雅思阅读真题（Part 1）
Part 1 · 考频：中频 · 最近考试：2016.3.3
In this paper, I shall present a number of people's opinions on why we should study history. Let me point out at the outset that many of these views overlap, with differences that are ones of emphasis, rather than of principle.
A
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答案：It helps us to understand human nature.
原文定位：According to some of the greatest historians, such as Arnold Toynbee, the essential value of history is its ability to give us self-awareness, self-knowledge. This occurs because historical figures are presented to us in detail. Studying Alexander the Great, for instance, teaches us that a single person is capable of the whole range of behaviour from cruelty to kindness
同义替换：「understand human nature」↔「a single person is capable of the whole range of behaviour from cruelty to kindness」
答案：conflict
原文定位：People need to have some sense of the workings of societies, simply so that they can run their own lives without coming into conflict with the community to which they belong
同义替换：「avoid」↔「without coming into」，「society they live in」↔「community to which they belong」
答案：individuals
原文定位：For example, Beverly Southgate claims that societies, like individuals, need to know who they are and where they belong
答案：amnesia
原文定位：Southgate would agree with Conal Furay and Michael J. Salevouris, in whose view a society that cannot recall its past is like an individual with amnesia, unaware of the roots that have created it
同义替换：「ignorance of history」↔「cannot recall its past」
答案：evidence
原文定位：Many historians and educators believe that the expert knowledge possessed by historians includes not only the learning of factual information, but also the habit of critically examining and evaluating evidence
同义替换：「analyse」↔「critically examining and evaluating」
答案：It helps to improve our ability to make decisions.
原文定位：Diane Ravich, an education policy analyst, gives a practical reason for studying history. Like many others before her, she claims that history doesn't tell us the answers to our questions, but it helps to inform us and thus to improve our judgment, so that we make better choices in the future
同义替换：「ability to make decisions」↔「judgment」
答案：It helps us to understand the present.
原文定位：As the philosopher of education John Dewey suggested, the only tool we have for making sense of the reality we experience is what has occurred in the past
同义替换：「understand the present」↔「making sense of the reality we experience」
答案：It provides examples to copy.
原文定位：The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche said people need models to imitate, and historical models are particularly powerful because they actually existed
同义替换：「provides examples to copy」↔「need models to imitate」，「examples」↔「models」，「imitate」↔「emulate」
答案：change
原文定位：Some philosophers have identified a pattern in historical events. Both Georg Hegel and Oswald Spengler saw history as a dynamic process, one in which nothing is static, in contrast to the many other philosophers who have believed that history consists of unique events
同义替换：「change」↔「dynamic」
答案：liberty
原文定位：In Hegel's view, history is a process of conflict between opposite ideas, leading towards greater freedom, which combines the best elements of the two original ideas
同义替换：「increase in」↔「greater」，「liberty」↔「freedom」
答案：decline
原文定位：Spengler, on the other hand, developed the organic view that historical cultures, like plants and animals, follow a process of growth, flowering and deterioration, a rise inevitably leading to a fall
同义替换：「decline」↔「deterioration」
答案：identity
原文定位：For example, Beverly Southgate claims that societies, like individuals, need to know who they are and where they belong;A shared knowledge of its history provides a nation with meaning, purpose and cohesion. Individuals who lack this sense of uniqueness are likely to feel that life has little meaning or purpose, and so too with societies
同义替换：「identity」↔「sense of uniqueness」
答案：tolerance
原文定位：By learning how our own country used to be, we may realise that our present-day customs are not the only ones which are acceptable. This clearly has implications for our attitude towards other present-day countries and cultures, too