对于大部分想要借由GRE考试成绩，搭乘名校留学直通车的考生而言，如何更为行之有效的利用好手中的资源就是考生获得高分的一个必要保证，那么今天小编为考生分享GRE考试2015年10月17日阅读预测机经，通过对机经的了解，小编希望考生可以取得更加满意的分数。
20150920
短阅读
Although passenger pigeons, now extinct, were abundant in eighteenth-and
nineteenth-century America, archaeological studies at twelfth-century Cahokian sites in the
present-day United States examined household food trash and found that traces of passenger
pigeon were quite rare. Given that the sites were close to a huge passenger pigeon roost
documented by John James Audubon in the nineteenth century and that Cahokians consumed
almost every other animal protein source available, the archaeologist conducting the studies
concluded the passenger pigeon population had once been very limited before increasing
dramatically in post-Columbian America. Other archaeologists have criticized those
conclusions on the grounds that passenger pigeon bones would not be likely to be preserved.
But all the archaeological projects found plenty of bird bones--and even some tiny bones from
fish.
1. The author of the passage mentions "tiny bones from fish" primarily in order to
A. Explain why traces of passenger pigeon are rare at Cahokian sites
B. Support a claim about the wide variety of animal proteins in the Cahokian diet
C. Provide evidence that confirms a theory about the extinction of the passenger pigeon
D. Cast doubt on the conclusion reached by the archaeologists who conducted the studies
discussed in the passage
E. Counter an objection to an interpretation of the data obtained from Cahokian sites
答案：C
长阅读
In 1995 the Galileo spacecraft captured data about Jupiter's atmosphere--namely, the
absence of most of the predicted atmospheric water--that challenged prevailing theories about
Jupiter's structure. The unexpectedness of this finding fits a larger pattern in which theories
about planetary composition and dynamics have failed to predict the realities discovered
through space exploration. Instead of "normal planets" whose composition could be predicted
by theory, the planets populating our solar system are unique individuals whose chemical and
tectonic identities were created through numerous contingent events. One implication of this
is that although the universe undoubtedly holds other planetary systems, the duplication of the
sequence that produced our solar system and the development of life on Earth is highly
unlikely.
Recently planetary scientists have suggested that the external preconditions for the
development of Earth's biosphere probably included four paramount contingencies. First, a
climate conducive to life on Earth depends upon the extraordinarily narrow orbital parameters
that define a continuously habitable zone where water can exist in a liquid state. If Earth's
orbit were only 5 percent smaller than it is, temperatures during the early stages of Earth's
history would have been high enough to vaporize the oceans. If the Earth-Sun distance were
as little as 1 percent larger, runaway glaciation on Earth about 2 billion years ago would have
caused the oceans to freeze and remain frozen to this day.
Second, Jupiter's enormous mass prevents most Sun-bound comets from penetrating the
inner solar system. It has been estimated that without this shield, Earth would have
experienced bombardment by comet-sized impactors a thousand times more frequently than
has actually been recorded during geological time. Even if Earth's surface were not actually
sterilized by this bombardment, it is unlikely that any but the most primitive life-forms could
have survived. This suggests that only planetary systems containing both terrestrial planets
like Earth and gas giants like Jupiter might be capable of sustaining complex life-forms.
Third, the gravitational shield of the giant outer planets, while highly efficient, must
occasionally fail to protect Earth. Paradoxically, while the temperatures required for liquid
water exist only in the inner solar system, the key building blocks of life, including water
itself, occur primarily beyond the asteroid belt. Thus the evolution of life has depended on a
frequency of cometary impacts sufficient to convey water, as well as carbon and nitrogen,
from these distant regions of the solar system to Earth while stopping short of an impact
magnitude that would destroy the atmosphere and oceans.
Finally, Earth's unique and massive satellite, the Moon, plays a crucial role in stabilizing
the obliquity of Earth's rotational axis. This obliquity creates the terrestrial seasonality so
important to the evolution and diversity of life. Mars, in contrast, has wildly oscillating tilt
and chaotic seasonality, while Venus, rotating slowly backward, has virtually no seasonality at
all.
1. The passage is primarily concerned with
A. Enumerating conditions that may have been necessary for a particular development
B. Outlining the conditions under which scientists may be able to predict certain events
C. Explaining how a particular finding affected scientists 'understanding of a phenomenon
D. Suggesting reasons why a particular outcome was more likely to occur than other
possible outcomes
E. Assessing the relative significance of factors that contributed to a particular occurrence
答案：C
2. It can be inferred from the passage that the "planetary scientists" would be most likely to
agree with which of the following statements concerning the development of complex life
forms on Earth?
A. It might have occurred earlier in Earth's history if cometary impacts had been less
frequent than they were.
B. It could have occurred if Earth's orbit were 1 percent larger than it is but not if Earth's
orbit were 5 percent smaller.
C. It probably follows a pattern common on other terrestrial planets that occupy planetary
systems containing gas giants.
D. Its dependence on the effect that Jupiter's gravitational shield has on Earth was difficult
to recognize prior to 1995.
E. It has been contingent on conditions elsewhere in Earth's solar system as well as on
conditions on Earth itself.
答案：E
3. The author of the passage most likely mentions Mars' "oscillating tilt" primarily in order to
A. Provide evidence for a proposition about the potential effects of cometary impacts
B. Emphasize the absence from our solar system of "normal planets"
C. Contrast the rotational axis of Mars with that of Venus
D. Characterize the role of other planets in the solar system in earth's development
E. Emphasize the importance of the Moon to the development of life on Earth
答案：C
20150906
短 阅 读
The most plausible justification for higher taxes on automobile fuel is that fuel
consumption harms the environment and thus adds to the costs of traffic congestion.
But the fact that burning fuel creates these “negative externalities” does not imply that
no tax on fuel could ever be too high. Economics is precise about the tax that should,
in principle, be levied to deal with negative externalities: the tax on a liter of fuel
should be equal to the harm caused by using a liter of fuel. If the tax is more than that,
its costs (including the inconvenience to those who would rather have used their cars)
will exceed its benefits (including any reduction in congestion and pollution).
1. In the context in which it appears, “exceed” most nearly means
A. outstrip
B. magnify
C. delimit
D. offset
E. supplant
答案：A
2. Which of the following best characterizes the function of the indicated portion of the passage?
A. It restates a point made earlier in the passage.
B. It provides the evidence on which a theory is based.
C. It presents a specific application of a general principle.
D. It summarizes a justification with which the author disagrees.
E. It suggests that the benefits of a particular strategy have been overestimated.
答案：D
Chopin the pianist has been greatly overshadowed by Chopin the composer. When Chopin
the pianist is mentioned, it is his dreamy gaze and supple wrists (as well as countless female
admirers gathered around the piano returning that same dreamy stare). But Chopin was a
formidable pianist in his own right: after all, he was able to play, from start to finish, all
twenty-four of his etudes, a set of pieces so demanding that even today’s great pianists
feel taxed after performing them. Two things perhaps account for this oversight: for one,
any pianist for whom no extant recordings exist is likely not to weather time well. Secondly,
Chopin's coeval and friend, Franz Liszt, was of such legendary prowess that Chopin himself
wished he could play his own etudes the way Liszt did. Nevertheless, Chopin deserves to be
remembered not just as a composer of challenging pieces but as a pianist capable of
executing, with panache, these very pieces.
1. Which of the following, if true, would cast the most doubt on the author’s contention regarding Chopin the pianist?
(A) Chopin rarely, if ever, played the piano works of other composers.
(B) Apart from a cello concerto and a few other works, Chopin composed mainly for the piano.
(C) Chopin seldom performed his etudes in concerts, preferring to play in front of a small group.
(D) Not all of Chopin's compositions are as difficult to execute as his etudes.
(E) Chopin, himself, acknowledged that he was primarily a composer, and would have
composed even more difficult pieces had he the ability to play them.
答案：E
2. In the context in which it appears, “weather” most nearly means
(A) perish
(B) subsist (C) withstand
(D) transform
(E) sustain
答案：B
长 阅 读
Originally, scientists predicted small asteroids to be hard and rocky, as any loose surface material (called regolith) generated by impacts was expected to escape their weak gravity. Aggregate small bodies were not thought to exist, because the slightest sustained relative motion would cause them to separate. But observations and computer modeling are proving otherwise. Most asteroids larger than a kilometer are now believed to be composites of smaller pieces. Those imaged at high-resolution show evidence for copious regolith despite the weak gravity. Most of them have one or more extraordinarily large craters, some of which are wider than the mean radius of the whole body. Such colossal impacts would not just gouge out a crater—they would break any monolithic body into pieces. In short, asteroids larger than a kilometer across may look like nuggets of hard rock but are more likely to be aggregate ssemblages—or even plies of loose rubble so pervasively fragmented that no solid bedrock is left.
The rubble hypothesis, proposed decades ago by scientists, lacked evidence, until the planetologist Shoemaker realized that the huge craters on the asteroid Mathilde and its very low density could only make sense together: a porous body such as a rubble pile can withstand a battering much better than an integral object. It will absorb and dissipate a large fraction of the energy of an impact; the far side might hardly feel a thing. At first, the rubble hypothesis may appear conceptually troublesome. The material strength of an asteroid is nearly zero, and the gravity is so low one is tempted to neglect that too. The truth is neither strength nor gravity can be ignored. Paltr though it may be, gravity binds a rubble pile together. And anybody who builds sandcastles knows that even loose debris can cohere. Oft-ignored details of motion begin to matter: sliding friction, chemical bonding, damping of kinetic energy, etc. We are just beginning to fathom the subtle interplay of these minuscule forces.
The size of an asteroid should determine which force dominates. One indication is the observed pattern of asteroidal rotation rates. Some collisions cause an asteroid to spin faster; others slow it down. If asteroids are monolithic rocks undergoing random collisions, a graph of their rotation rates should show a bell-shaped distribution with a statistical "tail" of very fast rotators. If nearly all asteroids are rubble piles, however, this tail would be missing, because any rubble pile spinning faster than once every two or three hours would fly apart. Recently, several astronomers discovered that all but five observed asteroids obey a strict rotation limit. The exceptions are all smaller than about 150 meters in diameter, with an abrupt cutoff for asteroids larger than 200 meters.
The evident conclusion—that asteroids larger than 200 meters across are rubble piles—agrees with recent computer modeling of collisions. A collision can blast a large asteroid to bits, but those bits will usually be moving slower than their mutual escape velocity (the lowest velocity that a body must have in order to escape the orbit of a planet). Over several hours, gravity will reassemble all but the fastest pieces into a rubble pile.
1. According to the rubble-pile hypothesis, an advantage conferred on an asteroid held together by weak forces is that it is
(A) unlikely to fall apart over a long period of time
(B) more amenable to computer modeling
(C) less susceptible to powerful impacts
(D) not likely to collide with another object
(E) more readily observed by astronomers
答案：D
2. The primary purpose of the passage is to
(A) refute an unconventional theory regarding asteroid collisions
(B) express doubt regarding the validity of evidence offered up by several notable
astronomers
(C) explain how earlier evidence used to describe an aspect of asteroids was misleading
(D) explore common features of an asteroid in order to provide support for a theory
(E) discuss how one explanation of an astronomical phenomenon is most likely correct
答案：D
3. The reason that graphs of asteroid rotation rates lack the expected statistical tail
associated with high rotational rates is that
(A) the greater the speed in which an asteroid spins the more likely it is to cohere
(B) the weak forces in asteroids displaying such a high rotational rate would not be able to
prevent the asteroid from falling apart
(C) asteroids are not being subjected to a uniform distribution of random collisions
(D) most monolithic asteroids, upon colliding with other asteroids, are able to sustain such a
high rate of rotation
(E) for the most part, the asteroids surveyed were less than 150 meters in diameter and
thus far less likely to be rubble-piles, which are better able to sustain the impact from
collisions
答案：B
以上就是GRE考试2015年10月17日阅读预测机经的经验分享，希望考生可以从中学到一些获得高分的技巧，帮助自己早日获得GRE考试高分。更多GRE备考信息请登录前程百利GRE考试网站或拨打前程百利GRE考试热线400-890-6000咨询,或者关注GRE满分公众号(ID：bailiedu-gre)。
您还可能关注：
