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Energy and the Industrial Revolution

For years historians have sought to identify crucial elements in the eighteenth-century rise in industry, technology, and economic power Known as the Industrial Revolution, and many give prominence to the problem of energy. Until the eighteenth century, people relied on energy derived from plants as well as animal and human muscle to provide power Increased efficiency in the use of water and wind helped with such tasks as pumping, milling, or sailing. However, by the eighteenth century, Great Britain in particular was experiencing an energy shortage. Wood, the primary source of heat for homes and industries and also used in the iron industry as processed charcoal, was diminishing in supply. Great Britain had large amounts of coal; however, there were not yet efficient means by which to produce mechanical energy or to power machinery. This was to occur with progress in the development of the steam engine.

In the late 1700s James Watt designed an efficient and commercially viable steam engine that was soon applied to a variety of industrial uses as it became cheaper to use. The engine helped solve the problem of draining coal mines of groundwater and increased the production of coal needed to power steam engines elsewhere. A rotary engine attached to the steam engine enabled shafts to be turned and machines to be driven, resulting in mills

using steam power to spin and weave cotton. Since the steam engine was fired by coal, the large mills did not need to be located by rivers, as had mills that used water- driven machines. The shift to increased mechanization in cotton production is apparent in the import of raw cotton and the sale of cotton goods. Between 1760 and 1850, the amount of raw cotton imported increased 230 times. Production of British cotton goods increased sixtyfold, and cotton cloth became Great Britain’s most important product, accounting for one-half of all exports. The success of the steam engine resulted in increased demands for coal, and the consequent increase in coal production was made possible as the steam-powered pumps drained water from the ever-deeper coal seams found below the water table.

The availability of steam power and the demands for new machines facilitated the transformation of the iron industry. Charcoal, made from wood and thus in limited supply, was replaced with coal-derived coke (substance left after coal is heated) as steam-driven bellows came into use for producing of raw iron. Impurities were burnt away with the use of coke, producing a high-quality refined iron. Reduced cost was also instrumental in developing steam-powered rolling mills capable of producing finished iron of various shapes and sizes. The resulting boom in the iron industry expanded the annual iron output by more than 170 times between 1740 and 1840, and by the 1850s Great Britain was producing more tons of iron than the rest of the world combined. The developments in the iron industry were in part a response to the demand for more machines and the ever-widening use of higher-quality iron in other industries.

Steam power and iron combined to revolutionize transport, which in turn had further implications. Improvements in road construction and sailing had occurred, but shipping heavy freight over land remained expensive, even with the use of rivers and canals wherever possible. Parallel rails had long been used in mining operations to move bigger loads, but horses were still the primary source of power. ■However, the arrival of the steam engine initiated a complete transformation in rail transportation, entrenching and expanding the Industrial Revolution. ■As transportation improved, distant and larger markets within the nation could be reached, thereby encouraging the development of larger factories to keep pace with increasing sales. ■Greater productivity and rising demands provided entrepreneurs with profits that could be reinvested to take advantage of new technologies to further expand capacity, or to seek alternative investment opportunities. ■Also, the availability of jobs in railway construction attracted many rural laborers accustomed to seasonal and temporary employment. When the work was completed, many moved to other construction jobs or to factory work in cities and towns, where they became part of an expanding working class.

Q1: Why does the author provide the information that “Great Britain had large amounts of coal”?

A. To reject the claim that Britain was facing an energy shortage in the eighteenth century

B. To explain why coal rather than other energy resources became the primary source of heat for homes and industries in eighteenth-century Britain

C. To indicate that Britain’s energy shortage was not the result of a lack of fuel

Q2: What was “the problem of energy" that had to be solved to make the Industrial Revolution of the eighteenth century possible?

A. Water and wind could not be used efficiently.

B. There was no efficient way to power machinery.

C. Steam engines required large amounts of coal, which was in short supply.

D. Neither humans nor animals were strong enough to provide the power required for industrial application.

Q3: Which of the following is NOT mentioned in paragraph 2 as a development in cotton mills brought about by Watt’s steam engine?

A. The importing of huge quantities of raw cotton by Britain

B. Increased mechanization

C. More possibilities for mill location

D. Smaller mills

Q4: The phrase “apparent in” in the passage is closest in meaning to

A. clearly seen in

B. aided by

C. associated with

D. followed by

Q5: According to paragraph 2, what was Britain’s most important export by 1850?

A. Raw cotton

B. Cotton cloth

C. Steam-powered pumps

D. Coal

Q6: The word “consequent” in the passage is closest in meaning to

A. resulting

B. encouraging

C. well documented

D. immediate

Q7: What is the role of paragraph 2 in the passage as a whole?

A. It explains how by increasing the supply of raw materials from other countries, British industries were able to reduce costs and increase production.

B. It explains how the productionof mechanical energy and its benefits spread quickly across countries that were linked commercially with Great Britain.

C. It demonstrates why developments in a single industry could not have caused the Industrial Revolution.

D. It illustrates why historians have assigned great importance to the issue of energy in the rise of the Industrial Revolution.

Q8: According to paragraph 3, why was the use of coke important for the iron industry?

A. It helped make wood into charcoal.

B. It reduced the dependency on steam-powered machines used for the production of iron.

C. It replaced charcoal in the production of raw and refined iron.

D. It powered the machines used to extract coal in

coal mines.

Q9: According to paragraph 3, all of the following were true of the iron industry inGreat Britain during the 1800s EXCEPT:

A. Steam-driven bellows were used to produce raw iron.

B. By the 1850s Britain was the world’s largest producer of iron.

C. Steam-powered mills made it possible to produce iron of different shapes and sizes.

D. Greater demand for higher-quality iron increased its price.

Q10: The word “initiated” in the pass age is closest in meaning to

A. anticipated

B. accelerated

C. spread

D. started

Q11: Paragraph 4 implies which of the following about the transformation in rail transportation?

A. Because railway construction employed mostly rural laborers, unemployment increased among urban workers.

B. It resulted in more trade within the country, but less trade with markets that could be reached only by ocean shipping.

C. It made shipping freight overland to distant markets less expensive.

D. It resulted in higher wages for factory workers.

Q12: The phrase “accustomed to" in the passage is closest in meaning to

A. in need of

B. used to

C. tired of

D. encouraged by

Q13: Look at the four squares [■] that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage.

The first steam-powered locomotives were slow but they rapidly improved in speed and carrying capacity.

Where would the sentence best fit? Click on a square to add the sentence to the passage.

Q14:

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.

The coming of the Industrial Revolution in eighteenth-century Britain depended on the development of the steam engine to power machinery.

A. For years, historians disregarded the issue of energy as a major element in the rise of the Industrial Revolution and focused instead on technological developments and increased production.

B. The introduction and growth of steam-powered rail transport was a major factor in Britain's economic expansion during the Industrial Revolution.

C. An expansion of the Industrial Revolution outside Great Britain occurred when British industries began to import raw cotton and high-quality iron.

D. By 1850, the use of steam power in Britain's mills, mines, and iron industry made Britain a world leader in the production of cotton cloth and iron.

E. Since the basic infrastructure was in place, the Industrial Revolution fueled itself with enlarging

markets requiring ever more expansion of factories and workforce.

F. By the end of the 1800s, railway construction attracted so many laborers that factories could not find enough workers to keep up with increasing sales.

Survival of Plants and Animals in Desert Conditions

The harsh conditions in deserts are intolerable for most plants and animals. Despite these conditions, however, many varieties of plants and animals have adapted to deserts in a number of ways. Most plant tissues die if their water content falls too low: the nutrients that feed plants are transmitted by water; water is a raw material in the vital process of photosynthesis; and water regulates the temperature of a plant by its ability to absorb heat and because water vapor lost to the atmosphere through the leaves helps to lower plant temperatures. ■Water controls the volume of plant matter produced. ■The distribution of plants within different areas of desert is also controlled by water. ■Some areas, because of their soil texture, topographical position, or distance from rivers or groundwater, have virtually no water available to plants, whereas others do.■

The nature of plant life in deserts is also highly dependent on the fact that they have to adapt to the prevailing aridity. There are two general classes of vegetation: long-lived perennials, which may be succulent (water-storing) and are often dwarfed and woody, and annuals or ephemerals, which have a short life cycle and may form a fairly dense stand immediately after rain.

The ephemeral plants evade drought. Given a year of favorable precipitation, such plants will develop vigorously and produce large numbers of flowers and fruit. This replenishes the seed content of the desert soil. The seeds then lie dormant until the next wet year, when the desert blooms again.

The perennial vegetation adjusts to the aridity by means of various avoidance mechanisms. Most desert plants are probably best classified as xerophytes. They possess drought-resisting adaptations: loss of water through the leaves is reduced by means of dense hairs covering waxy leaf surfaces, by the closure of pores during the hottest times to reduce water loss, and by the rolling up or shedding of leaves at the beginning of the dry season. Some xerophytes, the succulents (including cacti), store water in their structures. Another way of countering drought is to have a limited amount of mass above ground and to have extensive root networks below ground. It is not unusual for the roots of some desert perennials to extend downward more than ten meters. Some plants are woody in type —an adaptation designed to prevent collapse of the plant tissue when water stress produces wilting. Another class of desert plant is the phreatophyte. These have adapted to the environment by the development of long taproots that penetrate downward until they approach the assured water supply provided by groundwater. Among these plants are the date palm, tamarisk, and mesquite. They commonly grow near stream channels, springs, or on the margins of lakes.

Animals also have to adapt to desert conditions, and they may do it through two forms of behavioral adaptation: they either escape or retreat. Escape involves such actions as aestivation, a condition of prolonged dormancy, or torpor, during which animals reduce their metabolic rate and body temperature during the hot season or during very dry spells. Seasonal migration is another form of escape, especially for large mammals or birds. The term retreat is applied to the short-term escape behavior of desert animals, and it usually assumes the pattern of a daily rhythm. Birds shelter in nests, rock overhangs, trees, and dense shrubs to avoid the hottest hours of the day, while mammals like the kangaroo rat burrow underground.

Some animals have behavioral, physiological, and morphological (structural) adaptations that enable them to withstand extreme conditions. For example, the ostrich has plumage that is so constructed that the feathers are long but not too dense. When conditions are hot, the ostrich erects them on its back, thus increasing the thickness of the barrier between solar radiation and the skin. The sparse distribution of the feathers, however, also allows considerable lateral air movement over the skin surface, thereby permitting further heat loss by convection. Furthermore, the birds orient themselves carefully with regard to the Sun and gently flap their wings to increase convection cooling.

The harsh conditions in deserts are intolerable for most plants and animals. Despite these conditions, however, many varieties of plants and animals have adapted to deserts in a number of ways. Most plant tissues die if their water content falls too low: the nutrients that feed plants are transmitted by water; water is a raw material in the vital process of photosynthesis; and water regulates the temperature of a plant by its ability to absorb heat and because water vapor lost to the atmosphere through the leaves helps to lower plant temperatures. ■Water controls the volume of plant matter produced. ■The distribution of plants within different areas of desert is also controlled by water. ■Some areas, because

plants, whereas others do.■

Q1: According to paragraph 1, water provides all of the following essential functions for plants EXCEPT

A. improving plants’ ability to absorb sunlight

B. preventing plants from becoming overheated

C. transporting nutrients

D. serving as a raw material for photosynthesis

Q2: Paragraph 3 suggests that during a dry year ephemerals

A. produce even more seeds than in a wet year

B. do not sprout from their seeds

C. bloom much later than in a wet year

D. are more plentiful than perennials

Q3: Howis paragraph 2 related to paragraph 3?

A. Paragraph 2 provides a general description of desert plants, and paragraph 3 provides a scientific explanation for these observations.

B. Paragraph 2 divides desert plants into two categories, and paragraph 3 provides further information about one of these categories.

C. Paragraph 2 proposes one way of dividing desert plants into categories, and paragraph 3 explains one problem with this method of classification.

D. Paragraph 2 discusses two categories of desert plants, and paragraph 3 introduces a third category of plants.

Q4: In saying that ephemerals will develop “vigorously" when there is favorable precipitation, the author means that their development will be

A. sudden

B. early

C. gradual

D. strong and healthy

Q5: The word “countering” in the passage is closest in meaning to

A. eliminating

B. making use of

C. acting against

D. experiencing

Q6: According to paragraph 4, some desert plants with root systems that are extraordinarily well developed have

A. relatively little growth aboveground

B. very leafy aboveground structures

C. non woody plant tissue resistant to wilting

D. water stored within their roots

Q7: The word “assured” in the passage is closest in meaning to

A. pure

B. diminished

C. guaranteed

D. deep

Q8: What do “the date palm, tamarisk, and mesquite" have in common?

A. They are always found together.

B. They depend on surface water provided by streams, springs, and lakes.

C. They are phreatophytes.

D. Their roots are capable of breaking through hard soils

Q9: 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. One way animals escape is by entering a state of extended dormancy, known as aestivation, during the hottest and driest times of year.

B. Animals can escape without using direct action, or aestivation, simply by reducing their metabolic rate and body temperature.

C. The actions that an animal uses to escape are known as aestivation, which sometimes involves a reduction in metabolic rate or body temperature.

D. When the weather is especially hot and dry, an animal may suffer from a condition known as aestivation, at which point the animal needs to escape.

Q10: It can be inferred from paragraph 5 that all of the places desert animals retreat to

A. provide shade from the sun

B. sometimes become crowded

C. are places where supplies of food are plentiful

D. leave the animals vulnerable to predators

Q11: According to paragraph 7, what special adaptation helps the ostrich cope with hot desert conditions?

A. Each of its feathers is very short and dense.

B. Its wings produce only lateral air movement when flapping.

C. Its feathers are very thickly set on both its back and its wings.

D. It can make its feathers stand up on its back.

Q12: Look at the four squares [■]that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage.

The increase in reward still did not attract young people to this hard life, and convicted criminals and slaves were pressed into services

Where would the sentence best fit?

Q13:

Directions: Select from the seven phrases below the two phrases that correctly characterize special adaptations found primarily in desert annuals and the three phrases that correctly characterize special adaptations found primarily in desert perennials. Select each phrase you select in the appropriate column of the table. This question is worth 3 points.

Adaptations of Annuals

Five of the phrases will NOT be used.

Answer Choices

A. Woody structures

B. Explosive growth in wet years

C. Long, thin, shallow roots

D. Storage of water in plant tissue

E. Minimization of the amount of water used for photosynthesis

G. Leaves designed to minimize water loss

Adaptations of Perennials

Four of the phrases will NOT be used.

Answer Choices

A. Woody structures

B. Explosive growth in wet years

C. Long, thin, shallow roots

D. Storage of water in plant tissue

E. Minimization of the amount of water used for photosynthesis

F. Short life cycle

G. Leaves designed to minimize water loss

Sumer and the First Cities of the Ancient Near East

The earliest of the city states of the ancient Near East appeared at the southern end of the Mesopotamian plain, the area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in what is now Iraq. It was here that the civilization known as Sumer emerged in its earliest form in the fifth millennium. At first sight, the plain did not appear to be a likely home for a civilization. There were few natural resources, no timber, stone, or metals. Rainfall was limited, and what water there was rushed across the plain in the annual flood of melted snow. As the plain fell only 20 meters in 500 kilometers, the beds of the rivers shifted constantly. It was this that made the organization of irrigation, particularly the building of canals to channel and preserve the water, essential. Once this was done and the silt carried down by the rivers was planted, the rewards were rich: four to five times what rain-fed earth would produce. It was these conditions that allowed an elite to emerge, probably as an organizing class, and to sustain itself through the control of surplus crops.

It is difficult to isolate the factors that led to the next development—the emergence of urban settlements. The earliest, that of Eridu, about 4500 B.C.E., and Uruk, a thousand years later, center on impressive temple complexes built of mud brick. In some way, the elite had associated themselves with the power of the gods. Uruk, for instance, had two patron gods—Anu, the god of the sky and sovereign of all other gods, and Inanna, a goddess of love and war—and there were others, patrons of different cities. Human beings were at their mercy. The biblical story of the Flood may originate in Sumer. In the earliest version, the gods destroy the human race because its clamor had been so disturbing to them.

It used to be believed that before 3000 B.C.E. the political and economic life of the cities was centered on their temples, but it now seems probable that the cities had secular rulers from earliest times. ■Within the city lived administrators, craftspeople, and merchants. (Trading was important, as so many raw materials, the semiprecious stones for the decoration of the temples, timbers for roofs, and all metals, had to be imported.) ■An increasingly sophisticated system of administration led in about 3300 B.C.E. to the appearance of writing. ■The earliest script was based on logograms, with a symbol being used to express a whole word. ■The logograms were incised on damp clay tablets with a stylus with a wedge shape at its end. (The Romans called the shape cuneus and this gives the script its name of cuneiform.) Two thousand logograms have been recorded from these early centuries of writing. A more economical approach was to use a sign to expres s not a whole word but a single syllable. (To take an example: the Sumerian word for " head” was “sag.” Whenever a word including a syllable in which the sound “sag” was to be written, the sign for “sag" could be used to express that syllable with the remaining syllables of the word expressed by other signs.) By 2300 B.C.E. the number of signs required had been reduced to 600, and the range of words that could be expressed had widened. Texts dealing with economic matters predominated, as they always had done; but at this point works of theology, literature, history, and law also appeared.

Other innovations of the late fourth millennium include the wheel, probably developed first as a more efficient way of making pottery and then transferred to transport. A tablet engraved about 3000 B.C.E. provides the earliest known example from Sumer, a roofed boxlike sledge mounted on four solid wheels. A major development was the discovery, again about 3000 B.C.E., that if copper, which had been known in Mesopotamia since about 3500 B.C.E., was mixed with tin, a much harder metal, bronze, would result. Although copper and stone tools continued to be used, bronze was far more successful in creating sharp edges that could be used as anything from saws and scythes to weapons. The period from 3000 to 1000 B.C.E., when the use of bronze became widespread, is normally referred to as the Bronze Age.

It used to be believed that before 3000 B.C.E. the political and economic life of the cities was centered on their temples, but it now seems probable that the cities had secular rulers from earliest times. ■Within the city lived administrators, craftspeople, and merchants. (Trading was important, as so many raw materials, the semiprecious stones for the decoration of the temples, timbers for roofs, and all metals, had to be imported.) ■An increasingly sophisticated system of administration led in about 3300 B.C.E. to the appearance of writing. ■The earliest script was based on logograms, with a symbol being used to express a whole word. ■The logograms were incised on damp clay tablets with a stylus with a wedge shape at its end. (The Romans called the shape cuneus and this gives the script its name of cuneiform.)

Q1: Which of the following is NOT mentioned in paragraph 1 as a disadvantage of the Mesopotamian plain?

B. Melting snow caused flooding every year.

C. The silt deposited by rivers damaged crops.

D. Timber, stone and metals were not readily available.

Q2: According to paragraph 1, which of the following made it possible for an elite to emerge?

A. New crops were developed that were better suited to conditions on the Mesopotamian plain.

B. The richest individuals managed to gain control of the most valuable cropland.

C. Control over the few available natural resources made some people four to five times richer than everyone else.

D. The building of canals to increase agricultural output required organization.

Q3: The word “sustain" in the passage is closest in meaning to

A. defend

B. promote

C. maintain

D. transform

Q4: According to paragraph 2, Eridu and Uruk are examples of urban settlements that

A. lacked the features usually found in other early urban settlements

B. developed around religious buildings

C. grew much more rapidly than most of the urban settlements found in Sumer

D. were mysteriously destroyed and abandoned

Q5: The word “sovereign" in the passage is closest in meaning to

A. counselor

B. master

C. defender

D. creator

Q6: According to paragraph 3, which of the following led to the appearance of writing?

A. An increasingly sophisticated administrative system

B. Coordination between secular and religious leaders

C. The large volume of trade, particularly imports

D. A rapidly expanding and changing population

Q7: In paragraph 3, why does the author provide the information that the number of signs in use had dropped from 2,000 to 600 by 2300 B.C.E.?

A. To argue that the development of writing involved periods of growth followed by periods of decline

B. To demonstrate that earlier written texts used a larger vocabulary than later texts, which were aimed at a broader audience

C. To support the claim that the range of words expressed by logograms varied widely depending on time period and type of text

D. To provide evidence for the increased efficiency of using signs to express syllables rather than whole words

Q8: According to paragraph 3, ancient texts most commonly dealt with

A. theology

B. literature

C. economics

D. law

A. were first developed in areas outside Mesopotamia

B. were used to make pottery

C. appeared on boxlike sledges

D. were used to transport goods between cities

Q10: The word “engraved” in the passage is closest in meaning to

A. carved

B. produced

C. dated

D. discovered

Q11: 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. Also around 3000

B.

C.E., it was discovered that mixing copper, known from about 3500 B.C.E., with tin would create a much harder metal known as bronze.

B. Although copper had been known since 3500 B.

C.E in Mesopotamia, the discovery of bronze did not occur until around 3000 B.C.E.

C. Another major development around 3000 B.C.E. was the discovery that copper could be mixed with a much harder metal known as tin.

D. The development of bronze by mixing copper and tin probably occurred around 3000 B.C.

E. but may have happened as early as 3500 B.C.E.

Q12: The word “widespread” in the passage is closest in meaning to

A. obvious

B. significant

C. necessary

D. common

Q13: Look at the four squares [■]that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage.

City life was diverse, and the population was engaged in a variety of occupations.

Where would the sentence best fit?

Q14:

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 minorideas in the passage. This question is worth 2 points.

Irrigation made it possible for the civilization known as Sumer to arise on the Mesopotamian plain in the fifth millennium B.C.E.

Answer Choices

A. The scarcity of natural resources on the plain made it necessary for a powerful elite to emerge and take charge of trade and imports.

B. The economy of each city was based on a craft such as pottery or metal working, and the city of Eridu was known for its saws, scythes and weapons.

C. Writing appeared in the form of logograms and later developed into a system using signs to represent syllables rather than whole words.

D. Priests were powerful figures in the ancient civilization and controlled the political and economic life of the cities.

E. The earliest city states had one or more patron gods and were built around central temple complexes.

F. The development of the wheel and the creation of bronze were important innovations in Sumer

Sumer and the First Cities of the Ancient Near East

答案：1. C 2. D 3. C 4. B 5. B 6. A 7. D 8. C 9. B 10. A 11. A 12. D 13. A 14. CEF

Energy and the Industrial Revolution答案：1C2B3D4A5B6A7D8C9D10D11C12B13B14BDE

Survival of Plants and Animals in Desert Conditions答案：

1. A

2. B

3. B

4. D

5. C

6. A

7. C

8. C

9. A10. A11. D12. B13. ANNUALS: BF; PERENNIALS: ADG

历年托福考试阅读真题汇总含答案

0308 托福试题 阅读( 55minutes ) Question 1-11 seen in putrefying materials .He did (10) this by passing air through guncotton filters, the fibers of which stop solid particles. After the guncotton was dissolved in a mixture of alcohol and ether, the particles that it had trapped fell to the bottom of the liquid and were examined on a microscope slide .Pasteur found that in ordinary air these exists a variety of solid structures ranging in size from 0.01 mm to more than 1.0 mm .Many of these bodies resembled the reproductive (15) structures of common molds, single-celled animals, and various other microbial cells . As many as 20 to 30 of them were found in fifteen If food is allowed to stand for some time, putrefies .When the putrefied material is examined microscopically ,it is teeming with bacteria. Where do these bacteria come from , since they are fresh food? Even until the mid-nineteenth century, many people believed microorganisms originated by spontaneous (5 ) generation ,a hypothetical living organisms develop from nonliving matter. The most powerful spontaneous generation microbiologist Louis showed that structures present in air closely found not that it to be seen in such process by which of the theory of French chemist and opponent was the Pasteur(1822-1895).Pasteur resemble the microorganisms

2020年托福阅读模拟试题及答案(卷九)

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