1、雅思（阅读）模拟试卷 2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. Tackling Obesity in the Western World A Obesity is a huge problem in many Western countries and one which nowattracts considerable med
2、ical interest as researchers take up the challenge to find a cure for the common condition of being seriously overweight However, rather than take responsibility for their weight， obese people have often sought solace in the excuse that they have a slow metabolism， a genetic hiccup which sentences m
3、ore than half the Australian population(63% of men and 47% of women)to a life of battling with their weight The argument goes like this: it doesnt matter how little they eat， they gain weight because their bodies break down food and turn it into energy more slowly than those with a so-called normal
4、metabolic rate B This is nonsense, says Dr Susan Jebb from the Dunn Nutrition Unit at Cambridge in England Despite the persistence of this metabolism myth, science has known for several years that the exact opposite is in fact true Fat people have faster metabolisms than thin people. What is very cl
5、ear, says Dr Jebb,is that overweight people actually burn off more energy They have more cells， bigger hearts， bigger lungs and they all need more energy just to keep going. C It took only one night， spent in a sealed room at the Dunn Unit to disabuse one of their patients of the beliefs of a lifeti
6、me: her metabolism was fast， not slow By sealing the room and measuring the exact amount of oxygen she used, researchers were able to show her that her metabolism was not the culprit It wasnt the answer she expected and probably not the one she wanted but she took the news philosophically D Although
7、 the metabolism myth has been completely disproved， science has far from discounted our genes as responsible for making us whatever weight we are, fat or thin. One of the worlds leadinq obesity researchers, geneticist Professor Stephen ORahilly, goes so far as to say we are on the threshold of a com
8、plete change in the way we view not only morbid obesity, but also everyday overweight. Prof. ORahilly s groundbreaking work in Cambridge has proven that obesity can be caused by our genes. These people are not weak willed, slothful or lazy, says Prof. O Rahilly, They have a medical condition due to
9、a genetic defect and that causes them to be obese. E In Australia， the University of Sydneys Professor lan Caterson says while major genetic defects may be rare， many people probably have minor genetic variations that combine to dictate weight and are responsible for things such as how much we eat，
10、the amount of exercise we do and the amount of energy we need When you add up all these little variations, the result is that some people are genetically predisposed to putting on weight He says while the fast/slow metabolism debate may have been settled that doesnt mean some other subtle change in
11、the metabolism gene wont be found in overweight people He is confident that science will， eventually, be able to cure some forms of obesity but the only effective way for the vast majority of overweight and obese people to lose weight is a change of diet and an increase in exercise F Despite the $50
12、0 million a year Australians spend trying to lose weight and the $830 million it costs the community in health care Obesity is at epidemic proportions here, as it is in all Western nations Until recently, research and treatment for obesity had concentrated or behaviour modification， drugs to decreas
13、e appetite and surgery How the drugs worked was often not understood and many caused severe side effects and even death in some patients Surgery for obesity has also claimed many lives G It has lonq been known that a part of the brain called the hypothalamus is responsible for regulating hunger, amo
14、ng other things But it wasnt until 1994 that Professor Jeffery Friedman from Rockerfeller University in the US sent science in a new direction by studying an obese mouse Prof Friedman found that unlike its thin brothers， the fat mouse did not produce a hitherto unknown hormone called leptin Manufact
15、ured by the fat cells， leptin acts as a messenger, sending signals to the hypothalamus to turn off the appetite Previously, the fat cells were thought to be responsible simply for storing fat Prof Friedman gave the fat mouse leptin and it lost 30% of its body weight in two weeks H On the other side
16、of the Atlantic Prof ORahilly read about this research with great excitement For many months two blood samples had lain in the bottom of his freezer, taken from two extremely obese young cousins He hired a doctor to develop a test for leptin in human blood， which eventually resulted in the discovery
17、 that neither of the childrens blood contained the hormone When one cousin was given leptin she lost a stone in weight and Prof ORahiIly made medical history Here was the first proof that a genetic defect could cause obesity in humans But leptin deficiency turned out to be an extremely rare conditio
18、n and there is a lot more research to be done before the magic cu re for obesity is ever found 1 Questions 1-8 Reading Passage 1 has seven paragraphs A-H. From the list of headings below choose the most suitable heading for each paragraph. Write the appropriate numbers (i-xi) in boxes 1-8 on your an
19、swer sheet. List of headings Obesity in animals Hidden dangers Proof of the truth New perspective on the horizon No known treatment Rodent research leads the way Expert explains energy requirements of obese people A very uncommon complaint Nature or nurture Shifting the blame Lifestyle change requir
20、ed despite new findings 1 Paragraph A 2 Paragraph B 3 Paragraph C 4 Paragraph D 5 Paragraph E 6 Paragraph F 7 Paragraph G 8 Paragraph H 9 Questions 9-13 Complete the summary of Reading Passage 1 (Questions 9-13) using words from the box at the bottom of the page. Write your answers in boxes 9-13 on
21、your answer sheet. OBESITY They do this by seeking to blame their 【 9】 for the fact that they are overweight and erroneously believe that they use 【 10】 energy than thin people to stay alive. However, recent research has shown that a 【 11】 problem can be responsible for obesity as some people seem p
22、rogrammed to 【 12】 more than others. The new research points to a shift from trying to change peoples 【 13】 to seeking an answer to the problem in the laboratory. List of words weight exercise sleep mind bodies exercise metabolism more genetic less physical consume behaviour use mental 9 【 9】 10 【 1
23、0】 11 【 11】 12 【 12】 13 【 13】 14 READING PASSAGE 2 You should about 20 minutes on Questions 14-17 which are based on Reading Passage 2 below. Wheel of Fortune Emma Duncan discusses the potentiaI effects on the entertainment industry of the digital revolution A Since moving pictures were invented a c
24、entury ago， a new way of distributing entertainment to consumers has emerged about once every generation Each such innovation has changed the industry irreversibly； each has been accompanied by a period of fear mixed with exhilaration The arrival of digital technology, which translates music picture
25、s and text into the zeros and ones of computer language， marks one of those periods B This may sound familiar, because the digital revolution， and the explosion of choice that would go with it, has been heralded for some time In 1992， John Malone， chief executive of TCI， an American cable giant welc
26、omed the 500-channel universe Digital television was about to deliver everything except pizzas to peoples living rooms When the entertainment companies tried out the technology, it worked fine-but not at a price that people were prepared to pay C Those 500 channels eventually arrived but via the Int
27、ernet and the PC rather than through television The digital revolution was startinq to affect the entertainment business in unexpected ways Eventually it will chanqe every aspect of it， from the way cartoons are made to the way films are screened to the way people buy music That much is clear What n
28、obody is sure of is how it will affect the economics of the business D New technologies always contain within them both threats and opportunities They have the potential both to make the companies in the business a great deal richer, and to sweep them away Old companies always fear new technology Ho
29、llywood was hostile to television， television terrified by the VCR Go back far enough， points out Hal Varian an economist at the University of California at Berkeley, and you find publishers complaining that circulating libraries would cannibalise their sales Yet whenever a new technology has come i
30、n， it has made more money for existing entertainment companies. The proliferation of the means of distribution results，gratifyingly, in the proliferation of dollars， pounds， pesetas and the rest to pay for it. E All the same， there is something in the old companies fears New technologies may not thr
31、eaten their lives but they usually change their role Once television became widespread， film and radio stopped being the staple form of entertainment Cable television has undermined the power of the broadcasters And as power has shifted the movie studios， the radio companies and the television broad
32、casters have been swallowed up These days， the grand old names of entertainment have more resonance than power Paramount is part of Viacom， a cable company; Universal， part of Seagram, a drinks-and-entertainment company; MGM， once the roarinq lion of Hollywood， has been reduced to a whisper because
33、it is not Dart of one of the giants And RCA， once the most important broadcasting company in the world， is now a recording label belonging to Bertelsmann， a large German entertainment company F Part of the reason why incumbents got pushed aside was that they did not see what was coming But they also
34、 faced a tighter regulatory environment than the present one In America， laws preventing television broadcasters from owning programme companies were repealed earlier this decade， allowing the creation of vertically integrated businesses Greater freedom， combined with a sense of history, prompted th
35、e smarter companies in the entertainment business to re-invent themselves They saw what happened to those of their predecessors who were stuck with one form of distribution So， these days， the powers in the entertainment business are no longer movie studios， or television broadcasters， or publishers
36、； all those businesses have become part of bigger businesses still， companies that can both create content and distribute it in a range of different ways G Out of all this seven huge entertainment companies have emerged- Time Warner, Walt Disney, Bertelsmann， Viacom， News Corp， Seagram and Sony They
37、 cover pretty well every bit of the entertainment business except pornography Three are American， one is Australian， one Canadian， one German and one Japanese What you are seeing, says Christopher Dixon, managing director of media research at PaineWebber a stockbroker, is the creation of a global ol
38、igopoly It happened to the oil and automotive businesses earlier this century； now It is happening to the entertainment business It remains to be seen whether the latest technology will weaken those great companies， or make them stronger than ever 14 Questions 14-21 Reading Passage 2 has seven parag
39、raphs A-G. Which paragraph mentions the following (Questions 14-21)? Write the appropriate letters (A-G) in boxes 14-21 on your answer sheet. NB: Some of the paragraphs will be used more than once. 14 the contrasting effects that new technology can have on existing business. 15 the fact that a total
40、 transformation is going to take place in the future in the delivery of all forms of entertainment. 16 the confused feelings that people are known to have experienced in response to technological innovation. 17 the fact that some companies have learnt from the mistakes of others 18 the high cost to
41、the consumer of new ways of distributing entertainment. 19 uncertainty regarding the financial impact of wider media access. 20 the fact that some companies were the victims of strict government policy. 21 the fact that the digital revolution could undermine the giant entertainment companies. 22 Que
42、stions 22-25 The writer refers to various individuals and companies in the reading passage. Match the people or companies (A-E) with the points made in Questions 22-25 about the introduction of new technology. Write the appropriate letter (A-E) in boxes 22-25 on your answer sheet. A John Malone B Ha
43、l valarian C MGM D Walt Disney E Christopher Dixon 22 Historically, new forms of distributing entertainment have alarmed those well-established in the business. （ A） John Malone （ B） Hal valarian （ C） MGM （ D） Walt Disney （ E） Christopher Dixon 23 The merger of entertainment companies follows a patt
44、ern evident in other industries. （ A） John Malone （ B） Hal valarian （ C） MGM （ D） Walt Disney （ E） Christopher Dixon 24 Major entertainment bodies that have remained independent have lost their influence. （ A） John Malone （ B） Hal valarian （ C） MGM （ D） Walt Disney （ E） Christopher Dixon 25 News of
45、the most recent technological development was published some years ago. （ A） John Malone （ B） Hal valarian （ C） MGM （ D） Walt Disney （ E） Christopher Dixon 26 Questions 26-27 Choose the appropriate letters A-D and write them in boxes 26-27 on your answer sheet. 26 How does the writer put across his
46、views on the digital revolution? （ A） by examining the forms of media that will be affected by it （ B） by analysing the way entertainment companies have reacted to it （ C） by giving a personal definition of technological innovation （ D） by drawing comparisons with other periods of technological inno
47、vation 27 Which of the following best summarises the writers views in Reading Passage 2? （ A） The public should cease resisting the introduction of new technology. （ B） Digital technology will increase profits in the entertainment business. （ C） Entertainment companies should adapt to technological
48、innovation. （ D） Technological change only benefits big entertainment companies. 28 READING PASSAGE 3 You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 28-40 which are based on Reading Passage 3 below What do we mean by being talented or gifted. The most obvious way is to look at the work someone does
49、and if they are capable of significant success, label them as talented. The purely quantitative route - percentage definition - looks not at individuals, but at simple percentages, such as the top five per cent of the population, and labels them - by definition - as gifted. This definition has fallen from favour, eclipsed by the advent of IQ tests, favoured by luminaries such as Pro
