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托福模拟考试及答案解析(13)

托福模拟考试及答案解析（13）

(1~8/共56题)阅读理解

The Western and Eastern Roman Empires

At the height of its power, the Roman Empire was so immense that Emperor Diocletian divided the empire into western and eastern halves in 285. The Western Roman Empire was based in Rome while the Eastern Roman Empire later had its capital in Constantinople. Over time, the two empires exhibited distinct methods of rule reflecting their regions. Eventually, the Western Roman Empire fell to barbarian invaders in the late fifth century whereas the Eastern Roman Empire evolved into the Byzantine Empire, which survived for more than 1,000 years before being conquered by the Ottoman Turks in 1453.

Diocletian opted to divide the empire primarily due to the unwieldiness of ruling a huge amount of territory. By 285, the Roman Empire covered all of Southern Europe and parts of Western Europe, Northern Africa, and the Middle East. Despite having an extensive network of roads and secure shipping lanes, communications were terribly slow. Messages from Rome could take weeks to reach their destinations. Thus provincial governors had a level of autonomy that practically made them minor emperors. A series of conflicts in the decades prior to the split also showed the weakness of far-flung military commands as invasions by border people in the east and west were barely beaten back. In such conditions, local military commanders had to wield absolute power to respond promptly to threats. Such power went to the heads of some of them to the point that generals contemplating usurping the throne were constant threats to the imperial throne. The forming of two empires, each led by a different ruler, was meant to end these problems and to bring stability by giving each emperor more control than a single ruler could wield.

The reforms accomplished Diocletian's objectives to some degree, but the split also led to great differences between the two halves of the once-united empire. Diocletian had intended for the Eastern ruler to be subordinate to the Western one, but, over time, every emperor ruled as if his empire were separate. This was exacerbated by the differences between the two lands. For instance, despite being a part of the Roman Empire, Greece had dominated the eastern Mediterranean world for centuries. Hence it was natural that the Greek language and Greek customs replaced the Latin language and Roman customs in the Eastern Roman Empire.

Further problems centered on economic differences between the two halves. The eastern empire was urban based and derived its wealth from trade and work done by artisans. The western empire was more rural and agricultural, and its wealth depended on large populations of people working the land. In time, this weakness led to the decline of the western empire as waves of barbarian invaders devastated the population and land. Diocletian also initiated economic reforms by raising taxes to fund the defense of the empire. In the west, tax collectors had problems getting money from the rural populace, who were spread out, had little currency, and preferred paying taxes in farm produce. In the east, most people lived in cities and had hard currency, so tax collectors had an easier time, making money pour into Constantinople. The end result was a rich, stable Eastern Roman Empire that withstood multiple invasions for a millennium and a poor, unstable Western Roman Empire that succumbed to invasion fewer than two centuries after the split.

*shipphing lane: a region of water, especially in an ocean or sea, in which numerous ships sail *exacerbate: to make worse

第1题

Vocabulary

______=awkwardness

第2题

______=to take over as a ruler, often by force

第3题

______=distant

第4题

______=lower in status or power

第5题

Vocabulary Question

The word autonomy in the passage is closest in meaning to ______

A.difficulty

B.independence

C.respect

D.power

第6题

. Reference Question

The word them in the passage refers to ______

A. far-flung military commands

B. border people in the east and west

C. local military commanders

D threats

A.A

B.B

C.C

D.D

第7题

Factual Information Question

According to paragraph 4, the Eastern Roman Empire became wealthy because ______

A.it did not have to spend large amounts of money fighting invading barbarians

B.the people who lived there tended to pay their taxes in money rather than with items

C.the eastern emperors levied higher taxes than the emperors in the western lands

D.the people who lived there tended to pay all of the taxes that were demanded of them

第8题

Fill in a Table Question

Select the appropriate statements from the answer choices and match them to the cause and effect of the splitting of the Roman Empire to which they relate. TWO of the answer choices will NOT be used.

图片STATEMENTS

①Greek culture dominated the region in the eastern Mediterranean.

②The empire was so large that ruling it became too difficult.

③The number of generals attempting to usurp the throne declined greatly.

④Barbarian tribes constantly attacked the empire at certain places.

⑤The Byzantines were able to preserve much of the legacy of the Roman Empire.

⑥Communications to various parts of the empire took a long period of time.

⑦Places in the west were overrun by invaders in a relatively short amount of time.下一题

(9~16/共56题)阅读理解

Different Types of Stars

When viewed from the ground, the thousands of stars in the night sky have relatively similar appearances, yet in reality, there are a wide variety of stars, each with its own distinct characteristics. There are three main types of stars: main sequence stars, giant stars, and white dwarf stars. They are actually stages in the lives of stars since, as they age, they change in size, luminosity, and temperature until the only things that eventually remain are their inner cores.

All stars begin as main sequence stars. They are called that because they fall on the mid-range of the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram of star classification, which categorizes stars based upon their size, luminosity, and temperature. Main sequence stars, of which the Earth's sun is one, constitute the vast majority of stars in the universe. When stars form from stellar gas and dust, the process of fusion eventually begins, whereby the stars convert hydrogen into helium, which creates light and heat and also provides stability as the stars' internal energy pushes out and gravity pushes in to form their spherical shapes. Main sequence stars are roughly the same size of the sun but can have up to six times its luminosity, and their surface temperatures average around 3,500 to 7,500 degrees Kelvin. Most main sequence stars are neither very large nor hot though. Instead, they are red dwarf stars, which are smaller and much cooler than the sun and are not even visible to the naked eye from the Earth.

Giant stars are the first stage dying main sequence stars experience. Main sequence stars lack an infinite amount of hydrogen, so they eventually exhaust their supply and begin dying. The largest of these stars burn through their hydrogen supply faster than smaller ones because of their greater internal pressure and temperature. As gravity contracts these stars, their last remaining inner shell of hydrogen ignites and causes their rapid expansion, pushing them to giant size. Most dying main sequence stars become red giant stars, like the star Betelgeuse, although some become blue giant stars. Giant stars can be gargantuan in scale, with some being more than 1,000 times the size of the sun, but most never attain sizes that big. Their temperatures vary from around 7,500 degrees Kelvin to approximately 30,000 degrees Kelvin.

After some time, the last remnants of energy in giant stars are nearly depleted, so there is nothing holding their remaining matter together. At that point, some stars explode into supernovas, yet many fail to do so as their outer layers simply dissipate into space and form planetary nebulae while gravity collapses their inner layers and leaves a dense core of material that astronomers call a white dwarf. While white dwarves are not stars but are merely their remains, they are still bright and observable as they cool. Most white dwarves are the size of the Earth but possess much higher densities and masses. Their temperatures fluctuate as they cool, but they begin at a high of roughly 100,000 degrees Kelvin when they form, making them among the hottest stars in the universe. As their remaining heat scatters into space, they slowly cool.

*luminosity: brightness

*Kelvin: a unit of temperature

*supernova: a star that violently explodes near the end of its life

第9题

Vocabulary

______=to make up; to comprise

第10题

______=to catch on fire

第11题

______=without ending; countless

第12题

______=something remaining from a larger object

第13题

Sentence Simplification Question

Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in the passage? Incorrect answer choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.

A.Even though there are various kinds of stars with their own characteristics, only a few of the thousands of stars in the sky can be identified from the ground.

B.While stars look similar, in reality, there are many kinds of stars that are different from one another.

C.There are many different types of stars with unique characteristics, and it is possible to identify them when viewing them from the ground.

D.A person who is on the ground is able to look at the night sky and see thousands of different kinds of stars.

第14题

Inference Question

In paragraph 2, the author implies that the sun ______

A.is going to become a red dwarf star in the next few million years

B.is different from the majority of other stars in the universe

C.has an average temperature at the upper level of most main sequence stars

D.is much less bright than some other main sequence stars are

第15题

Reference Question

In paragraph 3, the author uses the star Betelgeuse as an example of ______

A.one of the most visible stars in the Earth's night sky

B.one of the few blue giant stars that exist in the galaxy

C.a star that is likely to become a supernova when it dies

D.a red giant star that used to be a main sequence star

第16题

Fill in a Table Question

Select the appropriate statements from the answer choices and match them to the type of star to which they relate. TWO of the answer choices will NOT be used.

图片STATEMENTS

①Is the most common type of star found in the galaxy

②May become a thousand times larger than the Earth's sun

③Can be among the hottest stars in the galaxy

④Includes stars that are much dimmer and smaller than the Earth's sun

⑤Is believed to be the rarest of all the types of stars in the universe

⑥Can often be invisible to people observing the sky from the Earth

⑦Forms when a star suddenly expands to a great size

⑧Is the last stage in a star's life before it becomes a black hole

⑨Is comprised of what remains of a star's inner core上一题下一题

(17~29/共56题)阅读理解

Tropical Rainforest Animal Adaptations

Lying between the Tropic of Cancer in the north and the Tropic of Capricorn in the south, the tropics, which straddle the equator, are noted for the high amount of rainfall and humidity that help create the dense tropical rainforests in the area. There are large rainforests in the tropics in Central and South America as well as in parts of Central Africa, Southeast Asia, and Northern Australia. Both the predators and prey animals dwelling in these rainforests have adapted in a variety of ways to enable them to survive in their harsh environments.

A tropical rainforest has four distinct layers of vegetation, and different species of animals, all of which compete for food resources, reside in them. At the top is the emergent layer, which consists of the tallest trees rising above the rest of the rainforest. Within the emergent layer live many species of birds and insects. Directly below the emergent layer is the canopy, a thick layer of tall, leafy trees that prevents most sunlight from reaching the ground below. The canopy is home to numerous species of insects, birds, reptiles, and small animals, including monkeys. Under the canopy and closer to the ground is the understory, where the vegetation is not as tall or as thick as the canopy since little sunlight reaches it. The understory is also home to various insects, reptiles, and larger mammals, such as jaguars, which can climb trees. Finally, there is the rainforest floor, where hardly any plant life grows due to the absence of sunlight. This is where the largest mammals and reptiles, including tigers and crocodiles, live, and it is also home to countless species of insects.

Food in tropical rainforests is abundant but also hard to acquire with so many animals competing for it. Consequently, large numbers of them have adapted to help them obtain food or to protect them so that they can avoid becoming food for predators. Some animals have developed ways to reach food that other animals cannot get. For example, the brightly colored toucan is a bird with a long, strong beak which it uses to reach into tight places to grab fruit. The toucan's feet have four toes—two face toward the front while two face backward—that it utilizes to latch onto branches very tightly and securely as it bends its body to reach fruit that is hard to get at. Another example of an animal whose body has adapted so that it can acquire food is the jaguar. This big cat is not a fussy eater but will instead devour virtually anything. It has developed powerful jaws that can kill prey with a single bite and has strong legs and sharp claws that let it climb trees to reach prey attempting to stay high above the ground to avoid predators. Two additional adaptations are its padded paws, which permit the jaguar to walk silently through the jungle to sneak up on its prey, and its fur pattern, which provides it with camouflage while hunting.

Many prey animals also utilize camouflage to hide from predators. The sloth, for example, hides in trees and hardly moves, preventing predators from sighting it, and it has blue-green algae growing on its fur, which lets it blend in with its leafy surroundings. ?Many other reptiles

and amphibians have greenish skin that enables them to hide in the rainforest. ?Others, however, have brightly colored skin that warns predators to avoid them. ?The poison dart frog comes in a variety of bright colors, indicating to predators that it is poisonous so should be neither hunted nor consumed. ?Some other species of frogs trick predators by mimicking the bright colors of the poisonous dart frog yet are not toxic if eaten.

Predators have adapted to the camouflage employed by prey animals by hunting at night. Many mammalian and reptilian predators have developed the senses necessary to become nocturnal hunters. Big cats such as the jaguar possess enhanced vision, making it easier for them to see at night. Most species of snakes can also sense body heat, so they can slither up to prey and attack it without warning, and they can easily climb trees to seek food at most layers in the rainforest, too. These are just a few of the adaptations rainforest animals have developed in the constant battles between predators and prey animals.

*Glossary

equator: the imaginary line that runs around the center of the Earth

nocturnal: active at night; relating to the night

slither: to move on the ground in a sliding motion

第17题

In paragraph 1, the author's description of tropical rainforests mentions which of the following? ______

A.The names of some of the countries in which they may be found

B.The amount of land on the Earth's surface that they currently take up

C.The rough geological location in which they exist on the Earth

D.The species of animals that are found in them in the greatest numbers

第18题

Under the canopy and closer to the ground is the understory, where the vegetation is not as tall or as thick as the canopy since little sunlight reaches it. ______

A.The canopy has trees that are taller and thicker than those in the understory even though it gets less sunlight.

B.Due to a lack of sunlight, the vegetation in the understory is not as high or thick as it is in the canopy above it.

C.The amount of sunlight they receive is the primary difference between the understory and the canopy.

D.There are some tall, thick trees in the understory, but there are many more of them located in the canopy.

第19题

The word This in the passage refers to ______

A.The understory

B.The rainforest floor

C.Plant life

D.The absence of sunlight

第20题

According to paragraph 2, which of the following is NOT true of the four layers of vegetation in tropical rainforests?

A.The layer that is covered with the greatest amount of vegetation is the rainforest floor.

B.Birds and insects are the primary animals that may be found in the emergent layer.

C.A wide variety of types of animals live in the trees that grow in the understory.

D.The trees in the canopy are primarily responsible for little sunlight reaching the ground.

第21题

Which of the following can be inferred from paragraph 2 about the creatures living in tropical rainforests? ______

A.The emergent layer is the safest region due to the high amount of sunlight it gets.

B.There are many more predators in tropical rainforests than there are prey animals.

C.Those in the emergent layer and the canopy are safe from the largest predators.

D.Mammals can only be found living in the bottom two layers of tropical rainforests.

第22题

The author discusses the brightly colored toucan in paragraph 3 in order to ______

A.explain the manner in which its physical adaptations permit it to obtain food more easily

B.describe how it manages to avoid most of the rainforest predators that hunt it

C.discuss the reason that it is so colorful in spite of its need to avoid certain predators

D.point out how it evolved to become one of the more skilled rainforest hunters

第23题

The phrase latch onto in the passage is closest in meaning to ______

A.grasp

https://www.docsj.com/doc/573129971.html,nd on

C.remain on

D.bite

第24题

Select the TWO answer choices from paragraph 3 that identify how the jaguar has adapted to hunt better. To receive credit, you must select TWO answers. ______

A.Animals can often not see it because of how its fur looks.

B.Its padded paws enable it to climb trees more skillfully.

C.It only needs to bite animals once due to the strength of its jaws.

D.It has strong legs that let it run faster than most prey animals.

第25题

The word mimicking in the passage is closest in meaning to ______

A.inspiring

B.producing

C.replicating

D.dulling

第26题

In stating that big cats such as the jaguar possess enhanced vision, the author means that the jaguar ______

A.possesses powerful senses

B.has excellent sight

C.can focus on distant objects

D.is sensitive to light

第27题

According to paragraph 5, snakes in tropical rainforests have adapted by ______

A.having camouflage patterns on their skin that make them hard to see

B.developing eyesight enabling them to see prey animals better

C.utilizing highly toxic venom that can effectively kill large animals

D.being able to detect the heat given off by the animals they are hunting

第28题

Look at the four squares [●] that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage.

Predators can easily see these animals on account of their vivid colors, which inform them that these animals are unique in some regard.

Where would the sentence best fit?

Click on a square [●] to add the sentence to the passage.

第29题

Directions: Select the appropriate statements from the answer choices and match them to the type of animal to which they relate. TWO of the answer choices will NOT be used. This question is worth 3 points.

Drag your answer choices to the spaces where they belong. To remove an answer choice, click on it. To review the passage, click on VIEW TEXT.

STATEMENTS

①Relies on bright colors to warn other animals away from it

②Tends to be more active at night than during the day

③Digs into the ground to build dens that other animals cannot see

④Prefers to live in the emergent layer to avoid most other animals

⑤May rely upon its lack of movement to remain hidden from others

⑥Uses the ability to move silently to surprise other animals

⑦Has learned to climb trees to get to places with other animals

TYPE OF ANIMAL

Predator (Select 3)

图片Prey (Select 2)

图片

上一题下一题

(30~42/共56题)阅读理解

British Taxation and the American Colonies

When the French and Indian War concluded in 1763, the result was an overwhelming British victory over the French that resulted in the losers being driven from most of their North American colonies. The British government, for its part, was left deeply in debt. After the hostilities ended, the British Parliament enacted several new tax laws intended to raise revenue from Britain's American colonies to pay for the war. The American colonists had no voice in Parliament to speak for or against these laws, so the end result was that they developed strong, negative reactions to what they termed "taxation without representation." The colonists accordingly opposed the taxes, and their protests escalated to violence and were ultimately a leading cause of the American Revolution.

Four main taxes created tension in the colonies: the Sugar Act of 1764, the Stamp Act of 1765, the Townsend Acts of 1767, and the Tea Act of 1773. The first, the Sugar Act, was enacted to prevent the smuggling of molasses. Under the Molasses Act of 1733, colonists had to pay a duty of six pence per gallon of molasses. Yet customs officials routinely accepted bribes of around one and a half pence per gallon and permitted the molasses to be shipped untaxed. The Sugar Act actually reduced the duty to three pence, but the colonists still refused to pay it. Only when it was lowered to one pence in 1766 did it become cheaper to pay the duty than the bribes. The British government subsequently received around 30,000 pounds of revenue per year—a relatively small amount of money—from the molasses trade.

The main effect of the Sugar Act was to make the colonists wonder if the British had the right to interfere in their affairs, particularly in matters of trade. Nevertheless, the Sugar Act was not widely protested because it primarily affected those involved in trade and shipping. The same cannot be said of the Stamp Act, which had a wide-ranging effect on every colony. It mandated that many documents the colonists used, especially those related to legal affairs and publishing, could only be written on paper with a crown revenue stamp on it. Essentially, the colonists had to buy special paper from the British government at a higher price than normal paper. Regarding this as a direct form of taxation, the colonists protested the act so vigorously that it was repealed in 1766.

Despite this setback, the British government was determined to extract revenue from the colonies. The Townsend Acts were designed to tax a wide variety of imported items to raise money to pay the salaries of government officials in the colonies. Once again, however, the colonists objected as they believed that British control of American colonial government officials' salaries would result in more widespread British influence in the colonies. After extensive American boycotts of British goods, the acts were repealed in 1770 except for a tax on tea. This, in turn, led to the Tea Act, which was an attempt by the British government to bestow a monopoly on the sale of tea in the colonies to the East India Company. Among the most famous reactions to this law happened on the night of December 16, 1773. American colonists dressed as Indians stormed on board British ships in Boston Harbor and cast their cargoes of tea into the water in what came to be known as the Boston Tea Party.

The opposite perceptions each side had of the role of the colonists in the British Empire were the root cause of the difficulties between the opposing sides. To the British, it appeared reasonable to tax the colonists to pay for the war that drove the encroaching French out of North America. The colonists were also part of the global British Empire and had always been regarded as a support system for the motherland. But by the 1760s, the American colonies had existed for nearly 150 years and had attained a high level of autonomy. Though the colonies still belonged to the British Empire, many colonists considered themselves Americans rather than British. This was a recipe for trouble when the British began making demands the colonists thought unreasonable, so this eventually led to the American Revolution and the founding of a new nation.

*Glossary

molasses: a thick syrup made by refining sugar

bribe: money paid to a person such as a public official for the purpose of evading the law crown: referring to the sovereign power of a monarchy

第30题

British Taxation and the

American Colonies

Parliament enacted several new tax laws intended to raise revenue from Britain's American colonies to pay for the war. The American colonists had no voice in Parliament to speak for or against these laws, so the end result was that they developed strong, negative reactions to what they termed "taxation without representation." The colonists accordingly opposed the taxes, and their protests escalated to violence and were ultimately a leading cause of the American Revolution.

The word overwhelming in the passage is closest in meaning to ______

A.swift

B.crushing

C.intimidating

D.inspiring

第31题

In paragraph 1, the author's description of the tax laws enacted by the British Parliament mentions all of the following EXCEPT: ______

A.how the American colonists felt about being taxed by the British

B.the effect the taxes had on the relationship between the British and Americans

C.the negotiations regarding the taxes that the British held with the Americans

D.the reason that the British government was attempting to raise money

第32题

*Glossary

molasses: a thick syrup made by refining sugar

bribe: money paid to a person such as a public official for the purpose of evading the law

The author discusses the Molasses Act of 1733 in paragraph 2 in order to ______

A.point out the manner in which the American colonists evaded following that law

B.argue that the tax was fair and did not cost the American colonists much money

C.show the corruption that existed in both the British and American governments

D.claim it was the first time the British had ever taxed the American colonists

第33题

The word it in the passage refers to ______

A.the molasses