2015年11月8日大陆托福阅读解析

机经词汇：

　　prerequisite=requirement

　　considerable=significant

　　derive=obtain

　　mean=average

　　account for =explain

　　discrepancy=inconsistence

　　striking=noteworthy

第一篇

考生回忆：早期的太阳并没有现在如此的光亮，这个光亮的过程是渐进的。所以早期的地球应该会很冷，但是却会有液态水。这是为何?随着太阳光的越来越强烈，地球大气形成一个自动适应的气候，主要是由于温室效应，吸收了阳光的反射。也有人提出这同时也得益于植物的光合作用，能够释放温室气体的CO2。但是科学家对于这种机制对于地球的影响程度保持怀疑。后面提出了反驳。

解析：本文围绕着地球在太阳形成早期有高的温度，能够足以维持液态水的原因进行対论，属于“现象-因果"类文章。与天文学相关的话题是托福阅读的常客，也是学生们比较陌生的题材。学生在备考的时候需要提前准备与艺术这个学科相关的词汇，以免在阅读的过程中由于词汇的问题导致阅读准度的下降和速度的变慢。

第二篇

考生回忆：有机化学和无机化学。在1810之前化学并不分有机和无机，是按照动物和植物来区分的。但是后来却分了。后来还说科学家研究无机物更容易，因为很容易提纯，所以更容易成功。举了硫的例子。对比之下，有机物提纯起来麻烦，然后开始阐述各种原因。其中一个是有机物比较复杂。还有一个是某种提纯方法不好控制。还有一个就是科学家找的物质越来越复杂，不再是当初寻找脂肪(fat)之类相对纯净的东西了。

解析：本文是科学史中的化学史的一篇文章。与化学相关的文章在托福阅读文章不常见。同样地，学生在做题之前应该先熟悉与化学相关的词汇。从结构上看，本文文章主旨明确，结构清晰。从第二段开始，每段首句即为topicsentence的可能性较高，大家在阅读文章之前，可以先跳到最后一题（文章总结题）的位置看看那句对于文章总结的句子。对于大家从整体上把握文章的结构有帮助。

第三篇

考生回忆：十四世纪欧洲经济的衰退。讨论的是导致起倒退的原因。第一个原因是气候变冷，虽然冷了不多，但是对农作物的损害确实致命的。农业大量减产，畜牧业当然也不济，农民因此普遍生活困苦，交不起租，地主家也没有余粮了。农业经济不好，只好依靠对外商业。雪上加霜的是此时拜占庭帝国衰落了，引起欧洲与亚洲的贸易也大幅衰减，被迫向大西洋和非洲发展贸易。后来也讨论了农业的设备落后，依然吃11世纪的老本，导致生产率的提高无法满足日益增长的人口需求。金融体系也出现崩坏。

解析：本文讨论了欧洲十四世纪经济衰退的众多可能因素，也是一篇"现象-原因"类文章。经济发展的题材在TPO中多次出现，特别是讨论背景多是欧洲诸国。同学们在阅读此类文章的时候，要注意分清每个段落中不同信息之间的相互关系。通常段落主旨出现在段首，而后面的内容都是对主旨的展开。

2015年11月8日大陆托福听力解析

对话1：办公室场景

　　学生说学校的anthropology department 很好，所以尽管university在家乡，她还是愿意在这里上学，然后学生找教授希望能写一封推荐信好帮助她在暑假的时候找到一份summer job，就类似于之前在教授出差在Mexico的时候，她帮助教授看房子这样的工作，教授觉得可以，然后说他现在缺一个assistant(anthropology方面)，你不介意的话就给我帮忙，还带薪水。学生一口答应了，因为她这样不仅可以自己在外面打工，还可以跟教授一起做事情。教授最后说，那你记得去跟秘书去预约一个appointment，这样我可以详细跟你谈谈工作的事情。

讲座1 经济学

　　讲解酶这个东西在fabric industry的应用。以牛仔裤为例：很久以前人们买裤子只有dark blue没有那种水洗之类的风格，后来制作商发现，水洗风格很受大家欢迎，于是开始着手生产水洗牛仔裤。最初的办法是一种stone来制造，但是发现这种东西除了能制造出水洗的风格，还会刮烂裤子，所以不太好。然后，他们采用acid来制造水洗效果，但是acid有毒，同时对环境污染大，环保agency总是用法律来制裁这些公司，搞得生产成本增高。最后就用酶来制造水洗效果，同样也需要一个wash的过程，但是更环保，成本更低。

讲座2：天文学

　　球形闪电：球形闪电和一般的闪电不一样，可以持续10s乃至更长时间，同时可以在地面出现。然后教授就开始讲述几种关于球形闪电形成的猜想：

　　第一种：人们认为球形闪电是charged plasma，但后来发现，如果是plasma的话，没办法解释。为什么球形闪电出现在地表，同时还不能解释一个现象。

　　第二种：人们觉得是silicon vapor球形闪电主要是由于细小的charged silicon粒子，然后科学家们在实验室里面就用这个理念合成出球形闪电。这种人工球形闪电可以持续8s跟自然界的差不太多，所以很好的支持了silicon vapor的理论。但是后来又发现有些时候球形闪电可以直接穿墙而过，比如飞机的在天上飞行，球形闪电可以直接穿过它的金属外壳，所以教授说，或许球形闪电其实还可以由其他的粒子组成，比如铝(aluminum)。

　　结尾教授讨论了一下，观察球形闪电的事情，因为球形闪电很难看到，不像一般闪电，用一架照相机就可以研究，所以很多人甚至认为球形闪电是一种optical illusion，但是教授觉得仅仅只是因为资料太少，所以研究才比较缓慢。

对话2:学生服务场景

　　一个英语专业的学生想搞bio research，然后就去一个地方找老师问关于research的scholarship的事情。老师说research一般在另外一个学校进行，因为那里靠海，比较好做bio research。后来老师发现这个学生居然是英语专业的，问他为什么要做bio research，学生说我喜欢写scientific writing，老师说，一般让外专业学生来做research不合适，但要学生问问dean，dean管这个事情。同时还能给他建议，然后说给学生安排一个下周的见面。学生说一定会好好解释，不让dean觉得我浪费时间。

讲座3: 生物学讲座

　　讲鱼是怎么进化成陆地爬行动物，教授先说发现一个足迹的track，这个track可以追溯到375-395billion年以前，这比人们普遍认为的鱼向爬行动物生物进化的年代还要早了20 million年。所以这个发现challenge人们对于鱼进化的成陆地生物的时间。接着教授讲了一种生物，她们没有那种bony的结构，但是由lung，所以这种生物花更多时间在水外面，另外这种生物不像一般的鱼有一种C开头的结构，所以她们的neck更加flexible更利于陆地生存。然后教授又说一种E开头的水中生物，后面的大致描述了E生物的脚跟一般水中生物脚不同，她们的leg更像陆地生物具体什么的，然后教授说应该是T生物是从E生物进化来的，但是化石evidence发现T比E更久远，所以E不是T的祖先。这时候学生说或许只是因为T更久远的化石没有背发现而已。教授说：有可能，所以我们一开始说的哪个track的事情很可能是人们没发现更久远的陆生生物化石而已，然后教授又接着说了一种生物，她们有leg就像陆地生物一样，但是leg的position长的有问题，所以没办法支撑她们在陆地上行走。

讲座4: 心理学

　　研究情绪在经济学中的作用。教授一开始说，一般的经济模型是不考虑情绪的作用，她们一直认为人是rational的，所以在卖东西的时候不会受情绪的影响。同时教授终点提到了一个人，这个人在经济学领域很有影响力，但是他否定情绪的作用，所以情绪长期以来被忽略了，但现在很多人开始研究情绪了。

　　首先人买东西有两种下决定的方式：一个是integral，另一个是incidental。前一种直接与choice本身挂钩。然后学生就按照老师的思路开始举例说：情绪可以影响人的行为，首先一个女生说生气的人appreciate risky比一般人的更好，后来另外一个男生说sad的人更容易花钱，这个学生描述了一个research研究者给参加的人看video，一组人看neutral 的片子，一组人看sad 的片子，然后让他们做一个花钱测试，后来发现看sad片子的人花钱多，另外就算研究者告诉看sad片子的人她们花更多的钱是受了sad片子的影响，她们大多不相信offend this idea。

2015年11月8日大陆托福口语解析

Task 1

If a foreign friend is going to visit your hometown and doesn't t know what to pack, what suggestions do you have for him?

If a foreign friend is going to visit my hometown, T d definitely suggest him to pack two things. One of them is a map. I live in Beijing. Itf s a metropolitan city where one can easily get lost. For instance, there are 7 different subway lines that stretch out all around the city. When my cousin who' s born and raised in the US came to Beijing for the first time, he took the wrong subway line and ended up in a place out of nowhere and since he had no map and couldn't speak Chinese very well, he couldn' t ask for help. So V d say a map is a necessity when you visit a place for the very first time. Besides that, a smart phone would be a smart thing to pack too. A smart phone nowadays can solve all kinds of problems. For instance, last time when I went to Europe, I used Google translator on my phone to talk to local people. It was very convenient and a lot of fun as well.

Task 2

Someteachers let students choose topics that interest them on research papers.Others assign topics on research papers. Which one do you prefer?

I think it' s better if teachers let students choose topics that interest them on research papers for the following reasons. First of all, students will be much more motivated when writing about something they actually like. Take myself as an example, my second-grade English teacher Miss Mayim once assigned a research paper for us and she allowed us to write about whatever that interested us, so I decided to write about my favorite musical Cats. I worked very hard for it and I had more than enough motivation because I had fun learning about and writing about this musical. I gave up sleeping in during weekends and pulled all-nighters to work on this paper and I enjoyed every second of it. Secondly, students learn more when they write about things that interest them. Sometimes when teachers assign topicson research papers, students are forced to write about things they take absolutely no interest in and they end up copying some random article on the internet. And that' s completely a waste of time and won' t help the students In any way.

Task 3

The student suggests that the university should create a special website for student musicians due to two reasons. The first reason is that it will be easier to get in touch with people who share the same interests with them. The second reason is that it will be a convenient way to post information about concerts and events. In the conversation, the woman agrees with the suggestion. In the first reason, she mentions that she started a band with some of her friends and they always practice together, but they’re missing a good drummer in the band. If there was a website like this, it would be much easier for them to find a drummer for their band. As for the second reason, the woman points out that there are few people there when she goes to campus concerts and stuff because people don’t know about these events, this website could help people stay updated about music-related events on campus.

Task 4

In the lecture, the professor talks about the concept of signal redundancy which means animals will send the same message with different types of finals to inform other animals of the same species. He offers us an example to illustrate it. Deer sometimes graze together and once in a while one of the deer will go off and eat on its own. When this deer sees a predator like a lion coming, it will raise its tail as a signal to alert the other deer so that they have a chance to run away from the area. But when the other deer miss this signal, this particular deer will instead stomp on the ground to make noise. And when other deer hear this noise, they will run away to a safer area.

Task 5

The woman’s problem is that she got injured while playing basketball but she has an important game coming up. There are two possible solutions for him. The first one is to join the game anyway. And second solution is to take a rest and give herself some time to recover. If I were in her shoes, I’d go for the second solution because with the proper treatment she will be able to recover pretty soon and I’m sure there are a lot of other opportunities for her in the future. I personally don’t recommend the other solution because it will definitely make her injury worse and may even cause long-term muscle injury. It’s just not worth it to give up her health for this one game. That’s why in this case I think the second solution is a much smart option.

Task 6

In the lecture, the professor talks about two advantages fire brought for early humans. The first one is that it increased the efficiency of hunting. Fire made it possible for them to make better stone tools. For instance, they used to heat stones to a high temperature which then chipped the stones into sharp blades. These tools helped early humans hunt much more effectively than before. The second advantage is that it improved the early human’s diet. For instance, humans used to eat raw vegetables and they were difficult to digest. But if they cooked these potatoes on fire, they could take in much more calories and their life quality was improved by fire too.

2015年11月8日大陆托福写作解析

综合写作:

独立写作:Schools have always offered students three types of after-school activities. But due to recent limited budgets, they can only support one kind of activities. Which one would you choose? Why?

　　1 Sports

　　2 Arts

3 Volunteering (eg. for the community)

　　All three activities are beneficial for students, and will help them build various skills, as well as teach them important values; however, I am convinced that, in case of a budget cut, schools should only maintain volunteering as an after-school activity.

　　It has been proven that students that have been assigned to volunteer work finished their semester healthier and happier than their peers who didn’t volunteer. They became more altruistic and empathetic, and had less negative attitudes. Moreover, volunteer bring students into contact with individuals from all walks of life, which helps broaden their minds and challenge their vision of power and privileges. All and all, volunteerism has all kind of positive impact on students’ mind.

　　On a more practical note, volunteering experiences will boost a student’ resume. Employers like seeing that the student volunteered his or her, time; it shows that he or she is able to manage time well enough to take on an unpaid position. Volunteerism also suggests that the candidate is a team player, a quality that many employers will look for in potential hires. Indeed, students may find in volunteering opportunities for a future career path. By volunteering students can try out different careers, and have first-hand experience of certain sectors.

　　Finally, volunteerism fosters personal growth. Volunteers feel good about themselves. The work they do will be rewarding and beneficial to segments of the population and areas of the community that need volunteers to thrive. In a volunteer situation, one person can make a real difference, and students will get that feeling once they start.

　　Not to mention that the community itself will benefit incredibly from the volunteers’ work.

　In conclusion, in case of limited budget, schools should focus their resources on promoting after-school volunteering programs. Volunteering experiences will help students feel more accomplished and become more altruistic and emphatic. In addition, they will be advantageous for the students’ future.