1、雅思（阅读）模拟试卷 28及答案与解析 一、 Reading Module (60 minutes) 0 The Trees Have Eyes A An elaborate combination of technologies is being deployed to try to curb the illegal hunting of endangered species. Nouabal6-Ndoki national park, in the Republic of Congo, is 4,200 square kilometres of virgin tropical forest
2、 that is as densely populated with elephants and great apes as it is sparsely populated with rangers. There are 14 of them, and they have failed to nab a single poacher for more than a year. That is not for lack of illegal hunting in the park. Demand for ivory is up, driven largely by consumers in J
3、apan and an increasingly wealthy China. The value of meat from elephants, apes and other animals has also risen as loggers and miners move deeper into the countrys forests. Nor is this a problem confined to Congo. Last year poachers are estimated to have killed more than 23,000 African elephants. Ac
4、cording to a study by the University of Washington, that is about one in 17 of the continents total. B Nouabal6-Ndokis hard-pressed rangers are, however, about to get some high-tech help in the form of TrailGuard, a system of small and easily hidden electronic detection and communication devices. Th
5、ey will soon begin burying radio-transmitting metal detectors alongside elephant trails leading into the park. Authorised hikers through the park will be given transponders that tell the detectors who they are, as with the “identification friend-or-foe“ systems on military aircraft. But when poacher
6、s carrying rifles or machetes traipse by a detector, it will send a radio signal to a treetop antenna. Seconds later the rangers will receive the intruders co-ordinates on their satellite phones. They will then be able to respond precisely, rather than slogging around on fruitless and demoralising p
7、atrols on the off-chance of catching a poacher up to no good. C TrailGuard is the brainchild of Steve Gulick, an electrical engineer turned biologist who recently left the State University of New York (SUNY) to set up a not-for-profit organisation called Wildland Security, to promote his idea. Besid
8、es catching more (or, indeed, any) poachers, he hopes his invention will also prove to be an example of an idea from another one-time electrical engineer, Arthur C. Clarke. Clarkes Third Law, as it is known to fans of his sciencefiction writing, is that “any sufficiently advanced technology is indis
9、tinguishable from magic“. Many people in Congo do believe in magic and Mr Gulick does not propose to disabuse them of the notion. Local people will receive no explanation for the rangers new powers. That, Mr Gulick hopes, will discourage potential poachers from turning thought into deed. D Nor are m
10、etal detectors the only magic to be deployed. Small fire detectors hidden in trees should add to the anti-poaching units reputation for clairvoyance. Poachers frequently smoke meat from their kills to preserve it during transport to market. Like the metal detectors, the fire detectors will alert the
11、 rangers by satellite phone, allowing them to swoop as from nowhere. Congo is not the only country about to apply technology to conservation. In Costa Ricas Osa reserve two wildlife-preservation groups are testing similar metal-detector and satellite technology intended to curb the poaching of exoti
12、c birds (sold to pet stores) and jaguars (killed for their fur, or because they eat livestock). The project is expected to work well because, as in the Congo, lush vegetation makes it difficult to avoid trails, where most surveillance equipment can be set up. E Whether such equipment will work outsi
13、de forests has yet to be tested, but there are reasons to hope it might. In savannahs, for example, traffic moves toward or away from watering holes and brush, sand and slopes keep most vehicles on tracks. The Galapagos Islands, a prime target for unlicensed hunting, has few practicable landing spot
14、s for boats and passages through the volcanic-rock landscape. Given that animals have established breeding grounds, this dictates poachers movements, says James Gibbs, who works at SUNYs environmental-science department. He is testing a metal-detector-and-satellite system at a place on Isabela, the
15、largest of the islands, where giant tortoises gather. At the moment, the animals are often killed by poachers for their meat, their shells and a fatty gel that can be clarified into a tasty cooking oil. If Dr Gibbs has his way, this will soon stop. F Yet another place where anti-poaching sensors wil
16、l soon be deployed is the Shavla Wildlife Refuge in Russias Altai Republic. This is one of the few remaining strongholds of the snow leopard. Shavlas anti-poaching brigades vie with those of Nouabal6-Ndoki in the difficulty of their task. Though they have a mere 2,500 square kilometres to patrol (as
17、 opposed to 4,200), they have only 12 men and the land is mountainous. Snow leopard skins sell for up to $3,000 in China, “where they are used as a nice rug,“ says Misha Paltsyn, a local conservationist and the head of Arkhar, a nature-conservation organisation based in Altais capital, Gorno-AI-tais
18、k. In the autumn Arkhar will begin hiding heat detectors with satellite links in the refuges unattended cabins. As with Nouabal6-Ndoki, authorised visitors will be given transponders. Unauthorised ones will get an unexpected visit shortly after they fire up the stove. 1 Questions 1-4 The text has 6
19、paragraphs (A-F). Which paragraph contains each of the following pieces of in formation? 1 How poachers keep meat fresh to eat. 2 The reasons that elephants are being hunted. 3 The reasons that the technology should be worth using outside rainforests. 4 Two of the objects carried by poachers. 5 Ques
20、tions 5-8 Complete the following sentences using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the text. 5 Fourteen _ patrol Nouabale-Ndoki national park. 6 The transponders use a similar system to that used by _. 7 Mr Gulick intends to use the fact that many people in Congo _ against poachers. 8 The terrain in the
21、 Shavla Wildlife Refuge is _. 9 Questions 9-13 Do the following statements agree with the information given in the text? Write TRUE if the information in the text agrees with the statement. Write FALSE if the information in the text contradicts the statement. Write NOT GIVEN if there is no informati
22、on on this. 9 One in 17 of the Congos elephants was killed last year. 10 In the Congo, some local people are authorised to kill wild animals for food. 11 In the Congo, fire detectors will be put in trees primarily to detect forest fires. 12 On the Galapagos Islands, animals tend to breed in the same
23、 areas year after year. 13 The Shavla Wildlife Refuge is larger than Nouabal-Ndoki national park. 13 When the Wells Dry Up A “Everyone else in Britain hangs on what the Bank of England does with interest rates,“ says one proud Aberdonian. “Up here, we don t care about that. We re much more intereste
24、d in what OPEC does to the oil price.“ An exaggeration maybe, but Aberdeen is the Houston of an offshore industry that has long made Britain a big oil and gas producer. The petropounds coursing through the “Granite City“ on the north-east coast of Scotland have turned Aberdeen into one of the most p
25、rosperous cities in Britain. The typical worker makes 481 a week, compared with median earnings of 447 across Britain. The city s unemployment rate is well under the national average. The oil industry employs 33,000 people directly in Aberdeen and is estimated to provide work for 400,000 in Britain.
26、 B Aberdeen is booming now thanks to high oil prices, but the future looks less rosy. Offshore output peaked eight years ago, when Britain was the world s sixth-biggest producer of oil and gas; by 2006 it had become the 12th-biggest. The International Energy Agency said on July 10th that the drop in
27、 production had been steeper than expected. “Therell be nothing here in 15 years time,“ says one former offshore worker. “Oil s been good to me, but I wouldnt want my son going into the business.“ The recent decision by Royal Dutch Shell to sell off several of its North Sea fields and to abandon the
28、 construction of a 25 million head-quarters in the city has added to local worries. C Yet even though oil and gas output is declining, the local businesses that have sprung up to support it have bright prospects. The North Sea was one of the earliest offshore oil basins to be developed. Many of the
29、technologies needed to produce oil from underwater wells especially in the difficult, gale-prone waters off the British coast were developed in Scotland. Around 90% of oil-industry workers are employed not by the big international companies such as BP or Total that operate the fields but by local bu
30、sinesses. D For example, Wood Group is a big oil-services firm that specialises in, among other things, enhanced-recovery technology and offshore pipelines. Sub-Atlantic is a small outfit that makes remotely operated submarines. Altogether such businesses covering everything from catering and constr
31、uction to geology and engineering have a turnover of around 11.7 billion a year. The hope is that they will be able to sell the expertise they have acquired in the North Sea to an industry searching for oil and seeking to maximise production in ever more testing submarine conditions around the world
32、. E One area of particular British expertise is in subsea technology, a catch-all term for things such as automated wellheads and long pipeline networks on the seabed. These allow oil companies to use cheap ships instead of expensive fixed platforms and enable them to operate several wells from one
33、platform many miles away. Remotely operated vehicles are used to install and maintain equipment where water is too deep for divers. In 2005 Britain s subsea industry s output was worth around 3.4 billion, half of which was exported, a 20% rise on the year before. There are big opportunities to keep
34、growing fast. British firms account for half of global sales, and the industry is expanding rapidly. The world market for subsea services could be worth $40 billion by 2011, according to Scottish Enterprise, a development agency. David Pridden, the boss of Subsea UK, a trade agency, thinks exports f
35、rom the British industry could reach $15 billion by 2020. F Local businesses also have experience in squeezing more output out of existing fields, or cheaply developing smaller ones something that should extend the life of Britain s North Sea industry. As big finds become rarer, producers are focusi
36、ng on how to extract oil from smaller reservoirs that can be geologically or technically tricky to operate. “As other oilfields around the world begin to mature, there 11 be a centre of expertise here that can tell them how to get the most out of their remaining reserves,“ says Geoff Runcie, the bos
37、s of the Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce. G The city s cluster of high-tech businesses may have sprung up to support the North Sea oil industry but there are also opportunities beyond it. Many local firms have branched off into other areas, such as defence. Technologies developed to pull o
38、il and gas from the ocean floor can find other uses, too. When a Russian mini-submarine became caught on the Pacific seabed in 2005, it was cut free by a British remotely operated submarine based on technology developed for the North Sea. Aberdeen also has ambitions to exploit its oil-support know-h
39、ow in green energy. The hope is that local businesses with expertise in offshore construction and engineering can provide services to firms building offshore wind turbines or, in future, tidal and wave-powered generators. Even exhausted oil and gas fields may come in handy. One idea is that they can
40、 be used to store carbon emissions from fossil-fuel power plants. H The city is not short of ambition, but cooler-headed businessmen point out that it is easier to recognise opportunities than to grasp them. Exports still account for only about a quarter of the oil-support industry s output. Last ye
41、ar they grew by just 2%, compared with 16% in 2005, despite efforts by Scottish Enterprise to encourage firms to expand overseas. Oilmen make similar complaints to their counterparts in the rest of Britain s engineering sector: that the country lacks skilled workers; the standard of technical educat
42、ion is inadequate; and the government is ineffective in tackling these problems. Yet such complaints have been made ever since the first North Sea well started pumping in 1967. The cluster of businesses in Aberdeen has achieved a critical mass thanks to the North Sea. It now stands a good chance of
43、thriving in more distant offshore markets as the demand for energy continues to boom. 14 Questions 14-17 The text has 8 paragraphs (A-H). Which paragraph does each of the following headings best fit? 14 Underwater Experts 15 Problems Remain 16 Getting More from Fields 17 Declining Oil Industry 18 Qu
44、estions 18-22 According to the text, FIVE of the following statements are true. Write the corresponding letters in answer boxes 18 to 22 in any order. A. British oil production has halved in recent years. B. The weather conditions in the North Sea are not good. C. Oil fields are being looked for in
45、areas with more difficult underwater conditions. D. Britain is expected to have over half the world market in underwater technology in the future. E. The discovery of large oil fields is less common nowadays. F. Offshore energy generation offers opportunities for developers of underwater technology.
46、 G. One suggestion is to construct fossil-fuel power plants offshore. H. The oil industry is complaining that the government is not focussing enough on training people with the skills the industry needs. 23 Questions 23-26 According to the information given in the text, choose the correct answer fro
47、m the choices given. 23 The unemployment rate in Aberdeen is （ A） slightly lower than the average for Britain. （ B） much lower than the average for Britain. （ C） less than 10% of the average for Britain. 24 Royal Dutch Shell is （ A） discontinuing operations in the North Sea. （ B） scaling sown operat
48、ions in the North Sea. （ C） planning to relocate some of its workers outside Aberdeen. 25 Subsea UK （ A） is based in Aberdeen. （ B） exports technology worth billions of dollars. （ C） represents British companies involved in underwater technology. 26 Globally, the demand for energy is （ A） stable. （
49、B） growing slowly. （ C） growing quickly. 26 U.S. No Longer Tallest Country in the World America used to be the tallest country in the world. From the days of the founding fathers right on through the industrial revolution and two world wars, Americans literally towered over other nations. In a land of boundless open spaces and limitless natural abundance, the young nation transformed its increasing wealth into human growth. However, just as it has in so many other arenas, Ame
