托福习题练习
| 托福考试易错题（2019/8/8） |
| 第1题： Mount Rushmore Mount Rushmore is a monument to the ideals of the United States. The faces of four presidents who contributed to the formation of the nation are carved on Mount Rushmore in SouthDakotA、These four presidents are George Washington, Thomas Jefferson,Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt.Each had a vision of what the United States ofAmerica should be and shaped the development of the country. Doane Robinson, the superintendent of the SouthDakota State Historical Society, first envisaged the idea of a monument consisting of colossal stone carvings situated in SouthDakota in 1923. He proposed the carving of giant statues of historical figures of the Old West, such as General GeorgeCuster and KitCarson into a mountainside. Robinson lobbied for support of the idea, as he believed it would promote tourism in the areA、Although many thought the idea was ludicrous, Robinson managed to enlist the support of U.S. Senator Peter Norbeck. Norbeck suggested that Robinson find a sculptor skilled enough to undertake the project, so Robinson contacted GutzonBorglum, anAmerican artist, who accepted the commission. Borglum was not interested in creating a sculpture using regional historical figures as subjects because he thought that such a sculpture would not be of great interest or historical importance. SoBorglum, together with Norbeck and Robinson, decided upon a sculpture of great presidents who had contributed to the birth and development of the United States and to the achievement of its aspirations.Borglum selected Mount Rushmore in the Harney National Forest for his carving because it faced southeast and would be in direct sunlight for the better part of the day. The site was also ideal because the granite that made up the mountain was suitable for the work. Although Robinson, Norbeck, andBorglum managed to obtain permission for the project from the federal legislature, the project stalled due to opposition and lack of funding. Finally, in 1927, PresidentCalvinCoolidge took an extended holiday in the area and was convinced that the project should proceeD、As an indication of his commitment, he provided federal funding for the project.Coolidge insisted that the four presidents selected should include two Republicans and aDemocrat, along with George Washington. Jefferson, Lincoln, and Roosevelt were chosen as they best represented the first 150 years of the United States ofAmerica, and were admired by the trio that had conceived and brought the project to fruition. Each president immortalized on Mount Rushmore made a significant contribution to the country. George Washington was the country’s first president, serving from 1789 to 1797. Washington was instrumental in the nation’s attainment of its independence fromEngland and was responsible for the democracy now existing in the United States. Thomas Jefferson served as president from 1801 to 1809. He was responsible for the drafting of theDeclaration of Independence and the Louisiana Purchase, which expanded the country westwarD、Abraham Lincoln was elected in 1860 but assassinated while still in office in 1865. Lincoln guided the country through theCivil War and was often referred to as "The GreatEmancipator" for his part in the abolition of slavery. Theodore Roosevelt served as president from 1901 to 1909. He was responsible for the construction of the PanamaCanal. However, Roosevelt’s inclusion was controversial because he had only been out of office for less than twenty-five years when the project started, so his contribution to the United States had not yet been judged by history.But despite the controversy, the project continueD、In 1934, the team of artists and sculptors completed the face of George Washington, followed by Thomas Jefferson in 1936,Abraham Lincoln in 1937, and Theodore Roosevelt in 1939. It took 14 years to complete the sculpture on Mount Rushmore but only a |
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| 第2题： Science Fiction NotAny More Science fiction has often been the source of inspiration for new technologies. The exoskeletons and head-mounted displays featured in the film "Aliens", for example, spawned a number of military-funded projects to try to create similar technologies.Automatic sliding doors might never have become popular had they not appeared on the television series "Star Trek".And the popularity of flip-top or "clamshell" mobile phones may stem from the desire to look likeCaptain Kirk flipping open his communicator on the same program. Now it seems that "Star Trek" has done it again. This month,American soldiers in Iraq will begin trials of a device inspired by the "comm badge" featured in "Star Trek: The Next Generation". Like crew members of the starshipEnterprise, soldiers will be able to talk to other members of their unit just by tapping and then speaking into a small badge worn on the chest. What sets the comm badge apart from a mere walkie-talkie, and appeals to "Star Trek" fans, is the system’s apparent intelligence. It works out who you are calling from spoken commands, and connects you instantly. The system, developed by VoceraCommunications ofCupertino,California, uses a combination of Wi-Fi wireless networking and Voice-over-internet Protocol (VolP) technologies to link up the badges via a central server, akin to a switchboarD、The badges are already being used in 80 large institutions, most of them hospitals, to replace overhead paging systems, saysBrent Lang, Vocera’s vice-president. Like its science-fiction counterpart, the badge is designed so that all functions can be carried out by pressing a single button. On pressing it, the caller gives a command and specifies the name of a person or group of people, such as "callDr. Smith" or "locate the nearest anesthesiologist". Voice-recognition software interprets the commands and locates the appropriate person or group, based on whichever Wi-Fi base-station they are closest to. The person receiving the call then hears an audible alert stating the name of the caller and, if he or she wishes to take the call, responds by tapping the badge and starting to speak. That highlights a key difference between the "Star Trek" comm badge and the real-life version:  Vocera’s implementation allows people to reject incoming calls, rather than having the voice of the caller patched through automatically.  But even the most purist fans can forgive Vocera for deviating from the script in this way, saysDavidBatchelor, an astrophysicist and " Star Trek" enthusiast at NASA’s Goddard Space FlightCenter in Greenbelt, MarylanD、 For there are, he notes, some curious aspects to the behavior of the comm badges in "Star Trek".  When the captain of theEnterprise says "Picard to sick-bay: Medical emergency on the bridge", for example, his badge somehow connects him to the sick-bay before he has stated the destination of the call.Allowing badge users to reject incoming calls if they are busy, rather than being connected instantly, was a feature added at the request of customers, says Mr. Lang.But in almost all other respects the badges work just like their fictional counterparts. This is not very surprising, says Lawrence Krauss, an astrophysicist atCase Western Reserve University inCleveland, Ohio, and the author of "The Physics of Star Trek". In science fiction, and particularly in "Star Trek", most problems have technological fixes. Sometimes, it seems, those fixes can be applied to real-world problems too. Vocera’s system is particularly well suited to hospitals, saysChristine Tar |
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| 第3题： A、The importance of anthropology to modern society. B． A、good source of information about a society. C．Attitudes toward culture in the 1940’’s. D．The relationship between anthropology and the military. |
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| 第4题：Reading 3 "GroupDecision Making" Advantages of GroupDecision Making →Committees, task forces, and ad hoc groups are frequently assigned to identify and recommend decision alternatives or, in some cases, to actually make important decisions. In essence, a group is a tool that can focus the experience and expertise of several people on a particular problem or situation. Thus, a group offers the advantage of greater total knowledge. Groups accumulate more information, knowledge, and facts than individuals and often consider more alternatives.Each person in the group is able to draw on his or her unique education, experience, insights, and other resources and contribute those to the group. The varied backgrounds, training levels, and expertise of group members also help overcome tunnel vision by enabling the group to view the problem in more than one way. → Participation in group decision making usually leads to higher member satisfaction. People tend to accept a decision more readily and to be better satisfied with it when they have participated in making that decision. In addition, people will better understand and be more committed to a decision in which they have had a say than to a decision made for them.As a result, such a decision is more likely to be implemented successfully. Disadvantages of GroupDecision Making → While groups have many potential benefits, we all know that they can also be frustrating.  One obvious disadvantage of group decision making is the timerequired to make a decision.  The time needed for group discussion and the associated compromising and selecting of a decision alternative can be considerable.  Time costs money, so a waste of time becomes a disadvantage if a decision made by a group could have been made just as effectively by an individual working alone.  Consequently, group decisions should be avoided when speed and efficiency are the primary considerations.A、second disadvantage is that the group discussion may be dominated by an individual or subgroup.Effectiveness can be reduced if one individual, such as the group leader, dominates the discussion by talking too much or being closed to other points of view. Some group leaders try to control the group and provide the major input. Such dominance can stifle other group members’ willingness to participate and could cause decision alternatives to be ignored or overlookeD、All group members need to be encouraged and permitted to contribute. →Another disadvantage of group decision making is that members may be less concerned with the group’s goals than with their own personal goals. They may become so sidetracked in trying to win an argument that they forget about group performance. On the other hand, a group may try too hard to compromise and consequently may not make optimal decisions. Sometimes this stems from the desire to maintain friendships and avoid disagreements. Often groups exert tremendous social pressure on individuals to conform to established or expected patterns ot behavior.Especially when they are dealing with important and controversial issues, interacting groups may be prone to a phenomenon called groupthink. → Groupthink is an agreement-at-any-cost mentality that results in ineffective group decision making. It occurs when groups are highly cohesive, have highly directive leaders, are insulated so they have no clear ways to get objective information, and—because they lack outside information—have little hope that a better solution might be found than the one proposed by the leader or other influential group members. These conditions fo |
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| 第5题：Geographers say that what defines a place are four properties: soil, climate, altitude, and aspect, or attitude to the Sun. Florida’’s ancient scrub demonstrates this principle. Its soil is pure silica, so barren it supports only lichens as ground cover.(It does, however, sustain a sand-swimming lizard that cannot live where there is moisture or plant matter (5) the soil.) Its climate, despite more than 50 inches of annual rainfall, is blistering desert plant life it can sustain is only the xerophytic, the quintessentially dry. Its altitude is a mere couple of hundred feet, but it is high ground on a peninsula elsewhere close to sea level, and its drainage is so critical that a difference of inches in elevation can bring major changes in its plant communities. Its aspect is flat, direct, brutal―and subtropical. (10) Florida’’s surrounding lushness cannot impinge on its ’’desert scrubbiness. This does not sound like an attractive place. It does not look much like one either; Shrubby little oaks, clumps of scraggly bushes, prickly pear, thorns, and tangles. "It appear Said one early naturalist," to desire to display the result of the misery through which it has Passed and is passing."By our narrow standards, scrub is not beautiful; neither does it meet (15)our selfish utilitarian needs.Even the name is an epithet, a synonym for the stunted, the scruffy, the insignificant, what is beautiful about such a place The most important remaining patches of scrub lie along the Lake Wales Ridge, a chain of paleoislands running for a hundred miles down the center of Florida, in most places less than ten miles wide. R is relict seashore, tossed up millions of years ago when ocean levels (20) were higher and the rest of the peninsula was submergeD、That ancient emergence is precisely what makes Lake Wales Ridge so precious: it has remained unsubmerged , its ecosystems essentially undisturbed, since the Miocene er A、As a result, it has gathered to itself one of the largest collections of rare organisms in the worlD、Only about 75 plant species survive there, but at least 30 Of these are found nowhere else onEarth.The word "insignificant" in line 16 is closest in meaning to A、unimportant B．undisturbed C．immature D．inappropriate |
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