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托福阅读第三篇tpo75R -3原文+译文+题目+答案+背景知识

托福阅读第三篇tpo75R-3原文+译文+题目+答案+背景知识原文 (1)译文 (4)题目 (7)答案 (13)背景知识 (14)原文Seismic Waves①Seismic waves-energy waves produced by earthquakes-permit scientists to determine the location,thickness,and properties of Earth's internal zones.They are generated when rock masses are suddenly disturbed,such as when they break or rupture.Vibrations spread out in all directions from the source of the disturbance, traveling at different speeds through parts of Earth's crust and interior that differ in chemical composition and physical properties.The principal categories of these waves are primary,secondary,and surface. All three types of waves are recorded on an instrument called a seismograph.②Primary waves,or P-waves,are the speediest of the three kinds of waves and therefore the first to arrive at a seismograph station after there has been an earthquake.They travel through the upper crust of Earth at speeds of4to5kilometers per second,but near the base of the crust they speed along at6or7kilometers per second.In these primary waves,pulses of energy are transmitted as a succession of compressions and expansions that parallel the direction of propagation of the wave itself.Thus,a given segment of rock set in motion during an earthquake is driven into its neighbor and bounces back.The neighbor strikes the next particle and rebounds and subsequent particles continue the motion.Vibrational energy is an accordion-like push-pull movement that can be transmitted through solids,liquids and gases.Of course,the speed of Pwave transmission will differ in materials of different density and elastic properties.③Secondary waves,or S-waves,travel1to2kilometers per second slower than do P-waves.Unlike the movement of P-waves,rock vibration in secondary waves is at right angles to the direction of propagation of the energy.This type of wave is easily demonstrated by tying a length of rope to a hook and then shaking the free end.A series of undulations will develop in the rope and move toward the hook-thatis,in the direction of propagation.Any given particle along the rope, however,will move up and down in a direction perpendicular to the direction of propagation.It is because of their more complex motion that S-waves travel more slowly than Pwaves.They are the second group of oscillations to arrive at a seismograph station.Unlike Pwaves, secondary waves will not pass through liquids or gases.④Both P-and S-waves are sometimes also termed body waves because they are able to penetrate deep into the interior or body of our planet.Body waves travel faster in rocks of greater elasticity,and their speeds therefore increase steadily as they move downward into more elastic zones of Earth's interior and then decrease as they begin to make their ascent toward Earth's surface.The change in velocity that occurs as body waves invade rocks of different elasticity results in a bending or refraction of the wave.The many small refractions cause the body waves to assume a curved travel path through Earth.⑤Not only are body waves subjected to refraction,but they may also be partially reflected off the surface of a dense rock layer in much the same way as light is reflected off a polished surface.Many factorsinfluence the behavior of body waves.An increase in the temperature of rocks through which body waves are traveling will cause a decrease in velocity,whereas an increase in confining pressure will cause a corresponding increase in wave velocity.In a fluid where no rigidity exists,S-waves cannot propagate and P-waves are markedly slowed.⑥Surface waves are large-motion waves that travel through the outer crust of Earth.Their pattern of movement resembles that of waves caused when a pebble is tossed into the center of a pond.They develop whenever P-or S-waves disturb the surface of Earth as they emerge from the interior.Surface waves are the last to arrive at a seismograph station.They are usually the primary cause of the destruction that can result from earthquakes affecting densely populated areas.This destruction results because surface waves are channeled through the thin outer region of Earth,and their energy is less rapidly scattered into the large volumes of rock traversed by body waves.译文地震波①地震波是由地震产生的能量波，它们使科学家能够确定地球内部区域的位置、厚度和性质。

TOEFL阅读背景知识汇总

TOEFL阅读背景知识汇总新托福阅读背景知识：石化林石化林的一点背景知识石化林存在于美国亚利桑那州的彩绘沙漠内，是广泛散布的石化木和石化树的集聚地。

来自火山灰的氧化硅溶于水并且渗入树木中，变成晶体，此时石化木便形成了。

人们现在所见到的石化木的鲜艳色彩是由其他矿物质所添加而形成的。

有些石化木看上去仿佛曾被斧子砍断以用作木柴，但它们可能是因地震断裂而形成的。

玛瑙桥(玛瑙是一种半宝石)是跨越在一条12米宽的溪流上方的单根石化木。

它在跨度上没有支撑，但两端埋在砂岩中。

宝石收藏者过去曾对石化林造成极大的破坏，如今石化木已受法律的保护，无人能再取走哪一片石头。

土著美洲人有一个解释石化林如何产生的故事。

一位女神为生火做饭集木头，但木头很湿不能燃烧。

女神很生气，便对一些木头施以恶咒语，把这们变成了石头，不能再为任何人所使用。

新托福阅读背景知识：初识芭蕾初识芭蕾芭蕾(Ballet)一词，源自意大利文Ballard，意思就是跳舞，专指“足尖舞”，是欧洲古典舞蹈的一种形式。

在其发展过程中，因常以这种舞蹈来叙述表演故事，而逐渐形成了一种特殊的演出形式。

1772年，查理·狄德罗(Charles Diderot)在法国大百科全书中说:“芭蕾系用跳舞解释行动。

特别要求剧场性的赏心悦目。

”。

帕鲁金尼(Perugino)更详细地叙述说：“芭蕾是由一位编导，运用连带哑剧的一系列独舞和群众，附加音乐和布景，去表现一种诗情画意，或一连串概念，或一个故事化的情节。

”芭蕾这种舞蹈形式一直发展到今天，形成了完整的舞剧艺术。

对于中国观众来说，芭蕾并不陌生，尤其近些年来，芭蕾受到了越来越多的观注，一股“芭蕾热”已经在几座大城市悄然兴起。

1997年的“中国歌剧舞剧年”可以说是热闹非凡，各个中外演出团体为广大观众献上了一台又一台精彩的演出，真是“你方唱罢我登场”。

从通俗的《天鹅湖》到浪漫的《吉赛尔》，从“拉丁味”的《堂·吉诃德》到充满海新托福阅读背景知识：脚尖的艺术脚尖的艺术从运动的实际需要来看，脚尖鞋的发明能够将舞者身体的重量支撑“面”经过若干倍的缩小后变成支撑“点”，从而有效地减小与地面的摩擦力，提高旋转的速度，造成风驰电掣的效果、超凡脱俗的幻觉，进而更好地为仙凡之恋这类虚幻的芭蕾题材服务。

托福阅读背景知识知多少

8、有的人(大脑)前部和侧部的收缩——随着细胞的死亡——在三十多岁时就能被观察到了，但是也有些人直到六七岁依然不明显。
9、研究结果表明在农村的人大脑收缩基本上比城市里的人要早。
10、在政府部门从事简单重复工作的白领也像农场工人、公共汽车司机和商店职员一样大脑细胞容易收缩。
托福阅读背景知识知多少
6. With a team of colleagues at Tokyo National University, he set about measuring brain volumes of a thousand people of different ages and varying occupations.
1、系好安全带能够挽救性命，它能将丧生和重伤的概率减少一半以上。
2、但是司机有责任确保14岁以下的孩子不要坐在前排，除非他们系好了安全带。
3、当然，如果有以下情况你可以不系安全带：你在倒车时，或者你用一种特殊交通工具进行当地的货物运送、收集时，或者你有合法的医学证明你不能系安全带时。
4、注意你如果不这么做(系安全带)的话，你有可能被告上法庭，而且你有可能被处以罚款除非你能证明你有不带安全带的理由。
2. But it will be the driver’s responsibility to make sure that children under 14 do not ride in the front unless they are wearing a seat belt of some kind.
5. Professor Taiju Matsuzawa wanted to find out why otherwise healthy farmers in northern Japan appeared to be losing their ability to think and reason at a relatively early age, and how the process of ageing could he slowed down.

TOEFL新托福阅读背景知识精选5篇

TOEFL新托福阅读背景知识精选5篇为了让大家更好的预备托福考试，我给大家整理新托福阅读背景学问汇总，下面我就和大家共享，来观赏一下吧。

新托福阅读背景学问：太空城休士顿太空城休士顿休士顿是US的第五大都市，人类第一次登上月球的阿波罗飞船11号就在这里升空，因而使它也成为全球著名的城镇。

这一城镇是在1836年当德克萨斯州自墨西哥获得独立时，随之而诞生。

通往墨西哥湾的休士顿港，是US第三大港，在那里出口的棉花和石油产品，其数量占全美第一位。

自从US国家航空太空总署NASA在近效设置太空中心以来，休士顿正在连续不断地急速进展。

阿斯托洛圆顶运动场Astrodome耗资3，100万美元，于1965年兴建完成的这一运动场是目前世界上最大的一座室内运动场，内部装有冷暖气设备。

棒球、足球、骞马，以至于马戏团表演，都可以在室内进行。

紧邻的Afterworld是一个规模极大的消遣中心，游客可以欣赏欧洲各种村落的景色，也能够观赏各类表演。

圣哈新托古战场SanJacintoBattlefield1836年，休士顿将军为了争取德州独立，率军与墨军激战的地方。

现在已成为州立公园，纪念塔高达174公尺，可乘电梯登上塔项。

塔下是历史博物馆。

距休士顿市约26公里。

US航空太空总署太空飞行中心NASAMannedSpacecraft因阿波罗11号在此升空而全球著名。

US国家航空太空总署NASA于1961年设立于休士顿东南方45公里处的克利阿湖畔。

四周有GeneralElectric和InternationalBusinessMachines等重要的电子工业企业，是名符其实的航空太空科学中心。

展览馆Exhibit Hall的一号馆中，陈设着太空飞行员使用的器具、太空食物、太空船模型、月球上采集的岩石，对一般观光客公开。

太空飞行中心内部极为宽阔，可在进入中心的问讯处索取地图，备作参考。

太空中心内也有礼品店，出售太空船模型、月球石头模型，以及阿波罗帽等。

托福考试阅读背景知识(全)

托福考试阅读背景知识（下）第二次世界大战后第二次世界大战规模空前。

战争中发生的事，如600万犹太人被屠杀，原子弹在广岛爆炸，使美国知识分子感到震惊。

他们怀疑人性是否还有善良的一面，也感到人难以控制自己制造出来的巨大物质力量。

他们对文明与进步的信念发生了极大动摇。

50年代在“冷战”、麦卡锡主义和朝鲜战争的背景下，文坛趋于沉寂；印、70年代，经过越南战争、民权运动、学生运动、女权运动、水门案件，文坛活跃起来，出现了一批爱思索的作家。

在他们眼里，美国的社会变得十分复杂，价值观念混乱。

他们普遍感到不知怎样解释这样的现实，于是便通过怪诞、幻想、夸张的方式，再现生活中的混乱、恐怖和疯狂。

他们表现的是没有目标与方向的梦境世界他们讲的是支离破碎的故事，写的是“反英雄”、甚至是不完整的形象。

这个时期，文学作品中对**(包括同性爱)的描写也更为；露骨。

战争文学战后出现的第一股文学浪潮是战争小说。

其中较好的是梅勒的《裸者和死者》(1948)和詹姆斯·琼斯的《从这里到永恒》(1951)。

两部书的共同点是通过战争，写小兵、下级军官与军事机构的矛盾，即人的个性与扼杀个性的权力机构之间的冲突。

这些小说已经触及战后整个一代文学最突出的一个主题。

“怯懦的十年”50年代，右翼保守势力向30年代激进主义传统进攻，许多人由关心社会进步转而关心个人的私利。

这10年被称为“怯懦的十年”或“沉寂的十年”。

这期间，出现了一些作品，将资产阶级描绘成正面人物，鼓吹服从权威，如《穿灰法兰绒衣服的人》(1955)。

这类作品企图维护既定价值标准和现存社会秩序，很快就失去了影响。

另一方面，阿瑟·米勒等作家抵制麦卡锡主义，继续用作品抨击社会的不正义。

“垮掉的一代”50年代沉闷的政治空气使许多青年感到窒息，他们吸毒、群居，以颓唐、放纵的生活方式来表示自己的抗议。

其中有些人把这种生活与情绪写入文学作品，这便是“垮掉的一代”文学。

这种文学发展到60年代后，在国内民主运动高涨的背景下，增加了一些政治色彩。

tpo45三篇托福阅读TOEFL原文译文题目答案译文背景知识

tpo45三篇托福阅读TOEFL原文译文题目答案译文背景知识阅读-1 (2)原文 (2)译文 (5)题目 (7)答案 (15)背景知识 (16)阅读-2 (16)原文 (16)译文 (19)题目 (23)答案 (30)背景知识 (31)阅读-3 (32)原文 (32)译文 (35)题目 (37)答案 (45)背景知识 (45)阅读-1原文The Beringia Landscape①During the peak of the last ice age,northeast Asia(Siberia)and Alaska were connected by a broad land mass called the Bering Land Bridge.This land bridge existed because so much of Earth’s water was frozen in the great ice sheets that sea levels were over100meters lower than they are today.Between25,000and10,000years ago,Siberia,the Bering Land Bridge,and Alaska shared many environmental characteristics.These included a common mammalian fauna of large mammals,a common flora composed of broad grasslands as well as wind-swept dunes and tundra,and a common climate with cold,dry winters and somewhat warmer summers.The recognition that many aspects of the modern flora and fauna were present on both sides of the Bering Sea as remnants of the ice-age landscape led to this region being named Beringia.②It is through Beringia that small groups of large mammal hunters, slowly expanding their hunting territories,eventually colonized North and South America.On this archaeologists generally agree,but that is where the agreement stops.One broad area of disagreement inexplaining the peopling of the Americas is the domain of paleoecologists,but it is critical to understanding human history:what was Beringia like?③The Beringian landscape was very different from what it is today. Broad,windswept valleys;glaciated mountains;sparse vegetation;and less moisture created a rather forbidding land mass.This land mass supported herds of now-extinct species of mammoth,bison,and horse and somewhat modern versions of caribou,musk ox,elk,and saiga antelope.These grazers supported in turn a number of impressive carnivores,including the giant short-faced bear,the saber-tooth cat,and a large species of lion.④The presence of mammal species that require grassland vegetation has led Arctic biologist Dale Guthrie to argue that while cold and dry, there must have been broad areas of dense vegetation to support herds of mammoth,horse,and bison.Further,nearly all of the ice-age fauna had teeth that indicate an adaptation to grasses and sedges;they could not have been supported by a modern flora of mosses and lichens. Guthrie has also demonstrated that the landscape must have been subject to intense and continuous winds,especially in winter.He makes this argument based on the anatomy of horse and bison,which do not have the ability to search for food through deep snow cover.They needlandscapes with strong winds that remove the winter snows,exposing the dry grasses beneath.Guthrie applied the term“mammoth steppe"to characterize this landscape.⑤In contrast,Paul Colinvaux has offered a counterargument based on the analysis of pollen in lake sediments dating to the last ice age.He found that the amount of pollen recovered in these sediments is so low that the Beringian landscape during the peak of the last glaciation was more likely to have been what he termed a"polar desert,"with little or only sparse vegetation,in no way was it possible that this region could have supported large herds of mammals and thus,human hunters. Guthrie has argued against this view by pointing out that radiocarbon analysis of mammoth,horse,and bison bones from Beringian deposits revealed that the bones date to the period of most intense glaciation.⑥The argument seemed to be at a standstill until a number of recent studies resulted in a spectacular suite of new finds.The first was the discovery of a1,000-square-kilometer preserved patch of Beringian vegetation dating to just over17,000years ago—the peak of the last ice age.The plants were preserved under a thick ash fall from a volcanic eruption.Investigations of the plants found grasses,sedges,mosses,and many other varieties in a nearly continuous cover,as was predicted by Guthrie.But this vegetation had a thin root mat with no soil formation,demonstrating that there was little long-term stability in plant cover,a finding supporting some of the arguments of Colinvaux.A mixture of continuous but thin vegetation supporting herds of large mammals is one that seems plausible and realistic with the available data.译文洞察白令地貌①在上一次冰期的高峰，东北亚地区（西伯利亚）和阿拉斯加曾由一片广阔的陆地相连，这片土地被叫做白令陆桥。

托福阅读tpo69R-2原文+译文+题目+答案+背景知识

TPO69阅读-2Pacific Ecosystems原文 (1)译文 (2)题目 (4)答案 (8)背景知识 (9)原文Pacific Ecosystems①The Pacific Ocean accounts for one-third of Earth’s surface and half of the world’s ocean area.It has about25,000islands,of which about7,500are oceanic,being relatively far from a continental shore.The great majority of all Pacific islands were born barren of life:hard,dense,volcanic rock pimples on the sea's surface.New Zealand is the chief exception;it is among the continental islands of the western Pacific,together with Fiji,the Solomons,and others to the west.②Life arrived on most other islands by accident or by drift.Some plants arrived by air transport;seeds carried in the digestive tracts of birds account for nearly40 percent of Hawaii's early plants.The first invaders were either creatures that could float well enough,in air or water,to cross stretches of ocean,or those whose seeds could survive a voyage in some bird's gut.At times of lower sea level,land bridges linked,or nearly linked,many islands in the far western Pacific,so some species colonized these islands without being notably good floaters or stowaways.In the eastern Pacific(Easter Island,for example)only the best floaters and travelers arrived and survived.Consequently,the western islands have far more species and far greater biodiversity than do the eastern islands of Polynesia.Mammals found it hard to get anywhere in the island Pacific;only bats and rats successfully colonized east of New Guinea.Almost all species derive from Asia;the early Pacific was an Asian lake,with only a tiny proportion of species from the Americas.As a rule of thumb,the further from Indonesia,the more impoverished the plant and animal life and,in consequence,the less stable and resilient in the face of disturbance. This attenuation is strong for land species,less strong for marine species,and nonexistent for oceanic birds,although fairly strong for land birds.③Pacific ecosystems evolved in relative(but differential)isolation from the continental crucibles of biological evolution.This meant opportunities for speciation:the development of new species occupying ecological niches that elsewhere were already filled.The finches described by the naturalist Charles Darwin on the Galapagos Islands—birds that divided into different species,each specialized for a narrow niche—are the classic example.On islands that had no mammals,reptiles and birds took their place.Thus the Galapagos have giant tortoises,and New Zealand once had giant birds that functioned more or less like browsing or grazing mammals.Throughout most of the Pacific,the paucity of grazing animals meant that plants developed no defenses,such as spines, poisonous chemicals,or bitterness.The remoter islands had a very high proportion of endemism—that is，of species that existed only there.In the case of Hawaii,as many as99percent of the species were endemic.All this led to a certain biological vulnerability among the terrestrial island species,should they ever be obliged to compete for niche space with the winners of the more intense continental competitions for survival.This vulnerability increased toward the east and toward the remoter corners of the Pacific along a gradient defined chiefly by the degree of isolation.④A second source of vulnerability,perhaps more decisive,arose from the arrival of humankind in the Pacific.Island animals evolved with no experience of the ways of humankind,or indeed of any large terrestrial predators.As a result,they had no immunities to predators or the effects of human action.Pacific animals were often unwary and easy prey.At the extreme,again the Galapagos,Darwin found many birds almost tame,so naively trusting that they would allow him to get within arm’s reach.Pacific plants had little experience with fire,because natural fires were very rare,except in a few places.Thus few plants were well adapted to fire,and most proved vulnerable to it.In contrast,continental species that had evolved in the presence of humankind,or in places where natural fire is much more common, could recover easily after burns,and some could flourish as a result of fire.In short, Pacific ecosystems were different from continental ones on account of their isolation.They were well adapted to their circumstances but very vulnerable to alien invasion and human impact.译文太平洋生态系统①太平洋占地球表面的三分之一，占世界海洋面积的一半。

TOEFL新托福阅读背景知识汇总

TOEFL新托福阅读背景知识汇总TOEFL新托福阅读背景学问汇总为了让大家更好的预备托福考试，我给大家整理新托福阅读背景学问汇总，下面我就和大家共享，来观赏一下吧。

新托福阅读背景学问：现代派文学的兴起两次世界大战之间从第一次世界大战到其次次世界大战，是US文学的其次次富强时期。

20年月，各种流派相继消失，表现了高度进展的资本主义社会的种.种冲突和精神世界方面的问题。

30年月基本上是左翼文学占主导地位，从30年月后期起，文学界分化成各个流派，又消失了纷坛多样的局面。

总的来说，现代派文学与左翼文学是这个时期两股最大的文学思潮。

从这个时期起，US文学开头发生世界性的影响。

1930年后，US作家间续得到诺贝尔文学奖金。

现代派文学的兴起20世纪初，US的经济有了很大进展。

垄断资本进一步集中，大城市人口密集，工农运动规模越来越大。

社会面貌与人的精神面貌，已非19世纪传统现实主义手法与惠特曼式的风格所能精确反映。

大战前的最初10年为孕育新的风格、新的流派作了预备。

欧洲的现代派文艺不断介绍到US。

19世纪下半期US的诗歌处于过渡阶段，继惠特曼后只消失了一个重要诗人艾米莉·狄更生。

她一反浮夸的浪漫主义诗风，以不规章的韵律、奇怪的对比和自由的联想，打开了通向US现代诗的道路。

1912年，《诗刊》在芝加哥创办，标志着现代派文艺的开头。

《诗刊》的头3卷里，消失了庞德(1885-1973)、韦·林赛(1879-1931)、艾·洛威尔(1874-1925)、威·卡·威廉斯(1883-1963)、桑德堡(1878-1967)、沃·斯蒂文斯(1879-1955)、艾·李·马斯特斯(1868-1950)、玛·莫尔(1887-1972)等人的作品。

这些人后来都成为US有成就的诗人。

其中有意象主义者，有接近劳动人民的芝加哥诗派，有20世纪的田园诗人，有新的乡土主义者，有抽象哲理派诗人。

新托福阅读背景知识精选篇

新托福阅读背景知识精选篇新托福阅读背景知识：大苹果纽约大苹果纽约纽约，世界最大的城市，在这里，摩天大厦林立，有著名的第五大道(Fifth Avenue俗称第五街)、对世界经济极具影响力的华尔街Wall Street，以及艺术家们响往的格林威治村Greenwich Village。

帝国大厦EmpireStateBuilding长时期来象征著纽约摩天大楼的高达102层超高层大厦。

顶层高度达1，250英尺(381公尺)。

在第86楼上有一展望台，气候晴朗时，可以眺望周围50英里以内的景色。

洛克斐勒中心Rockefeller Center呈现美国典型的一面，在都市建筑学方面也颇饶兴趣的商业与娱乐中心。

自第49街与第50街之间，通过第五街的Promenade Gardens内，四季花草茂盛，美丽如图画，公园四周是具有代表性意义的大厦，诸如Paulding、RadioCityMusicHall,CenterTheatre等。

NBC与ABC的制作室就是RCA大厦的第70楼。

自由女神StatueofLiberty世界著名的自由女神像，位于纽约湾的利勃坦岛上，像高约46公尺。

自由女神像内部中空，可搭电梯直达神像头部。

此外，还有新设的移民博物馆Immigration Museum。

联合国theUnitedNations纽约的历史系由曼顿产生，而现代世界史则与联合国密切相关。

自第42街起直到第48街上，在广达18英亩的地基上，就兴建着著名的联合国大厦。

联合国容许观光客依到达先后次序入内参观会议情形。

中国城Chinatown中国城已具有百年以上的历史，城内居住的华裔第二代约有六千人。

中国城位于Chatham Square的西边一部份，城中主要街道为Mott。

城内有中国博物馆。

大都会美术馆TheMetropolitanMuseumofArt乃是世界最大美术馆之一。

自由代东方到现代，有关美术史的重要事项，一一呈现眼前。

内中有一美国馆，可由馆中陈列品窥知初期美国人的生活状况。

新托福阅读背景知识汇总

新托福阅读背景知识汇总新托福阅读背景知识：19世纪后半叶经济迅速发展南北战争后，由于南部种植园制度的废除，为资本主义在全国范围的发展创造了条件;造船业和机器制造业迅速发展，横贯大陆的4条铁路建成，西部广大土地的垦殖，边疆的消失，促进了国内统一市场的形成和扩大。

在中西部、远西部和南部日益开拓进程中，各地区发展了具有本地特点的工业。

外国移民的大量涌入，提供了丰富的劳动力，使北美能够大规模进行农业生产。

19世纪后半叶农业机械化迅速发展。

从1860-1916年，耕地面积由4.07亿英亩增加到8.79亿英亩，改良的土地面积扩大了3倍多，小麦和玉米的产量约增加了3倍多。

农业中大生产排挤和兼并小生产，在以工业为主的北部，农业日益采用集约耕作，在其他地区，大农场数字逐渐增加，1900年美国农产品总数的一半是由1/6的大农户生产的，形成了美国式农业资本主义发展道路。

19世纪后半叶，科学技术领域有重要发明和突破，其中首推电力的应用;1876年A.G：贝尔发明电话机，1886年T.A.爱迪生制造了电灯，1892年杜里雅兄弟试制成功汽车，1903年莱特兄弟试制飞机航行成功。

电力广泛应用于工业，导致美国经济的全面发展。

1880年工业在全国生产总值中的比重已超过农业，工业生产总值由1860年的世界第4位，跃居至1894年的首位。

美国成为高度发达的资本主义国家。

第一次世界大战前的内外政策(1889—1914)1889年美国召开泛美会议，1898年美西战争爆发，美国击败了西班牙，夺取了加勒比海的古巴和波多黎各、太平洋的关岛及菲律宾群岛，接着合并了夏威夷群岛。

1903年美国夺取了巴拿马运河区。

在远东，1899年美国提出对华“门户开放”政策。

美国在1904-1905年日俄战争中支持日本。

在日俄战争结束后，美日双方经过谈判，于1908年签订了罗脱—高平协定。

在1912年总统选举中，民主党总统候选人T.W.威尔逊上台。

威尔逊以“新自由”作为号召进行改革，降低关税，建立联邦储备银行制度，通过克莱顿反托拉斯法(1914)，征收累进所得税。

tpo50三篇托福阅读TOEFL原文译文题目答案背景知识

tpo50三篇托福阅读TOEFL原文译文题目答案背景知识阅读-1 (2)原文 (2)译文 (5)题目 (7)答案 (16)背景知识 (18)阅读-2 (21)原文 (21)译文 (24)题目 (27)答案 (35)背景知识 (37)阅读-3 (41)原文 (41)译文 (44)题目 (47)答案 (54)背景知识 (55)阅读-1原文American Railroads①In the United States,railroads spearheaded the second phase of the transportation revolution by overtaking the previous importance of canals.The mid-1800s saw a great expansion of American railroads. The major cities east of the Mississippi River were linked by a spiderweb of railroad tracks.Chicago's growth illustrates the impact of these rail links.In1849Chicago was a village of a few hundred people with virtually no rail service.By1860it had become a city of100,000, served by eleven railroads.Farmers to the north and west of Chicago no longer had to ship their grain,livestock,and dairy products down the Mississippi River to New Orleans;they could now ship their products directly east.Chicago supplanted New Orleans as the interior of America's main commercial hub.②The east-west rail lines stimulated the settlement and agricultural development of the Midwest.By1860Illinois,Indiana,and Wisconsin had replaced Ohio,Pennsylvania,and New York as the leading wheat-growing states.Enabling farmers to speed their products to the East,railroads increased the value of farmland and promotedadditional settlement.In turn,population growth in agricultural areas triggered industrial development in cities such as Chicago,Davenport (Iowa),and Minneapolis,for the new settlers needed lumber for fences and houses and mills to grind wheat into flour.③Railroads also propelled the growth of small towns along their routes.The Illinois Central Railroad,which had more track than any other railroad in1855,made money not only from its traffic but also from real estate speculation.Purchasing land for stations along its path, the Illinois Central then laid out towns around the stations.The selection of Manteno,Illinois,as a stop of the Illinois Central,for example,transformed the site from a crossroads without a single house in1854into a bustling town of nearly a thousand in1860, replete with hotels,lumberyards,grain elevators,and gristmills.By the Civil War(1861-1865),few thought of the railroad-linked Midwest as a frontier region or viewed its inhabitants as pioneers.④As the nation's first big business,the railroads transformed the conduct of business.During the early1830s,railroads,like canals, depended on financial aid from state governments.With the onset of economic depression in the late1830s,however,state governments scrapped overly ambitious railroad projects.Convinced that railroads burdened them with high taxes and blasted hopes,voters turnedagainst state aid,and in the early1840s,several states amended their constitutions to bar state funding for railroads and canals.The federal government took up some of the slack,but federal aid did not provide a major stimulus to railroads before1860.Rather,part of the burden of finance passed to city and county governments in agricultural areas that wanted to attract railroads.Such municipal governments,for example,often gave railroads rights-of-way,grants of land for stations, and public funds.⑤The dramatic expansion of the railroad network in the1850s, however,strained the financing capacity of local governments and required a turn toward private investment,which had never been absent from the picture.Well aware of the economic benefits of railroads,individuals living near them had long purchased railroad stock issued by governments and had directly bought stock in railroads, often paying by contributing their labor to building the railroads.But the large railroads of the1850s needed more capital than such small investors could generate.Gradually,the center of railroad financing shifted to New York City,and in fact,it was the railroad boom of the 1850s that helped make Wall Street in New York City the nation's greatest capital market.The stocks of all the leading railroads were traded on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during the1850s. In addition,the growth of railroads turned New York City into thecenter of modern investment firms.The investment firms evaluated the stock of railroads in the smaller American cities and then found purchasers for these stocks in New York City,Philadelphia,Paris, London,Amsterdam,and Hamburg.Controlling the flow of funds to railroads,the investment bankers began to exert influence over the railroads'internal affairs by supervising administrative reorganizations in times of trouble.译文美国铁路①在美国，铁路超越了运河从前的重要性，成为运输革命第二阶段的先锋。

TOEFL阅读背景知识

TOEFL阅读背景知识为了让大家更好的准备托福考试，给大家整理新托福阅读背景知识，下面就和大家分享，来欣赏一下吧。

新托福阅读背景知识：地球的旋转时间变短地球的旋转时间变短We have been talking about some of the effects that the human beings had on the earth. One you may not be aware of is that we actually begin to change the length of the day. In the other way to say, one day is the amount of time the earth needs to spin completely around an axis, the imaginary line around the center of the earth, from the north to the south. And of course there are a lot of physical causes th at can affect the speed of the earth’s rotation, but there was only one that is direct result of the human activity. Since 1950, human beings have built about ten thousand artificial reservoirs all over the world. These reservoirs have redistributed tremendous amount of the earth water. When they are used to be in the area near the equator, the imaginary line surround the middle of the earth, it’s now the reservoirs in the areas of differentlatitudes. The latitude matters because, well, thinking the earth and axis, the equator contains the areas on the earth that are the farthest away from axis. So water has been redistributed from the equator regions, then wherever the water is, to it’s close to the earth axis. It’s like when ice skaters perform spins when those skaters put their arms enclose to their bodies, they spin faster. So the earth is spinning faster because the reservoirs have redistributed the water close to its axis. And because the earth was spinning faster, since 1950 the length of day has decreased by about 8 millionths of second. I know that doesn’t sound like much but significant in that this is the first time that human beings ever had measurable affect on the earth’s motion.新托福阅读背景知识：潮汐发电潮汐发电凡在海边上生活过的人都知道，海水时进时退，海面时涨时落。

托福阅读背景知识汇总

托福阅读背景知识汇总托福考试中，阅读想要做的又快有准确，不仅需要提升英语阅读能力，还要掌握阅读背景知识。

下面就和大家分享托福阅读背景知识知多少，来欣赏一下吧。

托福阅读背景知识知多少阅读背景知识汇总一.考古学(archaeology)题材1.文化(cultural )考古学形态(physical)考古学(多见)2.化石(fossil )化石构成。

化石比原物更沉重(矿物质环境)化石形成原因。

坚硬物质，迅速掩埋。

化石与动物的进化关系。

3.人的左右手使用工具。

证据：敲击的划痕;手柄的形状。

牙齿上的划痕。

大脑左右半球的大小差别;趾骨的粗细差别。

作画时人像的方向4.古代陶瓷的考古。

Clay，model，wheel (转盘)，glaze，kiln5.古代文字的考古。

二.印第安题材1.白令海峡移民理论2.印第安文化3.印第安宗教观4.印第安建筑业：大、先进。

5.印第安手工业：好。

6.社会组织结构：严密、分工细、凝聚力强。

7.农业先进：A. irrigation; B. maize，squash，bean，pea。

三.动植物题材(必考)1.植物学题材(不多见)地衣、苔、真菌、蘑菇最常见。

树冠上方生物。

植物在生态平衡中的作用。

2.动物学题材(90%以上)考普通动物为多。

最近常考鸟类、蚂蚁、动物智能与灭绝(联系天文学与冰河理论)。

考动物进化(evolution)。

考动物的分类(classification)。

phyla(单数phylum)—门class—纲order—目family—科genus—属species—种carnivore/predator—食肉动物herbivore—食草动物omnivore—杂食动物动物的生活习性最为多见。

群居(social animal)动物的习性蚂蚁：社会组织结构—等级制(caste)：交流方式—信息素—气味;生活****;外来物种的有害性。

蜜蜂：群居个性;“8”字舞;蜜蜂智能;防御;天敌—大黄蜂。

tpo46三篇托福阅读TOEFL原文译文题目答案背景知识

tpo46三篇托福阅读TOEFL原文译文题目答案译文背景知识阅读-1 (2)原文 (2)译文 (5)题目 (8)答案 (15)背景知识 (16)阅读-2 (17)原文 (17)译文 (21)题目 (23)答案 (30)背景知识 (31)阅读-3 (34)原文 (34)译文 (38)题目 (40)答案 (48)背景知识 (49)阅读-1原文The Origins of Writing①It was in Egypt and Mesopotamia(modern-day Iraq)that civilization arose,and it is there that we find the earliest examples of that key feature of civilization,writing.These examples,in the form of inscribed clay tablets that date to shortly before3000B.C.E.,have been discovered among the archaeological remains of the Sumerians,a gifted people settled in southern Mesopotamia.②The Egyptians were not far behind in developing writing, but we cannot follow the history of their writing in detail because they used a perishable writing material.In ancient times the banks of the Nile were lined with papyrus plants, and from the papyrus reeds the Egyptians made a form of paper;it was excellent in quality but,like any paper,fragile. Mesopotamia’s rivers boasted no such useful reeds,but its land did provide good clay,and as a consequence the clay tablet became the standard material.Though clumsy and bulky it has a virtue dear to archaeologists:it is durable.Fire, for example,which is death to papyrus paper or otherwriting materials such as leather and wood,simply bakes it hard,thereby making it even more durable.So when a conqueror set a Mesopotamian palace ablaze,he helped ensure the survival of any clay tablets in it.Clay,moreover, is cheap,and forming it into tablets is easy,factors that helped the clay tablet become the preferred writing material not only throughout Mesopotamia but far outside it as well,in Syria,Asia Minor,Persia,and even for a while in Crete and Greece.Excavators have unearthed clay tablets in all these lands.In the Near East they remained in use for more than two and a half millennia,and in certain areas they lasted down to the beginning of the common era until finally yielding,once and for all,to more convenient alternatives.③The Sumerians perfected a style of writing suited to clay. This script consists of simple shapes,basically just wedge shapes and lines that could easily be incised in soft clay with a reed or wooden stylus;scholars have dubbed it cuneiform from the wedge-shaped marks(cunei in Latin)that are its hallmark.Although the ingredients are merely wedges and lines,there are hundreds of combinations of these basic forms that stand for different sounds or words.Learningthese complex signs required long training and much practice;inevitably,literacy was largely limited to a small professional class,the scribes.④The Akkadians conquered the Sumerians around the middle of the third millennium B.C.E.,and they took over the various cuneiform signs used for writing Sumerian and gave them sound and word values that fit their own language.The Babylonians and Assyrians did the same,and so did peoples in Syria and Asia Minor.The literature of the Sumerians was treasured throughout the Near East,and long after Sumerian ceased to be spoken,the Babylonians and Assyrians and others kept it alive as a literary language, the way Europeans kept Latin alive after the fall of Rome. For the scribes of these non-Sumerian languages,training was doubly demanding since they had to know the values of the various cuneiform signs for Sumerian as well as for their own language.⑤The contents of the earliest clay tablets are simple notations of numbers of commodities—animals,jars, baskets,etc.Writing,it would appear,started as a primitive form of bookkeeping.Its use soon widened to document the multitudinous things and acts that are involved in daily life,from simple inventories of commodities to complicated governmental rules and regulations.⑥Archaeologists frequently find clay tablets in batches.The batches,some of which contain thousands of tablets, consist for the most part of documents of the types just mentioned:bills,deliveries,receipts,inventories,loans, marriage contracts,divorce settlements,court judgments, and so on.These records of factual matters were kept in storage to be available for reference-they were,in effect, files,or,to use the term preferred by specialists in the ancient Near East,archives.Now and then these files include pieces of writing that are of a distinctly different order,writings that do not merely record some matter of fact but involve creative intellectual activity.They range from simple textbook material to literature-and they make an appearance very early,even from the third millennium B C E.译文文字的起源①文明就是在埃及和美索不达米亚（今天的伊拉克）兴起的，在那里我们找到了文明的关键特征——书写的最早例子。

托福阅读tpo34R-2原文+译文+题目+答案+背景知识

托福阅读tpo34R-2原文+译文+题目+答案+背景知识原文The Development of Steam Power①By the eighteenth century,Britain was experiencing a severe shortage of energy. Because of the growth of population,most of the great forests of medieval Britain had long ago been replaced by fields of grain and hay.Wood was in ever-shorter supply,yet it remained tremendously important.It served as the primary source of heat for all homes and industries and as a basic raw material.Processed wood (charcoal)was the fuel that was mixed with iron ore in the blast furnace to produce pig iron(raw iron).The iron industry’s appetite for wood was enormous, and by1740the British iron industry was stagnating.Vast forests enabled Russia to become the world’s leading producer of iron,much of which was exported to Britain.But Russia’s potential for growth was limited too,and in a few decades Russia would reach the barrier of inadequate energy that was already holding England back.②As this early energy crisis grew worse,Britain looked toward its abundant and widely scattered reserves of coal as an alternative to its vanishing wood.Coal was first used in Britain in the late Middle Ages as a source of heat.By1640most homes in London were heated with it,and it also provided heat for making beer, glass,soap,and other products.Coal was not used,however,to produce mechanical energy or to power machinery.It was there that coal’s potential was enormous.③As more coal was produced,mines were dug deeper and deeper and were constantly filling with water.Mechanical pumps,usually powered by hundreds of horses waling in circles at the surface,had to be installed.Such power was expensive and bothersome.In an attempt to overcome these disadvantages, Thomas Savery in1698and Thomas Newcomen in1705invented the first primitive steam engines.Both engines were extremely inefficient.Both burned coal to produce steam,which was then used to operate a pump.However,by the early 1770s,many of the Savery engines and hundreds of the Newcomen engines were operating successfully,though inefficiently,in English and Scottish mines.④In the early1760s,a gifted young Scot named James Watt was drawn to a critical study of the steam engine.Watt was employed at the time by the University of Glasgow as a skilled crafts worker making scientific instruments.In1763,Watt was called on to repair a Newcomen engine being used in a physics course.After a series of observations,Watt saw that the Newcomen’s waste of energy could be reduced by adding a separate condenser.This splendid invention,patented in1769, greatly increased the efficiency of the steam engine.The steam engine of Watt and his followers was the technological advance that gave people,at least for a while, unlimited power and allowed the invention and use of all kinds of power equipment.⑤The steam engine was quickly put to use in several industries in Britain.It drained mines and made possible the production of ever more coal to feed steam engines elsewhere.The steam power plant began to replace waterpower in the cotton-spinning mills as well as other industries during the1780s,contributing to a phenomenal rise in industrialization.The British iron industry was radically transformed.The use of powerful,steam-driven bellows in blast furnaces helped iron makers switch over rapidly from limited charcoal to unlimited coke(which is made from coal)in the smelting of pig iron(the process of refining impure iron) after1770.In the1780s,Henry Cort developed the puddling furnace,which allowed pig iron to be refined in turn with coke.Cort also developed heavy-duty, steam-powered rolling mills,which were capable of producing finished iron in every shape and form.⑥The economic consequence of these technical innovations in steam power was a great boom in the British iron industry.In1740annual British iron production was only17,000tons,but by1844,with the spread of coke smelting and the impact of Cort’s inventions,it had increased to3,000,000tons.This was a truly amazing expansion.Once scarce and expensive,iron became cheap,basic,and indispensable to the economy.译文蒸汽动力的发展①到18世纪，英国已经出现了严重的能源短缺。