《80天攻克雅思阅读》修订版前10天练习.doc

Day 1
Warm-Up Exercise: Increasing Reading Speed
Directions: Do the word recognition drills below. Note the words on the left then under line them every time they appear in the same form on the line to the right. No regression, no vocalization. Try to finish in 15 seconds or less.

Starting Time: ____________
1. disappear disapprove disappear disaster disappoint disagree
2. creature creative creation creature structure pleasure
3. scientist scientist science scientist socialist scientific
4. population popular populate popularly population populous
5. throughout thorough thoughtful through thought-out throughout
6. fountain foundation founder fountain foundling founded
7. American American Afghan Antarctic American Arctic
8. especially especially specially specific species special
9. government governor governing governess government movement
10. breeding breadline breeding breaking breezing breathing

Finishing Time: ____________ Total Reading Time: ____________
Error: ____________ Check each line carefully for mistakes.

Can the Giant Panda Be Saved?
Suppose every person on Earth ate only one kind of food. And one year that food disappeared. If that happened, all humans would soon disappear too.
Fortunately, humans don’t face that problem. However， another creature may. The animal is the giant panda, one of the world’s most beloved animals.
Dr. Thomas Soderstrom, a Smithsonian botanist, has discovered that the bamboo plants the giant pandas eat are dying. As a result, many of the pandas are also dying of starvation. Scientists of the World Wildlife Fund estimate that so far more than 140 giant pandas have died. This figure may be almost one-quarter of the world’s giant panda population. Between 400 and 1,000 giant pandas are believed to exist.
Giant pandas were once more common throughout many parts of Asia. Now they are limited to small pockets in three mountainous provinces of China.
Why Is Bamboo Dying?
In the wild， the giant panda eats only two kinds of bamboo plants. One is the umbrella bamboo; the other is the fountain bamboo. Both kinds have a life cycle that lasts 100 years. During this period， a young plant sprouts from a seed and matures into a large plant with many spear-shaped leaves. In its hundredth year the bamboo plant flowers, forms seeds, and dies.
Last year the umbrella and the fountain bamboos that grow in China became 100 years old. The plants grew from seeds formed in the late 1870’s. Now almost all of these bamboo plants are dead. The seeds that formed before the plants died have fallen to the ground. Young shoots now grow from the seeds. However, it will be many months before the shoots are large enough to be used for food by the pandas. Meanwhile the large black and white animals continue to die.
Saving the Pandas
Can the wild pandas be saved? To find out, a group of American scientists went to China to study the habitat. They were led by Dr. George B. Schaller of the New York Zoological Society. The studies took place in Sichuan Province in central China. The scientists especially wanted to find out more about the animals’diets. They wanted to see whether the pandas are able to change to other foods while the two kinds of bamboo are maturing.
The Chinese government recognizes the worldwide concern about the giant pandas and has also taken steps to save the animals. Large areas of the giant pandas’ habitat have been set aside as wildlife preserves. There, the pandas can live unmolested. At the same time, Chinese scientists are trying to increase the number of giant pandas by raising some of the animals in zoos. The first baby panda resulting from this zoo-breeding program was born in the Peking zoo in the fall of 1978.
Meanwhile, the rest of the world anxiously wonders: what will be the fate of one of the earth’ s most interesting and gentle creatures?

Time: __________ 498 words =__________wpm
__________ Minutes

Ⅰ. READING COMPREHENSION
Select the answer which is most accurate according to the information given in the passage.
1. __________ are particular about what they eat.
A. Wild creatures B. Giant pandas C. Wild animals D. Humans
2. Many giant pandas are dying of starvation because the bamboo plants __________.
A. are dying B. have died C. are extinct D. are very old
3. Giant pandas could be found throughout many parts of __________ in the past.
A. China B. India C. Africa D. Asia
4. The life cycle of __________ lasts 100 years.
A. all bamboo plants B. some bamboo plants
C. the umbrella and fountain bamboos D. only the umbrella bamboos
5. It will take __________ until bamboo shoots are large enough to be used as food by the Pandas.
A. 100 years B. months C. more than one year D. a few weeks
6. __________ scientists led by Dr. George Schaller were sent to China to study panda’s life habits in order to save them.
A. African B. Asian C. American D. The whole world’s
7. Giant pandas are strictly preserved in the large areas of __________.
A. Sichuan B. Central China
C. Southwest China D. the pandas’ habitat
8. We can infer from the passage that __________.
A. the giant panda can survive owing to modern science and technology
B. the giant panda can live anywhere if there are bamboo shoots
C. the world’s most-loved animal， the giant panda would be extinct if we didn’t take measures to save it
D. the life cycle of the giant panda is about 100 years
Ⅱ. CONTEXTUAL REFERENCE
Looking up unfamiliar words in a dictionary is time-consuming and should only be done as a last resort. Figure out meanings of the words in italics using only the context given and word building skills.
1. Some animals do not eat during the winter and only come out in spring; we call them hibernating animals.
2. Dr. Earle started her professional career as a botanist — a person who specializes in plants. In time she became interested in plants that grow in the ocean — especially algue.
3. Cows, sheep, elephants, and rabbits are mammals. Codfish and bluebirds are not.
4. Pumas are large, cat-like animals which are found in America.
5. The explorers decided that this was a fossil of an extinct animal. An extinct animal is one that once lived but does not exist now.
6. Biological control is a new way of fighting insects. Biological is the study of plants and animals. It is, then, easy to guess that in biological control of insect pests, plants and animals play a leading part.
Ⅲ. CLOZE
Complete the following passage by filling in the blanks with appropriate words.
The National Zoo in Washington now has three giant pandas: two of its own, and one on loan from the London Zoo. The London Panda is a male named Jiajia. He was sent to Washington last week in the hope that he will mate with the female panda named Lingling.
Lingling and Washington’ s male 1 Xingxing， have had trouble 2 to mate. Zookeepers think that 3 and Jiajia will be 4 successful.
Jiajia will be kept 5 ， in a room 6 himself for a while. This is to protect him 7 becoming sick 8 from spreading 9 to the other pandas， 10 ， visitors to the National Zoo can 11 watch him 12 a large window.
Giant pandas have 13 exchanged for mating a few times 14 . In the late 1960’s， for example, a 15 panda from the London Zoo was 16 to the Moscow Zoo. Their
___17 attempt failed. The female was 18 sent from Moscow 19____ London， but the attempt 20 again.
Only one giant panda has been born in captivity outside China. It was born last summer in the zoo in Mexico City. However， the mother panda accidentally sat on her baby and crushed it nine days after it was born.

Day 2
Timed Reading
Starting Time: ____________
Chinese Giant Pandas Abroad
Jiajia, the panda, arrived in the United States last week from the London Zoo. He was sent over in the hope that he would mate with Lingling， one of the two giant pandas at the National Zoo in Washington. It was snowing when Jiajia’ s plane landed in New York City. Observers say this was a good sign for success, because pandas come from a snowy mountain area of China, and zookeepers reportedly say there is a 75 percent chance that Jiajia and Lingling will have a baby.
Lingling already has a mate. His name is Xingxing. Both came to Washington as a gift from the People’ s Republic of China in 1972. Xingxing has been old enough to mate for 5 years, but he and Lingling have never been able to complete the act.
At first, zookeepers believed that the male was just too young to know what to do. After waiting unsuccessfully for several years, however they decided to step in and help.
Last year, zookeepers collected some of Xingxing’s reproductive sperm. They put it into Ling -ling with a needle. But the artificial insemination did not work. This year they have borrowed Jiajia from the London Zoo. They believe this other male panda may have more luck.
Britain received Jiajia from China in 1974. He is now eight-and-a-half years old. His name means “most excellent” and “very best.” Jiajia has a mate named Jingjing. Like the pandas in Washington, London’s pandas have never mated, but it is not because they do not like each other. The female in London has had stomach problems, and zookeepers say she is not strong enough yet to become pregnant. This is why Jiajia was free to visit Washington this year.
Female pandas can become pregnant only once a year. They can have one, two or sometimes even three babies. It is often difficult to tell if a panda is pregnant, because baby pandas are so small. A female may show no signs of this condition until shortly before her baby is born.
The fertile period for female pandas lasts about 5 days. For Lingling this time is expected to be between the middle of April and the first of May. To make sure, the male panda from London will remain in Washington until almost June. He will go home then even if he has not been successful.
The London panda is now living in the same building as the Washington panda. However， the two males will never share a room. Zookeepers do not want to give them a chance to fight. But they do expect the two males to call to each other and maybe insult each other as well.
Zookeepers say it is possible that Jiajia’s presence could make Xingxing angry enough to want to mate with Lingling. They say Chinese animal experts have reported that a little competition might help.

Finishing Time: __________ 482 words =__________wpm
__________ Minutes

NEW WORDS AND PHRASES
mate vi. to form (into) a couple, esp, of animals, for sexual union and the production of young
ｎ. one of a male-female pair, usually of animals
step in to enter into an activity or situation
reproductive adj. (of organs and natural action) concerned with producing young
sperm n. a cell produced by the sex organs of a male animal, which usually swims in a liquid and is able to unite with the female egg to produce new life
insemination n. introducing sperm into (a female), by the sexual act, by hand, or by means of an instrument
stomach problem 胃病
fertile adj. producing many young, fruits or seeds
fertile period 受精期

EXERCISE
PASSAGE READING COMPREHENSION
Please do not look back at the Timed Reading passage to do this exercise. Deciding whether each of the following statements is true or false, according to the passage you read.
__________1. Jingjing was once sent to the National Zoo in Washington in order to mate with Lingling.
__________2. The couple of pandas, Xingxing and Lingling were given to the United States as a gift from the People’ s Republic of China in 1972.
__________3. The zookeepers put Xingxing’s sperm into Lingling’s body and this artificial insemination was successful.
__________4. Jiajia had a chance to visit the National Zoo in Washington because Jiajia’s mate， Jingjing, had been pregnant.
__________5. There is difficulty in telling whether a female panda becomes pregnant only because baby pandas are too small to see.
__________6. It is reported that the fertile period of female pandas is some 5 days each year.
__________7. Jiajia is now living in the same building as Lingling and Xingxing.
__________8. The presence of Jiajia could stimulate Xingxing to mate with Lingling at once.

Day 3
Warm-Up Exercise: Increasing Reading Speed
Directions: Do the word recognition drills below. Note the words on the left then under line them every time they appear in the same form on the line to the right. No regression, no vocalization. Try to finish in 15 seconds or less.

Starting Time: ____________
1. similarity similarly similar similize similarity simile
2. sequence sequential sequent consequence sequence
3. individual individuate induce indispose individual
4. muscle musical musician muscle museum mutation
5. heredity hereditary heritage inherit heredity ability
6. coincidence coincident coincidence coincide incidence accidence
7. identical identity density identical identic identify
8. determine determined terminal termite terminate determine
9. division divinity divisive division decision declension
10. influence effluence affuence influence infer instance

Finishing Time: ____________ Total Reading Time: ____________
Error: ____________ Check each line carefully for mistakes.
Reunited Twins Act Amazingly Alike
Do you have any identical twins in your classroom? If you do, you know that they look alike and may even act alike. They both may tie their shoes the same way and like to eat lemon pie.
But what happens when identical twins are separated when young and raised far apart? Will they still often act the same way? A recent study of such separated twins by psychologists at the University of Minnesota shows that they often do act the same way.

One pair of the separated twins studied were the “Jim” twins. Shortly after the two boys were born in Ohio， they were adopted by different families. One boy grew up as Jim Springer； the other， as Jim Lewis. At their different schools， both Jims， it turned out， liked math and disliked spelling. As the two grew older， both drove Chevrolets and worked as deputy sheriffs. Both men also liked to vacation in Florida and each named his dog “Toy”.
There were more similarities. Both Jims married women named Linda. Both divorced their wives and then married women named Betty. Both had sons. One named his son James Allan. The other named his son James Alan.
Medical Backgrounds Alike
The similarity in the medical histories of the Jim twins are just as surprising. The university of Minnesota researchers found that both men suffered from the same kinds of headaches. Each brother started getting headaches at