《1997年托福考试阅读理解全真试题》.docx
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《1997年托福考试阅读理解全真试题》
《1997年10月托福考试阅读理解全真试题》
Question 1-7
Hotels were among the earliest facilities that bound the
United States together. They were both creatures and creators
of communities, as well as symptoms of the frenetic quest for
community. Even in the first part of the nineteenth century,
Americans were already forming the habit of gathering from all
corners of the nation for both public and private, business and
pleasure purposes. Conventions were the new occasions, and
hotels were distinctively American facilities making conven-
tions possible. The first national convention of a major party to
choose a candidate for President (that of the National Republican
party, which met on December 12, 1831, and nominated
Henry Clay for President) was held in Baltimore, at a hotel
that was then reputed to be the best in the country. The
presence in Baltimore of Barnum s City Hotel, a six-story building
with two hundred apartments helps explain why many other
early national political conventions were held there.
In the longer run, too. American hotels made other national
conventions not only possible but pleasant and convivial.
The growing custom of regularly assembling from afar the
representatives of all kinds of groups - not only for political conventions,
but also for commercial, professional, learned, and
avocational ones - in turn supported the multiplying hotels. By
mid-twentieth century, conventions accounted for over a third
of the yearly room occupancy of all hotels in the nation, about
eighteen thousand different conventions were held annually
with a total attendance of about ten million persons.
Nineteenth-century American hotelkeepers, who were no
longer the genial, deferential "hosts" of the eighteenth-century
European inn, became leading citizens. Holding a large
stake in the community, they exercised power to make it
prosper. As owners or managers of the local "palace of the
public", they were makers and shapers of a principal community
attraction. Travelers from abroad were mildly shocked by this
high social position.
1. The word "bound" in line 1 is closest in meaning to
(A) led
(B) protected
(C) tied
(D) strengthened
2. The National Republican party is mentioned in line 10 as an example of a group
(A) from Baltimore
(B) of learned people
(C) owning a hotel
(D) holding a convention
3. The word "assembling" in line 19 is closest in meaning to
(A) announcing
(B) motivating
(C) gathering
(D) contracting
4. The word "ones" in line 22 refers to
(A) hotels
(B) conventions
(C) kinds
(D) representatives
5. The word "it" in line 30 refers to
(A) European inn
(B) host
(C) community
(D) public
6. It can be inferred from the passage that early hotelkeepers in the United States were
(A) active politicians
(B) European immigrants
(C) Professional builders
(D) Influential citizens
7. Which of the following statements about early American hotels is NOT mentioned in the passage?
(A) Travelers from abroad did not enjoy staying in them.
(B) Conventions were held in them
(C) People used them for both business and pleasure.
(D) They were important to the community.
Question 8-17
Beads were probably the first durable ornaments humans
possessed, and the intimate relationship they had with their
owners is reflected in the fact that beads are among the most
common items found in ancient archaeological sites. In the
past, as today, men, women, and children adorned them-
selves with beads. In some cultures still, certain beads are
often worn from birth until death, and then are buried with
their owners for the afterlife. Abrasion due to daily wear alters
the surface features of beads, and if they are buried for long,
the effects of corrosion can further change their appearance.
Thus, interest is imparted to the bead both by use and the
effects of time.
Besides their wear ability, either as jewelry or incorporated
into articles of attire, beads possess the desirable characteristics
of every collectible, they are durable, portable, available
in infinite variety, and often valuable in their original cultural
context as well as in today s market. Pleasing to look at and
touch, beads come in shapes, colors, and materials that almost
compel one to handle them and to sort them.
Beads are miniature bundles of secrets waiting to be
revealed:
their history, manufacture, cultural context, economic
role, and ornamental use are all points of information one
hopes to unravel. Even the most mundane beads may have
traveled great distances and been exposed to many human
experiences. The bead researcher must gather information from
many diverse fields. In addition to having to be a generalist
while specializing in what may seem to be a narrow field, the
researcher is faced with the problem of primary materials that
have little or no documentation. Many ancient beads that are
of ethnographic interest have often been separated from their
original cultural context.
The special attractions of beads contribute to the uniqueness
of bead research. While often regarded as the "small
change of civilizations", beads are a part of every culture, and
they can often be used to date archaeological sites and to
designate the degree of mercantile, technological, and cultural
sophistication.
8. What is the main subject of the passage?
(A) Materials used in making beads.
(B) How beads are made
(C) The reasons for studying beads
(D) Different types of beads
9. The word "adorned" in line 5 is closest in meaning to
(A) protected
(B) decorated
(C) purchased
(D) enjoyed
10.The word "attire" in line 14 is closest in meaning to
(A) ritual
(B) importance
(C) clothing
(D) history
11.All of the following are given as characteristics of collectible objects EXCEPT
(A) durability
(B) portability
(C) value
(D) scarcity.
12.According to the passage, all of the following are factors that make people want to touch beads EXCEPT the
(A) shape
(B) color
(C) material
(D) odor
13.The word "unravel" in line 23 is closest in meaning to
(A) communicate
(B) transport
(C) improve
(D) discover
14.The word "mundane" in line 16 is closest in meaning to
(A) carved
(B) beautiful
(C) ordinary
(D) heavy
15.It is difficult to trace the history of certain ancient beads because they
(A) are small in size
(B) have been buried underground
(C) have been moved from their original locations
(D) are frequently lost
16.Knowledge of the history of some beads may be useful in the studies done by which of the following?
(A) Anthropologists
(B) Agricultural experts
(C) Medical researchers
(D) Economists
17.Where in the passage does the author describe why the appearance of beads may change?
(A) Lines 3-4
(B) Lines 6-8
(C) Lines 12-13
(D) Lines 20-22.
Question 18-31
In the world of birds, bill design is a prime example of
evolutionary fine-tuning. Shorebirds such as oystercatchers use
their bills to pry open the tightly sealed shells of their prey,
hummingbirds have stiletto-like bills to probe the deepest
nectar-bearing flowers, and kiwis smell out earthworms thanks to
nostrils located at the tip of their beaks. But few birds are
more intimately tied to their source of sustenance than are
crossbills. Two species of these finches, named for the way
the upper and lower parts of their bills cross, rather than meet
in the middle, reside in the evergreen forests of North America
and feed on the seeds held within the cones of coniferous trees.
The efficiency of the bill is evident when a crossbill locates
a cone. Using a lateral motion of its lower mandible, the
bird separates two overlapping scales on the cone and exposes
the seed. The crossed mandibles enable the bird to exert a
powerful biting force at the bill tips, which is critical for
maneuvering them between the scales and spreading the scales
apart. Next, the crossbill snakes its long tongue into the gap
and draws out the seed. Using the combined action of the bill
and tongue, the bird cracks open and discards the woody seed
covering action and swallows the nutritious inner kernel. This whole
process takes but a few seconds and is repeated hundreds of
times a day.
The bills of different crossbill species and subspecies vary -
some are stout and deep, others more slander and shallow. As
a rule, large-billed crossbills are better at securing seeds from
large cones, while small-billed crossbills are more deft at
removing the seeds from small, thin-scaled cones. Moreover,
the degree to which cones are naturally slightly open or tightly
closed helps determine which bill design is the best.
One anomaly is the subspecies of red crossbill known as
the Newfoundland crossbill. This bird has a large, robust bill,
yet most of Newfoundland s conifers have small cones, the
same kind of cones that the slender-billed white-wings rely on.
18.What does the passage mainly discuss?
(A) The importance of conifers in evergreen forests
(B) The efficiency of the bill of the crossbill
(C) The variety of food available in a forest
(D) The different techniques birds use to obtain food
19.Which of the following statements best represents the type of "evolutionary fine - turning" mentioned in line1?
(A) Different shapes of bills have evolved depending on the available food supply
(B) White - wing crossbills have evolved from red crossbills
(C) Newfoundland s conifers have evolved small cones
(D) Several subspecies of crossbills have evolved from two species