2016年6月25日
托福阅读词汇题：
preoccupation = concern besides = in addition
prevail = dominant initiate = begin
congregate = gather autonomy = independence
comprise = consist of couple with = combined with
substantially = largely heightened = raised
consequence = as a result
第一篇
题材划分：工业发展史类
主要内容：
欧洲手工业经济的没落。16世纪后手工业者(artisans)的发展开始出现衰退，一些技术的发展使得成本上升，手工艺人无法承担相关经济压力;与此同时，原料的买卖大权掌握在大资本家(big merchant)手中，贫穷的手工艺人只能依靠便宜的本地材料 (local materials)，很多独立的制造商(producers)沦为了大资本家的雇工(employee)，同时，他们又担心农村地区(rural areas)的发展，因为那里成本消费更低，对劳工更有吸引力。
The Arts and Crafts movement originated as a late 19th-century design reform and social movement principally in Europe, North America and Australia, and continues today. Its proponents are motivated by the ideals of movement founders such as William Morris and John Ruskin, who proposed that in pre-industrial societies, such as the European Middle Ages, people had achieved fulfillment through the creative process of handicrafts. This was held up in contrast to what was perceived to be the alienating effects of industrial labor.
These activities were called crafts because originally many of them were professions under the guild system. Adolescents were apprenticed to a master craftsman, and refined their skills over a period of years in exchange for low wages. By the time their training was complete, they were well equipped to set up in trade for themselves, earning their living with the skill that could be traded directly within the community, often for goods and services. The Industrial Revolution and the increasing mechanisation of production processes gradually reduced or eliminated many of the roles professional craftspeople played, and today many handicrafts are increasingly seen, especially when no longer the mainstay of a formal vocational trade, as a form of hobby, folk art and sometimes even fine art.
The term handicrafts can also refer to the products themselves of such artisanal efforts, that require specialized knowledge, may be highly technical in their execution, require specialized equipment and/or facilities to produce, involve manual labor or ablue-collar work ethic, are accessible to the general public, and are constructed from materials with histories that exceed the boundaries of Western "fine art" tradition, such as ceramics, glass, textiles, metal and wood. These products are produced within a specific community of practice, and while they mostly differ from the products produced within the communities of art and design, the boundaries often overlap, resulting in hybrid objects. Additionally, as the interpretation and validation of art is frequently a matter of context, an audience may perceive handicrafted objects as art objects when these objects are viewed within an art context, such as in a museum or in a position of prominence in one's home.
第二篇
题材划分：生物类
主要内容：
休眠效应(即生物对不可预料的恶劣环境的适应，叫diapause)。第一段总体介绍了rest stage，来节约能量等环境良好的时候再繁殖，举例某种种子，说明rest stage的时间可能很长。第二段讲可预测的环境变化，比如季节变化好处理，不可预测的环境变化相对麻烦。第三段将两种方法处理这种不可预测的环境变化。第四段说了两种方法，第一种是举了袋鼠的例子，保证任何时候袋鼠妈妈都有三个处于不同阶段的孩子，环境不好的时候，她可以freeze肚子里的那个孩子的发展，知道袋子那个mature enough，环境变好了离开袋子。第五段讲第二种方法，加速自己的生理活动，举了沙漠中的一种动物的例子，干燥的时候把自己埋在地底下，下雨的时候出来进行交配繁殖，干旱之前再次回到地底下。
相关背景资料：
Diapause, when referencing animal dormancy, is the delay in development in response to regularly and recurring periods of adverse environmental conditions. It is considered to be a physiological state of dormancy with very specific initiating and inhibiting conditions. Diapause is a mechanism used as a means to survive predictable, unfavorable environmental conditions, such as temperature extremes, drought, or reduced food availability. Diapause is most often observed in arthropods, especially insects, and in the embryos of many of the oviparous species of fish in the order Cyprinodontiformes.
Diapause is not only induced in an organism by specific stimuli or conditions, but once it is initiated, only certain other stimuli are capable of bringing the organism out of diapause. The latter feature is essential in distinguishing diapause as a different phenomenon from other forms of dormancy, such as stratification and hibernation.
Activity levels of diapausing stages can vary considerably among species. Diapause may occur in a completely immobile stage, such as the pupae and eggs, or it may occur in very active stages that undergo extensive migrations, such as the adultMonarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus. In cases where the insect remains active, feeding is reduced and reproductive development is slowed or halted.
第三篇
主要内容：
珊瑚礁(重点atoll这个种类)，第一段说珊瑚礁有三种，atoll, barrier reef和fringing reef。atoll主要在印度洋附近，里面有大大的lagoon;barrier reef和fringing reef哪里都有。第二段说根据达尔文的猜想，atoll长在volcanic island上, 由于海水沉积放慢，所以慢慢形成barrier reef，最后形成了fringing reef。也解释了lagoon怎么产生的，虽然这可以解释三种coral的进化关系，但是并不能解释所以barrier reef和fringing reef的形成。第三段说很多科学家质疑达尔文的猜想，但是一个科学家在一个volcanic island上发现了atoll layer，证实了Darwin的想法是对的。第四段又重申这不能解释所有barrier reef和fringing reef的形成。最后一段说在很多沉积很快的ocean里是不会积成atoll的。
相关背景资料：
Coral reefs are diverse underwater ecosystems held together by calcium carbonate structures secreted by corals. Coral reefs are built by colonies of tiny animals found in marine waters that contain few nutrients.
In 1842 in his first monograph, The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs, Charles Darwin set out his theory of the formation of atoll reefs, an idea he conceived during the voyage of the Beagle. He theorized uplift and subsidence of the Earth's crust under the oceans formed the atolls. Darwin’s theory sets out a sequence of three stages in atoll formation. It starts with a fringing reef forming around an extinct volcanic island as the island and ocean floor subsides. As the subsidence continues, the fringing reef becomes a barrier reef, and ultimately an atoll reef.