2014年雅思阅读模拟试题

2014年雅思阅读模拟试题2014年雅思阅读模拟试题(1)Whenwas the last time you saw a frog? Chances are, if you live in a city, you have not see n one for some time. Eve n in wet areas once teem ing with frogs and toads, it is BECo ming less and less easy to find those slimy, hopping and sometimes poisonous members of the animal kingdom. All over the world, and eve n in remote parts of Australia, frogs are losi ng the ecological battle for survival, and biologists are at a loss to explai n their demise. Are amphibia ns simply overse nsitive to cha nges in the ecosystem? Could it be that their rapiden vir onmen tal is in part the last quarter areas of wetdecline in numbers is signaling some coming disaster for us all? This frightening scenario con seque nee of a dramatic in crease over the century in the development of once natural marshla nd; home not on ly to frogs but to all manner of wildlife.However, as yet, there are no obvious reasons why certain frog species are disappeari ng from rai nforests in Australia thathave barelybeen touched by human hand. The mystery isunsettling to say the least, for it is known that amphibianspecies are extremely sen sitive to en vir onmen tal variati onsin temperature and moisture levels. The dan geris that pla netEarth might not only lose a vital link in the ecological food cha in (frogs keep populati ons of otherwise pestile nt in sects at man ageable levels), but we might be in creas ing our output of air pollutants to levels that may have alreadybecomeirreversible. Frogs could be in adverte ntly warni ng us of a catastrophe.An example of a species of frog that, at far as is known, has become ext in ct, is the platypus frog. Like the well-k nown Australia n mammal it was n amed after, it exhibited some very stra nge behaviour; in stead of giving birth to tadpoles in the water, it raised its young within its stomach. The baby frogs were actually born from out of their mothers mouth. Discovered in 1981, less than ten years later the frog had completely vanished from the crystal clear waters of Booloumba Creek near Queenslands Sunshine Coast. Unfortunately, this freak of nature is not the only frog species to have been lost in Australia. Si nee the 1970s, no less tha n eight others have suffered the same fate.One theory that seems to fit the facts concerns the depletio n of the ozone layer, a well docume nted phe nomenon which has led to a sharp in crease in ultraviolet radiati on levels.The ozone layer is meant to shield the Earth from UV rays, but in creased radiati on may be hav ing a GREater effect upon frog populations than previously believed. Another theory is that worldwide temperature in creases are upsett ingthebreedi ng cycles of frogs.TRUE/FALSE/NOT GIVEN1. Frogs are disappeari ng only from city areas.2. Frogs and toads are usually pois ono us.3. Biologists are un able to expla in why frogs are dying.4. The frogs n atural habitat is beco ming more and more developed.5. Attempts are being made to halt the developme nt of wet marshla nd.6. Frogs are importantin the ecosystem because theycon trol pests.7. The platypus frog became ext inct by 1991.8. Frogs usually give birth to their young in an underwater n est.9. Eight frog species have become extinctso far inAustralia.10. There is convincing evide nee that the ozone layer is being depleted.11t is a fact that frogs breedi ng cycles are upset by worldwide in creases in temperature.Answer Keys： 1.F 2.F 3.T 4.T 5.NG 6.T 7.T 8.NG 9.F 10.T 11.F2014年雅思阅读模拟试题（2）Almost every one with or without a computer is aware of the latest tech no logicalrevoluti ondesti ned to cha nge forever theway in which huma ns com muni cate, n amely, the In formatio n Superhighway, best exemplified by the ubiquitous Intern et.Already, millions of people around the world are linked by computer simply by having a modemand an address on the Net, in muchthe sameway that owning a teleph one links us to almost anyone who pays a phone bill. In fact, since the computer conn ecti ons are made via the pho ne line, the Internet can be env isaged as a n etwork of visual teleph one lin ks. It rema ins to see n in which directi on the In formatio n Superhighway is headed, but many believeit is the educati onal hope of the future.The World Wide Web, an eno rmous collecti on of In ternet addresses or sites, all of which can be accessed for in formati on, has bee n mainly resp on sible for the in crease in in terest in the In ternet in the 1990s. Before the World Wide Web, the Net was comparable to an integrated collection of computerized typewriters, but the in troducti on of the Web in 1990 allowed not only text links to be madebut also graphs, images and eve n video.A Web site consists of a home page, the first screen of a particular site on the computer to which you are connected, from where access can be had to other subject related pages(or scree ns) at the site and on thousa nds of other computers all over the world. This is achieved by a process called hypertext.By clickingwith a mousedevice on variousparts of the screen, a person connected to the Net can go traveling, or surfing through a of the screen, a person conn ected to the Net can go traveli ng, orsurfi ng througha web of pages to locate whatever in formatio n is required.Anyone can set up a site; promoting your club, your in stituti on, your compa nys products or simply yourself, is what the Web and the In ter net is all about. And what is more, in formatio n on the Internet is n ot owned or con trolled by any one orga ni zatio n. It is, perhaps, true to say that no one and therefore every one owns the Net. BECause of the relative freedom of access to in formati on, the In ternethas ofte n bee ncriticised by the media as a potentially hazardous tool in the hands of young computer users. This percepti on has proved to be largely false however, and the vast majority of users both young and old get conn ected with the Internet for the dual purposes for which it was inten ded - discovery and delight.TRUE/FALSE/NOT GIVENI. Every one is aware of the In formati on Superhighway.2. Usi ng the In ternetcosts the owner of a teleph one extra mon ey.3nternetcomputer connectionsare made by usingteleph one lin es.4. The World Wide Web is a network of computerised typewriters.5. Accord ing to the author, the In formatio n Superhighwaymay be the future hope of educatio n.6. The process calledhypertextrequires the use of a mous device.7. The Internet was created in the 1990s.8. The home pageis the first screen of a Website on the Net.9. The media has often criticised the Internet because itis dan gerous.10. The latest tech no logical revoluti on will cha nge theway huma ns com muni cate.1. F 2.NG 3.T 4.F 5.T 6.T 7.F 8.T 9.F 10.T2014年雅思阅读模拟试题（3）1. The failure of a high-profile cholesterol drug has thrown a spotlight on the complicated machi nery that regulates cholesterol levels. But many researchers remai n con fide nt that drugs to boost levels of good cholesterol are still one of the most promising meansto combat spiralling heart disease.2. Drug companyPfizer announced on 2 December that it wascancelling all clinicaltrials of torcetrapib , a drug designedto raise heart-protective high-de nsity lipoprotei ns (HDLs)。In a trial of 15000 patie nts , a safety board found that more people died or suffered cardiovascular problems after tak ingthe drug plus a cholesterol-lowering statin than those in a control group who took the statin alone.3. The n ews came as a kick in the teeth to many cardiologists because earlier tests in ani mals and people suggested it would lower rates of cardiovascular disease.“ There have been no red flags to my knowledge，” says JohnChapman a specialistin lipoprote ins and atherosclerosis atthe National Institutefor Health and Medical Research (INSERM)in Paris whohas also studied torcetrapib. “This cancellation4. Torcetrapib is one of the most adva need of a new breedof drugs designed to raise levels of HDLs, which ferrycholesterol out of artery-clogging plaques to the liver for removal from the body. Specifically, torcetrapib blocks aprotein called cholesterol ester tran sfer protein (CETP),which no rmally tran sfers the cholesterol from high-de nsitylipoproteinsto low density , plaque-promotingones. Statins ,in contrast , mainly work by lowering the bad low-density lipoprote ins.Un der pressure5. Researchers are now tryi ng to work out why and how the drug backfired , somethi ng that will not become clear un til the clinical details are released by Pfizer. One hint lies in evide nce from earlier trials that it slightly raises blood pressure in some patie nts. It was thought that this mildproblem would be offset by the heart ben efits of the drug. But it is possible that it actually proved fatal in some patients who already suffered high blood pressure. If blood pressure is the expla nati on, it would actually be good n ews for drugdevelopers because it suggests that the problems are specific to this compo und. Other prototype drugs that are beingdeveloped to block CETP work in a slightly different way andmight not suffer the same dow nfall.6. But it is also possible that the whole idea of blockingCETP is flawed , says Moti Kashyap , who directs atherosclerosis research at the VA Medical Cen ter in LongBeach, California.WhenHDLsexcrete cholesterol in the liver ,they actually rely on LDLs for part of this process. Soinhibiting CETP , which prevents the transfer of cholesterolfrom HDL to LDL , might actually cause an abnormal and irreversible accumulati on of cholesterol in the body.“ Youre blocki ng a physiologic mecha nism to elimi nate cholesterol and effectively constipating the pathway，” says Kashyap.Goi ng up7. Most researchers remai n con fide nt that elevat ing highden sity lipoprote ins levels by one means or ano ther is one of the best routes for helping heart disease patients. But HDLs are complex and not en tirely un derstood. One approved drug,called n iac in, is known to both raise HDL and reducecardiovascular risk but also causes an un pleasa nt sen sati on of heat and tin gli ng. Researchers are explori ng whether they can bypass this side effect and whether niacin can lower disease risk more tha n stati ns alone. Scie ntists are also work ing on several other means to bump up high-de nsitylipoproteins by , for example , introducing synthetic HDLs.“ The only thing we know is dead in the water is torcetrapibnot the whole idea of raising HDL ，” says Michael Miller , director of preve ntive cardiology at the Uni versity ofMaryla nd Medical Cen ter, Baltimore.Questi ons 1-7This passage has 7 paragraphs 1-7.Choosethe correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headi ngs below.Write the correct nu mber i-ix in boxes 1-7 on your an swer sheet.List of Head ingsi. How does torcetrapib work?ii. Con tradictory result prior to the curre nt trialiii. One failure may possibly bring about future successiv. The failure does n t lead to total loss ofcon fide neev. It is the right route to followvi. Why it s stoppedvii. They may comb ine and theoretically produce idealresultviii. What s wrong with the drugix. It might be wrong at the first placeQuesti ons 7-13Match torcetrapib , HDLs, stat inand CETP with theirfunctions (Questions 8-13)Write the correct letter A , B , C or D in boxes 8-13 on your an swer sheet.NB You may use any letter more tha n on ce.7t has been administered to over 10, 000 subjects in acli nical trial.8t could help rid huma n body of cholesterol.9. Researchers are yet to find more about it.10. It was used to reduce the level of cholesterol.11. Accord ing to Kashyap, it might lead to unwan ted result if it s blocked.12. It produced contradictoryresults in differenttrials.13. It could in hibit LDLs.List of choicesA. TorcetrapicB. HDLSC. StatinD. CETPSuggested An swers and Expla natio ns1. vi2. ii3. vii本段介绍了 torcetrapib 和statin 的治病原理，但是同时短语“ in contrast”与之前第二段后半段的内容呼应，暗示了这两种药在理论上能相辅相成，是理想的搭配。第一个选项无法涵盖整 段意义，故选择i是错误的。4. iii本段分析了可能导致torcetrapibl临床试验失败的原因，后半段指出如果以上推测正确，那么未来的药物可借鉴这个试验， 设法避免torcetrapib的缺陷，研制出有效的药物。viii选项无法涵盖后半段的意思。5. ix 见首句。6. v7. A见第二段。题目中administer 一词意为“用药”，subject 一词为“实验对象”之意。8. B 见第四段“to raise levels of HDLs , which ferrycholesterol out of artery- cloggi ng plaques to the liver forremoval from the body. ”即 HDLs的作用最终是将 choleserol 清 除出人体：“ for removal from the body9. B 见第四段“ But HDLs are complex and not entirelyunderstood. ”10. C 见第二段“ plus a cholesterol-loweringstatin ”即stat in 是可以降低cholesterol 的。11. D 见第六段 “So inhibiting CETP ,might actuallycause an abnormal and irreversible accumulation of cholesterol in the body.12. A见第三段。13. C 见第四段“ Stat ins , in con trast, mai nly work bylowering the bad low-density lipoproteins