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 29，附有原文及答案，希望对托福考生备考有所帮助 。
During the second half of the nineteenth century, the production of food and feed crops in the United States rose at an extraordinarily rapid rate. Corn production increased by four and a half times, hay by five times, oats and wheat by seven times. The most crucial factor behind this phenomenal upsurge in productivity was the widespread adoption of labor-saving machinery by northern farmers. By 1850 horse-drawn reaping machines that cut grain were being introduced into the major grain-growing regions of the country. Horse-powered threshing machines to separate the seeds from the plants were already in general use. However, it was the onset of the Civil War in 1861 that provided the great stimulus for the mechanization of northern agriculture. With much of the labor force inducted into the army and with grain prices on the rise, northern farmers rushed to avail themselves of the new labor-saving equipment. In 1860 there were approximately 80,000 reapers in the country; five years later there were 350,000.
After the close of the war in 1865, machinery became ever more important in northern agriculture, and improved equipment was continually introduced. By 1880 a self-binding reaper had been perfected that not only cut the grain, but also gathered the stalks and bound them with twine. Threshing machines were also being improved and enlarged, and after 1870 they were increasingly powered by steam engines rather than by horses. Since steam-powered threshing machines were costly items — running from $ 1,000 to $4,000 — they were usually owned by custom thresher owners who then worked their way from farm to farm during the harvest season. "Combines" were also coming into use on the great wheat ranches in California and the Pacific Northwest. These ponderous machines — sometimes pulled by as many as 40 horses — reaped the grain, threshed it, and bagged it, all in one simultaneous operation.
The adoption of labor-saving machinery had a profound effect upon the sale of agricultural operations in the northern states — allowing farmers to increase vastly their crop acreage. By the end of century, a farmer employing the new machinery could plant and harvest two and half times as much corn as a farmer had using hand methods 50 years before.
1. What aspect of farming in the United States in the nineteenth century does the passage mainly discuss?
(A) How labor-saving machinery increased crop Production
(B) Why southern farms were not as successful as Successful as northern farms
(C) Farming practices before the Civil War
(D) The increase in the number of people farming
2. The word "crucial" in line 4 is closest in meaning to
(A) obvious
(B) unbelievable
(C) important
(D) desirable
3. The phrase "avail themselves" in line 11 is closest in meaning to
(A) take care
(B) make use
(C) get rid
(D) do more
4. According to the passage , why was the Civil War a stimulus for mechanization?
(A) The army needed more grain in order to feed the soldiers.
(B) Technology developed for the war could also the used by farmers.
(C) It was hoped that harvesting more grain would lower the price of grain.
(D) Machines were needed to replace a disappearing labor force.
5. The passage supports which of the following statements about machinery after the Civil War?
(A) Many farmers preferred not to use the new machinery.
(B) Returning laborers replaced the use of machinery.
(C) The use of farm machinery continued to increase.
(D) Poor-quality machinery slowed the pace of crop production.
6. Combines and self-binding reapers were similar because each
(A) could perform more than one function
(B) required relatively little power to operate
(C) was utilized mainly in California
(D) required two people to operate
7. The word "they" in line 19 refers to
(A) grain stalks
(B) threshing machines
(C) steam engines
(D) horses
8. It can be inferred from the passage that most farmers did not own threshing machines because
(A) farmers did not know how to use the new machines
(B) farmers had no space to keep the machines
(C) thresher owner had chance to buy the machines before farmers did
(D) the machines were too expensive for every farmer to own
9. The word "ponderous" in line 21 is closest in meaning to
(A) advanced
(B) heavy
(C) complex
(D) rapid
正确答案： ACBDC ABDB
以上就是前程百利为大家整理的老托福阅读真题，考生可进行参考训练以提高自己的考试水平。若您想了解托福考试更多相关信息请关注前程百利。
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