雅思閱讀文章題目：Living with uncertainty

　　重復年份：20160109A 20140515

　　雅思閱讀雅思閱讀題材：自然環(huán)境

　　雅思閱讀雅思閱讀題型：判斷7+簡答6

　　雅思閱讀文章大意：澳洲的氣候變化無常，所以那里的生物需要很強的應變能力。有一種P鳥可以知道什么地方什么時候下雨，可以提前飛去找水喝。當?shù)厝藶榱酸鳙C把森林燒掉，另一種要吃salt bush的鳥就因此滅絕了。歐洲人來了之后大量種植wheat，Emu喜歡吃，所以繁殖很快。

　　部分答案參考：

　　判斷：

　　第一種鳥避開下雨的地方。N

　　簡答：

　　1.Aboriginal做了什么來方便他們打獵 lit fire

　　2. G鳥滅絕的原因：salt bush

　　3. Emu吃wheat

　　雅思閱讀文章題目：Trade

　　重復年份：20160109B 20120728

　　雅思閱讀題材：發(fā)展史

　　雅思閱讀題型：暫無

　　雅思閱讀文章大意：貿(mào)易的發(fā)展史，講了貿(mào)易的人的天性以及各地的貿(mào)易發(fā)展水平和狀況。

　　Basically trade means exchange of goods, services, or both. Trade is also called commerce. The actual face of trade was barter, which was the direct exchange of goods and services. Today traders generally negotiate through a medium of exchange, like money, which then makes buying separate from selling, or earning. The invention of money has made trade simpler. Trade between two traders is called bilateral trade, while trade between more than two traders is called multilateral trade.

　　Trade exists for many reasons. It can be due to specialization and division of labor. Trade exists between regions because different regions have a comparative advantage in the production of some tradable commodity, or because different regions' size helps getting benefits of mass production.

　　History of Trade:

　　Trade originated in prehistoric times. It was the main facility of prehistoric people, who bartered goods and services from each other when modern money was never even thought of. Peter Watson dates the history of long-distance commerce from circa 150,000 years ago.

　　Trade is believed to have taken place throughout much of recorded human history. Materials used for the creation of jewelry were traded with Egypt since 3000 BC. Long-distance trade routes first appeared in the 3rd millennium BC, by the Sumerians in Mesopotamia when they traded with the Harappan civilization of the Indus Valley. Trading is greatly important to the global economy. From the very beginning of Greek civilization to the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century, a financially worthwhile trade brought valuable spice to Europe from the Far East, including China.

　　The fall of the Roman Empire, and the succeeding Dark Ages brought insecurity to Western Europe and a near end of the trade network. However some trade did occur, the Radhanites were a medieval group of Jewish merchants who traded between the Christians in Europe and the Muslims of the Near East.

　　The Sogdians ruled the East-West trade route known as the Silk Road from the end 4th century AD to the 8th century AD.

　　The Vikings and Varangians also traded from the 8th to the 11th century as they sailed from and to Scandinavia. Vikings sailed to Western Europe, while Varangians to Russia.

　　Vasco da Gama restarted the European Spice trade in 1498. Earlier to his sailing around Africa, the flow of spice into Europe was controlled by Islamic powers, especially Egypt. The spice trade was of major economic importance and helped encourage the Age of Exploration. Spices brought to Europe from distant lands were some of the most valuable commodities for their weight, sometimes rivaling gold.

　　In the 16th century, Holland was the centre of free trade, imposing no exchange controls, and advocating the free movement of goods.

　　In 1776, Adam Smith published the paper "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations". This paper criticized Mercantilism, and argued that economic specialization could benefit nations just as much as firms. Since that time the division of labor was restricted by the size of the market, he said that countries having access to larger markets would be able to divide labor more efficiently and thereby become more productive.

　　The Great Depression was a major economic collapse that ran from 1929 to the late 1930s. There was a great setback in trade and other economic indicators during this period.

　　The lack of free trade was considered by many as a root cause of the depression. Only during the World War II the recession ended in United States.

　　雅思閱讀文章題目：The history of Russian Ballet

　　重復年份：20160114 20150418 20121124

　　雅思閱讀題材：發(fā)展史

　　雅思閱讀題型：判斷6+填空7

　　雅思閱讀文章大意：芭蕾舞發(fā)源于意大利，從17世紀后傳入俄國后一直欣欣向榮。出了很多優(yōu)秀的藝術家和作品，外國舞派也對俄國芭蕾舞發(fā)展有著影響。后期以戲劇味發(fā)展主流，一直講到本世紀70年代的發(fā)展。

　　參考閱讀：

　　Until 1689, ballet in Russia was nonexistent. The Tsarist control and isolationism in Russia allowed for little influence from the West. It wasn't until the rise of Peter the Great that Russian society opened up to the West. St. Petersburg was erected to embrace the West and compete against Moscow’s isolationism. Peter the Great created a new Russia which rivaled the society of the West with magnificent courts and palaces. His vision was to challenge the west. Classical ballet entered the realm of Russia not as entertainment, but as a “standard of physical comportment to be emulated and internalized-an idealized way of behaving. The aim was not to entertain the masses of Russians, but to create a cultivated and new Russian people.

　　Empress Anna, (1730 – 1740) was devoted to ostentatious amusements (balls, fireworks, tableaux), and in the summer of 1734 ordered the appointment of Jean-Baptiste Landé as dancing-master in the military academy she had founded in 1731 for sons of the nobility. In 1738, he became ballet master and head of the new ballet school, launching the advanced study of ballet in Russia, and winning the patronage of elite families.

　　France provided many leaders such as Charles Didelot in St Petersburg (1801-1831), Jules Perrot(1848-1859) and Arthur Saint-Léon (1859-69).

　　In the early 19th century, the theaters were opened up to anyone who could afford a ticket. A seating section called a rayok, or 'paradise gallery', consisted of simple wooden benches. This allowed non-wealthy people access to the ballet, because tickets in this section were inexpensive.

　　One author describes the Imperial ballet as “unlike that of any other country in the world…the most prestigious of the ballet troupes were those attached to the state-supported theatres. The directors of these companies were personally appointed by the tsar, and all the dancers were, in a sense, Imperial servants. In the theatre, the men in the audience always remained standing until the tsar entered his box and, out of respect, after the performance they remained in their places until he had departed. Curtain calls were arranged according to a strict pattern: first, the ballerina bowed to the tsar’s box, then to that of the theater director, and finally to the general public.

　　雅思閱讀文章題目：Aquaculture in New Zealand

　　重復年份：20160114 20151031 20121124 20110212

　　雅思閱讀題材：農(nóng)業(yè)

　　雅思閱讀題型：小標題7+人名理論配對3+句子填空3

　　雅思閱讀文章大意：新西蘭水產(chǎn)養(yǎng)殖，介紹了新西蘭一種新型保護海底動物多樣性兼顧商業(yè)運作的方式一aquaculture , 其發(fā)展遇到的問題及前景。

　　部分參考答案：

　　小標題

　　14. vi (一個受益的村莊)

　　15. vii (company’s profit)

　　16. 選含 limitation 的那項

　　17. 選含 concerns to environment 的那項

　　18. 選含 alternative explanation 的那項

　　19. 選含 research 的那項

　　20. 選含 science and business 的那項

　　填空題

　　24. polyculture/aquaculture

　　25. commercial partner

　　26. market value/high price

　　雅思閱讀文章題目：Children and robots

　　重復年份：20160305 20141002

　　雅思閱讀題材：科技

　　雅思閱讀題型：小標題5+配對5+填空3

　　雅思閱讀文章大意：機器人對孩子學習的影響。主要講到把機器人放在學�？梢暂o助老師還有陪學生玩，還可以讓它們擁有表情促進交流，但是過度使用可能會造成倫理問題，此外還提到了幾個科學家和他們的觀點。

　　參考閱讀：

　　Robotics is making inroads into society, not only in factories and industry but also in homes and schools, where social robots are helping children cope better with conditions such as diabetes and autism.

　　A robot and child

　　Studies show that interaction with a robot can benefit children with certain medical conditions such as diabetes, as well as autism and other developmental disorders. (Image: ALIZ-E project.)

　　This week, thousands of people – young and old – are exploring the weirdness and wonders of robotics technology during the European Robotics Week, which is taking place in labs, museums, public squares and schools all over Europe.

　　But robotics offers more than just show and tell. It can make a real difference in the lives of children who, for example, struggle with diabetes or autism, or need extra help in the classroom.

　　‘Nao’ the friendly (but not perfect) robot

　　Recently, scientists showed that social robots can help diabetic children accept the nature of their condition and become more confident about their futures. In the four-and-a-half year ALIZ-E project, a research team led by Plymouth University studied the interactions between hundreds of European children aged 7-11 and a robot prototype called ‘Nao’.

　　Standing around 60 centimetres tall and featuring specially designed speech recognition software, ‘Nao’ helped the youngsters in keeping a diary of food intake, insulin injections and blood sugar levels. Through quizzes and games it also helped the kids to better understand diabetes and the huge amount of information they are given.

　　According to ALIZ-E leader Tony Belpaeme, the robot is not just a novelty factor to catch the children’s attention but a tool to engage and motivate them. “In many cases where a child has diabetes, you notice their confidence has been knocked and the robot can help restore that. By personalising its responses and recognising the children it has met before, the robots can support and educate, and we have seen many times the positive impact this is having on children and their families,” Belpaeme says in a Plymouth University news release.

　　The European Commission-funded study has not only shed light on how children relate to social robots, but also how robots need to be designed to maximise their impact when used for educational or therapeutic purposes.

　　“The robot needs to personalise what it does. If it treats children on an individual level, they immediately relate to it – it taps into our primitive need to interact and communicate,” Belpaeme says in the release. “One of the things that does appeal to children is that the robot makes mistakes – if it never did so, it could become intimidating. It does make the child realise they too don’t have to be perfect all of the time.”

　　Robots to assist autistic children

　　The researchers also showed the robots have potential to act as classroom assistants helping pupils who may be in danger of falling behind their peers. The team is now exploring additional uses for the robots, for instance to help children on the autistic spectrum.

　　“Our initial work shows it could have an incredibly positive impact on those children, and given that autism can impact heavily on someone’s ability to communicate and build relationships, we now need to establish why it seems they can relate to a tiny robot. From that, we can explore how widely we can use the robot as a therapeutic tool and can we, in fact, use it to teach about wider social interactions,” Belpaeme says.

　　As shown in a number of recent reports by the BBC, there is indeed growing evidence that robots can help autistic children not only to learn but also to improve their communication skills.