1997年8月托福考试阅读理解全真试题
30.What does the passage mainly discuss？
（A） The detail seen through a microscope
（B） Sources of illumination for microscopes
（C） A new kind of microscope
（D） Outdated microscopic technique
31.According to the passage， the invention of the visible-light microscope allowed scientists to
（A） see viruses directly
（B） develop the electron microscope later on
（C） understand more about the distribution of the chemical elements
（D） discover single celled plants and animals they had never seen before.
32.The word "minuscule" in line 7 is closest in meaning to
（A） circular
（B） dangerous
（C） complex
（D） tiny
33.The word "it" in line 10 refers to
（A） a type of microscope
（B） human perception
（C） the natural world
（D） light
34.Why does the another mention me visible light microscope in the first paragraph？
（A） To begin a discussion of sixteenth century discoveries.
（B） To put the x-ray microscope in historical perspective
（C） To show how limited its uses are
（D） To explain how it functioned
35.Why did it take so long to develop the x-ray microscope？
（A） Funds for research were insufficient.
（B） The source of illumination was not bright enough until recently.
（C） Materials used to manufacture x-ray tubes were difficult to obtain
（D） X-ray microscopes were too complicated to operate.
36.The word "enables" in line 30 is closest in meaning to
（A） constitutes
（B） specifies
（C） expands
（D） allows
37.The word "Rather" in line 38 is closest in meaning to
（A） significantly
（B） preferably
（C） somewhat
（D） instead
38.The word "those" in line 40 refers to
（A） properties
（B） investigations
（C） microscopes
（D） x-rays
39.Based on the information in the passage， what can be inferred about x-ray microscopes in the future？
（A） They will probably replace electron microscopes altogether.
（B） They will eventually be much cheaper to produce than they are now.
（C） They will provide information not available from other kinds of microscopes.
（D） They will eventually change the illumination range that they now use.
Question 40-50
Perhaps the most striking quality of satiric literature is its freshness， its originality of perspective. Satire rarely offers original ideas. Instead it presents the familiar in a new form. Satirists do not offer the world new philosophies. What they do is look at familiar conditions from a perspective that makes these conditions seem foolish， harmful or affected. Satire jars us out of complacence into a pleasantly shocked realization that many of the values we unquestioningly accept are false. Don Quixote makes chivalry seem absurd， Brave New World ridicules the pretensions of science， A Modest proposal dramatizes starvation by advocating cannibalism. None of these ideas is original. Chivalry was suspect before Cervantes， humanists objected to the claims of pure science before Aldous Huxley and people were aware of famine before Swift.
It was not the originality of the idea that made these satires popular. It was the manner of expression the satiric method that made them interesting and entertaining. Satires are read because they are aesthetically satisfying works of art， not because they are morally wholesome or ethically instructive. They are stimulat-ing and refreshing because with commonsense briskness they brush away illusions and secondhand opinions. With spontaneous irreverence， satire rearranges perspectives， scrambles familiar objects into incongruous juxtaposition and speaks in a personal idiom instead of abstract platitude.
Satire exists because there is need for it. It has lived because readers appreciate a refreshing stimulus， an irreverent reminder that they lived in a world of platitudinous thinking，cheap moralizing， and foolish philosophy. Satire serves to prod people into an awareness of truth though rarely to any action on behalf of truth. Satire tends to remind people that much of what they see， hear， and read in popular media is sanctimonious，sentimental， and only partially true. Life resembles in only a slight degree the popular image of it. Soldiers rarely hold the ideals that movies attribute to them， nor do ordinary citizens devote their lives to unselfish service of humanity. Intelligent people know these things but tend to forget them when they do not hear them expressed.