托福阅读TPO7(试题+答案+译文)第1篇:TheGeologicHistoryoftheMediterranean
TPO是我们常用的托福模考工具，对我们的备考很有价值，下面小编给大家带来托福阅读TPO7(试题+答案+译文)第1篇:The Geologic History of the Mediterranean。
托福阅读原文
In 1970 geologists Kenneth J.Hsu and William B.F. Ryan were collecting research data while aboard the oceanographicresearch vessel Glomar Challenger.Anobjective of this particular cruise wasto investigate the floor of theMediterranean and to resolve questions aboutits geologic history. One questionwas related to evidence that theinvertebrate fauna (animals without spines) ofthe Mediterranean had changedabruptly about 6 million years ago. Most of theolder organisms were nearlywiped out, although a few hardy species survived. Afew managed to migrate into the Atlantic.Somewhat later, the migrants returned,bringing new species with them. Why didthe near extinction and migrationsoccur?
Another task for the GlomarChallenger’sscientists was to try to determine the origin of the domelikemasses buried deepbeneath the Mediterranean seafloor. These structures had beendetected yearsearlier by echo-sounding instruments, but they had never beenpenetrated in thecourse of drilling. Were they salt domes such as are commonalong the UnitedStates Gulf Coast, and if so, why should there have been somuch solidcrystalline salt beneath the floor of the Mediterranean?
With question such as these clearly beforethem, thescientists aboard the Glomar Challenger processed to the Mediterraneantosearch for the answers. On August 23, 1970, they recovered a sample. Thesampleconsisted of pebbles of hardened sediment that had once been soft,deep-seamud, as well as granules of gypsum and fragments of volcanic rock. Nota singlepebble was found that might have indicated that the pebbles came fromthenearby continent. In the days following, samples of solid gypsumwererepeatedly brought on deck as drilling operations penetrated theseafloor.Furthermore, the gypsum was found to possess peculiarities ofcomposition andstructure that suggested it had formed on desert flats. Sedimentabove andbelow the gypsum layer contained tiny marine fossils, indicatingopen-oceanconditions. As they drilled into the central and deepest part oftheMediterranean basin, the scientists took solid, shiny, crystalline saltfromthe core barrel. Interbedded with the salt were thin layers of whatappeared tobe windblown silt.
The time had come to formulate ahypothesis. The investigators theorized that about 20 million years ago, theMediterranean wasa broad seaway linked to the Atlantic by two narrow straits.Crustal movements closedthe straits, and the landlocked Mediterranean began toevaporate. Increasingsalinity caused by the evaporation resulted in theextermination of scores ofinvertebrate species. Only a few organisms especiallytolerant of very saltyconditions remained. As evaporation continued, the remainingbrine (salt water)became so dense that the calcium sulfate of the hard layerwas precipitated. Inthe central deeper part of the basin, the last of the brineevaporated toprecipitate more soluble sodium chloride (salt). Later, under theweight ofoverlying sediments, this salt flowed plastically upward to form saltdomes.Before this happened, however, the Mediterranean was a vast desert 3,000metersdeep. Then, about 5.5 million years ago came the deluge. As a result ofcrustaladjustments and faulting, the Strait of Gibraltar, where theMediterranean nowconnects to the Atlantic, opened, and water cascadedspectacularly back intothe Mediterranean.Turbulent waters tore into thehardened salt flats, brokethem up, and ground them into the pebbles observed inthe first sample taken bythe Challenger. As the basin was refilled, normalmarine organisms returned.Soon layer of oceanic ooze began to accumulate abovethe old hard layer.
Thesalt and gypsum, the faunal changes, and the unusualgravel provided abundantevidence that the Mediterranean was once a desert.
托福阅读试题
1.The word “objective”in the passage(paragraph 1) is closest in meaning to
A.achievement
B.requirement
C.purpose
D.feature
2.Which of the following is NOT mentionedin paragraph 1 as a change thatoccurred in the fauna of the Mediterranean?
A.Most invertebrate species disappearedduring a wave of extinctions.
B.A few hardy species wiped out many of theMediterranean’s invertebrates.
C.Some invertebrates migrated to AtlanticOcean.
D.New species of fauna populated theMediterranean when the old migrants returned.
3.1.Whatdoes the author imply by saying“Not a single pebble was found that might have indicated that the
pebbles came from the nearby continent”?(paragraph 3)
A.The most obvious explanation for theorigin of the pebbles was not supported by the evidence.
B.The geologists did not find as manypebbles as they expected.
C.The geologists were looking for aparticular kind of pebble.
D.The different pebbles could not have comefrom only one source.
4.Which of the following can be inferredfrom paragraph 3 about the solidgypsum layer?
A.It did not contain any marine fossil.
B.It had formed in open-ocean conditions.
C.It had once been soft, deep-sea mud.
D.It contained sediment from nearbydeserts.
5.Select the TWO answer choice from paragraph3 that identify materialsdiscovered in the deepest part of the Mediterraneanbasin. To receive credityou must select TWO answers.
A.Volcanic rock fragments
B.Thin silt layers
C.Soft, deep-sea mud
D.Crystalline salt
6.What is the main purpose of paragraph 3?
A.To describe the physical evidencecollected by Hsu and Ryan
B.To explain why some of the questionsposed earlier in the passage could not be answered by the findings of theGlomar Challenger
C.To evaluate techniques used by Hsu andRyan to explore the sea floor
D.To describe the most difficult problemsfaced by the Glomar Challenger expedition
7.According to paragraph 4, which of thefollowing was responsible for theevaporation of the Mediterranean’s waters?
A.The movements of Earth’s crust
B.The accumulation of sediment layers
C.Changes in the water level of theAtlantic Ocean
D.Changes in Earth’s temperature
8.The word “scores”in the passage(paragraph 4) is closest in meaning to
A.members
B.large numbers
C.populations
D.different types
9.According to paragraph 4, what causedmost invertebrate species in theMediterranean to become extinct?
A.The evaporation of chemicals necessaryfor their survival
B.Crustal movements that connected theMediterranean to the saltier Atlantic
C.The migration of new species through thenarrow straits
D.Their inability to tolerate theincreasing salt content of the Mediterranean
10.Which of the sentences below bestexpresses the essential information inthe highlighted sentence in the passage(paragraph 4) ? Incorrect choices change the meaning inimportant ways or leaveout essential information.
A.The strait of Gibraltar reopened when theMediterranean and the Atlantic became connected and the cascades of water fromone sea to the other caused crustal adjustments and faulting.
B.The Mediterranean was dramaticallyrefilled by water from the Atlantic when crustal adjustments and faultingopened the Strait of Gibraltar, the place where the two seas are joined.
C.The cascades of water from the Atlanticto the Mediterranean were not as spectacular as the crustal adjustments andfaulting that occurred when the Strait of Gibraltar was connected to thoseseas.
D.As a result of crustal adjustments andfaulting and the creation of the Strait of Gibraltar, the Atlantic andMediterranean were connected and became a single sea with spectacular cascadesof water between them.
11.The word “Turbulent”in the passage(paragraph 4) is closest in meaning to
A.Fresh
B.Deep
C.Violent
D.Temperate
12. Look at the four squares [■] thatindicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage. Thus,scientists had information about the shape of the domes but not about theirchemical composition and origin.
■【A】Another task for theGlomar Challenger’s scientists was totry to determine the origin of thedomelike masses buried deep beneath theMediterranean seafloor. ■【B】These structures had been detected years earlierby echo-soundinginstruments, but they had never been penetrated in the courseof drilling. ■【C】Were theysalt domes such as are common alongthe United States Gulf Coast, and if so, whyshould there have been so muchsolid crystalline salt beneath the floor of theMediterranean? ■[D】
Where would the sentence best fit?
13. Direction: An introductory sentence fora brief summary of the passage is provided below. Complete the summary byselecting the THREE answer choices that express the most important ideas in thepassage. Some sentences do not belong in the summary because they express ideasthat are not presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage. Thisquestion is worth 2 points.
An expedition to the Mediterranean answeredsome long-standing questionsabout the ocean’s history.
A.The Glomar Challenger expeditioninvestigated changes in invertebrate fauna and some unusual geologic features.
B.Researchers collected fossils todetermine which new species migrated from the Atlantic with older species.
C.Scientists aboard the Glomar Challengerwere the first to discover the existence of domelike masses underneath theseafloor.
D.Samples recovered from the expeditionrevealed important differences in chemical composition and fossil distributionamong the sediment layers.
E.Evidence collected by the GlomarChallenger supports geologists' beliefs that the Mediterranean had evaporatedand become a desert, before it refilled with water.
F.Mediterraneansalt domes formed after crustal movements opened the straits between theMediterranean and the Atlantic, and the Mediterranean refilled with water.
托福阅读答案
1.C
2.文第四句话说到“Most of theolder organisms were nearly wiped out(大部分更加古老的生物都几乎灭绝了)”对应选项A;第五句说到“A few managed to migrate into the Atlantic(一些物种成功地迁移到了大西洋)”，对应选项C;第六句说到“the migrants returned, bringing new species with them(这些物种又回到了地中海，并带回新的物种)”，对应选项D。第一段中没有提到B 选项，故答案是B选项。
3.推理题考察的是文中没有明确说到的内容，需要经过推理。选项B、C、D在文中均没有任何线索体现。对于选项A，如果我们在阅读文章时，能够比较好的关注上下文，我们会发现：在原文之中第二段，文中提及“它们是像美国海湾海岸一带的含盐圆顶状巨块" ---美国海湾的东西怎么会突然出现在了地中海区域?于是对于这些地中海的大巨块，最简单的解释是他们来自美洲湾。既然第二段提出了问题，第三段做出相应的回答，因此第三段的内容应该与第二段的问题是有联系的，支持或者反对。而现在的这句话(“在被发现的样品中，没有一个表明这些细砾来自于邻近的大陆”)，当然打破了这个最为明显的可能解释---关于巨大的块儿起源的解释。
4.A
5.BD
6.A
7.A
8.原文该单词所在句子为:"Increasingsalinity caused by the evaporation resulted in the extermination of scores ofinvertebrate species." 可以理解为: "由蒸发引起的越来越高的盐度造成无脊椎动物种类的灭绝。"
Score是得分的意思，在球类比赛中经常可以听到，可以根据the extermination of scores of invertebrate species这个结构判断出scores表示数量的意思，对应选项B(这个还是记住吧)
9.D
10.B
11.C
12.C
13.选项A是正确的，是第一二段的内容
选项B是错误的，是文章未提及的内容
选项C是错位的，与第二段第二句内容相反
选项D是正确的，是第四段的内容
选项E是正确的，是文章最后一段的内容
选项F是错误的，与第四段内容不符，是地壳运动和断层作用打开了地中海和大西洋之间的海峡，并非盐穹(应该说domes在此之前就形成了)
托福阅读原文
【1】1970年，地理学家Kenneth J. Hsu 和 William B.F. Ryan在海洋调查船Glomar Challenger号上收集调研资料。这次特别巡航的一个目的是调查地中海的地层以及解决关于其地质历史的问题。其中一个问题是有关地中海地区无脊椎动物(没有脊椎的动物)于600万年前发生剧变的证据。大部分更加古老的生物都几乎灭绝了，尽管一些顽强的种类得以生存。很少的一些动物成功地迁移到了大西洋。不久后，这些动物又回来了，并带回来新的物种。为什么这次较近的动物灭绝和迁移会发生呢?
【2】Glomar Challenger号上科学家们的另一个任务是尝试去确定深埋在地中海海底穹顶状巨块的起源。这些结构在早些年被回声探测器探测过，但是它们从未被钻探过。它们是像美国墨西哥海湾海岸一带的含盐穹顶状巨块吗?如果是的话，为什么在地中海海底之下会有这么多固体的结晶盐呢?
【3】带着这些清楚摆在他们面前的问题，科学家们登上Glomar Challenger号前往地中海寻找答案。1970年8月23日，他们找到了一个样本。这个样本由石膏块和火山岩碎块组成。周围没有发现一块能说明这些小石头来自附近的大陆。接下来的日子里，随着海底岩层钻探实验的进行，固体石膏样本被不断地放在甲板上。而且，这些膏状物的组成和结构特性表明它们形成于沙漠。在石膏层上下的沉积物中包含了微小的海洋生物化石，说明了这是开放性的海洋环境。当钻到地中海盆地中心的最深处时，科学家们从钻管中获得了坚实的、光亮的结晶盐。跟结晶盐嵌在一起的薄层像是被风吹起的泥沙层。
【4】时间阐明了一个假设。调查者们构思了这样的理论：大约2 000万年前，地中海是一条宽阔的航道，它通过两条狭窄的海峡与大西洋连接。地壳运动封闭了海峡，被陆地包围的地中海也开始蒸发。由蒸发引起的越来越高的盐度造成无脊椎动物种类的灭绝。只有一些能抵抗高盐度条件的物种保留下来。随着蒸发的继续进行，盐水浓度太高以致硬地层的硫酸钙发生沉淀。在盆地的中间深处，剩余盐水的持续蒸发形成更多的可溶的氯化钠(盐)。后来，在上层沉淀物的重压下，盐向上形成了含盐的圆顶。然而在这之前，地中海是一个3 000米深的大沙漠。然后，550万年前发生了洪水。作为地壳调整和断层作用的结果，现在连接地中海和大西洋的直布罗陀海峡打开了，水流像瀑布一样壮观地涌回地中海。湍急的水流冲击并摧毁了坚硬的含盐层，把它们磨成了Challenger号获得的第一份样本中人们所观察到的鹅卵石。随着盆地的填充，普通的海洋生物又回来了。不久后海洋软泥层开始在原先的硬地层上堆积。
【5】盐、石膏、动物区系的变更，还有不寻常的沙砾层都为地中海曾经是片沙漠的理论提供了充分的证据。
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