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Characteristics of Roman Pottery
The pottery of ancient Romans is remarkablein several ways. The high quality of Roman potteryis very easy to appreciate when handling actualpieces of tableware or indeed kitchenware andamphorae (the large jars used throughout the Mediterranean for the transport and storage ofliquids, such as wine and oil). However, it is impossible to do justice to Roman wares on thepage, even when words can be backed up by photographs and drawing. Most Roman pottery islight and smooth to touch and very tough, although, like all pottery, it shatters if dropped ona hard surface. It is generally made with carefully selected and purified clay, worked to thin-walled and standardized shapes on a fast wheel and fired in a kiln (pottery oven) capable ofensuring a consistent finish. With handmade pottery, inevitably there are slight differencesbetween individual vessels of the same design and occasional minor blemishes (flaws). Butwhat strikes the eye and the touch most immediately and most powerfully with Roman potteryis its consistent high quality.
古罗马的陶器在诸多方面成就惊人。当把玩古罗马陶制餐具或厨房用具和双耳陶罐(遍及整个地中海地区用以运输或储存酒或油之类液体的大型陶罐)时，人们对其良好的质量赞不绝口。尽管有照片和画像的记录，却无法轻易的对罗马陶器做出公正评价。绝大部分罗马陶器都很轻很光滑也很坚韧，尽管，像所有陶器一样，当撞到坚硬地面时也容易破碎。它们一般由精心筛选和净化后的粘土在快速旋转的圆盘上制成壁薄而形状标准的坯子，然后放入陶器窑中烧结，并确保一气呵成。由于是手工制作，同一型号的陶器难免有微小差别和瑕疵。但罗马陶器让人瞠目结舌的最直接最有力的是它那一以贯之的高质量。
This is not just an aesthetic consideration but also a practical one. These vessels aresolid (brittle, but not fragile), they are pleasant and easy to handle (being light andsmooth), and, with their hard and sometimes glossy (smooth and shiny) surfaces, they holdliquids well and are easy to wash. Furthermore, their regular and standardized shapes wouldhave made them simple to stack and store. When people today are shown a very ordinaryRoman pot and, in particular, are allowed to handle it, they often comment on how modernit looks and feels, and they need to be convinced of its true age.
这不仅是审美的考虑也有实用之处。这些容器都很坚硬(脆却并不易碎)，很优雅也很好用(质轻而光滑)，其表面坚硬而有时带有光泽。它们很适合盛放液体也很易清洁。而且，它们形状规则且标准，极易堆放储藏。当将这些陶器展示给今天的人们，并允许他们把玩时，他们常常认为其形状和手感如此现代以至于很难相信其实际年龄。
As impressive as the quality of Roman pottery is its sheer massive quantity. Whenconsidering quantities, we would ideally like to have some estimates for overall productionfrom particular sites of pottery manufacture and for overall consumption at specificsettlements. Unfortunately, it is in the nature of the archaeological evidence, which is almostinvariable only a sample of what once existed, that such figures will always be elusive.However, no one who has ever worked in the field would question the abundance of Romanpottery, particularly in the Mediterranean region. This abundance is notable in Romansettlements (especially urban sites) where the labor that archaeologists have to put into thewashing and sorting of potsherds (fragments of pottery) constitutes a high proportion of thetotal work during the initial phases of excavation.
和其高质量一样让人印象深刻的是罗马陶器的巨大的数量。当确定数量时，我们常喜欢去评估某一陶器生产地点生产陶器的总量以及某地居民对陶器的消费总量。不幸的是，考古证据本质上只能是历史存在的一个样本，因而由此得到的数据并不可靠。但是，那些曾经在现场工作过的人绝不会怀疑罗马陶器的数量，尤其是在地中海地区。陶器数量的罗马人聚集区(尤其是城市遗址)家喻户晓。在那些遗址上考古学家们在挖掘的第一阶段不得不花费很大比例的劳动力去清洗和整理陶器碎片。
Only rarely can we derive any “real” quantities from deposits of broken pots. However,there is one exceptional dump, which does represent a very large part of the site’s totalhistory of consumption and for which an estimate of quantity has been produced. On the leftbank of the Tiber River in Rome, by one of the river ports of the ancient city, is a substantialhill some 50 meters high called Monte Testaccio. It is made up entirely of broken oil amphorae,mainly of the second and third centuries A.D. It has been estimated that Monte Testacciocontains the remains of some 53 million amphorae, in which around 6,000million liters of oilwere imported into the city from overseas, imports into imperial Rome were supported by thefull might of the state and were therefore quite exceptional—but the size of the operations atMonte Testaccio, and the productivity and complexity that lay behind them, nonethelesscannot fail to impress. This was a society with similarities to modern one—moving goods on agigantic scale, manufacturing high-quality containers to do so, and occasionally, as here,even discarding them on delivery.
从陶罐碎片堆中我们很难推算出真正的数量。但也有例外。有一处遗址出土的陶器代表了其曾经的陶器消费的很大一部分，因此可以据此推测出其数量。罗马第伯尔河左岸上一座古代城市码头的旁边有一座约50米高的大山，叫做Monte Testaccio. 该山全部由公元二到三世纪的油罐碎片组成。据估计，Monte Testaccio山上约有5300万只油罐并由此从海外进口了约6亿升的油。向罗马帝国的进口由国家全力支持，因此也非常例外----但是Monte Testaccio的制作规模及其背后的生产力和复杂性却绝对不容忽视。
Roman pottery was transported not only in large quantities but also over substantialdistances. Many Roman pots, in particular amphorae and the fine wares designed for use attables, could travel hundreds of miles—all over the Mediterranean and also further afield. Butmaps that show the various spots where Roman pottery of a particular type has been foundtell only part of the story. What is more significant than any geographical spread is the accessthat different levels of society had to good-quality products. In all but the remotest regions ofthe empire, Roman pottery of a high standard is common at the sites of humble villages andisolated farmsteads
罗马陶器不仅运输数量庞大而且其运输距离遥远。很多罗马陶罐，尤其是双耳陶罐和桌上餐具可能被运输了几百英里----遍及整个地中海乃至更远。但是显示各种罗马陶器出土地点的地图只是故事的一部分。比地理上的广阔分布更重要的是社会的不同阶层都能够使用这种高质量的陶罐。在帝国的几乎所有的偏远地区，高质量的罗马陶器在其最凋敝的村庄和偏远田野中都随处可见。
托福阅读试题
1.Paragraph 1 indicates which of the following about Roman pottery?
A.Roman amphorae were of much higher quality overall than other Roman pottery.
B.Roman pottery can best be appreciated when actual pieces are handled.
C.Roman pottery declined slightly in quality when the use of fast wheels and kilns was introduced.
D.Roman practical tableware spread more rapidly across the Mediterranean than amphorae did.
1.对应原文第二句。A原文并没有对amphorae和pottery的比较。C原文提到了快速转轮和烧窑的使用，但并没说因此陶器质量就下降了。D提到了陶器在Mediterranean的广泛使用，但是没有种类间的比较。
2.All of the following are mentioned in paragraph 1 as characteristics of Roman pottery EXCEPT
A.It was usually made with high-quality clay.
B.It generally did not weigh much.
C.It did not break as easily as other ancient pottery.
D.It sometimes had imperfections.
2.只有C和原文的描写冲突。
3.According to paragraph 2, which of the following is NOT true of Roman vessels?
A.They were good containers for liquids.
B.Their shapes allowed for easy stacking and storing.
C.They sometimes had shiny surfaces.
D.Their true age is immediately apparent.
3.四个选项分别对应红色标记部分。D选项对应的最后一句和原文矛盾，原文说一眼看上去这个pot是非常现代化的。但实际很古老了。因此its true age并不明显。D错误。
4.The author mentions the work of archaeologists in paragraph 3 in order to
A.support the idea that pottery was produced in large quantities by the Romans.
B.illustrate how hard it is for archaeologists to find complete pieces of Roman pottery.
C.contrast archaeological sites in Roman urban areas with other sites in the Mediterranean.
D.explain why the quantities of pottery found vary significantly from one site to another.
4.这一段的主题就是第一句，强调了massive quantity。因此后面提到work of archaelogists也是为了支持这个主题。因此选A。
5.The word "substantial" in the passage(paragraph 4)is closest in meaning to
A.protected.
B.man-made.
C.large.
D.famous.
5.Substantial是大量的，实质的等意。A是保护的;B是人工的;D是著名的。只有C是大的。所以选择C。而且这里也描述了50 meters high也是描述了它的大小。所以应选择与大小有关的。
6.According to paragraph 4, Monte Testaccio is particularly important forarchaeologists because archaeologists were able to
A.conclude how amphorae manufacturing increased rapidly after the second century A.D..
B.find the locations where most of the amphorae in the Roman Empire were produced.
C.obtain relatively accurate calculations of the quantities of amphorae used over time in that place.
D.discover that the Roman state had supported amphorae production.
6.这里介绍Monte Testaccil是在支持本段的论点。回到原文这段的第一句可以看到原文说"很难通过broken pot来确定那个时期的pot产量，而Monte Testaccil确实个例外。所以也就是说可以通过这个dump遗址得到当时的quantities。选C
7.The word "entirely" in the passage(paragraph 4)is closest in meaning to
A.apparently.
B.completely.
C.basically.
D.mostly.
7.Entirely是完全的，整个的。A是明显的，B是完全的，C是基本的，D是大部分的。这里B最符合。
8.Paragraph 4 indicates which of the following about the port on the Tiber River near Monte Testaccio?
A.It was built around the third century A.D..
B.It was close to areas where large quantities of oil were produced.
C.It was in use only for a very short period of time.
D.It had impressive level of commercial activity.
8.根据Tiber River定位，看到后面的描述说around 6000 million liters of oil were imported into city form oversea。那么也就是说当时的进出口贸易非常繁华。对应答案D。
9.The statement in paragraph 4 that amphorae delivered to the port near Monte Testaccio were occasionally discarded support which of the following?
A.Traders at the port were often careless.
B.The quality of the amphorae used at the port was not very good.
C.The scale of the trade made it possible to waste quality amphorae sometimes.
D.The importing of oil from overseas gradually declined, reducing the need for pottery containers.
9.根据原文discarded定位到原文最后一句。如同现代工业社会一样，大量生产和需求，但是背后的生产力并不能满足之类的。所以在运送的时候也是如此。有时大量运送就难免会有打碎的。因此选择C。A原文没提到;B原文也没说，而且前文一直在说pot都是high quality的。D这里也没说到oil和pottery的关系。
10.The statement that "maps show the various spots where Roman pottery of aparticular type has been found tell only part of the story" makes the point that
A.maps indicate where specific pottery styles have been found, but they do not indicate where these styles originated.
B.maps show the geographical spread of Roman pottery but not the people who had access to it.
C.maps do not usually include pottery styles found in the remotest regions the Roman Empire.
D.archaeologist studying Roman pottery need to use a range of techniques in their investigations.
10.这里说Map只是tell part of the story，那么证明能得到roman pottery的不仅是map描画的范围，应该会有更大的范围;从而来支持这一段的中心句，over substantial distances。A选项错误，styles是从罗马来的。C，D跟原文也没关系。而B符合，说maps在一定程度上说明了罗马陶器的地理散播，但并不是所有能得到陶器的人。
11.The word "humble" in the passage is closest in meaning to
A.rural.
B.distant.
C.ancient.
D.modest.
11.Humble谦虚的，简陋的。也可以通过and的并列形式推断词义，后面是isolated，与世隔绝的，那么也可以引申为，偏远的，落后的。所以humble应该是相近的意思。此处A是干扰项，乡村的，田园的。但是少了简陋那层意思。用D最合适。
12.The word "particular" in the passage is closest in meaning to
A.specific.
B.common.
C.ancient.
D.superior.
12.Particular特别的，特指的。A是特别的，符合原文意思。这里也说得是什么的类型。可以依照上文推断。B是常见的，C是原始的，D是先进的。
13. Look at the four squares [■] that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage. Where would the sentence best fit? That is because residents of a city did not usually discard used pottery at the same site over a long period of time.
■【A】Only rarely can we derive any "real" quantities from deposits of brokenpots. ■【B】However, there is one exceptional dump, which does represent a very large part of the site's total history of consumption and for which an estimate of quantity has been produced. ■【C】On the left bank of the Tiber River in Rome, by one of the river ports of the ancient city, is a substantial hill some 50 meters high called Monte Testaccio. ■【D】It is made up entirely of broken oil amphorae, mainly of the second and third centuries A.D. It has been estimated that Monte Testaccio contains the remains of some 53 million amphorae, in which around 6,000 million liters of oil were imported into the city from overseas,imports into imperial Rome were supported by the full might of the state and were therefore quite exceptional- but the size of the operations at Monte Testaccio, and the productivity and complexity that lay behind them,nonetheless cannot fail to impress. This was a society with similarities to modernone-moving goods on a gigantic scal, manufacturing high-quality containers to do so, and occasionally, as here, even discarding them on delivery.
13.这里要插入的句子中出现了that is because，那么that肯定是指代了前文的某个现象，然后用要插入的这句话进行解释。句子第一句说，很少有遗址可以表明这种陶器的产量，第二局说但是有一个例外。那么应该是先解释原因，再说例外的情况。That指代的就是第一句话描述的现象。因此插入第二个空。
14. Directions: An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided below. Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer choices that express the most important ideas in the passage. Some sentences do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are not presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage. This question is worth 2 points.
The pottery of the ancient RomanEmpire is remarkable.
A.Roman pottery is considered to be practical and of consistently high quality.
B.Roman pottery was transported over long distances, and different levels of society had access to quality pottery.
C.Archaeologists looking for the remains of Roman pottery concentrate on urban sites because that is where the oldest pieces of kitchenware and amphorae have been found.
D.Even though the exact quantity of pottery produced by the Romans is almost impossible to calculate, it is certain that is was produced in large quantities.
E.People are not familiar with the whole range of pottery of Romans created because most of the available pieces represent only a limited number of styles and shapes.
F.It is still unclear to archaeologists what the role of the Roman state in the commercial success of Roman pottery was.
14.A、B正确，对应文章第一段和第二段，第一段重点说high quality，第二段说不仅是审美考虑也是practical的。E正确，对于原文最后一段。
Competition
When several individuals of the same species or of several different species depend on the same limited resource, a situation may arise that is referred to as competition. The existence of competition has been long known to naturalists; its effects were described by Darwin in considerable detail. Competition among individuals of the same species (intraspecies competition), one of the major mechanisms of natural selection, is the concern of evolutionary biology. Competition among the individuals of different species (interspecies competition) is a major concern of ecology. It is one of the factors controlling the size of competing populations, and extreme cases it may lead to the extinction of one of the competing species. This was described by Darwin for indigenous New Zealand species of animals and plants, which died out when competing species from Europe were introduced.
当同一物种的不同个体或不同的物种都依靠同一有限资源时，这种情况往往会引发成所谓的竞争。竞争的存在已为生物学家们所熟知，其结果也已被达尔文详尽叙述过。同一物种不同个体之间的竞争(种内竞争)，作为自然选择的一个主要原理，现在属于进化生物学。不同物种个体之间的竞争(种间竞争)是生态学的主要部分。它是控制有竞争关系的种群数量的一个因素，而其极端情况可能导致竞争的一方灭绝。达尔文在描述新西兰本土动植物物种在与引进的欧洲物种的竞争中灭绝时讲到该情况。
No serious competition exists when the major needed resource is in superabundant supply, as in most cases of the coexistence of herbivores (plant eaters). Furthermore, most species do not depend entirely on a single resource, if the major resource for a species becomes scarce, the species can usually shift to alternative resources. If more than one species is competing for a scarce resource, the competing species usually switch to different alternative resources. Competition is usually most severe among close relatives with similar demands on the environment. But it may also occur among totally unrelated forms that compete for the same resource, such as seed-eating rodents and ants. The effects of such competition are graphically demonstrated when all the animals or all the plants in an ecosystem come into competition, as happened 2 million years ago at the end of Pliocene, when North and South America became joined by the Isthmus of Panama. North and South American species migrating across the Isthmus now came into competition with each other. The result was the extermination of a large fraction of the South American mammals, which were apparently unable to withstand the competition from invading North American species—although added predation was also an important factor.
当主要需求的资源能充分供给时，竞争就不会很激烈，正如很多情况下植食动物都能够共存。而且绝大部分物种并不只依靠一种资源，当某物种的主要资源匮乏时，它们常转向其它候选资源。如果多个物种竞争同一稀缺资源，他们常会转向不同的候选资源。近亲之间的竞争往往最激烈，因为他们对环境有相似需求。但激烈竞争也可能发生在毫不相关却需要同一资源的物种之间，例如吃种子的啮齿动物和蚂蚁。当一个生态系统中的所有动植物都参与到竞争中来时竞争的影响将表现得淋漓尽致，比如在两百万年前上新世末期当南、北美洲在巴拿马地峡处聚拢时所发生的一切。南、北美洲的物种可以穿越地峡而相互竞争。结果是大量南美洲哺乳动物因抵抗不了来自北美洲物种的竞争而灭绝----尽管过度捕杀也是一个很重要的因素。
To what extent competition determines the composition of a community and the density of particular species has been the source of considerable controversy. The problem is that competition ordinarily cannot be observed directly but must be inferred from the spread or increase of one species and the concurrent reduction or disappearance of another species. The Russian biologist G. F. Gause performed numerous two-species experiments in the laboratory, in which one of the species became extinct when only a single kind of resource was available. On the basis of these experiments and of field observations, the so-called law of competitive exclusion was formulated, according to which no two species can occupy the same niche. Numerous seeming exceptions to this law have since been found, but they can usually be explained as cases in which the two species, even though competing for a major joint resource, did not really occupy exactly the same niche.
竞争在多大程度上决定群落的组成和某特定物种的密度一直备受争议。问题是竞争通常无法直接观察得到而必须通过某一物种的扩张或增加而另外一种物种同时减少或消失的对比中推测出来。俄罗斯生物学家G. F. Gause进行了大量的两物种的室内实验，结果表明当只提供一种资源时其中一个物种将会灭绝。基于以上实验和实地观察，所谓的竞争灭绝法则是成立的，因为两个物种不可能同时完全占有同一有限资源。不过也发现了很多例外，但这些情况下两个物种，尽管会争夺某一主要资源，但它们争夺的资源不完全相同。
Competition among species is of considerable evolutionary importance. The physical structure of species competing for resources in the same ecological niche tends to gradually evolve in ways that allow them to occupy different niches. Competing species also tend to change their ranges so that their territories no longer overlap. The evolutionary effect of competition on species has been referred to as “species selection”; however, this description is potentially misleading. Only the individuals of a species are subject to the pressures of natural selection. The effect on the well-being and existence of a species is just the result of the effects of selection on all the individuals of the species. Thus species selection is actually a result of individual selection.
物种间的竞争对进化至关重要。争夺同一生态资源的物种趋向于朝着依赖不同资源的方向进化。相互竞争的物种会逐渐改变他们的活动范围使其领地不再重叠。竞争对进化的影响称为“物种选择”，但这一描述有很大误导性。只有某一物种中的个体才能面临自然选择的压力。某一物种的繁盛或生存正是其所有个体自然选择的结果。因此物种选择实际上是个体选择的结果。
Competition may occur for any needed resource. In the case of animals it is usually food; in the case of forest plants it may be light; in the case of substrate inhabitants it may be space, as in many shallow-water bottom-dwelling marine organisms. Indeed, it may be for any of the factors, physical as well as biotic, that are essential for organisms. Competition is usually the more severe the denser the population. Together with predation, it is the most important density-dependent factor in regulating population growth.
任何必须的资源都可能引发竞争。这种资源对动物而言常是食物，对森林植物而言可能是阳光，对地面物种来说可能是空间，比如很多生活在浅海海床上生物。实际上，竞争对象可能是生物所必需的任何生物的或非生物的因素。通常生物密度越大，竞争越激烈。和捕杀一起，竞争是与生物密度相关的调控生物密度增长的重要因素。
托福阅读试题
1.The phrase "mechanisms of natural selection"in the passage(paragraph 1)is closest inmeaning to
A.types of natural selection.
B.dangers of natural selection.
C.problems natural selection solves.
D.ways natural selection works.
1.Mechanism本身是机制，原理的意思。从原文也可以推断出来。我们都知道进化是由于"物竞天择"的原因，原文这一句就是这个意思。因此这道题选择D。
2.According to paragraph 1, what is one effect of competition among individuals ofdifferent species?
A.It results in the eventual elimination of the resource for which they are competing.
B.It leads to competition among individuals of the same species.
C.It encourages new species to immigrate to an area.
D.It controls the number of individuals in the competing populations.
2.通过competition among individuals of differentspecies定位到红色标注句子，但这句并没提到任何一个选项，继续往后看，下一句的主语是代词it，指代intraspecies competition，因此后面也是对物种间竞争的描述。而这一句提到了是控制population的因素，对应了选项D。
3.The word "indigenous" in the passage(paragraph 1)is closest in meaning to
A.native.
B.rate.
C.most.
D.numerous.
3.Indigenous是本土的意思=A选项。B是稀少的，C是大部分的，D是无数的。 这个词义也可以从原文推断。原文最后半句，which引导的从句说由于欧洲引进的种族和which指代的东西竞争，是which灭绝了。往前看which引导的是"indigenous"新西兰动植物。可以推测A选项代入最合适。
4.In paragraph 1, why does the author mention what happened in New Zealand?
A.To indicate that Darwin understood the importance of competition.
B.To illustrate that competition can lead to the extinction of species.
C.To identify where the idea of competition among species first arose.
D.To argue against the idea that the process of selection is a natural occurrence.
4.这一段提到种族间竞争时的论点是可以控制不同种族的数量。然后举出了新西兰动植物作为了例子，而例子都是用来证明和支持观点的。因此选择B选项。
5.According to paragraph 2, competition is not usually a significant factor among twocoexisting species when
A.one of the species has only recently moved into the territory of the other.
B.the species are closely related to each other.
C.the population of one species is much larger than that of the other.
D.both of the species are herbivores.
5.根据coexisting species定位到原文处，前文就是原因，因为资源供给充足。而coexistence ofherbivores是给出的例证，coexistence herbivores间没有激烈竞争是因为它们都吃草，而草资源是非常充足的。理想答案是当资源充足时，竞争不会成为重要的影响因素。但原文没有，唯一合适的选择就是D，也就是原文提到的例证。
6.The word "graphically" in the passage(paragraph 2)is closest in meaning to
A.vividly.
B.frequently.
C.broadly.
D.typically.
6.Graph是图画的意思，graphically也就是用图形地，可以推出生动地的意思。因此选择A. vividly. B选项是频繁地，C是广泛地，D是特别地。都不符合。
7.In paragraph 2, why does the author talk about what happened as a result of Northand South America becoming joined at the Isthmus of Panama?
A.To make the point that predation can have as much effect on species survival ascompetition does.
B.To show how the ability to switch to an alternative resource can give a species acompetitive advantage.
C.To account for the current species composition of North and South America.
D.To provide an example of the serious effects of competition between unrelated species.
7.引出南北美洲物种竞争结果的主句是"The effects of such competition are graphicallydemonstrated…"由此推断，南北美洲动物竞争的结果就是为了说明竞争的Effects。因此选择D。A原文提到了，在最后的半句，但是前面的although说明了这不是主要观点。
8.Paragraph 3 supports the idea that Gause's experiments were important becausethey
A.provided a situation in which competition could be removed from the interaction betweentwo species.
B.showed that previous ideas about the extent to which competition determines thecomposition of a community were completely mistaken.
C.helped establish that competition will remove all but one species from any givenecological niche.
D.offered evidence that competition between species is minimal when there is anoverabundance of a single food source.
8.通过Gause's experiments定位，文章在描述完实验内容后，说on the basis of these experiment，那么说明后面就是实验得到的结论。也就是law of competitive exclusion. 因此选择C。
9.Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information inthehighlighted sentence in the passage(paragraph 3)? Incorrect choices change themeaningin important ways or leave out essential information.
A.Apparent exceptions to this law usually involves cases in which two species compete for thesame major resource but occupy slightly different niches.
B.Although it may appear that two species always have different niches, many exceptions showthat species compete with each other.
C.Cases in which two species not only compete for a shared resource but also occupy similarniches are considered exceptions to this law.
D.Cases in which the two species do not occupy that same niche yet still compete for thesame resource are believed to be exceptions to this law.
9.原文中句子的主干是 seeming exceptions have been found，然后存在了转折逻辑之后说这种例外是可以被解释的。因此只有A符合。B，C，D都在一定程度上改变了原句的意思。
10.According to paragraph 4, how does competition affect evolution?
A.It results in the evolution of physical structures that allow the species to compete witheach other more effectively.
B.It results I the evolutionary extinction of all but one of the competing species.
C.It results in the competing species evolving in such a way that they no longer compete forthe same resources.
D.It results in the competing species evolving to become so much like each other thatcompetition between them eventually disappears.
10.第一句就提到了问题所问的内容，说competition具有evolutionary importance。后面应该就是具体的解释。往后看说同一小生态环境中的竞争物种tend to….那么tend to的内容就是答案。对应的就是C，说使得其领地不再重叠，也就是不再同一区域内进行资源竞争了。
11.According to paragraph 4, "species selection" is a misleading term because it
A.overemphasizes the role of selection pressure in species extinction.
B.suggests that selection pressures directly influence whole species.
C.does not make a distinction between species extinction and species evolution.
D.suggests that extinction always results whenever there is a competition.
11.通过species selection定位到标注处，后面出现了转折，说这个描写是misleading的。往后肯定就会解释原因。原文说natural selection其实是直接作用在individual上的，而不是species上。所以错误。对应了B选项，"species selection 暗示了选择压力是直接作用于整个物种上的。"
12.The word "regulating" in the passage(paragraph 5)is closest in meaning to
A.controlling.
B.explaining.
C.observing.
D.stopping.
12.最后一句是说它是最重要的在怎么样数量增长中，影响密度的因素。很容易理解是控制。因此选A。B是解释，C是观察，D是停止。
13. Look at the four squares [■] that indicate where the following sentence could beadded to the passage.Where would the sentence best fit? That is, as the density of apopulation increases, competition has a greater impact and leads to greater mortality.
Competition may occur for any needed resource. ■【A】In the case of animals it is usually food;in the case of forest plants it may be light; in the case of substrate inhabitants it may be space,as in many shallow-waterbottom-dwelling marine organisms. ■【B】Indeed, it may be forany of the factors,physical as well as biotic, that are essential for organisms. ■【C】Competition isusually the more severe the denser the population. ■【D】Togetherwith predation, itis the most important density-dependent factor in regulating populationgrowth.
13.要插入的句子开头的that 一定是指代前文的一句话。并且跟density有关。而原文第一次出现density有关的词是在D选项前的一句话"denser"，插入后发现，插入的就是在进一步说明D前的那一句。而后文又补充了predation和competition对density的共同作用，逻辑关系吻合，意思通顺。
14. Directions: An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage isprovided below. Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer choices thatexpress the most important ideas in the passage. Some sentences do not belong inthe summary because they express ideas that are not presented in the passage or areminor ideas in the passage. This question is worth 2 points.
When necessary resources are limited, competition can occur among individuals of the samespecies or of different species.
A.Competition can eliminate a species, but since most species do not depend on a singleresource, competition is often reduced by switching to alternative resources.
B.Investigation of the ecological role of competition is difficult because ordinarily thecompetition cannot be observed directly and must be inferred from its presumed effects.
C.Competition between a pair of species tends to lessen over time because the species tendto evolve to occupy different ecological niches and ranges.
D.Competition between individual of the same species is usually for food whereas competitionbetween species is usually for habitat.
E.Experiments and field observation have established that competition between species isstrong enough to prevent two species from occupying the same ecological niche.
F.Competition is usually strongest when the density of the competing populations is the same.
14.A正确，对应原文第二段第二，三句。B原文并没有这样的意思，一直在说是在竞争resource，不选。C后半句在原文中提到了，但s是并没有与前半句的这样的因果关系，不选。D正确，对应原文第3段的on thebasis of那一句。E正确，对应原文第四段的第二句。
The History of Waterpower
Moving water was one of the earliest energysources to be harnessed to reduce the workload ofpeople and animals. No one knows exactly when thewaterwheel was invented, but irrigation systemsexisted at least 5,000 years ago, and it seems probable that the earliest waterpower device wasthe noria, a waterwheel that raised water for irrigation in attached jars. The device appears tohave evolved no later than the fifth century B.C., perhaps independently in different regions ofthe Middle and Far East.
流水是人类最早利用的能量来源，以减少人和牲畜的工作负担。无法知晓水轮是什么时候发明的，但灌溉系统至少在五千年前就已存在。最早的水力设施很可能是戽水车，一种通过附带的瓦罐将水举起以便灌溉的水轮。这种设备在公元前十五世纪就可能独立的出现在中东和远东的一些地区了。
The earliest waterpower mills were probably vertical-axis mills for grinding corn, knownas Norse or Greek mills, which seem to have appeared during the first or second century B.C. inthe Middle East and a few centuries later in Scandinavia. In the following centuries, increasinglysophisticated waterpower mills were built throughout the Roman Empire and beyond itsboundaries in the Middle East and northern Europe. In England, the Saxons are thought to haveused both horizontal and vertical-axis wheels. The first documented English mill was in theeighth century, but three centuries later about 5,000 were recorded, suggesting that everysettlement of any size had its mill.
最早用于研磨谷物的水力磨可能都是垂直轴的，比如可能在公元前一到二世纪出现在中东的希腊磨以及几个世纪之后出现在斯堪的纳维亚的斯堪的纳维亚磨。后来的几个世纪里，更加先进的水磨在整个罗马帝国及其边界以外的中东和北欧各地兴建起来。在英国，撒克逊人可能既有水平轴的也有垂直轴的水磨。有记录的最早的英国磨出现在八世纪，但三百年后大约有5000口水磨记录再案，也就是说几乎每一处居民聚集地，无论规模大小如何都有自己的水磨。
Raising water and grinding corn were by no means the only uses of the waterpower mill,and during the following centuries, the applications of waterpower kept pace with thedeveloping technologies of mining, iron working, paper making, and the wool and cottonindustries. Water was the main source of mechanical power, and by the end of theseventeenth century, England alone is thought to have had some 20,000 working mill. Therewas much debate on the relative efficiencies of different types of waterwheels. The period fromabout 1650 until 1800 saw some excellent scientific and technical investigations of differentdesigns. They revealed output powers ranging from about 1 horsepower to perhaps 60 for thelargest wheels and confirmed that for maximum efficiency, the water should pass across theblades as smoothly as possible and fall away with minimum speed, having given up almost allof its kinetic energy. (They also proved that, in principle, the overshot wheel, a type ofwheel in which an overhead streamof water powers the wheel, should win the efficiencycompetition.)
举升水和研磨谷物绝不是水力磨的唯一用途，在后来几个世纪中，对水力的利用与采矿、炼铁、造纸以及棉毛纺织工业的技术进步同步。水力是机械能的主要来源，在十七世纪末，光英国就有约两万座水磨。不类型水轮的效率的高低向来争议很多。从1650到1800年间，人们设计了一些在科学和技术上都很先进的水轮。它们的输出功率从1马力到最大的60马力，并且人们确信要想产生最高效率，水应该从叶轮上尽可能光滑的流过，并以最小的速度落下，以便输出其几乎所有动能。(已经证明从原则上，上射水轮，一种利用从顶部倾泻的水流驱动叶轮的水轮，的效率最高。)
But then steam power entered the scene, putting the whole future of waterpower indoubt. An energy analyst writing in the year 1800 would have painted a very pessimisticpicture of the future for waterpower. The coal-fired steam engine was taking over, and thewaterwheel was fast becoming obsolete. However, like many later experts, this one would havesuffered from an inability to see into the future. A century later the picture was completelydifferent: by then, the world had an electric industry, and a quarter of its generating capacitywas water powered.
但当蒸汽动力进入历史舞台，水力的前途就备受怀疑了。一位能源分析者在1800年写的一篇论文给水力的前途铺上了一层悲观的色调。燃煤蒸汽动力正在普及，而水轮则被迅速遗弃。然而，正如后来很多专家所言，这位分析者对未来过于短视。一个世纪之后，情况完全不同：那时世界已经有了电力工业，而四分之一的发电能力都来自水力。
The growth of the electric-power industry was the result of a remarkable series ofscientific discoveries and development in electrotechnology during the nineteenth century, butsignificant changes in what we might now call hydro (water) technology also played their part.In 1832, the year of Michael Faraday’s discovery that a changing magnetic field produces anelectric field, a young French engineer patented a new and more efficient waterwheel. Hisname was Nenoit Fourneyron, and his device was the first successful water turbine. (The wordturbine comes from the Latin turbo: something that spins). The waterwheel, unaltered fornearly 2,000 years, had finally been superseded.
十九世纪电力工业的崛起源自一系列的科学发现和电工业的发展，但我们现在目睹的水力技术的重大进步也发挥了重要作用。在1832年，当Michael Faraday发现了变化的磁场能够产生电场理论时，一位年轻的法国工程师申请了一种新型的更有效率的水轮专利。他的名字叫Nenoit Fourneyron，而他的设备是最早的成功的水力涡轮。水轮在保持了近2000年的原始模样后终于被超越了。
Half a century of development was needed before Faraday’s discoveries in electricity weretranslated into full-scale power stations. In 1881 the Godalming power station in Surrey,England, on the banks of the Wey River, created the world’s first public electricity supply. Thepower source of this most modern technology was a traditional waterwheel. Unfortunately thisearly plant experienced the problem common to many forms of renewable energy: the flow inthe Wey River was unreliable, and the waterwheel was soon replaced by a steam engine.
在半个世纪里的时间里，法拉第的电学理论终于发展成了设施齐备的发电厂。1881年在英国的萨里，在卫河河畔建成了世界上第一座公用水力发电站----Godalming 发电站。这种现代化的发电站所用的仍是传统的水轮。不幸的是，这座早起的水力发电站也遭受了所有可再生能源的共同弊端：卫河的水流极不稳定，而水轮很快被蒸汽机代替了。
From this primitive start, the electric industry grew during the final 20 years of thenineteenth century at a rate seldom if ever exceeded by any technology. The capacity ofindividual power stations, many of them hydro plants, rose from a few kilowatts to over amegawatt in less than a decade.
从这次原始的尝试开始，电工业在十九世纪最后的二十年中以比任何其它技术都快得多的速度发展起来。单个发电站，很多都是水力发电站，的发电能力从几千瓦在不到十年时间内就发展到了几兆瓦。
托福阅读试题
1.The word "harnessed" in thepassage(paragraph 1)is closest in meaning to
A.known.
B.depended on.
C.recognized.
D.utilized.
1.这个单词后面出现了to，表目的或作用，整句话的意思就是水资源被用于减轻人和动物的劳动。所以很容易推出文中单词harnessed是使用的意思，因此选择D。
2.In paragraph 1, uncertainty is expressed about all of the following aspects of theearly development of waterpower EXCEPT
A.when exactly the very first waterpower devices were invented.
B.when exactly the very first waterpower devices were developed.
C.whether water was one of the earliest sources of power to be used by humans.
D.whether the very earliest waterpower devices arose independently.
2.这个题可以看着选项到原文照对应点，A对应原文第二句，正确，不选。B对应虽然没有直接在原文中提到，但是也可以有这层意思，可以作为待定选项。但看到C之后就可以排除B了，因为C和原文第一句有了直接冲突，因此选择C。D对应这段的最后一句(出现了perhaps)。
3.According to paragraph 2, what was true of the waterpower mills built throughoutthe Roman Empire?
A.Most had horizontal-axis wheels.
B.Their design was based on mills that had long been used in Scandinavia.
C.Their design was more popular beyond the Empire's boundaries than it was within theEmpire.
D.They are more advanced than the mills used in the Middle East at an earlier time.
3.根据Throughout the roman empire定位到原文红色标注位置，对于waterpower mill的修饰是increasingly sophisticated也就是更复杂，更先进。因此选择D。
4.The phrase "the application of waterpower" in the passage (paragraph 3)is closestin meaning to
A.the uses to which waterpower was put.
B.the improvement made to waterpower.
C.the method by which waterpower was supplied.
D.the source of waterpower available.
4.这里的application指的是水力资源的应用，也就是作用。因此选择A水利的用处。
5.According to paragraph 4, which of the following was discovered as a result ofscientific and technical investigations of waterpower conducted between 1650 and1800?
A.Some types of small waterwheel can produce as much horsepower as the very largestwheels.
B.Waterwheels operate more efficiently when water falls away from their blades slowly thanwhen water falls away quickly.
C.Waterwheel efficiency can be improved by increasing the amount of kinetic energy watercontains as it passes over a waterwheel's blades.
D.Unlike other types of waterwheels, the overshot wheel is capable of producing more than 60horsepower units of energy.
5.通过scientific and technical investigation定位到红色标注部分，后面几句就是调查的结果了，原文说输出的功率从1-60马力不等，水流越smooth，下落越慢，效率就越高。英雌，A选项，原文没提到。B选项正确。C. water contain的动能并不能改变，而是要尽可能的使其含有的动能释放出来。D提到了overshotwheel，对应本段最后一句。但是原文并没说这种轮就能输出高于60马单位的能量。
6.The word "pessimistic" in the passage is closest in meaning to
A.negative.
B.unlikely.
C.surprising.
D.incomplete.
6.根据前面一句，有了蒸汽动力以后，水力资源就被put in doubt了。因此后面修饰水力资源利用前景的一定是一个负面的词。因此选择A，负面的。B是不相似的，C是令人吃惊的，D是不完整的。
7.The term "by then" in the passage refers to
A.by the time steam power entered the scene.
B.by the year 1800.
C.by the year 1900.
D.by the time waterwheel was becoming obsolete.
7.因为前文提到在1800年，水力资源利用衰败，by then的前半句说a century later，因此应该是一百年以后，也就是1900年。
8.According to paragraph 5, why did waterpower become more importantly by 1900?
A.Better waterwheel designs improved the efficiency of waterpower.
B.Waterpower was needed to operate steam engines.
C.Waterpower was used to generate electricity.
D.Waterwheels became more efficient than coal-powered engines.
8.这段第一句就指出了电力发展，然后又说水利能源的重大改变促进了电力发展。因此符合C选项。
9.Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in thehighlighted sentence in the passage paragraph 5? Incorrect choices change themeaning in important ways or leave out essential information.
A.The growth of the electric-power industry stimulated significant changes in hydro technologyand scientific progress in electrotechnology in the nineteenth century.
B.The changes in hydro technology that led to the growth of the electric-power industry also ledto discoveries and developments in electrotechnology in the nineteenth century.
C.Advances in electrotechnology in the nineteenth century and changes in hydro technologywere responsible for the growth of the electric-power industry.
D.In the nineteenth century, the scientific study of electrotechnology and hydro technologybenefited greatly from the growth of the electric-power industry.
9.原文句子的逻辑关系是，electrotechnology和 changes in water growth 共同促进了electric power 工业。A逻辑关系完全反了。B混乱的。D与A逻辑相似。因此选择C。
10.The word "unaltered" in the passage is closest in meaning to
A.unimproved.
B.unequaled.
C.unchanged.
D.unsatisfactory.
10.Unaltered是一成不变的，这道题A是一个迷惑选项。但是unaltered并没有进步，改良的那层意思。因此C更合适。
11.The discussion of the history of electric power production in paragraph 6 supportswhich of the following?
A.1832 marked the beginning of the industrial production of electric power.
B.Turbines using Benoit Fourneyron's design were eventually used to generate electric power.
C.Benoit Fourneyron quickly applied Michael Faraday's discovery about electric fields to acquirea pattern for a new and more efficient waterwheel.
D.Practical advances in hydro technology were more important to the development of electricpower than were advances in the theoretical understanding of electricity.
11.上一段说Benoit Fourneyron的发现通过发明turbine得以应用。通过turbine就可以实现发电了。
12.According to paragraph 7, what problem did the early power station in the town ofGodalming in Surrey, United Kingdom, face in providing electricity?
A.The traditional waterwheel is used was not large enough to meet the demand for energy.
B.The flow of the River Wey, on which the power station depended, was unreliable.
C.The operators of the Godalming power station had little experience with hydro technology.
D.The steam engine that turned the waterwheel was faulty and needed to be replaced.
12.通过Godalming定位。往后阅读之后出现了unfortunately的转折，也就是要说遇到的问题了。"："后面就是答案了。所以选B。
13. Look at the four squares [■] that indicate where the following sentence could beadded to the passage.Where would the sentence best fit? The steam engine thatturned the waterwheel was faulty and needed to be replaced.
Raising water and grinding corn were by no means the only uses of the waterpower mill, andduring the following centuries, the applications of waterpower kept pace with the developingtechnologies of mining,iron working,paper making,and the wool and cotton industries. Waterwas the main source of mechanical power, and by the end of the seventeenth century,England alone is thought to have had some 20,000 working mill. There was much debate onthe relative efficiencies of different types of waterwheels. ■【A】The period from about 1650until 1800 saw some excellent scientific and technical investigations of different designs. ■【B】They revealed output powers ranging from about 1 horsepower to perhaps 60 for thelargest wheels and confirmed that for maximum efficiency,the water should pass across theblades as smoothly as possible and fall away with minimum speed, having given up almost allof its kinetic energy. ■【C】(They also proved that, in principle, the overshot wheel, a typeof wheel in which anoverhead stream of water powers the wheel, should win the efficiencycompetition.) ■【D】
13.要插入的句子说要resolve disagreement。而这段的第一句就说很多debate。那么插到第一个空里正合适。
14. Directions: An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage isprovided below. Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer choices thatexpress the most important ideas in the passage. Some sentences do not belong inthe summary because they express ideas that are not presented in the passage or areminor ideas in the passage. This question is worth 2 points.
Ever since the development of waterwheel, which occurred no later than 500 B.C.,people have used moving water as a source of power.
A.The first water-powered machines were probably used to grind corn, and as technologyadvanced, waterwheels were used as the main source of power in many industries.
B.In the late nineteenth century an electric power station in England began using water powerfrom a nearby river, creating a dependable source of power that quickly replaced the steamengine.
C.In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, design improvements I waterwheels led todiscoveries of how to increase their efficiency and power output.
D.Almost every large town in England had a waterpower mill, allowing England to become theworld's leader in industries that depended on water for their power.
E.Waterpower mills were probably invented about the same time in the Middle East andScandinavia and then spread to England by about the second century B.C..
F.After declining in importance in the early 1800's, waterpower came back into demand by theend of the century as a means to power electric plants and water turbines.
14.A正确，对应原文第二段第一句。B错误。原文说英国的居住点不管大小，都有自己的mill。对应原文第二段最后一句。C错误。原文说的是river的水流不稳定，结果很快被steam engine取代了。对应原文倒数第二段最后两句。D错误，对应原文第一段，原文说没人知道water mill是什么时候发明的。而且后半句时间也不对。E正确，对应原文第四段。F对应原文第五段最后一句，和第六段。
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