雅思阅读机经20150418.docx

雅思考试机经雅思阅读机经V20150418一、 考试时间：2015年4月18日（周六）二、 考试概述：本次考试三篇为两新一旧，题材比较新鲜，适合精读，但对于考试来说会让部分学生稍显走心。第一篇The history of Russian Ballet，出自于2012年11月24日，介绍的是俄罗斯的芭蕾舞发展，此类涉及到历史类的文章，目前剑十第二套第一篇tea and industrial revolution，讲的是茶叶和工业革命的历史，有类似的写作结构。第二篇episodic memory，讲述人的情景记忆，剑十第四套第二篇second nature与它题材类似。第三篇Vehicles running in new energy新能源汽车，可以用剑十第一套第二篇European Transport System作参照。三、文章简介Passage 1: The history of Russian Ballet，俄罗斯的芭蕾舞发展Passage 2: Episodic memory，讲述人的情景记忆。Passage 3: Vehicles running in new energy，新能源汽车。四、篇章分析：Passage 1：文章内容整篇文章按照时间和人物顺序安排，第一段主要讲17世纪俄罗斯对待芭蕾的态度。第二段讲两任沙皇罗曼诺夫和彼得大帝对待芭蕾的不同。第三、四段讲几位艺术家在俄罗斯的遭遇，其中有普希金，尼金斯金等。题型分布与答案参考判断题6题，填空题7题其中判断题答案为True、True、False、False、NG、True相关拓展In the 20th century styles of ballet continued to develop and strongly influence broader concert dance, for example, in the United States choreographer George Balanchine developed what is now known as neoclassical ballet, subsequent developments have included contemporary ballet and post-structural ballet, for example seen in the work of William Forsythe in Germany.While France was instrumental in early ballet, other countries and cultures soon adopted the art form, most notably Russia. Russia has a recognized tradition of ballet, and Russian ballet has had great importance in its country throughout history. After 1850, ballet began to wane in Paris, but it flourished in Denmark and Russia thanks to masters such as August Bournonville, Jules Perrot, Arthur Saint-Lon, Enrico Cecchetti and Marius Petipa. In the late nineteenth century, orientalism was in vogue. Colonialism brought awareness of Asian and African cultures, but distorted with disinformation and fantasy. The East was often perceived as a faraway place where anything was possible, provided it was lavish, exotic and decadent. Petipa appealed to popular taste with The Pharaohs Daughter (1862), and later The Talisman (1889), and La Bayadre (1877). Petipa is best remembered for his collaborations with Tchaikovsky. He used his music for his choreography of The Nutcracker (1892, though this is open to some debate among historians), The Sleeping Beauty (1890), and the definitive revival of Swan Lake (1895, with Lev Ivanov). These works were all drawn from European folklore.The female dancers classical tutu as it is recognized today began to appear at this time. It consisted of a short, stiff skirt supported by layers of crinoline or tulle that revealed the acrobatic legwork, combined with a wide gusset that served to preserve modesty.Sergei Diaghilev brought ballet full-circle back to Paris when he opened his company, Ballets Russes. It was made up of dancers from the Russian exile community in Paris after the Revolution.Diaghilev and composer Igor Stravinsky merged their talents to bring Russian folklore to life in The Firebird and Petrushka choreographed by Fokine. Diaghilevs next choreographic commissions went to Nijinsky. His First ballet was Lapres-midi dun Faune (Afternoon of a Faun) to music by Debussy. It was notable for its two dimensional shapes and lack of ballet technique. It caused controversy by depicting the faun rubbing the scarf of one of the maidens on himself, in simulated masturbation. The most controversial work of the Ballets Russes however, was The Rite of Spring, choreographed by Nijinsky with music by Stravinsky. The ballets modern music, pigeon toed stomping and theme of human sacrifice shocked audiences so much they rioted.After the “golden age” of Petipa, Michel Fokine began his career in St. Petersburg but moved to Paris and worked with Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes.Russian ballet continued development under Soviet rule. There was little talent left in the country after the Revolution, but it was enough to seed a new generation. After stagnation in the 1920s, by the mid-1930s that new generation of dancers and choreographers appeared on the scene. The technical perfection and precision of dance was promoted (and demanded) by Agrippina Vaganova, who had been taught by Petipa and Cecchetti and headed the Vaganova Ballet Academy, the school to prepare dancers for the Kirov Ballet in St. Petersburg/Leningrad.Ballet was popular with the public. Both the Moscow-based Bolshoi and the St. Petersburg (then Leningrad)-based Kirov ballet companies were active. Ideological pressure forced the creation of many socialist realist pieces, most of which made little impression on the public and were removed from the repertoire of both companies later.Some pieces of that era, however, were remarkable. The Romeo and Juliet by Prokofiev and Lavrovsky is a masterpiece. The Flames of Paris, while it shows all the faults of socialist realist art, pioneered the active use of the corps de ballet in the performance and required stunning virtuosity. The ballet version of the Pushkin poem, The Fountain of Bakhchisarai with music from Boris Asafiev and choreography by Rostislav Zakharov was also a hit.The well-known ballet Cinderella, for which Prokofiev provided the music, is also the product of the Soviet ballet. During the Soviet era, these pieces were mostly unknown outside the Soviet Union and later outside of the Eastern Bloc. However, after the collapse of the Soviet Union they received more recognition.The 1999 North American premiere of The Fountain of Bakhchisarai by the Kirov Ballet in New York was an outstanding success, for example. The Soviet era of the Russian Ballet put a lot of emphasis on technique, virtuosity and strength. It demanded strength usually above the norm of contemporary Western dancers. When watching restored old footage, one can only marvel at the talent of their prima ballerinas such as Galina Ulanova, Natalya Dudinskaya and Maya Plisetskaya and choreographers such as Pyotr Gusev.Russian companies, particularly after World War II engaged in multiple tours all over the world that revitalized ballet in the West.Passage 2：文章内容文章第一段主要讲人类可能是唯一拥有情景记忆的动物。第二段讲有些动物也可能有，有位科学家对一种鸟做了实验，把动物幼虫和坚果埋起来，然后把鸟关了一阵子，然后放出来看看是否能记住食物埋的地方，如果新鲜的话，这鸟会先刨开幼虫吃，如果时间长了，也就是幼虫死了，这鸟会去先刨坚果，从而证明鸟也有记忆功能。第三段主要讲大脑如果损坏可能会产生的影响。第四段讲科学家分析大脑在情景记忆中的运行过程。 第五段讲其实这种记忆可以改进，然后讲了猴子的实验。题型分布与答案参考LOH6题，五选二2题，选词填空题3题相关拓展Episodic memory refers to the memory of an event or “episode.” Episodic memories allow us to mentally travel back in time to an event from the recent or distant past (remote memories). Episodic memories include various details about these events, such as what happened, when it happened and where it happened. To help understand this concept, try to remember the last time you ate dinner at a restaurant. The ability to remember where you ate, who you were with and the items you ordered are all features of an episodic memory. Other examples of episodic memory include remembering where you parked your car this morning or the more remote memory of where you were when you heard about the September 11th attacks.Episodic memory is typically thought to fall under the larger umbrella of declarative memory, meaning that episodic memories can be explicitly or consciously recalled. However, studies have suggested that details of episodic memories can be recognized even without conscious recollection of the event. Episodic memory is distinct from another type of declarative memory called semantic memory. Semantic memory refers to your fund of general knowledge. To build upon a previous example, remembering where you parked your car is an example of episodic memory; your general knowledge and concepts about what a car is and how an engine works are examples of semantic memory. Episodic and semantic memory are each related to different systems in the brain, although they are often considered to be functionally related. Episodic memory can be thought of as a process with several different steps, each of which relies on a separate system of the brain. The recollection of experiences is contingent on three steps of memory processing: encoding, consolidation/storage and retrieval.The initial step in forming an episodic memory is called encoding, which is the process of receiving and registering information. Encoding is necessary for creating memory representations of information or events that you experience. The process of encoding is dependent on the degree that you attend to an event or information. That is, if you are not attending to an event while it is happening because you are distracted, then you are less likely to remember the details from the event. Attention is a necessary component for effectively encoding events or information. Encoding of episodic memories is also influenced by how you process the event. Encoding of information can be strengthened by an “elaboration process,” which can involve making connections between the information at hand or relating the information to your personal experiences. For example, if you were asked to remember and buy 10 items at the grocery store, you would likely remember more of the items if you used a strategy of making a mental connection between the items rather than if you were to simply repeat the items a couple of times. Using mnemonics or creating associations between the thing to be remembered and your personal experience can also enhance the encoding of memories. For example, if you were introduced to someone named Charlie, you might make a connection that this is the same name as your uncle as a strategy to help you remember the persons name. Overall, effective encoding is one of the processes necessary for the recollection of events or information.Memory consolidation, the next step in forming an episodic memory, is the process by which memory traces of encoded information are strengthened, stabilized and stored to facilitate later retrieval. Consolidation is most effective when the information being stored can be linked to an existing network of information. It is also strengthened by repeated access of the information to be remembered. The neural pathways from the hippocampus to the cortex underlie the process of consolidation and storage. The number of neurons that are dedicated to a particular memory, as well as the frequency with which they fire together, help to strengthen the memory traces within the cortex. This process of consolidation occurs over the course of days to weeks and is subject to reorganization when new, relevant information is learned. This reorganization assists in the storage of the new information, but also continues to strengthen the previously assimilated information. When a memory trace has been consolidated, the memory trace can be stored for later retrieval indefinitely.The last step in forming episodic memories is called retrieval, which is the conscious recollection of information that was encoded. Retrieving information from episodic memory depends upon contextual information or cues and whether the information was encoded and stored into memory. Thus, if the information was not properly encoded because you were distracted, you may be less likely to remember details of the event or information. Emotional, semantic knowledge, olfactory, auditory and visual factors can act as cues or contextual information to help in the retrieval of episodic memory. For example, when recalling where you parked your car you may use the color of a sign you parked near and/or the floor of the parking structure as cues. Research also states that episodic retrieval can be associated with a sense of re-experiencing (i.e., “recollection”) of the event. In order to remember where you parked or did not park your car, you have to mentally travel back to the moment or time you parked.One way in which we learn about the function of brain structures is by studying the effect of damage to these structures. Our current understanding of the anatomy of episodic memory was influenced by the study of epilepsy patient H.M. who underwent resection, or surgical removal, of the hippocampus and surrounding structures. The hippocampus, named after its resemblance to a seahorse, is a brain structure located in the inner (medial) temporal lobe. Following this surgery to reduce his seizures, he was no longer able to form new memories, implicating the hippocampus in episodic memory. Further studies have confirmed the role of the hippocampus and surrounding structures in episodic memory. We now are beginning to develop an even more nuanced understanding of the role of smaller subareas within the hippocampus proper (e.g. CA1, CA3, dentate gyrus), although consensus about the most appropriate model has not been reached.The hippocampus does not function in isolation, but rather works in harmony with a network of other brain areas. One important network is referred to as the default mode network, which includes several brain areas including frontal and parietal regions. The default mode network has been implicated in episodic memory functioning. The hippocampus, its surrounding regions and the default mode network are susceptible to many types of neurological insults. One particular type of insult commonly seen in older adults is Alzheimers disease. Alzheimers disease pathology most often originates in medial temporal structures including the hippocampus and is known to affect default mode network connectivity. Indeed, episodic memory impairment is a hallmark sign of Alzheimers disease. In addition to the hippocampus and default mode network, other brain structures that play a role in episodic memory are the thalamus, mammillary bodies and the amygdala. The amygdala is thought to encode the emotional valance of memories. Specifically, the amygdala enhances encoding by orienting attention to emotionally relevant events. Furthermore, the amygdala enhances the consolidation of events that elicit an emotional response.The brain regions associated in the default network can become activated when examining the different processes involved in episodic memory. In the brain, PET and fMRI studies have found that episodic retrieval is associated with activation in the right prefrontal cortex. As noted above, higher order functions, such as organization, reside in the frontal regions of the brain and are important for retrieval. Thus, neurologic insults to this region that impact organization may affect an individuals ability to retrieve episodic memory. In addition, some studies indicate that superior parietal regions are involved in determining the relevance of cues and activation of the inferior parietal cortex is involved in recollection or re-experiencing of the event. The hippocampus is also activated in episodic retrieval of remote events.There are a wide range of neurologic diseases and conditions that can affect episodic memory. These include, but are not limited to subarachnoid hemorrhage, trauma, hydrocephalus, tumors, metabolic conditions including vitamin B1 deficiency, infectious and inflammatory conditions such as Hashimotos encephalopathy, and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimers disease. As mentioned, episodic memory is also influenced by an individuals ability to attend to the environment. Therefore, any conditions that disrupt attention can also impair the encoding of information. Attention is impacted by many conditions such as head injury, Lewy body dementia and delirium. Non-neurologic issues such as medications, anxiety, depression or pain also adversely impact episodic memory.A common way to assess episodic memory is by using neuropsychological tests, including pen-and-paper, verbal and computer-based tasks. These measures give a clinician an objective method for evaluating how well a patients episodic memory is functioning compared to their peers. Neuropsychologists evaluate both verbal and visual episodic memory. Asking an examinee to remember a list of words or recall a story are common methods for assessing verbal episodic memory. Asking an examinee to copy a figure, and then recall it at a later time, is a common test of visual episodic memory. Neuropsychological evaluation complements other aspects of a comprehensive evaluation and is often able to detect deficits that are not captured using gross, neuroanatomical imaging.Passage 3：文章内容第一段讲新能源车的情况第二段讲GM的EV-1的失败例子和FORD的新工程的失败例子第三、四段讲丰田普锐斯的成功原因最后几段讲新世纪人们对新能源汽车的接受态度转变题型分布与答案参考单选题3题，选词填空5题，判断题5题选择题答案为 A、 C、B判断题答案为：Yes，Yes，NG，No，No相关拓展Chinas State Council has published a plan to develop the domestic energy-saving and new energy vehicle industry, which includes battery-electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid vehicles and fuel cell vehicles. The central governments plan, posted on its website, is targeting the production of 500,000 plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles by 2015, with output to grow to 2 million units of those types by 2020. China is targeting the cumulative production and sales of more than 5 million new energy vehicles, including fuel cell vehicles, by that time as well.China has made progress with automotive energy-saving technologies over the past 10 years through implementing passenger car fuel consumption limits and the use of fiscal policy to encourage the purchase of small cars, the government statement noted. This progress includes advanced internal combustion engines; efficient transmissions; lightweight materials; and hybrid and other energy-saving technologies. Natural gas and other alternative fuel vehicle technology is basically mature, the government said, and is headed toward initial industrialization. However, generally speaking, the government continued, China has not achieved a breakthrough with new energy automobiles and core components of the key technologies.To increase overall automobile fuel economy substantially, the government calls fo