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雅思阅读测试试卷

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ACADEMIC READING 60 minutes

READING PASSAGE 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on

Questions

1-13

which are based on Reading

Passage

1

below.

Striking Back at Lightning With Lasers

Seldom is the weather more dramatic than when thunderstorms strike. Their electrical fury inflicts death or

serious injury on around 500 people each year in the United States alone. As the clouds roll in, a leisurely

round of golf can become a terrifying dice with death - out in the open, a lone golfer may be a lightning

bolt's most inviting target. And there is damage to property too. Lightning damage costs American power

companies more than $$100 million a year.

But researchers in the United States and Japan are planning to hit back. Already in laboratory trials they

have

tested

strategies

for

neutralising

the

power

of

thunderstorms,

and

this

winter

they

will

brave

real

storms,

equipped

with

an

armoury

of

lasers

that they

will

be

pointing

towards

the

heavens to

discharge

thunderclouds before lightning can strike.

The idea of forcing storm clouds to discharge their lightning on command is not new. In the early 1960s,

researchers

tried firing rockets

trailing wires into thunderclouds

to set up an easy discharge path for the

huge electric charges that these clouds generate. The technique survives to this day at a test site in Florida

run by the University of Florida, with support from the Electrical Power Research Institute (EPRI), based in

California.

EPRI, which

is funded

by power companies, is

looking at ways

to protect the

United States'

power grid from lightning strikes. 'We can cause the lightning to strike where we want it to using rockets,'

says

Ralph

Bernstein,

manager

of

lightning

projects

at

EPR!.

The

rocket

site

is

providing

precise

measurements of lightning voltages and allowing engineers to check how electrical equipment bears up.

Bad behaviour

But

while

rockets

are

fine

for

research,

they

cannot

provide

the

protection

from

lightning

strikes

that

everyone is looking for. The rockets cost around $$1,200 each, can only be fired at a limited frequency and

their failure rate is about 40 per cent. And even when they do trigger lightning, things still do not always go

according

to

plan.

'Lightning

is

not

perfectly

well behaved,'

says

Bernstein.

'Occasionally,

it

will take

a

branch and go someplace it wasn't supposed to go.' And anyway, who would want to fire streams of rockets

in a populated area? 'What goes up must come down,' points out Jean-Claude Diels of the University of

New Mexico. Diels is leading a project, which is backed by EPRI, to try to use lasers to discharge lightning

safely and safety is a basic requirement since no one wants to put themselves or their expensive equipment

1

at risk. With around $$500,000 invested so far, a promising system is just emerging from the laboratory.

The

idea

began

some

20

years

ago,

when

high-powered

lasers

were

revealing.

their

ability

to

extract

electrons out of atoms and create ions.

If

a laser could generate a line of ionization in the air all the way up

to a storm cloud, this conducting path could be used to guide lightning to Earth, before the electric field

becomes

strong

enough

to

break

down

the

air

in

an

uncontrollable

surge.

To

stop

the

laser

itself

being

struck, it would not be

pointed straight at the clouds. Instead it would be directed at a

mirror, and from

there

into the

sky. The

mirror would be

protected by placing lightning conductors

close by. Ideally, the

cloud-zapper (gun) would be cheap enough to be installed around all key power installations, and portable

enough to be taken to international sporting events to beam up at brewing storm clouds.

A

stumbling block

However, there is still a big stumbling block. The laser is no nifty portable: it's a monster that takes up a

whole room. Diels is trying to cut down the size and says that a laser around the size of a small table is in

the offing. He plans to test this more manageable system on live thunderclouds next summer.

Bernstein says that Diels's system is attracting lots of interest from the power companies. But they have not

yet come up with the $$5 million that EPRI says will be needed to develop a commercial system, by making

the lasers yet smaller and cheaper. 'I cannot say I have money yet, but I'm working on it,' says Bernstein.

He

reckons

that

the

forthcoming

field

tests

will

be

the

turning

point

-

and

he's

hoping

for

good

news.

Bernstein predicts 'an avalanche of interest and support' if all goes well. He expects to see cloud-zappers

eventually costing $$50,000 to $$100,000 each.

Other scientists could also benefit. With a lightning 'switch' at their fingertips, materials scientists could

find out what happens when mighty currents meet matter. Diels also hopes to see the birth of 'interactive

meteorology' - not just forecasting the weather but controlling it.

'If

we could discharge clouds, we might

affect the weather,' he says. And perhaps, says Diels, we'll be able to confront some other meteorological

menaces. 'We think we could prevent hail by inducing lightning,' he says. Thunder, the shock wave that

comes from a lightning flash, is thought to be the trigger for the torrential rain that is typical of storms. A

laser thunder factory could shake the moisture out of clouds, perhaps preventing the formation of the giant

hailstones

that threaten

crops.

With

luck,

as

the

storm

clouds

gather

this

winter,

laser-toting

researchers

could, for the first time, strike back.

Questions 1-3

Choose the correct letter, A, B,

C

or D.

Write the correct letter in boxes

1-3

on your answer sheet.

1

The main topic discussed in the text is

A

the damage caused to US golf courses and golf players by lightning strikes.

B

the effect of lightning on power supplies in the US and in Japan.

C

a variety of methods used in trying to control lightning strikes.

D

a laser technique used in trying to control lightning strikes.

2

According to the text, every year lightning

A

does considerable damage to buildings during thunderstorms.

2

B

kills or injures mainly golfers in the United States.

C

kills or injures around

500

people throughout the world.

D

damages more than 100 American power companies.

3

Researchers at the University of Florida and at the University of New Mexico

A

receive funds from the same source.

B

are using the same techniques

C

are employed by commercial companies.

D

are in opposition to each other.

Questions 4-6

Complete the sentences below.

Choose

NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS

from the

passage

for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes

4-6

on your answer sheet.

4

EPRI receives financial support from ……………

5

The advantage of the technique being developed by Diels is that it can be

used ……………………..

6

The main difficulty associated with using the laser equipment is related to

Its……………………..

Question

7-10

Complete the summary using the list

of

words, A-I, below.

Write correct letter,

A-I,

in boxes 7-10 on your answer sheet.

In this method, a laser is used to

create

a line of ionisation by removing electrons from 7………..

This laser is then directed at 8…………. in orde

r to control electrical charges,a method which is

less dangerous than using 9........................ As a protection for the lasers, the beams are aimed

firstly at 10……………..

A cloud-zappers

B atoms

C storm clouds

D mirrors

E technique

F ions

G rockets

H conductors

I thunder

Questions 11-13

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

In boxes

11-13

on your answer sheet write

YES

If the statement agrees with the claims

of

the writer

NO

if the statement contradicts the claims

of

the writer

NOT

GIVEN

if it is impossible

to

say what the writer thinks about this

11

Power companies have given Diels enough money to develop his laser.

12

Obtaining money to improve the lasers will depend on tests in real storms.

13

Weather forecasters are intensely interested in Diels's system.

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READING PASSAGE 2

You should spend about

20

minutes on Questions

14-26,

which are based on Reading

Passage

2

below.

The Nature

of

Genius

There has always

been an interest in geniuses and prodigies, The word 'genius', from the Latin

gens

(=

family) and the term 'genius', meaning 'begetter', comes from the early Roman cult of a divinity as the

head of the family. In its earliest form, genius was concerned with the ability of the head of the family,

the

paterfamilias,

to

perpetuate

himself.

Gradually,

genius

came

to.

represent

a

person's

characteristics and thence an individual's highest attributes derived from his 'genius' or guiding spirit.

Today, people still look to stars or genes, astrology or genetics, in the hope of finding the source of

exceptional abilities or personal characteristics.

The concept of genius and of gifts has become part of our folk culture, and attitudes are ambivalent

towards them. We envy the gifted and mistrust them. In the mythology of giftedness, it is popularly

believed that if people are talented in one area, they must be defective in another, that intellectuals are

impractical, that prodigies burn too brightly too soon and burn out, that gifted people are eccentric, that

they are physical weaklings, that there's a thin line between genius and madness, that genius runs in

families, that the gifted are so clever they don't need

special

help, that giftedness is the same as having

a high IQ, that some races are more intelligent or musical or mathematical than others, that genius

goes unrecognised and unrewarded, that adversity makes men wise or that people with gifts have a

responsibility to use them. Language has been enriched with such terms as 'highbrow', 'egghead',

'blue-stocking', 'wiseacre', 'know-all', 'boffin' and, for many, 'intellectual' is a term of denigration.

The nineteenth century saw considerable interest in the nature of genius, and produced not a few

studies of famous prodigies. Perhaps for us today, two of the most significant aspects of most of these

studies

of

genius

are

the

frequency

with

which

early

encouragement

and

teaching

by

parents

and

tutors

had

beneficial

effects

on

the

intellectual,

artistic

or

musical

development

of

the

children

but

caused great difficulties of adjustment later in their lives, and the frequency with which abilities went

unrecognised by teachers and schools. However, the difficulty with the evidence produced by these

studies,

fascinating

as

they

are

in

collecting

together

anecdotes

and

apparent

similarities

and

exceptions, is that they are not what we would today call norm-referenced. In other words, when, for

instance, information is collated about early illnesses, methods of upbringing, schooling, etc., we must

also take into account information from other historical sources about how common or exceptional

these were at the time. For instance, infant mortality was high and life expectancy much shorter than

today,

home

tutoring

was

common

in

the families

of

the

nobility

and

wealthy,

bullying

and

corporal

punishment were common at the best independent schools and, for the most part, the cases studied

were members of the privileged classes. It was only with the growth of paediatrics and psychology in

the

twentieth

century

that

studies

could

be

carried

out

on

a

more

objective,

if

still

not

always

very

scientific, basis.

Geniuses, however they are defined, are but the peaks which stand out through the mist of history

and are visible to the particular observer from his or her particular vantage point Change the observers

and the vantage points, clear away some of the mist, and a different lot of peaks appear. Genius is a

term we apply to those whom we recognise for their outstanding achievements and who stand near the

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