雅思考試試題

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雅思考試試題（通用9套）

　　雅思考試，全稱為“國際英語測試系統”，簡稱“雅思（IELTS）”，是著名的國際性英語標準化水平測試之一。雅思考試于1989年設立，由英國文化教育協會、劍橋大學考試委員會和澳大利亞教育國際開發署（IDP）共同管理。以下是小編幫大家整理的雅思考試試題，歡迎大家借鑒與參考，希望對大家有所幫助。

雅思考試試題（通用9套）

　　雅思考試試題 1

　　Neoclassical economics is built on the assumption that humans are rational beings who have a clear idea of their best interests and strive to extract maximum benefit (or utility， in economist-speak) from any situation. Neoclassical economics assumes that the process of decision-making is rational. But that contradicts growing evidence that decision-making draws on the emotions—even when reason is clearly involved.

　　The role of emotions in decisions makes perfect sense. For situations met frequently in the past， such as obtaining food and mates， and confronting or fleeing from threats， the neural mechanisms required to weigh up the pros and cons will have been honed by evolution to produce an optimal outcome. Since emotion is the mechanism by which animals are prodded towards such outcomes， evolutionary and economic theory predict the same practical consequences for utility in these cases. But does this still apply when the ancestral machinery has to respond to the stimuli of urban modernity?

　　One of the people who thinks that it does not is George Loewenstein， an economist at Carnegie Mellon University， in Pittsburgh. In particular， he suspects that modern shopping has subverted the decision-making machinery in a way that encourages people to run up debt. To prove the point he has teamed up with two psychologists， Brian Knutson of Stanford University and Drazen Prelec of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology， to look at what happens in the brain when it is deciding what to buy.

　　In a study， the three researchers asked 26 volunteers to decide whether to buy a series of products such as a box of chocolates or a DVD of the television show that were flashed on a computer screen one after another. In each round of the task， the researchers first presented the product and then its price， with each step lasting four seconds. In the final stage， which also lasted four seconds， they asked the volunteers to make up their minds. While the volunteers were taking part in the experiment， the researchers scanned their brains using a technique called functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)。 This measures blood flow and oxygen consumption in the brain， as an indication of its activity.

　　The researchers found that different parts of the brain were involved at different stages of the test. The nucleus accumbens was the most active part when a product was being displayed. Moreover， the level of its activity correlated with the reported desirability of the product in question.

　　When the price appeared， however， fMRI reported more activity in other parts of the brain. Excessively high prices increased activity in the insular cortex， a brain region linked to expectations of pain， monetary loss and the viewing of upsetting pictures. The researchers also found greater activity in this region of the brain when the subject decided not to purchase an item.

　　Price information activated the medial prefrontal cortex， too. This part of the brain is involved in rational calculation. In the experiment its activity seemed to correlate with a volunteer’s reaction to both product and price， rather than to price alone. Thus， the sense of a good bargain evoked higher activity levels in the medial prefrontal cortex， and this often preceded a decision to buy.

　　People’s shopping behaviour therefore seems to have piggy-backed on old neural circuits evolved for anticipation of reward and the avoidance of hazards. What Dr Loewenstein found interesting was the separation of the assessment of the product (which seems to be associated with the nucleus accumbens) from the assessment of its price (associated with the insular cortex)， even though the two are then synthesised in the prefrontal cortex. His hypothesis is that rather than weighing the present good against future alternatives， as orthodox economics suggests happens， people actually balance the immediate pleasure of the prospective possession of a product with the immediate pain of paying for it.

　　That makes perfect sense as an evolved mechanism for trading. If one useful object is being traded for another (hard cash in modern time)， the future utility of what is being given up is embedded in the object being traded. Emotion is as capable of assigning such a value as reason. Buying on credit， though， may be different. The abstract nature of credit cards， coupled with the deferment of payment that they promise， may modulate the con side of the calculation in favour of the pro。

　　Whether it actually does so will be the subject of further experiments that the three researchers are now designing. These will test whether people with distinctly different spending behaviour， such as miserliness and extravagance， experience different amounts of pain in response to prices. They will also assess whether， in the same individuals， buying with credit cards eases the pain compared with paying by cash. If they find that it does， then credit cards may have to join the list of things such as fatty and sugary foods， and recreational drugs， that subvert human instincts in ways that seem pleasurable at the time but can have a long and malign aftertaste.

　　Questions 1-6

　　Do the following statemets reflect the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 1?

　　Write your answer in Boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet.

　　TRUE if the statement reflets the claims of the writer

　　FALSE if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer

　　NOT GIVEN if it is possbile to say what the writer thinks about this

　　1. The belief of neoclassical economics does not accord with the increasing evidence that humans make use of the emotions to make decisions.

　　2. Animals are urged by emotion to strive for an optimal outcomes or extract maximum utility from any situation.

　　3. George Loewenstein thinks that modern ways of shopping tend to allow people to accumulate their debts.

　　4. The more active the nucleus accumens was， the stronger the desire of people for the product in question became.

　　5. The prefrontal cortex of the human brain is linked to monetary loss and the viewing of upsetting pictures.

　　6. When the activity in nucleus accumbens was increased by the sense of a good bargain， people tended to purchase coffee.

　　Questions 7-9

　　Choose the appropriate letters A-D and write them in boxes 7-9 on your answe sheet.

　　7. Which of the following statements about orthodox economics is true?

　　A. The process which people make their decisions is rational.

　　B. People have a clear idea of their best interests in any situation.

　　C. Humans make judgement on the basis of reason rather then emotion.

　　D. People weigh the present good against future alternatives in shopping.

　　8. The word miserliness in line 3 of Paragraph J means__________.

　　A. people’s behavior of buying luxurious goods

　　B. people’s behavior of buying very special items

　　C. people’s behavior of being very mean in shopping

　　D. people’s behavior of being very generous in shopping

　　9. The three researchers are now designing the future experiments， which test

　　A. whether people with very different spending behaviour experience different amounts of pain in response to products.

　　B. whether buying an item with credit cards eases the pain of the same individuals compared with paying for it by cash.

　　C. whether the abstract nature of credit cards may modulate the con side of the calculation in favour of the pro。

　　D. whether the credit cards may subvert human instincts in ways that seem pleasurable but with a terrible effect.

　　Questions 10-13

　　Complete the notes below.

　　Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from Reading Passage 1 for each answer.

　　Write your answers in boxes 10-13 on your answer sheet.

　　To find what happens in the brain of humans when it is deciding things to buy， George Loewenstein and his co-researchers did an experiment by using the technique of fMRI. They found that different parts of the brain were invloved in the process. The activity in …10… was greatly increased with the displaying of certain product. The great activity was found in the insular cortex when …11…and the subject decided not to buy a product. The activity of the medial prefrontal cortex seemed to associate with both …12…informaiton. What interested Dr Loewenstein was the …13… of the assessment of the product and its price in different parts of the brain.

　　Part II

　　Notes to Reading Passage 1

　　1. the nucleus accumbens， the insular cortex， and the medial prefrontal cortex：

　　大腦的`不同部位 (皮層，皮質等)

　　e.g. cerebellar cortex 小腦皮層cerebral cortex 大腦皮層

　　2. hone：

　　珩磨，磨快，磨練，訓練使。更完美或有效。

　　3. subvert：

　　毀滅，破壞;摧毀：

　　4. piggyback：

　　騎在肩上;在肩上騎

　　5. deferment：

　　推遲、延遲、分期付款

　　6. aftertaste：

　　余味，回味事情或經歷結束后的感覺，特指令人不快的感覺

　　Part III

　　Keys and explanations to the Questions 1-13

　　1. TRUE

　　See the second and third sentence in Paragraph A Neoclassical economics assumes that the process of decision-making is rational. But that contradicts growing evidence that decision-making draws on the emotions—even when reason is clearly involved.

　　2. TRUE

　　See the third sentence in Paragrph B Since emotion is the mechanism by which animals are prodded towards such outcomes， evolutionary and economic theory predict the same practical consequences for utility in these cases.

　　3. FALSE

　　See the second sentence in Paragrph C In particular， he suspects that modern shopping has subverted the decision-making machinery in a way that encourages people to run up debt.

　　4. TRUE

　　See the last sentence in Paragrph E Moreover， the level of its activity correlated with the reported desirability of the product in question.

　　5. FALSE

　　See the second sentence in Paragrph F and G respectively Excessively high prices increased activity in the insular cortex， a brain region linked to expectations of pain， monetary loss and the view

　　雅思考試試題 2

　　Birthdays often involve surprises. But this year’s surprise on the birthday of the great British playwright William Shakespeare is surely one of the most dramatic.

　　On April 22, one day before his 441st birthday anniversary, experts discovered that one of the most recognizable portraits of William Shakespeare is a fake. This means that we no longer have a good idea of what Shakespeare looked like. "It’s very possible that many pictures of Shakespeare might be unreliable because many of them are copies of this one," said an expert from Britain’s National Portrait Gallery.

　　The discovery comes after four months of testing using X-rays, ultraviolet light, microphotography and paint samples. The experts from the gallery say the image—commonly known as the “Flower portrait” —was actually painted in the 1800s, about two centuries after Shakespeare’s death. The art experts who work at the gallery say they also used modern chemistry technology to check the paint on the picture. These checks found traces of paint dating from about 1814. Shakespeare died in 1616, and the date that appears on the portrait is 1609.

　　“We now think the portrait dates back to around 1818 to 1840. This was when there was a renewed interest in Shakespeare’s plays,” Tarnya Cooper, the gallery’s curator(館長), told the Associated President.

　　The fake picture has often been used as a cover for collections of his plays. It is called the Flower portrait because one of its owners, Desmond Flower, gave it to the Royal Shakespeare Company.

　　“There have always been questions about the painting,” said David Howells, curator for the Royal Shakespeare Company. “Now we know the truth, we can put the image in its proper place in the history of Shakespearean portraiture.”

　　Two other images of Shakespeare, are also being studied as part of the investigation(調查) and the results will come out later this month.

　　______________________________________________________________.

　　1. Why this year’s surprise on the birthday of Shakespeare is dramatic?

　　_______________________________________________________________________________

　　2. Now we know what Shakespeare looked like. (T/F)

　　3. “Flower portrait” was actually painted using X-rays, ultraviolet light, microphotography and paint samples. (T/F)

　　4. In histor

　　y, many people doubted the painting. (T/F)

　　5.Which is the best sentence to fill in the blank in the last paragraph?

　　A.Soon we’ll know which portrait is reliable.

　　B.Maybe we cannot find a real portrait of Shakespeare.

　　C.If the two portraits are found to be false, they will test more.

　　D.For now what Shakespeare really looked like will remain a mystery.

　　1.The Flower portrait has been found to be a fake.

　　2. F

　　3. F

　　4. T

　　5. D

　　雅思考試試題 3

　　1. The failure of a high-profile cholesterol drug has thrown a spotlight on the complicated machinery that regulates cholesterol levels. But many researchers remain confident that drugs to boost levels of ’good’ cholesterol are still one of the most promising means to combat spiralling heart disease.

　　2. Drug company Pfizer announced on 2 December that it was cancelling all clinical trials of torcetrapib， a drug designed to raise heart-protective high-density lipoproteins (HDLs)。 In a trial of 15000 patients， a safety board found that more people died or suffered cardiovascular problems after taking the drug plus a cholesterol-lowering statin than those in a control group who took the statin alone.

　　3. The news came as a kick in the teeth to many cardiologists because earlier tests in animals and people suggested it would lower rates of cardiovascular disease. There have been no red flags to my knowledge， says John Chapman， a specialist in lipoproteins and atherosclerosis at the National Institute for Health and Medical Research (INSERM) in Paris who has also studied torcetrapib. This cancellation came as a complete shock.

　　4. Torcetrapib is one of the most advanced of a new breed of drugs designed to raise levels of HDLs， which ferry cholesterol out of artery-clogging plaques to the liver for removal from the body. Specifically， torcetrapib blocks a protein called cholesterol ester transfer protein (CETP)， which normally transfers the cholesterol from high-density lipoproteins to low density， plaque-promoting ones. Statins， in contrast， mainly work by lowering the ’bad’ low-density lipoproteins.

　　Under pressure

　　5. Researchers are now trying to work out why and how the drug backfired， something that will not become clear until the clinical details are released by Pfizer. One hint lies in evidence from earlier trials that it slightly raises blood pressure in some patients. It was thought that this mild problem would be offset by the heart benefits 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 explanation， it would actually be good news for drug developers because it suggests that the problems are specific to this compound. Other prototype drugs that are being developed to block CETP work in a slightly different way and might not suffer the same downfall.

　　6. But it is also possible that the whole idea of blocking CETP is flawed， says Moti Kashyap， who directs atherosclerosis research at the VA Medical Center in Long Beach， California. When HDLs excrete cholesterol in the liver， they actually rely on LDLs for part of this process. So inhibiting CETP， which prevents the transfer of cholesterol from HDL to LDL， might actually cause an abnormal and irreversible accumulation of cholesterol in the body. You’re blocking a physiologic mechanism to eliminate cholesterol and effectively constipating the pathway， says Kashyap.

　　Going up

　　7. Most researchers remain confident that elevating high density lipoproteins levels by one means or another is one of the best routes for helping heart disease patients. But HDLs are complex and not entirely understood. One approved drug， called niacin， is known to both raise HDL and reduce cardiovascular risk but also causes an unpleasant sensation of heat and tingling. Researchers are exploring whether they can bypass this side effect and whether niacin can lower disease risk more than statins alone. Scientists are also working on several other means to bump up high-density lipoproteins by， for example， introducing synthetic HDLs. The only thing we know is dead in the water is torcetrapib， not the whole idea of raising HDL， says Michael Miller， director of preventive cardiology at the University of Maryland Medical Center， Baltimore.

　　(613 words nature)

　　Questions 1-7

　　This passage has 7 paragraphs 1-7.

　　Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below.

　　Write the correct number i-ix in boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet.

　　List of Headings

　　i. How does torcetrapib work?

　　ii. Contradictory result prior to the current trial

　　iii. One failure may possibly bring about future success

　　iv. The failure doesn’t lead to total loss of confidence

　　v. It is the right route to follow

　　vi. Why it’s stopped

　　vii. They may combine and theoretically produce ideal result

　　viii. What’s wrong with the drug

　　ix. It might be wrong at the first place

　　Example answer

　　Paragraph 1 iv

　　1. Paragraph 2

　　2. Paragraph 3

　　3. Paragraph 4

　　4. Paragraph 5

　　5. Paragraph 6

　　6. Paragraph 7

　　Questions 7-13

　　Match torcetrapib，HDLs，statin and CETP with their functions (Questions 8-13)。

　　Write the correct letter A， B， C or D in boxes 8-13 on your answer sheet.

　　NB You may use any letter more than once.

　　7.It has been administered to over 10，000 subjects in a clinical trial.

　　8.It could help rid human body of cholesterol.

　　9.Researchers are yet to find more about it.

　　10. It was used to reduce the level of cholesterol.

　　11. According to Kashyap， it might lead to unwanted result if it’s blocked.

　　12. It produced contradictory results in different trials.

　　13. It could inhibit LDLs.

　　List of choices

　　A. Torcetrapic

　　B. HDLS

　　C. Statin

　　D. CETP

　　(by Zhou Hong)

　　Suggested Answers and Explanations

　　1. vi

　　2. ii

　　3. vii 本段介紹了torcetrapib和statin的治病原理，但是同時短語in contrast與之前第二段后半段的內容呼應，暗示了這兩種藥在理論上能相輔相成，是理想的搭配。第一個選項無法涵蓋整段意義，故選擇i是錯誤的。

　　4. iii 本段分析了可能導致torcetrapibl臨床試驗失敗的原因，后半段指出如果以上推測正確，那么未來的藥物可借鑒這個試驗，設法避免torcetrapib的.缺陷，研制出有效的藥物。viii選項無法涵蓋后半段的意思。

　　5. ix 見首句。

　　6. v

　　7. A 見第二段。題目中administer一詞意為用藥，subject一詞為實驗對象之意。

　　8. B 見第四段… to raise levels of HDLs， which ferry cholesterol out of artery- clogging plaques to the liver for removal from the body.即HDLs的作用最終是將 choleserol清除出人體：… for removal from the body。

　　9. B 見第四段But HDLs are complex and not entirely understood.

　　10. C 見第二段… plus a cholesterol-lowering statin，即statin是可以降低cholesterol的。

　　11. D 見第六段 So inhibiting CETP， … might actually cause an abnormal and irreversible accumulation of cholesterol in the body.

　　12. A 見第三段。

　　13. C 見第四段Statins， in contrast， mainly work by lowering the ’bad’ low-density lipoproteins.

　　雅思考試試題 4

　　Environmental protection is no doubt a major issue confronting the modern society with the development of new technologies and the explosion of world population. While the issue is certainly relevant to each individual citizen and all the companies, some people contend that only the government should be concerned about protecting the environment. I concede that the government should lead the efforts in addressing the environmental problems. Nevertheless, cooperation and participation from the corporations and individual citizens are essential as well.

　　There is no doubt that the government is the agency that should play the leading roles in solving the environmental problems. To begin with, with the power to collect taxes from individual citizens and private companies, the government have the financial resources that are necessary to deal with environmental issues. In addition, the government may formulate policies to provide incentives for the companies and individuals to reduce the amount of pollution caused by their activities. Finally, the government is the only institution that may enact laws related to environmental problems. s.

　　On the other hand, without the cooperation and participation of individual citizens and private companies, the governments efforts to protect the environment would not be effective. For example, the government may launch a campaign to educate the public about the desirability of driving compact cars for reducing the air pollution. The campaign would make little difference if the individuals pay little attention to the information or do not care about the environment at all. Nor would the governments goal be achieved if the car manufacturers do not produce more compact cars for the market. In other words, the government alone cannot solve the problem of environment. It takes the collaborative efforts from individual and corporate citizens to improve the situation. on.

　　In conclusion, I agree that the government should take the responsibility to lead the society in addressing the problems of environmental pollution as it has the power and resources necessary to do so. Nonetheless, individual citizens and private companies have to be engaged if the government is to accomplish anything.

　　雅思考試試題 5

　　The relative importance of natural talent and training is a frequent topic of discussion when people try to explain different levels of ability in, for example, sport, art or music.

　　Obviously, education systems are based on the belief that all children can effectively be taught to acquire different skills, including those associated with sport, art or music. So from our own school experience, we can find plenty of evidence to support the view that a child can acquire these skills with continued teaching and guided practice.

　　However, some people believe that innate talent is what differentiates a person who has been trained to play a sport or an instrument, from those who become good players. In other words, there is more to the skill than to a learned technique, and this extra talent cannot be taught, no matter how good the teacher or how frequent a child practices.

　　I personally think that some people do have talents that are probably inherited via their genes. Such talents can give individuals a facility for certain skills that allow them to excel, while more hard-wokring students never manage to reach a comparable level. But, as with all questions of nature versus nurture, they are not mutually exclusive. Good musicians or artists and exceptional sports star have probably succeeded because of both good training and natural talent. With the natural talent, continuous training would be neither attractive nor productive, and without the training, the child would not learn how to exploit and develop their talent.ent.

　　In conclusion, I agree that any child can be taught particular skills, but to be really good in areas such as music, art or sport, then some natural talent is required.

　　雅思考試試題 6

　　It is common for enterprises to have seniors as top executives nowadays. However, there is an argument that young people should also be offered the opportunities to be the leaders as the age should not be the glass ceiling that bars them from upper management in large corporations. From my perspective, I agree with this idea.

　　First of all, young leaders, especially those employed in high-technology companies, are easy to keep pace with the rapidly changing market. Admittedly, compared with senior employees, they do lack experience of the past, but facing this rapid shifting market, their inadequate experience can be in turn seen as an advantage, as being in the same age of the targeting customers,they can understand the current popular tendency and are less likely to be inhibited by self - consciousness. Therefore, they are able to absorb the latest information and use their lateral thinking to make adaptations to meet the demand,. Besides, young people have more abundant time and vigorous to be a leader. Being managers means catering to enormous tasks simultaneously, and as most young people have not been married and formed their families, they can devote themselves to their work and maximise their output, which is impossible for older people.

　　Undeniably, when facing an emergency or a dilemma, compared with the aged leaders, the young generation tend to be less responsible and considerable, resulting in impulsive decisions due to their immaturity. Consequently, organisations might be at risk. However, young candidates who have the potential to be the manager can be first recruited as the management trainee, and after having the professional training ranging from six months to five years, they are sure to have the capability to deal with diverse situations.

　　In conclusion, despite the defects of young managers, young people are eligible for leadership. Therefore, organisations should be encouraged to employ the young generation in top positions.

　　雅思考試試題 7

　　1.Do you work or are you a student?

　　Im a student at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

　　Im a student, and Im a freshman in Tsinghua University.

　　Im a student, a high school student.

　　2.What subject are you studying?

　　Im studying for a Masters degree in Tsinghua University, specializing in the field of Math Studies.

　　3.Why did you choose that subject?

　　I chose math because I liked it in high school. I was always strong in math and science, so it seemed like a natural progression. Also, I did some research on career opportunities, and it seemed to be a subject with a promising future.

　　4.What would you like to do in the future?

　　I would love to be a teacher. Most of the women in my family are teachers, they have a huge impact on my life. I think it is wonderful to get to change peoples lives by what I say or do on the stage. It requires a person to be responsible and caring, and I want to be such a person.

　　5.What are the most popular subjects in China?

　　Its hard to say nowadays. You know, due to the globalization, our country is much more developed than ever. Every subject has something to offer to the society. Students just choose their subjects based on what they are interested in, which then, in turn, can become a trend.

　　6.Do you think its important to choose a subject you like?

　　Definitely! I think interest is the best motivator, if I choose something Im keen on, I will be willing to sacrifice my leisure time because it is a worthwhile sacrifice to me. In addition, when I face some difficulties, I will do my best to overcome the problems. Quitting in the middle will never be an option. We should consider carefully our choice from the start, rather than carelessly choosing the wrong path, then regretting it.

　　7.Are you looking forward to working?

　　I have been wanting to work full time, thats for sure. I can now imagine myself waking up early in the morning, getting my business attire on and sitting behind my office desk. I wonder how it feels to work with other professionals and with the boss always around… It could be stressful but interesting, I guess. The best part I would say would be to finally receive a salary and spend my own money. I would not have to bother my parents then. But, like most things in life, it really depends on what the job is and whether the environment is positive or not.

　　8.Do you like your subject? (Why? / Why not?)

　　Honestly, I dont. I am halfway through my college career. But reality struck me when the material we learned in class was much more difficult and the assignments werent fun. Im thinking about changing my own major now.

　　9.Do you prefer to study in the mornings or in the afternoons?

　　I am not a morning person, Im afraid. But to be honest, studying in the afternoon is even worse. I get really sleepy from one to four in the afternoon. So, actually, my brain is at its best in the evening. It works better then. I can stay sharp even until very late at night.

　　10.Is your subject interesting to you?

　　Absolutely. I find computer science really stimulating. Imagine creating something useful just using codes and numbers. It requires a good level of imagination and quite a good level of number skills, critical thinking and logic skills as well as a keen ability to solve problems.

　　11.Is there any kind of technology you can use in study?

　　For studying I use a computer and my phone. I often download research papers and read them on my phone and make notes onto the notes section of my phone too. I use my computer to actually write essays and do other homework tasks.

　　1.What work do you do?

　　I am a teacher at a high school. I started there in Jan 2015 after graduating from college. I would say it is a pretty challenging job.

　　2. Why did you choose to do that type of job?

　　Teaching is my passion. I dont view my career as a "job" per say. I see it more as my calling in life. It is my lifes purpose.

　　3. Do you like your job?

　　Definitely! I enjoy the variety and special projects where I can take ownership of the final product. My job provides me with both, so yes, it is a good job and I find it very rewarding.

　　Im not interested in my job… because it is so mundane and repetitive, two traits I despise and try to stay away from. I hope to find a better job that challenges me to aspire to new heights.

　　4. Do you miss being a student?

　　I definitely do! Sometimes I just wonder what would have happened if I had studied harder when I was in university. I just miss the days when I had nothing to worry about but the exams. Now, all the pressure from work and family is difficult to deal with.

　　5. Is it very interesting?

　　Most of the time, yes! The daily challenges from new projects provide constant opportunities to learn new things and to some extent re-invent myself. Every day is unique. My colleagues provide me with support but also healthy competition. I find my job most interesting when I am challenged to reach outside of my comfort zone.

　　6.Is there any kind of technology you use at work?

　　I use mainly a laptop computer and my phone at work. Sometimes I also use a photocopier scanner, and a video camera if Im making short promotional videos with my company. But mainly, I just use a computer.

　　7.Can you manage your time well when you work?

　　Yes, I am a project manager in my office, so I am quite good at managing my time and the other peoples time on the team. Ive worked as an IT manager for several years now.

　　8.Who helps you most at work?

　　My team members – I have a great team and they are all hardworking, supportive, smart and attentive to the needs of others and the project goals.

　　雅思考試試題 8

　　Deforestation in the 21st century

　　When it comes to cutting down trees, satellite data reveals a shift from the patterns of the past

　　Globally, roughly 13 million hectares of forest are destroyed each year. Such deforestation has long been driven by farmers desperate to earn a living or by loggers building new roads into pristine forest. But now new data appears to show that big, block clearings that reflect industrial deforestation have come to dominate, rather than these smaller-scale efforts that leave behind long, narrow swaths of cleared land. Geographer Ruth DeFries of Columbia University and her colleagues used satellite images to analyse tree-clearing in countries ringing the tropics, representing 98 per cent of all remaining tropical forest. Instead of the usual ‘fish bone signature of deforestation from small-scale operations, large, chunky blocks of cleared land reveal a new motive for cutting down woods.

　　In fact, a statistical analysis of 41 countries showed that forest loss rates were most closely linked with urban population growth and agricultural exports in the early part of the 21st century - even overall population growth was not as strong an influence. ‘In previous decades, deforestation was associated with planned colonisation, resettlement schemes in local areas and farmers clearing land to grow food for subsistence, DeFries says. ‘What we’re seeing now is a shift from small-scale farmers driving deforestation to distant demands from urban growth, agricultural trade and exports being more important drivers.’

　　In other words, the increasing urbanisation of the developing world, as populations leave rural areas to concentrate in booming cities, is driving deforestation, rather than containing it. Coupled with this there is an ongoing increase in consumption in the developed world of products that have an impact on forests, whether furniture, shoe leather or chicken feed. ‘One of the really striking characteristics of this century is urbanisation and rapid urban growth in the developing world,’ DeFries says, ‘People in cities need to eat.’ ‘There’s no surprise there,’ observes Scott Poynton, executive director of the Tropical Forest Trust, a Switzerland-based organisation that helps businesses implement and manage sustainable forestry in countries such as Brazil, Congo and Indonesia. ‘It’s not about people chopping down trees. Its all the people in New York, Europe and elsewhere who want cheap products, primarily food.’

　　Dearies argues that in order to help sustain this increasing urban and global demand, agricultural productivity will need to be increased on lands that have already been cleared. This means that better crop varieties or better management techniques will need to be used on the many degraded and abandoned lands in the tropics. And the Tropical Forest Trust is building management systems to keep illegally harvested wood from ending up in, for example, deck chairs, as well as expanding its efforts to look at how to reduce the ‘forest footprint’ of agricultural products such as palm oil. Poynton says, ‘The point is to give forests value as forests, to keep them as forests and give them a use as forests. They’re not going to be locked away as national parks. That’s not going to happen.’

　　But it is not all bad news. Halts in tropical deforestation have resulted in forest regrowth in some areas where tropical lands were previously cleared. And forest clearing in the Amazon, the world’s largest tropical forest, dropped from roughly 1.9 million hectares a year in the 1990s to 1.6 million hectares a year over the last decade, according to the Brazilian government. We know that deforestation has slowed down in at least the Brazilian Amazon,’ DeFries says. ‘Every place is different. Every country has its own particular situation, circumstances and driving forces.’

　　Regardless of this, deforestation continues, and cutting down forests is one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions from human activity - a double blow that both eliminates a biological system to suck up C02 and creates a new source of greenhouse gases in the form of decaying plants. The United Nations Environment Programme estimates that slowing such deforestation could reduce some 50 billion metric tons of C02, or more than a year of global emissions. Indeed, international climate negotiations continue to attempt to set up a system to encourage this, known as the UN Development Programme’s fund for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries (REDD). If policies [like REDD] are to be effective, we need to understand what the driving forces are behind deforestation, DeFries argues. This is particularly important in the light of new pressures that are on the horizon: the need to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and find alternative power sources, particularly for private cars, is forcing governments to make products such as biofuels more readily accessible. This will only exacerbate the pressures on tropical forests.

　　But millions of hectares of pristine forest remain to protect, according to this new analysis from Columbia University. Approximately 60 percent of the remaining tropical forests are in countries or areas that currently have little agricultural trade or urban growth. The amount of forest area in places like central Africa, Guyana and Suriname, DeFries notes, is huge. ‘There’s a lot of forest that has not yet faced these pressures.’

　　Questions 1-6

　　Reading Passage 2 has seven paragraphs, A-G.

　　Which paragraph contains the following information?

　　NB: You may use any letter more than once.

　　1.two ways that farming activity might be improved in the future

　　2.reference to a fall in the rate of deforestation in one area

　　3.the amount of forest cut down annually

　　4.how future transport requirements may increase deforestation levels

　　5.a reference to the typical shape of early deforested areas

　　6.key reasons why forests in some areas have not been cut down

　　Questions 7-8

　　Choose TWO letters, A-E.

　　Which TWO of these reasons do experts give for current patterns of deforestation?

　　A、to provide jobs

　　B、to create transport routes

　　C、to feed city dwellers

　　D、to manufacture low-budget consumer items

　　E、to meet government targets

　　Questions 9-10

　　Choose TWO letters, A-E.

　　The list below gives some of the impacts of tropical deforestation.

　　Which TWO of these results are mentioned by the writer of the text?

　　A、local food supplies fall

　　B、soil becomes less fertile

　　C、some areas have new forest growth

　　D、some regions become uninhabitable

　　E、local economies suffer

　　Questions 11-13

　　Complete the sentences below.

　　Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.

　　11.The expression ‘a __________ ’ is used to assess the amount of wood used in certain types of production.

　　12.Greenhouse gases result from the __________ that remain after trees have been cut down.

　　13.About __________ of the world’s tropical forests have not experienced deforestation yet.

　　參考答案

　　1. D

　　2. E

　　3. A

　　4. F

　　5. A

　　6. G

　　7. C

　　8. D

　　9. B

　　10. C

　　11. forest footprint

　　12. decaying plants

　　13. 60 percent

　　雅思考試試題 9

　　Memory Decoding

　　Try this memory test: Study each face and compose a vivid image for the person’s first and last name. Rose Leo, for example, could be a rosebud and a lion. Fill in the blanks on the next page. The Examinations School at Oxford University is an austere building of oak-paneled rooms, large Gothic windows, and looming portraits of eminent dukes and earls. It is where generations of Oxford students have tested their memory on final exams, and it is where, last August, 34 contestants gathered at the World Memory Championships to be examined in an entirely different manner.

　　In timed trials, contestants were challenged to look at and then recite a two-page poem, memorize rows of 40-digit numbers, recall the names of 110 people after looking at their photographs, and perform seven other feats of extraordinary retention. Some tests took just a few minutes; others lasted hours. In the 14 years since the World Memory Championships was founded, no one has memorized the order of a shuffled deck of playing cards in less than 30 seconds. That nice round number has become the four-minute mile of competitive memory, a benchmark that the world’s best “mental athletes,” as some of them like to be called, is closing in on. Most contestants claim to have just average memories, and scientific testing confirms that they’re not just being modest. Their feats are based on tricks that capitalize on how the human brain encodes information. Anyone can learn them.

　　Psychologists Elizabeth Valentine and John Wilding, authors of the monograph Superior Memory, recently teamed up with Eleanor Maguire, a neuroscientist at University College London to study eight people, including Karsten, who had finished near the top of the World Memory Championships. They wondered if the contestants’ brains were different in some way. The researchers put the competitors and a group of control subjects into an MRI machine and asked them to perform several different memory tests while their brains were being scanned. When it came to memorizing sequences of three-digit numbers, the difference between the memory contestant and the control subjects was, as expected, immense. However, when they were shown photographs of magnified snowflakes, images that the competitors had never tried to memorize before, the champions did no better than the control group. When the researchers analyzed the brain scans, they found that the memory champs were activating some brain regions that were different from those the control subjects were using. These regions, which included the right posterior hippocampus, are known to be involved in visual memory and spatial navigation.

　　It might seem odd that the memory contestants would use visual imagery and spatial navigation to remember numbers, but the activity makes sense when their techniques are revealed. Cooke, a 23-year-old cognitive-science graduate student with a shoulder-length mop of curly hair, is a grand master of brain storage. He can memorize the order of 10 decks of playing cards in less than an hour or one deck of cards in less than a minute. He is closing in on the 30-second deck. In the Lamb and Flag, Cooke pulled out a deck of cards and shuffled it. He held up three cards – the 7 of spades, the queen of clubs, and the 10 of spades. He pointed at a fireplace and said, “Destiny’s Child is whacking Franz Schubert with handbags.” The next three cards were the king of hearts, the king of spades, and the jack of clubs.

　　How did he do it? Cooke has already memorized a specific person, verb, and object that he associates with each card in the deck. For example, for the 7 of spades, the person (or, in this case, persons) is always the singing group Destiny’s Child, the action is surviving a storm, and the image is a dinghy. The queen of clubs is always his friend Henrietta, the action is thwacking with a handbag, and the image is of wardrobes filled with designer clothes. When Cooke commits a deck to memory, he does it three cards at a time. Every three-card group forms a single image of a person doing something to an object. The first card in the triplet becomes the person, the second the verb, the third the object. He then places those images along a specific familiar route, such as the one he took through the Lamb and Flag. In competitions, he uses an imaginary route that he has designed to be as smooth and downhill as possible. When it comes time to recall, Cooke takes a mental walk along his route and translates the images into cards. That’s why the MRIs of the memory contestants showed activation in the brain areas associated with visual imagery and spatial navigation.

　　The more resonant the images are, the more difficult they are to forget. But even meaningful information is hard to remember when there’s a lot of it. That’s why competitive memorizers place their images along an imaginary route. That technique, known as the loci method, reportedly originated in 477 B.C. with the Greek poet Simonides of Ceos. Simonides was the sole survivor of a roof collapse that killed all the other guests at a royal banquet. The bodies were mangled beyond recognition, but Simonides was able to reconstruct the guest list by closing his eyes and recalling each individual around the dinner table. What he had discovered was that our brains are exceptionally good at remembering images and spatial information. Evolutionary psychologists have offered an explanation: Presumably, our ancestors found it important to recall where they found their last meal or the way back to the cave. After Simonides’ discovery, the loci method became popular across ancient Greece as a trick for memorizing speeches and texts. Aristotle wrote about it, and later a number of treatises on the art of memory were published in Rome. Before printed books, the art of memory was considered a staple of classical education, on a par with grammar, logic, and rhetoric.

　　The most famous of the naturals was the Russian journalist S.V. Shereshevski, who could recall long lists of numbers memorized decades earlier, as well as poems, strings of nonsense syllables, and just about anything else he was asked to remember. “The capacity of his memory had no distinct limits,” wrote Alexander Luria, the Russian psychologist who studies Shereshevski also had synesthesia, a rare condition in which the senses become intertwined. For example, every number may be associated with a color or every word with a taste. Synesthetic reactions evoke a response in more areas of the brain, making memory easier.

　　K. Anders Ericsson, a Swedish-born psychologist at Florida State University, thinks anyone can acquire Shereshevski’s skills. He cites an experiment with S. F., an undergraduate who was paid to take a standard test of memory called the digit span for one hour a day, two or three days a week. When he started, he could hold, like most people, only about seven digits in his head at any given time (conveniently, the length of a phone number). Over two years, S. F. completed 250 hours of testing. By then, he had stretched his digit span from 7 to more than 80. The study of S. F. led Ericsson to believe that innately superior memory doesn’t exist at all. When he reviewed original case studies of naturals, he found that exceptional memorizers were using techniques – sometimes without realizing it – and lots of practice. Often, exceptional memory was only for a single type of material, like digits. “If we look at some of these memory tasks, they’re the kind of thing most people don’t even waste one hour practicing, but if they wasted 50 hours, they’d be exceptional at it,” Ericsson says. It would be remarkable, he adds, to find a “person who is exceptional across a number of tasks. I don’t think that there’s any compelling evidence that there are such people.”

　　Questions 1-5

　　The Reading Passage has seven paragraphs A-G.

　　Which paragraph contains the following information?

　　Write the correct letter A-G, in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.

　　1、The reason why the competence of super memory is significant in academic settings

　　2、Mention of a contest for extraordinary memory held in consecutive years

　　3、A demonstrative example of extraordinary person did an unusual recalling game

　　4、A belief that extraordinary memory can be gained through enough practice

　　5、A depiction of the rare ability which assists the extraordinary memory reactions

　　Questions 6-10

　　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 6-10 on your answer sheet.

　　Using visual imagery and spatial navigation to remember numbers are investigated and explained. A man called Ed Cooke in a pub, spoke a string of odd words when he held 7._________of the spades (the first one of any cards group) was remembered as he encoded it to a 6.__________ and the card deck to memory are set to be one time of an order of 7. __________ ; When it comes time to recall, Cooke took a 8.__________ along his way and interpreted the imaginary scene into cards. This superior memory skill can be traced back to Ancient Greece, the strategy was called 9.__________ which had been a major subject was in ancient 10.__________.

　　Questions 11-12

　　Choose TWO correct letters, A-E.

　　11、Write your answers in boxes 11-12 on your answer sheet.

　　12、According to World Memory Championships, what activities need good memory?

　　A、order for a large group of each digit

　　B、recall people’s face

　　C、resemble a long Greek poem

　　D、match name with pictures and features

　　E、recall what people ate and did yesterday

　　Questions 13-14

　　Choose TWO correct letters, A-E.

　　13、Write your answers in boxes 13-14 on your answer sheet.