剑桥雅思真题阅读解析：Could urban engineers learn from dance?

剑桥雅思真题阅读解析：Could urban engineers learn from dance?

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.

Could urban engineers learn from dance?

AThe way we travel around cities has a major impact on whether they are sustainable. Transportation is estimated to account for 30% of energy consumption in most of the world's most developed nations, so lowering the need for energy-using vehicles is essential for decreasing the environmental impact of mobility. But as more and more people move to cities, it is important to think about other kinds of sustainable travel too. The ways we travel affect our physical and mental health, our social lives, our access to work and culture, and the air we breathe. Engineers are tasked with changing how we travel round cities through urban design, but the engineering industry still works on the assumptions that led to the creation of the energy-consuming transport systems we have now: the emphasis placed solely on efficiency, speed, and quantitative data. We need radical changes, to make it healthier, more enjoyable, and less environmentally damaging to travel around cities.

BDance might hold some of the answers. That is not to suggest everyone should dance their way to work, however healthy and happy it might make us, but rather that the techniques used by choreographers to experiment with and design movement in dance could provide engineers with tools to stimulate new ideas in city-making. Richard Sennett, an influential urbanist and sociologist who has transformed ideas about the way cities are made, argues that urban design has suffered from a separation between mind and body since the introduction of the architectural blueprint.

CWhereas medieval builders improvised and adapted construction through their intimate knowledge of materials and personal experience of the conditions on a site, building designs are now conceived and stored in media technologies that detach the designer from the physical and social realities they are creating. While the design practices created by these new technologies are essential for managing the technical complexity of the modern city, they have the drawback of simplifying reality in the process.

DTo illustrate, Sennett discusses the Peachtree Center in Atlanta, USA, a development typical of the modernist approach to urban planning prevalent in the 1970s. Peachtree created a grid of streets and towers intended as a new pedestrian-friendly downtown for Atlanta. According to Sennett, this failed because its designers had invested too much faith in computer-aided design to tell them how it would operate. They failed to take into account that purpose-built street cafes could not operate in the hot sun without the protective awnings common in older buildings, and would need energy-consuming air conditioning instead, or that its giant car park would feel so unwelcoming that it would put people off getting out of their cars. What seems entirely predictable and controllable on screen has unexpected results when translated into reality.

EThe same is true in transport engineering, which uses models to predict and shape the way people move through the city. Again, these models are necessary, but they are built on specific world views in which certain forms of efficiency and safety are considered and other experiences of the city ignored. Designs that seem logical in models appear counter-intuitive in the actual experience of their users. The guard rails that will be familiar to anyone who has attempted to cross a British road, for example, were an engineering solution to pedestrian safety based on models that prioritise the smooth flow of traffic. On wide major roads, they often guide pedestrians to specific crossing points and slow down their progress across the road by using staggered access points to divide the crossing into two - one for each carriageway. In doing so they make crossings feel longer, introducing psychological barriers greatly impacting those that are the least mobile, and encouraging others to make dangerous crossings to get around the guard rails. These barriers don't just make it harder to cross the road: they divide communities and decrease opportunities for healthy transport. As a result, many are now being removed, causing disruption, cost, and waste.

FIf their designers had had the tools to think with their bodies - like dancers - and imagine how these barriers would feel, there might have been a better solution. In order to bring about fundamental changes to the ways we use our cities, engineering will need to develop a richer understanding of why people move in certain ways, and how this movement affects them. Choreography may not seem an obvious choice for tackling this problem. Yet it shares with engineering the aim of designing patterns of movement within limitations of space. It is an art form developed almost entirely by trying out ideas with the body, and gaining instant feedback on how the results feel. Choreographers have deep understanding of the psychological, aesthetic, and physical implications of different ways of moving.

GObserving the choreographer Wayne McGregor, cognitive scientist David Kirsh described how he 'thinks with the body5. Kirsh argues that by using the body to simulate outcomes, McGregor is able to imagine solutions that would not be possible using purely abstract thought. This kind of physical knowledge is valued in many areas of expertise, but currently has no place in formal engineering design processes. A suggested method for transport engineers is to improvise design solutions and get instant feedback about how they would work from their own experience of them, or model designs at full scale in the way choreographers experiment with groups of dancers. Above all, perhaps, they might learn to design for emotional as well as functional effects.

Questions 1-6

Reading Passage 1 has seven paragraphs, A-G.

Which paragraph contains the following information?

Write the correct letter, A-G, in boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet.

1 reference to an appealing way of using dance that the writer is not proposing

2 an example of a contrast between past and present approaches to building

3 mention of an objective of both dance and engineering

4 reference to an unforeseen problem arising from ignoring the climate

5 why some measures intended to help people are being reversed

6 reference to how transport has an impact on human lives

Questions 7-13

Complete the summary below.

Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 7-13 on your answer sheet.

Guard rails

Guard rails were introduced on British roads to improve the 7………….. of pedestrians, while ensuring that the movement of 8………….. is not disrupted. Pedestrians are led to access points, and encouraged to cross one 9………….. at a time.

An unintended effect is to create psychological difficulties in crossing the road, particularly for less 10………….. people. Another result is that some people cross the road in a 11………….. way. The guard rails separate 12…………..,and make it more difficult to introduce forms of transport that are 13………….. .

02

译文

都市工程师们能从舞蹈中学到什么吗?

AThe way we travel around cities has a major impact on whether they are sustainable. Transportation is estimated to account for 30% of energy consumption in most of the world's most developed nations, so lowering the need for energy-using vehicles is essential for decreasing the environmental impact of mobility. But as more and more people move to cities, it is important to think about other kinds of sustainable travel too. The ways we travel affect our physical and mental health, our social lives, our access to work and culture, and the air we breathe. Engineers are tasked with changing how we travel round cities through urban design, but the engineering industry still works on the assumptions that led to the creation of the energy-consuming transport systems we have now: the emphasis placed solely on efficiency, speed, and quantitative data. We need radical changes, to make it healthier, more enjoyable, and less environmentally damaging to travel around cities.

我们在城市中的出行方式对于这些城市是否可持续发展有着重大的影响。据估计交通占到了世界上大多数最发达国家中能量消耗的30%，因此降低对耗能交通工具的需求对于减少移动出行给环境带来的影响是至关重要的。然而随着越来越多的人们迁往城市，思考其他种类的可持续发展出行方式也是很重要的。我们出行的方式会影响我们的身体和心理健康、我们的社交生活、我们进行工作和感受文化的方式，以及我们呼吸的空气。工程师们的任务是通过都市设计来改变我们在城市中的流动方式，然而工程建筑业仍然在这样的一些理念下运转，最终形成了我们目前所拥有的这些消耗能量的交通系统：重点全盘放在了效率、速度和量化数据上。我们需要一些翻天覆地的变化，来让城市交通这件事更健康、更令人享受，也不会对环境造成那么大的破坏。

BDance might hold some of the answers. That is not to suggest everyone should dance their way to work, however healthy and happy it might make us, but rather that the techniques used by choreographers to experiment with and design movement in dance could provide engineers with tools to stimulate new ideas in city-making. Richard Sennett, an influential urbanist and sociologist who has transformed ideas about the way cities are made, argues that urban design has suffered from a separation between mind and body since the introduction of the architectural blueprint.

舞蹈中也许包含着一部分答案。这倒不是要建议每个人都应当跳着舞去上班——为论这样能令我们多么健康和快乐，而是舞蹈设计师在尝试和设计舞蹈动作时所使用的技巧可以为工程师们提供一些工具，以刺激他们在城市建设中产生新的创意。Richard Sennett是一位颇具影响力的都市学家和社会学家，曾改变了人们关于城市建造方式的观念，他认为自打引入了建筑设计蓝图以来，都市设计就一直饱受着心灵与身体的分离之苦。

CWhereas medieval builders improvised and adapted construction through their intimate knowledge of materials and personal experience of the conditions on a site, building designs are now conceived and stored in media technologies that detach the designer from the physical and social realities they are creating. While the design practices created by these new technologies are essential for managing the technical complexity of the modern city, they have the drawback of simplifying reality in the process.

中世纪的建筑师们会通过他们对建筑材料的深厚知识和某个建筑地点各方面条件的个人体验来即兴创作和修改建筑设计，然而现如今的建筑设计却是用媒体技术来构想和存储的，这使得建筑师与他们正在创作中的物质和社会现实相割裂分离。虽然这些新技术所创造出来的设计方法对于处理现代城市在技术上的复杂性来说，确实是至关重要的，但是它们却有这样一个缺陷：会在这个过程中简化现实情况。

DTo illustrate, Sennett discusses the Peachtree Center in Atlanta, USA, a development typical of the modernist approach to urban planning prevalent in the 1970s. Peachtree created a grid of streets and towers intended as a new pedestrian-friendly downtown for Atlanta. According to Sennett, this failed because its designers had invested too much faith in computer-aided design to tell them how it would operate. They failed to take into account that purpose-built street cafes could not operate in the hot sun without the protective awnings common in older buildings, and would need energy-consuming air conditioning instead, or that its giant car park would feel so unwelcoming that it would put people off getting out of their cars. What seems entirely predictable and controllable on screen has unexpected results when translated into reality.

举个例子来说，Sennett探讨了美国亚特兰大市的桃树中心，这是20世纪70年代城市规划中盛行的现代主义手法所催生的典型作品。桃树中心创造出了一张由街道和高楼组成的网络，旨在为亚特兰大提供一个对步行者友好的新城市中心地带。在Sennett看来，这是个失败之举，因为其设计者太过相信电脑辅助的设计来告诉他们这个中心将会如何运转。他们没能考虑到那些专门建起来的街边咖啡馆如果没有了老式建筑中常见的遮阳篷的保护，是没法在似火骄阳下正常运作的，而是将会需要颇为耗能的空调系统;也没考虑到中心这个巨大的停车场会令人感到如此之不友好，以至于人们会很不情愿从自己的车里下来。在屏幕上看起来完全可预测和可控制的一切，一旦转化为现实就有了出乎意料的结果。

EThe same is true in transport engineering, which uses models to predict and shape the way people move through the city. Again, these models are necessary, but they are built on specific world views in which certain forms of efficiency and safety are considered and other experiences of the city ignored. Designs that seem logical in models appear counter-intuitive in the actual experience of their users. The guard rails that will be familiar to anyone who has attempted to cross a British road, for example, were an engineering solution to pedestrian safety based on models that prioritise the smooth flow of traffic. On wide major roads, they often guide pedestrians to specific crossing points and slow down their progress across the road by using staggered access points to divide the crossing into two - one for each carriageway. In doing so they make crossings feel longer, introducing psychological barriers greatly impacting those that are the least mobile, and encouraging others to make dangerous crossings to get around the guard rails. These barriers don't just make it harder to cross the road: they divide communities and decrease opportunities for healthy transport. As a result, many are now being removed, causing disruption, cost, and waste.

交通工程中的情况也是如此，这个领域会使用模拟的方法来预测和塑造人们在城市里四下移动的方式。重申一下，这些模拟是有必要的，但它们所赖以建立的那些特定的世界观只考虑了某些形式的效率和安全而忽视了城市生活中的其他体验。在模拟场景中看似符合逻辑的设计在其使用者的真实体验中会显得反常识。举个例子，任何尝试着穿过一条英国公路的人都会对安全护栏相当熟悉，这是对行人安全问题的一种解决之道，其基于的模型将交通的顺畅流动放在了 首位。在宽阔的主路上，它们常常会引导着行人去到特定的穿越点并将行人穿越马路的过程减缓下来，方法就是用曲折的穿越点来将横穿(双向)公路的过程分为两段——一次只过一个方向的路。这样的设计使得整个穿越马路的过程显得更长了，会引起一些心理上的障碍，极大地影响到那些行动最不自如的人群，还诱使其他人为了绕开这些安全护栏而进行危险的穿越。这些路障并不仅仅是令过马路这件事本身更困难：它们还将不同人群划分开来，并降低了健康交通出行的机会。其结果就是，有很多这样的护栏目前正在被移除，造成了干扰、支出和浪费。

FIf their designers had had the tools to think with their bodies - like dancers - and imagine how these barriers would feel, there might have been a better solution. In order to bring about fundamental changes to the ways we use our cities, engineering will need to develop a richer understanding of why people move in certain ways, and how this movement affects them. Choreography may not seem an obvious choice for tackling this problem. Yet it shares with engineering the aim of designing patterns of movement within limitations of space. It is an art form developed almost entirely by trying out ideas with the body, and gaining instant feedback on how the results feel. Choreographers have deep understanding of the psychological, aesthetic, and physical implications of different ways of moving.

如果它们的设计者釆取用自己的身体去思考的方式——就像舞者那样——并去想象一下这些路障会给人带来什么样的感受，也许就能得出一个更好的解决方案。为了给我们使用自己城市的方式带来一些根本性的变化，工程设计将需要发展出更丰富的认知，明确人们为什么以某些方式来移动，以及这种移动会如何影响他们。舞蹈动作设计也许看似并非解决这一问题的明显选择。然而它与工程学有着一个共同的目标：在有限的空间内设计移动的模式。这种艺术形式几乎完全是依靠用身体来尝试各种理念、并从由此带来的结果感受中获取即刻的反馈而发展起来的。舞蹈设计师对于不同的移动方式在心理、审美和物理层面上的含义有着深刻的理解。

GObserving the choreographer Wayne McGregor, cognitive scientist David Kirsh described how he 'thinks with the body5. Kirsh argues that by using the body to simulate outcomes, McGregor is able to imagine solutions that would not be possible using purely abstract thought. This kind of physical knowledge is valued in many areas of expertise, but currently has no place in formal engineering design processes. A suggested method for transport engineers is to improvise design solutions and get instant feedback about how they would work from their own experience of them, or model designs at full scale in the way choreographers experiment with groups of dancers. Above all, perhaps, they might learn to design for emotional as well as functional effects.

在观察舞蹈设计师Wayne McGregor时，认知科学家David Kirsh描述了前者是如何“用身体去思考”的。Kirsh认为，通过运用身体去模拟各种结果，McGregor能想象出来的方案是运用纯抽象的思维无论如何也不可能得出来的。这种物理性的知识在很多专业领域中都很受重视，但目前在正式的工程设计过程中还没有一席之地。向交通工程师们建议一个方法：即兴给出一些设计方案，然后自己亲身去进行体验以获得即时的反馈，或者像舞蹈设计师用一群舞者来实验动作效果那样全方面地模拟设计方案。也许最重要的是，他们有可能学着去做这样的设计：不但照顾功能性效果，也能照顾到情绪性感受。

答案解析

Question 1

答案：B

关键词：appealing, not proposing

定位原文：B段第二句：That is not to suggest everyone should dance their way to work, however healthy and happy it might make us, but rather that the techniques used by choreographers to experiment with and design movement in dance could provide engineers with tools to stimulate new ideas in city-making.

解题思路：如前文中若干次提到的那样：在“段落匹配信息”这种类型的题目中，大概率会有诸如reference、account、mention这类词汇出现，它们表达的意思都是“提到、说到”，考生切勿将此处的reference理解为此词的其他意义，如“参考”等，徒增理解难度。本题定位非常简单，考生只需要认识 appealing这个雅思阅读文章中的高频词汇，应该就能在看懂原文对应句healthy and happy的基础上看出题干和原文表述方面的对应；而题干not proposing与原文not to suggest的对应其实也非常明显。这两处都可以帮助考生顺利锁定答案为对应的B段。

Question 2

答案：C 关键词：contrast, past and present

定位原文：C段第一句：Whereas medieval builders improvised and adapted construction through their intimate knowledge of materials and personal experience of the conditions on a site, building designs are now conceived and stored in media technologies that detach the designer from the physical and social realities they are creating.

解题思路：本题的难度比较高。第一个原因来自于词汇认知，medieval这个词表示“中世纪的”，原本是可以直接对应于past 一词的同义替换表述，且早在“剑8”第二套第二篇文章《小冰期》中就曾经在题目里出现过，不过确实不如另外一些高频词那么常见，所以在一定程度上会影响考生的阅读理解。但是，如果对整个句子的结构把握得比较好，其实也能通过句首的whereas这个表示前后转折关系的词，推断出whereas从句中的medieval应当与主句中的now形成对比转折的关系，其实对于理解整句意思的对比关系也是有提示作用的。 本题不大容易的第二个原因，在于考生如果不能肯定C段中的这个表达是对过去和现在的对比描述的话，则有可能在接下来读到D段时，在一定程度上受到段中in older buildings这个信息的干扰而举棋不定。实则，如果对包含这几个词的原文句仔细分析一下就不难发现，这个句子在主体上其实还是在描述现代化建筑的问题，只是简单提到了一下老建筑有而新建筑所缺失的一个建筑特点，并非聚焦在对二者作出比较这个方面。

Question 3

答案：F 关键词：objective, both...and...

定位原文：F段倒数第三句：Yet it shares with engineering the aim of designing patterns of movement within limitations of space.

解题思路：如果是运用平行阅读的方法，本题的定位和理解就都不困难，因为在F段前文若干句对于舞蹈动作功能的描述这个背景下，考生在读到了答案直接对应句时，就能非常明确地判定：本句中的it就是指dance，而所share的aim，正是对题干的同义表述;如果单纯是去寻找objective或both and这些题干词在原文中的对应，反而可能会耗费了时间而无所得。

Question 4

答案：D

关键词：unforeseen, ignoring the climate

定位原文：D段第四句：They failed to take into account that purpose-built street cafes could not operate in the hot sun without the protective awnings common in older buildings, and would need energy-consuming air conditioning instead, or that its giant car park would feel so unwelcoming that it would put people off getting out of their cars.

解题思路：考生只要能抱定平行阅读的方法和宗旨、按部就班地逐句读懂每段每句大意，其实就能非常顺利地对应到此段此句，看出原文中failed to take into account 就是对unforeseen的同义表述;原文中hot sun就是对题干中climate的上义、下义词同义替换关系，从而得出正确选择。

Question 5

答案：E 关键词：intended to help, reversed

定位原文：E段，特别是最后一句：As a result, many are now being removed, causing disruption, cost, and waste.

解题思路：此题最直接的对应定位就是E段最后一句话：有许多现在正在拆除中。但是，“许多”是指什么？“被拆除”为什么就是被 reversed了？这些问题的答案无法直接通过最后这句话来直接得出，而是需要考生结合本段前文所说到的信息来综合理解。 所以，最为保险的理解和做题方法，其实还是以平行阅读的方式，通读本段的每一句话，在段落完整语境的背景下能更好地理解到“原本设置安全栏杆是为了行人安全，结果却增加了麻烦并反而让一些人釆用了更不安全的过马路方式”这个结论。 并且，由于本段中还包含了后文摘要填空题中的所有选项答案，所以如果考生釆用了平行阅读的方式，同时对比两个题型中的|相应题目，就可以在读到这里的时候收获满满，一次性掌握所有遇到的信息、更充分答题。

Question 6

答案：A 关键词：impact, human lives

定位原文：A段第四句：The ways we travel affect our physical and mental health, our social lives, our access to work and culture, and the air we breathe.

解题思路：本题无论是题干的理解难度，还是对应原文的理解难度，其实都不高；但是如若考生只想凭借某个关键词、忽略整句意思而直接用扫描的方式去对应原文中的某个同义表述词，恐怕会很失望。相反地，若是心平气和地逐句通读段落中的每一句话，则可以在不纠结所有细节表述的情况下，依然顺利得出正确答案。

Question 7

答案：safety

关键词：British, improve

定位原文：E段第四句：The guard rails that will be familiar to anyone who has attempted to cross a British road, for example, were an engineering solution to pedestrian safety based on models that prioritise the smooth flow of traffic.

解题思路：本题的定位难度极低，无论是大写信息British，还是一模一样出现在原文中的guard rails这个词组，都能帮考生轻松找到答案句出处。通读本句意思并对比寻找improve所对应的信息，可以得出答案为：safety。

Question 8

答案：traffic

关键词：not disrupted

定位原文：E段第四句：The guard rails that will be familiar to anyone who has attempted to cross a British road, for example, were an engineering solution to pedestrian safety based on models that prioritise the smooth flow of traffic.

解题思路：本题的定位与上一道题完全一样，要说有什么难度，大概就是来自于词汇认知这个方面。考生只要认识prioritise这个单词，明白原文中prioritise the smooth flow表达的就是题干中not disrupted这个意思，即可顺利对应出答案为：traffic。

Question 9

答案：carriageway

关键词：Pedestrians, one, at a time

定位原文：E段第五句：On wide major roads, they often guide pedestrians to specific crossing points and slow down their progress across the road by using staggered access points to divide the crossing into two - one for each carriageway.

解题思路：本题可以说是这部分摘要填空题中相当简单的一个，考生可直接利用pedestrians一词定位到答案出处句，继而再凭借题干中one与原文中each这两个简单词汇的对应，轻松得出答案为：carriageway。

Question 10

答案：mobile

关键词：psychological difficulties, particularly, less

定位原文：E段第六句：In doing so they make crossings feel longer, introducing psychological barriers greatly impacting those that are the least mobile, and encouraging others to make dangerous crossings to get around the guard rails.

解题思路：本题的同义替换表达比较委婉，但是由于词汇本身的难度并不高，所以只需看懂句子大意，便不难对应：原文中的make crossings feel longer就是在表达题干中的psychological difficulties;原文中的the least就是在表达题干中的less，从而可得答案为：mobile。

Question 11

答案：dangerous

关键词：another, cross the road

定位原文：E段第六句：In doing so they make crossings feel longer, introducing psychological barriers greatly impacting those that are the least mobile, and encouraging others to make dangerous crossings to get around the guard rails.

解题思路：由于答案出处位置集中，所以其实考生在定位寻找上一题的同时，就已经能在同一个句子里遇到本题的相关信息，从而在对比阅读中顺利得出答案为：dangerous。

Question 12

答案：communities

关键词：separate

定位原文：E段第七句：These barriers don't just make it harder to cross the road: they divide communities and decrease opportunities for healthy transport.

解题思路：本题的定位紧邻着上两道题的位置，就在接下来的一个句子里，且无论是题干中的separate还是对应原文中的divide，都是难度中等的认知词汇，也是以往雅思阅读文章中的常客，考生不难顺利得出答案为：communities。

Question 13

答案：healthy

关键词：more difficult

定位原文：E段第七句：These barriers don't just make it harder to cross the road: they divide communities and decrease opportunities for healthy transport.

解题思路：本题与上一道题也是位于同一个句子之中，且分析空格处在题干句中的位置可知，应当填一个形容词，于是根据题干中的“使得更困难”这个意思表述，考生不难在原文中看出decrease opportunities就是在同义表述类似的意思，从而可得答案为：healthy。

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