同学们都知道雅思考试，考前预测的重要性，今天北京朗阁小编给大家分享一些雅思考题预测，希望能够帮到你们。
*套：
Passage 1
MENTAL GYMNASTICS
A
The working day has just started at the head office of Barclays Bank in London. Seventeen staff are helping themselves to a buffet breakfast as young psychologist Sebastian Bailey enters the room to begin the morning‟s training session. But this is no ordinary training session. He‟s not here to sharpen their finance or management skills. He‟s here to exercise their brains.
B
Today‟s workout, organised by a company called the Mind Gym in London, is entitled “having presence”. What follows is an intense 90-minute session in which this rather abstract concept is gradually broken down into a concrete set of feelings, mental tricks and behaviours. At one point the bankers are instructed to shut their eyes and visualise themselves filling the room and then the building. They finish up by walking around the room acting out various levels of presence, from low-key to over the top.
C
It‟s easy to poke fun. Yet similar mental workouts are happening in corporate seminar rooms around the globe. The Mind Gym alone offers some 70 different sessions, including ones on mental stamina, creativity for logical thinkers and “zoom learning”. Other outfits draw more directly on the exercise analogy, offering “neurobics” courses with names like “brain sets” and “cerebral fitness”. Then there are books with titles like Pumping Ions, full of brainteasers that claim to “flex your mind”, and software packages offering memory and spatial-awareness games.
D
But whatever the style, the companies‟ sales pitch is invariably the same — follow our routines to shape and sculpt your brain or mind, just as you might tone and train your body. And, of course, they nearly all claim that their mental workouts draw on serious scientific research and thinking into how the brain works.
E
One outfit, Brainergy of Cambridge, Massachusetts (motto: “Because your grey matter matters”) puts it like this: “Studies have shown that mental exercise can cause changes in brain anatomy and brain chemistry which promote increased mental efficiency and clarity. The neuroscience is cutting-edge.” And on its website, Mind Gym trades on a quote from Susan Greenfield, one of Britain‟s best known neuroscientists: “It‟s a bit like going to the
gym, if you exercise your brain it will grow.”
F
Indeed, the Mind Gym originally planned to hold its sessions in a local health club, until its founders realised where the real money was to be made. Modern companies need flexible, bright thinkers and will seize on anything that claims to create them, especially if it looks like a quick fix backed by science. But are neurobic workouts really backed by science? And do we need them?
G
Nor is there anything remotely high-tech about what Lawrence Katz, co-author of Keep Your Brain Alive, recommends. Katz, a neurobiologist at Duke University Medical School in North Carolina, argues that just as many of us fail to get enough physical exercise, so we also lack sufficient mental stimulation to keep our brain in trim. Sure we are busy with jobs, family and housework. But most of this activity is repetitive routine. And any leisure
time is spent slumped in front of the TV.
H
So, read a book upside down. Write or brush your teeth with your wrong hand. Feel your way around the room with your eyes shut. Sniff vanilla essence while listening intently to orchestral music. Anything, says Katz, to break your normal mental routine. It will help invigorate your brain, encouraging its cells to make new connections and pump out neurotrophins, substances that feed and sustain brain circuits.
I
Well, up to a point it will. “What I‟m really talking about is brain maintenance rather than bulking up your IQ,” Katz adds. Neurobics, in other words, is about letting your brain fulfill its potential. It cannot create super-brains. Can it achieve even that much, though? Certainly the brain is an organ that can adapt to the demands placed on it. Tests on animal brain tissue, for example, have repeatedly shown that electrically stimulating the synapses that connect nerve cells thought to be crucial to learning and reasoning, makes them stronger and more responsive. Brain scans suggest we use a lot more of our grey matter when carrying out new or strange tasks than when we're doing well-rehearsed ones. Rats raised in bright cages with toys sprout more neural connections than rats raised in bare cages — suggesting perhaps that novelty and variety could be crucial to a developing brain. Katz, and neurologists have proved time and again that people who lose brain cells suddenly during a stroke often sprout new connections to compensate for the
loss — especially if they undergo extensive therapy to overcome any paralysis.
J
Guy Claxton, an educational psychologist at the University of Bristol, dismisses most of the neurological approaches as “neuro-babble”. Nevertheless, there are specific mental skills we can learn, he contends. Desirable attributes such as creativity, mental flexibility, and even motivation, are not the fixed faculties that most of us think. They are thought habits that can be learned. The problem, says Claxton, is that most of us never get proper
training in these skills. We develop our own private set of mental strategies for tackling tasks and never learn anything explicitly. Worse still, because any learned skill — even driving a car or brushing our teeth-quickly sinks out of consciousness, we can no longer see the very thought habits we‟re relying upon. Our mental tools become invisible to us.
K
Claxton is the academic adviser to the Mind Gym. So not surprisingly, the company
espouses his solution — that we must return our thought patterns to a conscious level,
becoming aware of the details of how we usually think. Only then can we start to practise
better thought patterns, until eventually these become our new habits. Switching
metaphors, picture not gym classes, but tennis or football coaching.
L
In practice, the training can seem quite mundane. For example, in one of the eight
different creativity workouts offered by the Mind Gym — entitled “creativity for logical
thinkers” one of the mental strategies taught is to make a sensible suggestion, then
immediately pose its opposite. So, asked to spend five minutes inventing a new pizza, a
group soon comes up with no topping, sweet topping, cold topping, price based on time of
day, flat-rate prices and so on.
M
Bailey agrees that the trick is simple. But it is surprising how few such tricks people have
to call upon when they are suddenly asked to be creative: “They tend to just label
themselves as uncreative, not realising that there are techniques that every creative
person employs.” Bailey says the aim is to introduce people to half a dozen or so such
strategies in a session so that what at first seems like a dauntingly abstract mental task
becomes a set of concrete, Iearnable behaviours. He admits this is not a short cut to
genius. Neurologically, some people do start with quicker circuits or greater handling
capacity. However, with the right kind of training he thinks we can dramatically increase
how efficiently we use it.
N
It is hard to prove that the training itself is effective. How do you measure a change in an
employee‟s creativity levels, or memory skills? But staff certainly report feeling that such
classes have opened their eyes. So, neurological boosting or psychological training? At
the moment you can pay your money and take your choice. Claxton for one believes there
is no reason why schools and universities shouldn‟t spend more time teaching basic
thinking skills, rather than trying to stuff heads with facts and hoping that effective thought
habits are somehow absorbed by osmosis.
Questions 1-5
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1
In boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet, write
YES
if the statement is true
NO
if the statement is false
NOT GIVEN
if the information is not given in the passage
1
Mind Gym coach instructed employees to imagine that they are the building.
2
Mind Gym uses the similar marketing theory that is used all round
3
Susan Greenfield is the founder of Mind Gym.
4
All business and industries are using Mind Gym‟s session globally.
5
According to Mind Gym, extensive scientific background supports their mental
training sessions.
Questions 6-13
Use the information in the passage to match the people (listed A-D) with opinions or
deeds below. Write the appropriate letters A-D in boxes 6-13 on your answer sheet.
A Guy Claxton
B Sebastian Bailey
C Susan Greenfield
D Lawrence Katz
6
We do not have enough inspiration to keep our brain fit.
7
The more you exercise your brain like exercise in the gym, the more brain will grow.
8
Exercise can keep your brain health instead of improving someone‟s IQ.
9
It is valuable for schools to teach students about creative skills besides basic known
knowledge.
10 We can develop new neuron connections when we lose old connections via certain
treatment.
11 People usually mark themselves as not creative before figuring out there are
approaches for each person.
12 An instructor in Mind Gym who guided the employees to exercise.
13 Majority of people don't have appropriate skills-training for brain.
Passage 2
London Swaying Footbridge
A
In September 1996 a competition was organized by the Financial Times in association
with the London Borough of Southwark to design a new footbridge across the Thames.
The competition attracted over 200 entries and was won by a team comprising Arup
(engineers), Foster and Partners (architects) and the sculptor Sir Anthony Caro.
B
The bridge opened to the public on 10th June 2000. Up to 100,000 people crossed it that
day with up to 2000 people on the bridge at any one time. At first, the bridge was still.
Then it began to sway, just slightly. Then, almost from one moment to the next, when large
groups of people were crossing, the wobble intensified. This movement became
sufficiently large for people to stop walking to retain their balance and sometimes to hold
onto the hand rails for support. It was decided immediately to limit the number of people
on the bridge, but even so the deck movement was sufficient to be uncomfortable and to
raise concern for public safety so that on 12th June the bridge was closed until the
problem could be solved.
C
The embarrassed engineers found the videotape that day which showed the center span
swaying about 3 inches side to side every second. The engineers first thought that winds
might be exerting excessive force on the many large flags and banners bedecking the
bridge for its gala premiere. What‟s more, they also discovered that the pedestrians also
played a key role. Human activities, such as walking, running, jumping, swaying, etc.
could cause horizontal forces which in turn could cause excessive dynamic vibration in
the lateral direction in the bridge. As the structure began moving, pedestrians adjusted
their gait to the same lateral rhythm as the bridge. The adjusted footsteps magnified the
motion — just like when four people all stand up in a small boat at the same time. As more
pedestrians locked into the same rhythm, the increasing oscillations led to the dramatic
swaying captured on film.
D
In order to design a method of reducing the movements, the force exerted by the
pedestrians had to be quantified and related to the motion of the bridge. Although there
are some descriptions of this phenomenon in existing literature, none of these actually
quantifies the force. So there was no quantitative analytical way to design the bridge
against this effect. An immediate research program was launched by the bridge‟s
engineering designers Ove Arup, supported by a number of universities and research
organizations.
E
The tests at the University of Southampton involved a person walking „on the spot‟ on a
small shake table. The tests at Imperial College involved persons walking along a
specially built, 7.2m-long platform which could be driven laterally at different frequencies
and amplitudes. Each type of test had its limitations. The Imperial College tests were only
able to capture 7-8 footsteps, and the „walking on the spot‟ tests, although monitoring
many footsteps, could not investigate normal forward walking. Neither test could
investigate any influence of other people in a crowd on the behavior of the individual being
tested.
F
The results of the laboratory tests provided information which enabled the initial design of
a retro — fit to be progressed. However, the limitations of these tests was clear and it was
felt that the only way to replicate properly the precise conditions of the Millennium Bridge
was to carry out crowd tests on the bridge deck itself. These tests done by the Arup
engineers could incorporate factors not possible in the laboratory tests. The first of these
was carried out with 100 people in July 2000. The results of these tests were used to
refine the load model for the pedestrians. A second series of crowd tests was carried out
on the bridge in December 2000. The purpose of these tests was to further validate the
design assumptions and to load test a prototype damper installation. The test was carried
out with 275 people.
G
Unless the usage of the bridge was to be greatly restricted, only two generic options to
improve its performance were considered feasible. The first was to increase the stiffness
of the bridge to move all its lateral natural frequencies out of the range that could be
excited by the lateral footfall forces, and the second was to increase the damping of the
bridge to reduce the resonant response.
Questions 14-17
Choose four letters, A-H.
Write the correct letters in boxes 14-17 on your answer sheet.
Which four of the following situation were witnessed on the opening ceremony of the
bridge?
A. The frequency of oscillation increased after some time.
B. All the engineers went to see the ceremony that day.
C. The design of the bridge astonished the people.
D. Unexpected sideway movement of the bridge occurred.
E. Pedestrians had difficulty in walking on the deck.
F. The bridge fell down when people tried to retain their balance.
G. Vibration could be detected on the deck by the pedestrians.
H. It was raining when the ceremony began.
Questions 18-22
Complete the following summary of the paragraphs of Reading Passage 2, using NO
MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the Reading Passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 18-22 on your answer sheet.
After the opening ceremony, the embarrassed engineers tried to find out the reason of the
bridge‟s wobbling. Judged from the videotape, they thought that 18....................... and
19....................... might create excessive force on the bridge. The distribution of
20....................... resulted from human activities could cause 21....................... throughout
the structure. This swaying prompted people to start adjusting the way they walk, which in
turn reinforced the 22....................... .
Questions 23-26
Complete the table below.
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from Reading Passage 2 for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 23-26 on your answer sheet.
Research programs launched by universities and organizations
Universities/People
Activity
Test at 23...........................
„walking on the spot‟ at Southampton
Crowd test conducted by 25...................
Limited ability to have 7-8 footsteps
Not enough data on 24....................
Aim to verify 26..........................
Passage 3
Mystery in Easter Island!
A
One of the world‟s most famous yet least visited archaeological sites, Easter Island is a
small, hilly, now treeless island of volcanic origin. Located in the Pacific Ocean at 27
degrees south of the equator and some 2200 miles (3600 kilometers) off the coast of
Chile, it is considered to be the world‟s most remote inhabited island. The island is,
technically speaking, a single massive volcano rising over ten thousand feet from the
Pacific Ocean floor. The island received its most well-known current name, Easter Island,
from the Dutch sea captain Jacob Roggeveen who became the first European to visit
Easter Sunday, April 5, 1722.
B
In the early 1950s, the Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl popularized the idea that the
island had been originally settled by advanced societies of Indians from the coast of South
America. Extensive archaeological, ethnographic and linguistic research has conclusively
shown this hypothesis to be inaccurate. It is now recognized that the original inhabitants of
Easter Island are of Polynesian stock (DNA extracts from skeletons have confirmed this,
that they most probably came from the Marquesas or Society islands, and that they
arrived as early as 318 AD (carbon dating of reeds from a grave confirms this). At the time
of their arrival, much of the island was forested, was teeming with land birds, and was
perhaps the most productive breeding site for seabirds in the Polynesia region. Because
of the plentiful bird, fish and plant food sources, the human population grew and gave rise
to a rich religious and artistic culture.
C
That culture‟s most famous features are its enormous stone statues called moai, at least
288 of which once stood upon massive stone platforms called ahu. There are some 250 of
these ahu platforms spaced approximately one half mile apart and creating an almost
unbroken line around the perimeter of the island. Another 600 moai statues, in various
stages of completion, are scattered around the island, either in quarries or along ancient
roads between the quarries and the coastal areas where the statues were most often
erected. Nearly all the moai are carved from the tough stone of the Rano Raraku volcano.
The average statue is 14 feet and 6 inches tall and weighs 14 tons. Some moai were as
large as 33 feet and weighed more than 80 tons. Depending upon the size of the statues,
it has been estimated that between 50 and 150 people were needed to drag them across
the countryside on sleds and rollers made from the island‟s trees.
D
Scholars are unable to definitively explain the function and use of the moai statues. It is
assumed that their carving and erection derived from an idea rooted in similar practices
found elsewhere in Polynesia but which evolved in a unique way on Easter Island.
Archaeological and iconographic analysis indicates that the statue cult was based on an
ideology of male, lineage-based authority incorporating anthropomorphic symbolism. The
statues were thus symbols of authority and power, both religious and political. But they
were not only symbols. To the people who erected and used them, they were actual
repositories of sacred spirit. Carved stone and wooden objects in ancient Polynesian
religions, when properly fashioned and ritually prepared, were believed to be charged by a
magical spiritual essence called mana. The ahu platforms of Easter Island were the
sanctuaries of the people, and the moai statues were the ritually charged sacred objects
of those sanctuaries.
E
Besides its more well-known name, Easter Island is also known as Te-Pito-O-Te-Henua,
meaning „The Navel of the World‟, and as Mata-Ki-Te-Rani, meaning „Eyes Looking at
Heaven‟. These ancient name and a host of mythological details ignored by mainstream
archaeologists, point to the possibility that the remote island may once have been a
geodetic marker and the site of an astronomical observatory of a long forgotten civilization.
In his book, Heaven‟s Mirror, Graham Hancock suggests that Easter Island may once
have been a significant scientific outpost of this antediluvian civilization and that its
location had extreme importance in a planet-spanning, mathematically precise grid of
sacred sites. Two other alternative scholars, Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas, have
extensively studied the location and possible function of these geodetic markers. In their
fascinating book, Uriel‟s Machine, they suggest that one purpose of the geodetic markers
was as part of global network of sophisticated astronomical observatories dedicated to
predicting and preparing for future commentary impacts and crystal displacement
cataclysms.
F
In the latter years of the 20th century and the first years of the 21st century various writers
and scientists have advanced theories regarding the rapid decline of Easter Island‟s
magnificent civilization around the time of the first European contact. Principal among
these theories, and now shown to be inaccurate, is that postulated by Jared Diamond in
his book Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive. Basically these theories state
that a few centuries after Easter Island‟s initial colonization the resource needs of the
growing population had begun to outpace the island‟s capacity to renew itself ecologically.
By the 1400s the forests had been entirely cut, the rich ground cover had eroded away,
the springs had dried up, and the vast flocks of birds coming to roost on the island had
disappeared. With no logs to build canoes for offshore fishing, with depleted bird and
wildlife food sources, and with declining crop yields because of the erosion of good soil,
the nutritional intake of the people plummeted. First famine, then cannibalism, set in.
Because the island could no longer feed the chiefs, bureaucrats and priests who kept the
complex society running, the resulting chaos triggered a social and cultural collapse. By
1700 the population dropped to between one-quarter and one-tenth of its former number,
and many of the statues were toppled during supposed “clan wars” of the 1600 and
1700s.
G
The faulty notions presented in these theories began with the racist assumptions of Thor
Heyerdahl and have been perpetuated by writers, such as Jared Diamond, who do not
have sufficient archaeological and historical understanding of the actual events which
occurred on Easter Island. The real truth regarding the tremendous social devastation
which occurred on Easter Island is that it was a direct consequence of the inhumane
behavior of many of the first European visitors, particularly the slavers who raped and
murdered the islanders, introduced small pox and other diseases, and brutally removed
the natives to mainland South America.
Questions 27-30
Choose the correct heading for paragraphs A-G from the list below.
Write the correct number, i-xi, in boxes 27-31 on your answer sheet.
List of Headings
i
The famous moai
ii
The status represented symbols of combined purposes
iii The ancient spots which indicates scientific application
iv The story of the name
v
Early immigrants, rise and prosperity
vi The geology of Easter Island
vii The begin of Thor Heyerdahl‟s discovery
viii The countering explanation to the misconceptions politically manipulated
ix Symbols of authority and power
x
The Navel of the World
xi The norweigian Invaders‟ legacy
Example
Answer
Paragraph A
iv
27 Paragraph B
Paragraph C
i
28 Paragraph D
29 Paragraph E
30 Paragraph F
Questions 31-36
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 3?
In boxes 31-36 on your answer sheet write
TRUE
if the statement is true
FALSE
if the statement is false
NOT GIVEN
if the information is not given in the passage
31 The first inhabitants of Easter Island are Polynesian, from the Marquesas or Society
islands.
32 Construction of some moai statues on the island was not finished.
33 The Moai can be found not only on Easter Island but also elsewhere in Polynesia.
34 Most archeologists recognized the religious and astronomical functions for an ancient
society.
35 The structures on Easter Island work as an astronomical outpost for extraterrestrial
visitors.
36 The theory that depleted natural resources leading to the fail of Easter Island actual
has a distorted perspective.
Questions 37-40
Complete the following summary of the paragraphs of Reading Passage, using NO
MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the Reading Passage for each answer. Write your
answers in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet.
Many theories speculated that Easter Island‟s fall around the era of the initial European
contact. Some say the resources are depleted by a 37..................; The erroneous theories
began with a root of the 38.................. advanced by some scholars. Early writers did not
have adequate 39.................. understandings to comprehend the true nature of events on
the island. The social devastation was in fact a direct result of 40.................. of the first
European settlers.
Answer keys:
Passage 1 Questions 1-13
1
NO
2
YES
3
NO
4
NO
5
NOT GIVEN
6
D
7
C
8
D
9
A
10 D
11 B
12 B
13 A
Passage 2 Questions 14-26
14 A
15 D
16 E
17 G
18 winds
19 (the) pedestrians
20 horizontal forces
21 (excessive dynamic) vibration
22 motion
23 Imperial College
24 normal forward walking
25 (the) Arup engineers
26 (the) design assumptions
Passage 3 Questions 27-40
27 v
28 ii
27 iii
30 viii
31 NOT GIVEN
32 TRUE
33 FALSE
34 FALSE
35 NOT GIVEN
36 TRUE
37 growing population
38 racist assumption
39 archeological and historical
40 inhuman behavior
第二套：
Passage 1
Consecutive and Simultaneous Translation
A
When people are faced with a foreign-language barrier, the usual way round it is to find
someone to interpret or translate for them. The term „translation‟, is the neutral term used
for all tasks where the meaning or expressions in one language (the source language) is
turned into the meaning of another (the „target‟ language), whether the medium is spoken,
written, or signed. In specific professional contexts, however, a distinction is drawn
between people who work with the spoken or signed language (interpreters), and those
who work with the written language (translators). There are certain tasks that blur this
distinction, as when source speeches turned into target writing. But usually the two roles
are seen as quite distinct, and it is unusual to find one person who is equally happy with
both occupations. Some writers on translation, indeed, consider the interpreting task to be
more suitable for extrovert personalities, and the translating task for introverts.
B
Interpreting is today widely known from its use in international political life. When senior
ministers from different language backgrounds meet, the television record invariably
shows a pair of interpreters hovering in the background. At major conferences, such as
the United Nations General Assembly, the presence of headphones is a clear indication
that a major linguistic exercise is taking place. In everyday circumstances, too,
interpreters are frequently needed, especially in cosmopolitan societies formed by new
reiterations of immigrants and Gastarbeiter. Often, the business of law courts, hospitals,
local health clinics, classrooms, or industrial tribunals cannot be carried on without the
presence of an interpreter. Given the importance and frequency of this task, therefore, it is
remarkable that so little study has been made of what actually happens when interpreting
takes place, and of how successful an exercise it is.
C
There are two main kinds of oral translation — consecutive and simultaneous. In
consecutive translation the translating starts after the original speech or some part of it
has been completed. Here the interpreter‟s strategy and the final results depend, to a
great extent on the length of the segment to be translated. If the segment is just a
sentence or two the interpreter closely follows the original speech. As often as not,
however, the interpreter is expected to translate a long speech which has lasted for scores
of minutes or even longer. In this case he has to remember a great number of messages;
and keep them in mind until he begins his translation possible the interpreter has to take
notes of the original messages, of notation having been suggested for the purpose. The
study of, such notation is the integral part of the interpreter‟s training exercises to develop
his memory.
D
Doubtless the recency of developments in the field partly explains this neglect. One
procedure, consecutive interpreting, is very old — and presumably dates from the Tower
of Babel! Here, the interpreter translates after the speaker has finished speaking. This
approach is widely practiced in informal situations, as well as in committees and small
conferences. In larger and more formal settings, however, it has been generally replaced
by simultaneous interpreting — a recent development that arose from the availability of
modern audiological equipment and the advent of increased international interaction
following the Second World War.
E
Of the two procedures, it is the second that has attracted most interest, because of the
complexity of the task and the remarkable skills required. In no other context of human
communication is anyone routinely required to listen and speak at the same time,
preserving an exact semantic correspondence between the two modes. Moreover, there
is invariably a delay of a few words between the stimulus and the response, because of
the time it takes to assimilate what is being said in the source language and to translate it
into an acceptable form in the target language. This „ear-voice span‟ is usually about 2 or
3 seconds, but it may be as much as 10 seconds or so, if the text is complex. The brain
has to remember what has just been said, attend to what is currently being said, and
anticipate the construction of what is about to be said. As you start a sentence you are
taking a leap in the dark, you are mortgaging your grammatical future; the original
sentence may suddenly be turned in such a way that your translation of its end cannot
easily be reconciled with your translation of its start. Great nimbleness is called for.
F
How it is all done is not at all clear. That it is done at all is a source of some wonder, given
the often lengthy periods of interpreting required, the confined environment of an
interpreting booth, the presence of background noise, and the awareness that major
decisions may depend upon the accuracy of the work. Other consideration such as
cultural background also makes it aim to pay full attention to the backgrounds of the
authors and the recipients, and to take into account differences between source and
target language.
G
Research projects have now begun to look at these factors — to determine, for example,
how far successful interpreting is affected by poor listening conditions, or the speed at
which the source language is spoken. It seems that an input speed of between 100 and
120 words per minute is a comfortable rate for interpreting, with an upper limit of around
200 w.p.m. But even small increases in speed can dramatically affect the accuracy of
output. In one controlled study, when speeds were gradually increased in a series of
stages from 95 to 164 w.p.m., the ear-voice span also increased with each stage, and the
amount correctly interpreted showed a clear decline. Also, as the translating load
increases, not only are there more errors of commission (mistranslations, cases of
vagueness replacing precision), there are also more errors of omission, as words and
segments of meaning are filtered out. These are important findings, given the need for
accuracy in international communication. What is needed is a more detailed identification
of the problem areas, and of the strategies speakers, listeners, and interpreters use to
solve them. There is urgent need to expand what has so far been one of the most
neglected fields of communication research.
Questions 1-5
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write your answers in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.
1
In which way does author state translation at the beginning of the passage1?
A abstract and concrete meaning
B general and specific meaning
C several examples of translation‟s meaning
D different meaning in various profession
2
Application of headphone in a UN conference tells us that:
A TV show is being conducted
B radio program is on the air
C two sides are debating
D language practice is in the process
3
In the passage, what is author‟s purpose of citing Tower of Babel?
A interpreting secret is stored in the Tower
B interpreter emerged exactly from time of Tower of Babel
C consecutive interpreting has a long history
D consecutive interpreting should be abandoned
4
About simultaneous interpreting, which of the following is true?
A it is an old and disposable interpretation method
B it doesn‟t need outstanding professional ability
C it relies on professional equipment
D it takes less than two seconds ear-voice span
5
In consecutive translation, if the section is longer than expected, what would an
interpreter most probably do?
A he or she has to remember some parts ahead
B he or she has to break them down first
C he or she has to respond as quickly as possible
D he or she has to remember all parts ahead
Questions 6-9
Complete the following summary of the paragraphs of Reading Passage, using no more
than two words or a number from the Reading Passage for each answer. Write your
answers in boxes 6-9 on your answer sheet.
The cycle from ear to voice normally lasts about 6....................., which depends on
sophistication of paper, for example, it could go up to 7.................. sometimes. When
expert took close research on affecting elements, they found appropriate speaking speed
is somehow among 8.................. w.p.m. In a specific experiment, the accuracy of
interpretation dropped while the ear-voice span speed increased between 95 to 164
w.p.m. However, the maximum of speed was about 9................... w.p.m.
Questions 10-13
Choose FOUR correct letters
Write your answers in boxes 10-13 on your answer sheet.
Which FOUR of the followings are the factors that affect interpreting?
A mastery in structure and grammar of sentence in the script
B speed of incoming sound source
C noisy of background
D emotional states of interpreter
E culture of different backgrounds
F understanding the significance of being precise
G upper volume limit of speakers
Passage 2
CHILDREN’S LITERATURE
A
Stories and poems aimed at children have an exceedingly long history: lullabies, for
example, were sung in Roman times, and a few nursery games and rhymes are almost as
ancient. Yet so far as written-down literature is concerned, while there were stories in print
before 1700 that children often seized on when they had the chance, such as translations
of Aesop‟s fables, fairy-stories and popular ballads and romances, these were not aimed
at young people in particular. Since the only genuinely child-oriented literature at this time
would have been a few instructional works to help with reading and general knowledge,
plus the odd Puritanical tract as an aid to morality, the only course for keen child readers
was to read adult literature. This still occurs today, especially with adult thrillers or
romances that include more exciting, graphic detail than is normally found in the literature
for younger readers.
B
By the middle of the 18th century there were enough eager child readers, and enough
parents glad to cater to this interest, for publishers to specialize in children‟s books whose
first aim was pleasure rather than education or morality. In Britain, a London merchant
named Thomas Boreham produced Cajanus, The Swedish Giant in 1742, while the more
famous John Newbery published A Little Pretty Pocket Book in 1744. Its contents —
rhymes, stories, children‟s games plus a free gift („A ball and a pincushion‟) — in many
ways anticipated the similar lucky-dip contents of children‟s annuals this century. It is a
tribute to Newbery‟s flair that he hit upon a winning formula quite so quickly, to be pirated
almost immediately in America.
C
Such pleasing levity was not to last. Influenced by Rousseau, whose Emile (1762)
decreed that all books for children save Robinson Crusoe were a dangerous diversion,
contemporary critics saw to it that children‟s literature should be instructive and uplifting.
Prominent among such voices was Mrs. Sarah Trimmer, whose magazine The Guardian
of Education (1802) carried the first regular reviews of children‟s books. It was she who
condemned fairy-tales for their violence and general absurdity; her own stories, Fabulous
Histories (1786) described talking animals who were always models of sense and
decorum.
D
So the moral story for children was always threatened from within, given the way children
have of drawing out entertainment from the sternest moralist. But the greatest blow to the
improving children‟s book was to come from an unlikely source indeed: early 19th-century
interest in folklore. Both nursery rhymes, selected by James Orchard Halliwell for a
folklore society in 1842, and collection of fairy-stories by the scholarly Grimm brothers,
swiftly translated into English in 1823, soon rocket to popularity with the young, quickly
leading to new editions, each one more child-centered than the last. From now on
younger children could expect stories written for their particular interest and with the
needs of their own limited experience of life kept well to the fore.
E
What eventually determined the reading of older children was often not the availability of
special children‟s literature as such but access to books that contained characters, such
as young people or animals, with whom they could more easily empathize, or action, such
as exploring or fighting, that made few demands on adult maturity or understanding.
F
The final apotheosis of literary childhood as something to be protected from unpleasant
reality came with the arrival in the late 1930s of child-centered best-sellers intend on
entertainment at its most escapist. In Britain novelist such as Enid Blyton and Richmal
Crompton described children who were always free to have the most unlikely adventures,
secure in the knowledge that nothing bad could ever happen to them in the end. The fact
that war broke out again during her books‟ greatest popularity fails to register at all in the
self-enclosed world inhabited by Enid Blyton‟s young characters. Reaction against such
dream-worlds was inevitable after World War II, coinciding with the growth of paperback
sales, children‟s libraries and a new spirit of moral and social concern. Urged on by
committed publishers and progressive librarians, writers slowly began to explore new
areas of interest while also shifting the settings of their plots from the middle-class world
to which their chiefly adult patrons had always previously belonged.
G
Critical emphasis, during this development, has been divided. For some the most
important task was to rid children‟s books of the social prejudice and exclusiveness no
longer found acceptable. Others concentrated more on the positive achievements of
contemporary children‟s literature. That writers of these works are now often
recommended to the attentions of adult as well as child readers echoes the 19th-century
belief that children‟s literature can be shared by the generations, rather than being a
defensive barrier between childhood and the necessary growth towards adult
understanding.
Questions 14-18
Complete the table below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from Reading Passage 2 for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 14-18 on your answer sheet.
DATE
FEATURES
AIM
EXAMPLE
Before 1700
Not aimed at young
children
Education and
morality
Puritanical tract
By the middle
of 18th century
Collection of rhymes
14______ and games
Read for pleasure
A Little Pretty Pocket
Book (exported to
15______)
Early 19th
century
Growing interest in
16______
To be more
children-centered
Nursery rhymes and
17______
Late 1930s
Stories of harm-free
18______
Entertainment
Enid Blyton and
Richarnal Crompton‟s
novels
Questions 19-21
Look at the following people and the list of statements below.
Match each person with the correct statement.
Write the correct letter A-E in boxes 19-21 on your answer sheet.
19 Thomas Boreham
20 Mrs. Sarah trimmer
21 Grimm Brothers
List of statements
A Wrote criticisms of children‟s literature
B Used animals to demonstrate the absurdity of fairy tales
C Was not a writer originally
D Translated a book into English
E Didn't write in the English language
Questions 22-26
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2?
In boxes 22-26 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
22 Children didn‟t start to read books until 1700.
23 Sarah Trimmer believed that children‟s books should set good examples.
24 Parents were concerned about the violence in children‟s books.
25 An interest in the folklore changed the direction of the development of children‟s
books.
26 Today children‟s book writers believe their works should appeal to both children and
adults.
Passage 3
Book review on Musicophilia
A
Music and the brain are both endlessly fascinating subjects, and as a neuroscientist
specialising in auditory learning and memory, I find them especially intriguing. So I had
high expectations of Musicophilia, the latest offering from neurologist and prolific author
Oliver Sacks. And I confess to feeling a little guilty reporting that my reactions to the book
are mixed.
B
Sacks himself is the best part of Musicophilia. He richly documents his own life in the book
and reveals highly personal experiences. The photograph of him on the cover of the book
— which shows him wearing headphones, eyes closed, clearly enchanted as he listens to
Alfred Brendel perform Beethoven‟s Pathetique Sonata — makes a positive impression
that is borne out by the contents of the book. Sacks‟s voice throughout is steady and
erudite but never pontifical. He is neither self-conscious nor self-promoting.
C
The preface gives a good idea of what the book will deliver. In it Sacks explains that he
wants to convey the insights gleaned from the “enormous and rapidly growing body of
work on the neural underpinnings of musical perception and imagery, and the complex
and often bizarre disorders to which these are prone.” He also stresses the importance of
“the simple art of observation” and “the richness of the human context.” He wants to
combine “observation and description with the latest in technology,” he says, and to
imaginatively enter into the experience of his patients and subjects. The reader can see
that Sacks, who has been practicing neurology for 40 years, is torn between the
“old-fashioned” path of observation and the new-fangled, high-tech approach: He knows
that he needs to take heed of the latter, but his heart lies with the former.
D
The book consists mainly of detailed descriptions of cases, most of them involving
patients whom Sacks has seen in his practice. Brief discussions of contemporary
neuroscientific reports are sprinkled liberally throughout the text. Part, “Haunted by Music”,
begins with the strange case of Tony Cicoria, a nonmusical, middle-aged surgeon who
was consumed by a love of music after being hit by lightning. He suddenly began to crave
listening to piano music, which he had never cared for in the past. He started to play the
piano and then to compose music, which arose spontaneously in his mind in a “torrent” of
notes. How could this happen? Was the cause psychological? (He had had a near-death
experience when the lightning struck him.) Or was it the direct result of a change in the
auditory regions of his cerebral cortex? Electroencephalography (EEG) showed his brain
waves to be normal in the mid-1990s, just after his, trauma and subsequent “conversion”
to music. There are now more sensitive tests, but Cicoria, has declined to undergo them;
he does not want to delve into the causes of his musicality. What a shame!
E
Part II, “A Range of Musicality,” covers a wider variety of topics, but unfortunately, some of
the chapters offer little or nothing that is new. For example, chapter 13, which is five pages
long, merely notes that the blind often have better hearing than the sighted. The most
interesting chapters are those that present the strangest cases. Chapter 8 is about
“amusia”, an inability to hear sounds as music, and “dysharmonia”, a highly specific
impairment of the ability to hear harmony, with the ability to understand melody left intact.
Such specific “dissociations” are found throughout the cases Sacks recounts.
F
To Sacks‟s credit, part III, “Memory, Movement and Music”, brings us into the
underappreciated realm of music therapy. Chapter 16 explains how “melodic intonation
therapy” is being used to help expressive aphasic patients (those unable to express their
thoughts verbally following a stroke or other cerebral incident) once again become
capable of fluent speech. In chapter 20, Sacks demonstrates the near-miraculous power
of music to animate Parkinson‟s patients and other people with severe movement
disorders, even those who are frozen into odd postures. Scientists cannot yet explain how
music achieves this effect.
G
To readers who are unfamiliar with neuroscience and music behavior, Musicophilia may
be something of a revelation. But the book will not satisfy those seeking the causes and
implications of the phenomena Sacks describes. For one thing, Sacks appears to be more
at ease discussing patients than discussing experiments. And he tends to be rather
uncritical in accepting scientific findings and theories.
H
It‟s true that the causes of music-brain oddities remain poorly understood. However,
Sacks could have done more to draw out some of the implications of the careful
observations that he and other neurologists have made and of the treatments that have
been successful. For example, he might have noted that the many specific dissociations
among components of music comprehension, such as loss of the ability to perceive
harmony but not melody, indicate that there is no music center in the brain. Because many
people who read the book are likely to believe in the brain localisation of all mental
functions, this was a missed educational opportunity.
I
Another conclusion one could draw is that there seem to be no “cures” for neurological
problems involving music. A drug can alleviate a symptom in one patient and aggravate it
in another, or can have both positive and negative effects in the same patient. Treatments
mentioned seem to be almost exclusively antiepileptic medications, which “damp down”
the excitability of the brain in general; their effectiveness varies widely.
J
Finally, in many of the cases described here the patient with music-brain symptoms is
reported to have “normal” EEG results. Although Sacks recognizes the existence of new
technologies, among them far more sensitive ways to analyze brain waves than the
standard neurological EEG test, he does not call for their use. In fact, although he exhibits
the greatest compassion for patients, he conveys no sense of urgency about the pursuit of
new avenues in the diagnosis and treatment of music-brain disorders. This absence
echoes the book‟s preface, in which Sacks expresses fear that “the simple art of
observation may be lost” if we rely too much on new technologies. He does call for both
approaches, though, and we can only hope that the neurological community will respond.
Questions 27-30
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C, or D.
Write the correct letter in boxes 27-30 on your answer sheet
27 Why does the writer have a mixed feeling about the book?
A The guilty feeling made him so.
B The writer expected it to be better than it was.
C Sacks failed to include his personal stories in the book.
D This is the only book written by Sacks.
28 What is the best part of the book?
A the photo of Sacks listening to music
B the tone of voice of the book
C the autobiographical description in the book
D the description of Sacks‟s wealth
29 In the preface, what did Sacks try to achieve?
A make a herald introduction of the research work and technique applied
B give detailed description of various musical disorders
C explain how people understand music
D explain why he needs to do away with simple observation
30 What is disappointing about Tony Cicoria‟s case?
A He refuses to have further tests.
B He can‟t determine the cause of his sudden musicality.
C He nearly died because of the lightening.
D His brain waves were too normal to show anything.
Questions 31-36
Do the follow statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage 3?
In boxes 31-36 on your answer sheet, write
YES
if the statement agrees with the views of the writer
NO
if the statement contradicts with the views of the writer
NOT GIVEN
if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
31 It is difficult to give a well-reputable writer a less than totally favorable review.
32 Beethoven‟s Pathetique Sonata is a good treatment for musical disorders.
33 Sacks believes technological methods is of little importance compared with traditional
observation when studying his patients.
34 It is difficult to understand why music therapy is undervalued
35 Sacks held little skepticism when borrowing other theories and findings in describing
reasons and notion for phenomena he depicts in the book.
36 Sacks is in a rush to use new testing methods to do treatment for patients.
Questions 37-40
Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-F, below.
Write correct letter, A-F, in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet.
37 The content covered dissociations in understanding between harmony and melody
38 The study of treating musical disorders
39 The EEG scans of Sacks‟s patients
40 Sacks believes testing based on new technologies朗阁海外考试研究中心
Research Academy for Foreign Language Examinations
23
A show no music-brain disorders.
B indicates that medication can have varied results.
C is key for the neurological community to unravel the mysteries.
D should not be used in isolation.
E indicate that not everyone can receive good education.
F show a misconception that there is function centre localized in the brain朗阁海外考试研究中心
Research Academy for Foreign Language Examinations
24
Answer keys:
Passage 1 Questions 1-13
1
B
2
D
3
C
4
C
5
A
6
2-3 seconds
7
10 seconds
8
100 to 120
9
200
10 B
11 C
12 E
13 F
Passage 2 Questions 14-26
14 stories
15 America
16 folklore
17 fairy-stories
18 adventures
19 C
20 A
21 E
22 FLASE
23 TRUE
24 NOT GIVEN
25 TRUE
26 TRUE
Passage 3 Questions 27-40
27 B
28 C
29 A
30 A
31 YES
32 NOT GIVEN
33 NO
34 NOT GIVEN
35 YES
36 NO
37 F
38 B
