托福阅读真题Official 43 Passage 1（七）

托福阅读真题Official 43 Passage 1（七）

The Empire of Alexander the Great

In 334 B.C.Alexander the Great took his Greek armies to the east and in only a few years completed his creation of an empire out of much of southwest Asia.In the new empire,barriers to trade and the movement of peoples were removed;markets were put in touch with one another.In the next generation thousands of Greek traders and artisans would enter this wider world to seek their fortunes.Alexander’s actions had several important consequences for the region occupied by the empire.

The first of these was the expansion of Greek civilization throughout the Middle East.Greek became the great international language.Towns and cities were established not only as garrisons(military posts)but as centers for the diffusion of Greek language,literature,and thought,particularly through libraries,as at Antioch(in modern Turkey)and the most famous of all,at Alexandria in Egypt,which would be the finest in the world for the next thousand years.

Second,this internationalism spelled the end of the classical Greek city-state—the unit of government in ancient Greece—and everything it stood for.Most city-states had been quite small in terms of citizenry,and this was considered to be a good thing.The focus of life was the agora,the open marketplace where assemblies could be held and where issues of the day,as well as more fundamental topics such as the purpose of government or the relationship between law and freedom,could be discussed and decisions made by individuals in person.The philosopher Plato(428–348 B.C.)felt that the ideal city-state should have about 5,000 citizens,because to the Greeks it was important that everyone in the community should know each other.In decision making,the whole body of citizens together would have the necessary knowledge in order generally to reach the right decision,even though the individual might not be particularly qualified to decide.The philosopher Aristotle(384–322 B.C.),who lived at a time when the city-state system was declining,believed that a political entity of 100,000 simply would not be able to govern itself.

This implied that the city-state was based on the idea that citizens were not specialists but had multiple interests and talents—each a so-called jack-of-all-trades who could engage in many areas of life and politics.It implied a respect for the wholeness of life and a consequent dislike of specialization.It implied economic and military self-sufficiency.But with the development of trade and commerce in Alexander’s empire came the growth of cities;it was no longer possible to be a jack-of-all-trades.One now had to specialize,and with specialization came professionalism.There were getting to be too many persons to know;an easily observable community of interests was being replaced by a multiplicity of interests.The city-state was simply too“small-time.”

Third,Greek philosophy was opened up to the philosophy and religion of the East.At the peak of the Greek city-state,religion played an important part.Its gods—such as Zeus,father of the gods,and his wife Hera—were thought of very much as being like human beings but with superhuman abilities.Their worship was linked to the rituals connected with one’s progress through life—birth,marriage,and death—and with invoking protection against danger,making prophecies,and promoting healing,rather than to any code of behavior.Nor was there much of a theory of afterlife.

Even before Alexander’s time,a life spent in the service of their city-state no longer seemed ideal to Greeks.The Athenian philosopher Socrates(470–399 B.C.)was the first person in Greece to propose a morality based on individual conscience rather than the demands of the state,and for this he was accused of not believing in the city’s gods and so corrupting the youth,and he was condemned to death.Greek philosophy—or even a focus on conscience—might complement religion but was no substitute for it,and this made Greeks receptive to the religious systems of the Middle East,even if they never adopted them completely.The combination of the religious instinct of Asia with the philosophic spirit of Greece spread across the world in the era after Alexander’s death,blending the culture of the Middle East with the culture of Greece.

Question 13 of 14

Look at the four squares[■]that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage.Likewise,the collective decision-making process of the open marketplace was no longer practical.Where would the sentence best fit?Click on a square[■]to add the sentence to the passage.

正确答案：D

题目详解

题型分类：插入句子题

题干分析：这句话意思为同样，开放市场的集体决策过程也不再实际，考察句子之间的逻辑。

选项分析：

D选项：根据likewise可以得知，上文已经提出了与开放市场的集体决策过程也不再实际类似的情况。故最后一空最为合适，因为前文第三空前讲到了一种变化，且第三空之后的句子与上一个变化之间逻辑密切，所以最后一空D为正确答案。

A选项：第一个空格前后句子逻辑密切，故不缺信息。

B选项：第二空之后为but转折，与插入句子语境不符，插入句子不需要转折。

C选项：第三空之后的句子与上一个变化之间逻辑密切，故不缺信息。

Question 14 of 14

Directions:An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided below.Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer choices that express the most important ideas in the passage.Some sentences do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are not presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage.This question is worth 2 points.

Alexander the Great’s creation of a vast empire had important consequences for Greece and the conquered areas of southwest Asia.

Answer Choices:

A.

Scholars from Antioch,Alexandria,and other Middle Eastern cultural centers came to Greece to study the Greek language and culture.

B.

The expansion of Alexander’s empire led to the diffusion of Greek language,literature,and thought throughout the Middle East.

C.

Increasing urbanization and the elimination of trade barriers meant the end of the Greek city state and the creation of a much larger political and economic body.

D.

The empire saw the birth of a new culture,merging Greek philosophical ideas with the religious spirit of Asia.

E.

The professionalism and specialization so prized by the ancient Greeks were replaced by a more generalized philosophy of education in the empire.

F.

Religion played an important part in the expansion of the empire,as Alexander introduced Zeus and the other Greek gods to Asia.

正确答案：BCD

题目详解

题型分类：文章总结题

题干分析：选择概括性的正确选项。

选项分析：

B选项：与第二段的大意相近。第二段讲了希腊文明在整个中东的扩张。

C选项：提到了不断增加的城市化和贸易壁垒的消除和更大的政治和经济机构的建立。这是对前四段的总结。第一段讲了亚历山大的举动对帝国占领的地区产生了重要的影响。第二段为首先是希腊文明在整个中东的扩张。第三四段则讲了公民参与到经济和政治中来，故C选项正确。

D选项：是第五段的总结。第五段讲了希腊哲学向东方的哲学和宗教开放。

A选项：意思为来自安提阿、亚历山大和其他中东文化中心的学者来到希腊学习希腊语言和文化。但根据语言和文学可以定位到第二段，可以得出是希腊文明在整个中东的扩张，而不是其他国家的学者主动来学习。与原文相反。

E选项：文中并没有提到专业精神和专业化被取代。与原文无关。

F选项：意思为随着亚历山大将宙斯和其他希腊众神引入亚洲，宗教在帝国的扩张中扮演了重要的角色。前一句话正确，但后一句，亚历山大并没有引入亚洲，只是开放。