2019年雅思阅读模拟试题.docx

2019 年雅思阅读模拟试题(2) This reading test contains 11 questions. You should spend about 20 minutes on this task. To make it more authentic, download the test and do it with pen and paper. Read the passage below and answer 11 questions. Section A Muynak used to be a port city. Inhabitants of Muynak, of which there are fewer and fewer, now pose for pictures next to ships which were once anchored along the shores of the Aral Sea, but are now stranded in an ocean of sand where water once was. These pictures are published in scientific journals and magazines alongside desc riptions of how what was once the world’s fourth largest lake may disappear altogether by 2020. Section B The Aral Sea is located in the central Asian desert between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. In 1960, it covered 68,000 km2, and its waters fed agriculture across the region. By 1998, the area of the Aral Sea had shrunk to one third of its previous size and has now become a symbol of how drastically human activities can adversely affect the environment, and how much this effect can, in turn, affect human activities. Section C The reason for this change is not exclusively due to man. Droughts in the 1970s and 80s reduced the amount of water carried by the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya, two rivers which feed the sea. However, farming policies implemented during the middle of the 20th century increased the farming of water-hungry crops like cotton, and farmers used vast quantities of water from these two rivers to irrigate their land. The result of this was that very little water was entering the Aral Sea, and it consequently began decreasing in volume. Section D Policy makers at the time were aware of the effect of diverting so much water for agriculture, but they saw it as an acceptable trade-off to improving agricultural output, and thereby improving the economy. The sea itself was of less importance to the progress of society than farming which could produce not only crops for domestic use but commodities for t