1、雅思（阅读）模拟试卷 103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. The “Extinct“ Grass in Britain A The British grass interrupted brome was said to be extinct, just like the Dodo. Called interrupted brome because of
2、its gappy seed-head, this unprepossessing grass was found nowhere else in the world. Gardening experts from the Victorian Era were first to record it. In the early 20th century, it grew far and wide across southern England. But it quickly vanished and by 1972 was nowhere to be found. Even the seeds
3、stored at the Cambridge University Botanic Garden as an insurance policy were dead, having been mistakenly kept at room temperature. Fans of the grass were devastated. B However, reports of his decline were not entirely correct. Interrupted brome has enjoyed a revival, one thats not due to science.
4、Because of the work of one gardening enthusiast, interrupted brome is thriving as a pot plaht. The relaunching into the wild of Britains almost extinct plant has excited conservationists everywhere. C Originally, Philip Smith didnt know that he had the very unusual grass at his own home. When he hea
5、rd about the grass becoming extinct, he wanted to do something surprising. He attended a meeting of the British Botanical Society in Manchester in 1979, and seized his opportunity. He said that it was so disappointing to hear about the demise of the interrupted brome. “What a pity we didnt research
6、it farther!“ he added. Then, ail of a sudden he displayed his pots with so called “extinct grass“ for all to see. D Smith had kept the seeds from the last stronghold of the grass, Pamisford in 1963. It was then when the grass started to disappear from the wild. Smith cultivated the grass, year after
7、 year. Ultimately, it was his curiosity in the plant that saved it, not scientific or technological projects that aim to conserve plants. E For now, the bromes future is guaranteed. The seeds from Smiths plants have been securely stored in the cutting edge facilities of Millennium Seed Bank at Wakeh
8、urst Place in Sussex. And living plants thrive at me botanic gardens at Kew, Edinburgh and Cambridge. This year, seeds are also saved at sites all across the country and the grass now flourishes at several public gardens too. F The grass will now be reintroduced to the British countryside. As a part
9、 of the Species Recovery Project, the organisation English Nature will re-introduce interrupted brome into the agricultural landscape, provided willing farmers are found. Alas, die grass is neither beautiful nor practical, it is undoubtedly a weed, a weed that nobody cares for these days. The brome
10、was probably never widespread enough to annoy farmers and today, no one would appreciate its productivity or nutritious qualities. As a grass, it leaves a lot to be desired by agriculturalists. G Smiths research has attempted to answer the question of where the grass came from. His research points t
11、o mutations from other weedy grasses as the most likely source. So close is the relationship that interrupted brome was originally deemed to be a mere variety of soft brome by the great Victorian taxonomist Professor Hackel. A botanist from the 19th century, Druce, had taken notes on the grass and c
12、onvinced his peers that the grass deserved its own status as a species. Despite Druce growing up in poverty and his self-taught profession, he became the leading botanist of his time. H Where the grass came from may be clear, but the timing of its birth may be tougher to find out. A clue lies in its
13、 penchant for growing as a weed in fields shared with a fodder crop, in particular nitrogen-fixing legumes such as sainfoin, lucerne or clover. According to agricultural historian Joan Thirsk, the humble sainfoin and its company were first noticed in Britain in the early 17th century. Seeds brought
14、in from the Continent were sown in pastures to feed horses and other livestock. However, back then, only a few enthusiastic gentlemen were willing to use the new crops for their prized horses. I Not before too long though, the need to feed the parliamentary armies in Scotland, England and Ireland wa
15、s more pressing than ever. Farmers were forced to produce more bread, cheese and beer. And by 1650 the legumes were increasingly introduced into arable rotations, to serve as green nature to boost grain yields. A bestseller of its day, Nathaniel Fienness Sainfoin Improved, published in 1671, helped
16、to spread the word. With the advent of sainfoin, clover and lucerne, Britains very own rogue grass had suddenly arrived. J Although the credit for the discovery of interrupted brome goes to a Miss A. M. Barnard, who collected the first specimens at Odsey, Bedfordshire, in 1849, the grass had probabl
17、y lurked undetected in the English countryside for at least a hundred years. Smith thinks the plant the worlds version of the Dodo probably evolved in the late 17th or early 18th century, once sainfoin became established. Due mainly to the development of the motor car and subsequent decline of fodde
18、r crops for horses, the brome declined rapidly over the 20th century. Today, sainfoin has almost disappeared from the countryside, though occasionally its colourful flowers are spotted in lowland nature reserves. More recently artificial fertilizers have made legume rotations unnecessary. K The clos
19、e relationship with out-of-fashion crops spells trouble for those seeking to re-establish interrupted brome in todays countryside. Much like the once common arable weeds, such as the corncockle, its seeds cannot survive long in the soil. Each spring, the brome relied on farmers to resow its seeds; i
20、n the days before weed killers and advanced seed sieves, an ample supply would have contaminated supplies of crop seed. However fragile seeds are not the bromes only problem: this species is also unwilling to release its seeds as they ripen. According to Smith, the grass will struggle to survive eve
21、n in optimal conditions. It would be very difficult to thrive amongst its more resilient competitors found in todays improved agricultural landscape. L Nonetheless, interrupted bromes reluctance to thrive independently may have some benefits. Any farmer willing to foster this unique contribution to
22、the worlds flora can rest assured that the grass will never become an invasive pest. Restoring interrupted brome to its rightful home could bring other benefits too, particularly if this strange species is granted recognition as a national treasure. Thanks to British farmers, interrupted brome was g
23、iven the chance to evolve in the first place. Conservationists would like to see the grass grow once again in its natural habitat and perhaps, one day, seeing the grass become a badge of honour for a new generation of environmentally conscious farmers. Questions 1-8 Do the following statements agree
24、 with the information given in Reading Passage 1? In boxes 1-8 on you answer sheet, write TRUE if the statement agrees with the information FALSE if the statement contradicts with the information NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this. 1 The name of interrupted brome came from the unprepossess
25、ing grass disappeared from places in the world for a period. （ A） TRUE （ B） FALSE （ C） NOT GIVEN 2 Interrupted brome became extinct because they were kept accidentally in room temperature. （ A） TRUE （ B） FALSE （ C） NOT GIVEN 3 Philip Smith works at University of Manchester. （ A） TRUE （ B） FALSE （ C）
26、 NOT GIVEN 4 Kew Botanic Gardens will operate English Nature. （ A） TRUE （ B） FALSE （ C） NOT GIVEN 5 Interrupted brome grew poorly at the sides of sainfoin. （ A） TRUE （ B） FALSE （ C） NOT GIVEN 6 Legumes were used for feeding livestock and enriching the soil. （ A） TRUE （ B） FALSE （ C） NOT GIVEN 7 The
27、spread of seeds of interrupted brome depends on the harvesting of the farmers. （ A） TRUE （ B） FALSE （ C） NOT GIVEN 8 Only the weed killers can stop interrupted brome from becoming an invasive pest. （ A） TRUE （ B） FALSE （ C） NOT GIVEN 8 Look at the following opinions or deeds (Questions 9-13) and the
28、 list of people below. Match each opinion or deed with the correct person, A-F. Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 9-13 on your answer sheet. A A. M. Barnard B Philip Smith C George Claridge Druce D Joan Thirsk E Professor Hackel F Nathaniel Fiennes 9 identified interrupted brome as another spe
29、cies of brome. 10 convinced others about the status of interrupted brome in the botanic world. 11 found interrupted brome together with sainfoin. 12 helped farmers know that sainfoin is useful for enriching the soil. 13 collected the first sample of interrupted brome. 13 You should spend about 20 mi
30、nutes on Questions 14-26, which are based on Reading Passage 2 below. Keep the Water Away A Last winters floods on the rivers of central Europe were among the worst since the Middle Ages, and as winter storms return, the spectre of floods is returning too. Just weeks ago, the river Rhone in south-ea
31、st France burst its banks, driving 15,000 people from their homes, and worse could be on the way. Traditionally, river engineers have gone for Plan A: get rid of the water fast, draining it off the land and down to the sea in tall-sided rivers re-engineered as high-performance drains. But however bi
32、g they dug city drains, however wide and straight they made the rivers, and however high they built the banks, the floods kept coming back to taunt them, from the Mississippi to the Danube. And when the floods came, they seemed to be worse than ever. No wonder engineers are turning to Plan B: sap th
33、e waters destructive strength by dispersing it into fields, forgotten lakes, flood plains and aquifers. B Back in the days when rivers took a more tortuous path to the sea, flood waters lost impetus and volume while meandering across flood plains and idling through wetlands and inland deltas. But to
34、day the water tends to have an unimpeded journey to the sea. And this means that when it rains in the uplands, the water comes down all at once. Worse, whenever we close off more flood plains, the rivers flow farther downstream becomes more violent and uncontrollable. Dykes are only as good as their
35、 weakest linkand the water will unerringly find it. By trying to turn the complex hydrology of rivers into the simple mechanics of a water pipe, engineers have often created danger where they promised safety, and intensified the floods they meant to end. Take the Rhine, Europes most engineered river
36、. For two centuries, German engineers have erased its backwaters and cut it off from its flood plain. C Today, the river has lost 7 percent of its original length and runs up to a third faster. When it rains hard in the Alps, the peak flows from several tributaries coincide in the main river, where
37、once they arrived separately. And with four-fifths of the lower Rhines flood plain barricaded off, the waters rise ever higher. The result is more frequent flooding that does ever-greater damage to the homes, offices and roads that sit on the flood plain. Much the same has happened in the US on the
38、mighty Mississippi, which drains the worlds second largest river catchment into the Gulf of Mexico. D The European Union is trying to improve rain forecasts and more accurately model how intense rains swell rivers. That may help cities prepare, but it wont stop the floods. To do that, say hydrologis
39、ts, you need a new approach to engineering not just rivers, but the whole landscape. The UKs Environment Agency which has been granted an extra 150 million a year to spend in the wake of floods in 2000 that cost the country 1 billion puts it like this: “The focus is now on working with the forces of
40、 nature. Towering concrete walls are out, and new wetlands are in.“ To help keep Londons feet dry, the agency is breaking the Thamess banks upstream and reflooding 10 square kilometres of ancient flood plain at Otmoor outside Oxford. Nearer to London it has spent 100 million creating new wetlands an
41、d a relief channel across 16 kilometres of flood plain to protect the town of Maidenhead, as well as the ancient playing fields of Eton College. And near the south coast, the agency is digging out channels to reconnect old meanders on the river Cuckmere in East Sussex that were cut off by flood bank
42、s 150 years ago. E The same is taking place on a much grander scale in Austria, in one of Europes largest river restorations to date. Engineers are regenerating flood plains along 60 kilometres of the river Drava as it exits the Alps. They are also widening the river bed and channelling it back into
43、 abandoned meanders, oxbow lakes and backwaters overhung with willows. The engineers calculate that the restored flood plain can now store up to 10 million cubic metres of flood waters and slow storm surges coming out of the Alps by more than an hour, protecting towns as far downstream as Slovenia a
44、nd Croatia. F “Rivers have to be allowed to take more space. They have to be turned from flood-chutes into flood-foilers,“ says Nienhuis. And the Dutch, for whom preventing floods is a matter of survival, have gone furthest. A nation built largely on drained marshes and seabed had the fright of its
45、life in 1993 when the Rhine almost overwhelmed it. The same happened again in 1995, when a quarter of a million people were evacuated from the Netherlands. But a new breed of “soft engineers“ wants our cities to become porous, and Berlin is their shining example. Since reunification, the citys massi
46、ve redevelopment has been governed by tough new rules to prevent its drains becoming overloaded after heavy rains. Harald Kraft, an architect working in the city, says: “We now see rainwater as a resource to be kept rather than got rid of at great cost.“ A good illustration is the giant Potsdamer Pl
47、atz, a huge new commercial redevelopment by Daimler Chrysler in the heart of the city. G Los Angeles has spent billions of dollars digging huge drains and concreting river beds to carry away the water from occasional intense storms. The latest plan is to spend a cool $280 million raising the concret
48、e walls on the Los Angeles river by another 2 metres. Yet many communities still flood regularly. Meanwhile this desert city is shipping in water from hundreds of kilometres away in northern California and from the Colorado river in Arizona to fill its taps and swimming pools, and irrigate its green
49、 spaces. It all sounds like bad planning. “In LA we receive half the water we need in rainfall, and we throw it away. Then we spend hundreds of millions to import water,“ says Andy Lipkis, an LA environmentalist, along with citizen groups like Friends of the Los Angeles River and Unpaved LA, want to beat the urban flood hazard and fill the taps by holding onto the citys flood water. And its not just a pipe dream. The authorities this year launched a $100 million scheme to road-test the porous city in one flood-hit community in Sun Valley. The plan is to c
