1997年5月托福阅读全真试题

文章作者 100test 发表时间 2007:05:09 13:34:33
来源 100Test.Com百考试题网

Question 1-8

With Robert Laurent and William Zorach, direct carving
enters into the story of modern sculpture in the United States.
Direct carving - in which the sculptors themselves carve stone
or wood with mallet and chisel - must be recognized as some
-thing more than just a technique. Implicit in it is an aesthetic
principle as well: that the medium has certain qualities of beauty
and expressiveness with which sculptors must bring their
own aesthetic sensibilities into harmony. For example, some-
times the shape or veining in a piece of stone or wood suggests,
perhaps even dictates, not only the ultimate form, but
even the subject matter.

The technique of direct carving was a break with the nineteenth-
century tradition in which the making of a clay model
was considered the creative act and the work was then turned
over to studio assistants to be cast in plaster or bronze or carved
in marble. Neoclassical sculptors seldom held a mallet or chisel
in their own hands, readily conceding that the assistants they
employed were far better than they were at carving the finished
marble.
With the turn-of-the-century Crafts movement and the
discovery of nontraditional sources of inspiration, such as
wooden African figures and masks, there arose a new urge for
hands-on, personal execution of art and an interaction with the
medium. Even as early as the 1880s and 1890s, nonconformist
European artists were attempting direct carving. By
the second decade of the twentieth century, Americans -
Laurent and Zorach most notably - had adopted it as their primary
means of working.

Born in France, Robert Laurent(1890-1970) was a prodigy
who received his education in the United States. In 1905
he was sent to Paris as an apprentice to an art dealer, and in
the years that followed he witnessed the birth of Cubism,
discovered primitive art, and learned the techniques of wood-
carving from a frame maker.

Back in New York City by 1910, Laurent began carving
pieces such as The Priestess, which reveals his fascination with
African, pre-Columbian, and South Pacific art. Taking a walnut
plank, the sculptor carved the expressive, stylized design.
It is one of the earliest examples of direct carving in American
sculpture. The planks form dictated the rigidly frontal view
and the low relief. Even its irregular shape must have appealed
to Laurent as a break with a long-standing tradition that
required a sculptor to work within a perfect rectangle or square.

1. The word "medium" in line 5 could be used to refer to

(A) stone or wood
(B) mallet and chisel
(C) technique
(D) principle

2. What is one of the fundamental principles of direct carving?

(A) A sculptor must work with talented assistants.
(B) The subject of a sculpture should be derived from classical stories.
(C) The material is an important element in a sculpture.
(D) Designing a sculpture is a more creative activity than carving it.

(3) The word "dictates" in line 8 is closest in meaning to

(A) reads aloud
(B) determines
(C) includes
(D) records

4. How does direct carving differ from the nineteenth-century tradition of sculpture?

(A) Sculptors are personally involved in the carving of a piece.
(B) Sculptors find their inspiration in neoclassical sources.
(C) Sculptors have replaced the mallet and chisel with other tools.
(D) Sculptors receive more formal training.

5. The word "witnessed" in line 23 is closest in meaning to

(A) influenced
(B) studied
(C) validated
(D) observed

6. Where did Robert Laurent learn to carve?

(A) New York
(B) Africa
(C) The South Pacific
(D) Paris.

7. The phrase "a break with" in line 30 is closest in meaning to

(A) a destruction of
(B) a departure from
(C) a collapse of
(D) a solution to

8. The piece titled The Priestess has all of the following characteristics EXCEPT:

(A) The design is stylized.
(B) It is made of marble.
(C) The carving is not deep.
(D) It depicts the front of a person.


Question 9-19

Birds that feed in flocks commonly retire together into
roosts. The reasons for roosting communally are not always
obvious, but there are some likely benefits. In winter especially,
it is important for birds to keep warm at night and conserve
precious food reserves. One way to do this is to find a
sheltered roost. Solitary roosters shelter in dense vegetation or
enter a cavity - horned larks dig holes in the ground and
ptarmigan burrow into snow banks - but the effect of sheltering
is magnified by several birds huddling together in the
roosts, as wrens, swifts, brown creepers, bluebirds, and anis
do. Body contact reduces the surface area exposed to the cold
air, so the birds keep each other warm. Two kinglets huddling
together were found to reduce their heat losses by a quarter
and three together saved a third of their heat.

The second possible benefit of communal roosts is that
they act as "information centers." During the day, parties of
birds will have spread out to forage over a very large area.
When they return in the evening some will have fed well, but
others may have found little to eat. Some investigators have
observed that when the birds set out again next morning,
those birds that did not feed well on the previous day appear to
follow those that did. The behavior of common and lesser
kestrels may illustrate different feeding behaviors of similar
birds with different roosting habits. The common kestrel
hunts vertebrate animals in a small, familiar hunting ground,
whereas the very similar lesser kestrel feeds on insects overa
large area. The common kestrel roosts and hunts alone, but
the lesser kestrel roosts and hunts in flocks, possibly so one
bird can learn from others where to find insect swarms.
Finally, there is safety in numbers at communal roosts
since there will always be a few birds awake at any given
moment to give the alarm. But this increased protection is partially
counteracted by the fact that mass roosts attract predators and
are especially vulnerable if they are on the ground. Even those
in trees can be attacked by birds of prey. The birds on the
edge are at greatest risk since predators find it easier to catch
small birds perching at the margins of the roost.

9. What does the passage mainly discuss?

(A) How birds find and store food.
(B) How birds maintain body heat in the winter.
(C) Why birds need to establish territory.
(D) Why some species of birds nest together.

10. The word "conserve" in line 3 is closest in meaning to

(A) retain
(B) watch
(C) locate
(D) share

11. Ptarmigan keep warm in the winter by

(A) huddling together on the ground with other birds.
(B) Building nests in trees.
(C) Burrowing into dense patches of vegetation
(D) Digging tunnels into the snow.

12. The word "magnified" in line 6 is closest in meaning to

(A) caused
(B) modified
(C) intensified
(D) combined

13. The author mentions kinglets in line 9 as an example of birds that

(A) protect themselves by nesting in holes.
(B) Nest with other species of birds
(C) Nest together for warmth
(D) Usually feed and nest in pairs.

14. The word "forage" in line 12 is closest in meaning to

(A) fly
(B) assemble
(C) feed
(D) rest

15. Which of the following statements about lesser and common kestrels is true?

(A) The lesser kestrel and the common kestrel have similar diets.
(B) The lesser kestrel feeds sociably but the common kestrel does not.
(C) The common kestrel nests in larger flocks than does the lesser kestrel.
(D) The common kestrel nests in trees, the lesser kestrel nests on the ground.

16. The word "counteracted" in line 24 is closest in meaning to

(A) suggested
(B) negated
(C) measured
(D) shielded

17. Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage as an advantage derived by birds that huddle together while sleeping?

(A) Some members of the flock warm others of impending dangers.
(B) Staying together provides a greater amount of heat for the whole flock.
(C) Some birds in the flock function as information centers for others who are looking for food.
(D) Several members of the flock care for the young.

18. Which of the following is a disadvantage of communal roosts that is mentioned in the passage?

(A) Diseases easily spread among the birds.
(B) Groups are more attractive to predators than individual birds.
(C) Food supplies are quickly depleted
(D) Some birds in the group will attack the others.

19.The word "they" in line 25 refers to

(A) a few birds
(B) mass roosts
(C) predators
(D) trees.


Question 20-30

Before the mid-nineteenth century, people in the United
States ate most foods only in season. Drying, smoking, and
salting could preserve meat for a short time, but the availability
of fresh meat, like that of fresh milk, was very limited.
there was no way to prevent spoilage. But in 1810 a French
inventor named Nicolas Appert developed the cooking-and-sealing
process of canning. And in the 1850s an American
named Gail Borden developed a means of condensing and preserving
milk. Canned goods and condensed milk became more
common during the 1860s, but supplies remained low because
cans had to be made by hand. By 1880, however, inventors
had fashioned stamping and soldering machines that mass-produced
cans from tinplate. Suddenly all kinds of food could be
preserved and bought at all times of the year.

Other trends and inventions had also helped make it possible
for Americans to vary their daily diets. Growing urban
populations created demand that encouraged fruit and vegetable
farmers to raise more produce. Railroad refrigerator cars
enabled growers and meat packers to ship perishables great
distances and to preserve them for longer periods. Thus, by the
1890s, northern city dwellers could enjoy southern and
western strawberries, grapes, and tomatoes, previously available
for a month at most, for up to six months of the year. In
addition, increased use of iceboxes enabled families to store
perishables. An easy means of producing ice commercially had
been invented I the 1870s, and by 1900 the nation had
more than two thousand commercial ice plants, most of which
made home deliveries. The icebox became a fixture in most
homes and remained so until the mechanized refrigerator
replaced it in the 1920s and 1930s.

Almost everyone now had a more diversified diet. Some
people continued to eat mainly foods that were heavy in starches
or carbohydrates, and not everyone could afford meat. Never-
theless, many families could take advantage of previously
unavailable fruits, vegetables, and dairy products to achieve
more varied fare.

20.What does the passage mainly discuss?

(A) Causes of food spoilage.
(B) Commercial production of ice
(C) Inventions that led to changes in the American diet.
(D) Population movements in the nineteenth century.

21.The phrase "in season" in line 2 refers to

(A) a kind of weather
(B) a particular time of year
(C) an official schedule
(D) a method of flavoring food.

22.The word "prevent" in line 4 is closest in meaning to

(A) estimate
(B) avoid
(C) correct
(D) confine

23.During the 1860s, canned food products were

(A) unavailable in rural areas
(B) shipped in refrigerator cars
(C) available in limited quantities.
(D) A staple part of the American diet.

24.It can be inferred that railroad refrigerator cars came into use

(A) before 1860
(B) before 1890
(C) after 1900
(D) after 1920

25.The word "them" in line 14 refers to

(A) refrigerator cars
(B) perishables
(C) growers
(D) distances

26.The word "fixture" in line 20 is closest in meaning to

(A) luxury item
(B) substance
(C) commonplace object
(D) mechanical device

27.The author implies that in the 1920s and 1930s home deliveries of ice

(A) decreased in number
(B) were on an irregular schedule
(C) increased in cost
(D) occurred only in the summer.

28.The word "Nevertheless" in line 24 is closest in meaning to

(A) therefore
(B) because
(C) occasionally
(D) however

29.Which of the following types of food preservation was NOT mentioned in the passage?

(A) Drying
(B) Canning
(C) Cold storage
(D) Chemical additives.

30.Which of the following statements is supported by the passage?

(A) Tin cans and iceboxes helped to make many foods more widely available.
(B) Commercial ice factories were developed by railroad owners
(C) Most farmers in the United States raised only fruits and vegetables.
(D) People who lived in cities demanded home delivery of foods.


Question 31-38

The ability of falling cats to right themselves in midair
and land on their feet has been a source of wonder for ages.
Biologists long regarded it as an example of adaptation by
natural 0selection, but for physicists it bordered on the miraculous.
Newtons laws of motion assume that the total amount of spin
of a body cannot change unless an external torque speeds it up
or slows it down. If a cat has no spin when it is released and
experiences no external torque, it ought not to be able to twist
around as it falls.

In the speed of its execution, the righting of a tumbling
cat resembles a magicians trick. The gyrations of the cat in
midair are too fast for the human eye to follow, so the process
is obscured. Either the eye must be speeded up, or the cats
fall slowed down for the phenomenon to be observed. A century
ago the former was accomplished by means of high-speed
photography using equipment now available in any pharmacy.
But in the nineteenth century the capture on film of a falling
cat constituted a scientific experiment.

The experiment was described in a paper presented to the
Paris Academy in 1894. Two sequences of twenty photographs
each, one from the side and one from behind, show a
white cat in the act of righting itself. Grainy and quaint
though they are, the photos show that the cat was 0dropped
upside down, with no initial spin, and still landed on its feet
Careful analysis of the photos reveals the secret. As the cat
rotates the front of its body clockwise, the rear and tail twist
counterclockwise, so that the total spin remains zero, in perfect
accord with Newtons laws. Halfway down, the cat
pulls in its legs before reversing its twist and then extends
them again, with the desired end result. The explanation was
that while no body can acquire spin without torque, a flexible
one can readily change its orientation, or phase. Cats know
this instinctively, but scientists could not be sure how it
happened until they increased the speed of their perceptions a
thousandfold.

31.What does the passage mainly discuss?

(A) The explanation of an interesting phenomenon
(B) Miracles in modern science
(C) Procedures in scientific investigation
(D) The differences between biology and physics.

32.The word "process" in line 10 refers to

(A) the righting of a tumbling cat
(B) the cats fall slowed down
(C) high-speed photography
(D) a scientific experiment

33.Why are the photographs mentioned in line 16 referred to as an "experiment"?

(A) The photographs were not very clear.
(B) The purpose of the photographs was to explain the process.
(C) The photographer used inferior equipment
(D) The photographer thought the cat might be injured.

34.Which of the following can be inferred about high-speed photography in the late 1800s?

(A) It was a relatively new technology.
(B) The necessary equipment was easy to obtain.
(C) The resulting photographs are difficult to interpret.
(D) It was not fast enough to provide new information.

35.The word "rotates" in line 19 is closest in meaning to

(A) 0drops
(B) turns
(C) controls
(D) touches

36.According to the passage, a cat is able to right itself in midair because it is

(A) frightened
(B) small
(C) intelligent
(D) flexible

37.The word "readily" in line 24 is closest in meaning to

(A) only
(B) easily
(C) slowly
(D) certainly

38.How did scientists increase "the speed of their perceptions a thousandfold" (lines 25-26)?

(A) By analyzing photographs
(B) By observing a white cat in a dark room
(C) By 0dropping a cat from a greater height.
(D) By studying Newtons laws of motion.


Question 39-50

The changing profile of a city in the United States is apparent
in the shifting definitions used by the United States Bureau
of the Census. In 1870 the census officially distinguished
the nations "urban" from its "rural" population for the first
time. "Urban population" was defined as persons living in
towns of 8,000 inhabitants or more. But after 1900 it meant
persons living in incorporated places having 2,500 or more
inhabitants.

Then, in 1950 the Census Bureau radically changed its
definition of "urban" to take account of the new vagueness of
city boundaries. In addition to persons living in incorporated
units of 2,500 or more, the census now included those who
lived in unincorporated units of that size, and also all persons
living in the densely settled urban fringe, including both incor-
porated and unincorporated areas located around cities of
50,000 inhabitants or more. Each such unit, conceived as an
integrated economic and social unit with a large population
nucleus, was named a Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area
(SMSA).

Each SMSA would contain at least (a) one central city
with 50,000 inhabitants or more or (b) two cities having
shared boundaries and constituting, for general economic and
social purposes, a single community with a combined population
of at least 50,000, the smaller of which must have a population
of at least 15,000. Such an area included the county in
which the central city is located, and adjacent counties that are
found to be metropolitan in character and economically and
socially integrated with the country of the central city. By 1970,
about two-thirds of the population of the United States was
living in these urbanized areas, and of that figure more than
half were living outside the central cities.

While the Census Bureau and the United States government
used the term SMSA (by 1969 there were 233 of them),
social scientists were also using new terms to describe
the elusive, vaguely defined areas reaching out from what used
to be simple "town" and "cities". A host of terms came into
use: "metropolitan regions", "polynucleated population
groups", "conurbations", "metropolitan clusters",
"megalopolises", and so on.

39.What does the passage mainly discuss?

(A) How cities in the United States began and developed
(B) Solutions to overcrowding in cities
(C) The changing definition of an urban area
(D) How the United States Census Bureau conducts a census

40.According to the passage, the population of the United States was first classified as rural or urban in

(A) 1870
(B) 1900
(C) 1950
(D) 1970

41.The word "distinguished" in line 3 is closest in meaning to

(A) differentiated
(B) removed
(C) honored
(D) protected

42.Prior to 1900, how many inhabitants would a town have to have before being defines as urban?
(A) 2,500
(B) 8,000
(C) 15,000
(D) 50,000

43.According to the passage, why did the Census Bureau revise the definition of urban in 1950?

(A) City borders had become less distinct.
(B) Cities had undergone radical social change
(C) Elected officials could not agree on an acceptable definition.
(D) New businesses had relocated to larger cities.

44.The word "those" in line 9 refers to

(A) boundaries
(B) persons
(C) units
(D) areas

45.The word "constituting" in line 16 is closest in meaning to

(A) located near
(B) determine by
(C) calling for
(D) marking up

46.The word "which" in line 18 refers to a smaller

(A) population
(B) city
(C) character
(D) figure

47.Which of the following is NOT true of an SMSA?

(A) It has a population of at least 50,000
(B) It can include a citys outlying regions
(C) It can include unincorporated regions
(D) It consists of at least two cities.

48.By 1970, what proportion of the population in the United States did NOT live in an SMSA?

(A) 3/4
(B) 2/3
(C) 1/2
(D) 1/3

49.The Census Bureau first used the term "SMSA" in

(A) 1900
(B) 1950
(C) 1969
(D) 1970

50.Where in the passage does the author mention names used by social scientists for an urban area?

(A) Lines 4-5
(B) Lines 7-8
(C) Lines 21-23
(D) Lines 27-29.