托福閱讀真題詞匯題：

　　merely = only exclusively = solely

　　maintain = claim supplement = add to

　　dramatic = powerful autonomous = independent

　　rudimentary = elementary fluctuation = variation

　　akin to = similar to ingenuity = inventiveness

　　occasionally = sometimes

　　托福閱讀真題第一篇

　　題材劃分：人文歷史類

　　主要內(nèi)容：

　　最早的壁畫(huà)是在某個(gè)地方發(fā)現(xiàn)的，但是由于濕氣嚴(yán)重，為了保護(hù)當(dāng)?shù)乇诋?huà)，所以基本不讓人進(jìn)入?yún)⒂^。即使是學(xué)家們也很難進(jìn)入進(jìn)行研究考察。根據(jù)一些信息專家們還是可以了解和推測(cè)出一些跟壁畫(huà)相關(guān)的歷史文化知識(shí)。壁畫(huà)上畫(huà)的內(nèi)容主要是動(dòng)物，但是基本上很難找到畫(huà)人的壁畫(huà)。那時(shí)的當(dāng)?shù)厝藗儚淖匀恢蝎@得了一些基本顏色，有紅、黑、黃、褐等，他們還會(huì)將顏色混合，利用不同的工具進(jìn)行壁畫(huà)創(chuàng)作。

　　相關(guān)背景資料：

　　Cave paintings (also known as "parietal art") are painted drawings on cave walls or ceilings, mainly of prehistoric origin, to some 40,000 years ago (around 38,000 BCE) in both Asia and Europe. The exact purpose of the Paleolithic cave paintings is not known. Evidence suggests that they were not merely decorations of living areas since the caves in which they have been found do not have signs of ongoing habitation. They are also often located in areas of caves that are not easily accessible. Some theories hold that cave paintings may have been a way of communicating with others, while other theories ascribe a religious or ceremonial purpose to them. The paintings are remarkably similar around the world, with animals being common subjects that give the most impressive images. Humans mainly appear as images of hands, mostly hand stencils made by blowing pigment on a hand held to the wall.

　　The earliest known cave paintings/drawings of animals are at least 35,000 years old and are found in Pettakere cave on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia, according to datings announced in 2014. Previously it was believed that the earliest paintings were in Europe. The earliest figurative paintings in Europe date back to the Aurignacian period, approximately 30,000 to 32,000 years ago, and are found in the Chauvet Cave in France, and in the Coliboaia Cave in Romania. The earliest non-figurative rock art dates back to approximately 40,000 years ago, the date given both to a disk in the El Castillo cave in Cantabria, Spain and a hand stencil in Sulawesi. There are similar later paintings in Africa, Australia and South America, continuing until recent times in some places, though there is a worldwide tendency for open air rock art to succeed paintings deep in caves.

　　托福閱讀真題第二篇

　　題材劃分：歷史類

　　主要內(nèi)容：

　　講述Towns VS. Villages. 第一段說(shuō)在歐洲的某個(gè)歷史時(shí)期，Lord控制著土地和經(jīng)濟(jì)，但是這個(gè)時(shí)候Towns確實(shí)是存在的，它和Villages的區(qū)別不在于居民人數(shù)的多少，而在于其它方面。第二段提到了towns的幾個(gè)特征：1.人口密度大，labor diversity, periodic market based on many instead of barter, 貿(mào)易收入在總收入中占有一定比例 2.Village可能并沒(méi)有上述講到的特征，但是towns都有，這并不能作為區(qū)分towns和village的依據(jù) 3.有些建筑物存在于towns或者village中。第三段中講到一些學(xué)者補(bǔ)充了兩者的不同點(diǎn)。第四段里說(shuō)到了towns的發(fā)展擴(kuò)大，分為北歐和南歐，北歐就是很正常的數(shù)量變多城市擴(kuò)大，但是在南歐，Towns的數(shù)量并沒(méi)有增加，總體上人數(shù)的增加來(lái)源于移民。第五段說(shuō)towns的經(jīng)濟(jì)發(fā)展，lord控制了一個(gè)地區(qū)但不住在那個(gè)區(qū)域，這就造成了一個(gè)現(xiàn)象，北歐有三足鼎立相互制約的感覺(jué)，lord其實(shí)并沒(méi)有實(shí)際話語(yǔ)權(quán)，但是在南歐，同樣有相互制約的權(quán)利，但是lord是有話語(yǔ)權(quán)的，權(quán)利同時(shí)也在慢慢向其它組織轉(zhuǎn)移。

　　相關(guān)背景資料：

　　In some cases, "town" is an alternate name for "city" or "village" (especially a larger village). Sometimes, the word "town" is short for "township". In general, today towns can be differentiated from townships, villages, or hamlets on the basis of their economic character, in that most of a town's population will tend to derive their living from manufacturing industry, commerce, and public services rather than primary industry such as agriculture or related activities.

　　A place's population size is not a reliable determinant of urban character. In many areas of the world, as in India at least until recent times, a large village might contain several times as many people as a small town. In the United Kingdom, there are historical cities that are far smaller than the larger towns.

　　The modern phenomenon of extensive suburban growth, satellite urban development, and migration of city-dwellers to villages have further complicated the definition of towns, creating communities urban in their economic and cultural characteristics but lacking other characteristics of urban localities.

　　Some forms of non-rural settlement, such as temporary mining locations, may be clearly non-rural, but have at best a questionable claim to be called a town.

　　托福閱讀真題第三篇

　　題材劃分：藝術(shù)類

　　主要內(nèi)容：

　　某個(gè)人對(duì)另外一個(gè)人寫(xiě)的關(guān)于博物館光限制的看法。一個(gè)人在他的說(shuō)中說(shuō)博物館的東西都應(yīng)該被保存在低光環(huán)境下，現(xiàn)在的博物館光線太強(qiáng)對(duì)文物不好。比如有種墨水就會(huì)因?yàn)橥饨绻饩�條件分解受損。他還建議說(shuō)博物館要有一種chambers來(lái)讓參觀者過(guò)渡適應(yīng)博物館內(nèi)部的低光線環(huán)境。本文作者認(rèn)為這樣做不好，他說(shuō)這種所謂專家的理論并沒(méi)有得到研究證實(shí)，人們應(yīng)該仔細(xì)研究每個(gè)博物館區(qū)域需要具體的多少光強(qiáng)并進(jìn)行針對(duì)性的布置而不是全部都是暗的，特別是藝術(shù)博物館，canvas和pigment并不需要低光保護(hù)，低光反而會(huì)讓人產(chǎn)生視覺(jué)偏差，對(duì)觀賞效果不好。分別舉了倫敦和丹麥的例子。倫敦的例子是說(shuō)低光環(huán)境帶來(lái)的壞處，丹麥的例子是說(shuō)用白色墻壁吸收了有害紫外線的同時(shí)也保證了亮度，很棒。最后作者倡導(dǎo)人們?cè)诒Ｗo(hù)博物館環(huán)境的同時(shí)也要保證人們的欣賞效果。

　　相關(guān)背景資料：

　　The design of museums has evolved throughout history. However, museum planning involves planning the actual mission of the museum along with planning the space that the collection of the museum will be housed in.

　　"The new museum…does not build on an educational superstition. It examines its community's life first, and then straightway bends its energies to supplying some the material which that community needs, and to making that material's presence widely known, and to presenting it in such a way as to secure it for the maximum of use and the maximum efficiency of that use."

　　The way that museums are planned and designed vary according to what collections they house, but overall, they adhere to planning a space that is easily accessed by the public and easily displays the chosen artifacts. These elements of planning have their roots with John Cotton Dana, who was perturbed at the historical placement of museums outside of cities, and in areas that were not easily accessed by the public, in gloomy European style buildings.

　　Questions of accessibility continue to the present day. Many museums strive to make their buildings, programming, ideas, and collections more publicly accessible than in the past. Not every museum is participating in this trend, but that seems to be the trajectory of museums in the twenty-first century with its emphasis on inclusiveness. One pioneering way museums are attempting to make their collections more accessible is with open storage. Most of a museum's collection is typically locked away in a secure location to be preserved, but the result is most people never get to see the vast majority of collections. The Brooklyn Museum's Luce Center for American Art practices this open storage where the public can view items not on display, albeit with minimal interpretation. The practice of open storage is all part of an ongoing debate in the museum field of the role objects play and how accessible they should be.