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【一】:快速阅读
第二章 快速阅读(Skimming and
Scanning)
考试形式与所考察能力
快速阅读要求考生在15分钟内完成一篇1200字左右的文章和后面的10道题。前面7个题是判断正误(包括NOT GIVEN)，2007年12月以后的前7题是多项选择题，后3个是填空题(答案基本都是原文中出现的原词)。快速阅读测试的重点就是考生在短时间内获取篇章主旨和特定信息的能力。因此，它更强调了正确的阅读方法和技巧的贯彻。只要我们巧妙地运用了略读和寻读，必要的时候辅助以研读的方法，培养好的阅读习惯，还是很容易取得满意的成绩的。
略读(或称为跳跃式阅读)(skimming)的重点在于快速了解文章的中心思想。略读的方法是首先看一下标题(在有标题的情况下)，接着读第一段，抓住中心思想。再浏览一下其他段落的首句和末句，最后读完结尾段。
寻读（scanning）就是有目标地去找出文中某些特定的信息。寻读时，要以很快的速度扫视文章，确定所查询的信息范围，同时明确查询信息的特点。如：问题或选项中所涉及到的人名、地名，则主要寻找首字母大写的单词；有关日期、
数目的问题，则主要查找具体数字；有关某个事件、某种观点等，就需要寻找与此相关的关键词，而与所查信息无关的内容可一掠而过。
除了在阅读理解中运用略读法和寻读法之外，有时还需要仔细阅读文章的某一特定部分，力求对其有较深的理解，或对其进行归纳、总结、推断等，这时就需要对这部分进行仔细阅读，理解作者的言外之意。这种仔细的阅读方法就是研读法(study reading)，通常适用于推断型阅读理解试题。这种方法在快速阅读中使用并不多，但它对于快速阅读的解题方法来说绝对是一个有力的补充。
第一节 应试策略与解题思路
为了更好地说明快速阅读的应试策略和解题思路，下面以一道真题为例进行详细地说明。
Highways
Early in the 20th century, most of the streets and roads in the U.S. were made of dirt, brick, and cedar(香柏) wood blocks（木板，木块）. Built for horse, carriage, and foot traffic, they were usually poorly cared for and too narrow to accommodate（容纳）automobiles.
With the increase in auto production, private turnpike（收费公路）companies under local authorities began to spring up, and by 1921 there were 387,000 miles of paved roads. Many were built using specifications of 19th century Scottish engineers Thomas Telford and John Mac Adam （for whom the macadam surface is name [D], whose specifications stressed the importance of adequate drainage. Beyond that, there were no national standards for size, weight restrictions, or commercial signs. During World War I, roads throughout the country were nearly destroyed by the weight of trucks. When General Eisenhower returned from Germany in 1919, after serving in the U.S. Army's first transcontinental motor convoy （车队）, he noted: "The old convoy had started me thinking about good, two-lane highways, but Germany's Autobahn or motorway had made me see the wisdom of broader ribbons across the land."
It would take another war before the federal government would act on a national highway system. During World War II, a tremendous
increase in trucks and new roads were required. The war demonstrated how critical highways were to the defense effort. Thirteen per cent of defense plants received all their supplies by truck, and almost all other plants shipped more than half of their products by vehicle. The war also revealed that local control of highways had led to a confusing variety of design standards. Even federal and state highways did not follow basic standards. Some states allowed trucks up to 36,000 pounds, while others restricted anything over 7,000 pounds.
A government study recommended a national highway system of 33,920 miles, and Congress soon passed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1944, which called for strict, centrally controlled design criteria.
The interstate highway system was finally launched in 1956 and has been hailed as one of the greatest public works projects of the century. To build its 44,000mile web of highways, bridge, and tunnels, hundreds of unique engineering designs and solutions had to be worked out. Consider the many geographic features of the country:
mountains, steep grades, wetlands, rivers, desserts, and plains. Variables included the slope of the land, the ability of the pavement to support the load, the intensity of road use, and the nature of the underlying soil. Urban areas were another problem. Innovative designs of roadways, tunnels, bridges, overpasses, and interchanges that could run through or bypass urban areas soon began to weave their way across the country, forever altering the face of America.
Long-span, segmented-concrete, cable-stayed bridges such as Hale Boggs in Louisiana and the Sunshine Skyway in Florida, and remarkable tunnels like Fort McHenry in Maryland and Mt, Baker in Washington, met many of the nation's physical challenges. Traffic control systems and methods of construction developed under the interstate program soon influenced highway construction around the world, and were invaluable in improving the condition of urban streets and traffic patterns.
Today, the interstate system links every major city in the U.S. and the U.S. with Canada and
【二】:快速阅读
Passage 1
Beauty and Body Image in the Media
Images of female bodies are everywhere. Women—and their body parts—sell everything from food to cars. Popular film and television actresses are becoming younger, taller and thinner. Some have even been known to faint on the set from lack of food. Women‟s magazines are full of articles urging that if they can just lose those last twenty pounds, they‟ll have it all—the perfect marriage, loving children, great sex, and a rewarding career.www.shanpow.com_快速阅读xiazai。
Why are standards of beauty being imposed on women, the majority of whom are naturally larger and more mature than any of the models? The roots, some analysts say, are economic. By presenting an ideal difficult to achieve and maintain, the cosmetic and diet product industries are assured of growth and profits.
And it‟s no accident that youth is increasingly promoted, along with thinness, as an essential criterion of beauty. If not all women need to lose weight, for sure they‟re all aging, says the Quebec Action Network for Women‟s Health in its 2001 report. And, according to the industry, age is a disaster that needs to be dealt with.
The stakes are huge. On the one hand, women who are insecure about their bodies are more likely to buy beauty products, new clothes, and diet aids. It is estimated that the diet industry alone is worth anywhere between 40 to 100 billion (U.S.) a year selling temporary weight loss (90 to 95% of dieters regain the lost weight).On the other hand, research indicates that exposure to images of thin, young, air-brushed female bodies is linked to depression, loss of self-esteem and the development of unhealthy eating habits in women and girls.
The American research group Anorexia Nervosa & Related Eating Disorders, Inc. says that one out of every four college-aged women uses unhealthy methods of weight control—including fasting, skipping meals, excessive exercise, laxative (泻药) abuse, and self-induced vomiting. The pressure to be thin is also affecting young girls: the Canadian Women‟s Health Network warns that weight control measures are now being taken by girls as young as 5 and 6. American statistics are similar.Several studies, such as one conducted by Marika Tiggemann and Levina Clark in 2006 titled “Appearance Culture in Nine- to 12-Year-Old Girls: Media and Peer Influences on Body Dissatisfaction,” indicate that nearly half of all preadolescent girls wish to be thinner, and as a result have engaged in a diet or are aware of the concept of dieting. In 2003, Teen magazine reported that 35 per cent of girls 6 to 12 years old have been on at least one diet, and that 50 to 70 per cent of normal weight girls believe they are overweight. Overall research indicates that 90% of women are dissatisfied with their appearance in some way.
Media activist Jean Kilbourne concludes that, “Women are sold to the diet industry by the magazines we read and the television programs we watch, almost all of which make us feel anxious about our weight.”
Unattainable Beauty
Perhaps most disturbing is the fact that media images of female beauty are unattainable for all but a very small number of women. Researchers generating a computer model of a woman with Barbie-doll proportions, for example, found that her back would be too weak to support the weight of her upper body, and her body would be too narrow to contain more than half a liver and a few centimeters of bowel. A real woman built that way would suffer from chronic diarrhea ( 慢性腹泻) and eventually die from malnutrition. Jill Barad, President of Mattel (which manufactures Barbie), estimated that 99% of girls aged 3 to 10 years old own at least one Barbie doll.
Still, the number of real life women and girls who seek a similarly underweight body is epidemic, and they can suffer equally devastating health consequences. In 2006 it was estimated that up to 450, 000 Canadian women were affected by an eating disorder.
The Culture of Thinness
Researchers report that women‟s magazines have ten and one-half times more ads and articles promoting weight loss than men‟s magazines do, and over three-quarters of the covers of women‟s magazines include at least one message about how to change a woman‟s bodily appearance—by diet, exercise or cosmetic surgery.
Television and movies reinforce the importance of a thin body as a measure of a woman‟s worth. Canadian researcher Gregory Fouts reports that over three-quarters of the female characters in TV situation comedies are underweight, and only one in twenty are above average in size. Heavier actresses tend to receive negative comments from male characters about their bodies (“How about wearing a sack?”), and 80 per cent of these negative comments are followed by canned audience laughter.
There have been efforts in the magazine industry to buck ( 抵制，反抗) the trend. For several years the Quebec magazine Coup de Pouce has consistently included full-sized women in their fashion pages and Ch?telaine has pledged not to touch up photos and not to include models less than 25 years of age. In Madrid, one of the world‟s biggest fashion capitals, ultra-thin models were banned from the runway in 2006. Furthermore Spain has recently undergone a project with the aim to standardize clothing sizes through using a unique process in which a laser beam is used to measure real life women‟s bodies in order to find the most true to life measurement. Ethics
Another issue is the representation of ethnically diverse women in the media. A 2008 study conducted by Juanita Covert and Travis Dixon titled “A Changing View: Representation and Effects of the Portrayal of Women of Color in Mainstream Women‟s Magazines” found that although there was an increase in the representation of women of colour, overall white women were overrepresented in mainstream women‟s magazines from 1999 to 2004. Self-Improvement or Self-Destruction?
The barrage of messages about thinness, dieting and beauty tells “ordinary” women that they are always in need of adjustment—and that the female body is an object to be perfected.
Jean Kilbourne argues that the overwhelming presence of media images of painfully thin women means that real women‟s bodies have become invisible in the mass media. The real tragedy, Kilbourne concludes, is that many women internalize these stereotypes, and judge themselves by the beauty industry‟s standards. Women learn to compare themselves to other women, and to compete with them for male attention. This focus on beauty and desirability “effectively destroys any awareness and action that might help to change that climate.”
1. Women‟s magazines are full of articles to urge women to ___________.
A) eat less sweet food C) marry a rich husband
B) lose weight D) have at least two kids
2. The cosmetic and diet product industries gain profits by ____________.
A) exaggerating the goodness about their products
B) targeting at children and females
C) presenting an ideal image difficult to achieve
D) distributing free samples from home to home
3. Canadian Women‟s health Network warns that weight control measures are now being taken by girls _____________.
A) at age 5 or 6 C) at age 13 or 14
B) at age 9 or 10 D) at age 16 or 17
4. In 2003, Teen magazine reported that ____________ percent of normal weight girls believe they are overweight.
A) 35 to 50 C) 50 to 70
B) 50 D) 90
5. Researchers found that a real woman with Barbie-doll proportions would _____________.
A) suffer from heart disease C) live a more rewarding life
B) be very popular with males D) die from malnutrition
6. Television and movies emphasize that a woman‟s worth can be judged by _____________.
A) the cosmetics she uses C) the thinness of her body
B) the jewelry she wears D) the wealth of her husband
7. Spain has recently undergone a project to _____________.
A) include full-sized women in its fashion magazines
B) standardize clothing sizes
C) ban ultra-thin models from the runway
D) promote weight loss among men
8. In mainstream women‟s magazines from 1999 to 2004, ______________ were overrepresented
9. Jean Kilbourne concludes that many women judge themselves by _______________________.
10. The focus on ___________________________ destroys any awareness and action that might help to change the trend.
1-7 BCACDCB
8.overall white woman
9.the beauty industry's standards
10.the beauty desirability
Passage 2
Animals on the Move
It looked like a scene from “Jaws” but without the dramatic music. A huge shark was lowly swimming through the water, its tail swinging back and forth like the pendulum of a clock。
Suddenly sensitive nerve ending in the shark‟s skin picked up vibrations of a struggling fish. The shark was immediately transformed into a deadly, efficient machine of death. With muscles taut, the shark knifed through the water at a rapid speed. In a flash the shark caught its victim, a large fish, in its powerful jaws. Then, jerking its head back and forth, the shark tore huge chunks of flesh from its victim and swallowed them. Soon the action was over。
Moving to Survive
In pursuing its prey, the shark demonstrated in a dramatic way the important role of movement, or locomotion, in animals。
Like the shark, most animals use movement to find food. They also use locomotion to escape enemies, find a mate, and explore new territories. The methods of locomotion include crawling, hopping, slithering, flying, swimming, or walking。
Humans have the added advantage of using their various inventions to move about in just about any kind of environment. Automobiles, rockets, and submarines transport humans from deep oceans to as far away as the moon. However, for other animals movement came about naturally through millions of years of evolution. One of the most successful examples of animal locomotion is that of the shark. Its ability to quickly zero in on its prey has always impressed scientists. But it took a detailed study by Duke University marine biologists S. A. Wainwright, F. Vosburgh, and J. H. Hebrank to find out how the sharks did it. In their study the scientists observed sharks swimming in a tank at Marine land in Saint Augustine, Fla. Movies were taken of the sharks‟ movements and analyzed. Studies were also made of shark skin and muscle。
Skin Is the Key
The biologists discovered that the skin of the shark is the key to the animal‟s high efficiency in swimming through the water. The skin contains many fibers that crisscross like the inside of a belted radial tire. The fibers are called collagen fibers. These fibers can either store or release large amounts of energy depending on whether the fibers are relaxed or taut. When the fibers are stretched, energy is stored in them the way energy is stored in the string of a bow when pulled tight. When the energy is released, the fibers become relaxed。
The Duke University biologists have found that the greatest stretching occurs where the shark bends its body while swimming. During the body‟s back and forth motion, fibers along the outside part of the bending body stretch greatly. Much potential energy is stored in the fibers. This energy is released when the shark‟s body snaps back the other way。
As energy is alternately stored and released on both sides of the animal‟s body, the tail whips strongly back and forth. This whip-like action propels the animal through the water like a living bullet。
Source of Energy
What causes the fibers to store so much energy? In finding the answer the Duke University scientists learned that the shark‟s similarity to a belted radial tire doesn‟t stop with the skin. Just as a radial tire is inflated by pressure, so, too, is the area just under the shark‟s collagen “radials”. Instead of air pressure, however, the pressure in the shark may be due to the force of the blood pressing on the collagen fibers。
When the shark swims slowly, the pressure on the fibers is relatively low. The fibers are more relaxed, and the shark is able to bend its body at sharp angles. The animal swims this way when looking around for food or just swimming. However, when the shark detects an important food source, some fantastic involuntary changes take place。
The pressure inside the animal may increase by 10 times. This pressure change greatly stretches the fibers, enabling much energy to be stored。
This energy is then transferred to the tail, and the shark is off. The rest of the story is predictable。
Dolphin Has Speed Record
Another fast marine animal is the dolphin. This seagoing mammal has been clocked at speeds of 32 kilometers (20 miles) an hour. Biologists studying the dolphin have discovered that, like the shark, the animal‟s efficient locomotion can be traced to its skin. A dolphin‟s skin is made up in such a way that it offers very little resistance to the water flowing over it. Normally when a fish or
other object moves slowly through the water, the water flows smoothly past the body. This smooth flow is known as laminar flow. However, at faster speeds the water becomes more turbulent along the moving fish. This turbulence muses friction and slows the fish down。
In a dolphin the skin is so flexible that it bends and yields to the waviness of the water。
The waves, in effect, become tucked into the skin‟s folds. This allows the rest of the water to move smoothly by in a laminar flow. Where other animals would be slowed by turbulent water at rapid speeds, the dolphin can race through the water at record breaking speeds。
Other Animals Less Efficient
Not all animals move as efficiently as sharks and dolphins. Perhaps the greatest loser in locomotion efficiency is the slug. The slug, which looks like a snail without a shell, lays down a slimy trail over which it crawls. It uses so much energy producing the slimy mucus and crawling over it that a mouse traveling the same distance uses only one twelfth as much energy。www.shanpow.com_快速阅读xiazai。
Scientists say that because of the slug‟s inefficient use of energy, its lifestyle must be restricted. That is, the animals are forced to confine themselves to small areas for obtaining food and finding proper living conditions. Have humans ever been faced with this kind of problem?
1.According to the passage, a shark can use movement to do something except______________。 ［A］to find food
［B］to avoid being chased by its enemies
［C］to find a new place to live
［D］to show its bravenesswww.shanpow.com_快速阅读xiazai。
2.Examples of automobiles, rockets and submarines are used to show that _______________。 ［A］humans are the most clever living creatures in the world
［B］human inventions enable us to travel in almost any kind of environment
［C］humans are very successful in inventing transportation tools
［D］humans can‟t move like other animals in any circumstances
3.What is the key to the shark‟s swift locomotion in water?
［A］The skin.［B］The tail.［C］The muscle.［D］The jaw。
4.According to the Duke University scientists, when does the shark stretch its to the greatest extent?
［A］When moving its tail rapidly。
［B］When finding its preys。
［C］When staying without any movement。
［D］When bending its body in swimming。
5.Why is the area just under the shark‟s collagen fibers similar to a belted radial tire?
［A］Because it is also full of blood pressure。
［B］Because it is also filled of air pressure。
［C］Because it is also inflated by pressure。
