托福TPO6Part2閱讀文本及答案解析
托福TPO是我們托福閱讀的重要參考資料，為了方便大家備考，下面小編給大家整理了托福TPO6Part2閱讀文本及答案解析，希望大家喜歡。
托福TPO6閱讀文本Part2
William Smith
In 1769 in a little town in Oxfordshire, England, a child with the very ordinary name of William Smith was born into the poor family of a village blacksmith. He received rudimentary village schooling, but mostly he roamed his uncle's farm collecting the fossils that were so abundant in the rocks of the Cotswold hills. When he grew older, William Smith taught himself surveying from books he bought with his small savings, and at the age of eighteen he was apprenticed to a surveyor of the local parish. He then proceeded to teach himself geology, and when he was twenty-four, he went to work for the company that was excavating the Somerset Coal Canal in the south of England.
This was before the steam locomotive, and canal building was at its height. The companies building the canals to transport coal needed surveyors to help them find the coal deposits worth mining as well as to determine the best courses for the canals. This job gave Smith an opportunity to study the fresh rock outcrops created by the newly dug canal. He later worked on similar jobs across the length and breadth of England, all the while studying the newly revealed strata and collecting all the fossils he could find. Smith used mail coaches to travel as much as 10,000 miles per year. In 1815 he published the first modern geological map, "A Map of the Strata of England and Wales with a Part of Scotland," a map so meticulously researched that it can still be used today.
In 1831 when Smith was finally recognized by the Geological Society of London as the "father of English geology," it was not only for his maps but also for something even more important. Ever since people had begun to catalog the strata in particular outcrops, there had been the hope that these could somehow be used to calculate geological time. But as more and more accumulations of strata were cataloged in more and more places, it became clear that the sequences of rocks sometimes differed from region to region and that no rock type was ever going to become a reliable time marker throughout the world. Even without the problem of regional differences, rocks present a difficulty as unique time markers. Quartz is quartz-a silicon ion surrounded by four oxygen ions-there's no difference at all between two-million-year-old Pleistocene quartz and Cambrian quartz created over 500 million years ago.
As he collected fossils from strata throughout England, Smith began to see that the fossils told a different story from the rocks. Particularly in the younger strata, the rocks were often so similar that he had trouble distinguishing the strata, but he never had trouble telling the fossils apart. While rock between two consistent strata might in one place be shale and in another sandstone, the fossils in that shale or sandstone were always the same. Some fossils endured through so many millions of years that they appear in many strata, but others occur only in a few strata, and a few species had their births and extinctions within one particular stratum. Fossils are thus identifying markers for particular periods in Earth's history.
Not only could Smith identify rock strata by the fossils they contained, he could also see a pattern emerging: certain fossils always appear in more ancient sediments, while others begin to be seen as the strata become more recent. By following the fossils, Smith was able to put all the strata of England's earth into relative temporal sequence. About the same time, Georges Cuvier made the same discovery while studying the rocks around Paris.
Soon it was realized that this principle of faunal (animal) succession was valid not only in England or France but virtually everywhere. It was actually a principle of floral succession as well, because plants showed the same transformation through time as did fauna. Limestone may be found in the Cambrian or-300 million years later-in the Jurassic strata, but a trilobite-the ubiquitous marine arthropod that had its birth in the Cambrian-will never be found in Jurassic strata, nor a dinosaur in the Cambrian.
Paragraph 1: In 1769 in a little town in Oxfordshire, England, a child with the very ordinary name of William Smith was born into the poor family of a village blacksmith. He receivedrudimentary village schooling, but mostly he roamed his uncle's farm collecting the fossils that were so abundant in the rocks of the Cotswold hills. When he grew older, William Smith taught himself surveying from books he bought with his small savings, and at the age of eighteen he was apprenticed to a surveyor of the local parish. He then proceeded to teach himself geology, and when he was twenty-four, he went to work for the company that was excavating the Somerset Coal Canal in the south of England.
托福TPO6閱讀題目Part2
1. The word "rudimentary" in the passage is closest in meaning to
○thorough
○strict
○basic
○occasional
2. According to paragraph 1, which of the following statements about William Smith is NOT true?
○Smith learned surveying by reading and by apprenticing for a local surveyor.
○Smith's family lived in a small English town and possessed little wealth.
○Smith learned about fossils from books he borrowed from his uncle.
○Smith eventually left his village to work on the excavation of an English canal.
Paragraph 2: This was before the steam locomotive, and canal building was at its height. The companies building the canals to transport coal needed surveyors to help them find the coal deposits worth mining as well as to determine the best courses for the canals. This job gave Smith an opportunity to study the fresh rock outcrops created by the newly dug canal. He later worked on similar jobs across the length and breadth of England, all the while studying the newly revealed strata and collecting all the fossils he could find. Smith used mail coaches to travel as much as 10,000 miles per year. In 1815 he published the first modern geological map, "A Map of the Strata of England and Wales with a Part of Scotland," a map so meticulously researched that it can still be used today.
3. Which of the following can be inferred from paragraph 2 about canal building?
○ Canals were built primarily in the south of England rather than in other regions.
○ Canal building decreased after the steam locomotive was invented.
○ Canal building made it difficult to study rock strata which often became damaged in the process.
○ Canal builders hired surveyors like Smith to examine exposed rock strata.
4. According to paragraph2, which of the following is true of the map published by William Smith?
○It indicates the locations of England's major canals.
○It became most valuable when the steam locomotive made rail travel possible.
○The data for the map were collected during Smith's work on canals.
○It is no longer regarded as a geological masterpiece.
5. The word "meticulously" in the passage is closest in meaning to
○carefully
○quickly
○frequently
○obviously
Paragraph 3: In 1831 when Smith was finally recognized by the Geological Society of London as the "father of English geology," it was not only for his maps but also for something even more important. Ever since people had begun to catalog the strata in particular outcrops, there had been the hope that these could somehow be used to calculate geological time. But as more and more accumulations of strata were cataloged in more and more places, it became clear that the sequences of rocks sometimes differed from region to region and that no rock type was ever going to become a reliable time marker throughout the world. Even without the problem of regional differences, rocks present a difficulty as unique time markers. Quartz is quartz-a silicon ion surrounded by four oxygen ions-there's no difference at all between two-million-year-old Pleistocene quartz and Cambrian quartz created over 500 million years ago.
6. 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.
○The discovery of regional differences in the sequences of rocks led geologists to believe that rock types could someday become reliable time markers.
○Careful analysis of strata revealed that rocks cannot establish geological time because the pattern of rock layers varies from place to place.
○Smith's catalogs of rock strata indicated that the sequences of rocks are different from place to place and from region to region.
○B(yǎng)ecause people did not catalog regional differences in sequences of rocks, it was believed that rocks could never be reliable time markers.
7. Why does the author use the phrase "Quartz is quartz"?
○To describe how the differences between Pleistocene and Cambrian quartz reveal information about dating rocks
○To point out that the chemical composition of quartz makes it more difficult to date than other rocks
○To provide an example of how regional differences in rock sequences can make a particular rock difficult to date
○To explain that rocks are difficult to use for dating because their chemical compositions always remain the same over time
Paragraph 4: As he collected fossils from strata throughout England, Smith began to see that the fossils told a different story from the rocks. Particularly in the younger strata, the rocks were often so similar that he had trouble distinguishing the strata, but he never had trouble telling the fossils apart. While rock between two consistent strata might in one place be shale and in another sandstone, the fossils in that shale or sandstone were always the same. Some fossils endured through so many millions of years that they appear in many strata, but others occur only in a few strata, and a few species had their births and extinctions within one particular stratum. Fossils are thus identifying markers for particular periods in Earth's history.
8. According to paragraph 4, it was difficult for Smith to distinguish rock strata because
○the rocks from different strata closely resembled each other
○he was often unable to find fossils in the younger rock strata
○their similarity to each other made it difficult for him to distinguish one rock type from another
○the type of rock between two consistent strata was always the same
9. The word "endured" in the passage is closest in meaning to
○vanished
○developed
○varied
○survived
Paragraph 5: Not only could Smith identify rock strata by the fossils they contained, he could also see a pattern emerging: certain fossils always appear in more ancient sediments, while others begin to be seen as the strata become more recent. By following the fossils, Smith was able to put all the strata of England's earth into relative temporal sequence. About the same time, Georges Cuvier made the same discovery while studying the rocks around Paris. Soon it was realized that this principle of faunal (animal) succession was valid not only in England or France but virtually everywhere. It was actually a principle of floral succession as well, because plants showed the same transformation through time as did fauna. Limestone may be found in the Cambrian or-300 million years later-in the Jurassic strata, but a trilobite-the ubiquitous marine arthropod that had its birth in the Cambrian-will never be found in Jurassic strata, nor a dinosaur in the Cambrian.
10. The word "virtually" in the passage is closest in meaning to
○possibly
○absolutely
○surprisingly
○nearly
11. Select the TWO answer choices that are true statements based upon the discussion of the principle of faunal succession in paragraph 5. To receive credit, you must select TWO answers.
○It was a principle that applied to fauna but not to flora.
○It was discovered independently by two different geologists.
○It describes how fossils are distributed in rock strata.
○It explains why plants and animals undergo transformations through time.
12. In mentioning "trilobite", the author is making which of the following points?
○Fossils cannot be found in more than one rock stratum.
○Faunal succession can help put rock layers in relative temporal sequence.
○Faunal succession cannot be applied to different strata composed of the same kind of rock.
○The presence of trilobite fossils makes it difficult to date a rock.
Paragraph 5: Not only could Smith identify rock strata by the fossils they contained, he could also see a pattern emerging: certain fossils always appear in more ancient sediments, while others begin to be seen as the strata become more recent. █By following the fossils, Smith was able to put all the strata of England's earth into relative temporal sequence. █About the same time, Georges Cuvier made the same discovery while studying the rocks around Paris. █Soon it was realized that this principle of faunal (animal) succession was valid not only in England or France but virtually everywhere. █It was actually a principle of floral succession as well, because plants showed the same transformation through time as did fauna. Limestone may be found in the Cambrian or-300 million years later-in the Jurassic strata, but a trilobite-the ubiquitous marine arthropod that had its birth in the Cambrian-will never be found in Jurassic strata, nor a dinosaur in the Cambrian.
13.Look at the four squares [█]that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage
The findings of these geologists inspired others to examine the rock and fossil records in different parts of the world.
Where would the sentence best fit?
14. Directions: An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided below. Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer choices that express the most important ideas in the passage. Some sentences do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are not presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage. This question is worth 2 points.
William Smith's contributions to geology have increased our knowledge of the Earth's history.
●
●
●
Answer Choices
○Smith found success easily in his profession because he came from a family of geologists and surveyors.
○Smith's work on canals allowed him to collect fossils and study rock layers all over England.
○Smith found that fossils are much more reliable indicators of geological time than rock strata are.
○Smith was named "the father of English geology" for his maps rather than for his other contributions to the field.
○Smith and Cuvier discovered that fossil patterns are easier to observe in ancient rock strata than in younger rock strata.
○The discovery of the principle of faunal succession allowed geologists to establish the relative age of Earth's rock layers
托福TPO6閱讀答案Part2
參考答案：
1. ○3
2. ○3
3. ○2
4. ○3
5. ○1
6. ○2
7. ○4.
8. ○1
9. ○4
10. ○4
11. ○2, 3
12. ○2
13. ○3
14. Smith's work on canals allowed
Smith found that fossils are
The discovery of the principle
托福TPO6閱讀翻譯Part2
參考翻譯：威廉;史密斯
1769年，在英國(guó)牛津郡的一個(gè)小鎮(zhèn)上，一個(gè)小男孩兒出生在村里一戶窮鐵匠家，他的名字很普通，叫做威廉o史密斯。史密斯只在村里的學(xué)校接受了最基本的教育，大部分的時(shí)間都是在他叔叔的農(nóng)場(chǎng)里搜尋化石，這些化石在科茨沃爾德山的巖石里是很常見(jiàn)的。長(zhǎng)大后，他開(kāi)始用微薄的積蓄買書自學(xué)測(cè)量，18歲的時(shí)候，史密斯成為了當(dāng)?shù)亟虆^(qū)測(cè)量員的助理。后來(lái)，他又自學(xué)了地質(zhì)學(xué)，24歲的時(shí)候，他開(kāi)始為挖掘英格蘭南部Somerset Coal運(yùn)河的那家公司工作。
那是在蒸汽火車發(fā)明之前，運(yùn)河建筑正處于頂峰時(shí)期。致力于開(kāi)掘運(yùn)河來(lái)運(yùn)輸煤的公司需要測(cè)量員幫助他們探尋值得挖掘的煤礦的地址以及最佳的運(yùn)河路線。這份工作為史密斯提供了機(jī)會(huì)，使他能夠接觸和學(xué)習(xí)那些因?yàn)檫\(yùn)河開(kāi)掘而露出地面的新鮮巖層。后來(lái)他仍從事類似的工作，行遍全國(guó)，不斷地研究那些新出現(xiàn)的地層，同時(shí)收集他所能發(fā)現(xiàn)的化石。史密斯乘著郵件馬車每年行進(jìn)將近1萬(wàn)英里。1815年，他繪制了第一張現(xiàn)代地質(zhì)學(xué)地圖--《英格蘭、威爾士及部分蘇格蘭地區(qū)地層地圖》，這張地質(zhì)地圖繪制得非常精確，直到現(xiàn)在仍有參考價(jià)值。
1831年，史密斯最終被倫敦地質(zhì)學(xué)會(huì)認(rèn)可，并賦予他"英國(guó)地質(zhì)學(xué)之父"的稱號(hào)，這不僅僅是因?yàn)槟菑埖貓D，而且是為了其他更重要的原因。從人們開(kāi)始對(duì)露出地面的特殊巖層進(jìn)行分類的時(shí)候起，大家就開(kāi)始認(rèn)為這些巖石可能會(huì)以某種方式被用于計(jì)算地質(zhì)年代。但是，隨著各地越來(lái)越多的巖層的積累和分類，巖層順序也因地區(qū)的不同而不同，因此，全世界沒(méi)有一種特定的巖層能被認(rèn)作是劃分地質(zhì)年代的標(biāo)志。即便排除區(qū)域差異的影響，巖石作為確定年代的標(biāo)記還是存在一些難題。石英就是石英---四個(gè)氧離子包圍一個(gè)硅離子的化合物--而200萬(wàn)年前更新世的石英和5億年前寒世紀(jì)的石英并無(wú)差別。
史密斯在全英國(guó)的巖層中不斷搜集化石，后來(lái)他發(fā)現(xiàn)化石所反映的史實(shí)和巖石反映的完全不同，尤其是那些新產(chǎn)生的地層里的巖石，這些巖石非常類似，不易于區(qū)分地層。而區(qū)分其中的化石對(duì)史密斯來(lái)說(shuō)簡(jiǎn)直就是輕而易舉。在同一地層中發(fā)現(xiàn)的巖石可能在這片地層中屬于泥板巖，而在另一片地層中可能是砂巖，而在那些泥板巖或者砂巖中的化石往往都是一樣的。有的化石經(jīng)歷了數(shù)百年萬(wàn)之久，它們存在于很多巖層中，但有的化石只存在于部分地層，還有一部分生物的化石從出現(xiàn)至滅絕都只出現(xiàn)在一個(gè)特定的巖層中。因此，化石才是真正劃分地球歷史特定年代的指針。
史密斯不僅可以通過(guò)巖石中包含的化石來(lái)識(shí)別地層，而且可以看出他們顯露出來(lái)的模式：一些特定的化石往往出現(xiàn)在更為久遠(yuǎn)的沉積物當(dāng)中，而其他的化石則可以在距今年代較近的地層中發(fā)現(xiàn)。通過(guò)追蹤化石，史密斯將英國(guó)范圍內(nèi)所有的地層進(jìn)行了彼此出現(xiàn)時(shí)間的排序。同時(shí)，喬治o居維葉在研究巴黎周圍的巖石時(shí)也得出了同樣的發(fā)現(xiàn)。很快人們就開(kāi)始認(rèn)識(shí)到，這種動(dòng)物物種的延續(xù)性是符合邏輯的，不僅僅是在英國(guó)、法國(guó)，而實(shí)際上在全世界范圍都是適用的。事實(shí)上，這一原則同樣適用于證實(shí)植物的延續(xù)性，因?yàn)橹参锖蛣?dòng)物一樣，它們的化石也顯示了時(shí)間的推移。人類有可能在侏羅紀(jì)時(shí)期的地層中發(fā)現(xiàn)寒世紀(jì)或者3億年后的石灰?guī)r，但絕不可能在侏羅紀(jì)時(shí)期地層中發(fā)現(xiàn)三葉蟲化石(三葉蟲是寒世紀(jì)非常普遍的水生節(jié)肢動(dòng)物)，也不可能發(fā)現(xiàn)寒世紀(jì)時(shí)期的恐龍化石。
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托福TPO6Part2閱讀文本及答案解析
