12月18日托福考情

12月18日托福考试落下帷幕考情速递也已经出炉了！

听力阅读的难度又创新高了？

写作出了新题，但并不简单？

.......

同学们觉得这次考得如何？

期待备考同学们都能顺利上岸！

阅读

R1

United States Literature and Art in the Nineteenth Century)

阅读真经19篇/7-16 / Passage 1

United States Literature and Art in the Nineteenth Century

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the United States was a provincial culture, still looking to Britain for values, standards, literature, and art, despite all the rapid improvements in communication—for example, the great growth in the number of magazines and newspapers—that occurred in the United States following independence from Great Britain.

In a famous essay in the Edinburgh Review in 1820, Sydney Smith sarcastically inquired, “In the four quarters of the globe, who reads an American book? Or goes to an American play? Or looks at an American picture or statue?”

Yet interest in the arts and the cultural institutions that sustain them was rapidly growing in America. To be sure, cultural institutions were difficult to create in the South, mainly because the population was so widely dispersed: and in the West, dominated in this era by pioneers, emphasis was on the practical rather than on the literary or artistic. But many eastern seaboard cities were actively building the cultural foundation that would nurture a distinctively American art and literature. During these years, Philadelphia's American Philosophical Society, founded by Benjamin Franklin in 1743, boasted a

distinguished roster of scientists, including Thomas Jefferson, concurrently the president of the United States. Culturally Boston ran a close second to Philadelphia, founding the Boston Athenaeum (1807)，an impressive library and reading room containing "works of learning and science in all languages, particularly such rare and expensive publications as are not generally to be found in this country." The North American Review, which became the most important and long-lasting intellectual magazine in the country, was published in Boston. Devoted to keeping its readers in touch with European intellectual developments, it had a circulation of 3,000 in 1862, about the same as similar British journals.

Of the eastern cities, New York produced the first widely recognized American writers. In 1809 Washington Irving published America's first great book of comic literature-A History of New York-a humorous account of life in New York both in colonial times and in Irving's own day. James Fenimore Cooper's Leatherstocking novels (of which The Last of the Mohicans published in 1826 is the best known) achieved wide success in both America and Europe. In these novels, Cooper established the American experience of westward expansion as a serious and distinctive American theme.

It was New England, however, that saw itself as the home of American cultural independence from Europe, a claim voiced in 1837 by Ralph Waldo Emerson in a lecture at Harvard: “Our day of dependence, our long apprenticeship to the learning of other lands draws to a close," Emerson announced. Rather than draw on British models, American artists, Emerson argued, should seek inspiration in the ordinary details of daily American life. Immensely popular, Emerson gave more than 1,500 lectures in 20 states between 1833 and 1860. “The American Scholar", his most famous lecture, carried a message of cultural self-sufficiency that Americans were eager to hear.

Artists in this period were as successful as writers in finding American themes. Thomas Cole, who came to the United States from England in 1818, found great inspiration in the American landscape. Cole founded the Hudson River school of American painting, whose romantic renderings of New York landscapes were frankly nationalistic. Other painters—realists such as Karl Bodmer and George Catlin—drew on the dramatic landscapes and peoples of the American West. Their art was an important contribution to the American sense of the land and to the nation's identity. Catlin, driven by a need to document Native American life, spent eight years among the tribes along the upper Missouri River. Then he assembled his collection of more than 500 paintings and toured the country in an effort to increase the public's awareness and appreciation of Native American life ways. George Caleb Bingham, an accomplished genre painter, produced somewhat tidied-up scenes of real-life American workers, such as flatboat men on the Missouri River. All these painters found much to record and celebrate in American life. Ironically, the inspiration for the most prevalent theme, the American wilderness, was profoundly endangered by the rapid western settlement of which the nation was so proud. Despite such contradictions, the early nineteenth century was the period in which writers and painters found the national themes that defined the first distinctively American literature and art.

R2

Diving for food by birds

第一段:潜水适应:文章首先介绍了鸟类在潜水捕食过程中面临的生理挑战，如氧气供应不足和寒冷环境。例如，帝企鹅在潜水过程中会通过减慢心率和切换到厌氧代谢来节约能量并在潜水时保持体温。

第二段:鸟类的潜水技巧:不同种类的鸟类有不同的潜水技巧和生理适应。例如，企鹅和海雀有紧密的羽毛保持体温，而鸬鹚和鹈鹕则允许水接触皮肤以提高潜水效率。

第三段:热量保持与食物消耗:文章还讨论了鸬鹚如何通过羽毛结构保持体温，并且相较于其他同体重的海鸟，它们需要较少的食物来维持生存。这些鸟类通过保持体内的空气层和调整潜水策略，有效地在各种环境中捕食和生存。

R3

Tyrannosaurus rex：Predator or Scavenger？

第1段:泰坦巨龙是白垩纪时期最大的兽脚类恐龙之一，科学家们长期争论其究竟是捕食者还是食腐动物。杰克·霍纳认为泰坦巨龙是食腐动物，依据是其相对较差的嗅觉、宽平的牙齿较低的移动速度和微小的前肢，这些特征不利于捕猎活动的展开。

第2段:其他古生物学家反驳了霍纳的观点，认为泰坦巨龙不是食腐动物。他们认为泰坦巨龙视觉能力足够，并且可能具有敏锐的嗅觉，可以侦测到捕食和腐肉。研究比较其物理能力与潜在的猎物如鸭嘴龙和角龙类表明，它有能力捕猎。

第3段:泰坦巨龙的体型和物理优势，比如其力量和新陈代谢效率，对于捕猎活动非常有利。Ruxton和Houston的研究也挑战了泰坦巨龙主要以食腐动物为生的观点，因为食腐动物的能量效率低下。

第4段:文章将泰坦巨龙与现代的食腐动物如秃鹫进行比较。秃鹫作为食腐动物，依赖于尸体，而泰坦巨龙是否能完全依赖食腐仍存疑。

R4

Carbon Dioxide Levels in the Ocean

第一段:主要介绍了科学家为预测未来气候所依赖的复杂计算机模型。这些模型通过数学方程来模拟大气、海洋和陆地上的物理过程和相互作用。模型的起点通常是基于当前的测量值或对过去条件的估计。然后，使用覆盖全球的球形网格，在网格交叉点执行数千次计算，以表示和评估空中、海洋和陆地的状况将如何随时间变化。由于这些模型的复杂性和大小，需要使用超级计算机来运行全面的气候模型。模型输出的不确定性主要来自不同模型对气候各个方面的不同表示方式，以及气候中一些尚未被充分理解的方面，其中之一就是海洋如何影响气候。

第二段:主要讨论了海洋在全球变暖中的作用，这主要源于其巨大的吸收二氧化碳以及储存和传输热量的能力。海洋中的植物和藻类，特别是浮游植物，通过光合作用从大气中吸收大量的二氧化碳。因此，海洋中浮游植氧化碳的去除量就越大。然而.第二段:主要讨论了海洋在全球变暖中的作用，这主要源于其巨大的吸收二氧化碳以及储存和传输热量的能力。海洋中的植物和藻类，特别是浮游植物，通过光合作用从大气中吸收大量的二氧化碳。因此，海洋中浮游植物的生长(生产力)越大，二氧化碳的去除量就越大。然而什么控制着海洋的生产力呢?有几个限制因素，但最近的一项实验结果表明，在海洋中其他营养物质丰富的地区，铁可能是虎哥托福控制浮游植物生产的最重要且之前未被充分认识的变量之一。有人提出了一种激进、极具争议且不确定的方法来对抗全球变暖--向海洋中添加铁以诱导浮游植物繁殖。虽然增加浮游植物的生长可能会消耗大气中的大量二氧化碳，但也可能不会，而且可能会产生对海洋生态系统有害的副作用。

第三段:介绍了海洋内部石灰石的生产过程(以碳酸钙骨骼或壳体的形式)也能减少大气中的二氧化碳。然而，当石灰石沉积物在陆地上暴露并风化，或在海洋中回收时，二氧化碳会重新释放到大气中。目前尚未充分理解的是海洋中到底有多少二氧化碳，以及它以什么速率被吸收和循环。较新的研究还发现了海底对地球温度飙升的一个新的、潜在的重要威胁:气体水合物气体水合物是一种固态、结晶形式的水，类似于冰，但含有额外的气体，通常是甲烷，通常储存在海洋沉积物中。海洋温度的升高可能导致气体水合物分解，释放出大量甲烷气体到大气中，并在过程中造成海底滑坡。因此，如果气体水合物被释放，它们可能会显著增加全球变暖，并对海上钻探作业构成地质危害。

第四段:描述了海洋作为热量的大储存库和运输者的角色。海洋的热量加热大气并引发热带风暴。热量通过洋流从赤道输送到两极。海洋循环受到风和海洋中盐分和热量平衡的强烈控制科学家认为，气候变暖可能会减缓循环，而冷却可能会加速循环，但这些反应尚未被充分理解。海洋的蒸发还为高纬度地区的降雪和降冰提供了降水。雪和冰的覆虎哥托福盖改变了地球表面的反射率，并对入射辐射的吸收或反射产生了重要影响。此外，大气中的云和水蒸气主要来自海洋，对气候产生了强烈影响。令人惊讶的是，云是气候变化方程中最少被理解和建模最差的部分之一。大多数气候建模网格未能考虑到常见大小的云层的形成。气溶胶(微小的烟尘、灰尘和其他物质颗粒)被认为能够促进云层的形成、散射入射辐射并促进冷却，但这种抵消变暖的效应也仅被表面理解。气候变化的计算机模型必须考虑到海洋中、陆地上和天空中所有可能影响变暖的过程。难怪存在如此大的不确定性。

R5

Prosperity In British North America

重复 23年冲刺Test7的Passage 1

The British colonies of North America developed at a remarkable pace throughout the later colonial period. Colonial trade with Britain grew by 700 percent in the period 1689-1760, while the population increased from 250,000 to around 1.5 million. At the same time per capita (per person) income rose by at least 0.5 percent a year in real terms, so that the standard of living for most of the population improved by between 50 and 100 percent. The American colonies were one of the first societies to escape the cycle in which increased resources merely stimulated population growth and ultimate decline in per capita income (the total national income divided by the number of people in the nation). The colonies never experienced the kind of severe food shortages which afflicted most European societies through the nineteenth century.

One indication of colonial well-being was the reaction of visitors. In the seventeenth century it was the wild appearance of the continent which drew comment, whereas by the 1750s visitors were impressed by the general prosperity of the inhabitants. Most people had land, and there seemed to be little poverty or unemployment. As a British officer commented, “Everybody has property and everybody knows it.” The general progress was well symbolized by the rise of Philadelphia, a town which did not exist in 1682, but which by 1760 was on a par with Dublin, Edinburgh, or Bristol.

The attractions of living in America were constantly emphasized by Benjamin Franklin. He pointed out how much better off the inhabitants of America were compared with their counterparts in the British Isles. The same points were made by Thomas Hutchinson in his History of Massachusetts. He wrote, “Property is more equally distributed in the colonies… especially those to the northward of Maryland than in any nation in Europe.” The reason, of course, was the availability of land.

More recently historians have also been paying attention to other types of evidence. Documents such as wills, for example tend to support the view that living standards were improving. Whereas in the seventeenth century most inheritances consisted of only a few tools, some rough furniture, and livestock, eighteenth-century inventories reveal a much richer standard of living, including china rather than coarse pottery, silverware, furniture, clocks, warming pans, and other household items designed for decoration or comfort rather than mere survival. Additional evidence can be obtained from the records of colonial imports. After 1700 these increasingly included what earlier would have been considered inessential luxury items: tea, coffee, French wines, Indian silks and calicos, glass, porcelain, and even furniture. Previously colonials had made their own, found substitutes, or done without. The first sixty years of the eighteenth century witnessed a consumer boom which seems to suggest a standard of living 20 percent higher than in Britain, for the middle classes at least.

How was this prosperity achieved? One answer was greater efficiency. Although historians have generally condemned the American colonial farmer for wasteful land usage, improvements did occur through greater knowledge of the climate and terrain. Some modest technological improvements occurred in manufacturing and commerce, though less so in farming. Most colonials were still using tools similar to those of their seventeenth-century ancestors, though implements like plows were now used more widely. In addition the colonial period was generally one in which prices remained stable or actually fell as production methods improved and transport became cheaper, giving settlers greater purchasing power. Throughout the period the colonists continued to enjoy that almost unique combination of abundant land, cheap food, and unlimited fuel.

Lastly, the growth in living standards was ironically fueled by the consumer boom itself. Until the end of the sixteenth century only the upper classes were expected to live opulently as a sign of their rank and a means whereby the social order could be maintained. Ordinary people, it was assumed, would merely be corrupted by such consumption into idleness and vice. By the end of the seventeenth century such attitudes had changed in favor of personal improvement. Now it was argued that many of these same luxuries were items of refinement which could be defended on moral grounds as leading to propriety. This change in attitudes had two consequences. One was a surge in demand. The other was an increase in production, as people sought to improve their standard of living.

本文探讨了18世纪后期英国北美殖民地的快速发展及其原因。

第一段:殖民地的增长与繁荣文章开头介绍了北美殖民地在1689年至1760年间的显著增长包括与英国的贸易增长、人口激增和人均收入的提高。这种增长帮助殖民地摆脱了资源增加仅导致人口增长并最终降低人均收入的循环。

第二段:殖民地的生活水平与外界评价访客对北美殖民地的印象从17世纪的荒凉景象转变为 18世纪中期的繁荣景象。大部分人拥有土地，贫困和失业情况较少，费城等城市的崛起象征了这种进步。

第三段:富裕的原因及其对比本杰明·富兰克林和托马斯·哈钦森强调了美国殖民地人比英国本岛居民更富裕的理由，主要是由于土地的丰富。

第四段:生活水平的证据通过遗嘱和进口记录，文章展示了18世纪生活水平的提升，包括更丰富的继承物品和奢侈品的引入，表明殖民地的中产阶级生活水平高于英国。

第五段:繁荣的实现原因繁荣的实现归因于更高的效率。尽管农业技术改进有限，但生产方法的进步、价格的稳定和运输成本的降低都提升了定居者的购买力。

第六段:消费热潮的影响文章最后讨论了消费热潮对生活水平的提升的影响。17世纪未对奢侈品的态度转变为认可个人提升的手段，导致了需求激增和生产增加。

R6

Education reform ofUs in the early 20th

介绍了学校改革的背景，19世纪未到20世纪初，社会变革要求教育改革与之相符。因为担心腐败，资源，所以选择和政党无关nonpartisan，善用资源，且有教育领域经验的管理者参与改革。然而，农村地区的人们反对这样的合并，担心失去传统和归属感。这成了很大的阻力。随着职业技术学校和高中的普及，更多的校车使得学生能集中在一所学校接受教育。教育理念也开始转向教师专业发展和学生兴趣培养。

R7

帝企鹅的潜水生理变化

- 在潜水的前五分钟，前五分钟心跳下降，和后五分钟，帝企鹅身体的变化各不相同。

- 浮出水面时，心率瞬间变化，展示了不同阶段的生理反应。

- 还提到其他海鸟的羽毛特性，防水的外层和干燥的内层能够帮助它们保持体温。

听力

C 1

学生Susan与生态学教授讨论关于作业主题“入侵物种银鲤的生态影响”。Susan提出利用银鲤的嗅觉驱逐它们的创新方案，教授建议她进一步发展这个想法并在生态学年会上展示。

C2

这段对话是学生詹姆斯与学术顾问之间的交流。詹姆斯决定成为兽医，并正在讨论如何积累实践经验以便申请兽医学校。顾问强调，实践经验的种类很重要，詹姆斯需要接触宠物、农场动物以及野生动物保护等领域，尽管后者并非他的兴趣所在。顾问建议詹姆斯在暑假期间进行这些实践，因为不建议在上课期间同时进行。顾问特别强调，实践必须在兽医的直接监督下进行，并且要做好记录，以便申请兽医学校时使用。詹姆斯提到，农场动物经验对他来说最容易获取，因为他的父母拥有一个养羊场。顾问对他家庭背景感兴趣，得知他是在羊场长大的，并且知道如何照看羊群和保护它们的驴子。詹姆斯打算在夏天协助当地的兽医。顾问建议詹姆斯如果选择在校内度过暑假，他将与其他预备兽医的学生竞争本地的职位，因此鼓励他去争取这个机会。

C 3

一位学生替姐姐安排校园参观，询问了一系列关于成为校园导游的问题，了解需要具备的能力，包括热情，并提到她的父母因在海外而未能参与校园参观，最后建议她加入校园导游团队。

C 4

对话中，一位想转到生物专业的学生与老师讨论，由于距离毕业仅剩两年，老师建议她考虑其他学校的项目，并提到纽约的机会。

L 1

讨论为什么狗能被驯化而狼不能，虽然狗和狼在同一发展阶段获得听觉和视觉，但在发展社交能力方面不同。狼在能看和听之前就开始发展这种能力，通常是在两周大时，而狗则是在四周时。一个例子显示，即便小狗是通过看录像，也能很好地与人相处

L 2

考古学讲座中讨论了新发现，半岛曾被认为是迁徙通道，但通过邻近区域的证据发现，那里曾有居民。虽然未找到人类遗骸，但教授认为不可否定该观点

L 3

艺术讲座中讨论了法国印象派和保罗·塞尚的创新。塞尚挑战既定风格，专注于自然的形态和色彩结构。他的作品，尽管未被当时广泛认可，但为立体主义奠基，影响深远。

L 4

海洋生物学，在19世纪，人们普遍认为海洋鱼类资源是取之不尽的。然而，随着渔业的增长，过度捕捞逐渐导致鱼类种群减少。过度捕捞发生在捕捞的鱼类数量超过了鱼类的补充速度。尤其是大型成鱼被捕捞，导致海洋鱼类的平均体型逐渐变小，而较小的鱼产卵数量较少，这影响了鱼类的繁殖。此外，捕捞方法如底拖网捕鱼还破坏了许多鱼类栖息地。为了应对这一问题，政府建立了海洋保护区。这些保护区禁止商业捕捞，旨在帮助鱼类种群恢复。鱼类可以自由进出保护区，如果保护区内的鱼类数量减少，外部的鱼类可以补充种群；反之，种群过多时，部分鱼类会游出，增加周围区域的种群数量。此外，保护区内鱼类的基因多样性也能得到改善，从而减少出生缺陷和疾病的风险。新西兰和加勒比海的海洋保护区是成功的例子。新西兰的保护区通过有效的管理和监控，使得石斑鱼和龙虾的数量得到了增加，海底植物得以恢复，整个生态系统变得更加丰富。而加勒比海的巴克岛保护区则面临风暴、非法捕鱼和土地开发等挑战，导致保护效果不佳，尽管如此，随着管理力度的增强，未来有望恢复。总体而言，海洋保护区若能得到正确管理和有效监控，通常能够取得成功

口语

TASK 1独立口语题

Some people prefer to make plans with friends for social activities far in advance. Others prefer to be more spontaneous and make plans with friends on the same day they would like to see them. Which do you prefer? Explain why.

有些人喜欢提前很久与朋友们计划社交活动。另一些人则更倾向于随性而为，喜欢在想见朋 友的当天才制定计划。你更喜欢哪种方式？请解释原因。

TASK 2校园题

Reading: Graduate Business Program to Discontinue Summer Courses（研究生商学院计 划停办夏季课程）

Point 1：由于夏季课程的报名人数不足，无法支撑继续提供这些的费用，因此决定 取消夏季课程。

Point 2：这些课程在春季和秋季学期也有开设，所以学生不会因为取消夏季课程而 遇到显著的不便。

Conversation: Man Disagrees（非典型-给观点的不是主说人）（W: Well, I think they are giving up on it too soon. M: Really? I can't say I'm surprised.）

Reason 1: 夏季课程报名人数少，且课程几乎达不到容量，因此不意外课程被取 消。

Reason 2：他认为替代方案（即常规学期的课程安排）时间安排不同，可能无法 满足那些希望通过夏季课程提前毕业的学生的需求。

TASK 3学术讲座题

Reading: Seagoing Fish（远航的鱼）

定义：远航的鱼指的是那些在年轻时生活在淡水中，而在成熟后迁移到盐水中的鱼类。（ Thus, certain kinds of fish stay in freshwater when they are young, and then migrate, or travel, to salt water once they reach a certain age. ）

Lecture：Biology（生物学）例子：Salmon（鲑鱼）

科学家的研究发现，鲑鱼在年轻时生活在河流中，因为河水较浅，大多数大型捕食者不会进入 河流。这使得幼鲑鱼能更容易地躲藏在河中的岩石缝隙或植物根部，从而减少受到大型鱼类 威胁的风险，有利于它们的生存。随着鲑鱼的成长，它们会迁移到海洋中，因为海洋提供了更 多的食物资源。等到成熟后，鲑鱼会返回河流繁殖，继续其生命周期。

TASK 4 学术讲座题

Lecture题材：Business（商业）

Question:2 problems of having employee turnover（员工流动的两个问题）

Problem 1: 员工流动会给公司带来很高的成本——因为需要替换离职员工，这个过 程需要时间，可能导致生产和利润的减少 eg: 在一家家具制造公司，如果一名家具制作工人离职，公司需要找到一位同样熟 练的工人来完成相同的工作，这非常困难。这样一来，公司将无法生产那么多的家 具，也就赚不到那么多的钱。

Problem 2：员工流动会对其他员工产生负面影响——因为他们无法从离职员工那里 获得帮助。eg: 一家广告公司需要具备创意的人来提出新点子。如果一位重要的创意贡献者离开， 其他创意能力较弱的人员就更难提出优秀的广告创意。

写作

综合写作

主题：全球变暖是否是美洲鼠兔品Pika濒临灭绝的原因

阅读

The American pika is a small, rabbit-like mammal thatlivesin cold,mountainous parts of western North America.Because pikas are adapted to living in cold temperatureseven slight temperature increases in their habitats canthreaten their survival, Many scientists believe that currentglobal warming trends may result in a severe decrease inpika populations and that pikas may become anendangered species, There are several reasons why globawarming may cause pikas to become endangered.

Air Temperatures

First, rising air temperatures put pikas in danger ofoverheating, Pikas have a thick coat of fur to insulate them

from the cold, and round bodies designed to conserve heat.As a result, they can easily get too hot and die, even intemperatures as mild as 26"C, To escape the heat, many.pikas have migrated to higher elevations, where it is cooler.Howeyer, scientists point out that thls ls only a temporarysolution, Eventually there will come a time when pikas.cannot escape the heat.

Nourishment

Second, pikas gather and store most of the food they needfor the winter during the summer. However, collecting foodis a strenuous activity that may lead to overheating, if the airtemperature is high.lf summer temperatures increase,.pikas may have to limit their food-collecting activities toavoid overheating. As a result, they may not be able tocollect and store enough food for the winter.

Snow Melting

Third, during the winter, pikas depend on a thick layer ofsnow to insulate them from the cold and shield them fromfreezing raln and wind. However,global warming ls causingsnow to melt at a faster rate, Because of the increased rateof snow melting, the thickness of the snow layer in pikahabitats during the winter has decreased. Without sufficientprotection provided by snow, pikas are more exposed tocold and freezing rain in wintertime.

听力

The challenges posed by global warming are not pika as some people believe.

First, it's not necessarily true that pukas will overheat. You have to realize that the temperature can vary considerably across the pikes' habitat. Yes, open spaces do get hot, but pikes spend a great deal of time under rocks and inside openings where it is shady and temperatures are cooler. Some of the reports claiming that temperatures are too high in pike habitats do not take account of temperatures in those shaded areas. Many scientists believe pika populations will remain stable as long as pikas have cooler places where they can take refuge when it gets too hot.

Second, it should still be possible for pikas to collect enough food. The reading passage forgets to mention one important consequence of warmer weather. In warmer weather, animals don't have to eat as much to keep up their internal temperature, So during these warmer summers. pikas eat less, which means they need to collect less food for their immediate consumption. That means they can spend more time collecting food they will store for later for the winter. As a result, pikas may actually be able to store more food for the winter than in years when it was cooler.

Finally, while increased snow melting can hurt pikas during the winter by exposing them to cold has a positive effect. You see, the warmer climate and the faster rate of snow melting mean that the winter ends earlier, the spring arrives earlier, fresh plant food becomes available earlier, and the pike of populations that have suffered through the harsh winter conditions get a chance to recover and start reproducing. In simple terms, increased snow meltingmakes the winter shorter. Giving the pikas a better chance to replenish the population that has been lost during the winter.