5月26號托福考試|你是考了一個假託福嗎？

來自專欄托福

閱讀難

閱讀加試

聽力難

聽力加試

……

伴隨著寫作的新題，以及大家的叫苦連連，我隱隱覺得今天大概是今天托福考試路程上一個里程碑式的存在。

不過縱然大家都覺得今天的考試比以往要難，閱讀還是至少有四篇舊題：

2018年01月28日

松鼠儲存食物

兩種松鼠對食物的不同儲存策略。一種松鼠叫 pine松鼠；另一種松鼠叫 tree松鼠。P松鼠喜歡把食物放在一個地方，而T松鼠喜歡鑿幾百個洞分開放。它們的儲存策略會因為氣候的變化而調整，從而保證存放食物的地方 cool並且 cones不會 open,存放的吃的可以維持至少一到兩個季節。因為 P松鼠的食物都在一塊兒，所以 P把存放食物的地方放在離自己近的地方，不僅防止別的動物偷走，也要防止被鄰居的松鼠偷走。因為 T松鼠的食物是分散的，所以它們不用太關注每個埋 cones的地方，只要留下的夠吃，被偷幾個也沒有關係，而且它們埋的地方太多了，也照顧不過來。因為儲存食物的方式不同，導致它們的社會結構發生了變化。P松鼠的族群更密集，而T松鼠則有 on-lapping home range,並且小松鼠可以擴散到別的地方去。

2016年10月16日

Mapping the World

p1:隨著歐洲開拓新大陸，地圖變得越來越重要，而舊的地圖也被不斷的改進。印刷地圖成了一個有利可圖的行業。

p2:歐洲最早的地圖更多地體現了宗教思想，而關鍵性的改變來自於Ptoemy，他利用數學和幾何的方法引入經緯度的概念繪製地圖，人們開始借鑒。

p3:利用經緯度製圖的發展過程依然困難，人們已有的測量距離的方法只適用於小範圍繪製，而更廣闊的區域的地圖繪製就依靠各種遊記還有人們的想像了。

p4:雖然人們早已知道地球是圓的，但始終沒有辦法製造地球儀。隨著印刷業的出現，人們可以列印出橢圓的紙條，拼接粘貼製成最初的地球儀。

p5:在地球上繪製地圖比平面地圖更具有挑戰，因為平面紙張有邊界，不確定的區域就推至邊界模糊化，但是地球儀上沒有邊界，這更激勵人們去探求地球上的未知區域。

Mating songs of frogs

以下附原文無題目，需要真題及答案，關注公眾號：非典型性話嘮，回復526即可調取。或者加我個人微信號xiaobaiada

1：The calling or singing of frogs plays an important role in their reproduction—specifically, in helping individuals find and select mates. Sound has many advantages as a communication signal.When sounds are broadcast, the auditory receptors do not need to be in a particular orientation relative to the sound source in order to receive stimulation. Loud songs, particularly those made by choruses of frogs calling together, can travel long distances and thus attract distant frogs.Sounds travel around large obstacles. These advantages are not found in the visual modality,where the receiver must be attentive and have its visual receptor orientated in the correct direction.Further, most frogs and toads breed at night, when light levels are low but sounds can be easily localized. We can conclude that auditory signals are used by frogs and toads because they can be effective over long distances at night.

2：Male frogs do most of the courtship calling. Other male frogs can respond by adding their voicesto form a calling chorus. Male frogs can also vocalize to each other as part of aggressive displays.Aggressive calls can be distinct from the advertisement calls used to attract females. Females can respond to male songs by moving toward the sound source or by selecting certain males as reproductive partners. In some species females also respond to males by calling: receptive pairs can even perform duets. Predators may also cue in on calling frogs as potential prey.

3：Frog songs contain several potentially important pieces of information about the calling male.First, sound amplitude can indicate the size of the individual that is Galling. Since many frogs exhibit indeterminate growth (i.e., they keep getting bigger as they get older), size is a good predictor of relative age. In many species, call amplitude is increased by specialized vocal sacs that can enlarge as the animal grows; thus, older frogs produce louder calls. The male』s age matters to the female because older frogs have successfully survived the environmental hazards that the offspring they sire will soon be facing. Amplitude can also convey information on how faraway the calling frog is or, for choruses, how many frogs are calling together. An intensely vocalizing chorus may indicate a particularly favorable breeding site. Sound amplitude(subjectively: loudness) can be an ambiguous cue for a female, however. A very intense sound can indicate an old male at some distance or a younger male that is close. A close, small chorus could be confused with a louder chorus that is farther away.

4：Sound frequencies-or pitch-can also convey information about the calling male because the vocal apparatus grows larger as the frog grows older. In some frogs, the pitch of individual sounds varies with so that older and larger males give lower-pitched calls. Sound pitch is affected by temperature; small males can mimic the lower pitch of larger, older males by calling from colder locations. Finally, the length of time that an individual can afford to spend calling is a good indicator of his health. Many frogs invest considerable energy in calling, both because they do not feed and because it is a physically demanding behavior that relies on rapid muscular contractions of the vocalization apparatus. This effort can be debilitating in a male frog that is not in top physical condition. Calling in tree frogs is said to be the most energetically expensive behavior yet measured any vertebrate.

5：Sound frequencies and the overall temporal pattern (rhythm and rate) of the song can also reveal the species of the calling male. The frequencies sounds and their temporal patterns are species-specific. The species of a potential mate is extremely important to the female. Females that choose to mate with members of another species risk losing the energy invest in eggs because the hybrid offspring will not survive and reproduce.

6：The complexity of a frog song can also affect how attractive it is to a female. The songs of maletungara frogs, for example, can consist simply of short high-frequency 「whines」 or by severallower-frequency "chucks." More females approach loudspeakers playing whines plus chucks thanwhines alone. The addition of chucks, however, also has the disadvantage of attracting bats thateat the frogs.

2016.07.09

2017.04.01

2017.12.09

The importance of mail service to the early United States

開篇引出話題，很多相關聯的發展促進了信息的流動，從而鼓勵了社會流動性的發展，經濟的蓬勃，以及人們遠距離貿易的慾望。然後從第二段開始講郵局系統繁盛的原因，這是兩個早期的決定促成的，1任何新聞報紙都可以極其便宜便利地通過郵局系統發送2隻要有民眾申請修建新的郵政路線和郵政局，那麼國會都無條件批准。所以郵局系統的發展並不是源自商業考慮(commercial considerations)Postal 的出現是十分利於商業發展的，而在最初創建的時候並沒有考慮到商業因素而是政治因素。政客為了在national stage 打敗對手，需要收集和傳播信息，收集voters的喜好以及它們支持的政黨。後來，這些信息的交流方式被用到商業領域，了解不同地區食物的產量以及不同地區食物的價格，而這些信息流通決定了how people value what to buy or sell. Delivery 的發展促進了交通的發展並且服務越來越好