托福TPO46阅读文本题附答案

tpo46口语范文答案Task 1.题目：Talk about a special event or occasion that you have participated in with your family. Describe what you did and why it was special to you.答案：Well, I gotta say the family reunion we had last year was super special. It was held at my grandparents' big old house in the countryside. You know, we don't get to see all the relatives that often. So when we got there, it was like a big party.We started off by helping the old folks cook all the traditional family dishes. I was in charge of making the dumplings. It was a lot of fun, though my dumplings were kind of wonky some big, some small. But everyone was so nice and just laughed it off.After that, we all sat down in the huge yard under the big old tree. The kids were running around playing games, and the adults were chatting, sharing stories about the good old days. It was really heart warming.What made it so special was that it was a time when we all came together as a family. In our daily lives, everyone is so busy with work or school. But at that reunion, we could just relax, be ourselves, and feel the strong family bond. It was like a recharge for our family spirit, you know?Task 2.题目：Some people think that materials printed on paper, such as books and newspapers, will one day be replaced by electronic versions of those materials. Others believe that printed materials will always be popular. Which point of view do you agree with? Explain why.答案：I think printed materials will always be popular. I mean, there's just something about holding a book in your hands. It's like a friend, you know? You can flip through the pages, smell that new book smell or the old book musty smell, which is kind of nostalgic.Sure, e books are convenient. You can carry a whole library on one device. But think about it, when you're at the beach, do you really want to risk getting your expensive e reader all sandy or wet? A paperback book, on the other hand, is perfect for that. You can just toss it in your beach bag.Also, a lot of people like to collect books. It's a hobby. There's no way an e book can give you that sense of building a collection on your bookshelf. Newspapers too. Some people like to spread out the newspaper in the morning, have their coffee, and read it. It's a routine that's hard to replace with swiping on a screen. So, printed materials are here to stay.Task 3.题目：阅读部分：学校计划给学生提供更多的户外活动空间，将一块大草坪改造成学生可以自由使用的休闲区，包括设置一些桌椅、烧烤架等设施。

¡¡¡¡ÎªÁË°ïÖú´ó¼Ò¸ßЧ±¸¿¼Íи££¬Îª´ó¼Ò´øÀ´Íи£TPO46×ÛºÏд×÷ÔĶÁÔ-ÎÄ+ÌýÁ¦Ô-ÎÄ+Âú·Ö·¶ÎÄ£¬Ï£Íû¶Ô´ó¼Ò±¸¿¼ÓÐËù°ïÖú¡£¡¡¡¡Íи£TPO46×ÛºÏд×÷ÔĶÁÔ-ÎÄÎı¾£º¡¡¡¡In the United States, medical information about patients traditionally has been recorded and stored on paper forms. However, there are efforts to persuade doctors to adopt electronic medical record systems in which information about patients is stored in electronic databases rather than on paper. It is argued that storing patients' medical records in electronic databases has several advantages over traditional paper-based record keeping. Reducing Costs First, the use of electronic records can help reduce costs by saving money on storing and transferring medical records. While paper records require a significant amount of storage space, electronic medical records take up virtually no space. Moreover, by having patients' records computerized in databases, doctors can easily access the records from almost anywhere and can easily duplicate and transfer them when necessary. This costs much less than copying, faxing, or transporting paper records from one location to another. Preventing Errors Second, electronic medical records are crucial to reducing the chances of medical errors. Illegible handwriting, improper transcription of data, and nonstandard organization of paper records have caused errors that in some cases have had serious consequences for the patients' health. In contrast, electronic records are associated with standardization of forms and legible computer fonts and thus minimize the possibility of human error. Aiding Research Third, electronic medical records can greatly aid medical research by making it possible to gather large amounts of data from patient records. It is often impractical, impossible, or prohibitively expensive to manually go through thousands of patients¡¯ paper records housed in doctors' offices. However, with the existence of electronic medical records, it would be simple to draw out the needed information from the medical databases because the databases are already formatted for data collection. Once in the electronic system, the records could be accessed from any research location.¡¡¡¡Íи£TPO46×ÛºÏд×÷ÌýÁ¦Ô-ÎÄÎı¾£º¡¡¡¡The benefits claimed for electronic medical records are actually every uncertain.¡¡¡¡First, the costs savings are unlikely be as significant as the reading suggests. For example, there probably won't be any savings related to record storage. You see, doctors who adopt electronic records usually don't throw out or discontinue the paper records. They keep the paper records as an emergency backup or because the paper originals with signatures are needed for legal reasons. So as a result, most doctors who adopt electronic record keeping still have to pay storage costs associated with paper-based record keeping.¡¡¡¡Second, electronic medical records cannot eliminate the possibility of errorscaused by poor handwriting or by mistakes in the transcription of data. That's because most doctors, including those who've adopted electronic medical record keeping, still use pen and paper while examining patients. They take notes and write prescriptions by hand. It's usually the office staff of a doctor who entered this information at a later time from the handwritten documents into electronic systems. So poor handwriting can still lead to errors in the records since the staff members have to interpret what the doctor has written.¡¡¡¡Third, medical research would not necessarily benefit from electronic record keeping. Researchers will still find it difficult to access and use medical information. That's because access to all medical information is subject to strict privacy laws in the United States. Privacy laws exist to allow patients to keep their medical information private if they wish to. As a consequence, researchers who want to collect data from electronic medical records have to follow strict and complicated procedures and obtain many permissions along the way, including permissions from the patients. And often, such permissions are not granted. For example, patients can block the use of their medical records for any purpose other than their own medical treatment.¡¡¡¡Íи£TPO46×ÛºÏд×÷Âú·Ö·¶ÎÄ£º¡¡¡¡In the lecture, the professor casts doubt on the reading passage¡¯s idea that storing patients¡¯ medical records in electronic databases has several advantages over traditional paper-based record keeping. The professor asserts that the benefits are actually uncertain. To begin with, according to the reading passage, electronic medical records will reduce costs of storing and transferring. The professor argues that the cost savings are unlikely as the reading suggests. He says that the doctors just keep the paper records as an emergency backup and most doctors who adopt electronic record keeping still have to pay storage costs associated with paper-based record keeping. On top of that, the reading passage claims that the use of electronic medical records will help reduce the chances of medical errors. On the contrary, the professor rebuts that the electronic records cannot eliminate the possibility of errors. She says that doctors still use pen and paper while examining patients. It is usually the office staff of a doctor who will enter the information at a later time from the handwritten documents into electronic systems. So poor handwriting can still lead to errors. Lastly, the professor rebuts the reading¡¯s point that electronic medical records will be beneficial to medical research through obtaining a great amount of data from patient records by stating that medical research would not necessarily benefit from electronic record keeping. The professor points out that access to all medical information is subject to strict privacy laws in the United States. Researchers who want to collect data from electronic medical records have to follow strict and complicated procedures and obtain many permissions including patient permissions along the way. Often such permissions are not granted.¡¡¡¡ÒÔÉÏÊǸø´ó¼ÒÕûÀíµÄÍи£TPO46×ÛºÏд×÷ÔĶÁÔ-ÎÄ+ÌýÁ¦Ô-ÎÄ+Âú·Ö·¶ÎÄ£¬Ï£Íû¶ÔÄãÓÐËù°。

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The Origins of Writing It was in Egypt and Mesopotamia(modern-day Iraq)that civilization arose,and it is there that we find the earliest examples of that key feature of civilization,writing.These examples,in the form of inscribed clay tablets that date to shortly before 3000 B.C.E.,have been discovered among the archaeological remains of the Sumerians,a gifted people settled in southern Mesopotamia. The Egyptians were not far behind in developing writing,but we cannot follow the history of their writing in detail because they used a perishable writing material.In ancient times the banks of the Nile were lined with papyrus plants,and from the papyrus reeds the Egyptians made a form of paper;it was excellent in quality but,like any paper,fragile.Mesopotamia’s rivers boasted no such useful reeds,but its land did provide good clay,and as a consequence the clay tablet became the standard material.Though clumsy and bulky it has a virtue dear to archaeologists:it is durable.Fire,for example,which is death to papyrus paper or other writing materials such as leather and wood,simply bakes it hard,thereby making it even more durable.So when a conqueror set a Mesopotamian palace ablaze,he helped ensure the survival of any clay tablets in it.Clay,moreover,is cheap,and forming it into tablets is easy,factors that helped the clay tablet become the preferred writing material not only throughout Mesopotamia but far outside it as well,in Syria,Asia Minor,Persia,and even for a while in Crete and Greece.Excavators have unearthed clay tablets in all these lands.In the Near East they remained in use for more than two and a half millennia,and in certain areas they lasted down to the beginning of the common era until finally yielding,once and for all,to more convenient alternatives. The Sumerians perfected a style of writing suited to clay.This script consists of simple shapes,basically just wedge shapes and lines that could easily be incised in soft clay with a reed or wooden stylus;scholars have dubbed it cuneiform from the wedge-shaped marks(cunei in Latin)that are its hallmark.Although the ingredients are merely wedges and lines,there are hundreds of combinations of these basic forms that stand for different sounds or words.Learning these complex signs required long training and much practice;inevitably,literacy was largely limited to a small professional class,the scribes. The Akkadians conquered the Sumerians around the middle of the third millennium B.C.E.,and they took over the various cuneiform signs used for writing Sumerian and gave them sound and word values that fit their own language.■A The Babylonians and Assyrians did the same,and so did peoples in Syria and Asia Minor.■B The literature of the Sumerians was treasured throughout the Near East,and long after Sumerian ceased to be spoken,the Babylonians and Assyrians and others kept it alive as a literarylanguage,the way Europeans kept Latin alive after the fall of Rome.■C For the scribes of these non-Sumerian languages,training was doubly demanding since they had to know the values of the various cuneiform signs for Sumerian as well as for their own language.■D The contents of the earliest clay tablets are simple notations of numbers of commodities—animals,jars,baskets,etc.Writing,it would appear,started as a primitive form of bookkeeping.Its use soon widened to document the multitudinous things and acts that are involved in daily life,from simple inventories of commodities to complicated governmental rules and regulations. Archaeologists frequently find clay tablets in batches.The batches,some of which contain thousands of tablets,consist for the most part of documents of the types just mentioned:bills,deliveries,receipts,inventories,loans,marriage contracts,divorce settlements,court judgments,and so on.These records of factual matters were kept in storage to be available for reference—they were,in effect,files,or,to use the term preferred by specialists in the ancient Near East,archives.Now and then these files include pieces of writing that are of a distinctly different order,writings that do not merely record some matter of fact but involve creative intellectual activity.They range from simple textbook material to literature and they make an appearance very early,even from the third millennium B.C.E. Paragraph 1 It was in Egypt and Mesopotamia(modern-day Iraq)that civilization arose,and it is there that we find the earliest examples of that key feature of civilization,writing.These examples,in the form of inscribed clay tablets that date to shortly before 3000 B.C.E.,have been discovered among the archaeological remains of the Sumerians,a gifted people settled in southern Mesopotamia. 1.The word“key”in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to A.frequent B.essential C.original D.familiar Paragraph 2 The Egyptians were not far behind in developing writing,but we cannot follow the history of their writing in detail because they used a perishable writing material.In。

托福听力tpo46lecture1、2、3、4原文+题目+答案+译文Lecture1 (2)原文 (2)题目 (4)答案 (6)译文 (6)Lecture2 (8)原文 (8)题目 (10)答案 (12)译文 (12)Lecture3 (14)原文 (14)题目 (16)答案 (18)译文 (18)Lecture4 (19)原文 (19)题目 (22)答案 (24)译文 (24)Lecture1原文NARRATOR:Listen to part of a lecture in a biology class.FEMALE PROFESSOR:I'd like to continue our discussion of animal behavior and start off today's class by focusing on a concept we haven't yet touched upon—swarm intelligence.Swarm intelligence is a collective behavior that emerges from a group of animals,like a colony of termites,a school of fish,or a flock of birds.Let's first consider the principles behind swarm intelligence,and we'll use the ant as our model.Now,an ant on its own is not that smart.When you have a group of ants,however, there you have efficiency in action.You see,there's no leader running an ant colony. Each individual,each individual ant operates by instinctively following a simple set of rules when foraging for food.Rule number1:Deposit a chemical marker…called a pheromone.And rule2:Follow the strongest pheromone path.The strongest pheromone path is advantageous to ants seeking food.So,for example,when ants leave the nest,they deposit a pheromone trail along the route they take.If they find food,they return to the nest on the same path and the pheromone trail gets stronger—it's doubled in strength.Because an ant that took a shorter path returns first,its pheromone trail is stronger,and other ants will follow it, according to rule2.And as more ants travel that path,the pheromone trail gets even stronger.So,what's happening here?Each ant follows two very basic rules,and each ant acts on information it finds in its immediate local environment.And it's important to note: Even though none of the individual ants is aware of the bigger plan,they collectively choose the shortest path between the nest and a food source because it's the most reinforced path.By the way,a-a few of you have asked me about the relevance of what we're studying to everyday life.And swarm intelligence offers several good examples of how concepts in biology can be applied to other fields.Well,businesses have been able to use this approach of following simple rules when designing complex systems,for instance,in telephone networks.When a call is placed from one city to another,it has to connect through a number of nodes along the way.At each point,a decision has to be made:Which direction does the call go from here?Well,a computer program was developed to answer this question based on rules that are similar to the ones that ants use to find food.Remember,individual ants deposit pheromones,and they follow the path that is most reinforced.Now,in the phone network,a computer monitors the connection speed of each path, and identifies the paths that are currently the fastest—the least crowded parts of the network.And this information,converted into a numeric code,is deposited at the network nodes.This reinforces the paths that are least crowded at the moment. The rule the telephone network follows is to always select the path that is most reinforced.So,similar to the ant's behavior,at each intermediate node,the call follows the path that is most reinforced.This leads to an outcome which is beneficial to the network as a whole,and calls get through faster.But getting back to animal behavior,another example of swarm intelligence is the way flocks of birds are able to fly together so cohesively.How do they coordinate their movements and know where they're supposed to be?Well,it basically boils down to three rules that each bird seems to follow.Rule1:Stay close to nearby birds.Rule2:Avoid collision with nearby birds.And rule3:Move in the average speed and direction of nearby birds.Oh,and by the way,if you're wondering how this approach can be of practical use for humans:The movie industry had been trying to create computer-generated flocks of birds in movie scenes.The question was how to do it easily on a large scale?A researcher used these threerules in a computer graphics program,and it worked!There have also been attempts to create computer-generated crowds of people using this bird flocking model of swarm intelligence.However,I'm not surprised that more research is needed.The three rules I mentioned might be great for bird simulations,but they don't take into account the complexity and unpredictability of human behavior.So,if you want to create crowds of people in a realistic way,that computer model might be too limited.题目1.What is the lecture mainly about?A.Various methods that ants use to locate foodB.A collective behavior common to humans and animalsC.A type of animal behavior and its application by humansD.Strategies that flocks of birds use to stay in formation2.According to the professor,what behavior plays an important role in the way ants obtain food?A.Ants usually take a different path when they return to their nest.B.Ants leave chemical trails when they are outside the nest.C.Small groups of ants search in different locations.D.Ants leave pieces of food along the path as markers.3.What are two principles of swarm intelligence based on the ant example?[Click on2answers.]A.Individuals are aware of the group goal.B.Individuals act on information in their local environment.C.Individuals follow a leader's guidance.D.Individuals instinctively follow a set of rules.4.According to the professor,what path is followed by both telephone calls on a network and ants seeking food?A.The path with the least amount of activityB.The most crowded pathC.The path that is most reinforcedD.The path that has intermediate stopping points5.Why does the professor mention movies?A.To identify movie scenes with computer-simulated flocks of birdsB.To identify a good source of information about swarm intelligenceC.To emphasize how difficult it still is to simulate bird flightD.To explain that some special effects in movies are based on swarm intelligence6.What is the professor's attitude about attempts to create computer-generated crowds of people?A.She believes that the rules of birds'flocking behavior do not apply to group behavior in humans.B.She thinks that crowd scenes could be improved by using the behavior of ant colonies as a model.C.She is surprised by how realistic the computer-generated crowds are.D.She is impressed that computer graphics can create such a wide range of emotions.答案C B BD C D A译文下面听一段生物学讲座的片段。

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托福TPO46口语Task4阅读文本： Warning Coloration Many animals have defense mechanisms that help protect them from predators. In some cases, these animals have distinct coloring that signals predators of the presence of such defenses. This type of coloring is called warning coloration. If a predator does not recognize the meaning of this coloration and attacks, it may suffer significant discomfort or injury when its would-be prey employs its defense mechanism. As a result, the predator learns to associate the warning coloration with negative consequences, and will from that point forward avoid attacking animals that have that coloration. 托福TPO46口语Task4听力文本： Now listen to part of a lecture in a biology class. We have a good example of this with the skunk. As most of you know, the skunk is a furry little mammal that can be found throughout North America. Skunks have a very distinctive marking. Their body is mostly black, and they have a big white stripe that runs from the top of their head all the way down their back and along their big bushy tail. So they're very easy to see and very easy to recognize even from a distance. Skunks also have special glands under their tail that produce a terrible, smelling liquid. And when skunks are approached by a predator, they lift their tail and spray the predator with this liquid. For example, let's say a wolf is preparing to attack a skunk. As the wolf approaches, the skunk lifts its tail and sprays the wolf. That's very very unpleasant for the wolf because it's now covered with this repulsive, foul-smelling liquid. The wolf doesn't want to be sprayed again, so it backs off and leaves the skunk alone. And from then on, whenever that wolf sees a furry, little black body with a big white stripe running from its head to its tail, it'll recall that terrible smell and it'll be sure to stay far away. 托福TPO46口语Task4题目： Explain how the professor’s example from the lecture illustrates warning coloration. 托福TPO46口语Task4满分范文： Warning coloration refers to a type of coloring that animals have to signal predators of the presence of defenses. In the lecture, the professor uses skunk as an example to illustrate this term. Skunks have a big white stripe that runs from the top of the head down their back and along the big bushy tail. The special glands under their tail can produce a terrible, smelling liquid. When a wolf is preparing to attack a skunk, the skunk lifts its tail and sprays the wolf. So the wolf backs off and leaves the skunk alone. From then on, whenever the wolf sees the skunk, it will recall the terrible smell and stay far away from it. 以上是给大家整理的托福TPO46口语Task4阅读文本+听力文本+题目+满分范文，希望对你有所帮助!。

托福tpo46r-3 Ecosystem Diversity and Stability原文 (1)译文 (2)题目 (3)答案 (8)背景知识 (8)原文Ecosystem Diversity and Stability①Conservation biologists have long been concerned that species extinction could have significant consequences for the stability of entire ecosystems—groups of interacting organisms and the physical environment that they inhabit. An ecosystem could survive the loss of some species, but if enough species were lost, the ecosystem would be severely degraded. In fact, it is possible that the loss of a single important species could start a cascade of extinctions that might dramatically change an entire ecosystem. A good illustration of this occurred after sea otters were eliminated from some Pacific kelp (seaweed) bed ecosystems: the kelp beds were practically obliterated too because in the absence of sea otter predation, sea urchin populations exploded and consumed most of the kelp and other macroalgae.②It is usually claimed that species-rich ecosystems tend to be more stable than species-poor ecosystems. Three mechanisms by which higher diversity increases ecosystem stability have been proposed. First, if there are more species in an ecosystem, then its food web will be more complex, with greater redundancy among species in terms of their nutritional roles. In other words, in a rich system if a species is lost, there is a good chance that other species will take over its function as prey, predator, producer, decomposer, or whatever role it played. Second, diverse ecosystems may be less likely to be invaded by new species, notably exotics (foreign species living outside their native range), that would disrupt the ecosystem’s structure and function. Third, in a species-rich ecosystem, diseases may spread more slowly because most species will be relatively less abundant, thus increasing the average distance between individuals of the same species and hampering disease transmission among individuals.③Scientific evidence to illuminate these ideas has been slow in coming, and many shadows remain. One of the first studies to provide data supporting a relationship between diversity and stability examined how grassland plants responded to a drought. Researchers D. Tilman and J A. Downing used the ratio of above-ground biomass in 1988 (after two years of drought) to that in 1986(predrought) in 207 plots in a grassland field in the Cedar Creek Natural History Area in Minnesota as an index of ecosystem response to disruption by drought. In an experiment that began in 1982, they compared these values with the number of plant species in each plot and discovered that the plots with a greater number of plant species experienced a less dramatic reduction in biomass. Plots with more than ten species had about half as much biomass in 1988 as in 1986, whereas those with fewer than five species only produced roughly one-eighth as much biomass after the two-year drought. Apparently, species-rich plots were likely to contain some drought-resistant plant species that grew better in drought years, compensating for the poor growth of less-tolerant species.④To put this result in more general terms, a species-rich ecosystem may be more stable because it is more likely to have species with a wide array of responses to variable conditions such as droughts. Furthermore, a species-rich ecosystem is more likely to have species with similar ecological functions, so that if a species is lost from an ecosystem, another species, probably a competitor, is likely to flourish and occupy its functional role. Both of these, variability in responses and functional redundancy, could be thought of as insurance against disturbances.⑤The Minnesota grassland research has been widely accepted as strong evidence for the diversity- stability theory; however, its findings have been questioned, and similar studies on other ecosystems have not always found a positive relationship between diversity and stability. Clearly, this is a complex issue that requires further field research with a broad spectrum of ecosystems and species: grassland plants and computer models will only take us so far. In the end, despite insightful attempts to detect some general patterns, we may find it very difficult to reduce this topic to a simple, universal truth.译文生态系统多样性与稳定性①保护生物学家长期以来一直担心，物种灭绝可能对整个生态系统的稳定产生重大影响，包括相互作用的生物群体及其栖息的物理环境。

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托福TPO46口语Task3阅读文本： No More Posters Outside the Student Center Traditionally, students have been permitted to put up posters advertising events, clubs, and activities on the concrete wall outside the main entrance to the student center. Beginning next semester, however, students will no longer be allowed to attach anything to the front of the building. According to a university official, the new policy is part of an effort to improve the campus’s appearance. “The posters on the wall make the building unattractive," he said, "so they have to come down." He added that posters can instead be displayed in the dining hall: "Students can use the bulletin board in the dining hall for posters, so the policy change should not be a problem. 托福TPO46口语Task3听力文本： Now listen to two students discussing the article Woman：It's really too bad about this new policy. Man：Why do you say that? Woman：Well, I mean, you don't notice it so much now, but if you take a good look at that building, it's pretty boring, just your basic square building with gray concrete walls and no kind of ornamentation or anything to make it interesting. Man：Yes. I guess that's true now that I think about it. Woman：Yeah. The stuff that goes up there now, a lot of it is artistic and colorful, it gives the building character and personality. Man：True. Woman：Plus, it's always changing and that's cool too. Man：Yeah. You are right. Woman：So what's gonna be left? A boring old concrete wall. Man：Yeah. I guess it will be kind of plain. Woman：Yeah. And the idea about the dining hall.not everybody eats there. A lot of students eat at the Snack Bar or off campus. Some students bring lunch from home and eat outside under the trees. Man：That's true. I never eat in the dining hall. Woman：Okay. See what I mean? So how are you going to see those announcements? Man：I won't. Woman：I rest my case. 托福TPO46口语Task3题目： The woman expresses her opinion about the new policy. Briefly describe the policy. Then state the woman’s opinion about the policy, and explain the reasons she gives for holding that opinion. 托福TPO46口语Task3满分范文： According to the university official, students will no longer be allowed to attach anything to the front of the building beginning next semester because the posters on the wall make the building unattractive and posters will be displayed in the dining hall. However, in the conversation, the girl thinks it is too bad about the new policy. Firstly, the posters there make the basic square building with gray concrete walls artistic and colorful. It also gives the building character and personality. Secondly, the stuff on the wall is always changing and it is cool. Besides, not everybody eats at the dining hall, so the posters in the dining hall is meaningless. 以上是给大家整理的托福TPO46口语Task3阅读文本+听力文本+题目+满分范文，希望对你有所帮助!。

托福阅读tpo46R-2 原文+译文+题目+答案+背景知识原文 (1)译文 (2)题目 (3)答案 (7)背景知识 (8)原文The Commercial Revolution in Medieval Europe①Beginning in the 1160s, the opening of new silver mines in northern Europe led to the minting and circulation of vast quantities of silver coins. The widespread use of cash greatly increased the volume of international trade. Business procedures changed radically. The individual traveling merchant who alone handled virtually all aspects of exchange evolved into an operation involving three separate types of merchants: the sedentary merchant who ran the "home office" financing and organizing the firm's entire export-import trade; the carriers who transported goods by land and sea; and the company agents resident in cities abroad who, on the advice of the home office, looked after sales and procurements.②Commercial correspondence, unnecessary when one businessperson oversaw everything and made direct bargains with buyers and sellers, multiplied. Regular courier service among commercial cities began. Commercial accounting became more complex when firms had to deal with shareholders, manufacturers, customers, branch offices, employees, and competing firms. Tolls on roads became high enough to finance what has been called a road revolution, involving new surfaces and bridges, new passes through the Alps, and new inns and hospices for travelers. The growth of mutual trust among merchants facilitated the growth of sales on credit and led to new developments in finance, such as the bill of exchange, a device that made the long, slow, and very dangerous shipment of coins unnecessary.③The ventures of the German Hanseatic League illustrate these advancements. The Hanseatic League was a mercantile association of European towns dating from 1159. The league grew by the end of the fourteenth century to include about 200 cities from Holland to Poland. Across regular, well- defined trade routes along the Baltic and North seas, the ships of league cities carried furs, wax, copper, fish, grain, timber, and wine. These goods were exchanged for finished products, mainly cloth and salt, from western cities. At cities such as Bruges and London, Hanseatic merchants secured special trading concessions, exempting them from all tolls and allowing them to trade at local fairs. Hanseatic merchants established foreign trading centers, the most famous of which was the London Steelyard, a walledcommunity with warehouses, offices, a church, and residential quarters for company representatives. By the late thirteenth century, Hanseatic merchants had developed an important business technique, the business register. Merchants publicly recorded their debts and contracts and received a league guarantee for them. This device proved a decisive factor in the later development of credit and commerce in northern Europe.④These developments added up to what one modern scholar has called "a commercial revolution." In the long run, the commercial revolution of the High Middle Ages (a d 1000-1300) brought about radical change in European society. One remarkable aspect of this change was that the commercial classes constituted a small part of the total population—never more than 10 percent. They exercised an influence far in excess of their numbers. The commercial revolution created a great deal of new wealth, which meant a higher standard of living. The existence of wealth did not escape the attention of kings and other rulers. Wealth could be taxed, and through taxation, kings could create strong and centralized states. In the years to come, alliances with the middle classes were to enable kings to weaken aristocratic interests and build the states that came to be called modern.⑤The commercial revolution also provided the opportunity for thousands of agricultural workers to improve their social position. The slow but steady transformation of European society from almost completely rural and isolated to relatively more urban constituted the greatest effect of the commercial revolution that began in the eleventh century. Even so, merchants and business people did not run medieval communities, except in central and northern Italy and in the county of Flanders. Most towns remained small. The nobility and churchmen determined the predominant social attitudes, values, and patterns of thought and behavior. The commercial changes of the eleventh through fourteenth centuries did however, lay the economic foundation for the development of urban life and culture.译文中世纪欧洲的商业革命①从12世纪60年代开始，北欧新银矿的开发导致了大量银币的铸造和流通。

Passage 1Q 1正确答案：B解析：这句话的意思是，正是在Egypt和Mesopotamia，我们发现了文明的关键特征。

句中的key作形容词，意为“至关重要的；关键的”。

四个选项中，A意为“频繁的”，B意为“极其重要的”，C意为“原始的”，D意为“熟悉的”，只有B的意思与key相似，故为答案。

Q 2正确答案：C解析：这句话的意思是，尽管clay tablet显得庞大而笨拙，但它有个尤为珍贵的优点：持久耐用。

这里的virtue意为“优点，长处”。

四个选项中，只有C与它意义相似，故为答案。

Q 3正确答案：A解析：高亮句子中含有一个因果关系：由于clay便宜且容易制成tablets，因而它在许多地方（如，Mesopotamia，Syria, Asia Minor, Persia等）很受欢迎。

A是对原句的同义转述，故为答案。

B是对原句信息的胡乱嫁接。

C是对原句的不完整理解。

D颠倒了原句的因果关系。

Q 4正确答案：B解析：第2段提到，Though clumsy and bulky it has a virtue dear to archaeologists: it is durable … Clay, moreover, is cheap, and forming it into tablets is easy，可见，尽管clay庞大笨拙，但它便宜、易塑形且具有持久性，因而成为了理想的书写材料。

B的内容符合原文，故为答案。

Q 5正确答案：C解析：第1段提到，关于书写的一些examples主要是在Sumerians的考古遗址中发现的。

第2段就开始介绍埃及人使用的纸张质量高但是易碎，不宜保存，而Sumerians使用clay tablet的方式却能够持久保存，这也就揭示了为什么只有Sumerians的考古遗址有存样的原因。

Q 6正确答案：C解析：A对应该段第2句内容。

B对应该段第1句内容。

D对应该段最后一句。

托福TPO46阅读文本+题目+答案1. The Origins of WritingIt was in Egypt and Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) that civilization arose, and it is there that we find the earliest examples of that key feature of civilization, writing. These examples, in the form of inscribed clay tablets that date to shortly before 3000 B.C.E., have been discovered among the archaeological remains of the Sumerians, a gifted people settled in southern Mesopotamia.The Egyptians were not far behind in developing writing, but we cannot follow the history of their writing in detail because they used a perishable writing material. In ancient times the banks of the Nile were lined with papyrus plants, and from the papyrus reeds the Egyptians made a form of paper; it was excellent in quality but, like any paper, fragile. Mesopotamia’s rivers boasted no such useful reeds, but its land did provide good clay, and as a consequence the clay tablet became the standard material. Though clumsy and bulky it has a virtue dear to archaeologists: it is durable. Fire, for example, which is death to papyrus paper or other writing materials such as leather and wood, simply bakes it hard, thereby making it even more durable. So when a conqueror set a Mesopotamian palace ablaze, he helped ensure the survival of any clay tablets in it. Clay, moreover, is cheap, and forming it into tablets is easy, factors that helped the clay tablet become the preferred writing material not only throughout Mesopotamia but far outside it as well, in Syria, Asia Minor, Persia, and even for a while in Crete and Greece. Excavators have unearthed clay tablets in all these lands. In the Near East they remained in use for more than two and a half millennia, and in certain areas they lasted down to the beginning of the common era until finally yielding, once and for all, to more convenient alternatives.The Sumerians perfected a style of writing suited to clay. This script consists of simple shapes, basically just wedge shapes and lines that could easily be inc ised in soft clay with a reed or wooden stylus; scholars have dubbed it cuneiform from the wedge-shaped marks (cunei in Latin) that are its hallmark Although the ingredients are merely wedges and lines, there are hundreds of combinations of these basic forms that stand for different sounds or words. Learning these complex signs required long training and much practice; inevitably, literacy was largely limited to a small professional class, the scribes.The Akkadians conquered the Sumerians around the middle of the third millennium B.C.E., and they took over the various cuneiform signs used for writing Sumerian and gave them sound and word values that fit their own language. ■ The Babylonians and Assyrians did the same, and so di d peoples in Syria and Asia Minor. ■ The literature of the Sumerians was treasured throughout the Near East, and long after Sumerian ceased to be spoken, the Babylonians and Assyrians and others kept it alive as a literary language, the way Europeans kept Latin alive after the fall of Rome. ■ For the scribes of these non-Sumerian languages, training was doubly demanding since they had to know the values of the various cuneiform signs for Sumerian as well as for their own language. ■The contents of the earliest clay tablets are simple notations of numbers of commodities—animals, jars, baskets, etc. Writing, it would appear, started as a primitive form of bookkeeping. Its use soon widened to document the multitudinousthings and acts that are involved in daily life, from simple inventories of commodities to complicated governmental rules and regulations.Archaeologists frequently find clay tablets in batches. The batches, some of which contain thousands of tablets, consist for the most part of documents of the types just mentioned: bills, deliveries, receipts, inventories, loans, marriage contracts, divorce settlements, court judgments, and so on. These records of factual matters were kept in storage to be available for reference-they were, in effect, files, or, to use the term preferred by specialists in the ancient Near East, archives. Now and then these files include pieces of writing that are of a distinctly different order, writings that do not merely record some matter of fact but involve creative intellectual activity. They range from simple textbook material to literature-and they make an appearance very early, even from the third millennium B C E.1. The word “key” in the passage is closest in meaning toO frequentO essentialO originalO familiar2. Th e word “virtue” in the passage is closest in meaning toO priceO designO desirable qualityO physical characteristic3. Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information In the highlighted sentence in the passage? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.O In part because of its low cost and ease of use, clay became the preferred writing material throughout Mesopotamia and well beyond itO Clay was cheap throughout Mesopotamia, so clay tablets from Mesopotamia became the preferred writing material as far as the Mediterranean.O For a while, the day tablet was the preferred writing material in Crete and Greece.O Moreover, because day was used as the writing material of choice in Mesopotamia, Syria, Asia Minor, Persia, and the Mediterranean, it was cheap and popular.4. What can be inferred from paragraph 2 about clay as a writing material?O It had to be baked before it could be written onO Its good points outweighed its bad points.O Its durability was its most important feature for its users.O It was not available in Egypt.5. In paragraph 2, why does the author discuss the Egyptian use of papyrus as a writing material^O To describe the superiofity of papyrus over leattier and wood as a writing materialO To explain why writing in Egypt did not develop as quickly as it did MesopotamiaO To explain why archaeologists' knowledge of the early history of writing relies mainly on Sumerian cuneiform O To explain why the Sumerians preferred clay tablets for writing over papyrus6. According to paragraph 3, all of the following are true of cuneiform writing EXCEPT:O It was composed of very simple shapesO It was perfected by the ancient Sumerians.O It influenced the choice of material on which it was written.O It was understood by very few Sumerians.7. According to paragraph 4, how did the Akkadians use the Sumerian language?O They used Sumerian for speaking but used their own national language for writing.O They used the complex cuneiform signs developed by the Babylonians and Assyrians rather than the Sumerian signs.O They developed their own cuneiform shapes on clay tablets to replace those used by the Sumerians.O They assigned new sound and word values to the signs of Sumerian cuneiform.8. Paragraph 4 answers all the following questions about Sumerian writing in the period after the Sumerians were conquered EXCEPT:O Did Sumerian literature continue to be read?O Did Sumerian continue to be spoken?O Did scribes compose new texts in Sumerian?O Did Sumerian have the same fate as Latin had after the fall of Rome?9. The word "document" in the passage is closest in meaning toO includeO influenceO organizeO record10. According to paragraph 5, writing was first used forO simple bookkeepingO descriptions of daily eventsO counting the contents of clay tabletsO government reports11. The phrase “Now and then” in the passage is closest in meaning toO alwaysO occasionallyO sooner or laterO first and last12. According to paragraph 6, large batches of clay writing tablets were stored because the tabletsO were being produced quickly and in large quantitiesO did not serve any practical purpose for most MesopotamiansO contained information that needed to be available for future referenceO could not be used again once they had been written on13. Look at the four squares [■] that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage.However, the Sumerian language did not entirely disappear.Where would the sentence best fit? Click on a square [■] to add the sentence to the passage14. Directions: An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided below. Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer choices that express the most important ideas in the passage Some sentences do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are not presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage. This question is worth 2 points.Drag your answer choices to the spaces where they belong To remove an answer choice, click on it.To review the passage, click VIEW TEXTThe earliest examples of writing have been found in Mesopotamia and date to shortly before 3000 B.C.E.Answer ChoicesWriting was invented in the same areas in which civilization began by the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, Asia Minor and the Mediterranean.The development of cuneiform is known because it was written on a long-lasting material and because it was long and widely used throughout the ancient Near East.Cuneiform tablets generally dealt with business and factual matters, but other topics, including literature, were also recorded and valued.Writing was developed first by the Sumerians using wedge shaped marks (cuneiform) on clay tablets and then by the Egyptians using papyrus paper.Scribes using cuneiform in Assyria, Babylon, Syria and Asia Minor had to learn allthe languages that used the cuneiform script.Batches of clay tablets, sometimes with as many as a thousand tablets each, are often found by archaeologists.2.The Commercial Revolution in Medieval EuropeBeginning in the 1160s, the opening of new silver mines in northern Europe led to the minting and circulation of vast quantities of silver coins. The widespread use of cash greatly increased the volume of international trade. Business procedures changed radically. The individual traveling merchant who alone handled virtually all aspects of exchangeevolved into an operation invoh/ing three separate types of merchants: the sedentary merchant who ran the "home office," financing and organizing the firm’s entire export-import trade; the carriers who transported goods by land and sea; and the company agents resident in cities abroad who, on the advice of the home office, looked after sales and procurements.Commercial correspondence, unnecessary when one businessperson oversaw everything and made direct bargains with buyers and sellers, multiplied. Regular courier service among commercial cities began. Commercial accounting became more complex when firms had to deal with shareholders, manufacturers, customers, branch offices, employees, and competing firms. Tolls on roads became high enough to finance what has been called a road revolution, involving new surfaces and bridges, new passes through the Alps, and new inns and hospices for travelers. The growth of mutual trust among merchants facilitated the growth of sales on credit and led to new developments in finance, such as the bill of exchange, a device that made the long, slow, and very dangerous shipment of coins unnecessary.The ventures of the German Hanseatic League illustrate these advancements. The Hanseatic League was a mercantile association of European towns dating from 1159. The league grew by the end of the fourteenth century to include about 200 cities from Holland to Poland. Across regular, well- defined trade routes along the Baltic and North seas, the ships of league cities carried furs, wax, copper, fish, grain, timber, and wine. These goods were exchanged for finished products, mainly cloth and salt, from western cities. At cities such as Bruges and London, Hanseatic merchants secured special trading concessions, exempting them from all tolls and allowing them to trade at local fairs. Hanseatic merchants established foreign trading centers, the most famous of which was the London Steelyard, a walled community with warehouses, offices, a church, and residential quarters for company representatives. By the late thirteenth century, Hanseatic merchants had developed an important business technique, the business register. Merchants publicly recorded their debts and contracts and received a league guarantee for them. This device proved a decisive factor in the later development of credit and commerce in northern Europe.These developments added up to what one modern scholar has called "a commercial revolution." In the long run, the commercial revolution of the High Middle Ages (A D 1000-1300) brought about radical change in European society. One remarkable aspect of this change was that the commercial classes constituted a small part of the total population—never more than 10 percent. They exercised an influence far in excess of their numbers. The commercial revolution created a great deal of new wealth, which meant a higher standard of living. The existence of wealth did not escape the attention of kings and other rulers. Wealth could be taxed, and through taxation, kings could create strong and centralized states. In the years to come, alliances with themiddle classes were to enable kings to weaken aristocratic interests and build the states that came to be called modern.The commercial revolution also provided the opportunity for thousands of agricultural workers to improve their social position. The slow but steady transformation of European society from almost completely rural and isolated to relatively more urban constituted the greatest effect of the commercial revolution that began in the eleventh century.Even so, merchants and business people did not run medieval communities, except in central and northern Italy and in the county of Flanders. Most towns remained small. The nobility and churchmen determined the predominant social attitudes, values, and patterns of thought and behavior. The commercial changes of the eleventh through fourteenth centuries did however, lay the economic foundation for the development of urban life and culture.1. According to paragraph 1, one effect of the increased use of cash was thatO an individual merchant no longer performed all aspects of trading operationsO a company's home office declined in importanceO merchants no longer had to transport their goods to distant placesO the volume of trade declined in areas lacking silver mines2. The word “radically”，in the passage is closest in meaning toO fundamentallyO quicklyO unexpectedlyO gradually3. The word oversaw" in the passage is closest In meaning toO understoodO includedO deliveredO supervised4. According to paragraph 2, which of the following was NOT an effect of the change in business procedures?O An increase in credit salesO The use of courier services between citiesO The adoption of simpler accounting proceduresO The improvement of roads5. Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in the passage? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.O Credit sales and bills of exchange were devices that merchants developed in order to increase their mutual trust.O Merchants developed ways to finance their sales without having to rely on slow and dangerous shipments of coins.O Greater trust among merchants led to an increase in credit sales and to the use of bills of exchange that made the shipping of coins unnecessary.O Merchants began to trust one another when it became too slow and dangerous for a single merchant to ship coins.6. According to paragraph 3, Hanseatic merchants benefited by all of the following EXCEPTO the use of trading centers in distant citiesO a new system of recording commercial transactionsO the opening of overland trade routes across northern EuropeO access to markets in about 200 cities7. The word "decisive" in the passage is closest in meaning toO probableO determiningO helpfulO limiting8. Why does the author provide the information in paragraph 4 that the commercial classes never exceeded 10 percent of the population?O To argue that the wealth created by the commercial revolution benefited only a small number of people O To challenge the view that the commercial classes made up a majority of the population of EuropeO To suggest a reason that the commercial revolution ended around A. D. 1300O To emphasize the point that the commercial revolution was brought about by a small part of the population9. According to paragraph 4, which of the following was associated with the rise of modem states?O Increased wealth for the ruling classesO The weakening of the aristocracyO The decline of the middle classO A reduction in taxes10. The word "alliances" in the passage is closest in meaning toO transactionsO communicationsO partnershipsO conflicts11. According to paragraph 5, the most important result of the commercial revolutionwas toO simplify the organization of European societyO provide employment to agricultural workersO encourage merchants to become community leadersO change Europe from a rural to a more urban society12. Paragraph 5 supports which of the following inferences about the commercial revolution between ad 1000 and 1300?O It had very little impact on social attitudes and values.O It brought about major political changes throughout Europe.O It lessened the influence of the church.O It increased the population of small towns.13. Look at the four squares [■] that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage.While It originated in the German city of Liibeck, it began to expand in 1241 when Liibeck entered into a mutual protection treaty with the city of Hamburg.Where would the sentence best fit? Click on a square [■] to add the sentence to the passage.14. Directions: An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided below. Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer choices that express the most important ideas in the passage. Some sentences do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are not presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage. This question is worth 2 points.Drag your answer choices to the spaces where they belong To remove an answer choice, click on itTo review the passage, click VIEW TEXTDuring the High Middle Ages (A.D. 1000-1300), Europe underwent a commercial revolution.Answer ChoicesMerchants adopted new accounting and trading procedures to make long-distance trading more efficient.The faster transportation made possible by improved roads expanded the variety of goods that could be brought to European towns from far away.The increasing importance of commercial trade led to a decline in the influence of traditional sources of power, such as kings and church leaders.The mining of silver improved the security of commercial transactions by allowing coins to replace credit and bills of exchange as the means of exchange.The Hanseatic League was an association of European towns that obtained shipping, trading, and financial benefits for its members.European society became increasingly urban, with better living conditions and a stronger centralized government.3. Ecosystem Diversity and StabilityConservation biologists have long been concerned that species extinction could have significant consequences for the stability of entire ecosystems—groups of interacting organisms and the physical environment that they inhabit. An ecosystem could survive the loss of some species, but if enough species were lost, the ecosystem would be severely degraded. In fact, it is possible that the loss of a single important species could start a cascade of extinctions that might dramatically change an entire ecosystem. A good illustration of this occurred after sea otters were eliminated from some Pacific kelp (seaweed) bed ecosystems: the kelp beds were practically obliterated too because in the absence of sea otter predation, sea urchin populations exploded and consumed most of the kelp and other macroalgae.It is usually claimed that species-rich ecosystems tend to be more stable than species-poor ecosystems. Three mechanisms by which higher diversity increases ecosystem stability have been proposed. First, if there are more species in an ecosystem, then its food web will be more complex, with greater redundancy among species in terms of their nutritional roles. In other words, in a rich system if a species is lost, there is a good chance that other species will take over its function as prey, predator, producer, decomposer, or whatever role it played. Second, diverse ecosystems may be less likely to be invaded by new species, notably exotics (foreign species living outside their native range), that would disrupt the ecosystem’s structure and function. Third, in a spe cies-rich ecosystem, diseases may spread more slowly because most species will be relatively less abundant, thus increasing the average distance between individuals of the same species and hampering disease transmission among individuals.Scientific eviden ce to illuminate these ideas has been slow in coming, and many shadows remain. ■ One of the first studies to provide data supporting a relationship between diversity and stability examined how grassland plants responded to a drought. ■ Researchers D. Tilma n and J A. Downing used the ratio of above-ground biomass in 1988 (after two years of drought) to that in 1986 (predrought) in 207 plots in a grassland field in the Cedar Creek Natural History Area in Minnesota as an index of ecosystem response to disrupti on by drought. ■ In an experiment that began in 1982, they compared these values with the number of plant species in each plot and discovered that the plots with a greater number of plant species experienced a less dramatic reduction in biomass. ■ Plots wi th more than ten species had about half as much biomass in 1988 as in 1986, whereas those with fewer than five species only produced roughly one-eighth as much biomass after the two-year drought. Apparently, species-rich plots were likely to contain some drought-resistant plant species that grew better in drought years, compensating for the poor growth of less-tolerant species.To put this result in more general terms, a species-rich ecosystem may be more stable because it is more likely to have species with a wide array of responses to variable conditions such as droughts. Furthermore, a species-rich ecosystem is more likely to have species with similar ecological functions, so that if a species is lost from an ecosystem, another species, probably a competitor, is likely to flourish and occupy its functional role. Both of these, variability in responses and functional redundancy, could be thought of as insurance against disturbances.The Minnesota grassland research has been widely accepted as strong evidence for the diversity- stability theory; however, its findings have been questioned, and similar studies on other ecosystems have not always found a positive relationship between diversity and stability. Clearly, this is a complex issue that requires further field research with a broad spectrum of ecosystems and species: grassland plants and computer models will only take us so far. In the end, despite insightful attempts to detect some general patterns, we may find it very difficult to reduce this topic to a simple, universal truth.1. The word "significant" in the passage is closest in meaning toO directO importantO long-termO surprising2. According to paragraph 1, why has the extinction of species been a concern for conservation biologists?O When ecosystems lose just one species, they undergo permanent change.O The extinction of a particular predator species could cause an overpopulation of certain prey species.O The loss of one or more species could cause the decline of a whole ecosystem.O The extinction of a single species is evidence that plant-food sources are in danger of disappearing.3. According to paragraph 1, what was the result of the removal of Pacific sea otters?O The kelp and sea urchins were destroyed by new predators.O The uncontrolled population of sea urchins ate most of the kelp plants.O Without sea otters, the kelp beds soon became overgrown.O Macroalgae remained as the primary population in the ecosystem.4. The word “redundancy” in the passage is closest in meaning toO duplicationO varietyO requirementsO flexibility5. What is the function of paragraph 2 in the passage?O To present a hypothesis about ecosystem diversity and some reasons why it might be trueO To give examples of types of ecosystems that have the greatest diversityO To contradict a previous belief about the stability of species-rich ecosystemsO To contrast species-rich and species-poor ecosystems6. According to paragraph 2, which of the following increases the stability of anecosystem?O Species in which producers outnumber predatorsO New or exotic species that increase ecosystem diversityO Heavily populated species that are free of diseaseO Species that are diverse but have similar nutritional roles7. Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in the passage? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.O In any ecosystem, as the number of individuals in the same species increases, the rate of disease transmission slows down.O Ecosystems that have a small number of different species tend to be disease-free, because the species’ habitats are at a safe distance from each other.O In ecosystems with many species, diseases spread more slowly because there are fewer individuals in a species and, as a result, the individuals are more widely scattered.O The average distance between individuals in a species-rich ecosystem increases, so diseases are prevented from being communicated between species.8. The phrase ”compensating for" in the passage Is closest in meaning toO working againstO leaving outO making up forO spreading over9. What Is the main importance of the study discussed in paragraph 3?O It examines the response of certain grassland plants to a drought.O It contains an index of plants that survived well in times of drought.O It provides scientific evidence that diversity helps to make ecosystems stable.O It shows that ecosystems contain both resistant species and less tolerant ones.10. Select the TWO answer choices that, according to paragraph 4, are conclusions that can be drawn from the study by Tilman and Downing. To receive credit you must select TWO answer choices.□ A diverse ecosystem will have species that respond differently to a variety of conditions.□ Species within a species-rich ecosystem are more likely to have competitors.□ An ecosystem is more likely to develop diverse and stable species when it is exposed to extreme conditions.□ Species with similar ecological function s will perform the function of a lost species.11. The word “detect” in the passage is closest in meaning toO repeatO alterO findO emphasize12. According to paragraph 5, which of the following is true about Tilman and Downing’s findings?O General patterns of diversity and stability have been established as a result of the findings.O Questions about the findings have been refuted by computer models.O The findings have been tested in a broad spectrum of ecosystems with similar results.O The findings are not sufficient to prove a definite link between diversity and stability in ecosystems.13. Look at the four squares [■] that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage.It seems clear that there is room for a great deal more research, although some work has been done.Where would the sentence best fit? Click on a square [■] to add the sentence to the passage.。

The Origin of WritingIt was in Egypt and Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) that civilization arose, and it is there that we find the earliest examples of that key feature of civilization, writing. These examples, in the form of inscribed clay tablets that date to shortly before 3000 B.C.E., have been discovered among the archaeological remains of the Sumerians, a gifted people settled in southern Mesopotamia.The word “key” in the passage is closest in meaning to∙frequent∙essential∙original∙familiarThe Egyptians were not far behind in developing writing, but we cannot follow the history of their writing in detail because they used a perishable writing material. In ancient times the banks of the Nile were lined with papyrus plants, and from the papyrus reeds the Egyptians made a form of paper; it was excellent in quality but, like any paper, fragile. Mesopotamia's rivers boasted no such useful reeds, but its land did provide good clay, and as a consequence the clay tablet became the standard material. Though clumsy and bulky it has a virtue dear to archaeologists: it is durable. Fire, for example, which is death to papyrus paper or other writing materials such as leather and wood, simply bakes it hard, thereby making it even more durable. So when a conqueror set a Mesopotamian palace ablaze, he helped ensure the survival of any clay tablets in it. Clay, moreover, is cheap, and forming it into tablets is easy, factors that helped the clay tablet become the preferred writing material not only throughout Mesopotamia but far outside it as well, in Syria, Asia Minor, Persia, and even for a while in Crete and Greece. Excavators have unearthed clay tablets in all these lands. In the Near East they remained in use for more than two and a half millennia, and in certain areas they lasted down to the beginning of the common era until finally yielding, once and for all, to more convenient alternatives.The word “virtue” in the passage is closest in meaning to∙price∙design∙desirable quality∙physical characteristicWhich of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in the passage? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.∙In part because of its low cost and ease of use, clay became the preferred writing material throughout Mesopotamia and well beyond it.∙Clay was cheap throughout Mesopotamia, so clay tablets from Mesopotamia became the preferred writing material as far as the Mediterranean.∙For a while, the clay tablet was the preferred writing material in Crete and Greece.∙Moreover, because clay was used as the writing material of choice in Mesopotamia, Syria, Asia Minor, Persia, and the Mediterranean, it was cheap and popular.∙What can be inferred from paragraph 2 about clay as a writing material?∙It had to be baked before it could be written on.∙Its good points outweighed its bad points.∙Its durability was its most important feature for its users.∙It was not available in Egypt.In paragraph 2, why does the author discuss the Egyptian use of papyrus as a writing material?∙To describe the superiority of papyrus over leather and wood as a writing material∙To explain why writing in Egypt did not develop as quickly as it did Mesopotamia∙To explain why archaeologists’ knowledge of the early history of writing relies mainly on Sumerian cuneiform∙To explain why the Sumerians preferred clay tablets for writing over papyrusThe Sumerians perfected a style of writing suited to clay. This script consists of simple shapes, basically just wedge shapes and lines that could easily be incised in soft clay with a reed or wooden stylus; scholars have dubbed it cuneiform from the wedge-shaped marks (cunei in Latin) that are its hallmark. Although the ingredients are merely wedges and lines, there are hundreds of combinations of these basic forms that stand for different sounds or words. Learning these complex signs required long training and much practice; inevitably, literacy was largely limited to a small professional class, the scribes.According to paragraph 3, all of the following are true of cuneiform writing EXCEPT:∙It was composed of very simple shapes.∙It was perfected by the ancient Sumerians.∙It influenced the choice of material on which it was written.∙It was understood by very few Sumerians.The Akkadians conquered the Sumerians around the middle of the third millennium B.C.E.,and they took over the various cuneiform signs used for writing Sumerian and gave them sound and word values that fit their own language. [] The Babylonians and Assyrians did the same, and so did peoples in Syria and Asia Minor. [] The literature of the Sumerians was treasured throughout the Near East, and long after Sumerian ceased to be spoken, the Babylonians and Assyrians and others kept it alive as a literary language, the way Europeans kept Latin alive after the fall of Rome.[] For the scribes of these non-Sumerian languages, training was doubly demanding since they had to know the values of the various cuneiform signs for Sumerian as well as for their own language. []According to paragraph 4, how did the Akkadians use the Sumerian language?∙They used Sumerian for speaking but used their own national language for writing.∙They used the complex cuneiform signs developed by the Babylonians and Assyrians rather than the Sumerian signs.∙They developed their own cuneiform shapes on clay tablets to replace those used by the Sumerians.∙They assigned new sound and word values to the signs of Sumerian cuneiform. Paragraph 4 answers all the following questions about Sumerian writing in the period after the Sumerians were conquered EXCEPT:∙Did Sumerian literature continue to be read?∙Did Sumerian continue to be spoken?∙Did scribes compose new texts in Sumerian?∙Did Sumerian have the same fate as Latin had after the fall of Rome?Look at the four squares [] that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage.However, the Sumerian language did not entirely disappear.The contents of the earliest clay tablets are simple notations of numbers of commodities-animals, jars, baskets, etc. Writing, it would appear, started as a primitive form of bookkeeping. Its use soon widened to document the multitudinous things and acts that are involved in daily life, from simple inventories of commodities to complicated governmental rules and regulations.Archaeologists frequently find clay tablets in batches. The batches, some of whichcontain thousands of tablets, consist for the most part of documents of the types just mentioned: bills, deliveries, receipts, inventories, loans, marriage contracts, divorce settlements, court judgments, and so on. These records of factual matters were kept in storage to be available for reference-they were, in effect, files, or, to use the term preferred by specialists in the ancient Near East, archives. Now and then these files include pieces of writing that are of a distinctly different order, writings that do not merely record some matter of fact but involve creative intellectual activity. They range from simple textbook material to literature-and they make an appearance very early, even from the third millennium B.C.E.Drag your answer choices to the spaces where they belong. To remove an answer choice, click on it.To review the passage, click VIEW TEXT.The earliest examples of writing have been found in Mesopotamia and date to shortly before 3000 B.C.E.∙∙∙Answer ChoicesA. Writing was invented in the same areas in which civilization began by theancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, Asia Minor and the Mediterranean.B. Writing was developed first by the Sumerians using wedge-shaped markscuneiformon clay tablets and then by the Egyptians using papyrus paper.C.The development of cuneiform is known because it was written on along-lasting material and because it was long and widely used throughout the ancient Near East.D. Scribes using cuneiform in Assyria, Babylon, Syria and Asia Minor had tolearn all the languages that used the cuneiform script.E.Cuneiform tablets generally dealt with business and factual matters, butother topics, including literature, were also recorded and valued.F. Batches of clay tablets, sometimes with as many as a thousand tablets each,are often found by archaeologists.。

tpo46口语范文答案Task 1.Question: Talk about a special event that you and your family orfriends recently celebrated. Explain how you celebrated this event.Answer: Well, recently my friends and I celebrated my friend's graduation. It was super exciting. We started the day by having a big brunch at a really nice café near our school. We ordered all kinds of delicious stuff like pancakes with lots of syrup and fresh fruit, and big mugs of coffee. After that, we went to a park. We brought a frisbee and a soccer ball. We just ran around, playing games and laughing like crazy. It was so much fun. In the evening, we had a dinner at a fancy restaurant. We all dressed up a bit. And we toasted to my friend's success with somereally nice champagne. Then we surprised her with a scrapbook we made. It had all kinds of pictures from our time together in school. She was really touched and started crying a little. It was a great day filled with good food, fun activities, and lots of love.Task 2.Question: Some people like to make decisions quickly. Others prefer to take their time. Which do you usually do? Explain why.Answer: I usually like to take my time when making decisions. You know, decisions are like big forks in the road. If you rush into them, you might end up on a really bumpy path. For example, once I was thinking about buying a new phone. There were so many models out there. If I had just quickly picked one, I might have ended up with a phone that didn't have a good camera, and I love taking pictures. So I spent a couple of weeks looking at reviews, asking my friends who had different phones, andcomparing prices. By taking my time, I finally got a phone that was perfect for me. It's like cooking. If you rush and don't measure the ingredients carefully, the dish might taste awful. And I don't want my decisions to be "awful", so I take my time.Task 3.Reading: The university is planning to build a new art museum on campus. It will display works of art by students, local artists, and famous artists from around the world. It will also have spaces for art classes and workshops.Listening: The man in the conversation is really excited about the plan. He says that currently, there is no proper place on campus to display art. Students' works are just put up randomly in hallways or small classrooms. With the new museum, their works can be shown in a more professional setting, which will encourage more students to create art. Also, having art classes and workshops in the museum will be great. It will be inspiring for students to be surrounded by all those great works of art while they are learning and creating.Question: Explain the man's opinion about the university's plan tobuild a new art museum.Answer: Well, the man is all for the university's plan to build a newart museum. He thinks it's a great idea for a couple of reasons. First off, right now, students' artworks are just kind of scattered all over the place on campus. They're in hallways or small classrooms, not really in a proper display area. But with this new museum, students' art will be shown in a much more professional way. And he believes this will give students more motivation to create art. It's like if you have a nice clean canvas topaint on instead of a crumpled piece of paper, you're more likely to do agreat job. Second, he's really into the idea of having art classes and workshops in the museum. He figures that being around all those amazing artworks from different artists, whether they're local, students, or famous from around the world, will be really inspiring for students when they're learning and making their own art. It's like getting a boost of creativity just from being in that space.Task 4.Reading: The concept of "information overload". It occurs when people are exposed to too much information, which can make it difficult for themto process and use the information effectively.Listening: The professor gives an example of a student doing researchfor a paper. The student goes to the library and searches for books and articles on the Internet. He finds hundreds of sources. At first, he's excited because he thinks he has a lot of information. But then, herealizes that he can't read all of them carefully. He tries to read alittle bit from each source, but he gets really confused. He can't figure out which information is important and which is not. As a result, he spends a lot of time just trying to sort through all the information, and hedoesn't make much progress on his paper.Question: Explain the concept of "information overload" using the example from the lecture.Answer: Okay, so "information overload" is when you get bombarded with so much information that you can't really deal with it well. The examplethe professor gave was about a student doing research for a paper. The student goes to the library and looks on the Internet for sources. He ends up with a huge pile of stuff, like hundreds of books and articles. At first, he's all happy 'cause he thinks, "Wow, I've got so much to work with." Butthen he realizes he can't read all of them thoroughly. So he tries to skim through each one a little bit. And that's when the trouble starts. He gets all mixed up. He can't tell what's important and what's just filler. He spends ages just trying to sort through all that information, and his paper doesn't get very far. It's like he's drowning in a sea of facts and figures and he can't swim his way out to actually use the good stuff for his paper.Task 5.Listening: The woman has a problem. She is supposed to give a presentation in her history class tomorrow, but she just found out that her laptop, which has all her presentation materials on it, has a broken screen. She can't see anything on it. One option is to go to the campus computer center and try to borrow a laptop. But she's worried that she might not be able to transfer all her files in time, and she also needs to get used to a new laptop quickly. Another option is to ask her roommate to borrow her laptop. But her roommate is out of town and won't be back until tonight. So she won't have much time to practice with the roommate's laptop before the presentation.Question: Briefly summarize the problem. Then state which of the two solutions you would recommend and explain why.Answer: Well, the woman's problem is that she has a historypresentation tomorrow and her laptop with all the presentation stuff on it has a broken screen. For solutions, she could go to the campus computer center and borrow a laptop, but she's afraid she won't transfer her filesin time and get used to it fast enough. Or she could borrow her roommate's laptop, but her roommate is out of town until tonight, so she won't have much time to practice. I'd recommend that she borrows her roommate's laptop.I mean, sure, she won't have a ton of time to practice, but at least shewon't have to worry about file transfer problems. And she probably knowsher roommate's laptop a bit already. It's like choosing between two not so great options, but this one seems less risky. If she goes to the computer center, there are too many things that could go wrong with the filetransfer and getting used to a new machine. With her roommate's laptop, she can just focus on practicing as much as she can when her roommate gets back.Task 6.Listening: The professor is talking about two ways that animals use camouflage to protect themselves. One way is called "background matching". For example, a snowshoe hare in the winter. Its fur turns white to matchthe snow covered environment. This makes it hard for predators like foxesto see it. The other way is "disruptive coloration". Take a zebra for example. A zebra has black and white stripes. When a zebra is in a herd, these stripes break up its body shape. So a lion looking at the herd has a hard time picking out an individual zebra to attack.Question: Using the examples from the lecture, explain two ways animals use camouflage to protect themselves.Answer: Alright, so animals use two main ways of camouflage to protect themselves. The first way is "background matching". The snowshoe hare is a great example. In the winter, its fur changes to white. And why does it do that? Well, it's to match the snowy environment all around it. You know, if a fox is looking for something to eat, it's going to be really hard for the fox to spot that white hare against the white snow. It's like the hare is wearing an invisibility cloak made of snow. The second way is "disruptive coloration". Zebras are a perfect example of this. A zebra has those black and white stripes. When it's in a herd, those stripes make it reallydifficult for a predator like a lion to single out one zebra. The stripesbreak up the zebra's body shape. It's like the zebra's body is all jumbled up in the lion's eyes, and the lion can't focus on just one zebra to attack. So these two ways of camouflage are really smart survival strategies for animals.。

为了帮助大家高效备考托福，为大家带来托福TPO46阅读Passage3原文文本+题目+答案解析，希望对大家备考有所帮助。

Ecosystem Diversity and Stability Conservation biologists have long been concerned that species extinction could have significant consequences for the stability of entire ecosystems—groups of interacting organisms and the physical environment that they inhabit.An ecosystem could survive the loss of some species,but if enough species were lost,the ecosystem would be severely degraded.In fact,it is possible that the loss of a single important species could start a cascade of extinctions that might dramatically change an entire ecosystem.A good illustration of this occurred after sea otters were eliminated from some Pacific kelp(seaweed)bed ecosystems:the kelp beds were practically obliterated too because in the absence of sea otter predation,sea urchin populations exploded and consumed most of the kelp and other macro-algae. It is usually claimed that species-rich ecosystems tend to be more stable than species-poor ecosystems.Three mechanisms by which higher diversity increases ecosystem stability have been proposed.First,if there are more species in an ecosystem,then its food web will be more complex,with greater redundancy among species in terms of their nutritional roles.In other words,in a rich system if a species is lost,there is a good chance that other species will take over its function as prey,predator,producer,decomposer,or whatever role it played.Second,diverse ecosystems may be less likely to be invaded by new species,notably exotics(foreign species living outside their native range),that would disrupt the ecosystem’s structure and function.Third,in a species-rich ecosystem,diseases may spread more slowly because most species will be relatively less abundant,thus increasing the average distance between individuals of the same species and hampering disease transmission among individuals. Scientific evidence to illuminate these ideas has been slow in coming,and many shadows remain.■A One of the first studies to provide data supporting a relationship between diversity and stability examined how grassland plants responded to a drought.■B Researchers D.Tilman and J A.Downing used the ratio of above-ground biomass in 1988(after two years of drought)to that in 1986(predrought)in 207 plots in a grassland field in the Cedar Creek Natural History Area in Minnesota as an index of ecosystem response to disruption by drought.■C In an experiment that began in 1982,they compared these values with the number of plant species in each plot and discovered that the plots with a greater number of plant species experienced a less dramatic reduction in biomass.■D Plots with more than ten species had about half as much biomass in 1988 as in 1986,whereas those with fewer than five species only produced roughly one-eighth as much biomass after the two-year drought.Apparently,species-rich plots were likely to contain some drought-resistant plant species that grew better in drought years,compensating for the poor growth of less-tolerant species. To put this result in more general terms,a species-rich ecosystem may be more stable because it is more likely to have species with a wide array of responses to variable conditions such as droughts.Furthermore,a species-rich ecosystem is more likely to have species with similar ecological functions,so that if a species is lost from an ecosystem,another species,probably a competitor,is likely to flourish and occupy its functional role.Both of these,variability in responses and functional redundancy,could be thought of as insurance against disturbances. The Minnesota grassland research has been widely accepted as strong evidence for the diversity-stability theory;however,its findings have been questioned,and similar studies on other ecosystems have not always found a positive relationship between diversity and stability.Clearly,this is a complex issue that requires further field research with a broad spectrum of ecosystems and species:grassland plants and computer models will only take us so far.In the end,despite insightful attempts to detect some general patterns,we may find it very difficult to reduce this topic to a simple,universal truth. Paragraph 1 Conservation biologists have long been concerned that species extinction could have significant consequences for the stability of entire ecosystems—groups of interacting organisms and the physical environment that they inhabit.An ecosystem could survive the loss of some species,but if enough species were lost,the ecosystem would be severely degraded.In fact,it is possible that the loss of a single important species could start a cascade of extinctions that might dramatically change an entire ecosystem.A good illustration of this occurred after sea otters were eliminated from some Pacific kelp(seaweed)bed ecosystems:the kelp beds were practically obliterated too because in the absence of sea otter predation,sea urchin populations exploded and consumed most of the kelp and other macro-algae. 1.The word“"significant”"in paragraph 1the passage is closest in meaning to A.direct B.important C.long-term D.surprising 2.According to paragraph 1,why has the extinction of species been a concern for conservation biologists?。

Passage 2Q 1正确答案：A解析：第1段最后一句指出，The individual traveling merchant … evolved into an operation involving three separate types of merchants…，可见，商人的角色发生了变化，分工更细致了。

A是对这部分内容的同义转述。

Q 2正确答案：A解析：原句是说商业流程发生了根本性的改变，该句中的radically意为“重大的，根本的”。

四个选项中，只有fundamentally的意思与它相近，故答案为A。

Q 3正确答案：D解析：原文中的oversee意为“监督，监视”，选项中与该词词义相近的词只有supervised。

Q 4正确答案：C解析：A对应第2段的The growth of mutual trust among merchants facilitated the growth of sales on credit。

B对应第2段的Regular courier service among commercial cities began. D对应第2段的Tolls on roads became high enough to finance what has been called a road revolution … for travelers.只有C的内容在该段未提及。

Q 5正确答案：C解析：高亮句的意思是，随着商人间互信的增强，衍生出了新的资金支付形式，比如汇票，它们的出现使以往用船来运送钱币的这种既缓慢又危险的方式不再必要。

C是对该句的同义转述。

Q 6解析：A对应Hanseatic merchants established foreign trading centers。

B对应Hanseatic merchants had developed an important business technique, the business register。

托福TPO46阅读文本+题目+答案1. The Origins of WritingIt was in Egypt and Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) that civilization arose, and it is there that we find the earliest examples of that key feature of civilization, writing. These examples, in the form of inscribed clay tablets that date to shortly before 3000 B.C.E., have been discovered among the archaeological remains of the Sumerians, a gifted people settled in southern Mesopotamia.The Egyptians were not far behind in developing writing, but we cannot follow the history of their writing in detail because they used a perishable writing material. In ancient times the banks of the Nile were lined with papyrus plants, and from the papyrus reeds the Egyptians made a form of paper; it was excellent in quality but, like any paper, fragile. Mesopotamia’s rivers boasted no such useful reeds, but its land did provide good clay, and as a consequence the clay tablet became the standard material. Though clumsy and bulky it has a virtue dear to archaeologists: it is durable. Fire, for example, which is death to papyrus paper or other writing materials such as leather and wood, simply bakes it hard, thereby making it even more durable. So when a conqueror set a Mesopotamian palace ablaze, he helped ensure the survival of any clay tablets in it. Clay, moreover, is cheap, and forming it into tablets is easy, factors that helped the clay tablet become the preferred writing material not only throughout Mesopotamia but far outside it as well, in Syria, Asia Minor, Persia, and even for a while in Crete and Greece. Excavators have unearthed clay tablets in all these lands. In the Near East they remained in use for more than two and a half millennia, and in certain areas they lasted down to the beginning of the common era until finally yielding, once and for all, to more convenient alternatives.The Sumerians perfected a style of writing suited to clay. This script consists of simple shapes, basically just wedge shapes and lines that could easily be incised in soft clay with a reed or wooden stylus; scholars have dubbed it cuneiform from the wedge-shaped marks (cunei in Latin) that are its hallmark Although the ingredients are merely wedges and lines, there are hundreds of combinations of these basic forms that stand for different sounds or words. Learning these complex signs required long training and much practice; inevitably, literacy was largely limited to a small professional class, the scribes.The Akkadians conquered the Sumerians around the middle of the third millennium B.C.E., and they took over the various cuneiform signs used for writing Sumerian and gave them sound and word values that fit their own language. ■ The Babylonians and Assyrians did the same, an d so did peoples in Syria and Asia Minor. ■ The literature of the Sumerians was treasured throughout the Near East, and long after Sumerian ceased to be spoken, the Babylonians and Assyrians and others kept it alive as a literary language, the way European s kept Latin alive after the fall of Rome. ■ For the scribes of these non-Sumerian languages, training was doubly demanding since they had to know the values of the various cuneiform signs for Sumerian as well as for their own language. ■The contents of the earliest clay tablets are simple notations of numbers of commodities—animals, jars, baskets, etc. Writing, it would appear, started as a primitive form of bookkeeping. Its use soon widened to document the multitudinousthings and acts that are involved in daily life, from simple inventories of commodities to complicated governmental rules and regulations.Archaeologists frequently find clay tablets in batches. The batches, some of which contain thousands of tablets, consist for the most part of documents of the types just mentioned: bills, deliveries, receipts, inventories, loans, marriage contracts, divorce settlements, court judgments, and so on. These records of factual matters were kept in storage to be available for reference-they were, in effect, files, or, to use the term preferred by specialists in the ancient Near East, archives. Now and then these files include pieces of writing that are of a distinctly different order, writings that do not merely record some matter of fact but involve creative intellectual activity. They range from simple textbook material to literature-and they make an appearance very early, even from the third millennium B C E.1. The word “key” in the passage is closest in meaning toO frequentO essentialO originalO familiar2. The word “virtue” in the passage is closest in meaning toO priceO designO desirable qualityO physical characteristic3. Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information In the highlighted sentence in the passage? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.O In part because of its low cost and ease of use, clay became the preferred writing material throughout Mesopotamia and well beyond itO Clay was cheap throughout Mesopotamia, so clay tablets from Mesopotamia became the preferred writing material as far as the Mediterranean.O For a while, the day tablet was the preferred writing material in Crete and Greece.O Moreover, because day was used as the writing material of choice in Mesopotamia, Syria, Asia Minor, Persia, and the Mediterranean, it was cheap and popular.4. What can be inferred from paragraph 2 about clay as a writing material?O It had to be baked before it could be written onO Its good points outweighed its bad points.O Its durability was its most important feature for its users.O It was not available in Egypt.5. In paragraph 2, why does the author discuss the Egyptian use of papyrus as a writing material^O To describe the superiofity of papyrus over leattier and wood as a writing materialO To explain why writing in Egypt did not develop as quickly as it did MesopotamiaO To explain why archaeologists' knowledge of the early history of writing relies mainly on Sumerian cuneiform O To explain why the Sumerians preferred clay tablets for writing over papyrus6. According to paragraph 3, all of the following are true of cuneiform writing EXCEPT:O It was composed of very simple shapesO It was perfected by the ancient Sumerians.O It influenced the choice of material on which it was written.O It was understood by very few Sumerians.7. According to paragraph 4, how did the Akkadians use the Sumerian language?O They used Sumerian for speaking but used their own national language for writing.O They used the complex cuneiform signs developed by the Babylonians and Assyrians rather than the Sumerian signs.O They developed their own cuneiform shapes on clay tablets to replace those used by the Sumerians.O They assigned new sound and word values to the signs of Sumerian cuneiform.8. Paragraph 4 answers all the following questions about Sumerian writing in the period after the Sumerians were conquered EXCEPT:O Did Sumerian literature continue to be read?O Did Sumerian continue to be spoken?O Did scribes compose new texts in Sumerian?O Did Sumerian have the same fate as Latin had after the fall of Rome?9. The word "document" in the passage is closest in meaning toO includeO influenceO organizeO record10. According to paragraph 5, writing was first used forO simple bookkeepingO descriptions of daily eventsO counting the contents of clay tabletsO government reports11. The phrase “Now and then” in the passage is closest in meaning toO alwaysO occasionallyO sooner or laterO first and last12. According to paragraph 6, large batches of clay writing tablets were stored because the tabletsO were being produced quickly and in large quantitiesO did not serve any practical purpose for most MesopotamiansO contained information that needed to be available for future referenceO could not be used again once they had been written on13. Look at the four squares [■] that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage.However, the Sumerian language did not entirely disappear.Where would the s entence best fit? Click on a square [■] to add the sentence to the passage14. Directions: An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided below. Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer choices that express the most important ideas in the passage Some sentences do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are not presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage. This question is worth 2 points.Drag your answer choices to the spaces where they belong To remove an answer choice, click on it.To review the passage, click VIEW TEXTThe earliest examples of writing have been found in Mesopotamia and date to shortly before 3000 B.C.E.Answer ChoicesWriting was invented in the same areas in which civilization began by the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, Asia Minor and the Mediterranean.The development of cuneiform is known because it was written on a long-lasting material and because it was long and widely used throughout the ancient Near East.Cuneiform tablets generally dealt with business and factual matters, but other topics, including literature, were also recorded and valued.Writing was developed first by the Sumerians using wedge shaped marks (cuneiform) on clay tablets and then by the Egyptians using papyrus paper.Scribes using cuneiform in Assyria, Babylon, Syria and Asia Minor had to learn allthe languages that used the cuneiform script.Batches of clay tablets, sometimes with as many as a thousand tablets each, are often found by archaeologists.2.The Commercial Revolution in Medieval EuropeBeginning in the 1160s, the opening of new silver mines in northern Europe led to the minting and circulation of vast quantities of silver coins. The widespread use of cash greatly increased the volume of international trade. Business procedures changed radically. The individual traveling merchant who alone handled virtually all aspects of exchangeevolved into an operation invoh/ing three separate types of merchants: the sedentary merchant who ran the "home office," financing and organizing the firm’s entire export-import trade; the carriers who transported goods by land and sea; and the company agents resident in cities abroad who, on the advice of the home office, looked after sales and procurements.Commercial correspondence, unnecessary when one businessperson oversaw everything and made direct bargains with buyers and sellers, multiplied. Regular courier service among commercial cities began. Commercial accounting became more complex when firms had to deal with shareholders, manufacturers, customers, branch offices, employees, and competing firms. Tolls on roads became high enough to finance what has been called a road revolution, involving new surfaces and bridges, new passes through the Alps, and new inns and hospices for travelers. The growth of mutual trust among merchants facilitated the growth of sales on credit and led to new developments in finance, such as the bill of exchange, a device that made the long, slow, and very dangerous shipment of coins unnecessary.The ventures of the German Hanseatic League illustrate these advancements. The Hanseatic League was a mercantile association of European towns dating from 1159. The league grew by the end of the fourteenth century to include about 200 cities from Holland to Poland. Across regular, well- defined trade routes along the Baltic and North seas, the ships of league cities carried furs, wax, copper, fish, grain, timber, and wine. These goods were exchanged for finished products, mainly cloth and salt, from western cities. At cities such as Bruges and London, Hanseatic merchants secured special trading concessions, exempting them from all tolls and allowing them to trade at local fairs. Hanseatic merchants established foreign trading centers, the most famous of which was the London Steelyard, a walled community with warehouses, offices, a church, and residential quarters for company representatives. By the late thirteenth century, Hanseatic merchants had developed an important business technique, the business register. Merchants publicly recorded their debts and contracts and received a league guarantee for them. This device proved a decisive factor in the later development of credit and commerce in northern Europe.These developments added up to what one modern scholar has called "a commercial revolution." In the long run, the commercial revolution of the High Middle Ages (A D 1000-1300) brought about radical change in European society. One remarkable aspect of this change was that the commercial classes constituted a small part of the total population—never more than 10 percent. They exercised an influence far in excess of their numbers. The commercial revolution created a great deal of new wealth, which meant a higher standard of living. The existence of wealth did not escape the attention of kings and other rulers. Wealth could be taxed, and through taxation, kings could create strong and centralized states. In the years to come, alliances with themiddle classes were to enable kings to weaken aristocratic interests and build the states that came to be called modern.The commercial revolution also provided the opportunity for thousands of agricultural workers to improve their social position. The slow but steady transformation of European society from almost completely rural and isolated to relatively more urban constituted the greatest effect of the commercial revolution that began in the eleventh century.Even so, merchants and business people did not run medieval communities, except in central and northern Italy and in the county of Flanders. Most towns remained small. The nobility and churchmen determined the predominant social attitudes, values, and patterns of thought and behavior. The commercial changes of the eleventh through fourteenth centuries did however, lay the economic foundation for the development of urban life and culture.1. According to paragraph 1, one effect of the increased use of cash was thatO an individual merchant no longer performed all aspects of trading operationsO a company's home office declined in importanceO merchants no longer had to transport their goods to distant placesO the volume of trade declined in areas lacking silver mines2. The word “radically”，in the passage is closest in meaning toO fundamentallyO quicklyO unexpectedlyO gradually3. The word oversaw" in the passage is closest In meaning toO understoodO includedO deliveredO supervised4. According to paragraph 2, which of the following was NOT an effect of the change in business procedures?O An increase in credit salesO The use of courier services between citiesO The adoption of simpler accounting proceduresO The improvement of roads5. Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in the passage? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.O Credit sales and bills of exchange were devices that merchants developed in order to increase their mutual trust.O Merchants developed ways to finance their sales without having to rely on slow and dangerous shipments of coins.O Greater trust among merchants led to an increase in credit sales and to the use of bills of exchange that made the shipping of coins unnecessary.O Merchants began to trust one another when it became too slow and dangerous for a single merchant to ship coins.6. According to paragraph 3, Hanseatic merchants benefited by all of the following EXCEPTO the use of trading centers in distant citiesO a new system of recording commercial transactionsO the opening of overland trade routes across northern EuropeO access to markets in about 200 cities7. The word "decisive" in the passage is closest in meaning toO probableO determiningO helpfulO limiting8. Why does the author provide the information in paragraph 4 that the commercial classes never exceeded 10 percent of the population?O To argue that the wealth created by the commercial revolution benefited only a small number of people O To challenge the view that the commercial classes made up a majority of the population of EuropeO To suggest a reason that the commercial revolution ended around A. D. 1300O To emphasize the point that the commercial revolution was brought about by a small part of the population9. According to paragraph 4, which of the following was associated with the rise of modem states?O Increased wealth for the ruling classesO The weakening of the aristocracyO The decline of the middle classO A reduction in taxes10. The word "alliances" in the passage is closest in meaning toO transactionsO communicationsO partnershipsO conflicts11. According to paragraph 5, the most important result of the commercial revolutionwas toO simplify the organization of European societyO provide employment to agricultural workersO encourage merchants to become community leadersO change Europe from a rural to a more urban society12. Paragraph 5 supports which of the following inferences about the commercial revolution between ad 1000 and 1300?O It had very little impact on social attitudes and values.O It brought about major political changes throughout Europe.O It lessened the influence of the church.O It increased the population of small towns.13. Look at the four squares [■] that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage.While It originated in the German city of Liibeck, it began to expand in 1241 when Liibeck entered into a mutual protection treaty with the city of Hamburg.Where would the sentence best fit? Click on a sq uare [■] to add the sentence to the passage.14. Directions: An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided below. Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer choices that express the most important ideas in the passage. Some sentences do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are not presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage. This question is worth 2 points.Drag your answer choices to the spaces where they belong To remove an answer choice, click on itTo review the passage, click VIEW TEXTDuring the High Middle Ages (A.D. 1000-1300), Europe underwent a commercial revolution.Answer ChoicesMerchants adopted new accounting and trading procedures to make long-distance trading more efficient.The faster transportation made possible by improved roads expanded the variety of goods that could be brought to European towns from far away.The increasing importance of commercial trade led to a decline in the influence of traditional sources of power, such as kings and church leaders.The mining of silver improved the security of commercial transactions by allowing coins to replace credit and bills of exchange as the means of exchange.The Hanseatic League was an association of European towns that obtained shipping, trading, and financial benefits for its members.European society became increasingly urban, with better living conditions and a stronger centralized government.3. Ecosystem Diversity and StabilityConservation biologists have long been concerned that species extinction could have significant consequences for the stability of entire ecosystems—groups of interacting organisms and the physical environment that they inhabit. An ecosystem could survive the loss of some species, but if enough species were lost, the ecosystem would be severely degraded. In fact, it is possible that the loss of a single important species could start a cascade of extinctions that might dramatically change an entire ecosystem. A good illustration of this occurred after sea otters were eliminated from some Pacific kelp (seaweed) bed ecosystems: the kelp beds were practically obliterated too because in the absence of sea otter predation, sea urchin populations exploded and consumed most of the kelp and other macroalgae.It is usually claimed that species-rich ecosystems tend to be more stable than species-poor ecosystems. Three mechanisms by which higher diversity increases ecosystem stability have been proposed. First, if there are more species in an ecosystem, then its food web will be more complex, with greater redundancy among species in terms of their nutritional roles. In other words, in a rich system if a species is lost, there is a good chance that other species will take over its function as prey, predator, producer, decomposer, or whatever role it played. Second, diverse ecosystems may be less likely to be invaded by new species, notably exotics (foreign species living outside their native range), that would disrupt the ecosystem’s structure and function. Thir d, in a species-rich ecosystem, diseases may spread more slowly because most species will be relatively less abundant, thus increasing the average distance between individuals of the same species and hampering disease transmission among individuals.Scient ific evidence to illuminate these ideas has been slow in coming, and many shadows remain. ■ One of the first studies to provide data supporting a relationship between diversity and stability examined how grassland plants responded to a drought. ■ Researche rs D. Tilman and J A. Downing used the ratio of above-ground biomass in 1988 (after two years of drought) to that in 1986 (predrought) in 207 plots in a grassland field in the Cedar Creek Natural History Area in Minnesota as an index of ecosystem response to disruption by drought. ■ In an experiment that began in 1982, they compared these values with the number of plant species in each plot and discovered that the plots with a greater number of plant species experienced a less dramatic reduction in biomass. ■ Plots with more than ten species had about half as much biomass in 1988 as in 1986, whereas those with fewer than five species only produced roughly one-eighth as much biomass after the two-year drought. Apparently, species-rich plots were likely to contain some drought-resistant plant species that grew better in drought years, compensating for the poor growth of less-tolerant species.To put this result in more general terms, a species-rich ecosystem may be more stable because it is more likely to have species with a wide array of responses to variable conditions such as droughts. Furthermore, a species-rich ecosystem is more likely to have species with similar ecological functions, so that if a species is lost from an ecosystem, another species, probably a competitor, is likely to flourish and occupy its functional role. Both of these, variability in responses and functional redundancy, could be thought of as insurance against disturbances.The Minnesota grassland research has been widely accepted as strong evidence for the diversity- stability theory; however, its findings have been questioned, and similar studies on other ecosystems have not always found a positive relationship between diversity and stability. Clearly, this is a complex issue that requires further field research with a broad spectrum of ecosystems and species: grassland plants and computer models will only take us so far. In the end, despite insightful attempts to detect some general patterns, we may find it very difficult to reduce this topic to a simple, universal truth.1. The word "significant" in the passage is closest in meaning toO directO importantO long-termO surprising2. According to paragraph 1, why has the extinction of species been a concern for conservation biologists?O When ecosystems lose just one species, they undergo permanent change.O The extinction of a particular predator species could cause an overpopulation of certain prey species.O The loss of one or more species could cause the decline of a whole ecosystem.O The extinction of a single species is evidence that plant-food sources are in danger of disappearing.3. According to paragraph 1, what was the result of the removal of Pacific sea otters?O The kelp and sea urchins were destroyed by new predators.O The uncontrolled population of sea urchins ate most of the kelp plants.O Without sea otters, the kelp beds soon became overgrown.O Macroalgae remained as the primary population in the ecosystem.4. The word “redundancy” in the passage is closest in meaning toO duplicationO varietyO requirementsO flexibility5. What is the function of paragraph 2 in the passage?O To present a hypothesis about ecosystem diversity and some reasons why it might be trueO To give examples of types of ecosystems that have the greatest diversityO To contradict a previous belief about the stability of species-rich ecosystemsO To contrast species-rich and species-poor ecosystems6. According to paragraph 2, which of the following increases the stability of anecosystem?O Species in which producers outnumber predatorsO New or exotic species that increase ecosystem diversityO Heavily populated species that are free of diseaseO Species that are diverse but have similar nutritional roles7. Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in the passage? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.O In any ecosystem, as the number of individuals in the same species increases, the rate of disease transmission slows down.O Ecosystems that have a small number of different species tend to be disease-free, because the species’ habitats are at a safe distance from each other.O In ecosystems with many species, diseases spread more slowly because there are fewer individuals in a species and, as a result, the individuals are more widely scattered.O The average distance between individuals in a species-rich ecosystem increases, so diseases are prevented from being communicated between species.8. The phrase ”compensating for" in the passage Is closest in meaning toO working againstO leaving outO making up forO spreading over9. What Is the main importance of the study discussed in paragraph 3?O It examines the response of certain grassland plants to a drought.O It contains an index of plants that survived well in times of drought.O It provides scientific evidence that diversity helps to make ecosystems stable.O It shows that ecosystems contain both resistant species and less tolerant ones.10. Select the TWO answer choices that, according to paragraph 4, are conclusions that can be drawn from the study by Tilman and Downing. To receive credit you must select TWO answer choices.□ A diverse ecosystem will have species that respond diffe rently to a variety of conditions.□ Species within a species-rich ecosystem are more likely to have competitors.□ An ecosystem is more likely to develop diverse and stable species when it is exposed to extreme conditions.□ Species with similar ecologica l functions will perform the function of a lost species.11. The word “detect” in the passage is closest in meaning toO repeatO alterO findO emphasize12. According to paragraph 5, which of the following is true about Tilman and Downing’s findings?O General patterns of diversity and stability have been established as a result of the findings.O Questions about the findings have been refuted by computer models.O The findings have been tested in a broad spectrum of ecosystems with similar results.O The findings are not sufficient to prove a definite link between diversity and stability in ecosystems.13. Look at the four squares [■] that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage.It seems clear that there is room for a great deal more research, although some work has been done.Where would the sentence best fit? Click on a square [■] to add the sentence to the passage.。

Conversation 11. Why does the student go to see the woman? 【题型】目的主旨题A To ask about events that the music house sponsorsB To find out which of the common interest houses have rooms availableC To find out if it would be possible for him to live inthe music houseD To check on the status of his application to move intothe music house答案：C破题关键词汇：why解析：(从第35“开始，原文重现：Yeah, the music house. That’s the one I’m interested in, but, um, I’m not a music major.)Student说自己想选择music house, 所以C选项正确。

2. According to the woman, why might some people not wantto live in the music house? 【题型】细节题A is rarely quiet.B is not conveniently located.C All of the residents are required to participate inhouse activities.O All of the residents must be enrolled in a music class.答案：A破题关键词汇：why, not want to live解析：(从第1‘04“开始，原文重现：You’re pretty much always gonna hear music there. That might bother some people.)Woman说music会bother some people. A选项与此同义，故A正确。

TPO 46 Reading PassageIn the United States, medical information about patients traditionally has been recorded and stored on paper forms. However, there are efforts to persuade doctors to adopt electronic medical record systems in which information about patients is stored in electronic databases rather than on paper. It is argued that storing patients' medical records in electronic databases has several advantages over traditional paper-based record keeping. Reducing CostsFirst, the use of electronic records can help reduce costs by saving money on storing and transferring medical records. While paper records require a significant amount of storage space, electronic medical records take up virtually no space. Moreover, by having patients' records computerized in databases, doctors can easily access the records from almost anywhere and can easily duplicate and transfer them when necessary. This costs much less than copying, faxing, or transporting paper records from one location to another.Preventing ErrorsSecond, electronic medical records are crucial to reducing the chances of medical errors. Illegible handwriting, improper transcription of data, and nonstandard organization of paper records have caused errors that in some cases have had serious consequences for the patients' health. In contrast, electronic records are associated with standardization of forms and legible computer fonts and thus minimize the possibility of human error.Aiding ResearchThird, electronic medical records can greatly aid medical research by making it possible to gather large amounts of data from patient records. It is often impractical, impossible, or prohibitively expensive to manually go through thousands of patients’paper records housed in doctors' offices. However, with the existence of electronic medical records, it would be simple to draw out the needed information from the medical databases because the databases are already formatted for data collection. Once in the electronic system, the records could be accessed from any research location.TPO 46 LectureThe benefits claimed for electronic medical records are actually every uncertain.First, the costs savings are unlikely be as significant as the reading suggests. For example, there probably won't be any savings related to record storage. You see, doctors who adopt electronic records usually don't throw out or discontinue the paper records. They keep the paper records as an emergency backup or because the paper originals with signatures are needed for legal reasons. So as a result, most doctors who adopt electronic record keeping still have to pay storage costs associated with paper-based record keeping.Second, electronic medical records cannot eliminate the possibility of errors caused by poor handwriting or by mistakes in the transcription of data. That's because most doctors, including those who've adopted electronic medical record keeping, still use pen and paper while examining patients. They take notes and write prescriptions by hand. It's usually the office staff of a doctor who entered this information at a later time from the handwritten documents into electronic systems. So poor handwriting can still lead to errors in the records since the staff members have to interpret what the doctor has written. Third, medical research would not necessarily benefit from electronic record keeping. Researchers will still find it difficult to access and use medical information. That's because access to all medical information is subject to strict privacy laws in the United States. Privacy laws exist to allow patients to keep their medical information private if they wish to. As a consequence, researchers who want to collect data from electronic medical records have to follow strict and complicated procedures and obtain many permissions along the way, including permissions from the patients. And often, such permissions are not granted. For example, patients can block the use of their medical records for any purpose other than their own medical treatment.。

The reading passage and the professor are both talking about whether medical information should be recored by electrical edition instead of the hard copies. The author mentions three benefits of using electronic medical record, yet the professor states that the metrits of the adoption of electronic record system are not certain.The author cites that electronic records can help us save a lot of money and space. We do not have to use paper to record the medical information, which means we can simply duplicate and transfer it instead of copy and fax it. However, the professor mentions that the use of electronic record will not cut the cost, because we still need to use the emergency backup and the signature, that is to say, the cost still exists.The author also cites that by using electronic records, people could prevent a lot of handwriting errors, which might cause serious bad impact on the patient. But, the professor says that even thouth we use the electronic records, those errors still exists, because we could not prevent the man-made mistakes and some of the errors might caused by some staff instead of the doctors. Maybe the electronic records are just typed into the system by the staff long after the doctor finished writing them down, so in the process the staff will probably misinterpret the meaning on the hard copied.The author asserts that the electronic records can help medical research by using its huge database, so the information could be easily accessed from any place, yet the professor points out that people will still hard to access the data they are searching for because in the USA, there are very strict privacy laws to protect the patients' private information. So, if they want to get into that system, they need to get a mountain of permissions. And the doctor can block the files for any purpose, so the records are not accessed for granted.总结：1.我不知道为什么我这篇综合打了330words 但我觉得我还是在这上面浪费了一些时间，所以我在检查typo的时候没那么认真2.R2这里有个细节是医生需要用pen and paper while examining the patient 我没写进去。

1. (Reading)In the United States, medical information about patients traditionally has been recorded and stored on paper forms. However, there are efforts to persuade doctors to adopt electronic medical record systems in which information about patients is stored in electronic databases rather than on paper. It is argued that storing patients' medical records in electronic databases has several advantages over traditional paper-based record keeping.Reducing CostsFirst, the use of electronic records can help reduce costs by saving money on storing and transferring medical records. While paper records require a significant amount of storage space, electronic medical records take up virtually no space. Moreover, by having patients' records computerized in databases, doctors can easily access the records from almost anywhere and can easily duplicate and transfer them when necessary. This costs much less than copying, faxing, or transporting paper records from one location to another.Preventing ErrorsSecond, electronic medical records are crucial to reducing the chances of medical errors. Illegible handwriting, improper transcription of data, and nonstandard organization of paper records have caused errors that in some cases have had serious consequences for the patients* health. In contrast, electronic records are associated with standardization of forms and legible computer fonts and thus minimize the possibility of human errorAiding ResearchThird, electronic medical records can greatly aid medical research by making it possible to gather large amounts of data from patient records. It is often impractical, impossible, or prohibitively expensive to manually go through thousands of patients’paper records housed in doctors' offices. However, with the existence of electronic medical records, it would be simple to draw out the needed information from the medical databases because the databases are already formatted for data collection. Once in the electronic system, the records could be accessed from any research location.Directions: You have 20 minutes to plan and write your response. Your response will be judged on the basis of the quality of your writing and on how well your response presents the points in the lecture and their relationship to the reading passage. Typically, an effective response will be 150 to 225 words.Question: Summarize the points made in the lecture, being sure to explain how they cast doubt on the specific points made in the reading passage.2. Directions: Read the question below. You have 30 minutes to plan, write, and revise your essay. Typically, an effective response will contain a minimum of 300 words.Question: Do you agree or disagree with the following statement?The opinions of celebrities, such as famous entertainers and athletes, are more important to younger people than they are to older people.Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.。

书写的起源在埃及和美索不达米亚平原（现今的伊拉克）产生了文明，也正是在这里，我们发现了文明的关键性特征——文字——的最早证据。

这些证据出自苏美尔人（定居于美索不达米亚南部地区的比较聪明的民族）的考古遗迹中，以泥板文书的形式存在，可追溯到公元前3000年前。

埃及产生文字的时间和上述时间接近，但是我们不能很细致地研究埃及文字的历史，因为埃及人使用一种比较容易老化的记录文字的材料。

在古代，尼罗河的两岸生长着纸莎草，埃及人将纸莎草杆制成了一种纸；它的质量很好，但是就像所有的纸张一样，易碎易坏。

美索不达米亚的河边并没有这种植物，但是却存在高质量的黏土，所以泥板文书就成了常用的材料。

虽然泥板文书又大又笨重，但是它具有一种对考古学家有利的优点：持久性。

比如，火对于纸莎草纸或者其他材料如皮革和木头是非常致命的，但却能将泥板文书烤硬，从而使得泥板文书变得更加持久。

所以，当征服者在美索不达米亚的宫殿里放火的时候，其实是帮助把泥板文书保存了下来。

此外，黏土很廉价，把它制成泥板文书的工序也很简单，这些特征使得黏土不仅在美索不达米亚地区成为了受欢迎的材料用于文字记录，而且在这个地区之外的一些地方也很受欢迎，比如叙利亚、小亚细亚、波斯，甚至克里特和希腊也用了一段时间。

挖掘机在这些地方的土地中都挖出了泥板文书。

在近东地区，泥板文书一直被使用了2500多年。

在某些地区，它一直沿用至公元元年，直到更方便的替代品出现而永久地取代了它。

苏美尔人完善了一种适合黏土的书写方式。

这种方式由简单的形状组成，基本都是楔形或线条，用芦苇或木笔就能够很容易地刻在柔软的黏土上；学者根据楔形(拉丁语中称为cunei)的特点，将它称之为楔形文字。

虽然仅仅是由楔形和线条组成，但是这些基本的形式可以有几百种组合方式，代表不同的声音和文字。

学习这些复杂的符号需要长期的训练和大量的实践；当然不可避免的是，读写文字的能力仅限于很小的一群专业人士——誊写员。

在约公元前3千年中期的时候，阿卡德人征服了苏美尔人，他们沿用了苏美尔书写语中的楔形文字，并加入了适合他们自己语言的声音和词汇。