剑桥雅思阅读真题+答案解析-西泽读留学

　　为了方便大家在备考的过程中对雅思阅读进行练习，小编为大家带来了剑桥雅思阅读真题+答案解析，一起来对以下阅读题目进行练习，在练习结束后考生可以参照答案解析了解自己的做题情况。

　　一起来了解一下小编为大家带来的剑桥雅思阅读真题题目：

　　A Chronicle of Timekeeping

　　Our conception of time depends on the way we measure it

　　A According to archaeological evidence, at least 5,000 years ago, and long before the advent of the Roman Empire, the Babylonians began to measure time, introducing calendars to co-ordinate communal activities, to plan the shipment of goods and, in particular, to regulate planting and harvesting. They based their calendars on three natural cycles: the solar day, marked by the successive periods of light and darkness as the earth rotates on its axis; the lunar month, following the phases of the moon as it orbits the earth; and the solar year, defined by the changing seasons that accompany our planet's revolution around the sun.

　　B Before the invention of artificial light, the moon had greater social impact. And, for those living near the equator in particular, its waxing and waning was more conspicuous than the passing of the seasons. Hence, the calendars that were developed at the lower latitudes were influenced more by the lunar cycle than by the solar year. In more northern climes, however, where seasonal agriculture was practised, the solar year became more crucial. As the Roman Empire expanded northward, it organised its activity chart for the most part around the solar year.

　　C Centuries before the Roman Empire, the Egyptians had formulated a municipal calendar having 12 months of 30 days, with five days added to approximate the solar year. Each period of ten days was marked by the appearance of special groups of stars called decans. At the rise of the star Sirius just before sunrise, which occurred around the all-important annual flooding of the Nile, 12 decans could be seen spanning the heavens. The cosmic significance the Egyptians placed in the 12 decans led them to develop a system in which each interval of darkness (and later, each interval of daylight) was divided into a dozen equal parts. These periods became known as temporal hours because their duration varied according to the changing length of days and nights with the passing of the seasons. Summer hours were long, winter ones short; only at the spring and autumn equinoxes were the hours of daylight and darkness equal. Temporal hours, which were first adopted by the Greeks and then the Romans, who disseminated them through Europe, remained in use for more than 2,500 years.

　　D In order to track temporal hours during the day, inventors created sundials, which indicate time by the length or direction of the sun's shadow. The sundial's counterpart, the water clock, was designed to measure temporal hours at night. One of the first water clocks was a basin with a small hole near the bottom through which the water dripped out. The falling water level denoted the passing hour as it dipped below hour lines inscribed on the inner surface. Although these devices performed satisfactorily around the Mediterranean, they could not always be depended on in the cloudy and often freezing weather of northern Europe.

　　E The advent of the mechanical clock meant that although it could be adjusted to maintain temporal hours, it was naturally suited to keeping equal ones. With these, however, arose the question of when to begin counting, and so, in the early 14th century, a number of systems evolved. The schemes that divided the day into 24 equal parts varied according to the start of the count: Italian hours began at sunset, Babylonian hours at sunrise, astronomical hours at midday and 'great clock' hours, used for some large public clocks in Germany, at midnight. Eventually these were superseded by 'small clock', or French, hours, which split the day into two 12-hour periods commencing at midnight.

　　F The earliest recorded weight-driven mechanical clock was built in 1283 in Bedfordshire in England. The revolutionary aspect of this new timekeeper was neither the descending weight that provided its motive force nor the gear wheels (which had been around for at least 1,300 years) that transferred the power; it was the part called the escapement. In the early 1400s came the invention of the coiled spring or fusee which maintained constant force to the gear wheels of the timekeeper despite the changing tension of its mainspring. By the 16th century, a pendulum clock had been devised, but the pendulum swung in a large arc and thus was not very efficient.

　　G To address this, a variation on the original escapement was invented in 1670, in England. It was called the anchor escapement, which was a lever-based device shaped like a ship's anchor. The motion of a pendulum rocks this device so that it catches and then releases each tooth of the escape wheel, in turn allowing it to turn a precise amount. Unlike the original form used in early pendulum clocks, the anchor escapement permitted the pendulum to travel in a very small arc. Moreover, this invention allowed the use of a long pendulum which could beat once a second and thus led to the development of a new floor-standing case design, which became known as the grandfather clock.

　　H Today, highly accurate timekeeping instruments set the beat for most electronic devices. Nearly all computers contain a quartz-crystal clock to regulate their operation. Moreover, not only do time signals beamed down from Global Positioning System satellites calibrate the functions of precision navigation equipment, they do so as well for mobile phones, instant stock-trading systems and nationwide power-distribution grids. So integral have these time-based technologies become to day-to-day existence that our dependency on them is recognised only when they fail to work.

　　Questions 1-4

　　Reading Passage 1 has eight paragraphs, A-H.

　　Which paragraph contains the following information?

　　Write the correct letter, A-H, in boxes 1-4 on your answer sheet.

　　1 a description of an early timekeeping invention affected by cold temperatures

　　2 an explanation of the importance of geography in the development of the calendar

　　in farming communities

　　3 a description of the origins of the pendulum clock

　　4 details of the simultaneous efforts of different societies to calculate time using

　　uniform hours

　　Questions 5-8

　　Look at the following events (Questions 5-8) and the list of nationalities below.

　　Match each event with the correct nationality, A-F.

　　Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 5-8 on your answer sheet.

　　5 They devised a civil calendar in which the months were equal in length.

　　6 They divided the day into two equal halves.

　　7 They developed a new cabinet shape for a type of timekeeper.

　　8 They created a calendar to organise public events and work schedules.

　　List of Nationalities

　　A Babylonians

　　B Egyptians

　　C Greeks

　　D English

　　E Germans

　　F French

　　Questions 9-13

　　Label the diagram below.

　　Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

　　Write your answers in boxes 9-13 on your answer sheet.

　　以下是小编为大家带来的关于上篇雅思阅读题目的答案解析，做完练习后一起来了解一下吧。

　　Passage1

　　Question 1

　　答案： D

　　关键词： early timekeeping invention, cold temperatures

　　定位原文: D段最后1句“Although these devices performed…”

　　解题思路: 全文只有该句中提及寒冷气温。该句含义为“尽管这些装置在地中海地区十分好用，但在多云并常有严寒天气的欧洲北部却不能一直使用。”与题干中描述的内容相符。

　　Question 2

　　答案： B

　　关键词： geography, development of the calendar, farming communities

　　定位原文： B段内容

　　解题思路：该段一共五句话，从第二句开始每一句话都介绍了一个地理位置的变化对calendar的影响。分别是：And, for those living near the equator in particular,...Hence, the calendars that were developed at the lower latitudes,...In more northern climes, however,...

　　As the Roman Empire expanded northward, ...

　　Question 3

　　答案： F

　　关键词： pendulum clock, origins

　　定位原文： F段最后1句“By the 16th century…”

　　解题思路：含义为“到了 16世纪，人们发明了摆钟。但由于钟摆摆动弧度很大，因此并不十分有效”。此句中devised意为“发明”，与题干中的origins对应。

　　Question 4

　　答案： E

　　关键词： simultaneous efforts, different societies, uniform hours

　　对应原文： E段第3句“The schemes…”

　　解题思路：含义为“人们计划将一天分为24个等份，而这些计划因为计时起点的不同而不同：意大利时间从日落开始算起，巴比伦时间从日出开始，天文学时间从中午开始，而德国一些大型公共时钟使用的‘大钟’时间从午夜开始算起”。24 equal parts与题目中的 uniform hours 相对应, 本段中提到的各具体国家对应题目中的 different societies。

　　Question 5

　　答案： B

　　关键词： civil calendar, months, equal

　　定位原文： C段第1句“... the Egyptians had formulated a municipal calendar having 12 months…”

　　解题思路：该句提到埃及人制定了市政日历，规定一年有12个月，每月有30天。答案 B 题目中的 months were equal in length 对应文章中的 12 months of 30 days,题目中的 civil calendar 对应文章中的 municipal calendar,这项发明是 Egyptians 完成的。

　　Question 6

　　答案: F

　　关键词: day, two equal halves

　　定位原文: E段最后1句 “...or French hours, which split the day into two 12-hour periods … ”

　　解题思路：题目中的 divide the day into two equal halves 对应文章中的 split the day into two 12-hour periods, 具体指的是 French hours。

　　Question 7

　　答案： D

　　关键词： new cabinet shape

　　定位原文： G段最后一句 “... and thus led to the development of a new floor-standing case …”

　　解题思路：此句中的floor-standing case design就对应着cabinet shape,且该段第一行就出现了 England这个代表国家的词汇。所以答案为D。

　　Question 8

　　答案: A

　　关键词: organise, public events

　　定位原文: A段第1句“.. the Babylonians began to measure…”

　　解题思路: 题目中的 organize public events 对应文章中的 co-ordinate communal activities,题目中的work schedules 对应文章中的 the shipment of goods 及 planting and harvesting, 这些都是 Babylonians 的所作所为。

　　Question 9

　　答案: (ship’s) anchor / (an/the) anchor

　　关键词: escapement, resembling

　　定位原文: G段第2句 “It was called the anchor…”

　　解题思路：通过定位词很容易找到文中定位句，此句中的like对应resembling，所以答案为(ship’s) anchor / (an/the) anchor。

　　Question 10

　　答案: (escape) wheel

　　关键词： release each tooth, wheel

　　定位原文： G段第3句“The motion of a pendulum rocks this…”

　　解题思路: 由图可知,本题要求找到该圆盘状物体的名称,故应有意识地寻找与该形状有关的词汇 ;另外此物体上有齿轮,这也可以作为答题线索。根据 ...release each tooth of the escape wheel 可知,本题答案为 (escape) wheel。

　　Question 11

　　答案: tooth

　　关键词: release

　　定位原文: G段第3句“The motion of a pendulum rocks this…”

　　解题思路: 由图可知,本题要求找到圆盘物体的支出部分的名称。通过解答第 10 题,可以很容易地判定本题答案为 tooth。

　　Question 12

　　答案： (long)pendulum

　　关键词： beats, each

　　定位原文： G段最后1句“Moreover, this invention allowed…”

　　解题思路：由图可知,本题要求找到长形物体的名称, 且应发出 beat 的动作。同时，本题答案应为一个单数可数名词，可通过冠词帮助找到答案。通过 G 段最后一句中的 a long pendulum which could beat once a second 可以确定本题答案为 (long) pendulum。

　　Question 13

　　答案： second

　　关键词： beats, each

　　定位原文： G段最后1句“Moreover, this invention allowed…”

　　解题思路：此题可与第12题同时解出，此句中的once对应题干中的each, 所以答案为second。