【阅读理解】中石油托福真题第08套, Passage 1

问题 1： What is the main topic of the passage?

A. The need for agricultural advances to help feed a growing population

B. The development of safer machines demanded by the labor movement

C. Machinery that contributed to the agricultural revolution

D. New Jersey as a leader in the agricultural revolution

✅ 正确答案： C）Machinery that contributed to the agricultural revolution

📝 解析： 全文讨论农业革命中的机械发明：劳动力稀缺导致机械需求、铁犁和冷铸钢犁的发展。

💡 解题技巧： 主旨题看首段主题句（invention of labor-saving machinery）。

问题 2： The word "naturally" in line 3 is closest in meaning to

A. unsurprisingly

B. gradually

C. apparently

D. safely

✅ 正确答案： A）unsurprisingly

📝 解析： "Labor-saving machinery naturally appeared first where labor was scarce" — naturally = 自然而然/不足为奇。

💡 解题技巧： 词汇题：naturally = unsurprisingly = of course。

问题 3： The expression "make the most of" in line 4 is closest in meaning to

A. get the best yield from

B. raise the price of

C. exaggerate the worth of

D. earn a living on

✅ 正确答案： A）get the best yield from

📝 解析： 在语境中，欧洲劳动力充足所以要充分利用土地，美国土地充足所以要充分利用劳动力。make the most of = 充分利用/获得最佳产出。

💡 解题技巧： 短语题结合上下文对比（land vs. labor）。

问题 4： Which of the following can be inferred from what Thomas Jefferson said (lines 3-5)?

A. Europe was changing more quickly than the United States.

B. Europe had greater need of farm machinery than the United States did.

C. The United States was finally running out of good farmland.

D. There was a shortage of workers on United States farms.

✅ 正确答案： D）There was a shortage of workers on United States farms.

📝 解析： 杰斐逊说美国的目标是充分利用劳动力，土地充足，暗示劳动力稀缺。

💡 解题技巧： 推理题定位"make the most of our labor"。

问题 5： The word "here" in line 4 refers to

A. Europe

B. United States

C. New Jersey

D. Indiana

✅ 正确答案： B）United States

📝 解析： 杰斐逊对比欧洲和"here"，下文说农业机械首先在美国取得巨大进步。

💡 解题技巧： 代词题找对比结构中的位置。

问题 6： What point is the author making by stating that farmers could carry nearly all their tools on their backs?

A. Farmers had few tools before the agricultural revolution.

B. People in the United States were traditionally self-reliant.

C. Life on the farm was extremely difficult.

D. New tools were designed to be portable.

✅ 正确答案： A）Farmers had few tools before the agricultural revolution.

📝 解析： 世纪之初除了粗犁外，农民几乎可以把所有农具背在背上，说明农具很少。

💡 解题技巧： 细节题定位"with the exception of"和"carry on their backs"。

问题 7： When was the iron plow invented?

A. In 1790

B. In the early 1800's

C. In 1869

D. In the early 1900's

✅ 正确答案： A）In 1790

📝 解析： "As early as 1790 Charles Newbold ... had been working on the idea of a cast-iron plow"。

💡 解题技巧： 细节题定位时间。

问题 8： According to the passage, why did farmers reject the iron plow?

A. It was too expensive.

B. It was considered ugly.

C. It was not durable.

D. It was thought to harm the soil.

✅ 正确答案： D）It was thought to harm the soil.

📝 解析： "claiming that the iron poisoned the soil and made the weeds grow"。

💡 解题技巧： 因果细节题定位"claiming that"后的内容。

问题 9： The word "it" in line 14 refers to

A. the iron plow

B. the soil

C. the weed

D. the fortune

✅ 正确答案： A）the iron plow

📝 解析： "The farmers ... were not interested in it" — it 指前文提到的 iron plow。

💡 解题技巧： 代词题找最近的名词短语作宾语。

问题 10： Where in the passage does the author discuss the effect of the agricultural revolution on farmers?

A. Lines 1-2

B. Lines 4-6

C. Lines 8-11

D. Lines 14-16

✅ 正确答案： C）Lines 8-11

📝 解析： 这部分说明农民从几乎没有任何工具到到1860年大多数现代机械已有雏形，讨论了对农民的影响。

💡 解题技巧： 定位题找"farmers could have carried"和"by 1860"的变化。