针对于本次
2016年11月26日上午托福阅读真题解析A卷
2016年11月26日上午托福阅读真题词汇题：
1.duration=length
2.baffled=puzzled
3.in some degree=to a certain extent
4.impressive=striking
5.ensure=guarantee
6.enable=allow
2016年11月26日上午托福阅读真题第一篇 Easter Island’s Statues
讲复活岛的巨人石像，石块外面硬里面软，而且早期的研究人员错误的认为是巨人石像。之后讲了石像还是一个谜，对于人们怎么制作出来还没有正确的答案。(讲了一个做的实验)以及怎么把它们运到现在的地方(而有两个人试图做实验重现怎么运过去的都失败了)。
相似TPO练习推荐：
TPO11-1-Ancient Egyptian Sculpture
相关背景学习：
Easter Island Heads – How Were These Enormous Statues Sculpted and Why? Easter Island belongs to Chile. It is located in the area of the Polynesia, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. This island of 163.6 km² has become an important tourism attraction, especially due to the mysteries that surround the ancestral culture that inhabited it, the Rapa Nui ethnic group. This etymology also gives the traditional name to the island, Rapa Nui, which means “Great Island” in the language of the ancient sailors from Tahiti.
Although this great islet is practically an outdoor museum due to its ceremonial places and petroglyphs, the moai, the giant heads sculpted in stone, are undoubtedly the main attractions.
2016年11月26日上午托福阅读真题第二篇：先进白蚁(advanced termite)和原始白蚁(primitive termite)
原文回顾：全文都在对比先进白蚁和原始白蚁在吃住方面的不同。原始白蚁有专门消化葡萄糖(glucose)的身体结构，而且让细菌消化咀嚼后的植物，就和牛的消化结构一样。而且原始蚂蚁经常住在腐烂的的树旁。因为食物好获得，以及它们不需要储存食物。先进白蚁身体结构就有很大的改变。它们是用fungi(真菌)消化葡萄糖。因为真菌是唯一可以在空气中分解葡萄糖的微生物。但是要很好的分解需要有足够的湿度和温度。现在也有一些科学家想要更深一步的了解这些问题。
相似TPO练习推荐：
TPO27-3-Predator-Prey Cycles
相关背景学习：
Termites are eusocial insects that are classified at the taxonomic rank of infraorder Isoptera, or as epifamily Termitoidae within the cockroach order Blattodea. Termites were once classified in a separate order from cockroaches, but recent phylogenetic studies indicate that they evolved from close ancestors of cockroaches during the Jurassic or Triassic. However, the first termites possibly emerged during the Permian or even the Carboniferous. About 3,106 species are currently described, with a few hundred more left to be described. Although these insects are often called white ants, they are not ants.
Like ants and some bees and wasps from the separate order Hymenoptera, termites divide labour among castes consisting of sterile male and female "workers" and "soldiers". All colonies have fertile males called "kings" and one or more fertile females called "queens". Termites mostly feed on dead plant material and cellulose, generally in the form of wood, leaf litter, soil, or animal dung. Termites are major detritivores, particularly in the subtropical and tropical regions, and their recycling of wood and plant matter is of considerable ecological importance.
Termites are among the most successful groups of insects on Earth, colonising most landmasses except for Antarctica. Their colonies range in size from a few hundred individuals to enormous societies with several million individuals. Termite queens have the longest lifespan of any insect in the world, with some queens living up to 50 years. Unlike ants, which undergo a complete metamorphosis, each individual termite goes through an incomplete metamorphosis that proceeds through egg, nymph, and adult stages. Colonies are described as superorganisms because the termites form part of a self-regulating entity: the colony itself.
Termites are a delicacy in the diet of some human cultures and are used in many traditional medicines. Several hundred species are economically significant as pests that can cause serious damage to buildings, crops, or plantation forests. Some species, such as the West Indian drywood termite (Cryptotermes brevis), are regarded as invasive species.
2016年11月26日上午托福阅读真题第三篇 Birds and food storage：鸟类食物不足的应对
原文回顾：讲鸟类如何在食物缺乏的情况下活下来。先讲了食物缺失是怎么形成的，如气候变化导致捕捉不到食物。接着说小型的鸟类储存能量的时间不超过一个晚上，而大鸟可以储存更多的时间，因此也能生存更久。这些鸟的记忆力非常好，它们能够记得食物放在哪里了。最后说鸟类可以保持保持冬眠的状态。但是强调以上方法读职能保持短期的存货，如果长期气候变化的话，这些方法也没有用。
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TPO11-2：Orientation And Navigation
相关背景学习
Keeping bird food dry
If seeds get even slightly damp they will either start to germinate and sprout, or go mouldy. In either case the food then can’t be fed to birds, so ensuring it is always kept completely dry is essential.
Keeping bird food cool
There’s obviously a limit to the extent this can be achieved and particularly in the summer, but the cooler you can keep stored bird food the better, as this will prolong the useable life of the seed and help preserve its condition. Using a garage or similar out-building for your bird food storage is ideal, as the lack of heating and concrete floor ensures a relatively low temperature. Timber sheds are not ideal as they typically become hot if they’re in direct sunlight.
Preventing rodents getting to stored bird food
If you use an out-building for storing your bird food, mice and rats might well be attracted if itisn'tkept in a well-sealed container. As well as eating the food, rodents will also contaminate remaining food, so it really is essential to keep it in well-sealed containers like those shown above.
2016年11月26日上午托福阅读真题B卷
托福阅读真题词汇题
1.supplant=replace
2.episode=event
3.restore=return
4.account for=explain
5.broaden=expand
6.augment=supplement
7.subjected to=exposure to
2016年11月26日上午托福阅读真题第一篇：大气层变化(历史类)
原文回顾：以前的大气层成分和现在的有很大不同,两个理论,一是以前的地球重力场比现在的弱,所以大气层向外太空扩散了,另一个是failed planet与地球发生碰撞导致大气层扩散。后面又讲了地球的环境变化和生物作用改变了大气层不同成份比例。
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TPO35-3: The Surface of Mars
相关背景学习
The Antarctic Ice Sheet holds a volume of ice and snow equivalent to 55 meters of sea level. The melting of only a relatively small fraction of this volume could have dramatic consequences for populations around the world. With this in mind, the research presented here focuses on two atmospheric variables that are key controls of the state of the ice sheet: its surface mass balance (or net snowfall) and its near-surface air temperature. The analysis aims to understand how these two parameters have changed (if at all) since the 1957-1958 International Geophysical Year (IGY), the start of the instrumental era in Antarctica. Particular attention is given to the part of the continent known as West Antarctica, the most vulnerable to atmospheric and oceanic warming, and the one where rapid glacial change is currently taking place. The research is divided into three parts. The first part uses a set of seven global reanalyses to investigate the changes in Antarctic surface mass balance and Southern Ocean precipitation since 1979 (start of the reanalyses). This investigation is also intended to shed light on the reliability of these reanalyses, which often contained artifacts caused by changes in the observing system, particularly in high southern latitudes. Spurious changes in precipitation are found to various degrees in all data sets but with varying characteristics and origins. According to the two reanalyses deemed most reliable, neither Antarctic surface mass balance nor Southern Ocean precipitation have changed significantly over the past three decades. The second part consists of a multifaceted investigation of the near-surface temperature record from Byrd Station, in central West Antarctica. As the only meteorological record in this region to extend back to the IGY, it is a critical data set, but also one with a complicated history and substantial data gaps. A comprehensive revision of the record is undertaken and a novel approach is used to estimate the missing observations. The complete Byrd record reveals a marked increase in the annual mean temperature since the late 1950s. This warming is not only stronger than previously estimated by other studies, but also establishes central West Antarctica as one of the fastest-warming regions on Earth. A review of the atmospheric and oceanic drivers of the temperature trends highlights their strong seasonal dependence and the complex interplay between low-latitude sea surface temperature forcing and high-latitude atmospheric variability. The third and final part of the research builds upon the new Byrd record and the records from 14 other stations to generate an Antarctic-wide temperature reconstruction spanning the IGY to the present time.
2016年11月26日上午托福阅读真题第二篇：生物跨越星球(生物类)
原文回顾：讲了一种生物从某一星球转移到了另一星球,科学家讨论了可能性, 跨星球，科学家讨论了可能性，跨越星球时间很长、夕卜太空低温、宇宙辐射等，然后又有新发现，星球磁场很弱、微生物生命很长之类的，最后发现在一些情况下是有可能发生的。
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TPO32-2: Plant Colonization
相关背景学习
The term planet is ancient, with ties to history, astrology, science, mythology, and religion. Several planets in the Solar System can be seen with the naked eye. These were regarded by many early cultures as divine, or as emissaries of deities. As scientific knowledge advanced, human perception of the planets changed, incorporating a number of disparate objects. In 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) officially adopted a resolution defining planets within the Solar System. This definition is controversial because it excludes many objects of planetary mass based on where or what they orbit. Although eight of the planetary bodies discovered before 1950 remain "planets" under the modern definition, some celestial bodies, such as Ceres, Pallas, Juno and Vesta (each an object in the solar asteroid belt), and Pluto (the first trans-Neptunian object discovered), that were once considered planets by the scientific community, are no longer viewed as such.
2016年11月26日上午托福阅读真题第三篇：中世纪农业进步 (历史类)
原文回顾：有了新的技术进步，农业获得发展主要讲轮耕作业，给土地恢复肥力的时间，由两耕制度变为三耕制度，延长了耕作时间，一年能收获两次，减小了灾害的恶劣影响等。
相似TPO练习推荐：
TPO23-2：Seventeenth-Century Dutch Agriculture
TPO21-2：The Origins of Agriculture
相关背景学习
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants and fungi for food, fiber, biofuel, medicinal plants and other products used to sustain and enhance human life. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the development of civilization. The study of agriculture is known as agricultural science. The history of agriculture dates back thousands of years, and its development has been driven and defined by greatly different climates, cultures, and technologies. Industrial agriculture based on large-scale monoculture farming has become the dominant agricultural methodology.
Modern agronomy, plant breeding, agrochemicals such as pesticides and fertilizers, and technological developments have in many cases sharply increased yields from cultivation, but at the same time have caused widespread ecological damage and negative human health effects. Selective breeding and modern practices in animal husbandry have similarly increased the output of meat, but have raised concerns about animal welfare and the health effects of the antibiotics, growth hormones, and other chemicals commonly used in industrial meat production. Genetically modified organisms are an increasing component of agriculture, although they are banned in several countries. Agricultural food production and water management are increasingly becoming global issues that are fostering debate on a number of fronts. Significant degradation of land and water resources, including the depletion of aquifers, has been observed in recent decades, and the effects of global warming on agriculture and of agriculture on global warming are still not fully understood.
The major agricultural products can be broadly grouped into foods, fibers, fuels, and raw materials. Specific foods include cereals (grains), vegetables, fruits, oils, meats and spices. Fibers include cotton, wool, hemp, silk and flax. Raw materials include lumber and bamboo. Other useful materials are also produced by plants, such as resins, dyes, drugs, perfumes, biofuels and ornamental products such as cut flowers and nursery plants. Over one third of the world's workers are employed in agriculture, second only to the service sector, although the percentages of agricultural workers in developed countries has decreased significantly over the past several centuries
