剑桥雅思阅读5test2翻译及答案

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剑桥雅思阅读5原文(test2)

　　READING PASSAGE 1

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

　　BAKELITE

　　The birth of modern plastics

　　In 1907, Leo Hendrick Baekeland, a Belgian scientist working in New York, discovered and patented a revolutionary new synthetic material. His invention, which he named ‘Bakelite,’ was of enormous technological importance, and effectively launched the modern plastics industry.

　　The term ‘plastic’ comes from the Greek plassein, meaning ‘to mould’. Some plastics are derived from natural sources, some are semi-synthetic (the result of chemical action on a natural substance), and some are entirely synthetic, that is, chemically engineered from the constituents of coal or oil. Some are ‘thermoplastic’, which means that, like candlewax, they melt when heated and can then be reshaped. Others are ‘thermosetting’: like eggs, they cannot revert to their original viscous state, and their shape is thus fixed for ever. Bakelite had the distinction of being the first totally synthetic thermosetting plastic.

　　The history of today’s plastics begins with the discovery of a series of semi-synthetic thermoplastic materials in the mid-nineteenth century. The impetus behind the development of these early plastics was generated by a number of factors — immense technological progress in the domain of chemistry, coupled with wider cultural changes, and the pragmatic need to find acceptable substitutes for dwindling supplies of ‘luxury’ materials such as tortoiseshell and ivory.

　　Baekeland’s interest in plastics began in 1885 when, as a young chemistry student in Belgium, he embarked on research into phenolic resins, the group of sticky substances produced when phenol (carbolic acid) combines with an aldehyde (a volatile fluid similar to alcohol). He soon abandoned the subject, however, only returning to it some years later. By 1905 he was a wealthy New Yorker, having recently made his fortune with the invention of a new photographic paper. While Baekeland had been busily amassing dollars, some advances had been made in the development of plastics. The years 1899 and 1900 had seen the patenting of the first semi-synthetic thermosetting material that could be manufactured on an industrial scale. In purely scientific terms, Baekeland’s major contribution to the field is not so much the actual discovery of the material to which he gave his name, but rather the method by which a reaction between phenol and formaldehyde could be controlled, thus making possible its preparation on a commercial basis. On 13 July 1907, Baekeland took out his famous patent describing this preparation, the essential features of which are still in use today.

　　The original patent outlined a three-stage process, in which phenol and formaldehyde (from wood or coal) were initially combined under vacuum inside a large egg-shaped kettle. The result was a resin known as Novalak which became soluble and malleable when heated. The resin was allowed to cool in shallow trays until it hardened, and then broken up and ground into powder. Other substances were then introduced: including fillers, such as woodflour, asbestos or cotton, which increase strength and moisture resistance, catalysts (substances to speed up the reaction between two chemicals without joining to either) and hexa, a compound of ammonia and formaldehyde which supplied the additional formaldehyde necessary to form a thermosetting resin. This resin was then left to cool and harden, and ground up a second time. The resulting granular powder was raw Bakelite, ready to be made into a vast range of manufactured objects. In the last stage, the heated Bakelite was poured into a hollow mould of the required shape and subjected to extreme heat and pressure, thereby ‘setting’ its form for life.

　　The design of Bakelite objects, everything from earrings to television sets, was governed to a large extent by the technical requirements of the molding process. The object could not be designed so that it was locked into the mould and therefore difficult to extract. A common general rule was that objects should taper towards the deepest part of the mould, and if necessary the product was molded in separate pieces. Moulds had to be carefully designed so that the molten Bakelite would flow evenly and completely into the mould. Sharp corners proved impractical and were thus avoided, giving rise to the smooth, ‘streamlined’ style popular in the 1930s. The thickness of the walls of the mould was also crucial: thick walls took longer to cool and harden, a factor which had to be considered by the designer in order to make the most efficient use of machines.

　　Baekeland’s invention, although treated with disdain in its early years, went on to enjoy an unparalleled popularity which lasted throughout the first half of the twentieth century. It became the wonder product of the new world of industrials expansion — ‘the material of a thousand uses’. Being both non-porous and heat-resistant, Bakelite kitchen goods were promoted as being germ-free and sterilisable. Electrical manufacturers seized on its insulating properties, and consumers everywhere relished its dazzling array of shades, delighted that they were now, at last, no longer restricted to the wood tones and drab browns of the preplastic era. It then fell from favour again during the 1950s, and was despised and destroyed in vast quantities. Recently, however, it has been experiencing something of a renaissance, with renewed demand for original Bakelite objects in the collectors’ marketplace, and museums, societies and dedicated individuals once again appreciating the style and originality of this innovative material.

　　Questions 1-3

　　Complete the summary.

　　Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.

　　Write your answers in boxes 1-3 on your answer sheet.

　　Some plastics behave in a similar way to 1……… in that they melt under heat and can be moulded into new forms. Bakelite was unique because it was the first material to be both entirely 2……… in origin, and thermosetting.

　　There were several reasons for the research into plastics in the nineteenth century, among them the great advances that had been made in the field of 3…………and the search for alternatives to natural resources like ivory.

　　Questions 4-8

　　Complete the flow-chart.

　　Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.

　　Write your answers in boxes 4-8 on your answer sheet.

　　The Production of Bakelite

　　图片6

　　Questions 9 and 10

　　Choose TWO letters A-E.

　　Write your answers in boxes 9 and 10 on your answer sheet.

　　NB Your answers may be given in either order.

　　Which TWO of the following factors influencing the design of Bakelite objects are mentioned in the text?

　　A the function which the object would serve

　　B the ease with which the resin could fill the mould

　　C the facility with which the object could be removed from the mould

　　D the limitations of the materials used to manufacture the mould

　　E the fashionable styles of the period

　　Questions 11-13

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

　　In boxes 11-13 on your answer sheet, write

　　TRUE if the statement agrees with the information

　　FALSE if the statement contradicts the information

　　NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

　　11 Modern-day plastic preparation is based on the same principles as that patented in 1907.

　　12 Bakelite was immediately welcomed as a practical and versatile material.

　　13 Bakelite was only available in a limited range of colours.

　　READING PASSAGE 2

　　You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-27, which are based on Reading Passage 2 below.

　　What’s so funny?

　　John McCrone reviews recent research on humor

　　The joke comes over the headphones: ‘Which side of a dog has the most hair? The left.’ No, not funny. Try again. ‘Which side of a dog has the most hair? The outside.’ Hah! The punchline is silly yet fitting, tempting a smile, even a laugh. Laughter has always struck people as deeply mysterious, perhaps pointless. The writer Arthur Koestler dubbed it the luxury reflex: ‘unique in that it serves no apparent biological purpose. ’

　　Theories about humour have an ancient pedigree. Plato expressed the idea that humor is simply a delighted feeling of superiority over others. Kant and Freud felt that joke-telling relies on building up a psychic tension which is safely punctured by the ludicrousness of the punchline. But most modern humor theorists have settled on some version of Aristotle’s belief that jokes are based on a reaction to or resolution of incongruity, when the punchline is either a nonsense or, though appearing silly, has a clever second meaning.

　　Graeme Ritchie, a computational linguist in Edinburgh, studies the linguistic structure of jokes in order to understand not only humor but language understanding and reasoning in machines. He says that while there is no single format for jokes, many revolve around a sudden and surprising conceptual shift. A comedian will present a situation followed by an unexpected interpretation that is also apt.

　　So even if a punchline sounds silly, the listener can see there is a clever semantic fit and that sudden mental ‘Aha!’ is the buzz that makes us laugh. Viewed from this angle, humor is just a form of creative insight, a sudden leap to a new perspective.

　　However, there is another type of laughter, the laughter of social appeasement and it is important to understand this too. Play is a crucial part of development in most young mammals. Rats produce ultrasonic squeaks to prevent their scuffles turning nasty. Chimpanzees have a ‘play-face’ — a gaping expression accompanied by a panting ‘ah ah’ noise. In humans, these signals have mutated into smiles and laughs. Researchers believe social situations, rather than cognitive events such as jokes, trigger these instinctual markers of play or appeasement. People laugh on fairground rides or when tickled to flag a play situation, whether they feel amused or not.

　　Both social and cognitive types of laughter tap into the same expressive machinery in our brains, the emotion and motor circuits that produce smiles and excited vocalisations. However, if cognitive laughter is the product of more general thought processes, it should result from more expansive brain activity.

　　Psychologist Vinod Goel investigated humour using the new technique of ‘single event’ functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). An MRI scanner uses magnetic fields and radio waves to track the changes in oxygenated blood that accompany mental activity. Until recently, MRI scanners needed several minutes of activity and so could not be used to track rapid thought processes such as comprehending a joke. New developments now allow half-second ‘snapshots’ of all sorts of reasoning and problem-solving activities.

　　Although Goel felt being inside a brain scanner was hardly the ideal place for appreciating a joke, he found evidence that understanding a joke involves a widespread mental shift. His scans showed that at the beginning of a joke the listener’s prefrontal cortex lit up, particularly the right prefrontal believed to be critical for problem solving. But there was also activity in the temporal lobes at the side of the head (consistent with attempts to rouse stored knowledge) and in many other brain areas. Then when the punchline arrived, a new area sprang to life — the orbital prefrontal cortex. This patch of brain tucked behind the orbits of the eyes is associated with evaluating information.

　　Making a rapid emotional assessment of the events of the moment is an extremely demanding job for the brain, animal or human. Energy and arousal levels may need to be retuned in the blink of an eye. These abrupt changes will produce either positive or negative feelings. The orbital cortex, the region that becomes active in Goel’s experiment, seems the best candidate for the site that feeds such feelings into higher-level thought processes, with its close connections to the brain’s sub-cortical arousal apparatus and centres of metabolic control.

　　All warm-blooded animals make constant tiny adjustments in arousal in response to external events, but humans, who have developed a much more complicated internal life as a result of language, respond emotionally not only to their surroundings, but to their own thoughts. Whenever a sought-for answer snaps into place, there is a shudder of pleased recognition. Creative discovery being pleasurable, humans have learned to find ways of milking this natural response. The fact that jokes tap into our general evaluative machinery explains why the line between funny and disgusting, or funny and frightening, can be so fine. Whether a joke gives pleasure or pain depends on a person’s outlook.

　　Humor may be a luxury, but the mechanism behind it is no evolutionary accident. As Peter Derks, a psychologist at William and Mary College in Virginia, says: ‘I like to think of humour as the distorted mirror of the mind. It’s creative, perceptual, analytical and lingual. If we can figure out how the mind processes humor, then we’ll have a pretty good handle on how it works in general.’

　　Questions 14-20

　　Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2?

　　In boxes 14-20 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

　　14 Arthur Koestler considered laughter biologically important in several ways.

　　15 Plato believed humour to be a sign of above-average intelligence.

　　16 Kant believed that a successful joke involves the controlled release of nervous energy.

　　17 Current thinking on humour has largely ignored Aristotle’s view on the subject.

　　18 Graeme Ritchie’s work links jokes to artificial intelligence.

　　19 Most comedians use personal situations as a source of humour.

　　20 Chimpanzees make particular noises when they are playing.

　　Questions 21-23

　　The diagram below shows the areas of the brain activated by jokes.

　　Label the diagram.

　　Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

　　Write your answers in boxes 21-23 on your answer sheet.

　　Questions 24-27

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

　　Write the correct letter A-G in boxes 24-27 on your answer sheet.

　　24 One of the brain’s most difficult tasks is to

　　25 Because of the language they have developed, humans

　　26 Individual responses to humour

　　27 Peter Derks believes that humour

　　A react to their own thoughts.

　　B helped create language in humans.

　　C respond instantly to whatever is happening.

　　D may provide valuable information about the operation of the brain.

　　E cope with difficult situations.

　　F relate to a person’s subjective views.

　　G led our ancestors to smile and then laugh.

　　READING PASSAGE 3

　　You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 28-40, which are based on Reading Passage 3 below.

　　The Birth of Scientific English

　　World science is dominated today by a small number of languages, including Japanese, German and French, but it is English which is probably the most popular global language of science. This is not just because of the importance of English-speaking countries such as the USA in scientific research; the scientists of many non-English-speaking countries find that they need to write their research papers in English to reach a wide international audience. Given the prominence of scientific English today, it may seem surprising that no one really knew how to write science in English before the 17th century. Before that, Latin was regarded as the lingua franca1 for European intellectuals.

　　The European Renaissance (c. 14th-16th century) is sometimes called the ‘revival of learning’, a time of renewed interest in the ‘lost knowledge’ of classical times. At the same time, however, scholars also began to test and extend this knowledge. The emergent nation states of Europe developed competitive interests in world exploration and the development of trade. Such expansion, which was to take the English language west to America and east to India, was supported by scientific developments such as the discovery of magnetism and hence the invention of the compass improvements in cartography and — perhaps the most important scientific revolution of them all — the new theories of astronomy and the movement of the Earth in relation to the planets and stars, developed by Copernicus (1473-1543).

　　England was one of the first countries where scientists adopted and publicised Copernican ideas with enthusiasm. Some of these scholars, including two with interests in language — John Wallis and John Wilkins — helped found the Royal Society in 1660 in order to promote empirical scientific research.

　　Across Europe similar academies and societies arose, creating new national traditions of science. In the initial stages of the scientific revolution, most publications in the national languages were popular works, encyclopaedias, educational textbooks and translations. Original science was not done in English until the second half of the 17th century. For example, Newton published his mathematical treatise, known as the Principia, in Latin, but published his later work on the properties of light — Opticks — in English.

　　There were several reasons why original science continued to be written in Latin. The first was simply a matter of audience. Latin was suitable for an international audience of scholars, whereas English reached a socially wider, but more local, audience. Hence, popular science was written in English.

　　A second reason for writing in Latin may, perversely, have been a concern for secrecy. Open publication had dangers in putting into the public domain preliminary ideas which had not yet been fully exploited by their ‘author’. This growing concern about intellectual property rights was a feature of the period — it reflected both the humanist notion of the individual, rational scientist who invents and discovers through private intellectual labour, and the growing connection between original science and commercial exploitation. There was something of a social distinction between ‘scholars and gentlemen’ who understood Latin, and men of trade who lacked a classical education. And in the mid-17th century it was common practice for mathematicians to keep their discoveries and proofs secret, by writing them in cipher, in obscure languages, or in private messages deposited in a sealed box with the Royal Society. Some scientists might have felt more comfortable with Latin precisely because its audience, though international, was socially restricted. Doctors clung the most keenly to Latin as an ‘insider language’.

　　A third reason why the writing of original science in English was delayed may have been to do with the linguistic inadequacy of English in the early modern period. English was not well equipped to deal with scientific argument. First it lacked the necessary technical vocabulary. Second, it lacked the grammatical resources required to represent the world in an objective and impersonal way, and to discuss the relations, such as cause and effect, that might hold between complex and hypothetical entities.

　　Fortunately, several members of the Royal Society possessed an interest in Language and became engaged in various linguistic projects. Although a proposal in 1664 to establish a committee for improving the English language came to little, the society’s members did a great deal to foster the publication of science in English and to encourage the development of a suitable writing style. Many members of the Royal Society also published monographs in English. One of the first was by Robert Hooke, the society’s first curator of experiments, who described his experiments with microscopes in Micrographia (1665). This work is largely narrative in style, based on a transcript of oral demonstrations and lectures.

　　In 1665 a new scientific journal, Philosophical Transactions, was inaugurated. Perhaps the first international English-language scientific journal, it encouraged a new genre of scientific writing, that of short, focused accounts of particular experiments.

　　The 17th century was thus a formative period in the establishment of scientific English. In the following century much of this momentum was lost as German established itself as the leading European language of science. It is estimated that by the end of the 18th century 401 German scientific journals had been established as opposed to 96 in France and 50 in England. However, in the 19th century scientific English again enjoyed substantial lexical growth as the industrial revolution created the need for new technical vocabulary, and new, specialized, professional societies were instituted to promote and publish in the new disciplines.

　　lingua franca: a language which is used for communication between groups of people who speak different languages

　　Questions 28-34

　　Complete the summary.

　　Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

　　Write your answers in boxes 28-34 on your answer sheet.

　　In Europe, modern science emerged at the same time as the nation state. At first, the scientific language of choice remained 28…………… . It allowed scientists to communicate with other socially privileged thinkers while protecting their work from unwanted exploitation. Sometimes the desire to protect ideas seems to have been stronger than the desire to communicate them, particularly in the case of mathematicians and 29…………… . In Britain, moreover, scientists worried that English had neither the 30…………… nor the 31………… to express their ideas. This situation only changed after 1660 when scientists associated with the 32………… set about developing English. An early scientific journal fostered a new kind of writing based on short descriptions of specific experiments. Although English was then overtaken by 33……… , it developed again in the 19th century as a direct result of the 34……………….

　　Questions 35-37

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

　　In boxes 35-37 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

　　35 There was strong competition between scientists in Renaissance Europe.

　　36 The most important scientific development of the Renaissance period was the discovery of magnetism.

　　37 In 17th-century Britain, leading thinkers combined their interest in science with an interest in how to express ideas.

　　Questions 38-40

　　Complete the table.

　　Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

　　Write your answers in boxes 38-40 on your answer sheet.

　　Science written in the first half of the 17th century

　　Language used Latin English

　　Type of science Original 38…………

　　Examples 39………… Encyclopaedias

　　Target audience International scholars 40…………, but socially wider

　　剑桥雅思阅读5原文参考译文(test2)

　　BAKELITE The birth of modern plastics

　　酚醛塑料——现代塑料的诞生

　　1907年，比利时科学家Leo Hendrick Baekeland在纽约工作时发现了一种全新的合成材料，并申请了专利。他将自己的发明称作“酚醛塑料”，他的这一发明在技术上起到了极其重要的作用，并有效地催生了现代塑料业。

　　“塑料(plastic) ”这一术语原于希腊词plassein，意思就是“塑造”。某些塑料源自天然材料，某些塑料是半人工合成塑料，即由天然材料发生化学反应形成的。还有的塑料是完全由人工合成的，也就是通过煤或布油的成分发生化学反应形成的。有些塑料是热塑性塑料，即像赠烛一样，受热后形状可以重塑。有些塑枳隄热固性塑料，就像鸡蛋一样，受热后无法再回到原来的黏滞状态，是永久定型的。酚醛塑料是第一种完全由人工合成的热固性塑料。

　　当代塑料的历史源于19世纪中期对一系列半人工合成的热塑材料的发现。早期研制这些塑料材料有多个动因：化学领域的巨大的技术进步，文化观念的巨大转变，以及等找合适的材料代替供应量日益减少的奢侈原料(如玳瑁壳和象牙)的实际需要。

　　Baekeland对塑料的兴趣始于1885年，当时他还是比利时的一个年轻的化学专业学生。 Baekeland开始研究的是酚醛树脂。酚醛树脂是苯酚(石炭酸)和一种醛(与酒精类似的挥发性液体)结合的粘稠状的产物。不过，他很快就放弃了这一课题，直到多年以后才重新开始这一研究。到了1905年，由于当时刚发明了一种新型照相纸，他赚了些钱，成为了纽约市的一位富人。当Baekeland忙着赚钱的时候，塑料研究方面取得了几项重大进展。1899年至1900 年间，第一种可以投入大规模工业生产的半人工合成热塑材料获得了专利。从纯科学的角度讲，Baelcelmid对塑料这一领域的贡献并不在于他发现了酚醛塑料这种以他名字命名的材料，而是在于控制苯酚和甲醛反应的方法，正是这种控制方法使酚醛塑料可以进行大规模的商业制备。1907年7月13日，Baekeland获得了描述这一制备过程的专利，其中主要步骤至今仍在使用。

　　Baekeland的这个专利列举了三个步骤：首先，苯酿和甲醛(从木材或煤中提取)在真空的卵形瓶中进行反应，生成一种叫Novalak的树脂，这种树脂可溶且受热后有延展性。然后使这种树脂在浅盘中冷却、变硬，最后破碎，碾成粉末。接着加入其他的物质，包括填料，如木屑、石棉或棉花，以增加强度和防潮，还要加入催化剂(加速两种化学物质的反应但自身在反应后却不发生变化的物质)和六元化合物(一种有氨和甲醛的化合物，为生成热塑性树脂提供必要的甲醛)。然后将得到的树脂再次冷却，使其变硬，重新碾成粉末。由此形成的颗粒状粉末就是粗质酚醛塑料，可以用来制造一系列的其他物品。在最后一步，将受热的酚醛塑料浇进所需形状的中空模具中，施以高温髙压，使其永久定型。

　　酚醛塑料制成品形状的设计，无论是耳环还是电视机外壳，都在很大程度上取决于塑形过程中的技术要求。设计要避免物品在塑形过程中卡在模具中取不出来。一个常用的规则就是物品越深人模具的部分应越细。若有必要，则将物品分成几部分，单独塑形。模具的设计要十分小心，使熔化的酚醛塑料能平均地全部流人模具中。尖角不实用，因此要尽量避免，由此也带来了20世纪30年代光滑的流线型形状的风行。模具壁的厚度也很关键。模具壁越厚，冷却硬化需要的时间就越长。为了使(生产)机器能得到高效的使用，模具厚度这个因素是设计者必须加以考虑的。

　　尽管起初Baekeland的这一发明受到人们的鄙视，但后来却受到前所未有的欢迎，在20世纪前半叶一直都很流行。这一发明成了工业扩张时期的宠儿，被称为是“万能材料”。由于能防渗抗热，用酚醛塑料制成的厨房用品都在宣传中强调其无菌，可消毒的特点。电器制造商利用其绝缘的特性，消费者则享受到其鲜艳夺目的色彩，庆幸自己不用再忍受“前塑料时代”只有木色和棕色的单调了。到了20世纪50年代，酚醛塑料又再度失去人们的宠爱，遭到人们的鄙视，被大量销毁。而最近，酚醛塑料又好像重焕了生机，收藏品市场上对原来用酚醛塑料制成的物品需求又有所增加。博物馆、各种社团和热衷于此的个人收藏者又开始重新欣赏起这种创新型材料的风格和其新颖别致的特点。

　　TEST 2 PASSAGE 2 参考译文：

　　What’s so funny?

　　John McCrone reviews recent research on humor

　　什么这么好笑?

　　---John McCrone对近期幽默研究的回顾

　　笑话从耳机中传出来：“狗哪一边的毛最多?左边。”不对，不好笑，再猜。“狗哪一边毛最多?外边。”哈!这句话的关键词语有些荒.唐，却很合适，令人宛尔，甚至捧腹大笑。笑一直让人类感到神秘，或许笑没有什么意义。作家Arthur Koestler称笑为奢侈的反射作用，“笑的独特之处就在于它没有明显的生物学目的。”

　　幽默理论有着悠久的历史。柏拉图认为幽默就是一种因感到比别人优越而体会到的快乐的感觉。康德和弗洛伊德认为讲笑话則要营造一种精神上的紧张气氛，最后抖开笑话的包袱，让其滑稽有趣之处化解这种紧张气氛。但是大多数当代幽默理论家最终都采纳了亚里士多德的观点：笑话的基础就是一种对不和谐情况的反应或解释，这种情况下笑话的关键语句或者没有什么特殊意义，或者貌似荒.唐却聪明地隐含了第二层含义。

　　爱丁堡的计算语言学家Graeme Ritchie在研究笑话的语言结构，不仅为了理解幽默，同时也为了了解机器的语言理解能力及推理能力他说，尽管笑话没有固定的模式，但是许多笑话都是围绕某个出其不意的概念转换展开的。喜剧演员会描述一个情景，然后给出一个出人意料却又恰如其分的解释。

　　所以，即使笑话的关键语句听起来有些荒.唐，听众却可以意识到其中有一个机灵恰当的语义，而心头掠过的“对呀”这一恍然大悟的感叹就是令我们发笑的信号。从这个角度看来，幽默就是一种创造性的洞察力，一种向新视角的突越。

　　但是还有另外一种笑，就是社会交往中缓解紧张局面的笑。理解这种笑也是很重要的。在许多幼小的哺乳动物的发育当中，游戏都是关键的一部分。老鼠会在厮打游玩时发出超声波似的尖叫声，防止厮打变成真的争斗。黑猩猩有一种游戏表情，把嘴张得大大的，同时发出“啊、啊”的喘息声。对于人类来说，这些信号都已转化成为了微笑和大笑。研究人员认为，激发这种本能的游戏信号或缓解紧张局面信号的因素不是笑话等认知活动，而是社会场景。人们玩旋转木马或被别人逗痒，开始玩闹时，无论是否感到好笑都会发出笑声。

　　无论是社交场合中的笑还是认知活动中的笑，都是我们大脑中的同一表达机制在起作用。情感和运动神经网络令人微笑，并发出笑声。但是，如果认知活动中的笑是更多元的思维过程的产物的话，那么这种笑应当源干更广泛的大脑活动。

　　心理学家Vinod Goel使用“单事件”官能磁共振成像这一新技术对幽默进行调查研究，磁共振成像扫描仪使用磁场和无线电波跟踪伴随着心理活动的充氧血液中发生的变化。直到最近，这种扫描议都还需要数分钟的时间才能完成扫描，所以无法用于跟踪理解笑话这样迅速的思维过程。而新的进展使所有的退理和解决问题活动都能在半秒钟就快速成像。

　　尽管Goel感到弄清了大脑内部的活动并不能完美地解决笑话的理解问题，他却发现理解笑话需要思维的大转换。他的扫描仪显示听笑话的人在笑话开始时前额脑皮层会发亮，尤其是对解决问题起关键作用的右前额会发亮。但是在头部侧面的颞叶也会有活动，表明在试图激发已有的知识，大脑其他许多区域也有活动。然后，当包揪抖开时，一个新的区域——前额眼眶脑皮层活跃起来。这个蜷缩在眼眶后边的大脑区域是与处理信息相联系的。

　　无论人脑还是动物的大脑，迅速对眼前的事件作出情感上的判断都是一件非常艰巨的任务。能量和受激反应的程度都要在一眨眼的功夫作出调整。这些突然的改变产生的感觉既有积极的又有消极的。在Goel实验中变得活跃的眼眶脑皮层区域由于与大脑的次脑皮层唤激结构和新陈代谢控制中枢有着密切的联系，似乎最有可能是将这些感觉转入更高一层的思维过程的区域。

　　所有的温血动物对外界变化的刺激都在不断地作出细微的调整，但人类由于拥有语言而有着更为复杂的内心活动，所以人类不仅会对周围的环境产生感情上的反应，而且会对自身的思维产生感情上的反应。一旦某一苦苦寻找的答案出现了，人就会突然产生一种快乐的认可感。由于创造性的发现是令人愉悦的，人类学会了寻找猎取这种自然反应的途径。笑话可以进人我们的一般评估机制，这就说明有趣与恶心，或者有趣与恐怖之间的界限是十分微妙的。一个笑话给人带来的是快乐还是痛苦取决于一个人的价值观。

　　幽默可能算是一种奢侈品，但其背后的机制却不是进化过程中的偶然事件。正如弗吉尼亚州威廉—玛丽学院的心理学家Peter Derks所说：“我乐意将幽默想像成是思维的歪曲镜，幽默是创造性的，感性的、与分析和语言有关的。如果我们能够找出思维是如何处理幽默的，我们就能从整体上处理好其运作机制。”

　　TEST 2 PASSAGE 3 参考译文：

　　The Birth of Scientific English

　　科技英语的诞生

　　虽然当今世界科学为包括日语，德语和法语在内的少数几门语言所统治，但是英语可能才是科学界最普及的世界语言。这不仅仅是由于美国这样的英语国家在科学研究中所起的重要作用，而且还是因为许多非英语国家的科学家发现为了拥有广大的国际读者群，他们需要用英语写研究论文。今天，科技英语的地位已经显得非常重要。因此，你可能很难想到在17世纪之前竟没有人很淸楚在科学写作中如何使用英语，(事实上)在17世纪之前，被人们视为欧洲知识分子通用语言的是拉丁文。

　　约在14到16世纪间出现的欧洲“文艺复兴”有时被称作是“知识复兴”，在这一时期，人们对失落的古希腊罗马时期的知识重新萌发了兴趣。然而，与此同时，学者们也开始检验和扩展这种知识。欧洲新兴国家竞相进行世界探险、发展贸易，这些活动的增加，使英语向西传到了美洲，向东传到了印度。这些活动获得了科学进步的支持，如磁场的发现以及由此而发明的指南针，地图制作技术的改进，和其中或许最为重要的科学变革——由哥白尼(1473-1543)创立起来的地球与其他行星和恒星相对运动的理论和天文学的新理论。

　　英格兰是率先有科学家热情地接受并宣传哥白尼的思想的国家之一。这些学者当中，有两位对语言感兴趣，他们分别是John Wallis和John Wilkins。1660年，这两位学者帮助组建了英国皇家学会，来推广实证性的科学研究。

　　整个欧洲大陆上都陆续出现了类似的研究院和协会，从而创立起了新的民族科学传统。在科学革命的初始阶段，大多以本国语言出版的出版物都是大众读物、百科全书、教科书和译著。直到17世纪下半叶，英语才成为原创科学所使用的语言。例如，牛顿发表自己的数学论文《自然哲学的数学原理》时用的是拉丁文，但后来发表他有关光的特性的论文《光学》时，用的却是英文。

　　原创科学一直使用拉丁文写作有多个原因。首先就是读者的问题。拉丁文适合广大国际学者阅读，而英语虽然可以被社会上更多的人所理解，但这些读者更多的是英国国内的读者。因此，大众科学是用英语写就的。

　　第二个用拉丁文写作的原因或许显得荒谬，那就是想要保守秘密。公开出版著作可能会导致还未被原作者研究透彻的初步理念进人公众领域。对知识产权的日益关注是那个时代的特征，这既反映出一种人文关怀，即对富于理性的科学家个人通过自己的脑力劳动进行发明和发现的关怀，又体现出原创科学与商业化利用间日益紧密的联系。那些懂拉丁文的学者、绅士与没有受过什么正规教育的商人是有社会差异的。17世纪中期的时候，数学家将自己的发现和例证用密码、晦涩的语言来描述，或写成个人的便条，封存在英国皇家学会的小盒子里，以保守秘密，这在当时是司空见惯的事情。有些科学家更愿用拉丁文的原因可能就是因为尽管拉丁文的读者是世界性的，却是非常有限的，社会上没有多少人懂，医生则对拉丁文万分钟爱，将其视为“内部人的语言”。

　　原创科学迟迟未用英文书写的第三个原因可能与近代早期英语语言还不发达有关。英语还不能很好的用于科学说理。首先，英语缺乏必要的技术词汇;其次，英语没有必要的语法，无法客观公正地表现世界，也无法讨论各种关系，如复杂而又是假设性的各实体间可能存在的因果关系。

　　幸运的是，有几名英国皇家学会的成员对语言感兴趣，并开始从事各种语言学方面的研究工作。尽管1664年关于建立改善英语委员会的提议没有什么结果，但是英国皇家学会的成员却做了大量的工作，促进用英语出版科学著作，鼓励恰当写作风格的形成。许多英国皇家学会的成员也用英文发表了学术专著，首批成员包括学会首任实验管理员罗伯特·胡克，他1665年出版了《显微图集》，书中描述了他的显微镜实验。这本著作以口头讲解示范和讲座的文字记录稿为蓝本，大体上是记叙文风格。

　　1665年，一份新的科学杂志《哲学汇刊》创刊。这或许算得上是首份英文国际科学期刊。该期刊鼓励新的科学写作风格：简洁、重点地描述某一特定实验。

　　因此，17世纪算是科技英语形成的发展阶段。在接下来的一个世纪中，科技英语的这种发展势头却消失了，因为德语成为了欧洲科学领域的主导语言。据估计，到了18世纪末，德语科学杂志有401份，与之相对，法语科学杂志有96份，英语科学杂志有50份，尽管如此，到了19世纪，伴随着工业革命对新技术词汇的需要，科技英语在词汇上重新有了大幅度的增长。同时，新的专业学会也纷纷建立起来，促进新学科的发展和著作的出版。

　　剑桥雅思阅读5原文解析(test2)

　　Test 2 Passage 1

　　Question 1

　　答案： candlewax

　　关键词：similar/melt under heat

　　定位原文: 第2段倒数第2句“...like candlewax, they melt when heated...”

　　解题思路：只要能够在第二段中找到定位词melt和heated，很快就能够找到similar的同义词like。因此答案应该选择candlewax。

　　Question 2

　　答案： synthetic

　　关键词： bakelite/both...and.../themosetting

　　定位原文: 第2段最后1句“Bakelite had the distinction of being…”

　　解题思路: distinction和first对应题目中的unique，而thermoseting一词前面只有synthetic这个词可以选择，即使不认识，也可以填上去。

　　Question 3

　　答案： chemistry

　　关键词：the nineteenth century/advances/field/ivory

　　定位原文: 第3段第2句“The impetus…”

　　解题思路: 选用nineteenth century和ivory两个特殊词找到答案定位，然后再仔细寻找great advances的对应词immense technological progress，随后马上可以看到field的对应词domain。因此这道题目应该填chemistry。

　　Question 4

　　答案： Novalak

　　关键词: avoid overcrowded centre

　　定位原文: D段最后1句“Instead…”

　　解题思路: instead是一个转折连接词，后面的观点与前者刚好相反。上一句说 pushing everyone into the city centre was not the best approach，刚好证明我们应该避免造成一个过度拥挤的市中心。

　　Question 5

　　答案： fillers

　　关键词： cotton / asbestos / catalysts

　　定位原文: 第5段第4句“Other…”

　　解题思路: 此处需要注意答案并不是woodflour，因为文中说 fillers such as woodflour, asbestos or cotton，后三者是作者举出的filler的具体例子，故不选。

　　Question 6

　　答案： hexa

　　关键词：ammonia/formaldehyde

　　定位原文: 第5段第4句的后半句“hexa, a compound…”

　　解题思路: 此题目位置稍有颠倒，但是只要明白compound是混合物的意思就不难得到答案是hexa。

　　Question 7

　　答案： raw

　　关键词： resin/cool/harden/break up/powder/bakelite

　　定位原文: 第5段第5句“This resin…”

　　解题思路: 第五段先找到cool和harden，很快看到Bakelite，前面的词是raw。

　　Question 8

　　答案： pressure

　　关键词：mould /intense heat /cool

　　定位原文: 第5段最后1句“In the last stage…”

　　解题思路: extreme 和 intense 属于同义表达，空处和intense heat形成并列关系，答案很容易得出是pressure。

　　Question 9 & Question 10

　　答案：B C

　　关键词： design/Bakelite

　　定位原文: 第6段第2句“The object…”第6段第4句“Moulds had to be…”

　　解题思路: 第2句对应C选项，could not locked into 和题目的remove from 属于同义表达;第4句对应B选项，fill 和 flow completely into 也属于同义表达。

　　Question 11

　　答案: TRUE

　　关键词：based on / the same

　　定位原文: 第1段第2句和第4段最后1句

　　解题思路: 文中launch 一词实际上指的是1907年获得专利的技术开启了现代塑料工业的大门。所以答案应该是TRUE。这一点在最后一段中也能得到印证。

　　Question 12

　　答案： FALSE

　　关键词：welcome

　　定位原文: 第7段第1句和倒数第2句

　　解题思路: 文中明确提到在其刚刚诞生的时候，酚醛塑料颇为大众所不屑，并不是立即就受到欢迎。下面的文章又提到 it then fell from favour again during the 1950s. immediately 一词过于绝对，一般在题目中出现该词选FALSE。

　　Question 13

　　答案：FALSE

　　关键词：colours

　　定位原文: 第7段第4句“...delighted that they were now, at last, no longer restricted to the wood tones and drab browns of the preplastic era.”

　　解题思路: 这句话告诉我们在塑料发展的初级阶段，人们只能买到木色和棕色的产品，但是随着技术的进步，人们不再限于这两种单调的颜色了。only 一词过于绝对，一般在题目中出现了该词选FALSE。

　　Test 2 Passage 2

　　Question 14

　　答案：FALSE

　　关键词：Arthur Koestler

　　定位原文: 第1段最后1句“The writer….”

　　解题思路: 文中已经明确指出“笑的独特之处就在干它没有明显的生物学目的”，而题目却一定要说它从生物学的很多方面而言都很重要，本题是抵触型的False。

　　Question 15

　　答案：NOT GIVEN

　　关键词： Plato

　　定位原文: 第2段第2句“Plato expressed…”

　　解题思路: 这句话应该翻译为“柏拉图认为幽默是因感觉比别人优越而体会到的快乐感觉”而并没有具体提到在哪方面比别人优越。题目将这个范围缩小到了在智力上比别人优越，明显是一道完全未提及型的NOT GIVEN。

　　Question 16

　　答案： TRUE

　　关键词：Kant

　　定位原文: 第2段第3句“Kant and Freud felt…”

　　解题思路: 康德和弗洛伊德认为讲笑话时需要营造一种精神上的紧张气氛，最后抖开笑话的包袱，让其滑稽有趣之处化解这种紧张气氛。tension 等同于energy，safely punctured 等同于controlled release。本题是一道典型的同义词对应型的TRUE。

　　Question 17

　　答案：FALSE

　　关键词：Aristotle

　　定位原文: 第2段最后1句“But most modem humour…”

　　解题思路: 但是大多数当代幽默理论家最终都采纳了类似亚里士多德的观点……settle on决定;选定，题目中的ignore就和这个词组抵触，反义词抵触型FALSE。

　　Question 18

　　答案：TRUE

　　关键词：Graeme Ritchie

　　定位原文: 第3段第1句“Graeme Ritchie,…, studies the linguistic…”

　　解题思路: Graeme Ritchie在研究笑话的语言结构，不仅为了理解幽默，同时也为了了解机器的语言理解能力及推理能力。此题的关键是理解artificial intelligence 一词。所谓A.I.，其实就是指机器可以具有理解语言和逻辑推理的能力。

　　Question 19

　　答案：NOT GIVEN

　　关键词：comedians

　　定位原文: 第3段最后1句话“A comedian will present a…”

　　解题思路: 喜剧演员会描述一个情景，然后给出一个出人意料却又恰如其分的解释。这里并未提到喜剧演员是否会将个人情景作为笑料。

　　Question 20

　　答案： TRUE

　　关键词：chimpanzees

　　定位原文: 第5段第4句“Chimpanzees have a…”

　　解题思路: 黑狸猩有一种游戏表情，把嘴张得大大的，同时发出“啊、啊”的喘息声。文中这句话正好表明了黑猩猩在玩耍的时候会发出某种声音，与题目一致，故选择TRUE。

　　Question 21

　　答案： problem solving

　　关键词： area/ activated/ right prefrontal/orbital prefrontal

　　定位原文: 第8段第2句“...listener’s prefrontal cortex Lit up, particularly the right prefrontal…”

　　解题思路: 问题要求填出right prefrontal cortex与何种思维活动有关，所以答案为problem solving。

　　Question 22

　　答案： temporal lobes

　　关键词：too

　　定位原文: 第8段第3句

　　解题思路: 题目中的active对应文中的activity。当然，实际上这道题目只要能将题目中的too和文章中的also相对应就能解出来了。答案是temporal lobes。

　　Question 23

　　答案： evaluating information

　　关键词： orbital prefrontal cortex

　　定位原文: 第8段最后两句

　　解题思路: 题目中的involved with相当于文章中的associated with,所以答案应该选择evaluating information。

　　Question 24

　　答案： C

　　关键词： brain / most difficult

　　定位原文: 第9段第1句

　　解题思路: 其中extremely demanding就相当于24题中的most difficult，而a rapid emotional assessment就等同于respond instantly to。

　　Question 25

　　答案： A

　　关键词：language

　　定位原文: 第10段第1句 “..., but humans, who have developed a much…”

　　解题思路: 定位句正好和A选项相呼应

　　Question 26

　　答案： F

　　关键词： individual

　　定位原文: 第10段最后1句

　　解题思路: outlook指“观念，观点”，等同于F答案中的subjective views 。

　　Question 27

　　答案：D

　　关键词： Peter Derks

　　定位原文：第11段最后1句

　　解题思路：mind等同于答案D中的brain, works则等同于operation 。

　　Test 2 Passage 3

　　Question 28

　　答案： Latin

　　关键词：Europe/nation state/At first

　　定位原文: 文中第1、5、6段

　　解题思路: 在首段末句，作者提到了 Before that, Latin was regarded as the lingua franca for European intellectuals. 我们隐约可以感觉到拉丁文在学术界的盛行，但这还不足以让我们确定此空就要填Latin一词。在第五和第六段中，作者提到了学术界流行拉丁文的原因。其中第六段开头一句提到A second reason for writing in Latin may, perversely, have a concern for secrecy. 这正好就等同题目中28空后面的那句话，所以我们椎测答案应该填写Latin一词。

　　Question 29

　　答案： doctors

　　关键词： Mathematicians

　　定位原文: 第6段中最后3句

　　解题思路: 题目中告诉我们：有的时候保护个人观点的欲望远远大于与人分享观点的欲望，特别是对于数学家和___。在这里应该填上一个表示职业的名词。而第六段中在mathematician之后，只有一个表示职业的名词，那就是doctors。故答案应该填 doctors。

　　Question 30 and Question 31

　　答案： technical vocabulary grammatical resources (in either order)

　　关键词： Britain/ English/ neither... nor...

　　定位原文: 第7段第3句“First, it lacked…”

　　解题思路: 首先用English将此题定位在第七段中，这一段提到了英文为什么迟迟未被用作学术语言的原因。从题目上我们看出这两个原因应该是并列的，进而找到了first和second，然后就选出了答案technical vocabulary和grammatical resources。

　　Question 32

　　答案： Royal Society

　　关键词：after 1660/ associated with

　　定位原文: 第8段第1句“... Several members of the Royal Society... ”

　　解题思路: 按照顺序原则，此题答案应该在第八段出现。在这一段当中作者不断提到皇家学会的科学家如何致力于发展英语作为一种学术语言，并且举出了具体的例子。所以答案应该填Royal Society。

　　Question 33

　　答案： German

　　关键词：journal/English/overtaken

　　定位原文: 第10段第2句“...as German established itself as…”

　　解题思路: 第十段中提到德语压倒英语成为主要的科学语言。establish...as...确立为……。

　　Question 34

　　答案： industrial revolution

　　关键词：19th century

　　定位原文: 第10段最后1句

　　解题思路: 是工业革命促进了科技英语的复兴，所以此题答案应该填industrial revolution。

　　Question 35

　　答案： NOT GIVEN

　　关键词：Renaissance Europe

　　定位原文: 第2段内容

　　解题思路: 在此段当中并没有提到文艺复兴时期欧洲的科学家们是如何激烈竞争的，是一道完全未提及型NOT GIVEN。

　　Question 36

　　答案：FALSE

　　关键词：magnetism

　　定位原文: 第2段第4句“ ...was supported by scientific developments such as the discovery of magnetism, improvements…”

　　解题思路: 这句话表明文艺复兴时期最重大的发现也许是天文学方面的新理论，这就和题目当中磁场的发现相抵触了，故应该选择FALSE。

　　Question 37

　　答案：TRUE

　　关键词：17th-century Britain

　　定位原文: 第3段内容

　　解题思路: 根据T/F/NG题目一般每段考査一题、按顺序出题的原则，我们将这道题目定位在第三段，而England一词也印证了我们的定位。但是如果想在这一段直接找到与题目相对应的词语却非常困难。本段只是描到英格兰是率先有科学家热情地接受并宣传哥白尼的思想的国家统一。这些学者当中，有两位对语言感兴趣，他们分别是1660年，这两位学者帮助组建了英国皇家学会，来推广实证性的科学研究。所以我们可以推断出本题目为TRUE。

　　Question 38

　　答案： popular

　　关键词：original

　　定位原文: 第5段最后1句

　　解题思路: 此处要填一个与original相对的词，故popular最合适。

　　Question 39

　　答案： Principia

　　关键词: encyclopedia

　　定位原文: 第4段最后1句

　　解题思路: 通过旁边的纵栏我们了解到英文是用来书写大百科全书的，而横栏又告诉我们此处需要一个例子，于是我们需要填写的就是用拉丁文书写的一个范例，所以填Principia。

　　Question 40

　　答案： local