劍橋雅思閱讀8原文翻譯及答案(test3)
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劍橋雅思閱讀8原文(test3)
READING PASSAGE 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.
Striking Back at Lightning
With Lasers
Seldom is the weather more dramatic than when thunderstorms strike. Their electrical fury inflicts death or serious injury on around 500 people each year in the United States alone. As the clouds roll in, a leisurely round of golf can become a terrifying dice with death — out in the open, a lone golfer may be a lightning bolt’s most inviting target. And there is damage to property too. Lightning damage costs American power companies more than $100 million a year.
But researchers in the United States and Japan are planning to hit back. Already in laboratory trials they have tested strategies for neutralising the power of thunderstorms, and this winter they will brave real storms, equipped with an armoury of lasers that they will be pointing towards the heavens to discharge thunderclouds before lightning can strike.
The idea of forcing storm clouds to discharge their lightning on command is not new. In the early 1960s, researchers tried firing rockets trailing wires into thunderclouds to set up an easy discharge path for the huge electric charges that these clouds generate. The technIQue survives to this day at a test site in Florida run by the University of Florida, with support from the Electrical Power Research Institute (EPRI), based in California. EPRI, which is funded by power companies, is looking at ways to protect the United States’ power grid from lightning strikes. ‘We can cause the lightning to strike where we want it to using rockets,’ says Ralph Bernstein, manager of lightning projects at EPRI. The rocket site is providing precise measurements of lightning voltages and allowing engineers to check how electrical equipment bears up.
Bad behaviour
But while rockets are fine for research, they cannot provide the protection from lightning strikes that everyone is looking for. The rockets cost around $1,200 each, can only be fired at a limited frequency and their failure rate is about 40 per cent. And even when they do trigger lightning, things still do not always go according to plan. ‘Lightning is not perfectly well behaved,’ says Bernstein. ‘Occasionally, it will take a branch and go someplace it wasn’t supposed to go.’
And anyway, who would want to fire streams of rockets in a populated area? ‘What goes up must come down,’ points out Jean-Claude Diels of the University of New Mexico. Diels is leading a project, which is backed by EPRI, to try to use lasers to discharge lightning safely — and safety is a basic requirement since no one wants to put themselves or their expensive equipment at risk. With around $500,000 invested so far, a promising system is just emerging from the laboratory.
The idea began some 20 years ago, when high-powered lasers were revealing their ability to extract electrons out of atoms and create ions. If a laser could generate a line of ionisation in the air all the way up to a storm cloud, this conducting path could be used to guide lightning to Earth, before the electric field becomes strong enough to break down the air in an uncontrollable surge. To stop the laser itself being struck, it would not be pointed straight at the clouds. Instead it would be directed at a mirror, and from there into the sky. The mirror would be protected by placing lightning conductors close by. Ideally, the cloud-zapper (gun) would be cheap enough to be installed around all key power installations, and portable enough to be taken to international sporting events to beam up at brewing storm clouds.
A stumbling block
However, there is still a big stumbling block. The laser is no nifty portable: it’s a monster that takes up a whole room. Diels is trying to cut down the size and says that a laser around the size of a small table is in the offing. He plans to test this more manageable system on live thunderclouds next summer.
Bernstein says that Diels’s system is attracting lots of interest from the power companies. But they have not yet come up with the $5 million that EPRI says will be needed to develop a commercial system, by making the lasers yet smaller and cheaper. ‘I cannot say I have money yet, but I’m working on it,’ says Bernstein. He reckons that the forthcoming field tests will be the turning point — and he’s hoping for good news. Bernstein predicts ‘an avalanche of interest and support‘ if all goes well. He expects to see cloud-zappers eventually costing $50,000 to $100,000 each.
Other scientists could also benefit. With a lightning ‘switch’ at their fingertips, materials scientists could find out what happens when mighty currents meet matter. Diels also hopes to see the birth of ‘interactive meteorology’ — not just forecasting the weather but controlling it. ‘If we could discharge clouds, we might affect the weather,’ he says.
And perhaps, says Diels, we’ll be able to confront some other meteorological menaces. ‘We think we could prevent hail by inducing lightning,’ he says. Thunder, the shock wave that comes from a lightning flash, is thought to be the trigger for the torrential rain that is typical of storms. A laser thunder factory could shake the moisture out of clouds, perhaps preventing the formation of the giant hailstones that threaten crops. With luck, as the storm clouds gather this winter, laser-toting researchers could, for the first time, strike back.
Questions 1-3
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in boxes 1-3 on your answer sheet.
1 The main topic discussed in the text is
A the damage caused to US golf courses and golf players by lightning strikes.
B the effect of lightning on power supplies in the US and in Japan.
C a variety of methods used in trying to control lightning strikes.
D a laser technique used in trying to control lightning strikes.
2 According to the text, every year lightning
A does considerable damage to buildings during thunderstorms.
B kills or injures mainly golfers in the United States.
C kills or injures around 500 people throughout the world.
D damages more than 100 American power companies.
3 Researchers at the University of Florida and at the University of New Mexico
A receive funds from the same source.
B are using the same techniques.
C are employed by commercial companies.
D are in opposition to each other.
Questions 4-6
Complete the sentences below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 4-6 on your answer sheet.
4 EPRI receives financial support from ..................... .
5 The advantage of the technique being developed by Diels is that it can be used.....................
6 The main difficulty associated with using the laser equipment is related to its.....................
Questions 7-10
Complete the summary using the list of words, A-I, below.
Write the correct letter, A-I, in boxes 7-10 on your answer sheet.
In this method, a laser is used to create a line of ionization by removing electrons from 7 ..................... . This laser is then directed at 8 ..................... in order to control electrical charges, a method which is less dangerous than using 9..................... . As a protection for the lasers, the beams are aimed firstly at 10 ..................... .
A cloud-zappers B atoms C storm clouds
D mirrors E technique F ions
G rockets H conductors I thunder
Questions 11-13
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?
In boxes 11-13 on your answer sheet write
YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer
No if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
11 Power companies have given Diels enough money to develop his laser.
12 Obtaining money to improve the lasers will depend on tests in real storms.
13 Weather forecasters are intensely interested in Diels’s system.
READING PASSAGE 2
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26, which are based on Reading Passage 2 below.
The Nature of Genius
There has always been an interest in geniuses and prodigies. The word ‘genius’, from the Latin gens (= family) and the term ‘genius’, meaning ‘begetter’, comes from the early Roman cult of a divinity as the head of the family. In its earliest form, genius was concerned with the ability of the head of the family, the paterfamilias, to perpetuate himself. Gradually, genius came to represent a person’s characteristics and thence an individual’s highest attributes derived from his ‘genius’ or guiding spirit. Today, people still look to stars or genes, astrology or genetics, in the hope of finding the source of exceptional abilities or personal characteristics.
The concept of genius and of gifts has become part of our folk culture, and attitudes are ambivalent towards them. We envy the gifted and mistrust them. In the mythology of giftedness, it is popularly believed that if people are talented in one area, they must be defective in another, that intellectuals are impractical, that prodigies burn too brightly too soon and burn out, that gifted people are eccentric, that they are physical weaklings, that there’s a thin line between genius and madness, that genius runs in families, that the gifted are so clever they don’t need special help, that giftedness is the same as having a high IQ, that some races are more intelligent or musical or mathematical than others, that genius goes unrecognised and unrewarded, that adversity makes men wise or that people with gifts have a responsibility to use them. Language has been enriched with such terms as ‘highbrow’, ‘egghead’, ‘blue-stocking’, ‘wiseacre’, ‘know-all’, ‘boffin’ and, for many, ‘intellectual’ is a term of denigration.
The nineteenth century saw considerable interest in the nature of genius, and produced not a few studies of famous prodigies. Perhaps for us today, two of the most significant aspects of most of these studies of genius are the frequency with which early encouragement and teaching by parents and tutors had beneficial effects on the intellectual, artistic or musical development of the children but caused great difficulties of adjustment later in their lives, and the frequency with which abilities went unrecognised by teachers and schools. However, the difficulty with the evidence produced by these studies, fascinating as they are in collecting together anecdotes and apparent similarities and exceptions, is that they are not what we would today call norm-referenced. In other words, when, for instance, information is collated about early illnesses, methods of upbringing, schooling, etc., we must also take into account information from other historical sources about how common or exceptional these were at the time. For instance, infant mortality was high and life expectancy much shorter than today, home tutoring was common in the families of the nobility and wealthy, bullying and corporal punishment were common at the best independent schools and, for the most part, the cases studied were members of the privileged classes. It was only with the growth of paediatrics and psychology in the twentieth century that studies could be carried out on a more objective, if still not always very scientific, basis.
Geniuses, however they are defined, are but the peaks which stand out through the mist of history and are visible to the particular observer from his or her particular vantage point. Change the observers and the vantage points, clear away some of the mist, and a different lot of peaks appear. Genius is a term we apply to those whom we recognise for their outstanding achievements and who stand near the end of the continuum of human abilities which reaches back through the mundane and mediocre to the incapable. There is still much truth in Dr Samuel Johnson’s observation, ‘The true genius is a mind of large general powers, accidentally determined to some particular direction’. We may disagree with the ‘general’, for we doubt if all musicians of genius could have become scientists of genius or vice versa, but there is no doubting the accidental determination which nurtured or triggered their gifts into those channels into which they have poured their powers so successfully. Along the continuum of abilities are hundreds of thousands of gifted men and women, boys and girls.
What we appreciate, enjoy or marvel at in the works of genius or the achievements of prodigies are the manifestations of skills or abilities which are similar to, but so much superior to, our own. But that their minds are not different from our own is demonstrated by the fact that the hard-won discoveries of scientists like Kepler or Einstein become the commonplace knowledge of schoolchildren and the once outrageous shapes and colours of an artist like Paul Klee so soon appear on the fabrics we wear. This does not minimise the supremacy of their achievements, which outstrip our own as the sub-four-minute milers outstrip our jogging.
To think of geniuses and the gifted as having uniquely different brains is only reasonable if we accept that each human brain is uniquely different. The purpose of instruction is to make us even more different from one another, and in the process of being educated we can learn from the achievements of those more gifted than ourselves. But before we try to emulate geniuses or encourage our children to do so we should note that some of the things we learn from them may prove unpalatable. We may envy their achievements and fame, but we should also recognise the price they may have paid in terms of perseverance, single-mindedness, dedication, restrictions on their personal lives, the demands upon their energies and time, and how often they had to display great courage to preserve their integrity or to make their way to the top.
Genius and giftedness are relative descriptive terms of no real substance. We may, at best, give them some precision by defining them and placing them in a context but, whatever we do, we should never delude ourselves into believing that gifted children or geniuses are different from the rest of humanity, save in the degree to which they have developed the performance of their abilities.
Questions 14-18
Choose FIVE letters, A-K.
Write the correct letters in boxes 14-18 on your answer sheet.
NB Your answers may be given in any order.
Below are listed some popular beliefs about genius and giftedness.
Which FIVE of these beliefs are reported by the writer of the text?
A Truly gifted people are talented in all areas.
B The talents of geniuses are soon exhausted.
C Gifted people should use their gifts.
D A genius appears once in every generation.
E Genius can be easily destroyed by discouragement.
F Genius is inherited.
G Gifted people are very hard to live with.
H People never appreciate true genius.
I Geniuses are natural leaders.
J Gifted people develop their greatness through difficulties.
K Genius will always reveal itself.
Questions 19-26
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2?
In boxes 19-26 on your answer sheet, write
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
19 Nineteenth-century studies of the nature of genius failed to take into account the uniqueness of the person’s upbringing.
20 Nineteenth-century studies of genius lacked both objectivity and a proper scientific approach.
21 A true genius has general powers capable of excellence in any area.
22 The skills of ordinary individuals are in essence the same as the skills of prodigies.
23 The ease with which truly great ideas are accepted and taken for granted fails to lessen their significance.
24 Giftedness and genius deserve proper scientific research into their true nature so that all talent may be retained for the human race.
25 Geniuses often pay a high price to achieve greatness.
26 To be a genius is worth the high personal cost.
READING PASSAGE 3
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40, which are based on Reading Passage 3 on the following pages.
Questions 27-32
Reading Passage 3 has seven paragraphs, A-G.
Choose the correct heading for paragraphs B-G from the list of headings below.
Write the correct number, i-x, in boxes 27-32 on your answer sheet.
List of Headings
i The biological clock
ii Why dying is beneficial
iii The ageing process of men and women
iv Prolonging your life
v Limitations of life span
vi Modes of development of different species
vii A stable life span despite improvements
viii Energy consumption
ix Fundamental differences in ageing of objects and organisms
x Repair of genetic material
Example Answer
Paragraph A v
27 Paragraph B
28 Paragraph C
29 Paragraph D
30 Paragraph E
31 Paragraph F
32 Paragraph G
HOW DOES THE BIOLOGICAL CLOCK TICK?
A Our life span is restricted. Everyone accepts this as ‘biologically’ obvious. ‘Nothing lives for ever!’ However, in this statement we think of artificially produced, technical objects, products which are subjected to natural wear and tear during use. This leads to the result that at some time or other the object stops working and is unusable (‘death’ in the biological sense). But are the wear and tear and loss of function of technical objects and the death of living organisms really similar or comparable?
B Our ‘dead’ products are ‘static’, closed systems. It is always the basic material which constitutes the object and which, in the natural course of things, is worn down and becomes ‘older’. Ageing in this case must occur according to the laws of physical chemistry and of thermodynamics. Although the same law holds for a living organism, the result of this law is not inexorable in the same way. At least as long as a biological system has the ability to renew itself it could actually become older without ageing; an organism is an open, dynamic system through which new material continuously flows. Destruction of old material and formation of new material are thus in permanent dynamic equilibrium. The material of which the organism is formed changes continuously. Thus our bodies continuously exchange old substance for new, just like a spring which more or less maintains its form and movement, but in which the water molecules are always different.
C Thus ageing and death should not be seen as inevitable, particularly as the organism possesses many mechanisms for repair. It is not, in principle, necessary for a biological system to age and die. Nevertheless, a restricted life span, ageing, and then death are basic characteristics of life. The reason for this is easy to recognise: in nature, the existent organisms either adapt or are regularly replaced by new types. Because of changes in the genetic material (mutations) these have new characteristics and in the course of their individual lives they are tested for optimal or better adaptation to the environmental conditions. Immortality would disturb this system — it needs room for new and better life. This is the basic problem of evolution.
D Every organism has a life span which is highly characteristic. There are striking differences in life span between different species, but within one species the parameter is relatively constant. For example, the average duration of human life has hardly changed in thousands of years. Although more and more people attain an advanced age as a result of developments in medical care and better nutrition, the characteristic upper limit for most remains 80 years. A further argument against the simple wear and tear theory is the observation that the time within which organisms age lies between a few days (even a few hours for unicellular organisms) and several thousand years, as with mammoth trees.
E If a life span is a genetically determined biological characteristic, it is logically necessary to propose the existence of an internal clock, which in some way measures and controls the ageing process and which finally determines death as the last step in a fixed programme. Like the life span, the metabolic rate has for different organisms a fixed mathematical relationship to the body mass. In comparison to the life span this relationship is ‘inverted’: the larger the organism the lower its metabolic rate. Again this relationship is valid not only for birds, but also, similarly on average within the systematic unit, for all other organisms (plants, animals, unicellular organisms).
F Animals which behave ‘frugally’ with energy become particularly old, for example, crocodiles and tortoises. Parrots and birds of prey are often held chained up. Thus they are not able to ‘experience life’ and so they attain a high life span in captivity. Animals which save energy by hibernation or lethargy (e.g. bats or hedgehogs) live much longer than those which are always active. The metabolic rate of mice can be reduced by a very low consumption of food (hunger diet). They then may live twice as long as their well fed comrades. Women become distinctly (about 10 per cent) older than men. If you examine the metabolic rates of the two sexes you establish that the higher male metabolic rate roughly accounts for the lower male life span. That means that they live life ‘energetically’ — more intensively, but not for as long.
G It follows from the above that sparing use of energy reserves should tend to extend life. Extreme high performance sports may lead to optimal cardiovascular performance, but they quite certainly do not prolong life. Relaxation lowers metabolic rate, as does adequate sleep and in general an equable and balanced personality. Each of us can develop his or her own ‘energy saving programme’ with a little self-observation, critical self-control and, above all, logical consistency. Experience will show that to live in this way not only increases the life span but is also very healthy. This final aspect should not be forgotten.
Questions 33-36
Complete the notes below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 33-36 on your answer sheet.
? Objects age in accordance with principles of 33 of 34 .....................
? Through mutations, organisms can 35 ..................... better to the environment
? 36 d pose a serious problem for the theory of evolution
Questions 37-40
Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage 3?
In boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet, write
YES if the statement agrees with the views of the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the views of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
37 The wear and tear theory applies to both artificial objects and biological systems.
38 In principle, it is possible for a biological system to become older without ageing.
39 Within seven years, about 90 per cent of a human body is replaced as new.
40 Conserving energy may help to extend a human’s life.
劍橋雅思閱讀8原文參考譯文(test3)
TEST 3 PASSAGE 1 參考譯文：
用激光回擊閃電
很少有比雷暴天氣更令人感到恐怖的天氣了。僅在美國，猛烈的雷暴電流每年都會造成大約500人死亡或重傷。雲層翻滾而來的時候，在戶外打一場輕鬆的高爾夫成了一件異常可怕的事情，無異於是在拿自己的性命開玩笑——孤身一人在戶外的高爾夫球手可能是閃電最喜歡攻擊的目標。此外，閃電也會帶來財產損失。每年閃電會對美國電力公司造成超過一億美元的損失。
不過，美國和日本的研?a href="">咳嗽閉誆呋鞀魃戀緄姆槳浮Ｋ且芽紀ü笛椴饈災瀉屠妝┑綰傻母髦址椒ā＝衲甓歟牆泵胬妝菏褂門潯傅募す餛魃湎蚩罩械撓暝疲蠱湓諫戀緋魷種胺諾紜?/p>
迫使雨雲根據指令釋放閃電並非一個新想法。早在20世紀60年代早期，研究者們就嘗試過把帶着拖曳線的火箭射入雨雲，以期爲這些雲層發出的龐大的電荷羣搭建起便捷的放電路徑。由於受到建在加利福尼亞的電力研究所(EPRI)的支持，這一技術在佛羅里達的州立大學試驗基地倖存到了今天。EPRI由電力公司資助，現正致力於研究保護美國輸電網不受閃電襲擊的方法。“我們可以通過火箭讓閃電擊向我們想讓它去的地方，”EPRI的閃電項目經理Ralph Bernstein如此說道。該火箭基地現在能對閃電電壓進行精確測量，並可以讓工程師們檢測電氣設備的負載。
不良行爲
雖然火箭在研究中功不可沒，但它們無法提供閃電來襲時所有人都希求的保護。每支火箭造價大約 1,200美元，發射頻率有限，而失敗率卻高達40%。即使它們確實能夠引發閃電，事情也無法總是按計劃順利進行。“閃電可不那麼聽話”，Bernstein說，“它們偶爾會走岔路，射到它們本不該去的地方。”
但不管怎樣，有誰會想在人口密集的地區發射成羣的火箭呢? “射上去的肯定會掉下來，”新墨西哥大學的Jean-Claude Diels指出。Diels現在正在負責一個項目，該項目由ERPI所支持，試圖通過發射激光使閃電安全放電——安全是一項基本要求，因爲沒人願意把他們自己的性命或他們的昂貴設備置於危險之中。有了迄今爲止的50萬美元的投入，一套有巨大潛力的系統裝置正在該實驗室慢慢成形。
這一系統裝置的想法始於大約20年前，當時正在開發大功率激光器從原子中提取電荷並生成離子的能力。如果激光器能夠生成一條直達暴雨雲的離子線，就可以在閃電電場增強爲一股無法控制的涌流並擊破空氣之前，用這條傳導通道把電荷引導到地面上來。爲了防止激光器本身受到電擊，不能把它直接對準雲層，而是要把它對準一面鏡子，讓激光通過鏡子折射向天空。要在靠近鏡子的四周佈置閃電傳導器從而 對其進行保護。理想的做法是，雲層遙控器(槍)要比較廉價，以便能夠把它們安裝在所有重點電力設備周圍;另外還要方便攜帶，以便在國際運動賽事場地中用於使逐漸聚積的雨雲失去威力。
絆腳石
可是，仍存在巨大的絆腳石。激光器並不方便攜帶：它是個能佔據整個房間的龐然大物。Diels一直想要縮小它的體積，並表示很快就會有小型桌子大小的激光器了。他計劃在明年夏天用真正的雨雲來實際測試這個更容易操作的激光系統。
Bernstein表示，Diels的激光系統正在引起各電力公司的廣泛興趣。但他們還沒有準備好EPRI提出的500萬美元——開發一個讓激光器更小巧、價格也更便宜的商用系統的所需資金。Bernstein說：“我還不能 說我已經拿到錢了，但是我正在爲之努力。”他認爲，即將進行的實地測試會成爲一個轉折點，而且他也在期待着好消息。Bernstein預言，如果一切順利，這將吸引“排山倒海般的興趣和支持”。他希望看到雲層遙控器的最終價格能定在每臺5萬到10萬美元之間。
其他科學家也能從中受益。如果手上有了控制閃電的“開關”，材料科學家就可以瞭解強大的電流遇到物質時會發生什麼現象。Diels也希望看到“互動氣象學”問世——不僅僅是預測天氣，而且能控制天氣。“如果我們能使雲層放電，我們也許就能左右天氣，”他說。
而且也許，Diels說，我們將能夠對抗一些其他的氣象威脅。“我們認爲我們也許能通過引導閃電來阻止冰雹，”他說。雷，來自於閃電的衝擊波，被認爲是大暴雨——典型的雷暴天氣——的觸發器。一個激光雷工廠可以把水汽從雲層中震出，這樣也許可以阻止威脅莊稼的大冰雹的形成。如果運氣好的話，在今年冬天雨雲聚積的時候，持有激光器的研究者們就能第一次對其進行回擊了。
TEST 3 PASSAGE 2 參考譯文：
天才的本質
一直以來，天才和神童都倍受人們關注。genius一詞源於拉丁語“gens”(=家族);拉丁語詞條“genius”意 爲“父”，來自於羅馬早期，當時人們對一種祌明狂熱崇拜，並尊其爲家族的首領。在genius的最初形態中， 它與家族首領——也就是一家之長——永生的能力有關。後來，genius逐漸被用來表示人的特點;再後來，genius便用以指代一個人從他的“父親”或精神領袖身上所傳承的最佳特質。今天，人們仍然醉心於對星相和基因的研究，希望能夠通過占星術或遺傳學找到出色能力和個人特徵的來源。
天才和天賦的概念已經成了民間文化的一部分，但人們對其所持的態度卻是矛盾的。我們羨慕天才卻不信任他們。在天才的神話裏，人們普遍認爲：如果人們在某方面很有天賦，那麼他們一定會在其他方面有所不足;知識分子往往不切實際;神童過於才華橫溢而早早地“泯然衆人矣”;天才往往秉性古怪;天才的體質都很孱弱;天才和瘋子只有一線之隔;天賦是家族遺傳的;天才很聰明，所以不需要任何特別的幫助;天才和高智商是一回事;有些種族比其他人更聰明、更有音樂天賦或更有數學頭腦;天才總被埋沒, 得不到應有的回報;逆境出英才;天才有責任運用他們的天賦。英語中有很多這樣的表達，如：highbrow (自以爲文化修養很高的人)，egghead(書呆子)，blue-stocking(女學者)，wiseacre(自以爲聰明的人)，know-all(自以爲無所不知的人)，boffin(科學家);另外，對於很多人來說intellectual是一個貶義詞。
19世紀，人們對於天才的本質表現出相當大的興趣，而且做了不少針對著名神童的研究。或許現在對於我們來說，大部分對天才的研究中包含以下兩個最重要的方面：其一，早期教育中父母和教師對孩子進行的頻繁的鼓勵和教導對孩子在智力、藝術或音樂方面的發展是有益的，但這也給孩子以後對生活的適應方面帶來了巨大的困難;其二，老師和學校常常認識不到孩子所具備的才能。儘管在研究中搜集的軼聞趣事、顯著相似點以及例外狀況都頗爲吸引人，但是，想要利用這些研究得出的證據也有一定困難，因爲它們不符合我們今天所謂的常模參照。換句話說，比如當我們在蒐集有關早期疾病、養育方式、學校教育等信息時，我們也要考慮到在其他的歷史資料中所記載的、關於這種情況在當時有多麼普 遍或不尋常的信息。例如，當時的嬰兒死亡率很高，人的壽命也比今天短得多，家教對於貴族和富裕家庭司空見慣，恃強凌弱和體罰在最好的私立學校裏也屢見不鮮，而且大多數的研究對象來自特權階級。直到20世紀，隨着兒科學和心理學的發展，相關研究才得以在更加客觀的基礎上進行——儘管依然並不總是很科學。
無論如何進行定義，天才只不過是從歷史的迷霧之中凸顯出來的一座座山峯，只有特定的觀察者通過他們特殊的角度才能看到。而改變觀察者和視角，撥開些許迷霧，許多不同的山峯出現在眼前。我們用“天才”這個詞來指代那些因其出色成就而被我們所認可的人，那些人幾乎處在了人類能力連續體的頂端，往下依次是平凡者、平庸者和無能者。Samuel Johnson博士的觀察還是頗有道理的：“真正的天才在各方面都擁有着巨大的潛能，很偶然地被決定了向一個特定的方向發展。”但我們可能會對“各方面”這一點有所保留，因爲我們懷疑是否所有天才音樂家都可以成爲天才科學家，反之亦然。但是有一點毋庸置疑：正是偶然的決定培養或觸發了他們的才能，使之有了用武之地，讓他們可以成功地把自己的能量注入其中。在芸芸衆生之中，有能之士成千上萬，有男有女，有成人也有孩童。
天才的作品或神童的成就令人欣賞、喜愛和驚歎之處在於其體現了他們的技能和本領，這些技能和本領雖然與我們的相似，但遠遠高於我們的水平。然而事實可以證明他們的智力和我們的並非迥然不同，比如，像Kepler和Einstein這樣的科學家歷盡艱辛所取得的科學發現現已成爲學童的常識性知識;像Paul Klee 這樣的畫家所創造的曾經非比尋常的形狀和顏色很快就出現在了我們穿着的面料上。當然，這並沒有降低天才成就的價值。他們的成就與普通人的相比就好像在四分鐘內跑完一英里的運動員之於普通慢跑者一樣，前者遠遠超越了後者。
只有在承認了每個人的大腦都是獨特的這一前提下，認爲天才和有天賦者的大腦獨一無二、異於常人這一想法才能算是合理的。教育的目的就在於使我們更加與衆不同，而在受教育的過程中，我們可以從比我們更有天賦的人的成就中學有所得。但是，在效仿天才或鼓勵我們的孩子這樣做之前，我們應該注意到，從他們身上學到的某些東西結果可能並不令人愉快。我們可能會羨慕他們的成就和名譽，但是也應該看到他們爲此所付出的代價，看到他們的鍥而不捨，專心致志，獻身精神，自我約束，他們對自己時間和精力的嚴格要求，以及多少次他們不得不表現出極大的勇氣來保持自身的正直或艱難地走成功。
天才和天賦只是具有相對意義的描述性術語，並沒有實質內容。我們頂多可以通過對其進行定義並將其置於某一語境中來賦予它們一些準確的意思。但是，無論怎樣做，我們都不能矇蔽自己，認爲神童或天才與其他人不一樣，只是他們對自己能力表現開發的程度與我們不同而已。
TEST 3 PASSAGE 3 參考譯文：
生物鐘如何工作?
A我們的壽命是有限的。每個人都已經接受了這一點，因爲從“生物學”角度來講這是顯而易見的。“沒有什麼會永生! ” 然而，在這句話中，我們想到了那些人造的技術產品，這些產品在使用過程中會產生自然磨損。這就意味着它們終究會有一天停止工作、不能用了(生物學意義上的“死亡”)。但這些技術產品的磨損及功能喪失與生物體的死亡這兩者之間真的具有相似性或可比性嗎?
B我們所謂“死掉”的產品是指一些“靜態的”、封閉的系統。構成物體的基本材料總是會在自然過程中逐漸磨損，變得“老化”。根據物理化學和熱力學的規律，在這種情況下老化是必然的。雖然相同的規律也適用於生物體，但這一規律並不會以同樣的方式產生不可抗拒的結果。至少只要一個生物系統有能力自我更新，它就確實能夠不斷成長但不會老化;生物體是一個開放、動態的系統，新物質會通過這個系統不斷流動。因此舊物質的消逝和新物質的形成總是處於永久的動態平衡中。形成生物體的物質不斷改變，於是我們體內的舊物質也持續不斷地被新物質替換，就像噴泉，它能大體上保持自身的形態和運動狀態，但是其中的水分子總是不同的。
C因此，老化和死亡不該被看作是不可避免的，尤其當生物體擁有許多修復機制時。從理論上講，一個生物體的老化和死亡不是必然的。儘管如此，有限的壽命，衰老，然後死亡構成了生命的基本特徵。原因則顯而易見：本質上，現存的生物體要麼適應環境，要麼有規律地被新的物種代替。因爲基因物質的變化(突變)，生物體擁有了新的特徵，並且個體生命的過程也在考驗它們對周圍的環境條件是否有最佳的或更好的適應性。永生可能會打亂這個系統，因爲它需要爲新的、更好的生命提供空間。這就是進化。
D每個生物體都有極具特色的壽命。不同的物種其壽命也有着顯著差別，但在同一物種中，這個參數相對恆定。例如，幾千年來人類的平均壽命幾乎沒變。雖然由於醫療服務的發展和營養的改善，越來越多的人達到高齡，但對大多數人來說人類普遍的壽命上限仍是80歲。此外，對抗簡單磨損理論的另一個論點認爲，生物體老去的時間短則幾天(對單細胞生物來說甚至是幾小時)，長則幾千年，比如巨杉。
E如果壽命是一個由基因決定的生物特徵，那麼按照邏輯我們就有必要提出這樣一個觀點：生物體內存在一個內部時鐘，這個時鐘以某種方式測量和控制着衰老的進程，並且最終決定這一固定程序的最後一步：死亡。就像壽命，對於不同的生物體，其代謝速率跟體重有一個固定的數據關係。同壽命相比，這個關係是“反向的”：生物體體重越大，其代謝速率越低。另外，這個關係不僅適用於鳥類，由於系統單元內的情況大體類似，因此也適用於其他所有生物體(植物、動物、單細胞生物)。
F那些在能量消耗方面比較“節約”的動物壽命尤其長，例如鱷魚和烏龜。鸚鵡和猛禽經常被鎖鏈栓着，因此往往不能“體驗生活”，於是在圈養狀態下獲得了較長的壽命。有些能通過冬眠或嗜睡來保存能量的動物(例如蝙蝠或刺蝟)通常比那些總是很活躍的動物活得更長久。老鼠的代謝速率可以通過減少食物消耗量(飢餓飲食法)來降低，他們的壽命可能比那些平日吃飽喝足的同類壽命長一倍。另外，女性的壽命很明顯比男性的壽命長(大約10%)。如果研究兩性的代謝速率，你會發現男性代謝速率較高，這就意味着男性的壽命較短，也就是說他們在生活中比較耗費能量——比女性活動更爲劇烈，但生命持續的時間沒有女性長。
G從上面的討論可以看出，節約使用我們的能量儲備應該可以延長壽命。極端的劇烈運動可能會讓心血管功能達到最佳狀態，但肯定不會延長壽命。放鬆下來可以降低代謝率，而充足的睡眠及大體平和的性格也會起到相同的作用。只要進行一些自我觀察、嚴格的自我控制，尤其重要的是保持邏輯連貫性，我們每個人都能發展自己的“節能程序”。經驗表明這樣的生活方式不僅能夠延年益壽，而且非常健康。最後這點絕對不要忘記。
劍橋雅思閱讀8原文解析(test3)
Passage 1
Question 1
答案： D
關鍵詞： main topic
定位原文: 文章標題
解題思路: 通過標題知道整篇文章的主旨是“通過激光來回擊閃電”，因此答案是 D 選項,意思爲 “一種用於控制閃電襲擊的激光技術”，屬於對標題的同義替換。
Question 2
答案： A
關鍵詞： every year lightening
定位原文： 第1段內容
解題思路： 本題考查關於每年閃電情況的細節,可 定位於第一段。B 選項可以通過 golfer 一詞來定 位,也在第一段,原文意思是“孤單的高爾夫球 手或許將是閃電之箭最爲有吸引力的目標”,選 項 B“在美國主要殺死或者傷害高爾夫球手”改 變了原意 ;C 和 D 選項可以分別通過 500,100 這兩個數字來定位到第一段,但是 C 選項中將原 文 in the United States 偷換成了 throughout the world,因此不對;D中將原文的$100 million 偷換成 100 companies,也不對。通過對第一段 的概括,可以知道閃電帶來的影響是非常大的, 因此答案是 A。
Question 3
答案： A
關鍵詞： University of Florida, University of New Mexico
定位原文： 第三段和第五段內容
解題思路： 題目問的是 University of Florida 和 University of New Mexico 的研究員的關係。通 過 University of Florida 和 University of New Mexico 分別定位至第三段和第五段。對兩處論 述進行對比,不難得出兩者共同之處是“從同一來源獲得經費”，都是 EPRI。答案是 A。
Question 4
答案： power companies
關鍵詞： EPRI, financial support
對應原文： 第3段第4句“EPRI, which is funded…”
解題思路： 用EPRI定位到文章第三段，EPRI第一次出現之後即指出其是由電力公司資助的，原文中的funded 等同於題幹中的 receives financial support from, 因此答案應該填power companies。注意不要寫成單數。
Question 5
答案： safely
關鍵詞： Diels, advantage
定位原文： 第5段第3句“ try to use lasers to…”
解題思路： 用人名Diels在文中定位到第五段，從題目看出這裏應填入一個副詞，所以可以在人名周圍尋找 use或者use的替換詞，並且在其周圍找帶有-ly形式的詞，這樣正確答案safely很快就能浮出水面了。
Question 6
答案: size
關鍵詞: difficulty, laser equipment
定位原文: 第7段第1、2句“…The laser is no nifty…”
解題思路： 這道題目的定位稍微有一些困難，需要將 difficulty一詞與文章中的stumbling block聯繫起來，進而找到第七段中的laser一詞。文中提到，該激光設備並不方便攜帶，它是個體積佔據了一整間房間的龐然大物。看到這裏，通過理解，考生們可以想到激光設備最大的問題就是體積太大，不好攜帶，所以正確答案是size。
Question 7
答案： B
關鍵詞： removing electrons
定位原文： 第6段第1句“ extract electrons out…”
解題思路： 本題關鍵是要理解題目中的...與文中的 of...屬於同義替換，這裏要表達的是從原子(atoms)中提取電荷(electrons)。
Question 8
答案: C
關鍵詞: then, control electrical charges
定位原文: 第6段第2句“If a laser could generate a line of ionization in the air all the way up to a storm cloud...”
解題思路： 注意文中generate是“產生”的意思;directed at對應文中的 all the way up to，其後的 a storm cloud即對應空格處要填的內容。因此正確答案是C。
Question 9
答案: G
關鍵詞: less dangerous than
定位原文: 第4段和第5段內容
解題思路：解答本題需要對文章有一個提煉,第 9 題問的是激光是相對於哪種方式更加有安全 的技術。根據第四段和第五段可以知道，第四段說火箭發射的缺點，第五段說出於安全性的考慮開始使用激光，因此答案應該是火箭(rockets)。
Question 10
答案: D
關鍵詞： protection, aimed firstly
定位原文： 第6段第3、4句“To stop the laser…”
解題思路: protection對應文中的 g struck; at是解題關鍵詞，即使不知道文中的directed和題目中的aimed是同義詞，也可以從詞組的形式上看出來兩者是同位的，其後的名詞即爲答案。由此可知答案是D。
Question 11
答案: NO
關鍵詞: Diels, enough money
定位原文: 第8段第3句“‘I cannot say I have…”
解題思路: “I cannot say I have money yet, but I am working on it”( “我還不能說我已經拿到錢了，但是我正在爲之努力。”)看到這句話，再聯繫上句：Bernstein says that Diels’ system is attracting lots of interest from the power companies. But they have not yet come up with the $5 million that EPRI says will be needed to develop a commercial system...(Bernstein表示，Diels的激光系統正在引起各電力公司的廣泛興趣。但他們還沒有準備EPRI提出的500萬美元——開發一個……的商用系統的所需資金。)這兩句話足以證明Diels系統還沒有得到足夠的資金支持。
Question 12
答案： YES
關鍵詞： depend on tests in real storms
定位原文： 第8段第4句“He reckons…”
解題思路： 根據第八段Bernstein的話可知,他認爲即將來臨的實地測驗將是轉折點,他希望有好消息。如果一切進展順利，Bernstein 預測關注和支持將潮涌而來。題目表述符合文意。
Question 13
答案： NOT GIVEN
關鍵詞： Diels, weather forecasters
定位原文： 第9段最後兩句“Diels also hopes…”
解題思路： 文章第九段雖然提到了天氣預報，即Diels希望將來看到“交互式氣象學”， 不僅是預報天氣，還可以控制天氣 ;但是卻並沒有提到過 weather forecasters 的態度，他們也許感興趣,也許不感興趣，無從判斷。
Test 3 Passage 2
Question 14-Question 18
答案: B C F H J
關鍵詞: popular beliefs
定位原文: 第2段整體內容
解題思路: A 對應“if people are talented…”意思是“如果一個人在某一方面具有天賦,他們必然在另一方面有缺陷”因此天才並非是在各個領域都具備天賦的，A錯誤;B對應“prodigies burn…” 意思是“神童只是曇花一現”B選項正確;C對應“people with gifts..” 言下之意也就是有天賦的人需要使用他們的天賦，C正確;F對應“genius runs in families” 也就是說天賦是遺傳的，F對;H對應“we envy the gifted..”說明人們並不會真正欣賞天才，H正確;J對應“adversity makes…” 說明天才在困境中發展其天賦， J正確;其他選項沒有提及。
Question 19
答案: TRUE
關鍵詞： nineteen-century, studies
定位原文：第3段內容
解題思路: 本題需要通讀第3段，可以得知，原文只提到了研究會考慮 the method of upbringing，但是沒有考慮到 uniqueness of the person’s upbringing，題目表述符合文意。
Question 20
答案: TRUE
關鍵詞： nineteen-century, objectivity
定位原文： 第3段最後1句“It was only with…”
解題思路： 通過本句首先可以推測出19世紀關於天才的研究缺乏客觀性，然後通過if still not always very scientific得知，連20世紀有關天才的研究都並不總是很科學，那麼就更別提19世紀的研究了，因此可以推測出本題正確答案是TRUE。
Question 21
答案： FALSE
關鍵詞： general powers, area
定位原文：第4段第5句“We may disagree…”
解題思路：定位句的意思是“但我們可能會對“各方面”這一點有所保留，因爲我們懷疑是否所有的天才音樂家都可以成爲天才科學家，反之亦然。”這句話表明了作者對於所謂全能型天才的質疑，正好與題乾的表述相反，故答案應該是 FALSE。
Question 22
答案： TRUE
關鍵詞： skills, ordinary individuals, prodigies
定位原文：第5段第1句“What we appreciate,…”
解題思路：天才的技能和普通人的技能在本質上是相似的，儘管在表現上不一樣。題目表述符合文意。
Question 23
答案： TRUE
關鍵詞： truly great ideas
定位原文：第5段最後兩句“But that their minds…”
解題思路： 作者先是舉出數個例子來說明天才偉大的思想或者作品已經成爲日常生活中司空見慣的東西，這就對應了題目的前半句the ease...，接着又提出This does not minimise the supremacy of their achievements，正好對應題幹後半句。因此此題選TRUE。
Question 24
答案： NOT GIVEN
關鍵詞： giftedness, genius, scientific research
定位原文：第6段第1句“To think of geniuses and the gifted…”
解題思路：第6段開頭提到了“geniuses and the gifted…”但是題目表述的觀點沒有被提及。
Question 25
答案： TRUE
關鍵詞： pay a high price
定位原文：第6段最後一句話“ we should also recognize…”
解題思路： 這句話以及接下來的內容明確說明了天才在成爲天才的道路上所付出的高昂代價，是本題中最容易判斷的一道題目。
Question 26
答案： NOT GIVEN
關鍵詞： high personal cost
定位原文：第6段最後1句的後半句“ we should also…”
解題思路：…但是也應該看到他們爲此所付出的代價，看到他們的鍥而不捨，專心致志，獻身精神，自我約束，他們對自己時間和精力的嚴格要求，以及多少次他們不得不表現出極大的勇氣來保持自身的正直或艱難地走向成功。這些都是天才爲了成爲天才而付出的個人代價，但是通過其前後句，沒有任何一個評述講到這種個人付出值還是不值。典型的文中無此信息型題目。
Test 3 Passage 3
Question 27
答案： ix
關鍵詞： fundamental differences, objects, organisms
定位原文：B段前4句“Our ‘dead’ products… the same way”
解題思路：要想弄清楚這一段的意思，至少要閱讀前半段，才能明白作者是在對object變舊的過程和生物體衰老的過程做對比。通過is not inexorable in the same way 猜測出是對應答案中的fundamental differences。正確答案爲ix。
Question 28
答案： ii
關鍵詞： dying, beneficial
定位原文：C段第3、4句“Nevertheless, a restricted…”
解題思路：首先在C段找到表達轉折意義的副詞 nevertheless，一般段落大意都藏在轉折詞後面;接着發現the reason for this，這就可以對應選項ii中的why;接着讀下去發現提到了死亡是必要的，immortality會擾亂整個生態系統，這樣就可以進行選擇了。正確答案是ii。
Question 29
答案： vii
關鍵詞： stable, despite improvements
定位原文：D段第2句和第4句“... but within one species…”“Although more…”
解題思路：本段指出，每個生物體都有極具特色的壽命;不同物種之間的壽命有很大差別，但同一物種中，這個參數相對恆定，這就是選項vii中所提到的a stable life span; 接下來的although則可以對應Heading中的despite, improvement對應句中的 developments in medical care and better nutrition。這樣就和Heading的意思完全吻合了。正確答案是vii。
Question 30
答案： i
關鍵詞： biological clock
定位原文：E段第1句“If a life span is a genetically…”
解題思路：本段首句中提到：如果壽命是一個由基因決定的生物特徵，那麼我們就有必要提出這樣一個觀點，那就是生物體內存在一個內部時鐘。這是文章第一次提到生物鐘這樣一個概念。正確答案是i。
Question 31：
答案： viii
關鍵詞： energy consumption
定位原文： F段第1句“Animals which behave 'frugally' with…”
解題思路：本段列舉了衆多例子,都是爲了說明一個問題——能力消耗的多少與壽命長短成反比：新陳代謝越快，壽命越，新陳代謝越慢，壽命越長。選項 iii“能力消耗”抽象概括了本段的主題。
Question 32：
答案： iv
關鍵詞： prolonging
定位原文： G段首句“It follows from…”
解題思路： Heading中的prolong一詞等同於本段首句中的extend。句意爲：“從上面的討論可以看出，節約使用我們的能量儲備應該可以延長壽命。”正確答案是iv。
Question 33 & Question 34
答案： physical chemistry (and) thermodynamics
關鍵詞： objects age in accordance with principle
定位原文： B段第3、4句“Ageing in this case…”
解題思路： 並列的兩處空格中需填名詞。首先到文中尋找 objects一詞，可以在B段順利找到，然後請注意尋找並列關係連接詞and，很快可以發現正確答案。答案爲physical chemistry (and) thermodynamics。
Question 35：
答案： adapt
關鍵詞： mutations, organisms
定位原文： C段第5句“Because of…”
解題思路： 首先通過mutations一詞將此題在文章中定位，雖然尋找過程不容易，但是一定要相信自己能找到。定位之後尋找空格後的關鍵字better to，根據空格前的情態動詞can推測空格處只能填一個動詞，而且是原型，還要能和to搭配。這麼一來，這句話裏只有一個對應詞比較合適：adaptation, 將其變形爲動詞即可。
Question 36：
答案： immortality
關鍵詞： evolution theory
定位原文： C段最後1句“Immortality would disturb …”
解題思路： 空格處要填入的是會對進化論帶來嚴重問題的內容，可通過evolution進行定位。注意disturb一詞意思 是“干擾、擾亂”，對應題目中的pose a serious problem for，因此答案爲 immortality。
Question 37：
答案： NO
關鍵詞： the wear and tear theory
定位原文： B段前4句“Our ‘dead’ products…”
解題思路：對於生物體而言，死亡並非不可阻擋的，因此自然磨損理論對於生物體來講，當然就不太適用了。 inexorable在解題中起着關鍵作用。
Question 38：
答案： YES
關鍵詞： older, ageing
定位原文： B段第5句“At least as long as…”
解題思路： 至少只要一個生物系統有能力自我更新，它就確實能夠不斷成長但不會老化……
這句話與題目中的敘述完全吻合，故答案應該是YES
Question 39：
答案： NOT GIVEN
關鍵詞： seven years, 90 per cent
定位原文： B段和F段
解題思路： 文章在 B 段和 F 段均提到生物體的更新代謝，但是並沒有提到具體的數值。
Question 40：
答案： YES
關鍵詞： energy
定位原文： G段第1句“It follows from…”
解題思路： 題目表述是G段首句的同義替換, 其中題目中的 conserving energy 對應原文中的 sparing use of energy。
