1、雅思（阅读）模拟试卷 3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. Indoor Pollution Since the early eighties we have been only too aware of the devastating effects of large-scale environmental pollutio
2、n. Such pollution is generally the result of poor government planning in many developing nations or the short-sighted, selfish policies of the already industrialised countries which encourage a minority of the worlds population to squander the majority of its natural resources. While events such as
3、the deforestation of the Amazon jungle or the nuclear disaster in Chernobyl continue to receive high media exposure, as do acts of environmental sabotage, it must be remembered that not all pollution is on this grand scale. A large proportion of the worlds pollution has its source much closer to hom
4、e. The recent spillage of crude oil from an oil tanker accidentally discharging its cargo straight into Sydney Harbour not only caused serious damage to the harbour foreshores but also created severely toxic fumes which hung over the suburbs for days and left the angry residents wondering how such a
5、 disaster could have been allowed to happen. Avoiding pollution can be a fulltime job. Try not to inhale traffic fumes; keep away from chemical plants and building-sites; wear a mask when cycling. It is enough to make you want to stay at home. But that, according to a growing body of scientific evid
6、ence, would also be a bad idea. Research shows that levels of pollutants such as hazardous gases, particulate matter and other chemical nasties are usually higher indoors than out, even in the most polluted cities. Since the average American spends 18 hours indoors for every hour outside, it looks a
7、s though many environmentalists may be attacking the wrong target. The latest study, conducted by two environmental engineers, Richard Corsi and Cynthia Howard-Reed, of the University of Texas in Austin, and published in Environmental Science and Technology, suggests that it is the process of keepin
8、g clean that may be making indoor pollution worse. The researchers found that baths, showers,dishwashers and washing machines can all be significant sources of indoor pollution, because they extract trace amounts of chemicals from the water that they use and transfer them to the air. Nearly all publ
9、ic water supplies contain very low concentrations of toxic chemicals, most ofthem left over from the otherwise beneficial process of chlorination. Dr. Corsi wondered whether they stay there when water is used, or whether they end up in the air that people breathe. The team conducted a series of expe
10、riments in which known quantities of five such chemicals were mixed with water and passed through a dishwasher, a washing machine, a shower head inside a shower stall or a tap in a bath, all inside a specially designed chamber. The levels of chemicals in the effluent water and in the air extracted f
11、rom the chamber were then measured to see how much of each chemical had been transferred from the water into the air. The degree to which the most volatile elements could be removed from the water, a process known as chemical stripping, depended on a wide range of factors, including the volatility o
12、f the chemical, the temperature of the water and the surface area available for transfer. Dishwashers were found to be particularly effective: the high-temperature spray,splashing against the crockery and cutlery, results in a nasty plume of toxic chemicals that escapes when the door is opened at th
13、e end of the cycle. In fact, in many cases, the degree of exposure to toxic chemicals in tap water by inhalation is comparable to the exposure that would result from drinking the stuff. This is significant because many people are so concerned about water-borne pollutants that they drink only bottled
14、 water, worldwide sales of which are forecast to reach 72 billion by next year. D. Corsis results suggest that they are being exposed to such pollutants anyway simply by breathing at home. The aim of such research is not, however, to encourage the use of gas masks when unloading the washing. Instead
15、, it is to bring a sense of perspective to the debate about pollution. According to Dr. Corsi, disproportionate effort is wasted campaigning against certain forms of outdoor pollution, when there is as much or more cause for concern indoors, right under peoples noses. Using gas cookers or burning ca
16、ndles, for example, both result in indoor levels of carbon monoxide and particulate matter that are just as high as those to be found outside, amid heavy traffic. Overcrowded classrooms whose ventilation systems were designed for smaller numbers of children frequently contain levels of carbon dioxid
17、e that would be regarded as unacceptable on board a submarine. New car smell is the result of high levels of toxic chemicals, not cleanliness. Laser printers, computers, carpets and paints all contribute to the noxious indoor mix. The implications of indoor pollution for health are unclear. But befo
18、re worrying about the problems caused by large-scale industry, it makes sense to consider the small-scale pollution at home and welcome international debate about this. Scientists investigating indoor pollution will gather next month in Edinburgh at the Indoor Air conference to discuss the problem.
19、Perhaps unwisely, the meeting is being held indoors. 1 Questions 1-6 Choose the appropriate letters A-D and write them in boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet. 1 In the first paragraph, the writer argues that pollution _. （ A） has increased since the eighties. （ B） is at its worst in industrialised countr
20、ies. （ C） results from poor relations between nations. （ D） is caused by human self-interest. 2 The Sydney Harbour oil spill was the result of a _. （ A） ship refuelling in the harbour. （ B） tanker pumping oil into the sea. （ C） collision between two oil tankers. （ D） deliberate act of sabotage. 3 In
21、 the 3rd paragraph the writer suggests that _. （ A） people should avoid working in cities. （ B） Americans spend too little time outdoors. （ C） hazardous gases are concentrated in industrial suburbs. （ D） there are several ways to avoid city pollution. 4 The Corsi research team hypothesised that _. （
22、 A） toxic chemicals can pass from air to water. （ B） pollution is caused by dishwashers and baths. （ C） city water contains insufficient chlorine. （ D） household appliances are poorly designed 5 As a result of their experiments, Dr. Corsis team found that _. （ A） dishwashers are very efficient machi
23、nes. （ B） tap water is as polluted as bottled water. （ C） indoor pollution rivals outdoor pollution. （ D） gas masks are a useful protective device. 6 Regarding the dangers of pollution, the writer believes that _. （ A） there is a need for rational discussion. （ B） indoor pollution is a recent phenom
24、enon. （ C） people should worry most about their work environment. （ D） industrial pollution causes specific diseases. 7 Questions 7-13 Reading Passage 1 describes a number of cause and effect relationships. Match each Cause (Questions 7-13) in List A with its Effect (A-J) in List B. Write the approp
25、riate letters (A-J) in boxes 7-13 on your answer sheet. List B: EFFECTS A The focus of pollution moves to the home. B The levels of carbon monoxide rise. C The worlds natural resources are unequally shared. D People demand an explanation. E Environmentalists look elsewhere for an explanation. F Chem
26、icals are effectively stripped from the water. G A clean odour is produced. H Sales of bottled water increase. I The levels of carbon dioxide rise. J The chlorine content of drinking water increased. 7 Industrialised nations use a lot of energy. 8 Oil spills into the sea. 9 The researchers publish t
27、heir findings. 10 Water is brought to a high temperature. 11 People fear pollutants in tap water. 12 Air conditioning systems are inadequate 13 Toxic chemicals are abundant in new cars. 14 READING PASSAGE 2 You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-27 which are based on Reading Passage 2 bel
28、ow. ROBOTS Since the dawn of human ingenuity,people have devised ever more cunning tools to cope with work that is dangerous, boring, onerous, or just plain nasty. That compulsion has culminated in robotics - the science of conferring various human capabilities on machines A The modern world is incr
29、easingly populated by quasi-intelligent gizmos whose presence we barely notice but whose creeping ubiquity has removed much human drudgery. Our factories hum to the rhythm of robot assembly arms. Our banking is done at automated teller terminals that thank us with rote politeness for the transaction
30、. Our subway trains are controlled by tireless robodrivers. Our mine shafts are dug by automated moles, and our nuclear accidents-such as those at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl-are cleaned up by robotic muckers fit to withstand radiation. Such is the scope of uses envisioned by Karel Capek, the Cz
31、ech playwright who coined the term robot in 1920 (the word robotameans forced labor in Czech). As progress accelerates, the experimental becomes the exploitable at record pace. B Other innovations promise to extend the abilities of human operators. Thanks to the incessant miniaturisation of electron
32、ics and micromechanics, there are already robot systems that can perform some kinds of brain and bone surgery with submillimeter accuracy-far greater precision than highly skilled physicians can achieve with their hands alone. At the same time, techniques of long-distance control will keep people ev
33、en farther from hazard. In 1994 a ten- foot-tall NASA robotic explorer called Dante, with video-camera eyes and with spiderlike legs,scrambled over the menacing rim of an Alaskan volcano while technicians 2,000 miles away in California watched the scene by satellite and controlled Dantes descent. C
34、But if robots are to reach the next stage of labour-saving utility, they will have to operate with less human supervision and be able tomake at least a few decisions for themselves-goals that pose a formidable challenge. While we know how to tell a robot to handle a specific error, says one expert,
35、we cant yet give a robot enough common sense to reliably interact with a dynamic world. Indeed the quest for true artificial intelligence (AI) has produced very mixed results. Despite a spasm of initial optimism in the 1960s and 1970s, when it appeared that transistor circuits and microprocessors mi
36、ght be able to perform in the same way as the human brain by the 21 st century, researchers lately have extended their forecasts by decades if not centuries. D What they found, in attempting to model thought, is that the human brains roughly one hundred billion neurons are much more talented-and hum
37、an perception far more complicated-than previously imagined. They have built robots that can recognise the misalignment of a machine panel by a fraction of a millimeter in a controlled factory environment. But the human mind can glimpse a rapidly changing scene and immediately disregard the 98 per c
38、ent that is irrelevant, instantaneously focusing on the woodchuck at the side of a winding forest road or the single suspicious face in a tumultuous crowd. The most advanced computer systems on Earth cant approach that kind of ability, and neuroscientists still dont know quite how we do it. E Noneth
39、eless, as information theorists, neuroscientists, and computer experts pool their talents, they are finding ways to get some lifelike intelligence from robots. One method renounces the linear, logical structure of conventional electronic circuits in favour of the messy, ad hoc arrangement of a real
40、brains neurons. These neural networks do not have to be programmed. They can teach themselves by a system of feedback signals that reinforce electrical pathways that produced correct responses and, conversely, wipe out connections that produced errors. Eventually the net wires itself into a system t
41、hat can pronounce certain words or distinguish certain shapes. F In other areas researchers are struggling to fashion a more natural relationship between people and robots in the expectation that some day machines will take on some tasks now done by humans in, say, nursing homes.This is particularly
42、 important in Japan, where the percentage of elderly citizens is rapidly increasing. So experiments at the Science University of Tokyo have created a face robot -a life-size, soft plastic model of a female head with a video camera imbedded in the left eye-as a prototype. The researchers goal is to c
43、reate robots that people feel comfortable around. They are concentrating on the face because they believe facial expressions are the most important way to transfer emotional messages. We read those messages by interpreting expressions to decide whether a person is happy, frightened, angry, or nervou
44、s. Thus the Japanese robot is designed to detect emotions in the person it is looking at by sensing changes in the spatial arrangement of the persons eyes, nose, eyebrows, and mouth. It compares those configurations with a database of standard facial expressions and guesses the emotion. The robot th
45、en uses an ensemble of tiny pressure pads to adjust its plastic face into an appropriate emotional response. G Other labs are taking a different approach, one that doesnt try to mimic human intelligence or emotions. Just as computer design has moved away from one central mainframe in favour of myria
46、d individual workstations - and single processors have been replaced by arrays of smaller units that break a big problem into parts that are solved simultaneously - many experts are now investigating whether swarms of semi-smart robots can generate a collective intelligence that is greater than the
47、sum of its parts. Thats what beehives and ant colonies do, and several teams are betting that legions of mini-critters working together like an ant colony could be sent to explore the climate of planets or to inspect pipes in dangerous industrial situations. 14 Questions 14-19 Reading Passage 2 has
48、seven paragraphs A-G. From the list of headings below choose the most suitable heading for each paragraph. Write the appropriate numbers (I-X) in boxes 14-19 on your answer sheet. List of headings Some success has resulted from observing how the brain functions. Are we expecting too much from one ro
49、bot? Scientists are examining the humanistic possibilities. There are judgements that robots cannot make. Has the power of robots become too great? Human skills have been heightened with the help of robotics. There are some things we prefer the brain to control. Robots have quietly infiltrated our lives. Original predictions have been revised. Another approach meets the same result. 14 Paragraph A 15 Paragraph B 16 Paragraph C 17 Paragraph D 18 Paragraph E 19 Paragraph F 20 Q
