综合点评

本次考试阅读难度总体持平，主要围绕生物和历史类话题。

Passage

one

学科分类

题目

自然科学-生物

金枪鱼

内容回忆

生物习性特征

参考阅读

A Warm-Blooded Turtle

When it comes to physiology, the leatherback turtle is, in some ways, more like a reptilian whale than a turtle. It swims farther into the cold of the northern and southern oceans than any other sea turtle, and it deals with the chilly waters in a way unique among reptiles.

A warm-blooded turtle may seem to be a contradiction in terms. Nonetheless, an adult leatherback can maintain a body temperature of between 25 and 26°C 77–79°F in seawater that is only 8°C 46.4°F. Accomplishing this feat requires adaptations both to generate heat in the turtle's body and to keep it from escaping into the surrounding waters. Leatherbacks apparently do not generate internal heat the way we do, or the way birds do, as a by-product of cellular metabolism. A leatherback may be able to pick up some body heat by basking at the surface; its dark, almost black body color may help it to absorb solar radiation. However, most of its internal heat comes from the action of its muscles.

Leatherbacks keep their body heat in three different ways. The first, and simplest, is size. The bigger the animal is, the lower its surface-to-volume ratio; for every ounce of body mass, there is proportionately less surface through which heat can escape. An adult leatherback is twice the size of the biggest cheloniid sea turtles and will therefore take longer to cool off. Maintaining a high body temperature through sheer bulk is called gigantothermy. It works for elephants, for whales, and, perhaps, it worked for many of the larger dinosaurs. It apparently works, in a smaller way, for some other sea turtles. Large loggerhead and green turtles can maintain their body temperature at a degree or two above that of the surrounding water, and gigantothermy is probably the way they do it. Muscular activity helps, too, and an actively swimming green turtle may be 7°C 12.6°F warmer than the waters it swims through.

Gigantothermy, though, would not be enough to keep a leatherback warm in cold northern waters. It is not enough for whales, which supplement it with a thick layer of insulating blubber fat. Leatherbacks do not have blubber, but they do have a reptilian equivalent: thick, oil-saturated skin, with a layer of fibrous, fatty tissue just beneath it. Insulation protects the leatherback everywhere but on its head and flippers. Because the flippers are comparatively thin and blade like, they are the one part of the leatherback that is likely to become chilled. There is not much that the turtle can do about this without compromising the aerodynamic shape of the flipper. The problem is that as blood flows through the turtle's flippers, it risks losing enough heat to lower the animal's central body temperature when it returns. The solution is to allow the flippers to cool down without drawing heat away from the rest of the turtle's body. The leatherback accomplishes this by arranging the blood vessels in the base of its flipper into a countercurrent exchange system.

In a countercurrent exchange system, the blood vessels carrying cooled blood from the flippers run close enough to the blood vessels carrying warm blood from the body to pick up some heat from the warmer blood vessels;thus, the heat is transferred from the outgoing to the ingoing vessels before it reaches the flipper itself. This is the same arrangement found in an old-fashioned steam radiator, in which the coiled pipes pass heat back and forth as water courses through them. The leatherback is certainly not the only animal with such an arrangement; gulls have a countercurrent exchange in their legs. That is why a gull can stand on an ice floe without freezing.

All this applies, of course, only to an adult leatherback. Hatchlings are simply too small to conserve body heat, even with insulation and countercurrent exchange systems. We do not know how old, or how large, a leatherback has to be before it can switch from a cold-blooded to a warm-blooded mode of life. Leatherbacks reach their immense size in a much shorter time than it takes other sea turtles to grow. Perhaps their rush to adulthood is driven by a simple need to keep warm.

Passage

two

学科分类

题目

社会科学 历史

玛雅文明的灭亡

内容回忆

三个假说：

1. 灾难地震台风干旱

2. 农业方法导致土地丧失功能

3. 邻国实力上升经济中心转移

参考阅读

The Rise of Teotihuacán

The city of Teotihuacán, which lay about 50 kilometers northeast of modern-day Mexico City, began its growth by 200-100 B.C. At its height, between about A.D.150 and 700, it probably had a population of more than 125,000 people and covered at least 20 square kilometers. It had over 2,000 apartment complexes, a great market, a large number of industrial workshops, an administrative center, a number of massive religious edifices, and a regular grid pattern of streets and buildings. Clearly, much planning and central control were involved in the expansion and ordering of this great metropolis. Moreover, the city had economic and perhaps religious contacts with most parts of Mesoamerica (modern Central America and Mexico).

How did this tremendous development take place, and why did it happen in the Teotihuacán Valley? Among the main factors are Teotihuacán's geographic location on a natural trade route to the south and east of the Valley of Mexico, the obsidian resources in the Teotihuacán Valley itself, and the valley's potential for extensive irrigation. The exact role of other factors is much more difficult to pinpoint: for instance, Teotihuacán's religious significance as a shrine, the historical situation in and around the Valley of Mexico toward the end of the first millennium B.C., the ingenuity and foresightedness of Teotihuacán's elite, and, finally, the impact of natural disasters, such as the volcanic eruptions of the late first millennium B.C.

This last factor is at least circumstantially implicated in Teotihuacán's rise. Prior to 200 B.C., a number of relatively small centers coexisted in and near the Valley of Mexico. Around this time, the largest of these centers, Cuicuilco, was seriously affected by a volcanic eruption, with much of its agricultural land covered by lava. With Cuicuilco eliminated as a potential rival, any one of a number of relatively modest towns might have emerged as a leading economic and political power in Central Mexico. The archaeological evidence clearly indicates, though, that Teotihuacán was the center that did arise as the predominant force in the area by the first century A.D.

It seems likely that Teotihuacán's natural resources, along with the city elite's ability to recognize their potential, gave the city a competitive edge over its neighbors. The valley, like many other places in Mexican and Guatemalan highlands, was rich in obsidian. The hard volcanic stone was a resource that had been in great demand for many years, at least since the rise of the Olmecs (a people who flourished between 1200 and 400 B.C.), and it apparently had a secure market. Moreover, recent research on obsidian tools found at Olmec sites has shown that some of the obsidian obtained by the Olmecs originated near Teotihuacán. Teotihuacán obsidian must have been recognized as a valuable commodity for many centuries before the great city arose.

Long-distance trade in obsidian probably gave the elite residents of Teotihuacán access to a wide variety of exotic good, as well as a relatively prosperous life. Such success may have attracted immigrants to Teotihuacán. In addition, Teotihuacán's elite may have consciously attempted to attract new inhabitants. It is also probable that as early as 200 B.C.,Teotihuacán may have achieved some religious significance and its shrine (or shrines) may have served as an additional population magnet. Finally, the growing population was probably fed by increasing the number and size of irrigated fields.

The picture of Teotihuacán that emerges is a classic picture of positive feedback among obsidian mining and working, trade, population growth, irrigation, and religious tourism. The thriving obsidian operation, for example, would necessitate more miners, additional manufacturers of obsidian tools, and additional traders to carry the goods to new markets. All this led to increased wealth, which in turn would attract more immigrants to Teotihuacán. The growing power of the elite, who controlled the economy, would give them the means to physically coerce people to move to Teotihuacán and serve as additions to the labor force. More irrigation works would have to be built to feed the growing population, and this resulted in more power and wealth for the elite.

Passage Three

学科分类

题目

社会科学-历史

肥皂的发明

内容回忆

待补充

参考阅读

Movable Type

Nothing divided the medieval world in Europe more decisively from the Early Modern period than printing with movable type. It was a German invention and the culmination of a complex process. The world of antiquity had recorded its writings mainly on papyrus. Between 200 B.C and A.D 300, this was supplemented by vellum, calf skin treated and then smoothed by pumice stone. To this in late Roman times was added parchment, similarly made from the smoothed skin of sheep or goats. In the early Middle Ages, Europe imported an industrial process from China, which turned almost any kind of fibrous material into pulp that was then spread in sheets. This was known as cloth parchment. By about 1150 the Spanish had developed the first mill for making cheap paper (a word contracted from "papyrus", which became the standard term). One of the most important phenomena of the later Middle Ages was the growing availability of cheap paper. Even in England, where technology lagged far behind, a sheet of paper, or eight octavo pages, cost only a penny by the fifteenth century.

In the years 1446-1448, two German goldsmiths, Johannes Gutenberg and Johann Fust, made use of cheap paper to introduce a critical improvement in the way written pages were reproduced. Printing from wooden blocks was the old method; what the Germans did was to invent movable type for the letterpress. It had three merits: it could be used repeatedly until worn out; it was cast in metal from a mold and so could be renewed without difficulty; and it made lettering uniform. In 1450, Gutenberg began work on his Bible, the first printed book, known as the Gutenberg. It was completed in 1455 and is a marvel. As Gutenberg, apart from getting the key idea, had to solve a lot of practical problems, including imposing paper and ink into the process and the actual printing itself, for which he adapted the screw press used by winemakers, it is amazing that his first product does not look at all rudimentary. Those who handle it are struck by its clarity and quality.

Printing was one of those technical revolutions that developed its own momentum at extraordinary speed. Europe in the fifteenth century was a place where intermediate technology-that is, workshops with skilled craftspeople-was well established and spreading fast, especially in Germany and Italy. Such workshops were able to take on printing easily, and it thus became Europe's first true industry. The process was aided by two factors: the new demand for cheap classical texts and the translation of the Latin Bible into "modern" languages. Works of reference were also in demand. Presses sprang up in several German cities, and by 1470, Nuremberg, Germany had established itself as the center of the international publishing trade, printing books from 24 presses and distributing them at trade fairs all over western and central Europe. The old monastic scriptoria-monastery workshops where monks copied texts by hand-worked closely alongside the new presses, continuing to produce the luxury goods that movable-type printing could not yet supply. Printing, however, was primarily aimed at a cheap mass sale.

Although there was no competition between the technologies, there was rivalry between nations. The Italians made energetic and successful efforts to catch up with Germany. Their most successful scriptorium quickly imported two leading German printers to set up presses in their book-producing shop. German printers had the disadvantage of working with the complex typeface that the Italians sneeringly referred to as "Gothic" and that later became known as black letter. Outside Germany, readers found this typeface disagreeable. The Italians, on the other hand, had a clear typeface known as roman that became the type of the future.

Hence, although the Germans made use of the paper revolution to introduce movable type, the Italians went far to regain the initiative by their artistry. By 1500 there were printing firms in 60 German cities, but there were 150 presses in Venice alone. However, since many nations and governments wanted their own presses, the trade quickly became international. The cumulative impact of this industrial spread was spectacular. Before printing, only the very largest libraries, of which there were a dozen in Europe, had as many as 600 books. The total number of books on the entire Continent was well under 100,000. But by 1500, after only 45 years of the printed book, there were 9 million in circulation.

Passage Four

学科分类

题目

社会科学 历史

北美殖民地初的贸易

内容回忆

开始自给自足，慢慢开始以物换物，后面演变为大规模的交易，商人、现金随之产生。

参考阅读

Trade and the Ancient Middle East

Trade was the mainstay of the urban economy in the Middle East, as caravans negotiated the surrounding desert, restricted only by access to water and by mountain ranges. This has been so since ancient times, partly due to the geology of the area, which is mostly limestone and sandstone, with few deposits of metallic ore and other useful materials. Ancient demands for obsidian (a black volcanic rock useful for making mirrors and tools) led to trade with Armenia to the north, while jade for cutting tools was brought from Turkistan, and the precious stone lapis lazuli was imported from Afghanistan. One can trace such expeditions back to ancient Sumeria, the earliest known Middle Eastern civilization. Records show merchant caravans and trading posts set up by the Sumerians in the surrounding mountains and deserts of Persia and Arabia, where they traded grain for raw materials, such as timber and stones, as well as for metals and gems.

Reliance on trade had several important consequences. Production was generally in the hands of skilled individual artisans doing piecework under the tutelage of a master who was also the shop owner. In these shops differences of rank were blurred as artisans and masters labored side by side in the same modest establishment, were usually members of the same guild and religious sect, lived in the same neighborhoods, and often had assumed?or real? kinship relationships. The worker was bound to the master by a mutual contract that either one could repudiate, and the relationship was conceptualized as one of partnership.

This mode of craft production favored the growth of self-governing and ideologically egalitarian craft guilds everywhere in the Middle Eastern city. These were essentially professional associations that provided for the mutual aid and protection of their members, and allowed for the maintenance of professional standards. The growth of independent guilds was furthered by the fact that surplus was not a result of domestic craft production but resulted primarily from international trading; the government left working people to govern themselves, much as shepherds of tribal confederacies were left alone by their leaders. In the multiplicity of small-scale local egalitarian or quasi-egalitarian organizations for fellowship, worship, and production that flourished in this laissez-faire environment, individuals could interact with one another within a community of harmony and ideological equality, following their own popularly elected leaders and governing themselves by shared consensus while minimizing distinctions of wealth and power.

The mercantile economy was also characterized by a peculiar moral stance that is typical of people who live by trade-an attitude that is individualistic, calculating, risk taking, and adaptive to circumstances. As among tribespeople, personal relationships and a careful weighing of character have always been crucial in a mercantile economy with little regulation, where one`s word is one`s bond and where informal ties of trust cement together an international trade network. Nor have merchants and artisans ever had much tolerance for aristocratic professions of moral superiority, favoring instead an egalitarian ethic of the open market, where steady hard work, the loyalty of one`s fellows, and entrepreneurial skill make all the difference. And, like the pastoralists, Middle Eastern merchants and artisans unhappy with their environment could simply pack up and leave for greener pastures-an act of self-assertion wholly impossible in most other civilizations throughout history.

Dependence on long-distance trade also meant that the great empires of the Middle East were built both literally and figuratively on shifting sand. The central state, though often very rich and very populous, was intrinsically fragile, since the development of new international trade routes could undermine the monetary base and erode state power, as occurred when European seafarers circumvented Middle Eastern merchants after Vasco da Gama`s voyage around Africa in the late fifteenth-century opened up a southern route. The ecology of the region also permitted armed predators to prowl the surrounding barrens, which were almost impossible for a state to control. Peripheral peoples therefore had a great advantage in their dealings with the center, making government authority insecure and anxious.

                          综合点评

日子特殊，有防空警报影响

                         Conversation

话题分类

课堂讨论

内容回忆

学生找他的环境学教授来讨论，整个牡蛎的爱护。

因为这个男生他今年没有参加任何的暑假的课程，因此他也想进入到这个项目当中来参与进来。

然后有一个基金会专门做这个牡蛎的爱护项目，他来找教授问一下能不能要一个教授的推荐信，这样的话他会更容易进入这个爱护牡蛎的基金会。

然后教授就说实际上他有一位老朋友就在这个基金会里面工作。潜台词就是他会帮忙来进行推荐，然后两个人就讨论努力怎么爱护。

                         Conversation

话题分类

图书馆

内容回忆

libraian跟employee说你的工作被细分了因为要写job description

                         Conversation

话题分类

作业

内容回忆

过度训练，教授给的assignment的topic

                         Lecture

话题分类

天文学

内容回忆

天文学的说的是一种carbon macula，pure carbon

                               Lecture

话题分类

艺术-电影

内容回忆

讲早期电影的产生，其实是一个德国的发明家。他是早发现了动画片怎么样能制作出来，他发现动画片制作的方法其实比迪士尼还早了整整10年。

然后老师举了一个中国皮影戏的例子，问学生这么多个皮影戏，学生就说自己做过皮影戏，用纸板剪出来各种各样物体的一个形状，然后拿一个床单在床单儿的背面拿这个各种各样的形状来厄表演故事，然后让观众坐在床单的前面来看，这个就是皮影戏。

然后说这个德国的发明家，就是小时候用这种方法来制作动画片。因为动画制作的方法就是每一次移动一点点，然后让每个胶片上都产生不同，这样当积累了上千张不同的胶片之后，把它们连起来来播放，其实就是电影。

然后说这个动画片的发明家就是用这种方法，每次拍一张照片的方法来制造了初的动画片。

                               Lecture

话题分类

生物学

内容回忆

共同进化，蝙蝠和一种花，花适应蝙蝠的舌头

                               Lecture

话题分类

历史

内容回忆

米开朗琪罗在一个城市的经历

Task 1

内容回忆

同不同意在所有场合都能用手机？

The use of cellphones should be banned in certain situations or not？

参考答案

I don’t agree with this statement

First, mobile phones are not just phones. They provide us with electronic dictionaries, magazines, maps, reference books, and scientific and musical instruments through applications. Anyone like teachers should not dream of banning these from the learning environment. Banning them will not stop them being used – it will simply push that use underground

Also, the society has a duty to prepare young people to live in the world outside the learning environment. Mobile phones are an integral part of life and the society should be helping young people make appropriate and effective use of them.

Task 2

阅读

宿舍装空调，因为太热了别的宿舍都有空调，

听力

对话中不同意，说就只热几天，可以开窗，而且寝室太老了不好装。

Task 3

阅读

沙漠植物的种子不一起长，会分开几年，增大遇到多雨水的概率。

听力

暂无

Task 4

听力

广告的策略，应对消费者营销和产业营销的

综合点评

这次托福考试写作部分整体难度适中。综合重复了2020年12月20日的老题；独立重复了2019年10月12日、2020年11月1日考试以及2021年1月 和3月家考的原题。

综合写作考查历史考古类，整体难度适中，结构清晰。

独立写作考查新闻类话题，比较抽象，较有难度，但因为是老题，学生可能提前准备。

综合写作

话题分类

综合写作考查历史考古类，重复 2020/12/20考题

考题回忆

总论点

巨石阵Stonehenge的石头是如何搬运的

阅读部分

1. 用船运输

2. platform-and-roll system

3. 被冰川带往当地

听力部分

（反驳）

1. 石头很难通过船运运送到当地，从山上取石头再运到海里，这个操作难度非常大

2. 单颗石头重量已经十分惊人，无法通过wooden roll运送

3. 冰川里面的石头和巨石阵石头来源不同

解题思路

按照总分结构，做好阅读部分的总结并展现出听力对应阅读提出的反驳。

范文:

The materials mainly discuss how the huge stones were transported to the Stonehenge site in England. While the author presents three theories about the modes of transportation, the professor believes that all of the assumptions in the reading are not convincing.

Firstly, the author speculates that boats were used to carry the stones to the site. However, the professor considers this speculation to be short of cogency because it was drastically difficult to drag the stones to the boats in the ocean from the mountains, let alone shipping the huge-sized stones an enormous distance from Wales to the vast Sablisbury plains in England.

Secondly, the writer proposes a platform-and-roll system for the stone shipment. In fact, according to the professor, each stone is excessively heavy, and could not be pulled successfully by the wood rolls then. Moreover, the sledges did not work well for climbing the mountain slopes. Therefore, the second inference in the reading passage is also rendered incredible by the professor.

Finally, the author reckons that the giant stones travelled to the Stonehenge site by glaciers. This is also rebutted by the professor who claims that no evidence could be given to support this statement in the reading. In fact, the stones found in glaciers originate from mountains which are different from those offering stones for Stonehenge. Hence, the third argument in the reading is still overturne

The materials mainly discuss how the huge stones were transported to the Stonehenge site in England. While the author presents three theories about the modes of transportation, the professor believes that all of the assumptions in the reading are not convincing.

Firstly, the author speculates that boats were used to carry the stones to the site. However, the professor considers this speculation to be short of cogency because it was drastically difficult to drag the stones to the boats in the ocean from the mountains, let alone shipping the huge-sized stones an enormous distance from Wales to the vast Sablisbury plains in England.

Secondly, the writer proposes a platform-and-roll system for the stone shipment. In fact, according to the professor, each stone is excessively heavy, and could not be pulled successfully by the wood rolls then. Moreover, the sledges did not work well for climbing the mountain slopes. Therefore, the second inference in the reading passage is also rendered incredible by the professor.

Finally, the author reckons that the giant stones travelled to the Stonehenge site by glaciers. This is also rebutted by the professor who claims that no evidence could be given to support this statement in the reading. In fact, the stones found in glaciers originate from mountains which are different from those offering stones for Stonehenge. Hence, the third argument in the reading is still overturned.

The materials mainly discuss how the huge stones were transported to the Stonehenge site in England. While the author presents three theories about the modes of transportation, the professor believes that all of the assumptions in the reading are not convincing.

Firstly, the author speculates that boats were used to carry the stones to the site. However, the professor considers this speculation to be short of cogency because it was drastically difficult to drag the stones to the boats in the ocean from the mountains, let alone shipping the huge-sized stones an enormous distance from Wales to the vast Sablisbury plains in England.

Secondly, the writer proposes a platform-and-roll system for the stone shipment. In fact, according to the professor, each stone is excessively heavy, and could not be pulled successfully by the wood rolls then. Moreover, the sledges did not work well for climbing the mountain slopes. Therefore, the second inference in the reading passage is also rendered incredible by the professor.

Finally, the author reckons that the giant stones travelled to the Stonehenge site by glaciers. This is also rebutted by the professor who claims that no evidence could be given to support this statement in the reading. In fact, the stones found in glaciers originate from mountains which are different from those offering stones for Stonehenge. Hence, the third argument in the reading is still overturned.

独立写作

话题分类

新闻类，重复2019年10月12日、2020年11月1日考试以及2021年1月 和3月家考

Nowadays, there are many different kinds of news and stories on newspapers for people to read or listen to. It is helpful for people if they take a break from reading or listening to the news. Do you think it is beneficial for people to stop reading or listening to the news for a period of a few days or a week? Why or why not?

同意：

让步：阅读新闻可以及时得到有用的信息，做好相关应对

同意的原因一：在因为信息爆炸而感到压力或厌烦的情况下，需要及时调整、休息，才能更好地继续。

同意的原因二：停一停有助于找到思考的时间，锻炼思考能力，切实增长知识见闻。

思路拓展：

让步反驳：news可以作为与人交谈的话题，但其实还有别的很多话题可以和别人进行交谈。

同意的更多原因：  

（1）大部分news本身具有很短的时效性，不需要过度关注；

 （2）很多news都是fake news，等一等反而会看到反转或真相。

（3）people只需要关注和自己有关的news就可以了，很多news其实与他们无关，用不到实际中。

参考范文

Hardly a day goes by without any news. Whether a news item is uplifting or depressing, sensational or trivial, they are delivered to people of all ages by a variety of media across the world. Some people are fed up with the overwhelming pieces of news and feel it stressful to follow what is happening every day. My opinion most closely aligns with the statement that it is beneficial for them to stop reading news for a few days.

The opposition to the suspension of reading news stems from a common worry that people may miss the news that has an impact on their life. It is true that these reported things that are happening may affect their community in various ways. Some of the news might involve local elections or introduction of new policy, while other stories might concern special events, such as the unveiling of bridges or a new stadium, opening of new businesses, or temporary closure of expressway. Getting such information allows people to get ready for the upcoming activities, take advantage of new facilities or change their plans or transport routes if necessary. Thus, they attach great importance to reading news every day.

However, when people feel that the news items are boring and draining the interest out of them, they had better halt for a while. Continuously doing something that they do not favor can deepen people’s distaste toward it and increase their sense of anxiety and stress, to the detriment of their motivation for persisting in that activity for long. Therefore, taking a break when necessary is sensible and advisable. With respect to the consequence of stopping reading news for a few days, worry is redundant. Important as some pieces of news are, stopping browsing them for a period would exert limited or even no influence on people’s life in most cases. If a piece of important news indeed concerns people’s life, it would reach them ultimately in a variety of ways other than the news reports. Their friends, neighbors or colleagues would be very glad to use the headlines as a conversation starter. Hence, people can feel safe to escape from news media for some days, taking a break, relieving the stress and retrieving their curiosity.

Furthermore, suspending news reading for a while is advantageous for people to deliberate. Some people read news with the aim of broadening their horizon or developing thinking skills. Nevertheless, in this age of information explosion, the quantity of news people read is so overwhelming that little can leave clear impression on readers for long. Via scrolling the news webpage or flipping the newspapers quickly, people usually swallow the information and forget it very soon since they do not have enough time to ponder over the news. A relevant survey shows that people cannot retell the details of most news they read one or two weeks ago. Thus, what they can learn from the news is much less than a book they read carefully or an activity that brings them a great touch. Hence, if people stop reading or listening to news for a period, making good use of their time to reflect on what they have already known, or get insight into a good book, chances are high that they can learn more.  

In the light of the above-discussed, retreating from news reading for some days is conspicuously beneficial because it can help people to reduce stress and get more time for meditation without rendering their life troubles.

（581 words 李敏老师原创）