2017年8月19日雅思阅读考试回忆及解析

　　Passage 2：

　　题目: Roller Coaster

　　题型：图表填空题4+填空题5+判断题 5

　　新旧程度：旧题

　　文章大意：对于摩天轮发展的介绍

　　参考文章：

　　Roller Coaster

　　A.

　　600 years ago, roller coaster pioneers never would have imagined the advancements that have been made to create the rollercoaster of today. The tallest and fastest roller coaster in the world is the Kingda Ka, a coaster in New Jersey that launches its passengers from zero to 128 miles per hour in 3.5 seconds. It then heaves its riders skyward at a 90-degree angle until it reaches a height of 456 feet, over one and a half football fields, above the ground, before dropping another 418 feet. With that said, roller coasters are about more than just speed and height, they are about the creativity of the designers that build them, each coaster having its own unique way of producing intense thrills at a lesser risk than the average car ride. Roller coasters have evolved drastically over the years, from their primitive beginnings as Russian ice slides, to the metal monsters of today. Their combination of creativity and structural elements make them one of the purest forms of architecture.

　　B.

　　At first glance, a roller coaster is something like a passenger train. It consists of a series of connected cars that move on tracks. But unlike a passenger train, a roller coaster has no engine or power source of its own. For most of the ride, the train is moved by gravity and momentum. To build up this momentum, you need to get the train to the top of the first hill or give it a powerful launch. The traditional lifting mechanism is a long length of chain running up the hill under the track. The chain is fastened in a loop, which is wound around a gear at the top of the hill and another one at the bottom of the hill. The gear at the bottom of the hill is turned by a simple motor. This turns the chain loop so that it continually moves up the hill like a long conveyer belt. The coaster cars grip onto the chain with several chain dogs, sturdy hinged hooks. When the train rolls to the bottom of the hill, the dog catches onto the chain links. Once the chain dog is hooked, the chain simply pulls the train to the top of the hill. At the summit, the chain dog is released and the train starts its descent down the hill.

　　C.

　　Roller coasters have a long, fascinating history. The direct ancestors of roller coasters were monumental ice slides — long, steep wooden slides covered in ice, some as high as 70 feet — that were popular in Russia in the 16th and 17th centuries. Riders shot down the slope in sleds made out of wood or blocks of ice, crash-landing in a sand pile. Coaster historians diverge on the exact evolution of these ice slides into actual rolling carts. The most widespread account is that a few entrepreneurial Frenchmen imported the ice slide idea to France. The warmer climate of France tended to melt the ice, so the French started building waxed slides instead，, eventually adding wheels to the sleds. In 1817，the Russes a Belleville became the first roller coaster where the train was attached to the track .The French continued to expand on this idea, coming up with more complex track layouts, with multiple cars and all sorts of twists and turns.