以下文章均选自真题及其他各类托福练习，在了解托福阅读文章的题材，形式的同时，应该重点掌握和注意下划线的词汇：
P4
One of the most important social developments that helped to make possible a shift in thinking about the role of public education was the effect of the baby boom of the 1950''s and 1960''s on the schools. In the 1920''s, but especially in the Depression conditions of the 1930''s, the United States experienced a declining birth rate -every thousand women aged fifteen to forty-four gave birth to about 118 live children in 1920, 89.2 in 1930, 75.8 in 1936, and 80 in 1940. With the growing prosperity brought on by the Second World War and the economic boom that followed it, young people married and established households earlier and began to raise larger families than had their predecessors during the Depression. Birth rates rose to 102 per thousand in 1946, 106.2 in 1950, and 118 in 1955. Although economics was probably the most important determinant, it is not the only explanation for the baby boom. The increased value placed on the idea of the family also helps to explain this rise in birth rates. The baby boomers began streaming into the first grade by the mid-1940''s and became a flood by 1950. The public school system suddenly found itself overtaxed. While the number of schoolchildren rose because of wartime and postwar conditions, these same conditions made the schools even less prepared to cope with the flood. The wartime economy meant that few new schools were built between 1940 and 1945. Moreover, during the war and in the boom times that followed, large numbers of teachers left their profession for better-paying jobs elsewhere in the economy.
Therefore, in the 1950''s and 1960''s, The baby boom hit an antiquated and inadequate school system. Consequently, the "custodial rhetoric" of the 1930''s and early 1940''s no longer made sense; that is, keeping youths aged sixteen and older out of the labor market by keeping them in school could no longer be a high priority for an institution unable to find space and staff to teach younger children aged five to sixteen. With the baby boom, the focus of educators and of laymen interested in education inevitably turned toward the lower grades and back to basic academic skills and discipline. The system no longer had much interest in offering nontraditional, new, and extra services to older youths.
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shift : n. 变化,移动,轮班,办法,移位,手段;vt.替换,转移,改变,移转,推卸,变速;vi. 转换,移动,转变,推托,变速
baby : n. 婴孩
boom : n. 繁荣,隆隆声;vi. 急速发展,发隆隆声;vt. 使兴旺,发隆隆声
depression : n. 不景气,消沉,沮丧,洼地
declining : a. 倾斜的,衰退中的
prosperity : n. 繁荣,幸运,成功
predecessor : n. 前任,先辈,以前的东西
determinant : n. 判定,决定物,决定因素;a. 决定性的
streamy : a. 多河流的,多水流的,川流般的
overtax : vt. 课税过重,使负担过度
wartime : n. 战时
postwar : a. 战后的
cope : vi. 竞争,对抗,克服;n. 长袍
moreover : ad. 而且,此外
job : n. 批,批发,工作
antiquated : a. 旧式的,过时的,古老的
inadequate : a. 不充分的,不适当的
consequently : ad. 结果
custodial : a. 保管的,保管人的;n.圣物保管容器
rhetoric : n. 修辞,修辞学,华丽虚饰的语言
priority : n. 优先权,优先顺序,优先,前,依次
laymen : 外行, 门外汉
inevitably : ad. 不可避免
discipline : n. 训练,纪律;vt. 训练,惩罚
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P5
Anthropologists have pieced together the little they know about the history of left-handedness and right-handedness from indirect evidence. Though early men and women did not leave written records, they did leave tools, bones, and pictures. Stone Age hand axes and hatchets were made from stones that were carefully chipped away to form sharp cutting edges. In some, the pattern of chipping shows that these tools and weapons were made by right-handed people, designed to fit comfortably into a right hand. Other Stone Age implements were made by or for left-handers. Prehistoric pictures, painted on the walls of caves, provide further clues to the handedness of ancient people. A right-hander finds it easier to draw faces of people and animals facing toward the left, whereas a left-hander finds it easier to draw faces facing toward the right. Both kinds of faces have been found in ancient painting. On the whole , the evidence seems to indicate that prehistoric people were either ambidextrous or about equally likely to be left- or right-handed.
But, in the Bronze Age , the picture changed. The tools and weapons found from that period are mostly made for right-handed use. The predominance of right-handedness among humans today had apparently already been established.
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anthropologist : n. 人类学家
piece : n. 块,片,篇,碎片,部分;vt. 修补,修理,结合;vi. 接头
left-handed : a. 左撇的,用左手的,笨拙的
right-handed : a. 用右手的,向右转的,右旋性的
indirect : a. 间接的,次要的,欺骗的
evidence : n. 证据,迹象
axes : n. 轴,轴线,轴心
hatchet : n. 斧头,手斧,战斧
chip :n.芯片,晶片,薄片,碎片;vt.削,切,削成碎片,使摔倒,凿;vi. 碎裂
pattern : n. 模范,典型,式样,模式,样品,格调,图案;vt. 模仿,仿造,以图案装饰;vi.形成图案
weapon : n. 武器,兵器;vt. 武装
implement : n. 工具,器具;vt. 实现,使生效,执行
left-hander : n. 左撇子,左击,左手投球
prehistoric : adj. 史前的；老式的
ancient : a. 远古的,旧的
whereas : conj. 然而,反之,鉴于
ambidextrous : a. 两手俱利的,怀有二心的
bronze : n. 青铜,铜像;a. 青铜色的
predominance : n. 卓越,优势,控制
establish : vt. 建立,确立,制定;vi. 移植生长
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P6
Here in the United States, before agricultural activities destroyed the natural balance, there were great migrations of Rocky Mountain locusts (Melanoplus spretus) . Great migrating were often destroyed; the worst years were those from 1874 to 1877. One of these migrating swarms was estimated to contain 124 billion locusts. During another migration in Nebraska, it was estimated that the swarm of locusts averaged half a mile high and was 100 miles wide and 300 miles long. Usually, these swarms take off from the ground against the wind, but, once airborne, they turn and fly with it. Warm convection currents help to lift them, often to great heights. During the great locust plagues the situation in Nebraska became so serious that the original state. Constitution had to be rewritten to take care of the economic problems. The new document was known as "The Grasshopper Constitution." It is now believed that these locusts were a migratory form or phase of the lesser migratory locust which is still common there. In this respect, the North American migratory locusts resemble their African relatives. In both regions the migratory forms arise as a result of crowding and climatic factors. Migratory forms are apparently natural adaptations which bring about dispersal when locust populations become too crowded. Fortunately for our farmers, the migratory form---the so-called spretus species--no longer seems to occur regularly, although there was a serious outbreak as late as 1938 in midwestern United States and Canada. Actually there is no reason why the destructive migratory form might not again appear if circumstances should become favorable.
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activity : n. 活动,动作,活力
destroy : vt. 破坏,毁坏,消灭
balance : n. 平衡,差额;vi. 平衡,相等;vt. 称,权衡,比较,抵消,使平衡,结算;资产平稳表
migration : n. 移民,移往,移动
locust : n. 蝗虫,蚱蜢,蝉
migrate : vi. 移动,移往,随季节而移居;vt. 使移居
swarm : n. 群,大群,蜂群;vi. 群集,聚集一块,云集,爬树;vt. 挤满,爬(树)
estimate : n. 估计,判断;vt. 估计,评价,判断;vi. 估计
contain : vt. 包含,容纳,容忍;vi. 自制
Nebraska : n. 内布拉斯加州,(美国中西部的一州)
against : prep. 反对,靠,倚
airborne : a. 空运的,空中传播的,空降的
convection : n. 传送,对流,对流
current : n. 涌流,趋势,流;a. 流通的,现在的,当前的,最近的
plague : n. 瘟疫,麻烦,灾祸;vt. 折磨,使苦恼,使得灾祸
situation : n. 情形,境遇,位置
serious : a. 严肃的,认真的,重要的,严重的
original : a. 最初的,原始的,有创意的;n. 原物,原作
constitution : n. 组织,宪法,体格
document : n. 文件,公文;vt. 证明,为...引证;n. 文档
grasshopper : n. 蚱蜢,蝗虫
phase : n. 时期,局面,阶段;vt. 使调整相位,逐步执行,实行
lesser : a. 较少的,较小的,次要的
common : a. 通常的,共同的,通俗的,公共的
respect : n. 尊敬,尊重,关心;vt. 尊敬,注意,遵守
resemble : vt. 相似,类似,象
relative : n. 亲戚,关系词;a. 有关系的,相对的,比较的
region : n. 区域,地方,地区,范围,区,领域,层
arise : vi. 站立,出现,起来
crowd : n. 群众,一伙;vt. 拥挤,挤满,挤进
climatic : a. 气候上的
factor : n. 因素,因数,代理人
migratory : a. 迁移的,流浪的
adaptation : n. 改编,适应,改编成的作品
bring : vt. 带来,产生,促使,提出;vi. 停下
dispersal : n. 散布,传播,分散
fortunately : ad. 幸运地
species : n. 种,类,外形
occur : vi. 发生,想到,存在
outbreak : n. 爆发,暴动
reason : n. 理由,原因,理智,理性,道理,前提;vt.说服,推论,辩论;vi. 推论,劝说,思考
destructive : a. 毁灭性的,破坏的,有害的
circumstance : n. 环境,状况,事件
favorable : a. 有利的,赞许的,良好的
