劍橋雅思閲讀解析8(test2)

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　劍橋雅思閲讀8原文(test2)

READING PASSAGE 1

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

Sheet glass manufacture:

the float process

Glass, which has been made since the time of the Mesopotamians and Egyptians, is little more than a mixture of sand, soda ash and lime. When heated to about 1500 degrees Celsius (℃) this becomes a molten mass that hardens when slowly cooled. The first successful method for making clear, flat glass involved spinning. This method was very effective as the glass had not touched any surfaces between being soft and becoming hard, so it stayed perfectly unblemished, with a 'fire finish'. However, the process took a long time and was labour intensive.

Nevertheless, demand for flat glass was very high and glassmakers across the world were looking for a method of making it continuously. The first continuous ribbon process involved squeezing molten glass through two hot rollers, similar to an old mangle. This allowed glass of virtually any thickness to be made non-stop, but the rollers would leave both sides of the glass marked, and these would then need to be ground and polished. This part of the process rubbed away around 20 per cent of the glass, and the machines were very expensive.

The float process for making flat glass was invented by Alistair Pilkington. This process allows the manufacture of clear, tinted and coated glass for buildings, and clear and tinted glass for vehicles. Pilkington had been experimenting with improving the melting process, and in 1952 he had the idea of using a bed of molten metal to form the flat glass, eliminating altogether the need for rollers within the float bath. The metal had to melt at a temperature less than the hardening point of glass (about 600℃), but could not boil at a temperature below the temperature of the molten glass (about 1500℃). The best metal for the job was tin.

The rest of the concept relied on gravity, which guaranteed that the surface of the molten metal was perfectly flat and horizontal. Consequently, when pouring molten glass onto the molten tin, the underside of the glass would also be perfectly flat. If the glass were kept hot enough, it would flow over the molten tin until the top surface was also flat, horizontal and perfectly parallel to the bottom surface. Once the glass cooled to 604℃ or less it was too hard to mark and could be transported out of the cooling zone by rollers. The glass settled to a thickness of six millimetres because of surface tension interactions between the glass and the tin. By fortunate coincidence, 60 per cent of the flat glass market at that time was for six-millimetre glass.

Pilkington built a pilot plant in 1953 and by 1955 he had convinced his company to build a full-scale plant. However, it took 14 months of non-stop production, costing the company ￡100,000 a month, before the plant produced any usable glass. Furthermore, once they succeeded in making marketable flat glass, the machine was turned off for a service to prepare it for years of continuous production. When it started up again it took another four months to get the process right again. They finally succeeded in 1959 and there are now float plants all over the world, with each able to produce around 1000 tons of glass every day, non-stop for around 15 years.

Float plants today make glass of near optical quality. Several processes — melting, refining, homogenising — take place simultaneously in the 2000 tonnes of molten glass in the furnace. They occur in separate zones in a complex glass flow driven by high temperatures. It adds up to a continuous melting process, lasting as long as 50 hours, that delivers glass smoothly and continuously to the float bath, and from there to a coating zone and finally a heat treatment zone, where stresses formed during cooling are relieved.

The principle of float glass is unchanged since the 1950s. However, the product has changed dramatically, from a single thickness of 6.8 mm to a range from sub-millimetre to 25 mm, from a ribbon frequently marred by inclusions and bubbles to almost optical perfection. To ensure the highest quality, inspection takes place at every stage. Occasionally, a bubble is not removed during refining, a sand grain refuses to melt, a tremor in the tin puts ripples into the glass ribbon. Automated on-line inspection does two things. Firstly, it reveals process faults upstream that can be corrected. Inspection technology allows more than 100 million measurements a second to be made across the ribbon, locating flaws the unaided eye would be unable to see. Secondly, it enables computers downstream to steer cutters around flaws.

Float glass is sold by the square metre, and at the final stage computers translate customer requirements into patterns of cuts designed to minimise waste.

Questions 1-8

Complete the table and diagram below.

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 1-8 on your answer sheet.

Early methods of producing flat glass

Method Advantages Disadvantages

1............

? Glass remained

2........... ? Slow

? 3.............

Ribbon

? Could produce glass sheets of varying 4.............

? non-stop process ? Glass was 5...........

? 20% of glass rubbed away

? Machines were expensive

圖片11

Questions 9-13

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

In boxes 9-13 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

9 The metal used in the float process had to have specific properties.

10 Pilkington invested some of his own money in his float plant.

11 Pilkington’s first full-scale plant was an instant commercial success.

12 The process invented by Pilkington has now been improved.

13 Computers are better than humans at detecting faults in glass.

READING PASSAGE 2

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

Question 14-17

Reading passage 2 has six paragraphs, A-F.

Choose the correct heading for paragraphs B and D-F from the list of headings below.

Write the correct number, i-ix, in boxes 14-17 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings

i Predicting climatic changes

ii The relevance of the Little Ice Age today

iii How cities contribute to climate change.

iv Human impact on the climate

v How past climatic conditions can be determined

vi A growing need for weather records

vii A study covering a thousand years

viii People have always responded to climate change

ix Enough food at last

Example Answer

Paragraph A Viii

14 Paragraph B

Example Answer

Paragraph C V

15 Paragraph D

16 Paragraph E

17 Paragraph F

THE LITTLE ICE AGE

A This book will provide a detailed examination of the Little Ice Age and other climatic shifts, but, before I embark on that, let me provide a historical context. We tend to think of climate — as opposed to weather — as something unchanging, yet humanity has been at the mercy of climate change for its entire existence, with at least eight glacial episodes in the past 730,000 years. Our ancestors adapted to the universal but irregular global warming since the end of the last great Ice Age, around 10,000 years ago, with dazzling opportunism. They developed strategies for surviving harsh drought cycles, decades of heavy rainfall or unaccustomed cold; adopted agriculture and stock-raising, which revolutionised human life; and founded the world's first pre-industrial civilisations in Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Americas. But the price of sudden climate change, in famine, disease and suffering, was often high.

B The Little Ice Age lasted from roughly 1300 until the middle of the nineteenth century. Only two centuries ago, Europe experienced a cycle of bitterly cold winters; mountain glaciers in the Swiss Alps were the lowest in recorded memory, and pack ice surrounded Iceland for much of the year. The climatic events of the Little Ice Age did more than help shape the modern world. They are the deeply important context for the current unprecedented global warming. The Little Ice Age was far from a deep freeze, however; rather an irregular seesaw of rapid climatic shifts, few lasting more than a quarter-century, driven by complex and still little understood interactions between the atmosphere and the ocean. The seesaw brought cycles of intensely cold winters and easterly winds, then switched abruptly to years of heavy spring and early summer rains, mild winters, and frequent Atlantic storms, or to periods of droughts, light northeasterly winds, and summer heat waves.

C Reconstructing the climate changes of the past is extremely difficult, because systematic weather observations began only a few centuries ago, in Europe and North America. Records from India and tropical Africa are even more recent. For the time before records began, we have only 'proxy records' reconstructed largely from tree rings and ice cores, supplemented by a few incomplete written accounts. We now have hundreds of tree-ring records from throughout the northern hemisphere, and many from south of the equator, too, amplified with a growing body of temperature data from ice cores drilled in Antarctica, Greenland, the Peruvian Andes, and other locations, we are close to a knowledge of annual summer and winter temperature variations over much of the northern hemisphere going back 600 years.

D This book is a narrative history of climatic shifts during the past ten centuries, and some of the ways in which people in Europe adapted to them. Part One describes the Medieval Warm Period, roughly 900 to 1200. During these three centuries, Norse voyagers from Northern Europe explored northern seas, settled Greenland, and visited North America. It was not a time of uniform warmth, for then, as always since the Great Ice Age, there were constant shifts in rainfall and temperature. Mean European temperatures were about the same as today, perhaps slightly cooler.

E It is known that the Little Ice Age cooling began in Greenland and the Arctic in about 1200. As the Arctic ice pack spread southward, Norse voyages to the west were rerouted into the open Atlantic, then ended altogether. Storminess increased in the North Atlantic and North Sea. Colder, much wetter weather descended on Europe between 1315 and 1319, when thousands perished in a continent-wide famine. By 1400, the weather had become decidedly more unpredictable and stormier, with sudden shifts and lower temperatures that culminated in the cold decades of the late sixteenth century. Fish were a vital commodity in growing towns and cities, where food supplies were a constant concern. Dried cod and herring were already the staples of the European fish trade, but changes in water temperatures forced fishing fleets to work further offshore. The Basques, Dutch, and English developed the first offshore fishing boats adapted to a colder and stormier Atlantic. A gradual agricultural revolution in northern Europe stemmed from concerns over food supplies at a time of rising populations. The revolution involved intensive commercial farming and the growing of animal fodder on land not previously used for crops. The increased productivity from farmland made some countries self-sufficient in grain and livestock and offered effective protection against famine.

F Global temperatures began to rise slowly after 1850, with the beginning of the Modern Warm Period. There was a vast migration from Europe by land-hungry farmers and others, to which the famine caused by the Irish potato blight contributed, to North America, Australia, New Zealand, and southern Africa. Millions of hectares of forest and woodland fell before the newcomers' axes between 1850 and 1890, as intensive European farming methods expanded across the world. The unprecedented land clearance released vast quantities of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, triggering for the first time humanly caused global warming. Temperatures climbed more rapidly in the twentieth century as the use of fossil fuels proliferated and greenhouse gas levels continued to soar. The rise has been even steeper since the early 1980s. The Little Ice Age has given way to a new climatic regime, marked by prolonged and steady warming. At the same time, extreme weather events like Category 5 hurricanes are becoming more frequent.

Questions 18-22

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

Write the correct letter, A-I, in boxes 18-22 on your answer sheet.

Weather during the Little Ice Age

Documentation of past weather conditions is limited: our main sources of knowledge of conditions in the distant past are 19.................. We can deduce that the Little Ice Age was a time of 20.............. , rather than of consistent freezing. Within it there were some periods of very cold winters, other of heavy rain, and yet others that saw no rain at all.

A climatic shifts B ice cores C tree rings

D glaciers E interactions F weather observations

G heat waves H storms I written accounts

Questions 23-26

Classify the following events as occurring during the

A Medieval Warm Period

B Little Ice Age

C Modern Warm Period

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

23 Many Europeans started farming abroad.

24 The cutting down of trees began to affect the climate.

25 Europeans discovered other lands.

26 Changes took place in fishing patterns.

READING PASSAGE 3

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

Questions 27-32

Reading Passage 3 has six paragraphs, A-F.

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

Write the correct number, i-viii, in boxes 27-32 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings

i The difficulties of talking about smells

ii The role of smell in personal relationships

iii Future studies into smell

iv The relationship between the brain and the nose

v The interpretation of smells as a factor in defining groups

vi Why our sense of smell is not appreciated

vii Smell is our superior sense

viii The relationship between smell and feelings

27 paragraph A

28 paragraph B

29 paragraph C

30 paragraph D

31 paragraph E

32 paragraph F

The meaning and power of smell

The sense of smell, or olfaction, is powerful. Odours affect us on a physical, psychological and social level. For the most part, however, we breathe in the aromas which surround us without being consciously aware of their importance to us. It is only when the faculty of smell is impaired for some reason that we begin to realise the essential role the sense of smell plays in our sense of well-being

A A survey conducted by Anthony Synott at Montreal's Concordia University asked participants to comment on how important smell was to them in their lives. It became apparent that smell can evoke strong emotional responses. A scent associated with a good experience can bring a rush of joy, while a foul odour or one associated with a bad memory may make us grimace with disgust. Respondents to the survey noted that many of their olfactory likes and dislikes were based on emotional associations. Such associations can be powerful enough so that odours that we would generally label unpleasant become agreeable, and those that we would generally consider fragrant become disagreeable for particular individuals. The perception of smell, therefore, consists not only of the sensation of the odours themselves, but of the experiences and emotions associated with them.

B Odours are also essential cues in social bonding. One respondent to the survey believed that there is no true emotional bonding without touching and smelling a loved one. In fact, infants recognise the odours of their mothers soon after birth and adults can often identify their children or spouses by scent. In one well-known test, women and men were able to distinguish by smell alone clothing worn by their marriage partners from similar clothing worn by other people. Most of the subjects would probably never have given much thought to odour as a cue for identifying family members before being involved in the test, but as the experiment revealed, even when not consciously considered, smells register.

C In spite of its importance to our emotional and sensory lives, smell is probably the most undervalued sense in many cultures. The reason often given for the low regard in which smell is held is that, in comparison with its importance among animals, the human sense of smell is feeble and undeveloped. While it is true that the olfactory powers of humans are nothing like as fine as those possessed by certain animals, they are still remarkably acute. Our noses are able to recognise thousands of smells, and to perceive odours which are present only in extremely small quantities.

D Smell, however, is a highly elusive phenomenon. Odours, unlike colours, for instance, cannot be named in many languages because the specific vocabulary simply doesn't exist. ‘It smells like…,’ we have to say when describing an odour, struggling to express our olfactory experience. Nor can odours be recorded: there is no effective way to either capture or store them over time. In the realm of olfaction, we must make do with descriptions and recollections. This has implications for olfactory research.

E Most of the research on smell undertaken to date has been of a physical scientific nature. Significant advances have been made in the understanding of the biological and chemical nature of olfaction, but many fundamental questions have yet to be answered. Researchers have still to decide whether smell is one sense or two — one responding to odours proper and the other registering odourless chemicals in the air. Other unanswered questions are whether the nose is the only part of the body affected by odours, and how smells can be measured objectively given the non-physical components. Questions like these mean that interest in the psychology of smell is inevitably set to play an increasingly important role for researchers.

F However, smell is not simply a biological and psychological phenomenon. Smell is cultural, hence it is a social and historical phenomenon. Odours are invested with cultural values: smells that are considered to be offensive in some cultures may be perfectly acceptable in others. Therefore, our sense of smell is a means of, and model for, interacting with the world. Different smells can provide us with intimate and emotionally charged experiences and the value that we attach to these experiences is interiorised by the members of society in a deeply personal way. Importantly, our commonly held feelings about smells can help distinguish us from other cultures. The study of the cultural history of smell is, therefore, in a very real sense, an investigation into the essence of human culture.

Questions 33-36

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

Write the correct letter in boxes 33-36 on your answer sheet.

33 According to the introduction, we become aware of the importance of smell when

A we discover a new smell.

B we experience a powerful smell.

C our ability to smell is damaged.

D we are surrounded by odours.

34 The experiment described in paragraph B

A shows how we make use of smell without realising it.

B demonstrates that family members have a similar smell.

C proves that a sense of smell is learnt.

D compares the sense of smell in males and females.

35 What is the write doing in paragraph C?

A supporting other research

B making a proposal

C rejecting a common belief

D describing limitations

36 What does the write suggest about the study of smell in the atmosphere in paragraph E?

A The measurement of smell is becoming more accurate.

B Researchers believe smell is a purely physical reaction.

C Most smells are inoffensive.

D Smell is yet to be defined.

Questions 37-40

Complete the sentences below.

Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet.

37 Tests have shown that odours can help people recognise the.......... belonging to their husbands and wives.

38 Certain linguistic groups may have difficulty describing smell because they lack the appropriate ................ .

39 The sense of smell may involve response to................ which do not smell, in addition to obvious odours.

40 Odours regarded as unpleasant in not regarded as unpleasant in others.

　　劍橋雅思閲讀8原文參考譯文(test2)

PASSAGE 1 參考譯文：

玻璃板製造：浮法工藝

早在美索不達米亞時期和古埃及時期人們就開始製造玻璃，當時製作出的玻璃只不過是沙子、碳酸鈉 和石灰的混合物而已。該混合物被加熱到約1500攝氏度時會變成熔質，慢慢冷卻後會硬化。最早成功製出透明、平整的玻璃的工藝中包括旋製法。該製法非常有效，因為玻璃在由軟變硬的過程中不會接觸任何表面，因此可以一直保持完美無瑕的狀態，最後通過“火處理”收尾。然而，該過程耗時很長，而且要耗費大量的勞動力。

儘管如此，人們對平整玻璃的需求很高，全世界的玻璃製造者都在尋找可以連續製造玻璃的方法。第一個連續帶式工藝過程是用兩個高温滾軸擠壓熔化的玻璃——類似老式的軋板機。該工藝可以連續不斷地製造幾乎各種厚度的玻璃，但是滾軸會在玻璃板的兩面都留下痕跡，這就需要對玻璃進行打磨和拋光。這一過程會磨去約20%的玻璃，而且所用的機器也很昂貴。

Alistair Pilkington發明了浮法玻璃製造工藝。該製法可以用來製造用於建築物上的透明、有色的加膜玻璃，也可以為車輛提供透明的有色玻璃。Pilkington 一直在反覆實驗，研究如何改良熔化工藝。在1952年，他 萌生了用熔化金屬作基牀加工玻璃板的想法，有了這樣的金屬液槽，就可以徹底淘汰滾軸了。該金屬的熔點必須低於玻璃的硬化温度(約600攝氏度)，但同時沸點要高於熔化玻璃的温度(約1500攝氏度)。最符合這些條件的金屬是錫。

實現這一想法的另一個條件就是重力。重力可以保證熔化金屬的表面完全平整且水平。因此，把熔化的玻璃澆在熔錫上時，玻璃的下表面也會完全平整。如果玻璃能夠保持足夠的高温，它就會在熔錫上慢慢流動，直到其上表面也平整、水平，並與下表面完全平行。一旦將玻璃冷卻至604攝氏度或更低，玻璃就會 硬化到表面不會被刮花的程度，這樣就可以通過滾軸將其運送到冷卻槽了。玻璃和錫的表面張力相互作用會使成形的玻璃板的厚度穩定在6毫米。幸運的巧合是，當時市場對玻璃板的需求有60%是6毫米玻璃板。

1953年，Pilkington建立了一個試點工廠。到1955年為止，他已經説服他的公司建立成套的工業裝置。然而，他們經過14個月的不間斷生產且每個月花費10萬英鎊，才在廠裏首次生產出可用的玻璃。而且，他們 在成功生產出能投人市場的玻璃之後，就將機器關閉了，為的是在接下來幾年能夠持續生產。當機器再次投人生產時，又花了四個月的時間來使生產流程走上正軌。1959年，他們終於成功了。如今浮法制玻工廠遍佈全球，每一個工廠都能夠15年不間斷地日產玻璃千噸。

今天的浮法制玻工廠可以生產出接近光學質量的玻璃。在容納了2000噸熔化玻璃的熔爐內，同時進行着多個程序——溶化、精煉、均質化。這些過程發生在由高温驅動的熔化玻璃流的不同區域，並彙總成為一個長達50小時的無間斷熔鍊過程，向金屬液槽平穩、連續地提供玻璃。接着玻璃會被送往加膜區，最後 會被送達熱處理區——該區域能夠緩釋玻璃內部在冷卻過程中產生的應力。

自20世紀50年代以來，浮法制玻的原理不曾改變過。然而，玻璃製品卻經歷了巨大變化：從之前單一的6.8毫米玻璃板到如今的亞毫米級至25毫米區間任意厚度的玻璃板;從之前很容易被內含物和氣泡損毀 的玻璃帶到如今接近光學完美的玻璃。為了保證最高質量，每一個生產階段都有監察。偶爾，在精煉過程中 也會有一個氣泡未被排出，一顆沙粒沒有熔化，或是液錫的波動導致玻璃帶產生波紋等情況。自動的在線監察有兩項任務：一是向上遊(生產前階段)報告生產過程中可以修正的紕漏。監察技術可以在玻璃帶上實 現每秒超過一億次的測量，以定位肉眼無法辨認的瑕疵;二是讓下游(生產後階段)計算機操控刀具切割掉有瑕疵的部分。

浮法玻璃是按平方米出售的。在生產的最後階段，計算機會根據顧客的需求設計玻璃的裁割方案，以實現浪費的最小化。

TEST 2 PASSAGE 2 參考譯文：

小冰期

A.本書詳細討論了小冰期和其他氣候變化，但是在我開始部分之前，我要向大家提供一個相關的歷史背景。我們傾向於認為氣候是不變的(與天氣正好相反)。然而，人類自存在之日起就一直受到氣候變化的支配——過去的73萬年間至少出現過八次冰河期。自從大約一萬年前的上一次大冰河期的末期開始，我們的祖先就憑藉非凡的投機手段適應着普遍存在卻並不規律的全球變暖。他們制定了各種策略，以便在週期性的大幹旱、連綿數十年的暴雨或罕見的低温環境中存活;他們發展的農業和畜牧業給人類 的生活帶來了革命;他們在埃及、美索不達米亞和美洲大陸建立了世界上最早的前工業化文明。但是，氣候驟變帶來的惡果——饑荒、瘟疫和苦難，往往十分嚴重。

B.小冰期大致從公元1300年持續到19世紀中期。僅兩個世紀以前，歐洲遭遇了週期性的嚴冬，瑞士阿爾卑斯山脈的高山冰川的高度達到史上最低，冰島周圍常年被浮冰環繞。小冰期的氣候活動不僅在塑造現代地球環境方面發揮了作用，也為如今史無前例的全球變暖現象提供了温牀。然而，小冰期遠非一個深度冰凍期，它實際上是由大氣與海洋之間複雜難解的相互作用引起的、持續期普遍短於25年的一系列不規則氣候劇變的集合。這樣的起伏波動先是帶來週期性的嚴冬和東風，然後又突然轉變為持續數年的春季暴雨、夏季早雨、暖冬和頻繁的大西洋風暴，抑或週期性乾旱、輕東北風和酷暑熱浪。

C.重構過去的氣候變化極其困難，因為系統的天氣觀測僅僅在幾個世紀之前才始於歐洲和北美洲。印度和熱帶非洲的記錄開始得更晚。至於有記錄之前的年代，我們只有“代理記錄”——大部分根據樹木的年輪和冰芯(的數據)重建，並輔之以少量不完整的手寫記錄。如今，我們擁有幾百份樹木年輪的記錄，遍佈北半球和赤道以南的很多地區;我們還從南極洲、格陵蘭島、祕魯安第斯及其他地區鑽得的冰芯中得到了越來越多的温度數據時該記錄進行補充。我們很快就要掌握北半球大部600前年的年度冬夏温度變化了。

D.本書講述了過去10個世紀間氣候變化的歷史，還介紹了歐洲人為了適應氣候變化所採用的一些方法。第一部分描述了中世紀暖期，大致從公元900年持續到1200年。在這三個世紀中，古斯堪的納維亞的航海者們從歐洲北部出發探索北海，在格陵蘭島定居，並探訪了北美大陸。當時的氣候就像大冰河期之後的所有時期一樣，並非始終如一的暖期：雨量和温度經歷着持續的變化。當時歐洲的平均温度和現在差不多，可能稍低一點。

E.眾所周知，大約從公元1200年起，格陵蘭島和北極開始降温，小冰期到來。由於北極浮冰向南擴散，古斯堪的納維亞向西的航海路線變更至開放的大西洋，然後一切航行都終止了。北大西洋和北海的風暴增加。1315年至1319年間，更冷更潮濕的天氣降臨歐洲大陸，成千上萬的人死於橫掃整個大陸的饑荒。到了1400年，天氣明顯變得更加難以預測，狂風暴雨的機率大增，間或出現氣温急轉直下，在16世紀末的幾十年寒期時降到谷底。在那些正在興起的城鎮裏，食品供應向來重要，而魚類是至關重要的商品。鱈魚乾和鯡魚乾已成為歐洲魚類貿易的主要產品，但是水温的變化迫使漁船駛向更加遠離海岸的海域。巴斯克人、荷蘭人和英國人最先造出了能夠適應在寒冷、多風暴的大西洋中航行的離岸漁船。在人口增加時期，對食物供應的關心導致了北歐漸進的農業革命。這次革命帶來了集中的商業耕種，以及為了種植動物飼料而在非農作物用地上進行的土地開墾。農作物產量的提高使得部分國家能夠實現糧食和家畜的自給自足，為抵制饑荒提供了有效保障。

F.1850年以後，全球温度開始逐漸上升，拉開了現代暖期的序幕。一大批歐洲居民——從渴求土地的農民，到不堪愛爾蘭馬鈴薯饑荒(由馬鈴薯枯萎病引起)的饑民——移居到了北美、澳大利亞、新西蘭和非洲南部。1850年至1890年間，由於集中式歐洲農耕法傳遍全球，數百萬公頃的森林和林地毀於拓荒者的斧下。前所未有的大規模開荒使得巨量的二氧化碳被排人大氣，並引起第一次人為的全球變暖。到了20世紀，由於礦物燃料的使用激增、温室氣體量的持續增加，氣温攀升的速度進一步加快。尤其是20世紀80年代以來，升温的速度加劇。小冰期被一種新的氣候變化模式取代，其顯著特點是長期、穩定的升温。與此同時，極端天氣，如五級以上的颶風，正變得更加頻繁。

TEST 2 PASSAGE 3 參考譯文：

嗅覺的意義和力量

對氣味的感覺，或嗅覺，是十分強大的。氣味在生理、心理和社會層面均對我們產生影響。然而，在大多數情況下，我們吸入周圍的氣味卻並不自覺它們對我們的重要性。只有當嗅覺因某種原因受損而失靈時，我們才開始意識到嗅覺在我們的幸福感中扮演的重要角色。

A.—項由Anthony Synott在蒙特利爾的Concordia大學開展的調查要求參與者評價一下嗅覺在他們的生活中的重要性。很明顯，嗅覺能夠喚起強烈的情感迴應。某種和愉快經歷相關的氣味會帶來欣喜之感;污濁的氣味或與糟糕經歷有關的氣味則可能讓人噁心得面部扭曲。這項調查的應答者們覺察到自身很多對嗅覺的好惡都基於情感聯繫。這樣的聯繫在強到一定程度時，會讓大眾普遍不喜歡的氣味變得令特定個體愉快，也會讓大眾公認為芬芳的氣味變得讓特定個體討厭。因此，對於氣味的感知不單單包括對其本身的感覺，也包括對與其相關的經歷和情感的認知。

B.氣味是社會聯繫的重要線索。一位接受調查的人認為，如果不去觸碰和嗅聞你所愛的人或物，那麼你們之間就沒有建立起真正的情感聯繫。事實上，嬰兒在出生後不久後就會辨識母親的氣味，成人也往往可以通 過氣味辨認自己的孩子或伴侶。在一項著名的測試中，被測女性和男性都能夠僅通過氣味在相同的衣物 中區分自己的配偶穿過的衣服和其他人穿過的衣服。大部分被測者在參加測試之前，很有可能從來都沒有意識到氣味也能成為辨認家庭成員的線索。然而正如試驗所揭示的，就算沒有這樣的意識，氣味仍然會給人留下印象。

C.儘管嗅覺對我們的情感和感知生活都很重要，但它可能在很多文化中仍是最不受重視的官能。嗅覺遭受輕視的原因常常被歸結為：相對於十分重視嗅覺功能的動物而言，人類的嗅覺功能較弱而且不發達。雖然人類的嗅覺確實不如某些動物的那樣傑出，但是仍然相當敏鋭。我們的鼻子能夠分辨成千上萬種氣味，也可以感知極微量的氣味。

D.然而，嗅覺是種非常難以捉摸的現象。氣味與色彩不同，例如，在很多種語言中都很難給氣味進行命名，這是因為特定的詞彙根本不存在。我們想要描述某種氣味時，只能説“它聞起來像……”，絞盡腦汁地表達我們的嗅覺感受。氣味也無法記錄：沒有有效的方法能夠捕獲或長時間地保存氣味。在嗅覺的領域，我們只能勉強依賴描述和回憶，這就涉及對嗅覺的研究。

E.迄今為止進行的多數關於嗅覺的研究都具有物理科學性質。對於氣味的生化組成的瞭解已有了重要的發現，但是很多基本問題仍未得到解答。研究者們還需要判斷嗅覺到底是一種還是兩種感覺種感覺迴應氣味本身，另一種感覺記錄空氣中無味的化學成分。其他未解的問題包括鼻子是否唯一受氣味影響的身體器官，以及如何客觀地測量無形的氣味。這樣的問題意味着對於研究者來説，對嗅覺心理 學的興趣勢必起到越來越重要的作用。

F.然而，嗅覺並不只是一種生物學和心理學現象。嗅覺具有文化屬性，因此也是一種社會學和歷史學現象。嗅覺被賦予了文化價值：在有些文化中具有冒犯意味的氣味到了其他文化中可能就變得可以為人所接受了。因此，我們的嗅覺是與世界進行互動的手段和模式。不同的氣味能為我們提供私人的、感情充沛的經歷，我們賦予這些經歷的價值又會被社會成員以極個人的方式吸納。重要的是，我們對氣味所持有的共同感受能夠幫助我們區分自身與其他文化羣體。因此，對於氣味的文化歷史研究確實是深入人類文化本質的鑽研。

TEST 3 PASSAGE 1 參考譯文：

用激光回擊閃電

很少有比雷暴天氣更令人感到恐怖的天氣了。僅在美國，猛烈的雷暴電流每年都會造成大約500人死亡或重傷。雲層翻滾而來的時候，在户外打一場輕鬆的高爾夫成了一件異常可怕的事情，無異於是在拿自己的性命開玩笑——孤身一人在户外的高爾夫球手可能是閃電最喜歡攻擊的目標。此外，閃電也會帶來財產損失。每年閃電會對美國電力公司造成超過一億美元的損失。

不過，美國和日本的研?a href="">咳嗽閉誆呋鞀魃戀緄姆槳浮Ｋ且芽紀ü笛椴饈災瀉屠粧┑綰傻母髦址椒ā＝衲甓歟牆泵胬粧菏褂門潯傅募す餛魃湎蚩罩械撓暝疲蠱湓諫戀緋魷種胺諾紜?/p>

迫使雨雲根據指令釋放閃電並非一個新想法。早在20世紀60年代早期，研究者們就嘗試過把帶着拖曳線的火箭射入雨雲，以期為這些雲層發出的龐大的電荷羣搭建起便捷的放電路徑。由於受到建在加利福尼亞的電力研究所(EPRI)的支持，這一技術在佛羅里達的州立大學試驗基地倖存到了今天。EPRI由電力公司資助，現正致力於研究保護美國輸電網不受閃電襲擊的方法。“我們可以通過火箭讓閃電擊向我們想讓它去的地方，”EPRI的閃電項目經理Ralph Bernstein如此説道。該火箭基地現在能對閃電電壓進行精確測量，並可以讓工程師們檢測電氣設備的負載。

不良行為

雖然火箭在研究中功不可沒，但它們無法提供閃電來襲時所有人都希求的保護。每支火箭造價大約 1,200美元，發射頻率有限，而失敗率卻高達40%。即使它們確實能夠引發閃電，事情也無法總是按計劃順利進行。“閃電可不那麼聽話”，Bernstein説，“它們偶爾會走岔路，射到它們本不該去的地方。”

但不管怎樣，有誰會想在人口密集的地區發射成羣的火箭呢? “射上去的肯定會掉下來，”新墨西哥大學的Jean-Claude Diels指出。Diels現在正在負責一個項目，該項目由ERPI所支持，試圖通過發射激光使閃電安全放電——安全是一項基本要求，因為沒人願意把他們自己的性命或他們的昂貴設備置於危險之中。有了迄今為止的50萬美元的投入，一套有巨大潛力的系統裝置正在該實驗室慢慢成形。

這一系統裝置的想法始於大約20年前，當時正在開發大功率激光器從原子中提取電荷並生成離子的能力。如果激光器能夠生成一條直達暴雨雲的離子線，就可以在閃電電場增強為一股無法控制的湧流並擊破空氣之前，用這條傳導通道把電荷引導到地面上來。為了防止激光器本身受到電擊，不能把它直接對準雲層，而是要把它對準一面鏡子，讓激光通過鏡子折射向天空。要在靠近鏡子的四周佈置閃電傳導器從而 對其進行保護。理想的做法是，雲層遙控器(槍)要比較廉價，以便能夠把它們安裝在所有重點電力設備周圍;另外還要方便攜帶，以便在國際運動賽事場地中用於使逐漸聚積的雨雲失去威力。

絆腳石

可是，仍存在巨大的絆腳石。激光器並不方便攜帶：它是個能佔據整個房間的龐然大物。Diels一直想要縮小它的體積，並表示很快就會有小型桌子大小的激光器了。他計劃在明年夏天用真正的雨雲來實際測試這個更容易操作的激光系統。

Bernstein表示，Diels的激光系統正在引起各電力公司的廣泛興趣。但他們還沒有準備好EPRI提出的500萬美元——開發一個讓激光器更小巧、價格也更便宜的商用系統的所需資金。Bernstein説：“我還不能 説我已經拿到錢了，但是我正在為之努力。”他認為，即將進行的實地測試會成為一個轉折點，而且他也在期待着好消息。Bernstein預言，如果一切順利，這將吸引“排山倒海般的興趣和支持”。他希望看到雲層遙控器的最終價格能定在每台5萬到10萬美元之間。

其他科學家也能從中受益。如果手上有了控制閃電的“開關”，材料科學家就可以瞭解強大的電流遇到物質時會發生什麼現象。Diels也希望看到“互動氣象學”問世——不僅僅是預測天氣，而且能控制天氣。“如果我們能使雲層放電，我們也許就能左右天氣，”他説。

而且也許，Diels説，我們將能夠對抗一些其他的氣象威脅。“我們認為我們也許能通過引導閃電來阻止冰雹，”他説。雷，來自於閃電的衝擊波，被認為是大暴雨——典型的雷暴天氣——的觸發器。一個激光雷工廠可以把水汽從雲層中震出，這樣也許可以阻止威脅莊稼的大冰雹的形成。如果運氣好的話，在今年冬天雨雲聚積的時候，持有激光器的研究者們就能第一次對其進行回擊了。

　　劍橋雅思閲讀8原文解析(test2)

Passage1

Question 1

答案： spinning

關鍵詞： method

定位原文: 第1段第3句“The first successful method for…”

解題思路: 此題的較容易。空格中所填詞應為 method的名稱。通過 The first successful method for making clear, flat glass involved spinning 可知本題答案為 spinning。

Question 2

答案： (perfectly) unblemished

關鍵詞： glass , remained

定位原文： 第1段倒數第2句“ it stayed perfectly unblemished,...”

解題思路： 此題的定位詞被同義轉述為stayed。 所以此題填：(perfectly) unblemished。

Question 3

答案： labour- intensive

關鍵詞： disadvantages, slow

定位原文： 第1段最後1句“However, the process took a long...”

解題思路： 由題目中的 disadvantages 找到文章中表示意思 與上文相反或相對的強轉折詞 However。同時 根據 slow 判斷本題需填入與之並列的形容詞。通過第一段最後一句可確定本題答案為 labour-intensive。

Question 4

答案： thickness

關鍵詞： ribbon, varying

對應原文： 第2段第3句“This allowed glass of virtually…”

解題思路： 此題通過Ribbon可以定位到第二段，其中 Advantage部分集中在第三句;文中any對應題中varying。所以此題填：thickness。

Question 5

答案： marked

關鍵詞： disadvantages, 20%

定位原文： 第2段倒數第2句“ the rollers would leave both sides of the glass marked,...”

解題思路： 此題通過20%定位於對應句之後的那一 句，按照順序原則找到對應處中的glass。空格中所填詞應為glass的狀態。所以此題填：marked。

Question 6

答案: (molten) glass

關鍵詞: Pilkington, float process

定位原文: 第3段第3句“Pilkington had been experimenting…”

解題思路： 由圖可知本題需填入進入 melting zone 的指代某種液體的名詞。 由原文 when pouring molten glass onto the molten tin 可知本題 答案為 (molten) glass。

Question 7

答案： (molten)tin/metal

關鍵詞： Pilkington, float process

定位原文： 第3段第3句“Pilkington had been experimenting with…”

解題思路： 空格中所填詞為在glass下面的物質,文中對應句裏bed —詞對應其位置。所以此題填：(molten) tin/metal。

Question 8

答案: rollers

關鍵詞: Pilkington, float process

定位原文: 第3段第3句“Pilkington had been experimenting with…”

解題思路: 空格中所填詞為glass兩側滾動裝置的名稱。所以此題填：rollers。

Question 9

答案: TRUE

關鍵詞: metal, float process

定位原文: 第3段倒數第2句“The metal had to melt…”

解題思路： 本句指出：該金屬的熔點必須低於玻璃的硬化温度(約600攝氏度)，但同時沸點要高於熔化玻璃的温度(約1500攝氏度)。文中對應句確實提到了該金屬熔點上的特性。故此題答案為： TRUE。

Question 10

答案: NOT GIVEN

關鍵詞： Pilkington, plant

定位原文： 第5段第1句“Pilkington built a pilot plant…”

解題思路: 文中對應句僅提到公司給該車間投資，未提及Pilkington本人是否投資。故此題答案為NOT GIVEN。

Question 11

答案: FALSE

關鍵詞: Pilkington’s first full- scale plant

定位原文: 第5段倒數第3句到最後一句“Furthermore, once they succeeded in making…”

解題思路: 由第 2 句句首的強轉折 詞 However 可知,情況向相反的 方向發生變化。此後的句子則具體 説明成功路上的各種阻礙,在最後 一句中看到最終取得成功的時間 是 1959 年,與題目中表述 instant commercial success 相反。

Question 12

答案： TRUE

關鍵詞： process, now

定位原文：第7段第1句“The principle of float…”

解題思路：由題目中now一詞定位至文章第六段第 1 句,本段的內容是 process improved 的具體表現。所以題目表述與原文相符,表述正確。

Question 13

答案： TRUE

關鍵詞： computers, humans

定位原文： 第7段第3句“To ensure the highest…”

解題思路： 本題考查比較級和最高級的同義轉述。文中inspection是由電腦執行的，且能確保最高的質量，説明人在這方面確實不如電腦。故此題答案為：TRUE。

Test 2 Passage2

Question 14

答案: ii

關鍵詞: 根據段落選擇，無題幹關鍵詞

定位原文: B段第1句“The Little Ice Age…”

解題思路: 本段第3句説“小冰河期的氣候 不僅僅是幫助形成了現今的世界”,原 文中的 modern world 對應選項 ii 中的 today，小冰期大致從公元1300年持續到19世紀中期，且整段話就是在描述小冰期對於現在的一些影響。因此答案為ii。

Question 15

答案: vii

關鍵詞: 根據段落選擇，無題幹關鍵詞

定位原文: D段第1句“This book is a narrative…”

解題思路: the past ten centuries 對應選項 vii 中的 a thousand years，文章中 a narrative history of climatic shifts 對應選項 vii 中的 study, D段首句強調，該書的內容是對1000年來氣候變化的描述以及歐洲人的適應方式。因此答案為vii。

Question 16

答案： ix

關鍵詞： 根據段落選擇，無題幹關鍵詞

定位原文： E段最後1句“The increased productivity…”

解題思路: E段末句指出，部分國家在糧食和家畜方面的自給自足為抵制饑荒提供了有效保障。因此答案為ix。

Question 17

答案： iv

關鍵詞： 根據段落選擇，無題幹關鍵詞

定位原文： F段第1、2句“Global temperatures began to…”

解題思路： F段首句和次句指出，全球氣温的上升引起了大規模的人口遷徙，隨後描述了其對氣候變化的影響。因此答案為iv。

Question 18 & Question 19

答案: B C (in either order)

關鍵詞： documentation of past weather conditions, sources, distant past

定位原文： C段第2句“For the time before…”

解題思路: 此題定位較難，在C段中掃描到第2句結束才會發現past的反義詞recent, 但也説明從其後開始就是答案的出處。空格中所填詞應為對於過去氣候認識的來源。

Question 20

答案： A

關鍵詞： consistent freezing

定位原文： B段第5句“The Little Ice Age was far from a deep…”

解題思路：此題定位很難，出現了嚴重的亂序。定位詞對應B段定位句中的deep freeze。空格中所填詞應與consistent freezing的意思相反(rather than)。故此題答案為A。

Question 21

答案： H

關鍵詞： cold winters, heavy rain

定位原文： B段最後1句“The seesaw brought…”

解題思路：此題按照順序原則較易定位。空格中所填詞應與heavy rains形成並列。故此題答案為H。

Question 22

答案： G

關鍵詞： yet, no rain at all, cold winters

定位原文： B段最後1句“The seesaw brought…”

解題思路: 此空所填詞為with no rain所修飾的對象，其對應文中的droughts。通過掃讀剩餘選項以及文中的對應句，很容易得到答案。故此題答案為G。

Question 23

答案： C

關鍵詞： Europeans, farming abroad

定位原文： F段內容“ the beginning of the Modern Warm Period. There was a vast migration from Europe by land-hungry farmers and others,... ”

解題思路： 此題定位較易，根據定位詞很容易找到對應段落，可知本題描述的是Modern Warm Period。故此題答案為C。

Question 24

答案: C

關鍵詞: cutting down of trees

定位原文: F段第3句“Millions of hectares of forest…”

解題思路：砍伐樹林開始影響氣候。此題定位較容易，定位句指出，數百萬公頃的森林和林地毀於拓荒者的斧下，並引起第一次人為的全球變暖。且此段整段均在談論Modem Warm Period。故此題答案為C。

Question 25

答案： A

關鍵詞： Europeans, discovered, other lands

定位原文：D段第2、3句“Part One describes the…”

解題思路：此題定位較易，在定位的第二句中指出，古斯堪的納維亞的航海者們從歐洲北部出發探索北海，在格陵蘭島定居，並探訪了北美大陸。故此題答案為A。

Question 26

答案： B

關鍵詞： changes, fishing patterns

定位原文：E段倒數第4句“The Basques, Dutch,…”

解題思路：此題定位後需要略讀的內容較多，但是通過fishing還是較易定位。文中指出，巴斯克人、荷蘭人和英國人最先造出了能夠適應在寒冷多風暴的大西洋中航行的離岸漁船。故此題答案為B。

Test 2 Passage 3

Question 27

答案： viii

關鍵詞： 段落匹配題，無關鍵詞

定位原文：A段第2句“It became apparent…”

解題思路：A段主題句指出，氣味可以喚起強烈的情感迴應，即指出了氣味與感覺的關係。

因此答案為viii。

Question 28

答案： ii

關鍵詞： 段落匹配題，無關鍵詞

定位原文：B段第1句“Odours are also…”

解題思路：B段主題句強調氣味是社會聯繫的基本線索，即指出了其在人際關係中的作用。因此答案為ii。

Question 29

答案： vi

關鍵詞： 段落匹配題，無關鍵詞

定位原文：C段第1句“In spite of its importance…”

解題思路：C段主題句後半部分指出嗅覺在很多文化中被輕視，隨後分析原因。因此答案為vi。

Question 30

答案： i

關鍵詞： 段落匹配題，無關鍵詞

定位原文： D段第2句“Odours, unlike colours, for instance, cannot…”

解題思路： D段主題句直接指出了在很多語言中缺乏描述氣味的詞彙。因此答案為i。

Question 31

答案： iii

關鍵詞： 段落匹配題，無關鍵詞

定位原文： E段第2句“Significant advances…”

解題思路： E段主題句後半句轉折之後指出，很多關於氣味的最基本的問題還有待解決，即點明未來的研究任務。因此答案為：iii。

Question 32

答案： v

關鍵詞： 段落匹配題，無關鍵詞

定位原文： F段倒數第2句“Importantly, our commonly …”

解題思路： F段主題句較難確定。句中指出，對於氣味的感覺可以區分不同的文化。關鍵要理解 distinguish…from…的意思。因此答案為v。

Question 33

答案： C

關鍵詞： introduction, aware of, importance

定位原文： 引言最後一句

解題思路：題目問我們什麼時候發現氣味的重要性,引言最後一句説“只有嗅覺失靈時,我們 才感覺到它的重要性”，從而可得出答案。題幹中的 aware of 對應本句中的 realize,題目中的 importance 對應本句中的 essential role,文章中的 is impaired 對應選項 C 中 damaged。

Question 34

答案： A

關鍵詞： paragraph B, experiment

定位原文： B段最後1句“Most of the subjects…”

解題思路：通過題目中experiment定位至文章B 段第 5 行 test。本題考查實驗所證明的理論, 應着重尋找其結論。由本段倒數第 2 行 the experiment revealed 可知,其後句子為實驗結論。 原文中的 not consciously considered 對應選項 A 中 without realizing it。

Question 35

答案： C

關鍵詞： paragraph C

定位原文： C段內容

解題思路： 由選項可知,本題求證作者的寫作目的。由本段第 3 句 while 可知,作者採用駁論法。另外，本題也可通過排除法選出正確答案。

Question 36

答案： D

關鍵詞： paragraph E, atmosphere

定位原文： E段第3句“Researchers…”

解題思路： 通過題目中的atmosphere定位至E 段第 3 句最後的 in the air。由本句的主句 researchers have still to decide 可知 D 選項 smell is yet to be defined 為正確答案。

Question 37

答案： clothing

關鍵詞： tests, husbands and wives

定位原文： B段第4句“.. women and men were able to…”

解題思路：此題定位句中的marriage partners對應定位詞。空格中所填詞應為丈夫和妻子所擁有的一件東西，belonging to對應文中的worn by。故此題答案為clothing。

Question 38

答案： vocabulary

關鍵詞： linguistic groups, describing

定位原文： D段第2句“Odours, unlike colours…”

解題思路： 此題定位有難度，但依據順序原則及對之前所做題目的印象還是能定位到D段，其中 named 對應 describing, languages 對應linguistic groups。空格中所填詞應為缺乏的東西。故此題答案為vocabulary。

Question 39

答案： chemicals

關鍵詞： not smell, obvious odours

定位原文： E段第3句“... one responding to odours proper and the other registering odourless chemicals in the air.”

解題思路：此題定位較難，但根據第36題的定位句就能直接解題。句中的odourless對應not smell，空格中所填詞應為聞不到的東西。故此題答案為chemicals 。

Question 40

答案： cultures

關鍵詞： unpleasant

定位原文： F段第3句“ls that are considered to be offensive in some cultures may be perfectly acceptable in others.”

解題思路：此題定位需要根據句子中的對立關係，文中的 offensive 和 perfectly acceptable即為對立，分別對應pleasant和unpleasant。空格中所填詞應為被認為unpleasant的地方。故此題答案為cultures。