年底大贴——TPO阅读疑难问题汇总解答

jiang08UID: 2391146

TPO3  Architecture
Paragraph 5：█ Modern architectural forms generally have three separate components comparable to elements of the human body; a supporting skeleton or frame, an outer skin enclosing the interior spaces, equipment, similar to the body’s vital organs and systems. █ The equipment includes plumbing, electrical wiring, hot water, and air-conditioning. █Of course in early architecture—such as igloos and adobe structures—there was no such equipment, and the skeleton and skin were often one.
█

12．Look at the four squares [ █ ] that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage.
However, some modern architectural designs, such as those using folded plates of concreter or air-inflated structures, are again unifying skeleton and skin.
Where would the sentence best fit? Click on a square to add the sentence to the passage.

为什么要选4, 不选3呢?
wuqian0801 发表于 2009-12-21 03:57

这一段的主旨：现代建筑的3个部分：皮，骨。设备。
这类型题目 一般注意题目那句话的第一个词。很多情况下是连接词，所以从这里入手。
however表示转折，说明█之前的那句话应该和“现代建筑又一次皮骨统一”有转折关系。原文中第3个█之前，在说设备，和皮骨没有关系。而下一句在说早期的建筑没有设备，经常是皮骨合一的（绿色字部分）。
题目句子的另一个关键词：again。表示之前提到过皮骨统一的情况。这样就很清楚了。

伟大的战士UID: 2733693

tpo7 The Geologic History of the Mediterranean
Paragraph 3 With question such as these clearly before them, the scientists aboard the Glomar Challenger processed to the Mediterranean to search for the answers. On August 23, 1970, they recovered a sample. The sample consisted of pebbles of gypsum and fragments of volcanic rock. Not a single pebble was found that might have indicated that the pebbles came from the nearby continent. In the days following, samples of solid gypsum were repeatedly brought on deck as drilling operations penetrated the seafloor. Furthermore, the gypsum was found to possess peculiarities of composition and structure that suggested it had formed on desert flats. Sediment above and below the gypsum layer contained tiny marine fossils, indicating open-ocean conditions. As they drilled into the central and deepest part of the Mediterranean basin, the scientists took solid, shiny, crystalline salt from the core barrel. Interbedded with the salt were thin layers of what appeared to be windblown silt.

3．What does the author imply by saying “Not a single pebble was found that might have indicated that the pebbles came from the nearby continent”?
○The most obvious explanation for the origin of the pebbles was not supported by the evidence.
○The geologists did not find as many pebbles as they expected.
○The geologists were looking for a particular kind of pebble.
○The different pebbles could not have come from only one source.
我错选了第四个 没找到定位句 请斑竹大人指点

6. What is the main purpose of paragraph 3?
○To describe the physical evidence collected by Hsu and Ryan.
○To explain why some of the questions posed earlier in the passage could not be answered by the findings of the Glomar Challenger.
○To evaluate techniques used by Hsu and Ryan to explore the sea floor.
○To describe the most difficult problems faced by the Glomar Challenger expedition.
本段没提Hsu and Ryan这俩哥们名字啊，我都没想就not mention给排除了

伟大的战士UID: 2733693

tpo7 Ancient Rome and Greece
Paragraph 3 Certainly, in trying to explain the Roman phenomenon, one would have to place great emphasis on this almost instinct for the territorial imperative. Roman priorities lay in the organization, exploitation, and defense of their territory. In all probability it was the fertile plain of Latium, where the Latins who founded Rome originated, that created the habits and skills of landed settlement, landed property, landed economy, landed administration, and a land-based society. From this arose the Roman genius for military organization and orderly government. In turn, a deep attachment to the land, and to the stability which rural life engenders, fostered the Roman virtues: gravitas, a sense of responsibility, peitas, a sense of devotion to family and country, and iustitia, a sense of the natural order.
7.        Paragraph 3 suggests which of the following about the people of Latium?
○Their economy was based on trade relations with other settlements.
○They held different values than the people of Rome.
○Agriculture played a significant role in the society.
○They possessed unusual knowledge of animal instincts
我觉得本题定位句是In all probability it was the fertile plain of Latium, 那一句，但是整段都没提Agriculture啊？为什么选3？我选的1. 谢谢斑竹大人耐心的容忍我这么多问题。

jiang08UID: 2391146

tpo7 The Geologic History of the Mediterranean
Paragraph 3 With question such as these clearly before them, the scientists aboard the Glomar Challenger processed to the Mediterranean to search for the answers. On August 23, 1970, they recovered a sample. The sample consisted of pebbles of gypsum and fragments of volcanic rock. Not a single pebble was found that might have indicated that the pebbles came from the nearby continent. In the days following, samples of solid gypsum were repeatedly brought on deck as drilling operations penetrated the seafloor. Furthermore, the gypsum was found to possess peculiarities of composition and structure that suggested it had formed on desert flats. Sediment above and below the gypsum layer contained tiny marine fossils, indicating open-ocean conditions. As they drilled into the central and deepest part of the Mediterranean basin, the scientists took solid, shiny, crystalline salt from the core barrel. Interbedded with the salt were thin layers of what appeared to be windblown silt.

3．What does the author imply by saying “Not a single pebble was found that might have indicated that the pebbles came from the nearby continent”?
○The most obvious explanation for the origin of the pebbles was not supported by the evidence.
○The geologists did not find as many pebbles as they expected.
○The geologists were looking for a particular kind of pebble.
○The different pebbles could not have come from only one source.
我错选了第四个 没找到定位句 请斑竹大人指点

6. What is the main purpose of paragraph 3?
○To describe the physical evidence collected by Hsu and Ryan.
○To explain why some of the questions posed earlier in the passage could not be answered by the findings of the Glomar Challenger.
○To evaluate techniques used by Hsu and Ryan to explore the sea floor.
○To describe the most difficult problems faced by the Glomar Challenger expedition.
本段没提Hsu and Ryan这俩哥们名字啊，我都没想就not mention给排除了
伟大的战士 发表于 2009-12-22 00:06

Q3：定位句就是题干中的这句话。选项1是根据上下文infer的，文中没有现成的。这个obvious explanation要自己推测。看题要联系上下文。不是真的只看这个paragraph就够了的。上文提到海洋的几个悬疑问题，下文提到板块运动。要学会从这个推测第三段的含义：海底的物质移动了--〉origin和表面现象不符

Q6：再次要看上下文。para3在说“the scientists aboard the Glomar Challenger ”。回第一/二段找这个关键词，就看到科学家的名字了。再看这一段的内容，基本在描述pebbles of gypsum，也就是研究发现的证据（原文：On August 23, 1970, they recovered a sample.）你看一下20楼，是别人类似的问题——只看答案的一部分来进行选择。

gexumingUID: 2649471

tpo 10 Chinese pottery

Just as painted designs on Greek pots may seem today to be purely decorative, whereas in fact they were carefully and precisely worked out so that at the time, their meaning was clear, so it is with Chinese pots. To Twentieth—century eyes, Chinese pottery many appear merely decorative, yet to the Chinese the form of each object and its adornment had meaning and significance. The dragon represented the emperor, and the phoenix, the empress; the pomegranate indicated fertility, and a pair of fish, happiness; mandarin ducks stood for wedded bliss; the pine tree, peach, and crane are emblems of long life, and fish leaping from waves indicated success in the civil service examinations. Only when European decorative themes were introduced did these meanings become obscured or even lost.
11
Paragraph 5 suggests which of the following about the decorations on Chinese pottery?
A:They had more important for aristocrats than for ordinary citizens.
B:  Their significance may have remained clear had the Chinese not come underforeign          influence.  
C: They contain some of the same images that appear on Greek pots.
D: Their significance is now as clear to twentieth-century observes as it was to the  early   Chinese.

文章说：如同希腊的pot上画的图案如今可能被仅仅视为一种纯粹的装饰，而事实上他们是…………（在当时是有意义的），并且他们的意义当时很清楚，中国的pot也是一样。对于20世纪的人们看来，中国的陶器很多也仅仅是装饰，然而对于中国人来每种物品的形态和他的装饰都有意义并且很重要。如同…………。仅仅当欧洲的装饰理论被引入（中国），这些意义变得模糊起来。

首先我对这段的理解对吗？如果对的话请往后看：
先说和希腊一样，但是又说希腊本来是有意义的，后面有说欧洲理论引入了就没有……啥东西啊…没搞懂作者的逻辑……

第9题问，作者比较中国的pot和希腊的，是为啥？答案是说中国的pot上的画是有特殊的意义。问题是人家希腊的也有特殊意义啊，比较什么？然后第11题又说如果不受欧洲影响意义就会保留下来……
被绕进去了…………

gexumingUID: 2649471

同样tpo10

The tradition of religious sculpture extends over most historical periods but is less clearly delineated than that of stonewares or porcelains for it embraces the old custom of earthenware burial ceramics with later religious images and architectural ornament.

这句怎么理解啊？关键是 it 指代的是什么，embraces the old custom of earthenware burial ceramics 这句怎么理解？关键是burial ceramics


这篇几个陶器：ceramic,pottry,porcelain,earthenware,都弄晕了，能分别说下他们关系吗？还有个burial ceramic是什么啊？
谢谢

wuqian0801UID: 2637709

TPO3--<The long-term Stability of Ecosystems>

Paragraph 2: An ecologist who studies a pond today may well find it relatively unchanged in a year’s time. Individual fish may be replaced, but the number of fish will tend to be the same from one year to the next. We can say that the properties of an ecosystem are more stable than the individual organisms that compose the ecosystem.

3. According to paragraph 2, which of the following principles of ecosystems can be learned by studying a pond? à细节题
○Ecosystem properties change more slowly than individuals in the system.
○The stability of an ecosystem tends to change as individuals are replaced.
○Individual organisms are stable from one year to the next.
○A change in the members of an organism does not affect an ecosystem’s properties


爲什麽A選項錯了?



Paragraph 5: Even the kind of stability defined as simple lack of change is not always associated with maximum diversity. At least in temperate zones, maximum diversity is often found in mid-successional stages, not in the climax community. Once a redwood forest matures, for example, the kinds of species and the number of individuals growing on the forest floor are reduced. In general, diversity, by itself, does not ensure stability. Mathematical models of ecosystems likewise suggest that diversity does not guarantee ecosystem stability—just the opposite, in fact. A more complicated system is, in general, more likely than a simple system to break down. (A fifteen-speed racing bicycle is more likely to break down than a child’s tricycle.)

7. Which of the following can be inferred from paragraph 5 about redwood forests? à推理题
○They become less stable as they mature.
○They support many species when they reach climax.
○They are found in temperate zones.
○They have reduced diversity during mid-successional stages.

這題不理解啊...

gexumingUID: 2649471

楼主好久没来了……
TPO10 第二篇

Over long periods of time,substances whose physical and chemical properties change with the ambient climate at the time can be deposited in a systematic way to provide a continuous record of changes in those properties over time ,sometimes for hundreds or thousands of  years.

Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in the passage? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.
○ Because physical and chemical properties of substances are unchanging, they are useful records of climate fluctuations over time.
○ For hundreds or thousands of years, people have been observing changes in the chemical and physical properties of substances in order to infer climate change.
○Because it takes long periods of time for the climate to change, systematic changes in the properties of substances are difficult to observe.
○Changes in systematically deposited substances that are affected by climate can indicate climate variations over time.

请分析下这句话谢谢，特别是红色处

flash523UID: 2520230

Paragraph 3：In order for the structure to achieve the size and strength necessary to meet its purpose, architecture employs methods of support that, because they are based on physical laws, have changed little since people first discovered them-even while building materials have changed dramatically. The world’s architectural structures have also been devised in relation to the objective limitations of materials. Structures can be analyzed in terms of how they deal with downward forces created by gravity. They are designed to withstand the forces of compression (pushing together), tension (pulling apart), bending, or a combination of these in different parts of the structure. 3. Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in the passage? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information. ○Unchanging physical laws have limited the size and strength of buildings that can be made with materials discovered long ago. ○Building materials have changed in order to increase architectural size and strength, but physical laws of structure have not changed. ○When people first started to build, the structural methods used to provide strength and size were inadequate because they were not based on physical laws. ○Unlike building materials, the methods of support used in architecture have not changed over time because they are based on physical laws. 答案选D，我选的B是哪里错了呢？ Paragraph 6: Much of the world’s great architecture has been constructed of stone because of its beauty, permanence, and availability. In the past, whole cities grew from the arduous task of cutting and piling stone upon. Some of the world’s finest stone architecture can be seen in the ruins of the ancient Inca city of Machu Picchu high in the eastern Andes Mountains of Peru. The doorways and windows are made possible by placing over the open spaces thick stone beams that support the weight from above. A structural invention had to be made before the physical limitations of stone could be overcome and new architectural forms could be created. That invention was the arch, a curved structure originally made of separate stone or brick segments. The arch was used by the early cultures of the Mediterranean area chiefly for underground drains, but it was the Romans who first developed and used the arch extensively in aboveground structures. Roman builders perfected the semicircular arch made of separate blocks of stone. As a method of spanning space, the arch can support greater weight than a horizontal beam. It works in compression to divert the weight above it out to the sides, where the weight is borne by the vertical elements on either side of the arch. The arch is among the many important structural breakthroughs that have characterized architecture throughout the centuries. 10. Why does the author include a description of how the “doorways and windows” of Machu Picchu were constructed? ○To indicate that the combined skeletons and skins of the stone buildings of Machu Picchu were similar to igloos and adobe structures ○To indicate the different kinds of stones that had to be cut to build Machu Picchu ○To provide an illustration of the kind of construction that was required before arches were invented ○To explain how ancient builders reduced the amount of time necessary to construct buildings from stone. 答案是C，楼主能帮我说明下答案得出的思路么？ 谢谢

jiang08UID: 2391146

tpo7 Ancient Rome and Greece
Paragraph 3 Certainly, in trying to explain the Roman phenomenon, one would have to place great emphasis on this almost instinct for the territorial imperative. Roman priorities lay in the organization, exploitation, and defense of their territory. In all probability it was the fertile plain of Latium, where the Latins who founded Rome originated, that created the habits and skills of landed settlement, landed property, landed economy, landed administration, and a land-based society. From this arose the Roman genius for military organization and orderly government. In turn, a deep attachment to the land, and to the stability which rural life engenders, fostered the Roman virtues: gravitas, a sense of responsibility, peitas, a sense of devotion to family and country, and iustitia, a sense of the natural order.
7.        Paragraph 3 suggests which of the following about the people of Latium?
○Their economy was based on trade relations with other settlements.
○They held different values than the people of Rome.
○Agriculture played a significant role in the society.
○They possessed unusual knowledge of animal instincts
我觉得本题定位句是In all probability it was the fertile plain of Latium, 那一句，但是整段都没提Agriculture啊？为什么选3？我选的1. 谢谢斑竹大人耐心的容忍我这么多问题。
伟大的战士 发表于 2009-12-22 00:14

定位句： where the Latins who founded Rome originated, that created the habits and skills of landed settlement, landed property, landed economy, landed administration, and a land-based society。这是和之前说的希腊社会（海洋型）对比，以陆地为生的一个民族。另外几个给提示的词这里我标了红色。
看选项：
1 说的是贸易。文中没有说到和其他种族/部落的贸易关系。
3 想一想有富饶土地的民族，最主要的生存方式？必然是农业了。其他如土地贫瘠的地区，文明一般以航海/贸易为主要生存方式。

这题的题干说的是“suggest”，所以是需要自己推测的，这类型题目文中很可能不会直接给出关键词。

jiang08UID: 2391146

tpo 10 Chinese pottery

Just as painted designs on Greek pots may seem today to be purely decorative, whereas in fact they were carefully and precisely worked out so that at the time, their meaning was clear, so it is with Chinese pots. To Twentieth—century eyes, Chinese pottery many appear merely decorative, yet to the Chinese the form of each object and its adornment had meaning and significance. The dragon represented the emperor, and the phoenix, the empress; the pomegranate indicated fertility, and a pair of fish, happiness; mandarin ducks stood for wedded bliss; the pine tree, peach, and crane are emblems of long life, and fish leaping from waves indicated success in the civil service examinations. Only when European decorative themes were introduced did these meanings become obscured or even lost.
11
Paragraph 5 suggests which of the following about the decorations on Chinese pottery?
A:They had more important for aristocrats than for ordinary citizens.
B:  Their significance may have remained clear had the Chinese not come underforeign          influence.  
C: They contain some of the same images that appear on Greek pots.
D: Their significance is now as clear to twentieth-century observes as it was to the  early   Chinese.

文章说：如同希腊的pot上画的图案如今可能被仅仅视为一种纯粹的装饰，而事实上他们是…………（在当时是有意义的），并且他们的意义当时很清楚，中国的pot也是一样。对于20世纪的人们看来，中国的陶器很多也仅仅是装饰，然而对于中国人来每种物品的形态和他的装饰都有意义并且很重要。如同…………。仅仅当欧洲的装饰理论被引入（中国），这些意义变得模糊起来。

首先我对这段的理解对吗？如果对的话请往后看：
先说和希腊一样，但是又说希腊本来是有意义的，后面有说欧洲理论引入了就没有……啥东西啊…没搞懂作者的逻辑……

第9题问，作者比较中国的pot和希腊的，是为啥？答案是说中国的pot上的画是有特殊的意义。问题是人家希腊的也有特殊意义啊，比较什么？然后第11题又说如果不受欧洲影响意义就会保留下来……
被绕进去了…………
gexuming 发表于 2009-12-22 21:21

你翻译的那一段理解没有什么问题。
这里时间上面有三个不同的阶段，按顺序给你整理一下：
1 古中国的pot。创作时有明确意义，不只是装饰性。如同古希腊的pot一样。
2 西方主题被引进中国，pot上面图案的意义开始模糊。（注意这里和希腊没有关系了）
3 20世纪的人们看古中国的pot，只看到装饰图案。

我觉得你可能有一个地方没搞清楚，就是后面欧洲艺术被引进中国，和希腊已经没有关系。
另一个地方就是compare，不一定是要对比，也可以是类比。
至于Q9：为什么要用古希腊这个例子？因为这篇文章的读者对象基本可以肯定定位在西方读者群，在介绍一种它们不熟悉的东方艺术形式。用古希腊这个例子来说明中国陶器的图案含义，读者会更熟悉，更有共鸣。

最后附上第9题：
In paragraph 5, the author compares the designs on Chinese pots to those on Greek pots in order to
1 Emphasize that while Chinese pots were decorative, Greek pots were functional
2 Argue that the designs on Chinese pots had specific meaning and were not just decorative
3 Argue that twentieth-century scholars are better able to understand these designs than were ancient scholars
4 Explain how scholars have identified the meaning of specific images on Chinese pots

jiang08UID: 2391146

同样tpo10，Chinese pottery 第三段

The tradition of religious sculpture extends over most historical periods but is less clearly delineated than that of stonewares or porcelains for it embraces the old custom of earthenware burial ceramics with later religious images and architectural ornament.

这句怎么理解啊？关键是 it 指代的是什么，embraces the old custom of earthenware burial ceramics 这句怎么理解？关键是burial ceramics


这篇几个陶器：ceramic,pottry,porcelain,earthenware,都弄晕了，能分别说下他们关系吗？还有个burial ceramic是什么啊？
谢谢
gexuming 发表于 2009-12-23 16:08

看的很仔细，这句的确很绕。

it=The tradition of religious sculpture。这句话如果看不懂，就先看看上下文。这句话之前提到的名词有：ceramics, stonewares, whitewares, porcelains。这句话后面的名词：tomn model, 唐三彩，temple ornament。比较这两组名词，再看句子的关键词：religious sculpture。可见religious sculpture指的就是后面这一组名词。而前一组名词在句子中的替代是“stonewares or porcelains ”

现在再试着翻译一下这个句子：各个朝代都有宗教雕塑，然后这些雕塑不如陶器来的细致，因为这些雕塑来源于早期的冥器（burial ceramic），随后才引入宗教符号和建筑装饰。

最后说下那几个词的关系，虽然在文中只要区分开雕塑和陶器即可。ceramic,pottry,porcelain,earthenware这几个：前两个是泛指陶器。porcelain特指陶瓷，earthenware：ceramic ware made of slightly porous opaque clay fired at low heat（引自merriam webster）。差别在于它们的成分和烧得温度，时间不一样，不过这太超出范围了。。。。

jiang08UID: 2391146

TPO3--

TPO3--<The long-term Stability of Ecosystems>

Paragraph 2: An ecologist who studies a pond today may well find it relatively unchanged in a year’s time. Individual fish may be replaced, but the number of fish will tend to be the same from one year to the next. We can say that the properties of an ecosystem are more stable than the individual organisms that compose the ecosystem.

3. According to paragraph 2, which of the following principles of ecosystems can be learned by studying a pond? à细节题
○Ecosystem properties change more slowly than individuals in the system.
○The stability of an ecosystem tends to change as individuals are replaced.
○Individual organisms are stable from one year to the next.
○A change in the members of an organism does not affect an ecosystem’s properties


爲什麽A選項錯了?



Paragraph 5: Even the kind of stability defined as simple lack of change is not always associated with maximum diversity. At least in temperate zones, maximum diversity is often found in mid-successional stages, not in the climax community. Once a redwood forest matures, for example, the kinds of species and the number of individuals growing on the forest floor are reduced. In general, diversity, by itself, does not ensure stability. Mathematical models of ecosystems likewise suggest that diversity does not guarantee ecosystem stability—just the opposite, in fact. A more complicated system is, in general, more likely than a simple system to break down. (A fifteen-speed racing bicycle is more likely to break down than a child’s tricycle.)

7. Which of the following can be inferred from paragraph 5 about redwood forests? à推理题
○They become less stable as they mature.
○They support many species when they reach climax.
○They are found in temperate zones.
○They have reduced diversity during mid-successional stages.

這題不理解啊...
wuqian0801 发表于 2009-12-23 20:43

Q3：
文勇的答案就是第一个，我也选择第一个。

Q7：
原文中包含题目关键词redwod forest的句子中，注意看for example这个短语，说明这句之前在讲一个更宽泛的现象。所以去找上一句，也就是关键句：At least in temperate zones, maximum diversity is often found in mid-successional stages, not in the climax community。“maximum diversity”=下一句的“the kinds of species and the number of individuals ”。看得出来两句话在说同一种现象，第一句具体，第二句给一个例子。翻译：至少在温带地区，种族多样化经常出现在中期阶段。例如红木森林一旦成熟，其个体种类就会减少。

jiang08UID: 2391146

楼主好久没来了……
TPO10 第二篇

Over long periods of time,substances whose physical and chemical properties change with the ambient climate at the time can be deposited in a systematic way to provide a continuous record of changes in those properties over time ,sometimes for hundreds or thousands of  years.

Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in the passage? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.
○ Because physical and chemical properties of substances are unchanging, they are useful records of climate fluctuations over time.
○ For hundreds or thousands of years, people have been observing changes in the chemical and physical properties of substances in order to infer climate change.
○Because it takes long periods of time for the climate to change, systematic changes in the properties of substances are difficult to observe.
○Changes in systematically deposited substances that are affected by climate can indicate climate variations over time.

请分析下这句话谢谢，特别是红色处
gexuming 发表于 2009-12-24 21:39

来拉来拉 谢谢挂念~
长句分析：
主语：substances。谓语： can be deposited in a systematic way。
怎样的substances呢？物理化学属性随环境变化的物质
怎样的systematic way？可以长期记录物质属性变化的。
最后半句加上时间状语。
can be deposited in a systematic way （to provide a continuous record of [changes in those properties] 状语，说明systematic way 的用途） （over time状语）