TOEFL PRACTICE
Reading 精读 TPO 04 P3
Ancient Athens
One of the most important changes in Greece during the period from 800 B.C. to 500 B.C. was the rise of the polis, or city-state, and each polis developed a system of government that was appropriate to its circumstances. The problems that were faced and solved in Athens were the sharing of political power between the established aristocracy and the emerging other classes, and the adjustment of aristocratic ways of life to the ways of life of the new polis. It was the harmonious blending of all of these elements that was to produce the classical culture of Athens.
polis n 城邦
aristocracy n 贵族，贵族阶级
established adj 已经确立的
harmonious adj 和谐的
blend v 混合 协调融合 n 混合物
在800BC 到500BC 之间 雅典最大的变化是城邦的崛起和每一个城邦都发展了一个适合他们环境的政府的系统。雅典面对和解决的问题是在已确立的贵族阶级和其他阶级之间的崛起之的权利的分享和贵族生活方式对于新城邦的适应。证实所有这些因素协调的融合才产生了希腊的阶级文化
Entering the polis age, Athens had the traditional institutions of other Greek proto democratic states: an assembly of adult males, an aristocratic council, and annually elected officials. Within this traditional framework the Athenians, between 600 B.C. and 450 B.C., evolved what Greeks regarded as a fully fledged democratic constitution, though the right to vote was given to fewer groups of people than is seen in modern times.
institution n 习俗/机构/社会福利机构/金融机构/知名人士
democratic n 民主习俗
Assembly n 人群 聚会
council n 议会
fledged adj 羽翼丰满的 /合格的
Constitution n 宪法章程
进入城邦时期后，雅典人拥有其他希腊原始民主城邦的传统习俗：成年男子的聚会，贵族议会，每年的正式选举。在这些传统框架下，雅典人在公元前600到450年，逐步形成了雅典人认为已经完全合格的民主宪法章程。虽然投票的权利在现在看来只是被分给了少部分人群。
The first steps toward change were taken by Solon in 594 B.C., when he broke the aristocracy’s stranglehold on elected offices by establishing wealth rather than birth as the basis of office holding, abolishing the economic obligations of ordinary Athenians to the aristocracy, and allowing the assembly (of which all citizens were equal members) to overrule the decisions of local courts in certain cases. The strength of the Athenian aristocracy was further weakened during the rest of the century by the rise of a type of government known as a tyranny, which is a form of interim rule by a popular strongman (not rule by a ruthless dictator as the modern use of the term suggests to us). The Peisistratids, as the succession of tyrants were called (after the founder of the dynasty, Peisistratos), strengthened Athenian central administration at the expense of the aristocracy by appointing judges throughout the region, producing Athens’ first national coinage, and adding and embellishing festivals that tended to focus attention on Athens rather than on local villages of the surrounding region. By the end of the century, the time was ripe for more change: the tyrants were driven out, and in 508 B.C. a new reformer, Cleisthenes, gave final form to the developments reducing aristocratic control already under way.
stranglehold n 压制束缚
overrule v 否决
tyranny n 专制国家/暴政
interim adj 期中的 n 在此期间
embellish v 装饰 渲染
变化的第一步发生在公元前594年 by S，当时S 打破了贵族们对于选取的压制，通过积累财富而不是人们的出生，废除普通人对于贵族的经济债务 和允许多数人否决当地法院对于某些案件的决定。在剩下的一个世纪里，雅典贵族的权利得到了进一步的削弱因为某些暴力政权的崛起。P，在牺牲贵族的情况下加强了雅典的中央政府，通过指派整个地区的法官，制造雅典人第一款全国货币，增加和渲染节日来关注雅典而不是周边地区的当地小村庄。到这个世纪末，对于更多的变化，时间已经成熟了，暴政被驱逐，在公元前508年，一个新的改革者 C为已经在减少的贵族控制提出了最终形式。
Cleisthenes’ principal contribution to the creation of democracy at Athens was to complete the long process of weakening family and clan structures, especially among the aristocrats, and to set in their place locality-based corporations called demes, which became the point of entry for all civic and most religious life in Athens. Out of the demes were created 10 artificial tribes of roughly equal population. From the demes, by either election or selection, came 500 members of a new council, 6,000 jurors for the courts, 10 generals, and hundreds of commissioners. The assembly was sovereign in all matters but in practice delegated its power to subordinate bodies such as the council, which prepared the agenda for the meetings of the assembly, and the courts, which took care of most judicial matters. Various committees acted as an executive branch, implementing policies of the assembly and supervising, for instance, the food and water supplies and public buildings. This wide-scale participation by the citizenry in the government distinguished the democratic form of the Athenian polis from other, less liberal forms.
clan n 宗教/大家族
tribe n 部落 / 紧密联系的群体
juror n 陪审员
sovereign n 君主 元首 / adj 至高无上的，有主权的
delegate v 委托/授权 / n 代表
agenda n 工作事项/议事日程
executive adj 经营管理的/有执行权的/高档的 n 经理/执行委员会/执行部门
liberal adj 宽容的/开明的/自由的/不拘泥于字面的 n 宽容大度的人
C的最大的对于创造雅典民主制度的贡献是完成了弱化家族统治特别是在贵族中的长期过程和巩固了基于地区市政的地位，它是雅典所有公民和宗教生活的入口点。在d外创造了10个人口大致相同的部落。从d中，通过每个的选举和筛选，出现500名成员的新议会，和6000名陪审员的法庭，10个首席干事和数百名干事。立法机关在所有事情上都有无上的权利，但是在实际过程中授予权利给低级别的组织例如议会和法院，议会准备立法机关的会议的议事日程，法院关注多数的司法事件。各种各样的委员为作为与执行权利的分支，实施立法机关的政策，监管例如食物和水的供给和公共建筑。这种民众大范围参与政治的情况使得雅典的民主形式和其他的，不自由的形式不同。
The effect of Cleisthenes’ reforms was to establish the superiority of the Athenian community as a whole over local institutions without destroying them. National politics rather than local or deme politics became the focal point. At the same time, entry into national politics began at the deme level and gave local loyalty a new focus: Athens itself. Over the next two centuries the implications of Cleisthenes’ reforms were fully exploited.
focal adj 焦点 极其重要的
exploit n 英雄事迹 v 滥用 开发 利用 发挥
C改革的影响是建立雅典社区作为一个整体优于当地机构而不破坏他们。国家政策而不是当地的政策是焦点，同时。。。。 C 改革的施行被完全发挥。
During the fifth century B.C. the council of 500 was extremely influential in shaping policy. In the next century, however, it was the mature assembly that took on decision-making responsibility. By any measure other than that of the aristocrats, who had been upstaged by the supposedly inferior “people,” the Athenian democracy was a stunning success. Never before, or since, have so many people been involved in the serious business of self-governance. It was precisely this opportunity to participate in public life that provided a stimulus for the brilliant unfolding of classical Greek culture.
inferior。adj 较差的 / 下级的
supposedly adv 据说
stunning adj 使人眩晕的 stunning success 巨大的成功
precisely adv 恰好的， 清晰的，严谨地 的确如此
在公元前第五世纪，500人的议会对于政治有着极大的影响。但是，在下一个世纪，有了一个成熟的立法机构实行执行决定的责任。除了贵族之外的任何措施，雅典的民主制度是一个巨大的成功。 之前从未有这么多人参与到政府的严肃的事物中。证实这个公众参与的机会给希腊文明的绚丽展开提供了刺激。
WRITING PRACTISE
A/D: People should insist on a challenging plan rather than a practical plan.
As far as I’m concerned, I definitely agree with the statement that people should choose to try to take a challenging plan rather than a practical plan.
should people choose A or B , I prefer the former / latter.
Firstly, I believe a challenging plan and a high target can make you work more effectively and productively. Something you can not reach will give you more passion ,encourage your inspiration and make you more energetic.When you are aiming to do something challenging, you will be involved in finding every passable method to solve the problems. Take my friend Oliver as an example. Before he graduated from the university, he wanted to go abroad to continue his research. Rather than going to an agency for assistance, he chose to design this project by himself. During the day , he visited various agencies to consult some professors and browsed the offical websites of his dream school to gather information. Every day, he worked like a dog and was burned out. But he did do adequate preparation for his challenging plan. Eventually, although the time left to him is limited, he accomplished his plan and he also learned a lot from his experience.
因果表达：
make -> enable / allow
lead to / result in / By doing this
Endow sb with sth (上帝）给予 某人某物
Secondly, a challenging plan can lead to innovations. Why is a challenging plan challenging for people ? A practical have been testified a thousand times, people only stick to it and they will deal with the problem. However,when we comes to a challenging plan, people have no pioneer to follow and have to create something new. They are pioneers themselves. If Jack Dorsey had just conformed to the traditional way of payment without trying to get rid of the current transaction, the Squre wouldn’t come into being. If some people don’t want to change the pattern of the social networking, the twitter ,facebook and instagram by which you get accustomed to communicate with others will not appear. So there is no doubt that sometimes a challenging plan can lead to the original idea and even influence the world.
喜欢：have paasion for /have enthusiasm for
做运动： work out / doing physical excercise
Sure, It is not to say that the practical plan is peripheral completely. In terms of some tasks without tolerance to any risks, a practical plan seems to guarantee a smooth success and is better than a challenging plan. We can follow the reliable plan and every step is guaranteed and safe. Eventually we get a good result. However, there are few such tasks. Most tasks allow employees to make some mistakes. So the practical plan is less meaningful than the challenging plan.
Overall, as for me , a youth and a university student , A challenging plan means many possibilities, and it can urge me to work with efficeincy and give me some inspiration. So I could not agree more on chosing the challenging plan rather than the practical plan.
A/D: At universities and colleges, sports and social activities are just as important as classes and libraries and should receive equal financial support.
Today , more and more students fall in love with sports. Doing exercise is an significant part of their daily life. Not only can it relax and unwind students, but it is also beneficial to students’ health. As we know, students’ life is very stressful. Take my friend Oliver as an example. every day he has to go to class and lab to do research. After class, there are many assignments and homework to finish, which extremely drives him crazy. Spending long time under the high pressure and unbalanced diet lead to his bad body which makes his parents very concerned. After he starts to play basketball after class, he feels better. Playing basketball takes him away from the study pressure and improves his strength , speed and flexibility. Additionally, he learns how to better communicate with partners and how to cooporate with others in playing sports.
现在 :
In the modern society / in our age/era/generation
越来越多:
more and more -> an increasing number of
有好处
contribute to / do good to / boost / strengthen / enhance
有压力的
of great stress =stressful
形容很辛苦 Burn the midnight oil / have a hard time struggling out of bed.
保持身材
keep fit / have a good shape
