2015年7月12日托福考试阅读机经回忆

综合点评

第一篇阅读文章难度较大,涉及到古罗马的相关历史， 同话题文章在2014年6月8日和2012年4月18日也曾经考察过； TPO 中也多次出现关于罗马的文章， 考生在参加考试前需要充分了解相关的历史背景，否则在阅读时会有一定的阅读障碍。 本次考试的后两篇文章涉及到生命科学，属于托福的常态性话题，在TPO中有许多相关文章，昨天的第一篇阅读加试考得也是生命科学，难度中等，解题的重点是对于一些相关的专业单词有所了解。

Passage one

学科分类

题目

History

Roman Empire

内容回忆

五世纪的罗马帝国，分东西罗马。西罗马皇帝驾崩，少子即位 大权旁落，被年长的摄政王控制，还涉及到了继承人问题。文章讨论了东罗马比西罗马更强大的原因在于边境，人口和文化的unity.最后阐述了任用日耳曼军人的原因造成西罗马帝国的衰落

参考阅读

TPO 8 The Rise of Teotihuacan

TPO 19 The Roman Army’s impact on Britain  

补充阅读：

Eastern Versus Western Roman Empire Compared

　　The disintegration of the Roman Empire began in earnest during the 3rd Century. As frontiers along the Rhine River began to crumble, barbarians from the Germanic regions began to cross into Roman territory. Poor imperial leadership, often resulting in civil war between competing would-be emperors, contributed to the growing weakness.

　　Although many of the early barbarian groups had no specific desire to conquer Rome, they were enticed by Roman civilization and prosperity while frequently fleeing other barbarian groups moving into Central Europe from the east. By the 4th Century, following the reign of Constantine the Great, the last emperor to rule over a unified Rome, the division between east and west was complete.

　　East versus West in Latter Imperial Times

　　The Eastern Empire was vastly different from the West. The East contained the largest population centers and the wealthiest cities. The moving of the capital to Constantinople by Constantine added the element of prestige and signified the importance of the East. Dominated by ancient civilizations that predated Rome, the East was far more eclectic and open to competing philosophies and religious ideals. The Christian population in the East, for example, was substantially higher than in the West.

　　The West was more prone to barbarian incursions as Germanic tribes invaded Gaul and eventually Italy during the 5th Century. Western legions were often composed of barbarian recruits, men that had no loyalty to Rome nor shared common interests related to imperial goals. As civil government crumbled, the Catholic Church emerged as both civil and spiritual leader under the auspices of local bishops whose seats coincided with the Roman civitates.

　　Although the Byzantine Emperor Justinian attempted to reunify the empire in the 6th Century, barbarian groups like the Lombards, Allemani, Vandals, and Franks continued to separate the West from the East. This separation resulted in the remnants of the Western Empire transforming into a new civilization independent of the rise of the Eastern Byzantine Empire.

　　Religion, Law, and Culture

　　Western European civilization has been defined as the product of Roman culture, the Christian Church, and barbarian culture and traditions. In the West, Latin Christianity dominated religious tradition while in the East, Orthodoxy emerged as the primary religious faith tradition. The East refused to acknowledge the Roman pope or pontiff as the supreme head of the Christian Church, vesting authority instead in the Patriarch of Constantinople who was appointed by the emperor.

　　The East continued to practice Roman law, codified in the 6th Century by Justinian. This code would not be reintroduced in the West until the 11th and 12 Centuries. Western law was an amalgamation of pagan Germanic law, based on the Wergeld model, and Canon Law. With a liberal dose of superstition, such as trial by water and compurgation, post-Roman western law lost the Roman element of due process.

　　Eastern Roman Empire

　　The Eastern Roman Empire was the eastern part of the Roman Empire after the one united Roman Empire became too bloated to be ruled by one Emperor, and was divided into an Eastern and Western half. The East based it's capital in the city of Constantinople, not Rome. Unlike the Western Roman Empire, its people spoke Greek, not Latin and had a largely Greek culture and identity. The Eastern Roman Empire also encompassed the extremely wealthy provinces, including most of the Aegean sea, Anatolia, Egypt, and part of North Africa. Though extremely rich, the Eastern Empire was plagued by internal instability and foreign invasions. The Eastern Roman Empire will start off with a large number of provinces, but will be on the verge of collapse. Heavy cavalry will be their greatest asset, and vital to the success of the Eastern Empire.

　　The Eastern Roman Empire lies between Europe and Asia and connects Orient and Occident. Due to its location, it has developed a unique culture and military. While the Empire's primary enemy is Sassanid Persia to the east, the approaching barbarian hordes from the west may become a considerable problem as well. Furthermore, if the people are unhappy and revolt a Roman shadow faction - namely the Eastern Roman Rebels - can emerge; they are a dangerous enemy, as they have powerful Roman troops as well.

　　One of the richest factions, the Eastern Roman Empire's army is a mixture of Eastern-style cavalry and Roman infantry (which, like the Western counterpart, is inferior to that of the earlier period). The Eastern Roman Empire has very good cavalry including Cataphracts, Clibinarii (which are very heavily armored cavalry, somewhat similar to Cataphracts), and Dromedarii, as well as excellent archer units. It is also more stable and prosperous than its Western counterpart.

　　The Western Roman Empire, less urbanized and less densely populated, experienced an economic decline throughout the late empire. The East was not so destitute, as Emperors like Constantine the Great and Constantius II had invested heavily in the eastern economy.

　　As a result the Eastern Roman Empire could afford large numbers of professional soldiers and augment them with mercenaries, while the Western Roman Empire couldn't afford this to the same extent. Even in the case of a major defeat, the Eastern Roman Emperors could easily buy its enemies off with a ransom.

　　Western Roman Empire

　　The Western Roman Empire was the western part of the Roman Empire which, later, became known as The Holy Roman Empire. By 285 CE the Roman Empire had grown so vast that it was no longer feasible to govern all the provinces from the central seat of Rome. The Emperor Diocletian divided the empire into halves with the Eastern Empire governed out of Byzantium (later Constantinople) and the Western Empire governed from Rome. Both sections were known equally as `The Roman Empire' although, in time, the Eastern Empire would adopt Greek instead of Latin and would lose much of the character of the traditional Roman Empire.

　　The two halves of the empire continued to prosper equally until the reign of the Emperor Theodosius I (379 - 395 CE) when internal and external forces exerted themselves to break the two halves apart. These forces included, but were not limited to: the excessive zeal of Theodosius I in spreading Christianity and stamping out pagan practices; corruption of the ruling class; incursions by Germanic tribes; and over-extension of boundaries and resources. The Gothic War of 376-382 CE severely weakened the Western Empire even though the battles were routinely fought by forces from the Eastern Empire. At the Battle of Adrianople in 378 CE, the Western Emperor Valens was defeated and historians agree that this marks the beginning of the end of the Western Roman Empire. A steady decline in power and prestige followed the defeat at Adrianople and culminated in the last Roman Emperor, Romulus Augustus, deposed by the Germanic king Odoacer on 4 September 476 CE.

　　While this is the traditionally accepted date for the end of the Western Roman Empire, that entity did continue on under the rule of Julius Nepos until his death in 480 CE. After Nepos' death, Odoacer annexed the Western Empire to his own lands. Following the failed attempt by Theodoric the Great of the Ostrogoths to wrest power from Odoacer, the latter consolidated his kingdom and the Western Roman Empire became the Kingdom of Italy, fully under the control of Germanic rulers.

　　As Christianity had been legitimized and spread under Roman rule, there were many Christians who refused to let the Roman Empire die so easily. Charlemagne of the Franks was proclaimed Western Roman Emperor in 800 CE by Pope Leo III and entrusted with the charge of protecting and perpetuating the Christian message. Many tales and poems, including the famous Chanson de Roland (the Song of Roland), were written praising Charlemagne and his knights for their chivalrous adventures defending Christian values.

　　The official beginning of the new empire, however, dates from 962 CE when Otto I of Germany was crowned King of Germany and proclaimed his realm The Holy Roman Empire of Germany. Otto I continued the policies of maintaining a Christian nation following Charlemagne's example. The Holy Roman Empire continued to see itself in this role as an entity championing truth until, through a slow decline involving political intrigue, almost incessant war and constant internal strife, it was dissolved in 1806 CE following defeat by Napoleon Bonaparte. The famous French writer, Voltaire, is quoted as saying in 1756 CE, "This agglomeration which was called and which still calls itself the Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire" and historians since Voltaire have agreed. The Holy Roman Empire was so in name only and after the last mperor, Francis II, abdicated the throne, Napoleon disassembled the existing political structure which supported said name and the territory came under French control through the Confederation of the Rhine.

Passage two

学科分类

题目

Biology

Features of Tropical Mammals

内容回忆

The habit of tropical mammals.整篇文章介绍了热带的哺乳动物的生活习性和特点。文章对比了在temperate zone 的mammals和tropical mammals 之间的不同。 热带的mammals不需要忍受极端的温度，只是经历了干湿季。在干季，由于吃的少，不能像温带动物一样冬眠，tropical mammals主要依赖水果为主食。然后热带的独特气候使得成为某些动物的栖息地， 举了bat 种类为例子，蝙蝠的种类和数量都比北美的多，因为食物习性不同。

参考阅读

OG Feeding Habits of East African Herbivores

TPO 15 A Warm-blooded Turtle

Passage three

学科分类

题目

Entomology

Honey bee

内容回忆

有关蜜蜂，分别介绍了worker bee, drone 还有queen.  The main responsibility of drone is mating and when they finish their job, they will be expelled or killed. The worker bee has many jobs, such as food storage, nesting and guards. They have many means to communicate with each other, for example waggle dance.

参考阅读

TPO 11 Begging by Nesting

TPO 11 Orientation and Navigation

　Bees

　　Flowers provide food for bees. The bees collect tiny grains of pollen and a sweet liquid called nectar from the blossoms they visit. They make honey from the nectar, and use both honey and pollen as food. of six-sided compartments called cells.

　　Worker bees build the honeycomb of wax produced by their bodies. The wax oozes through small pores (holes) in the body and forms tiny white flakes on the outside of the abdomen.

　　They also collect a sticky substance bee glue, from certain kinds of trees.

　　The body of the honey bee

　　A bee has five eyes-three small ones that form a triangle on top of its head, and a large compound eye on each side of its head.

　　Honey bees were the first insects known to be able to distinguish colors. Bees have three kinds of color-sensitive cells in their eyes. These visual cells are especially sensitive to blue, yellow, and ultraviolet rays, which humans cannot see.

　　The sting of a worker bee is straight, with barbs (hooks) on it. When the bee thrusts the sting into flesh, the barbs hold tight, and the stinger pulls out of the bee's body.

所考词汇

Imply, more permeable, unfavorable explicit, pursue comparative upon reflection, prompted, expel consult