9月8日托福考情速递

阅读

R1

宋代人口增长

十世纪，经历了政治分裂后，中国在宋朝(960-1279 年) 统一下进入了一个和平繁荣的时期。人口从五世纪末的仅 3000万人回升至8000 多万人，其中大部分增长发生在长江流域周围的南方，而这一地区此前被认为比北方更贫穷

Causes of Amphibian Declines

两栖动物的减少不仅发生在受保护的自然区域，如美国的内华达山脉的黄腿青蛙消失，尽管这些地方没有明显的栖息地改变。科学家们研究了可能导致这种现象的五个原因:引入的外来物种、紫外线辐射增加、疾病、气候变化和有毒污染物

R2

Bird feathers

鸟类在成长过程中会经历换羽(褪羽)过程，年轻鸟的羽毛(亚成羽) 通常与成熟鸟(成年羽)不同。长寿的鸟类如老鹰、鸥和海鸟会较长时间保持亚成羽。比如白头鹰在第四或第五年才达到成年羽。虽然许多鸟类倾向于选择成年羽的伴侣，但在亚成羽的鸟类在短寿命物种中有时也会繁殖。在一些鸟类中，一性别的亚成羽时间较长，这称为延迟羽毛成熟。例如，美洲红尾够的雄性在第二繁殖季节才拥有鲜艳的繁殖羽，而雌性在第一繁殖季节就有成年羽。尽管如此，部分雄性在亚成羽状态下也会繁殖。延迟羽毛成熟的原因尚不明确。

欧洲与北美原住民的贸易

早期欧洲人接触北美原住民后，贸易成为主要关注点。欧洲商人尤其寻求海狸皮，用于制作帽子，原住民则用猎获的皮毛换取铁、铜、黄铜工具。原住民热衷于贸易，但对贸易的依赖导致了资源枯竭和社会冲突。需求变化使得他们过度捕猎，最终影响了他们的生活方式和社会结构。

R3

Chinese Salt Production and Government Power

中国盐业

公元前 2000年左右，中国已经掌握了生产盐的技术。考古证据表明，当时的北方居民通过将盐湖水煮沸来提取盐分，或在干燥季节从蒸发的湖床上收集盐。此外他们还学会了将盐湖水引入浅池中，让其蒸发以收集盐。四川省的陶罐发现表明，当时已经有了盐的组织加工系统。盐也开始从海水中提取，沿海地区逐渐成为中国盐生产的中心，占中国年产盐的约80%。盐的日益重要性使得中国政府和行政部门对盐的贸易控制成为一项长期目标，东周时期开始尝试建立盐的国家垄断，这一举措为建立强大的常备军队提供了资金

鲷鱼

鲷鱼面临的进化困境。这种鱼的雌性在产卵和护卵时需要找到足够大的螺壳，而大型螺壳的稀缺性限制了雌鱼的体型增长。尽管较大的体型能提高繁殖力，但为了适应壳的大小，雌鱼必须在体型上作出妥协。同时，雄鱼采用了一种独特的策略来吸引雌鱼交配，它们通过堆积空螺壳来建立自己的领地，吸引准备产卵的雌鱼，从而创造交配机会。整篇文章探讨了这一生态现象及其对查尔莉浦亮丽绸繁殖策略的影响。

听力

Conversation 1

1. 师生讨论。学生凯特·米勒向安德森教授提出想要退选人类学导论课程的请求。凯特解释说，自己本学期的课程负担超出预期，且人类学课程与她的专业-信息系统--关联不大。教授安德森首先询问凯特是否确定要退选，并解释了人类学在现代信息技术行业中的重要性。他提到，虽然传统上人类学与计算机科学不直接相关但现在许多公司，特别是跨国公司，倾向于雇用具有多元文化背景的员工，因为这有助于他们更好地理解和适应全球市场。

凯特对此表示惊讶，但仍觉得一门课程的影响有限。教授则指出，信息技术领域的全球化意味着工作环境中会有来自不同文化的同事和客户，学习人类学可以帮助理解不同文化中的人际关系规则。他还介绍了另门相关课程-“国际商务的人类学”，这门课程专门讲解文化对商务的影响及跨文化沟通。虽然凯特对这门课程表示了兴趣，但她决定还是退掉当前的课程。教授的解释让她认识到人类学的潜在价值，但最终她还是选择了不继续这门课程

Lecture 1

script，举了一个例子，是那种打印体的A下面有两个小横，这是因为当时们为了方便雕刻在石头上，后来这个 script应用在 computer上。

Lecture 2

经济学，讨论了农业经济的历史变迁，特别是土豆的影响。大约12000年前，人类从游牧的狩猎采集生活方式转变为定居的农业生活，这一变化对社会产生了深远影响。随后，讲师介绍了土豆的历史及其对经济的作用。土豆最初发现于南美洲，并于 1500年代被引入欧洲。到了1700年代，土豆在欧洲成为重要作物随后传播到北非和西亚。

研究发现，在土豆易于种植的地区，战争和冲突显著减少.这一发现基于对1400年至1900年间 2500次战斗的数据分析。土豆的引入提高了农业生产力，减少了对土地的需求，使得土地价值降低，减少了争夺土地的战斗。同时农业生产力的提升增加了农民的收入，政府税收增加，国家变得更加稳定，从而减少了战争的动机。续此外，土豆的高生产效率也使得战争的机会成本上升，因为农民成为士兵时，农业生产受到影响。综上所述，土豆的引入不仅提高了农业生产力，也对减少战争起到了积极作用。

Conversation 2

校园生活。学生询问生物系的一位工作人员关于是否能联系到詹姆斯博士工作人员告诉她，詹姆斯博士正在吃午饭，但她可以帮助学生。学生解释说，她希望在鱼类实验室找到一个可以进行贝类研究的职位，但发现博士主要研究鲨鱼。工作人员建议学生去找詹姆斯博士，因为他负责实验室的人员安排。虽然目前所有带薪职位已经被工作学习的学生填满，但如果她愿意做志愿者，她可以参与一些维护工作比如喂鱼，并且可能获得实验室的使用权。

学生对在周末早晨7点钟喂鱼的时间表示犹豫，因此考虑是否可以选择每周清洁鱼缸的工作，这虽然辛苦但时间灵活。工作人员还透露，詹姆斯博士正在推动实验室的扩建计划，大学可能会增加资金用于购买更多鱼类设备，这可能带来更多的研究职位，尤其是与鲨鱼相关的职位。这对学生了解实验室未来的机会是有帮助的。最后，工作人员建议学生填写一份工作申请表，博士很可能很快就会回来。

Lecture 3

animal live in group的好处

口语

TASK 1独立口语题

Some adults believe that young people have become excessively dependent on or even addicted to electronic devices and should try to use them less. Do" you agree with this point of view? Explain why or why not, using specific examples and details.

TASK 2校园题

Reading: Students suggest that the school allow them to finish math courses early and take the exams ahead of schedule. Since they have already learned some related concepts in previous studies, they can complete the math exams in advance. Additionally, once they finish math early, they will have more time to focus on more difficult subjects.

Listening: The male student agrees.

1.He spent a significant amount of time on math assignments in the past but believes that the main purpose of the homework was to prepare for the exams. Therefore, he agrees that finishing the math course early would allow him to focus on exam preparation sooner, thus improving efficiency.

2.His current semester is very demanding, and he feels overwhelmed, especially with the large amount of reading and analysis required in his literature course. He thinks that by completing the math course ahead of time, he will have more time to handle other subjects, which would alleviate his stress and help him better manage his academic workload.

TASK 3学术讲座题

Translation:

Reading:Illusion of Explanatory Depth - A phenomenon where people may have a natural tendency to overestimate their understanding of the complex mechanisms in life.

The teacher used the example of a bicycle, showing two images: one with a perfectly correct bicycle and one with an incorrectly placed chain. Many students, despite frequently riding bicycles, chose the incorrect one because they mistakenly believed they understood how the mechanisms and each part fit together, when in fact they didn’t truly understand.

TASK 4 学术讲座题

Topic: Two Ways Amphibians May Find Sites to Lay Their Eggs

Animals select specific locations for laying eggs to ensure their survival and hatching. There are two main methods of site selection:

1) Laying eggs in sheltered areas: Animals choose locations that are protected from harsh weather conditions to ensure the survival of their eggs. For example, frogs lay their eggs in caves, which helps protect them from aquatic predators like fish.

2) Laying eggs in cooler areas: Animals choose sites with suitable temperature conditions to ensure the proper development of their eggs. This can be seen as selecting a location based on specific environmental conditions. Green sea turtles, for instance, return to their birthplace to lay eggs. Although there are beaches in South America, they return to small islands where the beaches offer the optimal temperature—neither too high nor too low—and are relatively safe, promoting the successful hatching of their eggs.

写作

综合写作

Boththereading and listening are talking about whether the manuscript found lately is from the same ancient astronomer.

First, the reading states that the content of the two manuscripts is quite same, both have alotofastronomicaldata. However, the lecturer refutes this point by emphasizing the difference in language use. The ancient astronomer used simple words and expressions whereas the language used in the newly found manuscript is more professional and academic. Besides, in the new manuscript alsomentioned some sophisticated tools that were impossible to make at that time.

Furthermore, the reading explains that thenewlyfoundmanuscripthastheancientastronomer’s name on it.In contrast, the lecture claims it is untenable to infer only depends on the name, because it might be a reference used in the past time.

Lastly, the passage indicates that the manuscript was probably revised by that ancient astronomer because the handwriting is quite same. However, the lecture explains that the handwriting is also similar to another astronomer’shandwriting.Thus, it cannot serve as a proof

学术讨论