1、雅思（阅读）模拟试卷 20及答案与解析 一、 Reading Module (60 minutes) 0 Spot the difference A Taxonomic history has been made this week, at least according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), a conservation group. Scientists have described a new species of clouded leopard from the tropical forests of Indonesia with spot
2、s (or “clouds“, as they are poetically known) smaller than those of other clouded leopards, with fur a little darker and with a double, as opposed to a “partial double“ stripe down its back. B However, no previously unknown beast has suddenly leapt out from the forest. Instead, some scientists have
3、proposed a change In the official taxonomic accounting system of clouded leopards. Where there were four subspecies there will likely now be two species. A genetic analysis and a closer Inspection of museum specimens coats published in Current Biology has found no relevant difference between three s
4、ubspecies described 50 years ago from continental Asia and from the Halnan and Taiwan islands. The 5000-11000 clouded leopards on Borneo, the 3000-7000 on Sumatra, and the remaining few on the nearby Batu Islands can now, the authors say, claim a more elevated distinction as a species. C What this a
5、ctually means is fuzzy and whether it is scientifically important is questionable. In any case, biologists do not agree what species and subspecies are. Creatures are given Latin first and second names (corresponding to a genus and species) according to the convention of Carl yon Llnn, who was born
6、300 years ago this May. But Linnaeus, as he Is more commonly known, thought of species as perfectly discrete units created by God. Darwinism has them as mutable things, generated gradually over time by natural selection. So delineating when enough variation has evolved to justify a new category is l
7、argely a matter of taste. D Take ants and butterflies. Ant experts have recently been waging a war against all types of species subdivision. Lepidopterists, on the other hand, cling to the double barrel second names from their disciplines 19th century tradition, and categorise many local subclasses
8、within species found over wide areas. Thus it would be futile if one were so inclined to attempt to compare the diversity of ant and butterfly populations. E The traditional way around the problem is to call a species all members of a group that share the same gene pool. They can mate together and p
9、roduce fertile offspring. Whether Indonesian clouded leopards can make cubs with continental ones remains unknown but seems probable. Instead, the claim this week is that genetics and slight differences In fur patterning are enough to justify re-branding the clouded leopard as two significant types.
10、 Genetically, that makes sense if many DNA variations correlate perfectly between members of the two groups. The authors did find some correlation, but they looked for it in only three Indonesian animals. A larger sample would have been more difficult. F One thing Is abundantly clear: conservationis
11、ts who are flying to stop the destruction of the leopards habitat in Borneo and Sumatra see the announcement of a new species of big cat as a means to gain publicity and political capital. Upgrading subspecies to species is a strategy which James Mallet, of University College London, likes to call s
12、pecies inflation. It is a common by-product of genetic analysis, which can reveal differences between populations that the eye cannot, Creating ever more detailed genetic categories means creating smaller and increasingly restricted populations of more species. The trouble is that risks devaluing th
13、e importance of the term species. G The problem of redefining species by genetics is the creation of taxonomic confusion, a potentially serious difficulty for conservationists and others, Take for example the recent proposal to add the polar bear to the list of animals protected under Americas Endan
14、gered Species Act. That seems all well and good. However, study the genetics and it transpires that polar bears are closer to some brown bears, than some brown bears are to each other. Go by the genes and it seems that the polar bear would not count as a species in its own right (and thus might not
15、enjoy the protection afforded to species) but should be labelled a sub-species of the brown bear. 1 Questions 1-4 The text has 7 paragraphs (A-G). Which paragraph contains each of the following pieces of information? 1 How it is generally accepted that different species are named. 2 The reason that
16、conservationists are happy with the apparent discovery of a new species of leopard. 3 How genes could cause a potential problem for conservationists. 4 Some scientists want to change the way clouded leopards are classified into species and subspecies. 5 Questions 5-8 Complete the following sentences
17、 using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the text. 5 It is difficult to decide exactly when there is enough _ to say an animal is a new species. 6 It is _ to compare the number of species of ant and butterfly. 7 Generally, animals of the same species can make _ together. 8 Some scientists claim that gen
18、etics has led to _ rather than the actual discovery of new species. 9 Questions 9-13 Do the following statements agree with the information given in the text? TRUE if the information in the text agrees with the statement FALSE if the information in the text contradicts the statement NOT GIVEN if the
19、re is no information on this 9 The possible new species of leopard appears different in two ways. 10 Darwinism created a problem with how species are defined. 11 Lepidopterists study ants. 12 Scientists are going to study more clouded leopards in Indonesia. 13 The writer believes that polar bears ar
20、e not a species in their own right. 13 The Fertility Bust A Fatting populations the despair of state pension systems are often regarded with calmness, even a secret satisfaction, by ordinary people. Europeans no Longer need Large families to gather the harvest or to took after parents. They have use
21、d their good fortune to have fewer children, thinking this wilt make their tires better. Much of Europe is too crowded as it is. !s this at that is going on? Germans have been agonising about recent European Union estimates suggesting that 30% of German women are, and will remain, childless. The num
22、ber is a guess: Germany does not collect figures Like this. Even if the share is 25%, as other surveys suggest, it is by far the highest in Europe. B Germany is something of an oddity in this. In most countries with tow fertility, young women have their first child late, and stop at one. In Germany,
23、 women with children often have two or three, but many have none at all. Germany is also odd in experiencing low fertility for such a tong time. Europe is demographically potarised. Countries in the north and west saw fertility fart early, in the 196Os. Recently, they have seen it stabilise or rise
24、back towards replacement ever (i.e. 2.1 births per woman). Countries in the south and east, on the other hand, saw fertility rates fart much faster, more recently (often to below 1.3, a rate at which the population falls by half every 45 years). Germany combines both. Its fertility rate felt below 2
25、 in 1971. However, it has stayed tow and is stilt only just above 1.3. This challenges the notion that European fertility is likely to stabilise at tolerable Levels. It raises questions about whether the Low birth rates of Italy and Poland, say, realty are, as some have argued, merely temporary. C T
26、he List of explanations for why German fertility has not rebounded is tong. Michael Teitelbaum, a demographer at the Stoan Foundation in New York ticks them off: poor child care; unusually extended higher education; inflexible labour taws; high youth unemployment; and non-economic or cultural factor
27、s. One German writer, Gunter Grass, wrote a novel, “Headbirths“, in 1982, about Harm and Drte Peters, “a model couple“ who disport themselves on the beaches of Asia rather than invest time and trouble in bringing up a baby. “They keep a cat“, writes Mr Grass, “and stilt have no child.“ The novel is
28、subtitled “The Germans are dying out“. With the exception of this cultural factor, none of these features is peculiar to Germany. If social and economic explanations account for persistent low fertility there, then they may well produce the same persistence elsewhere. D The reason for hoping otherwi
29、se is that the initiat dectine in southern and eastern Europe was drastic, and may be reversibte. In the Mediterranean, demographic decline was associated with freeing young women from the constraints of traditional Catholicism, which encouraged large families. In eastern Europe, it was associated w
30、ith the collapse in living standards and the ending of pro-birth policies after the fait of communism. In both regions, as such temporary factors fade, fertility rates might, in principle, be expected to rise. Indeed, they may already be stabilising in Italy and Spain. Germany tells you that reversi
31、ng these trends can be hard. There, and elsewhere, fertility rates did not merely fall; they went below what people said they wanted. In 1979, Eurobarometer asked Europeans how many children they would tike. Almost everywhere, the answer was two: the traditional two-child idea persisted even when pe
32、ople were not delivering it. This may have reflected old habits of mind. Or people may reaty be having fewer children than they claim to want. E A recent paper suggests how this might come about. If women postpone their first child past their mid-30s, it may be too ate to have a second even if they
33、want one (the average age of first births in most of Europe is now 30). If everyone does the same, one child becomes the norm: a one-child policy by example rather than coercion, as it were. If women wait to start a family unlit they are established at work, they may end up postponing children longe
34、r than they might otherwise have chosen. When birth rates began to fait in Europe, this was said to be a simple matter of choice. That was true, but it is possible that fertility may overshoot below what people might naturally have chosen. For many years, politicians have argued that southern Europe
35、 will catch up from its fertility decline because women, having postponed their first child, will quickly have a second and third. The overshoot theory suggests there may be only partial recuperation. Postponement could permanently tower fertility, not just redistribute it across time. F There is a
36、twist. If people have fewer children than they claim to want, how they see the family may change too. Research by Tomas Sobotka of the Vienna Institute of Demography suggests that, after decades of tow fertility, a quarter of young German men and a fifth of young women say they have no intention of
37、having children and think that this is fine. When Eurobarometer repeated its poll about ideal family size in 2001, support for the two-chlid model had fallen everywhere. Parts of Europe, then, may be entering a new demographic trap. People restrict family size from choice. Social, economic and cultu
38、ral factors then cause this natural fertility decline to overshoot. This changes expectations, to which people respond by having even fewer children. That does not necessarily mean that birth rates will fait even more: there may yet be some natural floor, but it could mean that recovery from very lo
39、w fertility rates proves to be stow or even non-existent. 14 Questions 14-17 The text has 6 paragraphs (A-F). Which paragraph does each of the following headings best fit? 14 Even further falls? 15 One child policy 16 Germany differs 17 Possible reasons 18 Questions 18-22 According to the text, FIVE
40、 of the following statements are true. Write the corresponding letters in answer boxes 18 to 22 in any order. A Germany has the highest percentage of childless women. B Italy and Poland have high birth rates. C Most of the reasons given by Michael Teitelbaum are not unique to Germany. D Communist go
41、vernments in Europe encouraged people to have children. E In 1979, most families had one or two children. F European women who have a child later usually have more soon after. G In 2001, people wanted fewer children than in 1979, according to Eurobarometer research. H Here may be a natural level at
42、which birth rates stop declining. 23 Questions 23-26 According to the information given in the text, choose the correct answer or answers from the choices given. 23 Reasons that ordinary Europeans do not think it is necessary to have as many children include （ A） less labour is needed to farm land.
43、（ B） the feeling that Europe is too crowded. （ C） a general dislike of children. 24 Michael Teitelbaum adds the following reasons: （ A） poor child care facilities. （ B） longer working hours. （ C） high unemployment amongst young adults. 25 Initial declines in southern and eastern Europe were because
44、of （ A） the reduced influence of the Catholic church. （ B） lower standards of living. （ C） governments encouraged smaller families. 26 People may have fewer children than they want because （ A） women are having children at a later age. （ B） they are following the example of other people. （ C） politi
45、cians want them to. 26 Teens Try to Change the World One Purchase at a Time When classes adjourn here at the Fayerweather Street School, eighth-graders ignore the mall down the street and go straight to the place they consider much cooler: the local natural-foods grocer. There they gather in groups
46、of ten or more sometimes, smitten by a marketing atmosphere that links attractiveness to eating well. When time comes to buy something even as small as a chocolate treat, they feel good knowing a farmer somewhere probably received a good price. “Food is something you need to stay alive,“ says eighth
47、-grader Emma Lewis. “Paying farmers well is really important because if we didnt have any unprocessed food, wed all be living on candy.“ Eating morally, as some describe it, is becoming a priority for teenagers as well as adults in their early 20s. What began a decade ago as a concern on college cam
48、puses to shun clothing made in overseas sweatshops has given birth to a parallel phenomenon in the food and beverage industries. Here, youthful shoppers are leveraging their dollars in a bid to reduce pesticide usage, limit deforestation, and make sure farmers arent left with a pittance on payday. O
49、nce again, college campuses are setting the pace. Students at 30 colleges have helped persuade administrators to make sure all cafeteria coffee comes with a “Fair Trade“ label, which means bean pickers in Latin America and Africa were paid higher than the going rates. Their peers on another 300 campuses are pushing to follow suit, according to Students United for Fair Trade in Washington, D.C. Coffee is just the beginning. Bon App6tit, an institutional food-service provider based in California, relies on organi
