2016年托福考试专项测试题及答案

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2016年托福考试专项测试题及答案

　　text one

2016年托福考试专项测试题及答案

　　The principal difference between urban growth in Europe and in the North American colonies was the slow evolution of cities in the former and their rapid growth in the latter. In Europe they grew over a period of centuries from town economies to their present urban structure. In North America, they started as wilderness communities and developed to mature urbanism in little more than a century.

　　In the early colonial days in North America, small cities sprang up along the Atlantic Coastline, mostly in what are now New England and Middle Atlantic states in the United States and in the lower Saint Lawrence valley in Canada. This was natural because these areas were nearest to England and France, particularly England, from which most capital goods (assets such as equipment) and many consumer goods were imported. Merchandising establishments were, accordingly, advantageously located in port cities from which goods could be readily distributed to interior settlements. Here, too, were the favored locations for processing raw materials prior to export. Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Montreal, and other cities flourished, and, as the colonies grew, these cities increased in importance.

　　This was less true in the colonial South, where life centered around large farms, known as plantations, rather than around towns, as was the case in the areas further north along the Atlantic coastline. The local isolation and the economic self-sufficiency of the plantations were antagonistic to the development of the towns. The plantations maintained their independence because they were located on navigable streams and each had a wharf accessible to the small shipping of that day. In fact, one of the strongest factors in the selection of plantation land was the desire to have its front on a water highway.

　　When the United States became an independent nation in 1776, it did not have a single city as large as 50,000 inhabitants, but by 1820 it had a city of more than 10,000 people, and by 1880 it had recorded a city of over one million. It was not until after 1823, after the mechanization of the spinning had weaving industries, that cities started drawing young people away from farms. Such migration was particularly rapid following the Civil War (1861-1865).

　　1. What does the passage mainly discuss?

　　(A) Factors that slowed the growth of cities in Europe.

　　(B) The evolution of cities in North America

　　(D) The effects of the United Sates' independence on urban growth in New England.

　　2. The word "they" in line 4 refers to

　　(A) North American colonies

　　(B) cities

　　(D) town economies

　　3. The passage compares early European and North American cities on the basis of which of the following?

　　(A) Their economic success

　　(B) The type of merchandise they exported

　　(D) The pace of their development

　　4. The word "accordingly因此" in line 11 is closest in meaning to

　　(A) as usual

　　(B) in contrast

　　(D) for that reason

　　5. According to the passage , early colonial cities were established along the Atlantic coastline of North America due to

　　(A) an abundance of natural resources

　　(B) financial support from colonial governments

　　(D) a favorable climate

　　6. The passage indicates that during colonial times, the Atlantic coastline cities prepared which of the following for shipment to Europe?

　　(A) Manufacturing equipment

　　(B) Capital goods

　　(D) Raw materials

　　7. According to the passage , all of the following aspects of the plantation system influenced the growth of southern cities EXCEPT the

　　(A) location of the plantations

　　(B) access of plantation owners to shipping

　　(D) economic self-sufficiency of the plantations

　　8. It can be inferred from the passage that, in comparison with northern cities, most southern cities were

　　(A) more prosperous

　　(B) smaller

　　(D) tied less closely to England than to France

　　9. The word "recorded" in line 26 is closest in meaning to

　　(A) imagined

　　(B) discovered

　　(D) planned

　　10. The word "drawing拉" in line 28 is closest in meaning to

　　(A) attracting

　　(B) employing

　　(D) representing

　　11. The passage mentions the period following the Civil War (line 29) because it was a time of

　　(A) significant obstacles to industrial growth

　　(B) decreased dependence on foreign trade

　　(D) increased migration from northern states to southern states

　　参考答案

　　1-11 BBDDC DCBCA C

　　text two

　　In seventeenth-century colonial North America, all day-to-day cooking was done in the fireplace. Generally large, fireplaces were planned for cooking as well as for warmth. Those in the Northeast were usually four or five feet high, and in the South, they were often high enough for a person to walk into. A heavy timber called the mantel tree was used as a lintel to support the stonework above the fireplace opening. This timber might be scorched occasionally, but it was far enough in front of the rising column of heat to be safe from catching fire.

　　Two ledges were built across from each other on the inside of the chimney. On these rested the ends of a "lug pole" from which pots were suspended when cooking. Wood from a freshly cut tree was used for the lug pole, so it would resist heat, but it had to be replaced frequently because it dried out and charred, and was thus weakened. Sometimes the pole broke and the dinner fell into the fire. When iron became easier to obtain, it was used instead of wood for lug poles, and later fireplaces had pivoting metal rods to hang pots from.

　　Beside the fireplace and built as part of it was the oven. It was made like a small, secondary fireplace with a flue leading into the main chimney to draw out smoke. Sometimes the door of the oven faced the room, but most ovens were built with the opening facing into the fireplace. On baking days (usually once or twice a week) a roaring fire of "oven wood," consisting of brown maple sticks, was maintained in the oven until its walls were extremely hot. The embers were later removed, bread dough was put into the oven, and the oven was sealed shut until the bread was fully baked.

　　Not all baking was done in a big oven, however. Also used was an iron "bake kettle," which looked like a stewpot on legs and which had an iron lid. This is said to have worked well when it was placed in the fireplace, surrounded by glowing wood embers, with more embers piled on its lid.

　　1. Which of the following aspects of domestic life in colonial North America does the passage mainly discuss?

　　(A) methods of baking bread

　　(B) fireplace cooking

　　(D) the types of wood used in preparing meals

　　2. The author mentions the fireplaces built in the South to illustrate

　　(A) how the materials used were similar to the materials used in northeastern fireplaces

　　(B) that they served diverse functions

　　(D) how they were safer than northeastern fireplaces

　　3. The word "scorched烧焦的" in line 6 is closest in meaning to

　　(A) burned

　　(B) cut

　　(D) bent