheet

　　Which THREE of the following statements are mentioned in the passage?

　　A Our prehistoric ancestors adjusted to the environmental change caused by the rising sea level by moving to higher lands.

　　B It is difficult to understand how many people lived close to the sea.

　　C Human settlements in the coastal environment were different from that inland

　　D Our knowledge of boat evidence is limited.

　　E The prehistoric boats were built mainly for collecting sand from the river.

　　F Human development threatens the archaeological remains.

　　G The reason for the decline of the salt industry was the shortage of laborers.

　　閱讀參考答案

　　1. B

　　2. C

　　3. D

　　4. TRUE

　　5. FALSE

　　6. TRUE

　　7. FALSE

　　8. NOT GIVEN

　　9. TRUE

　　10. TRUE

　　11. B

　　12. D

　　13. F

　　雅思真題試卷 8

　　Bovids

　　A

　　The family of mammals called bovids belongs to the Artiodactyl class, which also includes giraffes. Bovids are a highly diverse group consisting of 137 species, some of which are man’s most important domestic animals.

　　B

　　Bovids are well represented in most parts of Eurasia and Southeast Asian islands, but they are by far the most numerous and diverse in the latter Some species of bovid are solitary, but others live in large groups with complex social structures. Although bovids have adapted to a wide range of habitats, from arctic tundra to deep tropical forest, the majority of species favour open grassland, scrub or desert. This diversity of habitat is also matched by great diversity in size and form: at one extreme is the royal antelope of West Africa, which stands a mere 25 cm at the shoulder; at the other, the massively built bison of North America and Europe, growing to a shoulder height of 2.2m.

　　C

　　Despite differences in size and appearance, bovids are united by the possession of certain common features. All species are ruminants, which means that they retain undigested food in their stomachs, and regurgitate it as necessary. Bovids are almost exclusively herbivorous: plant-eating “incisors: front teeth herbivorous”.

　　D

　　Typically their teeth are highly modified for browsing and grazing: grass or foliage is cropped with the upper lip and lower incisors** (the upper incisors are usually absent), and then ground down by the cheek teeth. As well as having cloven, or split, hooves, the males of ail bovid species and the females of most carry horns. Bovid horns have bony cores covered in a sheath of horny material that is constantly renewed from within; they are unbranched and never shed. They vary in shape and size: the relatively simple horns of a large Indian buffalo may measure around 4 m from tip to tip along the outer curve, while the various gazelles have horns with a variety of elegant curves.

　　E

　　Five groups, or sub-families, may be distinguished: Bovinae, Antelope, Caprinae, Cephalophinae and Antilocapridae. The sub-family Bovinae comprises most of the larger bovids, including the African bongo, and nilgae, eland, bison and cattle. Unlike most other bovids they are all non-territorial. The ancestors of the various species of domestic cattle banteng, gaur, yak and water buffalo are generally rare and endangered in the wild, while the auroch (the ancestor of the domestic cattle of Europe) is extinct.

　　F

　　The term ‘antelope is not a very precise zoological name – it is used to loosely describe a number of bovids that have followed different lines of development. Antelopes are typically long-legged, fast-running species, often with long horns that may be laid along the back when the animal is in full flight. There are two main sub-groups of antelope: Hippotraginae, which includes the oryx and the addax, and Antilopinae, which generally contains slighter and more graceful animals such as gazelle and the springbok. Antelopes are mainly grassland species, but many have adapted to flooded grasslands: pukus, waterbucks and lechwes are all good at swimming, usually feeding in deep water, while the sitatunga has long, splayed hooves that enable it to walk freely on swampy ground.

　　G

　　The sub-family Caprinae includes the sheep and the goat, together with various relatives such as the goral and the tahr. Most are woolly or have long hair. Several species, such as wild goats, chamois and ibex, are agile cliff – and mountain-dwellers. Tolerance of extreme conditions is most marked in this group: Barbary and bighorn sheep have adapted to arid deserts, while Rocky Mountain sheep survive high up in mountains and musk oxen in arctic tundra.

　　H

　　The duiker of Africa belongs to the Cephalophinae sub-family. It is generally small and solitary, often living in thick forest. Although mainly feeding on grass and leaves, some duikers – unlike most other bovids – are believed to eat insects and feed on dead animal carcasses, and even to kill small animals.

　　I

　　The pronghorn is the sole survivor of a New World sub-family of herbivorous ruminants, the Antilocapridae in North America. It is similar in appearance and habits to the Old World antelope. Although greatly reduced in numbers since the arrival of Europeans, and the subsequent enclosure of grasslands, the pronghorn is still found in considerable numbers throughout North America, from Washington State to Mexico. When alarmed by the approach of wolves or other predators, hairs on the pronghorn’s rump stand erect, so showing and emphasizing the white patch there. At this signal, the whole herd gallops off at speed of over 60 km per hour.

　　2024年12月14日雅思考試閱讀真題題目

　　Questions 1-3

　　Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

　　Write your answers in boxes 1-3 on your answer sheet.

　　1 In which region is the biggest range of bovids to be found?

　　A Africa

　　B Eurasia

　　C North America

　　D South-east Asia

　　2 Most bovids have a preference for living in

　　A isolation

　　B small groups

　　C tropical forest

　　D wide open spaces

　　3 Which of the following features do all bovids have in common?

　　A Their horns are shot

　　B They have upper incisors

　　C They store food in the body

　　D Their hooves are undivided

　　Questions 4-8

　　Look at the following characteristics (Questions 4-8) and the list of sub-families below.

　　Match each characteristic with the correct sub-family, A, B, C or D.

　　Write the correct letter, A, B, C or D, in boxes 4-8 on your answer sheet.

　　NB You may use any letter more than once

　　4 can endure very harsh environments

　　5 includes the ox and the cow

　　6 may supplement its diet with meat

　　7 can usually move a speed

　　8 does not defend a particular area of land

　　List of sub-families

　　A Antelope

　　B Bovinae

　　C Caprinae

　　D Cephalophinae

　　Questions 9-13

　　Answer the questions below.

　　Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.

　　Write your answers in boxes 9-13 on your answer sheet.

　　9 What is the smallest species of Bovid called?

　　10 Which species of Bovinae hos now died out?

　　11 What facilitates the movement of the sitatunga over wetland?

　　12 What sort of terrain do barbary sheep live in?

　　13 What is the only living member of the Antilocapridae sub-family?

　　閱讀真題題目參考答案

　　1. D

　　2. D

　　3. C

　　4. C

　　5. B

　　6. D

　　7. A

　　8. B

　　9. (the) royal antelope

　　10. (the) auroch

　　11. long, splayed hooves

　　12. arid deserts

　　13. (the) pronghorn

　　雅思真題試卷 9

　　When the Tulip Bubble Burst

　　Tulips are spring-blooming perennials that grow from bulbs. Depending on the species, tulip plants can grow as short as 4 inches (10 cm) or as high as 28 inches (71 cm). The tulip’s large flowers usually bloom on scapes or sub-scapose stems that lack bracts. Most tulips produce only one flower per stem, but a few species bear multiple flowers on their scapes (e.g. Tulipa turkestanica). The showy, generally cup or star-shaped tulip flower has three petals and three sepals, which are often termed tepals because they are nearly identical. These six tepals are often marked on the interior surface near the bases with darker colorings. Tulip flowers come in a wide variety of colors, except pure blue (several tulips with “blue” in the name have a faint violet hue)

　　A. Long before anyone ever heard of Qualcomm, CMGI, Cisco Systems, or the other high-tech stocks that have soared during the current bull market, there was Semper Augustus. Both more prosaic and more sublime than any stock or bond, it was a tulip of extraordinary beauty, its midnight-blue petals topped by a band of pure white and accented with crimson flares. To denizens of 17th century Holland, little was as desirable.

　　B. Around 1624, the Amsterdam man who owned the only dozen specimens was offered 3,000 guilders for one bulb. While there’s no accurate way to render that in today’s greenbacks, the sum was roughly equal to the annual income of a wealthy merchant. (A few years later, Rembrandt received about half that amount for painting The Night Watch.) Yet the bulb’s owner, whose name is now lost to history, nixed the offer.

　　C. Who was crazier, the tulip lover who refused to sell for a small fortune or the one who was willing to splurge. That’s a question that springs to mind after reading Tulip mania: The Story of the World’s Most Coveted Flower and the Extraordinary Passions It Aroused by British journalist Mike Dash. In recent years, as investors have intentionally forgotten everything they learned in Investing 101 in order to load up on unproved, unprofitable dot- com issues, tulip mania has been invoked frequently. In this concise, artfully written account, Dash tells the real history behind the buzzword and in doing so, offers a cautionary tale for our times.

　　D. The Dutch were not the first to go gaga over the tulip. Long before the first tulip bloomed in Europe-in Bavaria, it turns out, in 1559-the flower had enchanted the Persians and bewitched the rulers of the Ottoman Empire. It was in Holland, however, that the passion for tulips found its most fertile ground, for reasons that had little to do with horticulture.

　　E. Holland in the early 17th century was embarking on its Golden Age. Resources that had just a few years earlier gone toward fighting for independence from Spain now flowed into commerce. Amsterdam merchants were at the center of the lucrative East Indies trade, where a single voyage could yield profits of 400%. They displayed their success by erecting grand estates surrounded by flower gardens. The Dutch population seemed tom by two contradictory impulses: a horror of living beyond one’s means and the love of a long shot.

　　F. Enter the tulip. “It is impossible to comprehend the tulip mania without understanding just how different tulips were from every other flower known to horticulturists in the 17th century,” says Dash. “The colors they exhibited were more intense and more concentrated than those of ordinary plants.” Despite the outlandish prices commanded by rare bulbs, ordinary tulips were sold by the pound. Around 1630, however, a new type of tulip fancier appeared, lured by tales of fat profits. These “florists,” or professional tulip traders, sought out flower lovers and speculators alike. But if the supply of tulip buyers grew quickly, the supply of bulbs did not. The tulip was a conspirator in the supply squeeze: It takes seven years to grow one from seed. And while bulbs can produce two or three clones, or “offsets,” annually, the mother bulb only lasts a few years.

　　G. Bulb prices rose steadily throughout the 1630s, as ever more speculators into the market. Weavers and farmers mortgaged whatever they could to raise cash to begin trading. In 1633, a farmhouse in Hoorn changed hands for three rare bulbs. By 1636 any tulip-even bulbs recently considered garbage-could be sold off, often for hundreds of guilders. A futures market for bulbs existed, and tulip traders could be found conducting their business in hundreds of Dutch taverns. Tulip mania reached its peak during the winter of 1636-37, when some bulbs were changing hands ten times in a day. The zenith came early that winter, at an auction to benefit seven orphans whose only asset was 70 fine tulips left by then father. One, a rare Violetten Admirael van Enkhuizen bulb that was about to split in two, sold for 5,200 guilders, the all-time record. All told, the flowers brought in nearly 53,000 guilders.

　　H. Soon after, the tulip market crashed utterly, spectacularly. It began in Haarlem, at a routine bulb auction when, for the first time, the greater fool refused to show up and pay. Within days, the panic had spread across the country. Despite the efforts of traders to prop up demand, the market for tulips evaporated. Flowers that had commanded 5,000 guilders a few weeks before now fetched one-hundredth that amount. Tulip mania is not without flaws. Dash dwells too long on the tulip’s migration from Asia to Holland. But he does a service with this illuminating, accessible account of incredible financial folly.

　　I. Tulip mania differed in one crucial aspect from the dot-com craze that grips our attention today: Even at its height, the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, well- established in 1630, wouldn’t touch tulips. “The speculation in tulip bulbs always existed at the margins of Dutch economic life,” Dash writes. After the market crashed, a compromise was brokered that let most traders settle then debts for a fraction of then liability. The overall fallout on the Dutch economy was negligible. Will we say the same when Wall Street’s current obsession finally runs its course?

　　Questions 1-5

　　The reading Passage has seven paragraphs A-I.

　　Which paragraph contains the following information?

　　Write the correct letter A-I, in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.

　　1 Difference between bubble burst impacts by tulip and by high-tech shares

　　2 Spread of tulip before 17th century

　　3 Indication of money offered for rare bulb in 17th century

　　4 Tulip was treated as money in Holland

　　5 Comparison made between tulip and other plants

　　Questions 6-10

　　Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage? In boxes 6-10 on your answer sheet, write

　　TRUE if the statement is true

　　FALSE if the statement is false

　　NOT GIVEN if the information is not given in the passage

　　6 In 1624, all the tulip collection belonged to a man in Amsterdam.

　　7 Tulip was first planted in Holland according to this passage.

　　8 Popularity of Tulip in Holland was much higher than any other countries in 17th century.

　　9 Holland was the most wealthy country in the world in 17th century.

　　10 From 1630, Amsterdam Stock Exchange started to regulate Tulips exchange market.

　　Questions 11-14

　　Complete the following summary of the paragraphs of Reading Passage, using no more than two words from the Reading Passage for each answer.

　　Write your answers in boxes 11-14 on your answer sheet.

　　Dutch concentrated on gaining independence by 11__________ against Spain in the early 17th century; consequently spare resources entered the area of 12__________. Prosperous traders demonstrated their status by building great 13__________ and with gardens in surroundings. Attracted by the success of profit on tulip, traders kept looking for 14__________ and speculator for sale.

　　參考答案

　　1. I

　　2. D

　　3. B

　　4. G

　　5. F

　　6. TRUE

　　7. FALSE

　　8. TRUE

　　9. NOT GIVEN

　　10. FALSE

　　11. fighting

　　12. commerce

　　13. estates

　　14. flower lovers

　　雅思真題試卷 10

　　Test 1

　　Reading Passage 1

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

　　Book review: Triumph of the City

　　A Triumph of the City, by Edward Glaeser, is a thrilling and very readable hymn of praise to an invention so vast and so effective that it is generally taken for granted. More than half the global population already live in urban areas and, every month, five million more flood into the cities of the developed and developing worlds. The crowds and poverty of some of these modern cities may horrify us. They shouldnt, says Glaeser, they are signs of growth, energy and aspiration. Cities are our best and brightest hope.

　　B This idea has had more than two hundred years of resistance. Not long after the Industrial Revolution began in Britain, the Romantic poets turned away from the smoke and factories of their cities to celebrate the air and light of untouched nature. In 19th- century America, the writer Henry David Thoreau retreated to the wilderness of Walden Pond to live the solitary, simple life, and convinced generations of Americans that cities were bad and nature was good.

　　C They had, Glaeser admits, a point. The early industrial cities were dirty, since they lacked efficient waste disposal systems, and disease spread rapidly among the population. But more importantly they were profitable, and there were enormous commercial incentives to make them work, as well as political ones. Their transformation could be achieved at a stroke: in the second half of the 19th century, the French Emperor Napoleon lll gave Baron Haussmann unrestricted power to turn the slum-infested city of Paris into one of the wonders and delights of the modern world. Or the transformation could be done by trial and error. Glaeser gives a brilliant account of the stop-start progression of New York to its late 20th-century position as the cultural and economic centre of the world. Either way, Paris, New York and other cities developed because they were truly effective markets of ideas and innovation.

　　D For these and many other reasons, we should not be so upset by the spectacle of urban poverty. The poor flock to cities in the hope of becoming richer (which, by and large, they do). They also reinvigorate the economy of the city. It is folly to drive them away by forcing property prices to soar with unreasonable planning regulations. Instead, cities should build more houses and thereby hold property prices in check.

　　E It can go wrong, of course. In Glaesers view, this is primarily because municipal authorities fail to understand the principal virtues of their cites. The heart of Paris, as many Parisians say, is turning into a museum because of the desire to preserve Baron Haussmanns 19th-century boulevards. Glaeser defends their preservation, but argues that in the 1950s the French made a mistake in establishing a huge high-rise commercial development – La Défense – on the outskirts of the city. Far better, he says, to have turned the central area of Montparnasse into a new commercial district. This would have revitalised much of the city centre without destroying its fabric. In India, Mumbai could save itself from ever-more inefficient sprawl over the surrounding area simply by relaxing the rules presently imposed on the height of new constructions.

　　F In America, it is the suburbs that have proved to be the real disaster. Glaeser is repentant on this subject himself. He moved to the suburbs when he had children. His entirely legitimate excuse is that the government made him (and millions like him) do it. By under-taxing petrol and imposing tight planning restrictions on inner cities that drove up the cost of property, it made flight to the suburbs more or less inevitable for the middle classes.

　　G This is a disaster because nothing is more inefficient than a suburb. Suburbanites mingle less, and lose the face-to-face contact that makes being an urbanite so much more creative. Moreover, houses are costlier to heat and cool than flats, and suburbanites drive thousands more miles per year than city dwellers. Every aspect of life involves more consumption. This leads to the strongest and newest argument in favour of cities – they are good for the environment. To live in the country or the suburbs is to have a vastly larger carbon footprint* than any urbanite.

　　H Full of characters and accessible information, this is a tremendous book, tzx notleast because, like me, you will find yourself constantly seeking reasons to disagree. Like the poor in the city, this is a sign of success. If you hate the city and get moist-eyed at the thought of the country then, one way or another, Glaeser is the man you will have to take on.

　　*carbon footprint: a measurement of how much greenhouse gas a person produces

　　Questions 1 - 8

　　Complete the notes below.

　　ChooseONE WORD ONLYfrom the passage for each answer.

　　Cities

　　 problems with early cities:

　　– dirt

　　– 1........................

　　but there were commercial and 2......................... reasons for improving them

　　 urban poverty is not a major problem because poor people

　　– generally get 3........................

　　– help to develop the urban 4.......................

　　 cities do have some problems – e.g.

　　– the centre of Paris is becoming a 5........................

　　– Mumbai is negatively affected by height restrictions on new buildings

　　 in the US, the middle classes have moved to the suburbs due to

　　– cheap petrol

　　– high 6......................... prices in inner cities

　　 disadvantages of suburbs

　　– less personal 7........................

　　– increased 8........................ of resources such as heating – which damages the

　　environment

　　Questions 9 – 13

　　Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1? In boxes 9–13 on your answer sheet, write

　　TRUE if the statement agrees with the information

　　FALSE if the statement contradicts the information

　　NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

　　9. Glaeser believes that congestion and poverty in some modern cities indicate serious problems.

　　10. The writer Henry David Thoreau discussed the ideas of the Romantic poets in his work.

　　11. Emperor Napoleon Ill was influenced by the complaints of poor people living in Paris.

　　12. Strict planning regulations may be beneficial for a citys development.

　　13. Glaeser argues that the location of a commercial development at La Défense was a bad idea.

　　參考答案

　　1. disease

　　2. political

　　3. richer

　　4. economy

　　5. museum

　　6. property

　　7. contact

　　8. consumption

　　9. FALSE

　　10. TRUE

　　11. NOT GIVEN

　　12. TRUE

　　13. FALSE

　　雅思真題試卷 11

　　《What Lucy taught us?》

　　A scientific finding in east Africa has changed our understanding of how humans have developed

　　On a Sunday morning in late November 1974, a team of scientists were digging in an isolated spot in the Afar region of Ethiopia. Surveying the area, palaeoanthropologist Donald Johanson spotted a small piece of bone. Straight away, he recognised it as coming from the elbow of a human ancestor. And there were plenty more. “As I looked up the slopes to my left, I saw bits of the skull, a chunk of jaw, a couple of vertebrae,” says Johanson.

　　It was immediately obvious that the skeleton was a significant find, because the sediments at the site were known to be 3.5 million years old. “I realised this was part of a skeleton that was older than three million years,” says Johanson. It was the most ancient early human ever found. Later it became apparent that it was also the most complete - 40% of the skeleton had been preserved.

　　At the group’s campsite that night, Johanson played a Beatles song called ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’, and, as the feeling was that the skeleton was female due to its size, someone suggested calling it Lucy. The name stuck and Johanson says, “All of a sudden, she became a person.” But the morning after the discovery, the discussion was dominated by questions. How old was Lucy when she died? Did she have children? And might she be our direct ancestor? Nowadays, we’re starting to get the answers to some of these questions.

　　According to Johanson, Lucy had an incredible combination of primitive and derived features, which had not been seen before. Her skull and jaws were more ape-like than those of other groups of early humans. Her braincase was also very small, no bigger than that of a chimp. She had a hefty jaw, a low forehead and long dangly arms.

　　For Johanson, it was immediately apparent that Lucy walked upright. That’s because the shape and positioning of her pelvis reflected a fully upright gait. Lucy’s knee and ankle were also preserved and seemed to reflect bipedal walking. Later studies of feet offer even more evidence. As an upright walker, Lucy strengthened the idea that walking was one of the selective pressures driving human evolution forwards. Early humans did not need bigger brains to take defining steps away from apes. Extra brainpower only came over a million years later with the arrival of the species Homo erectus, meaning upright man. Though big brains would clearly be important later, walking remains one of the traits that makes us uniquely human.

　　She may have walked like a human, but Lucy spent at least some of her time up in the trees, as chimpanzees and orangutans still do today. It may be that upright walking evolved in the trees, as a way to walk along branches that would otherwise be too flexible. It’s not clear why Lucy left the safety of the trees. It is thought that savannahs were gradually opening up, so trees were spaced further apart. But hunting for food may have been the real reason for heading to the ground, says Chris Stringer of the Natural History Museum in London. In line with this idea, recent evidence suggests that the diet of early humans was changing at that time.

　　Studies of the remains of food trapped on preserved human teeth indicate that several species, including Lucy’s, were expanding their diet around 3.5 million years ago. Instead of mostly eating fruit from trees, they began to include grasses and possibly meat. This change in diet may have allowed them to range more widely, and to travel around more efficiently in a changing environment. Fossilised crocodile and turtle eggs were found near her skeleton, suggesting that Lucy died while foraging for them in a nearby lake.

　　How did early humans process all these new foods? Later species, like Homo erectus, are known to have used simple stone tools, but no tools have ever been found from this far back. However, in 2010 archaeologists uncovered animal bones with scratches that seem to have been made by stone tools. This suggests that Lucy and her relatives used stone tools to eat meat. There have since been heated debates over whether or not the marks were really made by tools. But if they were, it is not surprising, says Fred Spoor of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.

　　It also seems that Lucy’s childhood was much briefer than ours and that she had to fend for herself from a young age. We know that Lucy was a full-grown adult because she had wisdom teeth and her bones had fused. But unlike modern humans, she seems to have grown to full size very quickly, and time of death was when she was around 12 years old. In line with that, a recent study of a 3-year-old early human suggested that their brains matured much earlier than ours do.

　　Questions 1-5

　　Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?

　　In boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet, write

　　YES if the statement agrees with the writer s views

　　NO if the statement contradicts the writer s views

　　NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

　　1 Donald Johanson was uncertain about the nature of the elbow bone he found in Afar.

　　2 Several bones were found by Donald Johanson at the same site in Afar.

　　3 The experts realised the importance of the discovery at Afar.

　　4 It was the upper part of the skeleton that had suffered the least damage.

　　5 The skeletons measurements helped Johansons team to decide if it was male or female.

　　Questions 6-13

　　Complete the notes below.

　　Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.

　　Lucy

　　Physical features

　　- jaws and skull like those of an ape

　　- braincase similar in size to that of a chimp

　　- long arms

　　Movement

　　- the positioning and shape of her pelvis made it clear that she walked like a human

　　- upright movement possibly started among the 6 _______ of trees

　　- probably moved to the 7 _______ in search of food

　　Diet and eating habits

　　- analysis of food in the 8 _______ of the skeletons of early humans shows changes in their diet

　　- it is likely that meat and grasses were substituted for 9 _______

　　- 10 _______ that were located close to Lucy suggest these were also part of her diet

　　- 11 _______ that were found had marks on them, possibly made by tools used for eating

　　Comparisons with modern-day humans

　　- modern-day humans have a longer 12 _______ than Lucy did

　　- the 13 _______ of modern-day humans appear to develop later than Lucy’s did

　　參考答案

　　1. FALSE

　　2. TRUE

　　3. NOT GIVEN

　　4. NOT GIVEN

　　5. TRUE

　　6. branches

　　7. ground

　　8. teeth

　　9. fruit

　　10. eggs

　　11. bones

　　12. childhood

　　13. brains

　　雅思真題試卷 12

　　Voyage of going: beyond the blue line 2

　　A. One feels a certain sympathy for Captain James Cook on the day in 1778 that he “discovered” Hawaii. Then on his third expedition to the Pacific, the British navigator had explored scores of islands across the breadth of the sea, from lush New Zealand to the lonely wastes of Easter Island This latest voyage had taken him thousands of miles north from the Society Islands to an archipelago so remote that even the ok! Polynesians back on Tahiti knew nothing about it. Imagine Cook’s surprise, then, when the natives of Hawaii came paddling out in their canoes and greeted him in a familiar tongue, one he had heard on virtually every mote of inhabited land he had visited Marveling at the ubiquity of this Pacific language and culture, he later wondered in his journal: “How shall we account for this Nation spreading it self so far over this Vast ocean?”

　　B. Answers have been slow in coming. But now a startling archaeological find on the island of Efate, in the Pacific nation of Vanuatu, has revealed an ancient seafaring people, the distant ancestors of today’s Polynesians, taking their first steps into the unknown. The discoveries there have also opened a window into the shadowy work! of those early voyagers. At the same time, other pieces of this human puzzle are turning up in unlikely places. Climate data gleaned from slow-growing corals around the Pacific and from sediments in alpine lakes in South America may help explain how, more than a thousand years later, a second wave of seafarers beat their way across the entire Pacific.

　　C. What we have is a first-or second-generation site containing the graves of some of the Pacific’s first explorers,” says Spriggs, professor of archaeology at the Australian National University and co-leader of an international team excavating the site. It came to light only by luck A backhoe operator, digging up topsoil on the grounds of a derelict coconut plantation, scraped open a grave— the first of dozens in a burial ground some 3,000 years old It is the oldest cemetery ever found in the Pacific islands, and it harbors the bones of an ancient people archaeologists call the Lapita, a label that derives from a beach in New Caledonia where a landmark cache of their pottery was found in the 1950s. They were daring blue-water adventurers who roved the sea not just as explorers but also as pioneers, bringing everything they would need to build new lives— their families and livestock, taro seedlings and stone tools.

　　D. Within the span of a few centuries the Lapita stretched the boundaries of their world from the jungle-clad volcanoes of Papua New Guinea to the loneliest coral outliers of Tonga, at least 2,000 miles eastward in the Pacific. Along the way they explored millions of square miles of unknown sea, discovering and colonizing scores of tropical islands never before seen by human eyes: Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Fiji, Samoa.

　　E. What little is known or surmised about them has been pieced together from fragments of pottery, animal bones, obsidian flakes, and such oblique sources as comparative linguistics and geochemistry. Although their voyages can be traced back to the northern islands of Papua New Guinea, their language variants of which are still spoken across the Pacific came from Taiwan. And their peculiar style of pottery decoration, created by pressing a carved stamp into the clay, probably had its roots in the northern Philippines. With the discovery of the Lapita cemetery on Efate, the volume of data available to researchers has expanded dramatically. The bones of at least 62 individuals have been uncovered so far including old men, young women, even babies—and more skeletons are known to be in the ground. Archaeologists were also thrilled to discover six complete Lapita pots. It’s an important find, Spriggs says, for it conclusively identifies the remains as Lapita. “It would be hard for anyone to argue that these aren’t Lapita when you have human bones enshrined inside what is unmistakably a Lapita urn.”

　　F. Several lines of evidence also undergird Spriggs’s conclusion that this was a community of pioneers making their first voyages into the remote reaches of Oceania. For one thing, the radiocarbon dating of bones and charcoal places them early in the Lapita expansion. For another, the chemical makeup of the obsidian flakes littering the site indicates that the rock wasn’t local; instead it was imported from a large island in Papua New Guinea’s Bismarck Archipelago, the springboard for the Lapita’s thrust into the Pacific. A particularly intriguing clue comes from chemical tests on the teeth of several skeletons. DNA teased from these ancient bones may also help answer one of the most puzzling questions in Pacific anthropology: Did all Pacific islanders spring from one source or many? Was there only one outward migration from a single point in Asia, or several from different points? “This represents the best opportunity we’ve had yet,” says Spriggs, “to find out who the Lapita actually were, where they came from, and who their best descendants are today.

　　G. “There is one stubborn question for which archaeology has yet to provide any answers: How did the Lapita accomplish the ancient equivalent of a moon landing, many times over? No one has found one of their canoes or any rigging, which could reveal how the canoes were sailed Nor do the oral histories and traditions of later Polynesians offer any insights, for they segue into myth long before they reach as far back in time as the Lapita.” All we can say for certain is that the Lapita had canoes that were capable of ocean voyages, and they had the ability to sail them,” says Geoff Irwin, a professor of archaeology at the University of Auckland and an avid yachtsman. Those sailing skills, he says, were developed and passed down over thousands of years by earlier mariners who worked their way through the archipelagoes of the western Pacific making short crossings to islands within sight of each other. Reaching Fiji, as they did a century or so later, meant crossing more than 500 miles of ocean, pressing on day after day into the great blue void of the Pacific. What gave them the courage to launch out on such a risky voyage?

　　H. The Lapita’s thrust into the Pacific was eastward, against the prevailing trade winds, Irwin notes. Those nagging headwinds, he argues, may have been the key to their success. “They could sail out for days into the unknown and reconnoiter, secure in the knowledge that if they didn’t find anything, they could turn about and catch a swift ride home on the trade winds. It’s what made the whole thing work.” Once out there, skilled seafarers would detect abundant leads to follow to land: seabirds and turtles, coconuts and twigs carried out to sea by the tides, and the afternoon pileup of clouds on the horizon that often betokens an island in the distance. Some islands may have broadcast their presence with far less subtlety than a cloud bank. Some of the most violent eruptions anywhere on the planet during the past 10,000 years occurred in Melanesia, which sits nervously in one of the most explosive volcanic regions on Earth. Even less spectacular eruptions would have sent plumes of smoke billowing into the stratosphere and rained ash for hundreds of miles. It’s possible that the Lapita saw these signs of distant islands and later sailed off in their direction, knowing they would find land For returning explorers, successful or not, the geography of their own archipelagoes provided a safety net to keep them from overshooting their home ports and sailing off into eternity.

　　I. However they did it, the Lapita spread themselves a third of the way across the Pacific, then called it quits for reasons known only to them. Ahead lay the vast emptiness of the central Pacific, and perhaps they were too thinly stretched to venture farther. They probably never numbered more than a few thousand in total, and in their rapid migration eastward they encountered hundreds of islands - more than 300 in Fiji alone. Still, more than a millennium would pass before the Lapita’s descendants, a people we now call the Polynesians, struck out in search of new territory.

　　Questions 1-7

　　Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage ?

　　In boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet, write

　　YES if the statement is true

　　NO if the statement is false

　　NOT GIVEN if the information is not given in the passage

　　1 Captain cook once expected the Hawaii might speak another language of people from other pacific islands

　　2 Captain cook depicted number of cultural aspects of Polynesians in his journal

　　3 Professor Spriggs and his research team went to the Efate to try to find the site of ancient cemetery

　　4 The Lapita completed a journey of around 2,000 miles in a period less than a centenary

　　5 The Lapita were the first inhabitants in many pacific islands

　　6 The unknown pots discovered in Efate had once been used for cooking

　　7 The um buried in Efate site was plain as it was without any decoration

　　Questions 8 -10

　　Complete the following summary of the paragraphs of Reading Passage 1, using NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the Reading Passage 1 for each answer.

　　Write your answers in boxes 8-10 on your answer sheet.

　　Scientific Evident found in Efate site

　　Tests show the human remains and the charcoal found in the buried um are from the start of the Lapita period. Yet The 8 __________ covering many of the Efate site did not come from that area.

　　Then examinations carried out on the 9 __________ discovered at Efate site reveal that not everyone buried there was a native living in the area. In fact, DNA could identify the Lapita’s nearest 10___________ present-days.

　　Questions 11-13

　　Answer the questions below.

　　Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.

　　11 What did the Lapita travel in when they crossed the oceans?

　　12 In Irwins’s view, what would the Latipa have relied on to bring them fast back to the base?

　　13 Which sea creatures would have been an indication to the Lapita of where to find land?

　　參考答案

　　1. YES

　　2. NO

　　3. NO

　　4. NOT GIVEN

　　5. YES

　　6. NOT GIVEN

　　7. NO

　　8. rock

　　9. teeth

　　10. descendants

　　11. canoes

　　12. trade winds

　　13. seabirds and turtles

　　雅思真題試卷 13

　　The nature and aims of archaeology

　　Archaeology is partly the discovery of the treasures of the past, partly the careful work of the scientific analyst, partly the exercise of the creative imagination. It is toiling in the sun on an excavation in the Middle East, it is working with living Inuit in the snows of Alaska, and it is investigating the sewers of Roman Britain. But it is also the painstaking task of interpretation, so that we come to understand what these things mean for the human story. And it is the conservation of the worlds cultural heritage against looting and careless harm.

　　Archaeology, then, is both a physical activity out in the field, and an intellectual pursuit in the study or laboratory. That is part of its great attraction. The rich mixture of danger and detective work has also made it the perfect vehicle for fiction writers and film-makers, from Agatha Christie with Murder in Mesopotamia to Stephen Spielberg with Indiana Jones. However far from reality such portrayals are, they capture the essential truth that archaeology is an exciting quest - the quest for knowledge about ourselves and our past.

　　But how does archaeology relate to disciplines such as anthropology and history, that are also concerned with the human story? Is archaeology itself a science? And what are the responsibilities of the archaeologist in todays world?

　　Anthropology, at its broadest, is the study of humanity - our physical characteristics as animals and our unique non-biological characteristics that we call culture. Culture in this sense includes what the anthropologist, Edward Tylor, summarised in 1871 as knowledge, belief, art, morals, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society. Anthropologists also use the term culture’ in a more restricted sense when they refer to the ‘culture1 of a particular society, meaning the non-biological characteristics unique to that society, which distinguish it from other societies. Anthropology is thus a broad discipline - so broad that it is generally broken down into three smaller disciplines: physical anthropology, cultural anthropology and archaeology.

　　Physical anthropology, or biological anthropology as it is also called, concerns the study of human biological or physical characteristics and how they evolved. Cultural anthropology - or social anthropology - analyses human culture and society. Two of its branches are ethnography (the study at first hand of individual living cultures) and ethnology (which sets out to .compare cultures using ethnographic evidence to derive general principles about human society).

　　Archaeology is the ‘past tense of cultural anthropology’. Whereas cultural anthropologists will often base their conclusions on the experience of living within contemporaly communities, archaeologists study past societies primarily through their material remains - the buildings, tools, and other artefacts that constitute what is known as the material culture left over from former societies.

　　Nevertheless, one of the most important tasks for the archaeologist today is to know how to interpret material culture in human terms. How were those pots used? Why are some dwellings round and others square? Here the methods of archaeology and ethnography overlap. Archaeologists in recent decades have developed ‘ethnoarchaeology’, where, like ethnographers, they live among contemporary communities, but with the specific purpose of learning how such societies use material culture - how they make their tools and weapons, why they build their settlements where they do, and so on. Moreover, archaeology has an active role to play in the field of conservation. Heritage studies constitutes a developing field, where it is realised that the worlds cultural heritage is a diminishing resource which holds different meanings for different people.

　　If, then, archaeology deals with the past, in what way does it differ from history? In the broadest sense, just as archaeology is an aspect of anthropology, so too is it a part of history - where we mean the whole history of humankind from its beginnings over three million years ago. Indeed, for more than ninety-nine per cent of that huge span of time, archaeology - the study of past material culture - is the only significant source of information. Conventional historical sources begin only with the introduction of written records around 3,000 BC in western Asia, and much later in most other parts of the world.

　　A commonly drawn distinction is between pre-history, i.e. the period before written records - and history in the narrow sense, meaning the study of the past using written evidence. To archaeology, which studies all cultures and periods, whether with or without writing, the distinction between history and pre-history is a convenient dividing line that recognises the importance of the written word, but in no way lessens the importance of the useful information contained in oral histories.

　　Since the aim of archaeology is the understanding of humankind, it is a humanistic study, and since it deals with the human past, it is a historical discipline. But it differs from the study of written history in a fundamental way. The material the archaeologist finds does not tell us directly what to think. Historical records make statements, offer opinions and pass judgements. The objects the archaeologists discover, on the other hand, tell us nothing directly in themselves. In this respect, the practice of the archaeologist is rather like that of the scientist, who collects data, conducts experiments, formulates a hypothesis, tests the hypothesis against more data, and then, in conclusion, devises a model that seems best to summarise the pattern observed in the data. The archaeologist has to develop a picture of the past, just as the scientist has to develop a coherent view of the natural world.

　　Questions 1-6

　　Do the following Statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage?

　　In boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet write

　　YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer

　　NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer

　　NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

　　1 Archaeology involves creativity as well as careful investigative work.

　　2 Archaeologists must be able to translate texts from ancient languages.

　　3 Movies give a realistic picture of the work of archaeologists.

　　4 Anthropologists define culture in more than one way.

　　5 Archaeology is a more demanding field of study than anthropology.

　　6 The history of Europe has been documented since 3,000 BC.

　　Questions 7-8

　　Choose TWO letters A-E.

　　Write your answers in boxes 7-8 on your answer sheet.

　　The list below gives some statements about anthropology.

　　Which TWO statements are mentioned by the writer of the text?

　　A It is important for government planners.

　　B It is a continually growing field of study.

　　C It often involves long periods of fieldwork.

　　D It is subdivided for study purposes.

　　E It studies human evolutionary patterns.

　　Questions 9-10

　　Choose TWO letters A-E.

　　Write your answers in boxes 9-10 on your answer sheet.

　　The list below gives some of the tasks of an archaeologist.

　　Which TWO of these tasks are mentioned by the writer of the text?

　　A examining ancient waste sites to investigate diet

　　B studying cave art to determine its significance

　　C deducing reasons for the shape of domestic buildings

　　D investigating the way different cultures make and use objects

　　E examining evidence for past climate changes

　　Questions 11-14

　　Complete the summary of the last two paragraphs of Reading Passage.

　　Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

　　Write your answers in boxes 11-14 on your answer sheet.

　　Much of the work of archaeologists can be done using written records but they find 11__________ equally valuable. The writer describes archaeology as both a 12__________ and a 13__________. However, as archaeologists do not try to influence human behaviour, the writer compares their style of working to that of a 14__________.

　　參考答案

　　1. YES

　　2. NOT GIVEN

　　3. NO

　　4. YES

　　5. NOT GIVEN

　　6. NO

　　7. D E IN EITHER ORDER

　　8. D E IN EITHER ORDER

　　9. C D IN EITHER ORDER

　　10. C D IN EITHER ORDER

　　11. oral histories

　　12. humanistic study, historical discipline IN EITHER ORDER

　　13. humanistic study, historical discipline IN EITHER ORDER

　　14. scientist

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