2013年5月11日托福大陆机经

Reading

Passage 1

　　【主旨】狮子
　　【内容】部分说上古时代，除少数例外，狮子广泛分布在各个大陆。
　　第二部分讲了狮子不同于其他动植物的一些特点——处于食物链顶层，所以能量储存有限。
　　第三部分：随时间推移，狮子的数量减少，分布区域缩小，在欧洲完全消失——原因一是气候变化导致草原变为森林，二是人类的影响。
　　第四部分从环境变化角度讲解了亚洲，尤其是印度地区狮子减少的原因。仅有少量狮子在禁猎的私人林地中生存。

参考阅读：In Africa, lions can be found in savanna grasslands with scattered Acacia trees which serve as shade; their habitat in India is a mixture of dry savanna forest and very dry deciduous scrub forest. The habitat of lions originally spanned the southern parts of Eurasia, ranging from Greece to India, and most of Africa except the central rainforest-zone and the Sahara desert. Herodotus reported that lions had been common in Greece around 480 BC; they attacked the baggage camels of the Persian king Xerxes on his march through the country. Aristotle considered them rare by 300 BC. By 100 AD they were extirpated. A population of Asiatic lions survived until the tenth century in the Caucasus, their last European outpost.
　　The species was eradicated from Palestine by the Middle Ages and from most of the rest of Asia after the arrival of readily available firearms in the 18th century. Between the late 19th and early 20th century, they became extinct in North Africa and Southwest Asia. By the late 19th century, the lion had disappeared from Turkey and most of northern India, while the last sighting of a live Asiatic lion in Iran was in 1941 (between Shiraz and Jahrom, Fars Province), although the corpse of a lioness was found on the banks of the Karun river, Khūzestān Province in 1944. There are no subsequent reliable reports from Iran. The subspecies now survives only in and around the Gir Forest of northwestern India. About 400 lions live in the area of the 1,412 km2 (545 sq mi) sanctuary in the state of Gujarat, which covers most of the forest. Their numbers have increased from 180 in 1974 mainly because the natural prey species have recovered.

Passage 2

　　【主旨】Live performance
　　【内容】Part1: 很多艺人喜欢现场演出，因为与观众的互动让双方满足。
　　Part2: 现场演出中与观众互动的具体形式，及live和电影电视等录制节目的比较。
　　Part3：由于在现场，舞台和演员的状态有不可控因素，所以难免出错，这也正是现场演出有趣、exciting的地方。出错反过来使得艺人改善自己的艺术。
　　Part4：是live给普通人生活的若干启示

参考阅读：Live television refers to a television production broadcast in real-time, as events happen, in the present. From the early days of television until about 1958, live television was used heavily, except for filmed shows such as I Love Lucy and Gunsmoke. Videotape did not exist until 1957. Television networks provide most live television mostly for morning shows with television programs such as: Today, Good Morning America & CBS This Morning in the US (albeit...only airing live in the Eastern Time Zone), and Daybreak, BBC Breakfast, This Morning, etc. in the UK.
　　Most local television station newscasts are broadcast live in the U.S. as they are an essential medium for providing up-to-the-minute weather forecasts and breaking news stories.
　　In general, a live television program was more common for broadcasting content produced specifically for commercial television in the early years of the medium, before technologies such as video tape appeared. As video tape recorders (VTR) became more prevalent, many entertainment programs were recorded and edited before broadcasting rather than being shown live. Entertainment events such as sports television and The Academy Awards continue to be generally broadcast live

Passage 3

　　【主旨】Olmec civilization
　　【内容】 讲解了奥尔梅克文明的建筑与艺术。农商业的发展给艺术发展创造了合适的土壤。文章用大篇幅介绍了Olmec civilization艺术的细节与特点。最后，Olmec艺术的影响深远，包括Maya在内文明的拉美文化深受其影响。
　　
参考阅读：The Olmec were the first major civilization in Mexico. They lived in the tropical lowlands of south-central Mexico, in the modern-day states of Veracruz and Tabasco.
　　The Olmec flourished during Mesoamerica's Formative period, dating roughly from as early as 1500 BCE to about 400 BCE. Pre-Olmec cultures had flourished in the area since about 2500 BCE, but by 1600–1500 BCE Early Olmec culture had emerged centered around the San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán site near the coast in southeast Veracruz. They were the first Mesoamerican civilization and laid many of the foundations for the civilizations that followed. Among other "firsts", the Olmec appeared to practice ritual bloodletting and played the Mesoamerican ballgame, hallmarks of nearly all subsequent Mesoamerican societies.
　　The most familiar aspect of the Olmecs is their artwork, particularly the aptly named "colossal heads". The Olmec civilization was first defined through artifacts which collectors purchased on the pre-Columbian art market in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Olmec artworks are considered among ancient America's most striking.

词汇题：
暂无

 

 

Listening

Section 1

　　【主旨】教授让女学生做他助手
　　【内容】教授做调查采访录了很多tape，他自己分析不过来，找女的做他助手，女的说自己在图书馆兼职，又有很多课程，怕没空。教授一直说服她，说她会赚得比现在多，女的说library 那个工作稳定。教授又说不用马上全部分析，而且有同学帮助，女生说想兼职和教授的工作一起做，她最后说先试着分析一个样本试试。
　　
Section 2

　　【主旨】生物学
　　【内容】讲一种小鱼对于极端环境的适应。为什么小鱼在南极那么冷的情况下，血液已经不能完成供氧任务了，他却能生存，因为他基因里有两个特殊片段，能合成只含三个氨基酸的简单蛋白质(这里有考题)，这种蛋白质能通过皮肤吸收冷水中大量的溶解氧。鱼适应环境的方法，一个是没有red blood vessel，那怎么处理H物质。因为冷水里营养多，它的skin可以利用水中的营养，虽然很少，但是它的确有这种能力。还说看它的DNA，生产red blood的基因都没了（这里有考题：选了genes inactive）。

Section 3

　　【主旨】学生想开办文学俱乐部
　　【内容】学生想开办一个文学俱乐部，跟dean聊这个想法，dean说需要有15个学生的签名和教职工的推荐，学生说联系了一个教授，但那个教授不是很想做社团的指导老师，因为他之前做过某个社团的指导老师，而且为了社团活动推掉了自己重要的工作会议，可是那场活动就只有几个人在场，他觉得很扫兴，所以不想再做指导老师了。最后dean说学校不能赞助全部的资金。

Section 4

　　【主旨】地理学
　　【内容】讲地理分两种：一种是physical研究具体实物，了解地质演变过程；另一种是historical，根据对历史的记录来理解地质（这里有考题：问为什么先学historical后学physical的）。老师说古人不知道地球有四十六亿年历史，还以为是最近创造出来的，老师举了亚里士多德例子，说他认为地震还是火山就是地球被放在火山烤，海里的鱼这么激动就是这个原因。一个女生说这太荒诞了，老师说当时科技不发达所以这很正常，这理论一直延续到17世纪有一个科学家出现提出了uniform…，证实了地球有46亿年历史，而且说随着时间和地貌的变化最终会出现很大的作用，学生问为什么没听过这个人，老师说因为这人的字太难看了，写的书没人看。知道后来100多年出现另一科学家吸收并发展了这个科学家的理论，逐渐被大众所接受。

Section 5

　　【主旨】US government
　　【内容】讲的是solar energy policy的发展。美国政府关于能源的act.说某个时候，人们要排队买gas，大家担心没有能源怎么办（这里有考题：双选题）。然后一个政府agency做调查，研究p energy能不能解决这个问题。研究说p太贵了，但是参照以前的经验，价钱能降低，但是到现在也没有降低。中间还说政府花了500m在这个上面，其实不多solar e有这10倍。
　　
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Section 6

　　【主旨】陶瓷
　　【内容】北美的ceramic技术，文中介绍了好几种不同的陶瓷，并比较他们的特点，尤其在baking和cooking方面的用途。

加试题:

　　

 

 

Speaking

Task 1

　　Talk about an interesting school activity that you participated in recently. Give details and examples in your response.

参考答案：An interesting school activity I recently participated in was volunteer teaching. We went to a small, under-developed village that’s far from the city. Students from my school spilt into groups to teach the kids different classes. I was assigned to teach them English. I taught them some basic greeting skills which they thought was fun. During class breaks, all of us gathered outside to play sports of our choice. Some kicked around a soccer ball, some played the badminton and some played pingpong. Everyone had a blast. Before we left, we made some donations to the school. People donated money, books and school supplies. I would love to go back and visit the kids soon.
　　
Task 2

　　Some people prefer to buy innovative high-tech products like cellphones and computers when they first came out, others would buy them after the price has been decreased. Which do you prefer? Explain why.

参考答案：I prefer to buy my high-tech products long after they’re first introduced for the following reasons. First, products like cellphone and computers are usually very expensive when they are first introduced to the market. When iPhone first came out, the prices were really high. But it was only about three months later, Apple cut the price by around $200. Not buying these product too soon can save us lots of money. Second, the first batch of product can be flowed. It’s wise to wait for reviews to come out so we can find out if they work as advertised. If there are problem, company will iron out these glitches and make it better.

Task 3

　　【讲座主题】学校要给大四学生在图书馆开储物箱
　　【原   因】因为大四学生书多，而且储物箱放在书架边
　　【学生态度】女生反对
　　【反对原因】大家书都很多，而且放在书架边学生可以把书顺走。
　　
Task 4

　　【讲座主题】modelling
　　【内容讲解】在广告里教大家怎么使用一个东西。
　　【1个例子】教授说自己就有这样的经历，以前不买ice cream maker，因为觉得太难操作了。后来看了广告教怎么用的，觉得挺简单，就买了。

Task 5

　　【一个问题】女生拍的照片要参加教授办的展览,可是上周带给外婆看，忘了拿回来
　　【解决方案】（1）下午开车去拿 可是去了没时间准备物理考试；（2）明天妈妈开车送过来,教授说可以，但今晚来看展览的女生请的朋友就看不到照片。

Task 6

　　【讲座主题】鸟类保护自己的巢和孩子
　　【2种方式】(1) 把巢建在有自然庇护的地方，捕食者很难reach;(2)在树洞里在用沙土挡着，这样捕食者发现不了。
　　

 

Writing
Task 1

综合写作

【主题】Harappans civilization decline的原因

Reading：（1）受到游牧民族nomadic tribe入侵；（2）气候变化导致农业垮了，没有食物； （3）水源被污染造成一种通过水传播的流行病，所以就搬迁。 

Listening： （1）当时H文明的地盘很大large scale，游牧民族虽然打了他几个地区，但是还不至于导致他decline；（2）同时期的埃及文明和另一种文明同样遭受了气候变化，但是都调整了农业，有了surplus的food。所以H也不可能因为气候变化而decline；（3）H人都是出色的工程师，他们创造了先进的水系统可以防止疾病通过水传播。

 

Task 2

独立写作
   
　　People often buy products not because they really need them but because other people have them.

参考答案：We make regular purchases every day, and most of the time, I believe people buy products because they need them. On the other hand, it is also true that sometimes our purchases are of human desires or so-called "wants", but this does not necessarily mean that we want these goods only because other people have them. It’s very possible for humans to like something purely because it is good to have them. Therefore, in my opinion, whether people buy products because they really need them or other people have them should be discussed case-by-case.
　　For goods like groceries, we buy them because they are essential for our everyday living. Using my mother as an example, each Friday after work, she would go to the grocery store to do grocery shopping for the family. Although she gets very tired after a week of work, she still does the shopping. She knows the importance of food for a family. Whether for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, she always prepares us a healthy and delicious meal. Giving us food is a way for her to show her love and care. She is not the only mom who does this. Most moms would go to grocery store to pick up food for the family. It is not because other moms buy food for their family so they need to do it as well, but rather, as humans we depend on food for survival. For college students, same principle applies. It is easy for students to get overwhelmed by school work and social life, but when it comes to grocery shopping, students still make time to do their shopping list. Buying healthy and nutritious food is necessary for students’ life. In this case, we buy products because we need them not because others have it.
　　For some luxurious goods, however, such as an expensive bag or a pair of shoes, people might purchase them because others have them as well. This phenomenon is especially common among high school female students. As girls begin to care more and more about their looks, their perspective on beauty starts to change collectively. For example, a girl who wears a pair of UGG shoes may eventually starts a trend. If her classmates think having a pair of UGG is cool and pretty, then they will want a pair too. So it is common to see within a school that girls dress very similarly with one another. This is an example when purchases are not needs, but simply because others have it and so one wants to have it too. According to a survey conducted by Trend website, a significant percentage of luxurious goods buyers consider luxurious brand as a label for their social status or wealth and they tend to choose the brand that their colleagues or friends recognize or value.
　　In sum, I think most of the time people make purchases because we need them, but there are rare situations where making a purchase is because others have it