1、INTERNATIONAL ENGLISH LANGUAGETESTING SYSTEMA PRACTICE TEST ACADEMIC READINGTIME ALLOWED: 1 HOURNUMBER OF QUESTIONS: 40InstructionsALL ANSWERS MUST BE WRITTEN ON THE ANSWER SHEETThe test is divided as follows:- Reading Passage 1 Questions 1 - 14- Reading Passage 2 Questions 15 - 26- Reading Passage
2、3 Questions 27 - 40Start at the beginning of the test and work through it. Your should answer all the questions. If you cannot do a particular question leave it and go on to the next. You can return to it later.说明本试卷改编自IELTS 考试技能训练教程-阅读， 原书作者：陈卫东，王冰欣，由北京语言文化大学出版社 1998 年 1 月出版，2002 年 3 月修订再版。试卷中的三篇文章
3、的难度、长度、题材、题型、材料出处等与雅思考试的阅读试卷有很好的可比性。作者积其十余年的雅思留学类阅读的教学经验及三次雅思考试的经验，编写了这些模拟试题。现公布于网上，供打算考雅思或参加雅思培训班的人做参考。根据经验，提出如下建议：此试卷应在 60 分钟内完成。正确题数及今后在阅读方面所应做出的相应安排如下：如仅能做对十二、三题，应该参加一个不与任何考试挂钩的培训班。雅思培训班功利性太强，不适于英语水平较低的人提高阅读能力。如能做对十五、六至二十三、四题，应该参加一个雅思培训班，通过 20-40 学时的阅读，一方面提高阅读能力（速度和理解力），一方面熟悉雅思考试的各类题型，并掌握一定的针对不同
4、题型的所谓“应试技巧”。但过多地迷信这些技巧、或指望通过对技巧的掌握来弥补能力不足的愿望会事与愿违。如能做对二十七、八至三十一、二题，则不必参加任何培训班（仅就阅读而言），买一、两本雅思阅读教材，多做几套模拟试题就足以在考试中取得好成绩。如能做对三十四、五题或以上，您就可以高枕无忧了。答案在试卷末尾。Have a good time!Academic Reading, A Practice Version, 北语雅思培训中心 1You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1 - 14 which are based on Reading Pas
5、sage One.Reading Passage OneWill Britain turn its back on wave power?Wave energy research in Britain is under threat again following a report which argues that public funding for large offshore projects should be restricted to a token sum. The report, by the governments Renewable Energy Advisory Gro
6、up, calls instead for more government investment to develop ways of generating electricity from hydroelectric plants, wind, waste and crops: technologies which have existing markets.The decision is complicated by the publication of a review of wave energy by the governments Energy Technology Support
7、 Unit, which shows that the cost of electricity generated from wave devices has fallen considerably in recent years, and that new designs could make even greater savings.The wave energy review was not completed in time for the renewables group to consider it. Nevertheless, the group gives offshore w
8、ave machines the thumbs down on economic grounds, and suggests that they should be given “no further significant research and development expenditure“.Stephen Salter, professor of engineering design at the University of Edinburgh and a pioneer of wave power, described the groups conclusions as “nons
9、ense“. Improvements made over the past decade have brought down the theoretical costs of producing electricity from his departments device, the Edinburgh Duck, to about 16p per kilowatt-hour. A radical redesign to overcome technical problems highlighted by ETSU has further reduced the cost.Salter is
10、 reticent about the scale of these reductions, but ETSUs own computer models are believed to put the cost at around 4p/kWh, similar to the cost of energy from coal and gas.ETSUs estimates are based on the assumption that all technical problems with a wave device are solved. It stresses that wave ene
11、rgy technology is “relatively immature“, and that a great deal of R for example, suggesting that it is the fossilised resin of coniferous trees from the Baltic region, and that its abundance is the result of some unusual condition of these ancient trees. It is true that an astonishing amount of ambe
12、r has been recovered from this region. However, the most likely candidate to have produced the Baltic amber is an araucariacean tree similar to the living Agathis from New Zealand, which secretes resin. This could well accumulate in this order of magnitude, given the geological time scale of hundred
13、s of thousands, if not millions of years. And, as Poinar discusses, the Baltic region was only one of many different areas, on a worldwide scale, from the Dominican Republic, which is his own favourite hunting ground, to China and Romania, that produced amber in Tertiary times. Furthermore, amber re
14、sin producing trees are shown to have an extended geological history extending back to Cretaceous times, more than 100 million years ago and possibly as far back as the Carboniferous (more than 300 million years ago). Many of these older ambers have not been rigorously investigated with modern techn
15、iques but Poinar has collected all the available published knowledge on their biological content.If you want to know about the record of the Mycetophagklae (hairy fungus beetles) or the Platypezidae (flat-footed flies) in amber, this is where to look. Amber does provide a uniquely well-preserved vie
16、w of the past. And we can see them all in amber from the parasitic wasp larva and its Academic Reading, A Practice Version, 北语雅思培训中心 5spider host to the flies the spider trapped. Poinars book is a slightly curious mixture of academic taxonomic treatise on the biology of amber and a fascinating semip
17、opular account of how, where and when amber has been produced. But it is by far the best available, well-written and illustrated by a biologist, who is an active and major contributor in the field.As the last chapter on the implications of this type of preservation and the prospects for palaeobiolog
18、ical research intimates, amber is perhaps only just beginning to show its worth.Since Poinar wrote Life in Amber, two independent teams of American investigators have extracted and sequenced the oldest known DNA from insects trapped in Dominican amber, more than 30 million years ago. Poinar was one
19、of them. (818 words)Questions 15 26Do the following statements agree with the writer of the passage? Please writeYES if the statement agrees with the writerNO if the statement does not agree with the writerNOT GIVEN if there is no information about this in the passageExample AnswerGeorge Poinar is a
20、 contemporary scientist. YES15. Life in Amber is a book written in the 18th century.16. King Frederick and Peter the Great lived in the same historic period.17. Peter the Great lived in the same historic period as Pliny did.18. Wilhelm Stantien died earlier than Moritz Becker19. Amber was more valua
21、ble in Victorian times than in the times of Peter the Great.20. The Eocene is a geological era that is earlier than Cretaceous times.21. Most of the amber items in modern museums were found in the Baltic region.22. Compared with what the Geological Institute Museum at Kbnigsberg University used to h
22、ouse, the Natural History Museum in London has a small collection of amber fossils.23. It is wrong to believe that amber is the fossilised resin of coniferous trees.24. Almost no amber has been found in New Zealand.25. Though there are ambers formed millions of years ago, scientists have concentrate
23、d their attention on ambers that were formed in later periods.26. Scientists have shown their interest in amber for hundreds of years.Academic Reading, A Practice Version, 北语雅思培训中心 6You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27 - 40 which are based on Reading Passage Three.Questions 27 - 34The f
24、ollowing reading passage has nine paragraphs A - I. Choose the most suitable headings for paragraphs B - I from the list of headings below. Write the appropriate numbers (i - xi) in the spaces provided.NB There are more headings than paragraphs so you will not use all of them.You may use any of the
25、headings more than once.i. Fission and fusionii. Dangers of nuclear contaminationiii. Energy from the suniv. Uncontrolled and moderated nuclear reactionsv. Energy from foodvi. The advantages of nuclear energyvii. The nuclear fission chain reactionviii. Other forms of energyix. Nuclear fusionx. Fossi
26、l fuelsxi. The nuclear energy squareExample Paragraph A Answer (iii)27. Paragraph B _28. Paragraph C _29. Paragraph D _30. Paragraph E _31. Paragraph F _32. Paragraph G _33. Paragraph H _34. Paragraph I _Academic Reading, A Practice Version, 北语雅思培训中心 7Reading Passage ThreeEnergy, Fission and FusionA
27、 Almost all the energy that living things make use of comes in the beginning from the sun. The chief exception is the gravitational pull of the earth itself, and of the moon upon the waters of the earth. The sun gives out enormous quantities of energy in the form of radiation - rays of light and oth
28、er forms of energy.B Green plants have the power, through the process called photosynthesis, to change the energy of sunlight into chemical energy. This is stored in the plant in the form of organic molecules. Some of the plants are eaten and the stored energy used by herbivorous animals - or by hum
29、an beings. Human beings are omnivorous, that is their food and therefore their energy can come from either plant or animal sources. But that energy originated in the sun.C To satisfy human needs, other kinds of energy are needed - mechanical, driving and heating. The energy for heating, or for drivi
30、ng heat engines, usually comes from a fuel and most fuels were once living things. Fuel obtained in this way, with the exception of wood and other fresh organic matter, is called fossil fuel and includes oil, natural gas and coal. All of these are the very ancient buried remains of animal or plant l
31、ife. They are finite and the processes by which they were made are not repeatable. They are yet another form of solar or sun energy.D The energy given out by the sun is created by the process known as nuclear fusion. Fusion means joining together. The opposite process is nuclear fission, meaning spl
32、itting apart or dividing. If either fission or fusion takes place quickly, the result is a great and sudden release of energy - an explosion, in fact. Both kinds of nuclear event can be created on earth but so far the only one that can be slowed down and controlled is fission.E Nuclear fission is th
33、e splitting of the nucleus of an atom. Only a few elements are suitable for use in this way, the most important ones being Uranium-235, Uranium-233 and Plutonium-239. When a nucleus of one of these elements is struck by a free neutron it breaks down into two lighter nuclei which fly apart at high sp
34、eed, colliding with surrounding atoms. Their kinetic energy is converted into heat energy. At the same time, two or three free neutrons are released and one of them enters the nucleus of a neighbouring atom, causing fission to occur again; and so on. The reaction spreads very quickly, with more and
35、more heat energy released. This is called a chain reaction because the splitting of each nucleus is linked to another, and another and another.F If this reaction takes place in an atomic bomb, where nothing is done to slow it down, the result is a violent explosion that can destroy a town in a few s
36、econds. Fission can also, however, take place within a construction called a nuclear reactor, or atomic pile. Here the highly fissile material (U-235, U-233, Pu-239) is surrounded by a substance that is non-fissile, for instance graphite. This material is called a moderator. The neutrons lose some o
37、f their energy and speed through colliding with the atoms of the moderator. Energy - heat energy - is still created on an enormous scale, but no expansion takes place. The moderator has another function: by slowing down the speed of the free neutrons, it makes it more likely that one of them will co
38、llide with the nucleus of a neighbouring atom to continue the chain reaction.G The chief advantage of nuclear energy is that it does not depend on any local factors. A nuclear reactor, unlike an oil-well or a coalmine, does not have to be sited on top of a fossil-fuel source; unlike a solar energy u
39、nit, it does not have to go out of production when the sun is not shining; unlike hydroelectric power, it does not depend on a large flow of water which may be reduced during some seasons of the year. With an atomic power station, the only limiting factor is that of safety.H In the opposite process,
40、 nuclear fusion, two nuclei come together to form a new nucleus of a different kind and this process also releases energy on an enormous scale. Fusion can only occur under conditions of very great heat -at least 50,000,000 degrees Celsius. (The temperature at the centre of the sun is estimated as 13
41、0,000,000 degrees Celsius.) A fusion Academic Reading, A Practice Version, 北语雅思培训中心 8reaction on earth has already been created - the hydrogen bomb. This is an uncontrolled reaction. It is not yet possible to produce a controlled fusion reaction that can be used for the production of useful energy.I
42、 Nuclear energy can be thought of as a kind of square. Three of the quarters of the square are known and used, but the fourth cannot yet be used. (824 words)Questions 35 40Decide if each of the following statements is true of false according the information provided in the passage. If a statement is
43、 true, write T, if it is false, write F.35. The purpose of the moderator is to prevent the escape of dangerous radiation.36. Few elements are suitable for use as atomic fuel.37. An atomic power station can supply the same quantity of energy all the year round.38. The suns energy is released by the p
44、rocess of nuclear fission.39. A hydroelectric power station can be built anywhere.40. Graphite is a non-fissile material.Academic Reading, A Practice Version, 北语雅思培训中心 9Answer keysPassage One1. yes 2. yes 3. yes 4. Not given 5. no6. Not given 7. Not given 8. yes 9. Not given 10. yes11. no 12. no 13. yes 14. yesPassage Two15. no 15. Yes 17. No 18. Not given 19. No 20. No21. Not given 22. yes 23. Yes 24. Not given 25. Yes 26. noPassage Three27. v 28. x 29. i 30. vii 31. iv 32. vi 33. ix 34. xi35. F 36. T 37. T 38. F 39. F 40. T
