以下是小编帮大家整理的TOEFL托福阅读真题精选(共含5篇),仅供参考,欢迎大家阅读。同时,但愿您也能像本文投稿人“好想吃雪糕啊”一样,积极向本站投稿分享好文章。
PASSAGE 34
Matching the influx of foreign immigrants into the larger cities of the United States during the late nineteenth century was a domestic migration, from town and farm to city, within the United States. The country had been overwhelmingly rural at the beginning of the century, with less than 5 percent of Americans living in large towns or cities. The proportion of urban population began to grow remarkably after 1840, increasing from 11 percent that year to 28 percent by 1880 and to 46 percent by 1900. A country with only 6 cities boasting a population of more than 8,000 in 1800 had become one with 545 such cities in 1900. Of these, 26 had a population of more than 100,000 including 3 that held more than a million people. Much of the migration producing an urban society came from smaller towns within the United States, but the combination of new immigrants and old American settlers on America's urban frontier in the late nineteenth century proved extraordinary.
The growth of cities and the process of industrialization fed on each other. The agricultural revolution stimulated many in the countryside to seek a new life in the city and made it possible for fewer farmers to feed the large concentrations of people needed to provide a workforce for growing numbers of factories. Cities also provided ready and convenient markets for the products of industry, and huge contracts in transportation and construction — as well as the expanded market in consumer goods — allowed continued growth of the urban sector of the overall economy of the Untied States.
Technological developments further stimulated the process of urbanization. One example is the Bessemer converter (an industrial process for manufacturing steel), which provided steel girders for the construction of skyscrapers. The refining of crude oil into kerosene, and later the development of electric lighting as well as of the telephone, brought additional comforts to urban areas that were unavailable to rural Americans and helped attract many of them from the farms into the cities. In every era the lure of the city included a major psychological element for country people: the bustle and social interaction of urban life seemed particularly intriguing to those raised in rural isolation.
1. What aspects of the United States in the nineteenth century does the passage mainly discuss?
(A) Technological developments
(B) The impact of foreign immigrants on cities
(C) Standards of living
(D) The relationship between industrialization and urbanization
2. The word influx in line 1 is closest in meaning to
(A) working
(B) processing
(C) arrival
(D) attraction
3. The paragraph preceding the passage most probably discuss
(A) foreign immigration
(B) rural life
(C) the agricultural revolution
(D) famous cities of the twentieth century
4. What proportion of population of the United States was urban in 1900?
(A) Five percent
(B) Eleven percent
(C) Twenty-eight percent
(D) Forty-six percent
5. The word extraordinary in line 12 is closet in meaning to
(A) expensive
(B) exceptional
(C) supreme
(D) necessary
6. The phrase each other in line 13 refers to
(A) foreign immigrants and domestic migrants
(B) farms and small towns
(C) growth of cities and industrialization
(D) industry and transportation
7. The word stimulated in line 14 is closest in meaning to
(A) forced
(B) prepared
(C) limited
(D) motivated
8. Why does the author mention electric lighting and the telephone in line 23?
(A) They contributed to the agricultural revolution
(B) They are examples of the conveniences of city life
(C) They were developed by the same individual.
(D) They were products of the Bessemer converter.
9. The word them in line 25 refers to
(A) urban areas
(B) rural Americans
(C) farms
(D) cities
10. The word era in line 25 is closest in meaning to
(A) period of time
(B) location
(C) action
(D) unique situation
11. The word intriguing in line 27 is closest in meaning to
(A) profitable
(B) attractive
(C) comfortable
(D) challenging
PASSAGE 34 DCADB CDBBA B
PASSAGE 25
The history of clinical nutrition, or the study of the relationship between health and how the body takes in and utilizes food substances, can be divided into four distinct eras: the first began in the nineteenth century and extended into the early twentieth century when it was recognized for the first time that food contained constituents that were essential for human function and that different foods provided different amounts of these essential agents. Near the end of this era, research studies demonstrated that rapid weight loss was associated with nitrogen imbalance and could only be rectified by providing adequate dietary protein associated with certain foods.
The second era was initiated in the early decades of the twentieth century and might be called the vitamin period. Vitamins came to be recognized in foods, and deficiency syndromes were described. As vitamins became recognized as essential food constituents necessary for health, it became tempting to suggest that every disease and condition for which there had been no previous effective treatment might be responsive to vitamin therapy. At that point in time, medical schools started to become more interested in having their curricula integrate nutritional concepts into the basic sciences. Much of the focus of this education was on the recognition of vitamin deficiency symptoms. Herein lay the beginning of what ultimately turned from ignorance to denial of the value of nutritional therapies in medicine. Reckless claims were made for effects of vitamins that went far beyond what could actually be achieved from the use of them.
In the third era of nutritional history in the early 1950's to mid-1960s, vitamin therapy began to fall into disrepute. Concomitant with this, nutrition education in medical schools also became less popular. It was just a decade before this that many drug companies had found their vitamin sales skyrocketing and were quick to supply practicing physicians with generous samples of vitamins and literature extolling the virtue of supplementation for a variety of health-related conditions. Expectations as to the success of vitamins in disease control were exaggerated. As is known in retrospect, vitamin and mineral therapies are much less effective when applied to health-crisis conditions than when applied to long-term problems of undernutrition that lead to chronic health problems.
1. What does the passage mainly discuss?
(A) The effects of vitamins on the human body
(B) The history of food preferences from the nineteenth century to the present
(C) The stages of development of clinical nutrition as a field of study
(D) Nutritional practices of the nineteenth century
2. It can be inferred from the passage that which of the following discoveries was made during the first era in the history of nutrition?
(A) Protein was recognized as an essential component of diet.
(B) Vitamins were synthesized from foods.
(C) Effective techniques of weight loss were determined.
(D) Certain foods were found to be harmful to good health.
3. The word tempting in line 12 is closest in meaning to
(A) necessary
(B) attractive
(C) realistic
(D) correct
4. It can be inferred from the passage that medical schools began to teach concepts of nutrition
in order to
(A) convince medical doctors to participate in research studies on nutrition
(B) encourage medical doctors to apply concepts of nutrition in the treatment of disease
(C) convince doctors to conduct experimental vitamin therapies on their patients
(D) support the creation of artificial vitamins
5. The word Reckless in line 18 is closest in meaning to
(A) recorded
(B) irresponsible
(C) informative
(D) urgent
6. The word 'them in line 19 refers to
(A) therapies
(B) claims
(C) effects
(D) vitamins
7. Why did vitamin therapy begin losing favor in the 1950's
(A) The public lost interest in vitamins.
(B) Medical schools stopped teaching nutritional concepts.
(C) Nutritional research was of poor quality
(D) Claims for the effectiveness of vitamin therapy were seen to be exaggerated.
8. The phrase concomitant with in line 21 is closest in meaning to
(A) in conjunction with
(B) prior to
(C) in dispute with
(D) in regard to
9. The word skyrocketing in line 23 is closest in meaning to
(A) internationally popular
(B) increasing rapidly
(C) acceptable
(D) surprising
10. The word extolling in line 24 is closest in meaning to
(A) analyzing
(B) questioning
(C) praising
(D) promising
11. The paragraph following the passage most probably discusses
(A) the fourth era of nutrition history
(B) problems associated with undernutrition
(C) how drug companies became successful
(D) why nutrition education lost its appeal
PASSAGE 25 CABBB DDABC A
PASSAGE 22
Throughout the nineteenth century and into the twentieth, citizens of the United States maintained a bias against big cities. Most lived on farms and in small towns and believed cities to be centers of corruption, crime, poverty, and moral degradation. Their distrust was caused, in part, by a national ideology that proclaimed farming the greatest occupation and rural living superior to urban living. This attitude prevailed even as the number of urban dwellers increased and cities became an essential feature of the national landscape. Gradually, economic reality overcame ideology. Thousands abandoned the precarious life on the farm for more secure and better paying jobs in the city. But when these people migrated from the countryside, they carried their fears and suspicious with them. These new urbanities, already convinced that cities were overwhelmed with great problems, eagerly embraced the progressive reforms that promised to bring order out of the chaos of the city.
One of many reforms came in the area of public utilities. Water and sewerage systems were usually operated by municipal governments, but the gas and electric networks were privately owned. Reformers feared that the privately owned utility companies would charge exorbitant rates for these essential services and deliver them only to people who could afford them. Some city and state governments responded by regulating the utility companies, but a number of cities began to supply these services themselves. Proponents of these reforms argued that public ownership and regulation would insure widespread access to these utilities and guarantee a fair price.
While some reforms focused on government and public behavior, others looked at the cities as a whole. Civic leaders, convinced that physical environment influenced human behavior, argued that cities should develop master plans to guide their future growth and development. City planning was nothing new, but the rapid industrialization and urban growth of the late nineteenth century took place without any consideration for order. Urban renewal in the twentieth century followed several courses. Some cities introduced plans to completely rebuild the city core. Most other cities contented themselves with zoning plans for regulating future growth. Certain parts of town were restricted to residential use, while others were set aside for industrial or commercial development.
1. What does the passage mainly discuss?
(A) A comparison of urban and rural life in the early twentieth century
(B) The role of government in twentieth century urban renewal
(C) Efforts to improve urban life in the early twentieth century
(D) Methods of controlling urban growth in the twentieth century
2. The word bias in line 2 is closest in meaning to
(A) diagonal
(B) slope
(C) distortion
(D) prejudice
3. The first paragraph suggests that most people who lived in rural areas
(A) were suspicious of their neighbors
(B) were very proud of their lifestyle
(C) believed city government had too much power
(D) wanted to move to the cities
4. In the early twentieth century, many rural dwellers migrated to the city in order to
(A) participate in the urban reform movement
(B) seek financial security
(C) comply with a government ordinance
(D) avoid crime and corruption
5. The word embraced in line 11 is closest in meaning to
(A) suggested
(B) overestimated
(C) demanded
(D) welcomed
6. What concern did reformers have about privately owned utility companies?
(A) They feared the services would not be made available to all city dwellers.
(B) They believed private ownership would slow economic growth
(C) They did not trust the companies to obey the government regulations.
(D) They wanted to ensure that the services would be provided to rural areas.
7. The word exorbitant in line 16 is closest in meaning to
(A) additional
(B) expensive
(C) various
(D) modified
8. All of the following were the direct result of public utility reforms EXCEPT
(A) local governments determined the rates charged by private utility companies
(B) some utility companies were owned and operated by local governments
(C) the availability of services was regulated by local government
(D) private utility companies were required to pay a fee to local governments
9. The word Proponents in line 18 is closest in meaning to
(A) Experts
(B) Pioneers
(C) Reviewers
(D) Supporters
10. Why does the author mention industrialization (line 24)?
(A) To explain how fast urban growth led to poorly designed cities
(B) To emphasize the economic importance of urban areas
(C) To suggest that labor disputes had become an urban problem
(D) To illustrate the need for construction of new factories
答案:CDBBD ABDDA
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
PASSAGE 13
Any rock that has cooled and solidified from a molten state is an igneous rock. Therefore, if the Earth began as a superheated sphere in space, all the rocks making up its crust may well have been igneous and thus the ancestors of all other rocks. Even today, approximately 95 percent of the entire crust is igneous. Periodically, molten material wells out of the Earth's interior to invade the surface layers or to flow onto the surface itself. This material cools into a wide variety of igneous rocks. In the molten state, it is called magma as it pushes into the crust and lava when it runs out onto the surface.
All magma consists basically of a variety of silicate minerals (high in silicon-oxygen compounds), but the chemical composition of any given flow may differ radically from that of any other. The resulting igneous rocks will reflect these differences. Igneous rocks also vary in texture as well as chemistry. Granite, for instance, is a coarse-grained igneous rock whose individual mineral crystals have formed to a size easily seen by the naked eye. A slow rate of cooling has allowed the crystals to reach this size. Normally, slow cooling occurs when the crust is invaded by magma that remains buried well below the surface. Granite may be found on the surface of the contemporary landscape, but from its coarse texture we know that it must have formed through slow cooling at a great depth and later been laid bare by erosion. Igneous rocks with this coarse-grained texture that formed at depth are called plutonic.
On the other hand, if the same magma flows onto the surface and is quickly cooled by the atmosphere, the resulting rock will be fine-grained and appear quite different from granite, although the chemical composition will be identical. This kind of rock is called rhyolite. The most finely grained igneous rock is volcanic glass or obsidian, which has no crystals. Some researchers believe this is because of rapid cooling; others believe it is because of a lack of water vapor and other gases in the lava. The black obsidian cliffs of Yellowstone National Park are the result of a lava flow of basalt running head on into a glacier. Some of the glacier melted on contact, but suddenly there also appeared a huge black mass of glassy stone.
1. In the first paragraph, the author mentions that 95% of the Earth's crust is composed of
igneous rock to support the idea that
(A) the Earth began as a molten mass
(B) a thin layer of magma flows beneath the Earth's crust
(C) the minerals found in igneous rock are very common
(D) igneous rock is continually being formed
2. The word invade in line 5 is closest in meaning to
(A) move into
(B) neutralize
(C) cover
(D) deposit
3. The word contemporary in line 15 is closest in meaning to
A) vast
(B) natural
(C) existing
(D) uneven
4. The word it in line 16 refers to
(A) granite
(B) surface
(C) landscape
(D) texture
5. Granite that has been found above ground has been
(A) pushed up from below the crust by magma
(B) produced during a volcanic explosion
(C) gradually exposed due to erosion
(D) pushed up by the natural shifting of the Earth
6. Which of the following is produced when magma cools rapidly?
(A) granite
(B) plutonic rock
(C) rhyolite
(D) mineral crystals
7. The word finely in line 22 is closest in meaning to
(A) minutely
(B) loosely
(C) sensitively
(D) purely
8. Which of the following is another name for volcanic glass?
(A) Plutonic rock
(B) Crystal
(C) Lava
(D) Obsidian
★ 托福真题练习