2月19日托福考试落下帷幕考情速递也已经出炉了！
依然是多套题目混考，而且ETS又崩啦，写作两套全是原题！
同学们觉得这次考得如何？
期待备考同学们都能顺利上岸！
阅读
套 1
美洲殖民地时期的谷物种植和作用
在殖民地时期，wheat和corn是两种比较受欢迎的谷物，几乎每个家庭也都会畜养牲畜，牛会比猪要更受欢迎，因为它除了能够产奶以外，还可以作为劳动力来使用。农民们也会种植其他作物（例如rye等），虽然这些作物价格较低，但是在wheat和corn产量不足的时候，其价格也会上涨。文章列举了wheat和corn的好处，例如wheat品质和营养价值较高，所以广受欢迎，也因为适合保存和长途运输不易变质，军队也青睐有加。
套 2
Costs of Migration for Birds
鸟类在迁徙之前都要囤积脂肪，也伴随着其他的生理改变。在远距离的迁徙过程中，鸟类需要进食，食物不足的鸟类相比较于“饱餐一顿”的鸟类在迁徙过程中就会有更高的死亡率，文章中列举了一种以寄居蟹的卵为食的候鸟，在没有食物以后死亡率极具上升。科学家们发现了以后重建了当地寄居蟹种群，这一情况才有所缓解。同时，对于需要远渡重洋的候鸟而言，则面临另一个问题，很多鸟无法支持长时间在海上飞行，就会坠落海洋身亡，于是有一些候鸟就会选择绕路沿海飞行。
套 3
太阳系形成
文章探讨了太阳系的形成过程，内容类似2.15刚考过的那篇太阳系起源的文章，但是具体细节内容不同。
套 4
The Postwar Economic Boom
重复20191102考题
The quarter century or so after the Second World War witnessed the longest period of uninterrupted growth among the industrialized countries of the world and at the highest rates in history. For the industrialized countries as a group the average increase in gross domestic product total market value of everything produced within a country during a given period of time per person employed from 1950 to 1973 amounted to 4.5 percent per year. Rates for individual countries ranged from 2.2 percent for the United Kingdom to 7.3 percent for Japan. Growth was most rapid in those countries that had abundant supplies of labor, such as Japan and West Germany. Growth in the United States, Canada, and Great Britain, which had the highest individual incomes at the end of the war, was slower than that of continental Europe and Japan but more rapid than in any prolonged period in their previous histories. At the same time, countries with relatively low individual incomes within the industrial group--Italy, Austria, Spain, Greece, and Japan--grew more rapidly than the average.
The term economic miracle was first applied to the remarkable spurt in growth in West Germany after 1948. When the high rates of growth continued throughout the 1950s and 1960s, it was used to refer to the entire era. It was then noted that several other nations, notably Italy and Japan, had growth rates as high as or higher than West Germany's. Still, though the high growth rates in most of the industrial countries were certainly remarkable, and unprecedented in history, they were scarcely miraculous. There were solid reasons for them in every case.
The Marshall Plan (officially called the European Recovery Program and based on investment from the United States) played a crucial role in sparking the European recovery. When funding from the United States ended in 1951, Europeans kept economic growth going with high levels of savings and investments. Much of the investment went into equipment for new products and processes, since during the preceding years a backlog of technical innovations had built up that only awaited capital and skilled labor to be employed. In effect, the European economies had stopped growing for an entire generation, operating with obsolete equipment and lagging behind in technical progress. Thus, technological modernization both accompanied and was an important contributory factor to the so-called economic miracle.
Other major factors were the attitude and role of governments. They participated in economic life both directly and indirectly on a much larger scale than previously. They nationalized some basic industries, drew up economic plans, and provided a wide range of social services. Nevertheless, private enterprise was responsible for by far the largest part of economic activity. On average, between one-fourth and one-third of national income in Western Europe originated in the government sector. Though this proportion was much greater than it had been before the war, it was less than half the contribution of the private sectors of the economy. In the mixed economies that became characteristic of the Western democracies, government assumed the tasks of providing overall stability, a climate favorable to growth, and minimal protection for the economically weak and underprivileged, but it left the main task of producing the goods and services desired by the population to private enterprise.
At the international level the relatively high degree of intergovernmental cooperation deserves major credit for the effectiveness of the economic performance. The cooperation was not always spontaneous, and some promising projects failed for lack of it; but on the whole, the contrast to the prewar years is conspicuous.
Finally, in the long term, much credit must go to Europe's wealth of human capital. Its high rates of literacy and specialized educational institutions, from kindergartens to technical schools, universities, and research establishments, provided the skilled personnel and brainpower to make the new technology work effectively. During the first flush of the success of the Marshall Plan, many observers incorrectly deduced that physical or financial capital alone would suffice to bring about development, and several grandiose projects based on that false premise were undertaken elsewhere, only to end in failure and disillusionment.
二战后约25年间，工业化国家经历了历史上最长的持续经济增长期，年均人均GDP增长达4.5%。日本和西德等劳动力充足的国家增长最快，而美国、加拿大和英国虽增速较慢，但仍超过其历史水平。战后经济奇迹的推动因素包括马歇尔计划的资金支持、技术现代化、政府在经济中的积极参与以及国际间的合作。欧洲的高识字率和教育体系也为经济增长提供了重要的人力资本。尽管马歇尔计划的成功一度让人误以为仅靠资金就能推动发展，但事实证明，技术与人力资源的结合才是关键。
套 5
Continuous Script and Oral Culture in Europe
重复真题合集
Today people commonly read in silence and in private, but that was not the case in Europe during the periods of ancient Greece (800-146 B.C.E.), ancient Rome (753 B.C.E.-476 C.E.), and the centuries that followed. In ancient Greek times, reading was an oral (spoken) practice—one reflected in writing itself. Greek texts were written in a continuous script (without spaces between words) and with minimal punctuation; this both required and rewarded sounding them aloud. Continuous script could not have developed without the Greek introduction of letters for vowels, which allowed readers to identify syllables and hold them in memory as the eye moved across the text.
Though it seems awkward to us now, continuous script was not a natural construction, but a choice, as demonstrated by the fact that the Romans discarded their own punctuation in the first century in favor of the Greek model. It established literacy (ability to read and write) as the domain of a cultured elite, who either studied from a young age to master the skills appropriate for reading each individual text or employed a professional reader, or lector, for the task. It also facilitated a culture of shared inquiry, in which challenging texts were read aloud in groups as an incentive for debate. In ancient Greece, literature was primarily a social activity, with audiences gathering for performances of epic poetry and drama. Epic poems bear the hallmarks of this orality: they rely on repetition, formulaic images, meter, and rhyme as mnemonic (memory) aids to the performer. The term used to describe performances of such works, rhapsody, means "to stitch together-suggesting the extent to which oral composition relies on weaving familiar lines.
The great thinkers of ancient Greece, in fact,mistrusted writing as a technology that would destroy the oral arts of debate and storytelling on which they based their sense of the world, of philosophy, and of time and space. In Plato's dramatic play Phaedrus, the philosopher Socrates looks down on the written word for separating ideas from their source, citing Egyptian king Thamus as the first to voice this concern when he received the gift of writing from the god Thoth. Transcription (writing speech down), Socrates fears, is an aid that will both interfere with memory and trap philosophical thought in ambiguity, leaving interpretation in the hands of the reader. Texts, after all, can circulate without their author, thus preventing one from explaining or defending them. Despite these fears, the very writing Plato used to record his works proved instrumental in the development of ancient Greek oratory (art of speech making). As scholar Walter Ong points out in Orality and Literacy, his study of the ways writing technologies restructure consciousness, the written word enabled Greek scholars to transcribe and codify effective rhetorical (speaking) strategies. It also vastly increased human vocabulary, since we no longer had to rely on memory to hold all of language for immediate use. Writing, in fact, allowed rhetoric to flourish.
For the kind of silent reading we now experience to take hold, reading would have to change its context and text its form. It would have to become a more private experience, which means literacy would have to extend beyond the elite and monastic (religious) communities. Texts, too, would need to become more legible, with standardized punctuation and word spaces so that the mumbling of readers sounding out text, common through the sixth century, could disappear. And libraries designed for quiet, contemplative reading could then develop to serve this new readership.
British scribes, like those who crafted the Book of Kells (around 800 C.E.), played a key role in making text more accessible. They wrote in Latin, and because it was a second language, and one more challenging to sound out in continuous script, they introduced several changes to improve its legibility, including word separation (around 675 C.E.), additional punctuation, and simplified letter forms. Still, it took nearly four hundred years for these small innovations to spread. The translation of Arabic scientific writing into Latin in tenth-century Europe likely played a vital role in solidifying word separation, since it was inherent in the language (because unlike Greek and Latin, it is written in consonants). Translators kept Arabic word separation when rendering these texts in Latin, in part because it made the complex technical prose significantly more comprehensible.
古希腊时期，阅读是口头活动，文本无空格和标点，需大声朗读，促进了诗歌、辩论和演讲艺术的发展。哲学家如苏格拉底批评书写技术可能削弱记忆和哲学思考，但书写最终推动了修辞艺术的繁荣。默读文化的形成依赖于文本改进，如空格和标点的引入，以及图书馆和安静阅读环境的出现。英国的抄写员通过改进拉丁文分词和字形（如《凯尔斯之书》）推动了默读习惯的形成。阿拉伯科学著作的拉丁文翻译进一步巩固了分词的使用，使复杂文本更易理解，促进了默读文化的普及。
套 6
The Origin of Mars's Moons
一些科学家认为，太阳系中的流浪天体可以被捕获到一个最初高度椭圆的轨道中，然后通过类似于现代航天器使用的空气制动机制慢慢使其轨道变为圆形。这需要许多条件的微妙平衡，使得许多科学家对其有效性感到不安。另一种机制是通过潮汐力（周期性变化的引力）作用，将卫星从高度椭圆轨道拖入圆形轨道。尽管这些机制需要特殊条件，但一些天文学家认为火卫一和火卫二是从外太阳系捕获的小行星，因为它们的密度和组成与火星形成的材料不同，而与富含碳的球粒陨石更为接近。光谱测量显示这些卫星由几乎黑色的岩石组成，类似于外小行星带的碳质球粒陨石。
套 7
Submarine Canyons
大陆架是大陆的水下延伸，平均宽度约65公里，但不同地区差异显著。大陆架在“架边”处终止，随后是大陆坡，深度急剧增加，常伴有海底峡谷。过去认为这些峡谷由古河流切割形成，如哈德逊峡谷，其规模与陆地上的大峡谷相当。然而，许多峡谷的位置和深度与河流起源不符，科学家提出“浊流”理论解释其形成。浊流由海底扰动（如地震）引发，携带泥沙的水流下坡侵蚀海底。尽管自然界中未直接观察到浊流，但通过实验室模拟、数学模型及间接证据（如1929年纽芬兰地震引发的电缆断裂事件）支持了这一理论。浊流被认为是许多大型海底峡谷形成和维护的主要力量。
套 8
新石器时期人们的食物来源和社会变化
早期人类获取食物非常困难，因此他们的食物范围很广，特别喜欢采集种子，因为种子易于收集和存储且营养丰富。肉类也是重要的能量来源，尤其是脂肪含量高的动物。捕捉大型动物能提供更多能量，性价比高，而采摘根茎类植物也能高效获取能量。农业社会后期，社会复杂度增加，建立了大型定居点和复杂的社会阶级，制作石头屋子、工具和陶器。西欧环境良好，植物生长期长，动物多，提供了丰富的食物。随着大陆架变化，大型食草动物减少，人们转向海洋寻找食物，形成海边定居点，依靠高脂肪的鱼类维持能量供给，并通过冷冻或制成干肉保存食物。食物获取方式和数量决定了族群的生活方式。
套 9
Cool Early Earth Hypothesis
“冷早期地球假说”挑战了传统观点，认为地球在形成后仅2亿年就从熔融状态冷却至低于水的沸点（100°C）。这一假说基于对澳大利亚杰克山锆石砂粒的分析，这些砂粒的年龄达44亿年，并含有气泡，表明地球在44亿年前已有液态水。传统观点认为地球冷却至适宜液态水存在需要约7亿年，但锆石证据推翻了这一假设。此外，地球早期水的来源可能与早期太阳系中的含水物质（如碳质球粒陨石）有关，而非传统认为的地幔脱气或彗星撞击。化学分析显示，彗星的水与地球水成分差异显著，排除了彗星为地球水源的可能性。
套 10
Why did Agriculture Arise?
大约1万年前，猎人采集者开始转向农业，尽管农业带来了显而易见的好处，但也有缺点，如工作更辛苦和驯化的植物动物更易感染疾病。气候变化和人口增加可能是转变的原因。在阿布·胡赖拉考古遗址，最早的农民在气候干旱后开始种植驯化作物，转变为农业社会。种子的大量储存使人们能够长期定居，但也带来了土地退化、侵蚀和健康问题等负面影响。动物驯化与环境条件有关，干旱等因素促使人们驯化动物以应对资源变化，而不是单纯为了省力，可能由于狩猎过度减少了野生动物。
听力
C 1
学生前往打印表格，男士提醒学生在填写申请表格前务必仔细阅读第一页信息。随后谈及两个职位，分别为校园导游（campus tour guide）与某顾问（adviser）。校园导游工作时不能乘车带领学生游览，多数时间需徒步。女学生表示之前遇到的导游知识渊博，自己倍感压力，男士则称会有相关培训，无需担忧。
L 1
Lecture 1:该讲座围绕 “仪式（ritual）” 展开。仪式具有几个特征：其一为正式感，尽管过去与现在仪式内容有所变化，但仍具庄严肃穆之感，如奥运会颁发金牌。其二为不变性（invariance ，具体含义未明晰）。其三，仪式能够向世人传递某种意义。之后探讨了习惯与仪式的区别，通常人们不会将去某家咖啡馆视为仪式，然而若赋予其上述三种特征，便可视作仪式。例如，若奥运会突然取消如邮寄金牌这类仪式，人们会感到不适。
C 2
教授向学生阐述，同一内容可通过不同方式传递。例如在表演中，借助旁白（narrator）与电话（phone - call）传递同一信息，带给观众的感受有所不同，通过后者传递能让观众意识到内容重要、情节即将转变。教授要求学生撰写两个版本，且希望学生重点将精力置于第一个版本。
L 2
讲座聚焦环境科学领域，阐述太阳能转化为电能需考量三个因素：效率、持久性与成本。在成本方面，太阳能转化主要材料为硅，其在效率与持久性上表现尚可，但制作成本高昂，且制作过程会造成环境污染。随后研究者提出一种以 P 开头的替代方案，该物质在成本与持久性方面优势明显，但转换效率欠佳。为此，需在材料中添加 M 物质，以此大幅提升转换效率。
L 3
生物发光。深海环境极其恶劣，不仅氧气和食物稀缺,而且完全没有光线。许多人因此认为深海中的鱼类大多是盲的，但实际上，许多深海鱼类能够发光。虽然有一部分鱼类是因为体内的细菌而发光，但大多数鱼类是通过体内的化学物质发光的。老师进一步解释了鱼类发光的目的，主要有两种生存策略:一种是主动发光以吸引猎物，另一种则是吸引捕食者。此外，老师还介绍了一个相关的实验。在光的颜色方面，大多数深海鱼类发出的是蓝光，因为蓝光在水中的穿透力较强，而且大多数鱼类只能看到蓝光。然而，有一种特殊的鱼类能够发出红光。这种红光不仅帮助这种鱼看到猎物，而且由于红光在水中的穿透力较弱，猎物和捕食者都无法看到这种光，因此这种鱼既能隐蔽自己，又能悄悄地接近猎物。
口语
TASK 1独立口语题
Task 1:（套一）
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? The most importantquality of a leader is being a gifted speaker, Use details and examples to explainyour opinion.(重复2024年3月2日线下考)
Task 1:（套二）
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement: it is easier to teachchildren in a primary school than it is to teach students in a university. Use detailsand examples to explain your answer. (重复2014年9月线下)
Task 1:（套三）
When going on vacation, some prefer to have outdoor activities such as hikingand swimming, while others prefer to stay indoor. Which do you prefer?(重复2024年7月20日线下)
TASK 2校园题
Task 2:（套一）
First-Year Room Change
第一学期可以选择换寝室，但同时也要收取一小笔更换费用，防止任意更换寝室;
Task 2:（套二）
住房办公室宣布政策变化;
住房办公室将停止允许新生与高年级学生共同住宿的现行做法。
Task 2:（套三）
History Books Should be Relocated
图书馆的历史书籍应该被重新安置;
TASK 3学术讲座题
Task 3:（套一）
Project Pre-mortem
Business如何预测可能的问题然后做出应对去避免;
Task 3:（套二）
Brood Parasites 寄生育雏者;
Task 3:（套三）
Organic Architecture;
TASK 4 学术讲座题
Task 4:（套一）
Understory植物在光线不足情况下的两种生存策略
Task 4（套二）
types of seling costs 两种销售成本;
Task 4:（套三）
城市生活影响植物生长的两种方式;
城市生活影响植物生长的两种方式;
写作第一套
【整套重复2024.1.24，综合写作还重复2023.2.11/2023.4.18】
综合写作
Reading
Scientists are planning to send the first human mission to Mars in the near future.An important question facing the mission is whether to land the spacecraft near one of Mars's poles or near its equator, Like Earth, Mars has very different climates at its poles and equator, Scientists believe that landing near the equator rather than near a pole will help the Mars mission overcome three major challenges
Temperatures
Mars is much colder than Earth, with average temperatures below freezing. At the poles of Mars, temperatures are especially cold. In the extremely cold temperatures at the poles, equipment runs the risk of breaking down and malfunctioning, making a mission there risky. At the equator, however, temperatures are higher overall and less likely to damage equipment. This will reduce some of the challenges involved in dealing with the Martian climate.
Fueling Rocket Launches
Astronauts will need to launch a rocket to return to Earth from Mars. Such launches require large amounts of fuel, which is heavy and therefore difficult to bring to Mars. But rocket launches will require less fuel near the equator, This is because Mars, like Earth is rotating. It rotates fastest near the equator, and a rocket can use Mars's rotation to gain extra energy when lifting off, By taking advantage of this extra energy, astronauts will not need to use as much rocket fuel for their return launch.
Sunlight
Landing near the equator will provide astronauts with adequate sunlight each day. During the Martian winter, the polar regions of Mars receive little sunlight for several months. During these dark periods, solar power is unavailable for equipment, and astronauts would need artificial lights to see Mars's surface. But near the equator, the Sun rises and sets each day during the Martian year, By landing the spacecraft near the equator, astronauts will be able to use solar-powered equipment and see the Martian environment more easily.
听力反驳:
1.赤道昼夜温差大，极地温度更稳定，设备可以设计来抵御低温，从而避免极端温差造成的损害;
2.虽然从赤道发射可以减少燃料但不方便携带，而在极地，温度更稳定还有丰富的水资源，便于制造燃料;
3.极地的冰层可以阻挡有害的太阳辐射，宇航员可以保护自己不受伤害，和赤道相比这也是-个特别的优势。
AI根据回忆版内容撰写的范文：The reading and the listening are arguing about whether the first human mission to Mars should land near the equator or the poles. The article claims that landing near the equator is more advantageous due to temperature, fuel efficiency, and sunlight availability. However, the lecture challenges it, and states that the reasons given to support the author are unconvincing.
First, the reading passage asserts that landing near the equator is better because temperatures are higher, reducing the risk of equipment malfunction caused by extreme cold at the poles. Yet, the professor casts doubt on it and states that while the equator has higher average temperatures, it also experiences significant daily temperature fluctuations, which can damage equipment. In contrast, the poles have more stable temperatures, and equipment can be designed to withstand the cold, avoiding the risks posed by extreme temperature changes.
Second, the article contends that launching rockets from the equator requires less fuel due to Mars’s faster rotation at the equator, providing extra energy for liftoff. Nevertheless, the speaker rebuts it and claims that while launching from the equator saves fuel, it is more practical to land near the poles. The poles have abundant water resources, which can be used to produce fuel locally, reducing the need to transport heavy fuel from Earth. This makes the poles a more sustainable option for long-term missions.
Third, the author states that landing near the equator ensures consistent sunlight, allowing astronauts to use solar-powered equipment and easily observe the Martian environment. However, the lecturer refutes it and asserts that while the equator receives more sunlight, the poles offer unique advantages. The ice layers at the poles can shield astronauts from harmful solar radiation, providing a safer environment compared to the equator, where radiation exposure is higher.
学术讨论
社交媒体的网红对于分析利弊的分析
Dr. Diaz:
This week, we discussed the importance of role models and opinion makers insociety. One idea we discussed was the widespread impact of "influencers" Influencers are people who are very active posting on social media and who have many followers Influencers' posts and opinions can influence their followers' choices on everything from fashion to politics. In your opinion, do social media influencers generally have a positiveor negative effect on their followers? Why do you think so?
Kelly:
I think the influencers' effect is generally positive. People can learn about thelatest trends and topics in a very quick and efficient way by following influencers. In the past, people had to spend time looking through magazines or visiting boutiques to evenknow what was trending.
Paul:
I think influencers generally have a negative effect because they have far too muchinfluence. I can think of one influencer who only has to mention a particular kind of sports shoe, and the next day they'll be sold out. The followers aren't really thinking for themselves, they're just blindly following the influencers' choices.
写作第二套
【整套重复2023.12.9，综合写作还重复2024.10.30】
综合写作
控制kudzu扩散的方式
A climbing plant known as kudzu was introduced into the southeastern United States, where it can enhance gardens and prevent soil erosion. However, it has since become an invasive species that kills off native plants. The reading claims that three methods of controlling the spread of kudzu have been proposed, but the listening material disagrees, believing that these three methods are not effective.
Firstly, the reading claims that removing the root crown can help eliminate this invasive species. Specifically, new vines grow from the root crown, and cutting it can help eradicate kudzu. In contrast, the listening material presents the opposite argument, stating that removing the root crown may not be effective. According to the listening material, the root crown starts to grow two to three centimeters below the soil and extends deep into the ground, making it difficult to find and cut. If any parts of the crown are left intact, a new kudzu vine will quickly regrow.
In addition, the passage mentions that transporting goats to certain areas and allowing them to graze on kudzu can help remove it. However, the lecturer asserts that this method may not work. The removal of kudzu requires goats to graze on it continuously in the same location for an extended period, but these goats will only stay for a short time before being moved to other areas infested with kudzu. Consequently, the kudzu will regrow soon after the goats are relocated. Thus, the lecturer heavily challenges the author's claims once again.
Lastly, the author asserts that microorganisms can feed on kudzu. According to the passage, scientists conducted an experiment in which kudzu was infected with fungus in the morning, and by the afternoon, signs of infection were already visible. However, the speaker is skeptical of this claim and suggests that there is a problem with this approach. Specifically, kudzu is widely spread, and controlling it would require a significant number of fungi, but there are not enough resources to cultivate them in the lab. Furthermore, if a person comes into contact with the plant infected with the fungi, they may experience skin irritation.
学术讨论
禁止在工作时间之外进行工作相关的沟通能否提升员工的满意度
Doctor-Achebe
This week, we will explore the idea of prohibiting work-related communication outside of working hours. The idea behind this policy is to create a clearer separation between personal and professional time. Some argue that such a restriction might lead to higher job satisfaction by reducing stress, while others believe it may cause communication breakdowns and hinder productivity. Do you think thatbanning work-related communication outside of working hours would improve employee satisfaction?
Claire
I don't think banning work-related communication outside of working hours wouldsignificantly improve employee satisfaction. In my opinion, factors like salary and promotionopportunities matter much more. For example, employees may feel stressed or dissatisfiedif they're not getting the pay or career growth they expect, even if communication is restrictedafter hours.
Paul
I think banning work-related communication outside of working hours would improveemployee satisfaction. Employees should feel like they can truly disconnect from work after hours. If they're expected to respond to emails or messages at any time, it disrupts theirwork-life balance and leads to burnout. A clear separation between work and personal timehelps maintain mental health and productivity in the long run.
写作第三套
综合写作
仙人掌是如何从美洲到达非洲的
Reading:
North and South America are the natural habitat of cactus plants, which grow well in desert environments. Although humans have brought several cactus species to other continents relatively recently, there is one species, the wicker cactus, that has grown in the wild outside the Americas for a much longer time. The wicker cactus has grown on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, in the Americas and Africa, for so long that no one knows for certain how this normally. American plant arrived in Africa. Several theories have been proposed.
Birds
The first theory is that the wicker cactus was spread like many other plants: by birds. Its seeds could have been eaten by a migrating bird, which stored them in its digestive tract and then passed them on as waste after crossing to another continent, In a suitable environment on the new continent, the plants could have developed from these transported seeds and then reproduced. This theory is supported by the fact that many bird species are known to make regular migrations of great distances
Predates separation of continents
A second theory is that the wicker cactus has existed for so long that it is actually older than the ocean that now separates Africa and South America. Long ago, Africa and South America were part of one giant continent, In this explanation, the wicker cactus first evolved during the ancient time before the continents separated. As the two land masses slowly drifted apart over millions of years, early wicker cactus plants were left on each side of the ocean.
Sailors
The third theory is that sixteenth-century sailors carried the wicker cactus from SouthAmerica to Africa on their boats. Records show that when Portuguese and Spanishsailors traveled to the Americas. they frequently brought plants back and forth acrossthe ocean, Since the wicker cactus can survive for a long time without soil, it could haveeasily lived through such a trip.
听力反驳:
1.通常吃这种仙人掌种子的鸟类不会进行跨洋飞行，而那些能够跨洋的鸟类主要以昆虫和鱼类为食，而非仙人掌种子。
2.通过DNA研究发现，在非洲和美洲还相连的时期，这种仙人掌其实还未出现。它们是在两大陆分离数百万年后才开始生长的。
3.如果是由水手带来的，这些仙人掌应该主要分布在港口附近。然而，现在这些仙人掌主要生长在远离港口的内陆地区。
AI根据回忆版内容撰写的范文：
The reading and the listening are arguing about how the wicker cactus, a plant native to the Americas, came to grow in Africa. The article claims that there are three possible theories: birds, the separation of continents, and sailors. However, the lecture challenges it, and states that the reasons given to support the author are unconvincing.
First, the reading passage asserts that birds could have transported the wicker cactus seeds across the Atlantic Ocean. Yet, the professor casts doubt on it and states that birds that typically eat wicker cactus seeds do not migrate across oceans, while birds capable of such long-distance flights primarily feed on insects or fish, not cactus seeds. This makes the bird theory unlikely.
Second, the article contends that the wicker cactus might have existed before Africa and South America separated, allowing it to grow on both continents as they drifted apart. Nevertheless, the speaker rebuts it and claims that DNA studies show the wicker cactus did not exist when the continents were connected. Instead, it evolved millions of years after the continents had already separated, ruling out this theory.
Third, the author states that sixteenth-century sailors could have carried the wicker cactus from South America to Africa, as they often transported plants across the ocean. However, the lecturer refutes it and asserts that if sailors had brought the cactus, it would likely be found near coastal ports. Instead, the wicker cactus primarily grows in inland areas far from ports, making this theory implausible.
学术讨论
征收交通拥堵税的利弊
Doctor Achebe:
Around the world, urban areas need to deal with the problem of city center traffic. Often too many vehicles use the roads, and the roads have extremely high traffic at certain times of the day. Some city governments are trying to decrease traffic congestion by introducing congestion pricing: drivers will be charged a substantial fee for driving their vehicles into the city center during busy times of the day. Do you think that congestion pricing is a good idea? Why or why not?
Andrew:
If congestion pricing is imposed, then some drivers will avoid visiting the city center during busy times. Businesses there will suffer because they will lose customers. And because businesses pay taxes, cities may lose more money than they would gain by charging the traffic congestion fee.
Claire:
I think congestion pricing is a good idea because if people have to pay extra todrive into the city center maybe they will share rides to split the cost of the fee. What leads to traffic congestion is the fact that so many people are driving alone in a car whenthey could be carpooling.
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