焦点教育出品-2013年5月26日托福阅读机经..docxVIP

2013年5月26日托福考试阅读机经整理综述：本次阅读考试总体难度高于上周考试，很显著的特点在于：素材+结构的双重柔和，即素材有交叉，并且结构上也更加复杂，在接下来的考试中这一趋势是否会有所延续我们将继续关注考试。第一篇主题：Distribution of Plants and Animals本文主要讲解地球上植物之间的相似性要远大于动物。其中包括以下几个原因：原因一是植物很早以前就开始大范围传播，在大陆板块分开之前就分布到各处，而动物出现得较晚；原因二是动物曾经历了多次大灭绝，且之后出现的新物种代替了旧物种与原来很不相同，而植物则很长寿；原因三是动物群不如植物群一样分散广，每一个地方都有特定的动物种类，只有当大陆相连接的时候，动物才能进行传播。植物群分散比较广，并且即便是由于大陆漂移，植物也可以越过海洋进行种子的传播。所以人们能看到各个地方相似的植物群出现。最后转折，在亚洲和非洲两地的动物相似性却很高，是因为当时一度亚非板块相连。解析：在托福阅读考试中其实很难简单如此篇文章这样柔和了动物和植物，并且使用分类结构进行阐述的文章，不过这一现象也折射出托福考试“变难”的趋势，这样的文章明显对考生提出了更高的要求，一方面考生需要具备相关背景知识，另外一方面也需要对文章结构有所了解。下面给出一篇同素材参考范文：A research team involving Yale University and the University of Colorado Boulder has developed a first public demonstration version of its “Map of Life,” an ambitious Web-based endeavor designed to show the distribution of all living plants and animals on the planet.The demonstration version allows anyone with an Internet connection to map the known global distribution of almost 25,000 species of terrestrial vertebrate animals, including mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and North American freshwater fish.? The database, which continues to expand, already contains hundreds of millions of records on the abundance and distribution of the planet’s diverse flora and fauna.“We are taking 200 years of different types of knowledge coming from different sources, all documenting the locations of species around the world and compiling them in a way that will greatly enhance our knowledge of biodiversity,” said CU-Boulder Associate Professor Robert Guralnick of the ecology and evolutionary biology department, part of the Map of Life research team.? “Such information could be used by any organization that needs to make informed decisions regarding land management, health, conservation and climate change.”The initial version of the map tool being released today is intended to introduce it to the broader public, according to the researchers. It allows users to see several levels of detail for a given species -- at its broadest,