2012年8月11日雅思阅读考题回顾

2012年8月11日雅思阅读考题回顾 来源：朗阁培训中心 编辑：xm 发布日期:2012-08-20 摘要：厦门朗阁培训中心为烤鸭们整理了8月11日雅思阅读真题回顾以及备考建议。 考试日期： 2012年8月11日 Reading Passage 1 Title: El Nio Phenomenon 厄尔尼诺 Question types: TRUE/FALSE/NOT GIVEN Summary 填空 文章内容回顾 关于厄尔尼诺现象的介绍以及它产生的影响 英文原文阅读 The term El NioSpanish for “the Christ Child“was originally used by fishermen to refer to the Pacific Ocean warm currents near the coasts of Peru and Ecuador that appeared periodically around Christmas time and lasted for a few months. Due to those currents, fish were much less abundant than usual. At the present time we use the same name for the large-scale warming of surface waters of the Pacific Ocean every 3-6 years, which usually lasts for 9-12 months, but may continue for up to 18 months, and dramatically affects the weather worldwide. El Nio events happen irregularly. Their strength is estimated in surface atmospheric pressure anomalies and anomalies of land and sea surface temperatures. The El Nio phenomenon dramatically affects the weather in many parts of the world. It is therefore important to predict its appearance. Various climate models, seasonal forecasting models, ocean-atmosphere coupled models, and statistical models attempt to predict El Nio as a part of interannual climate variability. Predicting El Nio has been possible only since the 1980s, when the power of computers became sufficient to cover very complicated large-scale ocean-atmosphere interactions. El Nios Impact The strongest El Nio events of the 20th century occurred in 1982-83 and in1997-98. The effects of 1982-83 included significant storms throughout the southwest United States and one of Australias worst droughts of the century. According to the World Meteorological Organization, the 1997-98 El Nio was a major factor in 1997s record high temperatures. The estimated average surface temperature for land and sea worldwide was0.8Fhigher than the 1961-1990 average of61.7F. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 1998 has set all-time highs of global land and ocean surface temperatures, above record high levels in 1997. In 1998 the mean temperature was1.2F(0.7C) above the long-term (since 1880) mean of56.9F(13.8C). The impact of the 1997/8 El Nio has been felt in many parts of the world: Droughts have occurred in the Western Pacific Islands and Indonesia as well as in Mexico and Central America. In Indonesia drought caused uncontrollable forest fires and floods, while warm weather led to a bad fisheries season in Peru, and extreme rainfall and mud slides in southern California. Corals in the Pacific Ocean were bleached by warmer than average water, and shipping through the Panama Canal was restricted by below-average rainfall. El Nio phenomena dramatically affect the weather throughout the world. Among other weather anomalies, El Nio events are responsible for: A shift of thunderstorm activity eastward from Indonesia to the south Pacific, which leads to abnormally dry conditions and severe droughts during both warm and cold seasons in Australia, the Philippines, Indonesia, southeastern Africa and Brazil. During the summer season the Indian monsoon is less intensive than normal and therefore it is much less rainy than usual in India. Much wetter conditions at the west coast of tropical South America. El Nio impacts on the United States, North America and the Atlantic regions include: Wetter than the normal conditions in tropical latitudes of North America, from Texas to Florida, including more intensive wintertime storms. Extreme rainfall and flooding events in California, Oregon and Washington. Much milder winters and late autumns in northwestern Canada and Alaska due to pumping of abnormally warm air by mid-latitude low pressure systems. Below normal hurricane/tropical cyclone activity in the Atlantic (however, their strength is not limited by El Nio). Drier than normal North American monsoons, especially for Mexico, Arizona and New Mexico. Drier than normal autumns and winters in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. Summary El Nio is a warm phase of the interannual climate oscillation called El Nio Southern Oscillation (ENSO) event, an example of large-scale ocean-atmosphere interaction, and is characterized by large-scale warming of the surface tropical Pacific Ocean. El Nio events occur every 3-6 years, last 9-12 months, sometimes even up to 18 months, and have a big impact on world weather. The major impacts of El Nio are temperature anomalies, changes in precipitation variability, floods and droughts throughout the world. El Nio events happen irregularly and are hard to predict. However many numerical climate models predicted the last few El Nio events successfully. El Nio forecasting is becoming more and more reliable with our improving knowledge of the phenomenons nature, with the help of more and more powerful computers, and with the operational El Nio Southern Oscillation observation system. El Nio forecasting is especially important for tropical countries where El Nio impacts are the strongest. 题型难度分析 据考生回忆，第一篇较简单。一种是填空类的题型，另一种是考生易拿分的经 典题型判断题。 题型技巧分析 是非无判断题是雅思考试阅读的经典题型，虽然今年的题量相对减少，但是仍 是复习备考时应关注的题型。 首先应该注意看清是 TRUE 还是 YES, 本篇是 TRUE/ FALSE/ NOT GIVEN 解题步骤： 1. 速读问题的句子，找出考点词（容易有问题的部分） 。考点词：比较级，最 高级，数据（时间） ，程度副词，特殊形容词，绝对化的词（only, most, each, any, every, the same as 等） 。 2. 排除考点词，在余下的词中找定位词，去原文定位。 3. 重点考察考点词是否有提及，是否正确。 TRUE 的原则是同义替换，至少有一组近义词。 FALSE 是题目和原文截然相反，不可共存，通常有至少一组反义词。 NOT GIVEN 原文未提及，不做任何推断，尤其多考察题目的主语等名词在原 文是否有提及。 Summary 题，有顺序原则。 先关注 instruction 字数限制 其次，定位 summary 在原文的始末位置，summary 开头和结尾分别找 keywords 定位到原文。 根据空格前后信息，预测空格上的单词（单复数，可数与否，词性，-ing, -ed, 固定搭配等） 在空格附近找定位词（专有名词，数字，句子主语，表示方位的介词，表时间 的词，不认识的可数名词） 剑桥雅思推荐原文练习 剑4 Test1 Passage 1 剑5 Test3 Passage 1 Reading Passage 2 Title: 汽车的发展史 Question types: Matching, 不同车型的信息 简答题（6-7个） 文章内容回顾 这篇是讲汽车的发展历史，介绍了不同的车型。 英文原文阅读 HISTORY OF CARS The History of the Car has been a long and challenging one. In1678 asmall steam car was shown off that had been made for the Chinese emperor. It was the founding of the early history of the car. By 1769, Nicholas Cugnot was demonstrating an Automobile in France. By 1801, Richard Trevithick was demonstrating a steam-carriage in Britain. The Car continued its development in Britain until a law governing the use of cars basically stopped development for the rest of that century in Britain. In 1789, Oliver Evans was granted the first automobile patent in the United States. The first automobiles that had gasoline powered internal combustion engines were developed in Germany by several different inventors around the same time about 1885. By 1895, the disc brake was patented by Frederick William Lanchester of Britain. In 1889, Panhard et Levassor in France became the first company to form to build just automobiles. Steam, electricity, and gasoline- powered autos competed for the market share. The car was becoming big business in history. From 1908 to 1927, the Ford Model T became the most widely produced car of its time. The vintage era of Car History lasted from 1919 to 1929 and was dominated by front engine cars. The pre-war era of car history lasted from 1930 to 1948. This ear was perhaps dominated by the Volkswagen Beetle. The Post-War era of Car History was the greatest period of Car Development. Although Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot is often credited with building the first self- propelled mechanical vehicle or automobile in about 1769, this claim is disputed by some, who doubt Cugnots three-wheeler ever ran, while others claim Ferdinand Verbiest, a member of a Jesuit mission in China, built the first steam powered car around 1672. In either case Fran is Isaac de Rivaz, a Swiss inventor, designed the first internal combustion engine which was fuelled by a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen and used it to develop the worlds first vehicle to run on such an engine. The design was not very successful, as was the case with Samuel Brown, Samuel Morey, and Etienne Lenoir who each produced vehicles powered by clumsy internal combustion engines. In November 1881 French inventor Gustave Trouv demonstrated a working three-wheeled automobile. This was at the International Exhibition of Electricity in Paris. An automobile powered by an Otto gasoline engine was built in Mannheim, Germany by Karl Benz in 1885 and granted a patent in January of the following year under the auspices of his major company, Benz in 1921, Citroen was the first native European manufacturer to adopt it. Soon, companies had to have assembly lines, or risk going broke; by 1930, 250 companies which did not had disappeared. Development of automotive technology was rapid, due in part to the hundreds of small manufacturers competing to gain the worlds attention. Key developments included electric ignition and the electric self- starter (both by Charles Kettering, for the Cadillac Motor Company in 1910- 1911), independent suspension, and four-wheel brakes. Since the 1920s, nearly all cars have been mass-produced to meet market needs, so marketing plans have often heavily influenced automobile design. It was Alfred P. Sloan who established the idea of different makes of cars produced by one company, so buyers could “move up“ as their fortunes improved. Reflecting the rapid pace of change, makes shared parts with one another so larger production volume resulted in lower costs for each price range. For example, in the 1930s, LaSalles, sold by Cadillac, used cheaper mechanical parts made by Oldsmobile; in the 1950s, Chevrolet shared hood, doors, roof, and windows with Pontiac; by the 1990s, corporate drivetrains and shared platforms (with interchangeable brakes, suspension, and other parts) were common. Even so, only major makers could afford high costs, and even companies with decades of production, such as Apperson, Cole, Dorris, Haynes, or Premier, could not manage: of some two hundred carmakers in existence in 1920, only 43 survived in 1930, and with the Great Depression, by 1940, only 17 of those were left. In Europe, much the same would happen. Morris set up its production line at Cowley in 1924, and soon outsold Ford, while beginning in 1923 to follow Fords practise of vertical integration, buying Hotchkiss (engines), Wrigley (gearboxes), and Osberton (radiators), for instance, as well as competitors, such as Wolseley: in 1925, Morris had 41% of total British car production. Most British small-car assemblers, from Autocrat to Meteorite to Seabrook, to name only three, had gone under. Citroen did the same in France, coming to cars in 1919; between them and the cheap cars in reply, Renaults 10CV and Peugeots 5CV, they produced 550000 cars in 1925, and Mors, Hurtu, and others could not compete. Germanys first mass-manufactured car, the Opel 4PS Laubfrosch (Tree Frog), came off the line at Russelsheim in 1924, soon making Opel the top car builder in Germany, with 37.5% of the market. Diesel: Diesel engined cars have long been popular in Europe with the first models being introduced in the 1930s by Mercedes Benz and Citroen. The main benefit of Diesels is a 50% fuel burn efficiency compared with 27% in the best gasoline engines. A down side of the diesel is the presence in the exhaust gases of fine soot particulates and manufacturers are now starting to fit filters to remove these. Many diesel powered cars can also run with little or no modifications on 100% biodiesel. Gasoline: Gasoline engines have the advantage over diesel in being lighter and able to work at higher rotational speeds and they are the usual choice for fitting in high performance sports cars. Continuous development of gasoline engines for over a hundred years has produced improvements in efficiency and reduced pollution. The carburetor was used on nearly all road car engines until the 1980s but it was long realised better control of the fuel/air mixture could be achieved with fuel injection. Indirect fuel injection was first used in aircraft engines from 1909, in racing car engines from the 1930s, and road cars from the late 1950s. Gasoline Direct Injection (GDI) is now starting to appear in production vehicles such as the 2007 BMW MINI. Exhaust gases are also cleaned up by fitting a catalytic converter into the exhaust system. Clean air legislation in many of the car industries most important markets has made both catalysts and fuel injection virtually universal fittings. Most modern gasoline engines are also capable of running with up to 15% ethanol mixed into the gasoline - older vehicles may have seals and hoses that can be harmed by ethanol. With a small amount of redesign, gasoline-powered vehicles can run on ethanol concentrations as high as 85%. 100% ethanol is used in some parts of the world (such as Brazil), but vehicles must be started on pure gasoline and switched over to ethanol once the engine is running. Most gasoline engined cars can also run on LPG with the addition of an LPG tank for fuel storage and carburetion modifications to add an LPG mixer. LPG produces fewer toxic emissions and is a popular fuel for fork lift trucks that have to operate inside buildings. Ethanol: Ethanol and other alcohol fuels have widespread use an automotive fuel. Most alcohols have less energy per liter than gasoline and are usually blended with gasoline. Alcohols are used for a variety of reasons - to increase octane, to improve emissions and as an alternative to petroleum based fuel, since they can be made from agricultural crops. Brazils ethanol program provides about 20% of the nations automotive fuel needs, including several million cars that operate on pure ethanol. Electric Car： The first electric cars were built around 1832 well before internal combustion powered cars appeared. For a period of time electrics were considered superior due to the silent nature of electric motors compared to the very loud noise of the gasoline engine. This advantage was removed with Hiram Percy Maxims invention of the muffler in 1897. Thereafter internal combustion powered cars had two critical advantages: 1) long range and 2) high specific energy (far lower weight of petrol fuel versus weight of batteries). The building of battery electric vehicles that could rival internal combustion models had to wait for the introduction of modern semiconductor controls and improved batteries. Because they can deliver a high torque at low revolutions electric cars do not require such a complex drive train and transmission as internal combustion powered cars. Some post-2000 electric car designs such as the Venturi Fish are able to accelerate from 0-60 mph(96 km/h) in 4.0 seconds with a top speed around130 mph(210 km/h). Others have a range of 250 miles (400 km) on the EPA highway cycle requiring 3-1/2 hours to completely charge. Steam car： Steam power, usually using an oil or gas heated boiler, was also in use until the 1930s but had the major disadvantage of being unable to power the car until boiler pressure was available. It has the advantage of being able to produce very low emissions as the combustion process can be carefully controlled. Its disadvantages include poor heat efficiency and extensive requirements for electric auxiliaries. 题型难度分析 难度一般，内容好理解，题型也不是很难，第一种题型是一方是特殊定位词的 配对，在文中相对好定位，第二种题型是简答题，不是特别难，但数量较多， 有6-7个。 题型技巧分析 配对类题型是雅思阅读的一个特色题型之一。其难度相对较大，对考生能力要 求相对较高。在目前的雅思考试当中，配对题已经占了非常大的比重，考生在 复习的时候必须非常重视。配对类题型有很多种，常见的种类有：1. 人名-观 点配对；2. 地名-描述配对；3. 句子-句子配对；4. 分类题(Classification)； 5. 段落-标题配对；6. 段落-细节配对。其中前四种做题方法比较类似，而后 两种相对较复杂。 前四种配对题的出题特点： I. 所考内容全部为细节，和后两种题型考察主旨不一样，前四种题型主要考察 的是考生对于文章细节的把握和理解。因此，这些题型的解题方法主要是先用 Scan 的方法定位出关键的段落。 II. 出题不一定遵循顺序原则，在对剑桥雅思真题集进行研究后发现，上述四种 配对题型中，除了句子配对题肯定按照顺序原则出题之外，其它的题型有些是 讲顺序原则的，有些则不讲。大体上说来，如果一道题目的定位词很明确，很 容易在原文中找到信息，那么该题就讲顺序原则；反之亦然。 III. 个别题目会有 NB 出现。在部分题目的指令中，会有这么一行字： NB You may use any letter more than once. 这就意味着在选项中，有至少一个选项 可以重复选。但是根据真题的出题思路和考生的实考回忆，一般认为如果出现 NB, 很有可能是有且仅有一个选项重复使用一次，个别情况会出现两个选项使 用两次；而从来没有三个选项使用两次或两个选项使用三次。 对于一方是特殊定位词的配对题，在做题时，首先应先在文章中将特殊定位词 人名，地名，时间在文中划出，做出标记。其次将配对另一方通读，划出关 键的词汇，一般以名词为主。然后去文中对已做出标记的部分进行精读，选出 答案。 剑桥雅思推荐原文练习 剑3 Test4 Passage 1 Reading Passage 3 Title: Amusia 失乐症 Question types: 单选题 Yes/No/Not Given Matching (sentence completion) 文章内容回顾 讲一种对音乐有先天疾病的人群，分析了这种人的典型特征。整篇文章在寻找 Amusia 产生的原因，各种人的各种实验，科学家还只是在猜测。 英文原文阅读 Amusia is a musical disorder that appears mainly as a defect in processing pitch, but it also encompasses musical memory and recognition. Two main classifications of amusia exist: acquired amusia, which occurs as a result of brain damage, and congenital amusia, which results from a music processing anomaly at birth. Studies have shown that congenital amusia is a deficit in fine-grained pitch discrimination and that 4% of the population suffers from this disorder. Acquired amusia, on the other hand, may take several forms. Patients with brain damage may experience the loss of ability to produce musical sounds while sparing speech, much like aphasics lose speech selectively but can sometimes still sing. Other forms of amusia may affect specific sub-processes of music processing. Current research has demonstrated between rhythm, melody and emotional processing of music, and amusia may include impairment Symptoms Symptoms of amusia are generally categorized as receptive, clinical, or mixed. Symptoms of receptive amusia, sometimes referred to as “musical deafness“, include the inability to recognize familiar melodies, the loss of ability to read musical notation, and the inability to detect wrong or out-of tune notes. Clinical, or expressive, symptoms include the loss of ability to sing, write musical notation, and/or play an instrument. A mixed disorder would be a combination of expressive and receptive impairment. Clinical symptoms of acquired amusia are much more variable than those of congenital amusia and are determined by the location and nature of the lesion. Brain injuries may afflict motor or expressive functioning, including the ability to sing, whistle, or hum a tune (oral-expressive amusia), the ability to play an instrument (instrumental a