1、雅思（阅读）模拟试卷 17 及答案与解析 一、 Reading Module (60 minutes) 1 READING PASSAGE 1 You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below. These invasive species are ruining the retail ecosystem A Invasive species often triumph as a result of good intentions gone wrong.
2、 Take Japanese knotweed (Fallopia japonica), introduced to Britain by enthusiastic Victorian gardeners who thought it an ornamental delight that doubled as cattle feed. But from just a scrap of root no bigger than a pea it could grow through tarmac, pavements and brick walls. A century later, its sp
3、read is considered such a threat that planting or dumping knotweed is a crime. Knotweed is so hated because it suffocates other plants, replacing them with an unproductive, leafy monotony. Then there is the Nile perch (Lates niloticus), branded one of the worlds worst invaders by conservationists. I
4、ts a freshwater fish that can grow to huge proportions. Again, with good intentions, it was introduced in 1954 to Lake Victoria, straddling Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda. Since then it has helped push over 200 well-established local fish species to extinction. Like the Nile perch, the cane toad (Bufo m
5、arinus) eats almost anything it gets its mouth around. Introduced for pest control, it turned out to be noisy, fast-spreading, and a greater pest itself. B As it is in nature, so it is in the economy. Big superstores and chain retailers were allowed to spread by planners, town councils and governmen
6、ts in awe of big business. But then it started to go wrong. The chains became the economic equivalent of invasive species: hungry, indiscriminate, often antisocial and destructive. When no one was paying much attention, the superstores and cloned shops grew to dominate and suffocate the economic eco
7、system. They passed through planning regulations as easily as knotweed pushes through tarmac, devoured smaller and independent retailers with as much reflection as the Nile perch cleansing Lake Victoria of competition. They were often introduced to provide a specific service but outgrew their habita
8、ts until their cashtill song could be heard on every street corner, forecourt, roundabout and out-of-town shopping centre. Neither in balance, nor even a boom-bust cycle with other similar, local species of shop; they began permanently to displace them. C Natural scientists use a whole new term to d
9、escribe the current epoch of comprehensive, global human interference in ecosystems. Our time, they sa5 should be called the “Homogocene“ to describe the way that distinctiveness and difference are being eroded. A combination of the creep of invasive species and habitats destroyed by development is
10、driving a mass extinction. The World Conservation Union warns that such invasions are leading to the irretrievable loss of native biodiversity. Typical characteristics of an invasive species include the absence of predators, hardiness, and a generalist diet. Whatever the reason for their arrival and
11、 proliferation, invasive species tend to cause a disruption of the ecosystem that is catastrophic for native species. D The big, centralised logistical operations of the supermarkets are likewise driving the homogenisation of business, shopping, eating, farming, food, the landscape, the environment
12、and our daily lives. In the process, Britain is being sucked into a vortex of US-style, chain-store-led, clone retailing, both in towns and in soulless “big-box“ out-of-town shopping parkswhat they call in the US, with its associated suburban sprawl, the “dead zone“. They are spreading in the way “i
13、nvasive species“ spread in nature, lacking checks and balances, killing off diversity and “native“ (in other words, local) species. Tesco is not the only guilty party (think of McDonalds, Starbucks and Gap), but it is possibly the largest driving force. With around 2000 stores in Britain, almost one
14、 third of the grocery market, and rapid international growth, City analysts believe the brand has the land and resources in place already to double its UK floorspace. Can anything stop it? E Bear in mind those characteristics of an invasive species: the absence of predators (real commercial competit
15、ion or effective regulators to hold them back); hardiness (the legions of corporate lawyers, financial leverage and endless commercial cost-cutting); and a generalist diet (supermarkets will sell virtually anything, and chain stores operate according to a low common denominator). If you want diversi
16、ty in your world rather than one kind of plant in your garden, one kind of fish in your lake and only one type of venomous, croaking toad under your shed, then you have to manage for that outcome. When we garden, we hold back aggressive, opportunistic plants in order to keep space open for a celebra
17、tion of variety and colour. F Like it or not (and it is something about which most policy makers and economists are in deep denial), weakly regulated markets give free rein to economic invasive species and hence tend towards monopoly. This is the great modern economic irony. Advocates of free market
18、s argue against checks and balances to counter the power of big business, but in doing so ultimately destroy the possibility of markets that could meaningfully be called free, or, rather, “open“. They resist anti-monopoly regulation in the name of providing consumer choice, and in the process they u
19、ltimately destroy it. In some important ways, we are returning to an earlier phase of corporatism. Henry Ford told customers they could have any colour of car, as long as it was black. The scale and seriousness of Tescos ambition means that, before long, unless we recognise what is happening and hav
20、e regulators up to the job, one day we will be able to shop anywhere we like, as long as its Tesco. 1 Questions 1-4 The text has 6paragraphs (A-F). Which paragraph contains each of the following pieces of information? 1 The suggestion that the government should legislate to control invasive species
21、of a corporate nature. 2 Examples of the problems with the spread of specific invasive species in nature. 3 A description of how invasive species in nature are different from other ones. 4 Examples of companies that can be considered invasive species. 5 Questions 5-8 Complete the following sentences
22、 using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the text. 5 Japanese knotweed was used for decoration and as _. 6 “Homogocene“ is the word used by natural scientists to describe the _ we are living in. 7 _, plenty of money and cost-cutting increase the strength of big supermarkets. 8 The article suggests that
23、_ allow economic invasive species to do what they want and eventually lead to monopolies. 9 Questions 9-13 Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1? TRUEif the information in the text agrees with the statement FALSEif the information in the text contradicts t
24、he statement NOT GIVENif there is no information on this 9 The Nile perch was introduced in to Lake Victoria as a source of food for local people. （ A）真 （ B）假 （ C） NOT GIVEN 10 Planning regulations have been ineffective against big supermarkets. （ A）真 （ B）假 （ C） NOT GIVEN 11 Supermarkets in Britain
25、sell a limited range of products. （ A）真 （ B）假 （ C） NOT GIVEN 12 Chain stores only sell low-quality goods. （ A）真 （ B）假 （ C） NOT GIVEN 13 The writer is against the domination of big supermarkets. （ A）真 （ B）假 （ C） NOT GIVEN 14 READING PASSAGE 2 You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26, whic
26、h are based on Reading Passage 2 below. Fruit that Falls Far from the Tree A In the 2002 football World Cup, France, the reigning world champions, suffered a humiliating defeat to unfancied Senegal. All 11 members of the victorious Senegalese team had played for European clubs. They were not alone.
27、By 2000, the first and second divisions of Europes leagues had poached enough African players to field 70 teams. So, have greedy European clubs deprived Senegal of its best footballers, or has the prospect of a lucrative career in Europe encouraged more Senegalese to take up the beautiful game? B Th
28、is question Is posed by a new book, “Give Us Your Best and Brightest“, by Devesh Kapur and John McHale. The authors are development economists first, football fans second (if at all). They see the emigration of African players as a highly visible example of the “brain drain“. Less visible, but more
29、worrying, is the departure of the poor worlds doctors, nurses and teachers to more lucrative job markets in the rich world. Ghana, for example, has only 6.2 doctors per 100000 people. Perhaps three-quarters of its doctors leave within ten years of qualifying C The answer to the Senegal conundrum Is
30、of course “both“: the best players leave, and the dream of emulating them motivates many others to take their place. The real question is whether the second effect outweighs the first, leaving the game in Senegal stronger or weaker than it otherwise would be. A few economists, including Andrew Mount
31、ford, of Royal Holloway (part of the University of London), and Oded Stark, of the University of Bonn. think the net effect of the brain drain is similarly ambiguous. The prospect of securing a visa to America or Australia should tempt more people in poor countries to Invest in education. Mr Stark c
32、alls this a “brain gain“. If the temptation is strong enough, and the chances of landing a visa low enough, the poor country could even come out ahead: it might gain more qualified (if disappointed) doctors and engineers than it loses. D As with all debates about the brain drain, theory has rim ahea
33、d of evidence. The numbers on international flows of people are much patchier than those on cross-border flows of goods or capital. In a recent paper, Mr Stark and his co-authors investigate internal migration Instead. The rural villages of Mexico lose many of their brightest sons and daughters to J
34、obs in titles or border towns, Those Mexicans who leave their home villages tend to be better-educated than those who stay. Despite this, the example the leavers set (and the job leads they provide) raises the average level of schooling of those left behind. Because they can aspire to a world beyond
35、 the village, even if they never reach it, young Mexicans have an added reason to stay In school beyond a ninth year, the authors show. E Even if the brain drain does leave a country with a better-educated populace, is this necessarily a good thing? Education is not free, and some of those who gambl
36、ed on a diploma as a ticket overseas will regret their decision. Mr Stark assumes that people in poor countries tend to demand too little education. A persons productivity depends on the skills of those around him, as well as his own. Because of these spillovers, an individuals education Is worth mo
37、re to the economy as a whole than it is to himself, and he will underinvest in it as a result. Mr Stark sees limited emigration as one way to fix this market failure. F Indias software engineers are perhaps an example of this principle at work. Indian students had little reason to learn computer cod
38、ing before there was a software industry to employ them. Such an Industry could not take root without computer engineers to man lt. The dream of a job In Silicon valley, however, was enough to lure many of Indias bright young things into coding and that was enough to hatch an indigenous software ind
39、ustry where none existed befits. G Indias valley-dwellers represent just one contingent in a much larger diaspora. According to the most exhaustive study of the brain drain, released last month by the World Bank, there were 1.04m Indian-born people, educated past secondary school, living in the 30 r
40、elatively rich countries of the OECD in 2000. (An unknown number of them acquired their education outside their country of birth, the report notes.) This largely successful diaspora is more than just something to envy and emulate. Its members can be a source of know-how and money, and provide valuab
41、le entrees into foreign markets and supply chains. H Messrs Kaput and McHale think Indias relatively happy experience with its educated emigres is more likely to be the exception than the rule. Its million-strong brain drain represents Just 43% of its vast graduate population, according to the Bank.
42、 By contrast, almost 47% of Ghanas highly educated native sons live in the OECD; for Guyana, the figure is 89%. This is not a stimulative leeching of talent; it is a haemorrhage. I Emigration, as Mr Stark suggests, might be a spur to greater accomplishment, and the poor worlds talent, like Senegals
43、footballers, deserves a chance to compete on a global stage. It is not easy to run a managed “emigration“ policy. The drain of educated minds from poor countries is mostly determined by host countries rules, not home countries Interests, There will be tremendous pressure to loosen those rules in the
44、 future, not least because, as the baby-boom generation retires, it will seek to “backfill the taxpaying workforce behind it“, as Messrs Kapur and McHale put it. The rich world no longer welcomes the tired and the huddled; It looks set to compete ever more fiercely for the bright and the qualified.
45、14 Questions 14-17 The text has 9 paragraphs (A-I). Which paragraph does each of the following headings best fit? 14 Brain gain or brain drain? 15 Brain haemorrhage 16 Migrants can be connectors 17 Opportunities lead to longer education 18 Questions 18-22 According to the text, FIVE of the following
46、 statements are true. Write the corresponding letters in answer boxes 18 to 22 in any order. A Emigration of health care workers is more important than that of footballers. B If the chances of getting a visa to a rich country are low, this could benefit poor countries. C It is difficult to measure t
47、he flow of money across national borders. D A persons productivity depends, to a certain extent, on the productivity of those around him/her. E Many Indians were unsuccessful in getting to America so they set up coding industries in India. F Most Indian-born people with degrees got those degrees out
48、side India. G Most Indian emigrants return to India. H International migration policy is largely decided by rich countries rather than poor ones. 18 【 18】 _ 19 【 19】 _ 20 【 20】 _ 21 【 21】 _ 22 【 22】 _ 23 Questions 23-26 According to the information given in the text, choose the correct answer from t
49、he choices given. 23 Senegal _. （ A） was not expected to beat France in the 2002 World Cup. （ B） provides most of the African football players in Europe. （ C） provides more footballers to Europe than any other African country. 24 Football players leaving Senegal for Europe is good because _. （ A） they are not actually the best players. （ B） they encourage other people to play football well. （ C） there are too many footballers in Senegal. 25 Oded Stark researched internal migration because _.
