1、INTERNALTIONAL ENGLISH LANGUAGE TESTING SYSTEMACADEMIC READINGTEST 1TIME ALLOWED: 1 hourNUMBER OF QUESTIONS: 40INSTRUCTIONSWRITE ALL YOUR ANSWERS ON THE ANSWER SHEETThe test is in 3 sections: Reading Passage 1Reading Passage 2Reading Passage 3Questions 1 13Questions 14 26Questions 27 40Remember to a
2、nswer all the questions. If you are having trouble with a question, skip it and return to it later.READING PASSAGE 1You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1 13 which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.IMPROVING READING SPEEDIt is safe to say that almost anyone can double his speed of readi
3、ng while maintaining equal or even higher comprehension. In other words, anyone can improve the speed with which he gets what he wants from his reading. The average college student reads between 250 and 350 words per minute on fiction and non-technical materials. A “good“ reading speed is around 500
4、 to 700 words per minute, but some people can read a thousand words per minute or even faster on these materials. What makes the difference? There are three main factors involved in improving reading speed: (1) the desire to improve, (2) the willingness to try new techniques and (3) the motivation t
5、o practice. Learning to read rapidly and well presupposes that you have the necessary vocabulary and comprehension skills. When you have advanced on the reading comprehension materials to a level at which you can understand college-level materials, you will be ready to begin speed reading practice i
6、n earnest.Understanding the role of speed in the reading process is essential. Research has shown a close relation between speed and understanding. For example, in checking progress charts of thousands of individuals taking reading training, it has been found in most cases that an increase in rate h
7、as been paralleled by an increase in comprehension, and that where rate has gone down, comprehension has also decreased. Most adults are able to increase their rate of reading considerably and rather quickly without lowering comprehension.Some of the facts which reduce reading rate: (a) limited perc
8、eptual span i.e., word-by-word reading; (b) slow perceptual reaction time, i.e., slowness of recognition and response to the material; (c) vocalization, including the need to vocalize in order to achieve comprehension; (d) faulty eye movements, including inaccuracy in placement of the page, in retur
9、n sweep, in rhythm and regularity of movement, etc.; (e) regression, both habitual and as associated with habits of concentration(f) lack of practice in reading, due simply to the fact that the person has read very little and has limited reading interests so that very little reading is practiced in
10、the daily or weekly schedule.Since these conditions act also to reduce comprehension increasing the reading rate through eliminating them is likely to result in increased comprehension as well. This is an entirely different matter from simply speeding up the rate of reading without reference to the
11、conditions responsible for the slow rate. In fact, simply speeding the rate especially through forced acceleration, may actually result, and often does, in making the real reading problem more severe. In addition, forced acceleration may even destroy confidence in ability to read. The obvious soluti
12、on, then is to increase rate as a part of a total improvement of the whole reading process.A well planned program prepares for maximum increase in rate by establishing the necessary conditions. Three basic conditions include: 1. Eliminate the habit of pronouncing words as you read. If you sound out
13、words in your throat or whisper them, you can read slightly only as fast as you can read aloud. You should be able to read most materials at least two or three times faster silently than orally. 2. Avoid regressing (rereading). The average student reading at 250 words per minute regresses or rereads
14、 about 20 times per page. Rereading words and phrases is a habit which will slow your reading speed down to a snails pace. Furthermore, the slowest reader usually regresses most frequently. Because he reads slowly, his mind has time to wander and his rereading reflects both his inability to concentr
15、ate and his lack of confidence in his comprehension skills. 3. Develop a wider eye-span. This will help you read more than one word at a glance. Since written material is less meaningful if read word by word, this will help you learn to read by phrases or thought units. Poor results are inevitable i
16、f the reader attempts to use the same rate indiscriminately for all types of material and for all reading purposes. He must learn to adjust his rate to his purpose in reading and to the difficulty of the material he is reading. This ranges from a maximum rate on easy, familiar, interesting material
17、or in reading to gather information on a particular point, to minimal rate on material which is unfamiliar in content and language structure or which must be thoroughly digested. The effective reader adjusts his rate; the ineffective reader uses the same rate for all types of material.Rate adjustmen
18、t may be overall adjustment to the article as a whole, or internal adjustment within the article. Overall adjustment establishes the basic rate at which the total article is read; internal adjustment involves the necessary variations in rate for each varied part of the material. As an analogy, you p
19、lan to take a 100-mile mountain trip. Since this will be a relatively hard drive with hills, curves, and a mountain pass, you decide to take three hours for the total trip, averaging about 35 miles an hour. This is your overall rate adjustment. However, in actual driving you may slow down to no more
20、 than 15 miles per hour on some curves and hills, while speeding up to 50 miles per hour or more on relatively straight and level sections. This is your internal rate adjustment. There is no set rate, therefore, which the good reader follows inflexibly in reading a particular selection, even though
21、he has set himself an overall rate for the total job.In keeping your reading attack flexible, adjust your rate sensitivity from article to article. It is equally important to adjust your rate within a given article. Practice these techniques until a flexible reading rate becomes second nature to you
22、.Adapted from: www.ucc.vt.eduQuestions 1 - 4 Choose the appropriate letters A D and write them in boxes 1 4 on your answer sheet.1. Which of the following is not a factor in improving your reading speed?(A). willing to try new skills(B). motivation to improve(C). desire to practice(D). hesitate to t
23、ry new techniques2. Understanding college level materials is a prerequisite for(A). learning to comprehend rapidly.(B). having the necessary vocabulary.(C). beginning speed reading.(D). practicing comprehension skills.3. For most people(A). a decrease in comprehension leads to a decrease in rate. (B
24、). a decrease in rate leads to a increase in comprehension.(C). an increase in rate leads to an increase in comprehension.(D). an increase in rate leads to a decrease in comprehension.4. Speeding up your reading rate through forced acceleration often results in(A). reducing comprehension.(B). increa
25、sing comprehension.(C). increasing your reading problem.(D). reducing your reading problem.Questions 5 9Complete the table below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.Factors Effects Reduces rate Increases rateWider eye span (5) YES(6) Word-by-word reading YESSlow percept
26、ual reaction (7) YES(8) Return sweep inaccuracy YES(9) Concentrate and be confident YESQuestions 10 - 13 Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1? In boxes 10 13 on your answer sheet write.TRUEFALSENOT GIVENif the statement is trueif the statement is falseif
27、the information is not given in the passage10. In gathering material on a topic a reader must maximize his reading rate.11. The basic rate for each part of the reading material involves an overall adjustment.12. The set rate for a 100-mile mountain trip is 35 miles an hour.13. A good reader never es
28、tablishes a set rate for reading an article.READING PASSAGE 2You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14 26 which are based on Reading Passage 2 below.Questions 14 - 18 Reading Passage 2 has 9 paragraphs A IFrom the list of headings below choose the 5 most suitable headings for paragraphs B, C
29、, E, G and H. Write the appropriate numbers ( )NB There are more headings than paragraphs, so you will not use them all.List of Headingsi A warm laboratoryii Morphology of stonefliesiii Going back rather than going forwardiv From water to airv Ancient and modernvi Which path did they take?vii A new
30、theoryviii From stoneflies to waspsix A short lifex Interesting insects.14. Paragraph B15. Paragraph C16. Paragraph E17. Paragraph G18. Paragraph HEvolution of Insect FlightA. Pterosaurs, birds and bats took to the air from evolutionary runways that scientists believe they understand fairly well, bu
31、t insects began flying so much longer ago that details of their stepwise conquest of flight remain obscure. Scientists at Pennsylvania State University hypothesize, however, that a present-day flightless insect called the stonefly may be closely related to ancestral insects that first learned to fly
32、 more than 330 million years ago.B. Last February, Dr. James H. Marden, a biologist at Pennsylvania State University, and Melissa G. Kramer, his student, began studying the behavior and biology of stoneflies - the immature nymphs of which are familiar to many fishermen as delicacies for trout. The n
33、ymphs begin life in river or pond water and then develop primitive wings enabling them to skim across water at high speed without actually taking to the air. Marden and Ms. Kramer have concluded that the humble ancestor of such expert fliers as mosquitoes and wasps may have been very much like the s
34、tonefly.C. The stoneflies living in Canada and the northern United States, which belong to a primitive species called Taeniopteryx burksi, breed and mature in cold water and come to the surface for their skimming trip to shore in February and March. To study them, a scientist must work quickly, sinc
35、e the life span of a stonefly is only about two weeks. The adult stonefly has waterproof hair on its feet, and after reaching the surface of the water, it supports itself by coasting on the waters surface meniscus layer. To hasten its trip to the shore, the insect spreads its four feeble wings and f
36、laps vigorously, using aerodynamic thrust to scoot across the water at speeds up to 2 feet per second. This, Marden said, appears to be the only time in its life the stonefly normally uses its wings.D. In a series of experiments Marden described in a report published in the current issue of the jour
37、nal Science, he found that although stoneflies in the wild, where ambient temperatures were recorded as ranging between 32 degrees and 53.6 degrees Fahrenheit, are completely flightless, their flying ability improves when they are warmed up in a laboratory. Even when warm, the insects never voluntar
38、ily take flight from a horizontal surface, but if they crawl to the edge of a table and drop over the side they will fly for a few yards before settling to the ground. Several specimens tested by the Penn State scientists actually gained a little altitude under their own power after being launched b
39、y hand, but none remained in the air for more than a few seconds.Stonefly E. Stoneflies are interesting, Marden said in an interview, because so little is known of the specific changes insects underwent in the remote past as they gained the ability to fly. The stoneflys faltering efforts to use its
40、wings may approximate a transitional stage of evolution that occurred some 350 million years ago, when swimming insects first became fliers. F. The study of insect evolution is hampered by a gigantic gap in the fossil record. Although fossils of early nonflying insects have been found in sediments d
41、ating from the Devonian period nearly 400 million years ago, no insect fossils have turned up from the following 75-million-year period. Marden said that fossil insects reappear in strata 325 million years old, but by then they had evolved greatly, and their increased diversity suggests that at leas
42、t some species had left the water to colonize land. Many of the fossils of that period look like present-day insects, including grasshoppers.G. Stoneflies lack some features that are important for true fliers, They have relatively weak wing muscles, and their thoracic cuticle plates are not fused to
43、gether to create a rigid external skeleton. Rigidity is needed to provide strong, inflexible attachment points for an insects wing muscles if it is to be capable of powered flight - a much more demanding activity than skimming or gliding. If the stonefly is similar to the first protofliers, this wou
44、ld argue against a widely held hypothesis that animal flight begins with gliding, from which powered flight eventually develops. Stoneflies never glide, even though they are on the verge of flying.H. Although the stonefly may have evolved to its present form in a progressive direction from primitive
45、 swimming insects, it is possible, Marden believes, that its evolution was digressive - that its ancestors were true fliers that evolved into nonflying skimmers. Skimming requires much less energy than true flight, as demonstrated by a new family of skimming “wing-in-ground-effect“ flightless aircra
46、ft developed during the last decade in Russia, China and Germany. These aircraft never rise more than a few feet above the ground or water, but their stubby wings support them on an air cushion that eliminates the drag of surface friction.I. “Stoneflies seem to have found an ecological niche in any
47、case,“ Marden said. Whether the evolutionary pathway of the stonefly was progressive or digressive makes little difference to the insect, he said, but to an entomologist, the direction is important. “By mapping behavioral characters and morphology 1 of stoneflies, we hope eventually to infer the dir
48、ection by which evolution carried them to their present stage of development,“ Marden said.Glossary1 morphology The branch of biology that deals with the form and structure of organismsQuestions 19 22Using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage, answer the following questions.19. How long ago did
49、 stoneflies first use their wings?20. How wide is the fossil gap?21. Where is the only place that stoneflies actually fly?22. What time of the year do stoneflies use their wings?Questions 23 26Complete the summary below. Choose your answers from the list below the summary.NB There are more words than spaces, so you will not use them all.Stoneflies have (23) wing muscles and a (24) external skeleton so that they cannot be true fliers. As they cant fly or (25) they skim. Less energy is needed for skimming and so stoneflies have found their (26