090911NA及相关背景阅读（备考五月必读）

2009年9月11日北美托福机经阅读：

只记得三篇了，一篇中国为什么会出现集权制的原因，三个原因。
加试1：美国还是欧洲（记得不是很清楚了）城镇的发展，
加试2：是动物的站岗放哨的原因假设，一共有三个原因假设。

2009年9月11日北美托福机经听力：

1 学生关于定制t-恤的事情，由于颜色不记得了，所以会回来重新找管理人员，其间和管理人员聊天，谈了这次定制t恤的原因，吸引别人来关注他们的专业。
2 cabon dating的方法估测地震的发生（不确定时是只关注地震还是也关注其他的预测，听的时候注意了，有一题考到这个问题）
3 关于communication的意义，企业应该怎样有效利用沟通减少风险。
4 用什么方法追踪鸟类迁徙是吃什么和什么时候吃的问题
5学生想说服老师同意自己做一个课题并帮助自己申请实验室作研究，老师认为他选的课题太深，是研究生的课题，并且说实验室不给本科生用，但是后来同意他做这个项目并且答应帮忙看看能不能用实验室，但是让他别抱太大希望。

2009年9月11日北美托福机经口语：

1describe one way of life in your country has been changed and why it is beneficial

2 做事是喜欢刚开始就准备还是到了due day才开始准备，原因

3关于学校要求新生参加学习小组的通知，学校认为这样做有两个好处：
<1>帮助学生掌握学习技巧
<2>让学生结交新的朋友
女生不同意，认为
<1> 很多学生已经知道怎么样学习，这样做会浪费时间
<2>学生都是在一个教室上课，迟早会认识成为朋友的，不需要通过在图书馆加入学习小组认识新的朋友

4 动物都有maitain自己的方法，有的时候保持同一个size防止外部威胁,有的时候adjust size获取资源，然后听力里给了大猩猩的例子，他们晚上睡觉的时候都是100个左右在一起，规模基本很稳定，防止别的动物攻击，但是白天觅食的时候会分成小规模去不同的地方。

5男生因为搬家伤了后背，所以想换个工作，原来是在书店搬运重物到书架。现在有两个选择，一个是继续留在书店，当收银员，但是会合他的study meeting时间上有冲突，另一个选择是去cafeteria洗盘子，但是钱少。

6社会的稳定性有两种形式形成，一是人们从事同一个种类的工作，这样大家有共同的作息时间，共同的关注点等；另一个是从事不同种类的工作，做出不同的贡献，人们相互依赖，从而形成稳定性。

2009年9月11日北美托福机经写作

综合写作

希腊时期传说的一个什么garden不可能存在，给出三个原因，听力中那个人一一反驳这些观点，很清楚，不难。

独立写作：

it is only worth watching movies that can teach us something about real life,agree or disagree.

以下为相关阅读内容：

相关阅读1：动物放哨

The co-operative mongoose, long held as a prime example of heroic altruism in the animal kingdom, is a selfish as the next beast, a study has revealed.

Standing guard just gives it more time to save its own skin.

The discovery could lead to a better understanding of how humans succeeded in learning to look after one another.

Mutual benefit

Why some creatures risk their lives for the benefit of others is a puzzle for scientists, because it contradicts an animal’s instinct for survival.

Feeding meerkats are vulnerable to attack

Meerkats are often seen doing guard duty while others in their group forage for beetles and larvae in the dusty earth. Scientists thought the guards did this because they benefited from a lookout when they themselves came to feed.

But research in South Africa has shown this is not true.

If the meerkats’ behaviour was truly altruistic, the scientists reasoned, then:

• Guards should be more likely to be killed
• There would be a rota of guard duty among the animals
• Meerkats living alone would not do guard duty

However, the scientists from the UK and South Africa saw that none of these things actually happened, after watching 18 different groups of meerkats in the Kalahari Gemsbok Park, SA.

London’s police used meerkat images in their neighbourhood watch scheme

Not one meerkat guard was attacked by a predator in 2,000 hours of observation.

They did sound an alarm upon spotting an eagle or jackal, but they were also the first to dash into a nearby burrow. Standing guard gives a meerkat extra time for saving its own skin.

The team also saw that the animals would only stand guard when they were not hungry and when no other meerkat was already on watch. There was no fixed rota of duty.

Human kindness

Professor Timothy Clutton-Brock, from Cambridge University, led the research and says it may explain some aspects of human behaviour too.

“It may provide a potential explanation for the evolution of co-operation behaviour between unrelated individuals and of course the animal which has the most elaborate forms of co-operation is man,” he says.

“So possibly this general approach to animal behaviour will in the very long run provide some additional links between the evolution of human co-operation and the distribution of co-operation in animals.”

The research is published in the journal Science.