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雅思阅读真题精选
在各个领域，我们都经常看到试题的身影，试题是命题者根据测试目标和测试事项编写出来的。一份好的试题都是什么样子的呢？下面是小编为大家收集的雅思阅读真题精选，希望能够帮助到大家。
雅思阅读真题 1
The Triumph of Unreason?
A. 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.
B. 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?
C. 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.
D. 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.
E. 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.
F. 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.
G. 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 volunteers 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.
H. Peoples 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.
I. 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”.
J. 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.
Notes to Reading Passage 1
1. the nucleus accumbens, the insular cortex, and the medial prefrontal cortex:
大脑的不同部位 (皮层，皮质等)
e.g. cerebellar cortex 小脑皮层cerebral cortex 大脑皮层
2. hone:
珩磨，磨快，磨练，训练使。。。更完美或有效.
3. subvert:
毁灭，破坏;摧毁：
4. piggyback：
骑在肩上;在肩上骑
5. deferment:
推迟、延迟、分期付款
6. aftertaste:
余味，回味事情或经历结束后的.感觉，特指令人不快的感觉
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
雅思阅读真题 2
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. v
7. 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 ferry cholesterol out of artery- clogging plaques to the liver for removal from the body.即HDLs的作用最终是将 choleserol清除出人体：… for removal from the body。
9. B 见第四段But HDLs are complex and not entirely understood.
10. C 见第二段… plus a cholesterol-lowering statin，即statin是可以降低cholesterol的。
11. D 见第六段 So inhibiting CETP， … might actually cause an abnormal and irreversible accumulation of cholesterol in the body.
12. A 见第三段。
13. C 见第四段Statins， in contrast， mainly work by lowering the ’bad’ low-density lipoproteins.
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