2005年10月份托福閱讀真題及答案.doc

Question 11-21:Printmaking is the generic term for a number of processes, of which woodcut and engraving are two prime examples. Prints are made by pressing a sheet of paper (or other material) against an image-bearing surface to which ink has been applied. When the paper is removed, the image adheres to it, but in reverse.The woodcut had been used in China from the fifth century A.D. for applying patterns to textiles. The process was not introduced into Europe until the fourteenth century, first for textile decoration and then for printing on paper. Woodcuts are created by a relief process; first, the artist takes a block of wood, which has been sawed parallel to the grain, covers it with a white ground, and then draws the image in ink. The background is carved away, leaving the design area slightly raised. The woodblock is inked, and the ink adheres to the raised image. It is then transferred to damp paper either by hand or with a printing press.Engraving, which grew out of the goldsmiths art, originated in Germany and northern Italy in the middle of the fifteenth century. It is an intaglio process (from Italian intagliare, to carve). The image is incised into a highly polished metal plate, usually copper, with a cutting instrument, or burin. The artist inks the plate and wipes it clean so that some ink remains in the incised grooves. An impression is made on damp paper in a printing press, with sufficient pressure being applied so that the paper picks up the ink.Both woodcut and engraving have distinctive characteristics. Engraving lends itself to subtle modeling and shading through the use of fine lines. Hatching and cross-hatching determine the degree of light and shade in a print. Woodcuts tend to be more linear, with sharper contrasts between light and dark. Printmaking is well suited to the production of multiple images. A set of multiples is called an edition. Both methods can yield several hundred good-quality prints before the original block or plate begins to show signs of wear. Mass production of prints in the sixteenth century made images available, at a lower cost, to a much broader public than before.11. What does the passage mainly discuss?A. The origins of textile decorationB. The characteristics of good-quality printsC. Two types of printmakingD. Types of paper used in printmaking12. The word prime in line 2 is closest in meaning to A. principalB. complexC. generalD. recent13. The authors purposes in paragraph 2 is to describe A. the woodcuts found in China in the fifth centuryB. the use of woodcuts in the textile industryC. the process involved in creating a woodcutD. the introduction of woodcuts to Europe14. The word incised in line 15 is closest in meaning toA. burnedB. cutC. framedD. baked15. Which of the following terms is defined in the passage/A. patterns(line 5)B. grain(line 8)C. burin(line 16)D. grooves(line 17)16. The word distinctive in line 19 is closest in meaning toA. uniqueB. accurateC. irregularD. similar17. According to the passage, all of the following are true about engraving EXCEPT that itA. developed from the art of the goldsmithsB. requires that the paper be cut with a burinC. originated in the fifteenth centuryD. involves carving into a metal plate18. The word yield in line 23 is closest in meaning toA. imitateB. produceC. reviseD. contrast19. According to the passage, what do woodcut and engraving have in common?A. Their designs are slightly raised.B. They achieve contrast through hatching and cross-hatching.C. They were first used in Europe.D. They allow multiple copies to be produced from one original.20. According to the author, what made it possible for members of the general public to own prints in the sixteenth century?A. Prints could be made at low cost.B. The quality of paper and ink had improved.C. Many people became involved in the printmaking industry.D. Decreased demand for prints kept prices affordable.21. According to the passage, all of the following are true about prints EXCEPT that they A. can be reproduced on materials other than paperB. are created from a reversed imageC. show variations between light and dark shadesD. require a printing pressQuestions 22-31:The first peoples to inhabit what today is the southeastern United States sustained themselves as hunters and gathers. Sometimes early in the first millennium A.D., however, they began to cultivate corn and other crops. Gradually, as they became more skilled at gardening, they settled into permanent villages and developed a rich culture, characterized by the great earthen mounds they erected as monuments to their gods and as tombs for their distinguished dead. Most of these early mound builders were part of the Adena-Hopewell culture, which had its beginnings near the Ohio River and takes its name from sites in Ohio. The culture spread southward into the present-day states of Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. Its peoples became great traders, bartering jewellery, pottery, animal pelts, tools, and other goods along extensive trading networks that stretched up and down eastern North America and as far west as the Rocky Mountains.About A.D. 400, the Hopewell culture fell into decay. Over the next centuries, it was supplanted by another culture, the Mississippian, named after the river along which many of its earliest villages were located. This complex civilization dominated the Southeast from about A.D. 700 until shortly before the Europeans began arriving in the sixteenth century. At the peak of its strength, about the year 1200, it was the most advanced culture in North America. Like their Hopewell predecessors, the Mississippians became highly skilled at growing food, although on a grander scale. They developed an improved strain of corn, which could survive in wet soil and a relatively cool climate, and also learned to cultivate beans. Indeed, agriculture became so important to the Mississippians that it became closely associated with the Sun - the guarantor of good crops. Many tribes called themselves children of the Sun and believed their omnipotent priest-chiefs were descendants of the great sun god.Although most Mississippians lived in small villages, many others inhabited large towns. Most of these towns boasted at least one major flat-topped mound on which stood a temple that contained a sacred flame. Only priests and those charged with guarding the flame could enter the temples. The mounds also served as ceremonial and trading sites, and at times they were used as burial grounds.22. What does the passage mainly discuss?A. The development of agricultureB. The locations of towns and villagesC. The early people and cultures of the United StatesD. The construction of burial mounds23. Which of the following resulted from the rise of agriculture in the southeastern United States?A. The development of trade in North AmericaB. The establishment of permanent settlementsC. Conflicts with other Native American groups over landD. A migration of these peoples to the Rocky Mountains.24. What does the term Adena-Hopewell(line 7) designate?A. The early locations of the Adena-Hopewell cultureB. The two most important nations of the Adena-Hopewell cultureC. Two former leaders who were honored with large burial mounds.D. Two important trade routes in eastern North America25. The word bartering in line 9 is closest in meaning to A. producingB. exchangingC. transportingD. loading26. The word supplanted in line 13 is closest in meaning toA. conqueredB. precededC. replacedD. imitated27. According to the passage, when did the Mississippian culture reach its highest point of development?A. About A.D. 400B. Between A.D. 400 AND A.D. 700C. About A.D. 1200D. In the sixteenth century28. According to the passage, how did the agriculture of the Mississippians differ from that of their Hopewell predecessors?A. The Mississippians produced more durable and larger crops of food.B. The Mississippians sold their food to other groups.C. The Mississippians could only grow plants in warm, dry climates.D. The Mississippians produced special foods for their religious leaders.29. Why does the author mention that many Mississippians tribes called themselves children of the Sun(line 22)?A. To explain why they were obedient to their priest-chiefs.B. To argue about the importance of religion in their culture.C. To illustrate the great importance they placed on agriculture.D. To provide an example of their religious rituals.30. The phrase charged with in line 26 is closest in meaning to A. passed onB. experienced atC. interested inD. assigned to31. According to the passage, the flat-topped mounds in Mississippian towns were used for all of the following purposes EXCEPTA. religious ceremoniesB. meeting places for the entire communityC. sites for commerceD. burial sitesQuestion 32-40:Overland transport in the United States was still extremely primitive in 1790. Roads were few and short, usually extending from inland communities to the nearest river town or seaport. Nearly all interstate commerce was carried out by sailing ships that served the bays and harbors of the seaboard. Yet, in 1790 the nation was on the threshold of a new era of road development. Unable to finance road construction, states turned for help to private companies, organized by merchants and land speculators who had a personal interest in improved communications with the interior. The pioneer in this move was the state of Pennsylvania, which chartered a company in 1792 to construct a turnpike, a road for the use of which a toll, or payment, is collected, from Philadelphia to Lancaster. The legislature gave the company the authority to erect tollgates at points along the road where payment would be collected, though it carefully regulated the rates. (The states had unquestioned authority to regulate private business in this period.)The company built a gravel road within two years, and the success of the Lancaster Pike encouraged imitation. Northern states generally relied on private companies to build their toll roads, but Virginia constructed a network at public expense. Such was the road building fever that by 1810 New York alone had some 1,500 miles of turnpikes extending from the Atlantic to Lake Erie.Transportation on these early turnpikes consisted of freight carrier wagons and passenger stagecoaches. The most common road freight carrier was the Conestoga wagon, a vehicle developed in the mid-eighteenth century by German immigrants in the area around Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It featured large, broad wheels able to negotiate all but the deepest ruts and holes, and its round bottom prevented the freight from shifting on a hill. Covered with canvas and drawn by four to six horses, the Conestoga wagon rivaled the log cabin as the primary symbol of the frontier. Passengers traveled in a variety of stagecoaches, the most common of which had four benches, each holding three persons. It was only a platform on wheels, with no springs; slender poles held up the top, and leather curtains kept out dust and rain.32. Paragraph 1 discusses early road building in the United States mainly in terms of the A. popularity of turnpikesB. financing of new roadsC. development of the interiorD. laws governing road use33. The word primitive in line 1 is closest in meaning toA. unsafeB. unknownC. inexpensiveD. undeveloped34. In 1790 most roads connected towns in the interior of the country withA. other inland communitiesB. towns in other statesC. river towns or seaportsD. construction sites35. The phrase on the threshold of in line 4 and 5 is closest in meaning toA. in need ofB. in place ofC. at the start of D. with the purpose of36. According to the passage, why did states want private companies to help with road building?A. The states could not afford to build roads themselves.B. The states were not as well equipped as private companies.C. Private companies could complete roads faster than the states.D. Private companies had greater knowledge of the interior.37. The word it in line 11 refers to A. legislatureB. companyC. authorityD. payment38. The word imitation in line 14 is closest in meaning toA. investmentB. suggestionC. increasingD. copying39. Virginia is mentioned as an example of a state thatA. built roads without tollgatesB. built roads with government moneyC. completed 1,500 miles of turnpikes in one yearD. introduced new law restricting road use40. The large, broad wheels of the Conestoga wagon are mentioned in line 21 as an example of a feature of wagons that wasA. unusual in mid-eighteenth century vehiclesB. first found in GermanyC. effective on roads with uneven surfacesD. responsible for frequent damage to freightQuestion 41- 50:In Death Valley, California, one of the hottest, most arid places in North America, there is much salt, and salt can damage rocks impressively. Inhabitants of areas elsewhere, where streets and highways are salted to control ice, are familiar with the resulting rust and deterioration on cars. That attests to the chemically corrosive nature of salt, but it is not the way salt destroys rocks. Salt breaks rocks apart principally by a process called crystal prying and wedging. This happens not by soaking the rocks in salt water, but by moistening their bottoms with salt water. Such conditions exist in many areas along the eastern edge of central Death Valley. There, salty water rises from the groundwater table by capillary action through tiny spaces in sediment until it reaches the surface.Most stones have capillary passages that suck salt water from the wet ground. Death Valley provides an ultra-dry atmosphere and high daily temperatures, which promote evaporation and the formation of salt crystals along the cracks or other openings within stones. These crystals grow as long as salt water is available. Like tree roots breaking up a sidewalk, the growing crystals exert pressure on the rock and eventually pry the rock apart along planes of weakness, such as banding in metamorphic rocks, bedding in sedimentary rocks, or preexisting or incipient fractions, and along boundaries between individual mineral crystals or grains. Besides crystal growth, the expansion of halite crystals(the same as everyday table salt) by heating and of sulfates and similar salts by hydration can contribute additional stresses. A rock durable enough to have withstood natural conditions for a very long time in other areas could probably be shattered into small pieces by salt weathering within a few generations.The dominant salt in Death Valley is halite, or sodium chloride, but other salts, mostly carbonates and sulfates, also cause prying and wedging, as does ordinary ice. Weathering by a variety of salts, though often subtle, is a worldwide phenomenon. Not restricted to arid regions, intense salt weathering occurs mostly in salt-rich places like the seashore, near the large saline lakes in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica, and in desert sections of Australia, New Zealand, and central Asia.41. What is the passage mainly about?A. The destructive effects of salt on rocks.B. The impressive salt rocks in Death Valley.C. The amount of salt produced in Death Valley.D. The damaging effects of salt on roads and highways.42. The word it in line 9 refers toA. salty waterB. groundwater tableC. capillary actionD. sediment43. The word exert in line 14 is closest in meaning toA. putB. reduceC. replac