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Newspaper publishers in the United States have long been enthusiastic users and distributors of weather maps. Although some newspapers that had carried the United States Weather Bureau's national weather map in 1912 dropped it once the novelty had passed, many continued to print the daily weather chart provided by their local forecasting office. In the 1930's, when interest in aviation and progress in air-mass analysis made weather patterns more newsworthy, additional newspapers started or resumed the daily weather map. In 1935, The Associated Press (AP) news service inaugurated its WirePhoto network and offered subscribing newspapers morning and afternoon weather maps redrafted by the AP's Washington, B.C., office from charts provided by the government agency. Another news service, United Press International (UPI), developed a competing Photowire network and also provided timely weather maps for both morning and afternoon newspapers. After the United States government launched a series of weather satellites in 1966, both the AP and UPI offered cloud-cover photos obtained from the Weather Bureau.
In the late 1970's and early 1980's, the weather map became an essential ingredient in the redesign of the American newspaper. News publishers, threatened by increased competition from television for readers' attention, sought to package the news more conveniently and attractively. In 1982, many publishers felt threatened by the new USA Today, a national daily newspaper that used a page-wide, full-color weather map as its key design element. That the weather map in USA Today did not include information about weather fronts and pressures attests to the largely symbolic role it played. Nonetheless, competing local and metropolitan newspapers responded in a variety of ways. Most substituted full-color temperature maps for the standard weather maps, while others dropped the comparatively drab satellite photos or added regional forecast maps with pictorial symbols to indicate rainy, snowy, cloudy, or clear conditions. A few newspapers, notably
The New York Times, adopted a highly informative yet less visually prominent weather map that was specially designed to explain an important recent or imminent weather event. Ironically, a newspaper's richest, most instructive weather maps often are comparatively small and inconspicuous.
托福阅读题目：
1. What does the passage mainly discuss?
(A) The differences between government and newspaper weather forecasting in the United States.
(B) The history of publishing weather maps in United States newspapers
(C)A comparison of regional and national weather reporting in the United States.
(D) Information that forms the basis for weather forecasting in the United States
2. The word "resumed" in line 7 is closest in meaning to
(A) began again
(B) held back
(C) thought over
(D) referred to
3. According to the passage , one important reason why newspapers printed daily weather maps
during the first half of the twentieth century was
(A) the progress in printing technology
(B) a growing interest in air transportation
(C) a change in atmospheric conditions
(D) the improvement of weather forecasting techniques
4. What regular service did The Associated Press and United Press International begin to offer
subscribing newspapers in the 1930's?
(A)A new system of weather forecasting
(B)An air-mass analysis
(C) Twice daily weather maps
(D) Cloud-cover photographs
5. The phrase "attests to" in line 21 is closest in meaning to
(A) makes up for
(B) combines with
(C) interferes with
(D) gives evidence of
6. The word "others" in line 24 refers to
(A) newspapers
(B) ways
(C) temperature maps
(D) weather maps
7. The word "drab" in line 24 is closest in meaning to
(A) precise
(B) poor
(C) simple
(D) dull
8. In contrast to the weather maps of USA Today, weather maps in The New York Times tended to
be
(A) printed in foil color
(B) included for symbolic reasons
(C) easily understood by the readers
(D) filled with detailed information
9. The word "prominent" in line 27 is closest in meaning to
(A) complex
(B) noticeable
(C) appealing
(D) perfect
10. The author uses the term "Ironically" in line 28 to indicate that a weather map's appearance
(A) is not important to newspaper publishers
(B) does not always indicate how much information it provides
(C) reflects how informative a newspaper can be
(D) often can improve newspaper sales
托福阅读答案：
BABCD ADDBB
另外有一则好消息，针对托福备考，