Some born at castle, some born as cattle.

第一篇： 音乐和情绪

第二遍，正确率 10/14 https://ieltscat.xdf.cn/practice/result/read/6755/9EFEA22F5924E9C5

生词

1. dopamine 多巴胺
2. dilate扩张；(使)膨胀；扩大
3. stirs搅拌；搅动
4. underpinnings基础材料；基础结构；（学说、理论等的）基础
5. positron 正电子；阳电子
6. caudate尾状的；有尾的
7. connotative隐含的
8. poignant令人感伤的，令人沉痛的
9. anticipating food期待食物
10. melodic旋律的；主旋律的

错题一

It was noted that the music stimulated the brain’s neurons to release a substance called dopamine in two of the parts of the brain which are associated with feeling _____.

答案： pleasure

原文： As these two regions have long been linked with the experience of pleasure, this finding isn’t particularly surprising.

同义词替换： two of the parts = two regions

错题二

Activity in this part of the brain is associated with the expectation of ‘reward’ stimuli such _____

答案： food
错误答案： anticipating food

错误原因： 题目说，不能超过2个单词。所以我把握不好，到底是填1个词，还是2个词。

原文： What is rather more significant is the finding that the dopamine neurons in the caudate - a region of the brain involved in learning stimulus-response associations, and in anticipating food and other ‘reward’ stimuli - were at their most active around 15 seconds before the participants’ favourite moments in the music.

更为重要的发现是，位于尾状核（该脑区参与学习刺激-反应关联，并在预期“食物”和其他“奖励”刺激中发挥作用）的多巴胺神经元在参与者最喜欢的音乐时刻到来前大约15秒时最为活跃。

生词： “Anticipating”有多种意思，主要包括以下几种：

1. 预期、预见：指对未来发生的事情进行预测或期望。

   • 例如：I am anticipating rain tomorrow.（我预期明天会下雨。）

2. 期待、盼望：表示对某事物的期待或盼望，带有正面情感。

   • 例如：She is anticipating her vacation.（她期待着她的假期。）

3. 提前行动、先发制人：指预见某事将发生并提前采取行动。

   • 例如：He anticipated the problem and took action.（他预见到问题并采取了行动。）

4. 抢先：在某人之前采取行动，或者抢先做某事。

   • 例如：She anticipated his next move in the game.（她抢先预料到了他在游戏中的下一步行动。）

每种意思取决于上下文的具体情况。

错题三

What does the writer find interesting about the results of the Montreal study?

答案： A.the timing of participants’ neural responses to the music

译文：作者对蒙特利尔研究结果的哪个部分感到有趣?
定位词：Montreal study, interesting
第三段：整段内容
本题的难度在于:没有任何单独一句话可以直接帮助考生得出答案，因此需耐心理解每句大意，逐步阅读对比出本段的正确答案应为
选项A:参与者的神经细胞对音乐产生反应的时机。此处的timing为关键理解认知词汇，也是雅思阅读中的核心必背词汇。
B项说“音乐对参与者情绪状态产生的影响”; C项说“音乐激活的是参与者的哪部分脑区域”;这两项确实是前文第二段中提及的信息，但作者对此的评价是“早已被发现，并不稀奇”,因I此不符合题干限定。
D项说“能对参与者大脑产生最强影响的音乐类型”.则直接与第二段中说“从电子乐到探戈什么类型都有”的信息相矛盾。

A recent paper in Nature Neuroscience by a research team in Montreal, Canada, marks an important step in revealing the precise underpinnings of ‘the potent pleasurable stimulus’ that is music. Although the study involves plenty of fancy technology, including functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and ligand-based positron emission tomography (PET) scanning, the experiment itself was rather straightforward. After screening 217 individuals who responded to advertisements requesting people who experience ‘chills’ to instrumental music, the scientists narrowed down the subject pool to ten. They then asked the subjects to bring in their playlist of favourite songs - virtually every genre was represented, from techno to tango - and played them the music while their brain activity was monitored. Because the scientists were combining methodologies (PET and fMRI), they were able to obtain an impressively exact and detailed portrait of music in the brain. The first thing they discovered is that music triggers the production of dopamine - a chemical with a key role in setting people’s moods - by the neurons (nerve cells) in both the dorsal and ventral regions of the brain. As these two regions have long been linked with the experience of pleasure, this finding isn’t particularly surprising.

蒙特利尔（加拿大）的一支研究团队在《自然神经科学》上发表的一篇最新论文，标志着揭示“强烈愉悦刺激”——即音乐的确切机制方面迈出了重要的一步。尽管这项研究涉及了大量复杂技术，包括功能性磁共振成像（fMRI）和基于配体的正电子发射断层扫描（PET）扫描，实验本身却相对简单。通过筛选217名回应广告的人——这些广告要求有在听器乐时感到“战栗”体验的人——科学家将研究对象缩小到十人。然后他们要求这些参与者带来自己最喜欢的歌单——几乎每个音乐类型都包含其中，从电子音乐到探戈不一而足——并在播放音乐的同时监测他们的大脑活动。由于科学家们结合了PET和fMRI两种方法，他们得以获得大脑中音乐活动的极为精确和详细的图像。他们发现的第一件事是，音乐会触发多巴胺的产生——这是一种对调节人类情绪起关键作用的化学物质——这些多巴胺由大脑背侧和腹侧区域的神经元（神经细胞）产生。由于这两个区域长期以来与愉悦体验有关，这一发现并不特别令人惊讶。

错题四

Why does the writer refer to Meyer’s work on music and emotion?

B.to offer support for the findings of the Montreal study

译文：作者为什么要提到Meyer关于音乐与情绪的研究?
定位词：why, Meyer
第五段第一句：To demonstrate this Psychological principle, the musicologist Leonard Meyer…
本题相对来说比较简单，因为前两道题目已经就蒙特利尔研究提出了问题，考生因此也对其研究发现有- -定 了解,此时只需迅速利用人名Meyer找到第五段的首句，发现本句正是在讲提到Meyer的目的: To demonstrate this psychological principle。this指代的是前文发现，由此可知正确答案为选项B:为了给蒙特利尔研究所的发现提供支持。
A项说“为了就这个话题提出一个原创的理论”; C项说“为了推荐有必要就这个话题进行更深人研究”; D项说“为了提出一个与蒙特利尔研究者们所相反的观点”.都不符合定位句所表达的信息。

生词： dissected 解剖(人或动植物)；剖析；仔细研究；详细评论
dorsal 背部的；背侧的；(鱼或动物)背上的

第二篇： 英国公司需要更有效的董事会

第二次做题： 正确率 9/14 https://ieltscat.xdf.cn/practice/result/read/6770/6206D87981561109

F段落： Many would argue that this is in the interest of transparency and good governance as shareholders use their muscle in the area of pay to pressure boards to remove underperforming chief executives.

这句话说明，其他人也有责任。 其他人指的是governance as shareholders

C段落： board business is devolved to committees in order to cope with the workload…boxes are ticked rather than issues tackled.
rather than issues tackled，而不是问题被解决了。看起来是个否定的说法，所以37题，选择No

D段落： he executives had access to information that part-time non-executive directors lacked
说明不是所有人都通知到了。non-executive directors没有通知到。
所以选vi. A risk that not all directors take part in solving major problems.

E段落： One of the main criticisms of boards and their directors is that they do not focus sufficiently on longer-term matters of strategy
but instead concentrate too much on short-term financial metrics.
所以39题，填写financial

问题

boxes are ticked rather than issues tackled.
这里面，boxes是什么意思
在句子“boxes are ticked rather than issues tackled”中，“boxes” 是一种比喻，指代待办事项或任务清单上的项目。“boxes are ticked” 意思是形式上完成了某些任务或步骤（勾选任务框），而不是实际解决问题（issues tackled）。这句话表达了人们更注重完成表面上的工作，而不是深入处理实际问题。

debate matters in full.
是什么意思
“in full” 意思是“全面地”或“充分地”。在这个语境中，“debate matters in full” 表示对事项进行全面、彻底的讨论，不遗漏任何细节。

生词

tyranny暴政
latter后面的
subjected to 使臣服
Agendas会议议程
post-mortems 通常指项目、事件、或活动结束后进行的回顾或分析，尤其是用来总结经验教训。
in the frame 表示“在焦点中”或“被审查/关注中”。
board director董事会成员
remuneration “remuneration” 可以翻译为“报酬”或“薪酬”，指因工作或服务而获得的报酬、工资或其他形式的经济补偿。
financial meltdown金融危机

在口语中，“remuneration” 相对正式，日常对话中不常使用。口语中更常见的表达包括：

• pay：工资、薪水
• salary：薪水
• wages：工资（通常指按小时或周计算的）
• compensation：补偿（也用于表示工资或报酬）
• income：收入
• earnings：收益

例如，口语中你可以说：

• “What’s the pay like for this job?”
• “Her salary is pretty good.”
• “The wages are low for such hard work.”

这些都是更常见的口语表达。

“Picked over” 可以翻译为 挑拣过的 或 被挑选过的，通常用来形容某个东西（如商品、食物等）已经被别人挑选或筛选过，剩下的可能是质量较差或数量较少的部分。

例如：

• “The sale items were all picked over by the time I got there.” 可以翻译为：“等我到的时候，特价商品都已经被挑拣过了。”

这个表达有时带有“剩下的部分不太理想”的意味。

insatiable 贪得无厌
incentivised 褒扬
metrics 韵律学
irony 讽刺

错题一

On certain matters, such as pay, the board may have to accept the views of _____
答案： shareholders|investors

定位词：pay, accept the views of
F段第二句：Many would argue that this is in the interest of transparency and good governance as shareholders use their muscle in the area of pay to pressure boards to remove under performing chief executives.
题干说“在某些事宜上，比如薪酬，董事会有可能不得不接受___的观点” ，题干中的关键词pay可以直接在F段中找到对应，不过它作为没有什么显著特征的普通名词(不同于数字、大写这类好找的关键词)，在文中可能不够显眼而被匆匆扫读的考生忽略，如果考生还认识compensation和remuneration都有“薪酬”的意思，定位就会更有把握了。本题对应的原文句不算太过复杂，只要卖懂as引导的部分是原因状语从句，而这个从句表达的意思是“股东会运用自己在薪酬领域中的强壮肌肉(即话语权优势)来给董事会施加压力，换掉不称职的主要执行官”，即可得到答案为shareholders。

第一段原文：
After a number of serious failures of governance (that is, how they are managed at the highest level), companies in Britain, as well as elsewhere, should consider radical changes to their directors’ roles. It is clear that the role of a board director today is not an easy one. Following the 2008 financial meltdown, which resulted in a deeper and more prolonged period of economic downturn than anyone expected, the search for explanations in the many post-mortems of the crisis has meant blame has been spread far and wide. Governments, regulators, central banks and auditors have all been in the frame. The role of bank directors and management and their widely publicised failures have been extensively picked over and examined in reports, inquiries and commentaries.

错题二

Often, board business is devolved to committees in order to cope with the workload, which may be more efficient but can mean that the board as a whole is less involved in fully addressing some of the most important issues. It is not uncommon for the audit committee meeting to last longer than the main board meeting itself. Process may take the place of discussion and be at the expense of real collaboration, so that boxes are ticked rather than issues tackled.

参考译文：有个风险在于并非所有管理者都参与解决重大问题
定位词：risk, not all, solving major problems
C段：本段相对难度较低，最主要原因是段落篇幅短小，一共只有三句话，全部围绕文中着“董事会工作移交给其他委员会，因此董事们常常没有参与真正解决最重要的问题”这个主题展开，正确答案为vi。

答案： A risk that not all directors take part in solving major problems.
并非所有董事都参与解决重大问题的风险。

错题三

A radical solution, which may work for some very large companies whose businesses are extensive and complex, is the professional board, whose members would work up to three or four days a week, supported by their own dedicated staff and advisers.

There are obvious risks to this and it would be important to establish clear guidelines for such a board to ensure that it did not step on the toes of management by becoming too engaged in the day-to-day running of the company.

Problems of recruitment, remuneration and independence could also arise and this structure would not be appropriate for all companies.

However, more professional and better-informed boards would have been particularly appropriate for banks where the executives had access to information that part-time non-executive directors lacked, leaving the latter unable to comprehend or anticipate the 2008 crash.

参考译文：一项改变董事会运作方式的建议
定位词：change, way, operates
D段：本段也是在第一句话里就直接开宗明义地给出了radical solution “激进的解决办法”这个主题。接下来的三句话都是就这一主题进一步展开细节描述,例如这个方法存在一定风险和问题，也未必适用于所有公司，但对于银行系统来说会非常有效，等等，也是个典型的“总-分”结构。考生面临的问题仍是找准句子主干、理解四句话之间的关联。其中最后一句话结构较为复杂，其详细分析可以参见前文“佳句赏析”中的第三旬。理解了这几句话的意思和关联即可得知正确答案为viii。

答案： A proposal to change the way the board operates

错题四

Compensation for chief executives has become a combat zone 战区 where pitched battles between investors, management and board members are fought, often behind closed doors but increasingly frequently in the full glare of press attention.

Many would argue that this is in the interest of transparency and good governance as shareholders use their muscle in the area of pay to pressure boards to remove underperforming chief executives.

Their powers to vote down executive remuneration policies increased when binding votes came into force. The chair of the remuneration committee can be an exposed and lonely role, as Alison Carnwath, chair of Barclays Bank’s remuneration committee, found when she had to resign, having been roundly criticised for trying to defend the enormous bonus to be paid to the chief executive; the irony being that she was widely understood to have spoken out against it in the privacy of the committee.委员会

答案： Disputes over financial arrangements regarding senior managers.关于高级管理人员财务安排的争议。

错题五

The financial crisis stimulated a debate about the role and purpose of the company and a heightened awareness of corporate ethics. Trust in the corporation has been eroded and academics such as Michael Sandel, in his thoughtful and bestselling book What Money Can’t Buy, are questioning the morality of capitalism and the market economy.

Boards of companies in all sectors will need to widen their perspective to encompass these issues and this may involve a realignment of corporate goals.

We live in challenging times.

答案： The possible need for fundamental change in every area of business.
可能需要在业务的各个领域进行根本性变革。

第三篇 减少气候变化的负面影响

30题目填sunshade
因为to form a transparent, sunlight-refracting sunshade

27题目
historic volcanic explosions, such as that of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines in 1991, which led to a short-term cooling of global temperatures by 0.5 °C.

28题
Geo-engineering has been shown to work, at least on a small localised scale

错题一

题目： Geo-engineering is a topic worth exploring.
答案： Martin Sommerkorn
译文：地球工程是一个值得探索的话题。

本题所表达的观点对应文章H段，Human-induced climate change has brought humanity to a position where we shouldn’t exclude thinking thoroughly about this topic and its possibilities,其中提到thinking thoroughly about this topic and its possibilities,即需要对这一话题进行研究，这与题目表达一致， 而这是Marin Sommerkorn提出的观点，因此本题答案为D。

“We shouldn’t exclude thinking thoroughly about” 可以翻译为：

“我们不应排除全面思考……”

这句话的意思是建议不要忽略或跳过对某个问题进行深入思考。

“Exclude” 和 “skip” 虽然在某些语境下有相似之处，但它们的意思并不完全相同。

• Exclude 意思是 排除 或 不包括，指的是有意将某个选项或情况排除在外，不让它成为考虑的一部分。

  • 例子: “We excluded that option from our plans.” （我们把那个选项排除在计划之外。）

• Skip 意思是 跳过，指的是有意或无意地忽略某个步骤或部分。

  • 例子: “I skipped breakfast this morning.” （我今天早上跳过了早餐。）

简单来说，**”exclude”** 强调的是有意不包含某物，而 “skip” 强调的是跳过某个步骤或部分，不一定是完全排除。

错题二

题目： Research into non-fossil-based fuels cannot be replaced by geo-engineering.
答案： Roger Angle
译文：地球工程无法取代非化石原料的研究。

本题所表述的观点出现在文章E段，Angel says that his plan is ‘no substitute for developing renewable energy: the only permanent solution’ ,其中no substitute与题目中cannot be replaced对应，而renewable energy与题目中non-fossil-based fuels对应，这一观点是Roger Angle表达的，因此本题答案为A。

no substitute = cannot be replaced