Reading

TPO 2

Desert Formation

【单词】

stabilize：v. 使稳固，使安定
vegetation：n. 植被
erosion：n. 侵蚀
stony：adj. 无情的，多石的，石头的
substantial：adj. 重大的，大量的；n. 本质
seal：v. 密封，盖章；n. 密封，海豹
impact：n. 冲击
fine：adj. 好的，纤细的，细小的
runoff：n. 【水文】径流
deterioration：n. 恶化
climatic：adj. 气候的
aridity：n. 干旱，乏味
potential：n. 潜力，潜能；adj. 有潜力的
subject：v. 提供，提出；使（某人）隶属
fuel：n. 燃料
diminished：adj. 减弱的
specific：adj. 具体的，明确的，特种的
identify：vt. 识别
overgrazing：n. 过度放牧
overcultivation：n. 过度种植
overirrigation：n. 过度灌溉
firewood gathering：n. 过度砍伐
necessitate：vt. 使成为必需
devoid：adj. 缺乏的
susceptible：adj. 易受影响的
extensive：adj. 广泛的
tract：n. 大片土地，束，小册子
livestock：n. 牲畜
trample：v. 践踏
pulverization：n. 粉碎，研碎，彻底摧毁
firewood：n. 柴火，木柴
conditioner：n. 调节器
nutrient：n. 营养物，营养品；adj. 营养的，滋养的
removal：n. 除去，移走
salinization：n. 盐碱化
crustal：adj. 地壳的
millennia：n. 千年期
rigorously：adv. 严厉地，严格地
enforced：adj. 强制实行的

【短语】

• increase at an alarming pace：以一种惊人的速度扩张
• It has been estimated that ... ：预计……
• subsequent accelerated erosion：连续加速侵蚀
• transfer ... into ...：搬进，转到
• as the result of：归因于
• There is little doubt, however, that ...：然而毫无疑问的是……
• be far in excess of：远远超过了
• be identified as major contributors to sth：把……认为是sth的主要原因

【长难句】

1. Desertification is accomplished primarily through the loss of stabilizing natural vegetation and the subsequent accelerated erosion of the soil by wind and water.
2. The impact of raindrops on the loose soil tends to transfer fine clay particles into the tiniest soil spaces, sealing them and producing a surface that allows very little water penetration.
3. The gradual drying of the soil caused by its diminished ability to absorb water results in the further loss of vegetation, so that a cycle of progressive surface deterioration is established.
4. The semiarid lands bordering the deserts exist in a delicate ecological balance and are limited in their potential to adjust to increased environmental pressures.
5. During the dry periods that are common phenomena along the desert margins, though, the pressure on the land is often far in excess of its diminished capacity, and desertification results.
6. Since the raising of most crops necessitates the prior removal of the natural vegetation, crop failures leave extensive tracts of land devoid of a plant cover and susceptible to wind and water erosion.
7. The consequences of an excessive number of livestock grazing in an area are the reduction of the vegetation cover and the trampling and pulverization of the soil.
8. The increased pressures of expanding populations have led to the removal of woody plants so that many cities and towns are surrounded by large areas completely lacking in trees and shrubs.
9. The increasing use of dried animal waste as a substitute fuel has also hurt the soil because this valuable soil conditioner and source of plant nutrients is no longer being returned to the land.
10. The extreme seriousness of desertification results from the vast areas of land and the tremendous numbers of people affected, as well as from the great difficulty of reversing or even slowing the process.

【错题】

10.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.
A. Desertification is a significant problem because it is so hard to reverse and affects large areas of land and great numbers of people.
B. Slowing down the process of desertification is difficult because of population growth that has spread over large areas of land.
C. The spread of deserts is considered a very serious problem that can be solved only if large numbers of people in various countries are involved in the effort.
D. Desertification is extremely hard to reverse unless the population is reduced in the vast areas affected.
你的答案：B 正确答案：A

【参考原文】

The extreme seriousness of desertification results from the vast areas of land and the tremendous numbers of people affected, as well as from the great difficulty of reversing or even slowing the process.

【解析】

这句话的主要逻辑是并列，并列的几个对象缺一不可：1）广大的土地；2）大量的人口受到影响；3）减缓或者倒转这个过程很困难。选项A的逻辑和原文呼应，并且并列的对象都包括在选项中，所以A正确；B选项的结果部分错误，原句是desertification的严峻形势，这里变成了减缓过程，而且原因部分没将3个部分都涵盖；C的solve这部分内容原句没有，纯属瞎编；D的unless结构和原文的逻辑不符。

13.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 answer choices 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. Many factors have contributed to the great increase in desertification in recent decades.
A.Growing human populations and the agricultural demands that come with such growth have upset the ecological balance in some areas and led to the spread of deserts.
B.As periods of severe dryness have become more common, failures of a number of different crops have increased.
C.Excessive numbers of cattle and the need for firewood for fuel have reduced grasses and trees, leaving the land unprotected and vulnerable.
D.Extensive irrigation with poor drainage brings salt to the surface of the soil, a process that reduces water and air absorption.
E.Animal dung enriches the soil by providing nutrients for plant growth.
F.Grasses are generally the dominant type of natural vegetation in semiarid lands.
你的答案：ADF 正确答案：ACD

The Origins of Cetaceans

【单词】

cetacean：n. 鲸目动物
whale：n. 鲸，鲸鱼
porpoise：n. 鼠海豚
gill：n. 鳃
streamlined：adj. 流线型的
hind：adj. （动物的腿）后边的
fluke：n. 侥幸，锚爪，尾片
blowhole：n. 呼吸孔，喷水孔
affinity：n. 密切关系，姻亲关系，吸引力
dwelling：n. 住所 dwell：vi. 居住
disguise：v. 伪装
sea otter：水獭
pinniped：adj. 鳍足类的 pinnipeds：n. 鳍足类
walrus：n. 海象
envision：v. 想象
intermediate：adj. 中间的
transitional：adj. 过渡期的，变迁的
reconstruct：v. 重建，重现
embed：vt. 把……嵌入
deposit：n. 沉淀物，储蓄，存款；vt. 放置；vi. 沉淀
the Tethys sea：古地中海
archaeocyte：n. 原始细胞
jawbone：n. 下颚骨
flesh-eating：adj. 食肉的
feed on：以……为生
vestigial：adj. 退化的
portion：n. 部分
locomotion：n. 运动
backbone：n. 支柱，脊椎，脊梁骨
rear：n. 后部，背后，臀部；vt. 饲养，养育
propulsion：n. 推进力

【短语】

• It has been suggested that ...：有人认为……

【长难句】

1. Although limited to a skull, the Pakicetus fossil provides precious details on the origins of cetaceans.
2. The skull is cetacean-like but its jawbones lack the enlarged space that is filled with fat or oil and used for receiving underwater sound in modern whales.
3. Many incomplete skeletons were found but they included, for the first time in an archaeocyte, a complete hind leg that features a foot with three tiny toes.
4. The structure of the backbone shows, however, that Ambulocetus swam like modern whales by moving the rear portion of its body up and down, even though a fluke was missing.

【错题】

6.The word “exposed” in the passage is closest in meaning to
A. explained
B. visible
C. identified
D. located
你的答案：C 正确答案：B

【参考原文】

Several skeletons of another early whale, Basilosaurus, were found in sediments left by the Tethys Sea and now exposed in the Sahara desert.

【解析】

exposed: 暴露的。和选项B呼应。A是解释的；C是核实的；D是定位的。这句话说发现了另一种鲸鱼的skeleton，那么exposed兴衔接这个语境，应该也是说沙漠里能够看到这些skeleton，B就最为合适了。

3.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 answer choices 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. This passage discusses fossils that help to explain the likely origins of cetaceans—whales, porpoises, and dolphins.
A.Recent discoveries of fossils have helped to show the link between land mammals and cetaceans.
B.The discovery of Ambulocetus natans provided evidence for a whale that lived both on land and at sea.
C.The skeleton of Basilosaurus was found in what had been the Tethys Sea, an area rich in fossil evidence.
D.Pakicetus is the oldest fossil whale yet to be found.
E.Fossils thought to be transitional forms between walking mammals and swimming whales were found.
F.Ambulocetus' hind legs were used for propulsion in the water.
你的答案：DEF 正确答案：ABE

【解析】

整篇文章是典型的时间叙述加比较结构。
手段提出问题：缺少对C进化过程的了解。2345段按时间顺序介绍最近对该进化过程的最新发现了解。其中23段介绍的是P，大约52M前，4段介绍B，大约40M前，5段介绍A，大约49M前。
给出句是对整篇文章的内容概括，正确选项应该是3个最新发现，概括各发现的主要特征、价值。 A正确，是对整篇文章内容概括，对应首段末句。 B正确，是对23段的概括。 C不对，过于细节，且后半句Tethys Sea, an area rich in fossil evidence文章原文没有提到。 D不对，文章没有提到。 E正确，是对5段的概括。 F不对，原文写：Ambulocetus swam like modern whales by moving the rear portion of its body up and down, even though a fluke was missing. The large hind legs were used for propulsion in water.F本身是对的，但由于是因为属于minor idea不所以选

Early Cinema

【单词】

projected：adj. 投影的
projection：n. 投射，预测
projector：n. 投影仪，放映机
cinema：n. 电影，电影院，电影艺术，电影业
peepshow：n. 西洋镜
kinetoscope [kai'ni:təskəup]：n. 人体运动电影照相机，活动电影放映机
parlor：n. 客厅，起居室
arcade：n. 拱廊
prizefight：n. 职业拳击赛
successive：adj. 连续的
phonograph：n. 留声机
exhibitor：n. 参展商，展出者
admission：n. 准许进入
showman：n. （戏剧、音乐、文娱表演等的） 演出主持人; 娱乐经理人
vaudeville：n. 杂耍，轻歌舞剧，歌舞杂耍表演
legitimate：adj. 合法的
makeshift：adj. 权宜之计的，临时的
storefront：n. 店面
fairground：n. 露天市场
advent：n. 出现
spectacle：n. 景象
spectator：n. 观众
minstrel：n. 歌手
assemble：v. 集合，收集，组装
substance：n. 物质，本质
prerecord：v. 事先录音
whichever：pron. 任何一个，无论哪个
commonplace：adj. 平凡的
manipulation：n. 操作
lifelike：adj. 栩栩如生的
photographic：adj. 摄影的
celluloid：n. 电影胶片
strip：n. 长条；v. 剥去，脱光

【短语】

• in the case of：至于……，就……来说
• function in a similar way：功能类似

【长难句】

1. The cinema did not emerge as a form of mass consumption until its technology evolved from the initial "peepshow" format to the point where images were projected on a screen in a darkened theater.
2. For the price of 25 cents (or 5 cents per machine), customers moved from machine to machine to watch five different films (or, in the case of famous prizefights, successive rounds of a single fight).
3. Exhibitors, however, wanted to maximize their profits, which they could do more readily by projecting a handful of films to hundreds of customers at a time (rather than one at a time) and by charging 25 to 50 cents admission.
4. These early projection devices were used in vaudeville theaters, legitimate theaters, local town halls, makeshift storefront theaters, fairgrounds, and amusement parks to show films to a mass audience.
5. Previously, large audiences had viewed spectacles at the theater, where vaudeville, popular dramas, musical and minstrel shows, classical plays, lectures, and slide-and-lantern shows had been presented to several hundred spectators at a time.
6. But the movies differed significantly from these other forms of entertainment, which depended on either live performance or (in the case of the slide-and-lantern shows) the active involvement of a master of ceremonies who assembled the final program.
7. Although early exhibitors regularly accompanied movies with live acts, the substance of the movies themselves is mass-produced, prerecorded material that can easily be reproduced by theaters with little or no active participation by the exhibitor.
8. Even though early exhibitors shaped their film programs by mixing films and other entertainments together in whichever way they thought would be most attractive to audiences or by accompanying them with lectures, their creative control remained limited.
9. What audiences came to see was the technological marvel of the movies; the lifelike reproduction of the commonplace motion of trains, of waves striking the shore, and of people walking in the street; and the magic made possible by trick photography and the manipulation of the camera.
10. With the advent of projection, the viewer's relationship with the image was no longer private, as it had been with earlier peepshow devices such as the Kinetoscope and the Mutoscope, which was a similar machine that reproduced motion by means of successive images on individual photographic cards instead of on strips of celluloid.

【错题】

1.According to paragraph 1, all of the following were true of viewing films in Kinetoscope parlors EXCEPT:
A. One individual at a time viewed a film.
B. Customers could view one film after another.
C. Prizefights were the most popular subjects for films.
D. Each film was short.
你的答案：B 正确答案：C

【解析】

BC对应到最后一句，指出观众可以一部接一部地观看。B正确；文章并未指出职业拳击赛（prizefight）是最流行的，所以C错，选： For the price of 25 cents (or 5 cents per machine), customers moved from machine to machine to watch five different films (or, in the case of famous prizefights, successive rounds of a single fight).

8.Which of the following is mentioned in paragraph 6 as one of the ways the Mutoscope differed from the Kinetoscope?
A. Sound and motion were simultaneously produced in the Mutoscope.
B. More than one person could view the images at the same time with the Mutoscope.
C. The Mutoscope was a less sophisticated earlier prototype of the Kinetoscope.
D. A different type of material was used to produce the images used in the Mutoscope.
你的答案：B 正确答案：D

【原文参考】

With the advent of projection, the viewer's relationship with the image was no longer private, as it had been with earlier peepshow devices such as the Kinetoscope and the Mutoscope, which was a similar machine that reproduced motion by means of successive images on individual photographic cards instead of on strips of celluloid.

【解析】

表达出来的意思是：Mutoscope是与Kinetoscope相似的机器，它通过独立胶片上的连续影像来复制动态画面，而不使用胶片，可知Mutoscope与Kinetoscope的不同在于制造影像的材料不同。因此选择D。

13.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 answer choices 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. The technology for modern cinema evolved at the end of the nineteenth century.
A.Kinetoscope parlors for viewing films were modeled on phonograph parlors.
B.Thomas Edison's design of the Kinetoscope inspired the development of large screen projection.
C.Early cinema allowed individuals to use special machines to view films privately.
D.Slide-and-lantern shows had been presented to audiences of hundreds of spectators.
E.The development of projection technology made it possible to project images on a large screen.
F.Once film images could be projected, the cinema became form of mass consumption.
你的答案：ACE 正确答案：CEF

【解析】

正确答案是CEF。C.E.F在文中都有提及，A错的原因在于“for viewing films"，D错的原因在于它是minor idea，B未提及。