托福阅读材料：科学理论

托福阅读材料来源托福（Test of English as a Foreign Language）考试是世界上最为广泛接受的英语水平考试之一，它的阅读部分是考察考生在阅读理解方面的能力。

而托福阅读材料的来源涉及到多个领域，包括科学、社会科学、历史、文学等等。

以下是托福阅读材料的几个主要来源。

1. 学术期刊学术期刊是托福阅读材料的重要来源之一。

这些期刊涵盖了各个学科领域的最新研究成果和学术讨论。

在托福考试中，考生可能会遇到来自学术期刊的科学实验、研究报告、理论探索等材料。

这些材料要求考生具备科学文献的阅读和理解能力。

2. 学术书籍学术书籍也是托福阅读材料的常见来源。

这些书籍往往是学者们对某个领域深入研究的成果，包括理论框架、实证研究以及学术思想的发展等内容。

托福考试中的阅读材料可能会引用学术书籍中的观点或研究结果，考生需要理解和分析这些复杂的学术内容。

3. 新闻报道新闻报道是托福阅读材料的另一个来源。

这些报道可能来自各大媒体机构，涵盖了国际、国内、社会等各个领域的新闻事件、评论和报道。

托福考试中的新闻报道可能与政治、环境、社会问题等相关。

考生需要通过阅读和分析报道，理解其中的事实、观点和推理。

4. 科普读物科普读物也是托福阅读材料的来源之一。

科普读物主要是为广大读者普及科学知识而写的；其语言通俗易懂，内容丰富多样。

考生在阅读科普读物时，需要理解和分析作者的观点、论证和事实依据。

5. 历史文献历史文献是托福阅读材料的另一个重要来源。

历史文献包括历史著作、文史资料、历史地图等，涉及到各个历史时期和地区的人物、事件和文化。

考生在阅读历史文献时，需要理解和分析文献中的历史背景、事件发展以及历史人物的观点和行为。

总结起来，托福阅读材料的来源非常广泛，涵盖了学术领域、新闻媒体、科普读物和历史文献等多个领域。

考生在备考托福阅读部分时，需要广泛阅读，培养阅读理解和分析能力，以便更好地应对不同来源的阅读材料。

通过对不同来源的材料的熟悉和理解，考生可以提高自己的阅读能力，更好地应对托福阅读考试的挑战。

适合托福中级的阅读材料标题：探索古埃及的神秘之旅段落一：古埃及的历史背景古埃及是世界上最古老的文明之一，它的历史可以追溯到公元前3100年左右。

这个古老的文明以其壮丽的金字塔、神秘的法老墓和庞大的神庙而闻名于世。

古埃及是一个高度宗教化的社会，人们崇拜众多的神灵，并相信死后有来世。

在这个神秘而令人着迷的国度中，有许多仍然未解之谜等待我们去揭开。

段落二：金字塔与法老墓古埃及的金字塔是世界上最著名的建筑之一。

这些庞大的金字塔是为了埃及的法老而建造的，他们相信这些金字塔可以帮助他们在来世获得永恒的生命。

金字塔的建造需要大量的劳动力和精心的规划。

在金字塔中，人们可以发现法老的陪葬品和珍宝，这些宝藏提供了关于古埃及文化和宗教的重要线索。

段落三：庞大的神庙古埃及的神庙是一种宗教建筑，通常用于崇拜神灵和进行宗教仪式。

这些神庙建筑宏伟，富丽堂皇，充满了神秘的符号和壁画。

其中最著名的是卢克索神庙和卡纳克神庙，它们被认为是古埃及最重要的宗教中心之一。

在这些神庙中，人们可以欣赏到精美的雕刻和壁画，这些作品描绘了古埃及人民的生活、宗教仪式和神话故事。

段落四：古埃及的宗教与信仰古埃及人民崇拜众多的神灵，每个神灵都有自己的特定职责和领域。

他们相信神灵可以影响自然界和人类的命运。

古埃及人民还相信死后有来世，并通过葬礼仪式和陪葬品来确保在来世获得幸福和安全。

他们相信法老是神的化身，可以作为人类和神灵之间的联系。

段落五：解开古埃及之谜的挑战古埃及的文化和宗教仍然有许多未解之谜。

例如，古埃及金字塔是如何建造的？法老墓中的陪葬品和珍宝的含义是什么？古埃及人民的宗教仪式和信仰是如何影响他们的日常生活的？这些问题激发了考古学家和历史学家们的兴趣，并推动着他们不断探索和研究古埃及的神秘之旅。

结尾段落：探索古埃及的神秘之旅古埃及是一个神秘而令人着迷的国度，它的文化和宗教仍然深深影响着我们的世界。

通过探索古埃及的金字塔、法老墓和神庙，我们可以更好地理解古埃及人民的信仰和生活方式。

2012年11月18日托福阅读真题解析2012年11月18日托福考试阅读部分重复北美2011年8月27日考题。

Topic1: personal trait一篇是心理学说PERSONAL TRAIT的。

说人们觉得性格决定人的行为吧。

然后一个科学家叫Walter Mischel，他做了一些研究，发现性格和人的行为之间的关系没有人们以前认为的那么大，人们在特定的环境下表现出来的行为不一样。

通过儿童实验，Mischel认为人的行为其实更主要的是由当时的SITUATION决定的，性格的作用很小。

Mischel的研究成果挑战了心理学家的研究和心理学在现实生活中的应用（这个是句子改写，要注意一个是挑战了研究，一个是挑战了现实中的应用，看清了可能会少选。

）然后其他科学家就批评Mischel的研究成果，这里有个括号，括号说，但是Mischel也赢得了行为学家的掌声，问为什么提这帮人，我答给出支持Mischel理论人的例子。

批评一指出Mischel的研究局限在LAB中，和EVERYDAY LIFE有距离（有题）。

还有一个批评，暂时想不起来。

但同时，大家也会认可Mischel的研究。

说他至少提出了SITUATION的重要性，可以让人具体情况具体分析吧。

后来大家认为，其实心理学家着重是要分析人们总体的表现，即性格决定这个人在处理事情上的一个总的态度，AGGREGATE BEHAVIOR。

而根据不同的SITUATION，又有不同的INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOR。

所以心理学家的研究没有问题，还是有用的。

Trait Theory ①Personality consists of broad dispositions, called traits, that tend to lead to characteristic responses. People can be described in terms of the basic ways they behave, such as whether they are outgoing and friendly, or whether they are dominant and assertive.Basic Five Factors:oEmotional stability - Being calm rather than anxious, secures rather then insecure, self-satisfied than self-pitying.oExtraversion - Sociable instead of retiring, fun-loving instead of sober, and affectionate instead of reserved.oOpenness - Imaginative rather than practical, preferring variety to routine, and being independent rather than conforming.oAgreeableness - Being softhearted, not ruthless, trusting, not suspicious, and helpful not uncooperative.oConscientiousness - Being organized rather than disorganized, careful rather then careless, and disciplined, not impulsive.Criticism to Trait Theory(Walter Mischel (1968))oPersonality and AssessmentoCriticized the trait view of personality, as well as the psychoanalytic approachoBoth emphasis the interval organization of personalityoPersonality often changes according to a given situation - response to personality as consisting of broad, internal traits that are consistence across situations and timeoTrait measure do a poor job of predicting actual behavioroSituationism - personality often varies considerably from one context to another.Trait Situation Interaction TheoryoThey believe that both trait (person) and situation variables are necessary to understand personality. They also agree that the degree of consistency in personality depend on the kinds of persons, situations, and behaviors sampled. (Pervin, 1993, Mischel, 1995)oThe link between traits and situations has been more precisely specified.oThe narrowing and more limited trait is, the more likely it will predict behavior.oSome people are consistent on some traitsoPersonality traits exert a stronger influence on an individual's behavior when situational influence is less powerful.Walter Mischel (1968) - Personality and Assessment, criticized trait view of personality and psychoanalytic approach. Said personality often changes according tosituations, unlike the previous approaches which show consistency. Said trait measures poorly predict actual behavior. Made view of situationism - personality varies considerably from one context to another.Most psychologists today are interactionists, believing in both trait and situation ideas to describe personality. Link between traits and situations specified: more limited and narrower a trait is, more likely it will predict a behavior; not everyone consistent on the same trait; traits give a strong influence on an individual's behavior when situational influences are less likely to affect personality.Walter Mischel ②Walter Mischel (born 1930) is an American psychologist specializing in personality theory and social psychology. He is the Robert Johnston Niven Professor of Humane Letters in the Department of Psychology at Columbia University.Contributions to personality theoryIn 1968, Mischel published the now classic monograph, Personality and Assessment, which created a paradigm crisis in personality psychology that changed the agenda of the field for decades. The book touched upon the problem in trait assessment that was identified by Allport back in 1937. Mischel showed that study after study failed to support the fundamental traditional assumption of personality theory, that an individual's behavior with regard to a trait (e.g. conscientiousness, sociability) is highly consistent across diverse situations. Instead, Mischel's analyses revealed that the individual's behavior, when closely examined, was highly dependent upon situational cues, rather than expressed consistently across diverse situations that differed in meaning.Mischel maintained that behavior is shaped largely by the exigencies of a given situation. That people act in consistent ways across different situations, reflecting an underlying consistency of personality traits, is a myth.[4]Mischel made the case that the field of personality psychology was searching for consistency in the wrong places. Instead of treating situations as the noise or "error of measurement" in personality psychology, Mischel's work proposed that by including the situation as it is perceived by the person and by analyzing behavior in its situational context, the consistencies that characterize the individual would be found. He argued that these individual differences would not be expressed in consistent cross-situational behavior, but instead, he suggested that consistency would be found in distinctive but stable patterns ofif-then, situation-behavior relations that form contextualized, psychologically meaningful "personality signatures" (e.g., "she does A when X, but B when Y").These signatures of personality were in fact revealed in a large observational study of social behavior across multiple repeated situations over time (Mischel&Shoda, 1995). Contradicting the classic assumptions, the data showed that individuals who were similar inaverage levels of behavior, for example in their aggression, nevertheless differed predictably and dramatically in the types of situations in which they aggressed. As predicted by Mischel, they were characterized by highly psychologically informative if-then behavioral signatures. Collectively, this work has allowed a new way to conceptualize and assess both the stability and variability of behavior that is produced by the underlying personality system, and has opened a window into the dynamic processes within the system itself (Mischel, 2004).Topic2: 昆虫的优势还有一篇讲昆虫的。

第一篇英国工业的发展关于英国经济的兴起，主要是由于工业化后出口量（volume of exports）大增。

商业(commerce; trade; business)以棉花的发展为 lead，次要是煤、丝等，之後 coal replace the wood成了主要的 fuel。

英国之所以成了欧洲重心的原因有：英国国内政治稳定统一，语言一致，没有internal tariff(关税)，有标准化的xx，得益于bank and finance investment 的发达（推动贷款(loan)，減少 tax）（题目，排除题，选 tariff）。

英国有便捷的交通和有力的地理位置，所有的城市都离海不远，最远不过 70 mile，水运方便，raw(自然状态的) material 和 goods 运输顺畅（运铁），即使到 Ireland 的edinburgh（爱丁堡）也只需 60 小时车程。

其他欧洲国家当时都没有这些特点。

英国有皇家海军的保护，政府采取低税收（题目，但是对 high-quality woolen 收税），政府会出面与他国谈判低进口税。

英国从印度等殖民地（colony; plantation; settltment）廉价進口rm，然后出口 finished goods。

（一名学者adam 不支持这个理论）。

第二篇艺术与地点的关系讲 art 与 location（place）的关系，以其历史发展来说，art 刚开始时都必须依附 location，它们是紧密联系（contact; connection; integrate）的，painting 和sculpture 是不能动的，只能固定在某个地方，例如古代的洞穴壁画(cave painting)、教堂顶(church roof)的壁画，后来发明了 ease painting，随着portable(便于携带的，手提的，轻便的)东西的出现，例如 vase（花瓶）、雕像（statue）、小饰品(accessory)，可以带着到处创作，教堂的玻璃画也是画好了再加上去的，渐渐地 art 和 location 开始分离了。

origin of the solar system托福阅读
"Origin of the Solar System"（太阳系起源）是一种可能出现在托福（Test of English as a Foreign Language）阅读部分的话题。

在这个话题中，可能会探讨太阳系的形成以及与之相关的科学理论和研究。

在托福阅读中，可能会出现关于太阳系起源的文章或段落，其中可能会包含以下内容：
1. 太阳系的形成理论：文章可能介绍了一些太阳系形成的科学理论，如行星碰撞理论、原行星盘理论等。

这些理论尝试解释太阳系中行星、卫星和其他天体的形成过程。

2. 太阳系的组成：文章可能提到太阳系中的各个天体，如太阳、行星、卫星、小行星等。

它们的特征和相互之间的关系可能会被讨论。

3. 太阳系形成的证据：文章可能介绍一些科学家通过观测、实验和模拟等方法获得的太阳系形成的证据。

这些证据可能包括陨石、彗星、行星间的差异等。

4. 太阳系形成的时间尺度：文章可能讨论太阳系形成的时间尺度，包括形成过程的时间跨度和不同阶段的持续时间。

5. 相关的科学研究和发现：文章可能提到一些与太阳系起源相关的重要科学研究和发现，如哈勃望远镜的观测结果、太空探测器的发现等。

在阅读这样的文章时，建议你注意文章的主旨、关键细节和
作者的观点。

同时，了解一些与太阳系起源相关的科学术语和概念，可以帮助你更好地理解和回答相关的问题。

希望这些信息对你有所帮助。

祝你在托福阅读中取得好成绩！如果你有其他问题，欢迎继续提问。

为了帮助大家高效备考托福，为大家带来托福TPO33阅读Passage3原文文本+题目+答案解析，希望对大家备考有所帮助。

Extinction Episodes of the Past 【1】It was not until the Cambrian period,beginning about 600 million years ago,that a great proliferation of macroscopic species occurred on Earth and produced a fossil record that allows us to track the rise and fall of biodiversity.Since the Cambrian period,biodiversity has generally risen,but there have been some notable exceptions.Biodiversity collapsed dramatically during at least five periods because of mass extinctions around the globe.The five major mass extinctions receive most of the attention,but they are only one end of a spectrum of extinction events.Collectively,more species went extinct during smaller events that were less dramatic but more frequent.The best known of the five major extinction events,the one that saw the demise of the dinosaurs,is the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction. 【2】Starting about 280 million years ago,reptiles were the dominant large animals in terrestrial environments.In popular language this was the era“when dinosaurs ruled Earth,”when a wide variety of reptile species occupying many ecological niches.However,no group or species can maintain its dominance indefinitely,and when,after over 200 million years,the age of dinosaurs came to a dramatic end about 65 million years ago,mammals began to flourish,evolving from relatively few types of small terrestrial animals into the myriad of diverse species,including bats and whales,that we know today.Paleontologists label this point in Earth’s history as the end of the Cretaceous period and the beginning of the Tertiary period,often abbreviated as the K-T boundary.This time was also marked by changes in many other types of organisms.Overall,about 38 percent of the families of marine animals were lost,with percentages much higher in some groups Ammonoid mollusks went from being very diverse and abundant to being extinct.An extremely abundant set of planktonic marine animals called foraminifera largely disappeared,although they rebounded later.Among plants,the K-T boundary saw a sharp but brief rise in the abundance of primitive vascular plants such as ferns,club mosses,horsetails,and conifers and other gymnosperms.The number of flowering plants(angiosperms)was reduced at this time,but they then began to increase dramatically. 【3】What caused these changes?For many years scientists assumed that a cooling of the climate was responsible,with dinosaurs being particularly vulnerable because,like modern reptiles,they were ectothermic(dependent on environmental heat,or cold-blooded).It is now widely believed that at least some species of dinosaurs had a metabolic rate high enough for them to be endotherms(animals that maintain a relatively consistent body temperature by generating heat internally).Nevertheless,climatic explanations for the K-T extinction are not really challenged by the ideas that dinosaurs may have been endothermic,because evenendotherms can be affected by a significant change in the climate. 【4】Explanations for the K-T extinction were revolutionized in 1980 when a group of physical scientists led by Luis Alvarez proposed that 65 million years ago Earth was stuck by a 10-kilometer-wide meteorite traveling at 90,000 kilometers per hour.They believed that this impact generated a thick cloud of dust that enveloped Earth,shutting out much of the incoming solar radiation and reducing plant photosynthesis to very low levels.Short-term effects might have included huge tidal waves and extensive fires.In other words,a series of events arising from a single cataclysmic event caused the massive extinctions.Initially,the meteorite theory was based on a single line of evidence.At locations around the globe,geologists had found an unusually high concentration of iridium in the layer of sedimentary rocks that was formed about 65 million years ago.Iridium is an element that is usually uncommon near Earth’s surface,but it is abundant in some meteorites.Therefore,Alvarez and his colleagues concludedthat it was likely that the iridium in sedimentary rocks deposited at the K-T boundary had originated in a giant meteorite or asteroid.Most scientist came to accept the meteorite theory after evidence came to light that a circular formation,180 kilometers in diameter in diameter and centered on the north coast of the Yucatan Peninsula,was created by a meteorite impact about 65 million years ago. 1.The word"proliferation"in the passage(paragraph 1)is closest in meaning to A.decline. B.extinction. C.increase. D.migration. 2.Paragraph 1 supports which of the following statements about life on Earth before the Cambrian period? A.Biodiversity levels were steady,as indicated by the fossil record. B.Levels of biodiversity could not be tracked. C.The most dramatic extinction episode occurred. D.Few microscopic species existed. 3.Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in the passage?Incorrect choices change the meaning in importantways or leave out essential information. A.The dominance of dinosaurs came to an end 65 million years ago,at which time mammals began to flourish and diversify. B.Because no group of species can remain dominant forever,mammals became the dominant group when dinosaurs became extinct. C.After being the dominant group for more than 200 million years,the age of dinosaurs came to a dramatic end 65 million years ago. D.The diverse group of mammals that we know today,including bats and whales,evolved from small terrestrial forms that had been dominated by dinosaurs. 4.According to paragraph 2,why are dinosaurs popularly said to have"ruled Earth"during the Cretaceous period? A.Dinosaurs were the only species of reptile that existed during the whole of the Cretaceous period. B.Dinosaurs won the battle for food resources over mammals during the Cretaceous period. C.Dinosaurs survived extinction during the Cretaceous period,whereas many other animal species did not. D.Dinosaurs were the physically and ecologically dominant animals during the Cretaceous period. 5.According to paragraph 2,which of the following species initially increased in number at the K-T boundary? A.Dinosaurs. B.Foraminifera. C.Ferns. D.Ammonoid mollusks. 6.Why does the author note that"even endotherms can be affected by a significant change in the climate"(paragraph 3)? A.To argue that there was a significant climate at the time that endothermicdinosaurs became extinct. B.To argue that climate change caused some dinosaurs to evolve as endotherms. C.To support the view that at least some of the dinosaurs that became extinct were endotherms. D.To defend climate change as possible explanation for the extinction of dinosaurs. 7.The word"generated"(paragraph 4)in the passage is closest in meaning to A.collected. B.produced. C.spread. D.added. 8.The word"extensive"(paragraph 4)in the passage is closest in meaning to A.widespread. B.sudden. C.numerous. D.subsequent. 9.According to paragraph 4,all of the following contributed to the massive extinctions of the K-T period EXCEPT: A.tidal waves. B.fires. C.insufficient solar radiation. D.iridium. 10.According to paragraph 4,which of the following statements explains the importance of the discovery of high levels of iridium rocks? A.It provided evidence that overexposure to solar radiation led to the K-T extinction. B.It showed that more than one cataclysmic event was responsible for the K-T extinction. C.It suggested that the cause of the K-T extinction may have been a meteorite striking Earth. D.It provided evidence that the K-T extinction occurred 65 million years ago. 11.According to paragraph 4,which of the following is true about the Yucatan Peninsula? A.The circular formation there was caused by a meteorite impact 65 million years ago. B.Sedimentary rocks from that area have the lowest iridium concentration of any rocks on Earth. C.There is evidence that a huge tidal wave occurred there 65 million years ago. D.Evidence found there challenged the meteorite impact theory. 12.Which of the following can be inferred from paragraph 4 about the meteorite theory? A.The data originally presented as evidence for the theory were eventually rejected. B.Many scientists did not accept it when it was first proposed. C.It has not been widely accepted as an explanation for the K-T extinction. D.Alvarez subsequently revised it after a circular formation was found in the Yucatan Peninsula. 13.Look at the four squares[■]that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage.Where would the sentence best fit?This focused on the chemical composition of ancient rocks. Explanations for the K-T extinction were revolutionized in 1980 when a group of physical scientists led by Luis Alvarez proposed that 65 million years ago Earth was stuck by a 10-kilometer-wide meteorite traveling at 90,000 kilometers per hour.Theybelieved that this impact generated a thick cloud of dust that enveloped Earth,shutting out much of the incoming solar radiation and reducing plant photosynthesis to very low levels.Short-term effects might have included huge tidal waves and extensive fires.In other words,a series of events arising from a single cataclysmic event caused the massive extinctions.■【A】Initially,the meteorite theory was based on a single line of evidence.■【B】At locations around the globe,geologists had found an unusually high concentration of iridium in the layer of sedimentary rocks that was formed about 65 million years ago.■【C】Iridium is an element that is usually uncommon near Earth's surface,but it is abundant in some meteorites.■【D】Therefore,Alvarez and his colleagues concluded that it was likely that the iridium in sedimentary rocks deposited at the K-T boundary had originated in a giant meteorite or asteroid.Most scientist came to accept the meteorite theory after evidence came to light that a circular formation,180 kilometers in diameter in diameter and centered on the north coast of the Yucatan Peninsula,was created by a meteorite impact about 65 million years ago. 14.Prose Summary The K-T extinction 65 million years ago is the best known of the five major extinction episodes since the Cambrian period. A.Collectively,the five major extinction episodes resulted in the elimination of a larger number of species than did all the minor extinction events. B.The K-T extinction eliminated the dinosaurs and ammonoid mollusks but was followed by the diversification of mammals and gymnospermous plants. C.An extreme cooling of the climate could not have caused the K-T extinction of dinosaurs,because,while most dinosaurs depended on environmental heat,some did not. D.The K-T extinction of the dinosaurs is the only mass extinction that has been explained by the impact of a meteorite. E.In 1980 Luis Alvarez proposed that the K-T extinction was caused by ecological disasters brought about by the impact of a meteorite striking Earth. F.A high concentration of iridium in sedimentary rocks at the K-T boundary and a large impact crater in the Yucatan Peninsula from 65 million years ago strongly support Alvarez'hypothesis. 1.proliferation，繁殖，激增，对应C。

托福阅读文章类型随着全球化的进程，越来越多的人选择参加托福考试，其中阅读部分是考生们最为头痛的一部分。

托福阅读的难度很高，主要考察考生对各种不同类型文章的阅读能力和理解能力。

本文将介绍托福阅读的文章类型，帮助考生更好地应对考试。

一、学术类文章学术类文章是托福阅读中最常见的类型之一，它主要来自于各个知名大学的教科书、学术期刊和学术会议论文。

这类文章通常较长，内容涉及各个学科领域，比如生物学、化学、历史、心理学等。

考生在备考过程中需要了解各种学科的基本知识，并提前阅读一些相关的学术文章进行积累和理解。

二、社会科学类文章社会科学类文章是托福阅读的另一种常见类型。

这类文章主要涉及社会学、经济学、政治学等领域，通常以一种科学的方法来分析和解释社会现象。

考生在备考过程中需要了解社会科学的基本理论和方法，并能够辨别和理解文章中的数据、实验和统计信息。

三、自然科学类文章自然科学类文章是托福阅读中的一大类，主要包括物理学、天文学、地质学等各个自然科学领域的文章。

这类文章通常涉及到一些自然现象、实验过程和科学理论，考生需要具备一定的自然科学知识和科学思维能力，才能够准确理解和分析文章内容。

四、历史类文章历史类文章是托福阅读中的另一常见类型。

这类文章主要讲述历史事件、人物和文化。

考生在备考过程中需要熟悉不同历史时期的重大事件和主要人物，并能够理解和分析文章中的历史背景、原因和结果。

五、文学类文章文学类文章在托福阅读中较为罕见，但也不可避免地会出现。

这类文章通常是一些文学作品的片段或者相关评论和分析，考生需要具备一定的文学素养和理解能力，才能够理解和分析文章中的意义和主题。

六、实验类文章实验类文章在托福阅读中属于比较典型的类型之一。

这类文章主要描述了一些科学实验的目的、方法、结果与结论。

考生需要具备一定的科学实验的基本知识，并能够分析和理解实验结果和结论。

七、新闻报道类文章新闻报道类文章在托福阅读中也会偶尔出现。

这类文章主要是一些新闻媒体对一些社会事件、科技进展等进行报道。

托福阅读tpo70R-2Nineteenth-Century Theories of Mountain Formation原文 (1)译文 (5)题目 (8)答案 (16)背景知识 (17)原文Nineteenth-Century Theories of Mountain Formation①One of the central scientific questions of nineteenth-century geology was the origin of mountains.How were they formed?What process squeezed and folded rocks like bread dough?What made Earth's surface move?Most theories invoked terrestrial contraction as a causal force.It was widely believed that Earth had formed as a hot,incandescent body and had been steadily cooling since the beginning of geological time.Because most materials contract as they cool,it seemed logical to assume that Earth had been contracting as it cooled,too.As it did,its surface would have deformed,producing mountains.②In Europe,Austrian geologist Eduard Suess(1831-1914)popularized the image of Earth as a drying apple:as the planet contracted,its surface wrinkled to accommodate the diminished surface area.Suess assumed that Earth’s initial crust was continuous but broke apart as the interior shrank.The collapsed portions formed the ocean basins, the remaining elevated portions formed the continents.With continued cooling,the original continents became unstable and collapsed to form the next generation of ocean floor,and what had formerly been ocean now became dry land.Over the course of geological history,there would be a continual interchange of land and sea,a periodic rearrangement of the landmasses.③The interchangeability of continents and oceans explained a number of other perplexing geological observations,such as the presence of marine fossils on land(which had long before puzzled Leonardo da Vinci)and the extensive interleaving of marine and terrestrial sediments in the stratigraphic record.Suess's theory also explained the striking similarities of fossils in parts of Africa and South America. Indeed,in some cases the fossils seemed to be identical,even though they were found thousands of miles apart.These similarities had beenrecognized since the mid-nineteenth century,but they had been made newly problematic by Darwin's theory of evolution.If plants and animals had evolved independently in different places within diverse environments,then why did they look so similar?Suess explained this conundrum by attributing these similar species to an early geological age when the continents were contiguous in an ancient supercontinent called Gondwanaland.④Suess’s theory was widely discussed and to varying degrees accepted in Europe,but in North America geologist James Dwight Dana(1813-1895)had developed a different version of contraction theory.Dana suggested that the continents had formed early in Earth history,when low-temperature minerals such as quartz and feldspar had solidified.Then the globe continued to cool and contract,until the high-temperature minerals such as olivine and pyroxene finally solidified—on the Moon,to form the lunar craters,on Earth,to form the ocean basins.As contraction continued after Earth was solid,its surface began to deform.The boundaries between continents and oceans were most affected by the pressure,and so mountains began to form along continental margins.With continued contraction came continued deformation,but with the continents and oceans always inthe same relative positions.Although Dana's theory was a version of contraction,it came to be known as permanence theory,because it viewed continents and oceans as globally permanent features.⑤In North America permanence theory was linked to the theory of subsidence(or sinking)of sedimentary basins along continental margins.This idea was developed primarily by paleontologist James Hall(1811-1898),who noted that beneath the forest cover,the Appalachian Mountains of North America were built up of folded layers of shallow-water sedimentary rocks,thousands of feet thick.How did these sequences of shallow-water deposits form?How were they folded and uplifted into mountains?Hall suggested that materials eroded off the continents accumulated in the adjacent marginal basins, causing the basins to subside.Subsidence allowed more sediment to accumulate,causing more subsidence,until finally the weight of the pile caused the sediments to be heated,converted to rock,and then uplifted into mountains.Dana modified Hall's view by arguing that thick sedimentary piles were not the cause of subsidence but the result of it.Either way,the theory provided a concise explanation of how thick sequences of shallow-water rocks could accumulate,but was vague on the question of how they were transformed into mountainbelts.译文19世纪山脉形成理论①十九世纪地质学中的一个核心科学问题是山脉的起源。

TPO67阅读-3Taxonomy of Organisms原文 (1)译文 (3)题目 (4)答案 (8)背景知识 (9)原文Taxonomy of Organisms①Classification schemes are used by biologists to place the huge number of organisms on Earth into natural groupings.Ideally,these groupings are made by taxonomists on the basis of shared distinguishing features.Today taxonomists use such features as anatomy,developmental stages,and biochemical similarities to categorize organisms.Early classification schemes placed all organisms into either the plant or animal ter,close examination of the unique structure of fungi and the diversity of single-celled organisms made it necessary to propose additional kingdoms that recognized the fundamental differences among plants, animals,fungi,and unicellular prokaryotes(organisms whose cells do not have a distinct membrane-bound nucleus)and eukaryotes(organisms whose cells have a distinct membrane-bound nucleus).The current scheme consisting of five kingdoms—Monera,Protista,Animalia,Fungi,and Plantae—was devised in response to this need.②Scientists do not know how many species share our world.Each year7000to 10,000new species are named.The total number of named species is currently around1.4million.However,many scientists believe that7million to10million species may exist,and estimates range as high as30million.Of all of the species that have been identified,about5percent are in the Monera and Protista kingdoms.An additional22percent are plants and fungi,and the rest are animals. This distribution has little to do with the actual abundance of these organisms and a lot to do with the size of the organisms,how easy they are to classify,and the number of scientists studying them.③The kingdom Protista,defined as comprising all single-celled eukaryotic organisms,is not a natural grouping,and scientists disagree about whichorganisms it should include.Plants,animals,and fungi all have close protistan relatives,and the separation of single-celled organisms from multicellular organisms is sometimes problematic.It is especially so for the algae,which have both single-celled and multicellular representatives within most smaller taxonomic groupings.Can closely related organisms be placed into separate kingdoms, Protista and Plantae,simply on the basis of multicellularity?If you look at different textbooks,you will see that the algae,photosynthetic organisms with simple reproduction，are sometimes placed entirely into Protista,and sometimes they are split between Protista and Plantae depending on whether they are single celled or multicellular.Some taxonomists split the multicellular algae into two kingdoms, placing the multicellular brown and red algae with the protists and the multicellular green algae into the plant kingdom.These different attempts to classify closely related organisms are good examples of how difficult it is to develop standard criteria for grouping organisms,even at the kingdom level.④One approach to this problem,enthusiastically endorsed by Lynn Margulis,a biologist at the University of Massachusetts,is the creation of the kingdom Protoctista.This taxonomic category would include single-celled organisms and their close descendants(for example,the multicellular algae but not the animals, fungi,and plants).Margulis describes the kingdom Protoctista as“the entire motley and unruly group of nonplant,nonanimal,nonfungal organisms representative of lineages of the earliest descendants of the eukaryotes.”⑤It is conceptually difficult to group one of the largest multicellular organisms in the world,the brown algae called giant kelps,with simple microscopic single-celled organisms.Kelps,some of which are up to60meters long,possess a tissuelike level of organization that is relatively complex and can transport materials over long distances,as can the tissues of higher plants.The cells in kelps and some other algae are specialized and show division of labor.However,kelps reproduce like other algae and differently from plants.Thomas Cavalier-Smith of the University of British Columbia has proposed that brown algae merit their own kingdom (kingdom Chromista)based on ultrastructural features and molecular comparisons of all algae.So,even among the algae,there are clear differences that some scientists believe are sufficient to justify the status of a separate kingdom.⑥As we learn more about the relationships between organisms and refine the criteria used to classify them,classification schemes will change.As the superficially simple question“In which kingdom should we place the algae?”illustrates,the taxonomic categories in textbooks are tentative and subject to revision as we continue to discover more about life on Earth.译文有机物的分类①生物学家使用分类方案将地球上数量庞大的生物进行自然分组。