雅思阅读提升之：如何提升阅读速度

雅思阅读提升难，难在阅读速度上不去。生词多，长难句看不懂，关键信息找不到。好吧，下面就为大家带来如何提升雅思阅读速度的技巧。

雅思阅读提升之：如何提升阅读速度?

在1个小时内完成3篇1000字左右的中文阅读不是难事，但是换成英文，并且是学术类文章，对于很多考生来说刚开始还是很有压力的。如何节约更多时间做题，提高雅思阅读速度变得很重要。

雅思阅读提升之：速读训练

首先考生们要明确，雅思阅读考察的是一个考生的阅读理解能力，更是考察关键信息的获取能力。考生未必要读完全部内容才开始做题，能够在短时间内消化文章的关键信息才是雅思阅读的目的。

考生们还是要培养速度能力，比如关键信息一般出现在文章开头，段落的首句或末尾。甚至部分关键信息出现在转折语段。这些基本的获取关键信息技巧能够争取足够多的时间了。

雅思阅读提升之：各题型技巧

当然速读并不能解决全部问题，在遇到不同的阅读题型时，考生也应该注意各类题型的解题方法。

比如主旨题(List of Headings)：主要考察的是考生的概括能力，那么速读对主旨定位的帮助很大。

而遇到一些考察细节的题目：判断题T/F/NG、信息匹配题Matching、选择题Multiple Choice等。则需要考生能够迅速定位题目与原文中的关键词了。

定位关键词信息注意点：同义替换。

除了部分专有名词无法替换之外，雅思阅读处处可见同义替换，对考生来说，定位关键信息就变得很困难。同义替换的方式太多，同义词、近义词、短语，甚至句型转换都有可能进行替换。

雅思阅读提升之：做好词汇积累

最后来说雅思阅读词汇积累，雅思阅读文章有很多学术词汇，这类专业词汇并不会影响考生们做题，适当进行拓展阅读即可了解到，不必过分追求这些词汇。

学术类文章涉及多个学科，很多考生专业知识并不丰富，但总体来说，雅思阅读的文章偏科普，并没有达到学术专业文章的难度，基本上就是大学基础课程的阅读内容的难度。

而考生们需要积累的词汇是阅读高频词汇，尤其是同义词、短语的积累。那这些词汇来源于哪呢?建议考生可以参考剑雅真题阅读系列文章，根据考生自己的词汇量，总结文章中的生词。如果考生有精力，可以再拓展部分外文期刊杂志中的一些阅读词汇。

雅思阅读模拟真题：Why did a promising heart drug fail

Why did a promising heart drug fail?

Doomed drug highlights complications of meddling with cholesterol.

1. The failure of a high-profile cholesterol drug has thrown a spotlight on the complicated machinery that regulates cholesterol levels. But many researchers remain confident that drugs to boost levels of 'good' cholesterol are still one of the most promising means to combat spiralling heart disease.

2. Drug company Pfizer announced on 2 December that it was cancelling all clinical trials of torcetrapib, a drug designed to raise heart-protective high-density lipoproteins (HDLs). In a trial of 15000 patients, a safety board found that more people died or suffered cardiovascular problems after taking the drug plus a cholesterol-lowering statin than those in a control group who took the statin alone.

3. The news came as a kick in the teeth to many cardiologists because earlier tests in animals and people suggested it would lower rates of cardiovascular disease. "There have been no red flags to my knowledge," says John Chapman, a specialist in lipoproteins and atherosclerosis at the National Institute for Health and Medical Research (INSERM) in Paris who has also studied torcetrapib. "This cancellation came as a complete shock."

4. Torcetrapib is one of the most advanced of a new breed of drugs designed to raise levels of HDLs, which ferry cholesterol out of artery-clogging plaques to the liver for removal from the body. Specifically, torcetrapib blocks a protein called cholesterol ester transfer protein (CETP), which normally transfers the cholesterol from high-density lipoproteins to low density, plaque-promoting ones. Statins, in contrast, mainly work by lowering the 'bad' low-density lipoproteins.

Under pressure

5. Researchers are now trying to work out why and how the drug backfired, something that will not become clear until the clinical details are released by Pfizer. One hint lies in evidence from earlier trials that it slightly raises blood pressure in some patients. It was thought that this mild problem would be offset by the heart benefits of the drug. But it is possible that it actually proved fatal in some patients who already suffered high blood pressure. If blood pressure is the explanation, it would actually be good news for drug developers because it suggests that the problems are specific to this compound. Other prototype drugs that are being developed to block CETP work in a slightly different way and might not suffer the same downfall.

6. But it is also possible that the whole idea of blocking CETP is flawed, says Moti Kashyap, who directs atherosclerosis research at the VA Medical Center in Long Beach, California. When HDLs excrete cholesterol in the liver, they actually rely on LDLs for part of this process. So inhibiting CETP, which prevents the transfer of cholesterol from HDL to LDL, might actually cause an abnormal and irreversible accumulation of cholesterol in the body. "You're blocking a physiologic mechanism to eliminate cholesterol and effectively constipating the pathway," says Kashyap.

Going up

7. Most researchers remain confident that elevating high density lipoproteins levels by one means or another is one of the best routes for helping heart disease patients. But HDLs are complex and not entirely understood. One approved drug, called niacin, is known to both raise HDL and reduce cardiovascular risk but also causes an unpleasant sensation of heat and tingling. Researchers are exploring whether they can bypass this side effect and whether niacin can lower disease risk more than statins alone. Scientists are also working on several other means to bump up high-density lipoproteins by, for example, introducing synthetic HDLs. "The only thing we know is dead in the water is torcetrapib, not the whole idea of raising HDL," says Michael Miller, director of preventive cardiology at the University of Maryland Medical Center, Baltimore.

(613 words nature)

Questions 1-7　　This passage has 7 paragraphs 1-7.

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

Write the correct number i-ix in boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings

i. How does torcetrapib work?

ii. Contradictory result prior to the current trial

iii. One failure may possibly bring about future success

iv. The failure doesn’t lead to total loss of confidence

v. It is the right route to follow

vi. Why it’s stopped

vii. They may combine and theoretically produce ideal result

viii. What’s wrong with the drug

ix. It might be wrong at the first place

Example answer

Paragraph 1 iv

1. Paragraph 2

2. Paragraph 3

3. Paragraph 4

4. Paragraph 5

5. Paragraph 6

6. Paragraph 7

Questions 7-13　　Match torcetrapib，HDLs，statin and CETP with their functions (Questions 8-13)..

Write the correct letter A, B, C or D in boxes 8-13 on your answer sheet.

NB You may use any letter more than once.

7.It has been administered to over 10,000 subjects in a clinical trial.

8.It could help rid human body of cholesterol.

9.Researchers are yet to find more about it.

10. It was used to reduce the level of cholesterol.

11. According to Kashyap, it might lead to unwanted result if it’s blocked.

12. It produced contradictory results in different trials.

13. It could inhibit LDLs.

List of choices

A. Torcetrapic

B. HDLS

C. Statin

D. CETP

Suggested Answers and Explanations

1. vi

2. ii

3. vii 本段介绍了torcetrapib和statin的治病原理，但是同时短语“in contrast”与之前第二段后半段的内容呼应，暗示了这两种药在理论上能相辅相成，是理想的搭配。第一个选项无法涵盖整段意义，故选择i是错误的。

4. iii 本段分析了可能导致torcetrapibl临床试验失败的原因，后半段指出如果以上推测正确，那么未来的药物可借鉴这个试验，设法避免torcetrapib的缺陷，研制出有效的药物。viii选项无法涵盖后半段的意思。

5. ix 见首句。

6. v

7. A 见第二段。题目中administer一词意为“用药”，subject一词为“实验对象”之意。

8. B 见第四段“… to raise levels of HDLs, which ferry cholesterol out of artery-clogging plaques to the liver for removal from the body.”即HDLs的作用最终是将choleserol清除出人体：“… for removal from the body”。

9. B 见第四段“But HDLs are complex and not entirely understood.”

10. C 见第二段“… plus a cholesterol-lowering statin”，即statin是可以降低cholesterol的。

11. D 见第六段“So inhibiting CETP, … might actually cause an abnormal and irreversible accumulation of cholesterol in the body.

12. A 见第三段。

13. C 见第四段“Statins, in contrast, mainly work by lowering the 'bad' low-density lipoproteins.”

雅思阅读模拟真题：The Triumph of Unreason

The Triumph of Unreason?

A.　　Neoclassical economics is built on the assumption that humans are rational beings who have a clear idea of their best interests and strive to extract maximum benefit (or “utility”, in economist-speak) from any situation. Neoclassical economics assumes that the process of decision-making is rational. But that contradicts growing evidence that decision-making draws on the emotions—even when reason is clearly involved.

B.　　The role of emotions in decisions makes perfect sense. For situations met frequently in the past, such as obtaining food and mates, and confronting or fleeing from threats, the neural mechanisms required to weigh up the pros and cons will have been honed by evolution to produce an optimal outcome. Since emotion is the mechanism by which animals are prodded towards such outcomes, evolutionary and economic theory predict the same practical consequences for utility in these cases. But does this still apply when the ancestral machinery has to respond to the stimuli of urban modernity?

C.　　One of the people who thinks that it does not is George Loewenstein, an economist at Carnegie Mellon University, in Pittsburgh. In particular, he suspects that modern shopping has subverted the decision-making machinery in a way that encourages people to run up debt. To prove the point he has teamed up with two psychologists, Brian Knutson of Stanford University and Drazen Prelec of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to look at what happens in the brain when it is deciding what to buy.

D.　　In a study, the three researchers asked 26 volunteers to decide whether to buy a series of products such as a box of chocolates or a DVD of the television show that were flashed on a computer screen one after another. In each round of the task, the researchers first presented the product and then its price, with each step lasting four seconds. In the final stage, which also lasted four seconds, they asked the volunteers to make up their minds. While the volunteers were taking part in the experiment, the researchers scanned their brains using a technique called functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). This measures blood flow and oxygen consumption in the brain, as an indication of its activity.

E.　　The researchers found that different parts of the brain were involved at different stages of the test. The nucleus accumbens was the most active part when a product was being displayed. Moreover, the level of its activity correlated with the reported desirability of the product in question.

F.　　When the price appeared, however, fMRI reported more activity in other parts of the brain. Excessively high prices increased activity in the insular cortex, a brain region linked to expectations of pain, monetary loss and the viewing of upsetting pictures. The researchers also found greater activity in this region of the brain when the subject decided not to purchase an item.

G.　　Price information activated the medial prefrontal cortex, too. This part of the brain is involved in rational calculation. In the experiment its activity seemed to correlate with a volunteer's reaction to both product and price, rather than to price alone. Thus, the sense of a good bargain evoked higher activity levels in the medial prefrontal cortex, and this often preceded a decision to buy.

H.　　People's shopping behaviour therefore seems to have piggy-backed on old neural circuits evolved for anticipation of reward and the avoidance of hazards. What Dr Loewenstein found interesting was the separation of the assessment of the product (which seems to be associated with the nucleus accumbens) from the assessment of its price (associated with the insular cortex), even though the two are then synthesised in the prefrontal cortex. His hypothesis is that rather than weighing the present good against future alternatives, as orthodox economics suggests happens, people actually balance the immediate pleasure of the prospective possession of a product with the immediate pain of paying for it.

I.　　That makes perfect sense as an evolved mechanism for trading. If one useful object is being traded for another (hard cash in modern time), the future utility of what is being given up is embedded in the object being traded. Emotion is as capable of assigning such a value as reason. Buying on credit, though, may be different. The abstract nature of credit cards, coupled with the deferment of payment that they promise, may modulate the “con” side of the calculation in favour of the “pro”.

J.　　Whether it actually does so will be the subject of further experiments that the three researchers are now designing. These will test whether people with distinctly different spending behaviour, such as miserliness and extravagance, experience different amounts of pain in response to prices. They will also assess whether, in the same individuals, buying with credit cards eases the pain compared with paying by cash. If they find that it does, then credit cards may have to join the list of things such as fatty and sugary foods, and recreational drugs, that subvert human instincts in ways that seem pleasurable at the time but can have a long and malign aftertaste.

Questions 1-6　　Do the following statemets reflect the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 1?

Write your answer in Boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet.

TRUE if the statement reflets the claims of the writer

FALSE if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer

NOT GIVEN if it is possbile to say what the writer thinks about this

1. The belief of neoclassical economics does not accord with the increasing evidence that humans make use of the emotions to make decisions.

2. Animals are urged by emotion to strive for an optimal outcomes or extract maximum utility from any situation.

3. George Loewenstein thinks that modern ways of shopping tend to allow people to accumulate their debts.

4. The more active the nucleus accumens was, the stronger the desire of people for the product in question became.

5. The prefrontal cortex of the human brain is linked to monetary loss and the viewing of upsetting pictures.

6. When the activity in nucleus accumbens was increased by the sense of a good bargain, people tended to purchase coffee.

Questions 7-9　　Choose the appropriate letters A-D and write them in boxes 7-9 on your answe sheet.

7. Which of the following statements about orthodox economics is true?

A. The process which people make their decisions is rational.

B. People have a clear idea of their best interests in any situation.

C. Humans make judgement on the basis of reason rather then emotion.

D. People weigh the present good against future alternatives in shopping.

8. The word “miserliness” in line 3 of Paragraph J means__________.

A. people’s behavior of buying luxurious goods

B. people’s behavior of buying very special items

C. people’s behavior of being very mean in shopping

D. people’s behavior of being very generous in shopping

9. The three researchers are now designing the future experiments, which test

A. whether people with very different spending behaviour experience different amounts of pain in response to products.

B. whether buying an item with credit cards eases the pain of the same individuals compared with paying for it by cash.

C. whether the abstract nature of credit cards may modulate the “con” side of the calculation in favour of the “pro”.

D. whether the credit cards may subvert human instincts in ways that seem pleasurable but with a terrible effect.

Questions 10-13　　Complete the notes below.

Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from Reading Passage 1 for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 10-13 on your answer sheet.

To find what happens in the brain of humans when it is deciding things to buy, George Loewenstein and his co-researchers did an experiment by using the technique of fMRI. They found that different parts of the brain were invloved in the process. The activity in …10… was greatly increased with the displaying of certain product. The great activity was found in the insular cortex when …11…and the subject decided not to buy a product. The activity of the medial prefrontal cortex seemed to associate with both …12…informaiton. What interested Dr Loewenstein was the …13… of the assessment of the product and its price in different parts of the brain.

Notes to Reading Passage 1

1. the nucleus accumbens, the insular cortex, and the medial prefrontal cortex:

大脑的不同部位 (皮层，皮质等)

e.g. cerebellar cortex 小脑皮层cerebral cortex 大脑皮层

2. hone:

珩磨，磨快，磨练，训练使。。。更完美或有效.

3. subvert:

毁灭，破坏;摧毁：

4. piggyback：

骑在肩上;在肩上骑

5. deferment:

推迟、延迟、分期付款

6. aftertaste:

余味，回味事情或经历结束后的感觉，特指令人不快的感觉

Keys and explanations to the Questions 1-13

1. TRUE

See the second and third sentence in Paragraph A “Neoclassical economics assumes that the process of decision-making is rational. But that contradicts growing evidence that decision-making draws on the emotions—even when reason is clearly involved.”

2. TRUE

See the third sentence in Paragrph B “ Since emotion is the mechanism by which animals are prodded towards such outcomes, evolutionary and economic theory predict the same practical consequences for utility in these cases.”

3. FALSE

See the second sentence in Paragrph C “In particular, he suspects that modern shopping has subverted the decision-making machinery in a way that encourages people to run up debt.”

4. TRUE

See the last sentence in Paragrph E “Moreover, the level of its activity correlated with the reported desirability of the product in question.”

5. FALSE

See the second sentence in Paragrph F and G respectively “Excessively high prices increased activity in the insular cortex, a brain region linked to expectations of pain, monetary loss and the view

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