1、INTERNALTIONAL ENGLISH LANGUAGE TESTING SYSTEMACADEMIC READINGTEST 1TIME ALLOWED: 1 hour NUMBER OF QUESTIONS: 40INSTRUCTIONSWRITE ALL YOUR ANSWERS ON THE ANSWER SHEETThe test is in 3 sections: Reading Passage 1Reading Passage 2Reading Passage 3Questions 1 13Questions 14 26Questions 27 40Remember to

2、answer all the questions. If you are having trouble with a question, skip it and return to it later.READING PASSAGE 1You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1 13 which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.IMPROVING READING SPEEDIt is safe to say that almost anyone can double his speed of read

3、ing while maintaining equal or even higher comprehension. In other words, anyone can improve the speed with which he gets what he wants from his reading. The average college student reads between 250 and 350 words per minute on fiction and non-technical materials. A good reading speed is around 500

4、to 700 words per minute, but some people can read a thousand words per minute or even faster on these materials. What makes the difference? There are three main factors involved in improving reading speed: (1) the desire to improve, (2) the willingness to try new techniques and (3) the motivation to

5、 practice. Learning to read rapidly and well presupposes that you have the necessary vocabulary and comprehension skills. When you have advanced on the reading comprehension materials to a level at which you can understand college-level materials, you will be ready to begin speed reading practice in

6、 earnest.Understanding the role of speed in the reading process is essential. Research has shown a close relation between speed and understanding. For example, in checking progress charts of thousands of individuals taking reading training, it has been found in most cases that an increase in rate ha

7、s been paralleled by an increase in comprehension, and that where rate has gone down, comprehension has also decreased. Most adults are able to increase their rate of reading considerably and rather quickly without lowering comprehension.Some of the facts which reduce reading rate: limited perceptua

8、l span i.e., word-by-word reading; slow perceptual reaction time, i.e., slowness of recognition and response to the material; vocalization, including the need to vocalize in order to achieve comprehension; faulty eye movements, including inaccuracy in placement of the page, in return sweep, in rhyth

9、m and regularity of movement, etc.; regression, both habitual and as associated with habits of concentrationlack of practice in reading, due simply to the fact that the person has read very little and has limited reading interests so that very little reading is practiced in the daily or weekly sched

10、ule.Since these conditions act also to reduce comprehension increasing the reading rate through eliminating them is likely to result in increased comprehension as well. This is an entirely different matter from simply speeding up the rate of reading without reference to the conditions responsible fo

11、r the slow rate. In fact, simply speeding the rate especially through forced acceleration, may actually result, and often does, in making the real reading problem more severe. In addition, forced acceleration may even destroy confidence in ability to read. The obvious solution, then is to increase r

12、ate as a part of a total improvement of the whole reading process.A well planned program prepares for maximum increase in rate by establishing the necessary conditions. Three basic conditions include: Eliminate the habit of pronouncing words as you read. If you sound out words in your throat or whis

13、per them, you can read slightly only as fast as you can read aloud. You should be able to read most materials at least two or three times faster silently than orally. Avoid regressing (rereading). The average student reading at 250 words per minute regresses or rereads about 20 times per page. Rerea

14、ding words and phrases is a habit which will slow your reading speed down to a snails pace. Furthermore, the slowest reader usually regresses most frequently. Because he reads slowly, his mind has time to wander and his rereading reflects both his inability to concentrate and his lack of confidence

15、in his comprehension skills. Develop a wider eye-span. This will help you read more than one word at a glance. Since written material is less meaningful if read word by word, this will help you learn to read by phrases or thought units. Poor results are inevitable if the reader attempts to use the s

16、ame rate indiscriminately for all types of material and for all reading purposes. He must learn to adjust his rate to his purpose in reading and to the difficulty of the material he is reading. This ranges from a maximum rate on easy, familiar, interesting material or in reading to gather informatio

17、n on a particular point, to minimal rate on material which is unfamiliar in content and language structure or which must be thoroughly digested. The effective reader adjusts his rate; the ineffective reader uses the same rate for all types of material.Rate adjustment may be overall adjustment to the

18、 article as a whole, or internal adjustment within the article. Overall adjustment establishes the basic rate at which the total article is read; internal adjustment involves the necessary variations in rate for each varied part of the material. As an analogy, you plan to take a 100-mile mountain tr

19、ip. Since this will be a relatively hard drive with hills, curves, and a mountain pass, you decide to take three hours for the total trip, averaging about 35 miles an hour. This is your overall rate adjustment. However, in actual driving you may slow down to no more than 15 miles per hour on some cu

20、rves and hills, while speeding up to 50 miles per hour or more on relatively straight and level sections. This is your internal rate adjustment. There is no set rate, therefore, which the good reader follows inflexibly in reading a particular selection, even though he has set himself an overall rate

21、 for the total job.In keeping your reading attack flexible, adjust your rate sensitivity from article to article. It is equally important to adjust your rate within a given article. Practice these techniques until a flexible reading rate becomes second nature to you.Adapted from: .Questions 1

22、- 4 Choose the appropriate letters A D and write them in boxes 1 4 on your answer sheet.1. Which of the following is not a factor in improving your reading speed?(A).willing to try new skills(B).motivation to improve(C).desire to practice(D).hesitate to try new techniques2. Understanding college lev

23、el materials is a prerequisite for(A).learning to comprehend rapidly.(B).having the necessary vocabulary.(C).beginning speed reading.(D).practicing comprehension skills.3. For most people(A).a decrease in comprehension leads to a decrease in rate. (B).a decrease in rate leads to a increase in compre

24、hension.(C).an increase in rate leads to an increase in comprehension.(D).an increase in rate leads to a decrease in comprehension.4. Speeding up your reading rate through forced acceleration often results in(A).reducing comprehension.(B).increasing comprehension.(C).increasing your reading problem.

25、(D).reducing your reading problem.Questions 5 9Complete the table below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.FactorsEffectsReduces rateIncreases rateWider eye span(5)YES(6)Word-by-word readingYESSlow perceptual reaction(7)YES(8)Return sweep inaccuracyYES(9)Concentrate an

26、d be confidentYESQuestions 10 - 13 Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1? In boxes 10 13 on your answer sheet write.TRUEFALSENOT GIVENif the statement is trueif the statement is falseif the information is not given in the passage In gathering material on a

27、 topic a reader must maximize his reading rate. The basic rate for each part of the reading material involves an overall adjustment.The set rate for a 100-mile mountain trip is 35 miles an hour.13.A good reader never establishes a set rate for reading an article.READING PASSAGE 2You should spend abo

28、ut 20 minutes on Questions 14 26 which are based on Reading Passage 2 below.Questions 14 - 18 Reading Passage 2 has 9 paragraphs A IFrom the list of headings below choose the 5 most suitable headings for paragraphs B, C, E, G and H. Write the appropriate numbers ( )NB There are more headings than pa

29、ragraphs, so you will not use them all.List of HeadingsA warm laboratoryMorphology of stonefliesGoing back rather than going forwardFrom water to airAncient and modernWhich path did they take?A new theoryFrom stoneflies to waspsA short lifeInteresting insects.Paragraph BParagraph CParagraph EParagra

30、ph GParagraph HEvolution of Insect FlightA. Pterosaurs, birds and bats took to the air from evolutionary runways that scientists believe they understand fairly well, but insects began flying so much longer ago that details of their stepwise conquest of flight remain obscure. Scientists at Pennsylvan

31、ia State University hypothesize, however, that a present-day flightless insect called the stonefly may be closely related to ancestral insects that first learned to fly more than 330 million years ago.B. Last February, Dr. James H. Marden, a biologist at Pennsylvania State University, and Melissa G.

32、 Kramer, his student, began studying the behavior and biology of stoneflies - the immature nymphs of which are familiar to many fishermen as delicacies for trout. The nymphs begin life in river or pond water and then develop primitive wings enabling them to skim across water at high speed without ac

33、tually taking to the air. Marden and Ms. Kramer have concluded that the humble ancestor of such expert fliers as mosquitoes and wasps may have been very much like the stonefly.C. The stoneflies living in Canada and the northern United States, which belong to a primitive species called Taeniopteryx b

34、urksi, breed and mature in cold water and come to the surface for their skimming trip to shore in February and March. To study them, a scientist must work quickly, since the life span of a stonefly is only about two weeks. The adult stonefly has waterproof hair on its feet, and after reaching the su

35、rface of the water, it supports itself by coasting on the waters surface meniscus layer. To hasten its trip to the shore, the insect spreads its four feeble wings and flaps vigorously, using aerodynamic thrust to scoot across the water at speeds up to 2 feet per second. This, Marden said, appears to

36、 be the only time in its life the stonefly normally uses its wings.D. In a series of experiments Marden described in a report published in the current issue of the journal Science, he found that although stoneflies in the wild, where ambient temperatures were recorded as ranging between 32 degrees a

37、nd 53.6 degrees Fahrenheit, are completely flightless, their flying ability improves when they are warmed up in a laboratory. Even when warm, the insects never voluntarily take flight from a horizontal surface, but if they crawl to the edge of a table and drop over the side they will fly for a few y

38、ards before settling to the ground. Several specimens tested by the Penn State scientists actually gained a little altitude under their own power after being launched by hand, but none remained in the air for more than a few seconds.E. Stoneflies are interesting, Marden said in an interview, because

39、 so little is known of the specific changes insects underwent in the remote past as they gained the ability to fly. The stoneflys faltering efforts to use its wings may approximate a transitional stage of evolution that occurred some 350 million years ago, when swimming insects first became fliers.

40、F. The study of insect evolution is hampered by a gigantic gap in the fossil record. Although fossils of early nonflying insects have been found in sediments dating from the Devonian period nearly 400 million years ago, no insect fossils have turned up from the following 75-million-year period. Mard

41、en said that fossil insects reappear in strata 325 million years old, but by then they had evolved greatly, and their increased diversity suggests that at least some species had left the water to colonize land. Many of the fossils of that period look like present-day insects, including grasshoppers.

42、G. Stoneflies lack some features that are important for true fliers, They have relatively weak wing muscles, and their thoracic cuticle plates are not fused together to create a rigid external skeleton. Rigidity is needed to provide strong, inflexible attachment points for an insects wing muscles if

43、 it is to be capable of powered flight - a much more demanding activity than skimming or gliding. If the stonefly is similar to the first protofliers, this would argue against a widely held hypothesis that animal flight begins with gliding, from which powered flight eventually develops. Stoneflies n

44、ever glide, even though they are on the verge of flying.H. Although the stonefly may have evolved to its present form in a progressive direction from primitive swimming insects, it is possible, Marden believes, that its evolution was digressive - that its ancestors were true fliers that evolved into

45、 nonflying skimmers. Skimming requires much less energy than true flight, as demonstrated by a new family of skimming wing-in-ground-effect flightless aircraft developed during the last decade in Russia, China and Germany. These aircraft never rise more than a few feet above the ground or water, but

46、 their stubby wings support them on an air cushion that eliminates the drag of surface friction.I. Stoneflies seem to have found an ecological niche in any case, Marden said. Whether the evolutionary pathway of the stonefly was progressive or digressive makes little difference to the insect, he said

47、, but to an entomologist, the direction is important. By mapping behavioral characters and morphology 1 of stoneflies, we hope eventually to infer the direction by which evolution carried them to their present stage of development, Marden said.Glossary1 morphology The branch of biology that deals wi

48、th the form and structure of organismsQuestions 19 22Using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage, answer the following questions.19. How long ago did stoneflies first use their wings? 20. How wide is the fossil gap? Where is the only place that stoneflies actually fly?22. What time of the year d

49、o stoneflies use their wings?Questions 23 26Complete the summary below. Choose your answers from the list below the summary.NB There are more words than spaces, so you will not use them all.Stoneflies have (23) wing muscles and a (24) external skeleton so that they cannot be true fliers. As they can

50、t fly or (25) they skim. Less energy is needed for skimming and so stoneflies have found their (26). in life.List of Words new family rigid strong attachment pointsverge of flying glide weakecological niche cuticle an air cushionflexible powered flight take off READING PASSAGE 3You should spend abou

51、t 20 minutes on Questions 27 40 which are based on Reading Passage 3 below.Maternal Education and Child MortalityA. Many studies have been carried out which recognize education (especially that of mothers) as an effective way of improving childrens health and reducing child mortality. Caldwell refer

52、s to the results of two surveys that were carried out in Nigeria to arrive at the conclusion that Maternal education is the single most significant determinant of child mortality. However, maternal education is an intertwined factor, and hence may account for other variables that represent socio-eco

53、nomic conditions as well. B. Although the relationship between maternal education and childrens health is no longer an issue to be debated, there still exists a dearth of research information on the mechanisms through which maternal education works to improve childrens health. A few of the possible

54、mechanisms that have been focused so far are pointed out below: Education makes a woman conscious about the well being of herself and her family. It gives the basic ideas about the path to well being and also equips and encourages to increase her knowledge on healthy living; Education helps to form

55、the attitude to practice manners of hygiene; Education equips mothers with the knowledge of scientific causes of disease and proper health behaviour and illness behaviour for preventive and curative measures;Education encourages mothers to adopt proper feeding practices; Education makes the mothers

56、more willing to use health care services when necessary, and preparing them for overcoming the barriers in doing so. Doctors and nurses are more likely to listen to her, as she can demand their attention, whereas the illiterate might be completely rebuffed;Education allows greater exposure to the ma

57、ss media, which can keep mothers better informed about the health issues;Education empowers mothers to make and implement proper and timely decisions regarding their childrens health; Thus, we find maternal education as a gate way toward diversified aspects of modern life that significantly affect c

58、hildrens morbidity and mortality. C. A debate has arisen on the link between maternal education and childrens health concerns relative effectiveness of general education (acquired through formal schooling) and health education. While the former enables a mother to become literate and hence gain acce

59、ss to the understanding of written material, the latter only provides her with information on certain health issues. However, educating through general education is time consuming, and to get positive results for the improvement of the health of the illiterate masses, within a short time, health edu

60、cation might be a better choice. D. Although health education as such might be effective for the illiterate, health education cannot be a substitute for general education to ensure survival and health of the children. Rather, more lessons on topics necessary to know in order to maintain a healthy li