托福阅读真题TOEFL

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托福阅读真题1

PASSAGE 19

The principal difference between urban growth in Europe and in the North American colonies was the slow evolution of cities in the former and their rapid growth in the latter. In Europe they grew over a period of centuries from town economies to their present urban structure. In North America, they started as wilderness communities and developed to mature urbanism in little more than a century.

In the early colonial days in North America, small cities sprang up along the Atlantic Coastline, mostly in what are now New England and Middle Atlantic states in the United States and in the lower Saint Lawrence valley in Canada. This was natural because these areas were nearest to England and France, particularly England, from which most capital goods (assets such as equipment) and many consumer goods were imported. Merchandising establishments were, accordingly, advantageously located in port cities from which goods could be readily distributed to interior settlements. Here, too, were the favored locations for processing raw materials prior to export. Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Montreal, and other cities flourished, and, as the colonies grew, these cities increased in importance.

This was less true in the colonial South, where life centered around large farms, known as plantations, rather than around towns, as was the case in the areas further north along the Atlantic coastline. The local isolation and the economic self-sufficiency of the plantations were antagonistic to the development of the towns. The plantations maintained their independence because they were located on navigable streams and each had a wharf accessible to the small shipping of that day. In fact, one of the strongest factors in the selection of plantation land was the desire to have its front on a water highway.

When the United States became an independent nation in 1776, it did not have a single city as large as 50,000 inhabitants, but by 1820 it had a city of more than 10,000 people, and by 1880 it had recorded a city of over one million. It was not until after 1823, after the mechanization of the spinning had weaving industries, that cities started drawing young people away from farms.

Such migration was particularly rapid following the Civil War (1861-1865).

1. What does the passage mainly discuss?

(A) Factors that slowed the growth of cities in Europe.

(B) The evolution of cities in North America

(C) Trade between North American and European cities

(D) The effects of the United Sates' independence on urban growth in New England.

2. The word they in line 4 refers to

(A) North American colonies

(B) cities

(C) centuries

(D) town economies

3. The passage compares early European and North American cities on the basis of which of the

following?

(A) Their economic success

(B) The type of merchandise they exported

(C) Their ability to distribute goods to interior settlements

(D) The pace of their development

4. The word accordingly in line 11 is closest in meaning to

(A) as usual

(B) in contrast

(C) to some degree

(D) for that reason

5. According to the passage , early colonial cities were established along the Atlantic coastline of

North America due to

(A) an abundance of natural resources

(B) financial support from colonial governments

(C) proximity to parts of Europe

(D) a favorable climate

6. The passage indicates that during colonial times, the Atlantic coastline cities prepared which of

the following for shipment to Europe?

(A) Manufacturing equipment

(B) Capital goods

(C) Consumer goods

(D) Raw materials

7. According to the passage , all of the following aspects of the plantation system influenced the

growth of southern cities EXCEPT the

(A) location of the plantations

(B) access of plantation owners to shipping

(C) relationships between plantation residents and city residents

(D) economic self-sufficiency of the plantations

8. It can be inferred from the passage that, in comparison with northern cities, most southern

cities were

(A) more prosperous

(B) smaller

(C) less economically self-sufficient

(D) tied less closely to England than to France

9. The word recorded in line 26 is closest in meaning to

(A) imagined

(B) discovered

(C) documented

(D) planned

10. The word drawing in line 28 is closest in meaning to

(A) attracting

(B) employing

(C) instructing

(D) representing

11. The passage mentions the period following the Civil War (line 29) because it was a time of

(A) significant obstacles to industrial growth

(B) decreased dependence on foreign trade

(C) increased numbers of people leaving employment on farms

(D) increased migration from northern states to southern states

答案:BBDDC DCBCA C

托福阅读真题2

PASSAGE 20

(25)

In seventeenth-century colonial North America, all day-to-day cooking was done in the fireplace. Generally large, fireplaces were planned for cooking as well as for warmth. Those in the Northeast were usually four or five feet high, and in the South, they were often high enough for a person to walk into. A heavy timber called the mantel tree was used as a lintel to support the stonework above the fireplace opening. This timber might be scorched occasionally, but it was far enough in front of the rising column of heat to be safe from catching fire.

Two ledges were built across from each other on the inside of the chimney. On these rested the ends of a lug pole from which pots were suspended when cooking. Wood from a freshly cut tree was used for the lug pole, so it would resist heat, but it had to be replaced frequently because it dried out and charred, and was thus weakened. Sometimes the pole broke and the dinner fell into the fire. When iron became easier to obtain, it was used instead of wood for lug poles, and later fireplaces had pivoting metal rods to hang pots from.

Beside the fireplace and built as part of it was the oven. It was made like a small, secondary fireplace with a flue leading into the main chimney to draw out smoke. Sometimes the door of the oven faced the room, but most ovens were built with the opening facing into the fireplace. On baking days (usually once or twice a week) a roaring fire of oven wood, consisting of brown maple sticks, was maintained in the oven until its walls were extremely hot. The embers were later removed, bread dough was put into the oven, and the oven was sealed shut until the bread was fully baked.

Not all baking was done in a big oven, however. Also used was an iron bake kettle, which looked like a stewpot on legs and which had an iron lid. This is said to have worked well when it was placed in the fireplace, surrounded by glowing wood embers, with more embers piled on its lid.

1. Which of the following aspects of domestic life in colonial North America does the passage

mainly discuss?

(A) methods of baking bread

(B) fireplace cooking

(C) the use of iron kettles in a typical kitchen

(D) the types of wood used in preparing meals

2. The author mentions the fireplaces built in the South to illustrate

(A) how the materials used were similar to the materials used in northeastern fireplaces

(B) that they served diverse functions

(C) that they were usually larger than northeastern fireplaces

(D) how they were safer than northeastern fireplaces

3. The word scorched in line 6 is closest in meaning to

(A) burned

(B) cut

(C) enlarged

(D) bent

4. The word it in line 6 refers to

(A) the stonework

(B) the fireplace opening

(C) the mantel tree

(D) the rising column of heat

5. According to the passage , how was food usually cooked in a pot in the seventeenth century?

(A) By placing the pot directly into the fire

(B) By putting the pot in the oven

(C) By filling the pot with hot water

(D) By hanging the pot on a pole over the fire

6. The word obtain in line 12 is closest in meaning to

(A) maintain

(B) reinforce

(C) manufacture

(D) acquire

7. Which of the following is mentioned in paragraph 2 as a disadvantage of using a wooden lug

pole?

(A) It was made of wood not readily available.

(B) It was difficult to move or rotate.

(C) It occasionally broke.

(D) It became too hot to touch.

8. It can be inferred from paragraph 3 that, compared to other firewood, oven wood produced

(A) less smoke

(B) more heat

(C) fewer embers

(D) lower flames

9. According to paragraph 3, all of the following were true of a colonial oven EXCEPT:

(A) It was used to heat the kitchen every day.

(B) It was built as part of the main fireplace.

(C) The smoke it generated went out through the main chimney.

(D) It was heated with maple sticks.

10. According to the passage , which of the following was an advantage of a bake kettle?

(A) It did not take up a lot of space in the fireplace.

(B) It did not need to be tightly closed.

(C) It could be used in addition to or instead of the oven.

(D) It could be used to cook several foods at one time.

答案:BCACD DCBAA

托福阅读真题3

PASSAGE 21

The sculptural legacy that the new United States inherited from its colonial predecessors was far from a rich one, and in fact, in 1776 sculpture as an art form was still in the hands of artisans and craftspeople. Stone carvers engraved their motifs of skulls and crossbones and other religious icons of death into the gray slabs that we still see standing today in old burial grounds. Some skilled craftspeople made intricately carved wooden ornamentations for furniture or architectural decorations, while others caved wooden shop signs and ships' figureheads. Although they often achieved expression and formal excellence in their generally primitive style, they remained artisans skilled in the craft of carving and constituted a group distinct from what we normally think of as sculptors in today's use of the word.

On the rare occasion when a fine piece of sculpture was desired, Americans turned to foreign sculptors, as in the 1770's when the cities of New York and Charleston, South Carolina, commissioned the Englishman Joseph Wilton to make marble statues of William Pitt. Wilton also made a lead equestrian image of King George III that was created in New York in 1770 and torn down by zealous patriots six years later. A few marble memorials with carved busts, urns, or other decorations were produced in England and brought to the colonies to be set in the walls of churches — as in King's Chapel in Boston. But sculpture as a high art, practiced by artists who knew both the artistic theory of their Renaissance-Baroque-Rococo predecessors and the various technical procedures of modeling, casting, and carving rich three-dimensional forms, was not known among Americans in 1776. Indeed, for many years thereafter, the United States had two groups from which to choose — either the local craftspeople or the imported talent of European sculptors.

The eighteenth century was not one in which powered sculptural conceptions were developed. Add to this the timidity with which unschooled artisans — originally trained as stonemasons, carpenters, or cabinetmakers — attacked the medium from which they sculpture made in the United States in the late eighteenth century.

1. What is the main idea of the passage ?

(A) There was great demand for the work of eighteenth-century artisans.

(B) Skilled sculptors did not exist in the United States in the 1770's.

(C) Many foreign sculptors worked in the United States after 1776.

(D) American sculptors were hampered by a lack of tools and materials.

2. The word motifs in line 3 is closest in meaning to

(A) tools

(B) prints

(C) signatures

(D) designs

3. The work of which of the following could be seen in burial grounds?

(A) European sculptors

(B) Carpenters

(C) Stone carves

(D) Cabinetmakers

4. The word others in line 6 refers to

(A) craftspeople

(B) decorations

(C) ornamentations

(D) shop signs

5. The word distinct in line 9 is closest in meaning to

(A) separate

(B) assembled

(C) notable

(D) inferior

6. The word rare in line 11 is closest in meaning to

(A) festive

(B) infrequent

(C) delightful

(D) unexpected

7. Why does the author mention Joseph Wilton in line 13?

(A) He was an English sculptor who did work in the United States.

(B) He was well known for his wood carvings

(C) He produced sculpture for churches.

(D) He settled in the United States in 1776.

8. What can be inferred about the importation of marble memorials from England?

(A) Such sculpture was less expensive to produce locally than to import

(B) Such sculpture was not available in the United States.

(C) Such sculpture was as prestigious as those made locally.

(D) The materials found abroad were superior.

9. How did the work of American carvers in 1776 differ from that of contemporary sculptors?

(A) It was less time-consuming

(B) It was more dangerous.

(C) It was more expensive.

(D) It was less refined.

答案:BDCAA BABD

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