托福TPO40阅读真题解析：Passage 1

TPO，即toefl Practice Online的首写字母，就是托福在线练习的意思，TPO可以为考生提供全真的模拟考试环境和过往真题，而TPO题库也是有着不断的更新。在托福阅读的备考过程中，除了大量的阅读之外，全面了解托福阅读的题型和解题方法也都是非常重要的环节。而对于很多备考托福的学生来说，TPO往往就是一个首先的备考材料。今天，小编就为大家带来托福TPO40阅读真题解析：Passage 1。

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Ancient Athens

paragraph 1
One of the most important changes in Greece during the period from 800 B.C. to 500 B.C. was the rise of the polis, or city-state, and each polis developed a system of government that was appropriate to its circumstances. The problems that were faced and solved in Athens were the sharing of political power between the established aristocracy and the emerging other classes, and the adjustment of aristocratic ways of life to the ways of life of the new polis. It was the harmonious blending of all of these elements that was to produce the classical culture of Athens.

1. Paragraph 1 supports which of the following statements about the Greek city- states? 【事实信息题】
A. Most city-states followed the model provided by Athens.
B. Most city-states were based on aristocratic rule.
C. Different types of government and organization were used by different city- states.
D. By 500 B C. the city-states were no longer powerful.
答案：C

解析：根据原文and each polis developed a system of government that was appropriate to its circumstances.可知每一个城邦都发展了一套适用于自己的政府系统，其中，each polis对应C选项中的different city- states; was appropriate to its circumstances 对应C选项中的different types of government and organization所以C选项正确。

paragraph 2
Entering the polis age, Athens had the traditional institutions of other Greek proto-democratic states: an assembly of adult males, an aristocratic council, and annually elected officials. Within this traditional framework the Athenians, between 600 B.C. and 450 B C., evolved what Greeks regarded as a fully fledged democratic constitution, though the right to vote was given to fewer groups of people than is seen in modem times.

2. According to paragraph 2, Athens had all of the following before becoming a city- state EXCEPT 【否定事实信息题】
A. a council made up of aristocrats
B. an assembly made up of men
C. a constitution that was fully democratic
D. officials who were elected yearly
答案：C

解析：an aristocratic council对应A选项。an assembly of adult males对应B选项。
and annually elected officials对应D选项。所以C选项错误。

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paragraph 3
The first steps toward change were taken by Solon in 594 B C，when he broke the aristocracy's stranglehold on elected offices by establishing wealth rather than birth as the basis of office holding, abolishing the economic obligations of ordinary Athenians to the aristocracy, and allowing the assembly (of which all citizens were equal members) to overrule the decisions of local courts in certain cases. The strength of the Athenian aristocracy was further weakened during the rest of the century by the rise of a type of government known as a tyranny, which is a form of interim rule by a popular strongman (not rule by a ruthless dictator as the modern use of the term suggests to us). The Peisistratids, as the succession of tyrants were called (after the founder of the dynasty. Peisistratos), strengthened Athenian central administration at the expense of the aristocracy by appointing judges throughout the region, producing Athens’ first national coinage, and adding and embellishing festivals that tended to focus attention on Athens rather than on local villages of the surrounding region. By the end of the century, the time was ripe for more change the tyrants were driven out, and in 508 B C a new reformer, Cleisthenes gave final form to the developments reducing aristocratic control already under way.

3. According to paragraph 3, an important effect of making wealth the basis of office holding was to 【事实信息题】
A. make fewer people qualified to be members of the assembly
B. make it possible for non-aristocrats to hold office
C. help the aristocrats maintain power
D. Increase economic opportunities for all Athenian citizens
答案：B

解析：根据原文and allowing the assembly (of which all citizens were equal members) to overrule the decisions of local courts in certain cases.可知所有的公民在某些情况下都有权去否决地方法院的决定，其中allowing对应B选项中的make it possible.所以B选项正确。

4. The word “abolishing” in the passage is closest in meaning to 【词汇题】
A. limiting
B. eliminating
C. revising
D. supervising
答案：B

解析：Abolishing, 废除，取消。
Limiting, 限制，限定。Eliminate, 消除，排除。Revising, 校正。Supervising, 监督，管理。

5. In paragraph 3, the author's explanation of the word “tyranny” indicates that 【推理题】
A. most Athenians were opposed to rule by the Peisistratids
B. the word had a somewhat different meaning for the Athenians than it does for people today
C. the tyrants were supported by the aristocracy
D. the word can be applied only to ruthless dictators
答案：B

解析：根据原文which is a form of interim rule by a popular strongman (not rule by a ruthless dictator as the modern use of the term suggests to us)可知，tyranny的含义对于雅典人和当今的我们是不同的，其中as the modern use of the term suggests to us对应B选项中的it does for people today. 所以B选项正确。

6. According to paragraph 3, all of the following were true of the Peisistratids' rule EXCEPT: 【否定事实信息题】
A. A national system of coins was created.
B. Judges were appointed across the region.
C. New festivals were added.
D. Increased attention was focused on local villages.
答案：D (B)

解析：producing Athens’ first national coinage对应A选项。by appointing judges throughout the region对应B选项。and adding and embellishing festivals对应C选项。所以D选项错误。

 7. The word “embellishing” in the passage is closest in meaning to 【词汇题】
A. making more attractive
B. providing support for
C. duplicating
D. controlling
答案：A

解析：embellishing, 润色，修饰，装饰。A选项使其更具吸引力，为同义替换，所以A选项正确。

8. Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in the passage? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information. 【句子简化题】
A. Cleisthenes, a reformer who recognized that aristocratic control had been decreasing since the end of the previous century, finally drove the tyrants out of Athens in 508 B. C.
B. The tyrants were driven out, and in 508 B.C. Cleisthenes put in place the structures that completed the weakening of the aristocracy.
C. By driving out the tyrants, Cleisthenes enabled the reforms that had been under way since the end of the century to reach their final form in 508 B. C.
D. Toward the end of the century, the tyrants were driven out, and in 508 B. C. Cleisthenes saw that it was time to change the structures that had reduced aristocratic control
答案：D (B)

解析：Highlighted句子意为，在此世纪末，暴君已被驱逐出外，在公元前508年，一位新的改革家Cleisthenes,给出了发展的最终结构，减少贵族统治已经在进行中。所以B选项正确。

paragraph 4
Cleisthenes' principal contribution to the creation of democracy at Athens was to complete the long process of weakening family and clan structures, especially among the aristocrats, and to set in their place locality-based corporations called demes which became the point of entry for all civic and most religious life in Athens. Out of the demes were created 10 artificial tribes of roughly equal population. From the demes, by either election or selection, came 500 members of a new council, 6,000 jurors for the courts, 10 generals, and hundreds of commissioners. The assembly was sovereign in all matters but in practice delegated its power to subordinate bodies such as the council, which prepared the agenda for the meetings of the assembly, and me courts, which took care of most judicial matters Various committees acted as an executive branch, implementing policies of the assembly and supervising, for instance, the food and water supplies and public buildings. This wide-scale participation by the citizenry in the government distinguished the democratic form of the Athenian polis from other, less liberal forms.

9. According to paragraph 4, one effect of making the demes the point of entry for civic life was to 【事实信息题】
A. ensure that every region had the same number of commissioners
B. distribute the population more equally throughout the Athens region
C. limit the number of aristocratic clans
D. reduce the importance of family connections
答案：B (D)

解析：根据原文Out of the demes were created 10 artificial tribes of roughly equal population.可知，同类群以外会创建10个大约有相同人数的部落，其中roughly equal population对应B选项中的the population more equally，所以B选项正确。

10. According to paragraph 4, one role of the new council was to 【事实信息题】
A. determine what issues came before the assembly
B. prepare the agenda for the courts
C. carry out the assembly’s policies
D. oversee the distribution of food and water
答案：A

解析：根据原文which prepared the agenda for the meetings of the assembly可知A选项正确，为同义替换。came before the assembly对应A选项中的came before the assembly.

paragraph 5
The effect of Cleisthenes’ reforms was to establish the superiority of the Athenian community as a whole over local institutions without destroying them. National politics rather than local or deme politics became the focal point. At the same time, entry into national politics began at the deme level and gave local loyalty a new focus: Athens itself. Over the next two centuries the implications of Cleisthenes’ reforms were fully exploited.

11. The word “exploited” in the passage is closest in meaning to 【词汇题】
A. separated
B. understood
C. utilized
D. exported
答案：C

解析：exploited, 开发，利用。
Separated, 使分开。Understood, 理解。Utilized, 利用。Exported, 出口。所以C选项正确。

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paragraph 6
During the fifth century B. C. the council of 500 was extremely influential in shaping policy. In the next century, however, it was the mature assembly that took on decision-making responsibility. By any measure other than that of the aristocrats, who had been upstaged by the supposedly inferior "people," the Athenian democracy was a stunning success. Never before, or since, have so many people been involved in the serious business of self-governance. It was precisely this opportunity to participate in public life that provided a stimulus for the brilliant unfolding of classical Greek culture.

12. The word “stunning” in the passage is closest in meaning to 【词汇题】
A. popular
B. universal
C. impressive
D. continuing
答案：C

解析：stunning, 极好的。
Popular, 流行的。Universal, 普遍的，全宇宙的。Impressive, 令人钦佩的。Continuing, 持续的。所以C选项正确。

13. Look at the four squares [■] that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage. 【句子插入题】
Indeed, at the height of Athenian democracy there was no government separate from its citizenry.
Where would the sentence best fit? Click on square [■] to add the sentence to the passage
During the fifth century B. C. the council of 500 was extremely influential in shaping policy. [■] In the next century, however, it was the mature assembly that took on decision-making responsibility. [■] By any measure other than that of the aristocrats, who had been upstaged by the supposedly inferior "people," the Athenian democracy was a stunning success. Never before, or since, have so many people been involved in the serious business of self-governance. [■] It was precisely this opportunity to participate in public life that provided a stimulus for the brilliant unfolding of classical Greek culture.[■]
答案：C

解析：因为后一句话在说，这正是一个参与为了典型希腊文化的演变而提供了刺激因素的公共生活的机会，可与待插入的句子进行衔接。所以C选项正确。

14. Directions:An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided below. Complete the summary by selected THREE answer choices that express the most important ideas in the passage.Some sentences do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are not presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage.This question is worth 2 points. 【概要小结题】
Drag your choices to the spaces where they belong. To review the passage, click on View Text
Between 600 B.C. and 450 B.C., Athens changed the distribution of political power between the aristocracy and ordinary citizens.
Answer Choices
A. The rise of the city-state put enormous pressure on the aristocracy to change its traditional way of life to make it appear more in harmony with the values of classical Athenian culture.
B. The aristocrats staged elaborate festivals that focused attention on Athens instead of the surrounding villages.
C. Cleisthenes' reforms reduced aristocratic power by reorganizing the citizen body and changing the entry points to civic life so that political power did not rely on traditional family and clan structures.
D. The aristocracy’s monopoly on political power ended with Solon’s reforms, and its political influence was further eroded by the centralization of administration under the tyrants.
E. Cleisthenes gave each tribe an equal number of council members, jurors, generals, and commissioners.
F. Over time, as the all-citizen assembly took on more and more of the actual exercise of political power, ordinary citizens participated in public life more fully than ever before.
答案：C, D, F

解析：根据原文It was the harmonious blending of all of these elements that was to produce the classical culture of Athens. 文中并没有提及到给贵族施加巨大的压力，所以A选项错误。
根据原文and adding and embellishing festivals that tended to focus attention on Athens rather than on local villages of the surrounding region. 所以B选项中的surrounding villages错误。
根据原文Cleisthenes' principal contribution to the creation of democracy at Athens was to complete the long process of weakening family and clan structures, especially among the aristocrats, and to set in their place locality-based corporations called demes, which became the point of entry for all civic and most religious life in Athens. 其中the point of entry for all civic and most religious life对应C选项中的the entry points to civic life. 所以C选项正确。
根据原文The first steps toward change were taken by Solon in 594 B. C.，when he broke the aristocracy's stranglehold on elected offices by establishing wealth rather than birth as the basis of office holding, abolishing the economic obligations of ordinary Athenians to the aristocracy, and allowing the assembly (of which all citizens were equal members) to overrule the decisions of local courts in certain cases. The strength of the Athenian aristocracy was further weakened during the rest of the century by the rise of a type of government known as a tyranny,其中the strength of the Athenian aristocracy was further weakened对应D选项中的its political influence was further eroded by the centralization of administration under the tyrants. 所以D选项正确。
根据原文From the demes, by either election or selection, came 500 members of a new council, 6,000 jurors for the courts, 10 generals, and hundreds of commissioners.所以E选项中的an equal number错误。
根据原文Never before, or since, have so many people been involved in the serious business of self-governance. It was precisely this opportunity to participate in public life that provided a stimulus for the brilliant unfolding of classical Greek culture. 其中Never before, or since, have so many people been involved in the serious business of self-governance. It was precisely this opportunity to participate in public life 对应F选项中的ordinary citizens participated in public life more fully than ever before. 所以F选项正确。

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