雅思閱讀提升之：如何提升閱讀速度
雅思閱讀提升難，難在閱讀速度上不去。生詞多，長難句看不懂，關鍵信息找不到。好吧，下面就爲大家帶來如何提升雅思閱讀速度的技巧。
雅思閱讀提升之：如何提升閱讀速度?
在1個小時內完成3篇1000字左右的中文閱讀不是難事，但是換成英文，並且是學術類文章，對於很多考生來說剛開始還是很有壓力的。如何節約更多時間做題，提高雅思閱讀速度變得很重要。
雅思閱讀提升之：速讀訓練
首先考生們要明確，雅思閱讀考察的是一個考生的閱讀理解能力，更是考察關鍵信息的獲取能力。考生未必要讀完全部內容纔開始做題，能夠在短時間內消化文章的關鍵信息纔是雅思閱讀的目的。
考生們還是要培養速度能力，比如關鍵信息一般出現在文章開頭，段落的首句或末尾。甚至部分關鍵信息出現在轉折語段。這些基本的獲取關鍵信息技巧能夠爭取足夠多的時間了。
雅思閱讀提升之：各題型技巧
當然速讀並不能解決全部問題，在遇到不同的閱讀題型時，考生也應該注意各類題型的解題方法。
比如主旨題(List of Headings)：主要考察的是考生的概括能力，那麼速讀對主旨定位的幫助很大。
而遇到一些考察細節的題目：判斷題T/F/NG、信息匹配題Matching、選擇題Multiple Choice等。則需要考生能夠迅速定位題目與原文中的關鍵詞了。
定位關鍵詞信息注意點：同義替換。
除了部分專有名詞無法替換之外，雅思閱讀處處可見同義替換，對考生來說，定位關鍵信息就變得很困難。同義替換的方式太多，同義詞、近義詞、短語，甚至句型轉換都有可能進行替換。
雅思閱讀提升之：做好詞彙積累
最後來說雅思閱讀詞彙積累，雅思閱讀文章有很多學術詞彙，這類專業詞彙並不會影響考生們做題，適當進行拓展閱讀即可瞭解到，不必過分追求這些詞彙。
學術類文章涉及多個學科，很多考生專業知識並不豐富，但總體來說，雅思閱讀的文章偏科普，並沒有達到學術專業文章的難度，基本上就是大學基礎課程的閱讀內容的難度。
而考生們需要積累的詞彙是閱讀高頻詞彙，尤其是同義詞、短語的積累。那這些詞彙來源於哪呢?建議考生可以參考劍雅真題閱讀系列文章，根據考生自己的詞彙量，總結文章中的生詞。如果考生有精力，可以再拓展部分外文期刊雜誌中的一些閱讀詞彙。
雅思閱讀模擬真題：Why did a promising heart drug fail
Why did a promising heart drug fail?
Doomed drug highlights complications of meddling with cholesterol.
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.
has been administered to over 10,000 subjects in a clinical trial.
could help rid human body of cholesterol.
archers 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
Suggested Answers and Explanations
1. vi
2. ii
3. vii 本段介紹了torcetrapib和statin的治病原理，但是同時短語“in contrast”與之前第二段後半段的內容呼應，暗示了這兩種藥在理論上能相輔相成，是理想的搭配。第一個選項無法涵蓋整段意義，故選擇i是錯誤的。
4. iii 本段分析了可能導致torcetrapibl臨牀試驗失敗的原因，後半段指出如果以上推測正確，那麼未來的藥物可借鑑這個試驗，設法避免torcetrapib的缺陷，研製出有效的藥物。viii選項無法涵蓋後半段的意思。
5. ix 見首句。
6. v
7. A 見第二段。題目中administer一詞意爲“用藥”，subject一詞爲“實驗對象”之意。
8. B 見第四段“… to raise levels of HDLs, which ferry cholesterol out of artery-clogging plaques to the liver for removal from the body.”即HDLs的作用最終是將choleserol清除出人體：“… for removal from the body”。
9. B 見第四段“But HDLs are complex and not entirely understood.”
10. C 見第二段“… plus a cholesterol-lowering statin”，即statin是可以降低cholesterol的。
11. D 見第六段“So inhibiting CETP, … might actually cause an abnormal and irreversible accumulation of cholesterol in the body.
12. A 見第三段。
13. C 見第四段“Statins, in contrast, mainly work by lowering the 'bad' low-density lipoproteins.”
雅思閱讀模擬真題：The Triumph of Unreason
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 volunteer's 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. People's 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:
大腦的不同部位 (皮層，皮質等)
e.g. cerebellar cortex 小腦皮層cerebral cortex 大腦皮層
2. hone:
珩磨，磨快，磨練，訓練使。。。更完美或有效.
3. subvert:
毀滅，破壞;摧毀：
4. piggyback：
騎在肩上;在肩上騎
5. deferment:
推遲、延遲、分期付款
6. aftertaste:
餘味，回味事情或經歷結束後的感覺，特指令人不快的感覺
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
