托福阅读真题整合1
PASSAGE 8
The canopy, the upper level of the trees in the rain forest, holds a plethora of climbing mammals of moderately large size, which may include monkeys, cats, civets, and porcupines.
Smaller species, including such rodents as mice and small squirrels, are not as prevalent overall in high tropical canopies as they are in most habitats globally.
Small mammals, being warm blooded, suffer hardship in the exposed and turbulent environment of the uppermost trees. Because a small body has more surface area per unit of weight than a large one of similar shape, it gains or loses heat more swiftly. Thus, in the trees,where shelter from heat and cold may be scarce and conditions may fluctuate, a small mammal may have trouble maintaining its body temperature.
Small size makes it easy to scramble among twigs and branches in the canopy for insects,flowers, or fruit, but small mammals are surpassed, in the competition for food, by large ones that have their own tactics for browsing among food-rich twigs. The weight of a gibbon (a small ape) hanging below a branch arches the terminal leaves down so that fruit-bearing foliage drops toward the gibbon"s face. Walking or leaping species of a similar or even larger size access the outer twigs either by snapping off and retrieving the whole branch or by clutching stiff branches with the feet or tail and plucking food with their hands.
Small climbing animals may reach twigs readily, but it is harder for them than for large climbing animals to cross the wide gaps from on tree crown to the next that typify the high canopy. A macaque or gibbon can hurl itself farther than a mouse can: it can achieve a running start, and it can more effectively use a branch as a springboard, even bouncing on a climb several times before jumping. The forward movement of a small animal is seriously reduced by the air friction against the relatively large surface area of its body. Finally, for the many small mammals that supplement their insect diet with fruits or seeds, an inability to span open gaps between tree crowns may be problematic, since trees that yield these foods can be sparse.
1. The passage answers which of the following questions?
(A) How is the rain forest different from other habitats?
(B) How does an animal"s body size influence an animal"s need for food?
(C) Why does the rain forest provide an unusual variety of food for animals?
(D) Why do large animals tend to dominate the upper canopy of the rain forest?
2. Which of the following animals is less common in the upper canopy than in other environments?
(A) Monkeys
(B) Cats
(C) Porcupines
(D) Mice
3. The word they in line 4 refers to
(A) trees
(B) climbing mammals of moderately large size
(C) smaller species
(D) high tropical canopies
4. According to paragraph 2, which of the following is true about the small mammals in the rain
forest?
(A) They have body shapes that are adapted to live in the canopy.
(B) They prefer the temperature and climate of the canopy to that of other environments.
(C) They have difficulty with the changing conditions in the canopy.
(D) They use the trees of the canopy for shelter from heat and cold.
5. In discussing animal size in paragraph 3, the author indicates that
(A) small animals require proportionately more food than larger animals do
(B) a large animal"s size is an advantage in obtaining food in the canopy
(C) small animals are often attacked by large animals in the rain forest
(D) small animals and large animals are equally adept at obtaining food in the canopy
6. The word typify in line 19 is closest in meaning to
(A) resemble
(B) protect
(C) characterize
(D) divide
7. According to paragraph 4, what makes jumping from one tree crown to another difficult for
small mammals?
(A) Air friction against the body surface
(B) The thickness of the branches
(C) The dense leaves of the tree crown
(D) The inability to use the front feet as hands
8. The word supplement in line 24 is closest in meaning to
(A) control
(B) replace
(C) look for
(D) add to
9. Which of the following terms is defined in the passage ?
(A) canopy (line 1)
(B) warm blooded (line 5)
(C) terminal leaves (line 13)
(D) springboard (line 21)
托福阅读真题整合2
PASSAGE 31
Rent control is the system whereby the local government tells building owners how much they can charge their tenants in rent. In the United States, rent controls date back to at least World War II.
In 1943 the federal government imposed rent controls to help solve the problem of housing shortages during wartime. The federal program ended after the war, but in some locations, including New York City, controls continued. Under New York"s controls, a landlord generally cannot raise rents on apartments as long as the tenants continue to renew their leases. In places such as Santa Monica, California, rent controls are more recent. They were spurred by the inflation of the 1970"s, which, combined with California"s rapid population growth, pushed housing prices, as well as rents, to record levels. In 1979 Santa Monica"s municipal government ordered landlords to roll back their rents to the levels charged in 1978. Future rents could only go up by two-thirds as much as any increase in the overall price level.
In any housing market, rental prices perform three functions: (1) promoting the efficient maintenance of existing housing and stimulating the construction of new housing, (2) allocating existing scarce housing among competing claimants, and (3) rationing use of existing housing by potential renters.
One result of rent control is a decrease in the construction of new rental units. Rent controls have artificially depressed the most important long-term determinant of profitability — rents. Consider some examples. In a recent year in Dallas, Texas, with a 16 percent rental vacancy rate but no rent control laws, 11,000 new housing units were built. In the same year, in San Francisco, California, only 2,000 units were built. The major difference? San Francisco has only a 1.6 percent vacancy rate but stringent rent control laws. In New York City, except for government-subsidized construction, the only rental units being built are luxury units, which are exempt from controls. In Santa Monica, California, new apartments are not being constructed. New office rental space and commercial developments are, however. They are exempt from rent controls.
1. What does the passage mainly discuss?
(A) The construction of apartments in the United States.
(B) Causes and effects of rent control
(C) The fluctuations of rental prices
(D) The shortage of affordable housing in the United States.
2. The word They in line 9 refers to
(A) the tenants
(B) their leases
(C) places
(D) rent controls.
3. Which of the following was NOT a reason for the introduction of rent controls in Santa Monica,California?
(A) rapid population growth
(B) inflation
(C) economic conditions during wartime
(D) record-high housing prices
4. The phrase roll back in line 11 is closest in meaning to
(A) credit
(B) measure
(C) vary
(D) reduce
5. The word stimulating in line 15 is closest in meaning to
(A) experimenting with
(B) identifying
(C) estimating
(D) encouraging
6. It can be inferred that the purpose of rent control is to
(A) protect tenants
(B) promote construction
(C) increase vacancy rates
(D) decrease sales of rental units
7. The word depressed in line 19 is closest in meaning to
(A) saddened
(B) created
(C) lowered
(D) defeated
8. The information in the last paragraph supports which of the following statements?
(A) San Francisco has eliminated its rent control laws.
(B) Rent control leads to a reduction in the construction of housing units
(C) Luxury apartments are rarely built when there is rent control
(D) There is a growing need for government-subsidized housing.
9. According to the passage , which of the following cities does NOT currently have rent controls?
(A) Santa Monica
(B) Dallas
(C) San Francisco
(D) New York City
10. The word stringent in line 23 is closest in meaning to
(A) straightforward
(B) strict
(C) expanded
(D) efficient
11. According to the passage , which of the following is NOT exempt from rent control?
(A) Luxury apartments
(B) Commercial development
(C) Moderately priced apartments
(D) Office space.
PASSAGE 31 BDCDD ACBBB C
托福阅读真题整合3
PASSAGE 9
Prehistoric mammoths have been preserved in the famous tar pits of Rancho La Brea (Brea is the Spanish word for tar) in what is now the heart of Los Angeles, California. These tar pits have been known for centuries and were formerly mined for their natural asphalt, a black or brown petroleum-like substance. Thousands of tons were extracted before 1875, when it was first noticed that the tar contained fossil remains. Major excavations were undertaken that established the significance of this remarkable site. The tar pits were found to contain the remains of scores of species of animals from the last 30,000 years of the Ice Age.
Since then, over 100 tons of fossils, 1.5 million from vertebrates, 2.5 million from invertebrates, have been recovered, often in densely concentrated and tangled masses. The creatures found range from insects and birds to giant ground sloth"s, but a total of 17 proboscides (animals with a proboscis or long nose) — including mastodons and Columbian mammoths — have been recovered, most of them from Pit 9, the deepest bone-bearing deposit, which was excavated in 1914. Most of the fossils date to between 40,000 and 10,000 years ago.
The asphalt at La Brea seeps to the surface, especially in the summer, and forms shallow puddles that would often have been concealed by leaves and dust. Unwary animals would become trapped on these thin sheets of liquid asphalt, which are extremely sticky in warm weather. Stuck, the unfortunate beasts would die of exhaustion and hunger or fall prey to predators that often also became stuck.
As the animals decayed, more scavengers would be attracted and caught in their turn. Carnivores greatly outnumber herbivores in the collection: for every large herbivore, there is one saber-tooth cat, a coyote, and four wolves. The fact that some bones are heavily weathered shows that some bodies remained above the surface for weeks or months. Bacteria in the asphalt would have consumed some of the tissues other than bones, and the asphalt itself would dissolve what was left, at the same time impregnating and beautifully preserving the saturated bones, rendering them dark brown and shiny.
1. What aspect of the La Brea tar pits does the passage mainly discuss?
(A) The amount of asphalt that was mined there
(B) The chemical and biological interactions between asphalt and animals
(C) The fossil remains that have been found there
(D) Scientific methods of determining the age of tar pits
2. In using the phrase the heart of Los Angeles in line 2, the author is talking about the city"s
(A) beautiful design
(B) central area
(C) basic needs
(D) supplies of natural asphalt
3. The word noticed in line 5 closest in meaning to
(A) predicted
(B) announced
(C) corrected
(D) observed
4. The word tangled in line 10 is closest in meaning to
(A) buried beneath
(B) twisted together
(C) quickly formed
(D) easily dated
5. The word them in line 13 refers to
(A) insects
(B) birds
(C) cloths
(D) proboscideans
6. How many proboscideans have been found at the La Brea tar pits?
(A) 9
(B) 17
(C) 1.5 million
(D) 2.5 million
7. The word concealed in line 17 is closest in meaning to
(A) highlighted
(B) covered
(C) transformed
(D) contaminated
8. Why does the author mention animals such as coyotes and wolves in paragraph 4?
(A) To give examples of animals that are classified as carnivores
(B) To specify the animals found least commonly at La Brea
(C) To argue that these animals were especially likely to avoid extinction.
(D) To define the term scavengers
托福阅读真题整合4
Newspaper publishers in the United States have long been enthusiastic users and distributors of weather maps. Although some newspapers that had carried the United States Weather Bureau"s national weather map in 1912 dropped it once the novelty had passed, many continued to print the daily weather chart provided by their local forecasting office. In the 1930"s, when interest in aviation and progress in air-mass analysis made weather patterns more newsworthy, additional newspapers started or resumed the daily weather map. In 1935, The Associated Press (AP) news service inaugurated its WirePhoto network and offered subscribing newspapers morning and afternoon weather maps redrafted by the AP"s Washington, B.C., office from charts provided by the government agency. Another news service, United Press International (UPI), developed a competing Photowire network and also provided timely weather maps for both morning and afternoon newspapers. After the United States government launched a series of weather satellites in 1966, both the AP and UPI offered cloud-cover photos obtained from the Weather Bureau.
In the late 1970"s and early 1980"s, the weather map became an essential ingredient in the redesign of the American newspaper. News publishers, threatened by increased competition from television for readers" attention, sought to package the news more conveniently and attractively. In 1982, many publishers felt threatened by the new USA Today, a national daily newspaper that used a page-wide, full-color weather map as its key design element. That the weather map in USA Today did not include information about weather fronts and pressures attests to the largely symbolic role it played. Nonetheless, competing local and metropolitan newspapers responded in a variety of ways. Most substituted full-color temperature maps for the standard weather maps, while others dropped the comparatively drab satellite photos or added regional forecast maps with pictorial symbols to indicate rainy, snowy, cloudy, or clear conditions. A few newspapers, notably The New York Times, adopted a highly informative yet less visually prominent weather map that was specially designed to explain an important recent or imminent weather event. Ironically, a newspaper"s richest, most instructive weather maps often are comparatively small and inconspicuous.
1. What does the passage mainly discuss?
(A) The differences between government and newspaper weather forecasting in the United
States.
(B) The history of publishing weather maps in United States newspapers
(C) A comparison of regional and national weather reporting in the United States.
(D) Information that forms the basis for weather forecasting in the United States
2. The word resumed in line 7 is closest in meaning to
(A) began again
(B) held back
(C) thought over
(D) referred to
3. According to the passage , one important reason why newspapers printed daily weather maps
during the first half of the twentieth century was
(A) the progress in printing technology
(B) a growing interest in air transportation
(C) a change in atmospheric conditions
(D) the improvement of weather forecasting techniques
4. What regular service did The Associated Press and United Press International begin to offer
subscribing newspapers in the 1930"s?
(A) A new system of weather forecasting
(B) An air-mass analysis
(C) Twice daily weather maps
(D) Cloud-cover photographs
5. The phrase attests to in line 21 is closest in meaning to
(A) makes up for
(B) combines with
(C) interferes with
(D) gives evidence of
6. The word others in line 24 refers to
(A) newspapers
(B) ways
(C) temperature maps
(D) weather maps
7. The word drab in line 24 is closest in meaning to
(A) precise
(B) poor
(C) simple
(D) dull
8. In contrast to the weather maps of USA Today, weather maps in The New York Times tended to
be
(A) printed in foil color
(B) included for symbolic reasons
(C) easily understood by the readers
(D) filled with detailed information
9. The word prominent in line 27 is closest in meaning to
(A) complex
(B) noticeable
(C) appealing
(D) perfect
10. The author uses the term Ironically in line 28 to indicate that a weather map"s appearance
(A) is not important to newspaper publishers
(B) does not always indicate how much information it provides
(C) reflects how informative a newspaper can be
(D) often can improve newspaper sales
PASSAGE 69 BABCD ADDBB
http://m.tuzhexing.com/waiyu/1339106/