考试日期：2014年3月2日

Reading Passage 1

Title:

细胞观测的发展

Question types:

文章内容回顾：

主题：生物类话题

主要讲述曾经一个科学家使用one-lens显微镜观察微生物，但是却不能观察到单细胞，于是他就觉得生命是来自nothing的。由于当时科技的局限性以及观察微生物时不可避免的缺陷和错误，导致了后来一直没有新的理论来挑战这个科学家的理论。再后来，出现了另外一个科学家，这个科学家发现细胞是通过分裂来进行繁殖的，这就挑战了之前那个科学家的理论。

难度分析：

生物类话题，在托福阅读考试中较为常见，文章结构是对比类结构，框架结构清晰，考生需要注意新观点的出现。

相关背景内容：

The cell is the basic structural, functional and biological unit of all known living organisms. Cells are the smallest unit of life that can replicate independently, and are often called the "building blocks of life". The study of cells is called cell biology.

Cells consist of a protoplasm enclosed within a membrane, which contains many biomolecules such as proteins and nucleic acids. Organisms can be classified as unicellular (consisting of a single cell; including most bacteria) or multicellular (including plants and animals). While the number of cells in plants and animals varies from species to species, humans contain about 100 trillion (1014) cells. Most plant and animal cells are visible only under the microscope, with dimensions between 1 and 100 micrometres.

The cell was discovered by Robert Hooke in 1665. The cell theory, first developed in 1839 by Matthias Jakob Schleiden and Theodor Schwann, states that all organisms are composed of one or more cells, that all cells come from preexisting cells, that vital functions of an organism occur within cells, and that all cells contain the hereditary information necessary for regulating cell functions and for transmitting information to the next generation of cells.Cells emerged on Earth at least 3.5 billion years ago.

Reading Passage 2

Title:

美国经济危机时期人们对于政府干预经济的态度的转变

Question types:

文章内容回顾：

主题：历史类话题

文章先是描述美国1929-1936经济大萧条的原因。股票和证券市场崩溃，人们入不敷出，零售业惨遭影响。

然后分为两个阶段描述经济危机，分别是1929-1931和1931-1936. 前者主要讲述了美国总统胡福的“不干预”政策导致的，后者讲述了经济危机的表现以及对于欧洲的波及。最后，人们对于政府干预经济的态度转为支持。

难度分析：

历史类话题，文章结构是分类列举型，框架结构较为清晰。学生对于这一题材的阅读都较为熟悉，所以文章总体难度不大。

考生需要根据文章的时间线索掌握不同时期经济危机的表现。

相关背景内容：

The term financial crisis is applied broadly to a variety of situations in which some financial assets suddenly lose a large part of their nominal value. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many financial crises were associated with banking panics, and many recessions coincided with these panics. Other situations that are often called financial crises include stock market crashes and the bursting of other financial bubbles, currency crises, and sovereign defaults.Financial crises directly result in a loss of paper wealth but do not necessarily result in changes in the real economy.

Reading Passage 3

Title:

恒温动物和变温动物

Question types:

文章内容回顾：

主题动物类素材

文中主要讲述了恒温动物、变温动物以及时而恒温时而变温动物。先是介绍了变温动物是根据他们体型的大小来分别进行变温的，当温度变高时，他们需要调节自己的体温是适应温度的的变化，而当温度较低时，他们则不需要太多的新陈代谢。变温动物所需食物和能量都较少，因此可以适应恒温动物所不能适应的恶劣环境。然而当变温动物进行激烈运动时，需发生无氧代谢，此时体内便会产生乳酸让其疲劳。

然后讲述了恒温动物的特点，恒温动物体积较小，以便阳光能够充分照射到他们的身体来温暖他们。他们的优势就在于他们能够很容易找到自己的栖身之地。因此，就有科学家判断恐龙不是恒温动物，因为他们的体积太大。但是，又有一些科学家就提出，正是因为恐龙的体积较大，所以他们的表面积相对较小，从而散热也比较慢，所以也有可能是恒温动物。

难度分析：

动物类素材在托福阅读中是比较常见的素材，其中，大多以对比类结构出现，这篇也不例外，考生需要在此方面下功夫。

相关背景内容：

A poikilotherm is an organism whose internal temperature varies considerably. It is the opposite of a homeotherm, an organism which maintains thermal homeostasis. Usually the variation is a consequence of variation in the ambient environmental temperature. Many terrestrial ectotherms are poikilothermic.However some ectotherms remain in temperature-constant environments to the point that they are actually able to maintain a constant internal temperature (i.e. are homeothermic). It is this distinction that often makes the term "poikilotherm" more useful than the vernacular "cold-blooded", which is sometimes used to refer to ectotherms more generally. Poikilothermic animals include types of vertebrate animals, specifically fish, amphibians, and reptiles, as well as a large number of invertebrate animals. The Naked mole rat is the only mammal that is currently thought to be poikilothermic.

The term warm-blooded is a colloquial term to describe animal species that have a relatively higher blood temperature, and maintain thermal homeostasis primarily through internal metabolic processes. These are characteristics of mammals and birds.

Both the terms "warm-blooded" and "cold-blooded" have fallen out of favour with scientists because of the vagueness of the terms and an increased understanding of the field. Body temperature types are not discrete categories. Each term may be replaced with one or more variants (see the next section for examples). Body temperature maintenance (thermoregulation) incorporates a wide range of different techniques that result in a body temperature continuum.