2016年7月3日
词汇题：
Repulse = driven back
Exploit = make use of
Strenuous = put more energy
Aggregation = collection
cluster=group
Justifiable=rightful
Implement=tool
Perish=die
Continuous=nonstop
Vulnerable to=easier attack by
2016年7月3日托福阅读真题第一篇 The Farming of Colorado Plateau
原文回顾：人们在Colorado Plateau建立了繁荣的农业，他们的食物种类非常丰富。农业的提高和科技的进步有很大关联，他们发明了磨面粉的东西。一开始是绕圈，后来提高了磨面粉的工具，还把磨面粉的方式进行了改变。后来因为气候的问题，干旱使得农业很难种植。因为食物要贮藏和存放，所以发展了建筑。
相关背景学习： Farming
A farm is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used for specialised units such as arable farms, vegetable farms, fruit farms, dairy, pig and poultry farms, and land used for the production of natural fibres, biofuel and other commodities. It includes ranches, feedlots, orchards, plantations and estates, smallholdings and hobby farms, and includes the farmhouse and agricultural buildings as well as the land. In modern times the term has been extended so as to include such industrial operations as wind farms and fish farms, both of which can operate on land or sea.
Farming originated independently in different parts of the world as hunter gatherer societies transitioned to food production rather than food capture. It may have started about 12,000 years ago with the domestication of livestock in the Fertile Crescent in western Asia, soon to be followed by the cultivation of crops. Modern units tend to specialise in the crops or livestock best suited to the region, with their finished products being sold for the retail market or for further processing, with farm products being traded around the world.
Modern farms in developed countries are highly mechanized. In the United States, livestock may be raised on rangeland and finished in feedlots and the mechanisation of crop production has brought about a great decrease in the number of agricultural workers needed. In Europe, traditional family farms are giving way to larger production units. In Australia, some farms are very large because the land is unable to support a high stocking density of livestock because of climatic conditions. In less developed countries, small farms are the norm, and the majority of rural residents are subsistence farmers, feeding their families and selling any surplus products in the local market.
2016年7月3日托福阅读真题第二篇 Insects Sensory
原文回顾：昆虫的眼睛构造是复合眼，有很多视觉单元。虽然不能像人眼那样看到细节，但是能够看到很广的范围，所以徒手抓苍蝇很难。昆虫大多数被鲜艳的花吸引，它们对色彩的辨识在紫外线范围。
相关背景学习： Light production and vision
A few insects, such as members of the families Poduridae and Onychiuridae (Collembola), Mycetophilidae (Diptera) and the beetle families Lampyridae, Phengodidae, Elateridae and Staphylinidae are bioluminescent. The most familiar group are the fireflies, beetles of the family Lampyridae. Some species are able to control this light generation to produce flashes. The function varies with some species using them to attract mates, while others use them to lure prey. Cave dwelling larvae of Arachnocampa (Mycetophilidae, Fungus gnats) glow to lure small flying insects into sticky strands of silk. Some fireflies of the genus Photuris mimic the flashing of female Photinus species to attract males of that species, which are then captured and devoured. The colors of emitted light vary from dull blue (Orfelia fultoni, Mycetophilidae) to the familiar greens and the rare reds (Phrixothrix tiemanni, Phengodidae).
Most insects, except some species of cave crickets, are able to perceive light and dark. Many species have acute vision capable of detecting minute movements. The eyes may include simple eyes or ocelli as well as compound eyes of varying sizes. Many species are able to detect light in the infrared, ultraviolet and the visible light wavelengths. Color vision has been demonstrated in many species and phylogenetic analysis suggests that UV-green-blue trichromacy existed from at least the Devonian period between 416 and 359 million years ago.
2016年7月3日托福阅读真题第三篇 Empire Collapse
原文回顾：帝国的覆灭一开始被认为是火山爆发导致的，因为当时火山爆发造成污染和有毒气体，而另一种说法是火山爆发一次毁灭所有。有一种传说是由于帝国内部的斗争导致的，加上外部的压力让国王妥协，然后国家的组织也不好，让对方有机可乘。
相关背景学习：Reign of Songtsan Gampo
Songts?n Gampo (Srong-brtsan Sgam-po) (c. 604 – 650) was the first great emperor who expanded Tibet's power beyond Lhasa and the Yarlung Valley, and is traditionally credited with introducing Buddhism to Tibet.
A statue of Emperor Songts?n Gampo in a cave at Yerpa
When his father Namri Songtsen died by poisoning (circa 618,) Songts?n Gampo took control, after putting down a brief rebellion. Songts?n Gampo proved adept at diplomacy as well as combat. The emperor's minister, Myang Mangpoje (Myang Mang-po-rje Zhang-shang), defeated the Sumpa people ca. 627. Six years later (c. 632–33) Myang Mangpoje was accused of treason and executed. He was succeeded by minister Gar Songts?n (Mgar-srong-rtsan). The rising clan to which Gar Songts?n belonged, known as the Gar (Mgar), were reportedly descended from the Lesser Yuezhi– formerly a nomadic people of Indo-European origins, who had migrated to the Tibetan plateau almost a millennium earlier.
The Chinese records mention an envoy to Tibet in 634. On that occasion, the Emperor requested marriage to a Chinese princess but was refused. In 635-36 the Emperor attacked and defeated the Tuyuhun (Tibetan: ‘A zha), who lived around Lake Koko Nur, and who controlled important trade routes into China. After a Tibetan campaign against China in 635-6, the Chinese emperor agreed (only because of the threat of force, according to Tibetan sources) to provide a Chinese princess to Songts?n Gampo.
Circa 639, after Songts?n Gampo had a dispute with his younger brother Ts?nsong (Brtsan-srong), the younger brother was burnt to death by his own minister Kh?sreg (Mkha’s sregs) (presumably at the behest of his older brother the emperor).
The Chinese Princess Wencheng (Tibetan: Mung-chang Kung-co) departed China in 640 to marry Songts?n Gampo's son. She arrived a year later. This is traditionally credited with being the first time that Buddhism came to Tibet, but it is very unlikely Buddhism extended beyond foreigners at the court.
Songts?n Gampo’s sister S?makar (Sad-mar-kar) was sent to marry Lig-myi-rhya, the king of Zhangzhung in what is now Western Tibet. However, when the king refused to consummate the marriage, she then helped her brother to defeat Lig myi-rhya and incorporate Zhangzhung into the Tibetan Empire. In 645, Songts?n Gampo overran the kingdom of Zhangzhung.
Songts?n Gampo died in 650. He was succeeded by his infant grandson Trimang L?n (Khri-mang-slon). Real power was left in the hands of the minister Gar Songts?n.
There is some confusion as to whether Central Tibet conquered Zhangzhung during the reign of Songts?n Gampo or in the reign of Trisong Dets?n, (r. 755 until 797 or 804 CE). The records of the Tang Annals do, however, seem to clearly place these events in the reign of Songts?n Gampo for they say that in 634, Zhangzhung and various Qiang tribes "altogether submitted to him." Following this, he united with the country of Zhangzhung to defeat the Tuyuhun, then conquered two more Qiang tribes before threatening the Chinese region of Songzhou with a very large army (according to Tibetan sources 100,000, according to the Chinese more than 200,000 men). He then sent an envoy with gifts of gold and silk to the Chinese emperor to ask for a Chinese princess in marriage and, when refused, attacked Songzhou. According to the Tang Annals, he finally retreated and apologised after which the emperor granted his request,
It is recorded in the tradition of Tibet, that after Songtsen Gampo died in 650 A.D., the Chinese Tang dynasty attacked and took control of Lhasa, "but they could not sustain their presence there in the hostile environment, so they soon returned to China."