剑桥雅思阅读6原文(test2)及答案解析.docx

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1、剑桥雅思阅读6原文(test2)及答案解析 雅思阅读是块难啃的硬骨头，须要我们做更多的题目才能得心应手。下面我给大家共享一下剑桥雅思阅读6test2原文翻译及答案解析，希望可以帮助到大家。 剑桥雅思阅读6原文(test2) READING PASSAGE 1 You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 1 on the following pages. Questions 1-5 Reading Passage 1 has five marked paragrap

2、hs, A-E. Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below. Write the correct number, i-viii, in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet. List of Headings i Avoiding an overcrowded centre ii A successful exercise in people power iii The benefits of working together in cities iv Hi

3、gher incomes need not mean more cars v Economic arguments fail to persuade vi The impact of telecommunications on population distribution vii Increases in travelling time viii Responding to arguments against public transport 1 Paragraph A 2 Paragraph B 3 Paragraph C 4 Paragraph D 5 Paragraph E Advan

4、tages of public transport A new study conducted for the World Bank by Murdoch Universitys Institute for Science and Technology Policy (ISTP) has demonstrated that public transport is more efficient than cars. The study compared the proportion of wealth poured into transport by thirty-seven cities ar

5、ound the world. This included both the public and private costs of building, maintaining and using a transport system. The study found that the Western Australian city of Perth is a good example of a city with minimal public transport. As a result, 17% of its wealth went into transport costs. Some E

6、uropean and Asian cities, on the other hand, spent as little as 5%. Professor Peter Newman, ISTP Director, pointed out that these more efficient cities were able to put the difference into attracting industry and jobs or creating a better place to live. According to Professor Newman, the larger Aust

7、ralian city of Melbourne is a rather unusual city in this sort of comparison. He describes it as two cities: A European city surrounded by a car-dependent one. Melbournes large tram network has made car use in the inner city much lower, but the outer suburbs have the same car-based structure as most

8、 other Australian cities. The explosion in demand for accommodation in the inner suburbs of Melbourne suggests a recent change in many peoples preferences as to where they live. Newman says this is a new, broader way of considering public transport issues. In the past, the case for public transport

9、has been made on the basis of environmental and social justice considerations rather than economics. Newman, however, believes the study demonstrates that the auto-dependent city model is inefficient and grossly inadequate in economic as well as environmental terms. Bicycle use was not included in t

10、he study but Newman noted that the two most bicycle friendly cities considered Amsterdam and Copenhagen were very efficient, even though their public transport systems were reasonable but not special. It is common for supporters of road networks to reject the models of cities with good public transp

11、ort by arguing that such systems would not work in their particular city. One objection is climate. Some people say their city could not make more use of public transport because it is either too hot or too cold. Newman rejects this, pointing out that public transport has been successful in both Tor

12、onto and Singapore and, in fact, he has checked the use of cars against climate and found zero correlation. When it comes to other physical features, road lobbies are on stronger ground. For example, Newman accepts it would be hard for a city as hilly as Auckland to develop a really good rail networ

13、k. However, he points out that both Hong Kong and Zurich have managed to make a success of their rail systems, heavy and light respectively, though there are few cities in the world as hilly. A In fact, Newman believes the main reason for adopting one sort of transport over another is politics: The

14、more democratic the process, the more public transport is favored. He considers Portland, Oregon, a perfect example of this. Some years ago, federal money was granted to build a new road. However, local pressure groups forced a referendum over whether to spend the money on light rail instead. The ra

15、il proposal won and the railway worked spectacularly well. In the years that have followed, more and more rail systems have been put in, dramatically changing the nature of the city. Newman notes that Portland has about the same population as Perth and had a similar population density at the time. B

16、 In the UK, travel times to work had been stable for at least six centuries, with people avoiding situations that required them to spend more than half an hour travelling to work. Trains and cars initially allowed people to live at greater distances without taking longer to reach their destination.

17、However, public infrastructure did not keep pace with urban sprawl, causing massive congestion problems which now make commuting times far higher. C There is a widespread belief that increasing wealth encourages people to live farther out where cars are the only viable transport. The example of Euro

18、pean cities refutes that. They are often wealthier than their American counterparts but have not generated the same level of car use. In Stockholm, car use has actually fallen in recent years as the city has become larger and wealthier. A new study makes this point even more starkly. Developing citi

19、es in Asia, such as Jakarta and Bangkok, make more use of the car than wealthy Asian cities such as Tokyo and Singapore. In cities that developed later, the World Bank and Asian Development Bank discouraged the building of public transport and people have been forced to rely on cars creating the mas

20、sive traffic jams that characterize those cities. D Newman believes one of the best studies on how cities built for cars might be converted to rail use is The Urban Village report, which used Melbourne as an example. It found that pushing everyone into the city centre was not the best approach. Inst

21、ead, the proposal advocated the creation of urban villages at hundreds of sites, mostly around railway stations. E It was once assumed that improvements in telecommunications would lead to more dispersal in the population as people were no longer forced into cities. However, the ISTP teams research

22、demonstrates that the population and job density of cities rose or remained constant in the 1980s after decades of decline. The explanation for this seems to be that it is valuable to place people working in related fields together. The new world will largely depend on human creativity, and creativi

23、ty flourishes where people come together face-to-face. Questions 6-10 Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1? In boxes 6-10 on your answer sheet, write TRUE if the statement agrees with the information FALSE if the statement contradicts the information NOT

24、GIVEN if there is no information on this 6 The ISTP study examined public and private systems in every city of the world. 7 Efficient cities can improve the quality of life for their inhabitants. 8 An inner-city tram network is dangerous for car drivers. 9 In Melbourne, people prefer to live in the

25、outer suburbs. 10 Cities with high levels of bicycle usage can be efficient even when public transport is only averagely good. Questions 11-13 Look at the following cities (Questions 11-13) and the list of descriptions below. Match each city with the correct description, A-F. Write the correct lette

26、r, A-F, in boxes 11-13 on your answer sheet. 11 Perth 12 Auckland 13 Portland List of Descriptions A successfully uses a light rail transport system in hilly environment B successful public transport system despite cold winters C profitably moved from road to light rail transport system D hilly and

27、inappropriate for rail transport system E heavily dependent on cars despite widespread poverty F inefficient due to a limited public transport system READING PASSAGE 2 You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26, which are based on Reading Passage 2 below. GREYING POPULATION STAYS IN THE PI

28、NK Elderly people are growing healthier, happier and more independent, say American scientists. The results of a 14-year study to be announced later this month reveal that the diseases associated with old age are afflicting fewer and fewer people and when they do strike, it is much later in life. In

29、 the last 14 years, the National Long-term Health Care Survey has gathered data on the health and lifestyles of more than 20,000 men and women over 65. Researchers, now analysing the results of data gathered in 1994, say arthritis, high blood pressure and circulation problems the major medical compl

30、aints in this age group are troubling a smaller proportion every year. And the data confirms that the rate at which these diseases are declining continues to accelerate. Other diseases of old age dementia, stroke, arteriosclerosis and emphysema are also troubling fewer and fewer people. It really ra

31、ises the question of what should be considered normal ageing, says Kenneth Manton, a demographer from Duke University in North Carolina. He says the problems doctors accepted as normal in a 65-year-old in 1982 are often not appearing until people are 70 or 75. Clearly, certain diseases are beating a

32、 retreat in the face of medical advances. But there may be other contributing factors. Improvements in childhood nutrition in the first quarter of the twentieth century, for example, gave todays elderly people a better start in life than their predecessors. On the downside, the data also reveals fai

33、lures in public health that have caused surges in some illnesses. An increase in some cancers and bronchitis may reflect changing smoking habits and poorer air quality, say the researchers. These may be subtle influences, says Manton, but our subjects have been exposed to worse and worse pollution f

34、or over 60 years. Its not surprising we see some effect." One interesting correlation Manton uncovered is that better-educated people are likely to live longer. For example, 65-year-old women with fewer than eight years of schooling are expected, on average, to live to 82. Those who continued t

35、heir education live an extra seven years. Although some of this can be attributed to a higher income, Manton believes it is mainly because educated people seek more medical attention. The survey also assessed how independent people over 65 were, and again found a striking trend. Almost 80% of those

36、in the 1994 survey could complete everyday activities ranging from eating and dressing unaided to complex tasks such as cooking and managing their finances. That represents a significant drop in the number of disabled old people in the population. If the trends apparent in the United States 14 years

37、 ago had continued, researchers calculate there would be an additional one million disabled elderly people in todays population. According to Manton, slowing the trend has saved the United States governments Medicare system more than $200 billion, suggesting that the greying of Americas population m

38、ay prove less of a financial burden than expected. The increasing self-reliance of many elderly people is probably linked to a massive increase in the use of simple home medical aids. For instance, the use of raised toilet seats has more than doubled since the start of the study, and the use of bath

39、 seats has grown by more than 50%. These developments also bring some health benefits, according to a report from the MacArthur Foundations research group on successful ageing. The group found that those elderly people who were able to retain a sense of independence were more likely to stay healthy

40、in old age. Maintaining a level of daily physical activity may help mental functioning, says Carl Cotman, a neuroscientist at the University of California at Irvine. He found that rats that exercise on a treadmill have raised levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor coursing through their brains.

41、 Cotman believes this hormone, which keeps neurons functioning, may prevent the brains of active humans from deteriorating. As part of the same study, Teresa Seeman, a social epidemiologist at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, found a connection between self-esteem and stress in

42、people over 70. In laboratory simulations of challenging activities such as driving, those who felt in control of their lives pumped out lower levels of stress hormones such as cortisol. Chronically high levels of these hormones have been linked to heart disease. But independence can have drawbacks.

43、 Seeman found that elderly people who felt emotionally isolated maintained higher levels of stress hormones even when asleep. The research suggests that older people fare best when they feel independent but know they can get help when they need it. Like much research into ageing, these results suppo

44、rt common sense, says Seeman. They also show that we may be underestimating the impact of these simple factors. The sort of thing that your grandmother always told you turns out to be right on target, she says. Questions 14-22 Complete the summary using the list of words, A-Q, below. Write the corre

45、ct letter, A-Q in boxes 14-22 on your answer sheet. Research carried out by scientists in the United States has shown that the proportion of people over 65 suffering from the most common age-related medical problems is 14 .and that the speed of this change is 15. . It also seems that these diseases

46、are affecting people 16. in life than they did in the past. This is largely due to developments in 17., but other factors such as improved 18. may also be playing a part. Increases in some other illnesses may be due to changes in personal habits and to 19. . The research establishes a link between l

47、evels of 20. and life expectancy. It also shows that there has been a considerable reduction in the number of elderly people who are 21., which means that the 22. involved in supporting this section of the population may be less than previously predicted. A cost B falling C technology D undernourished E earlier F later G disabled H more I increasing J nutrition K educat