雅思（阅读）历年真题试卷汇编5及答案解析.doc

1、雅思（阅读）历年真题试卷汇编 5 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.WONDER PLANTThe wonder plant with an uncertain future: more than a billion people rely on bamboo for either their shelter or income, while many endangered species

2、 depend on it for their survival. Despite its apparent abundance, a new report says that many species of bamboo may be under serious threat.Section AEvery year, during the rainy season, the mountain gorillas of Central Africa migrate to the foothills and lower slopes of the Virunga Mountains to graz

3、e on bamboo. For the 650 or so that remain in the wild, its a vital food source. Although they eat almost 150 types of plant, as well as various insects and other invertebrates, at this time of year bamboo accounts for up to 90 per cent of their diet. Without it, says Ian Redmond, chairman of the Ap

4、e Alliance, their chances of survival would be reduced significantly.Gorillas arent the only locals keen on bamboo. For the people who live close to the Virungas, its a valuable and versatile raw material used for building houses and making household items such as mats and baskets. But in the past 1

5、00 years or so, resources have come under increasing pressure as populations have exploded and large areas of bamboo forest have been cleared to make way for farms and commercial plantations.Section BSadly, this isnt an isolated story. All over the world, the ranges of many bamboo species appear to

6、be shrinking, endangering the people and animals that depend upon them. But despite bamboos importance, we know surprisingly little about it. A recent report published by the UN Environment Programme(UNEP)and the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan(INBAR)has revealed just how profound is our

7、 ignorance of global bamboo resources, particularly in relation to conservation.There are almost 1,600 recognised species of bamboo, but the report concentrated on the 1,200 or so woody varieties distinguished by the strong stems, or culms, that most people associate with this versatile plant. Of th

8、ese, only 38 priority species identified for their commercial value have been the subject of any real scientific research, and this has focussed mostly on matters relating to their viability as a commodity.This problem isnt confined to bamboo. Compared to the work carried out on animals, the science

9、 of assessing the conservation status of plants is still in its infancy. “People have only started looking hard at this during the past 10-15 years, and only now are they getting a handle on how to go about it systematically,“ says Dr. Valerie Kapos, one of the reports authors and a senior adviser i

10、n forest ecology and conservation to the UNEP.Section CBamboo is a type of grass. It comes in a wide variety of forms, ranging in height from 30 centimetres to more than 40 metres. It is also the worlds fastest-growing woody plant; some species can grow more than a metre in a day. Bamboos ecological

11、 role extends beyond providing food and habitat for animals. Bamboo tends to grow in stands made up of groups of individual plants that grow from root systems known as rhizomes. Its extensive rhizome systems, which lie in the top layers of the soil, are crucial in preventing soil erosion. And there

12、is growing evidence that bamboo plays an important part in determining forest structure and dynamics. “Bamboos pattern of mass flowering and mass death leaves behind large areas of dry biomass that attract wildfire,“ says Kapos. “When these burn, they create patches of open ground within the forest

13、far bigger than would be left by a fallen tree.“ Patchiness helps to preserve diversity because certain plant species do better during the early stages of regeneration when there are gaps in the canopy.Section DHowever, bamboos most immediate significance lies in its economic value. Modern processin

14、g techniques mean that it can be used in a variety of ways, for example, as flooring and laminates. One of the fastest growing bamboo products is paper -25 per cent of paper produced in India is made from bamboo fibre, and in Brazil, 100,000 hectares of bamboo are grown for its production.Of course,

15、 bamboos main function has always been in domestic applications, and as a locally traded commodity its worth about US$4.5billion annually. Because of its versatility, flexibility and strength(its tensile strength compares to that of some steel), it has traditionally been used in construction. Today,

16、 more than one billion people worldwide live in bamboo houses. Bamboo is often the only readily available raw material for people in many developing countries, says Chris Staple-ton, a research associate at the Royal Botanic Gardens. “Bamboo can be harvested from forest areas or grown quickly elsewh

17、ere, and then converted simply without expensive machinery or facilities,“ he says. “In this way, it contributes substantially to poverty alleviation and wealth creation.“Section EGiven bamboos value in economic and ecological terms, the picture painted by the UNEP report is all the more worrying. B

18、ut keen horticulturists will spot an apparent contradiction here. Those whove followed the recent vogue for cultivating exotic species in their gardens will point out that if it isnt kept in check, bamboo can cause real problems. “In a lot of places, the people who live with bamboo dont perceive it

19、as being endangered in any way,“ says Kapos. “In fact, a lot of bamboo species are actually very invasive if theyve been introduced.“ So why are so many species endangered?There are two separate issues here, says Ray Townsend, vice president of the British Bamboo Society and arboretum manager at the

20、 Royal Botanic Gardens. “Some plants are threatened because they cant survive in the habitat - they arent strong enough or there arent enough of them, perhaps. But bamboo can take care of itself - it is strong enough to survive if left alone. What is under threat is its habitat.“ It is the physical

21、disturbance that is the threat to bamboo, says Kapos. “When forest goes, it is converted into something else: there isnt anywhere for forest plants such as bamboo to grow if you create a cattle pasture.“Section FAround the world, bamboo species are routinely protected as part of forest ecosystems in

22、 national parks and reserves, but there is next to nothing that protects bamboo in the wild for its own sake. However, some small steps are being taken to address this situation. The UNEP-INBAR report will help conservationists to establish effective measures aimed at protecting valuable wild bamboo

23、 species.Townsend, too, sees the UNEP report as an important step forward in promoting the cause of bamboo conservation. “Until now, bamboo has been perceived as a second-class plant. When you talk about places such as the Amazon, everyone always thinks about the hardwoods. Of course these are signi

24、ficant, but there is a tendency to overlook the plants they are associated with, which are often bamboo species. In many ways, it is the most important plant known to man. I cant think of another plant that is used so much and is so commercially important in so many countries.“ He believes that the

25、most important first step is to get scientists into the field. “We need to go out there, look at these plants and see how they survive and then use that information to conserve them for the future.“Questions 1-7Reading Passage 1 has six sections A-F.Which section contains the following information?W

26、rite the correct letter A-F in boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet.NB You may use any letter more than once.（分数：14.00）(1).Comparison of bamboo with other plant species（分数：2.00）填空项 1:_(2).Commercial products of bamboo（分数：2.00）填空项 1:_(3).Limited extent of existing research（分数：2.00）填空项 1:_(4).A human develo

27、pment that destroyed large areas of bamboo（分数：2.00）填空项 1:_(5).How bamboos are put to a variety of uses（分数：2.00）填空项 1:_(6).An explanation of how bamboo can help the survival of a range of plants（分数：2.00）填空项 1:_(7).The methods used to study bamboo（分数：2.00）填空项 1:_Look at the following statements(Questi

28、ons 8-11)and the list of people below. Match each statement with the correct person, A, B, CorD. Write the correct letter, A, B, C or D, in boxes 8-11 on your answer sheet. NB You may use any letter more than once.List of People A Ian Redmond B Valerie Kapos C Ray Townsend D Chris Stapleton（分数：8.00）

29、(1).Destroying bamboo poses threat to wildlife.（分数：2.00）填空项 1:_(2).People have very limited knowledge of bamboo.（分数：2.00）填空项 1:_(3).Some people think bamboo is not really endangered.（分数：2.00）填空项 1:_(4).Bamboo has immeasurable commercial potentials.（分数：2.00）填空项 1:_Answer the questions below using NO

30、MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.Write your answers in boxes 12-13 on your answer sheet.（分数：4.00）(1).What environmental problem does the unique root system of bamboo prevent?（分数：2.00）填空项 1:_(2).Which bamboo product is experiencing market expansion?（分数：2.00）填空项 1:_You should spend

31、 about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26 which are based on Reading Passage 2 below.CHILDRENS LITERATUREStories and poems aimed at children have an exceedingly long history: lullabies, for example, were sung in Roman times, and a few nursery games and rhymes are almost as ancient. Yet so far as written-

32、down literature is concerned, while there were stories in print before 1700 that children often seized on when they had the chance, such as translations of Aesops fables, fairy-stories and popular ballads and romances, these were not aimed at young people in particular. Since the only genuinely chil

33、d-oriented literature at this time would have been a few instructional works to help with reading and general knowledge, plus the odd Puritanical tract as an aid to morality, the only course for keen child readers was to read adult literature. This still occurs today, especially with adult thrillers

34、 or romances that include more exciting, graphic detail than is normally found in the literature for younger readers.By the middle of the 18th century there were enough eager child readers, and enough parents glad to cater to this interest, for publishers to specialize in childrens books whose first

35、 aim was pleasure rather than education or morality. In Britain, a London merchant named Thomas Boreham produced Cajanus, The Swedish Giant in 1742, while the more famous John Newbery published A Little Pretty Pocket Book in 1744. Its contents rhymes, stories, childrens games plus a free gift(A ball

36、 and a pincushion) in many ways anticipated the similar lucky-dip contents of childrens annuals this century. It is a tribute to Newberys flair that he hit upon a winning formula quite so quickly, to be pirated almost immediately in America.Such pleasing levity was not to last. Influenced by Roussea

37、u, whose Emile(1762)decreed that all books for children save Robinson Crusoe were a dangerous diversion, contemporary critics saw to it that childrens literature should be instructive and uplifting. Prominent among such voices was Mrs. Sarah Trimmer, whose magazine The Guardian of Education(1802)car

38、ried the first regular reviews of childrens books. It was she who condemned fairy-tales for their violence and general absurdity; her own stories, Fabulous Histories(1786)described talking animals who were always models of sense and decorum.So the moral story for children was always threatened from

39、within, given the way children have of drawing out entertainment from the sternest moralist. But the greatest blow to the improving childrens book was to come from an unlikely source indeed: early 19th-century interest in folklore. Both nursery rhymes, selected by James Orchard Halliwell for a folkl

40、ore society in 1842, and collection of fairy-stories by the scholarly Grimm brothers, swiftly translated into English in 1823, soon rocket to popularity with the young, quickly leading to new editions, each one more child-centered than the last. From now on younger children could expect stories writ

41、ten for their particular interest and with the needs of their own limited experience of life kept well to the fore.What eventually determined the reading of older children was often not the availability of special childrens literature as such but access to books that contained characters, such as yo

42、ung people or animals, with whom they could more easily empathize, or action, such as exploring or fighting, that made few demands on adult maturity or understanding.The final apotheosis of literary childhood as something to be protected from unpleasant reality came with the arrival in the late 1930

43、s of child-centered best-sellers intent on entertainment at its most escapist. In Britain novelist such as Enid Blyton and Richmal Crompton described children who were always free to have the most unlikely adventures, secure in the knowledge that nothing bad could ever happen to them in the end. The

44、 fact that war broke out again during her books greatest popularity fails to register at all in the self-enclosed world inhabited by Enid Blytons young characters. Reaction against such dream-worlds was inevitable after World War II, coinciding with the growth of paperback sales, childrens libraries

45、 and a new spirit of moral and social concern. Urged on by committed publishers and progressive librarians, writers slowly began to explore new areas of interest while also shifting the settings of their plots from the middle-class world to which their chiefly adult patrons had always previously bel

46、onged.Critical emphasis, during this development, has been divided. For some the most important task was to rid childrens books of the social prejudice and exclusiveness no longer found acceptable. Others concentrated more on the positive achievements of contemporary childrens literature. That write

47、rs of these works are now often recommended to the attentions of adult as well as child readers echoes the 19th-century belief that childrens literature can be shared by the generations, rather than being a defensive barrier between childhood and the necessary growth towards adult understanding.Ques

48、tions 14-18Complete the table below.Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from Reading Passage 2 for each answer.Write your answers in boxes 14-18 on your answer sheet.*（分数：10.00）填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_Look at the following people and the list of statements below.Match each person with the correct statement.Write the correct letter A-E in boxes 19-21 on your answer sheet.List of StatementsA Wrote criticisms of childrens literatureB Used animals to demonstrate the absurdity of fairy talesC Was not a writer originallyD Translated a book