2014年12月6日雅思考试阅读真题回忆

雅思考试（International English Language Testing System，简称IELTS）是一种针对英语能力，为打算到使用英语的国家学习、工作或定居的人们设置的英语水平考试。雅思考试分为听力、阅读、写作以及口语四个部分。雅思阅读考试时间为60分钟，在此期间，考生需要完成3篇文章的阅读及回答40道题目。

Passage 1

话题：科技类

题型：7 判断 6 表格填空

题目：Wallpaper

文章大意：Wallpaper的发展

备考建议：第一篇文章题型要注意判断题，没热身开的同学很可能会被这个题型打乱题型。这种历史发展类文章一般按照时间顺序架构文章，具体可以参考C9T1P1进行练习。

Passage 2

话题：医学类

题型：5 段落细节配对 2 句子填空 6 多选

题目：Twins

文章大意：Twins在多大程度上受到基因的影响，牵涉到饮食习惯、遗传疾病、性格取向。涉及到各个大学在不同地方做的研究。

备考建议：本篇文章题型有相当的难度，同时有段落细节匹配和两组多选，如果是阅读功底不是特别扎实的同学，段落细节匹配题就可以留到最后做。

参考原文（颜色部分为可能的出题点句子）：

Two of a kind

A THE scientific study of twins goesback to the late 19th century, when Francis Galton, an early geneticist,realised that they came in two varieties: identicaltwins born from one egg and non-identical twins that had come from two. Thatinsight turned out to be key, although it was not until 1924 that it wasused to formulate what is known as the twin rule of pathology, and twin studiesreally got going.

B The twin rule of pathology states thatany heritable disease will be more concordant (that is, more likely to bejointly present or absent) in identical twins than in non-identical twins—and,in turn, will be more concordant in non-identical twins than in non-siblings. Earlywork, for example, showed that the statistical correlation of skin-mole countsbetween identical twins was 0.4, while non-identical twins had acorrelation of only 0.2. (A score of 1.0 implies perfect correlation, whilea score of zero implies no correlation.) This result suggests that moles areheritable, but it also implies that there is an environmental component to thedevelopment of moles, otherwise the correlation in identical twins would beclose to 1.0.

C Twin research has shown that whetheror not someone takes up smoking is determined mainly by environmental factors,but once he does so, how much he smokes is largely down to his genes. And while a person's religion is clearly a cultural attribute, thereis a strong genetic component to religious fundamentalism. Twin studies arealso unraveling the heritability of various aspects of human personality.Traits from neuroticism and anxiety to thrill- and novelty-seeking all havelarge genetic components. Parenting matters, but it does not determinepersonality in the way that some had thought.

D More importantly, perhaps, twinstudies are helping the understanding of diseases such as cancer, asthma,osteoporosis, arthritis and immune disorders. And twins can be used, withinethical limits, for medical experiments. A study that administered vitamin C toone twin and a placebo to the other found that it had no effect on the common cold. The lesson from all today’s twinstudies is that most human traits are at least partially influenced by genes.However, for the most part, the age-old dichotomy between nature and nurture isnot very useful. Many genetic programs are open to input from the environment,and genes are frequently switched on or off by environmental signals. It isalso possible that genes themselves influence their environment. Some humanshave an innate preference for participation in sports. Others are drawn tonovelty. Might people also be drawn to certain kinds of friends and types ofexperience? In this way, a person’s genes might shape the environment they actin as much as the environment shapes the actions of the genes.

E In the past, suchresearch has been controversial. Josef Mengele, a Nazi doctor working at theAuschwitz extermination camp during the Second World War, was fascinated bytwins. He sought them out among arrivals at the camp and preserved them fromthe gas-chambers for a series of brutal experiments. After the war, CyrilBurt, a British psychologist who worked on the heredity of intelligence,tainted twin research with results that appear, in retrospect, to have beenrather too good. Some of his data on identical twins who had been reared apartwere probably faked. In any case, the prevailing ideology in the socialsciences after the war was Marxist, and disliked suggestions that differencesin human potential might have underlying genetic causes. Twin studies werethus viewed with suspicion.

F The ideologicalpendulum has swung back; however, as the human genome project and its aftermathhave turned genes from abstract concepts to real pieces of DNA. The role ofgenes in sensitive areas such as intelligence is acknowledged by all but a fewdie-hards. The interesting questions now concern how nature and nurtureinteract to produce particular bits of biology, rather than which of the two ismore important. Twin studies, which are a good way to ask these questions, areback in fashion, and many twins are enthusiastic participants in this research.

G Research at theTwinsburg festival began in a small way, with a single stand in 1979.Gradually, news spread, and more scientists began turning up. This year, half adozen groups of researchers were lodged in a specially pitched research tent.In one comer of this tent, Paul Breslin, who works at the Monell Institute inPhiladelphia, watched over several tables where twins sat sipping clear liquidsfrom cups and making notes. It was the team’s third year at Twinsburg. DrBreslin and his colleagues want to find out how genes influence humanperception, particularly the senses of smell and taste and those (warmth, cold,pain, tingle, itch and so on) that result from stimulation of the skin.Perception is an example of something that is probably influenced by both genesand experience. Even before birth, people are exposed to flavours such aschocolate, garlic, mint and vanilla that pass intact into the bloodstream, andthus to the fetus. Though it is not yet clear whether such pre-natal exposureshapes taste-perception, there is evidence that it shapes preferences for foodsencountered later in life.

H However, there areclearly genetic influences at work, as well—for example in the ability to tastequinine. Some people experience this as intensely bitter, even when it ispresent at very low levels. Others, whose genetic endowment is different, areless bothered by it. Twin studies make this extremely clear. Within a pair ofidentical twins, either both, or neither, will find quinine hard to swallow.Non-identical twins will agree less frequently.

I On the other sideof the tent Dennis Drayna, from the National Institute on Deafness and OtherCommunication Disorders, in Maryland, was studying hearing. He wants toknow what happens to sounds after they reach the ear. It is not clear, he says,whether sound is processed into sensation mostly in the ear or in the brain. DrDrayna has already been involved in a twin study which revealed that theperception of musical pitch is highly heritable. At Twinsburg, he is playing differentwords, or parts of words, into the left and right ears of his twinnedvolunteers. The composite of the two sounds that an individual reports hearingdepends on how he processes this diverse information and that, Dr Draynabelieves, may well be influenced by genetics.

J Elsewhere in themarquee, Peter Miraldi, of Kent State University in Ohio, was trying to findout whether genes affect an individual’s motivation to communicate with others.A number of twin studies have shown that personality and sociability areheritable, so he thinks this is fertile ground. And next to Mr. Miraldi was ateam of dermatologists from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. Theyare looking at the development of skin diseases and male-pattern baldness. Thegoal of the latter piece of research is to find the genes responsible formaking men's hair fall out.

K The busiest part ofthe tent, however, was the queue for forensic-science research intofingerprints. The origins of this study are shrouded in mystery. For manymonths, the festival's organisers have been convinced that the Secret Service-- the American government agency responsible for, among other things, thesafety of the presidents behind it. When The Economist contacted the Secret Servicefor more information, we were referred to Steve Nash, who is chairman of theInternational Association for Identification (IAI), and is also a detective inthe scientific investigations section of the Marin County Sheriffs Office inCalifornia. The IAI, based in Minnesota, is an organisation of forensicscientists from around the world. Among other things, it publishes the Journal of ForensicIdentification.

Passage 3

话题：艺术类

题型：4 单选 5 判断 5 人名观点配对

题目：Graffiti

文章大意：人们的接受程度，以及它的好处，存在的原因和人们对它的认同或分歧(纽约城市)

备考建议：这篇文章的题型还是挺照顾那些做题速度比较慢的同学的，如果在第二篇耗费过多时间，这篇有9道题可以供你蒙题。

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