95年8月 托福聽力文字

1. Do you want to go on a trip with us to Florida this spring?
It will cost about $300 a person.
What can be inferred about the man?

2. My watch stopped again. And I just got a new battery.
Why don't you take it to Smith's Jewelry. They can check it for you. And they're pretty reasonable.
What does the man mean? 

3. We're going to change our meeting from Monday to Tuesday.
It's all the same to me.
What does the man mean? 

4. We plan to go to the beach after class. Want to come?
I'd love to. But Prof. Jones want to speak with me.
What will the woman probably do?

5. Janet sounded worried about her grades.
But she's getting As & Bs, isn't she?
What does the man imply about Janet?

6. You look great since you've been taking those exercises classes.
Thanks. I've never felt better in my life.
What does the man imply?

7. I had a hard time getting through this novel.
I know how you feel. Who can remember the names of 35 different characters.
What does the woman imply?

8. That's a long line. Do you think there'll be any tickets left?
I doubt it. Guess we'll wind up going to the second show.
What does the woman mean?

9. This course in much too hard for me.
Sorry you decided to take it, huh?
What does the man ask the woman?

10. Are you going home for winter vacation?
I'd agreed to stay on here as a research assistant.
What can be inferred about the woman?

11. Hello!
Hello! This is Dr, Grey's office. We're calling to remind you of your 4:15 appointment for your annual checkup tomorrow.
Oh, thanks. It's a good thing that you called. I thought it was 4:15 today.
What does the man mean?

12. How wonderful you won the scholarship. Can you believe it?
No. It's almost too good to be true.
What does the man mean? 

13. Excuse me. Prof. Davidson. But I was hoping to talk to you about my class project for economics.
I have a class in a few minutes. Why don't you come to see me during office hours tomorrow?
When will the woman discuss her project with Prof. Davidson?

14. How are you feeling?
The stuff the nurse gave me seemed to have helped. But it's making me awfully drowsy.
What does the woman mean? 

15. Bill Smith has volunteered to write a summary of the proposals we've agreed on.
Will I have a chance to review it?
What does the woman want to know?

16. Why don't you wear that yellow shirt that your sister gave you for your birthday.
I love that shirt. But it's missing two buttons.
What does the man mean?

17. How many classes do you have today?
Just one. From 3 till 6.
What does the man mean?

18. Our football team didn't play very well.
That's true. But at least we won the game.
What does the man mean?

19. This has been an unusually cool summer.
Uh huh! I actually had to get out my wool sweaters in August.
What does the woman imply?

20. I got some bad news today. The store where I work in laying off staff.
Are they going to let you go?
What does the woman want to know?

21. I'd like to pick this film up by 4 tomorrow afternoon.
I can have it for you at 2 if you like.
What does the woman say about the film?

22. I talked to Philip today and he said he'd be coming to the party.
Oh, so he can come after all.
What can be inferred about Philip?

23. Gary insists on buying the food for the picnic.
That's pretty generous. But shouldn't we at least offer to share the expense?
What does the woman suggest they do?

25. Did Linda ever finish that introductory chapter?
I'm not sure. She's spent hours on end rewriting it.
What does the man imply about Linda?

26. The supermarket down the street is selling everything half price because they are going out of business.
Sounds like an ideal time to stock up on coffee.
What does the man mean?

27. Have you heard anything about the new professor?
Just that she's no pushover.
What does the man say about the professor?

28. I need to get a copy of my birth certificate.
Sorry. But we can only accept requests by mail now.
What does the woman mean?

29. When is the earliest flight from Washington to New York?
There's a shuttle at six. And if that's full, there's another at 7.
What does the man mean? 

30. How do you like to help me plan the refreshments for the astronomy club meeting tomorrow night?
Sure. Let's be careful not to overdo it though. Last time we had enough for 3 clubs put together.
What does the woman mean?

Question 31-33
David, can I give you a hand with one of those grocery bags?
Sure, Nanny. Could you take this one please? I didn't realize how heavy these bags would be.
Why did you buy so much stuff when you have to walk back home from the store?
Well, I didn't intend to buy a lot. But I'm having some people over and I guess I needed more than I expected.
What's the occasion?
Now the people I live with, the Kremers, have been on vacation for a month and I thought I'd surprise them. I'm inviting some of their friends and families for a welcome home dinner.
Oh, that's really thoughtful of you.
I figure it's the least I can do for them. They've been letting me stay with them rent free while I'm in school.
Really? That's pretty generous of them.
Well, they understand how difficult it is to make ends meet when you're a student. They've been such a big help to me. I thought that this might be a small way to thank them for the generosity.
31. What is David trying to do?

32. Why did David think he wouldn't have a problem?

33. Why is David appreciative of the Kremers?

Question 34-37
Wonderful I spent most of my time at the art museum. I especially liked the new wing. I was amazed to hear the guide explain the problems they had building it.
Right. I just read an article that went on & on about the cost. 90 million total I think.
Yeah. The guide mentioned that. You could see they spared no expense.
Hm. It looked really unusual, at least from what I saw in the picture.
It is. The basic design is two triangles. In fact there are triangles all over. The paving stones in the courtyard, the skylights and even a lot of the sculptures.
One sculpture is a mobile. It's in the courtyard and it's made of pieces of aluminum that moves slowly in the air. It's really impressive.
That was in the article too. It said that the original was steel and it weighed so much that it wasn't safe to hand.
Right. They did it over in aluminum so it wouldn't come crashing down on someone's head.
You know the article went into that in detail. There was even an interview with the sculptor.
I'd like to read that. Would you mind if I borrow the magazine sometime?
No. I wouldn't mind if I haven't thrown it out yet.

34. What did the woman think of the new wing of the museum?

35. How had the man learned about the museum?

36. According to the woman, what do the paving stones, skylights and mobile have in common?

37. What was the problem with the original mobile?

Questions 38 to 41
In the few minutes that remain of today's class. I'd like to discuss next week's schedule with you because I'm presenting a paper at a conference in Detroit on Thursday, I won't be here for either Wednesday's or Friday's class. I will however be here for Monday's. Next Friday, a week from today, is the midterm exam, marking the half way point in the semester. Prof. Andrews has agreed to administer the exam. In place of the usual Wednesday's class, I've arranged an optional review session. Since it is optional, attendance will not be taken. However attending the class would be a good idea for those worried about the midterm. So remember: Optional class next Wednesday; Midterm, Friday.

38. What is the purpose of the talk?

39. At what point during the semester does the talk take place?

40. What did Prof. Andrews agree to do?

41. What will occur at next Wednesday's class time?

Question 42 to 46
Today's lecture we'll center on the prehistoric people of Nevada Desert. Now most of these prehistoric desert people moved across the countryside throughout the year. You might think that they're wandering aimlessly. Far from it, they actually followed the series of carefully planned moves.
Where they moved depended on where food was available. Places where plants were ripening or fish were spawning. Now often when these people moved, they carried all their possessions on their backs. But if the journey was long, extra food and tools were sometimes stored in caves or beneath rocks.
One of these caves is now an exciting archaeological site. Beyond its small opening is a huge underground grotto. Even though the cave is very large, it was certainly two dark and dusty for the crawlers to live in. But it was a great place to hide things. And tremendous amounts of food supplies and artifacts have been found there. The food includes dried fish seeds and nuts. The artifacts include stone spear points and knives. The spar points are actually rather small. Here is a picture of some that were found. You can see their size in relation to the hands holding them.

42. What is the main subject of this talk?

43. What point does the speaker make about the prehistoric people of the Nevada Desert?

44. Why didn't the people live in the cave described by the speaker?

45. What have archaeologists found in the cave?

46. Why does the speaker show a photo to the class?

Question 47 to 50
To us, the environment in which fish dwell often seems cold, dark and mysterious. But there are advantages to living in water. And they've played an important role in making fish what they are. One is that water isn't subject to sudden temperature changes. Therefore it makes an excellent habitat for a cold blooded animal.
Another advantage is the water's ability to easily support body weight. Protoplasm has approximately the same density as water. So a fish in water is almost weightless. This weightlessness in turn means two things:
1) A fish can get along with a light weight and a simple bone structure. And
2) Limitations to a fish's size are practically removed. Yet there is one basic difficulty to living in water the fact that it is incompressible. For a fish to move through water, it must actually shove it aside. Most can do this by wiggling back and forth in snakelike motion. The fish pushes water aside by the forward motion of its head and with a curve of its body and its flexible tall. Next the water flows back along the fish's narrowing size, closing in at the tall and helping the fish propel itself forward.
  The fact that water is incompressible has literally shaped the development of fish. A flat and angular shape can be moved through water only with difficulty. And for this reason, fish have a basic shape that is beautifully adapted to deal with this peculiarity.

47. What is the talk mainly about?

48. What does the speaker mention as a problem that water presents to fish?

49. The speaker compares a fish's movement with that of what creature?

50. What aspect of a fish does the speaker discuss in the most detail?

1995年8月托福考試閱讀理解全真試題
uestion 1-9

The ocean bottom – a region nearly 2.5 times greater
than the total land area of the Earth – is a vast frontier that
even today is largely unexplored and uncharted. Until about a
century ago, the deep – ocean floor was completely inaccessible,
hidden beneath waters averaging over 3,6000 meters deep.
Totally without light and subjected to intense pressures hundreds
of times greater than at the Earth s surface, the deep – ocean
bottom is a hostile environment to humans, in some
ways as forbidding and remote as the void of outer space.

Although researchers have taken samples of deep – ocean
rocks and sediments for over a century, the first detailed global
investigation of the ocean bottom did not actually start until
1968, with the beginning of the National Science Foundation s
Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP). Using techniques first
developed for the offshore oil and gas industry, the DSDP s drill
ship, the Glomar Challenger, was able to maintain a steady
position on the ocean s surface and drill in very deep waters,
extracting samples of sediments and rock from the ocean floor.

The Glomar Challenger completed 96 voyages in a 15 – year
research program that ended in November 1983. During
this time, the vessel logged 600,000 kilometers and took
almost 20,000 core samples of seabed sediments and rocks at
624 drilling sites around the world. The Glomar Challenger s
core samples have allowed geologists to reconstruct what the
planet looked like hundreds of millions of years ago and to
calculate what it will probably look like millions of years in the
future. Today, largely on the strength of evidence gathered
during the Glomar Challenger s voyages, nearly all earth scientists
agree on the theories of plate tectonics and continental
drift that explain many of the geological processes that shape
the Earth.

The cores of sediment drilled by the Glomar Challenger
have also yielded information critical to understanding the
world s past climates. Deep – ocean sediments provide a
climatic record stretching back hundreds of millions of years,
because they are largely isolated from the mechanical erosion and
the intense chemical and biological activity that rapidly destroy
much land – based evidence of past climates. This record has
already provided insights into the patterns and causes of past
climatic change – information that may be used to predict
future climates.



1. The author refers to the ocean bottom as a "frontier" in line 2 because it

(A) is not a popular area for scientific research
(B) contains a wide variety of life forms
(C) attracts courageous explorers
(D) is an unknown territory

2. The word "inaccessible" in line 4 is closest in meaning to

(A) unrecognizable
(B) unreachable
(C) unusable
(D) unsafe

3. The author mentions outer space in line 9 because

(A) the Earth s climate millions of years ago was similar to conditions in outer space
(B) it is similar to the ocean floor in being alien to the human environment
(C) rock formations in outer space are similar to those found on the ocean floor
(D) techniques used by scientists to explore outer space were similar to those used in ocean exploration

4. Which of the following is true of the Glomar Challenger?

(A) It is a type of submarine.
(B) It is an ongoing project.
(C) It has gone on over 100 voyages.
(D) It made its first DSDP voyage in 1968.

5. The word "extracting" in line 18 is closest in meaning to

(A) breaking
(B) locating
(C) removing
(D) analyzing

6. The Deep Sea Drilling Project was significant because it was

(A) an attempt to find new sources of oil and gas
(B) the first extensive exploration of the ocean bottom

(C) composed of geologists from all over the world
(D) funded entirely by the gas and oil industry

7. The word "strength" in line 21 is closest in meaning to

(A) basis
(B) purpose
(C) discovery
(D) endurance

8. The word "they" in line 36 refers to

(A) years
(B) climates
(C) sediments
(D) cores

9. Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage as being a result of the Deep Sea Drilling Project?

(A) Geologists were able to determine the Earth s appearance hundreds of millions of years ago.
(B) Two geological theories became more widely accepted by scientists.
(C) Information was revealed about the Earth s past climatic changes.
(D) Geologists observed forms of marine life never before seen.

Questions 10-21

Basic to any understanding of Canada in 20 years
after the Second World War is the country s impressive
population growth. For every three Canadians in 1945, there were
over five in 1996. In September 1966 Canada s population
passed the 20 million mark. Most of this surging growth came
from natural increase. The depression of the 1930 s and the
war had held back marriages and the catching – up process
began after 1945. The baby boom continued through the decade
of the 1950 s, producing a population increase of nearly
fifteen percent in the five years from 1951 to 1956. This rate
of increase had been exceeded only once before in Canada s
history, in the decade before 1911, when the prairies were
being settled. Undoubtedly, the good economic conditions of the
1950 s supported a growth in the population, but the expansion
also derived from a trend toward earlier marriages and an
increase in the average size of families. In 1957 the Canadian
birth rate stood at 28 per thousand, one of the highest in the
world.

After the peak year of 1957, the birth rate in Canada
began to decline.

It continued falling until in 1966 it stood at the
lowest level in 25 years. Partly this decline reflected the low
level of births during the depression and the war, but it was
also caused by changes in Canadian society. Young people
were staying at school longer, more women were working,
young married couples were buying automobiles or houses
before starting families, rising living standards were cutting
down the size of families. It appeared that Canada was once
more falling in step with the trend toward smaller families that
had occurred all through the Western world since the time of
the Industrial Revolution.

Although the growth in Canada s population has slowed
down by 1966(the increase in the first half of the 1960 s was
only nine percent). Another large population wave was coming
over the horizon. It would be composed of the children of the
children who were born during the period of the high birth
rate prior to 1957.

10. What does the passage mainly discuss?

(A) Educational changes in Canadian society.
(B) Canada during the Second World War
(C) Population trends in postwar Canada
(D) Standards of living in Canada

11. According to the passage, when did Canada s baby boom begin?

(A) In the decade after 1911
(B) After 1945
(C) During the depression of the 1930 s
(D) In 1966

12. The word "five" in line 4 refers to

(A) Canadians
(B) Years
(C) Decades
(D) Marriages

13. The word "surging" in line 5 is closest in meaning to

(A) new
(B) extra
(C) accelerating
(D) surprising

14. The author suggests that in Canada during the 1950 s

(A) the urban population decreased rapidly
(B) fewer people married
(C) economic conditions were poor
(D) the birth rate was very high

15. The word "trend" in line 15 is closest in meaning to

(A) tendency
(B) aim
(C) growth
(D) directive

16. The word "peak" in line 19 is closest in meaning to

(A) pointed
(B) dismal
(C) mountain
(D) maximum

17. When was the birth rate in Canada at its lowest postwar level?

(A) 1966
(B) 1957
(C) 1956
(D) 1951

18. The author mentions all of the following as causes of declines in population growth after 1957 EXCEPT

(A) people being better educated
(B) people getting married earlier
(C) better standards of living
(D) couples buying houses

19. It can be inferred from the passage that before the industrial Revolution

(A) families were larger
(B) population statistic were unreliable
(C) the population grew steadily
(D) economic conditions were bad

20. The word "It" in line 34 refers to

(A) horizon
(B) population wave
(C) nine percent
(D) first half

21. The phrase "prior to" in line 36 is closest in meaning to

(A) behind
(B) Since
(C) During
(D) Preceding

Questions 22-30

Are organically grown foods the best food choices? The
advantages claimed for such foods over conventionally grown
and marketed food products are now being debated. Advocates
of organic foods – a term whose meaning varies greatly –
frequently proclaim that such products are safer and more
nutritious than others.

The growing interest of consumers in the safety and more
nutritional quality of the typical North American diet is a
welcome development. However, much of this interest has been
sparked by sweeping claims that the food supply is unsafe or
in adequate in meeting nutritional needs. Although most of
these claims are not supported by scientific evidence, the
preponderance of written material advancing such claims makes it
difficult for the general public to separate fact from fiction. As
a result, claims that eating a diet consisting entirely of organically
grown foods prevents or cures disease or provides other
benefits to health have become widely publicized and form the
basis for folklore.

Almost daily the public is besieged by claims for "no-aging"
diets, new vitamins, and other wonder foods. There are
numerous unsubstantiated reports that natural vitamins are
superior to synthetic ones, that fertilized eggs are nutritionally
superior to unfertilized eggs, that untreated grains are better
than fumigated grains and the like.

One thing that most organically grown food products
seem to have in common is that they cost more than conventionally
grown foods. But in many cases consumers are misled
if they believe organic foods can maintain health and provide
better nutritional quality than conventionally grown foods. So
there is real cause for concern if consumers, particularly those
with limited incomes, distrust the regular food and buy and buy
only expensive organic foods instead.

22. The world "Advocates" in line 3 is closest in meaning to which of the following?

(A) Proponents
(B) Merchants
(C) Inspectors
(D) Consumers

23. In line 6, the word "others" refers to

(A) advantages
(B) advocates
(C) organic foods
(D) products

24. The "welcome development" mentioned in line 8-9 is an increase in

(A) interest in food safety and nutritional quality of the typical North American diet
(B) the nutritional quality of the typical North American diet
(C) the amount of healthy food grown in North America
(D) the number of consumers in North America

25. According to the first paragraph, which of the following is true about the term "organic foods"?

(A) It is accepted by most nutritionists.
(B) It has been used only in recent years.
(C) It has no fixed meaning.
(D) It is seldom used by consumers.

26. The word "unsubstantiated" in line 21 is closest in meaning to

(A) unbelievable
(B) uncontested
(C) unpopular
(D) unverified

27. The word "maintain" in line 28 is closest in meaning to

(A) improve
(B) monitor
(C) preserve
(D) restore

28. The author implies that there is cause for concern if consumers with limited incomes buy organic foods instead of conventionally grown foods because

(A) organic foods can be more expensive but are often no better than conventionally grown foods
(B) many organic foods are actually less nutritious than similar conventionally grown foods
(C) conventionally grown foods are more readily available than organic foods
(D) too many farmers will stop using conventional methods to grow food crops.

29. According to the last paragraph, consumers who believe that organic foods are better than conventionally grown foods are often

(A) careless
(B) mistaken
(C) thrifty
(D) wealthy

30. What is the author s attitude toward the claims made by advocates of health foods?

(A) Very enthusiastic
(B) Somewhat favorable
(C) Neutral
(D) Skeptical