新托福阅读真题练习（可免费下载答案及解析.pdf）（一）

以下是托福阅读真题一篇，大家平时多多练习，把握题目难易程度并总结适合自己的阅读方法，这是在考试中致胜必不可少的环节。

图片来自网络，不用作商业目的。  如有侵权，请联系我们删除。

It should be obvious that cetaceans-whales, porpoises, and dolphins-are mammals. They breathe through lungs, not through gills, and give birth to live young. Their streamlined bodies, the absence of hind legs, and the presence of a fluke1 andblowhole2 cannot disguise their affinities with land dwelling mammals. However, unlike the cases of sea otters and pinnipeds (seals, sea lions, and walruses, whose limbs are functional both on land and at sea), it is not easy to envision what the first whales looked like. Extinct but already fully marine cetaceans are known from the fossil record. How was the gap between a walking mammal and a swimming whale bridged? Missing until recently were fossils clearly intermediate, or transitional, between land mammals and cetaceans.

>>>免费下载托 福阅读练习答案及解析（一）

Very exciting discoveries have finally allowed scientists to reconstruct the most likely origins of cetaceans. In 1979, a team looking for fossils in northern Pakistan found what proved to be the oldest fossil whale. The fossil was officially named Pakicetus in honor of the country where the discovery was made. Pakicetus was found embedded in rocks formed from river deposits that were 52 million years old. The river that formed these deposits was actually not far from an ancient ocean known as the Tethys Sea.

The fossil consists of a complete skull of an archaeocyte, an extinct group of ancestors of modern cetaceans. Although limited to a skull, the Pakicetus fossil provides precious detailson the origins of cetaceans. The skull is cetacean-like but its jawbones lack the enlarged space that is filled with fat or oil and used for receiving underwater sound in modern whales. Pakicetus probably detected sound through the ear opening as in land mammals. The skull also lacks ablowhole, another cetacean adaptation for diving. Other features, however, show experts that Pakicetus is a transitional form between a group of extinct flesh-eating mammals, theme sonychids, and cetaceans. It has been suggested that Pakicetus fed on fish in shallow water and was not yet adapted for life in the open ocean. It probably bred and gave birth on land.

Another major discovery was made in Egypt in 1989. Several skeletons of another early whale, Basilosaurus, were found in sediments left by the Tethys Sea and now exposed in the Sahara desert. This whale lived around 40 million years ago, 12 million years after Pakicetus. Many in complete skeletons were found but they included, for the first time in an archaeocyte, a complete hind leg that features a foot with three tiny toes. Such legs would have been far toosmall to have supported the 50-foot-long Basilosaurus on land. Basilosaurus was undoubtedly a fully marine whale with possibly nonfunctional, or vestigial, hind legs.

An even more exciting find was reported in 1994, also from Pakistan. The now extinct whale Ambulocetus natans ("the walking whale that swam") lived in the Tethys Sea 49 million years ago. It lived around 3 million years after Pakicetus but 9 million before Basilosaurus. The fossil luckily includes a good portion of the hind legs. The legs were strong and ended in long feet very much like those of a modern pinniped. The legs were certainly functional both on land and at sea. The whale retained a tail and lacked a fluke, the major means of locomotion in modern cetaceans. The structure of the backbone shows, however, that Ambulocetus swam like modern whales by moving the rear portion of its body up and down, even though a fluke was missing. The large hind legs were used for propulsion in water. On land, where it probably bred and gave birth, Ambulocetus may have moved around very much like a modern sea lion. It was undoubtedly a whale that linked life on land with life at sea.

Fluke: the two parts that constitute the large triangular tail of a whale

"Blowhole: a hole in the top of the head used for breathing

冲刺托福高分，让你离世界TOP 30名校更近一步>>>【免费托福成绩测试】

Directions: Mark your answer by filling in the oval next to your choice.

1. In paragraph 1, what does the author say about the presence of a blowhole in cetaceans?

○It clearly indicates that cetaceans are mammals.

○It cannot conceal the fact that cetaceans are mammals.

○It is the main difference between cetaceans and land-dwelling mammals.

○It cannot yield clues about the origins of cetaceans.

2. Which of the following can be inferred from paragraph 1 about early sea otters?

○It is not difficult to imagine what they looked like

○There were great numbers of them.

○They lived in the sea only.

○They did not leave many fossil remains.

3. The word precious in the passage is closest in meaning to

○Exact

○Scarce

○Valuable

○Initial

4. Pakicetus and modern cetaceans have similar

○Hearing structures

○Adaptations for diving

○Skull shapes

○Breeding locations

5. The word it in the passage refers to

○Pakicetus

○Fish

○Life

○ocean

6. The word exposed in the passage is closest in meaning to

○Explained

○Visible

○Identified

○Located

7. The hind leg of Basilosaurus was a significant find because it showed that Basilosaurus

○Lived later than Ambulocetus natans

○Lived at the same time as Pakicetus

○Was able to swim well

○Could not have walked on land

8. It can be inferred that Basilosaurus bred and gave birth in which of the following locations

○On land

○Both on land and at sea

○In shallow water

○In a marine environment

9. Why does the author use the word luckily in mentioning that the Ambulocetus natans fossil included hind legs?

○Fossil legs of early whales are a rare find.

○The legs provided important information about the evolution of cetaceans.

○The discovery allowed scientists to reconstruct a complete skeleton of the whale.

○Until that time, only the front legs of early whales had been discovered.

10. Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in the passage?

Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.

○Even though Ambulocetus swam by moving its body up and down, it did not have abackbone.

○The backbone of Ambulocetus, which allowed it to swim, provides evidence of its missing fluke.

○Although Ambulocetus had no fluke, its backbone structure shows that it swam like modern whales.

○By moving the rear parts of their bodies up and down, modern whales swim in a different way from the way Ambulocetus swam.

11. The word propulsion in the passage is closest in meaning to

○Staying afloat

○Changing direction

○Decreasing weight

○Moving forward

12. Look at the four squares that indicate where the following sentence can be added to the passage.

This is a question that has puzzled scientists for ages.

Where would the sentence best fit?

13-14. Directions: An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is providedbelow. Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer choices that express the mostimportant ideas in the passage. Some answer choices do not belong in the summary becausethey express ideas that are not presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage. This question is worth 2 points.

This passage discusses fossils that help to explain the likely origins of cetaceans-whales, porpoises, and dolphins.

Answer Choices

1. Recent discoveries of fossils have helped to show the link between land mammals and cetaceans.

2. The discovery of Ambulocetus natans provided evidence for a whale that lived both on landand at sea.

3. The skeleton of Basilosaurus was found in what had been the Tethys Sea, an area rich infossil evidence.

4. Pakicetus is the oldest fossil whale yet to be found.

5. Fossils thought to be transitional forms between walking mammals and swimming whaleswere found.

6. Ambulocetus' hind legs were used for propulsion in the water.

重点单词：

rare[rɛə]adj. 稀罕的，稀薄的，罕见的，珍贵的

evolution[.i:və'lu:ʃən]n. 进化，发展，演变

limited['limitid]adj. 有限的，被限制的

constitute['kɔnstitju:t]vt. 构成，建立，任命

uncovered[,ʌn'kʌvəd]adj. 无覆盖物的;未保险的;无盖的 v. 脱帽致敬;

yield[ji:ld]n. 生产量，投资收益 v. 生产，屈服，投降

propulsion[prə'pʌlʃən]n. 推进，推进力

extinct[iks'tiŋkt]adj. 灭绝的，熄灭的，耗尽的

whale[weil]n. 鲸

presence['prezns]n. 出席，到场，存在

参考译文：

众所周知，鲸类动物是哺乳动物,如鲸鱼、鼠海豚和海豚。它们用肺呼吸，而不是鳃，属于胎生。鲸类动物呈流线型的身体，后腿的消失，尾片和气孔的出现，这些特征都不能掩饰它们和陆生哺乳动物的相似之处。然而，想知道世上第一只鲸长什么样并非易事，不像还原海獭及鳍足类动物(四肢水陆两用如海豹，海狮，海象)的原貌那么简单。一些完全水生的鲸类动物虽然已经灭绝，但仍可通过化石来对它们进行考察。陆栖哺乳动物和海洋鲸类之间有何联系?近期发现的化石已经可以很清晰地帮助人们了解这个问题，以及他们之间的过渡关系。

科学家们通过一些令人振奋的发现重现了鲸类动物几近真实的起源。1979年，在巴基斯坦北部，一个寻找化石的考察队发掘到了最古老的鲸鱼化石。这块化石被官方命名为 Pakicifus，以纪念人们发现它的地方。这块化石是在一条河的沉积岩中发现的，这条河有5200万年的历史，离古地中海不远。

Pakicifus包括一个完整原始动物的头盖骨，它的主人是现代鲸类的祖先。尽管只是个头盖骨，但它却提供了研究原始鲸类动物起源的珍贵信息。这个头盖骨和鲸类动物的很像，但它的下颌骨和现代鲸类略有不同，现代鲸类动物的下颌骨中含有额外的空间储存脂肪或者油脂来吸收水下的声音。Pakicifus的主人可能会像陆生哺乳动物那样通过张开的耳朵来探测声音。另外，这个头盖骨没有呼吸孔，而鲸类动物有，这便是鲸类动物为了适应水生环境的另一种适应性表现。然而，专家认为Pakicifus的其它特征表明它们是已灭绝的食肉哺乳动物(中兽科动物)和鲸类动物的过渡型。有人认为Pakicifus 靠吃浅水的鱼类为生，未能适应在辽阔的大海里生活。它们很有可能在陆地进行生育繁殖。

1989年，在埃及有了另一个重大发现。人们在古地中海残留的沉积物中发现了另一类早期鲸鱼Basilosaurus的一些骨骸，这些骨骸如今暴露在撒哈拉大沙漠上。Basilosaurus生活在大约4000万年前，比Pakicifus鲸鱼晚了1200万年。尽管发现的这些骨骼并不完整，但这是专家们第一次在原始动物身上发现完整的后肢，它有三个小脚趾作为的足部特征。可这些后肢还太小，远无法支撑50英尺长的Basilosaurus在陆地行走。因此，Basilosaurus必定是完全水生的鲸鱼，它们的后肢已经不起任何作用，或者说已经退化。

1994年，巴基斯坦报道了一个更令人兴奋的发现。目前已经灭绝的鲸鱼Ambulocetus natans(可以步行的鲸类)4900万年前曾在古地中海生活过。比Pakicetus晚大约 300万年，比Basilosaurus早 900万年左右。幸运的是，被发现的Ambulocetus natans保留着完整的后肢。它的后肢很强壮，底部有长足，非常像现在的鳍足类动物。这些后肢使得他们既能在陆地行走又能在海里游行。虽然Ambulocetus natans保留了尾巴，但它们缺少现代水生鲸类动物用于行动的主要身体部位——尾片。不过，从Ambulocetus的脊椎结构上可以看出，即使缺少尾片，它们也能像现代鲸鱼那样通过身体背部的上下摆动来游走。大的后肢通常被当作是水中前行的发动机。在它们可能交配繁殖的陆地上，Ambulocetus行动起来非常像现代海狮。毫无疑问，鲸鱼是连接着陆地生命和海洋生命的物种。

>>>一键输入GPA(2.0-4.0)，托福成绩，快速匹配你适合申请哪所国外院校

留学规划和留学申请是一项复杂的长期工程，不能片面听取网友的交流，更不能轻信留学中介的说辞。留学监理网由有20多年国际教育行业管理和服务经验的前教育部官员胡本未老师创立，得到新华社和央视网的高度评价。留学监理网免费为学生提供留学咨询规划建议、推荐靠谱的留学机构、审核留学方案和中介服务协议，受学生委托提供监理服务、督办留学中介的服务过程并“先行赔付”。

任何关于托福考试问题，比如托福阅读考试有哪些注意事项，2018托福阅读评分标准、托福考试注意事项、美国大学对托福成绩要求是多少等问题，大家都可以在线咨询或持续访问该栏目的其它相关文章。

相关阅读：

托福阅读之搞清句子关系，轻松理解文章

托福阅读精彩句子大汇总，助你托福考试一臂之力!

• 上一篇：2018年9月15日托福考试阅读回忆（版本合集！）
• 下一篇：攻破托福阅读长难句之每日精讲(一)

• 相关文章

  • 留学申请 要不要找留学中介
  • 出国留学费用一般要多少
  • 选择留学中介的十大误区
  • 如何选择美国留学中介
  • 2021年USNews公布美国录取率最低的9所大学！
  • 申请美国研究生GPA低需要注意这几点

• 最新问答

  查看更多>>
  • 香港留学一年的费用需要多少钱
  • 应届高三学生申请出国留学读本科的途径有哪些？如何选择？
  • 今年高考的文科生，二本线，读什么专业好？
  • 高考成绩刚过一本线，高考志愿填报和出国留学如何选择？
  • 什么是CUG完全大学指南？
  • 什么是CWUR世界大学排名？