此次托福阅读考试涉及话题为动物、艺术及人文

第一篇：狮子

第一部分说上古时代，除少数例外，狮子广泛分布在各个大陆。

第二部分讲了狮子不同于其他动植物的一些特点——处于食物链顶层，所以能量储存有限(此处存疑)。

第三部分：随时间推移，狮子的数量减少，分布区域缩小，在欧洲完全消失——原因一是气候变化导致草原变为森林，二是人类的影响。

第四部分从环境变化角度讲解了亚洲，尤其是印度地区狮子减少的原因。个例：仅有少量狮子在禁猎的私人林地中生存。

可参考以下阅读材料：

In Africa, lions can be found in savanna grasslands with scattered Acacia trees which serve as shade; their habitat in India is a mixture of dry savanna forest and very dry deciduous scrub forest. The habitat of lions originally spanned the southern parts of Eurasia, ranging from Greece to India, and most of Africa except the central rainforest-zone and the Sahara desert. Herodotus reported that lions had been common in Greece around 480 BC; they attacked the baggage camels of the Persian king Xerxes on his march through the country. Aristotle considered them rare by 300 BC. By 100 AD they were extirpated. A population of Asiatic lions survived until the tenth century in the Caucasus, their last European outpost.

The species was eradicated from Palestine by the Middle Ages and from most of the rest of Asia after the arrival of readily available firearms in the 18th century. Between the late 19th and early 20th century, they became extinct in North Africa and Southwest Asia. By the late 19th century, the lion had disappeared from Turkey and most of northern India, while the last sighting of a live Asiatic lion in Iran was in 1941 (between Shiraz and Jahrom, Fars Province), although the corpse of a lioness was found on the banks of the Karun river, Khūzestān Province in 1944. There are no subsequent reliable reports from Iran. The subspecies now survives only in and around the Gir Forest of northwestern India. About 400 lions live in the area of the 1,412 km2 (545 sq mi) sanctuary in the state of Gujarat, which covers most of the forest. Their numbers have increased from 180 in 1974 mainly because the natural prey species have recovered.

第二篇：Live performance现场演出

Part1: 很多艺人喜欢现场演出，因为与观众的互动让双方满足。

Part2: 现场演出中与观众互动的具体形式，及live和电影电视等录制节目的比较。

Part3：由于在现场，舞台和演员的状态有不可控因素，所以难免出错，这也正是现场演出有趣、exciting的地方。出错反过来使得艺人改善自己的艺术。

Part4：是live给普通人生活的若干启示。

可参考以下阅读材料：

Live television refers to a television production broadcast in real-time, as events happen, in the present. From the early days of television until about 1958, live television was used heavily, except for filmed shows such as I Love Lucy and Gunsmoke. Videotape did not exist until 1957. Television networks provide most live television mostly for morning shows with television programs such as: Today, Good Morning America & CBS This Morning in the US (albeit...only airing live in the Eastern Time Zone), and Daybreak, BBC Breakfast, This Morning, etc. in the UK.

Most local television station newscasts are broadcast live in the U.S. as they are an essential medium for providing up-to-the-minute weather forecasts and breaking news stories.

In general, a live television program was more common for broadcasting content produced specifically for commercial television in the early years of the medium, before technologies such as video tape appeared. As video tape recorders (VTR) became more prevalent, many entertainment programs were recorded and edited before broadcasting rather than being shown live. Entertainment events such as sports television and The Academy Awards continue to be generally broadcast live.

第三篇：Olmec civilization

讲解了奥尔梅克文明的建筑与艺术。农商业的发展给艺术发展创造了合适的土壤。文章用大篇幅介绍了Olmec civilization艺术的细节与特点。最后，Olmec艺术的影响深远，包括Maya在内文明的拉美文化深受其影响。

可参考以下阅读材料：

The Olmec were the first major civilization in Mexico. They lived in the tropical lowlands of south-central Mexico, in the modern-day states of Veracruz and Tabasco.

The Olmec flourished during Mesoamerica's Formative period, dating roughly from as early as 1500 BCE to about 400 BCE. Pre-Olmec cultures had flourished in the area since about 2500 BCE, but by 1600–1500 BCE Early Olmec culture had emerged centered around the San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán site near the coast in southeast Veracruz. They were the first Mesoamerican civilization and laid many of the foundations for the civilizations that followed. Among other "firsts", the Olmec appeared to practice ritual bloodletting and played the Mesoamerican ballgame, hallmarks of nearly all subsequent Mesoamerican societies.

The most familiar aspect of the Olmecs is their artwork, particularly the aptly named "colossal heads". The Olmec civilization was first defined through artifacts which collectors purchased on the pre-Columbian art market in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Olmec artworks are considered among ancient America's most striking.