雅思阅读实战模拟试题（二）

　　With measurements, scientists will be able to search for some gaseous and rocky planets. They will be extremely excited if they can discover some small 6. __________, the expected number of which could be up to 7. __________ .

　　Corot will enable scientists to study the 8. __________ of stars. In this way, a star’s mass, age and chemical composition can be calculated.

　　According to Prof Roxburgh, changes in light can be caused by passing planets or star 9. __________. The related statistics can gain us a better 10. __________ of the star formation and evolvement.

　　Observatories have found many exoplanets, which are 11. __________ other stars than the Sun. The common way used in finding exoplanets can only detect huge gas planets, which do not 12. ___________ .

　　With the launching of Darwin, astronomers will be able to analyse whether those rocky planets have 13. __________ for life.

　　Answer keys:

　　1.答案：A (第3段第1句：Corot, short for convection rotation and planetary transits, is the first instrument capable of finding small rocky planets beyond the solar system. A项中的certain planets指small rocky planets beyond the solar system.)

　　2.答案：TRUE (第5段第1、2句： At the present moment we are hoping to find out more about the nature of planets around stars which are potential habitats. We are looking at habitable planets, not inhabited planets. 问题中的“that can be inhabited”意思就是inhabitable.)

　　3.答案：NOT GIVEN (文中没有提及该信息。)

　　4.答案：TRUE (第7段第1句：To search for planets, the telescope will look for the dimming of starlight caused when an object passes in front of a star, known as a "transit".)

　　5.答案：FASLE (第7段第2、3句：Although it will take more sophisticated space telescopes planned in the next 10 years to confirm the presence of an Earth-like planet with oxygen and liquid water, Corot will let scientists know where to point their lenses. )

　　6.答案：rocky planets (第8段第2句：It is the rocky planets - that could be no bigger than about twice the size of the Earth - which will cause the most excitement.)

　　7.答案：40 (第8段第3句：Scientists expect to find between 10 and 40 of these smaller planets.问题中短语“up to”的意思是“达到，高达”，所以应该选择最高的数字40。)

　　8.答案：interiors (第9段第1句： Corot will also probe into stellar interiors by studying the acoustic waves that ripple across the surface of stars, a technique called "asteroseismology". 单词"probe”的词义是“探查，探索”。)

　　9.答案：oscillations (第11段第2句：Small oscillations of the star also produce changes in the light emitted, which reveal what the star is made of and how they are structured internally.)

　　10.答案：understanding (第11段第3句：This data will provide a major boost to our understanding of how stars form and evolve.)

　　11.答案：orbiting (第12段第1句：Since the discovery in 1995 of the first "exoplanet" - a planet orbiting a star other than the Sun - more than 200 others have been found by ground-based observatories.)

　　12.答案：harbour life (第13段：Until now the usual method of finding exoplanets has been to detect the "wobble" their gravity imparts on parent stars. But only giant gaseous planets bigger than Jupiter can be found this way, and they are unlikely to harbour life.)

　　13.答案：atmospheres (第14段：In the 2010s, ESA plans to launch Darwin, a fleet of four or five interlinked space telescopes that will not only spot small rocky planets, but analyse their atmospheres for signs of biological activity.)

★Food agency takes on industry over junk labels

　　Felicity Lawrence

　　Thursday December 28，2006

　　The Guardian

　　1.Consumers are to be presented with two rival new year advertising campaigns as the Food Standards Agency goes public in its battle with the industry over the labelling of unhealthy foods.

　　2.The Guardian has learned that the FSA will launch a series of 10-second television adverts in January telling shoppers how to follow a red，amber and green traffic light labelling system on the front of food packs，which is designed to tackle Britain's obesity epidemic.

　　3.The campaign is a direct response to a concerted attempt by leading food manufacturers and retailers，including Kellogg's and Tesco，to derail the system.The industry fears that traffic lights would demonise entire categories of foods and could seriously damage the market for those that are fatty，salty or high in sugar.

　　4.The UK market for breakfast cereals is worth ￡1.27bn a year and the manufacturers fear it will be severely dented if red light labels are put on packaging drawing attention to the fact that the majority are high in salt and/or sugar.

　　5.The industry is planning a major marketing campaign for a competing labelling system which avoids colour-coding in favour of information about the percentage of "guideline daily amounts" (GDAs) of fat，salt and sugar contained in their products.

　　6.The battle for the nation's diet comes as new rules on television advertising come into force in January which will bar adverts for unhealthy foods from commercial breaks during programmes aimed at children.Sources at the TV regulators are braced for a legal challenge from the industry and have described the lobbying efforts to block any new ad ban or colour-coded labelling as "the most ferocious we've ever experienced".

　　7.Ofcom's chief executive，Ed Richards，said: "We are prepared to face up to any legal action from the industry，but we very much hope it will not be necessary." The FSA said it was expecting an onslaught from the industry in January.Senior FSA officials said the manufacturers' efforts to undermine its proposals on labelling could threaten the agency's credibility.

　　8.Terrence Collis，FSA director of communications，dismissed claims that the proposals were not based on science."We have some of the most respected scientists in Europe，both within the FSA and in our independent advisory committees.It is unjustified and nonsensical to attack the FSA's scientific reputation and to try to undermine its credibility."