【托福真题_英语外教一对一培训】栏目更新了TOEFL托福阅读真题及答案（64），以下为具体内容：

　　TOEFL托福阅读真题文章：

　　Between about 900 to 1150 AD, a mysterious Stone Age culture arose, flourished, and then vanished in the semi-desert region of the Southwestern United States. Named the Chaco culture after the canyon in which the principal ruins are found, nearly everything about this ancient society is shrouded in mystery. A truly remarkable transformation in settlement patterns occurred in the San Juan basin in northwestern New Mexico, with small household farmsteads giving way to aggregated communities centered on communal masonry buildings that are now called “great houses.”These multi-level buildings of up to 800 rooms are scattered over thousands of square miles of the Four Corners area of the Southwest. The entire episode of great house construction in Chaco, the Bonito phase (A.D. 900-1140), was signifying an pronounced period of immense cooperative effort. Pueblo Chetro Ketl’s outer wall alone is calculated to be composed of 30 million stones which were brought to the canyon from distances between 80 and 150 kilometers away. Many of the stones had to be shaped before being positioned and built into a huge project. But by 1140 AD, the massive construction ceased abruptly, followed by a rapid decline in use of the great houses and apparent abandonment of the canyon in the thirteenth

　　century.

　　For more than a century archaeologists have struggled to understand the circumstances surrounding the rise and collapse of Chacoan society—dubbed the Chaco Phenomenon. Specifically, research has focused on determining why such an apparently inhospitable place as Chaco, which today is extremely arid and has very short growing seasons, should have been favored for the concentration of labor that must have been required for such massive construction projects over brief periods of time. Until the 1970s, scholars and the public alike had a long-shared notion that Chaco had been a forested oasis that attracted farmers who initially flourished but eventually fell victim to their own success and exuberance, as they employed unsustainable land-use practices to build their impressive communities. Yet there is no substantial evidence, archaeological or otherwise, to support such contention.

　　However, recent geological field studies in Chaco have produced some table-turning evidence that may require a significant reassessment of the assumption that the canyon was not a favorable agricultural setting. It appears that during the extraordinary construction boom in the first half of the eleventh century, a devastating flood occurred, resulting in extreme difficulty irrigating the area. A large natural lake, near the biggest concentration of great houses, may have existed at the western end of Chaco and might have suspended sediment, which would then have flowed into the canyon. The presence of an abundance of water and, equally important, a source of sediment that replenished agricultural fields, presumably made the canyon an extremely attractive place for newly arriving people from the northern San Juan River basin. In fact, during the 1980s, this reconstruction was largely dismissed in response to evidence that there were only scattered trees along cliffs and escarpments above the canyon rather than woodlands in the first place, and that canyon soil was highly sensitive to increases in aridity and temperature and thus unsuitable for farming, regardless of the amount of trees. As long-standing scientific consensus was undergoing this transformation, the position of the canyon within a regional network of dispersed agricultural communities called up more academic attention.

　　The adoption of a regional perspective in explaining the Chaco Phenomenon was based in part on the discovery of formal trails. A combination of remote sensing techniques and ground verification defined a prehistoric road system which extended outward from Chaco Canyon into the surrounding San Juan Basin, later referred to as Chaco “outliers.”These trails are densest around the concentration of great houses in the center, and the canyon itself is roughly at the center of the basin. Consequently, Chaco Canyon was intimately related to other settlements in a single cultural web flung across 30,000 square miles and which reached into Colorado and Utah, all tied together by a network of ancient roads. The current consensus view is that religion provided the fundamental explanation for this centrifugal pattern.

　　After close study of great kivas (multipurpose rooms used for religious, political, and social functions), archeologists tend to depict Chaco as a location of high devotional expression and the pilgrimage center of a sacred landscape. The kiva structure itself, of whatever size, occupies a special and sacred place in Pueblo architecture. Excavation of some of these vaults suggests that they were once associated with ceremonies. Archaeological record presented some ritual artifacts, including caches of turquoise beads and pendants, unusual ceramic vessels and wooden objects, several rooms with multiple human burials, and especially the large number of kivas found in great houses. Most of these indicators occur only at Pueblo Bonito, but archaeologists generally assume that all the great houses had a similar ritual function. Some scholars have even argued that the great houses were temples instead of residences.

　　The adoption of a regional perspective in explaining the Chaco Phenomenon was based in part on the discovery of formal trails.A combination of remote sensing techniques and ground

　　verification defined a prehistoric road system which extended outward from Chaco Canyon into the surrounding San Juan Basin, later referred to as Chaco “outliers.”These trails are densest around the concentration of great houses in the center, and the canyon itself is roughly at the center of the basin. Consequently, Chaco Canyon was intimately related to other settlements in a single cultural web flung across 30,000 square miles and which reached into Colorado and Utah, all tied together by a network of ancient roads. The current consensus view is that religion provided the fundamental explanation for this centrifugal pattern.

　　TOEFL托福阅读真题题目：

　　1．The word “signifying” in the passage is closest in meaning to

　　A．creating

　　B．indicating

　　C．initiating

　　D．requiring

　　2．The word “ceased” in the passage is closest in meaning to

　　A．slow down

　　B．accelerated

　　C．stopped

　　D．changed in style

　　3．According to paragraph 1, all of the following provide evidence that the

　　Bonito phase was a time of immense cooperative effort EXCEPT

　　A．the large amounts of material needed

　　B．the size of the Pueblo Bonito complex

　　C．the unusual materials used in construction

　　D．the distance the materials needed to be transported

　　4．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.

　　A．Researchers have tried to establish why an area as dry as Chaco was the site

　　of such large construction efforts.

　　B．Researchers have tried to establish whether the concentration of massive

　　construction projects in a brief period of time made Chaco the dry area that it is today.

　　C．Researchers have established that Chaco’s brief growing season required a

　　concentration of labor to produce large quantities of food in a short period of time.

　　D．Researchers have established that the hot, dry climate of Chaco forced

　　workers to complete construction on large buildings in short periods of time.

　　5．According to paragraph 2, before 1970, scholars believed that Chacoan

　　society collapsed because

　　A．Chaco never had the forests that were needed for the development of a stable

　　agricultural economy.

　　B．farmers used up the natural resources in Chaco that had originally allowed the

　　society to succeed.

　　C．Chaco suffered a long-term drought that prevented farmers from growing

　　enough food.

　　D．laborers left Chaco to find other work after they finished building the great

　　houses there.

　　6．It can be inferred from paragraph 2 that the pre-1970s theory about the Chaco

　　Phenomenon

　　A．was based on the widespread farm and tool remains found by archaeologists

　　on the site.

　　B．was largely reinforced by findings in the 1980s.

　　C．was not supported by substantial evidence.

　　D．was so strong that it went unchallenged for many decades.

　　7．According to paragraph 3, why did scientists change their view about the

　　cause of the collapse of Chacoan society?

　　A．They found evidence that Chaco had always lacked trees and good soil.

　　B．They discovered that Chaco Canyon was much drier than they had previously

　　believed.

　　C．They learned that the population was not large enough to supply the laborers

　　needed to build the great houses.

　　D．They found evidence that the farming economy was excessively concentrated

　　in the central canyon.

　　8．According to paragraph 3, what is the possible significance of new geological

　　field studies in Chaco?

　　A．They indicate that during the construction boom the Chaco area probably did

　　have enough water and sediment to attract farmers to that area.

　　B．They could undermine the theory of Chaco as a religious center.

　　C．They show the presence of excessive amounts of water, which may have led

　　to the departure of most of the people living there during the Bonito phase.

　　D．They suggest that the kind of sediment present in Chaco in the eleventh

　　century was not favorable for agriculture.

　　9．Why does the author state that “A large natural lake, near the biggest

　　concentration of great houses, may have existed at the western end of Chaco”?

　　A．To suggest that geological studies are better than archaeological studies in

　　identifying the historical uses of land

　　B．To demonstrate that large construction projects require a large population of

　　workers

　　C．To support the idea that Chaco may have been favorable to agriculture during

　　the Bonito phase

　　D．To show that the Chacoan people preferred to build their homes near water

　　10．The word “dispersed” in the passage is closest in meaning to

　　A．connected

　　B．scattered

　　C．stable

　　D．developed

　　11．According to paragraphs 5, which of the following best describes how

　　archaeologists arrived at their current view of the nature of Chaco during the Bonito

　　phase?

　　A．They discovered a large number of kivas, which probably served as temporary

　　houses for pilgrims on their way to the main temple.

　　B．They found a series of paths leading to the outliers, which seem to have been

　　centers of trade for makers of jewelry and other products.

　　C．They found turquoise beads and pendants and other valuable objects, leading

　　to the theory that the great houses were wealthy residences.

　　D．They discovered many objects and rooms associated with ritual activity,

　　leading to the theory that Chaco was a religious center.

　　12．The word “function” in the passage is closest in meaning to

　　A．center

　　B．practice

　　C．design

　　D．purpose

　　14．The population of the Chaco Canyon in New Mexico changed significantly between the tenth and eleventh centuries, as evidenced by the remains of its great houses.

　　A Before the 1970s, scholars believed that the fall of Chacoan society was caused by farmers’cutting down all the trees to build their great houses.

　　B After discovering trails connecting Chaco to surrounding communities, scholars came to believe that there were many forested oases to support those communities.

　　C Archaeological evidence has led current scholars to believe that Chaco was a religious center during the Bonito phase.

　　D Archaeological findings indicate that Chaco Canyon was completely abandoned by the end of the thirteenth century.

　　E Researchers’ findings in the 1980s revealed that Chaco Canyon had been a fertile agricultural area that caused the population near the center of the canyon to increase steadily during the Bonito phase.

　　F Recent geological studies indicating the presence of water in Chaco Canyon in the eleventh century may alter scholars’ belief that the area was not favorable for farming.

　　TOEFL托福阅读真题参考答案：

　　1. B

　　2. C

　　3. C

　　4. A

　　5. B

　　6. C

　　7. A

　　8. A

　　9. C

　　10. B

　　11. D

　　12. D

　　13. D

　　14. A，C，E

　　以上就是TOEFL托福阅读真题答案（64），欢迎大家进入说客英语官网的【托福真题_英语外教一对一培训】栏目，了解更多托福真题、托福考试内容等相关资讯。