托福阅读真题整合

为了让大家更好的准备托福考试，小编给大家整理一些托福阅读真题，下面小编就和大家分享，来欣赏一下吧。

托福阅读真题1

PASSAGE 7

As Philadelphia grew from a small town into a city in the first half of the eighteenth century, it became an increasingly important marketing center for a vast and growing agricultural hinterland.

Market days saw the crowded city even more crowded, as farmers from within a radius of 24 or more kilometers brought their sheep, cows, pigs, vegetables, cider, and other products for direct sale to the townspeople. The High Street Market was continuously enlarged throughout the period until 1736, when it reached from Front Street to Third. By 1745 New Market was opened on Second Street between Pine and Cedar. The next year the Callowhill Market began operation.

Along with market days, the institution of twice-yearly fairs persisted in Philadelphia even after similar trading days had been discontinued in other colonial cities. The fairs provided a means of bringing handmade goods from outlying places to would-be buyers in the city. Linens and stockings from Germantown, for example, were popular items.

Auctions were another popular form of occasional trade. Because of the competition, retail merchants opposed these as well as the fairs. Although governmental attempts to eradicate fairs and auctions were less than successful, the ordinary course of economic development was on the merchants' side, as increasing business specialization became the order of the day. Export merchants became differentiated from their importing counterparts, and specialty shops began to appear in addition to general stores selling a variety of goods.

One of the reasons Philadelphia's merchants generally prospered was because the

surrounding area was undergoing tremendous economic and demographic growth. They did their business, after all, in the capital city of the province. Not only did they cater to the governor and his circle, but citizens from all over the colony came to the capital for legislative sessions of the assembly and council and the meetings of the courts of justice.

1. What does the passage mainly discuss?

(A) Philadelphia's agriculture importance

(B) Philadelphia's development as a marketing center

(C) The sale of imported goods in Philadelphia

(D) The administration of the city of Philadelphia

2. It can be inferred from the passage that new markets opened in Philadelphia because

(A) they provided more modem facilities than older markets

(B) the High Street Market was forced to close

(C) existing markets were unable to serve the growing population

(D) farmers wanted markets that were closer to the farms.

3. The word hinterland in line 3 is closest in meaning to

(A) tradition

(B) association

(C) produce

(D) region

4. The word it in line 6 refers to

(A) the crowded city

(B) a radius

(C) the High Street Market

(D) the period

5. The word persisted in line 9 is closest in meaning to

(A) returned

(B) started

(C) declined

(D) continued

6. According to the passage , fairs in Philadelphia were held

(A) on the same day as market says

(B) as often as possible

(C) a couple of times a year

(D) whenever the government allowed it

7. It can be inferred that the author mentions Linens and stockings in line 12 to show that they were items that

(A) retail merchants were not willing to sell

(B) were not available in the stores in Philadelphia

(C) were more popular in Germantown man in Philadelphia

(D) could easily be transported

8. The word eradicate in line 15 is closest in meaning to

(A) eliminate

(B) exploit

(C) organize

(D) operate

9. What does the author mean by stating in lines 15-16 that economic development was on the merchants' side ?

(A) Merchants had a strong impact on economic expansion.

(B) Economic forces allowed merchants to prosper.

(C) Merchants had to work together to achieve economic independence

(D) Specialty shops near large markets were more likely to be economically successful.

10. The word undergoing in line 21 is closest in meaning to

(A) requesting

(B) experiencing

(C) repeating

(D) including

托福阅读真题2

PASSAGE 8

The canopy, the upper level of the trees in the rain forest, holds a plethora of climbing mammals of moderately large size, which may include monkeys, cats, civets, and porcupines.

Smaller species, including such rodents as mice and small squirrels, are not as prevalent overall in high tropical canopies as they are in most habitats globally.

Small mammals, being warm blooded, suffer hardship in the exposed and turbulent environment of the uppermost trees. Because a small body has more surface area per unit of weight than a large one of similar shape, it gains or loses heat more swiftly. Thus, in the trees,where shelter from heat and cold may be scarce and conditions may fluctuate, a small mammal may have trouble maintaining its body temperature.

Small size makes it easy to scramble among twigs and branches in the canopy for insects,flowers, or fruit, but small mammals are surpassed, in the competition for food, by large ones that have their own tactics for browsing among food-rich twigs. The weight of a gibbon (a small ape) hanging below a branch arches the terminal leaves down so that fruit-bearing foliage drops toward the gibbon's face. Walking or leaping species of a similar or even larger size access the outer twigs either by snapping off and retrieving the whole branch or by clutching stiff branches with the feet or tail and plucking food with their hands.

Small climbing animals may reach twigs readily, but it is harder for them than for large climbing animals to cross the wide gaps from on tree crown to the next that typify the high canopy. A macaque or gibbon can hurl itself farther than a mouse can: it can achieve a running start, and it can more effectively use a branch as a springboard, even bouncing on a climb several times before jumping. The forward movement of a small animal is seriously reduced by the air friction against the relatively large surface area of its body. Finally, for the many small mammals that supplement their insect diet with fruits or seeds, an inability to span open gaps between tree crowns may be problematic, since trees that yield these foods can be sparse.

1. The passage answers which of the following questions?

(A) How is the rain forest different from other habitats?

(B) How does an animal's body size influence an animal's need for food?

(C) Why does the rain forest provide an unusual variety of food for animals?

(D) Why do large animals tend to dominate the upper canopy of the rain forest?

2. Which of the following animals is less common in the upper canopy than in other environments?

(A) Monkeys

(B) Cats

(C) Porcupines

(D) Mice

3. The word they in line 4 refers to

(A) trees

(B) climbing mammals of moderately large size

(C) smaller species

(D) high tropical canopies

4. According to paragraph 2, which of the following is true about the small mammals in the rain

forest?

(A) They have body shapes that are adapted to live in the canopy.

(B) They prefer the temperature and climate of the canopy to that of other environments.

(C) They have difficulty with the changing conditions in the canopy.

(D) They use the trees of the canopy for shelter from heat and cold.

5. In discussing animal size in paragraph 3, the author indicates that

(A) small animals require proportionately more food than larger animals do

(B) a large animal's size is an advantage in obtaining food in the canopy

(C) small animals are often attacked by large animals in the rain forest

(D) small animals and large animals are equally adept at obtaining food in the canopy

6. The word typify in line 19 is closest in meaning to

(A) resemble

(B) protect

(C) characterize

(D) divide

7. According to paragraph 4, what makes jumping from one tree crown to another difficult for

small mammals?

(A) Air friction against the body surface

(B) The thickness of the branches

(C) The dense leaves of the tree crown

(D) The inability to use the front feet as hands

8. The word supplement in line 24 is closest in meaning to

(A) control

(B) replace

(C) look for

(D) add to

9. Which of the following terms is defined in the passage ?

(A) canopy (line 1)

(B) warm blooded (line 5)

(C) terminal leaves (line 13)

(D) springboard (line 21)

托福阅读真题3

PASSAGE 9

Prehistoric mammoths have been preserved in the famous tar pits of Rancho La Brea (Brea is the Spanish word for tar) in what is now the heart of Los Angeles, California. These tar pits have been known for centuries and were formerly mined for their natural asphalt, a black or brown petroleum-like substance. Thousands of tons were extracted before 1875, when it was first noticed that the tar contained fossil remains. Major excavations were undertaken that established the significance of this remarkable site. The tar pits were found to contain the remains of scores of species of animals from the last 30,000 years of the Ice Age.

Since then, over 100 tons of fossils, 1.5 million from vertebrates, 2.5 million from invertebrates, have been recovered, often in densely concentrated and tangled masses. The creatures found range from insects and birds to giant ground sloth's, but a total of 17 proboscides (animals with a proboscis or long nose) — including mastodons and Columbian mammoths — have been recovered, most of them from Pit 9, the deepest bone-bearing deposit, which was excavated in 1914. Most of the fossils date to between 40,000 and 10,000 years ago.

The asphalt at La Brea seeps to the surface, especially in the summer, and forms shallow puddles that would often have been concealed by leaves and dust. Unwary animals would become trapped on these thin sheets of liquid asphalt, which are extremely sticky in warm weather. Stuck, the unfortunate beasts would die of exhaustion and hunger or fall prey to predators that often also became stuck.

As the animals decayed, more scavengers would be attracted and caught in their turn. Carnivores greatly outnumber herbivores in the collection: for every large herbivore, there is one saber-tooth cat, a coyote, and four wolves. The fact that some bones are heavily weathered shows that some bodies remained above the surface for weeks or months. Bacteria in the asphalt would have consumed some of the tissues other than bones, and the asphalt itself would dissolve what was left, at the same time impregnating and beautifully preserving the saturated bones, rendering them dark brown and shiny.

1. What aspect of the La Brea tar pits does the passage mainly discuss?

(A) The amount of asphalt that was mined there

(B) The chemical and biological interactions between asphalt and animals

(C) The fossil remains that have been found there

(D) Scientific methods of determining the age of tar pits

2. In using the phrase the heart of Los Angeles in line 2, the author is talking about the city's

(A) beautiful design

(B) central area

(C) basic needs

(D) supplies of natural asphalt

3. The word noticed in line 5 closest in meaning to

(A) predicted

(B) announced

(C) corrected

(D) observed

4. The word tangled in line 10 is closest in meaning to

(A) buried beneath

(B) twisted together

(C) quickly formed

(D) easily dated

5. The word them in line 13 refers to

(A) insects

(B) birds

(C) cloths

(D) proboscideans

6. How many proboscideans have been found at the La Brea tar pits?

(A) 9

(B) 17

(C) 1.5 million

(D) 2.5 million

7. The word concealed in line 17 is closest in meaning to

(A) highlighted

(B) covered

(C) transformed

(D) contaminated

8. Why does the author mention animals such as coyotes and wolves in paragraph 4?

(A) To give examples of animals that are classified as carnivores

(B) To specify the animals found least commonly at La Brea

(C) To argue that these animals were especially likely to avoid extinction.

(D) To define the term scavengers