托福阅读真题Official 51 Passage 1（三）

托福阅读真题Official 51 Passage 1（三）

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 5 of 14

According to paragraph 2,when did Egypt import goods from the Near East?

A.Once internal trade was fully controlled from Memphis

B.Not until early dynastic Egypt established its state-directed economy

C.As early as predynastic times

D.Only when local supplies of those goods had been completely used up

正确答案：C

题目详解

题型分类：事实信息题

原文定位：根据定位词import goods from the Near East，when定位到第二段第三句。

选项分析：

原文中predynastic Upper Egypt表示时间，朝代之前，所以对应C选项as early as predynastic time。

A选项，没提及，没说内部贸易完全被孟菲斯控制。

B选项，高干扰度选项，not移动到主句中进行翻译，意思是在朝代前，埃及没从近东进口商品，与原文相反。

D选项，没提及，没说当地商品完全用光。

Question 6 of 14

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.Thus in Memphis,the rulers of the Early Dynastic Period were ideally placed to control internal trade,which they had to do in order to run their economy.

B.Therefore the rulers of the Early Dynastic Period thought Memphis was the ideal location for trade with nearby countries.

C.In short,a state-directed economy like that of the Early Dynastic Period requires choosing a single location to which goods can be moved—Memphis,in this case.

D.In sum,then,a state-directed economy first developed during Egypt’s Early Dynastic Period because Memphis was an ideal location for controlling trade.

正确答案：A

题目详解

题型分类：简化句子题

原文分析：考察识别主干内容和核心逻辑的能力，提炼重点信息：the site of Memphis offered the rulers of the Early Dynastic Period an ideal location for controlling internal trade within their realm，意思是孟菲斯为早期王朝的统治者提供了一个理想地点来控制境内贸易。

选项分析：

A选项，提炼重点信息：Thus in Memphis,the rulers of the Early Dynastic Period were ideally placed to control internal trade，意思是在孟菲斯，统治者可以很理想的控制内部贸易，和原文的重点信息一致。

B选项，都是重点信息，for trade with nearby countries与原文相反，文章是控制内部贸易，不是国家间贸易。

C选项，提炼重点信息：a state-directed economy...requires choosing a single location...，与原文重点信息不符，a state-directed economy是原文的次要信息。

D选项，提炼重点信息：a state-directed economy first developed during Egypt's Early Dynastic Period because Memphis was an ideal location for controlling trade，a state-directed economy是原文的次要信息而且文章没有说因果关系。