2007年托福考试全真试题测试（3）

28. In the second paragraph, the author implies that using radio transmitters would allow a researcher who studies crow to
(A) identify individual crows
(B) follow flocks of crows over long distances
(C) record the times when crows are most active
(D) help crows that become sick or injured

29. According to the third paragraph, which of the following is true about crows?
(A) They seldom live in any one place for very long.
(B) They thrive in a wide variety of environments.
(C) They have marked preferences for certain kinds of foods.
(D) They use up the resources in one area before moving to another.

30. In line 19,the word "inclinations" is closest in meaning to
(A) tricks
(B) opportunities
(C) preferences
(D) experiences

31. In lines 19-21, the author mentions a pet crow to illustrate which of the following?
(A) The clever ways that crows solve problems
(B) The differences between pet crows and wild crows
(C) The ease with which crows can be tamed
(D) The affection that crows show to other creatures

32. Which of the following statements is supported by the passage?
(A) Crows have relatively long lives.
(B) Crows have keen vision
(C) Crows are usually solitary
(D) Crows are very intelligent.


QUESTIONS 33-41
In the early days of the United States, postal charges were paid by the recipient and Charges varied with the distance carried. In 1825, the United States Congress permitted local postmasters to give letters to mail carriers for home delivery, but these carriers received no government salary and their entire compensation depended on what they
were paid by the recipients of individual letters. In 1847 the United States Post Office Department adopted the idea of a postage stamp, which of course simplified the payment for postal service but caused grumbling by those who did not like to prepay. Besides, the stamp covered only delivery to the post office and did not include carrying it to a private address. In Philadelphia, for example, with a population of 150,000, people still had to go to the post office to get their mail. The confusion and congestion of individual citizens looking for their letters was itself enough to discourage use of the mail. It is no wonder that, during the years of these cumbersome arrangements, private letter-carrying and express businesses developed. Although their activities were only semilegal, they thrived, and actually advertised that between Boston and Philadelphia they were a half-day speedier than the government mail. The government postal service lost volume to private competition and was not able to handle efficiently even the business it had. Finally, in 1863, Congress provided that the mail carriers who delivered the mail from the post offices to private addresses should receive a government salary, and that there should be no extra charge for that delivery. But this delivery service was at first confined to cities, and free home delivery became a mark of urbanism. As late as 1887, a town had to have 10,000 people to be eligible for free home delivery. In 1890, of the 75 million people in the United States, fewer than 20 million had mail delivered free to their doors. Th e rest, nearly three-quarters of the population, still received no mail unless they went to their post office.
33. What does the passage mainly discuss?
(A) The increased use of private mail services
(B) The development of a government postal system
(C) A comparison of urban and rural postal services
(D) The history of postage stamps.

34. The word "varied" in line 2 could best be replaced by
(A) increased
(B) differed
(C) returned
(D) started

35. Which of the following was seen as a disadvantage of the postage stamp?
(A) It had to be purchased by the sender in advance.
(B) It increased the cost of mail delivery.
(C) It was difficult to affix to letters.
(D) It was easy to counterfeit.

36. Why does the author mention the city of Philadelphia in line 9?
(A) It was the site of the first post office in the United States.
(B) Its postal service was inadequate for its population.
(C) It was the largest city in the United States in 1847.
(D) It was commemorated by the first United States postage stamp.

37. The word "cumbersome" in line 13 is closest in meaning to
(A) burdensome
(B) handsome
(C ) loathsome
(D) quarrelsome

38. The word "they" in line 15 refers to
(A) Boston and Philadelphia
(B) businesses
(C) arrangements
(D) letters

39. The private postal services of the nineteenth century claimed that they could do which of the following better than the government?
(A) Deliver a higher volume of mail.
(B) Deliver mail more cheaply.
(C) Deliver mail faster.
(D) Deliver mail to rural areas.

40. In 1863 the United States government began providing which of the following to mail carriers?
(A) A salary
(B) Housing
(C) Transportation
(D) Free postage stamps

41. The word "Confined" in line 21 is closest in meaning to
(A) granted
(B) scheduled
(C) limited
(D) recommended


Questions 43-50
Archaeology has long been an accepted tool for studying prehistoric cultures. Relatively recently the same techniques have been systematically applied to studies of the more immediate past. This has been called "historical archaeology," a term that is used in the United States to refer to any archaeological investigation into North American sites that postdate the arrival of Europeans. Back in the 1930’s and 1940’s, when building restoration was popular, historical archaeology was primarily a tool of architectural reconstruction. The role of archaeologists was to find the foundations of historic buildings and then take a back seat to architects. The mania for reconstruction had largely subsided by 1950’s. Most people entering historical archaeology during this period came out of university anthropology departments., where they had studied prehistoric cultures. They were, by training, social scientists, not historians, and their work tended to reflect this bias. The questions they framed and the techniques they used were designed to help them understand, as scientists, how people behaved. But because they were treading on historical ground for which there was often extensive written documentation and because their own knowledge of these periods was usually limited, their contributions to American
history remained circumscribed. Their reports, highly technical and sometimes poorly written, went unread.