2014年8月23日托福考试B卷全英文真题

Reading

① Shaker basket

Making tools can have uses of both decoration and practical. There used to be a tribe where people there paid all attention to practical uses other than the decoration. Obviously that what they had made were all very practical but really not very good looking. But this was really a good advantage because life at that time was difficult, people were struggling to make a living. Focusing on practical use could help them do their work quickly and with higher quality. This might be why they really stressed on practical uses.

But how about their deny on decoration According to the research, they lived in somewhere away from outer world. People there were isolated from the world. They did not have access to get in touch with people outside so that they could not see or touch some beautiful things with many decorations. Without seeing or touching, they could not come up with the idea that they could make something with beautiful ornaments. However, this was a good idea because they focused on the practical use and this really helped a lot.

They had one good edge over all the other tribes. That was the basket. People could make so good basket that all the other tribes could just trade with them to get those brilliant basket. The baskets were made all together by all the people in the tribe who gathered together to make a living. Those baskets had a lot of uses. One of them could prevent people from living in the humidity. There was a special kind of basket which could be used with some little tools. They could lightened the stress so that people could use it on the ice when they would like to get some fishes.

After some time and with more trade, communication between tribes was getting more and more, people here in this isolated tribe came up with some idea that could develop their baskets. Finally, these baskets got improved.

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②

Generally, animals have some similarities with human in taking care of their babies, including preparing the suitable nests for the coming babies, improving the security of the surrounding environment as well as providing enough foods or resources for their children. All of these can be considered as parents’ certain behaviors for children’ birth.

With the long researches on the dinosaurs, scientists found that these animals also possessed the abilities of taking care of their little children before and after they have been born. Normally, based on the different behaviors, these actions can be classified as two kinds, the preparation of the nests before the children coming out and the taking care actions after they are born.

Owing to the long observations about some natural scene, there exist a kind of dinosaurs, whose name is M, and scientists have found that often small children can be located in the nests which was built by the parents, giving the solid evidence for the public opinion that dinosaurs have made sufficient preparation for the coming babies. In the nests, the babied can be prevented from being attacked by the predators and also can get the warm environment which is beneficial for the mature development of these little ones.

Even though they have such affluent evidences for the former conclusion, there are few supports for the latter one. Since it is a certain distance between the M’s location and the nests, that is to say, parents will spend some time feeding the children, fetching resources and arriving at the nests.

Thus, with the consideration of the actual locations of the nests, scientist presumed that these parents maybe just hatch these eggs, and after that they would not have other extra actions about these children and leave them alone, growing up and avoiding the predators.

However, with some deep study of these topic, scientists have found some marks on the children’s teeth, which means that it is likely that they have been fed by their parents, that is to say, we can provide the latter opinion with certain evidences.

Considering that these behaviors are very common in the nature, without credible evidences we can also get some conclusions about dinosaurs’ taking care of their babies. And obviously, these behaviors sometime improve the possibilities of their children and do some contributions to the survival in the severe environment.

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关键词：8月23日 B卷 真题 全英文 托福考试 托福机经

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Listening

Conversation1

Student: Hi Professor，I want to talk to you about my new project.

Professor: Of course, please sit down.

Student: You know that I am now doing research about the growth of the grasses right? I am thinking of a new substantial.

Professor: Really? Tell me more about it.

Student: Many scholars have studied it and the information is enough for me to do the further research. You know, there is no one doing it at the moment. I am thinking I can be the first one to try.

Professor: Well, it is a great idea but you do realize how tough is it right?

Student: Yes. So…eh actually today I am coming to ask you about renting some equipment for my research.

Professor: But the equipment you will need is only for professors to use…eh…I don’t think you have the right to rent it actually.

Student: Well… may I know why? I though all the equipment all can use by students and professors.

Professor: Actually we do lend it to some graduate students, but not undergraduate student. Rules are rules.

Student: I didn’t expect that.

Professor: You don’t need to be disappointed. It is a very hard project after all. The process will be quite complicated. We can save this project for the moment and see if we have better chance afterwards.

Student: Well it is the only way for now I guess. But thank you any way professor.

Professor: You are welcome. We can discuss it again when next time I see you.

Conversation 2

Student: Hi professor, may I come in?

Professor: Of course. How was your day?

Student: Great. I went to practice piano today.

Professor: Really? I didn’t know that you could play piano before. Your major is science right?

Student: That’s right. Actually…eh…I chose this major only for the consideration of future planning, you know, like finding a job. But I really love music and I play piano quite well actually.

Professor: That is great to hear. I think every body should learn some music, you know, it can help them to relax.

Student: Indeed. But I came for another reason…

Professor: What is it about?

Student: Well, I heard that you are leading a band now. I wonder you still need a piano player.

Professor: Oh, I know it might hear a little bit disappointed but we have enough people for the moment. But…well…have you ever tried to go to the website and check if other bands need a piano player?

Student: You mean the student bands?

Professor: Yes, there are other students’ bands in our school and some of them are very good. I think you should give it a shot.

Student: I could do that.

Professor: They need new band player very often. I am sure you can find a really good band that need piano player.

Student: It was really helpful. Thanks!

Lecture1

Carbon-14 dating can be used on samples less than 50,000 years old. The half-life of C14 is ~5700 years. After about 8 half-lives, there is not sufficient C14 left in a sample to date it. Contamination is a major concern--You don't want C12 to be introduced, because that will disrupt the C14/C12 ratio necessary for dating the sample. If the sample is poorly preserved, there may be C14 loss, which will also make results inaccurate. Potassium-Argon dating is useful for older rock samples, as it can be used on rocks millions of years old. If your sample is badly preserved, the technique can still be used, provided you have clearly established that your sample came from a very specific stratum. One can date the rock of the stratum in which the sample was found. There are several dating methods used by archaeologists. A good, recently published archaeology text will give you more detail. The Practical Archaeologist is a good one.

To estimate the biological age of the mammoth, you first need to determine which tooth you have. After that, you take a look at the wear stage of the tooth, and compare it to the wear stages described for extant elephants.

Another method of estimating the age at death of elephantids is by using the degree of synostosis seen in most bones of the appendicular skeleton. Again, observations were made on extant elephants, and correlations were made between the age of the animal and the moment the epiphyses of various bones fuse to the diaphyses, or the moment different bones fuse to each-other.

Lecture 2

The concept of a keystone species was first introduced by University of Washington professor, Robert T. Paine in 1969. Paine studied a community of organisms that inhabited the intertidal zone along Washington's Pacific coast. He found that one species, the carnivorous starfish Pisaster ochracceus, played a key role in maintaining the balance of all other species in the community. Paine observed that if Pisaster ochracceus was removed from the community, the populations of two mussel species within the community grew unchecked. Without a predator to control their numbers, the mussels soon took over the community and crowded out other species, greatly reduced the community's diversity.

Keystone species, because of their proportionately large influence on species diversity and community structure, have become a popular target for conservation efforts. The reasoning is sound: protect one, key species and in doing so stabilize an entire community. But the keystone species theory remains a young theory and the underlying concepts are still being developped. For instance, the term was originally applied to a predator species, but now the term 'keystone' has been extended to include prey species, plants, and even habitat resources.

A keystone species is a species that plays a critical role in maintaining the structure of an ecological community and whose impact on the community is greater than would be expected based on its relative abundance or total biomass.

Lecture 3

The Blue Period of Picasso is the period between 1900 and 1904, when he painted essentially monochromatic paintings in shades of blue and blue-green, only occasionally warmed by other colors. These somber works, inspired by Spain but painted in Paris, are now some of his most popular works, although he had difficulty selling them at the time. Picasso settled in Paris in 1904, having spent a few difficult years with no fixed studio and little artistic success. While back in 1903, he had produced his Blue Period works, which seemed to reflect his experience of relative poverty and instability, depicting beggars, street urchines, the old and frail and the blind.

This period's starting point is uncertain; it may have begun in Spain in the spring of 1901, or in Paris in the second half of the year. In choosing austere color and sometimes doleful subject matter - prostitutes, beggars and drunks are frequent subjects - Picasso was influenced by a journey through Spain and by the suicide of his friend Carlos Casagemas, who took his life at the LHippodrome Cafe in Paris, France by shooting himself in the right temple on February 17, 1901. Although Picasso himself later recalled, "I started painting in blue when I learned of Casagemas's death", art historian Helene Seckel has written: "While we might be right to retain this psychologizing justification, we ought not lose sight of the chronology of events: Picasso was not there when Casagemas committed suicide in Paris ... it was only in the fall that this dramatic event emerged in his painting, with several portraits of the deceased".

At this time Picasso was very open to artistic influences around him, and events of these years would have a major effect on his: the exhibition of Fauve works, particularly those of Henri Matisse. Picasso responded to the new avant-grade developments of the Fauve painters in Paris by exploring new directions himself, creating his ground-breaking style.

Picasso's depression didn't end with the beginning of his rose period, which succeeded the blue period and in which the color pink dominates in many of his paintings. In fact, it lasted until the end of his cubist period (which followed the rose period) and only in the period thereafter, which was his neo-classicist period, did Picasso's work begin the show the playfulness that would remain a prominent feature of his work for the rest of his life. Picasso's contemporaries didn't even distinguish between a blue and a rose period but regarded the two as one single period.

Lecture 4

In low field MRI, the signal-to-noise ratio is predominantly degraded by thermal noise due to the electrical resistance of the imaging coil. This means using an imaging coil made of materials with a low intrinsic resistivity such as high temperature should improve the SNR significantly when compared to an equivalent copper coil. The aim of this study was to perform a quantitative analysis on the performance of a cryogenically-cooled coil in low field MRI. The HTS coil was placed inside a cryogenic Dewar flask made of G10 materials to allow cooling using liquid nitrogen. A copper coil with the same layout was also fabricated to provide reference data for comparisons. From the quality factor measurement results, the cryogenically-cooled HTS coil was estimated to give SNR gains of 4.0 and 1.9 when compared to the copper coil at room temperature and at the same cryogenic temperature respectively. The phantom imaging results showed good agreement with these estimations. confirming the advantage over equivalent copper coils in low field MRI.

关键词：8月23日 B卷 真题 全英文 托福考试 托福机经

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Speaking

1. Is it a good idea for a university to replace all paper books and magazines with electronic books? Include specific reasons and examples in your response.

2. Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? It's easier to teach children in primary schools than students in universities. Include reasons and details in your explanation.

3.

Reading: The university announced that it’s going to make new class arrangements to meet the growing demand for the contemporary literature course which has become increasingly popular among students recently. According to this announcement, an additional evening session of the course will be provided and class size will be enlarged.

Listening: In the conversation, the boy disagrees with this new arrangement and explains his reasons for holding such opinion.

1) He says that the more students in a class, the less chance for each student to engage in class discussions, which are extremely important for the study of literature. Therefore the quality of the learning experience will be greatly reduced..

2) Moreover, he argues that there is no point in adding an evening session because most students are not free in the evening. They have different kinds of social activities to do at night and many have an evening job so they will not be able to attend the evening class.

4.

Reading: The term is the aggressive recruiting. It is a technique used by businesses to attract new customers.

Listening: The professor gives the example of a gym which wanted to recruit new members. In the first month, the gym offered free personal training service to its potential customers, like how to use the equipment at the gym or what is the best way to exercise. However, after one month, the gym canceled the free promotion and started charging customers if they still needed the service. It turned out that most customers were willing to pay to continue their training at the gym. This proved to be an effective strategy to expand the gym’s customer basis.

5. The girl is taking a pottery course, and was doing a pottery making assignment. But she accidentally broke the pottery into three pieces.

According to the girl's situations, the boy gives her two solutions. 1) She could either glue the pottery back together as the pieces are not tiny. But she is afraid that the professor will discover and give her low mark. 2) Another is to start all over again by making a new one. But she has a final test for another course which she really needs to study.

6. The lecture explains how immobile marine creatures living on the bottom of the sea capture their food.

1) The first method is active method. For example, the sea anemone looks like a plant which clings itself to other moving sea animals. However, it has tentacles which can release poison to paralyze the prey nearby and then grasp it.

2) The second method is passive method. For example, the oyster does not move on itself, but its shells are slightly open so it can draw in sea water and extract the tiny nutritional food particles that are suspended in the water.

关键词：8月23日 B卷 真题 全英文 托福考试 托福机经

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Writing

Integrated Writing

Reading: The reading passage presents a series of arguments to oppose the installation of surveillance cameras on public road systems.

1. First, road cameras only capture the images, and it takes few days to find the wrong driving behaviors. The traffic officers can stop dangerous driving behaviors and correct it right now.

2. Second, since cameras cannot be installed everywhere, dangerous driving will be found more frequently in places that are known to have no cameras.

3. Finally, if the traffic cameras set in the intersection, it will lead to traffic accidents on road junctions.

Listening:Disagree. The lecture rejects these arguments, saying that road cameras are beneficial.

1. The lecturer argues that road cameras can successfully prevent reckless driving because unlike a traffic policeman, an electronic camera never misses a single violating driver. So road cameras serve as a very effective deterrence to would-be driving offenders.

2. The lecturer argues that traffic policemen cannot be posted in every section of the roads either. More importantly, increasing police man powers is definitely more costly than ensuring complete video camera coverage.

3. The lecturer refutes by saying that these are only minor accidents. Those serious accidents involving sideway collisions are considerably reduced by 40%. With traffic cameras, drivers are driving more carefully.

Independent Writing:

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement: Young people today are more likely to give time and effort to improving the world than young people were in the past?

关键词：8月23日 B卷 真题 全英文 托福考试 托福机经

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