托福阅读背景资料--《经济学人》
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篇1：托福阅读背景资料--《经济学人》
托福阅读背景资料--《经济学人》托福阅读背景资料--《经济学人》，为什么要看它?因为这是许多教高级口译和高级阅读的老师的推荐。这上面的文章文笔犀利而不乏幽默，是阅读的很好的材料。恐怕其简捷，朴素的风格是别的任何一家英文主流所不能比拟的。只要你有4，000到20，000词汇，读起来都不会有太多的不适应感。
托福阅读背景资料--《经济学人》
《经济学人》是一份由伦敦经济学人报纸有限公司出版的杂志，于1843年9月由詹姆士·威尔逊创办。杂志的大多数文章写得机智，幽默，有力度，严肃又不失诙谐，并且注重于如何在最小的篇幅内告诉读者最多的信息。
杂志主要关注政治和商业方面的新闻，但是每期也有一两篇针对科技和艺术的报导，以及一些书评。杂志中所有文章都不署名，而且往往带有鲜明的立场，但又处处用事实说话。主编们认为：写出了什么东西，比出自谁的手笔更重要。从1月28日的那一期杂志开始《经济学人》杂志开辟了中国专栏，为有关中国的文章提供更多的版面。杂志最早于1843年9月由詹姆士·威尔逊创办，创办的目的是“参与一场推动前进的智慧与阻碍我们进步的胆怯无知之间的较量”，这句话被印在每一期《经济学人》杂志的目录页上。
在杂志创刊之初，“经济主义”(economism)意思是经济保守主义，但是今天该杂志无论是在经济还是政治上的立场都是倾自由主义的，反对政府在经济和政治方面过度的介入。不过当然不同的作者立场也会有所不同。
托福阅读题型分析
托福阅读单项仍然是大部分中国考生的优势项目;阅读单项仍然是最容易取得高分满分的项目;阅读单项仍然是短期备考容易提分的项目。
所以针对这个形式，在阅读这个单项上，希望同学们可以结合TPO的题目，有针对性的进行复习训练，集中在学术词汇的提升，长难句的语法分析，题型的熟悉和解题方法的掌握，以及相应文章话题包含的学科背景知识的积累。在考前进行一定量的文章训练提升做题速度，从而争取在考试中取得一个理想的成绩。
托福阅读遇到生词如何解决
1. 下定义法
这个方法在托福阅读考试中的运用还是很普遍的，多用于描述一个新专业，新领域，新单词。而且在文章首段出现的频率最高，因为文章首段通常都是为本文话题或标题下定义。
例：Archaeologyis partly the discovery of the treasures of the past， partly the careful workof the scientific analyst， partly the exercise of the creative imagination.(“The Nature And Aims of Archaeology”) 从“is”这个词不难发现后面的部分都是为archaeology下定义：对过去财物的发掘，细致的科学分析，创造力的想象------考古学(以 -ology为后缀都是表示某门学科)。
例：Theseasonal impact of day length on physiological responses is calledphotoperiodism. (“The effects of light on plant and animal species”) “is called”的前半句也起了解释说明的作用：日长的生理反应称为光周期的季节性影响。
2. 符号法
无论是考试中还是剑桥系列，我们常发现某个单词或词组，乃至句子的前后常会出现一些特殊符号，比如：破折号(—)，冒号(：)，小括号，引号(“ ”)。这些符号都是帮助大家猜测生词的clue， 它们的前后通常都是对托福阅读词汇的解释和说明。
例：Generally，the rates have been modest (lower than bank rates). ( “Micro-Enterprise Creditfor Street Youth”) 括号里的部分是对其前面的modest做说明，即比银行的利息低一些。
例：Inall cases， someone has to act as a source of language data--- informant.Informant指的是充当语言资料来源的人。需要提示的是，经常会在小括号里出现i.e， 意思是thatis to say.
3. 举例子
托福阅读试题经常会在某个潜在生词的后面，举出一系列的例子，此时，大家可以根据例子，总结它们的共性。举例子的一些标志词：forexample， for instance， such as， just like， e.g.
例：Themarket for tourism in remote areas is booming as never before. Countries allacross… such as mountains， Arctic lands， deserts， small islands andwetlands (“The Impact of Wilderness Tourism”) 第一句的remote可以通过后面的例子，高山，北极地区，荒漠，小岛，湿地，得出指的是偏远地区。
4. 句子之间的关联词
句子之间的关联词主要分为转折和并列，透露了两句之间表达意思的方向性是否一致。我们完全可以通过已知的半句所表述的涵义，借助关联词，来推测另外半句的意思。
并列关系：and， similarly，equally， also， both … and…
转折关系：but， however，yet， instead， nevertheless， by contrast， on the other hand
例：Internationalcommerce was therefore dominated by raw materials， such as wheat， wood and ironore， or processed commodities， such as meat and steel. (“Delivering The Goods”)“or”表示或者，虽然是并列关系，但在意思上是相反的。Processedcommodities不难理解是加工过的产品，那“or”前面的句子指的就该是没有加工过的产品，即raw materials， 原材料。
例：Forexample， desert annual germinate， flower， and seed whenever suitable rainfalloccurs… (“The effects of light on plant and animal species”) 从“and”可以判断其前后三个词的词性相同，意思上也应该是同一个方向。flower表示开花，seed是结种，那germinate自然也是动词，是在开花之前的阶段，可粗略理解为生长或发芽。
5. 常识和上下文
常识和上下文也是作为揣测词义的一个有效途径，而这里所言的常识是涉及各领域，学科，平时累积而成，众所周知的知识，常理。
例：Theearliest method of making fire was through friction. European peasants wouldinsert a wooden drill in a round hole and rotate it briskly between theirpalms. (“How Fire Leapt to Life”) 最早的取火方式是钻木取火，其原理是摩擦生热。通过下文的例子也可看出这一点。欧洲的农民会把一个木制的钻头插入一个圆形的洞，然后在手掌间迅速的旋转它。Friction就是摩擦的意思。
6. 同位语
同位语是指一个名词(或其它形式)对另一个名词或代词进行修饰，限定或说明，这个名词(或其它形式)就是同位语。同位语与被它限定的词的格要一致，并常常紧挨在一起，常出现在句子中间或者后面的位置。
例：Oneof the most important new methodologies is biomechanics， the study of the body in motion. (“How much higher?How much faster?”) 有时候同位语的解释更让人容易理解和接受，biomechanics专业说法是生物力学，而同位语的表达更平易近人：对身体运动的研究。
托福阅读核心技巧揭秘
托福阅读是后面所有单项的基础，这个部分如果没有打牢的话，往往会造成后面的单项无论如何发力都不能提升，所以一定要争取高分!在这一部分，我们的备考原则是：循序渐进，由浅入深。结合前面做的评测结果，有针对性的备考托福阅读有一定要把握好单词、语法、长难句即可。
1.单词。
这一部分在前面已经提到了，并给出了背单词的建议和注意事项。多背多记，一定是必须要做的。这里就不多说了。
2.语法。
这一条更多的是针对初级水平的宝宝们来说，除了背单词之外，其实就是要打磨语法。我们可以通过一个体系将自己的英语语法梳理一遍，如果时间比较长，比如说1-2年的时间，而且自学能力不是特别好的话可以找一些课程听一听，但是如果是比较着急的考友，来进行自学。所谓自学，建议大家可以去做一下托福的语法的真题，通过做题来让自己对于语法的细节可以进行熟练的运用，当然，分析错题，并且研究里面的讲解永远是很好的学习方法。
当大家可以刷10-20套老托福语法真题的时候，其实就已经具备了一个初步做题的能力，就可以尝试直接做TPO，然后再根据里面的错题来分析自己的问题。
3.长难句。
这一项是几乎90% 的考生都被打败的一项，长难句，顾名思义，不仅句子长，单词多，而且句子的结构复杂，有些甚至是层层嵌套，这些一系列的特征就让很多阅读能力平平的考生望而却步，那么，如何提高学生的阅读能力，帮助学员攻克阅读长难句呢?
(1)判断是简单还是复杂句?
当考生拿到一道句子简化题的时候，首先要做的就是对于题目中出现的长难句进行句类的判断。如果该句只含有一个主谓结构，并且句子各成分都只由单词或者短语构成，那么这个句子就是简单句。如果该句包含分句，那么这个句子就是复杂句。
(2)找出主干和句内逻辑。
在对长难句的句类判断之后，考生可以分析这个句子内部的逻辑关系。对于简单句来说，只要要找出这个句子的主干，即主谓宾语。而对于复杂句来说，考生需要做的就是分析复杂句内部各分句之间的逻辑关系。在句子简化题中最常考的逻辑关系分别有四种：并列、因果、转折、比较。要判断逻辑关系，考生可以在阅读过程中寻找相应的逻辑词，如and、but、because等等。
(3)在选项中找到句子主干和逻辑关系。
当考生完成对句子的分析之后，考生就要去看选项了。但是这个时候考生不能只是去看选项，考生要做的是在选项里寻找考生刚刚对句子进行分析的结果：主干和逻辑关系。在判断句类和找到主干、逻辑关系后，考生就来看一下选项。如果选项主干和逻辑齐全，就是正确选项。其余都是错的。
篇2：托福阅读背景材料
托福阅读背景材料:距离土星第七远的土星卫星
Excitement Builds for the Possibility of Life on Enceladus
Scientists tackle the question of how to search for life on Saturn’s sixth-largest moon
By Annie Sneed on June 28,
Saturn's icy moon Enceladus is thought to host a liquid ocean beneath its frozen surface that could be hospitable to life. Credit: NASA
Saturn’s frozen moon Enceladus is a tantalizing world—many scientists are increasingly convinced it may be the best place in our solar system to search for life. NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, currently orbiting Saturn, has made intriguing observations of icy jets spewing from a suspected underground liquid ocean on the mysterious world that might be hospitable to alien life.
Cassini’s tour is due to wind down in , and scientists badly want to send a dedicated mission to Enceladus to look for signs of life. In fact, some have already started seriously thinking about exactly how they might do this—including planetary scientist Carolyn Porco, who is the imaging team leader for Cassini. Earlier this month, she gathered a group of researchers including oceanographers, organic chemists and astrobiologists at the University of California, Berkeley, to strategize how to search for extraterrestrials on Enceladus—which, according to Porco, “is a total bitch of a problem to solve.”
Although Enceladus is small in size and shrouded in a thick shell of ice, it appears to be a habitable world: It has a source of energy from friction created by its orbit around Saturn, organic compounds that are building blocks for life and a liquid water ocean underneath all that ice. But just because Enceladus may be hospitable to life does not mean life exists there; it will take much more work to definitively prove it. At the Berkeley meeting, scientists laid out the data Cassini has collected for Enceladus—they discussed analyses of its geysers, measurements of its ice shell, ideas on what its ocean chemistry might be like, and more. Yet even with all the newest data and models scientists have, they are not even close to detecting organisms on Enceladus—hence the need for a space mission.
Finding life there would be a profound revelation that we are not alone in the cosmos. Furthermore, the discovery of organisms—or the lack thereof—could answer the subtler mystery of how life started on Earth. Researchers at the meeting presented two major opposing theories about how life here originated (in the ocean versus on land), and the group discussed how exploring Enceladus would inform this debate. “It would be a test of one of the ideas about the origin of life,” Porco says—specifically, the proposition that Earth’s species sprang in the sea. For example, if organisms exist in Enceladus’s ocean and presumably arose there, it would support the theory that life began on Earth in hydrothermal vents (hot, nutrient-rich, deep-sea vents on the ocean floor) rather than in patches of water on land.
托福阅读背景材料：甲烷水合物
Gas Hydrate
Gas Hydrate又称甲烷水合物(Methane Hydrate)系水分子与甲烷于低温高压(0℃，26大气压或10℃，76大气压下)形成类似冰状物质，在常温常压下即分解成水与甲烷，Gas Hydrate在水深数百公尺的大陆边缘地区存在如太平洋海域之大陆边缘，大西洋的大陆斜坡，南极大陆周边海域，Kvenvoden 估计Gas Hydrate总储量为1 x 1016(m)3，如能够开采将成为重要之能源，因为甲烷为温室效应气体，故其与全球气候之变化将为海突候之变化将为海洋钻探研究之重点。Gas Hydrate之存在与海底之稳定性亦有密切之关系。
什么是甲烷水合物
「可燃烧的冰块」，这是许多人在介绍甲烷水合物时很喜欢引用的标题。在实验中人工合成的甲烷水合物就像一块不透明的冰块般纯白、洁净，在室温下一点火，它就自我燃烧起来(图一)。严格说来，甲烷水合物指的是甲烷气体分子在高压及低温的状态下，被呈笼状晶结架构的水分子所包合，而形成一种类似冰晶的化合物。这种气体分子和水分子的结合并不依靠化学的键结，纯粹是气体分子被包裹在水分子的笼状架构空隙中，与一般化学反应所产生的水合物性质并不相同。有的学者因而认为应称其为「甲烷气水包合物」(methane clathrate)，以别于一般以化学键方式结合的水合物。另外，大自然中与水分子结成笼状包合物的气体分子并不限于甲烷，乙烷、丙烷等烷氢类气体，甚至二氧化碳、氮气等常见气体，在适当的高压低温条件下，均会与水分子结合成气水包合物。事实上，这类气水包合物的英文名称为「gas hydrate」，直译应为「天然气水合物」或「瓦斯水合物」。由于自然界中的天然气水合物其气体成份以甲烷为主(超过90%)，因此一般人常把气水包合物称为「甲烷水合物」。本文随俗，用「甲烷水合物」代表学理上较严谨的「天然气气水包合物」一词。
托福阅读背景材料：纳米材料及其应用
About 纳米材料及其应用
纳米技术在生物工程上的应用
众所周知，分子是保持物质化学性质不变的最小单位。生物分子是很好的信息处理材料，每一个生物大分子本身就是一个微型处理器，分子在运动过程中以可预测方式进行状态变化，其原理类似于计算机的逻辑开关，利用该特性并结合纳米技术，可以此来设计量子计算机。美国南加州大学的Adelman博士等应用基于DNA分子计算技术的生物实验方法，有效地解决了目前计算机无法解决的问题—“哈密顿路径问题”，使人们对生物材料的信息处理功能和生物分子的计算技术有了进一步的认识。
虽然分子计算机目前只是处于理想阶段，但科学家已经考虑应用几种生物分子制造计算机的组件，其中细菌视紫红质最具前景。该生物材料具有特异的热、光、化学物理特性和很好的稳定性，并且，其奇特的光学循环特性可用于储存信息，从而起到代替当今计算机信息处理和信息存储的作用。在整个光循环过程中，细菌视紫红质经历几种不同的中间体过程，伴随相应的物质结构变化。Birge等研究了细菌视紫红质分子潜在的并行处理机制和用作三维存储器的潜能。通过调谐激光束，将信息并行地写入细菌视紫红质立方体，并从立方体中读取信息，并且细菌视紫红质的三维存储器可提供比二维光学存储器大得多的存储空间。
到目前为止，还没有出现商品化的分子计算机组件。科学家们认为：要想提高集成度，制造微型计算机，关键在于寻找具有开关功能的微型器件。美国锡拉丘兹大学已经利用细菌视紫红质蛋白质制作出了光导“与”门，利用发光门制成蛋白质存储器。此外，他们还利用细菌视紫红质蛋白质研制模拟人脑联想能力的中心网络和联想式存储装置。
纳米计算机的问世，将会使当今的信息时代发生质的飞跃。它将突破传统极限，使单位体积物质的储存和信息处理的能力提高上百万倍，从而实现电子学上的又一次革命。
有关纳米技术
华人科学家：美国纳米技术应用研究四大热点
正在美国从事纳米技术研究的华人青年科学家崔屹博士17日接受新华社记者采访时表示，美国纳米技术的应用研究目前正在半导体芯片、癌症诊断、光学新材料和生物分子追踪等四大热点领域快速发展，其中在芯片和癌症诊断领域的应用可望在内出现划时代的突破。
崔屹说，在癌症研究领域，利用纳米技术制成的传感器可望使各种癌症的早期诊断成为现实。目前，崔屹和他的同事已经在实验室环境下实现了对前列腺癌、直肠癌等多种癌症的早期诊断。纳米传感器灵敏度很高，在进行血液检测时，当传感器中预置的某种癌细胞抗体遇到相应的抗原时，传感器中的电流会发生变化，通过这种电流变化可以判断血液中癌细胞的种类和浓度。这一研究成果可望于近期发表在美国《科学》杂志上。崔屹指出，目前越来越多的风险投资正在涌入这一领域，但这一技术在实用中还有一些技术难题需要解决。他估计，今后可能会有多种纳米传感器集成在一起被置入人体，以用来早期检测各种疾病。
在半导体芯片领域，如何让芯片体积更小、速度更快是科学界一直研究的课题。目前用于芯片制造的光刻技术已经接近于发展极限，要想把更多的晶体管集成到一块芯片上已经越来越难。目前，美国纳米技术专家们试图把纳米级的半导体材料做成晶体管，从而可以让一块芯片上容纳更多的晶体管。这种芯片的运算速度可望比传统的硅芯片提高上千倍。这一研究方向在取得基础性研究突破后，目前在应用研究中越来越热。据崔屹估计，这一技术可望在10年后达到实用化。
此外，纳米技术在光学材料和生物分子追踪两个领域的应用也是研究热门。在光学材料研究领域，科学家们试图改变某些半导体材料的分子结构，用来生产特定的光学器件。比如，一些科学家试图让某种半导体材料内部具有纳米级的线状结构，这种材料用于显示器制造领域可以大大提高显示器的清晰度和颜色逼真度。而在生物分子追踪领域，科学家把某种纳米颗粒“粘”在生物分子上，然后利用纳米颗粒的发光特性研究生物分子的行踪。这对研究艾滋病病毒等在人体内的活动过程十分有益。
崔屹说，美国在纳米应用研究领域中享有资金和人才优势，一直走在世界前列，但距离纳米技术实用化仍有一段路要走。与美国相比，其他国家则主要处于纳米技术的基础研究阶段。
现年27岁的崔屹毕业于中国科技大学，后在哈佛大学获纳米应用专业博士，目前在加州大学伯克利分校从事研究工作。过去几年，崔屹在《自然》和《科学》等权威杂志上发表多篇研究论文，同时还是美国“米勒”杰出青年科学家奖和20美国材料研究学会金奖得主。
托福阅读背景材料：p53的抗癌作用
What is p53 ?
After the identification of the p53 protein and the subsequent cloning of p53 genes from several species, early observations suggested that p53 may function as an oncogene, because overexpression of p53 appeared to cause oncogenic transformation of cells. In the late 1980s, however, several critical discoveries defined the normal function of p53 to be anti-oncogenic. Wild-type p53 genes, when introduced into cells, were found to be growth suppressive. The screening of DNA from colon cancer patients revealed that p53 mutations occur with unusually high frequency in tumor tissue, an observation that was extended to most of the other major forms of human cancer. Indeed, members of Li-Fraumeni cancer-prone families were shown to carry germ-line p53 mutations. The importance of these observations was underscored by the finding that mice that are homozygous null for p53, although developmentally competent, are highly predisposed to tumors.
The functional character of the p53 protein was determined by experiments showing that p53 contains a strong transcriptional activation domain within its amino terminus and that it is a tetrameric, sequence-specific DNA-biding protein with a defined cognate binding site containing two copies of the 10-mer (5'-RRRCA/TT/AGYYY-3'). Although the p53 protein acts as a transcriptional activator of genes containing p53-binding sites, it is also capable of strongly inhibiting transcription from many genes lacking p53-binding sites. Several oncogenic DNA viruses express viral gene products that associate with and inhibit the trans-activation function of p53, notably SV40 large T antigen, the adenovirus E1B 55-kD protein, and the E6 protein of oncogenic forms of human papillomavirus (HPV E6). In cells, p53 can associate with a 90-kD protein, identified as the product of the mdm-2 oncogene, which is amplified in some types of tumors. When bound to mdm-2, p53 can no longer function as an activator of transcription.
p53 plays multiple roles in cells. Expression of high levels of wild-type (but not mutant) p53 has two outcomes: cell cycle arrest or apoptosis. The observation that DNA-damaging agents induce levels of p53 in cells led to the definition of p53 as a checkpoint factor, akin, perhaps, to the product of the fad9 gene in yeast. While dispensable for viability, in response to genotoxic stress, p53 acts as an “emergency brake” inducing either arrest or apoptosis, protecting the genome from accumulating excess mutations. Consistent with this notion, cells lacking p53 were shown to be genetically unstable and thus more prone to tumors.
篇3：托福阅读资料
托福阅读资料：相由心生
“相由心生”是一句成语，那究竟是不是这么回事呢，科学家们研究表明这种说法是有根据的，可以成立的。所以说我们的祖先们是多么的睿智!下面我们来看这篇托福阅读练习。
If you exhibit positive traits such as honesty and helpfulness, the chances are that you will be perceived as a good looking person, for a new study has found that the perception of physical attractiveness is influenced by a person's personality.
The study, led by Gary W. Lewandowski, Jr, found that people who exhibit negative traits, such as unfairness and rudeness, appear to be less physically attractive to observers.
In the study, the participants viewed photographs of opposite-sex individuals and rated them for attractiveness before and after being provided with information on personality traits.
After personality information was received, participants also rated the desirability of each individual as a friend and as a dating partner.
Information on personality was found to significantly alter perceived desirability, showing that cognitive processes modify judgments of attractiveness.
“Perceiving a person as having a desirable personality makes the person more suitable in general as a close relationship partner of any kind,” said Lewandowski.
The findings show that a positive personality leads to greater desirability as a friend, which leads to greater desirability as a romantic partner and, ultimately, to being viewed as more physically attractive.
The findings remained consistent regardless of how “attractive” the individual was initially perceived to be, or of the participants' current relationship status or commitment level with a partner.
What would you think of this lady's physical attractiveness if she exhibited bad personal traits?
“This research provides a more positive alternative by reminding people that personality goes a long way toward determining your attractiveness; it can even change people's impressions of how good looking you are,” said Lewandowski.
如果你表现出诚实和乐于助人等美好品质，那么别人会觉得你的外表也很迷人。一项最新研究发现，一个人的性格会影响别人对他或她的外表吸引力的看法。
该项由盖里·W·勒万多维斯基负责的研究发现，人们认为，表现出不诚实和粗鲁等恶劣品质的人外表也不够吸引人。
研究对象首先观看了一组异性的照片，随后分别在得知照片中人物的性格特点之前和之后给他们的外表评分。
研究对象在得知照片中人物的性格特点后，还对与其中每个人交朋友或做恋人的期望值进行了评分。
研咳嗽狈⑾郑泄厝宋镄愿裉氐愕男畔⒋蟠蟾谋淞酥暗南埠枚绕婪郑芯慷韵蟮娜现谈谋淞怂嵌哉掌腥宋锿獗淼钠兰邸
勒万多维斯基说：“总的来说，如果人们认为一个人的性格较好，那么他们会觉得无论与这个人做朋友还是做恋人都更合适。”
研究结果表明，人们更期望与性格较好的人交朋友、成为恋人，从而会认为他们的外表更迷人。
无论照片中人物给人的“第一印象”怎样、或者研究对象目前的情感关系状况以及与伴侣的亲密程度如何，研究结果都是一致的。
勒万多维斯基说：“该研究提出了一个更为积极的观点，它提醒人们，性格在很大程度上能决定你的吸引力;性格甚至能够改变人们对于你外表的印象。”
托福阅读资料：开车太慢也危险
开车慢点就一定安全么?答案是不一定。今天的新托福阅读特训资料我们就来聊聊慢速开车的危害。
Slow drivers 'are among most dangerous on roads' and cause crashe.
慢速前行的司机是道路上最危险的因素之一并且会容易引发撞车事故。
Slow drivers are one of the biggest dangers on the road and should be treated like speeders, a report says.
一篇报道称：慢性子司机是道路上最危险的因素之一，也必须像处理超速者一样对待。
Nearly a third of motorists have had a 'near miss' caused by someone travelling slowly.
将近三分之一的司机由于慢速司机差点出了车祸。
These drivers create such frustration that six out of ten motorists feel stress rise and about half are tempted to 'undertake'.
这些司机会产生这样的沮丧感，十分之六的司机会感到压力上升，有一半司机试图尝试去“接受”。
It has led to calls for a crackdown on slow drivers including the setting of minimum limits or even ‘slow speed’ cameras.
它呼吁打击慢行司机，包括调到最低速度的人或者甚至是慢速的“照相机”。
Transport Department figures show 143 accidents a year are caused directly by slow drivers.
交通部门的数据表明每年有143个事故是直接由慢行司机引起的。
The report notes: ’In reaction to these slow drivers, almost half (45%) of motorists risk overtaking, thus increasing the chances of an accident.
这篇报道指出：“对于这些慢行司机，几乎45%的司机会冒险超车，这反而增加了发生事故的概率。”
'Although minimum speed limits are enforced on some UK motorways, there are few preventative measures that are used widely.'
尽管一些英国高速公路上执行着最低车速限制，但并没有一些广泛使用的保护措施。
In the government introduced a scheme which allows for ￡100 on-the-spot fine for careless driving-including those that drive too slow, though there is little evidence of this being taken seriously by the authorities.
在，政府出台了一个计划，对不小心驾驶的司机允许收取100英镑的罚款，这其中也包括驾驶速度过慢的司机，尽管有很小的迹象表示当局会正式的执行这个计划。
More than a quarter (27 per cent) of drivers questioned want an explicit ‘ slow lane’ on roads to combat slow drivers.
超过四分之一(27%)的司机质问需要一个明确的慢车道来打击这些慢行司机。
Hot-spots for low middle lane hogs include the main A3 road between Surrey and Hampshire and the capital.
设置中低速的车道的热点地带，包括A3萨里和新罕布什尔州和首都之间的主要公路。
以上就是今天的托福阅读材料，每天做几篇阅读，坚持下来，一定会有不小的进步，阅读的同时不要忘记，积累陌生词汇与优秀的句子，以便考试的时候能派上用场，英语不是一朝一夕的事，所以大家一定要勤加练习。
托福阅读资料：近半英国女性后悔读大学
Vicky Tuck: 'I believe women should only go to university if they have a genuine interest in learning'.
Young women are losing faith in the university system with nearly half believing it is not worth getting a degree.
Tuition fees and little chance of landinga good job make higher education an unattractive prospect for them, a study suggests.
It found that nearly half of female graduates would not go to university if they had the chance again.
The research will cause concern because it was carried out before the Government announced that fees will almost treble to ā9,000 in .
The findings have prompted warnings that a generation of ambitious young women will miss out on a high-flyingcareer and the opportunity to continue their education.
Louise Court, editor of Cosmopolitan magazine, which conducted the survey, said young women seem to think university ‘a waste of time’.
‘It’s never been harder to be a young woman with ambition,’ she said. ‘Understandably, women are angry and frustrated about their future and this is having a damaging affect on their self-esteem.
The survey of 1,353 women also looked at the career prospects and financial outlook for women in 2011.
Two thirds of those questioned said they thought it would be ‘almost impossible’ to get their dream job and a quarter were unable to follow their preferred career.
Only 14 per cent said they felt safe from the sack.
And the financial situation for graduates was especially bad, with half saying they had so much student debt they could not save.
The same proportion believed they faced worse financial hardship than their parents.
One in seven women said they had been forced to postpone getting married because a wedding would be too expensive.
And more than one in six admitted that financial constraints had made them postpone trying to start a family.
Vicky Tuck, a campaigner for women’s education and former head of Cheltenham Ladies College, said: ‘The rise in fees is going to make a lot of people reflect on why they are going to university.
‘Before the introduction of fees it was not an automatic assumption that a degree would lead to a good job. It is only recently that we have seen that relationship.
‘I believe that women should only go to university if they have a genuine interest in learning, a precious opportunity. If they go purely to get a job, many will be disappointed.’
托福阅读资料 Music and Verbal Memory
Even if you haven’t touched a piano in years, if you suffered through music lessons as a kid you may have benefited from those lessons in ways you wouldn’t expect. When you train on a musical instrument your brain is stimulated and changes and develops as a result. Because the parts of the brain are interconnected this stimulation doesn’t affect musical ability only.
Psychologists have discovered that the stimulation musical training enacts on the left temporal region of your brain enhances verbal memory. People with musical training are significantly better at recalling words from a list and learning new words. What’s more, the longer the duration of musical training, the better the verbal memory.
So while children who study music for two years demonstrate better verbal memory than children who have not studied music, children who continue to study music
continue to improve their verbal memory. The good news for those of us who trained on musical instruments but quit at some point is that we don’t seem to lose the verbal benefits we gain from this training.
Scientists are particularly interested in what this suggests about the interconnectedness of the brain and thus the predictability of the effects of stimulation to a brain area on cognitive functions located in that area. Further research may lead to developments in cognitive rehabilitation for people with brain injuries. For example, in order to rebuild verbal memory in patients with injury to that part of the brain, doctors may prescribe music lessons.
托福阅读资料 Exercise keeps you younger
Exercise may hold the key to youth, according to a study published on Monday which showed people who keep fit are up to nine years biologically younger than those who do not.
The findings are the first to show in humans how keeping fit affects the ageing process.
The study of 2,401 twins found that a sedentary lifestyle raises the risk of a range of problems from heart disease to cancer and appears to play a key role in the ageing process.
It all appears to boil down to the length of structures called telomeres -- which protect the DNA on the chromosomes, the researchers from King's College London wrote in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Many studies have shown telomeres get shorter over time, suggesting the cells are ageing or dying. The study, which extracted a DNA sample from their volunteers, found people who exercised more each week had longer telomeres.
Exercise lowers the risk of a range of problems such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer, the researchers said.
“It is not just walking around the block. It is really working up a sweat,” said Tim Spector, a genetic epidemiologist who led the study, in a telephone interview.
The study found people who exercised vigorously 3 hours each week had longer telomeres and they were 9 years biologically younger than people who did under 15 minutes.
Spector's team, who also adjusted for body weight, smoking, economic status and physical activity at work, also said moderate exercise for 1-1/2 hours each week provided a four-year advantage.
Studying twins also provided a unique opportunity to gauge the effects of exercise on people with the same or similar genetic make-up, the researchers said.
The reason why exercise has this effect is not clear but the researchers said they believe physical activity somehow defends against the natural process called oxidative stress, which damages and kills cells.
篇4：托福阅读背景知识
托福阅读背景知识知多少 阅读背景知识汇总
一.考古学(archaeology)题材
1.文化(cultural )考古学
形态(physical)考古学(多见)
2.化石(fossil )
化石构成。化石比原物更沉重(矿物质环境)
化石形成原因。坚硬物质，迅速掩埋。
化石与动物的进化关系。
3.人的左右手
使用工具。证据：敲击的划痕;手柄的形状。
牙齿上的划痕。
大脑左右半球的大小差别;趾骨的粗细差别。
作画时人像的方向
4.古代陶瓷的考古。
Clay，model，wheel (转盘)，glaze，kiln
5.古代文字的考古。
二.印第安题材
1.白令海峡移民理论
2.印第安文化
3.印第安宗教观
4.印第安建筑业：大、先进。
5.印第安手工业：好。
6.社会组织结构：严密、分工细、凝聚力强。
7.农业先进：A. irrigation; B. maize，squash，bean，pea。
三.动植物题材(必考)
1.植物学题材(不多见)
地衣、苔、真菌、蘑菇最常见。
树冠上方生物。
植物在生态平衡中的作用。
2.动物学题材(90%以上)
考普通动物为多。最近常考鸟类、蚂蚁、动物智能与灭绝(联系天文学与冰河理论)。
考动物进化(evolution)。
考动物的分类(classification)。
phyla(单数phylum)—门class—纲order—目family—科genus—属species—种carnivore/predator—食肉动物herbivore—食草动物omnivore—杂食动物
动物的生活习性最为多见。
群居(social animal)动物的习性
蚂蚁：社会组织结构—等级制(caste)：交流方式—信息素—气味;生活来源;外来物种的有害性。
蜜蜂：群居个性;“8”字舞;蜜蜂智能;防御;天敌—大黄蜂。
大猩猩：智能：猩际关系
迁徙(migration )
野鸭、大雁：日照长短;辨别方向。
伪装(camouflage)、花拟态(mimicry )
四.美国历史题材
1.美国发展线索
发现美洲阶段
哥伦布(意)，为黄金、茶叶、香料
West/East Indian
影响：世界观变化;国家形势变化;(爱尔兰——土豆饥荒)
英国定居阶段(English settlement )
1607第一个定居点Captain John Smith影响清教徒
1620五月花号
殖民时期(colonial era )
独立战争(American Revolution )
新的国家(new nation)：南北不均衡
南北战争(Civil War )
战后重建。持续近1。
西进运动(Westward movement )
工业化大增长
world war I &; II
2.“大熔炉”：地理位置;民族融合1960’s;文化融合。
3.邮政。小马快递;铁路邮政。
五.地理学题材
1.地理现象、土壤构成、降雪降雨。
2.冰川(glacier)、形成(foundation) à移动冰川(surge glacier )à危险
3.地球构成：地心构成
4.板块构成学说
托福阅读真题原题+题目
Tulips are Old World, rather than New World, plants, with the origins of the species lying in Central Asia. They became an integral part of the gardens of the Ottoman Empire from the sixteenth century onward, and, soon after, part of European life as well. Holland, in particular, became famous for its cultivation of the flower.
A tenuous line marked the advance of the tulip to the New World, where it was unknown in the wild. The first Dutch colonies in North America had been established in New Netherlands by the Dutch West India Company in 1624, and one individual who settled in New Amsterdam (today's Manhattan section of New York City) in 1642 described the flowers that bravely colonized the settlers' gardens. They were the same flowers seen in Dutch still-life paintings of the time: crown imperials, roses, carnations, and of course tulips. They flourished in Pennsylvania too, where in 1698 William Penn received a report of John Tateham's Great and Stately Palace, its garden full of tulips. By 1760, Boston newspapers were advertising 50 different kinds of mixed tulip roots. But the length of the journey between Europe and North America created many difficulties. Thomas Hancock, an English settler, wrote thanking his plant supplier for a gift of some tulip bulbs from England, but his letter the following year grumbled that they were all dead.
Tulips arrived in Holland, Michigan, with a later wave of early nineteenth-century Dutch immigrants who quickly colonized the plains of Michigan. Together with many other Dutch settlements, such as the one at Pella, Iowa, they established a regular demand for European plants. The demand was bravely met by a new kind of tulip entrepreneur, the traveling salesperson. One Dutchman, Hendrick van der Schoot, spent six months in 1849 traveling through the United States taking orders for tulip bulbs. While tulip bulbs were traveling from Europe to the United States to satisfy the nostalgic longings of homesick English and Dutch settlers, North American plants were traveling in the opposite direction. In England, the enthusiasm for American plants was one reason why tulips dropped out of fashion in the gardens of the rich and famous.
1. Which of the following questions does the passage mainly answer?
(A) What is the difference between an Old World and a New World plant?
(B) Why are tulips grown in many different parts of the world?
(C) How did tulips become popular in North America?
(D) Where were the first Dutch colonies in North America located?
2. The word integral in line 2 is closest in meaning to
(A) interesting
(B) fundamental
(C) ornamental
(D) overlooked
3. The passage mentions that tulips were first found in which of the following regions?
(A) Central Asia
(B) Western Europe
(C) India
(D) North America
4. The word flourished in line 11 is closest in meaning to
(A) were discovered
(B) were marketed
(C) combined
(D) thrived
5. The author mentions tulip growing in New Netherlands, Pennsylvania. and Michigan in order to
illustrate how
(A) imported tulips were considered more valuable than locally grown tulips
(B) tulips were commonly passed as gifts from one family to another
(C) tulips grew progressively more popular in North America
(D) attitudes toward tulips varied from one location to another
6. The word grumbled in line 16 is closest in meaning to
(A) denied
(B) warned
(C) complained
(D) explained
7. The passage mentions that one reason English and Dutch settlers planted tulips in their
gardens was that tulips
(A) were easy to grow
(B) had become readily available
(C) made them appear fashionable
(D) reminded them of home
8. The word they in line 20 refers to
(A) tulips
(B) plains
(C) immigrants
(D) plants
9. According to the passage , which of the following changes occurred in English gardens during
the European settlement of North America?
(A) They grew in size in order to provide enough plants to export to the New World.
(B) They contained a wider variety of tulips than ever before.
(C) They contained many new types of North American plants.
(D) They decreased in size on the estates of wealthy people.
10. The passage mentions which of the following as a problem associated with the importation of
tulips into North America?
(A) They were no longer fashionable by the time they arrived.
(B) They often failed to survive the journey.
(C) Orders often took six months or longer to fill.
(D) Settlers knew little about how to cultivate them.
PASSAGE 85 CBADC CDCCB
篇5：托福阅读背景知识材料补充
托福阅读背景知识材料补充 站着办公的风险你知道吗?
托福阅读背景知识文章：站着办公的风险
A new study says that standing up at your desk doesn’t actually decrease your risk of death-by-office, unless you’re physically active otherwise.
新研究表明：除非经常锻炼，否则站着工作也不会降低猝死风险。
After several studies asserted that sitting at work all day is slowly killing us, researchers at the University of Exeter and University College London took another look at the claims. The Washington Post reports:
此前，已有多项研究表明，久坐会慢慢地致人死亡。但埃克塞特大学和伦敦大学学院的几位研究员却从另一角度进行了研究。华盛顿邮报报道：
Researchers tracked 16 years’ worth of health data from 5,132 people in the Whitehall II study cohort. Participants reported their total time sitting and how long they sat during four different situations: at work, watching television, leisure time and non-television leisure time. Researchers also tracked time spent walking daily and on physical activity.
此次研究的调查对象来自白厅二级定群研究，共5132人。研究人员对他们长达的健康数据进行了跟踪。调查对象需汇报他们坐下的总时长，以及在四种不同场合——工作、看电视、业余活动，以及不看电视的业余活动——分别坐下的时长。研究人员还跟踪调查了他们每日步行和运动的时长。
After controlling for a number of factors, including diet and general health, researchers found the overall mortality risk for these participants wasn’t influenced by how long they sat or by the kind of sitting. And the researchers cautioned that too much emphasis on not sitting shouldn’t take the place of promoting physical activity.
研究人员在控制了包括饮食、整体健康在内的许多变量后，发现：调查对象的总死亡率不受久坐时间和坐姿的影响。研究人员告诫称，人们不应过份强调久坐的风险，而忽视强调运动的重要。
What’s particularly interesting about the study, published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, is that researchers didn’t just focus on sitting during the workday, but factored in all kinds of sitting-specific data as well as rates of physical activity. Their conclusion was that “sitting time was not associated with all-cause mortality risk.” Basically, more elements are in play than just whether you’re sitting down at work, and your levels of physical activity are the greatest health indicator.
这项研究发表在《国际流行病学杂志》上。其中特别有趣的是，研究员没有只研究人们在工作时的久坐情况，还考虑到了各种相关数据和运动频率。其结论是“久坐与全因死亡率无关”。总而言之，影响健康的元素很多，不仅仅在于是否在工作时久坐。最能体现健康状况的是锻炼情况。
So what does this all mean? It appears that the act of working while standing up—which has become a trendy thing to do, especially in tech offices—doesn’t help your health, if you’re not actually exercising otherwise. If you never make it to the gym, you might as well just sit down. This is good news for the makers of treadmill desks, however.
所以这到底意味着什么?现在流行站着办公，科技公司尤为突出。但是如果不锻炼，站着工作也似乎没什么用;如果永远都不去健身，还不如就坐着呢。这对跑步机办公桌的生产商来说，可是个好消息。
The last office where I worked jumped on the standing desk trend hard, installing desks that could be raised for all workers. They also had a treadmill desk, and a bike desk. While the option to stand is certainly nice as a change in the middle of a monotonous workday, this research suggests it’s not the cure-all that adherents would like to claim.
我之前工作的地方勉强跟上了站立式办公桌的潮流，装上了可随意调节高度的桌子。此外，还有一张跑步机办公桌和一张自行车办公桌。当然，在乏味的工作之余能站着工作也是个不错的选择，但研究表明，站着工作并不是所谓的万灵丹。
“Our study overturns current thinking on the health risks of sitting and indicates that the problem lies in the absence of movement rather than the time spent sitting itself,” study author Melvyn Hillsdon of the University of Exeter said in a statement. “Any stationary posture where energy expenditure is low may be detrimental to health, be it sitting or standing.”
“我们的研究推翻了当下人们对久坐危害的认知，并指出危害健康的原因在于缺乏锻炼，而不是久坐，”来自埃克塞特大学的研究作者梅尔文·希尔斯顿在一份声明中说道。“身体静止不动，能量消耗就低，从而危害健康，不管是坐着还是站着都一样。”
The takeaway here is companies that truly want to assist worker health should invest money in options like free exercise classes and gym reimbursements. They should encourage employees to go outside and actually walk around, not simply stand up at their computers. And maybe it means that everyone who insists that standing up is the only way to work can climb down off their high desk.
这表明，真正关心员工健康的公司应该把钱花在购买免费运动课程和报销健身费用上。公司应鼓励员工走出办公室，四处走走，而不是只在电脑前站着工作。或许这意味着那些坚信“站着是唯一解决办法”的人终于能从高高的桌子上爬下来了。
托福阅读素材：如何帮助一个应届生找到工作
You probably know someone who's graduating from college this year. And what would Amazon or Pinterest suggest you give this brave soul who's walking over coals to the hellish world of job searching? A pen. (A nice pen, but a pen.) Or a mug with an inspirational quote printed on it. Or a business card holder.
You know what would be more helpful than those gifts? A job. Preferably a job with a desk, where this graduate can use her pen, drink from her mug and store her business cards.
Luckily, you – yes, you – can help give that greatest gift of all. Here's how to help a newbie job seeker land a job:
1. Start by looking within your company. Don't see any entry-level jobs listed for your company? That may be because those positions often go unlisted and are filled by internal referrals, says Brian Krueger, founder and CEO of CollegeGrad.com, an entry-level job search site, and author of “The College Grad Job Hunter.” That's where you come in, passing the job seeker's résumé to your human resources department. “If they're a good person for your company, go ahead and refer them internally,” he says. “And you may make a nice little employee referral bonus for making that connection.”
Even if there isn't an open and relevant position available for your contact right now, this referral may help both the recent grad and HR department in the future. Keep in mind that entry-level positions often have high turnover, Krueger says. And consider how larger companies sometimes hire numerous entry-level employees at once, and how usually a few of them will back out of the program just before it begins, he adds. Where do you think the HR team will turn in those situations, when they've got to do some speedy hiring? “If you've got an employee referral sitting there, waiting, that person may be given first consideration and very little competition for that entry-level position if and when it comes up,” Krueger says.
2. Reach out to your network. Share the job seeker's résumé with folks outside your company, too. If there's not much crossover between what you do and what the new grad wants to do, remember: “You may have other connections outside of your job type and industry,” Krueger says. Is there anyone in your book club or yoga class who could help? What about neighbors or family members? Shoot them the résumé, and encourage them to pass it along to whomever may be interested.
In fact, that's where things get interesting. “It's not necessarily who you know, it's who they know,” Krueger says. Maybe there's not much cooking among your connections or even your connections' connections. But the more folks forward the referral, the more eyes (and potential employers) will see it. “Networking is a numbers game,” Krueger says, and it's in those third-level contacts and beyond “where the numbers explode.”
Even as the number of professionals who see the résumé grows exponentially, the fact that the process began as a firsthand referral keeps it personal – unlike if the new grad blindly applied to a job online. Krueger says this method is particularly helpful for finding roles in small companies that have few, unadvertised openings. When companies want to fill those positions, “they're looking at that internal pipeline of people they already know,” he says.
3. Invite the grad to shadow you. “Shadowing is a very classic way of mentoring and helping people,” says Dan Schawbel, career and millennial expert and author of “Promote Yourself: The New Rules for Career Success.” After getting permission from your company, “get this student or recent graduate to come in, and show them firsthand what it’s like to work in an office environment in your profession or industry.”
Schawbel points out that shadowing may help the grad determine what he or she wants – or doesn't want – to do. (Those 9 a.m. conference calls aren't very fun, are they?)
To assure the day goes smoothly for both the shadower and the shadowee, check out these four tipsoutlined by Monster.
4. Help with mock interviews. “We train [students] to read things, know things and take the test,” Krueger says. “You can't read interview questions, know the answer and go to the interview. You actually have to practice.” Here's where you, a list of common interview questions and your phone's video feature come in. And you don't have to be a career expert to be helpful.
“All you're doing is asking them the questions and giving them the opportunity to respond,” he says. “The best part of the mock interview is not necessarily your feedback, but the opportunity to see themselves answering interview questions [and] getting that practice to actually do it.”
5. Be a coach. Again, no expertise necessary. “Sometimes the hardest part of job searching is getting started and making that your full-time job until you get a full-time job,” he says. And you can help keep the grad motivated.
Krueger suggests simply listening to the job seeker's plans and goals for the week – say, reaching out to 30 companies and securing three interviews –and then checking in on how they played out. If applicable, talk about how you can help tweak the strategy. For example, if the job seeker contacted those 30 companies and got no bites, brainstorm more effective ways to communicate with potential employers.
“That's different than Mom and Dad saying, 'Do you have a job yet?,'” Krueger says, because you're holding the grad accountable for her own goals. You're just giving a nudge – which is more useful than a pen.
托福阅读素材之“慢艺术”
Slow art is art created or presented in a way that encourages unhurried viewing and deep contemplation; a work of art that unfolds over a long time.
“慢艺术”是为了鼓励人们从容观看和深思而创造或展示的艺术，是让你花长时间去欣赏的一件艺术品。
Famous art critic Robert Hughes wrote that “We have had a gutful of fast art and fast food. What we need more of is slow art: art that holds time as a vase holds water; art that grows out of modes of perception and whose skill and doggedness make you think and feel; art that isn’t merely sensational, that doesn’t get its message across in 10 seconds, that isn’t falsely iconic, that hooks onto something deep-running in our natures.”
著名艺术评论家罗伯特?休斯曾写道：“我们已经受够了快艺术和快餐。我们更需要的是慢艺术：那些能承载时间的艺术，就像花瓶能承载水一样;那些领会了各种感知方式，灵活又固执地让你去思考和感受的艺术;那些不只带来一时震撼，也不会在10秒内迅速传递信息的艺术，这种艺术不是虚假的偶像文化，而是直抵人性深处的真实。”
A number of museums now offer “slow art” tours or days that encourage visitors to take their time. Rather than check master works off a list as if on a scavenger hunt, you can make a sprawling museum digestible and personal by seeking out only those works that dovetail with your interests.
不少博物馆现在都提供“慢艺术”游览项目或鼓励游客从容观赏的“慢艺术日”。你不必像食腐动物狩猎一般把大师杰作飞速地一览而尽，而是可以找出那些对你口味的作品，然后慢慢地去消化吸收，让你的博物馆之旅变得个性化
篇6：托福阅读背景知识知多少
托福阅读背景知识知多少 阅读背景知识汇总
一.考古学(archaeology)题材
1.文化(cultural )考古学
形态(physical)考古学(多见)
2.化石(fossil )
化石构成。化石比原物更沉重(矿物质环境)
化石形成原因。坚硬物质，迅速掩埋。
化石与动物的进化关系。
3.人的左右手
使用工具。证据：敲击的划痕;手柄的形状。
牙齿上的划痕。
大脑左右半球的大小差别;趾骨的粗细差别。
作画时人像的方向
4.古代陶瓷的考古。
Clay，model，wheel (转盘)，glaze，kiln
5.古代文字的考古。
二.印第安题材
1.白令海峡移民理论
2.印第安文化
3.印第安宗教观
4.印第安建筑业：大、先进。
5.印第安手工业：好。
6.社会组织结构：严密、分工细、凝聚力强。
7.农业先进：A. irrigation; B. maize，squash，bean，pea。
三.动植物题材(必考)
1.植物学题材(不多见)
地衣、苔、真菌、蘑菇最常见。
树冠上方生物。
植物在生态平衡中的作用。
2.动物学题材(90%以上)
考普通动物为多。最近常考鸟类、蚂蚁、动物智能与灭绝(联系天文学与冰河理论)。
考动物进化(evolution)。
考动物的分类(classification)。
phyla(单数phylum)—门class—纲order—目family—科genus—属species—种carnivore/predator—食肉动物herbivore—食草动物omnivore—杂食动物
动物的生活习性最为多见。
群居(social animal)动物的习性
蚂蚁：社会组织结构—等级制(caste)：交流方式—信息素—气味;生活来源;外来物种的有害性。
蜜蜂：群居个性;“8”字舞;蜜蜂智能;防御;天敌—大黄蜂。
大猩猩：智能：猩际关系
迁徙(migration )
野鸭、大雁：日照长短;辨别方向。
伪装(camouflage)、花拟态(mimicry )
四.美国历史题材
1.美国发展线索
发现美洲阶段
哥伦布(意)，为黄金、茶叶、香料
West/East Indian
影响：世界观变化;国家形势变化;(爱尔兰——土豆饥荒)
英国定居阶段(English settlement )
1607第一个定居点Captain John Smith影响清教徒
1620五月花号
殖民时期(colonial era )
独立战争(American Revolution )
新的国家(new nation)：南北不均衡
南北战争(Civil War )
战后重建。持续近1。
西进运动(Westward movement )
工业化大增长
world war I &; II
2.“大熔炉”：地理位置;民族融合1960’s;文化融合。
3.邮政。小马快递;铁路邮政。
五.地理学题材
1.地理现象、土壤构成、降雪降雨。
2.冰川(glacier)、形成(foundation) à移动冰川(surge glacier )à危险
3.地球构成：地心构成
4.板块构成学说
托福阅读有哪些高频词
托福阅读高频词汇有很多，我们把它分类整理，以便于简单记忆：
一、生物类：
迁徙动物migrate
群居动物 social animal
独居动物 solitary solitude One Hundred Years of Solitude
独特性 peculiarity
动物的分类：门 phylum，纲class，目order，科family，属genus，种species
rodent 啮齿类 reptile 爬行动物 amphibian 两栖动物 mammal 哺乳动物
cell—tissue—organ—system
herbivore 食草动物, carnivore 食肉动物, omnivore 杂食动物
predator—prey
adapt to/adjust to
mimicry拟态 camouflage伪装
二、天文学：
天体 astronomical body 宇宙 cosmos, universe
恒星 star 行星 planet 卫星 satellite 小行星 asteroid 彗星 comet 陨石 meteorite
太阳系 solar system
Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto
分子 molecule 原子 atom 质子 proton 中子 neutron电子 electron
离子 ion 粒子 particle
三、地质学：
地球构成 crust 地壳 mantle 地幔 core 地核
板块构造学说 plate tectonics 大陆漂移学说 continental drift
四、美国历史：
历史太短(美国历史不够，印第安人来凑)
1、 殖民时期历史
① Discovery 意大利人哥伦布 Far East寻找香料
② English settlement 16，英国人在弗吉尼亚州建立了第一个殖民地
16 May Flower Puritan到达麻省普利茅斯
③ Colonial Era殖民阶段 colony colonist=settler
④ 独立战争 the War of Independence=American Revolution 1776
2、 建国之后历史
① The establish of a new nation
② Civil War 1861-1865 Lincoln Stowe Uncle Tom’s Cabin
③ Western Movement/Western Expansion
④ Industrial growth
五、文学艺术：
1、 文学 literature
美国作家 Whitman “Leaves of Grass” Emily Dickinson
流派 naturalism Sister Carrie
Realism Mark Twain
2、 美术 Fine Art
只擅长water color 水彩画
3、 音乐 Music pop music musical
4、 手工艺 pottery
托福阅读长难句的翻译训练
1. Wearing a seat belt saves lives; it reduces your chance of death or serious injury by more than half.
2. But it will be the driver’s responsibility to make sure that children under 14 do not ride in the front unless they are wearing a seat belt of some kind.
3. However, you do not have to wear a seat belt if you are reversing your vehicle; or you are making a local delivery or collection using a special vehicle; or if you have a valid medical certificate which excuses you from wearing it.
4. Remember you may be taken to court for not doing so, and you may be fined if you cannot prove to the court that you have been excused from wearing it.
5. Professor Taiju Matsuzawa wanted to find out why otherwise healthy farmers in northern Japan appeared to be losing their ability to think and reason at a relatively early age, and how the process of ageing could he slowed down.
6. With a team of colleagues at Tokyo National University, he set about measuring brain volumes of a thousand people of different ages and varying occupations.
7. Computer technology enabled the researchers to obtain precise measurements of the volume of the front and side sections of the brain, which relate to intellect (智能) and emotion, and determine the human character.
8. Contraction of front and side parts as cells die off was observed in some subjects in their thirties, but it was still not evident in some sixty and seventy-year-olds.
9. The findings show in general terms that contraction of the brain begins sooner in people in the country than in the towns.
10. White collar workers doing routine work in government offices are, however, as likely to have shrinking brains as the farm worker, bus driver and shop assistant.
1、系好安全带能够挽救性命，它能将丧生和重伤的概率减少一半以上。
2、但是司机有责任确保14岁以下的孩子不要坐在前排，除非他们系好了安全带。
3、当然，如果有以下情况你可以不系安全带：你在倒车时，或者你用一种特殊交通工具进行当地的货物运送、收集时，或者你有合法的医学证明你不能系安全带时。
4、注意你如果不这么做(系安全带)的话，你有可能被告上法庭，而且你有可能被处以罚款除非你能证明你有不带安全带的理由。
5、Taiju Matsuzawa 教授想找出为什么日本北部的健康农民在相对年轻的年龄就显得开始失去思考与推理的能力的原因以及怎样才能延缓老化过程。
6、在东京国立大学的同事们的帮助下，他开始对一千来自不同职业的人群进行了大脑体积的测量。
7、计算机技术帮助研究人员获得人脑前部和侧部的准确体积，这是与人的智能和情绪有关的部分，而且也决定人的性格特点。
8、有的人(大脑)前部和侧部的收缩——随着细胞的死亡——在三十多岁时就能被观察到了，但是也有些人直到六七岁依然不明显。
9、研究结果表明在农村的人大脑收缩基本上比城市里的人要早。
10、在政府部门从事简单重复工作的白领也像农场工人、公共汽车司机和商店职员一样大脑细胞容易收缩。
篇7：新托福阅读背景知识精选
玛雅象形文字之谜
任何一个古代文明都有自己的文字体系，文字是文明形成的标志。然而，玛雅的象形文字对于现代人说来真是一部天书，它的谜底直到今天仍未解开。
20世纪50年代前，有学者虽然找到了读懂玛雅文字的突破口，但他们始终认为，玛雅象形文字只是宗教符咒、历法记号，既无词组联合也无标音功能，更非反映社会政治与文化生活的各个方面，因此难以真正的理解。20世纪50年代后，人们才逐渐抛弃这些看法，力求从社会、政治角度和玛雅文字可能有的较发达的功能与结构的角度去了解、研究它。
事实上，玛雅象形文字的发展水平与中国的象形文字很相近，只是符号的组合远较汉字复杂，块体不像汉字要求方正而是以近似圆形或椭圆为主。字符的线条也不像汉字的笔画那样规整竖直，更多地依随图形起伏变化、圆通流畅。由于这些特点，玛雅象形文字尽管初看之下觉得奇怪复杂，但实际上却是很美丽的艺术品，凝聚了无数代玛雅艺术家和匠师们的心血。
玛雅象形文字来自奥尔美加。奥尔美加文化确立的象形笔法与方圆结合的块体，以及圆点和直线组成的数字写法，是玛雅象形文字赖以发展起来的基础。不过，玛雅人很快就超过了自己的老师，在前古典期的玛雅纪念碑和其他文物上，象形文字的铭刻与书写就已逐渐占据主要地位，字体更趋规范、完整、美丽，字符的数量也不断增加。到古典初期，文字符号数以百计，纪念碑铭文的刻制更为常见，庙宇和坟墓的墙壁上也有刻下的或书写的铭文。
玛雅象形文字中刻画动物形象的图样往往很能传神，既生动而又鲜明，反映了玛雅艺术家和文字学家的功底。而画得这样生动、细致的图样，只能在纪念碑和神庙建筑的铭文上刻写，因为这些地方的铭文字体一般都有五寸见方，大的可达一尺甚至两尺，这样大的篇幅用来画这些精美的图形自然是得心应手。
把形象化的图形和图案化的简体符号结合在一起，就构成了那些正规的、方中有圆、方圆结合的玛雅象形文字，它们就是我们在玛雅纪念碑上经常看到的或短或长的铭文中的字体。
当时的玛雅社会已出现了纸张和成书抄本，再加上玉器、陶器和日常用品中皆普遍有文字书写的情况，可见象形文字尽管比较艰深，却已成为玛雅社会中不可或缺的信息工具，它的复杂美丽与它的广泛使用都成为玛雅文化生活中的一大特色。这正是玛雅人对世界文明最伟大的贡献之一。
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