[外语类试卷]雅思（阅读）模拟试卷109及答案与解析.doc

1、雅思（阅读）模拟试卷 109及答案与解析 一、 Reading Module (60 minutes) 0 You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below. Bringing cinnamon to Europe Cinnamon is a sweet, fragrant spice produced from the inner bark of trees of the genus Cinnamomum, which is native to the

2、 Indian sub-continent. It was known in biblical times, and is mentioned in several books of the Bible, both as an ingredient that was mixed with oils for anointing peoples bodies, and also as a token indicating friendship among lovers and friends. In ancient Rome, mourners attending funerals burnt c

3、innamon to create a pleasant scent. Most often, however, the spice found its primary use as an additive to food and drink. In the Middle Ages, Europeans who could afford the spice used it to flavour food, particularly meat, and to impress those around them with their ability to purchase an expensive

4、 condiment from the exotic East. At a banquet, a host would offer guests a plate with various spices piled upon it as a sign of the wealth at his or her disposal. Cinnamon was also reported to have health benefits, and was thought to cure various ailments, such as indigestion. Toward the end of the

5、Middle Ages, the European middle classes began to desire the lifestyle of the elite, including their consumption of spices. This led to a growth in demand for cinnamon and other spices. At that time, cinnamon was transported by Arab merchants, who closely guarded the secret of the source of the spic

6、e from potential rivals. They took it from India, where it was grown, on camels via an overland route to the Mediterranean. Their journey ended when they reached Alexandria. European traders sailed there to purchase their supply of cinnamon, then brought it back to Venice. The spice then travelled f

7、rom that great trading city to markets all around Europe. Because the overland trade route allowed for only small quantities of the spice to reach Europe, and because Venice had a virtual monopoly of the trade, the Venetians could set the price of cinnamon exorbitantly high. These prices, coupled wi

8、th the increasing demand, spurred the search for new routes to Asia by Europeans eager to take part in the spice trade. Seeking the high profits promised by the cinnamon market, Portuguese traders arrived on the island of Ceylon in the Indian Ocean toward the end of the 15th century. Before European

9、s arrived on the island, the state had organized the cultivation of cinnamon. People belonging to the ethnic group called the Salagama would peel the bark off young shoots of the cinnamon plant in the rainy season, when the wet bark was more pliable. During the peeling process, they curled the bark

10、into the stick shape still associated with the spice today. The Salagama then gave the finished product to the king as a form of tribute. When the Portuguese arrived, they needed to increase production significantly, and so enslaved many other members of the Ceylonese native population, forcing them

11、 to work in cinnamon harvesting. In 1518, the Portuguese built a fort on Ceylon, which enabled them to protect the island, so helping them to develop a monopoly in the cinnamon trade and generate very high profits. In the late 16th century, for example, they enjoyed a tenfold profit when shipping ci

12、nnamon over a journey of eight days from Ceylon to India. When the Dutch arrived off the coast of southern Asia at the very beginning of the 17th century, they set their sights on displacing the Portuguese as kings of cinnamon. The Dutch allied themselves with Kandy, an inland kingdom on Ceylon. In

13、return for payments of elephants and cinnamon, they protected the native king from the Portuguese. By 1640, the Dutch broke the 150-year Portuguese monopoly when they overran and occupied their factories. By 1658, they had permanently expelled the Portuguese from the island, thereby gaining control

14、of the lucrative cinnamon trade. In order to protect their hold on the market, the Dutch, like the Portuguese before them, treated the native inhabitants harshly. Because of the need to boost production and satisfy Europes ever-increasing appetite for cinnamon, the Dutch began to alter the harvestin

15、g practices of the Ceylonese. Over time, the supply of cinnamon trees on the island became nearly exhausted, due to systematic stripping of the bark. Eventually, the Dutch began cultivating their own cinnamon trees to supplement the diminishing number of wild trees available for use. Then, in 1796,

16、the English arrived on Ceylon, thereby displacing the Dutch from their control of the cinnamon monopoly. By the middle of the 19th century, production of cinnamon reached 1,000 tons a year, after a lower grade quality of the spice became acceptable to European tastes. By that time, cinnamon was bein

17、g grown in other parts of the Indian Ocean region and in the West Indies, Brazil, and Guyana. Not only was a monopoly of cinnamon becoming impossible, but the spice trade overall was diminishing in economic potential, and was eventually superseded by the rise of trade in coffee, tea, chocolate, and

18、sugar. Questions 1-9 Complete the notes below. Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 1-9 on your answer sheet. The Early History of Cinnamon Biblical times: added to 【 R1】 _ used to show 【 R2】 _between people Ancient Rome: used for its sweet smell at 【 R3

19、】 _ Middle Ages: added to food, especially meat was an indication of a persons 【 R4】 _ known as a treatment for 【 R5】 _and other health problems grown in 【 R6】 _ merchants used 【 R7】 _to bring it to the Mediterranean arrived in the Mediterranean at 【 R8】 _ traders took it to 【 R9】 _and sold it to de

20、stinations around Europe 1 【 R1】 2 【 R2】 3 【 R3】 4 【 R4】 5 【 R5】 6 【 R6】 7 【 R7】 8 【 R8】 9 【 R9】 9 Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1? In boxes 10-13 on your answer sheet, write TRUE if the statement agrees with the information FALSE if the statement co

21、ntradicts the information NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this 10 The Portuguese had control over the cinnamon trade in Ceylon throughout the 16th century. （ A） TRUE （ B）假 （ C） NOT GIVEN 11 The Dutch took over the cinnamon trade from the Portuguese as soon as they arrived in Ceylon. （ A） TRU

22、E （ B）假 （ C） NOT GIVEN 12 The trees planted by the Dutch produced larger quantities of cinnamon than the wild trees. （ A） TRUE （ B）假 （ C） NOT GIVEN 13 The spice trade maintained its economic importance during the 19th century. （ A） TRUE （ B）假 （ C） NOT GIVEN 13 You should spend about 20 minutes on Qu

23、estions 1426, which are based on Reading Passage 2 below. Oxytocin The positive and negative effects of the chemical known as the love hormone A Oxytocin is a chemical, a hormone produced in the pituitary gland in the brain. It was through various studies focusing on animals that scientists first be

24、came aware of the influence of oxytocin. They discovered that it helps reinforce the bonds between prairie voles, which mate for life, and triggers the motherly behaviour that sheep show towards their newborn lambs. It is also released by women in childbirth, strengthening the attachment between mot

25、her and baby. Few chemicals have as positive a reputation as oxytocin, which is sometimes referred to as the love hormone. One sniff of it can, it is claimed, make a person more trusting, empathetic, generous and cooperative. It is time, however, to revise this wholly optimistic view. A new wave of

26、studies has shown that its effects vary greatly depending on the person and the circumstances, and it can impact on our social interactions for worse as well as for better. B Oxytocins role in human behaviour first emerged in 2005. In a groundbreaking experiment, Markus Heinrichs and his colleagues

27、at the University of Freiburg, Germany, asked volunteers to do an activity in which they could invest money with an anonymous person who was not guaranteed to be honest. The team found that participants who had sniffed oxytocin via a nasal spray beforehand invested more money than those who received

28、 a placebo instead. The study was the start of research into the effects of oxytocin on human interactions. For eight years, it was quite a lonesome field, Heinrichs recalls. Now, everyone is interested. These follow-up studies have shown that after a sniff of the hormone, people become more charita

29、ble, better at reading emotions on others faces and at communicating constructively in arguments. Together, the results fuelled the view that oxytocin universally enhanced the positive aspects of our social nature. C Then, after a few years, contrasting findings began to emerge. Simone Shamay-Tsoory

30、 at the University of Haifa, Israel, found that when volunteers played a competitive game, those who inhaled the hormone showed more pleasure when they beat other players, and felt more envy when others won. Whats more, administering oxytocin also has sharply contrasting outcomes depending on a pers

31、ons disposition. Jennifer Bartz from Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, found that it improves peoples ability to read emotions, but only if they are not very socially adept to begin with. Her research also shows that oxytocin in fact reduces cooperation in subjects who are particularly anxio

32、us or sensitive to rejection. D Another discovery is that oxytocins effects vary depending on who we are interacting with. Studies conducted by Carolyn DeClerck of the University of Antwerp, Belgium, revealed that people who had received a dose of oxytocin actually became less cooperative when deali

33、ng with complete strangers. Meanwhile, Carsten De Dreu at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands discovered that volunteers given oxytocin showed favouritism: Dutch men became quicker to associate positive words with Dutch names than with foreign ones, for example. According to De Dreu, oxyt

34、ocin drives people to care for those in their social circles and defend them from outside dangers. So, it appears that oxytocin strengthens biases, rather than promoting general goodwill, as was previously thought. E There were signs of these subtleties from the start. Bartz has recently shown that

35、in almost half of the existing research results, oxytocin influenced only certain individuals or in certain circumstances. Where once researchers took no notice of such findings, now a more nuanced understanding of oxytocins effects is propelling investigations down new lines. To Bartz, the key to u

36、nderstanding what the hormone does lies in pinpointing its core function rather than in cataloguing its seemingly endless effects. There are several hypotheses which are not mutually exclusive. Oxytocin could help to reduce anxiety and fear. Or it could simply motivate people to seek out social conn

37、ections. She believes that oxytocin acts as a chemical spotlight that shines on social clues - a shift in posture, a flicker of the eyes, a dip in the voice - making people more attuned to their social environment. This would explain why it makes us more likely to look others in the eye and improves

38、 our ability to identify emotions. But it could also make things worse for people who are overly sensitive or prone to interpreting social cues in the worst light. F Perhaps we should not be surprised that the oxytocin story has become more perplexing. The hormone is found in everything from octopus

39、es to sheep, and its evolutionary roots stretch back half a billion years. Its a very simple and ancient molecule that has been co-opted for many different functions, says Sue Carter at the University of Illinois, Chicago, USA. It affects primitive parts of the brain like the amygdala, so its going

40、to have many effects on just about everything. Bartz agrees. Oxytocin probably does some very basic things, but once you add our higher-order thinking and social situations, these basic processes could manifest in different ways depending on individual differences and context. Questions 14-17 Readin

41、g Passage 2 has six paragraphs, A-F. Which paragraph contains the following information? Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 14-17 on your answer sheet. NB You may use any letter more than once. 14 reference to research showing the beneficial effects of oxytocin on people 15 reasons why the effe

42、cts of oxytocin are complex 16 mention of a period in which oxytocin attracted little scientific attention 17 reference to people ignoring certain aspects of their research data 17 Look at the following research findings (Questions 18-20) and the list of researchers below. Match each research findin

43、g with the correct researcher, A-F. Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 18-20 on your answer sheet. List of Researchers A Markus Heinrichs B Simone Shamay-Tsoory C Jennifer Bartz D Carolyn DeClerck E Carsten De Dreu F Sue Carter 18 People are more trusting when affected by oxytocin. 19 Oxytocin

44、increases peoples feelings of jealousy. 20 The effect of oxytocin varies from one type of person to another. 20 Complete the summary below. Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 21-26 on your answer sheet. Oxytocin research The earliest findings about oxy

45、tocin and bonding came from research involving 【 R21】_ It was also discovered that humans produce oxytocin during 【 R22】 _ An experiment in 2005, in which participants were given either oxytocin or a 【 R23】_, reinforced the belief that the hormone had a positive effect. However, later research sugge

46、sts that this is not always the case. A study at the University of Haifa where participants took part in a 【 R24】 _revealed the negative emotions which oxytocin can trigger. A study at the University of Antwerp showed peoples lack of willingness to help 【 R25】 _while under the influence of oxytocin.

47、 Meanwhile, research at the University of Amsterdam revealed that people who have been given oxytocin consider 【 R26】 _that are familiar to them in their own country to have more positive associations than those from other cultures. 21 【 R21】 22 【 R22】 23 【 R23】 24 【 R24】 25 【 R25】 26 【 R26】 26 You

48、should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40, which are based on Reading Passage 3 below. MAKING THE MOST OF TRENDS Experts from Harvard Business School give advice to managers Most managers can identify the major trends of the day. But in the course of conducting research in a number of industr

49、ies and working directly with companies, we have discovered that managers often fail to recognize the less obvious but profound ways these trends are influencing consumers aspirations, attitudes, and behaviors. This is especially true of trends that managers view as peripheral to their core markets. Many ignore trends in their innovation strategies or adopt a wait-and-see approach and let competitors take the lead. At a minimum, such responses mean missed profit opportunities. At the ex