雅思（阅读）历年真题试卷汇编12及答案解析.doc

1、雅思（阅读）历年真题试卷汇编 12 及答案解析(总分：80.00，做题时间：90 分钟)You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13 which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.Alfred NobelThe man behind the Nobel PrizeSince 1901, the Nobel Prize has been honoring men and women from all corners of the globe for outstanding achievements

2、in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and for work in peace. The foundations for the prize were laid in 1895 when Alfred Nobel wrote his last will, leaving much of his wealth to the establishment of the Nobel Prize.Alfred Nobel was born in Stockholm on October 21,1833. His father Immanuel Nob

3、el was an engineer and inventor who built bridges and buildings in Stockholm. In connection with his construction work Immanuel Nobel also experimented with different techniques for blasting rocks. Successful in his industrial and business ventures, Immanuel Nobel was able, in 1842, to bring his fam

4、ily to St. Petersburg. There, his sons were given a first class education by private teachers. The training included natural sciences, languages and literature. By the age of 17 Alfred Nobel was fluent in Swedish, Russian, French, English and German. His primary interests were in English literature

5、and poetry as well as in chemistry and physics. Alfreds father, who wanted his sons to join his enterprise as engineers, disliked Alfreds interest in poetry and found his son rather introverted.In order to widen Alfreds horizons his father sent him abroad for further training in chemical engineering

6、. During a two year period Alfred Nobel visited Sweden, Germany, France and the United States. In Paris, the city he came to like best, he worked in the private laboratory of Professor T J. Pelouze, a famous chemist. There he met the young Italian chemist Ascanio Sobrero who, three years earlier, ha

7、d invented nitroglycerine, a highly explosive liquid. But it was considered too dangerous to be of any practical use. Although its explosive power greatly exceeded that of gunpowder, the liquid would explode in a very unpredictable manner if subjected to heat and pressure. Alfred Nobel became very i

8、nterested in nitroglycerine and how it could be put to practical use in construction work. He also realized that the safety problems had to be solved and a method had to be developed for the controlled detonation of nitroglycerine.After his return to Sweden in 1863, Alfred Nobel concentrated on deve

9、loping nitroglycerine as an explosive. Several explosions, including one(1864)in which his brother Emil and several other persons were killed, convinced the authorities that nitroglycerine production was exceedingly dangerous. They forbade further experimentation with nitroglycerine within the Stock

10、holm city limits and Alfred Nobel had to move his experimentation to a barge anchored on Lake Malaren. Alfred was not discouraged and in 1864 he was able to start mass production of nitroglycerine. To make the handling of nitroglycerine safer Alfred Nobel experimented with different additives. He so

11、on found that mixing nitroglycerine with kieselguhr would turn the liquid into a paste which could be shaped into rods of a size and form suitable for insertion into drilling holes. In 1867 he patented this material under the name of dynamite. To be able to detonate the dynamite rods he also invente

12、d a detonator(blasting cap)which could be ignited by lighting a fuse. These inventions were made at the same time as the pneumatic drill came into general use. Together these inventions drastically reduced the cost of blasting rock, drilling tunnels, building canals and many other forms of construct

13、ion work.The market for dynamite and detonating caps grew very rapidly and Alfred Nobel also proved himself to be a very skillful entrepreneur and businessman. Over the years he founded factories and laboratories in some 90 different places in more than 20 countries. Although he lived in Paris much

14、of his life he was constantly traveling. When he was not traveling or engaging in business activities Nobel himself worked intensively in his various laboratories, first in Stockholm and later in other places. He focused on the development of explosives technology as well as other chemical invention

15、s, including such materials as synthetic rubber and leather, artificial silk, etc. By the time of his death in 1896 he had 355 patents.Intensive work and travel did not leave much time for a private life. At the age of 43 he was feeling like an old man. At this time he advertised in a newspaper “Wea

16、lthy, highly-educated elderly gentle-man seeks lady of mature age, versed in languages, as secretary and supervisor of household.“ The most qualified applicant turned out to be an Austrian woman, Countess Bertha Kinsky. After working a very short time for Nobel she decided to return to Austria to ma

17、rry Count Arthur von Suttner. In spite of this Alfred Nobel and Bertha von Suttner remained friends and kept writing letters to each other for decades. Over the years Bertha von Suttner became increasingly critical of the arms race. She wrote a famous book, Lay Down Your Arms and became a prominent

18、figure in the peace movement. No doubt this influenced Alfred Nobel when he wrote his final will which was to include a Prize for persons or organizations who promoted peace. Several years after the death of Alfred Nobel, the Norwegian Storting(Parliament)decided to award the 1905 Nobel Peace Prize

19、to Bertha von Suttner.Alfred Nobel died in San Remo, Italy, on December 10, 1896. When his will was opened it came as a surprise that his fortune was to be used for Prizes in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature and Peace. The executors of his will were two young engineers, Ragnar

20、Sohlman and Rudolf Lilljequist. They set about forming the Nobel Foundation as an organization to take care of the financial assets left by Nobel for this purpose and to coordinate the work of the Prize-Awarding Institutions. This was not without its difficulties since the will was contested by rela

21、tives and questioned by authorities in various countries.Alfred Nobels greatness lay in his ability to combine the penetrating mind of the scientist and inventor with the forward-looking dynamism of the industrialist. Nobel was very interested in social and peace-related issues and held what were co

22、nsidered radical views in his era. He had a great interest in literature and wrote his own poetry and dramatic works. The Nobel Prizes became an extension and a fulfillment of his lifetime interests.Questions 1-6Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1? In bo

23、xes 1-6 on your answer sheet, writeTRUE if the statement agrees with the informationFALSE if the statement contradicts the informationNOT GIVEN if there is no information on this（分数：12.00）(1).The first Nobel Prize was awarded in 1895.（分数：2.00）A.真B.假C.Not Given(2).Nobels father wanted his son to have

24、 better education than what he had had.（分数：2.00）A.真B.假C.Not Given(3).Nobel was an unsuccessful businessman.（分数：2.00）A.真B.假C.Not Given(4).Bertha von Suttner was selected by Nobel himself for the first peace prize.（分数：2.00）A.真B.假C.Not Given(5).The Nobel Foundation was established after the death of No

25、bel（分数：2.00）A.真B.假C.Not Given(6).Nobels social involvement was uncommon in the 1800s.（分数：2.00）A.真B.假C.Not GivenComplete the notes below using NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage.Write your answers in boxes 7-13 on your answer sheet.Education:Having accumulated a great fortune in his business, No

26、bels father determined to give his son the best education and sent him abroad to be trained in 1.During Nobels study in Paris, he worked in a private laboratory, where he came in contact with a young engineer 2and his invention nitroglycerine, a more powerful explosive than 3.Benefits in constructio

27、n works:Nobel became really interested in this new explosive and experimented on it. But nitroglycerine was too dangerous and was banned for experiments within the city of 4. So Nobel had to move his experiments to a lake. To make nitroglycerine easily usable, Nobel invented dynamite along with 5whi

28、le in the meantime 6became popular, all of which dramatically lowered the 7of construction works.（分数：14.00）填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_BIRD MIGRATIONA Birds have many unique design features that enable them to perform such amazing feats of endurance. They are equipped with light

29、weight, hollow bones, intricately designed feathers providing both lift and thrust for rapid flight, navigation systems superior to any that man has developed, and an ingenious heat conserving design that, among other things, concentrates all blood circulation beneath layers of warm, waterproof plum

30、age, leaving them fit to face life in the harshest of climates. Their respiratory systems have to perform efficiently during sustained flights at altitude, so they have a system of extracting oxygen from their lungs that far exceeds that of any other animal. During the later stages of the summer bre

31、eding season, when food is plentiful, their bodies are able to accumulate considerable layers of fat, in order to provide sufficient energy for their long migratory flights.B The fundamental reason that birds migrate is to find adequate food during the winter months when it is in short supply. This

32、particularly applies to birds that breed in the temperate and Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere, where food is abundant during the short growing season. Many species can tolerate cold temperatures if food is plentiful, but when food is not available they must migrate. However, intriguing que

33、stions remain.C One puzzling fact is that many birds journey much further than would be necessary just to find food and good weather. Nobody knows, for instance, why British swallows, which could presumably survive equally well if they spent the winter in equatorial Africa, instead fly several thous

34、ands of miles further to their preferred winter home in South Africas Cape Province. Another mystery involves the huge migrations performed by arctic terns and mudflat-feeding shorebirds that breed close to Polar Regions. In general, the further north a migrant species breeds, the further south it s

35、pends the winter. For arctic terns this necessitates an annual round trip of 25,000 miles. Yet, en route to their final destination in far-flung southern latitudes, all these individuals overfly other areas of seemingly suitable habitat spanning two hemispheres. While we may not fully understand bir

36、ds reasons for going to particular places, we can marvel at their feats.D One of the greatest mysteries is how young birds know how to find the traditional wintering areas without parental guidance. Very few adults migrate with juveniles in tow, and youngsters may even have little or no inkling of t

37、heir parents appearance. A familiar example is that of the cuckoo, which lays its eggs in another species nest and never encounters its young again. It is mind boggling to consider that, once raised by its host species, the young cuckoo makes it own way to ancestral wintering grounds in the tropics

38、before returning single-handedly to northern Europe the next season to seek out a mate among its own kind. The obvious implication is that it inherits from its parents an inbuilt route map and direction-finding capability, as well as a mental image of what another cuckoo looks like. Yet nobody has t

39、he slightest idea as to how this is possible.E Mounting evidence has confirmed that birds use the positions of the sun and stars to obtain compass directions. They seem also to be able to detect the earths magnetic field, probably due to having minute crystals of magnetite in the region of their bra

40、ins. However, true navigation also requires an awareness of position and time, especially when lost. Experiments have shown that after being taken thousands of miles over an unfamiliar landmass, birds are still capable of returning rapidly to nest sites. Such phenomenal powers are the product of com

41、puting a number of sophisticated cues, including an inborn map of the night sky and the pull of the earths magnetic field. How the birds use their instruments remains unknown, but one thing is clear: they see the world with a superior sensory perception to ours. Most small birds migrate at night and

42、 take their direction from the position of the setting sun. However, as well as seeing the sun go down, they also seem to see the plane of polarized light caused by it, which calibrates their compass. Traveling at night provides other benefits. Daytime predators are avoided and the danger of dehydra

43、tion due to flying for long periods in warm, sunlit skies is reduced. Furthermore, at night the air is generally cool and less turbulent and so conducive to sustained, stable flight.F Nevertheless, all journeys involve considerable risk, and part of the skill in arriving safely is setting off at the

44、 right time. This means accurate weather forecasting, and utilizing favorable winds. Birds are adept at both, and, in laboratory tests, some have been shown to detect the minute difference in barometric pressure between the floor and ceiling of a room. Often birds react to weather changes before the

45、re is any visible sign of them. Lapwings, which feed on grassland, flee west from the Netherlands to the British Isles, France and Spain at the onset of a cold snap. When the ground surface freezes the birds could starve. Yet they return to Holland ahead of a thaw, their arrival linked to a pressure

46、 change presaging an improvement in the weather.G In one instance a Welsh Manx shearwater carried to America and released was back in its burrow on Skokholm Island, off the Pembrokeshire coast, one day before a letter announcing its release! Conversely, each autumn a small number of North American b

47、irds are blown across the Atlantic by fast-moving westerly tail winds. Not only do they arrive safely in Europe, but, based on ringing evidence, some make it back to North America the following spring, after probably spending the winter with European migrants in sunny African climes. You should spen

48、d about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26 which are based on Reading Passage 2 below.Questions 14-20Reading passage 2 has seven paragraphs, A-G.Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below.Write the correct number, i-x, in boxes 14-20 on your answer sheet.List of heading

49、si The best moment to migrateii The unexplained rejection of closer feeding groundiii The influence of weather on the migration routeiv Physical characteristics that allow birds to migratev The main reason why birds migratevi The best wintering grounds for birdsvii Research findings on how birds migrateviii Successful migration despite trouble of windix Contrast between long-distance migration and short-distance migrationx Mysterious migration despite lack of