[作文] 托福写作之pBT阅读试题的总结（暂停更新） [复制链接]

pBT 2001年8月

The interrelationship of science, technology, and industry is taken for granted

today—summed up, not altogether accurately, as "research and development."(开头精彩， 学习！)Yet

historically this widespread faith （广泛的认知~！） in the economic virtues of science （科学的经济价值~！） is a relatively recent

phenomenon, dating back in the United States about 150 years, and in the Western world

(5) as a whole not over 300 years at most. Even in this current era of large scale, intensive

research and development, the interrelationships involved in this process are frequently

misunderstood. Until the coming of the Industrial Revolution, science and technology

evolved for the most part independently of each other. Then as industrialization became

increasingly (代替more and more) complicated, the craft techniques of preindustrial society gradually gave way

(10) to a technology based on the systematic application of scientific knowledge and scientific

Methods (科学知识的系统化地运用！在托福作文中的运用： Admittedly, the prosperity of modern society is based on the systematic application of scientific knowledge and scientific methods, thus making study of science indispensable.). This changeover started slowly and progressed unevenly. Until late in the

nineteenth century, only a few industries could use scientific techniques or cared about

using them. The list expanded noticeably (显著地) after 1870, but even then much of what passed

for the application of science was "engineering science" rather than basic science.

(15) Nevertheless, by the middle of the nineteenth century, the rapid expansion of scientific

knowledge and of public awareness-if not understanding-of it had created a belief that the

advance of science would in some unspecified manner （从某种程度上， 潜移默化地~！在观点与主题的联系比较牵强的时候， 可以用到！） automatically generate economic

benefits.（自主式地创造财富。）The widespread and usually uncritical acceptance of this thesis led in turn to the

assumption that（这个理论逐渐被大众接受， 但同时又引发了一个新的….这个经典句式一定要经常用！） the application of science to industrial purposes was a linear process, starting

(20) with fundamental science, then proceeding to applied science or technology, and through

them to industrial use. This is probably the most common pattern, but it is not invariable. New

areas of science have been opened up and fundamental discoveries made as a result of

attempts to solve a specific technical or economic problem. Conversely （相反地, = on the contrary）, scientists who mainly

do basic research also serve as consultants on projects that apply research in practical ways.

(25) In sum, the science-technology-industry relationship may flow in several different ways, and

the particular channel it will follow depends on the individual situation. It may at times even

同上

The economic depression in the late-nineteenth-century United States contributed

significantly to（注意这个词组中副词的高效使用！）a growing movement in literature toward realism and naturalism. After the

1870' s, a number of （很多的） important authors began to reject the romanticism that had prevailed

immediately following the Civil War of 1861-1865 and turned instead to realism.

(5) Determined to portray life as it was, with fidelity to real life and accurate representation

without idealization, they studied local dialects, wrote stories which focused on life in

specific regions of the country, and emphasized the "true" relationships between people. In

doing so, they reflected broader trends in the society, such as industrialization,

evolutionary theory which emphasized the effect of the environment on humans, and the

(10) influence of science.

Realists such as Joel Chandler Harris and Ellen Glasgow depicted life in the South;

Hamlin Garland described life on the Great Plains; and Sarah One Jewett wrote about

everyday life in rural New England. Another realist, Bret Harte, achieved fame with stories

that portrayed local life in the California mining camps.

(15) Samuel Clemens, who adopted the pen name Mark Twain, became the country's most

Outstanding （=celebrated= distinguished） realist author, observing life around him with a humorous and skeptical eye. In

his stories and novels, Twain drew on his own experiences and used dialect and common

speech instead of literary language, touching off (touch off 激发， 引起= trigger) a major change in American prose style.

Other writers became impatient even with realism. Pushing evolutionary theory to its

(20) limits, they wrote of a world in which a cruel and merciless environment determined

human fate(无情的世界谗食着人们的命运。). These writers, called naturalists, often focused on economic hardship,

studying people struggling with poverty, and other aspects of urban and industrial life.

Naturalists brought to their writing a passion for direct and honest experience.

Theodore Dreiser, the foremost naturalist writer, in novels such as Sister Carrie, grimly

(25) portrayed a dark world in which human beings were tossed about by forces beyond their

understanding or control. Dreiser thought that writers should tell the truth about human

affairs, not fabricate romance, and Sister Carrie, he said, was "not intended as a piece of

同上

In 1900 the United States had only three cities with more than a million residents-

New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia. By 1930, it had ten giant metropolises. The newer

ones experienced remarkable growth, which reflected basic changes in the economy .

The population of Los Angeles (114,000 in 1900) rose spectacularly in the early

(5) decades of the twentieth century, increasing a dramatic 1,400 percent from 1900 to 1930.

A number of circumstances contributed to the meteoric rise （飞速发展） of Los Angeles. The

agricultural potential of the area was enormous if water for irrigation could be found, and

the city founders had the vision and dating to obtain it by constructing a 225-mile

aqueduct, completed in 1913, to tap the water of the Owens River. The city had a superb

(10) natural harbor, as well as excellent rail connections. The climate made it possible to shoot

motion pictures year-round; hence Hollywood. Hollywood not only supplied jobs; it

disseminated an image of the good life in Southern California on screens all across the

nation. The most important single industry powering the growth of Los Angeles, however,

was directly linked to the automobile. The demand for petroleum to fuel gasoline engines

(15) led to the opening of the Southern California oil fields, and made Los Angeles North

America's greatest refining center.

Los Angeles was a product of the auto age in another sense （从另一个方面） as well: its distinctive

spatial organization depended on widespread private ownership of automobiles. Los

Angeles was a decentralized metropolis, sprawling across the desert landscape over an

(20) area of 400 square miles. It was a city without a real center. The downtown business

district did not grow apace with the city as a whole, and the rapid transit system designed

to link the center with outlying areas withered away from disuse. Approximately 800,000

cars were registered in Los Angeles County in 1930, one per 2.7 residents. Some visitors

from the east coast were dismayed at the endless urban sprawl and dismissed Los

(25) Angeles as a mere collection of suburbs in search of a city. But the freedom and mobility

of a city built on wheels attracted floods of migrants （大批的移民） to the city.

What unusual or unique biological train led to the remarkable diversification and

unchallenged success of the ants for ever 50 million years? The answer appears to be

that they were the first group of predatory ensocial insects that both lived and foraged

primarily in the soil and in rotting vegetation on the ground. Eusocial refers tc a form

(5) of insect society characterized by specialization of tasks and cooperative care of the

young; it is rare among insects. Richly organized colonies of the land made possible

by eusociality enjoy several key advantages over solitary individuals.

Under most circumstances groups of workers arc better able to forage for food and

defend the nest, because they can switch from individual to group response and back

(10) again swiftly and according to need. When a food object or nest intruder is too large for

one individual to handle, nestmates can be quickly assembled by alarm or recruitment

signals. Equally important is the fact that the execution of multiple-step tasks is

accomplished in a series-parallel sequence (倒装用得好). That is, individual ants can specialize in

particular steps, moving from one object (such as a larva to be fed) to another (a second

(15) larva to be fed). They do not need to carry each task to completion from start to finish—.

for example, to check the larva first, then collect the food, then feed the larva. Hence, if

each link in the chain has many workers in attendance, a senes directed at any particular

object is less likely to fail. Moreover, ants specializing in particular labor categories

typically constitute a caste specialized by age or body form or both. There has bees some

(20) documentation of the superiority in performance and net energetic yield of various castes

for their modal tasks, although careful experimental studies are still relatively few.

What makes ants unusual in the company of eusocial insects is the fact that they are

the only eusocial predators (predators are animals that capture and feed on other animals)

occupying the soil and ground litter. The eusocial termites live in the same places as ants

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

fanners from within a radius of 24 or more kilometers brought their sheep, cows, pigs,

(5)  vegetables, cider, and other products for direct sale to the townspeople. The High Street

Market was continuously （=incessantly） 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

(10) 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

(15) 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

(20) 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.（这个句子有两个很好的地方：a. 周围环境： surrounding area. b. undergo tremendous economic and demographic growth.）

They did their business, after all, in the capital city of the province. Not only did they

cater to (迎合…) the governor and his circle, but citizens from all over the colony came to the

(25) capital for legislative sessions of the assembly and council and the meetings of the

courts of justice.

A number of factors related to the voice reveal the personality of the speaker.

The first is the broad area of communication, which includes imparting information

by use of language, communicating with a group or an individual, and specialized

communication through performance. A person conveys thoughts and ideas through

(5)  choice of words（在托福写作中可能会用到！）, by a tone of voice that is pleasant or unpleasant, gentle or harsh, by

the rhythm that is inherent within the language itself, and by speech rhythms that are

flowing and regular or uneven and hesitant, and finally, by the pitch and melody of the

utterance. When speaking before a group, a person's tone may indicate unsureness or

fright, confidence or calm. At interpersonal levels （在与人交往时… 注意积累使用， 例如： at interpersonal levels, people who received higher education have more chances to communicate with international friends more conveniently.）, the tone may reflect ideas and

(10) feelings over and above the words chosen, or may belie them. Here the conversant's

tone can consciously or unconsciously reflect intuitive sympathy or antipathy (sympathy or antipathy: 同情或者反感。), lack of

concern or interest, fatigue, anxiety, enthusiasm or excitement, all of which are .usually

discernible by the acute listener. Public performance is a manner of communication

that is highly specialized with its own techniques for obtaining effects by voice and /or

(15) gesture. The motivation derived from (从…得到， 注意它与deprived of 的区别， 后者的意思是剥夺。) the text, and in the case of singing, the music, in

combination with the performer's skills, personality, and ability to create empathy will

determine the success of artistic, political, or pedagogic communication.

Second, the voice gives psychological clues to a person's self-image, perception of

others, and emotional health. Self-image can be indicated by a tone of voice that is

(20) confident, pretentious, shy, aggressive, outgoing, or exuberant, to name only a few

personality traits. Also the sound may give a clue to the facade or mask of that person,

for example, a shy person hiding behind an overconfident front. How a speaker

perceives the listener's receptiveness, interest, or sympathy in any given conversation

can drastically alter the tone of presentation, by encouraging or discouraging the

(25) speaker. Emotional health is evidenced in the voice by free and melodic sounds of the

happy, by constricted and harsh sound of the angry, and by dull and lethargic qualities

of the depressed

As the twentieth century began, the importance of formal education in the United

States increased （注意importance 和increase 可以搭配！） The frontier had mostly disappeared and by 1910 most Americans

lived in towns and cities. Industrialization and the bureaucratization of economic

life combined with a new emphasis upon credentials and expertise to make schooling

(5)  increasingly important for economic and social mobility. Increasingly, too, schools

were viewed as the most important means of integrating immigrants into American

society.

The arrival of a great wave of southern and eastern European immigrants at the turn

of the century coincided with and contributed to an enormous expansion of formal

(10) schooling（对于美国教育事业的扩张做出了贡献。）. By 1920 schooling to age fourteen or beyond was compulsory in most

states, and the school year was greatly lengthened. Kindergartens, vacation schools,

extracurricular activities, and vocational education and counseling extended the

influence of public schools over the lives of students, many of whom （这样的定语从句要有意识地进行运用， 会给文章增色不少。） in the larger

industrial cities were the children of immigrants. Classes for adult immigrants were

(15) sponsored by public schools, corporations, unions, churches, settlement houses, and

other agencies.

Reformers early in the twentieth century suggested that education programs should

suit the needs of specific populations （满足…的需求： suit the needs of…）. Immigrant women were one such population.

Schools tried to educate young women so they could occupy productive places in the

(20) urban industrial economy, and one place many educators considered appropriate (恰当的， 托福作文中的高频使用词汇。) for

women was the home.

Although looking after the house and family was familiar to immigrant women,

American education gave homemaking a new definition. In preindustrial economies,

homemaking had meant the production as well as the consumption of goods, and it

(25) commonly included income-producing activities both inside and outside the home,

in the highly industrialized early-twentieth-century United States, however,

overproduction rather than scarcity was becoming a problem. Thus, the ideal American

homemaker was viewed as a consumer rather than a producer. Schools trained women

to be consumer homemakers cooking, shopping, decorating, and caring for children

(30) "efficiently" in their own homes, or if economic necessity demanded, as employees

in the homes of others. Subsequent reforms have made these notions seem quite

out-of-date.