托福tpo40

篇一:【威学教育】托福口语TPO40综合体听力文本

TPO40

Task3

Now listen to two students discussing the article.

Hey, it's nice that they' regonna do this.

It's not a bad idea, but do you think it'll accomplish what they're hoping?

Sure. I mean, the dormitories all have their own lounges, and think about how much time students spend there, and how many people they meet.

Yeah. I got to know a lot of people in my dorm during my first semester just watching TV and taking study breaks in the lounge.

Right. Those dorm lounges are really central to student life. And I met people there that really helped me with my schoolwork too. Students who live off campus don't have anything like that. That's true.

Plus, I like the idea of posting stuff. You know, things like notices from students who want to get

together with other students to share car rides to campus.

Yeah. Rideshare information could be helpful.

Absolutely! If students knew about rideshares, they could save money getting to campus cuz a few of them could travel in one car.

Task4

Now

托福tpo40

listen to part of a lecture in a biology class.

I know some scientists who were observing snakes in the wild. And they witnessed an encounter of this sort between two rattlesnakes.

Uh...as you may know, rattlesnakes eat various kinds of small animals. Small animals that live underground, in burrows, in little holes in the ground. And what these scientists saw was these two rattlesnakes had found the same hole and both wanted to eat whatever food was in that hole.

So what happened was: The two rattlesnakes faced each other and then they lifted their bodies into an upright position and made themselves as tall as possible. And then they started pushing each other, kind of wrestling with one another, each snake trying to gain control of the other snake.

And what's interesting is that during all these pushing and shoving and maneuvering, neither snake ever tried to bite the other snake. Neither snake ever tried to injure the other snake. So…after this went on for a while, one of the snakes finally gained control of the other snake, pushed it to the ground and held it there. At this point, the snake that was on top could have easily bitten the other snake. But it didn't. Instead, it just released the other snake, just let it go.

The snake that had lost just slithered away, and the snake that had won went down into the hole to look for food.

Task5

Listen to a conversation between two students.

Hey. Sally. How are you doing?

Well, okay. But l've got a bit of a problem.

Oh, yeah? What's up?

Well, I forgot that tonight is the night my theater class is taking a trip to see a play. We're taking a

bus into the city.

Oh, sounds like fun.

Yeah. Well, we have to write a paper about the play for class. Cool thing is my professor got

tickets for us. He and the director of the play are friends. So the whole class is going for free. Free theater tickets. Excellent! Theater tickets can be expensive.

Yeah. Problem is, though, I have a big history test tomorrow morning and I really need to study. l've been putting it off and I kind of forgot that tonight was when the theater class would be going to the play.

So you were planning to use tonight to study.

Yeah.

Well, could you do your studying, you know, study for the history test when you get back from the play tonight?

Yeah. It would be late though. I could study some on the bus and stay up late when we get back from the play.

Hmm...not exactly ideal study conditions though.

Exactly. So I was thinking i could go by myself into the city another night to see the play. The paper we have to write on the play isn't due for a couple of days. So they'd still be time. Then you can get a good night's sleep before the history test.

Yup. But l'd have to buy the theater ticket myself. lt's only free if I go with the class tonight. Task6

Listen to part of a lecture from a business class.

All right. So…um...a good salesperson needs to know how to talk to customers effectively. Sometimes customers looking to buy products will raise concerns, things that may be keeping them from buying the product. And salespeople stand a much better chance of selling their

products if they can effectively address these concerns. Let's look at a couple of strategies they

use to address customers' concerns.

Okay. Now one strategy is to point out something special about the product. Something that outweighs the customer's concern, like a special feature. Like, say a customer is in an electronic store, and a salesperson is showing her a portable laptop computer. The customer expresses a concern saying the computer is expensive. Well, that's true. But the salesperson can provide information to outweigh the concern about the price by pointing out how fast the computer is, how much work it can get done in a short time. This special feature may outweigh the customer's concern, convince her that it's worth the price. So she's more likely to buy it.

Now another strategy is to demonstrate something about the product, actually use the product in front of the customer in response to a concern. Going back to the electronic store example, say

the customer raises concerns about whether the laptop is portable enough, that it looks like it would be difficult to pack up and carry. Well, the salesperson could address this concern by unplugging the computer, putting it into its carrying case and slinging it over his shoulder, right in

front of the customer. That is, he can demonstrate how easy it is to transport. This demonstration may help eliminate the customer's concerns about buying the computer.

篇二:托福TPO46阅读文本+题目+答案下载

托福TPO46阅读文本+题目+答案下载

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1. 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. ■ 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. ■

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.

1. The word “key” in the passage is closest in meaning to

O frequent

O essential

O original

O familiar

2. The word “virtue” in the passage is closest in meaning to

O price

O design

O desirable quality

O physical characteristic

3. 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 it

O 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 on

O 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 material

O To explain why writing in Egypt did not develop as quickly as it did Mesopotamia

O 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 papyrus

6. According to paragraph 3, all of the following are true of cuneiform writing EXCEPT:

O It was composed of very simple shapes

O 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 to

O include

O influence

O organize

O record

10. According to paragraph 5, writing was first used for

O simple bookkeeping

O descriptions of daily events

O counting the contents of clay tablets

O government reports

11. The phrase “Now and then” in the passage is closest in meaning to

O always

O occasionally

O sooner or later

O first and last

12. According to paragraph 6, large batches of clay writing tablets were stored because the tablets

O were being produced quickly and in large quantities

O did not serve any practical purpose for most Mesopotamians

O contained information that needed to be available for future reference

O could not be used again once they had been written on

13. 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 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 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 Choices

Writing 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 all

the 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 Europe

Beginning 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 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

篇三:新航道2016上半年托福阅读考情分析及备考建议

2016上半年托福阅读考情分析及备考建议

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此次考情分析集合了2016上半年所有场次的托福阅读考试文章,对文章按照学科进行了分类分析,内容将包含四个主要部分:1. 文章分学科统计;2. 不同文章类型特点分析;3. 对应TPO文章推荐;4. 下半年应对托福阅读考试策略。

1、学科统计

从不同文章的出现频率来看,生物和历史类文章还是托福阅读考察的重点 ,两种学科话题占总文章数量的72%(生物42.1%,历史29.8%);而这两种类型的文章出现的频率也都超过80%,这也意味着不出意外的话,考生们都会在考场上遭遇这两个学科的文章,甚至一场考试有可能遭遇两篇生物类的文章。将今年上半年文章统计和TPO真题做一个对比会发现生物和历史这两大学科的文章的占比有所上升,而这一趋势也在最新的TPO真题中体现出来(TPO40-48),建议下半年参加考试的考生备考时一定要用到最新的TPO真题模考练习。

此外,除了生物和历史类文章,其他学科的文章出现频率相对比较正常,唯一值得注意的是艺术类文章在上半年考试中出现的非常少,只出现两篇,因此要提醒考生们下半年可能会出现较多的艺术相关的文章。同样的,生理和心理类文章在上半年考试中也是不见踪影,需要提醒大家在下半年考试中要注意。总结来说,生物和历史类文章仍旧是考生重点准备对象;地理、社会和环境类也是在考场上很可能遭遇的学科,同样需要重点准备;此外天文、艺术和心理生理类文章所占比重相对较低,可以考虑针对自身情况选择性准备。

2、文章特点分析

了解托福考试的考生们都知道,托福考试看似学术专业性很强,专业词汇出现较多,但是文章特点鲜明,考察学科范围比较有规律,在掌握了一定的学科背景之后能够很大程度帮助我们应对考试,这里简单对每个学科的文章特点和背景进行分析,相信能够帮助大家针对性备考。

生物类

众所周知,当代生物学界最重要的理论就是19世纪由英国生物学家达尔文提出的生物进化论。进化论中提到:所有的生物都相互关联并且有共同的起源,在发展的过程中受到自然选择的作用各自进化出能够适应生存环境的生理和行为特征(natural selection/ adapt/ survival)。所以托福阅读生物类文章也大都围绕这个理论展开,文体主要涉及说明文和议论文两种。生物学文章也可以按照讨论的主题大小分为“微观物种”和“宏观理论”两种类型。其中“微观物种”类文章主要特点在于针对性讨论或说明某一个特定物种的生存特征, 例如今年上半年考过的鸟类、蝴蝶、乌龟、珊瑚礁、海藻、恐龙等文章;而“宏观理论”类文章 则不针对自然界中某一个特定物种,而是主要讨论或说明某一个生物学理论, 例如上半年考过的动物灭绝、物种感知风的能力、物种交配繁殖方式等。相比较而言,生物类文章涉及“微观物种”类的文章会略多于“宏观理论”类,但是两种类型的文章都是大家准备的重点。

从文章结构来看,生物类文章一般遵循总分或总分总的结构风格 ,例如首段引入一个特色物种,后面各段分别说明描述其不同的生存特点和对应的生理构造。

历史社会类

历史类文章结构和别的学科文章结构有比较明显的差异,一般以记叙文和议论文为主。议论文特点在于首段提出某一个历史现象 ,例如工业革命的发展,其后主体段讨论工业革命发生的各种原因;记叙文 结构相对不是很清晰,一般是线性描述,记叙某一个文明的发展历程或者某一个历史事件的发展历程 ,例如古希腊如何一步步由贵族统治转变为民主国家。历史类文章同样可以由针对的主题不同分为“历史社会类”和“历史文明类”。其中历史社会类主要针对某一个社会经济发展的事件进行描述 ,例如上半年出现的16世纪欧洲经济发展、中国宋朝经济发展、美国钟表发展、糖的出现等等。而历史文化类文章主要侧重某一个国家或地区的文化发展和社会形态的转变 ,例如泰国佛教发展、农耕的出现、游牧民族的发展等。

历史类文章的一大难点在于文章结构不是十分清晰,一般是线性展开,同时很多的历史事件相对不为考生所熟悉,不能利用背景帮助理解。但是托福阅读历史类文章还是有一定趋势,结合TPO和上半年考试情况来看,建议考生多了解地中海国家的历史以及工业革命及航海时代的历史,这些历史时期考察的相对较多 。

地质环境类

地质类文章特点在于专业词汇和专业知识相对较多(e.g. Pleistocene, carbon dating, isotope),所以针对这个学科考生们需要针对性准备扩充词汇量 。地质类文章会和比较多的学科类型文章产生交集,例

如考古类(合并在历史类中)、环境类、古生物类等。从上半年考试情况来看关于地壳形成,地下水和冰川期等相关知识考察的比较多,建议考生们可以针对性准备 。

天文类

天文类文章在真题中考察的频率相对较低,难度也并不算非常大。由于受到目前人类天文技术发展的限制,人类能够相对详细了解和研究的天体基本上都集中在太阳系之内,其中火星、金星、木星和土星及其卫星考察的相对较多,建议考生们可以针对性了解。因为天文类文章本身考察的内容比较局限,其难度也相对受到制约,文体一般以说明文和议论文为主。

3、TPO代表文章推荐

生物类

TPO 15 Mass Extinctions

TPO 29 Competition

TPO 30 The pace of evolutionary change

TPO 15 A Warm-blooded Turtle

TPO 31 Speciation in geographically isolated populations

TPO 36 Cetacean intelligence

TPO 48 Determining dinosaur diet

历史类

TPO 07 Ancien Rome And Greece

TPO 09 Colonizing The Americas Via The Northwest Coast

TPO 10 Seventeenth-Century European Economic Growth

TPO 26 Energy and the industrial revolution

TPO 26 Sumer and the first cities of the Ancient Near East

TPO 47 Roman cultural influence on Britain

地质类

TPO 28 Groundwater

TPO 19 Discovering the Ice Ages

TPO 20 Fossil Preservation

TPO 27 The formation of volcanic islands

艺术类

TPO 11 Ancient Egyptian Sculpture

TPO 34 Islamic Art and the book

天文类

TPO 16 Planets In Our Solar System

TPO 25 surface on mars

TPO 41 climate of Venus

TPO 42 Callisto and Ganymede

生理心理类

TPO 24 Breathing during sleep

4、备考建议

托福阅读的题型主要考察考生四个方面的能力:1. 词汇;2. 句型;3. 段落结构;4. 文章背景。从这四个方面出发,建议考生在考前首先要针对性完成托福阅读词汇的巩固,背单词时结合文章阅读并且反复浏览 。如果长难句理解问题比较大,建议针对性做长难句翻译练习 。对于目前词汇语法基础比较好的考生,建议

读文章时注意句子关系和段落结构,尤其要注意作者的论证手法 。最后建议考生们一定要精读以上给大家罗列的学科代表性文章 。