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雅思剑8Test2原文READING PASSAGE 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.
Sheet glass manufacture:
the float process
Glass, which has been made since the time of the Mesopotamians and Egyptians, is little more than a mixture of sand, soda ash and lime. When heated to about 1500 degrees Celsius (℃) this becomes a molten mass that hardens when slowly cooled. The first successful method for making clear, flat glass involved spinning. This method was very effective as the glass had not touched any surfaces between being soft and becoming hard, so it stayed perfectly unblemished, with a 'fire finish'. However, the process took a long time and was labour intensive.
Nevertheless, demand for flat glass was very high and glassmakers across the world were looking for a method of making it continuously. The first continuous ribbon process involved squeezing molten glass through two hot rollers, similar to an old mangle. This allowed glass of virtually any thickness to be made non-stop, but the rollers would leave both sides of the glass marked, and these would then need to be ground and polished. This part of the process rubbed away around 20 per cent of the glass, and the machines were very expensive.
The float process for making flat glass was invented by Alistair Pilkington. This process allows the manufacture of clear, tinted and coated glass for buildings, and clear and tinted glass for vehicles. Pilkington had been experimenting with improving the melting process, and in 1952 he had the idea of using a bed of molten metal to form the flat glass, eliminating altogether the need for rollers within the float bath. The metal had to melt at a temperature less than the hardening point of glass (about 600℃), but could not boil at a temperature below the temperature of the molten glass (about 1500℃). The best metal for the job was tin.
The rest of the concept relied on gravity, which guaranteed that the surface of the molten metal was perfectly flat and horizontal. Consequently, when pouring molten glass onto the molten tin, the underside of the glass would also be perfectly flat. If the glass were kept hot enough, it would flow over the molten tin until the top surface was also flat, horizontal and perfectly parallel to the bottom surface. Once the glass cooled to 604℃ or less it was too hard to mark and could be transported out of the cooling zone by rollers. The glass settled to a thickness of six millimetres because of surface tension interactions between the glass and the tin. By fortunate coincidence, 60 per cent of the flat glass market at that time was for six-millimetre glass.
Pilkington built a pilot plant in 1953 and by 1955 he had convinced his company to build a full-scale plant. However, it took 14 months of non-stop production, costing the company ￡100,000 a month, before the plant produced any usable glass. Furthermore, once they succeeded in making marketable flat glass, the machine was turned off for a service to prepare it for years of continuous production. When it started up again it took another four months to get the process right again. They finally succeeded in 1959 and there are now float plants all over the world, with each able to produce around 1000 tons of glass every day, non-stop for around 15 years.
Float plants today make glass of near optical quality. Several processes — melting, refining, homogenising — take place simultaneously in the 2000 tonnes of molten glass in the furnace. They occur in separate zones in a complex glass flow driven by high temperatures. It adds up to a continuous melting process, lasting as long as 50 hours, that delivers glass smoothly and continuously to the float bath, and from there to a coating zone and finally a heat treatment zone, where stresses formed during cooling are relieved.
The principle of float glass is unchanged since the 1950s. However, the product has changed dramatically, from a single thickness of 6.8 mm to a range from sub-millimetre to 25 mm, from a ribbon frequently marred by inclusions and bubbles to almost optical perfection. To ensure the highest quality, inspection takes place at every stage. Occasionally, a bubble is not removed during refining, a sand grain refuses to melt, a tremor in the tin puts ripples into the glass ribbon. Automated on-line inspection does two things. Firstly, it reveals process faults upstream that can be corrected. Inspection technology allows more than 100 million measurements a second to be made across the ribbon, locating flaws the unaided eye would be unable to see. Secondly, it enables computers downstream to steer cutters around flaws.
Float glass is sold by the square metre, and at the final stage computers translate customer requirements into patterns of cuts designed to minimise waste.
Questions 1-8
Complete the table and diagram below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 1-8 on your answer sheet.
Early methods of producing flat glass
Method Advantages Disadvantages
1............
Glass remained
2........... Slow
3.............
Ribbon
Could produce glass sheets of varying 4.............
non-stop process Glass was 5...........
20% of glass rubbed away
Machines were expensive
Questions 9-13
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1
In boxes 9-13 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
9 The metal used in the float process had to have specific properties.
10 Pilkington invested some of his own money in his float plant.
11 Pilkington’s first full-scale plant was an instant commercial success.
12 The process invented by Pilkington has now been improved.
13 Computers are better than humans at detecting faults in glass.
READING PASSAGE 2
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26, which are based on Reading Passage 2 on the following pages.
Question 14-17
Reading passage 2 has six paragraphs, A-F.
Choose the correct heading for paragraphs B and D-F from the list of headings below.
Write the correct number, i-ix, in boxes 14-17 on your answer sheet.
List of Headings
i Predicting climatic changes
ii The relevance of the Little Ice Age today
iii How cities contribute to climate change.
iv Human impact on the climate
v How past climatic conditions can be determined
vi A growing need for weather records
vii A study covering a thousand years
viii People have always responded to climate change
ix Enough food at last
Example Answer
Paragraph A Viii
14 Paragraph B
Example Answer
Paragraph C V
15 Paragraph D
16 Paragraph E
17 Paragraph F
THE LITTLE ICE AGE
A This book will provide a detailed examination of the Little Ice Age and other climatic shifts, but, before I embark on that, let me provide a historical context. We tend to think of climate — as opposed to weather — as something unchanging, yet humanity has been at the mercy of climate change for its entire existence, with at least eight glacial episodes in the past 730,000 years. Our ancestors adapted to the universal but irregular global warming since the end of the last great Ice Age, around 10,000 years ago, with dazzling opportunism. They developed strategies for surviving harsh drought cycles, decades of heavy rainfall or unaccustomed cold; adopted agriculture and stock-raising, which revolutionised human life; and founded the world's first pre-industrial civilisations in Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Americas. But the price of sudden climate change, in famine, disease and suffering, was often high.
B The Little Ice Age lasted from roughly 1300 until the middle of the nineteenth century. Only two centuries ago, Europe experienced a cycle of bitterly cold winters; mountain glaciers in the Swiss Alps were the lowest in recorded memory, and pack ice surrounded Iceland for much of the year. The climatic events of the Little Ice Age did more than help shape the modern world. They are the deeply important context for the current unprecedented global warming. The Little Ice Age was far from a deep freeze, however; rather an irregular seesaw of rapid climatic shifts, few lasting more than a quarter-century, driven by complex and still little understood interactions between the atmosphere and the ocean. The seesaw brought cycles of intensely cold winters and easterly winds, then switched abruptly to years of heavy spring and early summer rains, mild winters, and frequent Atlantic storms, or to periods of droughts, light northeasterly winds, and summer heat waves.
C Reconstructing the climate changes of the past is extremely difficult, because systematic weather observations began only a few centuries ago, in Europe and North America. Records from India and tropical Africa are even more recent. For the time before records began, we have only 'proxy records' reconstructed largely from tree rings and ice cores, supplemented by a few incomplete written accounts. We now have hundreds of tree-ring records from throughout the northern hemisphere, and many from south of the equator, too, amplified with a growing body of temperature data from ice cores drilled in Antarctica, Greenland, the Peruvian Andes, and other locations, we are close to a knowledge of annual summer and winter temperature variations over much of the northern hemisphere going back 600 years.
D This book is a narrative history of climatic shifts during the past ten centuries, and some of the ways in which people in Europe adapted to them. Part One describes the Medieval Warm Period, roughly 900 to 1200. During these three centuries, Norse voyagers from Northern Europe explored northern seas, settled Greenland, and visited North America. It was not a time of uniform warmth, for then, as always since the Great Ice Age, there were constant shifts in rainfall and temperature. Mean European temperatures were about the same as today, perhaps slightly cooler.
E It is known that the Little Ice Age cooling began in Greenland and the Arctic in about 1200. As the Arctic ice pack spread southward, Norse voyages to the west were rerouted into the open Atlantic, then ended altogether. Storminess increased in the North Atlantic and North Sea. Colder, much wetter weather descended on Europe between 1315 and 1319, when thousands perished in a continent-wide famine. By 1400, the weather had become decidedly more unpredictable and stormier, with sudden shifts and lower temperatures that culminated in the cold decades of the late sixteenth century. Fish were a vital commodity in growing towns and cities, where food supplies were a constant concern. Dried cod and herring were already the staples of the European fish trade, but changes in water temperatures forced fishing fleets to work further offshore. The Basques, Dutch, and English developed the first offshore fishing boats adapted to a colder and stormier Atlantic. A gradual agricultural revolution in northern Europe stemmed from concerns over food supplies at a time of rising populations. The revolution involved intensive commercial farming and the growing of animal fodder on land not previously used for crops. The increased productivity from farmland made some countries self-sufficient in grain and livestock and offered effective protection against famine.
F Global temperatures began to rise slowly after 1850, with the beginning of the Modern Warm Period. There was a vast migration from Europe by land-hungry farmers and others, to which the famine caused by the Irish potato blight contributed, to North America, Australia, New Zealand, and southern Africa. Millions of hectares of forest and woodland fell before the newcomers' axes between 1850 and 1890, as intensive European farming methods expanded across the world. The unprecedented land clearance released vast quantities of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, triggering for the first time humanly caused global warming. Temperatures climbed more rapidly in the twentieth century as the use of fossil fuels proliferated and greenhouse gas levels continued to soar. The rise has been even steeper since the early 1980s. The Little Ice Age has given way to a new climatic regime, marked by prolonged and steady warming. At the same time, extreme weather events like Category 5 hurricanes are becoming more frequent.
Questions 18-22
Complete the summary using the list of words, A-I, below.
Write the correct letter, A-I, in boxes 18-22 on your answer sheet.
Weather during the Little Ice Age
Documentation of past weather conditions is limited: our main sources of knowledge of conditions in the distant past are 18...........and 19.................. We can deduce that the Little Ice Age was a time of 20.............. , rather than of consistent freezing. Within it there were some periods of very cold winters, other of 21...............and heavy rain, and yet others that saw 22................with no rain at all.
A climatic shifts B ice cores C tree rings
D glaciers E interactions F weather observations
G heat waves H storms I written accounts
Questions 23-26
Classify the following events as occurring during the
A Medieval Warm Period
B Little Ice Age
C Modern Warm Period
Write the correct letter, A, B or C, in boxes 23-26 on your answer sheet.
23 Many Europeans started farming abroad.
24 The cutting down of trees began to affect the climate.
25 Europeans discovered other lands.
26 Changes took place in fishing patterns.
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 six paragraphs, A-F.
Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below.
Write the correct number, i-viii, in boxes 27-32 on your answer sheet.
List of Headings
i The difficulties of talking about smells
ii The role of smell in personal relationships
iii Future studies into smell
iv The relationship between the brain and the nose
v The interpretation of smells as a factor in defining groups
vi Why our sense of smell is not appreciated
vii Smell is our superior sense
viii The relationship between smell and feelings
27 paragraph A
28 paragraph B
29 paragraph C
30 paragraph D
31 paragraph E
32 paragraph F
The meaning and power of smell
The sense of smell, or olfaction, is powerful. Odours affect us on a physical, psychological and social level. For the most part, however, we breathe in the aromas which surround us without being consciously aware of their importance to us. It is only when the faculty of smell is impaired for some reason that we begin to realise the essential role the sense of smell plays in our sense of well-being
A A survey conducted by Anthony Synott at Montreal's Concordia University asked participants to comment on how important smell was to them in their lives. It became apparent that smell can evoke strong emotional responses. A scent associated with a good experience can bring a rush of joy, while a foul odour or one associated with a bad memory may make us grimace with disgust. Respondents to the survey noted that many of their olfactory likes and dislikes were based on emotional associations. Such associations can be powerful enough so that odours that we would generally label unpleasant become agreeable, and those that we would generally consider fragrant become disagreeable for particular individuals. The perception of smell, therefore, consists not only of the sensation of the odours themselves, but of the experiences and emotions associated with them.
B Odours are also essential cues in social bonding. One respondent to the survey believed that there is no true emotional bonding without touching and smelling a loved one. In fact, infants recognise the odours of their mothers soon after birth and adults can often identify their children or spouses by scent. In one well-known test, women and men were able to distinguish by smell alone clothing worn by their marriage partners from similar clothing worn by other people. Most of the subjects would probably never have given much thought to odour as a cue for identifying family members before being involved in the test, but as the experiment revealed, even when not consciously considered, smells register.
C In spite of its importance to our emotional and sensory lives, smell is probably the most undervalued sense in many cultures. The reason often given for the low regard in which smell is held is that, in comparison with its importance among animals, the human sense of smell is feeble and undeveloped. While it is true that the olfactory powers of humans are nothing like as fine as those possessed by certain animals, they are still remarkably acute. Our noses are able to recognise thousands of smells, and to perceive odours which are present only in extremely small quantities.
D Smell, however, is a highly elusive phenomenon. Odours, unlike colours, for instance, cannot be named in many languages because the specific vocabulary simply doesn't exist. ‘It smells like…,’ we have to say when describing an odour, struggling to express our olfactory experience. Nor can odours be recorded: there is no effective way to either capture or store them over time. In the realm of olfaction, we must make do with descriptions and recollections. This has implications for olfactory research.
E Most of the research on smell undertaken to date has been of a physical scientific nature. Significant advances have been made in the understanding of the biological and chemical nature of olfaction, but many fundamental questions have yet to be answered. Researchers have still to decide whether smell is one sense or two — one responding to odours proper and the other registering odourless chemicals in the air. Other unanswered questions are whether the nose is the only part of the body affected by odours, and how smells can be measured objectively given the non-physical components. Questions like these mean that interest in the psychology of smell is inevitably set to play an increasingly important role for researchers.
F However, smell is not simply a biological and psychological phenomenon. Smell is cultural, hence it is a social and historical phenomenon. Odours are invested with cultural values: smells that are considered to be offensive in some cultures may be perfectly acceptable in others. Therefore, our sense of smell is a means of, and model for, interacting with the world. Different smells can provide us with intimate and emotionally charged experiences and the value that we attach to these experiences is interiorised by the members of society in a deeply personal way. Importantly, our commonly held feelings about smells can help distinguish us from other cultures. The study of the cultural history of smell is, therefore, in a very real sense, an investigation into the essence of human culture.
Questions 33-36
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in boxes 33-36 on your answer sheet.
33 According to the introduction, we become aware of the importance of smell when
A we discover a new smell.
B we experience a powerful smell.
C our ability to smell is damaged.
D we are surrounded by odours.
34 The experiment described in paragraph B
A shows how we make use of smell without realising it.
B demonstrates that family members have a similar smell.
C proves that a sense of smell is learnt.
D compares the sense of smell in males and females.
35 What is the write doing in paragraph C
A supporting other research
B making a proposal
C rejecting a common belief
D describing limitations
36 What does the write suggest about the study of smell in the atmosphere in paragraph E
A The measurement of smell is becoming more accurate.
B Researchers believe smell is a purely physical reaction.
C Most smells are inoffensive.
D Smell is yet to be defined.
Questions 37-40
Complete the sentences below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet.
37 Tests have shown that odours can help people recognise the.......... belonging to their husbands and wives.
38 Certain linguistic groups may have difficulty describing smell because they lack the appropriate ................ .
39 The sense of smell may involve response to................ which do not smell, in addition to obvious odours.
40 Odours regarded as unpleasant in certain.................are not regarded as unpleasant in others.
雅思剑8Test2参考译文PASSAGE 1：
玻璃板制造：浮法工艺
早在美索不达米亚时期和古埃及时期人们就开始制造玻璃，当时制作出的玻璃只不过是沙子、碳酸钠 和石灰的混合物而已。该混合物被加热到约1500摄氏度时会变成熔质，慢慢冷却后会硬化。最早成功制出透明、平整的玻璃的工艺中包括旋制法。该制法非常有效，因为玻璃在由软变硬的过程中不会接触任何表面，因此可以一直保持完美无瑕的状态，最后通过“火处理”收尾。然而，该过程耗时很长，而且要耗费大量的劳动力。
尽管如此，人们对平整玻璃的需求很高，全世界的玻璃制造者都在寻找可以连续制造玻璃的方法。第一个连续带式工艺过程是用两个高温滚轴挤压熔化的玻璃——类似老式的轧板机。该工艺可以连续不断地制造几乎各种厚度的玻璃，但是滚轴会在玻璃板的两面都留下痕迹，这就需要对玻璃进行打磨和抛光。这一过程会磨去约20%的玻璃，而且所用的机器也很昂贵。
Alistair Pilkington发明了浮法玻璃制造工艺。该制法可以用来制造用于建筑物上的透明、有色的加膜玻璃，也可以为车辆提供透明的有色玻璃。Pilkington 一直在反复实验，研究如何改良熔化工艺。在1952年，他 萌生了用熔化金属作基床加工玻璃板的想法，有了这样的金属液槽，就可以彻底淘汰滚轴了。该金属的熔点必须低于玻璃的硬化温度(约600摄氏度)，但同时沸点要高于熔化玻璃的温度(约1500摄氏度)。最符合这些条件的金属是锡。
实现这一想法的另一个条件就是重力。重力可以保证熔化金属的表面完全平整且水平。因此，把熔化的玻璃浇在熔锡上时，玻璃的下表面也会完全平整。如果玻璃能够保持足够的高温，它就会在熔锡上慢慢流动，直到其上表面也平整、水平，并与下表面完全平行。一旦将玻璃冷却至604摄氏度或更低，玻璃就会 硬化到表面不会被刮花的程度，这样就可以通过滚轴将其运送到冷却槽了。玻璃和锡的表面张力相互作用会使成形的玻璃板的厚度稳定在6毫米。幸运的巧合是，当时市场对玻璃板的需求有60%是6毫米玻璃板。
1953年，Pilkington建立了一个试点工厂。到1955年为止，他已经说服他的公司建立成套的工业装置。然而，他们经过14个月的不间断生产且每个月花费10万英镑，才在厂里首次生产出可用的玻璃。而且，他们 在成功生产出能投人市场的玻璃之后，就将机器关闭了，为的是在接下来几年能够持续生产。当机器再次投人生产时，又花了四个月的时间来使生产流程走上正轨。1959年，他们终于成功了。如今浮法制玻工厂遍布全球，每一个工厂都能够15年不间断地日产玻璃千吨。
今天的浮法制玻工厂可以生产出接近光学质量的玻璃。在容纳了2000吨熔化玻璃的熔炉内，同时进行着多个程序——溶化、精炼、均质化。这些过程发生在由高温驱动的熔化玻璃流的不同区域，并汇总成为一个长达50小时的无间断熔炼过程，向金属液槽平稳、连续地提供玻璃。接着玻璃会被送往加膜区，最后 会被送达热处理区——该区域能够缓释玻璃内部在冷却过程中产生的应力。
自20世纪50年代以来，浮法制玻的原理不曾改变过。然而，玻璃制品却经历了巨大变化：从之前单一的6.8毫米玻璃板到如今的亚毫米级至25毫米区间任意厚度的玻璃板;从之前很容易被内含物和气泡损毁 的玻璃带到如今接近光学完美的玻璃。为了保证最高质量，每一个生产阶段都有监察。偶尔，在精炼过程中 也会有一个气泡未被排出，一颗沙粒没有熔化，或是液锡的波动导致玻璃带产生波纹等情况。自动的在线监察有两项任务：一是向上游(生产前阶段)报告生产过程中可以修正的纰漏。监察技术可以在玻璃带上实 现每秒超过一亿次的测量，以定位肉眼无法辨认的瑕疵;二是让下游(生产后阶段)计算机操控刀具切割掉有瑕疵的部分。
浮法玻璃是按平方米出售的。在生产的最后阶段，计算机会根据顾客的需求设计玻璃的裁割方案，以实现浪费的最小化。
雅思剑8Test2参考译文 PASSAGE 2 ：
小冰期
A.本书详细讨论了小冰期和其他气候变化，但是在我开始部分之前，我要向大家提供一个相关的历史背景。我们倾向于认为气候是不变的(与天气正好相反)。然而，人类自存在之日起就一直受到气候变化的支配——过去的73万年间至少出现过八次冰河期。自从大约一万年前的上一次大冰河期的末期开始，我们的祖先就凭借非凡的投机手段适应着普遍存在却并不规律的全球变暖。他们制定了各种策略，以便在周期性的大干旱、连绵数十年的暴雨或罕见的低温环境中存活;他们发展的农业和畜牧业给人类 的生活带来了革命;他们在埃及、美索不达米亚和美洲大陆建立了世界上最早的前工业化文明。但是，气候骤变带来的恶果——饥荒、瘟疫和苦难，往往十分严重。
B.小冰期大致从公元1300年持续到19世纪中期。仅两个世纪以前，欧洲遭遇了周期性的严冬，瑞士阿尔卑斯山脉的高山冰川的高度达到史上最低，冰岛周围常年被浮冰环绕。小冰期的气候活动不仅在塑造现代地球环境方面发挥了作用，也为如今史无前例的全球变暖现象提供了温床。然而，小冰期远非一个深度冰冻期，它实际上是由大气与海洋之间复杂难解的相互作用引起的、持续期普遍短于25年的一系列不规则气候剧变的集合。这样的起伏波动先是带来周期性的严冬和东风，然后又突然转变为持续数年的春季暴雨、夏季早雨、暖冬和频繁的大西洋风暴，抑或周期性干旱、轻东北风和酷暑热浪。
C.重构过去的气候变化极其困难，因为系统的天气观测仅仅在几个世纪之前才始于欧洲和北美洲。印度和热带非洲的记录开始得更晚。至于有记录之前的年代，我们只有“代理记录”——大部分根据树木的年轮和冰芯(的数据)重建，并辅之以少量不完整的手写记录。如今，我们拥有几百份树木年轮的记录，遍布北半球和赤道以南的很多地区;我们还从南极洲、格陵兰岛、秘鲁安第斯及其他地区钻得的冰芯中得到了越来越多的温度数据时该记录进行补充。我们很快就要掌握北半球大部600前年的年度冬夏温度变化了。
D.本书讲述了过去10个世纪间气候变化的历史，还介绍了欧洲人为了适应气候变化所采用的一些方法。第一部分描述了中世纪暖期，大致从公元900年持续到1200年。在这三个世纪中，古斯堪的纳维亚的航海者们从欧洲北部出发探索北海，在格陵兰岛定居，并探访了北美大陆。当时的气候就像大冰河期之后的所有时期一样，并非始终如一的暖期：雨量和温度经历着持续的变化。当时欧洲的平均温度和现在差不多，可能稍低一点。
E.众所周知，大约从公元1200年起，格陵兰岛和北极开始降温，小冰期到来。由于北极浮冰向南扩散，古斯堪的纳维亚向西的航海路线变更至开放的大西洋，然后一切航行都终止了。北大西洋和北海的风暴增加。1315年至1319年间，更冷更潮湿的天气降临欧洲大陆，成千上万的人死于横扫整个大陆的饥荒。到了1400年，天气明显变得更加难以预测，狂风暴雨的几率大增，间或出现气温急转直下，在16世纪末的几十年寒期时降到谷底。在那些正在兴起的城镇里，食品供应向来重要，而鱼类是至关重要的商品。鳕鱼干和鲱鱼干已成为欧洲鱼类贸易的主要产品，但是水温的变化迫使渔船驶向更加远离海岸的海域。巴斯克人、荷兰人和英国人最先造出了能够适应在寒冷、多风暴的大西洋中航行的离岸渔船。在人口增加时期，对食物供应的关心导致了北欧渐进的农业革命。这次革命带来了集中的商业耕种，以及为了种植动物饲料而在非农作物用地上进行的土地开垦。农作物产量的提高使得部分国家能够实现粮食和家畜的自给自足，为抵制饥荒提供了有效保障。
F.1850年以后，全球温度开始逐渐上升，拉开了现代暖期的序幕。一大批欧洲居民——从渴求土地的农民，到不堪爱尔兰马铃薯饥荒(由马铃薯枯萎病引起)的饥民——移居到了北美、澳大利亚、新西兰和非洲南部。1850年至1890年间，由于集中式欧洲农耕法传遍全球，数百万公顷的森林和林地毁于拓荒者的斧下。前所未有的大规模开荒使得巨量的二氧化碳被排人大气，并引起第一次人为的全球变暖。到了20世纪，由于矿物燃料的使用激增、温室气体量的持续增加，气温攀升的速度进一步加快。尤其是20世纪80年代以来，升温的速度加剧。小冰期被一种新的气候变化模式取代，其显著特点是长期、稳定的升温。与此同时，极端天气，如五级以上的飓风，正变得更加频繁。
雅思剑8Test2参考译文 PASSAGE 3 ：
嗅觉的意义和力量
对气味的感觉，或嗅觉，是十分强大的。气味在生理、心理和社会层面均对我们产生影响。然而，在大多数情况下，我们吸入周围的气味却并不自觉它们对我们的重要性。只有当嗅觉因某种原因受损而失灵时，我们才开始意识到嗅觉在我们的幸福感中扮演的重要角色。
A.—项由Anthony Synott在蒙特利尔的Concordia大学开展的调查要求参与者评价一下嗅觉在他们的生活中的重要性。很明显，嗅觉能够唤起强烈的情感回应。某种和愉快经历相关的气味会带来欣喜之感;污浊的气味或与糟糕经历有关的气味则可能让人恶心得面部扭曲。这项调查的应答者们觉察到自身很多对嗅觉的好恶都基于情感联系。这样的联系在强到一定程度时，会让大众普遍不喜欢的气味变得令特定个体愉快，也会让大众公认为芬芳的气味变得让特定个体讨厌。因此，对于气味的感知不单单包括对其本身的感觉，也包括对与其相关的经历和情感的认知。
B.气味是社会联系的重要线索。一位接受调查的人认为，如果不去触碰和嗅闻你所爱的人或物，那么你们之间就没有建立起真正的情感联系。事实上，婴儿在出生后不久后就会辨识母亲的气味，成人也往往可以通 过气味辨认自己的孩子或伴侣。在一项著名的测试中，被测女性和男性都能够仅通过气味在相同的衣物 中区分自己的配偶穿过的衣服和其他人穿过的衣服。大部分被测者在参加测试之前，很有可能从来都没有意识到气味也能成为辨认家庭成员的线索。然而正如试验所揭示的，就算没有这样的意识，气味仍然会给人留下印象。
C.尽管嗅觉对我们的情感和感知生活都很重要，但它可能在很多文化中仍是最不受重视的官能。嗅觉遭受轻视的原因常常被归结为：相对于十分重视嗅觉功能的动物而言，人类的嗅觉功能较弱而且不发达。虽然人类的嗅觉确实不如某些动物的那样杰出，但是仍然相当敏锐。我们的鼻子能够分辨成千上万种气味，也可以感知极微量的气味。
D.然而，嗅觉是种非常难以捉摸的现象。气味与色彩不同，例如，在很多种语言中都很难给气味进行命名，这是因为特定的词汇根本不存在。我们想要描述某种气味时，只能说“它闻起来像……”，绞尽脑汁地表达我们的嗅觉感受。气味也无法记录：没有有效的方法能够捕获或长时间地保存气味。在嗅觉的领域，我们只能勉强依赖描述和回忆，这就涉及对嗅觉的研究。
E.迄今为止进行的多数关于嗅觉的研究都具有物理科学性质。对于气味的生化组成的了解已有了重要的发现，但是很多基本问题仍未得到解答。研究者们还需要判断嗅觉到底是一种还是两种感觉种感觉回应气味本身，另一种感觉记录空气中无味的化学成分。其他未解的问题包括鼻子是否唯一受气味影响的身体器官，以及如何客观地测量无形的气味。这样的问题意味着对于研究者来说，对嗅觉心理 学的兴趣势必起到越来越重要的作用。
F.然而，嗅觉并不只是一种生物学和心理学现象。嗅觉具有文化属性，因此也是一种社会学和历史学现象。嗅觉被赋予了文化价值：在有些文化中具有冒犯意味的气味到了其他文化中可能就变得可以为人所接受了。因此，我们的嗅觉是与世界进行互动的手段和模式。不同的气味能为我们提供私人的、感情充沛的经历，我们赋予这些经历的价值又会被社会成员以极个人的方式吸纳。重要的是，我们对气味所持有的共同感受能够帮助我们区分自身与其他文化群体。因此，对于气味的文化历史研究确实是深入人类文化本质的钻研。
TEST 3 PASSAGE 1 参考译文：
用激光回击闪电
很少有比雷暴天气更令人感到恐怖的天气了。仅在美国，猛烈的雷暴电流每年都会造成大约500人死亡或重伤。云层翻滚而来的时候，在户外打一场轻松的高尔夫成了一件异常可怕的事情，无异于是在拿自己的性命开玩笑——孤身一人在户外的高尔夫球手可能是闪电最喜欢攻击的目标。此外，闪电也会带来财产损失。每年闪电会对美国电力公司造成超过一亿美元的损失。
不过，美国和日本的研究人员正在策划回击闪电的方案。他们已开始通过实验测试中和雷暴电荷的各种方法。今年冬天，他们将直面雷暴：使用配备的激光器射向空中的雨云，使其在闪电出现之前放电。
迫使雨云根据指令释放闪电并非一个新想法。早在20世纪60年代早期，研究者们就尝试过把带着拖曳线的火箭射入雨云，以期为这些云层发出的庞大的电荷群搭建起便捷的放电路径。由于受到建在加利福尼亚的电力研究所(EPRI)的支持，这一技术在佛罗里达的州立大学试验基地幸存到了今天。EPRI由电力公司资助，现正致力于研究保护美国输电网不受闪电袭击的方法。“我们可以通过火箭让闪电击向我们想让它去的地方，”EPRI的闪电项目经理Ralph Bernstein如此说道。该火箭基地现在能对闪电电压进行精确测量，并可以让工程师们检测电气设备的负载。
不良行为
虽然火箭在研究中功不可没，但它们无法提供闪电来袭时所有人都希求的保护。每支火箭造价大约 1,200美元，发射频率有限，而失败率却高达40%。即使它们确实能够引发闪电，事情也无法总是按计划顺利进行。“闪电可不那么听话”，Bernstein说，“它们偶尔会走岔路，射到它们本不该去的地方。”
但不管怎样，有谁会想在人口密集的地区发射成群的火箭呢 “射上去的肯定会掉下来，”新墨西哥大学的Jean-Claude Diels指出。Diels现在正在负责一个项目，该项目由ERPI所支持，试图通过发射激光使闪电安全放电——安全是一项基本要求，因为没人愿意把他们自己的性命或他们的昂贵设备置于危险之中。有了迄今为止的50万美元的投入，一套有巨大潜力的系统装置正在该实验室慢慢成形。
这一系统装置的想法始于大约20年前，当时正在开发大功率激光器从原子中提取电荷并生成离子的能力。如果激光器能够生成一条直达暴雨云的离子线，就可以在闪电电场增强为一股无法控制的涌流并击破空气之前，用这条传导通道把电荷引导到地面上来。为了防止激光器本身受到电击，不能把它直接对准云层，而是要把它对准一面镜子，让激光通过镜子折射向天空。要在靠近镜子的四周布置闪电传导器从而 对其进行保护。理想的做法是，云层遥控器(枪)要比较廉价，以便能够把它们安装在所有重点电力设备周围;另外还要方便携带，以便在国际运动赛事场地中用于使逐渐聚积的雨云失去威力。
绊脚石
可是，仍存在巨大的绊脚石。激光器并不方便携带：它是个能占据整个房间的庞然大物。Diels一直想要缩小它的体积，并表示很快就会有小型桌子大小的激光器了。他计划在明年夏天用真正的雨云来实际测试这个更容易操作的激光系统。
Bernstein表示，Diels的激光系统正在引起各电力公司的广泛兴趣。但他们还没有准备好EPRI提出的500万美元——开发一个让激光器更小巧、价格也更便宜的商用系统的所需资金。Bernstein说：“我还不能 说我已经拿到钱了，但是我正在为之努力。”他认为，即将进行的实地测试会成为一个转折点，而且他也在期待着好消息。Bernstein预言，如果一切顺利，这将吸引“排山倒海般的兴趣和支持”。他希望看到云层遥控器的最终价格能定在每台5万到10万美元之间。
其他科学家也能从中受益。如果手上有了控制闪电的“开关”，材料科学家就可以了解强大的电流遇到物质时会发生什么现象。Diels也希望看到“互动气象学”问世——不仅仅是预测天气，而且能控制天气。“如果我们能使云层放电，我们也许就能左右天气，”他说。
而且也许，Diels说，我们将能够对抗一些其他的气象威胁。“我们认为我们也许能通过引导闪电来阻止冰雹，”他说。雷，来自于闪电的冲击波，被认为是大暴雨——典型的雷暴天气——的触发器。一个激光雷工厂可以把水汽从云层中震出，这样也许可以阻止威胁庄稼的大冰雹的形成。如果运气好的话，在今年冬天雨云聚积的时候，持有激光器的研究者们就能第一次对其进行回击了。
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