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老托福阅读真题 (16)

2003年10月TOEFL试题

Section Three: Reading Comprehension

Questions 1-9:

Europa is the smallest of planet Jupiter’s four largest moons and the second moon out from Jupiter. Until 1979, it was just another astronomy textbook statistic. Then came the close-up images obtained by the exploratory spacecraft Voyager 2, and within days, Europa was transformed-in our perception, at least-into one of the solar system’s most intriguing worlds. The biggest initial surprise was the almost total lack of detail, especially from far away. Even at close range, the only visible features are thin, kinked brown lines resembling cracks in an eggshell. And this analogy is not far off the mark.

The surface of Europa is almost pure water ice, but a nearly complete absence of craters indicates that Europa’s surface ice resembles Earth’s Antarctic ice cap. The eggshell analogy may be quite accurate since the ice could be as little as a few kilometers thick –a true shell around what is likely a subsurface liquid ocean that , in turn, encases a rocky core. The interior of Europa has been kept warm over the eons by tidal forces generated by the varying gravitational tugs of the other big moons as they wheel around Jupiter. The tides on Europa pull and relax in an endless cycle. The resulting internal heat keeps what would otherwise be ice melted almost to the surface. The cracklike marks on Europa’s icy face appear to be fractures where water or slush oozes from below.

Soon after Voyager 2’s encounter with Jupiter in 1979, whe n the best images of Europa were obtained, researchers advanced the startling idea that Europa’s subsurface ocean might harbor life. Life processes could have begun when Jupiter was releasing a vast store of internal heat. Jupiter’s early heat was produced by the compression of the material forming the giant planet. Just as the Sun is far less radiant today than the primal sun, so the internal heat generated by Jupiter is minor compared to its former intensity.

During this warm phase, s ome 4.6 billion years ago, Europa’s ocean may have been liquid right to the surface, making it a crucible for life.

1. What does the passage mainly discuss?

(A) The effect of the tides on Europa’s interior

(B) Temperature variations on Jupiter’s moons

(D) Techniques used by Voyager 2 to obtain close-up images.

2. The word “intriguing” in line 5 is closest in meaning to

(A) changing (B) perfect (C) visible (D) fascinating

3. In line 7, the another mentions “cracks in an eggshell” in order to help readers

(A) visualize Europa as scientists saw it in the Voyager 2 images

(B) appreciate the extensive and detailed information available by viewing Europa

from far away

(D) recognize the similarity of Europa to Jupiter’s other moons

4. It can be inferred from the passage that astronomy textbooks prior to 1979

(A) provided many contradictory statistics about Europa

(B) considered Europa the most important of Jupiter’s m oons

(D) did nor mention Europa because it had not yet been discovered

5. What does the author mean by stating in line 7 that “this analogy is not far off the mark”?

(A) The definition is not precise.

(B)The discussion lacks necessary information.

(C)The differences are probably significant.

(D) The comparison is quite appropriate.

6. It can be inferred from the passage that Europa and Antarctica have in common which of the following?

(A) Both appear to have a surface with many craters.

(B) Both may have water beneath a thin, hard surface.

(D) Both have areas encased by a rocky exterior.

7. The word “endless” in line 14 is closest in meaning to

(A) new (B) final (C) temporary (D) continuous

8. According to the passage, what is the effect of Jupiter’s other large moons on Europa?

(A) They prevent Europa’s subsurface waters from freezing.

(B) They prevent tides that could damage Europa’s surface.

(D) They assure that the gravitational pull on Europa is maintained at a steady level.

9. According to the passage, what is beli eved to cause the thin lines seen on Europa’s surface?

(A) A long period of extremely high tides

(B) Water breaking through from beneath the surface ice

(D) Heat generated by the hot rocky core

Question 10-19

Both in what is now the eastern and the southwestern United States, the peoples of the Archaic era (8,000-1,000 B.C) were, in a way, already adapted to beginnings of cultivation through their intensive gathering and processing of wild plant foods. In both areas, there was a well-established ground stone tool technology, a method of pounding and grinding nuts and other plant foods, that could be adapted to newly cultivated foods.

By the end of the Archaic era, people in eastern North America had domesticated certain native plants, including sunflowers; weeds called goosefoot, sumpweed, or marsh elder; and squash or gourds of some kind. These provided seeds that were important sources of carbohydrates and fat in the diet.

The earliest cultivation seems to have taken place along the river valleys of the Midwest and the Southeast, with experimentation beginning as early as 7,000 years ago and domestication beginning 4,000 to 2,000 years ago. Although the term “Neolithic” is not used in North American prehistory, these were the first steps toward the same major subsistence changes that took place during the Neolithic (8,000-2,000 B.C.) period elsewhere in the world.

Archaeologists debate the reasons for beginning cultivation in the eastern part of the

continent. Although population and sedentary living were increasing at the time, there is little evidence that people lacked adequate wild food resources; the newly domesticated foods supplemented a continuing mixed subsistence of hunting, fishing, and gathering wild plants, increasing predictability of food supplies may have been a motive. It has been suggested that some early cultivation was for medicinal and ceremonial plants rather than for food. One archaeologist has pointed out that the early domesticated plants were all weedy species that do well in open, disturbed habitats, the kind that would form around human settlements where people cut down trees, trample the ground, deposit trash, and dig holes. It has been suggested that sunflower, sumpweed, and other plants almost domesticated themselves, that is, they thrived in human –disturbed habitats, so humans intensively collected them and began to control their distribution. Women in the Archaic communities were probably the main experimenters with cultivation, because ethnoarchaeological evidence tells us that women were the main collectors of plant food and had detailed knowledge of plants.

10. The passage mainly discusses which of the following aspects of the life of Archaic peoples?

(A) The principal sources of food that made up their diet

(B) Their development of ground stone tool technology

(D) Their distribution of work between men and women

11. The word “these” in line 13 refers to

(A) seeds (B) river valleys

12 According to the passage, when did the domestication of plants begin in North America?

(A) 7,000 years ago (B) 4,000 to 2,000 years ago

13. The word “adequate” in line 18 is closest in meaning to

(A) sufficient (B) healthful (C) varied (D) dependable

14. According to the passage, which of the following was a possible motive for the

cultivation of plants in eastern North America?

(A) Lack of enough wild food sources

(B) The need to keep trees from growing close to settlements

(D) Desire for the consistent availability of food

15. The phrase “rather than” in line 21 is closest in meaning to

(A) in addition to (B) instead of (C) as a replacement (D) such as

16. The plant “sumpweed” is mentioned in lin e 25 in order to

(A) contrast a plant with high nutritional value with one with little nutritional value

(B) explain the medicinal use of a plant

(D) provide an example of a plant that was easy to domesticate

17. The word “thrived” in line 26 is closest in meaning to

(A) stayed (B) originated (C) grew well (D) died out

18. According to the passage, which of the following is true about all early domesticated

plants?

(A) They were varieties of weeds.

(B) They were moved from disturbed areas.

(D) They failed to grow in trampled or damaged areas.

19. According to the passage, it is thought that most of the people who began cultivating

plants were

(A) medical workers (B) leaders of ceremonies (C) women (D) hunters Questions 20-29

Many ants forage across the countryside in large numbers and undertake mass migrations; these activities proceed because one ant lays a trail on the ground for the others to follow. As a worker ant returns home after finding a source of food, it marks the route by intermittently touching its stinger to the ground and depositing a tiny amount of trail pheromone—a mixture of chemicals that delivers diverse messages as the context changes. These trails incorporate no directional information and may be followed by other ants in either direction.

Unlike some other messages, such as the one arising from a dead ant, a food trail has to be kept secret from members of other species. It is not surprising then that ant species use a wide variety of compounds as trail pheromones. Ants can be extremely sensitive to these signals. Investigators working with the trail pheromone of the leafcutter ant Atta texana calculated that one milligram of this substance would suffice to lead a column of ants three times around Earth.

The vapor of the evaporating pheromone over the trail guides an ant along the way, and the ant detects this signal with receptors in its antennae. A trail pheromone will evaporate to furnish the highest concentration of vapor right over the trail, in what is called a vapor space. In following the trail, the ant moves to the right and left, oscillating from side to side across the line of the trail itself, bringing first one and then the other antenna into the vapor space. As the ant moves to the right, its left antenna arrives in the vapor space.

The signal it receives causes it to swing to the left, and the ant then pursues this new course until its right antenna reaches the vapor space. It then swings back to the right, and so weaves back and forth down the trail.

20. What does the passage mainly discuss?

(A) The mass migration of ants

(B) How ants mark and follow a chemical trail

(D) The information contained in pheromones

21. The word “forage” in line 1 is closest in meaning to

(A) look up (B) walk toward (C) revolve around (D) search for food

22. The word “intermittently” in live 4 is closest in meaning to

(A) periodically (B) incorrectly (C) rapidly (D) roughly

23. The phrase “the one” in line 8 refers to a single

(A) message (B) dead ant (C) food trail (D) species

24. According to the passage, why do ants use different compounds as trail pheromones?

(A) To reduce their sensitivity to some chemicals

(B) To attract different types of ants

(D) To indicate how far away the food is

25. The author mentions the trail pheromone of the leafcutter ant in line 11 to point out

(A) how little pheromone is needed to mark a trail

(B) the different types of pheromones ants can produce

(D) that certain ants can produce up to one milligram of pheromone

26. According to the passage, how are ants guided by trail pheromones?

(A) They concentrate on the smell of food.

(B) They follow an ant who is familiar with the trail

(D) They sense the vapor through their antennae.

27. The word “furnish” in line 16 is closest in meaning to

(A) include (B) provide (C) cover (D) select

28. The word “oscillating“in line 17 is closest in meaning to

(A) falling (B) depositing (C) swinging (D) starting

29. According to the passage, the highest amount of pheromone vapor is found

(A) in the receptors of the ants (B) just above the trail

Questions 30-39

Native Americans probably arrived from Asia in successive waves over several millennia, crossing a plain hundreds of miles wide that now lies inundated by 160 feet of water released by melting glaciers. For several periods of time, the first beginning around 60,000 B.C. and the last ending around 7,000 B.C., this land bridge was open. The first people traveled in the dusty trails of the animals they hunted. They brought with them not only their families, weapons, and tools but also a broad metaphysical understanding, sprung from dreams and visions and articulated in myth and song, which complemented their scientific and historical knowledge of the lives of animals and of people. All this they shaped in a variety of languages, bringing into being oral literatures of power and beauty.

Contemporary readers, forgetting the origins of western epic, lyric, and dramatic forms, are easily disposed to think of “literature” only as something written. But on reflection it becomes clear that the more critically useful as well as the more frequently employed sense of the term concerns the artfulness of the verbal creation, not its mode of presentation. Ultimately, literature is aesthetically valued, regardless of language, culture, or mode of presentation, because some significant verbal achievement results from the struggle in words between tradition and talent. Verbal art has the ability to shape out a compelling inner vision in some skillfully crafted public verbal form.

Of course, the differences between the written and oral modes of expression are not without consequences for an understanding of Native American literature. The essential difference is that a speech event is an evolving communication, an “emergent form,” the shape, functions, and aesthetic values of which become more clearly realized over the course of the performance. In performing verbal art, the performer assumes responsibility for the manner as well as the content of the performance, while the audience assumes the responsibility for evaluating the performer’s competence in both areas. It is this intense mutual engagement that elicits the display of skill and shapes the emerging performance. Where written literature provides us with a tradition of texts, oral literature offers a tradition of performances.

30. According to the passage, why did the first people who came to North America leave

their homeland?

(A) They were hoping to find a better climate.

(B) They were seeking freedom.

(D) They were looking for food.

31. The phrase “are easily disposed” in line 11 is clo set in meaning to

(A) demonstrate reluctance (B) readily encourage others

32. The word “Ultimately” in line 14 is closest in meaning to

(A) frequently (B) normally (C) whenever possible (D) in the end

33. The word “compelling” in line 17 is closest in meaning to

(A) joyous (B) intricate (C) competing (D) forceful

34. What is the main point of the second paragraph?

(A) Public performance is essential to verbal art.

(B) Oral narratives are a valid form of literature.

(D) The production of literature provides employment for many artists.

35. What can be inferred about the nature of the Native American literature discussed in

the passage?

(A) It reflects historical and contemporary life in Asia.

(B) Its main focus is on daily activities.

(D) It is reshaped each time it is experienced.

36. According to the passage, what responsibility does the audience of a verbal art

performance have?

(A) They provide financial support for performances.

(B) They judge the quality of the content and presentation.

(D) They determine the length of the performance by requesting a continuation.

37. Which of the following is NOT true of the Native American literature discussed in the

passage?

(A) It involves acting. (B) It has ancient origins.

38. What can be inferred from the passage about the difference between written and oral

literature?

(A) Written literature reflects social values better than oral literature does.

(B) Written literature involves less interaction between audience and creator during the

creative progress than oral literature does.

(D) Written literature is not as highly respected as oral literature is.

39. What is the author’s attitude toward Native American literature?

(A) Admiring of its form (B) Critical of the cost of its production

Questions 40-50

The cities in the United States have been the most visible sponsors and beneficiaries of projects that place art in public places. They have shown exceptional imagination in applying the diverse forms of contemporary art to a wide variety of purposes. The activities observed in a number of “pioneer” cities sponsoring art in public places—a broadening exploration of public sites, an increasing awareness among both sponsors and the public of the varieties of contemporary artistic practice, and a growing public enthusiasm—are increasingly characteristic of cities across the country. With many cities now undergoing renewed development, opportunities are continuously emerging for the inclusion or art in new or renewed public environments, including buildings, plazas, parks, and transportation facilities. The result of these activities is a group of artworks that reflect the diversity of contemporary art and the varying character and goals of the sponsoring communities.

In sculpture, the projects range from a cartoonlike Mermaid in Miami Beach by Roy Lichtenstein to a small forest planted in New York City by Alan Sonfist. The use of murals followed quickly upon the use of sculpture and has brought to public sites the work of artists as different as the realist Thomas Hart Benton and the Pop artist Robert Rauschenberg. The specialized requirements of particular urban situations have further expanded the use of art in public places: in Memphis, sculptor Richard Hunt has created a monument to Martin Luther King, Jr., who was slain there; in New York, Dan Flavin and Bill Brand have contributed neon and animation works to the enhancement of mass transit facilities. And in numerous cities, art is being raised as a symbol of the commitment to revitalize urban areas.

By continuing to sponsor projects involving a growing body of art in public places, cities will certainly enlarge the situations in which the public encounters and grows familiar with the various forms of contemporary art. Indeed, cities are providing artists with an opportunity to communicate with a new and broader audience. Artists are recognizing the distinction between public and private spaces, and taking that into account when executing their public commissions. They are working in new, often more durable media, and on an unaccustomed scale.

40. What is the passage mainly about?

(A) The influence of art on urban architecture in United States cities

(B) The growth of public art in United States cities.

(D) The differences between public art in Europe and the United States.

41. The word “exceptional” in line 2 is closest in meaning to

(A) remarkable (B) fearless (C) expert (D) visible

42. All of the following are mentioned in paragraph 1 as results of the trend toward

installing contemporary art in public places in the United States EXCEPT

(A) the transfer of artwork from private to public sites

(B) art works that represent a city’s special character

(D) a broader understanding of the varieties of contemporary art

43. According to the passage, new settings for public art are appearing as a result of

(A) communities that are building more art museums

(B) artists who are moving to urban areas

(D) an increase in the number of artists in the United States.

44. The author mentions Roy Lichtenstein and Alan Sonfist in line 14 in order to

(A) show that certain artist are famous mostly for their public art

(B) introduce the subject of unusual works of art

(D) contrast the cities of Miami Beach and New York

45. It can be inferred from the passage that the city of Memphis sponsored a work by

Richard Hunt because the city authorities believed that

(A) the sculpture would symbolize the urban renewal of Memphis

(B) Memphis was an appropriate place for a memorial to Martin Luther Ling, Jr.

(D) the sculpture would provide a positive example to other artists.

46. The word “enhancement” in line 20 is close st in meaning to

(A) replacement (B) design (C) improvement (D) decoration

47. The word “revitalize” in line 22 is closest in meaning to

(A) show the importance of (B) promise to enlarge

48. The word “that” in line 27 refers to

(A) contemporary art (B) opportunity (C) audience (D) distinction

49. The word “executing” in line 28 is closest in meaning to

(A) judging (B) selling (C) explaining (D) producing

50. According to paragraph 3, artists who work on public art projects are doing all of the

following EXCEPT

(A) creating artworks that are unusual in size

(B) raising funds to sponsor various public projects

(D) using new materials that are long—lasting.

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