1、雅思（阅读）模拟试卷 52及答案与解析 一、 Reading Module (60 minutes) 0 You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1 - 12 which are based on Reading Passage 1 below. SPOKEN CORPUS COMES TO LIFE A The compiling of dictionaries has been historically the provenance of studious professorial types usually bespectacled
2、who love to pore over weighty tomes and make pronouncements on the finer nuances of meaning. They were probably good at crosswords and definitely knew a lot of words, but the image was always rather dry and dusty. The latest technology, and simple technology at that, is revolutionising the content o
3、f dictionaries and the way they are put together. B For the first time, dictionary publishers are incorporating real, spoken English into their data. It gives lexicographers(people who write dictionaries)access to a more vibrant, up-to-date vernacular language which has never really been studied bef
4、ore. In one project, 150 volunteers each agreed to discreetly tie a Walkman recorder to their waist and leave it running for anything up to two weeks. Every conversation they had was recorded. When the data was collected, the length of tapes was 35 times the depth of the Atlantic Ocean. Teams of aud
5、io typists transcribed the tapes to produce a computerised database of ten million words. C This has been the basis along with an existing written corpus for the Language Activator dictionary, described by lexicographer Professor Randolph Quirk as the book the world has been waiting for. It shows ad
6、vanced foreign learners of English how the language is really used. In the dictionary, key words such as eat are followed by related phrases such as wolf down or be a picky eater, allowing the student to choose the appropriate phrase. D This kind of research would be impossible without computers, sa
7、id Delia Summers, a director of dictionaries. It has transformed the way lexicographers work. If you look at the word like, you may intuitively think that the first and most frequent meaning is the verb, as in I like swimming. It is not. It is the preposition, as in: she walked like a duck. Just bec
8、ause a word or phrase is used doesnt mean it ends up in a dictionary. The sifting out process is as vital as ever. But the database does allow lexicographers to search for a word and find out how frequently it is used something that could only be guessed at intuitively before. E Researchers have fou
9、nd that written English works in a very different way to spoken English. The phrase say what you like literally means feel free to say anything you want, but in reality it is used, evidence shows, by someone to prevent the other person voicing disagreement. The phrase its a question of crops up on t
10、he database over and over again. It has nothing to do with enquiry, but its one of the most frequent English phrases which has never been in a language learners dictionary before: it is now. F The Spoken Corpus computer shows how inventive and humorous people are when they are using language by twis
11、ting familiar phrases for effect. It also reveals the power of the pauses and noises we use to play for time, convey emotion, doubt and irony. G For the moment, those benefiting most from the Spoken Corpus are foreign learners. Computers allow lexicographers to search quickly through more examples o
12、f real English, said Professor Geoffrey Leech of Lancaster University. They allow dictionaries to be more accurate and give a feel for how language is being used. The Spoken Corpus is part of the larger British National Corpus, an initiative carried out by several groups involved in the production o
13、f language learning materials: publishers, universities and the British Library. Questions 1-6 Reading Passage 1 has seven paragraphs(A - G). Choose the most suitable heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below. Write the appropriate numbers(i - Xi)in boxes 1 - 6 on your answer sheet.
14、 Paragraph C has been done for you as an example. NB There are more headings than paragraphs so you will not use all of them. You may use any heading more than once. List of Headings i Grammar is corrected ii New method of research iii Technology learns from dictionaries iV Non-verbal content V The
15、first study of spoken language Vi Traditional lexicographical methods Vii Written English tells the truth Viii New phrases enter dictionary iX A cooperative research project X Accurate word frequency counts Xi Alternative expressions provided 1 Paragraph A 2 Paragraph B 3 Paragraph D 4 Paragraph E 5
16、 Paragraph F 6 Paragraph G 6 The diagram below illustrates the information provided in paragraphs B - F of Reading Passage 1 . Complete the labels on the diagram with an appropriate word or words. Use NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each space. Write your answers in boxes 7 - 11 on your answer sheet. C
17、hoose the appropriate letter A - D and write it in box 12 on your answer sheet. 12 Why was this article written? （ A） To give an example of a current dictionary. （ B） To announce a new approach to dictionary writing. （ C） To show how dictionaries have progressed over the years. （ D） To compare the c
18、ontent of different dictionaries. 12 You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 13 26 which are based on Reading Passage 2 below. Moles happy as homes go underground A The first anybody knew about Dutchman Frank Siegmund and his family was when workmen tramping through a field found a narrow ste
19、el chimney protruding through the grass. Closer inspection revealed a chink of sky-light window among the thistles, and when amazed investigators moved down the side of the hill they came across a pine door complete with leaded diamond glass and a brass knocker set into an underground building. The
20、Siegmunds had managed to live undetected for six years outside the border town of Breda, in Holland. They are the latest in a clutch of individualistic homemakers who have burrowed underground in search of tranquillity. B Most, falling foul of strict building regulations, have been forced to dismant
21、le their individualistic homes and return to more conventional lifestyles. But subterranean suburbia, Dutch-style, is about to become respectable and chic. Seven luxury homes cosseted away inside a high earth-covered noise embankment next to the main Tilburg city road recently went on the market for
22、 $296,500 each. The foundations had yet to be dug, but customers queued up to buy the unusual part-submerged houses, whose back wall consists of a grassy mound and whose front is a long glass gallery. C The Dutch are not the only would-be moles. Growing numbers of Europeans are burrowing below groun
23、d to create houses, offices, discos and shopping malls, It is already proving a way of life in extreme climates; in winter months in Montreal, Canada, for instance, citizens can escape the cold in an underground complex complete with shops and even health clinics. In Tokyo builders are planning a ma
24、ssive underground city to be begun in the next decade, and underground shopping malls are already common in Japan, where 90 percent of the population is squeezed into 20 percent of the landspace. D Building big commercial buildings underground can be a way to avoid disfiguring or threatening a beaut
25、iful or environmentally sensitive landscape. Indeed many of the buildings which consume most land such as cinemas, supermarkets, theatres, warehouses or libraries have no need to be on the surface since they do not need windows. E There are big advantages, too, when it comes to private homes. A deve
26、lopment of 194 houses which would take up 14 hectares of land above ground would occupy 2.7 hectares below it, while the number of roads would be halved. Under several metres of earth, noise is minimal and insulation is excellent. We get 40 to 50 enquiries a week, says Peter Carpenter, secretary of
27、the British Earth Sheltering Association, which builds similar homes in Britain. People see this as a way of building for the future. An underground dweller himself, Carpenter has never paid a heating bill, thanks to solar panels and natural insulation. F In Europe, the obstacle has been conservativ
28、e local authorities and developers who prefer to ensure quick sales with conventional mass-produced housing. But the Dutch development was greeted with undisguised relief by South Limburg planners because of Hollands chronic shortage of land. It was the Tilburg architect Jo Hurkmans who hit on the i
29、dea of making use of noise embankments on main roads. His two-floored, four-bedroomed, two-bathroomed detached homes are now taking shape. They are not so much below the earth as in it, he says. All the light will come through the glass front, which runs from the second floor ceiling to the ground.
30、Areas which do not need much natural lighting are at the back. The living accommodation is to the front so nobody notices that the back is dark. G In the US, where energy-efficient homes became popular after the oil crisis of 1973, 10,000 underground houses have been built. A terrace of five homes,
31、Britains first subterranean development, is under way in Nottinghamshire. Italys outstanding example of subterranean architecture is the Olivetti residential centre in Ivrea. Commissioned by Roberto Olivetti in 1969, it comprises 82 one-bed-roomed apartments and 12 maisonettes and forms a house/hote
32、l for Olivetti employees. It is built into a hill and little can be seen from outside except a glass facade. Patrizia Vallecchi, a resident since 1992, says it is little different from living in a conventional apartment. H Not everyone adapts so well, and in Japan scientists at the Shimizu Corporati
33、on have developed space creation systems which mix light, sounds, breezes and scents to stimulate people who spend long periods below ground. Underground offices in Japan are being equipped with virtual windows and mirrors, while underground departments in the University of Minnesota have periscopes
34、 to reflect views and light. I But Frank Siegmund and his family love their hobbit lifestyle. Their home evolved when he dug a cool room for his bakery business in a hill he had created. During a heatwave they took to sleeping there. We felt at peace and so close to nature, he says. Gradually I bega
35、n adding to the rooms. It sounds strange but we are so close to the earth we draw strength from its vibrations. Our children love it; not every child can boast of being watched through their playroom windows by rabbits. Questions 13 20 Reading Passage 2 has nine paragraphs(A - I). Choose the most su
36、itable heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below. Write the appropriate numbers(I XII)in boxes 13 - 20 on your answer sheet. Paragraph A has been done for you as an example. NB There are more headings than paragraphs so you will not use all of them. List of headings i A designer des
37、cribes his houses ii Most people prefer conventional housing iii Simulating a natural environment iV How an underground family home developed V Demands on space and energy are reduced Vi The plans for future homes Vii Worldwide examples of underground living accommodation Viii Some buildings do not
38、require natural light iX Developing underground services around the world X Underground living improves health Xi Homes sold before completion Xii An underground home is discovered 13 Paragraph B 14 Paragraph C 15 Paragraph D 16 Paragraph E 17 Paragraph F 18 Paragraph G 19 Paragraph H 20 Paragraph I
39、 20 Complete the sentences below with words taken from the reading passage. Use NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 21 26 on your answer sheet. 21 Many developers prefer mass-produced houses because they_ 22 The Dutch development was welcomed by_ 23 Hurkmans houses
40、are built into_ 24 The Ivrea centre was developed for_ 25 Japanese scientists are helping people_ .underground life. 26 Frank Siegmunds first underground room was used for_ 26 A Workaholic EconomyFOR THE first century or so of the industrial revolution, increased productivity led to decreases in wor
41、king hours. Employees who had been putting in 12-hour days, six days a week, found their time on the job shrinking to 10 hours daily, then, finally, to eight hours, five days a week. Only a generation ago social planners worried about what people would do with all this new-found free time. In the US
42、, at least, it seems they need not have bothered. Although the output per hour of work has more than doubled since 1945, leisure seems reserved largely for the unemployed and underemployed. Those who work full-time spend as much time on the job as they did at the end of World War II . In fact, worki
43、ng hours have increased noticeably since 1970 perhaps because real wages have stagnated since that year. Bookstores now abound with manuals describing how to manage time and cope with stress. There are several reasons for lost leisure. Since 1979, companies have responded to improvements in the busi
44、ness climate by having employees work overtime rather than by hiring extra personnel, says economist Juliet B. Schor of Harvard University. Indeed, the current economic recovery has gained a certain amount of notoriety for its jobless nature: increased production has been almost entirely decoupled f
45、rom employment. Some firms are even downsizing as their profits climb. All things being equal, wed be better off spreading around the work, observes labour economist Ronald G. Ehrenberg of Cornell University. Yet a host of factors pushes employers to hire fewer workers for more hours and, at the sam
46、e time, compels workers to spend more time on the job. Most of those incentives involve what Ehrenberg calls the structure of compensation: quirks in the way salaries and benefits are organised that make it more profitable to ask 40 employees to labour an extra hour each than to hire one more worker
47、 to do the same 40-hour job. Professional and managerial employees supply the most obvious lesson along these lines. Once people are on salary, their cost to a firm is the same whether they spend 35 hours a week in the office or 70. Diminishing returns may eventually set in as overworked employees l
48、ose efficiency or leave for more arable pastures. But in the short run, the employers incentive is clear. Reprinted with permission. Copyright 1994 fry Scientific American, Inc. All rights reserved. Even hourly employees receive benefits such as pension contributions and medical insurance that are n
49、ot tied to the number of hours they work. Therefore, it is more profitable for employers to work their existing employees harder. For all that employees complain about long hours, they, too, have reasons not to trade money for leisure. People who work reduced hours pay a huge penalty in career terms. Schor maintains. Its taken as a negative signal about their commitment to the firm. Lotte Bailyn of Massachusetts Institute of Technology adds that many corporate man
