老托福阅读理解原文、真题及答案

老托福精选95-05阅读理解原文、真题及答案

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1995.10 ...................................................................................................................................................................... 13 1995.12 ...................................................................................................................................................................... 23 1996.01 ...................................................................................................................................................................... 33 1996.05 ...................................................................................................................................................................... 45 1996.08 ...................................................................................................................................................................... 55 1996.10 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老托福精选95-05阅读理解原文、真题及答案

2004.08 .................................................................................................................................................................... 396 2004.10 .................................................................................................................................................................... 406 2005.01 .................................................................................................................................................................... 415 2005.05 .................................................................................................................................................................... 425 2005.08 .................................................................................................................................................................... 435

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老托福精选95-05阅读理解原文、真题及答案

1995.08

Question 1-9

Investigation of the Deep-Ocean

Keywords: ocean, researchers, techniques, samples, rocks

The ocean bottom – a region nearly 2.5 times greater than the total land area of the Earth – is a vast frontier that even today is largely unexplored and uncharted. Until about a century ago, the deep – ocean floor was completely inaccessible, hidden beneath waters averaging over 3,6000 meters deep. Totally without light and subjected to intense pressures hundreds of times greater than at the Earth's surface, the deep – ocean bottom is a hostile environment to humans, in some ways as forbidding and remote as the void of outer space. Although researchers have taken samples of deep – ocean rocks and sediments for over a century, the first detailed global investigation of the ocean bottom did not actually start until 1968, with the beginning of the National Science Foundation's Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP). Using techniques first developed for the offshore oil and gas industry, the DSDP's drill ship, the Glomar Challenger, was able to maintain a steady position on the ocean's surface and drill in very deep waters, extracting samples of sediments and rock from the ocean floor.

The Glomar Challenger completed 96 voyages in a 15 – year research program that ended in November 1983. During this time, the vessel logged 600,000 kilometers and took almost 20,000 core samples of seabed sediments and rocks at 624 drilling sites around the world. The Glomar Challenger's core samples have allowed geologists to reconstruct what the planet looked like hundreds of millions of years ago and to calculate what it will probably look like millions of years in the future. Today, largely on the strength of evidence gathered during the Glomar Challenger's voyages, nearly all earth scientists agree on the theories of plate tectonics and continental drift that explain many of the geological processes that shape the Earth.

The cores of sediment drilled by the Glomar Challenger have also yielded information critical to understanding the world's past climates. Deep – ocean sediments provide a climatic record stretching back hundreds of millions of years, because they are largely isolated from the mechanical erosion and the intense chemical and biological activity that rapidly destroy much land – based evidence of past climates. This record has already provided insights into the patterns and causes of past climatic change – information that may be used to predict future climates.

1. The author refers to the ocean bottom as a \ (A) is not a popular area for scientific research (B) contains a wide variety of life forms (C) attracts courageous explorers (D) is an unknown territory

2. The word \ (A) unrecognizable (B) unreachable (C) unusable (D) unsafe

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老托福精选95-05阅读理解原文、真题及答案

3. The author mentions ―outer space‖ in line 5 because

(A) the Earth's climate millions of years ago was similar to conditions in outer space (B) it is similar to the ocean floor in being alien to the human environment (C) rock formations in outer space are similar to those found on the ocean floor

(D) techniques used by scientists to explore outer space were similar to those used in ocean exploration 4. Which of the following is true of the Glomar Challenger? (A) It is a type of submarine. (B) It is an ongoing project. (C) It has gone on over 100 voyages. (D) It made its first DSDP voyage in 1968.

5. The word \ (A) breaking (B) locating (C) removing (D) analyzing

6. The Deep Sea Drilling Project was significant because it was (A) an attempt to find new sources of oil and gas (B) the first extensive exploration of the ocean bottom (C) composed of geologists from all over the world (D) funded entirely by the gas and oil industry

7. The word \ (A) basis (B) purpose (C) discovery (D) endurance

8. The word \ (A) years (B) climates (C) sediments (D) cores

9. Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage as being a result of the Deep Sea Drilling Project? (A) Geologists were able to determine the Earth's appearance hundreds of millions of years ago. (B) Two geological theories became more widely accepted by scientists. (C) Information was revealed about the Earth's past climatic changes. (D) Geologists observed forms of marine life never before seen.

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老托福精选95-05阅读理解原文、真题及答案

Questions 10-21

Basic to any understanding of Canada in 20 years after the Second World War is the country's impressive population growth. For every three Canadians in 1945, there were over five in 1996. In September 1966 Canada's population passed the 20 million mark. Most of this surging growth came from natural increase. The depression of the 1930's and the war had held back marriages and the catching – up process began after 1945. The baby boom continued through the decade of the 1950's, producing a population increase of nearly fifteen percent in the five years from 1951 to 1956. This rate of increase had been exceeded only once before in Canada's history, in the decade before 1911, when the prairies were being settled. Undoubtedly, the good economic conditions of the 1950's supported a growth in the population, but the expansion also derived from a trend toward earlier marriages and an increase in the average size of families. In 1957 the Canadian birth rate stood at 28 per thousand, one of the highest in the world.

After the peak year of 1957, the birth rate in Canada began to decline. It continued falling until in 1966 it stood at the lowest level in 25 years. Partly this decline reflected the low level of births during the depression and the war, but it was also caused by changes in Canadian society. Young people were staying at school longer, more women were working, young married couples were buying automobiles or houses before starting families, rising living standards were cutting down the size of families. It appeared that Canada was once more falling in step with the trend toward smaller families that had occurred all through the Western world since the time of the Industrial Revolution.

Although the growth in Canada's population has slowed down by 1966 (the increase in the first half of the 1960's was only nine percent). Another large population wave was coming over the horizon. It would be composed of the children who were born during the period of the high birth rate prior to 1957. 10. What does the passage mainly discuss? (A) Educational changes in Canadian society. (B) Canada during the Second World War (C) Population trends in postwar Canada (D) Standards of living in Canada

11. According to the passage, when did Canada's baby boom begin? (A) In the decade after 1911 (B) After 1945

(C) During the depression of the 1930's (D) In 1966

12. The word \ (A) Canadians (B) Years (C) Decades (D) Marriages

13. The word \ (A) new (B) extra (C) accelerating (D) surprising

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老托福精选95-05阅读理解原文、真题及答案

16. The word \ (A) large (B) basic (C) new (D) urban

17. The word \ (A) brought about (B) surrounded (C) sent out (D) followed

18. Why does the author mention both Boston and Chicago? (A) To demonstrate positive and negative effects of growth. (B) To show that mass transit changed many cities.

(C) To exemplify cities with and without mass transportation.

(D) To contrast their rates of growth

19. The word \ (A) certain (B) popular (C) improved (D) possible

20. The word \ (A) people (B) lots (C) years (D) developers

21. According to the passage, what was one disadvantage of residential expansion? (A) It was expensive. (B) It happened too slowly. (C) It was unplanned.

(D) It created a demand for public transportation.

22. The author mentions Chicago in the second paragraph as an example of a city (A) that is large

(B) that is used as a model for land development (C) where land development exceeded population growth (D) with an excellent mass transportation system. Question 23-33

The preservation of embryos and juveniles is rare occurrence in the fossil record. The tiny, delicate skeletons are usually scattered by scavengers or destroyed by weathering before they can be fossilized. Ichthyosaurs had a higher chance of being preserved than did terrestrial creatures because, as marine animals, they tended to live in environments less subject to erosion. Still, their fossilization required a suite of factors: a slow rate of decay of soft tissues, little scavenging by other animals, a lack if swift currents and waves to jumble and carry away small bones, and fairly rapid burial. Given these factors, some areas have become a treasury of

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老托福精选95-05阅读理解原文、真题及答案

well-preserved ichthyosaur fossils.

The deposits at Holzmaden, Germany, present an interesting case for analysis. The ichthyosaur remains are found in black, bituminous marine shales deposited about 190 million years ago. Over the years, thousands of specimens of marine reptiles, fish, and invertebrates have been recovered from these rocks. The quality of preservation is outstanding, but what is even more impressive is the number of ichthyosaur fossils containing preserved embryos. Ichthyosaurs with embryos have been reported from 6 different levels of the shale in a small area around Holzmaden, suggesting that a specific site was used by large numbers of ichthyosaurs repeatedly over time. The embryos are quite advanced in their physical development; their paddles, for example, are already well formed. One specimen is even preserved in the birth canal. In addition, the shale contains the remains of many newborns that are between 20 and 30 inches long.

Why are there so many pregnant females and young at Holzmaden when they are so rare elsewhere? The quality of preservation is almost unmatched, and quarry operations factors do not account for the interesting question of how there came to be such a concentration of pregnant ichthyosaurs in a particular place very close to their time of giving birth.

23. The passage supports which of the following conclusions?

(A) Some species of ichthyosaurs decayed more rapidly than other species. (B) Ichthyosaur newborns are smaller than other newborn marine reptiles. (C) Ichthyosaurs were more advanced than terrestrial creatures. (D) Ichthyosaurs may have gathered at Holzmaden to give birth. 24. The word \ (A) skeletons (B) scavengers (C) creatures (D) environments

25. All of the following are mentioned as factors that encourage fossilization EXCEPT the (A) speed of burial (B) conditions of the water (C) rate at which soft tissues decay (D) cause of death of the animal.

26. Which of the following is true of the fossil deposits discussed in the passage? (A) They include examples of newly discovered species. (B) They contain large numbers of well-preserved specimens (C) They are older than fossils found in other places

(D) They have been analyzed more carefully than other fossils. 27. The word \ (A) extensive (B) surprising (C) vertical (D) excellent

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老托福精选95-05阅读理解原文、真题及答案

28. The word \ (A) example (B) location (C) development (D) characteristic

29. Why does the author mention the specimen preserved in the birth canal (line 15)? (A) To illustrate that the embryo fossils are quite advanced in their development (B) To explain why the fossils are well preserved (C) To indicate how the ichthyosaurs died

(D) To prove that ichthyosaurs are marine animals. 30. The word \ (A) pregnant females and young (B) quarry operations (C) the value of the fossils (D) these factors

31. The phrase \ (A) record (B) describe (C) equal (D) explain

32. Which of the following best expresses the relationship between the first and second paragraphs? (A) The first paragraph describes a place while the second paragraph describes a field of study. (B) The first paragraph defines the terms that are used in the second paragraph.

(C) The second paragraph describes a specific instance of the general topic discussed in the first paragraph. (D) The second paragraph presents information that contrasts with the information given in the first

paragraph.

33. Where in the passage does the author mentions the variety of fossils found at Holzmaden? (A) Line 8 (B) Lines 9-10 (C) Lines 14-15 (D) Lines 17-19 Questions 34-41

The Lewis and Clark expedition, sponsored by President Jefferson, was the most important official examination of the high plains and the Northwest before the War of 1812. The President's secretary, Captain Meriwether Lewis, had been instructed to \its course and communication with the waters of the Pacific Ocean …may offer her most direct and practicable water communication across the continent, for the purposes of commerce.\Captain William Clark, the younger brother of famed George Rogers Clerk, was invited to share the command of the exploring party. Amid rumors that there were prehistoric mammoths wandering around the unknown region and that somewhere in its wilds was a mountain of rock salt 80 by 45 miles in extent, the two captains set out. The date was May 14, 1804. Their point of departure was the mouth of the Wood River, just across the Mississippi from

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老托福精选95-05阅读理解原文、真题及答案

the entrance of the Missouri River. After toiling up the Missouri all summer, the group wintered near the Mandan villages in the center of what is now North Dakota. Resuming their journey in the spring of 1805, the men worked their way along the Missouri to its source and then crossed the mountains of western Montana and Idaho. Picking up a tributary of the Columbia River, they continued westward until they reached the Pacific Ocean, where they stayed until the following spring.

Lewis and Clark brought back much new information, including the knowledge that the continent was wider than originally supposed. More specifically, they learned a good deal about river drainages and mountain barriers. They ended speculation that an easy coast-to-coast route existed via the Missouri-Columbia River systems, and their reports of the climate, the animals and birds, the trees and plants, and the Indians of the West – though not immediately published – were made available to scientists. 34. With what topic is the passage primarily concerned? (A) The river systems of portions of North America.

(B) Certain geological features to the North American continent. (C) An exploratory trip sponsored by the United States government. (D) The discovery of natural resources in the United States.

35. According to the passage, the primary purpose of finding a water route across the continent was to (A) gain easy access to the gold and other riches of the Northwest (B) become acquainted with the inhabitants of the West. (C) investigate the possibility of improved farmland in the West. (D) facilitate the movement of commerce across the continent 36. The river Meriwether Lewis was instructed to explore was the (A) Wood (B) Missouri (C) Columbia (D) Mississippi

37. According to the passage, the explorers spent their first winter in what would become (A) North Dakota (B) Missouri (C) Montana (D) Idaho

38. The author states that Lewis and Clark studied all of the following characteristics of the explored territories EXCEPT (A) mineral deposits (B) the weather (C) animal life (D) native vegetation

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老托福精选95-05阅读理解原文、真题及答案

39. The phrase \(A) Searching for (B) Following (C) Learning about (D) Lifting

40. It can be inferred from the passage that prior to the Lewis and Clark expedition the size of the continent

had been (A) of little interest (B) underestimated

(C) known to native inhabitants of the West (D) unpublished but known to most scientists

41. Where in the passage does the author refer to the explorers' failure to find an easy passageway to the western part of the continent? (A) Lines1-2 (B) Lines4-5 (C) Lines9-11 (D) Lines12-14 Questions 42-50

For a century and a half the piano has been one of the most popular solo instruments for Western music. Unlike string and wind instrument, the piano is completely self-sufficient, as it is able to play both the melody and its accompanying harmony at the same time. For this reason, it became the favorite household instrument of the nineteenth century.

The ancestry of the piano can be traced to the early keyboard instruments of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries – the spinet, the dulcimer, and the virginal. In the seventeenth century the organ, the clavichord, and the harpsichord became the chief instruments of the keyboard group, a supremacy they maintained until the piano supplanted them at the end of the eighteenth century. The clavichord's tone was metallic and never powerful; nevertheless, because of the variety of tone possible to it, many composers found the clavichord a sympathetic instrument for concert use, but the character of the tone could not be varied save by mechanical or structural devices.

The piano was perfected in the early eighteenth century by a harpsichord maker in Italy (though musicologists point out several previous instances of the instrument). This instrument was called a piano e forte(soft and loud), to indicate its dynamic versatility; its strings were struck by a recoiling hammer with a felt-padded head. The wires were much heavier in the earlier instruments. A series of mechanical improvements continuing well into the nineteenth century, including the introduction of pedals to sustain tone or to soften it, the perfection of a metal frame and steel wire of the finest quality, finally produced an instrument capable of myriad tonal effects from the most delicate harmonies to an almost orchestral fullness of sound, from a liquid, singing tone to a sharp, percussive brilliance. 42. What does the passage mainly discuss? (A) The historical development of the piano

(B) The quality of tone produced by various keyboard instruments (C) The uses of keyboard instruments in various types of compositions

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老托福精选95-05阅读理解原文、真题及答案

own.

But the Great Basin has not always been so arid. Many of its dry, closed depressions were once filled with water. Owens Valley, Panamint Valley, and Death Valley were once a string of interconnected lakes. The two largest of the ancient lakes of the Great Basin were Lake Lahontan and Lake Bonneville. The Great Salt Lake is all that remains of the latter, and Pyramid Lake is one of the last briny remnants of the former. There seem to have been several periods within the last tens of thousands of years when water accumulated in these basins. The rise and fall of the lakes were undoubtedly linked to the advances and retreats of the great ice sheets that covered much of the northern part of the North American continent during those times. Climatic changes during the Ice ages sometimes brought cooler, wetter weather to midlatitude deserts worldwide, including those of the Great Basin. The broken valleys of the Great Basin provided ready receptacles for this moisture.

41.What is the geographical relationship between the Basin and Range Province and the Great Basin? (A) The Great Basin is west of the Basin and Range Province. (B) The Great Basin is larger than the Basin and Range Province.

(C) The Great Basin is in the northern part of the Basin and Range Province. (D) The Great Basin is mountainous; the Basin and Range Province is flat desert. 42.According to the passage, what does the great Basin lack? (A) Snow (B) Dry air

(C) Winds from the west (D) Access to the ocean

43.The word \ (A) most frequent (B) occasional (C) gentle

(D) most dangerous

44.It can be inferred that the climate in the Great Basin is dry because (A) the weather patterns are so turbulent (B) the altitude prevents precipitation

(C) the winds are not strong enough to carry moisture (D) precipitation falls in the nearby mountains 45.The word \ (A) Pacific Ocean (B) air (C) west

(D) the Great Basin

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老托福精选95-05阅读理解原文、真题及答案

46.Why does the author mention cottonwoods and willows in line 8-9? (A) To demonstrate that certain trees require a lot of water

(B) To give examples of trees that are able to survive in a difficult environment (C) To show the beauty of the landscape of the Great Basin

(D) To assert that there are more living organisms in the Great Basin than there used to be

47.Why does the author mention Owens Valley, Panamint Valley, and Death Valley in the second paragraph? (A) To explain their geographical formation

(B) To give examples of depressions that once contained water

(C) To compare the characteristics of the valleys with the characteristics of the lakes (D) To explain what the Great Basin is like today 48.The words \ (A) Lake Bonneville (B) Lake Lahontan (C) The Great Salt Lake (D) Pyramid Lake

49. The word \ (A) dried (B) flooded (C) collected (D) evaporated

50. According to the passage, the Ice Ages often brought about (A) desert formation (B) warmer climates (C) broken valleys (D) wetter weather

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老托福精选95-05阅读理解原文、真题及答案

1996.01

Questions 1-9

In science, a theory is a reasonable explanation of observed events that are related. A theory often involves an imaginary model that helps scientists picture the way an observed event could be produced. A good example of this is found in the kinetic molecular theory, in which gases are pictured as being made up of many small particles that are in constant motion.

A useful theory, in addition to explaining past observations, helps to predict events that have not as yet been observed. After a theory has been publicized, scientists design experiments to test the theory. If observations confirm the scientists' predictions, the theory is supported. If observations do not confirm the predictions, the scientists must search further. There may be a fault in the experiment, or the theory may have to be revised or rejected.

Science involves imagination and creative thinking as well as collecting information and performing experiments facts by themselves are not science. As the mathematician Jules Henri Poincare said: \built with facts just as a house is built with bricks, but a collection of facts cannot be called science any more than a pile of bricks can be called a house.\

Most scientists start an investigation by finding out what other scientists have learned about a particular problem. After known facts have been gathered, the scientist comes to the part of the investigation that requires considerable imagination. Possible solutions to the problem are formulated. These possible solutions are called hypotheses.

In a way, any hypothesis is a leap into the unknown. It extends the scientist's thinking beyond the known facts. The scientist plans experiments, performs calculations, and makes observations to test hypotheses. For without hypotheses, further investigation lacks purpose and direction. When hypotheses are confirmed, they are incorporated into theories.

1. The word \ (A) connected (B) described (C) completed (D) identified

2. The word \ (A) a good example (B) an imaginary model (C) the kinetic molecular theory (D) an observed event

3. According to the second paragraph, a useful theory is one that helps scientists to (A) find errors in past experiments

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老托福精选95-05阅读理解原文、真题及答案

(B) make predictions (C) observe events (D) publicize new findings

4. The word \ (A) finished (B) adjusted (C) investigated (D) upheld

5. Bricks are mentioned in lines 11-13 to indicate how (A) mathematicians approach science

(B) building a house is like performing experiments (C) science is more than a collection of facts

(D) scientific experiments have led to improved technology

6. In the fourth paragraph, the author implies that imagination is most important to scientists when they (A) evaluate previous work on a problem (B) formulate possible solutions to a problem (C) gather known facts (D) close an investigation

7. In line 18, the author refers to a hypothesis as \ (A) are sometimes ill-conceived (B) can lead to dangerous results (C) go beyond available facts (D) require effort to formulate

8. In the last paragraph, what does the author imply is a major function of hypotheses? (A) Sifting through known facts

(B) Communicating a scientist's thoughts to others (C) Providing direction for scientific research (D) Linking together different theories

9. Which of the following statements is supported by the passage? (A) Theories are simply imaginary models of past events.

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老托福精选95-05阅读理解原文、真题及答案

(B) It is better to revise a hypothesis than to reject it. (C) A scientist's most difficult task is testing hypotheses. (D) A good scientist needs to be creative Questions 10-20

By the mid-nineteenth century, the term \beginning to affect the diet of ordinary citizens in the United States. The ice trade grew with the growth of cities. Ice was used in hotels, taverns, and hospitals, and by some forward-looking city dealers in fresh meat, fresh fish, and butter. After the Civil War (1861-1865), as ice was used to refrigerate freight cars, it also came into household use. Even before 1880, half the ice sold in New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, and one-third of that sold in Boston and Chicago, went to families for their own use. This had become possible because a new household convenience, the icebox, a precursor of the modern refrigerator, had been invented. Making an efficient icebox was not as easy as we might now suppose. In the early nineteenth century, the knowledge of the physics of heat, which was essential to a science of refrigeration, was rudimentary. The commonsense notion that the best icebox was one that prevented the ice from melting was of course mistaken, for it was the melting of the ice that performed the cooling. Nevertheless, early efforts to economize ice included wrapping the ice in blankets, which kept the ice from doing its job. Not until near the end of the nineteenth century did inventors achieve the delicate balance of insulation and circulation needed for an efficient icebox.

But as early as 1803, an ingenious Maryland farmer, Thomas Moore, had been on the right track. He owned a farm about twenty miles outside the city of Washington, for which the village of Georgetown was the market center. When he used an icebox of his own design to transport his butter to market, he found that customers would pass up the rapidly melting stuff in the rubs of his competitors to pay a premium price for his butter, still fresh and hard in neat, one-pound bricks. One advantage of his icebox, Moore explained, was that farmers would no longer have to travel to market at night in order to keep their produce cool. 10. What does the passage mainly discuss? (A) The influence of ice on the diet (B) The development of refrigeration (C) he transportation of goods to market (D) Sources of ice in the nineteenth century

11. According to the passage, when did the word \(A) In 1803

(B) Sometime before 1850 (C) During the Civil War

(D) Near the end of the nineteenth century

12. The phrase \

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