如何攻克托福聽力，除了要多聽，托福TPO聽力也是托兒必刷的真題.上海新航道托福小編托福考生們帶來了TPO聽力33文本，希望可以幫助廣大托福考生輕松備考托福。

  Conversation1

  Narrator

  Listen to a conversation between a student and a university employee.

  Student

  Hi. I am a little lost. Um, is this the housing maintenance office?

  Employee

  You found it. How can I help you?

  Student

  Oh, good. I have a quick question. Are we allowed to keep electric heaters in our rooms?

  Employee

  Actually, you are not. What’s going on? Your room cold?

  Student

  It’s freezing in my room. I think the heat went out or something.

  Employee

  Are you sure it’s out? Maybe it just got turned out too far.

  Student

  Oh, no. I tried adjusting the, uh, the heat control, but it doesn’t make any difference. It’s so cold in my bedroom I can’t sleep at night. I’ve actually been sleeping on the sofa in the front room. The heat still works in there. Actually, we get hot air in all the bedrooms except ours.

  Employee

  Wow! Do you have a roommate?

  Student

  Yeah. But she said she isn’t bothered by the cold. But on the sofa, I am kept up by the noise out in the hall. The dorms can sometimes get pretty noisy. So what can be done about it?

  Employee

  Well, OK. There’s a couple of things we can do. I can have a custodian take a look at it and see if he can do something.

  Student

  Actually, I asked the custodian yesterday to take a look. But he said he couldn’t find anything wrong. He said that some of the other rooms have lost heat also and that if we’d come here you guys would fix it.

  Employee

  Oh, he did? That’s weird, because I would have…well, the custodians themselves are usually supposed to report any problems right away. OK. In that case, then what you need to do is…h(huán)ere, fill out this form.

  Student

  I have to fill out a form?

  Employee

  Yeah, but at least that’ll put your heater problem in a work order for the maintenance crew and they’ll get to you as soon as possible. Just so you know, because it’s not winter yet and it’s not as cold as it could be, it may take a few days for a maintenance crew to get to you.

  Student

  A few days? I can’t even sleep in my own room! Can’t we just get an electric heater?

  Employee

  I am sorry. But students just aren’t allowed. OK. I can see that this is a problem, and not just with your room. So if you can get the form back to me this afternoon, I’ll try to get a maintenance crew to look at your problem by tomorrow. How’s that?

  Student

  Oh, that would be great. Seriously. I have to take off now. But when I fill this form out, I give it to you, right?

  Employee

  Right. And if I am not here, just put it in my box and I’ll get it.

  Lecture1 – Archaeology (The Great Pyramid)

  Narrator

  Listen to part of a lecture in an archaeology class.

  Professor

  The Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt might be the most famous building in the world. We know exactly when it was built. Construction started in 2547 B.C.E., about 4500 years ago. We know who had it built. That was the pharaoh Khufu. We know who oversaw its construction—the pharaoh’s brother. We know so many things about it, but the funny thing is: we still don’t know exactly how it was built.

  This picture will give you an idea of the size of the Pyramid and the size of the blocks it’s made out of that. About two million stone blocks were used to build the Great Pyramid and they are incredibly massive. The average weight is two and a half tons.

  The problem that has puzzled scholars for centuries is how were these blocks lifted up the height of this massive structure and then fit into place and without the benefit of modern technology. Of course, there’ve been a lot of theories over the centuries.

  The oldest recorded one is by the Greek historian Herodotus. He visited Egypt around 450 B.C.E., when the Pyramid was already 2000 years old. His theory was that cranes were used, much like we use cranes today to construct tall buildings. And Herodotus may have seen Egyptians using cranes made of wood. But the problem with this theory has to do with simple mechanics. A crane needs a wide and sturdy base to stand on or it will fall over. Well, as you get toward the top of the Pyramid, there’s really no place for a crane to stand. The stone blocks are too narrow to provide a base. Well, so much for that theory.

  The next one has to do with the use of a ramp that would allow workers to drag a stone block up the side of the structure. Of course the ramp can’t be too steep. It has to have a long gentle slope. And that’s the problem. If you build a ramp with a slight slope up to the top of a Pyramid that’s over 130 meters high, it would have to be almost two kilometers long. Well, the Pyramid is built on a flat area called the Giza Plateau. The Plateau is simply not big enough to accommodate a two-kilometer-long ramp.

  OK. So what now? Well, if you’ve ever driven on a mountain road, you’d know that it has a lot of twists and turns and bends in it, because that’s how engineers keep the road from having to be too steep. So why not wrap the ramp around the Pyramid? Building the ramp around it as you go. Sounds like a pretty good idea. Except it’s got a serious problem. See…one of the most remarkable things about the Great Pyramid is how accurate the proportions are. The dimensions are almost perfect. To get that perfection, the engineers must have had to measure it repeatedly during construction. And the way you’d measure it is from the four corners of the base. Well, if you got a ramp spiraling up from the base of the Pyramid, those corners would be buried by that ramp during construction.

  Well, who says the ramp has to be on the outside of the Pyramid? And now we get to the latest idea. If the ramp were on the inside of the Pyramid, the corners at the base would be exposed, so the engineers could do their measurements while they were building.

  Well, an architect named Houdin has spent a few years working on making computer models of the building of the Pyramid. And what Houdin believes is that an exterior straight ramp was used to construct the bottom third of the Pyramid, this ramp would have been fairly short. It probably rose less than 50 meters. Then the rest of the Pyramid was constructed using an internal ramp that spiraled around the inside of the Pyramid.

  But how can we test this idea? Well, there are several ways to look inside the Pyramid.

  One is called microgravimetry. Microgravimetry is a technique that’s used to detect voids inside a structure. You can then take the data and generate an image that shows any empty spaces in the interior. Well, in 1986, French scientists completed a microgravimetric survey of the Pyramid. And one of the images they produced showed an empty spiral-shaped space inside it. The shape of that space corresponds exactly to what Houdin thought the ramp would look like. I think Herodotus would be convinced. We might very well be at the end of centuries of guessing.

  Lecture2 – Environmental Science (Water Management)

  Narrator

  Listen to part of a lecture in an environmental science class.

  Professor

  I’d like to continue with the topic of managing water resources, but I want to focus on a particular case. Uh, um, an example of water management that’s made us reconsider the methods we use when we make these decisions. So let’s look at what’s happening in the Colorado River basin.

  The Colorado River basin is a region in the Southwest United States. Seven states rely on the Colorado’s water. And as you can imagine, as the populations of these states began to grow, it became clear that a system to distribute, uh, to make sure each state got its fair share of water…some kind of system had to be created. And in 1922, a water-sharing agreement was made. Elizabeth, you have a question?

  Student

  Well, how exactly do you figure out how to share a river? I mean, you can’t…like cut it up into pieces.

  Professor

  Well, let’s start with the first step. And that’s trying to figure out how much water on average flows through the river each year. Now, researchers had started gathering data on water flow back in the late 1890s using instruments they placed in the river. When the 1922 water-sharing agreement was made, there were about twenty years of data on water flow available. The average annual flow was calculated. And, well, the agreement was based on that calculation. The same basic agreement is in effect today.

  Student

  Wait! That was all the data they had? And they based their decision on that?

  Professor

  Yes. And we’ll why that was a bad decision in a moment. OK. As decades passed, it became clear that measuring river flow was much more complicated than we had thought. See…a river has periods of low flow and periods of high flow. And this wasn’t taken into consideration when the 1922 agreement was made. In the 1970s, the population of the area was rising while the amount of water flowing through the river seemed to be falling. By this time, we had…what? A hundred years of recorded data to look at? That’s still a pretty short time for an ancient river.

  To get more data, we looked at a different source—a source that was able to tell us about hundreds of years of the river’s history—tree rings. OK. Let me explain.

  You probably know that we can determine a tree’s age by counting the rings on a cross section of its trunk. Each ring represents one year of the tree’s life. So if you know the year the tree was cut, you can count inwards and date each ring all the way back to the center. You can also tell how much moisture the tree got during each of those years by looking at the width of the rings. A wide ring means plenty of water while a narrow one indicates less.

  Fortunately for us, certain areas of the Colorado River basin are home to some very old trees, some 800 years old and older. Researchers can drill core samples, uh, basically get a cross section of a tree without having to kill it, look at the rings and get a picture of what the climate was like in the basin for each of the tree’s years.

  Well, the results tell us something we wouldn’t have known without this data, that over the past 500 years or so, the Colorado River basin has experienced severe droughts, some worse than any we’ve ever recorded. They also showed that the early to mid-1900s, when most of the data that led to the water-sharing agreement was collected…well, this was the wettest period in the past 400 years. Well, obviously, had water management officials known then what we know now, the 1922 agreement would have been handled differently.

  But today we can use the past to help prepare us for the future. With the demand for water in the basin stays increasing and with the real likelihood of lower flows in the river, if history is our teacher, we can develop innovative methods of water conservation and reevaluate how water is distributed. 

  Conversation2

  Narrator

  Listen to a conversation between a student and his biology professor.

  Student

  Professor Landrea.

  Professor

  Hi, Dennis. You are right on time. Come on in and have a seat.

  Student

  Great! Thanks.

  Professor

  So like I told you in class, I just wanted to take a few minutes to meet with everyone to make sure your class presentations for next week are all in order and coming along well. And as you know, you are supposed to report on some area of recent research in genetics, something…you know…original.

  Student

  Well, I think I found just the thing! It actually occurred to me a couple nights ago while I was eating dinner in the cafeteria. Tell me professor, do you like broccoli?

  Professor

  Broccoli? You mean the vegetable broccoli?

  Student

  Yeah.

  Professor

  Well, I guess not really.

  Student

  Me neither. I have never liked it or most other vegetables for that matter…Brussels sprouts, asparagus, cauliflower…you name it. They just taste bitter and…well…nasty to me. My mother always called me a picky eater.

  Professor

  OK…And?

  Student

  And so I got to wondering: I mean, I am obviously not the only person like this. So is this just because of some…like trauma from our childhoods? Some bad experience we’ve had with some vegetables? Or could there be some genetic explanation for why some people are picky eaters and others aren’t?

  Professor

  OK. I see. Well, I suppose it’s a possibility.

  Student

  Actually, it turns out it’s more than a possibility. I started doing some research in the library that night and I found out that a biologist at the National Institutes of Health has been looking at that very question recently.

  Professor

  Well, I guess that’s not too surprising. And this is great stuff actually. So what’s the verdict?

  Student

  Well, this guy seems to have discovered a particular gene that actually makes it possible for people to taste the bitterness in certain green vegetables. But people who have a mutation in that gene cannot taste the bitterness.

  Professor

  Well…that’s certainly fascinating! But…so this biologist is basically claiming that people who like to eat these vegetables actually have some sort of sensory deficit? Sort of makes us picky eaters than normal ones, doesn’t it? I mean, that’s kind of turning things on their head, isn’t it?

  Student

  Well…then again, it wouldn’t be the first time, would it? Think of it this way: humans originally needed to have a stronger sensitivity to bitter-tasting foods so they could learn what plants were good for them and which ones might be poisonous. But at some point, as people figured out what they could safely eat, this need became less crucial and a segment of the population lost that ability.

  Professor

  OK. Well, you make a compelling case. I can’t wait to hear more about this when you deliver your report.

  Lecture3 – Biology (Notothenioids)

  Narrator

  Listen to part of a lecture in a biology class.

  Professor

  Ways in which animals adapt to their environment are often quite ingenious actually. And as an example of this, let me tell you about a fish, a group of fish known as the Notothenioids. There’s over 90 known species of Notothenioids and they inhabit both shallow and very deep waters, mostly around Antarctica. Many are fairly small, though the largest species can weigh up to 150 kilograms.

  Notothenioids can be identified by their large eyes, which are covered by a thick insulating layer of clear tissue. This tissue protects their eyes from freezing. Remember, the freezing point of ocean water, salt water, is lower than for fresh water, negative 1.9 degree Celsius (-1.9°C). So it can get a lot colder for fish in an ocean, say, than in a river or lake. So this means that the ocean waters around Antarctica are cold enough to freeze most types of fish, but Notothenioids don’t freeze. In fact, they thrive. They account for some 95% of all fish in the southern ocean, the ocean that surrounds Antarctica.

  So, how unusual is that? To have a single family of fish dominating an entire ocean. I mean, think of…say, tropical or temperate marine environments, which have incredibly diverse fish populations. Coral reefs, for example, support over 4000 types of fish, along with sponges, crustaceans, and many other organisms.

  So, exactly when and how did the Notothenioids come to dominate the southern ocean?

  Well, around 30 million years ago, the waters around Antarctica were a lot warmer than they are today. Um...at that time, Antarctica was connected to South America, which means that warm air from the north could flow southward and heat up the Antarctica waters. Because the water around Antarctica then was relatively warm, it supported many types of fish. And we know this from fossil evidence.

  But the 90 or so species of Notothenioids that exist today didn’t exist at all back then. In fact, only one ancestral Notothenioid species existed. But somewhere between 5 million and 14 million years ago, two major changes took place.

  First, what we call a chance mutation. A tiny genetic change occurred in that one Notothenioid species. Its DNA allowed for the production of a special protein, a protein that prevents the fish from freezing. The way this…this anti-freeze protein works is: it binds to any ice crystals that form inside the fish. This binding action prevents the ice crystals from growing larger. And this is what prevents Notothenioids from freezing.

  Now, at that time, the waters the Notothenioids inhabited were still not freezing cold, so the protein didn’t really make a difference as far as the fish’s survival. But this would change, because in the same period of geologic time there was a shift in the earth’s continental plates. Continental drift caused Antarctica to move apart from the landmass of South America and to drift into the Southern Polar Region. This resulted in a powerful water current encircling Antarctica, which prevented the Antarctic waters from mixing with warmer water. So the southern ocean, isolated from that warm airflow from the north, cooled down drastically, to the kinds of sub-freezing temperatures we associate with it today.

  Now, most fish species couldn’t survive in this frigid environment and they became extinct. But that one Notothenioid species, with its unique ability to produce that anti-freeze protein, thrived. It had virtually the entire southern ocean to itself!

  So? Well, there was little or no competition for food or space. You might think of it as…um…as a…a kind of ecological vacuum. And the Notothenioids exploited fully. The species migrated into different habitats throughout the southern ocean. And its population increased dramatically, with various sub-populations migrating into different parts of the ocean. Over time these sub-populations in all those different habitats…well, they developed very different physical traits. They adapted to survive in their particular ecological niche, their…their position within a particular ecosystem.

  We call this type of species diversification within a species adaptive radiation. And what adaptive radiation is is: an evolutionary process by which a parent species rapidly undergoes changes resulting in various new species in order to fill multiple ecological niches. So in the case of the Notothenioids, that single species started colonizing empty habitats to such an extent that it evolved into a broad range of new species, the 90 or so Notothenioid species that we have today. So let me switch to adaptive radiation with regard to another species that’s also been very successful.  

  Lecture4 – Art History (Renaissance Gardens)

  Narrator

  Listen to part of a lecture in an art history class.

  Professor

  OK. We have been talking about the art and architecture of the Italian Renaissance, from around A.D. 1400 to around A.D. 1600. Last class, we had a look at some of the magnificent palaces and villas built during this time period. And just as class was ending, someone asked about the gardens associated with these palaces and villas. And so I’d like to say a few things about them before we move on.

  Now, when I say gardens, I don’t mean vegetable gardens or simple flower gardens. These were lavishly constructed, finely detailed gardens that covered hundreds of acres, with exotic plants and ornamental statues. And they were just as much a symbol of their owners’ social position as their palaces and villas were. Again, what was the inspiration for the Renaissance? Rebecca.

  Student

  Classical art and architecture of the ancient Greeks and Romans.

  Professor

  That’s right. As we’ve said before, the main point of the Renaissance was to revive the genius of the ancient Greeks and Romans, which is why designers of Renaissance gardens designed them as the ancient Romans would have designed them, or at least as they imagined the ancient Romans would have designed them.

  Student

  How did they know what ancient Roman gardens look like?

  Professor

  Well, they didn’t have any pictures. But they did have some very detailed descriptions of ancient Roman villas and their gardens that had been written by famous Roman authors who lived during the height of the Roman Empire. And at least three of those authors, one was a scholar, one was a poet, and one was lawyer, were very authoritative, very reliable sources.

  Ah…and interestingly enough, there was another source that didn’t describe classical gardens but still became a great influence on Renaissance gardens. It was also written back during the height of the Roman Empire by a mathematician known as Hero of Alexandria. Hero was a Greek. But he lived in Alexandria, Egypt, which was at the time part of the Roman Empire. Hero compiled descriptions and sketches of seventy some clever little mechanical devices, most of which utilized compressed air to cause water, or in some cases wine, to flow from one place to another, or sometimes to squirt or to make some kind of noise. Yes? John?

  Student

  Could you give an example?

  Professor

  Well, one of the devices was a sacrificial vessel that was obviously designed for a temple, not for a garden. Anyway, if you drop money into this vessel, water would flow out of it. Well, creative minds in the Renaissance realized that this little device could be nicely repurposed as a nifty little fountain. Designers of Renaissance gardens loved this sort of thing. They loved to incorporate novelties and tricks, things to amuse and impress guests.

  Student

  And that was the purpose? To impress people?

  Professor

  Sure. As a nobleman or wealthy landowner, one purpose of having a fabulous villa with a fantastic garden was to impress people. It was a way of proving your social position.

  Student

  Well…OK. You also mentioned tricks.

  Professor

  Well, for example, some gardens had plaster or marble birds that sang when water flowed through them. Some fountains were designed to squirt people with water.

  Student

  And these things were popular?

  Professor

  Yes. They may have been the most popular features of the gardens. I mean, flowers and statues can be nice to look at, but these things were a lot more fun. And the more clever the device is, the more famous the garden and the greater prestige the landowner enjoyed. Yes? Rebecca.

  Student

  What about mazes? I read that they were a major part of the Renaissance gardens.

  Professor

  Oh, yes. They certainly were! Mazes or labyrinths, as they’re also called, were very common in Renaissance gardens. How that came to be though is a bit of a mystery. Mazes have a long history going back to the ancient Egyptians, but they started appearing in gardens only during the Renaissance, or perhaps just a little bit prior to that. According to one source, what happened was: in the late 1400s, a highly respected expert published a book on architecture. And readers somehow mistakenly inferred from that book that ancient Romans had mazes in their gardens. So then designers of Renaissance gardens thinking they were following in the footsteps of the ancient Romans…well…guess what they did.

  托福TPO聽力33題目解析

  1. Why does the woman go to see the man?

  A) To ask about a university policy regarding dorm rooms

  B) To report excessive noise in her dorm

  C) To report that room temperatures are too high in her room

  D) To inquire about the status of a request she had made for a repair

  Answer: A

  解析:

  (16’’)Woman: I have a quick question. Are we allowed to keep electric heaters in our rooms? 這句話表示女學(xué)生來的目的就是問能否在房間里有電暖氣。換句話說，就是學(xué)校政策是否允許學(xué)生在房間放電暖氣。

  2. How has the woman been dealing with her problem?

  A) By using an electric heater

  B) By staying in a different building

  C) By sleeping in another room in her building

  D) By exchanging rooms with a friend

  Answer: C

  解析： (31’’) Oh, no. I tried adjusting the, uh, the heat control, but it doesn't make any difference. It's so cold in my bedroom I can't sleep at night. I've actually been sleeping on the sofa in the front room. The heat still works in there. Actually, we get hot air in all the bedrooms except ours. 首先她否定了老師的想法，然后告訴老師她現(xiàn)在睡在另一個房間的沙發(fā)上。

  3. What does the man imply about the custodian?

  A) The custodian is not usually responsible for making repairs.

  B) The custodian did not follow correct procedures.

  C) The custodian needs permission before making repairs.

  D) The custodian had reported the problem earlier.

  Answer: B

  解析：

  (1’01’’) Woman: So what can be done about it? Teacher: Well, OK. There's a couple of things we can do. I can have a custodian take a look at it and see if he can do something.

  (1’09’’) Woman: Actually, I asked the custodian yesterday to take a look.

  也就是說老師的建議無用。 (1’21’’) Teacher: Oh, he did? That's weird, because I would have...well, the custodians themselves are usually supposed to report any problems right away.

  老師的回答是“weird”，很奇怪。潛臺詞，這個不符合常規(guī)。后面補(bǔ)充，這些管理員應(yīng)該要報告。也就是說，這些管理員沒有按常規(guī)辦事。

  4. Why does the man mention winter?

  A) To suggest that an electric heater is not yet necessary

  B) To show that he understands the woman’s frustration

  C) To encourage the woman to move to another room

  D) To explain why it may take time to fix the woman’s problem

  Answer: D

  解析：

  (1’35’’) teacher: Yeah, but at least that'll put your heater problem in a work order for the maintenance crew and they'll get to you as soon as possible. Just so you know, because it's not winter yet and it's not as cold as it could be, it may take a few days for a maintenance crew to get to you. 老師表示因為冬天還沒到，沒那么冷，所以需要幾天才能安排人去修。

  5. What will the man do to help the woman?

  A) He will fill out a maintenance request form for her.

  B) He will send a maintenance team to her room soon.

  C) He will order a new heater for her room right away.

  D) He will allow her to change rooms temporarily.

  Answer: B

  解析：

  (1’49’’) Woman: A few days? I can't even sleep in my own room! 女生抗議，認(rèn)為這太久了。 (1’58’’) Teacher: OK, I can see this is a problem and not just with your room. So, if you can get the form back to me this afternoon, I’ll try to get a maintenance crew to look at your problem by tomorrow. How’s that? 老師表示理解，如果女生能明天把表格給他，他可以明天安排人去修。

  Conversation 1梗概：女生去問宿舍能不能有電暖氣，因為她宿舍的暖氣壞了，她只能睡在沙發(fā)上。但是老師表示不能，讓她去找管理員。但是女生說管理員已經(jīng)看過了。老師表示管理員沒有按流程辦事，讓女生填表格，并說過幾天找人修。女生抗議。老師說那就填好表格，明天派人去修。

  Lecture1

  6. What is the lecture mainly about?

  A) Building techniques that were common in the ancient world

  B) Evidence of several early attempts to build a pyramid

  C) Possible answers to an ancient mystery

  D) The history of the pyramids of Egypt

  Answer: C

  解析： (30’’)We know so many things about it, but the funny thing is, we still don’t know exactly how it was built. 首先，教授提出金字塔這個主題，然后說我們知道很多，但是，我們不知道它是如何被建造的。

  (1’05’’) Of course there have been a lot of theories over the centuries. 當(dāng)然，有許多理論。接著整篇文章都是在講各個理論。

  7. According to the professor, what is the main

  argument against the theory that the stone blocks of the Great Pyramid were lifted into place with cranes?

  A) Wooden cranes would have been too weak to lift the blocks.

  B) There is no evidence of ancient Egyptians ever using cranes.

  C) The use of cranes would have resulted in imprecise dimensions.

  D) There would not have been enough room for a platform for the cranes.

  Answer: D

  解析：

  (1’09’’) The oldest recorded one is by the Greek historian Herodotus. He visited Egypt around 450 B.C.E. when the pyramid was already two thousand years old. His theory was that cranes were used much like we use cranes today to construct tall buildings, seen Egyptians using cranes made of wood. 首先提出最老的一個理論，是由HERODOTUS這個人提出的，他認(rèn)為古埃及人是用木頭的起重機(jī)建造的金字塔。 (1’30’’) But the problem with this theory has to do with simple mechanics: a crane needs a wide and sturdy base to stand on or it will fall over. Well, as you get to the top of the pyramid, there’s really no place for a crane to stand. The stone blocks are too narrow to provide a base. 教授簡單描述理論之后立刻提出轉(zhuǎn)折，這個理論的問題就在于金字塔頂端沒有地方可以給crane。

  8. Why does the professor mention a mountain road?

  A) To illustrate an alternative to a steep ramp

  B) To emphasize the effort needed to move large stone blocks

  C) To imply that progress on the Great Pyramid was slow

  D) To describe the shape of the road leading to the Giza Plateau

  Answer: A

  解析： (1’50’’) The next one has to do with the use of a ramp that would allow workers to drag a stone block up the side of the structure. 另一個理論就是有關(guān)使用斜坡的理論。 (2’13’’) Well, the pyramid is built on a flat area called the Giza plateau. The plateau is simply not big enough to accommodate a two-kilometer long ramp. OK, so what now? 教授用well來引出這個理論的問題，即這個高原沒有這么大來承載一個2公里的長坡。然后再以問題來引出答案。 (2’25’’) Well, if you’d ever driven on a mountain road, you know that it has a lot of twists and turns and bends in it because that’s how engineers keep the roads from having to be too steep. 教授再用well來引出話題，提出山路有很多轉(zhuǎn)彎就是工程師來解決山坡太陡的問題。也就是用山坡的例子來說明如何處理坡太陡的難題。

  9. Why does the professor talk about the accuracy of the proportions of the Great Pyramid?

  A) To provide background on the principles of microgravimetry

  B) To discount the possibility that a ramp once spiraled around outside of the pyramid

  C) To explain the effectiveness of computer models of the pyramid

  D) To emphasize the difficulty of building a ramp with the correct slope

  Answer: B

  解析： (2’35’’) So why not wrap the ramp around the pyramid, building a ramp around it as you go. Sounds like a pretty good idea except it’s got a serious problem. 講完山路的問題之后，教授回到話題，表示用把斜坡環(huán)繞金字塔是否也行呢?后面跟著的詞是重點，”sounds like” – 聽起來似乎是，潛臺詞是”其實并非如此“。于是，教授后面說，See, one of the most remarkable things about the great pyramid is how accurate the proportions are. 其實教授說這句話就已經(jīng)表達(dá)了“并非如此”的重要原因，即accurate proportion. 最后，教授還說了，Well, if you’ve got a ramp spiraling up from the base of the pyramid, those corners would be buried by that ramp during construction.因此，這是行不通的。

  10. The professor discusses different methods the Egyptians may have used to build the Great Pyramid. For each method listed below, place a check in the box that show with whom it is associated. Click the correct boxes. This question is worth 2 points.

  本題對應(yīng)了文章的大結(jié)構(gòu)。最老的方案是由HERODOTUS提出的，關(guān)于用WOODEN CRANE建造。第二個方案是斜坡，但是沒有說是誰。第三個方案是HOUDIN提出的，金字塔底部在外面用斜坡建造，剩下的在里面用斜坡建造。

  11. What is the professor’s view of the Houdin’s theory?

  A) She would like to see more detailed microgravimetric surveys before she will be convinced it is true.

  B) She is surprised at how similar it is to Herodotus’ theory.

  C) She finds the microgravimetric evidence for it to be very strong.

  D) She thinks it is plausible but leaves some important questions unanswered.

  Answer: C

  解析： (4’33’’) I think Herodotus would be convinced. 關(guān)于教授對某個理論的態(tài)度，一般都是在說完該理論之后教授才會表達(dá)。

  Lecture2

  12. What is the lecture mainly about?

  A) The use of tree rings to measure water usage rates

  B) Collecting data that are useful for planning water distribution

  C) Investigating the history of water use in the Colorado River basin

  D) The need for more government involvement in water distribution

  Answer: B

  解析：整篇文章都是以科羅拉多盆地為例子來說明研究者是如何搜集數(shù)據(jù)來分配水資源的。

  13. What does the student find surprising about the 1922 water-sharing agreement?

  A) It was based on only twenty years of data.

  B) It was approved by all seven states in the region.

  C) It was meant to remain in effect for more than 100 years.

  D) It was based on data from outside the Colorado River basin.

  Answer: A

  解析： (1’11’’) Now, researchers had started gathering data on water flow back in the late 1890s using instruments they placed in the river. When the 1922 water-sharing agreement was made, there were about twenty years of data on water flow available. The average annual flow was calculated and, well, the agreement was based on that calculation. The same basic agreement is in effect today. (1’35’’) Female student: Wait! That was all the data they had and they based their decision on that?

  教授的now這個詞引發(fā)了一個重點，就是從1890年代到1922年時，研究者搜集了20年的數(shù)據(jù)。女生打斷了教授的話，并表達(dá)一種驚訝。

  14. According to the professor, what was the problem with the data recorded before the 1970s?

  A) The data were recorded on old instruments.

  B) The recorded data and human observation did not match.

  C) There were gaps in the recorded data.

  D) The data did not reflect the historical changes in the flow of the Colorado River.

  Answer: D

  解析： (1’40’’) Yes, and we’ll see why that was a bad decision in a moment. OK, as decades past, it became clear that measuring river flow was much more complicated than we had thought. See, a river has periods of low flow and periods of high flow and this wasn’t taken into consideration when the 1922 agreement was made.

  教授回答女生說，我們將馬上看到為何這是一個錯誤的決定。這句話先表達(dá)一個觀點，即這

  個決定是錯的。然后給出理由。因為測量河流的流量是很復(fù)雜的，有低流量和高流量的時候。說明決定錯誤的原因跟流量的變化有關(guān)。

  15. What assumption did researchers use to draw conclusions about the Colorado River basin?

  A) Ancient tree ring data can only be obtained from dead trees.

  B) The climate in an area tends to remain constant over time.

  C) Rainfall has a limited impact on water flowing in rivers.

  D) Width of tree rings can correspond to the amount of moisture in an area.

  Answer: D

  解析：

  (2’17‘’) As we get more data, we look at a different source, a source that was able to tell us about hundreds of years of the river’s history: tree rings. OK, let me explain.

  (2’45’’) You can also tell how much moisture the tree got during each of those years by looking at the width of the rings. A wide ring means plenty of water while a narrow one indicates less.

  當(dāng)教授說明決定錯誤之后，開始轉(zhuǎn)入另一個重要結(jié)構(gòu)，即另一個數(shù)據(jù)來源，樹的年輪。并再后面解釋，年輪不僅告訴我們樹的年紀(jì)，而且粗細(xì)對應(yīng)了當(dāng)年的水量。

  16. What does the professor imply when he describes the early to mid-1900s as the wettest period for the Colorado River in 400 years?

  A) The climate in the Colorado River basin will become wetter in the future.

  B) The 1922 agreement was based on overestimated average river flows.

  C) Water flowing in the Colorado River rises and falls at a predictable rate.

  D) Human activity caused climate change in the Colorado River basin.

  Answer: B

  解析：

  (3’20’’) Well, the results tell us something we wouldn’t have known without this data: that over the past five hundred years or so, the Colorado River Basin has experienced severe droughts, some worse than any we’ve ever recorded. They also show that the early to mid-1900s, when most of the data that led to the water-sharing agreement was collected, well, this was the wettest period in the past four hundred years.

  教授告訴我們數(shù)據(jù)顯示在過去的500年里，盆地經(jīng)歷過嚴(yán)重的干旱。而協(xié)議的數(shù)據(jù)來源正是最濕潤的季節(jié)。換句話說，協(xié)議基于最濕潤的季節(jié)來安排水分配，顯然會導(dǎo)致在干旱的時候水不夠用。協(xié)議高估了水量。

  17. What is the professor’s attitude toward future water-management plans in the Colorado River basin?

  A) He believes better methods for collecting data need to be developed.

  B) He does not believe water management will be a concern in the immediate future.

  C) He is optimistic that new data will lead to better planning.

  D) He is not certain all scientists understand the current condition of the Colorado River.

  Answer: C

  解析： (3’54’’) But, today, we can use the past to help us prepare for the future. 教授的用詞表達(dá)了教授的態(tài)度，’help us prepare’,很樂觀。

  Conversation2

  1. Why does the professor meet with the student?

  A) To determine if the student has selected an appropriate topic for his class project

  B) To find out if the student is interested in taking part in a genetics project

  C) To discuss the student’s experiment on taste perception

  D) To explain what the student should focus on for his class presentation

  Answer: A

  解析： (17’’) So, like I told you in class, I just wanted to take a few minutes to meet with everyone to make sure your class presentations for next week are all in order and coming along well. And as you know, you’re supposed to report on some areas of recent research on genetics, something, you know, original. 這次對話是教授主動叫學(xué)生來了解對方是否已經(jīng)準(zhǔn)備好了PRESENTATION。

  2. Why does the student ask the professor about broccoli?

  A) To get her to describe some of its genetic features

  B) To find out if she is familiar with recent research on vegetable DNA

  C) To introduce an idea that he has had for a research topic

  D) To help explain why he needs extra time to prepare his presentation

  Answer: C

  解析：

  (36’’) It actually occurred to me a couple of nights ago while I was eating dinner at the cafeteria. Tell me, Professor, do you like broccoli? 首先學(xué)生表示已經(jīng)準(zhǔn)備好了，并且是在吃晚餐的時候想到的。然后突然問老師喜不喜歡吃broccoli。說明這個東西跟他的PRESENTATION的TOPIC有關(guān)。

  (1’07’’) And so I got to wondering, I mean, I’m obviously not the only person like this. So, is this just because of some, like, trauma from our childhoods? Some bad experience we’ve had with vegetables? Or could there be some genetic explanation for why some people are picky eaters and others aren’t? 老師聽完學(xué)生問的BROCCOLI的問題之后覺得困惑，學(xué)生就總結(jié)了自己是由此得出的TOPIC.

  3. What possible causes does the student consider for not liking the taste of vegetables?

  [Choose two answers]

  A) A genetic predisposition

  B) Cooking methods that fail to remove the vegetables’ bitter taste

  C) A bad childhood experience associated with eating vegetables

  D) Not being served enough vegetables during childhood

  Answer: AC

  解析：

  (1’07’’) So, is this just because of some, like, trauma from our childhoods? Some bad experience we’ve had with vegetables?

  4. According to the student, why was it advantageous for early humans to be sensitive to bitter tastes?

  A) It helped them to identify vegetables as sources of vitamins.

  B) It helped them to avoid eating foods that were not healthy for them.

  C) It made them less likely to limit their diet to sweet and salty foods.

  D) It allowed them to distinguish between ripe and unripe vegetables.

  Answer: B

  解析：

  (2’21’’) Think of it this way, humans originally needed to have a stronger sensitivity to bitter-tasting foods so they could learn what plants were good for them and which ones might be poisonous. 學(xué)生最后解釋為什么人們會有品嘗苦味的基因，因為早期的人們需要鑒別有毒與無毒。

  Listen again to part of the conversation. Then answer the question.

  5. What does the student imply when he says this?

  A) He has often disagreed with the professor in the past.

  B) The biologist in question has a history of advocating nontraditional ideas.

  C) Biologists’ research methods are sometimes regarded as unusual by other scientists.

  D) Scientific explanations are sometimes contrary to what people might expect.

  Answer: D

  解析：

  (2’02’’) But, so this biologist is basically claiming that people who like to eat these vegetables actually have some sort of a sensory deficit?

  (2’17’’) Well, then again, it wouldn’t be the first time, would it? 學(xué)生是在回應(yīng)老師的話。原本學(xué)生被媽媽說成是口味挑剔的人，但科學(xué)家卻說其實口味挑剔是幫助鑒別是否有毒的基因?qū)е碌摹?

  Lecture3

  6. What is the lecture mainly about?

  A) How various proteins function in notothenioids

  B) How notothenioids became the dominant type of fish in the Southern Ocean

  C) An example that contradicts the theory of adaptive radiation

  D) Changes in ocean habitats caused by continental drift

  Answer: B

  解析：

  (08’’) Ways in which animals adapt to their environment are often quite ingenious, actually. And as an example of this, let me tell you about a fish, uh, a group of fish, known as the Notothenioids

  (1’18’’) So, how unusual is that? To have a single family of fish

  dominating an entire ocean,

  (1’40’’) So, exactly when and how did the Notothenioids come to dominate the southern ocean?

  教授開始的一分鐘里都在介紹這種特殊的魚，它們可以在很冷的海里生活，而且能大量繁殖。然后提出本文的重點：How?

  7. Why does the professor mention that coral reefs support more than 4,000 species of fish?

  A) To find out what students know about tropical fish

  B) To contrast two types of ocean environments

  C) To imply that there may be species in the Southern Ocean that have not been discovered yet

  D) To imply that there may be fossil evidence of coral reefs in the Southern Ocean

  Answer: B

  解析：

  (1’18’’) So, how unusual is that? To have a single family of fish dominating an entire ocean, I mean, think of, say, tropical or temperate marine environments, which have incredibly diverse fish populations. Coral reefs, for example, support over four thousand types of fish, along with sponges, crustaceans and many other organisms. 教授首先說這種一種魚遍布整片南極海洋的事情很特別，然后提出熱帶海洋有非常多的種類的魚。并舉例。所以舉例是為了對比兩種海洋環(huán)境。

  8. What characteristic of notothenioids helps them survive in subfreezing temperatures?

  A) They maintain an unusually high body temperature.

  B) A special tissue in their eyes enables them to see through ice.

  C) Special proteins make their blood circulate too fast to freeze.

  D) Ice crystals in their bodies are prevented from growing large enough to harm them.

  Answer: D

  解析： (2’29’’) First, what we call a chance mutation, a tiny genetic change occurred in that one

  Notothenioids species. Its DNA allowed for the production of a special protein, a protein that prevents the fish from freezing. The way this, this anti-freeze protein works is it binds to any ice crystal that forms inside the fish. This binding action prevents the ice crystal from growing larger. And this is what prevents Notothenioids from freezing. 第一種變化是基因變化，這種基因可以阻止小冰晶變大。

  9. Why did the antifreeze protein initially give no special advantage to the earliest notothenioids?

  A) Many other types of fish had the same protein.

  B) The notothenioids were not living in subfreezing temperatures.

  C) The effect of the antifreeze protein was neutralized by other proteins.

  D) The antifreeze protein functioned only in the smallest notothenioids.

  Answer: B

  解析：

  (3’01’’) Now, at that time, the waters the Notothenioids inhabited were still not freezing cold. So the protein didn’t really make a difference as far as the fish’s survival. 教授用now這個詞引導(dǎo)出重點，當(dāng)時水溫不低，所以這種蛋白質(zhì)沒有幫助這種魚。

  10. According to the professor, what factors led to the rapid distribution of notothenioids throughout the Southern Ocean?

  [Choose two answers]

  A) A genetic mutation occurred in the DNA of the earliest notothenioid.

  B) There was an increase in competition for food in temperate waters.

  C) Antarctica broke off and drifted away from the South American continent.

  D) The waters around Antarctica temporarily warmed up.

  Answer: AC

  解析： (3’12’’) But this would change, because in the same period of geologic time, there was a shift in the Earth’s continental plates. Continental drift caused Antarctica to move apart from the landmass of South America and to drift into the southern colder region. (3’50’’) Now, most fish species couldn’t survive in this frigid environment and they became extinct, but that one Notothenioids species, with its unique ability to produce that anti-freeze protein, thrived.

  除了基因的轉(zhuǎn)變之外，另一個變化就是地球板塊運動，南極洲與南美洲分離，讓很多魚都滅絕了，給這種魚創(chuàng)造了繁衍生息的機(jī)會。

  11. According to the professor, what happened to notothenioids that migrated to different areas of the Southern Ocean?

  A) They evolved into a wide variety of notothenioid species.

  B) They developed the ability to tolerate a wide range of temperatures.

  C) Some of them became extinct because of new predators.

  D) Some of them developed additional antifreeze proteins.

  Answer: A

  解析：

  (4’20’’) The species migrated into different habitats throughout the southern ocean. And its population increased dramatically with various sub-populations migrating into different parts of the ocean. 當(dāng)該物種進(jìn)入其他地方之后，它快速增加出許多亞類物種出來。

  Lecture4

  12. What does the professor mainly discuss?

  A) The most popular features of ancient Roman gardens

  B) The goals of Renaissance garden designers

  C) The influence of Renaissance gardens on modern Italian gardens

  D) Differences between ancient Greek gardens and ancient Roman gardens

  Answer: A

  解析： (22’’) just as the class was ending, someone asked about the gardens associated with these palaces and villas. And so I’d like to say a few things about them before we move on.

  先回顧了上節(jié)課講的內(nèi)容，然后提到有人在最后問了關(guān)于GARDEN的問題，所以總結(jié)，我們應(yīng)該講一講。

  13. The professor mentions three authors from ancient Rome. What point does the professor make about the three authors?

  A) They provided credible descriptions of ancient Roman gardens.

  B) They probably exaggerated the beauty of ancient Roman gardens.

  C) They probably never owned gardens themselves.

  D) They invented gardening practices that are still used in Italy today.

  Answer: A

  解析： (1’20’’) Female Student: How did they know what ancient Roman gardens looked like?

  Well, they didn’t have any pictures but they did have some very detailed descriptions of ancient Roman villas and their gardens that had been written by famous Roman authors who lived during the height of the Roman Empire. And at least three of those authors, one was a scholar, one was a poet and one was a lawyer, were very authoritative, very reliable sources.學(xué)生提問他們怎么知道花園長什么樣。教授回答，因為有詳細(xì)記錄，特別是有三位很靠譜的人記錄了。

  14. Why does the professor mention Hero of Alexandria?

  A) To explain the relationship between ancient Greek gardens and ancient Roman gardens

  B) To explain how ancient Roman gardens came to be influenced by Egyptian culture

  C) To point out that garden designers were highly respected members of Roman society

  D) To indicate the origin of some of the features of Renaissance gardens

  Answer: D

  解析： (1’44’’) Uh, and interestingly enough, there was another source that didn’t describe classical gardens but still became a great influence on Renaissance gardens. It was also written back during the height of the Roman Empire, by a mathematician known as Hero of Alexandria. 教授用標(biāo)志性的詞“interestingly enough” 提出一個重點，即另一個對garden有很大影響的資源，是由Hero of Alexandria所寫。

  15. According to the professor, what was one goal of the designers of Renaissance gardens?

  A) To incorporate plants from as many parts of the world as possible

  B) To develop beautiful new breeds of plants

  C) To provide amusement for guests

  D) To create a peaceful setting for prayer and meditation

  Answer: C

  解析： (2’28’’) (male student) Could you give an example?

  Well, one of the devices was a sacrificial vessel that was obviously designed for a temple not for a garden. Anyway, if you dropped money into this vessel, water would flow out of it, well, creative minds in the Renaissance realized that this little device could be nicely re-purposed as a nifty, little fountain. Designers of Renaissance gardens loved this sort of thing. They loved to incorporate novelties and tricks, things to amuse and impress guests.

  這道題是典型的以對話引出問題和答案的細(xì)節(jié)題。學(xué)生讓老師給一個例子，老師給了一個例子，并總結(jié)，設(shè)計者喜歡這種創(chuàng)意來取悅顧客。

  16. What does the professor imply about mazes?

  A) They were not part of ancient Roman gardens.

  B) They were not common in Renaissance gardens.

  C) They often incorporated hidden water tricks.

  D) They were the most creative aspect of Renaissance gardens.

  Answer: A

  解析：

  (3’44’’) (female student) What about mazes? I read that they were a major part of the Renaissance gardens?

  Oh, yes, they certainly were. Mazes, or labyrinths as they also called, were very common in Renaissance gardens.

  (4’19’’) And readers somehow mistakenly inferred from that book that ancient Romans had mazes in their gardens.

  師生互動提出maze的重點。教授先說maze是文藝復(fù)興時代的花園的一部分。但是后來說，讀者錯誤的推論它是羅馬花園的一部分，言外之意就是，它不是羅馬花園的一部分。

  Listen again to part of the lecture. Then answer the question.

  17. What does the professor imply when he says this?

  A) Designers of Renaissance gardens were in some ways more creative than the designers of ancient Roman gardens.

  B) Designers of Renaissance gardens sometimes had inaccurate conceptions of ancient Roman gardens.

  C) Designers of Renaissance gardens sometimes deliberately violated the design principles used in ancient Roman gardens.

  D) Designers of Renaissance gardens were able to take advantage of technology that was not available to the designers of ancient Roman gardens.

  Answer: B

  解析：

  Or, at least, as they imagined the ancient Romans would have designed them. 這句補(bǔ)充的話意思是至少他們想象……，言外之意，與事實是有差距的。所以是inaccurate conceptions.

  由于本頁不便上傳MP3音頻文件，想要下載托福TPO聽力33文本+題目解析+MP3音頻電子檔的同學(xué)，請?zhí)峤弧靶彰?電話+郵箱”，我們會在12小時之內(nèi)發(fā)送給您!節(jié)假日有延遲，請見諒!

  上海新航道托福培訓(xùn)

  13年來1000+資深講師、自主研發(fā)教材、個性化教學(xué)，

  讓100W+學(xué)子從新航道成功留學(xué)海外名校。