2001年8月TOEFL试题阅读部分及答案

Section Three: Reading Comprehension

Questions 1-9


Glass fibers have a long history. The Egyptians made coarse fibers by 1600 B.C., and


fibers survive as decorations on Egyptian pottery dating back to 1375 B c. During the


Renaissance (fifteenth and sixteenth centuries A.D.), glassmakers from Venice used glass


Line fibers to decorate the surfaces of plain glass vessels. However, glassmakers guarded their


(5) secrets so carefully that no one wrote about glass fiber production until the early


seventeenth century.


The eighteenth century brought the invention of "spun glass" fibers. Rene-Antoine de


Reaumur, a French scientist, tried to make artificial feathers from glass. He made fibers


by rotating a wheel through a pool of molten glass, pulling threads of glass where the hot


(10) thick liquid stuck to the wheel. His fibers were short and fragile, but he predicted that


spun glass fibers as thin as spider silk would be flexible and could be woven into fabric.


By the start of the nineteenth century, glassmakers learned how to make longer, stronger


fibers by pulling them from molten glass with a hot glass tube. Inventors wound the


cooling end of the thread around a yarn reel, then turned the reel rapidly to pull more fiber


(15) from the molten glass. Wandering tradespeople began to spin glass fibers at fairs, making


decorations and ornaments as novelties for collectors, but this material was of little


practical use; the fibers were brittle, ragged, and no longer than ten feet, the circumference


of the largest reels. By the mid-1870's, however, the best glass fibers were finer than silk


and could be woven into fabrics or assembled into imitation ostrich feathers to decorate


(20) hats. Cloth of white spun glass resembled silver; fibers drawn from yellow-orange glass


looked golden.


Glass fibers were little more than a novelty until the 1930's, when their thermal and


electrical insulating properties were appreciated and methods for producing continuous


filaments were developed. In the modern manufacturing process, liquid glass is fed


(25) directly from a glass-melting furnace into a bushing, a receptacle pierced with hundreds


of fine nozzles, from which the liquid issues in fine streams. As they solidify, the streams


of glass are gathered into a single strand and wound onto a reel.


1. Which of the following aspects of glass fiber does the passage mainly discuss?


(A) The major developments in its production


(B) Its relationship with pottery making


(C) Important inventors in its long history


(D) The variety of its uses in modern industry

2. The word "coarse" in line 1 is closest in meaning to


(A) decorative


(B) natural


(C) crude


(D) weak

3. Why was there nothing written about the making of Renaissance glass fibers until the seventeenth century?


(A) Glassmakers were unhappy with the quality of the fibers they could make.


(B) Glassmakers did not want to reveal the methods they used.


(C) Few people were interested in the Renaissance style of glass fibers.


(D) Production methods had been well known for a long time.


4. According to the passage, using a hot glass tube rather than a wheel to pull fibers from molten glass made the fibers


(A) quicker to cool


(B) harder to bend


(C) shorter and more easily broken


(D) longer and more durable


5. The phrase "this material" in line 16 refers to


(A) glass fibers


(B) decorations


(C) ornaments


(D) novelties for collectors

6. The word "brittle" in line 17 is closest in meaning to


(A) easily broken


(B) roughly made


(C) hairy


(D) shiny


7. The production of glass fibers was improved in the nineteenth century by which of the following


(A) Adding silver to the molten glass


(B) Increasing the circumference of the glass tubes


(C) Putting silk thread in the center of the fibers


(D) Using yam reels


8. The word "appreciated" in line 23 is closest in meaning to


(A) experienced


(B) recognized


(C) explored


(D) increased


9. Which of the following terms is defined in the passage?


(A) invention (line 7)


(B) circumference (line 17)


(C) manufacturing process (line 24)


(D) bushing (line25)


Questions 10-19


The most thoroughly studied cases of deception strategies employed by ground-nesting


birds involve plovers, small birds that typically nest on beaches or in open fields, their


nests merely scrapes in the sand or earth. Plovers also have an effective repertoire of tricks


Line for distracting potential nest predators from their exposed and defenseless eggs or chicks.


(5) The ever-watchful plover can detect a possible threat at a considerable distance. When


she does, the nesting bird moves inconspicuously off the nest to a spot well away from


eggs or chicks. At this point she may use one of several ploys. One technique involves


first moving quietly toward an approaching animal and then setting off noisily through


the grass or brush in a low, crouching run away from the nest, while emitting rodent like


(10) squeaks. The effect mimics a scurrying mouse or vole, and the behavior rivets the


attention of the type of predators that would also be interested in eggs and chicks.


Another deception begins with quiet movement to an exposed and visible location well


away from the nest. Once there, the bird pretends to incubate a brood. When the predator


approaches, the parent flees, leaving the false nest to be searched. The direction in which


(15) the plover "escapes" is such that if the predator chooses to follow, it will be led still further


away from the true nest.


The plover's most famous stratagem is the broken-wing display, actually a continuum


of injury-mimicking behaviors spanning the range from slight disability to near-complete


helplessness. One or both wings are held in an abnormal position, suggesting injury. The


(20) bird appears to be attempting escape along an irregular route that indicates panic. In the


most extreme version of the display, the bird flaps one wing in an apparent attempt to


take to the air, flops over helplessly, struggles back to its feet, runs away a short distance,


seemingly attempts once more to take off, flops over again as the "useless" wing fails to


provide any lift, and so on. Few predators fail to pursue such obviously vulnerable prey.


Needless to say, each short run between "flight attempts" is directed away from the nest.

10. What does the passage mainly discuss?


(A) The nest-building techniques of plovers


(B) How predators search for plovers


(C) The strategies used by plovers to deceive predators


(D) Why plovers are vulnerable to predators


11. The word "merely" in fine 3 is closest in meaning to


(A) often


(B) only


(C) usually


(D) at first


12. Which of the following is mentioned in the passage about plovers?


(A) Their eggs and chicks are difficult to find.


(B) They are generally defenseless when away From their nests.


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