TPO托福阅读练习题37及参考答案（二）

　　Paragraph 2: This was before the steam locomotive, and canal building was at its height. The companies building the canals to transport coal needed surveyors to help them find the coal deposits worth mining as well as to determine the best courses for the canals. This job gave Smith an opportunity to study the fresh rock outcrops created by the newly dug canal. He later worked on similar jobs across the length and breadth of England all the while studying the newly revealed strata and collecting all the fossils he could find．Smith used mail coaches to travel as much as 10000 miles per year．In 1815 he published the first modern geological map "A Map of the Strata of England and Wales with a Part of Scotland",  map so meticulously researched that it can still be used today．

　　3. Which of the following can be inferred from paragraph 2 about canal building?

　　○ Canals were built primarily in the south of England rather than in other regions．

　　○ Canal building decreased after the steam locomotive was invented．

　　○ Canal building made it difficult to study rock strata which often became damaged in the process．

　　○ Canal builders hired surveyors like Smith to examine exposed rock strata．

　　4.Accordingto paragraph2，which of the following is true of the map published by William Smith?

　　○It indicates the locations of England's major canals

　　○It became most valuable when the steam locomotive made rail travel possible

　　○The data for the map were collected during Smith's work on canals

　　○It is no longer regarded as a geological masterpiece

　　5. The word meticulously in the passage is closest in meaning to

　　○carefully

　　○quickly

　　○frequently

　　○obviously

　　Paragraph 3: In 1831 when Smith was finally recognized by the Geological Society of London as the "father of English geology",  was not only for his maps but also for something even more important．Ever since people had begun to catalog the strata in particular outcrops, there had been the hope that these could somehow be used to calculate geological time．But as more and more accumulations of strata were cataloged in more and more places, it became clear that the sequences of rocks sometimes differed from region to region and that no rock type was ever going to become a reliable time marker throughout the world．Even without the problem of regional differences, rocks present a difficulty as unique time markers Quartz is quartz-a silicon ion surrounded by four oxygen ions-there's no difference at all between two-million-year-old Pleistocene quartz and Cambrian quartz created over 500 million years ago．

　　6. Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the   highlighted sentence in the passage? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information．

　　○The discovery of regional differences in the sequences of rocks led geologists to believe that rock types could someday become reliable time markers．

　　○Careful analysis of strata revealed that rocks cannot establish geological time because the pattern of rock layers varies from place to place．

　　○Smith's catalogs of rock strata indicated that the sequences of rocks are different from place to place and from region to region．

　　○Because people did not catalog regional differences in sequences of rocks. It was believed that rocks could never be reliable time markers

　　7. Why does the author use the phrase "Quartz is quartz"?

　　○To describe how the differences between Pleistocene and Cambrian quartz reveal information about dating rocks

　　○To point out that the chemical composition of quartz makes it more difficult to date than other rocks

　　○To provide an example of how regional differences in rock sequences can make a particular rock difficult to date

　　○To explain that rocks are difficult to use for dating because their chemical compositions always remain the same over time