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托福阅读真题1
PASSAGE 50
The Arts and Crafts Movement in the United States was responsible for sweeping changes in attitudes toward the decorative arts, then considered the minor or household arts. Its focus on decorative arts helped to induce United States museums and private collectors to begin collecting furniture, glass, ceramics, metalwork, and textiles in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The fact that artisans, who were looked on as mechanics or skilled workers in the eighteenth century, are frequently considered artists today is directly attributable to the Arts and Crafts Movement of the nineteenth century. The importance now placed on attractive and harmonious home decoration can also be traced to this period, when Victorian interior arrangements were revised to admit greater light and more freely flowing spaces.
The Arts and Crafts Movement reacted against mechanized processes that threatened handcrafts and resulted in cheapened, monotonous merchandise. Founded in the late nineteenth century by British social critics John Ruskin and William Morris, the movement revered craft as a form of art. In a rapidly industrializing society, most Victorians agreed that art was an essential moral ingredient in the home environment, and in many middle- and working-class homes craft was the only form of art, Ruskin and his followers criticized not only the degradation of artisans reduced to machine operators, but also the impending loss of daily contact with handcrafted objects, fashioned with pride, integrity, and attention to beauty.
In the United States as well as in Great Britain, reformers extolled the virtues of handcrafted objects: simple, straightforward design; solid materials of good quality; and sound, enduring construction techniques. These criteria were interpreted in a variety of styles, ranging from rational and geometric to romantic or naturalistic. Whether abstract, stylized, or realistically treated, the consistent theme in virtually all Arts and Crafts design is nature.
The Arts and Crafts Movement was much more than a particular style; it was a philosophy of domestic life. Proponents believed that if simple design, high-quality materials, and honest construction were realized in the home and its appointments, then the occupants would enjoy moral and therapeutic effects. For both artisan and consumer, the Arts and Crafts doctrine was seen as a magical force against the undesirable effects of industrialization.
1. The passage primarily focuses on nineteenth-century arts and crafts in terms of which of the following?
(A) Their naturalistic themes
(B) Their importance in museum collections
(C) Their British origin
(D) Their role in an industrialized society
2. According to the passage , before the nineteenth century, artisans were thought to be
(A) defenders of moral standards
(B) creators of cheap merchandise
(C) skilled workers
(D) artists
3. It can be inferred from the passage that the Arts and Crafts Movement would have considered
all of the following to be artists EXCEPT
(A) creators of textile designs
(B) people who produce handmade glass objects
(C) operators of machines that automatically cut legs for furniture
托福阅读真题2
PASSAGE 51
In 1972, a century after the first national park in the United States was established at Yellowstone, legislation was passed to create the National Marine Sanctuaries Program. The intent of this legislation was to provide protection to selected coastal habitats similar to that existing for land areas designated as national parks. The designation of an area's marine sanctuary indicates that it is a protected area, just as a national park is. People are permitted to visit and observe there, but living organisms and their environments may not be harmed or removed.
The National Marine Sanctuaries Program is administered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a branch of the United States Department of Commerce. Initially, 70 sites were proposed as candidates for sanctuary status. Two and a half decades later, only fifteen sanctuaries had been designated, with half of these established after 1978. They range in size from the very small (less than 1 square kilometer) Fagatele Bay National Marine Sanctuary in American Samoa to the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary in California, extending over 15,744 square kilometers.
The National Marine Sanctuaries Program is a crucial part of new management practices in which whole communities of species, and not just individual species, are offered some degree of protection from habitat degradation and overexploitation. Only in this way can a reasonable degree of marine species diversity be maintained in a setting that also maintains the natural interrelationships that exist among these species.
Several other types of marine protected areas exist in the United States and other countries. The National Estuarine Research Reserve System, managed by the United States government, includes 23 designated and protected estuaries. Outside the United States, marine protected-area programs exist as marine parks, reserves, and preserves. Over 100 designated areas exist around the periphery of the Caribbean Sea. Others range from the well-known Australian Great Barrier Reef Marine Park to lesser-known parks in countries such as Thailand and Indonesia, where tourism is placing growing pressures on fragile coral reef systems. As state, national, and international agencies come to recognize the importance of conserving marine biodiversity, marine projected areas. whether as sanctuaries, parks, or estuarine reserves, will play an increasingly important role in preserving that diversity.
1. What does the passage mainly discuss?
(A) Differences among marine parks, sanctuaries, and reserves
(B) Various marine conservation programs
(C) International agreements on coastal protection
(D) Similarities between land and sea protected environments
2. The word intent in line 3 is closest in meaning to
(D) metalworkers who create unique pieces of jewelry
4. The word revered in line 14 is closest in meaning to
(A) respected
(B) described
(C) avoided
(D) created
5. According to paragraph 2, the handcrafted objects in the homes of middle- and working-class
families usually were
(A) made by members of the family
(B) the least expensive objects in their homes
(C) regarded as being morally uplifting
(D) thought to symbolize progress
6. The word extolled in line 20 is closest in meaning to
(A) exposed
(B) praised
(C) believed
(D) accepted
7. The author mentions all of the following as attributes of handcrafted objects EXCEPT
(A) the pride with which they were crafted
(B) the complexity of their design
(C) the long time that they lasted
(D) the quality of their materials
8. The word consistent in line 24 is closest in meaning to
(A) conservative
(B) considerable
(C) constant
(D) concrete
9. According to the passage , which of the following changes occurred at the same time as the
Arts and Crafts Movement?
(A) The creation of brighter and more airy spaces inside homes
(B) The rejection of art that depicted nature in a realistic manner
(C) A decline of interest in art museum collections
(D) An increase in the buying of imported art objects
10. Which of the following statements is supported by the passage ?
(A) Private collectors in the nineteenth century concentrated on acquiring paintings.
(B) The Arts and Crafts Movement in the United States, unlike the one in Britain, did not react
strongly against mechanized processes.
(C) Handcrafted objects in the United States and Britain in the nineteenth century did not use
geometric designs.
(D) The Arts and Crafts Movement believed in the beneficial effect for people from being
surrounded by beautiful objects.
PASSAGE 50 DCCAC BBCAD
(A) repetition
(B) approval
(C) goal
(D) revision
3. The word administered in line 8 is closest in meaning to
(A) managed
(B) recognized
(C) opposed
(D) justified
4. The word these in line 11 refers to
(A) sites
(B) candidates
(C) decades
(D) sanctuaries
5. The passage mentions the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (lines 13-14) as an
example of a sanctuary that
(A) is not well know
(B) covers a large area
(C) is smaller than the Fagatele Bay National Marine Sanctuary
(D) was not originally proposed for sanctuary status
6. According to the passage , when was the National Marine Sanctuaries Program established?
(A) before 1972
(B) after 1987
(C) one hundred years before national parks were established
(D) one hundred years after Yellowstone National Park was established
7. According to the passage , all of the following are achievements of the National Marine
Sanctuaries Program EXCEPT
(A) the discovery of several new marine organisms
(B) the preservation of connections between individual marine species
(C) the protection of coastal habitats
(D) the establishment of areas where the public can observe marine life
8. The word periphery in line 24 is closest in meaning to
(A) depth
(B) landmass
(C) warm habitat
(D) outer edge
9. The passage mentions which of the following as a threat to marine areas outside the United
States?
(A) limitations in financial support
(B) the use of marine species as food
(C) variability of the climate
(D) increases in tourism
PASSAGE 51 BCADB DADD
托福阅读真题3
PASSAGE 52
In the early 1800's, over 80 percent of the United States labor force was engaged in agriculture. Sophisticated technology and machinery were virtually nonexistent. People who lived in the cities and were not directly involved in trade often participated in small cottage industries making handcrafted goods. Others cured meats, ran bakeries, or otherwise produced needed goods and commodities. Blacksmiths, silversmiths, candle makers, and other artisans worked in their homes or barns, relying on help of family members or apprentices.
Perhaps no single phenomenon brought more widespread and lasting change to the United States society than the rise of industrialization. Industrial growth hinged on several economic factors. First, industry requires an abundance of natural resources, especially coal, iron ore, water, petroleum, and timber — all readily available on the North American continent. Second, factories demand a large labor supply. Between the 1870's and the First World War (1914-1918), approximately 23 million immigrants streamed to the United States, settled in cities, and went to work in factories and mines. They also helped build the vast network of canals and railroads that crisscrossed the continent and linked important trade centers essential to industrial growth.
Factories also offered a reprieve from the backbreaking work and financial unpredictability associated with farming. Many adults, poor and disillusioned with farm life, were lured to the cities by promises of steady employment, regular paychecks, increased access to goods and services, and expanded social opportunities. Others were pushed there when new technologies made their labor cheap or expendable; inventions such as steel plows and mechanized harvesters allowed one farmhand to perform work that previously had required several, thus making farming capital-intensive rather than labor-intensive.
The United States economy underwent a massive transition and the nature of work was permanently altered. Whereas cottage industries relied on a few highly skilled craft workers who slowly and carefully converted raw materials into finished products from start to finish, factories relied on specialization. While factory work was less creative and more monotonous, it was also more efficient and allowed mass production of goods at less expense.
1. What aspect of life in the United States does the passage mainly discuss?
(A) The transition from an agricultural to an industrial economy
(B) The inventions that transformed life in the nineteenth century
(C) The problems associated with the earliest factories
(D) The difficulty of farm life in the nineteenth century
2. Blacksmiths, silversmiths, and candle makers are mentioned in lines 5-6 as examples of artisans who
(A) maintained their businesses at home
(B) were eventually able to use sophisticated technology
(C) produced unusual goods and commodities
(D) would employ only family members
3. The phrase hinged on in line 9 is closest in meaning to
(A) recovered from
(B) depended on
(C) started on
(D) contributed to
4. Which of the following is mentioned in the passage as a reason for the industrial growth that
occurred in the United States before 1914?
(A) The availability of natural resources found only in the United States
(B) The decrease in number of farms resulting from technological advances
(C) The replacement of canals and railroads by other forms of transportation
(D) The availability of a large immigrant work force
5. The word lured in line 19 is closest in meaning to
(A) attracted
(B) assigned
(C) restricted
(D) attached
6. The word Others in line 20 refers to other
(A) adults
(B) promises
(C) goods and services
(D) social opportunities
7. The word expendable in line 21 is closest in meaning to
(A) nonproductive
(B) unacceptable
(C) nonessential
(D) unprofitable
8. It can be inferred from the passage that industrialization affected farming in that
industrialization
(A) increased the price of farm products
(B) limited the need for new farm machinery
(C) created new and interesting jobs on farms
(D) reduced the number of people willing to do farm work
9. What does the author mean when stating that certain inventions made farming
capital-intensive rather than labor-intensive (lines 23-24)?
(A) Workers had to be trained to operate the new machines.
(B) Mechanized farming required more capital and fewer laborers.
(C) The new inventions were not helpful for all farming activities.
(D) Human labor could still accomplish as much work as the first machines.
10. According to the passage , factory workers differed from craft workers in that factory workers
(A) were required to be more creative
(B) worked extensively with raw materials
(C) changed jobs frequently
(D) specialized in one aspect of the finished product only
PASSAGE 52 AABDA ADDBD