剑桥雅思阅读6原文(test2)及答案难度精讲

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剑桥雅思阅读6原文(test2)

　　READING PASSAGE 1

　　You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 1 on the following pages.

　　Questions 1-5

　　Reading Passage 1 has five marked paragraphs, A-E.

　　Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below.

　　Write the correct number, i-viii, in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.

　　List of Headings

　　i Avoiding an overcrowded centre

　　ii A successful exercise in people power

　　iii The benefits of working together in cities

　　iv Higher incomes need not mean more cars

　　v Economic arguments fail to persuade

　　vi The impact of telecommunications on population distribution

　　vii Increases in travelling time

　　viii Responding to arguments against public transport

　　1 Paragraph A

　　2 Paragraph B

　　3 Paragraph C

　　4 Paragraph D

　　5 Paragraph E

　　Advantages of public transport

　　A new study conducted for the World Bank by Murdoch University’s Institute for Science and Technology Policy (ISTP) has demonstrated that public transport is more efficient than cars. The study compared the proportion of wealth poured into transport by thirty-seven cities around the world. This included both the public and private costs of building, maintaining and using a transport system.

　　The study found that the Western Australian city of Perth is a good example of a city with minimal public transport. As a result, 17% of its wealth went into transport costs. Some European and Asian cities, on the other hand, spent as little as 5%. Professor Peter Newman, ISTP Director, pointed out that these more efficient cities were able to put the difference into attracting industry and jobs or creating a better place to live.

　　According to Professor Newman, the larger Australian city of Melbourne is a rather unusual city in this sort of comparison. He describes it as two cities: ‘A European city surrounded by a car-dependent one’. Melbourne’s large tram network has made car use in the inner city much lower, but the outer suburbs have the same car-based structure as most other Australian cities. The explosion in demand for accommodation in the inner suburbs of Melbourne suggests a recent change in many people’s preferences as to where they live.

　　Newman says this is a new, broader way of considering public transport issues. In the past, the case for public transport has been made on the basis of environmental and social justice considerations rather than economics. Newman, however, believes the study demonstrates that ‘the auto-dependent city model is inefficient and grossly inadequate in economic as well as environmental terms’.

　　Bicycle use was not included in the study but Newman noted that the two most ‘bicycle friendly’ cities considered — Amsterdam and Copenhagen — were very efficient, even though their public transport systems were ‘reasonable but not special’.

　　It is common for supporters of road networks to reject the models of cities with good public transport by arguing that such systems would not work in their particular city. One objection is climate. Some people say their city could not make more use of public transport because it is either too hot or too cold. Newman rejects this, pointing out that public transport has been successful in both Toronto and Singapore and, in fact, he has checked the use of cars against climate and found ‘zero correlation’.

　　When it comes to other physical features, road lobbies are on stronger ground. For example, Newman accepts it would be hard for a city as hilly as Auckland to develop a really good rail network. However, he points out that both Hong Kong and Zurich have managed to make a success of their rail systems, heavy and light respectively, though there are few cities in the world as hilly.

　　A In fact, Newman believes the main reason for adopting one sort of transport over another is politics: ‘The more democratic the process, the more public transport is favored.’ He considers Portland, Oregon, a perfect example of this. Some years ago, federal money was granted to build a new road. However, local pressure groups forced a referendum over whether to spend the money on light rail instead. The rail proposal won and the railway worked spectacularly well. In the years that have followed, more and more rail systems have been put in, dramatically changing the nature of the city. Newman notes that Portland has about the same population as Perth and had a similar population density at the time.

　　B In the UK, travel times to work had been stable for at least six centuries, with people avoiding situations that required them to spend more than half an hour travelling to work. Trains and cars initially allowed people to live at greater distances without taking longer to reach their destination. However, public infrastructure did not keep pace with urban sprawl, causing massive congestion problems which now make commuting times far higher.

　　C There is a widespread belief that increasing wealth encourages people to live farther out where cars are the only viable transport. The example of European cities refutes that. They are often wealthier than their American counterparts but have not generated the same level of car use. In Stockholm, car use has actually fallen in recent years as the city has become larger and wealthier. A new study makes this point even more starkly. Developing cities in Asia, such as Jakarta and Bangkok, make more use of the car than wealthy Asian cities such as Tokyo and Singapore. In cities that developed later, the World Bank and Asian Development Bank discouraged the building of public transport and people have been forced to rely on cars — creating the massive traffic jams that characterize those cities.

　　D Newman believes one of the best studies on how cities built for cars might be converted to rail use is The Urban Village report, which used Melbourne as an example. It found that pushing everyone into the city centre was not the best approach. Instead, the proposal advocated the creation of urban villages at hundreds of sites, mostly around railway stations.

　　E It was once assumed that improvements in telecommunications would lead to more dispersal in the population as people were no longer forced into cities. However, the ISTP team’s research demonstrates that the population and job density of cities rose or remained constant in the 1980s after decades of decline. The explanation for this seems to be that it is valuable to place people working in related fields together. ‘The new world will largely depend on human creativity, and creativity flourishes where people come together face-to-face.’

　　Questions 6-10

　　Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?

　　In boxes 6-10 on your answer sheet, write

　　TRUE if the statement agrees with the information

　　FALSE if the statement contradicts the information

　　NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

　　6 The ISTP study examined public and private systems in every city of the world.

　　7 Efficient cities can improve the quality of life for their inhabitants.

　　8 An inner-city tram network is dangerous for car drivers.

　　9 In Melbourne, people prefer to live in the outer suburbs.

　　10 Cities with high levels of bicycle usage can be efficient even when public transport is only averagely good.

　　Questions 11-13

　　Look at the following cities (Questions 11-13) and the list of descriptions below.

　　Match each city with the correct description, A-F.

　　Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 11-13 on your answer sheet.

　　11 Perth

　　12 Auckland

　　13 Portland

　　List of Descriptions

　　A successfully uses a light rail transport system in hilly environment

　　B successful public transport system despite cold winters

　　C profitably moved from road to light rail transport system

　　D hilly and inappropriate for rail transport system

　　E heavily dependent on cars despite widespread poverty

　　F inefficient due to a limited public transport system

　　READING PASSAGE 2

　　You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26, which are based on Reading Passage 2 below.

　　GREYING POPULATION STAYS IN THE PINK

　　Elderly people are growing healthier, happier and more independent, say American scientists. The results of a 14-year study to be announced later this month reveal that the diseases associated with old age are afflicting fewer and fewer people and when they do strike, it is much later in life.

　　In the last 14 years, the National Long-term Health Care Survey has gathered data on the health and lifestyles of more than 20,000 men and women over 65. Researchers, now analysing the results of data gathered in 1994, say arthritis, high blood pressure and circulation problems — the major medical complaints in this age group — are troubling a smaller proportion every year. And the data confirms that the rate at which these diseases are declining continues to accelerate. Other diseases of old age — dementia, stroke, arteriosclerosis and emphysema — are also troubling fewer and fewer people.

　　‘It really raises the question of what should be considered normal ageing,’ says Kenneth Manton, a demographer from Duke University in North Carolina. He says the problems doctors accepted as normal in a 65-year-old in 1982 are often not appearing until people are 70 or 75.

　　Clearly, certain diseases are beating a retreat in the face of medical advances. But there may be other contributing factors. Improvements in childhood nutrition in the first quarter of the twentieth century, for example, gave today’s elderly people a better start in life than their predecessors.

　　On the downside, the data also reveals failures in public health that have caused surges in some illnesses. An increase in some cancers and bronchitis may reflect changing smoking habits and poorer air quality, say the researchers. ‘These may be subtle influences,’ says Manton, ‘but our subjects have been exposed to worse and worse pollution for over 60 years. It’s not surprising we see some effect."

　　One interesting correlation Manton uncovered is that better-educated people are likely to live longer. For example, 65-year-old women with fewer than eight years of schooling are expected, on average, to live to 82. Those who continued their education live an extra seven years. Although some of this can be attributed to a higher income, Manton believes it is mainly because educated people seek more medical attention.

　　The survey also assessed how independent people over 65 were, and again found a striking trend. Almost 80% of those in the 1994 survey could complete everyday activities ranging from eating and dressing unaided to complex tasks such as cooking and managing their finances. That represents a significant drop in the number of disabled old people in the population. If the trends apparent in the United States 14 years ago had continued, researchers calculate there would be an additional one million disabled elderly people in today’s population. According to Manton, slowing the trend has saved the United States government’s Medicare system more than 0 billion, suggesting that the greying of America’s population may prove less of a financial burden than expected.

　　The increasing self-reliance of many elderly people is probably linked to a massive increase in the use of simple home medical aids. For instance, the use of raised toilet seats has more than doubled since the start of the study, and the use of bath seats has grown by more than 50%. These developments also bring some health benefits, according to a report from the MacArthur Foundation’s research group on successful ageing. The group found that those elderly people who were able to retain a sense of independence were more likely to stay healthy in old age.

　　Maintaining a level of daily physical activity may help mental functioning, says Carl Cotman, a neuroscientist at the University of California at Irvine. He found that rats that exercise on a treadmill have raised levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor coursing through their brains. Cotman believes this hormone, which keeps neurons functioning, may prevent the brains of active humans from deteriorating.

　　As part of the same study, Teresa Seeman, a social epidemiologist at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, found a connection between self-esteem and stress in people over 70. In laboratory simulations of challenging activities such as driving, those who felt in control of their lives pumped out lower levels of stress hormones such as cortisol. Chronically high levels of these hormones have been linked to heart disease.

　　But independence can have drawbacks. Seeman found that elderly people who felt emotionally isolated maintained higher levels of stress hormones even when asleep. The research suggests that older people fare best when they feel independent but know they can get help when they need it.

　　‘Like much research into ageing, these results support common sense,’ says Seeman. They also show that we may be underestimating the impact of these simple factors. ‘The sort of thing that your grandmother always told you turns out to be right on target,’ she says.

　　Questions 14-22

　　Complete the summary using the list of words, A-Q, below.

　　Write the correct letter, A-Q in boxes 14-22 on your answer sheet.

　　Research carried out by scientists in the United States has shown that the proportion of people over 65 suffering from the most common age-related medical problems is 14 ..............and that the speed of this change is 15.............. . It also seems that these diseases are affecting people 16.............. in life than they did in the past. This is largely due to developments in 17.............., but other factors such as improved 18.............. may also be playing a part. Increases in some other illnesses may be due to changes in personal habits and to 19.............. . The research establishes a link between levels of 20.............. and life expectancy. It also shows that there has been a considerable reduction in the number of elderly people who are 21.............., which means that the 22.............. involved in supporting this section of the population may be less than previously predicted.

　　A cost B falling C technology

　　D undernourished E earlier F later

　　G disabled H more I increasing

　　J nutrition K education L constant

　　M medicine N pollution O environmental

　　P health Q independent

　　Questions 23-26

　　Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-H, below.

　　Write the correct letter, A-H, in boxes 23-26 on your answer sheet.

　　23 Home medical aids

　　24 Regular amounts of exercise

　　25 Feelings of control over life

　　26 Feelings of loneliness

　　A may cause heart disease.

　　B can be helped by hormone treatment.

　　C may cause rises in levels of stress hormones.

　　D have cost the United States government more than 0 billion.

　　E may help prevent mental decline.

　　F may get stronger at night.

　　G allow old people to be more independent.

　　H can reduce stress in difficult situations.

　　READING PASSAGE 3

　　You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40, which are based on Reading Passage 3 below.

　　Numeration

　　One of the first great intellectual feats of a young child is learning how to talk, closely followed by learning how to count. From earliest childhood we are so bound up with our system of numeration that it is a feat of imagination to consider the problems faced by early humans who had not yet developed this facility. Careful consideration of our system of numeration leads to the conviction that, rather than being a facility that comes naturally to a person, it is one of the great and remarkable achievements of the human race.

　　It is impossible to learn the sequence of events that led to our developing the concept of number. Even the earliest of tribes had a system of numeration that, if not advanced, was sufficient for the tasks that they had to perform. Our ancestors had little use for actual numbers; instead their considerations would have been more of the kind Is this enough? rather than How many? when they were engaged in food gathering, for example. However, when early humans first began to reflect on the nature of things around them, they discovered that they needed an idea of number simply to keep their thoughts in order. As they began to settle, grow plants and herd animals, the need for a sophisticated number system became paramount. It will never be known how and when this numeration ability developed, but it is certain that numeration was well developed by the time humans had formed even semi-permanent settlements.

　　Evidence of early stages of arithmetic and numeration can be readily found. The indigenous peoples of Tasmania were only able to count one, two, many; those of South Africa counted one, two, two and one, two twos, two twos and one, and so on. But in real situations the number and words are often accompanied by gestures to help resolve any confusion. For example, when using the one, two, many type of system, the word many would mean, Look at my hands and see how many fingers I am showing you. This basic approach is limited in the range of numbers that it can express, but this range will generally suffice when dealing with the simpler aspects of human existence.

　　The lack of ability of some cultures to deal with large numbers is not really surprising. European languages, when traced back to their earlier version, are very poor in number words and expressions. The ancient Gothic word for ten, tachund, is used to express the number 100 as tachund tachund. By the seventh century, the word teon had become interchangeable with the tachund or hund of the Anglo-Saxon language, and so 100 was denoted as hund teontig, or ten times ten. The average person in the seventh century in Europe was not as familiar with numbers as we are today. In fact, to qualify as a witness in a court of law a man had to be able to count to nine!

　　Perhaps the most fundamental step in developing a sense of number is not the ability to count, but rather to see that a number is really an abstract idea instead of a simple attachment to a group of particular objects. It must have been within the grasp of the earliest humans to conceive that four birds are distinct from two birds; however, it is not an elementary step to associate the number 4, as connected with four birds, to the number 4, as connected with four rocks. Associating a number as one of the qualities of a specific object is a great hindrance to the development of a true number sense. When the number 4 can be registered in the mind as a specific word, independent of the object being referenced, the individual is ready to take the first step toward the development of a notational system for numbers and, from there, to arithmetic.

　　Traces of the very first stages in the development of numeration can be seen in several living languages today. The numeration system of the Tsimshian language in British Columbia contains seven distinct sets of words for numbers according to the class of the item being counted: for counting flat objects and animals, for round objects and time, for people, for long objects and trees, for canoes, for measures, and for counting when no particular object is being numerated. It seems that the last is a later development while the first six groups show the relics of an older system. This diversity of number names can also be found in some widely used languages such as Japanese.

　　Intermixed with the development of a number sense is the development of an ability to count. Counting is not directly related to the formation of a number concept because it is possible to count by matching the items being counted against a group of pebbles, grains of corn, or the counter’s fingers. These aids would have been indispensable to very early people who would have found the process impossible without some form of mechanical aid. Such aids, while different, are still used even by the most educated in today’s society due to their convenience. All counting ultimately involves reference to something other than the things being counted. At first it may have been grains or pebbles but now it is a memorised sequence of words that happen to be the names of the numbers.

　　Questions 27-31

　　Complete each sentence with the correct ending A-G, below.

　　Write the correct letter, A-G, in boxes 27-31 on your answer sheet.

　　27 A developed system of numbering

　　28 An additional hand signal

　　29 In seventh-century Europe, the ability to count to a certain number

　　30 Thinking about numbers as concepts separate from physical objects

　　31 Expressing number differently according to class of item

　　A was necessary in order to fulfil a civic role.

　　B was necessary when people began farming.

　　C was necessary for the development of arithmetic.

　　D persists in all societies.

　　E was used when the range of number words was restricted.

　　F can be traced back to early European languages.

　　G was a characteristic of early numeration systems.

　　Questions 32-40

　　Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 3?

　　In boxes 32-40 on your answer sheet, write

　　TRUE if the statement agrees with the information

　　FALSE if the statement contradicts the information

　　NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

　　32 For the earliest tribes, the concept of sufficiency was more important than the concept of quantity.

　　33 Indigenous Tasmanians used only four terms to indicate numbers of objects.

　　34 Some peoples with simple number systems used body language to prevent misunderstanding of expressions of number.

　　35 All cultures have been able to express large numbers clearly.

　　36 The word ‘thousand’ has Anglo-Saxon origins.

　　37 In general, people in seventh-century Europe had poor counting ability.

　　38 In the Tsimshian language, the number for long objects and canoes is expressed with the same word.

　　39 The Tsimshian language contains both older and newer systems of counting.

　　40 Early peoples found it easier to count by using their fingers rather than a group of pebbles.

　　剑桥雅思阅读6原文参考译文(test2)

　　PASSAGE 1 参考译文：

　　Advantages of public transport

　　公共交通的优势

　　默多克大学的科技政策研究所(ISTP)为世界银行做的最新研究表明，公共交通工具的效率髙于小汽车。该研究比较了全世界37座城市公共交通投人资金所占的比例。这其中包括修建、维护和使用公交系统时的政府投人和个人开销。

　　研究显示，西澳大利亚的首府珀斯是最低限度发展公交系统的典型例子。结果是，该市的交通成本竟占政府收人的17%。然而，某些欧洲和亚洲城市的交通成本则仅有5%。研究所主任彼得?纽曼教授指出，后面这些效率更高的城市能够将更多资金投人到发展工业、扩大就业和创造更好的生活环境中去。

　　纽曼认为，如此进行比较的话，规模相对较大的澳大利亚城市墨尔本则显得格外与众不同。他将其形容为双层城市：“一座欧洲城市外面裹着另一座汽车代步城。”墨尔本规模庞大的有轨电车网络大大降低了市内的汽车使用率，但远郊地区则同大多数其他澳大利亚城市一样依赖汽车交通。而该市近郊住房需求的激增正显示出近年来人们在选择居住地点时观念的变化。

　　据纽曼教授称，这是一种更广泛考虑公共交通问题的新方式。过去在解决公共交通问题时，我们通常关心的是环境和社会的合理性，而不是经济情况。除此之外，纽曼教授认为该研究显示了“依赖汽车作为交通工具的城市发展模式不仅效率低下，而且在经济与环境发展方而也相当不足”。

　　自行车没有包含在此项研究范围之内。然而，纽曼教授指出在考察研究的37座城市中，阿姆斯特丹和哥本哈根这两座自行车普及率最高的城市效率也非常高，即便他们的公共交通系统“特色全无，相当一般”。

　　公路网的拥护者们普遍反对以发达的公共交通系统为标志的城市发展模式。他们坚持认为该系统在个别城市并不适用。气候是反对的理由之一。有些人说他们的城市要么夏天太热，要么冬天太冷，以至于无法充分利用公交系统。纽曼教授则否定了这一观点，他指出公交系统的发展在多伦多和新加坡地区均获得了巨大成功。事实上，他调查过是否天气糟糕人们就会使用汽车，结果发现两者之间毫无关联。

　　当我们考虑到其他硬件条件时，公路网的支持者们就有了更充分的理由。例如，纽曼认同，对于山地城市奥克兰来说，开发真正成功的轨道交通网是一件困难的事情。然而，他指出，虽然全世界的山地城市为数不多，但香港和苏黎世都分别设法成功地建成了重型和轻型轨道交通系统。

　　A 纽曼教授认为，事实上，决定采用哪一种交通运输方式的主要因素是政治，“决策过程越民主，公共交通就越容易得到支持”。他将美国俄勒冈州的波特兰市看作是其中的范例。几年前，国家拨款修建一条新公路。但是，当地的压力团体强行组织了一次公民投票，来表决是否要将国家拨款花费在建设替代公路的轻轨上。修建轻轨的提议最终获得通过，而且轨道系统在当地的运行状况非常良好。在随后的几年中，波特兰市修建了更多的轨道交通系统，城市面貌也因此得到巨大改善。纽曼教授发现，波特兰市与珀斯市的人口数量大致相同，并且当时的人口密度也十分相近。

　　B 在英国，人们不会去做通勤时间需要半小时以上的工作，因而六百年来，花在上班路途上的时间都得以保持不变。刚开始的时候，火车和汽车使人们住得远，却又无需增加花在路途上的时间。然而，公共基础设施无法跟上城市扩张的步伐，这就导致了大规模的交通拥堵问题，并且使上下班的时间大大延长。

　　C 有一种广泛的说法是：财富的不断增长促使人们到更远的地方居住，而汽车是那里唯一可行的交通工具。然而许多欧洲城市的例子可以反驳这一观点。相对于美国城市，欧洲城市通常更加富有，而汽车使用率却比美国低。近年来，随着城市规模的不断扩张和财富的逐年增加，斯德哥尔摩的汽车使用率反而还有所下降。一项新的研究更清楚地说明了这一点。亚洲的发展中城市，例如雅加达和曼谷，其汽车使用率要高于像东京和新加坡这样的富裕地区。在发展比较滞后的城市中，世界银行和亚洲发展银行不鼓励修建公共交通系统，因此人们不得不依赖汽车作为交通工具这导致了这些城市中标志性的大塞车。

　　D 纽曼教授认为，以墨尔本为例的“城中村”报告是最优秀的研究报告之一，报告主要讲述如何将以汽车代步的城市转变成以轨道交通为主的城市。该报告显示，让大家都住在市中心并不是最好的方法。反之，报告主张建立几百个集中在车站附近的城中村。

　　E 曾经有人假设，由于人们不再被迫住在城市，电信的改进将促使人口进一步分散。然而，ISTP研究小组的调查显示继几十年的下降之后，在20世纪80年代，城市人口和职位的密度都保持不变或有所上升。似乎合理的解释为，将工作在相关领域的人聚集在一起可以创造更大的价值。“未来新世界将主要依靠人类的创造力，而创造力在人们面对面的交流中会更加活跃。”

　　TEST 2 PASSAGE 2 参考译文：

　　GREYING POPULATION STAYS IN THE PINK

　　老龄人口健康依旧

　　美国科学家指岀，现在老年人身体越来越健康，幸福感更强，生活更加独立。本月即将发布的一项持续长达14年的研究的结果显示，遭受老龄疾病折磨的人越来越少，即使是真的发病，年龄也向后推迟了不少。

　　在过去的14年中，美国国家长期卫生保健调查收集了2万多名65岁以上的老年男性和女性健康状况和生活方式的数据资料。研究者们正在分析1994年收集的数据结果，他们表示。困扰这一年龄段老年人的主要疾病是关节炎、高血压和循环系统疾病，这些疾病的患病人数比例正在逐年下降。数据证实，上述疾病发病率下降的速度在继续加快。其他老龄疾病，诸如老年痴呆症、中风、动脉硬化和肺气肿等，患病人数也在逐年下降。

　　北卡罗来纳州杜克大学的人口统计学家肯尼思?曼顿说：“这的确促使我们思考到底什么情况才是正常老龄化的问题。”他指出，在1982年医生们认为是65岁老人常见疾病的症状现在经常要推迟到70或75岁才会出现。

　　显然，一些疾病在医学进步的面前被击退。除此之外，也可能有其他原因。例如，在20世纪的前25年中，儿童营养状况的改善使现在的老年人比以前的人们拥有更加健康的生活开端。

　　从不利方面来看，研究数据同样显示出公共卫生的不力措施导致了某些疾病的猛增。研究者们指出，有些癌症和支气管疾病发病率的上升可能反映出人们吸烟习惯的变化和空气质量逐年恶化的问题。曼顿说：“这或许只是些细微的影响，但我们的研究对象已经在污染日益严重的环境中生活了60多年。因而，这些后果的出现也就不足为奇了。”

　　曼顿揭示了一种有趣的关联，即人们受教育的程度越髙，寿命可能就越长。例如，在65岁的女性中，受教育时间低于8年的女性的预期寿命平均可达82岁，而那些继续接受教育的女性的平均寿命则延长了7年之多。曼顿认为，尽管部分原因可以归结为更高的收人水平，但主要原因还是受过良好教育的人会更加注重医疗保健。

　　该调查同时评估了年龄在65岁以上的走人的独立程度，这再次发现了一个惊人的发展趋势。在1994年调查中，近80%的人都能完成日常起居活动，包括简单的活动，如独立的饮食和穿衣，也包括复杂的活动，如烹饪和财务管理等。这表明总人口中不能自理的老人的数量在显著下降。研究者们估算，如果美国14 年前的发展趋势持续下去的话，现今总人口中将会多出100万名不能自理的老人。曼顿表示，减缓这一趋势为美国政府的医疗保险系统节省了2，000多亿美元的开支，这意味着美国人口老龄化所带来的经济负担可能不像人们想象中的那样沉重。

　　老年人自理能力的增强可能与简易家庭医疗辅助用品的广泛使用有关。例如，自该研究开始至今，使用增高座便器的人数增加了一倍之多，而使用浴缸座椅的人数也增加了50%以上。麦克阿瑟基金会研究小组发表的一项成功老龄化研究报告表明，上述发展变化同样给健康带来了好处。该研究小组发现，那些能够保持独立感的老年人更有可能在晚年保持身体健康。

　　加利福尼亚大学欧文分校的神经学家卡尔?科特曼指出，维持一定数量的日常体育运动将有助于提高大脑功能的运作。他发现对于在脚踏车上运动的老鼠，流经大脑的脑源性神经营养因子含量水平会升高。科特曼认为，这种维持神经细胞功能的激素可以阻止活跃的人类大脑功能退化。

　　在同一调查研究中，洛杉肌南加利福尼亚大学的社会流行病学家特里萨?西曼发现在70岁以上的老年人中，自尊心和压力之间存在相互联系。在诸如驾驶汽车等挑战性活动的模拟试验中，感觉生活在自己掌控之中的人所释放的应激激素水平较低，比如肾上腺皮质激素。而心脏疾病则被证明与应激激素水平长期偏髙有关。

　　然而，独立自主也有其缺点。西曼发现，感到精神孤独的老年人即使是在睡梦中也保持着较高的应激激素水平。研究结果显示，如果老人们知道自己在需要时能够得到帮助，就可以在保持独立感的同时拥有最幸福的生活。

　　西曼指出：“同许多研究老龄化问题的调査一样，其结果完全符合常识。”此外，研究结果显示，我们可能低估了某些简单因素的影响。她这样说道：“祖母经常向你讲的道理被证明是完全正确的。”

　　TEST 2 PASSAGE 3 参考译文：

　　Numeration

　　计数发展史

　　学说话是儿童最初掌握的主要智力技能之一，而紧随其后他们就要学会数数。从小我们就对数数这件事十分熟悉，所以真得费番心思才能想象出不会数数的先祖们的境遇。深思熟虑之后，我们确信计数不是人们生来就拥有的技能，而是人类伟大而非凡的成就之一。

　　现在，我们无法了解人类创造数字这一概念的发展历程。即使没有先进的技术，连最原始的部落也拥有足够他们日常生活所需的计数方法。我们的祖先并不需要使用具体的数字;比如当他们采集食物时，他们会更多地考虑“够了吗?”而不是“有多少?”来代替具体数字的使用。然而，当早期人类开始思考周围事物的本质时，他们发觉自己需要数字的概念以保持思路的淸晰。随着他们开始定居生活、种植作物和放牧牲畜，需要一套复杂数字系统的要求变得极为重要。我们永远无法了解这种计数能力是如何以及何时发展起来的，但可以确定的是，当人类刚刚开始建立暂时的定居点时，计数方法已经发展得比较完备了。

　　关于早期算术和计数方法的证据并不难寻找。澳大利亚塔斯马尼亚州的土著民族民仅能计数“一”、“二”和“许多”;南非当地的土著民族能够计数“一”、“二”、“二加一”、“二加二”、“二加二加一”等等。然而，在实际情况中，数字和词语经常伴随着手势使用以帮助解决混乱的状态。例如，在使用“一、二和许多”计数系统时，“许多”一词可能表示“看我的手并数出我向你伸出了几根手指”。这种基本的方法限制了可表示的数字范围，但此范围对于处理人类生存方面的简单问题来说通常是足够的。

　　一些文化缺少处理较大数字的能力，这并不令人惊讶。当追溯到早期彤式时，欧洲的各语种在数字及其表达方式上均十分贫乏。古哥特语中代表十的词语“tachund”在表示数字100时写作“tachund tachund”。到公元7世纪，“teon”一词变得可以与盎格鲁一撒克逊语中的词语“tachund”或“hund”相互交换，因此100被表示为“hund teoning”或者“十乘十”。在7世纪的欧洲，普通人对数字的熟知程度远不及今天的人们。事实上，当时人们必须具备数到9的能力才有资格作为证人出庭作证。

　　或许，要发展对数字的领悟能力，最重要的一步不是拥有计数的能力，而是能够理解数字是相当抽象的概念，而并不只是与个别物品相联系的附属品。早期人类一定能够明白两只鸟与四只鸟的不同;然而. 他们却不具备将与四只鸟相关的数字4和与四块石头相关如数字4联系起来的基本能力。将数字与特定事物的性质之一相联系，对于发展真正的数宇感而言是巨大的障碍。当数字4在头脑中变成一个特定的词语并与其所指的事物相分离时，人类便向数字符号系统的发展迈出第一步，并继而发展算术学。

　　至今，在有些现存的语言中依然可以寻找到早期计数方法的发展痕迹。在加拿大英属哥伦比亚省，根据计数的物品种类，钦西安语的计数系统包含截然不同的七组表达数字的词语：计数扁平物体和动物的词语，计数圆形物体和时间的词语，计算人数的词语，计数长条物体和树木的词语，计算独木舟数目的词语，计量尺寸的词语，以及在不计数具体事物时所用的词语。看起来最后一组词语是后来发展起来的，而前六组则带有古代计数方法的痕迹。在一些诸如日语等广泛使甩的语言中，同样可以发现数字名称的多样性。

　　数字感与计数能力的发展相互融合。计算与数字概念的形成并非直接相关，因为我们完全有可能将被计数的物品用一堆石子、一把谷粒或者计数者的手指代替来进行计算。这些辅助工具对于早期人类而言是必不可少的，一旦离开某些形式的工具辅助，计数过程便无法完成。由于使用方便，类似的辅助工具在当今社会中仍然以不同的方式被人们——甚至是最有学识的学者们——使用。所有的计算最终都将由某事物、而不是被计数的物品指代。最初，这种指代或许是谷粒或石子，但现在已经变成一串被记忆的单词，而这些单词只是恰巧成为数字的名称而已。

　　剑桥雅思阅读6原文解析(test2)

　　Question 1

　　答案： ii

　　关键词：people power exercise

　　定位原文: A段第1句“In fact…”

　　解题思路：“The more democratic the process, the more public transport is favored.”就是暗示人民成功地履行了权利。

　　Question 2

　　答案： vii

　　关键词： increase travelling time

　　定位原文: B段最后1句“However…”

　　解题思路: 最后一句中的However是完成此题的关键。本段首句提到通勤时间在过去至少六百年中都维持不变，很有误导作用，但是接下来的However又引出...causing massive congestion problems which now make commuting times far higher, commuting 对应heading中的travelling。

　　故正确答案是vii。

　　Question 3

　　答案： iv

　　关键词：higher incomes not more cars

　　定位原文: C段前两句“There is…”

　　解题思路: 第2句的refutes that 表示否定了第1句的观点，因此只有iv符合。

　　Question 4

　　答案： i

　　关键词: avoid overcrowded centre

　　定位原文: D段最后1句“Instead…”

　　解题思路: instead是一个转折连接词，后面的观点与前者刚好相反。上一句说 pushing everyone into the city centre was not the best approach，刚好证明我们应该避免造成一个过度拥挤的市中心。

　　Question 5

　　答案： iii

　　关键词：working together

　　定位原文: E段第3句“The explanation…”

　　解题思路: 定位句强调了人们在相关的领域一起工作非常重要，iii对应这个自然段内容。

　　Question 6

　　答案： FALSE

　　关键词：ISTP study

　　定位原文: 第1段第2、3句“The study compared…”

　　解题思路: 原文说的是thirty-seven cities around the worlds，与题干表述相互抵触。

　　Question 7

　　答案： TRUE

　　关键词： efficient / improve the quality

　　定位原文: 第2段最后1句“...these more efficient cities…”

　　解题思路: “创造出更好的居住环境”就是“改善了居民的居住环境”。

　　Question 8

　　答案：NOT GIVEN

　　关键词：inner-city/ tram network/ dangerous/ car drivers

　　定位原文: 第3段第3句“Melbourne’s large…”

　　解题思路: 谈到有轨电车系统使汽车的使用率降低了许多，但并未谈及私家车驾驶者。

　　Question 9

　　答案：FALSE

　　关键词： Melbourne/ outer suburbs

　　定位原文: 第3段最后1句“The explosion…”

　　解题思路: as to =concerning 就……方面;关于。这句话正说明人们喜欢住在近郊而非远郊。

　　Question 10

　　答案： TRUE

　　关键词： bicycle/ public transport

　　定位原文: 第5段的唯一一句话“Bicycle use…”

　　解题思路: averagely good与 reasonable but not special是同义表达。

　　Question 11

　　答案: F

　　关键词：Perth

　　定位原文: 第2段第1句和第4句

　　解题思路: 第二段第一句说Perth有minimal public transport，即相当于题干中的limited public transport system，下面又说Perth之外的一些城市是more efficient cities，所以正确答案为F。

　　Question 12

　　答案： D

　　关键词：Auckland

　　定位原文: 第7段第2句

　　解题思路: 提到 it would be hard for a city as hilly as Auckland to develop a really good rail network，所以 Auckland 当然是hilly，既然“难以建立很好的轨道系统”，当然是不适合建这样的系统了。正确答案是D。

　　Question 13

　　答案：C

　　关键词：Portland

　　定位原文: A段的倒数第3句“The rail proposal…”

　　解题思路: 轨道运行良好肯定是盈利的。正确答案是C。

　　Test 2 Passage 2

　　Question 14

　　答案：B

　　关键词：proportion/people over 65/age-related medical problems

　　定位原文: 第2段第2句“...are troubling a smaller proportion…”

　　解题思路: smaller 和falling 是隐晦的同义表达，B选项符合题意。

　　Question 15

　　答案：I

　　关键词：speed

　　定位原文: 第2段倒数第2句“the rate at which these diseases…”

　　解题思路: rate与speed是同义表达，可知正确答案是I。

　　Question 16

　　答案：F

　　关键词：past

　　定位原文: 第3段第2句“He says…”

　　解题思路: 第3段中提到the problems doctors accepted as normal in a 65-year-oId in 1982 are often not appearing until people are 70 or 75，第二段提到数据是1994年采集的，所以1982代表了the past，疾病由65岁推迟到70或者75 岁才发作，显然是later。

　　Question 17

　　答案：M

　　关键词：due to developments

　　定位原文: 第4段第1句“…certain diseases are beating…”

　　解题思路: 第四段开头提到certain diseases are beating a retreat in the face of medical advances，表明有些疾病是被医药进步打败的。advances和developments属于同义表达，medical和medicine是同源词。

　　Question 18

　　答案：J

　　关键词：improved

　　定位原文: 第4段第2、3句“…there may be other contributing factors. Improvements…”

　　解题思路: 这个题找到定位句，没有什么难度，选择J。

　　Question 19

　　答案：N

　　关键词：other illnesses

　　定位原文: 第5段第2、3句“… poorer air quality/ worse and worse pollution…”

　　解题思路: 第五段提到An increase in some cancers and bronchitis may reflect changing smoking habits and poorer air quality...和....been exposed to worse and worse pollution, changes in personal habits与 changing smoking habits相对应。所以原文提供的另一因素poorer air quality就是与答案相关的内容。正确答案是N。

　　Question 20

　　答案： K

　　关键词：link/life expectancy

　　定位原文: 第6段第1句“One interesting…”

　　解题思路: 第6段第1句中的correlation和live longer分别对应题干中的link和life expectancy，所以原文的better-educated就是答案的原形，被选项中只有K项的education与此相符。正确答案是K。

　　Question 21

　　答案： G

　　关键词：considerable /reduction

　　定位原文: 第7段第3句“That represents…”

　　解题思路: considerable与significant、reduction与 drop分别为近义词，再根据第七段中a significant drop in the number of disabled old people，答案应为disabled。正确答案是G。

　　Question 22

　　答案：A

　　关键词：less/predicted

　　定位原文: 第7段最后一句“… less of a financial burden…”

　　解题思路: predicted与expected为同义表达，只需找 financial burden的同义表达就可以。正确答案是A。

　　Question 23

　　答案：G

　　关键词：home medical aids

　　定位原文: 第8段第1句“The increasing…”

　　解题思路: 许多老年人自理能力的增强可能与简易家庭医疗辅助用品的广泛使用有关。题干是将这句话反过来问简易家庭医疗辅助用品有什么作用，self-reliance与independent表达同样含义，所以选G。

　　Question 24

　　答案： E

　　关键词：regular amounts of exercise

　　定位原文: 第9段第1句“…daily physical activity…”

　　解题思路: exercise 与physical activity 属于同义表达，regular与daily 属于同义表达，所以选E。

　　Question 25

　　答案：H

　　关键词：feelings of control over life

　　定位原文: 第10段倒数第2句“…felt in control of their lives…”

　　解题思路: 根据第10段中 challenging activities和 those who felt in control of their lives pumped out lower levels of stress hormone, challenging activities 与 difficult situations 属于同义表达，lower levels of stress hormones自然压力就小。正确答案是H。

　　Question 26

　　答案：C

　　关键词： feelings of loneliness

　　定位原文: 第11段第2句“…emotionally isolated…”

　　解题思路: feelings of loneliness 与emotionally isolated 属于同义表达，所以选C。

　　Test 2 Passage 3

　　Question 27

　　答案: B

　　关键词：developed/system of numbering

　　定位原文: 第2段倒数第2句“As they began to settle…”

　　解题思路: sophisticated和number system分别与题干 developed和system of numbering属于同义表达，因此只要找出与grow plants and herd animals的同义表达项就可以，显然farming可以代替。因此正确答案为B。

　　Question 28

　　答案： E

　　关键词：hand signal

　　定位原文: 第3段第3句“But in real situations…”

　　解题思路: 定位句之前所举的具体例子中表示数字的词有限，即题干E表达的the range of number words was restricted，gestures又与hand signal互为近义词。所以正确答案是E。

　　Question 29

　　答案： A

　　关键词： seventh-century Europe / count to a certain number

　　定位原文: 第4段中最后两句“The average person…”

　　解题思路: count to nine与count to a certain number属于同义表达，a witness in a court of law与题干A的fulfill a civic role属于同义表达。正确答案是A。

　　Question 30

　　答案： C

　　关键词： concept/ physical objects

　　定位原文: 第5段第1句“Perhaps…”;最后一句“...from there, to arithmetic”

　　解题思路: 题干中 concepts 和 physical objects 分别与 abstract idea 和 particular objects互为近义词。正确答案是C。

　　Question 31

　　答案： G

　　关键词： class of item

　　定位原文: 第6段第1、2句“Traces of…”

　　解题思路: 根据第6段开头the very first stages和第二句中the class of the item得出正确答案是G。

　　Question 32

　　答案：TRUE

　　关键词：the earliest tribes

　　定位原文: 第2段第3句“...their considerations would have…”

　　解题思路: 他们会更多地考虑“够了吗?”而不是“有多少?Sufficiency与 quantity 分别和Is this enough 与How many为同义转换关系。

　　Question 33

　　答案：FALSE

　　关键词：Tasmanians

　　定位原文: 第3段第2句“The indigenous peoples…”

　　解题思路: 只有三个词而不是四个。

　　Question 34

　　答案： TRUE

　　关键词：peoples with simple number systems

　　定位原文: 第3段第3句“But in real situations…”

　　解题思路: accompanied by gesture to help resolve any confusion 与题干use body language to prevent…属于同义表达。

　　Question 35

　　答案： FALSE

　　关键词：large numbers

　　定位原文: 第4段第1句“The lack of…”

　　解题思路: 一些文化缺少处理较大数字的能力，这并不令人惊讶。这个意思与题干全然想矛盾。

　　Question 36

　　答案：NOT GIVEN

　　关键词：Anglo-Saxon

　　定位原文: 第4段第4句“ By the seventh…”

　　解题思路: 到公元7世纪，“teon” 一词变得可以与盎格鲁一撒克逊语中的词语文中对应点“tachund”或“hund”相互交换，因此100可表示为“hund teontig”或者“十乘十”。并没有提到“千”。

　　Question 37

　　答案：TRUE

　　关键词：seventh-century Europe

　　定位原文: 第4段最后两句“The average person…”

　　解题思路: 数到9就可以作证人，足见计数能力之差。

　　Question 38

　　答案：FALSE

　　关键词：Tsimshian language

　　定位原文: 第6段第2句“The numeration…”

　　解题思路: 题干意思与原文相驳斥。这个题比较容易判断。

　　Question 39

　　答案：TRUE

　　关键词: Tsimshian language

　　定位原文: 第6段倒数第2句“It seems that…”

　　解题思路: 看起来最后一组词语是后来发展的，而前六组则带有古代计数方法的痕迹。所以题目说的有新旧两套计数系统是正确的。

　　Question 40

　　答案： NOT GIVEN

　　关键词：early peoples / fingers / pebbles

　　定位原文: 第7段第2句“Counting is not directly…”

　　解题思路: 计算与数字概念的形成并非直接相关，因为我们完全有可能将被计数的物品用一堆石子、一把谷粒或者计数者的手指代替来进行计算。没有提到二者简易度的比较。

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