老托福阅读真题PASSAGE 76

http://wendang.chazidian.com
老托福阅读真题PASSAGE 76

托福阅读的思维方式就是托福阅读的出题方式，只有掌握了这种思维方式，才有可
能在做题之前，预测到新托福阅读题的出题形式和特点，为找答案节省时间。老托福阅
读试题的核心价值，在于其最贴近真题的阅读思维方式。此外老托福阅读真题比新托福
IBT阅读文章要短，比较容易适应。这也是大家在备考托福的时候非常重要的一点。因
为前期的入手如果能从容易的开始，就会形成一个循序渐进的过程方式，让大家的练习
有一个提高的过程。

既然老托福阅读试题有这样的效果，那我们如何利用那有限的真题来达到锻炼自己
的目的呢？事实上这就一个办法，就是坚持。本期为大家推荐老托福阅读的真题PASSAGE
76，附有原文及答案，希望对托福考生备考有所帮助。

Under the Earth's topsoil, at various levels, sometimes under a layer of
rock, there are deposits of clay. Look at cuts where highways have been built
to see exposed clay beds; or look at a construction site, where pockets of clay
may be exposed. Rivers also reveal clay along their banks, and erosion on a
hillside may make clay easily accessible. What is clay made of? The Earth's
surface is basically rock, and it is this rock that gradually decomposes into
clay. Rain, streams, alternating freezing and thawing, roots of trees and plants
forcing their way into cracks, earthquakes, volcanic action, and glaciers —
all of these forces slowly break down the Earth's exposed rocky crust into smaller
and smaller pieces that eventually become clay.

Rocks are composed of elements and compounds of elements. Feldspar, which
is the most abundant mineral on the Earth's surface, is basically made up of
the oxides silica and alumina combined with alkalis like potassium and some
so-called impurities such as iron. Feldspar is an essential component of granite
rocks, and as such it is the basis of clay. When it is wet, clay can be easily
shaped to make a variety of useful objects, which can then be fired to varying
degrees of hardness and covered with impermeable decorative coatings of
glasslike material called glaze. Just as volcanic action, with its intense heat,
fuses the elements in certain rocks into a glasslike rock called obsidian, so
can we apply heat to earthen materials and change them into a hard, dense material.
Different clays need different heat levels to fuse, and some, the low-fire clays,
never become nonporous and watertight like highly fired stoneware. Each clay
can stand only a certain amount of heat without losing its shape through sagging
or melting. Variations of clay composition and the temperatures at which they
are fired account for the differences in texture and appearance between a china
teacup and an earthenware flowerpot.