考试日期：2014年3月23日

Reading Passage 1

Title:

远古鱼是如何进化成陆地动物的

Question types:

文章内容回顾：

主题：生物类话题

主要讲述原物鱼类动物是如何进化为陆地动物的，其中涉及到进化的逻辑链，也就是一步一步进化的过程。

难度分析：

生物类话题，在托福阅读考试中较为常见，文章结构是因果关系结构，其中涉及的“发展”线索是把握文章的主要线索，考生在平时备考中也应该对ETS较为喜欢的因果类文章做相关整理。并且此类文章再TPO中也比较常见。

相关背景内容：

Marine biology is the scientific study of organisms in the ocean or othermarine or brackish bodies of water. Given that in biology manyphyla, families and genera have some species that live in thesea and others that live on land, marine biology classifies species based on the environment rather than on taxonomy. Marine biology differs from marine ecology as marine ecology is focused on how organisms interact with each other and the environment, and biology is the study of the organisms themselves.

A large proportion of all life on Earth exists in the ocean. Exactly how large the proportion is unknown, since many ocean species are still to be discovered. The ocean is a complex three-dimensional world[3] covering about 71% of the Earth's surface. Because of its depth it contains about 300 times the habitable volume of the terrestrial habitats on Earth. The habitats studied in marine biology include everything from the tiny layers of surface water in which organisms and abiotic items may be trapped in surface tension between the ocean and atmosphere, to the depths of the oceanic trenches, sometimes 10,000 meters or more beneath the surface of the ocean. Specific habitats include coral reefs, kelp forests, seagrass meadows, the surrounds of seamounts and thermal vents, tidepools, muddy, sandy and rocky bottoms, and the open ocean (pelagic) zone, where solid objects are rare and the surface of the water is the only visible boundary. The organisms studied range from microscopicphytoplankton and zooplankton to huge cetaceans (whales) 30 meters (98 feet) in length.

Reading Passage 2

Title:

欧洲1400-1500年间经济蓬勃发展的原因

Question types:

文章内容回顾：

主题：人文社科经济学类话题

文章主要讲述了欧洲1400-1500年间经济蓬勃发展的原因，其中涉及农业、工业的发展问题，以因果式发展结构来讲述文章要点。

难度分析：

人文社科经济学类话题，文章结构是因果型文章结构，框架结构较为清晰。学生对于这一题材的阅读都较为熟悉，但由于缺乏部分专业词汇，而似的文章总体有一定难度。这类文章在TPO阅读中比较常见，考生在备考中需要多加注意。

相关背景内容：

The European Economic Community (EEC) was an international organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957.

Its aim was to bring about economic integration, including a common market, among its six founding members: Belgium, France, Italy,Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany. The EEC was also known as the Common Market in the English-speaking world and sometimes referred to as the European Community even before it was officially renamed as such in 1993.

It gained a common set of institutions along with the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and the European Atomic Energy Community(EURATOM) as one of the European Communities under the 1965Merger Treaty (Treaty of Brussels).

Upon the entry into force of the Maastricht Treaty in 1993, the EEC was renamed the European Community (EC) to reflect that it covered a wider range of policy. This was also when the three European Communities, including the EC, were collectively made to constitute the first of the three pillars of the European Union (EU), which the treaty also founded. The EC existed in this form until it was abolished by the 2009Treaty of Lisbon, which merged the EU's former pillars and provided that the EU would "replace and succeed the European Community."

Reading Passage 3

Title:

Anasazi人灭绝的原因是过度开发自然资源

Question types:

文章内容回顾：

主题 人文社科类素材

文中主要讲述了Anasazi人灭绝的原因是过度开发自然资源，其中涉及这一地区的背景知识介绍，并且阐述了这一地区自然资源消耗所带来的严重后果。

难度分析：

人文社科类素材在最近几次托福阅读中是比较常见的素材，考生后续考试中需要注意。

相关背景内容：

Ancient Pueblo peoples or Ancestral Pueblo peoples were an ancientNative American culture centered on the present-day Four Cornersarea of the United States, comprising southern Utah, northeasternArizona, northern New Mexico, and southwestern Colorado.They lived in a range of structures, including pit houses, pueblos, and cliff dwellings designed so that they could lift entry ladders during enemy attacks, which provided security. Archaeologists referred to one of these cultural groups as theAnasazi, although the term is not preferred by contemporary Pueblo peoples.

The word Anaasází is Navajo for "Ancient Ones" or "Ancient Enemy".[3] Archaeologists still debate when this distinct cultureemerged. The current consensus, based on terminology defined by the Pecos Classification, suggests their emergence around the 12th century BCE, during the archaeologically designated Early Basketmaker II Era. Beginning with the earliest explorations and excavations, researchers wrote that the Ancient Puebloans are ancestors of contemporary Pueblo peoples.