托福考试之阅读历年真题精选四
Questions 30-39Tulips are Old World, rather than New World, plants, with the origins of the species
lying in Central Asia. They became an integral part of the gardens of the Ottoman Empire
from the sixteenth century onward, and, soon after, part of European life as well. Holland,
Line in particular, became famous for its cultivation of the flower.
(5) A tenuous line marked the advance of the tulip to the New World, where it was
unknown in the wild. The first Dutch colonies in North America had been established
in New Netherland by the Dutch West India Company in 1624, and one individual who
settled in New Amsterdam (today’s Manhattan section of New York City) in 1642
described the flowers that bravely colonized the settlers’ gardens. They were the same
(10) flowers seen in Dutch still-life paintings of the time: crown imperials, roses, carnations,
and of course tulips. They flourished in Pennsylvania too, where in 1698 William Penn
received a report of John Tateham’s "Great and Stately Palace," its garden full of tulips.
By 1760, Boston newspapers were advertising 50 different kinds of mixed tulip "roots."
But the length of the journey between Europe and North America created many
(15) difficulties. Thomas Hancock, an English settler, wrote thanking his plant supplier for
a gift of some tulip bulbs from England, but his letter the following year grumbled that
they were all dead.
Tulips arrived in Holland, Michigan, with a later wave of early nineteenth-century
Dutch immigrants who quickly colonized the plains of Michigan. Together with many
(20) other Dutch settlements, such as the one at Pella. Iowa, they established a regular demand for European plants. The demand was bravely met by a new kind of tulip entrepreneur, the
traveling salesperson. One Dutchman, Hendrick van der Schoot, spent six months in 1849
traveling through the United States taking orders for tulip bulbs. While tulip bulbs were
traveling from Europe to the United States to satisfy the nostalgic longings of homesick
托福考试之阅读历年真题精选四
(25) English and Dutch settlers, North American plants were traveling in the oppositedirection. In England, the enthusiasm for American plants was one reason why tulips
dropped out of fashion in the gardens of the rich and famous.
30. Which of the following questions does the passage mainly answer?
(A) What is the difference between an Old World and a New World plant?
(B) Why are tulips grown in many different parts of the world?
(C) How did tulips become popular in North America?
(D) Where were the first Dutch colonies in North America located?
31. The word "integral" in line 2 is closest in meaning to
(A) interesting
(B) fundamental
(C) ornamental
(D) overlooked
32. The passage mentions that tulips were first found in which of the following
regions?
(A) Central Asia
(B) Western Europe
(C) India
(D) North America
33. The word "flourished" in line 11 is closest in meaning to
(A) were discovered
(B) were marketed
(C) combined
(D) thrived
34. The author mentions tulip growing in New Netherland. Pennsylvania. and
Michigan in order to illustrate how
(A) imported tulips were considered more valuable than locally grown tulips
(B) tulips were commonly passed as
gifts from one family to another
(C) tulips grew progressively more popular in North America
(D) attitudes toward tulips varied from
one location to another
35. The word "grumbled" in line 16 is closest in meaning to
(A) denied
(B) warned
(C) complained
(D) explained
托福考试之阅读历年真题精选四
36. The passage mentions that one reason English and Dutch settlers planted tulips intheir gardens was that tulips
(A) were easy to grow
(B) had become readily available
(C) made them appear fashionable
(D) reminded them of home
37. The word "they" in line 20 refers to
(A) tulips
(B) plains
(C) immigrants
(D) plants
38. According to the passage, which of the following changes occurred in English
gardens during the European settlement of North America?
(A) They grew in size in order to provide enough plants to export to the New World.
(B) They contained a wider variety of tulips than ever before.
(C) They contained many new types of North American plants.
(D) They decreased in size on the estates of wealthy people.
39. The passage mentions which of the following as a problem associated with the
importation of tulips into North America?
(A) They were no longer fashionable by the time they arrived.
(B) They often failed to survive the journey.
(C) Orders often took six months or longer to fill.
(D) Settlers knew little about how to cultivate them.
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