TOEFL Reading-words-Writing

READING PRACTICE

The Origin of the Pacific Island People

The greater Pacific region, traditionally called Oceania, consists of three cultural areas: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Melanesia, in the southwest Pacific, contains the large islands of New Guinea, the Solomons, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia. Micronesia, the area north of Melanesia, consists primarily of small scattered islands. Polynesia is the central Pacific area in the great triangle defined by Hawaii, Easter Island, and New Zealand. Before the arrival of Europeans, the islands in the two largest cultural areas, Polynesia and Micronesia, together contained a population estimated at 700,000.

大片太平洋区域里包含三个人类聚居地：分别是Me，Mi和Po。Me在太平洋西南部，包含 NG，S，V，NC的大岛。Mi，在Me的北部，主要包含一些小的零散的岛。P在太平洋中部，在一个呗H，EI，NZ定义的三角区里。在欧洲人到达以前，这些岛屿有刘昂哥最大的人类聚居地，P和Mi，一起包含大概700000人口。

Speculation on the origin of these Pacific islanders began as soon as outsiders encountered them, in the absence of solid linguistic, archaeological, and biological data, many fanciful and mutually exclusive theories were devised. Pacific islanders are variously thought to have come from North America, South America, Egypt, Israel, and India, as well as Southeast Asia. Many older theories implicitly deprecated the navigational abilities and overall cultural creativity of the Pacific islanders. For example, British anthropologists G. Elliot Smith and W. J. Perry assumed that only Egyptians would have been skilled enough to navigate and colonize the Pacific. They inferred that the Egyptians even crossed the Pacific to found the great civilizations of the New World (North and South America). In 1947 Norwegian adventurer Thor Heyerdahl drifted on a balsa-log raft westward with the winds and currents across the Pacific from South America to prove his theory that Pacific islanders were Native Americans (also called American Indians). Later Heyerdahl suggested that the Pacific was peopled by three migrations: by Native Americans from the Pacific Northwest of North America drifting to Hawaii, by Peruvians drifting to Easter Island, and by Melanesians. In 1969 he crossed the Atlantic in an Egyptian-style reed boat to prove Egyptian influences in the Americas. Contrary to these theorists, the overwhelming evidence of physical anthropology, linguistics, and archaeology shows that the Pacific islanders came from Southeast Asia and were skilled enough as navigators to sail against the prevailing winds and currents.

Speculation n 猜测/投机

Encounter n 邂逅/偶然遇到

fanciful n 空想的

exclusive n 高档的/独享的/唯一的

devise v 设计/发明

implicitly adv 含蓄地/绝对地

deprecate v 反对

drift v 漂流

reed n芦苇

在没有确凿的文字，考古，生物资料时，对于太平洋原始岛民的猜测开始了，当外来者偶然遇到他们时。很多狂想的，互相矛盾的理论被发明。 太平洋岛民被广为认为来自北美，南美，埃及，以色列 印度 和南亚。很多老的理论含蓄地反对太平洋岛民的航海能力和综合的文化创造力。举个例子，英国人类学家GES和WJPP假设只有埃及人才有足够的航海技术去占据太平洋。他们推断埃及人甚至横跨了太平洋去寻找新世界的文明。在1947年挪威的探险家TH在巴尔萨木筏上向西漂流借助风和水流恒狂了太平洋去证明他的理论：太平洋岛民都是印第安人。之后TH提出太平洋被三种移民者居住：被本地美洲人从太平洋西北的北美洲漂流到了夏威夷，被P人漂流到了东边的岛，被M人。 在1969年，Th横跨了大西洋用埃及风格的芦苇船去证明美洲的埃及影响。与这些理论正好相反，大量的物理考古，文字和人类学的证据表明太平洋的岛民来自南亚，他们有足够的技术作为一个航海家去抵抗普遍的风和洋流。

The basic cultural requirements for the successful colonization of the Pacific islands include the appropriate boat-building, sailing, and navigation skills to get to the islands in the first place, domesticated plants and gardening skills suited to often marginal conditions, and a varied inventory of fishing implements and techniques. It is now generally believed that these prerequisites originated with peoples speaking Austronesian languages (a group of several hundred related languages) and began to emerge in Southeast Asia by about 5000 B.C.E. The culture of that time, based on archaeology and linguistic reconstruction, is assumed to have had a broad inventory of cultivated plants including taro, yarns, banana, sugarcane, breadfruit, coconut, sago, and rice. Just as important, the culture also possessed the basic foundation for an effective maritime adaptation, including outrigger canoes and a variety of fishing techniques that could be effective for overseas voyaging.

marginal adj 微不足道的/边缘的/贫瘠的

prerequisite adj 先觉条件

inventory。n。存货清单/库存

对于成功征服太平洋岛屿的人类最基本的需求包括合适的船只制造技术，航海技术，导航技术去到达第一个海盗；驯养的制服和栽培技术以适应贫瘠的条件；各种各样的捕鱼工具的库存和技术。现在已经普遍接受这些先觉条件起源于一群说这A语言的人类，然后开始出现在南亚地区在公元前5000年。根据考古和文字复现，那时候的文明已经显现出油了广泛的培养植物的积累包括。。。。这个文明也具有显著的海洋适应能力的坚实的基础包括弦外托架哮喘和各种各样的捕鱼技术，这些在航海过程中起着非常重要的作用

Contrary to the arguments of some that much of the pacific was settled by Polynesians accidentally marooned after being lost and adrift, it seems reasonable that this feat was accomplished by deliberate colonization expeditions that set out fully stocked with food and domesticated plants and animals. Detailed studies of the winds and currents using computer simulations suggest that drifting canoes would have been a most unlikely means of colonizing the Pacific. These expeditions were likely driven by population growth and political dynamics on the home islands, as well as the challenge and excitement of exploring unknown waters.

maroon n 褐红色 v 使无处可逃的

feat n 功绩

expedition n 远征 远征队 短途出行

stock n 存货/储备/股本/股份 adj 常备的/存货的/陈腐的/股票的 v

与那些说大多数太平洋的岛被恰好无处可逃的被流放漂流的P人所占据的言论相反，这些功绩被一些有预谋的殖民远征军所造就，

他们储存着玩呗的师傅和驯化后的植物和动物。利用电脑模式的详细的对于风和洋流的研究表明漂流的独木舟很大程度不可能占有太平洋岛屿。这些远征着可能被人口的增长和家乡不稳定的政治所驱使，也可能是对于探索未知海域的挑战和兴奋。

Because all Polynesians, Micronesians, and many Melanesians speak Austronesian languages and grow crops derived from Southeast Asia, all these peoples most certainly derived from that region and not the New World or elsewhere. The undisputed pre-Columbian presence in Oceania of the sweet potato, which is a New World domesticate, has sometimes been used to support Heyerdahl’s “American Indians in the Pacific”theories. However, this is one plant out of a long list of Southeast Asian domesticates. As Patrick Kirch, an American anthropologist, points out, rather than being brought by rafting South Americans, sweet potatoes might just have easily been brought back by returning Polynesian navigators who could have reached the west coast of South America.

undisputed adj 不可争辩的

因为所有的P，Mi和大多数Me说A语言，总之源自南亚的农作物。所有这些人很可能源自这个地区而不是新世界或者其他地方。不可争辩的前哥伦比亚人在太平洋的土豆，被用来支持H的理论。 然而，这是一种不在东南亚人驯化的植物表中的植物。一个美国人类学家指出甜土豆不是被流放的南美洲人带过去的，而是可能被返航的P航海家带回去。

###

The Cambrian Explosion

Cambrian n 寒武纪 v 寒武纪的

The Cambrian Explosion 寒武纪生物大爆炸

The geologic timescale is marked by significant geologic and biological events, including the origin of Earth about 4.6 billion years ago, the origin of life about 3.5 billion years ago, the origin of eukaryotic life-forms (living things that have cells with true nuclei) about 1.5 billion years ago, and the origin of animals about 0.6 billion years ago. The last event marks the beginning of the Cambrian period. Animals originated relatively late in the history of Earth—in only the last 10 percent of Earth’s history. During a geologically brief 100-million-year period, all modern animal groups (along with other animals that are now extinct) evolved. This rapid origin and diversification of animals is often referred to as “the Cambrian explosion.”

timescale n 时间段

这个地址的时间段被重要的地质和生物时间标记。最后一个事件标记着寒武纪生物大爆炸的开始。动物起源于地球的历史相对较晚。在地质上短暂的1亿年间，所有的现代生物总群进化。这个快速的动物的起源和多样化常被称为寒武纪生物大爆炸

Scientists have asked important questions about this explosion for more than a century. Why did it occur so late in the history of Earth? The origin of multicellular forms of life seems a relatively simple step compared to the origin of life itself. Why does the fossil record not document the series of evolutionary changes during the evolution of animals? Why did animal life evolve so quickly? Paleontologists continue to search the fossil record for answers to these questions.

Multicellular 多细胞的

科学家们在几个世纪里已经问了好几个关于大爆炸的重要问题。为什么在地球历史这么晚才发生。多细胞生物的起源相对于生物的起源是一个相对简单的步骤。为什么化石没有记录下这一系列在生物进化中的变化？为什么动物进化的这么快速。古生物学家持续研究这些化石去寻找这些问题的答案。

One interpretation regarding the absence of fossils during this important 100-million-year period is that early animals were soft bodied and simply did not fossilize. Fossilization of soft-bodied animals is less likely than fossilization of hard-bodied animals, but it does occur. Conditions that promote fossilization of soft-bodied animals include very rapid covering by sediments that create an environment that discourages decomposition. In fact, fossil beds containing soft-bodied animals have been known for many years.

关于在这1亿年的时间里化石缺失的解释是早期的动物是软体动物，根本没有化石化。软体动物的化石化不如坚硬身体动物化石化常见，但是它确实发生。促进软体动物化石化的条件包括快速的被沉淀覆盖，着可以创造一个不利于分解的环境。事实上，含有软体动物的化石床已经被人们知道很多年了。

The Ediacara fossil formation, which contains the oldest known animal fossils, consists exclusively of soft-bodied forms. Although named after a site in Australia, the Ediacara formation is worldwide in distribution and dates to Precambrian times. This 700-million-year-old formation gives few clues to the origins of modern animals, however, because paleontologists believe it represents an evolutionary experiment that failed. It contains no ancestors of modern animal groups.

E化石的形成只包含软体动物。虽然用澳大利亚的一个地名命名，E化石世界闻名，可以追溯到前寒武纪时代。这个7亿年的化石床没有给任何关于现代生物起源的证据。但是因为古生物学家相信它代表一个失败的进化试验，它不包含任何现代动物群体的祖先。

A slightly younger fossil formation containing animal remains is the Tommotian formation, named after a locale in Russia. It dates to the very early Cambrian period, and it also contains only soft-bodied forms. At one time, the animals present in these fossil beds were assigned to various modern animal groups, but most paleontologists now agree that all Tommotian fossils represent unique body forms that arose in the early Cambrian period and disappeared before the end of the period, leaving no descendants in modern animal groups.

一个稍微年轻点的包含动物遗骸的化石床是T。它可以追溯到早期寒武纪时期，它也只含有软体动物遗骸。同时在这些化石中的动物被分配到了现代动物种群里，但是大部分古生物学家现在赞同T化石代表一些独特的生物种类，他们出现于早期寒武纪时期，在寒武纪末期灭绝，没有留下在现代生物种群中的后代。

A third fossil formation containing both soft-bodied and hard-bodied animals provides evidence of the result of the Cambrian explosion. This fossil formation, called the Burgess Shale, is in Yoho National Park in the Canadian Rocky Mountains of British Columbia. Shortly after the Cambrian explosion, mud slides rapidly buried thousands of marine animals under conditions that favored fossilization. These fossil beds provide evidence of about 32 modern animal groups, plus about 20 other animal body forms that are so different from any modern animals that they cannot be assigned to any one of the modern groups. These unassignable animals include a large swimming predator called Anomalocaris and a soft-bodied animal called Wiwaxia, which ate detritus or algae. The Burgess Shale formation also has fossils of many extinct representatives of modern animal groups. For example, a well-known Burgess Shale animal called Sidneyia is a representative of a previously unknown group of arthropods (a category of animals that includes insects, spiders, mites, and crabs).

第三种包含了软体动物和硬体动物的化石组成对于寒武纪的生物大爆炸提供了证据，这个化石组成，叫BurgessShale，在Yoho国家公园。在寒武纪生物大爆炸之后，淤泥迅速覆盖了了上千种海洋动物在最易生成化石的条件下，。这个化石床提供了大概32种现代生物群，另外还有20个和现在生物不同的动物群体。这些未标注的动物包括大型海洋捕食者和软体动物W。这个化石组成也有很多现在已经灭绝的现在生物的代表的化石。

Fossil formations like the Burgess Shale show that evolution cannot always be thought of as a slow progression. The Cambrian explosion involved rapid evolutionary diversification, followed by the extinction of many unique animals. Why was this evolution so rapid? No one really knows. Many zoologists believe that it was because so many ecological niches were available with virtually no competition from existing species. Will zoologists ever know the evolutionary sequences in the Cambrian explosion? Perhaps another ancient fossil bed of soft-bodied animals from 600-million-year-old seas is awaiting discovery.

像这样的化石组成表明进化不能总是被认为是一种慢过程。寒武纪生物大爆炸包含快速的多样性的进化，随后很多独特的生物灭绝，。为什么这个进化如此迅速。每人知晓。很多动物学家认为是因为生态适应性提供了现存的物种几乎没有任何竞争的环境。动物学家将会知道寒武纪生物大爆炸的顺序么？可能另一个古代软体生物的化石床等着去被开发。

WRITING

仿写：

A/D:Would you rather have a friend that you can have fun with or a friend that is intelligent? 2015.6.27

People walk in and walk out of our lives; friends are the ones we can count on no matter what. Some may argue that befriending an intelligent soul can do us good along the way. But the idea of having a fun friend appeals to me.

生命中人们来来往往，朋友是我们什么情况下都能依靠的人。有的人可能认为和一个有趣的灵魂交朋友能够一直对我们有好壶。但是和一个有趣的人交朋友更能吸引我。

People walk in and walk out of our live 生活中人们进进出出

count on 依靠

along the way 一直

appeal to 吸引

First off, people with a sense of humor can cheer us up. We are all aware that life is a circus; and from time to time we all need a shoulder to cry on and a close friend to confide to. If this friend never fails to put a smile on your face, obstacles you come across will seem trivial and no big deal. Tina is such a friend. I always give her a call when things don’t go well. In times like a bad break-up or disappointing test results, I wouldn’t have been in the mood for a chit-chat, but she’s one exception. She has a knack for imitating different accents and ways people act. With an acerbic wit or sarcasm, she can always make me laugh. There are plenty of kinds of intelligence that will do no good in comforting us, but humor can always help us cope in low moments of our lives.

首先，具有幽默感的人们能是我开心。我们都觉得生活就像一场戏,我们不时都需要一个肩膀去哭泣和一个紧密的朋友去倾诉。如果你的朋友从来都没在使你微笑的事情上失败，你遇到的障碍似乎也就变得不那么重要或者微不足道了。Tina就是我的这样一个朋友。当事情进展不顺利时我总是给他打电话。在那种分手或者令人失望的测验结果时，我不会有心情去聊天，但是它是一个例外。她精通与模仿不同人的口音和行为方式。用尖刻的风趣和讽刺，他总能是我开怀大笑。有很多生活智慧对与安慰我没有任何好处，但是风趣幽默总是能应对生命中的低潮时刻。

first off 首先

circus. n 马戏

be aware that life is a circus。感觉人生就是一场戏

confide v 吐露/吐露秘密

a close friend to confide to 一个倾诉的密友

no big deal 微不足道

Be in the mood for 有心情做 doing

chit-chat 闲聊

have a knack for 对。。有天赋

acerbic adj。尖刻的

sarcasm n 讽刺

cope in low moment of our lifes 应对生命中的低潮

Besides, fun friends can instill positivity into our lives. There’s nothing wrong with a healthy dose of skepticism, but to work with pessimists can be a real drag. It seems there’s always something they can whine about or pick bone with. Let’s just don’t forget people feed off each other. A “downer” in a group takes the whole group down, whereas a fun person can bring the whole group to a more productive and innovative plane. When you are surrounded by people whose default is positivity, you are more likely to follow suit and turn into an optimist.

除此之外，有趣的老师还能给我们的生活灌输正能量。和健康的怀疑主义者一起没有任何错误，但是和一个悲观主义者共事是一个真的累赘。似乎总有一些东西能让他们抱怨或者挑剔。让我们不要忘了人们互相帮助。一个团队中的心情坏的人可以影响整个团队的时期。然而一个有趣的人能够将整个团队带上一个有创新和有生产力的平台。当你被一群默认积极的人所环绕，你也很大程度上会跟随，转变成一个积极向上的人

Instill sth into our lives 给我们的生命灌输

Instill positivity /energy / courage into our lives

给我们的生命注入 乐观/活力/勇气

whine about sth抱怨

pick bone with sth 挑剔

feed off each other 互相帮助

wheare conj。然而

follow suit 跟风

It is not to say intelligence is not a virtue to look for in friends. The benefits of having smart friends around is quite obvious. They’d recommend books of inspiration, provide words of wisdom and share their problem-solving mentality when we’re in need of help. But who can say somebody with a sense of humor is not smart? You can’t. It takes great intelligence to tell jokes and make others laugh. And also fun friends can offer wise advice as well to pull us through in hard times. People with intelligence, on the other hand, cannot always lighten the loads and lift our spirit.

不是说智力在寻找朋友的时候不是一个优点。拥有一个聪明的朋友的在身边的好处显而易见。他们能推荐有灵感的数据，提供智慧的词语，当我们需要帮帮助时分享他们解决问题的心态。但是谁又能说幽默的人一定不聪明呢？显然你不能。讲笑话和令他人开心同样需要好的智慧。有趣的朋友也能给我们提供合理的建议帮助我们度过难关。另一方面，有智慧的人不能总是减轻我们的负担，提升我们的精神。

mentality n 心态

pull sb through in hard time 帮组某人度过难关

lighten the load 减轻负担

To sum up, intelligent people may seem like a good choice of companion, but to look at it more closely, I’d rather hang out with a friend who is fun and cheerful.

总的来说，智慧的朋友似乎是一个陪伴的一个好的选择，但是仔细看，我还是宁愿和一个有趣愉快的朋友出去玩

hang out 出去玩

look at it more closely 仔细想想

word

• Previous
  TOEFL Reading-Writing
• Next
  TOEFL Reading-Writing