托福閱讀真題Official 51 Passage 1（二）

托福閱讀真題Official 51 Passage 1（二）

Memphis:United Egypt’s First Capital

The city of Memphis,located on the Nile near the modern city of Cairo,was founded around 3100 B.C.as the first capital of a recently united Egypt.The choice of Memphis by Egypt’s first kings reflects the site’s strategic importance.First,and most obvious,the apex of the Nile River delta was a politically opportune location for the state’s administrative center,standing between the united lands of Upper and Lower Egypt and offering ready access to both parts of the country.The older predynastic(pre-3100 B.C.)centers of power,This and Hierakonpolis,were too remote from the vast expanse of the delta,which had been incorporated into the unified state.Only a city within easy reach of both the Nile valley to the south and the more spread out,difficult terrain to the north could provide the necessary political control that the rulers of early dynastic Egypt(roughly 3000–2600 B.C.)required.

The region of Memphis must have also served as an important node for transport and communications,even before the unification of Egypt.The region probably acted as a conduit for much,if not all,of the river-based trade between northern and southern Egypt.Moreover,commodities(such as wine,precious oils,and metals)imported from the Near East by the royal courts of predynastic Upper Egypt would have been channeled through the Memphis region on their way south.In short,therefore,the site of Memphis offered the rulers of the Early Dynastic Period an ideal location for controlling internal trade within their realm,an essential requirement for a state-directed economy that depended on the movement of goods.

Equally important for the national administration was the ability to control communications within Egypt.The Nile provided the easiest and quickest artery of communication,and the national capital was,again,ideally located in this respect.Recent geological surveys of the Memphis region have revealed much about its topography in ancient times.It appears that the location of Memphis may have been even more advantageous for controlling trade,transport,and communications than was previously appreciated.Surveys and drill cores have shown that the level of the Nile floodplain has steadily risen over the last five millenniums.When the floodplain was much lower,as it would have been in predynastic and early dynastic times,the outwash fans(fan-shaped deposits of sediments)of various wadis(stream-beds or channels that carry water only during rainy periods)would have been much more prominent features on the east bank.The fan associated with the Wadi Hof extended a significant way into the Nile floodplain,forming a constriction in the vicinity of Memphis.The valley may have narrowed at this point to a mere three kilometers,making it the ideal place for controlling river traffic.

Furthermore,the Memphis region seems to have been favorably located for the control not only of river-based trade but also of desert trade routes.The two outwash fans in the area gave access to the extensive wadi systems of the eastern desert.In predynastic times,the Wadi Digla may have served as a trade route between the Memphis region and the Near East,to judge from the unusual concentration of foreign artifacts found in the predynastic settlement of Maadi.Access to,and control of,trade routes between Egypt and the Near East seems to have been a preoccupation of Egypt’s rulers during the period of state formation.The desire to monopolize foreign trade may have been one of the primary factors behind the political unification of Egypt.The foundation of the national capital at the junction of an important trade route with the Nile valley is not likely to have been accidental.Moreover,the Wadis Hof and Digla provided the Memphis region with accessible desert pasturage.As was the case with the cities of Hierakonpolis and Elkab,the combination within the same area of both desert pasturage and alluvial arable land(land suitable for growing crops)was a particularly attractive one for early settlement;this combination no doubt contributed to the prosperity of the Memphis region from early predynastic times.

Question 3 of 14

It can be inferred from paragraph 1 that one consequence of the unification of Egypt was

A.the reduction of the strategic importance of older centers of power

B.the opportunity for the recently united Egypt to become economically self-sufficient

C.the increase in political tensions between the rulers of Upper and Lower Egypt

D.the reduction of Egypt’s dependence upon the Nile for trade and communications

正確答案：A

題目詳解

題型分類：推論題

原文定位：根據(jù)定位詞one consequence,the unification of Egypt定位到倒數(shù)第二句。

選項(xiàng)分析：

題干定位詞較抽象，結(jié)合上一題以及段落觀點(diǎn)進(jìn)行選擇，倒數(shù)第二句話說埃及的舊都This and Hierakonpolis距離尼羅河三角洲太遙遠(yuǎn)了，所以被淘汰了，進(jìn)而選擇孟菲斯作為新首都，推測出埃及聯(lián)合后的影響就是削弱了舊都的作用，A選項(xiàng)正確。

B選項(xiàng)，沒提及economically self-sufficient。

C選項(xiàng)，高干擾度選項(xiàng)，倒數(shù)第三句話有講到Upper and Lower Egypt，是說Memphis位置距離他們近，沒說政治緊張。

D選項(xiàng)，與原文相反，第三句話講尼羅河重要。

Question 4 of 14

Which of the following best describes how paragraph 1 is organized?

A.Two simultaneous developments are described,as well as the reasons why neither one would have occurred without the other.

B.A hypothesis is presented,and then points in favor of that hypothesis as well as points against it are discussed.

C.A major event is described,and then the most obvious effects of that event are presented.

D.A decision is described,and then one likely motivation for that decision is presented.

正確答案：D

題目詳解

題型分類：修辭目的題

題干分析：考察一個(gè)段落的主旨。

選項(xiàng)分析：

段落組織形式題目注意看結(jié)構(gòu)，第一句講選擇孟菲斯作為聯(lián)合后埃及的第一個(gè)首都，第二句話說這種選擇表明孟菲斯位置重要，第三句看到first可知具體講解孟菲斯的位置為什么重要，第四句話講老中心不好，為了突出孟菲斯的好，最后一句話進(jìn)行總結(jié)?？芍温浣Y(jié)構(gòu)就是介紹一個(gè)決定，然后給出這個(gè)決定的原因，D選項(xiàng)正確。

A選項(xiàng)，two simultaneous developments沒說。

B選項(xiàng)，a hypothesis is presented沒說。

C選項(xiàng)，高干擾度選項(xiàng)，后半句不對，文章講的是原因，不是影響。

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