雅思阅读模拟试题学术类（1）

雅思阅读模拟试题学术类（1） 关于这个问题下面小编就来为各个考生解答下。

雅思阅读模拟试题学术类（1）

READING PASSAGE 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1–13, which are based on Reading

Passage 1 below.

MAKING TIME FOR SCIENCE

Chronobiology might sound a little futuristic – like something from a science

fiction novel, perhaps – but it’s actually a field of study that concerns one of the oldest

processes life on this planet has ever known: short-term rhythms of time and their effect

on flora and fauna.

This can take many forms. Marine life, for example, is influenced by tidal

patterns. Animals tend to be active or inactive depending on the position of the sun or

moon. Numerous creatures, humans included, are largely diurnal – that is, they like to

come out during the hours of sunlight. Nocturnal animals, such as bats and possums,

prefer to forage by night. A third group are known as crepuscular: they thrive in the lowlight of dawn and dusk and remain inactive at other hours.

When it comes to humans, chronobiologists are interested in what is known as

the circadian rhythm. This is the complete cycle our bodies are naturally geared to

undergo within the passage of a twenty-four hour day. Aside from sleeping at night and

waking during the day, each cycle involves many other factors such as changes in blood

pressure and body temperature. Not everyone has an identical circadian rhythm. ‘Night

people’, for example, often describe how they find it very hard to operate during the

morning, but become alert and focused by evening. This is a benign variation within

circadian rhythms known as a chronotype.

Scientists have limited abilities to create durable modifications of

chronobiological demands. Recent therapeutic developments for humans such as

artificial light machines and melatonin administration can reset our circadian rhythms, for

example, but our bodies can tell the difference and health suffers when we breach these

natural rhythms for extended periods of time. Plants appear no more malleable in this 3

respect; studies demonstrate that vegetables grown in season and ripened on the tree

are far higher in essential nutrients than those grown in greenhouses and ripened by

laser.

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