雅思阅读真题（Part 3）
伏尼契手稿：无人能解的神秘天书
本篇也叫：伏尼契手稿、伏尼契密码、伏尼契手稿之谜、天书手稿、MS408、伏尼契 manuscript
Part 3 · 考频：超高频 · 最近考试：2025.4.5/2022.8.11/2017.12.9/2012.5.19/2009.6.27
本篇为雅思阅读真题（Part 3）《The voynich manuscript》，共 14 题，2025.4.5/2022.8.11/2017.12.9/2012.5.19/2009.6.27雅思考试真题回忆，页面提供完整原文、题目、答案与解析，并支持在线机考模式免费练习。本页同时提供 Markdown 版本 供 AI 助手与搜索引擎直接读取。
伏尼契手稿是一本240多页的羊皮纸古书，现藏于耶鲁大学拜内克图书馆，书中满是怪异植物、星象符号和未知文字，被称为无法破解的密码。美国书商威尔弗里德·伏尼契1912年购得此稿，学者如基尔大学的戈登·拉格等纷纷研究，但至今无人能解读其内容与作者。
A
The starkly modern Beinecke Library at Yale University is home to some of the most valuable books in the world: first folios of Shakespeare, Gutenberg Bibles and manuscripts from the early Middle Ages. Yet the library’s most controversial possession is an unprepossessing vellum manuscript about the size of a hardback book, containing 240-odd pages of drawings and text of unknown age and authorship. Catalogued as MS408, the manuscript would attract little attention were it not for the fact that the drawings hint at esoteric knowledge, while the text seems to be some sort of code – one that no-one has been able to break. It’s known to scholars as the Voynich manuscript, after the American book dealer Wilfrid Voynich, who bought the manuscript from a Jesuit college in Italy in 1912.
B
Over the years, the manuscript has attracted the attention of everyone from amateur dabblers to top codebreakers, all determined to succeed where countless others have failed. Academic research papers, books and websites are devoted to making sense of the contents of the manuscript, which are freely available to all. ‘Most other mysteries involve secondhand reports,’ says Dr Gordon Rugg of Keele University, a leading Voynich expert. But this is one that you can see for yourself.
C
It is certainly strange: page after page of drawings of weird plants, astrological symbolism and human figures, accompanied by a script that looks like some form of shorthand. What does it say and what are the drawings about? Voynich himself believed that the manuscript was the work of the 13th century English monk Roger Bacon, famed for his knowledge of alchemy, philosophy and science. In 1921 Voynich’s view that Bacon was the writer appeared to win support from the work of William Newbold, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania, who claimed to have found the key to the cipher system used by Bacon. According to Newbold, the manuscript proved that Bacon had access to a microscope centuries before they were supposedly first invented. They claim that this mediaeval monk had observed living cells created a sensation. It soon became clear, however, that Newbold had fallen victim to wishful thinking. Other scholars showed that his ‘decoding’ methods produced a host of possible interpretations.
D
The Voynich manuscript has continued to defy the efforts of world-class experts. In 1944, a team was assembled to tackle the mystery, led by William Friedman, the renowned American codebreaker. They began with the most basic code breaking task: analysing the relative frequencies of the characters making up the text, looking for signs of an underlying structure. Yet Friedman’s team soon found themselves in deep water. The precise size of the ‘alphabet’ of the Voynich manuscript was unclear: it’s possible to make out more than 70 distinct symbols among the 170,000-character text. Furthermore, Friedman discovered that some words and phrases appeared more often than expected in a standard language, casting doubt on claims that the manuscript concealed a real language, as encryption typically reduces word frequencies.
E
Friedman concluded that the most plausible resolution of this paradox was that ‘Voynichese’ is some sort of specially created artificial language, whose words are devised from concepts, rather than linguistics. So, could the Voynich manuscript be the earliest known example of an artificial language? Friedman’s hypothesis commands respect because of the lifetime of crypt analytical expertise he brought to bear,’ says Rob Churchill, co-author of the Voynich Manuscript, that still leaves a host of questions unanswered, however, such as the identity of the author and the meaning of the bizarre drawings. ‘It does little to advance our understanding of the manuscript as a whole,’ says Churchill. Even though Friedman was working more than 60 years ago, he suspected that major insights would come reality that the device that had already transformed code breaking: the computer. In this he was right – it is now the key tool for uncovering clues about the pleasure from manuscript’s language.
F
The insights so far have been perplexing. For example, in 2001 another leading Voynich scholar, Dr Gabriel Landin of Birmingham University in the UK, published the results of his study of the manuscript using a pattern-detecting method called spectral analysis. This revealed evidence that the manuscript contains genuine words, rather than random nonsense, consistent with the existence of some underlying natural language. Yet the following year, Voynich expert Ren Zandbergen of the European Space Agency in Darmstadt, Germany showed that the entropy of the text (a measure of the rate of transfer of information) was consistent with Friedman’s suspicions that an artificial language had been used.
G
Many are convinced that the Voynich manuscript isn’t a hoax. For how could a medieval hoaxer create so many telltale signs of a message from random nonsense? Yet even this has been challenged in new research by Rugg. Using a system, first published by the Italian mathematician Girolamo Cardano in 1150 in which a specially constructed grille issued to pick out symbols from a table, Rugg found he could rapidly generate text with many of the basic traits of the Voynich manuscript. Publishing his results in 2004 Rugg stresses that he hadn’t set out to prove the manuscript a hoax. ‘I simply demonstrated that it’s feasible to hoax something this complex in a few months, he says. Inevitably, others beg to differ. Some scholars, such as Zandbergen, still suspect the text has genuine meaning, though believe it may never be decipherable. Others, such as Churchill, have suggested that the sheer weirdness of the illustrations and text hint at an author who had lost touch with reality.
H
What is clear is that the book-sized manuscript kept under lock and key at Yale University has lost none of its fascination. ‘Many derive great intellectual pleasure from solving puzzles,’ says Rugg. The Voynich manuscript is as challenging a puzzle as anyone could ask for.
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答案：TRUE
原文定位：Yet the library’s most controversial possession is an unprepossessing vellum manuscript about the size of a hardback book, containing 240-odd pages of drawings and text of unknown age and authorship
同义替换：「uncertain」↔「unknown」
答案：NOT GIVEN
原文定位：It’s known to scholars as the Voynich manuscript, after the American book dealer Wilfrid Voynich, who bought the manuscript from a Jesuit college in Italy in 1912
同义替换：「Wilfrid Voynich」↔「Wilfrid Voynich」
答案：TRUE
原文定位：Over the years, the manuscript has attracted the attention of everyone from amateur dabblers to top codebreakers, all determined to succeed where countless others have failed
同义替换：「Interest in」↔「has attracted the attention of」，「extends beyond that of academics and professional codebreakers」↔「from amateur dabblers to top codebreakers」
答案：FALSE
原文定位：The precise size of the ‘alphabet’ of the Voynich manuscript was unclear: it’s possible to make out more than 70 distinct symbols among the 170,000-character text
同义替换：「symbols」↔「distinct symbols」，「just under」↔「more than」
答案：D William Friedman
原文定位：Furthermore, Friedman discovered that some words and phrases appeared more often than expected in a standard language, casting doubt on claims that the manuscript concealed a real language, as encryption typically reduces word frequencies;They began with the most basic code breaking task: analysing the relative frequencies of the characters making up the text;Yet Friedman’s team soon found themselves in deep water
同义替换：「some words occur」↔「some words and phrases appeared」，「an authentic language」↔「a real language」，「William Friedman」↔「Friedman」
答案：A Gordon Rugg
原文定位：‘Most other mysteries involve secondhand reports,’ says Dr Gordon Rugg of Keele University, a leading Voynich expert. But this is one that you can see for yourself;Academic research papers, books and websites are devoted to making sense of the contents of the manuscript, which are freely available to all
同义替换：「other similar objects of fascination」↔「Most other mysteries」，「gain direct access to」↔「you can see for yourself」，「Gordon Rugg」↔「Gordon Rugg」
答案：E Rob Churchill
原文定位：Others, such as Churchill, have suggested that the sheer weirdness of the illustrations and text hint at an author who had lost touch with reality
同义替换：「the person who wrote the manuscript」↔「author」，「may not have been entirely sane」↔「had lost touch with reality」，「Rob Churchill」↔「Churchill」
答案：C William Newbold
原文定位：Voynich himself believed that the manuscript was the work of the 13th century English monk Roger Bacon;In 1921 Voynich’s view that Bacon was the writer appeared to win support from the work of William Newbold, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania, who claimed to have found the key to the cipher system used by Bacon
同义替换：「Wilfrid Voynich」↔「Voynich himself」，「It is likely that」↔「appeared to win support」，「William Newbold」↔「win support from the work of William Newbold」
答案：microscope
原文定位：According to Newbold, the manuscript proved that Bacon had access to a microscope centuries before they were supposedly first invented;They claim that this mediaeval monk had observed living cells created a sensation. It soon became clear, however, that Newbold had fallen victim to wishful thinking
同义替换：「William Newbold」↔「Newbold」，「through a」↔「access to a」
答案：concepts
原文定位：Friedman concluded that the most plausible resolution of this paradox was that ‘Voynichese’ is some sort of specially created artificial language, whose words are devised from concepts, rather than linguistics
同义替换：「William Friedman」↔「Friedman」，「artificial language」↔「artificial language」，「based on」↔「devised from」
答案：computer
原文定位：Even though Friedman was working more than 60 years ago, he suspected that major insights would come from the device that had already transformed code breaking: the computer
同义替换：「William Friedman」↔「Friedman」，「would continue to bring advances」↔「major insights would come from」
答案：spectral analysis
原文定位：For example, in 2001 another leading Voynich scholar, Dr Gabriel Landin of Birmingham University in the UK, published the results of his study of the manuscript using a pattern-detecting method called spectral analysis
同义替换：「Gabriel Landini」↔「Gabriel Landin」，「system known as」↔「method called」
答案：table
原文定位：Using a system, first published by the Italian mathematician Girolamo Cardano in 1150 in which a specially constructed grille issued to pick out symbols from a table, Rugg found he could rapidly generate text with many of the basic traits of the Voynich manuscript
同义替换：「Gordon Rugg」↔「Rugg」，「grille」↔「grille」，「quickly select symbols」↔「rapidly generate text」，「appeared in a」↔「from a table」
答案：C describe the numerous attempts to decode the manuscript.
原文定位：What is clear is that the book-sized manuscript kept under lock and key at Yale University has lost none of its fascination;The Voynich manuscript is as challenging a puzzle as anyone could ask for