雅思閱讀資料整理
爲了幫助大家在備考雅思閱讀的時候能夠多多練習一些材料，下面小編給大家帶來雅思閱讀資料整理。
雅思閱讀材料大集合：中美第一夫人同遊北京
Obama is on her first-ever trip to China, alongside her mother and two daughters, and will spend four days in Beijing before heading to a string of popular tourist sites in the interior cities of Xi'an and Chengdu.
美國第一夫人米歇爾·奧巴馬踏上了其首次訪華之行。在北京爲期四天的停留後，米歇爾會繼而啓程訪問中國內陸的西安和成都。
Back during the Ming dynasty, some four centuries ago, the Hall of Earthly Tranquility in Beijing’s Forbidden City was the redoubt of China’s empress. On Friday, under rare unpolluted skies, the first ladies of the world’s two biggest economies, Michelle Obama and her Chinese counterpart Peng Liyuan, embarked on a lightning tour of the imperial residence. They strode through the Hall of Supreme Harmony, checked out the Hall of Preserving Harmony and admired a golden throne off-limits to most tourists. Obama and Peng glided past by a large stone carving that was labeled “Large Stone Carving.” Alas, time was running tight so they had to skip a tea ceremony in the Lodge of Fresh Fragrance.
早在400年前，在古老的明朝，京城的紫禁城中，坤寧宮便是中國皇后的居所。本週五(3月21日)，在北京罕見的碧空下，米歇爾·奧巴馬和_，世界最大的兩個經濟體的第一夫人一起以閃電般的速度遊覽了這座皇家宮殿。兩位夫人快步穿過太和殿，參觀了禁止對普通遊客開放的黃金龍椅，經過了一塊標着“大石雕”的巨大石雕。哎，時間緊迫，兩位女士不得不放棄了在故宮飲茶的計劃。
Perhaps next time.
只好等下次了。
A day before, Obama had arrived on her first trip ever to China with her mother Marian Robinson and children Malia and Sasha in tow. She is set to spend four days in Beijing before heading to the interior cities of Xi’an and Chengdu, where she will take in some of China’s most famous tourist sights: the terra-cotta warriors and the giant pandas. Obama is even blogging about her China experience, a process that will likely require her handlers to use a virtual private network to evade Chinese Internet censorship. In a month, President Barack Obama is also due in Asia. But his four-nation tour, somewhat controversially, will not include a China stop. Instead, it was left to his wife to help smooth ties and develop a relationship—however brief and somewhat stiff—with Peng.
一天前，米歇爾攜母親和兩個女兒抵達中國。按計劃，她將在北京停留四天，然後前往西安和成都兩座內陸城市，一覽中國最爲著名的旅遊景觀：秦兵馬俑和大熊貓。米歇爾甚至還在博客上直播她的訪華行程——不過可能得使用翻牆網絡。一個月後，美國總統巴拉克·奧巴馬也將訪問亞洲。不過他的四國訪問計劃並不包括中國，這頗引發了一些爭議。現在，與中國的外交重擔落在了他夫人身上，和中國第一夫人疏通關係、發展感情，儘管二人鮮有交集，並不熟識。
“The relationships between the United States and China couldn’t be more important,” Obama said on Friday morning, “and having the opportunity to travel here, to listen, to learn, to hear more about the education initiatives here in this country and to share my travels with students throughout the United States is a very unique experience, and it’s one that I will never forget.”
週五早上，米歇爾表示：“美中關係是重中之重。得此機會，遊覽中國，傾聽、學習、瞭解這裏的教育，和全美的學生分享我的中國之行，是很特殊的經歷，我將銘記一生。”
Obama began her day at Beijing Normal School, an elite high school whose students enjoy a leafy campus and state-of-the-art equipment. The walls are decorated with murals glorifying both Euclid and Karl Marx. She and Peng visited a robotics class, where students were learning about various robots, including a hexagonal snowflake robot that one student described to Obama as “very amazing and adorable.” The first ladies also took in a calligraphy class, where Peng wrote a four-character aphorism that describes how individuals with high morality can accomplish major tasks. She presented the calligraphy to Obama as a present.
米歇爾北京之行的第一站是師大二附，北京的一所重點高中。校園樹木林立，擁有先進的教學設備，學校牆壁上同時裝飾着歐幾里得和卡爾·馬克思的壁畫。米歇爾與_參觀了機器人課堂，課堂上學生們學習製造各式各樣的機器人，甚至還包括一個六角雪花型的機器人，讓米歇爾大爲稱讚。第一夫人還參加了書法課，_題寫了成語“厚德載物”，寓意具有高尚的道德境界方可肩負重任，並贈予米歇爾。
Finally, the two wrapped up their school tour by visiting a ping-pong class where students spend 40 minutes slamming plastic balls onto green tables with metronomic precision. Table tennis is a serious sport in China, with deep political significance. After enduring decades of international isolation during which the world chose the government in Taiwan as China’s rightful representative, Beijing began to integrate into the global community. Ping-pong led the way.
最後，兩位女士參與了學校的乒乓球課。40分鐘的課堂裏，學生們在帶有刻度的綠色球檯上反覆練習着抽球。乒乓在中國並非平凡運動，它曾起到重要的政治作用。長達數十年，國際社會只承認臺灣是中國的合法政府，新中國政府一直被孤立，後來纔開始逐漸得到國際承認。正是乒乓球打破了堅冰。
After a speech in which each ping-pong teacher was introduced with great solemnity, Obama slipped out of her vest-coat and tried her hand at ping-pong. The students stayed silent as she whiffed her first few attempts. But as she began to make contact with the table, the kids broke out into gasps and claps. Afterward, Obama, who has made physical fitness one of her signature campaigns, joked about her husband’s ping-pong prowess. “My husband plays,” she said. “He thinks he’s better than he really is.” The students laughed nervously.
雅思閱讀材料大集合：丹麥長頸鹿向臨終管理員吻別
This is the touching moment a giraffe bid a sad farewell to a dying worker who had spent his entire adult life cleaning the animal's enclosure at a Dutch zoo.
荷蘭一動物園中上演了溫情一幕：維修工終其一生都在動物園爲動物們清理窩棚，在他即將離世之際，長頸鹿彷彿感受到了悲傷、獻出給飼養員的告別之吻。
The 54-year-old maintenance worker, who has terminal cancer, asked that his hospital bed be wheeled into the giraffe enclosure at the zoo.
這位54歲的維修工已經癌症晚期，他請求把自己的病牀帶到動物園的長頸鹿生活區。
In a heartbreaking scene, one of the giraffes then approached the man, known only as Mario, and gave him a tender kiss goodbye.
在一幕感人的畫面中，一隻長頸鹿走進這位名叫馬里奧的工人，然後送上了溫柔的告別之吻。
‘(It was) a very special moment. You saw him beaming.’
“這一刻非常奇妙，你可以看見馬里奧滿臉笑容。”
Mario, who's mentally disabled, then asked for a moment to say goodbye to his colleagues at the zoo, where he spent the vast majority of his adult life.
馬里奧先天智力低於常人，他在動物園工作了大半生。當時他請求和動物園的同事告別。
‘It was very nice that we were able to work on the last wish of this man,' Mr Veldboer said.
Veldboer 先生說：“我們很高興能夠通過我們的努力滿足他的最後心願。”
The Ambulance Wish Foundation is a charity whose volunteers specialise in taking non-mobile terminally ill patients fulfill their dying wishes.
救護車許願基金會是一個慈善組織，其志願者專注於幫助疾病晚期、行動不便的病人實現最後的願望。
The organization was founded in 2007 by Veldboer, who also drives the company's fleet of ambulances to take patients wherever they wish to go.
這一組織由Veldboer在2007年建立的，同時他還是基金會救護車車隊的司機，載着病人到所有想去的地方。
Last year the charity took a terminally-ill 86-year-old man back to his farm in Holland, to say goodbye to his ponies.
去年，這一慈善組織曾幫助疾病晚期的86歲老人回到自己在荷蘭的農場，和自己的小馬告別。
雅思閱讀材料大集合：中美第一夫人大對比
They share plenty of common ground, even beyond the stylish outfits and the proximity to power. Both grew up in modest circumstances, and both have daughters. They're nearly the same age.
據《衛報》報道，兩位第一夫人在時髦的着裝和巨大的影響力之外，還有很多相同之處。她們都在平凡的環境中成長，都有女兒，還差不多同齡。
Yet when Michelle Obama, 50, arrives in China on Thursday to meet her 51-year-old Chinese counterpart Peng Liyuan, the two will also make a fascinating study in contrasts. If Obama's narrative is one of resilience, Peng's is one of restraint.
但是，3月20日50歲的米歇爾·奧巴馬到達中國會見51歲的_，還是讓人忍不住做一個有趣的對比研究。如果用善於應變來形容米歇爾，_的關鍵詞則應該是剋制。
Obama will arrive in Beijing with her daughters Sasha and Malia, and her mother Marian Robinson, for a week of sightseeing and speeches about people-to-people exchange. Peng will accompany her during a visit to a Beijing school, a dinner and a performance. Obama will address American and Chinese students at the prestigious Peking University and then head south for a whirlwind tour through the cities of Xi'an and Chengdu.
米歇爾將帶着兩個女兒及母親訪華，進行一週的觀光，做些交流性的講話。_將會陪同她參觀北京的一所學校，一起吃晚餐，看演出。米歇爾將在著名的北京大學爲中美學子演講，然後去西安和成都參觀。
When Obama's predecessors Laura Bush and Hillary Rodham Clinton visited China during their husbands' tenures, they grilled its leadership on difficult political topics such as human rights. Obama plans to focus on education and cultural exchange, Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser for strategic communications, told reporters on Monday.
戰略溝通的國家安全顧問代理說，前兩任美國第一夫人勞拉·布什和希拉里·羅德海姆·克林頓訪華時，她們會提到一些政治問題，比如人權。而米歇爾則要着重教育和文化交流。
Yet Obama's personal narrative – one of "someone [from] a disadvantaged economic background from a minority group" making it to the top – would send a powerful message on its own, Rhodes said. "That alone I think speaks to things like respect for human rights that are interwoven into the DNA of the US."
但是他還說道，米歇爾的個人經歷——從一個貧困的黑人女孩奮鬥爲美國上流社會的頂尖人物——將會傳遞強大的能量，本身就能說明尊重人權根植於美國的基因裏等等。
Peng scaled the heights of fame long before her husband, President Xi Jinping. She spent two decades as a nationally renowned folksinger, known for belting out patriotic tunes on elaborate television specials. She began to dodge the limelight in 2007, to give precedence to Xi's political career.
_在習近平主席出名前便享有盛名。二十多年來都是中國知名的民俗歌唱家，經常在著名電視節目上演唱。2007年以後，爲了丈夫的政治生涯，她漸漸淡出人們的視線。
Last March, Peng sent shockwaves through Chinese social media when she appeared with Xi in Moscow wearing a sharp trench coat and handbag.
去年3月，在和習近平主席出訪莫斯科的公開露面中，她優雅的着裝和搭配立刻在中國收到社交媒體的熱捧。
One fan – a 34-year-old woman named Li who started a popular Peng Liyuan fan group online – described her hero as humble, friendly, and glamorous.
雅思閱讀材料大集合：父親年齡大孩子長得醜?
研究發現，父親年齡大的孩子相貌也較醜，但是這些醜孩子的壽命卻會比其他人長。
研究指出，45歲以上的男人生出的孩子患自閉症和精神疾病的風險比其他孩子更高。父親年齡越大，基因突變的概率也會成倍增加。
相比之下，母親遺傳給孩子的基因最多隻會發生15個突變，不管母親年齡多大。
科學家稱，22歲的父親生出的孩子比40歲的父親生出的孩子相貌水平要高出5%到10%。
Older fathers have uglier children, researchers have claimed after linking age to genetic mutations.
The finding comes weeks after leading scientists reported children born to men over the age of 45 run a higher risk of having autism and psychiatric disorders.
With age, sperm-producing cells do not copy a man's DNA as effectively, leading to genetic mutations.
Martin Fielder, an anthropologist at Vienna University, told the Sunday Times: 'Every 16 years the mutation rate doubles. Other researchers found 25 mutations per sperm in a 20-year-old, but at age 40 it is 65 mutations. By 56, it doubles again.
'The effect is very visible - someone born to a father of 22 is already 5-10 per cent more attractive than those with a 40-year-old father and the difference grows with the age gap.'
In contrast, women pass on a maximum of 15 mutations to their baby, regardless of age, according to the study published in the journal Nature.
Surveying a group of six men and six women, researchers showed them each 4,018 photographs of 18-20-year-old men and 4,416 of women the same age, and asked to rate their attractiveness.
Those with older fathers were consistently rated less attractive.
However, the offspring of older men, though less attractive, are likely to outlive their peers with younger fathers, it is claimed.
Professor Lee Smith, a geneticist at Edinburgh University, told the Sunday Times other research found such children have longer telomeres - the caps on the end of chromosomes - which are associated with longer life.
But the mounting research connecting parents' age with autism is cause for concern, experts warn.
Autism is an umbrella term for a range of developmental disorders that have a lifelong effect on someone’s ability to interact socially and communicate.
In the UK, around one in 100 adults is thought to be affected by autism, mostly men, caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors.
Researchers said men should be advised about the potential problems in order to help their personal decision-making when it came to having fathering children at older ages.
They warned that advancing paternal age posed a risk of ‘numerous public health and societal problems’.
Among well-known older dads are Simon Cowell, 54, whose son was born earlier this month, and comedian Frank Skinner whose first child was born in 2012 when he was 55.
