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劍橋雅思閱讀6原文(test2)

READING PASSAGE 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 1 on the following pages.

Questions 1-5

Reading Passage 1 has five marked paragraphs, A-E.

Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below.

Write the correct number, i-viii, in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings

i Avoiding an overcrowded centre

ii A successful exercise in people power

iii The benefits of working together in cities

iv Higher incomes need not mean more cars

v Economic arguments fail to persuade

vi The impact of telecommunications on population distribution

vii Increases in travelling time

viii Responding to arguments against public transport

1 Paragraph A

2 Paragraph B

3 Paragraph C

4 Paragraph D

5 Paragraph E

Advantages of public transport

A new study conducted for the World Bank by Murdoch University’s Institute for Science and Technology Policy (ISTP) has demonstrated that public transport is more efficient than cars. The study compared the proportion of wealth poured into transport by thirty-seven cities around the world. This included both the public and private costs of building, maintaining and using a transport system.

The study found that the Western Australian city of Perth is a good example of a city with minimal public transport. As a result, 17% of its wealth went into transport costs. Some European and Asian cities, on the other hand, spent as little as 5%. Professor Peter Newman, ISTP Director, pointed out that these more efficient cities were able to put the difference into attracting industry and jobs or creating a better place to live.

According to Professor Newman, the larger Australian city of Melbourne is a rather unusual city in this sort of comparison. He describes it as two cities: ‘A European city surrounded by a car-dependent one’. Melbourne’s large tram network has made car use in the inner city much lower, but the outer suburbs have the same car-based structure as most other Australian cities. The explosion in demand for accommodation in the inner suburbs of Melbourne suggests a recent change in many people’s preferences as to where they live.

Newman says this is a new, broader way of considering public transport issues. In the past, the case for public transport has been made on the basis of environmental and social justice considerations rather than economics. Newman, however, believes the study demonstrates that ‘the auto-dependent city model is inefficient and grossly inadequate in economic as well as environmental terms’.

Bicycle use was not included in the study but Newman noted that the two most ‘bicycle friendly’ cities considered — Amsterdam and Copenhagen — were very efficient, even though their public transport systems were ‘reasonable but not special’.

It is common for supporters of road networks to reject the models of cities with good public transport by arguing that such systems would not work in their particular city. One objection is climate. Some people say their city could not make more use of public transport because it is either too hot or too cold. Newman rejects this, pointing out that public transport has been successful in both Toronto and Singapore and, in fact, he has checked the use of cars against climate and found ‘zero correlation’.

When it comes to other physical features, road lobbies are on stronger ground. For example, Newman accepts it would be hard for a city as hilly as Auckland to develop a really good rail network. However, he points out that both Hong Kong and Zurich have managed to make a success of their rail systems, heavy and light respectively, though there are few cities in the world as hilly.

A In fact, Newman believes the main reason for adopting one sort of transport over another is politics: ‘The more democratic the process, the more public transport is favored.’ He considers Portland, Oregon, a perfect example of this. Some years ago, federal money was granted to build a new road. However, local pressure groups forced a referendum over whether to spend the money on light rail instead. The rail proposal won and the railway worked spectacularly well. In the years that have followed, more and more rail systems have been put in, dramatically changing the nature of the city. Newman notes that Portland has about the same population as Perth and had a similar population density at the time.

B In the UK, travel times to work had been stable for at least six centuries, with people avoiding situations that required them to spend more than half an hour travelling to work. Trains and cars initially allowed people to live at greater distances without taking longer to reach their destination. However, public infrastructure did not keep pace with urban sprawl, causing massive congestion problems which now make commuting times far higher.

C There is a widespread belief that increasing wealth encourages people to live farther out where cars are the only viable transport. The example of European cities refutes that. They are often wealthier than their American counterparts but have not generated the same level of car use. In Stockholm, car use has actually fallen in recent years as the city has become larger and wealthier. A new study makes this point even more starkly. Developing cities in Asia, such as Jakarta and Bangkok, make more use of the car than wealthy Asian cities such as Tokyo and Singapore. In cities that developed later, the World Bank and Asian Development Bank discouraged the building of public transport and people have been forced to rely on cars — creating the massive traffic jams that characterize those cities.

D Newman believes one of the best studies on how cities built for cars might be converted to rail use is The Urban Village report, which used Melbourne as an example. It found that pushing everyone into the city centre was not the best approach. Instead, the proposal advocated the creation of urban villages at hundreds of sites, mostly around railway stations.

E It was once assumed that improvements in telecommunications would lead to more dispersal in the population as people were no longer forced into cities. However, the ISTP team’s research demonstrates that the population and job density of cities rose or remained constant in the 1980s after decades of decline. The explanation for this seems to be that it is valuable to place people working in related fields together. ‘The new world will largely depend on human creativity, and creativity flourishes where people come together face-to-face.’

Questions 6-10

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?

In boxes 6-10 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

6 The ISTP study examined public and private systems in every city of the world.

7 Efficient cities can improve the quality of life for their inhabitants.

8 An inner-city tram network is dangerous for car drivers.

9 In Melbourne, people prefer to live in the outer suburbs.

10 Cities with high levels of bicycle usage can be efficient even when public transport is only averagely good.

Questions 11-13

Look at the following cities (Questions 11-13) and the list of descriptions below.

Match each city with the correct description, A-F.

Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 11-13 on your answer sheet.

11 Perth

12 Auckland

13 Portland

List of Descriptions

A successfully uses a light rail transport system in hilly environment

B successful public transport system despite cold winters

C profitably moved from road to light rail transport system

D hilly and inappropriate for rail transport system

E heavily dependent on cars despite widespread poverty

F inefficient due to a limited public transport system

READING PASSAGE 2

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26, which are based on Reading Passage 2 below.

GREYING POPULATION STAYS IN THE PINK

Elderly people are growing healthier, happier and more independent, say American scientists. The results of a 14-year study to be announced later this month reveal that the diseases associated with old age are afflicting fewer and fewer people and when they do strike, it is much later in life.

In the last 14 years, the National Long-term Health Care Survey has gathered data on the health and lifestyles of more than 20,000 men and women over 65. Researchers, now analysing the results of data gathered in 1994, say arthritis, high blood pressure and circulation problems — the major medical complaints in this age group — are troubling a smaller proportion every year. And the data confirms that the rate at which these diseases are declining continues to accelerate. Other diseases of old age — dementia, stroke, arteriosclerosis and emphysema — are also troubling fewer and fewer people.

‘It really raises the question of what should be considered normal ageing,’ says Kenneth Manton, a demographer from Duke University in North Carolina. He says the problems doctors accepted as normal in a 65-year-old in 1982 are often not appearing until people are 70 or 75.

Clearly, certain diseases are beating a retreat in the face of medical advances. But there may be other contributing factors. Improvements in childhood nutrition in the first quarter of the twentieth century, for example, gave today’s elderly people a better start in life than their predecessors.

On the downside, the data also reveals failures in public health that have caused surges in some illnesses. An increase in some cancers and bronchitis may reflect changing smoking habits and poorer air quality, say the researchers. ‘These may be subtle influences,’ says Manton, ‘but our subjects have been exposed to worse and worse pollution for over 60 years. It’s not surprising we see some effect."

One interesting correlation Manton uncovered is that better-educated people are likely to live longer. For example, 65-year-old women with fewer than eight years of schooling are expected, on average, to live to 82. Those who continued their education live an extra seven years. Although some of this can be attributed to a higher income, Manton believes it is mainly because educated people seek more medical attention.

The survey also assessed how independent people over 65 were, and again found a striking trend. Almost 80% of those in the 1994 survey could complete everyday activities ranging from eating and dressing unaided to complex tasks such as cooking and managing their finances. That represents a significant drop in the number of disabled old people in the population. If the trends apparent in the United States 14 years ago had continued, researchers calculate there would be an additional one million disabled elderly people in today’s population. According to Manton, slowing the trend has saved the United States government’s Medicare system more than $200 billion, suggesting that the greying of America’s population may prove less of a financial burden than expected.

The increasing self-reliance of many elderly people is probably linked to a massive increase in the use of simple home medical aids. For instance, the use of raised toilet seats has more than doubled since the start of the study, and the use of bath seats has grown by more than 50%. These developments also bring some health benefits, according to a report from the MacArthur Foundation’s research group on successful ageing. The group found that those elderly people who were able to retain a sense of independence were more likely to stay healthy in old age.

Maintaining a level of daily physical activity may help mental functioning, says Carl Cotman, a neuroscientist at the University of California at Irvine. He found that rats that exercise on a treadmill have raised levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor coursing through their brains. Cotman believes this hormone, which keeps neurons functioning, may prevent the brains of active humans from deteriorating.

As part of the same study, Teresa Seeman, a social epidemiologist at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, found a connection between self-esteem and stress in people over 70. In laboratory simulations of challenging activities such as driving, those who felt in control of their lives pumped out lower levels of stress hormones such as cortisol. Chronically high levels of these hormones have been linked to heart disease.

But independence can have drawbacks. Seeman found that elderly people who felt emotionally isolated maintained higher levels of stress hormones even when asleep. The research suggests that older people fare best when they feel independent but know they can get help when they need it.

‘Like much research into ageing, these results support common sense,’ says Seeman. They also show that we may be underestimating the impact of these simple factors. ‘The sort of thing that your grandmother always told you turns out to be right on target,’ she says.

Questions 14-22

Complete the summary using the list of words, A-Q, below.

Write the correct letter, A-Q in boxes 14-22 on your answer sheet.

Research carried out by scientists in the United States has shown that the proportion of people over 65 suffering from the most common age-related medical problems is 14 that the speed of this change is 15.............. . It also seems that these diseases are affecting people 16.............. in life than they did in the past. This is largely due to developments in 17.............., but other factors such as improved 18.............. may also be playing a part. Increases in some other illnesses may be due to changes in personal habits and to 19.............. . The research establishes a link between levels of 20.............. and life expectancy. It also shows that there has been a considerable reduction in the number of elderly people who are 21.............., which means that the 22.............. involved in supporting this section of the population may be less than previously predicted.

A cost B falling C technology

D undernourished E earlier F later

G disabled H more I increasing

J nutrition K education L constant

M medicine N pollution O environmental

P health Q independent

Questions 23-26

Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-H, below.

Write the correct letter, A-H, in boxes 23-26 on your answer sheet.

23 Home medical aids

24 Regular amounts of exercise

25 Feelings of control over life

26 Feelings of loneliness

A may cause heart disease.

B can be helped by hormone treatment.

C may cause rises in levels of stress hormones.

D have cost the United States government more than $200 billion.

E may help prevent mental decline.

F may get stronger at night.

G allow old people to be more independent.

H can reduce stress in difficult situations.

READING PASSAGE 3

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40, which are based on Reading Passage 3 below.

Numeration

One of the first great intellectual feats of a young child is learning how to talk, closely followed by learning how to count. From earliest childhood we are so bound up with our system of numeration that it is a feat of imagination to consider the problems faced by early humans who had not yet developed this facility. Careful consideration of our system of numeration leads to the conviction that, rather than being a facility that comes naturally to a person, it is one of the great and remarkable achievements of the human race.

It is impossible to learn the sequence of events that led to our developing the concept of number. Even the earliest of tribes had a system of numeration that, if not advanced, was sufficient for the tasks that they had to perform. Our ancestors had little use for actual numbers; instead their considerations would have been more of the kind Is this enough? rather than How many? when they were engaged in food gathering, for example. However, when early humans first began to reflect on the nature of things around them, they discovered that they needed an idea of number simply to keep their thoughts in order. As they began to settle, grow plants and herd animals, the need for a sophisticated number system became paramount. It will never be known how and when this numeration ability developed, but it is certain that numeration was well developed by the time humans had formed even semi-permanent settlements.

Evidence of early stages of arithmetic and numeration can be readily found. The indigenous peoples of Tasmania were only able to count one, two, many; those of South Africa counted one, two, two and one, two twos, two twos and one, and so on. But in real situations the number and words are often accompanied by gestures to help resolve any confusion. For example, when using the one, two, many type of system, the word many would mean, Look at my hands and see how many fingers I am showing you. This basic approach is limited in the range of numbers that it can express, but this range will generally suffice when dealing with the simpler aspects of human existence.

The lack of ability of some cultures to deal with large numbers is not really surprising. European languages, when traced back to their earlier version, are very poor in number words and expressions. The ancient Gothic word for ten, tachund, is used to express the number 100 as tachund tachund. By the seventh century, the word teon had become interchangeable with the tachund or hund of the Anglo-Saxon language, and so 100 was denoted as hund teontig, or ten times ten. The average person in the seventh century in Europe was not as familiar with numbers as we are today. In fact, to qualify as a witness in a court of law a man had to be able to count to nine!

Perhaps the most fundamental step in developing a sense of number is not the ability to count, but rather to see that a number is really an abstract idea instead of a simple attachment to a group of particular objects. It must have been within the grasp of the earliest humans to conceive that four birds are distinct from two birds; however, it is not an elementary step to associate the number 4, as connected with four birds, to the number 4, as connected with four rocks. Associating a number as one of the qualities of a specific object is a great hindrance to the development of a true number sense. When the number 4 can be registered in the mind as a specific word, independent of the object being referenced, the individual is ready to take the first step toward the development of a notational system for numbers and, from there, to arithmetic.

Traces of the very first stages in the development of numeration can be seen in several living languages today. The numeration system of the Tsimshian language in British Columbia contains seven distinct sets of words for numbers according to the class of the item being counted: for counting flat objects and animals, for round objects and time, for people, for long objects and trees, for canoes, for measures, and for counting when no particular object is being numerated. It seems that the last is a later development while the first six groups show the relics of an older system. This diversity of number names can also be found in some widely used languages such as Japanese.

Intermixed with the development of a number sense is the development of an ability to count. Counting is not directly related to the formation of a number concept because it is possible to count by matching the items being counted against a group of pebbles, grains of corn, or the counter’s fingers. These aids would have been indispensable to very early people who would have found the process impossible without some form of mechanical aid. Such aids, while different, are still used even by the most educated in today’s society due to their convenience. All counting ultimately involves reference to something other than the things being counted. At first it may have been grains or pebbles but now it is a memorised sequence of words that happen to be the names of the numbers.

Questions 27-31

Complete each sentence with the correct ending A-G, below.

Write the correct letter, A-G, in boxes 27-31 on your answer sheet.

27 A developed system of numbering

28 An additional hand signal

29 In seventh-century Europe, the ability to count to a certain number

30 Thinking about numbers as concepts separate from physical objects

31 Expressing number differently according to class of item

A was necessary in order to fulfil a civic role.

B was necessary when people began farming.

C was necessary for the development of arithmetic.

D persists in all societies.

E was used when the range of number words was restricted.

F can be traced back to early European languages.

G was a characteristic of early numeration systems.

Questions 32-40

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 3?

In boxes 32-40 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

32 For the earliest tribes, the concept of sufficiency was more important than the concept of quantity.

33 Indigenous Tasmanians used only four terms to indicate numbers of objects.

34 Some peoples with simple number systems used body language to prevent misunderstanding of expressions of number.

35 All cultures have been able to express large numbers clearly.

36 The word ‘thousand’ has Anglo-Saxon origins.

37 In general, people in seventh-century Europe had poor counting ability.

38 In the Tsimshian language, the number for long objects and canoes is expressed with the same word.

39 The Tsimshian language contains both older and newer systems of counting.

40 Early peoples found it easier to count by using their fingers rather than a group of pebbles.

劍橋雅思閱讀6原文參考譯文(test2)

PASSAGE 1 參考譯文：

Advantages of public transport

公共交通的優勢

默多克大學的科技政策研究所(ISTP)爲世界銀行做的最新研究表明，公共交通工具的效率髙於小汽車。該研究比較了全世界37座城市公共交通投人資金所佔的比例。這其中包括修建、維護和使用公交系統時的政府投人和個人開銷。

研究顯示，西澳大利亞的首府珀斯是最低限度發展公交系統的典型例子。結果是，該市的交通成本竟佔政府收人的17%。然而，某些歐洲和亞洲城市的交通成本則僅有5%。研究所主任彼得?紐曼教授指出，後面這些效率更高的城市能夠將更多資金投人到發展工業、擴大就業和創造更好的生活環境中去。

紐曼認爲，如此進行比較的話，規模相對較大的澳大利亞城市墨爾本則顯得格外與衆不同。他將其形容爲雙層城市：“一座歐洲城市外面裹着另一座汽車代步城。”墨爾本規模龐大的有軌電車網絡大大降低了市內的汽車使用率，但遠郊地區則同大多數其他澳大利亞城市一樣依賴汽車交通。而該市近郊住房需求的激增正顯示出近年來人們在選擇居住地點時觀念的變化。

據紐曼教授稱，這是一種更廣泛考慮公共交通問題的新方式。過去在解決公共交通問題時，我們通常關心的是環境和社會的合理性，而不是經濟情況。除此之外，紐曼教授認爲該研究顯示了“依賴汽車作爲交通工具的城市發展模式不僅效率低下，而且在經濟與環境發展方而也相當不足”。

自行車沒有包含在此項研究範圍之內。然而，紐曼教授指出在考察研究的37座城市中，阿姆斯特丹和哥本哈根這兩座自行車普及率最高的城市效率也非常高，即便他們的公共交通系統“特色全無，相當一般”。

公路網的擁護者們普遍反對以發達的公共交通系統爲標誌的城市發展模式。他們堅持認爲該系統在個別城市並不適用。氣候是反對的理由之一。有些人說他們的城市要麼夏天太熱，要麼冬天太冷，以至於無法充分利用公交系統。紐曼教授則否定了這一觀點，他指出公交系統的發展在多倫多和新加坡地區均獲得了巨大成功。事實上，他調查過是否天氣糟糕人們就會使用汽車，結果發現兩者之間毫無關聯。

當我們考慮到其他硬件條件時，公路網的支持者們就有了更充分的理由。例如，紐曼認同，對於山地城市奧克蘭來說，開發真正成功的軌道交通網是一件困難的事情。然而，他指出，雖然全世界的山地城市爲數不多，但香港和蘇黎世都分別設法成功地建成了重型和輕型軌道交通系統。

A 紐曼教授認爲，事實上，決定採用哪一種交通運輸方式的主要因素是政治，“決策過程越民主，公共交通就越容易得到支持”。他將美國俄勒岡州的波特蘭市看作是其中的範例。幾年前，國家撥款修建一條新公路。但是，當地的壓力團體強行組織了一次公民投票，來表決是否要將國家撥款花費在建設替代公路的輕軌上。修建輕軌的提議最終獲得通過，而且軌道系統在當地的運行狀況非常良好。在隨後的幾年中，波特蘭市修建了更多的軌道交通系統，城市面貌也因此得到巨大改善。紐曼教授發現，波特蘭市與珀斯市的人口數量大致相同，並且當時的人口密度也十分相近。

B 在英國，人們不會去做通勤時間需要半小時以上的工作，因而六百年來，花在上班路途上的時間都得以保持不變。剛開始的時候，火車和汽車使人們住得遠，卻又無需增加花在路途上的時間。然而，公共基礎設施無法跟上城市擴張的步伐，這就導致了大規模的交通擁堵問題，並且使上下班的時間大大延長。

C 有一種廣泛的說法是：財富的不斷增長促使人們到更遠的地方居住，而汽車是那裏唯一可行的交通工具。然而許多歐洲城市的例子可以反駁這一觀點。相對於美國城市，歐洲城市通常更加富有，而汽車使用率卻比美國低。近年來，隨着城市規模的不斷擴張和財富的逐年增加，斯德哥爾摩的汽車使用率反而還有所下降。一項新的研究更清楚地說明了這一點。亞洲的發展中城市，例如雅加達和曼谷，其汽車使用率要高於像東京和新加坡這樣的富裕地區。在發展比較滯後的城市中，世界銀行和亞洲發展銀行不鼓勵修建公共交通系統，因此人們不得不依賴汽車作爲交通工具這導致了這些城市中標誌性的大塞車。

D 紐曼教授認爲，以墨爾本爲例的“城中村”報告是最優秀的研究報告之一，報告主要講述如何將以汽車代步的城市轉變成以軌道交通爲主的城市。該報告顯示，讓大家都住在市中心並不是最好的方法。反之，報告主張建立幾百個集中在車站附近的城中村。

E 曾經有人假設，由於人們不再被迫住在城市，電信的改進將促使人口進一步分散。然而，ISTP研究小組的調查顯示繼幾十年的下降之後，在20世紀80年代，城市人口和職位的密度都保持不變或有所上升。似乎合理的解釋爲，將工作在相關領域的人聚集在一起可以創造更大的價值。“未來新世界將主要依靠人類的創造力，而創造力在人們面對面的交流中會更加活躍。”

TEST 2 PASSAGE 2 參考譯文：

GREYING POPULATION STAYS IN THE PINK

老齡人口健康依舊

美國科學家指岀，現在老年人身體越來越健康，幸福感更強，生活更加獨立。本月即將發佈的一項持續長達14年的研究的結果顯示，遭受老齡疾病折磨的人越來越少，即使是真的發病，年齡也向後推遲了不少。

在過去的14年中，美國國家長期衛生保健調查收集了2萬多名65歲以上的老年男性和女性健康狀況和生活方式的數據資料。研究者們正在分析1994年收集的數據結果，他們表示。困擾這一年齡段老年人的主要疾病是關節炎、高血壓和循環系統疾病，這些疾病的患病人數比例正在逐年下降。數據證實，上述疾病發病率下降的速度在繼續加快。其他老齡疾病，諸如老年癡呆症、中風、動脈硬化和肺氣腫等，患病人數也在逐年下降。

北卡羅來納州杜克大學的人口統計學家肯尼思?曼頓說：“這的確促使我們思考到底什麼情況纔是正常老齡化的問題。”他指出，在1982年醫生們認爲是65歲老人常見疾病的症狀現在經常要推遲到70或75歲纔會出現。

顯然，一些疾病在醫學進步的面前被擊退。除此之外，也可能有其他原因。例如，在20世紀的前25年中，兒童營養狀況的改善使現在的老年人比以前的人們擁有更加健康的生活開端。

從不利方面來看，研究數據同樣顯示出公共衛生的不力措施導致了某些疾病的猛增。研究者們指出，有些癌症和支氣管疾病發病率的上升可能反映出人們吸菸習慣的變化和空氣質量逐年惡化的問題。曼頓說：“這或許只是些細微的影響，但我們的研究對象已經在污染日益嚴重的環境中生活了60多年。因而，這些後果的出現也就不足爲奇了。”

曼頓揭示了一種有趣的關聯，即人們受教育的程度越髙，壽命可能就越長。例如，在65歲的女性中，受教育時間低於8年的女性的預期壽命平均可達82歲，而那些繼續接受教育的女性的平均壽命則延長了7年之多。曼頓認爲，儘管部分原因可以歸結爲更高的收人水平，但主要原因還是受過良好教育的人會更加註重醫療保健。

該調查同時評估了年齡在65歲以上的走人的獨立程度，這再次發現了一個驚人的發展趨勢。在1994年調查中，近80%的人都能完成日常起居活動，包括簡單的活動，如獨立的飲食和穿衣，也包括複雜的活動，如烹飪和財務管理等。這表明總人口中不能自理的老人的數量在顯著下降。研究者們估算，如果美國14 年前的發展趨勢持續下去的話，現今總人口中將會多出100萬名不能自理的老人。曼頓表示，減緩這一趨勢爲美國政府的醫療保險系統節省了2，000多億美元的開支，這意味着美國人口老齡化所帶來的經濟負擔可能不像人們想象中的那樣沉重。

老年人自理能力的增強可能與簡易家庭醫療輔助用品的廣泛使用有關。例如，自該研究開始至今，使用增高座便器的人數增加了一倍之多，而使用浴缸座椅的人數也增加了50%以上。麥克阿瑟基金會研究小組發表的一項成功老齡化研究報告表明，上述發展變化同樣給健康帶來了好處。該研究小組發現，那些能夠保持獨立感的老年人更有可能在晚年保持身體健康。

加利福尼亞大學歐文分校的神經學家卡爾?科特曼指出，維持一定數量的日常體育運動將有助於提高大腦功能的運作。他發現對於在腳踏車上運動的老鼠，流經大腦的腦源性神經營養因子含量水平會升高。科特曼認爲，這種維持神經細胞功能的激素可以阻止活躍的人類大腦功能退化。

在同一調查研究中，洛杉肌南加利福尼亞大學的社會流行病學家特里薩?西曼發現在70歲以上的老年人中，自尊心和壓力之間存在相互聯繫。在諸如駕駛汽車等挑戰性活動的模擬試驗中，感覺生活在自己掌控之中的人所釋放的應激激素水平較低，比如腎上腺皮質激素。而心臟疾病則被證明與應激激素水平長期偏髙有關。

然而，獨立自主也有其缺點。西曼發現，感到精神孤獨的老年人即使是在睡夢中也保持着較高的應激激素水平。研究結果顯示，如果老人們知道自己在需要時能夠得到幫助，就可以在保持獨立感的同時擁有最幸福的生活。

西曼指出：“同許多研究老齡化問題的調査一樣，其結果完全符合常識。”此外，研究結果顯示，我們可能低估了某些簡單因素的影響。她這樣說道：“祖母經常向你講的道理被證明是完全正確的。”

TEST 2 PASSAGE 3 參考譯文：

Numeration

計數發展史

學說話是兒童最初掌握的主要智力技能之一，而緊隨其後他們就要學會數數。從小我們就對數數這件事十分熟悉，所以真得費番心思才能想象出不會數數的先祖們的境遇。深思熟慮之後，我們確信計數不是人們生來就擁有的技能，而是人類偉大而非凡的成就之一。

現在，我們無法瞭解人類創造數字這一概念的發展歷程。即使沒有先進的技術，連最原始的部落也擁有足夠他們日常生活所需的計數方法。我們的祖先並不需要使用具體的數字;比如當他們採集食物時，他們會更多地考慮“夠了嗎?”而不是“有多少?”來代替具體數字的使用。然而，當早期人類開始思考周圍事物的本質時，他們發覺自己需要數字的概念以保持思路的淸晰。隨着他們開始定居生活、種植作物和放牧牲畜，需要一套複雜數字系統的要求變得極爲重要。我們永遠無法瞭解這種計數能力是如何以及何時發展起來的，但可以確定的是，當人類剛剛開始建立暫時的定居點時，計數方法已經發展得比較完備了。

關於早期算術和計數方法的證據並不難尋找。澳大利亞塔斯馬尼亞州的土著民族民僅能計數“一”、“二”和“許多”;南非當地的土著民族能夠計數“一”、“二”、“二加一”、“二加二”、“二加二加一”等等。然而，在實際情況中，數字和詞語經常伴隨着手勢使用以幫助解決混亂的狀態。例如，在使用“一、二和許多”計數系統時，“許多”一詞可能表示“看我的手並數出我向你伸出了幾根手指”。這種基本的方法限制了可表示的數字範圍，但此範圍對於處理人類生存方面的簡單問題來說通常是足夠的。

一些文化缺少處理較大數字的能力，這並不令人驚訝。當追溯到早期彤式時，歐洲的各語種在數字及其表達方式上均十分貧乏。古哥特語中代表十的詞語“tachund”在表示數字100時寫作“tachund tachund”。到公元7世紀，“teon”一詞變得可以與盎格魯一撒克遜語中的詞語“tachund”或“hund”相互交換，因此100被表示爲“hund teoning”或者“十乘十”。在7世紀的歐洲，普通人對數字的熟知程度遠不及今天的人們。事實上，當時人們必須具備數到9的能力纔有資格作爲證人出庭作證。

或許，要發展對數字的領悟能力，最重要的一步不是擁有計數的能力，而是能夠理解數字是相當抽象的概念，而並不只是與個別物品相聯繫的附屬品。早期人類一定能夠明白兩隻鳥與四隻鳥的不同;然而. 他們卻不具備將與四隻鳥相關的數字4和與四塊石頭相關如數字4聯繫起來的基本能力。將數字與特定事物的性質之一相聯繫，對於發展真正的數宇感而言是巨大的障礙。當數字4在頭腦中變成一個特定的詞語並與其所指的事物相分離時，人類便向數字符號系統的發展邁出第一步，並繼而發展算術學。

至今，在有些現存的語言中依然可以尋找到早期計數方法的發展痕跡。在加拿大英屬哥倫比亞省，根據計數的物品種類，欽西安語的計數系統包含截然不同的七組表達數字的詞語：計數扁平物體和動物的詞語，計數圓形物體和時間的詞語，計算人數的詞語，計數長條物體和樹木的詞語，計算獨木舟數目的詞語，計量尺寸的詞語，以及在不計數具體事物時所用的詞語。看起來最後一組詞語是後來發展起來的，而前六組則帶有古代計數方法的痕跡。在一些諸如日語等廣泛使甩的語言中，同樣可以發現數字名稱的多樣性。

數字感與計數能力的發展相互融合。計算與數字概念的形成並非直接相關，因爲我們完全有可能將被計數的物品用一堆石子、一把穀粒或者計數者的手指代替來進行計算。這些輔助工具對於早期人類而言是必不可少的，一旦離開某些形式的工具輔助，計數過程便無法完成。由於使用方便，類似的輔助工具在當今社會中仍然以不同的方式被人們——甚至是最有學識的學者們——使用。所有的計算最終都將由某事物、而不是被計數的物品指代。最初，這種指代或許是穀粒或石子，但現在已經變成一串被記憶的單詞，而這些單詞只是恰巧成爲數字的名稱而已。

　　劍橋雅思閱讀6原文解析(test2)

Question 1

答案： ii

關鍵詞：people power exercise

定位原文: A段第1句“In fact…”

解題思路：“The more democratic the process, the more public transport is favored.”就是暗示人民成功地履行了權利。

Question 2

答案： vii

關鍵詞： increase travelling time

定位原文: B段最後1句“However…”

解題思路: 最後一句中的However是完成此題的關鍵。本段首句提到通勤時間在過去至少六百年中都維持不變，很有誤導作用，但是接下來的However又引出ing massive congestion problems which now make commuting times far higher, commuting 對應heading中的travelling。

故正確答案是vii。

Question 3

答案： iv

關鍵詞：higher incomes not more cars

定位原文: C段前兩句“There is…”

解題思路: 第2句的refutes that 表示否定了第1句的觀點，因此只有iv符合。

Question 4

答案： i

關鍵詞: avoid overcrowded centre

定位原文: D段最後1句“Instead…”

解題思路: instead是一個轉折連接詞，後面的觀點與前者剛好相反。上一句說 pushing everyone into the city centre was not the best approach，剛好證明我們應該避免造成一個過度擁擠的市中心。

Question 5

答案： iii

關鍵詞：working together

定位原文: E段第3句“The explanation…”

解題思路: 定位句強調了人們在相關的領域一起工作非常重要，iii對應這個自然段內容。

Question 6

答案： FALSE

關鍵詞：ISTP study

定位原文: 第1段第2、3句“The study compared…”

解題思路: 原文說的是thirty-seven cities around the worlds，與題幹表述相互牴觸。

Question 7

答案： TRUE

關鍵詞： efficient / improve the quality

定位原文: 第2段最後1句“e more efficient cities…”

解題思路: “創造出更好的居住環境”就是“改善了居民的居住環境”。

Question 8

答案：NOT GIVEN

關鍵詞：inner-city/ tram network/ dangerous/ car drivers

定位原文: 第3段第3句“Melbourne’s large…”

解題思路: 談到有軌電車系統使汽車的使用率降低了許多，但並未談及私家車駕駛者。

Question 9

答案：FALSE

關鍵詞： Melbourne/ outer suburbs

定位原文: 第3段最後1句“The explosion…”

解題思路: as to =concerning 就……方面;關於。這句話正說明人們喜歡住在近郊而非遠郊。

Question 10

答案： TRUE

關鍵詞： bicycle/ public transport

定位原文: 第5段的唯一一句話“Bicycle use…”

解題思路: averagely good與 reasonable but not special是同義表達。

Question 11

答案: F

關鍵詞：Perth

定位原文: 第2段第1句和第4句

解題思路: 第二段第一句說Perth有minimal public transport，即相當於題幹中的limited public transport system，下面又說Perth之外的一些城市是more efficient cities，所以正確答案爲F。

Question 12

答案： D

關鍵詞：Auckland

定位原文: 第7段第2句

解題思路: 提到 it would be hard for a city as hilly as Auckland to develop a really good rail network，所以 Auckland 當然是hilly，既然“難以建立很好的軌道系統”，當然是不適合建這樣的系統了。正確答案是D。

Question 13

答案：C

關鍵詞：Portland

定位原文: A段的倒數第3句“The rail proposal…”

解題思路: 軌道運行良好肯定是盈利的。正確答案是C。

Test 2 Passage 2

Question 14

答案：B

關鍵詞：proportion/people over 65/age-related medical problems

定位原文: 第2段第2句“ troubling a smaller proportion…”

解題思路: smaller 和falling 是隱晦的同義表達，B選項符合題意。

Question 15

答案：I

關鍵詞：speed

定位原文: 第2段倒數第2句“the rate at which these diseases…”

解題思路: rate與speed是同義表達，可知正確答案是I。

Question 16

答案：F

關鍵詞：past

定位原文: 第3段第2句“He says…”

解題思路: 第3段中提到the problems doctors accepted as normal in a 65-year-oId in 1982 are often not appearing until people are 70 or 75，第二段提到數據是1994年採集的，所以1982代表了the past，疾病由65歲推遲到70或者75 歲才發作，顯然是later。

Question 17

答案：M

關鍵詞：due to developments

定位原文: 第4段第1句“…certain diseases are beating…”

解題思路: 第四段開頭提到certain diseases are beating a retreat in the face of medical advances，表明有些疾病是被醫藥進步打敗的。advances和developments屬於同義表達，medical和medicine是同源詞。

Question 18

答案：J

關鍵詞：improved

定位原文: 第4段第2、3句“…there may be other contributing factors. Improvements…”

解題思路: 這個題找到定位句，沒有什麼難度，選擇J。

Question 19

答案：N

關鍵詞：other illnesses

定位原文: 第5段第2、3句“… poorer air quality/ worse and worse pollution…”

解題思路: 第五段提到An increase in some cancers and bronchitis may reflect changing smoking habits and poorer air quality...和 exposed to worse and worse pollution, changes in personal habits與 changing smoking habits相對應。所以原文提供的另一因素poorer air quality就是與答案相關的內容。正確答案是N。

Question 20

答案： K

關鍵詞：link/life expectancy

定位原文: 第6段第1句“One interesting…”

解題思路: 第6段第1句中的correlation和live longer分別對應題幹中的link和life expectancy，所以原文的better-educated就是答案的原形，被選項中只有K項的education與此相符。正確答案是K。

Question 21

答案： G

關鍵詞：considerable /reduction

定位原文: 第7段第3句“That represents…”

解題思路: considerable與significant、reduction與 drop分別爲近義詞，再根據第七段中a significant drop in the number of disabled old people，答案應爲disabled。正確答案是G。

Question 22

答案：A

關鍵詞：less/predicted

定位原文: 第7段最後一句“… less of a financial burden…”

解題思路: predicted與expected爲同義表達，只需找 financial burden的同義表達就可以。正確答案是A。

Question 23

答案：G

關鍵詞：home medical aids

定位原文: 第8段第1句“The increasing…”

解題思路: 許多老年人自理能力的增強可能與簡易家庭醫療輔助用品的廣泛使用有關。題幹是將這句話反過來問簡易家庭醫療輔助用品有什麼作用，self-reliance與independent表達同樣含義，所以選G。

Question 24

答案： E

關鍵詞：regular amounts of exercise

定位原文: 第9段第1句“…daily physical activity…”

解題思路: exercise 與physical activity 屬於同義表達，regular與daily 屬於同義表達，所以選E。

Question 25

答案：H

關鍵詞：feelings of control over life

定位原文: 第10段倒數第2句“…felt in control of their lives…”

解題思路: 根據第10段中 challenging activities和 those who felt in control of their lives pumped out lower levels of stress hormone, challenging activities 與 difficult situations 屬於同義表達，lower levels of stress hormones自然壓力就小。正確答案是H。

Question 26

答案：C

關鍵詞： feelings of loneliness

定位原文: 第11段第2句“…emotionally isolated…”

解題思路: feelings of loneliness 與emotionally isolated 屬於同義表達，所以選C。

Test 2 Passage 3

Question 27

答案: B

關鍵詞：developed/system of numbering

定位原文: 第2段倒數第2句“As they began to settle…”

解題思路: sophisticated和number system分別與題幹 developed和system of numbering屬於同義表達，因此只要找出與grow plants and herd animals的同義表達項就可以，顯然farming可以代替。因此正確答案爲B。

Question 28

答案： E

關鍵詞：hand signal

定位原文: 第3段第3句“But in real situations…”

解題思路: 定位句之前所舉的具體例子中表示數字的詞有限，即題幹E表達的the range of number words was restricted，gestures又與hand signal互爲近義詞。所以正確答案是E。

Question 29

答案： A

關鍵詞： seventh-century Europe / count to a certain number

定位原文: 第4段中最後兩句“The average person…”

解題思路: count to nine與count to a certain number屬於同義表達，a witness in a court of law與題幹A的fulfill a civic role屬於同義表達。正確答案是A。

Question 30

答案： C

關鍵詞： concept/ physical objects

定位原文: 第5段第1句“Perhaps…”;最後一句“ there, to arithmetic”

解題思路: 題幹中 concepts 和 physical objects 分別與 abstract idea 和 particular objects互爲近義詞。正確答案是C。

Question 31

答案： G

關鍵詞： class of item

定位原文: 第6段第1、2句“Traces of…”

解題思路: 根據第6段開頭the very first stages和第二句中the class of the item得出正確答案是G。

Question 32

答案：TRUE

關鍵詞：the earliest tribes

定位原文: 第2段第3句“r considerations would have…”

解題思路: 他們會更多地考慮“夠了嗎?”而不是“有多少?Sufficiency與 quantity 分別和Is this enough 與How many爲同義轉換關係。

Question 33

答案：FALSE

關鍵詞：Tasmanians

定位原文: 第3段第2句“The indigenous peoples…”

解題思路: 只有三個詞而不是四個。

Question 34

答案： TRUE

關鍵詞：peoples with simple number systems

定位原文: 第3段第3句“But in real situations…”

解題思路: accompanied by gesture to help resolve any confusion 與題幹use body language to prevent…屬於同義表達。

Question 35

答案： FALSE

關鍵詞：large numbers

定位原文: 第4段第1句“The lack of…”

解題思路: 一些文化缺少處理較大數字的能力，這並不令人驚訝。這個意思與題幹全然想矛盾。

Question 36

答案：NOT GIVEN

關鍵詞：Anglo-Saxon

定位原文: 第4段第4句“ By the seventh…”

解題思路: 到公元7世紀，“teon” 一詞變得可以與盎格魯一撒克遜語中的詞語文中對應點“tachund”或“hund”相互交換，因此100可表示爲“hund teontig”或者“十乘十”。並沒有提到“千”。

Question 37

答案：TRUE

關鍵詞：seventh-century Europe

定位原文: 第4段最後兩句“The average person…”

解題思路: 數到9就可以作證人，足見計數能力之差。

Question 38

答案：FALSE

關鍵詞：Tsimshian language

定位原文: 第6段第2句“The numeration…”

解題思路: 題幹意思與原文相駁斥。這個題比較容易判斷。

Question 39

答案：TRUE

關鍵詞: Tsimshian language

定位原文: 第6段倒數第2句“It seems that…”

解題思路: 看起來最後一組詞語是後來發展的，而前六組則帶有古代計數方法的痕跡。所以題目說的有新舊兩套計數系統是正確的。

Question 40

答案： NOT GIVEN

關鍵詞：early peoples / fingers / pebbles

定位原文: 第7段第2句“Counting is not directly…”

解題思路: 計算與數字概念的形成並非直接相關，因爲我們完全有可能將被計數的物品用一堆石子、一把穀粒或者計數者的手指代替來進行計算。沒有提到二者簡易度的比較。

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