Early Food Production in Sub-Saharan Africa
At the end of the Pleistocene (around 10,000 B.C.), the technologies of food production may have already been employed on the fringes of the rain forests of western and central Africa, where the common use of such root plants as the African yam led people to recognize the advantages of growing their own food. The yam can easily be resprouted if the top is replanted. This primitive form of "vegeculture" (cultivation of root and tree crops) may have been the economic tradition onto which the cultivation of summer rainfall cereal crops was grafted as it came into use south of the grassland areas on the Sahara's southern borders.
As the Sahara dried up after 5000 B.C., pastoral peoples (cattle herders) moved southward along major watercourses into the savanna belt of West Africa and the Sudan. By 3000 B.C., just as ancient Egyptian civilization was coming into being along the Nile, they had settled in the heart of the East African highlands far to the south. The East African highlands are ideal cattle country and the home today of such famous cattle-herding peoples as the Masai. The highlands were inhabited by hunter-gatherers living around mountains near the plains until about 3300 B.C., when the first cattle herders appeared. These cattle people may have moved between fixed settlements during the wet and dry seasons, living off hunting in the dry months and their own livestock and agriculture during the rains.
As was the case elsewhere, cattle were demanding animals in Africa. They required water at least every 24 hours and large tracts of grazing grass if herds of any size were to be maintained. The secret was the careful selection of grazing land, especially in environments where seasonal rainfall led to marked differences in graze quality throughout the year. Even modest cattle herds required plenty of land and considerable mobility. To acquire such land often required moving herds considerable distances, even from summer to winter pastures. {[3|41|A]} At the same time, the cattle owners had to graze their stock in tsetse-fly-free areas {[3|41|B]} The only protection against human and animal sleeping sickness, a disease carried by the tsetse fly, was to avoid settling or farming such areas— a constraint severely limiting the movements of cattle-owning farmers in eastern and central Africa. {[3|41|C]} As a result, small cattle herds spread south rapidly in areas where they could be grazed. {[3|41|D]}Long before cereal agriculture took hold far south of the Sahara, some hunter-gatherer groups in the savanna woodlands of eastern and southern Africa may have acquired cattle, and perhaps other domesticated animals, by gift exchange or through raids on herding neighbors.
Contrary to popular belief: there is no such phenomenon as "pure" pastoralists, a society that subsists on its herds alone. The Saharan herders who moved southward to escape drought were almost certainly also cultivating sorghum, millet; and other tropical rainfall crops. By 1500 B.C., cereal agriculture was widespread throughout the savanna belt south of the Sahara. Small farming communities dotted the grasslands and forest margins of eastern West Africa, all of them depending on what is called shifting agriculture. This form of agriculture involved clearing woodland, burning the felled brush over the cleared plot, mixing the ash into the soil, and then cultivating the prepared fields. After a few years, the soil was exhausted, so the farmer moved on, exploiting new woodland and leaving the abandoned fields to lie fallow. Shifting agriculture, often called slash-and-burn, was highly adaptive for savanna farmers without plows, for it allowed cereal farming with the minimal expenditure of energy.
The process of clearance and burning may have seemed haphazard to the uninformed eye, but it was not. Except in favored areas, such as regularly inundated floodplains: tropical Africa's soils were of only moderate to low fertility. The art of farming was careful soil selection, that is, knowing which soils were light and easily cultivable, could be readily turned with small hoes: and would maintain their fertility over several years' planting, for cereal crops rapidly remove nitrogen and other nutrients from the soil. Once it had taken hold: slash-and-burn agriculture expanded its frontiers rapidly as village after village took up new lands, moving forward so rapidly that one expert has estimated it took a mere two centuries to cover 2,000 kilometers from eastern to southern Africa.
TPO52托福阅读Passage3题目
1. According to paragraph 1, which of the following is true of early food production by the end of the Pleistocene?
In certain areas of western and central Africa, some people were already growing root plants such as yams.
The cultivation of cereal crops had already been used effectively and widely by people living on the fringes of ram forests.
Sophisticated forms of "vegeculture" were introduced for the first time in central and western Africa by people from the Sahara's southern borders.
The cultivation of root and tree crops replaced the cultivation of cereal crops because of decreasing summer rainfall in grassland areas.
2. Paragraph 2 mentions all of the following as developments in Sub-Saharan Africa from 5000 to 3000 B.C. EXCEPT:
The Sahara dried up.
Ancient Egyptian civilization started to form along the Nile.
The inhabitants of the East African highlands gave up hunting when cattle herders arrived.
Pastoral peoples moved through the savanna belt to settle in the East African highlands.
3. Which of the following can be inferred from paragraph 2 about the pastoral peoples in the East African Highlands around 3300 B.C.?
They lived around the mountains and rarely descended into the plains.
They relied on different focxJ sources during dry months than they did during wet months.
Their settlements were larger than those of pastoral peoples in West Africa and the Sudan.
They obtained food from nearby hunter-gatherer communities during wet months.
4. The word "modest" in the passage is closest in meaning to
small
strong
good
typical
5. Paragraph 3 mentions all of the following as reasons that raising cattle in Africa was demanding EXCEPT:
Cattle had to drink frequently.
Cattle needed large areas of good-quality grazing grass.
Cattle required a great deal of movement from one season to the next.
Cattle suffered from sleeping sickness after the herds spread south.
6. The word "severely" in the passage is closest in meaning to
gradually
permanently
indirectly
very seriously
7. According to paragraph 3, the presence of the tsetse fly in eastern and central Africa caused which of the following?
People in the sub-Saharan region began to focus more on the cultivation of cereal crops than in maintaining livestock.
Raids among neighboring cattle herders increased dramatically.
Cattle herders spread south where they could graze their stock in tsetse-fly-free areas.
Most hunter-gatherer groups limited their food collection to the tsetse-fly-free areas south of the Sahara.
8. Paragraph 4 indicates which of the following about shifting agriculture?
It allowed farmers to cultivate cereal crops without reducing the size of their herds.
It allowed farmers to cultivate a variety of crops at the same time.
It enabled farmers to cultivate crops with minimal equipment and effort.
It enriched the soil and produced large yields of crops over the years.
9. The word "exploiting” in the passage is closest in meaning to
making use of
finding
destroying
looking for
10. The word "readily" in the passage is closest in meaning to
completely
easily
properly
regularly
11. Select the TWO answer choices that, according to paragraph 5, indicate true statements about sub-Saharan slash-and-burn agriculture. To obtain credit you must select TWO answer choices.
It involved a careful selection of soils for cultivation.
It involved regular flooding of the soils to improve fertility.
It was abandoned after being implemented intensively for two centuries.
It spread quickly once it took hold.
12. Which of the following best describes the relationship of paragraph 5 to paragraph 4?
Both paragraphs compare the effectiveness of cereal agriculture and cattle herding as food-production strategies in the sub-Saharan regions.
Paragraph 5 challenges the ideas in paragraph 4 about the relative importance of shifting agriculture in the sub-Saharan regions.
Both paragraphs emphasize the idea that agricultural practices south of the Sahara took a very long time to develop.
Paragraph 5 provides further details about the practice of shifting agriculture south of the Sahara presented in paragraph 4.
13. Look at the four squares [▇] that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage. Southern Africa was, however, relatively free of tsetse flies.
Where would the sentence best fit? Click on a square [▇] to add the sentence to the passage.
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.
Drag your answer choices to the spaces where they belong. To remove an answer choice, click on it.
To review the passage, click VIEW TEXT
The technologies of food production may have already been employed by some sub-Saharan peoples by the end of the
Pleistocene.
Answer Choices
Food production started with the cultivation of root plants and developed to include the cultivation of cereal crops.
In order to avoid human and animal sleeping sickness, which posed a danger to herders and cattle, more and more herders took up cultivation.
By 1500 B c. cereal agriculture was widespread throughout the savanna belt south of the Sahara, and shifting agriculture was used effectively and widely by farmers.
Pastoralists who moved south across the Sahara to find suitable land for cattle grazing may have also cultivated some crops for food.
Hunter-gatherer groups in eastern and southern Africa raided their herding neighbors to acquire cattle and other domesticated animals.
Slash-and-burn agriculture was initially rejected by farmers because it was too labor-intensive, but once the technique was improved, it expanded gradually to eastern and southern Africa.
TPO52托福阅读Passage3解析
1、答案：A
题型：细节
解析：本题为事实信息题。题目问关于更新世末期的早期食品生产，以下哪一项是正确的?
A选项：在西非和中非的某些地方，有些人已经开始种植根茎类植物，例如山药。根据关键词“root plant”和“yams”定位到第一段第一句的后半句“……where the common use of such root plants as the African yam led people to recognize the advantages of growing their own food.”这句话说明当时人类确实已经开始种植山药等根茎类作物了。故A选项正确。
B选项：居住在热带雨林边缘的人已经高效并广泛地种植了谷类作物。错误，因为文中只提到种植块根植物和树本植物，谷类作物当时还没开始种植，所以B选项与原文矛盾。排除。
C选项：“蔬菜栽培”的种植方法是由撒哈拉沙漠南部边界的人第一次引入非洲中部和西部地区的。错误，因为文中最后一句只说“……as it came into use south of the grassland areas on the Sahara's southern borders.” 这种种植技术已经在撒哈拉沙漠南部边界地区的草原南部被使用。但是没有说这些地区的人将这一技术引入非洲中部和西部地区，故C选项未提及，排除。
D选项：块根植物和树本植物的种植取代了谷类植物的种植，因为草原地区的降水量越来越少。这一信息在原文中完全未提及，故排除。
2、答案：C
题型：选非
解析：本题为否定事实信息题。题目问以下哪一项不属于撒哈拉以南非洲地区公元前5000年到公元前3000年内的发展?我们逐一来看选项：
A选项：撒哈拉地区干涸了。第二段第一句说“As the Sahara dried up after 5000 B.C.……”这句话证明A选项符合原文，故A选项排除。
B选项：古代埃及文明在尼罗河流域发源。第二段第2句说“By 3000 B.C., just as ancient Egyptian civilization was coming into being along the Nile……”这句话证明B选项符合原文，故B选项排除。
C选项：当游牧民族到来的时候，东非高地的原住民放弃了狩猎。原文说“The highlands were inhabited by hunter-gatherers living around mountains near the plains until about 3300 B.C., when the first cattle herders appeared.”这句话说直到大约公元前3300年，第一批牧牛人出现时，高地上居住着狩猎采集者，他们居住在平原附近的山区。但是文中没有提到这些原住民在游牧民族到来后就放弃了狩猎，故C选项在文中未提及，为正确答案。
D选项：游牧民族穿过了稀树草原带，在东非高地定居。对应第二段第1、2句“pastoral peoples (cattle herders) moved southward along major watercourses into the savanna belt of West Africa and the Sudan……settled in the heart of the East African highlands far to the south.”证明D选项是符合原文的，故D选项排除。
3、答案：B
题型：推断
解析：本题为推理题。根据题干中的关键年份“3300 B.C.”可以直接定位到这句话“The highlands were inhabited by hunter-gatherers living around mountains near the plains until about 3300 B.C., when the first cattle herders appeared.”这句话说，直到大约公元前3300年，第一批牧牛人出现时，高地上居住着狩猎采集者，他们居住在平原附近的山区。最后一句话也是在描述游牧民族到达高地后的生活模式：在旱季和雨季，这些放牧人可能在固定的定居点之间移动，在旱季他们过着打猎的生活，在雨季靠畜牧和种植为生。
A选项：他们住在山的附近，很少到平原去。这句话是描述说高地上原来居住的那些“hunter-gatherers”，不是在描述pastoral people，而且文中也没有说这些“hunter-gatherers”很少来到平原上。故A选项直接排除。
B选项：他们在旱季的食物来源要比在雨季的食物来源更丰富。我们可以从文中最后一句话推理出B选项是正确的。最后一句说：这些游牧民族在旱季过着打猎的生活，在雨季靠畜牧和种植为生。打猎获得的食物肯定更丰富，而靠畜牧和种植，食物来源相对比较单一，故B选项正确。
C选项：他们的定居点要比西非和苏丹的游牧民族大。文中没有提到定居点规模大小的信息，故C选项排除。
D选项：在雨季，他们从附近的依靠采集狩猎卫生的原住民那边获得食物。文中未提到该信息，故排除。
4、答案：D
题型：词汇
解析：本题为词汇题。“modest”的意思是“适中的;普通的”。词汇所在句“Even modest cattle herds required plenty of land and considerable mobility.”的意思是“即使是规模适中的牛群也需要大片的土地和相当大的可移动性。”下面我们来看选项：
A选项:small,意思是“小的”，意思不符，故排除。
B选项：strong，意思是“强壮的”，意思不符，故排除。
C选项：good，意思是“好的”，意思不符，故排除。
D选项：typical，除了有“代表性的”意思之外，还有“一贯的;平常的”的意思，故意思最接近，为正确答案。
5、答案：D
题型：选非
解析：本题为否定事实信息题。题目问以下哪一项不是在非洲养牛要求很高的原因?我们逐一来看选项：
A选项：牛需要频繁地喝水。可以定位到第三段第2句话“ They required water at least every 24 hours and large tracts of grazing grass if herds of any size were to be maintained.”这句话说牛群至少每24小时就需要喝水，说明A选项符合原文，故排除。
B选项：牛群需要大片高质量的牧草。根据关键词“grazing grass”同样定位到第三段第2句，所以B选项符合原文，故排除。
C选项：从一个季节转变到下一个季节时，牛群需要移动很远的距离。定位到这句话“To acquire such land often required moving herds considerable distances, even from summer to winter pastures.”这句话表明，牛群经常需要移动相当远的距离，从夏季牧场迁移到冬季牧场。所以这里C选项符合原文，故排除。
D选项：牛群迁移到南部之后，开始患上昏睡病。但是原文中说的是，为了避免感染昏睡病，牛群迅速向南部地区迁移。所以南部是没有致病的舌蝇出没的。故D选项与原文矛盾，为正确答案。
6、答案：D
题型：词汇
解析：本题为词汇题。“severely”的意思是“严重地”,词汇所在句“……a constraint severely limiting the movements of cattle-owning farmers in eastern and central Africa.”的意思是“……对东非和中非地区的牧民来说，这个办法严重低限制了他们的迁移。”下面我们来看选项：
A选项：gradually,意思是“逐步地，渐渐地”,意思不符，故排除。
B选项：permanently,意思是“永久地，长期不变地”,意思不符，故排除。
C选项：indirectly,意思是“间接地”，意思不符，故排除。
D选项：very seriously，意思是“非常严重地”，意思符合，故为正确答案。
7、答案：C
题型：细节
解析：本题为事实信息题。题目问，在东非和中非的舌蝇会造成什么后果?根据题干中的关键词“tsetse fly”，可以定位到第三段倒数2、3、4句“At the same time, the cattle owners had to graze their stock in tsetse-fly-free areas ……As a result, small cattle herds spread south rapidly in areas where they could be grazed.”这三句话的内容都是在讲舌蝇和舌蝇带来的后果。题干中“caused”一词是在问结果，所以我们在文中找到关键词“as a result”，后面的内容就是结果，即小部分牛群迅速地向南部地区迁移，在那里人们可以放牧。对应C选项正确。
A选项：撒哈拉以南非洲地区的人民开始花更多精力培养谷物，而不是饲养牛群。错误，因为文中没有提到两者之间的比较关系，人们即种植谷物，也饲养牛群。其次，这不是舌蝇造成的影响。
B选项：邻里之间抢夺牛群的情况愈演愈烈。对应第三段最后一句“Long before cereal agriculture took hold far south of the Sahara ……by gift exchange or through raids on herding neighbors.”但是这句话只是为了说明狩猎采集者获得牲畜的方式——作为礼物交换，或者通过劫掠放牧的邻居来获得这些牲畜。这并不是舌蝇造成的影响。故B选项排除。
D选项：大部分的狩猎采集者将他们的觅食范围限定在了撒哈拉南部的舌蝇出没的地带。错误，因为文章没有提到该信息。
8、答案：C
题型：细节
解析：本题为事实信息题。题目问关于第四段中提到的轮耕法，以下哪一项是正确的?
A选项：它使农民在不需要减少牧群规模的情况下耕种谷物。错误，因为第四段没有提及该信息。
B选项：它使农民可以同时种很多种农作物。错误，因为第四段没有提及该信息。文中只提到“The Saharan herders who moved southward to escape drought were almost certainly also cultivating sorghum, millet; and other tropical rainfall crops.”但这句话说南迁移的牧民，他们肯定也种植高粱、小米和其他热带降雨作物。但是并没有说他们用轮耕法同时耕种这些农作物，故B选项排除。
C选项：它使农民可以用最少的装备和精力来耕种。根据选项中的关键词“minimal”定位到第四段最后一句“Shifting agriculture, often called slash-and-burn, was highly adaptive for savanna farmers without plows, for it allowed cereal farming with the minimal expenditure of energy.”这句话说轮耕法，也被称为“刀耕火种”，高度适用于没有犁的稀树草原地区的农民，因为这种方法能够消耗最少的能量来种植谷类。所以C选项符合原文，为正确答案。
D选项：它能使土壤肥沃，生产出大量的粮食。错误，因为第四段没有提及该信息。
9、答案：A
题型：词汇
解析：本题为词汇题。“exploiting”的意思是“开采;利用”。词汇所在句“After a few years, the soil was exhausted, so the farmer moved on, exploiting new woodland and leaving the abandoned fields to lie fallow.”的意思是“几年后，土地耗尽了养分，于是农民们继续前进，开辟新的林地，让原来的荒地休耕。”下面我们来看选项：
A选项：making use of 的意思是“利用”，意思最接近，故为正确答案。
B选项：finding的意思是“找到”，意思不符，故排除。
C选项：destroying的意思是“破坏”，意思不符，故排除。
D选项：looking for的意思是“寻找”，意思不符，故排除。
10、答案：B
题型：词汇
解析：本题为词汇题。“readily”的意思是“乐意地;便利地”。词汇所在句“The art of farming was careful soil selection, that is, knowing which soils were light and easily cultivable, could be readily turned with small hoes”的意思是“农业的艺术就在于小心地选择土地，那就是说，知道哪些土壤是轻土壤，容易耕种，很容易用小锄头翻种。”下面我们来看选项：
A选项：completely的意思是“完全地;完整地”,意思不符，故排除。
B选项：easily的意思是“简单地”，意思符合，故为正确答案。
C选项：properly的意思是“适当地;正确地”,意思不符，故排除。
D选项：regularly的意思是“定期地;有规律地”,意思不符，故排除。
11、答案：AD
题型：细节
解析：本题为事实信息题。题目问，关于“刀耕火种”，以下哪两项是正确的?
A选项: 它包括小心地选择耕种地。根据关键词“careful selection of soils”定位到第五段的这句话“The art of farming was careful soil selection, that is, knowing which soils were light and easily cultivable, could be readily turned with small hoes.”这句话说，农业的艺术就在于小心地选择土地，那就是说，知道哪些土壤是轻土壤，容易耕种，很容易用小锄头翻种。所以A选项符合原文，正确。
B选项：它包括河水经常淹没土壤，增强土壤的肥力。错误，文中是这么说的“Except in favored areas, such as regularly inundated floodplains: tropical Africa's soils were of only moderate to low fertility.”意思是除了经常被水淹没的河漫滩地区，非洲土壤的肥力一般都在中等或以下。所以B选项与“刀耕火种”无关，故排除。
C选项：在实行了2个世纪后，它被取缔了。根据关键词“two centuries”定位到文章最后一句“……one expert has estimated it took a mere two centuries to cover 2,000 kilometers from eastern to southern Africa.”这句话的意思是，一个专家估计它仅仅只用了两个世纪的时间，就覆盖了东非和西非2000平方公里的土地。但是文中并没有说它被取消了，所以C选项与原文矛盾，故排除。
D选项：在被采用之后，“刀耕火种”法传播得很快。正确，对应第五段最后一句。故D选项正确。
12、答案：D
题型：组织结构
解析：本题为组织结构题。题目问，第四段和第五段的关系是什么?我们先分别来看第四段和第五段的内容。第四段主要讲了牧民们采用轮耕法，即“刀耕火种”发，用最少的设备和精力来耕种。而第五段进一步分析了“刀耕火种”法的优点以及传播。下面我们来看选项：
A选项：两段都在比较撒哈拉以南地区谷物农业和畜牧养殖作为食物生产方式的有效性。错误，因为四、五两段主要是在将谷物种植，且没有将种植农作物与畜牧业进行对比，故A选项排除。
B选项：第五段质疑了第四段所持的关于撒哈拉以南地区轮耕法的相对重要性的观点。错误，因为第五段没有任何反驳第四段观点的迹象，故B选项排除。
C选项：两段都在强调撒哈拉以南地区的农业生产是经过很长时间才发展起来的。错误，因为第四段和第五段都没有强调农业生产花很长时间发展，只有第五段的最后一句说专家预计轮耕法在2个世纪的时间里就覆盖了东非和西非2000平方公里的土地。但是这是在说明轮耕法发展的迅速，并不是强调它的发展要花很长时间。故C选项排除。
D选项：第四段中提到撒哈拉以南地区实行农耕法，第五段对此提供了更多的细节说明。正确，符合原文的篇章逻辑。故D选项正确。
13、答案：C
题型：插入
解析：本题为句子插入题。待插入句的意思是：然而，西非地区，相对来说舌蝇的数量较少。然后我们回到原文看。A方框到C方框之间的内容，都是在说东非和中非的牧民和牲畜饱受舌蝇的侵扰。而C方框之后的这句话“As a result, small cattle herds spread south rapidly in areas where they could be grazed.”是说，结果小规模牛群迅速地向南部地区迁移，在那里人们可以放牧。“as a result”是因果逻辑词，但是前文中并没有提到牛群向南部迁徙的原因，这里少掉了某些信息，所以句子应该插在C处。把待插入句放到原文中看，带句中“however”一词与上文形成转折，句子的意思“西非地区相对来说舌蝇的数量较少”就是下文中“小规模牛群迅速地向南部地区迁移”的原因，因果关系也补充完整。故C选项正确。
14、答案：ACD
题型：归总
解析：本题为概要小结题。我们逐一来看选项，找出正确答案。
A选项：食物的生产是从根茎植物的种植开始的，然后渐渐地谷类作物也开始被种植。正确。A选项是全文的概括总结，第一段提到一开始人们种植块根植物和树本作物，而后人们用轮耕法来种植谷类，故A选项正确。
B选项：为了防止人类和牲畜患上昏睡症，危及到牧民和牛群，越来越多的牧民开始种植农作物。错误，第四段第一句话说“Contrary to popular belief: there is no such phenomenon as "pure" pastoralists, a society that subsists on its herds alone.”说明牧民不仅放牧，同时也种植农作物。文中并没有说因为昏睡症，牧民就不放牧转而去种植农作物了。畜牧和耕种两者是同步进行的。故B选项与原文矛盾，排除。
C选项：到公元前1500年，谷类农业已经在撒哈拉以南地区的稀树草原带传播开了，轮耕法能高效种植，被农民广泛采用。正确，对应文章第四、第五段的内容。四、五段都在论述轮耕法的好处和传播情况，故C选项正确。
D选项：穿过撒哈拉地区向南寻找合适的牧场的牧民可能也会种植农作物。正确，对应第四段第1句“Contrary to popular belief: there is no such phenomenon as "pure" pastoralists, a society that subsists on its herds alone.”说明牧民不仅放牧，同时也种植农作物。第四段第2句还说，牧民会种植高粱、小米和其他热带降雨作物。故D选项正确。
E选项：东非和南非以狩猎和采集为生的人，靠掠夺邻居的牲畜，来获得牛以及其他的家养动物。对应第三段最后一句，但是这只是细节信息，并不是文章的主干内容，所以不选。
F选项：“刀耕火种”法最早被农民们排斥，因为它需要大量的劳动力，但是一旦技术提高了之后，它逐渐扩展到了东非和南非。错误，因为第四第五段说，轮耕法，即“刀耕火种”一开始就被农民们所采用。所以F选项与原文矛盾，且F选项中的“技术提高”并没有在原文中提到，故F选项排除。
以上就是小编整理的精彩内容TPO52托福阅读题目一文，希望可以帮助托福考生，更多精彩内容尽在，预祝托福考生取得理想成绩!