TOEFL Reading-Writing

READING

The Arrival of Plant Life in Hawaii |TPO9 P3

When the Hawaiian Islands emerged from the sea as volcanoes, starting about five million years ago, they were far removed from other landmasses. Then, as blazing sunshine alternated with drenching rains, the harsh, barren surfaces of the black rocks slowly began to soften. Winds brought a variety of life-forms.

emerge v 浮现，出现/摆脱出来/形成

blazing sunshine 炙热的阳光

alternate adj 间隔的/交替的 v 轮流交替，使交替

drench v 使湿透 drench rain 磅礴大雨

harsh adj 严厉的，严酷的/恶劣的，艰苦的

当夏威夷岛因为火山而出现，从大约5百万年前开始，他们远离了路地块。然后，当炙热的阳光和磅礴大雨，艰苦贫瘠的黑市表面慢慢变得软化，风带来了各种各样的生命

Spores light enough to float on the breezes were carried thousands of miles from more ancient lands and deposited at random across the bare mountain flanks. A few of these spores found a toehold on the dark, forbidding rocks and grew and began to work their transformation upon the land. Lichens were probably the first successful flora. These are not single individual plants; each one is a symbiotic combination of an alga and a fungus. The algae capture the sun’s energy by photosynthesis and store it in organic molecules. The fungi absorb moisture and mineral salts from the rocks, passing these on in waste products that nourish algae. It is significant that the earliest living things that built communities on these islands are examples of symbiosis, a phenomenon that depends upon the close cooperation of two or more forms of life and a principle that is very important in island communities.

Spore n 孢子

toehold n 落脚点

symbiotic adj 共生的

nourish v 养育，喂养/助长

轻到可以漂浮在微风中的孢子能够从古时候的土地被带到几千米之外，穿过光秃秃的山腰随机落地。这些包子在黑暗，和岩石上中发现一个立足点，然后生长，开始在陆地上变化形态。地衣很可能是第一个成功生长的植物。这里没有单独一个的植物，每一个都是一个藻类和菌类植物的结合。藻类会吸收太阳的能量通过光合作用，将他们出存在有机分子中，菌类从岩石中吸收水分和矿物盐，然后将这些转化为废产品，这些废产品可以帮助藻类生长。重要的是，最早的生物他们在这个岛上建立了一个社群，是共生的一个案例，这种现象取决于两种或多种生命形式的密切合作以及岛屿社群中非常重要的原则。

Lichens helped to speed the decomposition of the hard rock surfaces, preparing a soft bed of soil that was abundantly supplied with minerals that had been carried in the molten rock from the bowels of Earth. Now, other forms of life could take hold: ferns and mosses (two of the most ancient types of land plants) that flourish even in rock crevices. These plants propagate by producing spores–tiny fertilized cells that contain all the instructions for making a new plant–but the spore are unprotected by any outer coating and carry no supply of nutrient. Vast numbers of them fall on the ground beneath the mother plants. Sometimes they are carried farther afield by water or by wind. But only those few spores that settle down in very favorable locations can start new life; the vast majority fall on barren ground. By force of sheer numbers, however, the mosses and ferns reached Hawaii, survived, and multiplied. Some species developed great size, becoming tree ferns that even now grow in the Hawaiian forests.

bowel n 肠/内部最深处

fern and moss 蕨类植物和苔藓植物

flourish v 兴旺，繁荣，健康成长，茂盛

crevice n 裂缝

propagate v 繁殖/传播/传递

fertilize v 让。。受精

afield adv 向远方

sheer adj 十足的/陡峭的

地衣帮助去加快坚硬岩石表面的分解，准备一个柔软的土地条件，在那矿物质资源十分丰富，腺癌，其他的一些生命形式能够成为现实：蕨类植物和苔藓植物，他们甚至能在岩石裂缝中健康成长。这些植物通过制造孢子繁殖，孢子——一个细小的受精的的细胞，里面含有新植物所有需要。但是孢子没有呗任何的外壳所保护，也不带任何营养物质。他们大量的落在植物周围的地上。又是他们被水或风带到远方。但是只有少数的孢子能够俺滴下来，在一个合适的环境开始新的生命。他们大多数落在评级的土地上。通过加强数量，蕨类植物和苔藓植物能够到达夏威夷，生存，繁衍。一些物种生长了很大的体积，变成蕨类的树，有的甚至现在都存活在夏威夷的森林里。

Many millions of years after ferns evolved (but long before the Hawaiian Islands were born from the sea), another kind of flora evolved on Earth: the seed-bearing plants. This was a wonderful biological invention. The seed has an outer coating that surrounds the genetic material of the new plant, and inside this covering is a concentrated supply of nutrients. Thus the seed’s chances of survival are greatly enhanced over those of the naked spore. One type of seed-bearing plant, the angiosperm, includes all forms of blooming vegetation. In the angiosperm the seeds are wrapped in an additional layer of covering. Some of these coats are hard–like the shell of a nut–for extra protection. Some are soft and tempting, like a peach or a cherry. In some angiosperms the seeds are equipped with gossamer wings, like the dandelion and milkweed seeds. These new characteristics offered better ways for the seed to move to new habitats. They could travel through the air, float in water, and lie dormant for many months.

genetic adj 基因的

tempting adj 诱人的

gassamer adj 薄纱制的

dandelion n 蒲宫音

蕨类植物经过几百万年的进化，另外一个植物出现在地球上，被子植物。只是一个令人赞叹的生物发明。它的种子有一个外衣，这个外衣环绕在新的植物的基因材料之外，同时在这个皮的里面有浓缩的营养补给物，因此这种种子生存的机会大大增加比起那些裸露的孢子。一种被子植物，包括所有形式的开花植物。在被子植物中，种子被额外的表皮包裹。这一些表皮可能坚硬的像坚果外面的保护层一样。有的却很柔软很诱人。像桃子和樱桃。在一些被子植物中，种子装备了一些薄纱制的翅膀。这些新的特征给种子提供了更好的方式去新的栖息地。他们能够在空中传播，漂浮在水上，或者蛰伏数月。

Plants with large, buoyant seeds—like coconuts—drift on ocean currents and are washed up on the shores. Remarkably resistant to the vicissitudes of ocean travel, they can survive prolonged immersion in saltwater when they come to rest on warm beaches and the conditions are favorable, the seed coats soften. Nourished by their imported supply of nutrients, the young plants push out their roots and establish their place in the sun.

buoyant adj 能浮起来的，乐观的，看涨的

vicissitude n 变迁

immersion n 浸没/沉浸

nourish v 养育/助长

有大的能漂浮的种子的植物例如可可豆在洋流上漂流，被冲上海岸，对海洋的变迁有着很强的抵抗力，他们能够生存在长时间的浸没在盐水里。当它们到了一个紊乱的海滩或者合适的环境，这些粽子的皮能够软化。被他们自己携带的营养物质养育，这些年轻的植物伸出他们的根，定居在阳光下

By means of these seeds, plants spread more widely to new locations, even to isolated islands like the Hawaiian archipelago, which lies more than 2,000 miles west of California and 3,500 miles east of Japan. The seeds of grasses, flowers, and blooming trees made the long trips to these islands. (Grasses are simple forms of angiosperms that bear their encapsulated seeds on long stalks.) In a surprisingly short time, angiosperms filled many of the land areas on Hawaii that had been bare.

通过这些种子，植物能够传到更广的地方去新的地点，甚至去孤岛上。花草和开花书的种子经过长途跋涉到达这些岛屿上，在惊人的短时间内，被子植物占满了夏威夷原来还是光秃的地方。

Begging by Nestlings |TPO11 P3

Many signals that animals make seem to impose on the signalers costs that are overly damaging. A classic example is noisy begging by nestling songbirds when a parent returns to the nest with food. These loud cheeps and peeps might give the location of the nest away to a listening hawk or raccoon, resulting in the death of the defenseless nestlings. In fact, when tapes of begging tree swallows were played at an artificial swallow nest containing an egg, the egg in that “noisy” nest was taken or destroyed by predators before the egg in a nearby quiet nest in 29 of 37 trials.

impose on 强加，伴随着

overly adv 过于

nestling n 雏鸟

cheeps and peeps n 吱吱叫

hawk n 鹰

raccoon n 浣熊

很多动物制造的信号似乎都会给信号源带来一个代价，可能过于致命。一个经典的例子就是鸣禽幼鸟的乞求食物的噪音，当它们的父母带着食物回到巢穴。这些大声的叫声可能告知正在听的鹰和浣熊巢穴的位置，导致毫无防守能力的雏鸟的死亡。事实上，当一个有燕子鸣叫生的录影带在人造的燕子巢穴中播放时，巢穴中的蛋会更容易被捕食者摧毁相比于在安静巢穴中的蛋，在大量试验中。

Further evidence for the costs of begging comes from a study of differences in the begging calls of warbler species that nest on the ground versus those that nest in the relative safety of trees. The young of ground-nesting warblers produce begging cheeps of higher frequencies than do their tree-nesting relatives. These higher-frequency sounds do not travel as far, and so may better conceal the individuals producing them, who are especially vulnerable to predators in their ground nests. David Haskell created artificial nests with clay eggs and placed them on the ground beside a tape recorder that played the begging calls of either tree-nesting or of ground-nesting warblers. The eggs “advertised” by the tree-nesters’ begging calls were found bitten significantly more often than the eggs associated with the ground-nesters’ calls.

warbler 夜莺

conceal v 隐藏

vulnerable adj 易受到伤害/地位不稳的

对于乞求食物的噪音进一步的证据来自一个对于巢穴在地上的莺类相对巢穴在相对安全的树上的鸟类的祈求声的不同。地上筑巢的莺类制造的声音的频率要高于树上筑巢的亲戚。这种高频的生硬不会传的很远，所以可以更好的隐藏制造声音的个体。DH制造了一个人造的巢穴，将它们放在录影机旁边的地上。它们播放树上筑巢的雏鸟的叫声和地上筑巢的雏鸟的叫声，被树上筑巢雏鸟叫声广播的蛋更容易被找到。

The hypothesis that begging calls have evolved properties that reduce their potential for attracting predators yields a prediction: baby birds of species that experience high rates of nest predation should produce softer begging signals of higher frequency than nestlings of other species less often victimized by nest predators. This prediction was supported by data collected in one survey of 24 species from an Arizona forest, more evidence that predator pressure favors the evolution of begging calls that are hard to detect and pinpoint.

yield v 出产/产生/产出/泄露/坍塌/被取代

victimize v 使，受害

pinpoint v 确定，准确

乞讨的假设具有进化性，降低了它们吸引捕食者，从而产生一种预测，经历过高捕食率的种类的雏鸟应该产生更轻的更高频的气球型号，比起那些很少收到捕食者伤害的种类的雏鸟。这个预测是一个数据支持的，这是在一个研究中收集了亚利桑那州的24种类的鸟类的数据。更多的证据关于捕食者更多的证据支持了祈求声的演变，变得更加难以去定位和侦测

Given that predators can make it costly to beg for food, what benefit do begging nestlings derive from their communications? One possibility is that a noisy baby bird provides accurate signals of its real hunger and good health, making it worthwhile for the listening parent to give it food in a nest where several other offspring are usually available to be fed. If this hypothesis is true, then it follows that nestlings should adjust the intensity of their signals in relation to the signals produced by their nestmates, who are competing for parental attention. When experimentally deprived baby robins are placed in a nest with normally fed siblings, the hungry nestlings beg more loudly than usual—but so do their better-fed siblings, though not as loudly as the hungrier birds.

derive n 起源于/获得

adjust v 调节，调整，适应

intensity n 强烈

sibling n 兄弟姐妹

鉴于捕食者可能会是乞求食物变得代价高昂，乞求的雏鸟能够从它们的交流中获得什么益处呢？一个可能是这些吵杂的雏鸟提供它们真实的饥饿和健康程度的准确的信号，这使得对于听着的父母去给食物有着重要的价值。如果这个假设是正确的，那么接下来应该是雏鸟应该调节它们的信号的强度根据它们队友的信号的强度。饥饿的雏鸟叫声会比平常更大。

If parent birds use begging intensity to direct food to healthy offspring capable of vigorous begging, then parents should make food delivery decisions on the basis of their offsprings’ calls. Indeed, if you take baby tree swallows out of a nest for an hour feeding half the set and starving the other half, when the birds are replaced in the nest, the starved youngsters beg more loudly than the fed birds, and the parent birds feed the active beggars more than those who beg less vigorously.

capable adj 能干的

vigorous adj 坚决的/有力的/强健的/声势浩大的

如果母鸟使用叫声的强度去给健康的后代喂食，父母应该一句后代的叫声来决定事物的递送。确实如果你将雏鸟带出巢穴一个小时，喂养一般，让另一半挨饿，当把他们放回巢穴时，饿的雏鸟会叫的比饱的雏鸟更大声，而鸟父母会给积极乞食的雏鸟们比不积极的雏鸟喂更多的食物。

As these experiments show, begging apparently provides a signal of need that parents use to make judgments about which offspring can benefit most from a feeding. But the question arises, why don’t nestlings beg loudly when they aren’t all that hungry? By doing so, they could possibly secure more food, which should result in more rapid growth or larger size, either of which is advantageous. The answer lies apparently not in the increased energy costs of exaggerated begging—such energy costs are small relative to the potential gain in calories—but rather in the damage that any successful cheater would do to its siblings, which share genes with one another. An individual’s success in propagating his or her genes can be affected by more than just his or her own personal reproductive success. Because close relatives have many of the same genes, animals that harm their close relatives may in effect be destroying some of their own genes. Therefore, a begging nestling that secures food at the expense of its siblings might actually leave behind fewer copies of its genes overall than it might otherwise.

这些实验表明，乞食行为很明显为鸟父母提供了一个判断谁能吃的最多的需求信号。但是问题又出现了，为什么雏鸟不在它们不饿的时候大声乞食呢？如果它们这么做，就可以保证更多的食物，也就能更快的成长或者拥有更壮的身体，怎么说都是有利的。这个问题的答案显然不是因为过分乞食会消耗更多的能量——损耗的能量相比于其潜在能得到的热量来说只是很小部分——而是因为任何这么做成功骗取食物的雏鸟会带来跟它们拥有相同基因的同伴们造成危害。

一个物种成功延续它的基因所产生的影响要比它自身繁殖所带来的影响大的多。因为近亲中有很多相似基因，动物伤害它们的近亲的同时很可能会摧毁一些它们特有的基因。因此，一个乞食的雏鸟如果以牺牲它的同类为代价来获取食物，事实上可能它能保存下来的基因要远远少于相反的做法。

WRITING

仿写

A/D：It is much better to take risks and explore new things for older people than younger people.

Going on adventures means to experiment and seek out novel experiences. Some believe older people who are not particularly up to speed can benefit more from such experience. I, however, disagree. Young people stand better chance of making the most of it by cultivating characters and testing out life choices.

Go on adventure 冒险

Up to speed 跟上潮流/跟上时代

stand better chance of 有更好的机会

cultivate characters 培养性格

First off, young people can thrive on stronger personality by taking risks along the journey. Unlike the elderly, youths have nothing to lose and have no fixed personality. They fall short of life experiences that can have the most formative impact on their emotional and mental growth. So taking on challenges to hit the road can serve them better. Let’s say a young man embarks on a new job in a big company. As a newcomer to the city, he is bound to bump into obstacles. With limited budgets, he may have to crash on a friend’s couch. Days passed by before he even realized it, he outstayed his welcome and one day after a petty fight he found himself out on the street alone. If he was in his fifties, that would an awkward situation to put up with, but luckily he’s a twenty something. So he will pick himself up and face this bump in the road, right-on. To a young person, his identity is still up in the air. Getting kicked out and spending a night in the hallway is noting but a funny story to tell later in life. With no family obligation or professional commitment, young people can start over anytime they want. Thanks to such setbacks along the way, young people become more resilient and persistent.

thrive on sth 在某事上茁壮成长

have no fixed personality 没有固定的性格

Fall short of sth 缺少

have the most formative impact on 对。。 产生塑造性影响（重大影响）

emotional and mental growth 情绪和心理上的成长

take on 接受，承担

hit the road 上路

embark 从事，达成 embark a new job 开始一份新的工作

be bound to 一定。。。

bump into obstacles 遇到障碍

with limited budgets 经费有限

outstay one’s welcome 逗留太久，，形容做客太久不受欢迎

petty fight 琐碎的吵架

put up with 忍受

pick oneself up 重拾信心

be still up in the air 未决定下来/有很多的可能性

get kicked out 被踢出去，赶出去

is nothing but sth 只不过是

resilient 有弹性的/有抵抗力的

Besides, the exploration also helps youths figure out their best options. When a youngster is in no haste of settling down, experimenting on different lifestyles provides a chance to take a glimpse of each way of living. This will engender a clearer vision of who they really are and what they really want. Considering a young man who sets out for New Delhi, yoga and meditation can offer him some insight into the importance of slowing down and making peace. A trip to New York city, however, acquaints this young man with the hustle and bustle of modern life. He will weigh things out and pick whatever he feels like and give it a test run for a little while. Even if it doesn’t work out, he could just switch, going for more options and possibilities. The older generation, on the other hand, couldn’t afford to run more tests. They have a family to provide for and health issues to attend to, so they wouldn’t have what it takes to survive changing environments. If they still have to keep moving around in their midlife, it could be really bad. Having no clue about such life decisions spells incompetence for someone who has grey hairs.

figure out best options 找到最好的选择

in no haste of 毫不犹豫的

glimpse 一瞥 take a glimpse of 瞥见一眼sth

engender 导致/引发

set out for 出发去

acquaint 使了解。acquaint sb with sth 使某人了解某物

the hustle and bustle of modern life 现代生活的喧嚣

give it a test run for a little while 试一会儿某事

have no clue 毫无疑问

spell v 拼写/意味着 spell incompetence for 意味着不可能对于某人

To sum up, nothing is fixed for people in their early adulthood while it is not the case for the elderly. The risk-taking try-and- error lifestyle is of more use to the younger generation.

be of more use 更有用 adj

独立写作

A/D：It is much better to take risks and explore new things for older people than younger people.

In terms of this statement, a number of people may think it ridiculous. It seems that young people have more time and healther body to support themselve to explore new things and take risks. However, I support this statement. In my opinion,now, older men are better than young men in exploring new things and taking risks.

Firstly, Older men have more resources to support themselves to explore new things and take risks. They have already accumulated a amount of money from their former work. As we all know, finiance support is the basic of any thing we want to do. If you want to get an accomplishment in economical field, you can invest some potential project or buy some shares from prospective companies. If you want to learn a new language, you will buy some reference books and even go abroad to practice your pronunciation when you are up to certain level.If you have a good idea and you want to achieve it, you can not finish it without help, So you may hire some assistances and establish a firm to manage to do it. Obviously, all of these are full of risks. But , at the same time, there is no denying that all of theses need lots of fund to drive. It is hardly possible for a young men without any background and any assests to do these.

Secondly, Older men have a better state of mind to face challenge. When they were young, they may be criticized or even fired by their boss because some mistakes in work. They may start a bussiness but end up with failure. They may have to crash up on friends’ couch but end up of outstaying themselves welcome. Several years ago, the old people have get through plenty of awkward situations and also tasted the happiness of achievements. By doing these, they are strong enough to face the wind and rain when exploring new things. With no fluctuations in mind, they can keep calm whether to bump into some obstacls ot to achieve some targets. Compared to old people’s state of mind, Emotional and mental growth of young men is needed. It is difficult to pick themselves up when challenge strike them and to keep modest when they take a small step.

Eventually, Someone may think that taking risks and exploring new things are what young men should do. It is completely wrong. Let’s look at this issue more closely. Young men have no experience and no money. As a result, They only take risks and explore new things but nothing. It doesn’t mean that young men are more suitable to taking challenge than older men. In the contrary, It is better to take risks for older men rather than young men. Life is like a trip to challenging our own limitation. Only with risks and unknown factors is the life more wonderful and fascinating.

To sum up,Having a good state and sufficient preparation, old people is better to take risks and explore new things than youn men.

Words

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