如何提高雅思阅读速度

大家知道雅思考试的阅读速度和单词词汇量是分不开的，但是在记单词时还需要掌握它的学术含义，帮助我们考试时提升阅读速度。

如何提高雅思阅读速度 从单词入手

考生们在做阅读时经常会有某句话翻译不通从而造成理解障碍的问题。实际上阅读中的很多词汇用法并非是我们最熟悉或者想当然的那个含义。比如“mine”这个单词，在学术文章中经常表示“矿物”而并非‘我的’。

因此为了提高大家的阅读理解质量，考生们要学会掌握某些常见单词的其他“学术”含义。

1. in turn

大多数同学会理解为 “反过来”，认为前后语义是对立的，但实际上阅读中也可能表示顺接关系，翻译为“接着会…(发生)…”

The conventional theory is that people yawn when bored or sleepy because yawning raises blood oxygen levels, which in turn raises alertness.

2. account for

大家背四级单词时更多的理解为 “(比例上)占…”的含义，实际上account for还有“解释，说明……”这个意思。

Heavy rain accounts for most of the water that enters into lakes.

Scientists will not be able to account for climate changeover the past century until they learn more about the urban heat island.

3. precipitation

这是个话题词汇，大多数文章中翻译为 “沉淀”，不过也有“降水”的意思。

Ordinary meteoric water is water that has soaked into the ground from the surface, from precipitation (rain and snow) and from lakes and streams.

4. game

不是游戏哦，在学术文章中经常用来表达“野生猎物”这个意思。下次课别再困惑了。

They had experienced great difficulty finding game west of the Rockies and not until the second of December did they kill their first elk.

5. solution

除了“解决方案”，还要知道另一个常见含义“溶液”。这个词在小作文流程图写作中也是一个得分高级词汇。

Mineral deficiencies in many plants can be cured by misting their roots with a nutrient solution or by transferring the plants to a soilless nutrientsolution.

6. current

又一个学科背景词汇。常见的是形容词表“当下的”，实际还有“洋流、电流、气流”等含义。

The same thing happens to this day, though on a smaller scale, wherever a sediment-laden river or stream emerges from a mountain valley onto relatively flat land, dropping its load as the current slows: the water usually spreads out fanwise, depositing the sediment in the form of a smooth, fan-shaped slope.

7. browse

家熟知的是“浏览”的含义，而实际上托福阅读中更常表达得是“觅食”这个意思。

Where the forest inhibits the growth of grass and other meadow plants, the black-tailed deer browses on huckleberry, salal, dogwood, and almost any other shrub or herb. But this is fair-weather feeding.

8. impact

除了“影响”，还衍生出“冲击、撞击”的意思。这里提醒大家impact指代的影响也常常是负面含义的影响，大家在写作中要注意。

In view of these facts, scientists hypothesized that a single large asteroid, about 10 to 15 kilometers across, collided with Earth, and the resulting fallout created the boundary clay. Their calculations show that the impact kicked up a dust cloud that cut off sunlight for several months, inhibiting photosynthesis in plants; decreased surface temperatures on continents to below freezing…

9. complex

作为名词的时候可以表达“建筑群”的含义。

It had over 2,000 apartment complexes, a great market, a large number of industrial workshops, an administrative center, a number of massive religious edifices…

10. readily

别因为长得像“ready”就是准备好的意思，这个词其实是“容易地”意思。

The release of heat energy is retarded by the tall vertical city walls that do not allow infrared radiation to escape as readily asdoes the relatively level surface of the surrounding countryside.

11. evident

又一个大家习惯想当然的词。都说成“证据”就不对了，还要知道“明显的”。

Wind velocity also increases with altitude and may cause serious stress for trees, as is made evident by the deformed shapes at high altitudes.

12. collectively

不能望文生义为“收集地”，还有“共同地”这个释义较为常见。

Eventually, six round forms of handwriting, composed of three pairs of big and little scripts known collectively as the Six Pens, became the standard repertory of every calligrapher.

13. evenly

别以为“even”加个“-ly”就是甚至的副词形式，别忘了 “even”本来就是个副词。这个词是“均匀地”。

Petroleum forms best when organic matter is evenly distributed over …

其他常被误解的单词

sweet water 淡水 (不是“糖水”)

confidence man 骗子(不是“信得过的人”)

criminal lawyer 刑事律师(不是“犯罪的律师”)

service station 加油站

rest room 厕所(不是“休息室”)

sporting house 妓院或赌场(不是“体育室”)

horse sense 常识(不是“马的感觉”)

capital idea 好主意(不是“资本主义思想”)

familiar talk 庸俗的交谈(不是“熟悉的谈话”)

black tea 红茶(不是“黑茶”)

black art 妖术(不是“黑色艺术”)

mine 矿，矿产(不仅仅有“我的”的意思)

雅思考试阅读模拟试题及答案解析

Sleep medication linked to bizarre behaviour

New evidence has linked a commonly prescribed sleep medication with bizarre behaviours, including a case in which a woman painted her front door in her sleep.

UK and Australian health agencies have released information about 240 cases of odd occurrences, including sleepwalking, amnesia and hallucinations among people taking the drug zolpidem.

While doctors say that zolpidem can offer much-needed relief for people with sleep disorders, they caution that these newly reported cases should prompt a closer look at its possible side effects.

Zolpidem, sold under the brand names Ambien, Stilnoct and Stilnox, is widely prescribed to treat insomnia and other disorders such as sleep apnea. Various forms of the drug, made by French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi-Aventis, were prescribed 674,500 times in 2005 in the UK.

A newly published report from Australia’s Federal Health Department describes 104 cases of hallucinations and 62 cases of amnesia experienced by people taking zolpidem since marketing of the drug began there in 2000. The health department report also mentioned 16 cases of strangesleepwalking by people taking the medication.

Midnight snack

In one of these sleepwalking cases a patient woke with a paintbrush in her hand after painting the front door to her house. Another case involved a woman who gained 23 kilograms over seven months while taking zolpidem. “It was only when she was discovered in front of an open refrigerator while asleep that the problem was resolved,” according to the report.

The UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, meanwhile, has recorded 68 cases of adverse reactions to zolpidem from 2001 to 2005.

The newly reported cases in the UK and Australia add to a growing list of bizarre sleepwalking episodes linked to the drug in other countries, including reports of people sleep-driving while on the medication. In one case, a transatlantic flight had to be diverted after a passenger caused havoc after taking zolpidem.

Hypnotic effects

There is no biological pathway that has been proven to connect zolpidem with these behaviours. The drug is a benzodiazepine-like hypnotic that promotes deep sleep by interacting with brain receptors for a chemical called gamma-aminobutyric acid. While parts of the brain become less active during deep sleep, the body can still move, making sleepwalking a possibility.

The product information for prescribers advises that psychiatric adverse effects, including hallucinations, sleepwalking and nightmares, are more likely in the elderly, and treatment should be stopped if they occur.

Patient advocacy groups say they would like government health agencies and drug companies to take a closer look at the possible risks associated with sleep medicines. They stress that strange sleepwalking and sleep-driving behaviours can have risky consequences.

“When people do something in which they’re not in full control it’s always a danger,” says Vera Sharav of the New York-based Alliance for Human Research Protection, a US network that advocates responsible and ethical medical research practices.

Tried and tested

“The more reports that come out about the potential side effects of the drug, the more research needs to be done to understand if these are real side effects,” says sleep researcher Kenneth Wright at the University of Colorado in Boulder, US.

Millions of people have taken the drug without experiencing any strange side effects, points out Richard Millman at Brown Medical School, director of the Sleep Disorders Center of Lifespan Hospitals in Providence, Rhode Island, US. He says that unlike older types of sleep medications, zolpidem does not carry as great a risk of addiction.

And Wright notes that some of the reports of “sleep-driving” linked to zolpidem can be easily explained: some patients have wrongly taken the drug right before leaving work in hopes that the medicine will kick in by the time they reach home. Doctors stress that the medication should be taken just before going to bed.

The US Food & Drug Administration says it is continuing to "actively investigate" and collect information about cases linking zolpidem to unusual side effects.

The Ambien label currently lists strange behaviour as a “special concern” for people taking the drug. “It’s a possible rare adverse event,” says Sanofi-Aventis spokesperson Melissa Feltmann, adding that the strange sleepwalking behaviours “may not necessarily be caused by the drug” but instead result from an underlying disorder. She says that “the safety profile [of zolpidem] is well established”. The drug received approval in the US in 1993.

Questions 1-6　　Do the following statements agree with the information given in the reading passage?

In boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet write

TRUE if the statement is true according to the passage

FALSE if the statement is false according to the passage

NOT GIVEN if the information is not given in the passage

1. Ambien, Stilnoct and Stilnox are brand names of one same drug treating insomnia.

2. The woman’s obesity problem wasn’t resolved until she stopped taking zolpidem.

3. Zolpidem received approval in the UK in 2001.

4. The bizarre behaviour of a passenger after taking zolpidem resulted in the diversion of a flight bound for the other side of the Atlantic.

5. Zolpidem is the only sleep medication that doesn’t cause addiction.

6. The sleep-driving occurrence resulted from the wrong use of zolpidem by an office worker.

Question 7-9　　Choose the appropriate letters A-D and Write them in boxes 7-9 on your answer sheet.

7. How many cases of bizarre behaviours are described in an official report from Australia?

A. 68

B. 104

C. 182

D. 240

8. Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the product information about zolpidem?

A. Treatment should be stopped if side effects occur.

B. Medication should be taken just before going to bed.

C. Adverse effects are more likely in the elderly.

D. Side effects include nightmares, hallucinations and sleepwalking.

9. Who claimed that the safety description of zolpidem was well established?

A. Kenneth Wright

B. Melissa Feltmann

C. Richard Millman

D. Vera Sharav

Questions 10-13　　Answer the following questions with NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS each in boxes 10-13.

10. How many times was French-made zolpidem prescribed in 2005 in Britain?

11. What kind of hypnotic is zolpidem as a drug which promotes deep sleep in patients?

12. What can sleepwalking and sleep-driving behaviours cause according to patient advocacy groups?

13. What US administration says that it has been investigating the cases relating zolpidem to unusual side effects?

雅思考试阅读模拟试题及答案解析

Answer keys and explanations:

1. True

See para.3 from the beginning: Zolpidem, sold under the brand names Ambien, Stilnoct and Stilnox, is widely prescribed to treat insomnia and other disorders such as sleep apnea.

2. False

See para.1 under the subtitle “Midnight snack”: Another case involved a woman who gained 23 kilograms over seven months while taking zolpidem. “It was only when she was discovered in front of an open refrigerator while asleep that the problem was resolved”…

3. Not Given

See para.2 under the subtitle “Midnight snack”: The UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, meanwhile, has recorded 68 cases of adverse reactions to zolpidem from 2001 to 2005. (The time the drug was approved in the UK was not mentioned.)

4. True

See para.3 under the subtitle “Midnight snack”: In one case, a transatlantic flight had to be diverted after a passenger caused havoc after taking zolpidem.

5. False

See para.2 under the subtitle “Tried and tested”: He says that unlike older types of sleep medications, zolpidem does not carry as great a risk of addiction.

6. Not Given

See para.3 under the subtitle “Tried and tested”: And Wright notes that some of the reports of “sleep-driving” linked to zolpidem can be easily explained: some patients have wrongly taken the drug right before leaving work in hopes that the medicine will kick in by the time they reach home. (No patients as office workers are mentioned in the passage.)

7. C

See para.4 from the beginning: A newly published report from Australia’s Federal Health Department describes 104 cases of hallucinations and 62 cases of amnesia experienced by people taking zolpidem since marketing of the drug began there in 2000. The health department report also mentioned 16 cases of strange sleepwalking by people taking the medication.

8. B

See the sentence in para.2 under the subtitle “Hypnotic effects” (The product information for prescribers advises that psychiatric adverse effects, including hallucinations, sleepwalking and nightmares, are more likely in the elderly, and treatment should be stopped if they occur.) and the sentence in para.3 under the subtitle “Tried and tested” (Doctors “not the product information” stress that the medication should be taken just before going to bed.)

9. B

See para.5 under the subtitle “Tried and tested”: Sanofi-Aventis spokesperson Melissa Feltmann … says that “the safety profile [of zolpidem] is well established”.

10. 674,500 (times)

See para.3 from the beginning: Various forms of the drug, made by French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi-Aventis, were prescribed 674,500 times in 2005 in the UK.

11. (a) benzodiazepine-like (hypnotic)

See para.1 under the subtitle “Hypnotic effects”: The drug is a benzodiazepine-like hypnotic (类苯二氮催眠药)that promotes deep sleep by interacting with brain receptors for a chemical called gamma-aminobutyric acid.

12. risky consequences

See para.3 under the subtitle “Hypnotic effects”: Patient advocacy groups … stress that strange sleepwalking and sleep-driving behaviours can have risky consequences.

13. Food & Drug (Administration)

See para.4 under the subtitle “Tried and tested”: The US Food & Drug Administration says it is continuing to "actively investigate" and collect information about cases linking zolpidem to unusual side effects.

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