剑桥雅思阅读11(test1)答案精讲.docx

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1、剑桥雅思阅读11(test1)答案精讲 剑桥雅思阅读部分的题目可以进行一些分类总结，因为考试的常见内容一般都会在下次考试中出现的。下面就是今日我给大家带来的剑桥雅思阅读11原文和答案的内容，希望能够帮助同学们备考雅思索试。 剑桥雅思阅读11原文(test1) READING PASSAGE 1 You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below. Crop-growing skyscrapers By the year 2050, nearly 80% o

2、f the Earths population will live in urban centres. Applying the most conservative estimates to current demographic trends, the human population will increase by about three billion people by then. An estimated 109 hectares of new land (about 20% larger than Brazil) will be needed to grow enough foo

3、d to feed them, if traditional farming methods continue as they are practised today. At present, throughout the world, over 80% of the land that is suitable for raising crops is in use. Historically, some 15% of that has been laid waste by poor management practices. What can be done to ensure enough

4、 food for the worlds population to live on? The concept of indoor farming is not new, since hothouse production of tomatoes and other produce has been in vogue for some time. What is new is the urgent need to scale up this technology to accommodate another three billion people. Many believe an entir

5、ely new approach to indoor farming is required, employing cutting-edge technologies. One such proposal is for the Vertical Farm. The concept is of multi-storey buildings in which food crops are grown in environmentally controlled conditions. Situated in the heart of urban centres, they would drastic

6、ally reduce the amount of transportation required to bring food to consumers. Vertical farms would need to be efficient, cheap to construct and safe to operate. If successfully implemented, proponents claim, vertical farms offer the promise of urban renewal, sustainable production of a safe and vari

7、ed food supply (through year-round production of all crops), and the eventual repair of ecosystems that have been sacrificed for horizontal farming. It took humans 10,000 years to learn how to grow most of the crops we now take for granted. Along the way, we despoiled most of the land we worked, oft

8、en turning verdant, natural ecozones into semi-arid deserts. Within that same time frame, we evolved into an urban species, in which 60% of the human population now lives vertically in cities. This means that, for the majority, we humans have shelter from the elements, yet we subject our food-bearin

9、g plants to the rigours of the great outdoors and can do no more than hope for a good weather year. However, more often than not now, due to a rapidly changing climate, that is not what happens. Massive floods, long droughts, hurricanes and severe monsoons take their toll each year, destroying milli

10、ons of tons of valuable crops. The supporters of vertical farming claim many potential advantages for the system. For instance, crops would be produced all year round, as they would be kept in artificially controlled, optimum growing conditions. There would be no weather-related crop failures due to

11、 droughts, floods or pests. All the food could be grown organically, eliminating the need for herbicides, pesticides and fertilisers. The system would greatly reduce the incidence of many infectious diseases that are acquired at the agricultural interface. Although the system would consume energy, i

12、t would return energy to the grid via methane generation from composting non-edible parts of plants. It would also dramatically reduce fossil fuel use, by cutting out the need for tractors, ploughs and shipping. A major drawback of vertical farming, however, is that the plants would require artifici

13、al light. Without it, those plants nearest the windows would be exposed to more sunlight and grow more quickly, reducing the efficiency of the system. Single-storey greenhouses have the benefit of natural overhead light: even so, many still need artificial lighting. A multi-storey facility with no n

14、atural overhead light would require far more. Generating enough light could be prohibitively expensive, unless cheap, renewable energy is available, and this appears to be rather a future aspiration than a likelihood for the near future. One variation on vertical farming that has been developed is t

15、o grow plants in stacked trays that move on rails. Moving the trays allows the plants to get enough sunlight. This system is already in operation, and works well within a single-storey greenhouse with light reaching it from above: it is not certain, however, that it can be made to work without that

16、overhead natural light. Vertical farming is an attempt to address the undoubted problems that we face in producing enough food for a growing population. At the moment, though, more needs to be done to reduce the detrimental impact it would have on the environment, particularly as regards the use of

17、energy. While it is possible that much of our food will be grown in skyscrapers in future, most experts currently believe it is far more likely that we will simply use the space available on urban rooftops. Questions 1-7 Complete the sentences below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage fo

18、r each answer. Write your answers in boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet. Indoor farming 1 Some food plants, including _, are already grown indoors. 2 Vertical farms would be located in _, meaning that there would be less need to take them long distances to customers. 3 Vertical farms could use methane f

19、rom plants and animals to produce _. 4 The consumption of _ would be cut because agricultural vehicles would be unnecessary. 5 The fact that vertical farms would need _ light is a disadvantage. 6 One form of vertical farming involves planting in _ which are not fixed. 7 The most probable development

20、 is that food will be grown on _ in towns and cities. Questions 8-13 Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1? In boxes 8-13 on your answer sheet, write TRUE if the statement agrees with the information FALSE if the statement contradicts the information NOT G

21、IVEN if there is no information on this 8 Methods for predicting the Earths population have recently changed. 9 Human beings are responsible for some of the destruction to food-producing land. 10 The crops produced in vertical farms will depend on the season. 11 Some damage to food crops is caused b

22、y climate change. 12 Fertilisers will be needed for certain crops in vertical farms. 13 Vertical farming will make plants less likely to be affected by infectious diseases. READING PASSAGE 2 You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26, which are based on Reading Passage 2 below. THE FALKIRK

23、 WHEEL A unique engineering achievement The Falkirk Wheel in Scotland is the worlds first and only rotating boat lift. Opened in 2002, it is central to the ambitious 84.5m Millennium Link project to restore navigability across Scotland by reconnecting the historic waterways of the Forth & Clyde

24、and Union Canals. The major challenge of the project lay in the fact that the Forth & Clyde Canal is situated 35 metres below the level of the Union Canal. Historically, the two canals had been joined near the town of Falkirk by a sequence of 11 locks enclosed sections of canal in which the wate

25、r level could be raised or lowered that stepped down across a distance of 1.5 km. This had been dismantled in 1933, thereby breaking the link. When the project was launched in 1994, the British Waterways authority were keen to create a dramatic twenty-first-century landmark which would not only be a

26、 fitting commemoration of the Millennium, but also a lasting symbol of the economic regeneration of the region. Numerous ideas were submitted for the project, including concepts ranging from rolling eggs to tilting tanks, from giant see-saws to overhead monorails. The eventual winner was a plan for

27、the huge rotating steel boat lift which was to become The Falkirk Wheel. The unique shape of the structure is claimed to have been inspired by various sources, both manmade and natural, most notably a Celtic double-headed axe, but also the vast turning propeller of a ship, the ribcage of a whale or

28、the spine of a fish. The various parts of The Falkirk Wheel were all constructed and assembled, like one giant toy building set, at Butterley Engineerings Steelworks in Derbyshire, some 400 km from Falkirk. A team there carefully assembled the 1,200 tonnes of steel, painstakingly fitting the pieces

29、together to an accuracy of just 10 mm to ensure a perfect final fit. In the summer of 2001, the structure was then dismantled and transported on 35 lorries to Falkirk, before all being bolted back together again on the ground, and finally lifted into position in five large sections by crane. The Whe

30、el would need to withstand immense and constantly changing stresses as it rotated, so to make the structure more robust, the steel sections were bolted rather than welded together. Over 45,000 bolt holes were matched with their bolts, and each bolt was hand-tightened. The Wheel consists of two sets

31、of opposing axe-shaped arms, attached about 25 metres apart to a fixed central spine. Two diametrically opposed water-filled gondolas, each with a capacity of 360,000 litres, are fitted between the ends of the arms. These gondolas always weigh the same, whether or not they are carrying boats. This i

32、s because, according to Archimedes principle of displacement, floating objects displace their own weight in water. So when a boat enters a gondola, the amount of water leaving the gondola weighs exactly the same as the boat. This keeps the Wheel balanced and so, despite its enormous mass, it rotates

33、 through 180 in five and a half minutes while using very little power. It takes just 1.5 kilowatt-hours (5.4 MJ) of energy to rotate the Wheel roughly the same as boiling eight small domestic kettles of water. Boats needing to be lifted up enter the canal basin at the level of the Forth & Clyde

34、Canal and then enter the lower gondola of the Wheel. Two hydraulic steel gates are raised, so as to seal the gondola off from the water in the canal basin. The water between the gates is then pumped out. A hydraulic clamp, which prevents the arms of the Wheel moving while the gondola is docked, is r

35、emoved, allowing the Wheel to turn. In the central machine room an array of ten hydraulic motors then begins to rotate the central axle. The axle connects to the outer arms of the Wheel, which begin to rotate at a speed of 1/8 of a revolution per minute. As the wheel rotates, the gondolas are kept i

36、n the upright position by a simple gearing system. Two eight-metre-wide cogs orbit a fixed inner cog of the same width, connected by two smaller cogs travelling in the opposite direction to the outer cogs so ensuring that the gondolas always remain level. When the gondola reaches the top, the boat p

37、asses straight onto the aqueduct situated 24 metres above the canal basin. The remaining 11 metres of lift needed to reach the Union Canal is achieved by means of a pair of locks. The Wheel could not be constructed to elevate boats over the full 35-metre difference between the two canals, owing to t

38、he presence of the historically important Antonine Wall, which was built by the Romans in the second century AD. Boats travel under this wall via a tunnel, then through the locks, and finally on to the Union Canal. Questions 14-19 Do the following statements agree with the information given in Readi

39、ng Passage 2? In boxes 14-19 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 14 The Falkirk Wheel has linked the Forth & Clyde Canal with the Union Canal for the first ti

40、me in their history. 15 There was some opposition to the design of the Falkirk Wheel at first. 16 The Falkirk Wheel was initially put together at the location where its components were manufactured. 17 The Falkirk Wheel is the only boat lift in the world which has steel sections bolted together by h

41、and. 18 The weight of the gondolas varies according to the size of boat being carried. 19 The construction of the Falkirk Wheel site took into account the presence of a nearby ancient monument. Questions 20-26 Label the diagram below. Choose ONE WORD from the passage for each answer. Write your answ

42、ers in boxes 20-26 on your answer sheet. How a boat is lifted on the Falkirk Wheel READING PASSAGE 3 You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40, which are based on Reading Passage 3 below. Reducing the Effects of Climate Change Mark Rowe reports on the increasingly ambitious geo-engineerin

43、g projects being explored by scientists A Such is our dependence on fossil fuels, and such is the volume of carbon dioxide already released into the atmosphere, that many experts agree that significant global warming is now inevitable. They believe that the best we can do is keep it at a reasonable

44、level, and at present the only serious option for doing this is cutting back on our carbon emissions. But while a few countries are making major strides in this regard, the majority are having great difficulty even stemming the rate of increase, let alone reversing it. Consequently, an increasing nu

45、mber of scientists are beginning to explore the alternative of geo-engineering a term which generally refers to the intentional large-scale manipulation of the environment. According to its proponents, geo-engineering is the equivalent of a backup generator: if Plan A reducing our dependency on foss

46、il fuels fails, we require a Plan B, employing grand schemes to slow down or reverse the process of global warming. B Geo-engineering has been shown to work, at least on a small localised scale. For decades, May Day parades in Moscow have taken place under clear blue skies, aircraft having deposited

47、 dry ice, silver iodide and cement powder to disperse clouds. Many of the schemes now suggested look to do the opposite, and reduce the amount of sunlight reaching the planet. The most eye-catching idea of all is suggested by Professor Roger Angel of the University of Arizona. His scheme would employ up to 16 trillion minute spacecraft, each weighing about one gram, to form a transparent, sunlight-refracting sunshade in an orbit 1.5 million km above the Earth. This could, argues Angel, reduce the amount of light reaching the Earth by two per cen