说到托福阅读备考，TPO是必不可少的备考神器，通过TPO练习来更好的适应阅读考试的节奏。本文小编带来的托福阅读笔记是TPO30 The Invention of the Mechanical Clock的内容，希望能够与正在备考的大家一起进步。
TPO30 The Invention of the Mechanical Clock
文章题材：技术科学——机械钟的发明
常见词汇：
resort [ri'zɔ:t] n. (度假)胜地，手段，凭借vi. 诉诸
illustrate ['iləstreit] v. 举例说明，(为书)作插图，图解
arrangement [ə'reindʒmənt] n. 安排，商议，整理，布置，商定，[音]改编，改编
except [ik'sept] vt. 除，除外
counter ['kauntə] n. 计算器，计算者，柜台[计算机] 计数器
autonomy [ɔ:'tɔnəmi] n. 自治，自治权，自主
drift [drift] vi. 漂流，漂移，漂泊，吹积，偏离
performance [pə'fɔ:məns] n. 表演，表现; 履行，实行n. 性能
species ['spi:ʃiz] n. (单复同)物种，种类
technique [tek'ni:k] n. 技术，技巧，技能
易错题解析：
Paragraph 1:In Europe, before the introduction of the mechanical clock, people told time by sun (using, for example, shadow sticks or sun dials) and water clocks. Sun clocks worked, of course, only on clear days; water clocks misbehaved when the temperature fell toward freezing, to say nothing of long-run drift as the result of sedimentation and clogging. Both these devices worked well in sunny climates; but in northern Europe the sun may be hidden by clouds for weeks at a time, while temperatures vary not only seasonally but from day to night.
1.Why does the author provide the information that ”in northern Europe the sun may be hidden by clouds for weeks at a time, while temperatures vary not only seasonally but from day to night”?
O To emphasize the variety of environments in which people used sun and water clocks to tell time
O To illustrate the disadvantage of sun and water clocks
O To provide an example of an area where water clocks have an advantage over sun clocks
O To counter the claim that sun and water clocks were used all over Europe
题型：修辞目的题。答案是(B)
解析：从第一段的第二句开始，原文列举了这两种device各种的缺点，最后一句前半句说它们work，后面but表转折，证明要说有些情况它们不能用。所以选择B。A说人们在各种情况下都在使用这两种方法，与原文表达的意思相反，C将两种方法比较，原文没有这层意思。D整个和划线部分相反，原文说在northern Europe不能用。
Paragraph 4:Ironically, the new machine tended to undermine Catholic Church authority. Although church ritual had sustained an interest in timekeeping throughout the centuries of urban collapse that followed the fall of Rome, church time was nature’ s time.■Day and night were divided into the same number of parts, so that except at the equinoxes, days and night hours were unequal; and then of course the length of these hours varied with the seasons.■But the mechanical clock kept equal hours, and this implied a new time reckoning.■The Catholic Church resisted, not coming over to the new hours for about a century.■From the start, however, the towns and cities took equal hours as their standard, and the public clocks installed in town halls and market squares became the very symbol of a new, secular municipal authority. Every town wanted one; conquerors seized them as especially precious spoils of war; tourists came to see and hear these machines the way they made pilgrimages to sacred relics.
13. Look at the four squares[■] that indicate where the following sentence can be added to the passage.
The division of time no longer reflected the organization of religious ritual.
Where would the sentence best fit?
题型：句子插入题。答案是(C)
解析：原句中no longer反应宗教仪式了，那么此句前后应该有对现在的计时制度的描写，另外句末提到了religious ritual，所以附近也应该有对宗教组织的态度描写，满足这两个条件的位置是C。
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