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2006年考试新辅导之托福写作题库新增试题十五(1)

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Question 1-7

Hotels were among the earliest facilities that bound the United States together.They were both creatures and creators of communities,as well as symptoms of the frenetic quest for community.Even in the first part of the nineteenth century,Americans were private,business and pleasure purposes.Conventions were the new occasions,and hotels were distinctively American facilities making conventions possible.The first national convention of a major party to choose a candidate for President (that of the National Republican party,which met on December 12,1831,and nominated Henry Clay for President)was held in Baltimore,at a hotel that was then reputed to be the best in the country.The presence in Baltimore of Barnum's City Hotel,a six-story building with two hundred apartments helps explain why many other early national political conventions were held there.

In the longer run,too.American hotels made other national conventions not only possible but pleasant and convivial.The growing custom of regularly assembling from afar the representatives of all kinds of groups -not only for political conventions,but also for commercial,professional,learned,and avocational ones -in turn supported the multiplying hotels.By mid-twentieth century,conventions accounted for over third of the yearly room occupancy of all hotels in the nation,about eighteen thousand different conventions were held annually with a total attendance of about ten million persons.

Nineteenth-century American hotelkeepers,who were no longer the genial,deferential "hosts"of the eighteenth-century European inn,became leading citizens.Holding a large stake in the community,they exercised power to make it prosper.As owners or managers of the local "palace of the public",they were makers and shapers of a principal community attraction.Travelers from abroad were mildly shocked by this high social position.

1.The word "bound"in line 1is closest in meaning to

(A)led

(B)protected

(C)tied

(D)strengthened

2.The National Republican party is mentioned in line 8as an example of a group

(A)from Baltimore

(B)of learned people

(C)owning a hotel

(D)holding a convention

3.The word "assembling"in line 14is closest in meaning to

(A)announcing

(B)motivating

(C)gathering

(D)contracting

4.The word "ones"in line 16refers to

(A)hotels

(B)conventions

(C)kinds

(D)representatives

5.The word "it"in line 23refers to

(A)European inn

(B)host

(C)community

(D)public

6.It can be inferred from the passage that early hotelkeepers in the United States were

(A)active politicians

(B)European immigrants

(C)Professional builders

(D)Influential citizens

7.Which of the following statements about early American hotels is NOT mentioned in the passage?

(A)Travelers from abroad did not enjoy staying in them.

(B)Conventions were held in them

(C)People used them for both business and pleasure.

(D)They were important to the community.

Question 8-17

Beads were probably the first durable ornaments humans possessed,and the intimate relationship they had with their owners is reflected in the fact that beads are among the most common items found in ancient archaeological sites.In the past,as today,men,women,and children adorned themselves with beads.In some cultures still,certain beads are often worn from birth until death,and then are buried with their owners for the afterlife.Abrasion due to daily wear alters the surface features of beads,and if they are buried for long,the effects of corrosion can further change their appearance.Thus,interest is imparted to the bead both by use and the effects of time.

Besides their wearability,either as jewelry or incorporated into articles of attire,beads possess the desirable characteristics of every collectible,they are durable,portable,available in infinite variety,and often valuable in their original cultural context as well as in today's market.Pleasing to look at and touch,beads come in shapes,colors,and materials that almost compel one to handle them and to sort them.

Beads are miniature bundles of secrets waiting to be revealed:their history,manufacture,cultural context,economic role,and ornamental use are all points of information one hopes to unravel.Even the most mundane beads may have traveled great distances and been exposed to many human experiences.The bead researcher must gather information from many diverse fields.In addition to having to be a generalist while specializing in what may seem to be a narrow field,the researcher is faced with the problem of primary materials that have little or no documentation.Many ancient beads that are of ethnographic interest have often been separated from their original cultural context.

The special attractions of beads contribute to the uniqueness of bead research.While often regarded as the "small change of civilizations",beads are a part of every culture,and they can often be used to date archaeological sites and to designate the degree of mercantile,technological,and cultural sophistication.

8.What is the main subject of the passage?

(A)Materials used in making beads.

(B)How beads are made

(C)The reasons for studying beads

(D)Different types of beads

9.The word "adorned"in line 4is closest in meaning to

(A)protected

(B)decorated

(C)purchased

(D)enjoyed

10.The word "attire"in line 9is closest in meaning to

(A)ritual