1、托福真题 2009 年 1 月 10 日及答案解析(总分：30.00，做题时间：90 分钟)一、BSPEAKING/B(总题数：6，分数：30.00)1.Which of the following features do you think is the most important in friendship: honesty, loyalty or humor? Please include specific examples and details in your explanation.（分数：5.00）_2.Some people get most of their news fr
2、om newspapers and magazines. Others get information from TV or other media. Which source of news do you prefer and why?（分数：5.00）_3.New Housing PolicyThe university administrators have decided to require all undergraduates to live on campus. This is because many beds have been vacated since senior st
3、udents have moved out of the campus. Demanding all undergraduates to live on campus can help increase the schools income. On the other hand, school activities will become more accessible if students could live on campus. If approved by a vote of the administration, the new requirement will become ef
4、fective in the fal semester.Question: The woman expresses her opinion towards the universitys decision to require all students to live on campus. State her opinion and explain the reasons she gives for holding that opinion.（分数：5.00）_4.Sampling ErrorOften, students or employees will be asked to draw
5、a conclusion from a huge amount of data. Thats when a sample is introduced. When a sample is accurate, it can represent the whole group. But when it is wrong, sampling error would occur. In statistics, sampling error or estimation error is caused by observing a single sample instead of the whole pop
6、ulation. Sampling error can be found by subtracting the value of a parameter from the value of a statistic. Generally, there are two methods of reducing sampling error: increasing the sample size, and ensuring that the sample can adequately represent the entire population.Question: The professor use
7、s one experiment to illustrate the definition of “sampling error“. Explain how this example is related to the reading passage.（分数：5.00）_5.Question: Briefly summarize the problem and two possible solutions. Then state which solution you recommend and explain why.（分数：5.00）_6.Question: summarize the le
8、cture and explain the difference of mental ability between mother mammals and non-mother mammals.（分数：5.00）_托福真题 2009 年 1 月 10 日答案解析(总分：30.00，做题时间：90 分钟)一、BSPEAKING/B(总题数：6，分数：30.00)1.Which of the following features do you think is the most important in friendship: honesty, loyalty or humor? Please i
9、nclude specific examples and details in your explanation.（分数：5.00）_正确答案：()解析：I think the most important quality in friendship is loyalty. Loyalty means always being honest to your friends and staying right beside them when they feel down. Id love to talk about Tom. Weve been good friends since we we
10、re kids. Once I forgot to bring my lunch to school, Tom immediately took out his lunch and gave it to me. Besides, he is always the first one to point out my weakness directly. Thanks to his straightforwardness, I made quite a progress. I really appreciate his loyalty and treat him as my lifelong fr
11、iend.2.Some people get most of their news from newspapers and magazines. Others get information from TV or other media. Which source of news do you prefer and why?（分数：5.00）_正确答案：()解析：Compared to media such as newspapers and magazines, I prefer to watch news from TV. For one thing, it is very conveni
12、ent to obtain the latest information from TV. Once you possess a TV set, you could simply turn it on whenever you want to get the information you need. If you tempt to know news from other parts of the world, all you need to do is to turn to the world news channel. Also, TV can report the latest and
13、 even live events. When the 27th Olympic Games took place in Sydney, I was able to see the events at the same time as people in Sydney, even without being there. However, newspapers and magazines cant provide things like that.3.New Housing PolicyThe university administrators have decided to require
14、all undergraduates to live on campus. This is because many beds have been vacated since senior students have moved out of the campus. Demanding all undergraduates to live on campus can help increase the schools income. On the other hand, school activities will become more accessible if students coul
15、d live on campus. If approved by a vote of the administration, the new requirement will become effective in the fal semester.Question: The woman expresses her opinion towards the universitys decision to require all students to live on campus. State her opinion and explain the reasons she gives for h
16、olding that opinion.（分数：5.00）_正确答案：()解析：The school decides to require all the undergraduate students to live on campus. The woman strongly disapproves the decision. The first reason is she thinks that less and less students will choose to study at this university because the students will lose their
17、 freedom to choose where to live, which will bring less income than before. Second, the reason why few students attend university activities is that those activities are boring, but not that students are living outside the school. Thus, the woman suggests the school invest more money on university a
18、ctivities to deal with the problem directly. 听力原文 W: Can you believe this? The university authority is forcing us to live on campus. I just cant stand it. M: Well, they claim that they can increase school income through collecting dormitory fees from students. W: No way. We all know that students sh
19、ould have their own rights to choose where to live. If students are forced to do something, less and less students will choose to study here because they want the right to control their own lives, like where to eat or where to live. And that will bring no more benefits to the university. M: Hmm. I d
20、idnt know that. The university also said that more students would join in school activities if they live on campus. W: The main reason for the lack of participants is not that we do not live on campus; it is just because the university activities are too boring. Making students live on campus cannot
21、 make them more interested in those simple activities. The university authority should increase the investment to make the form of activities more enjoyable and more entertaining. Otherwise, nothings gonna be better.4.Sampling ErrorOften, students or employees will be asked to draw a conclusion from
22、 a huge amount of data. Thats when a sample is introduced. When a sample is accurate, it can represent the whole group. But when it is wrong, sampling error would occur. In statistics, sampling error or estimation error is caused by observing a single sample instead of the whole population. Sampling
23、 error can be found by subtracting the value of a parameter from the value of a statistic. Generally, there are two methods of reducing sampling error: increasing the sample size, and ensuring that the sample can adequately represent the entire population.Question: The professor uses one experiment
24、to illustrate the definition of “sampling error“. Explain how this example is related to the reading passage.（分数：5.00）_正确答案：()解析：The passage talks about a statistics term “sampling error“, which is caused by observing a single sample instead of the whole population. If the sample is inaccurate, samp
25、ling error might appear. The lecture cited one experiment to illustrate the term. A researcher intended to conduct an experiment to calculate the amount of fish of different sizes in one pond. The researcher scooped out one net of fish to be his statistic sample. To his surprise, there were only big
26、 fish and middle-sized fish in his net. Finally, he figured out that small fish had already escaped from his big-mesh fishing net. 听力原文 M: Well, so you may have ideas of sampling error now. As what we just learned, the accuracy of the sample has an influence on the analysis of the whole group. If th
27、e sample is inaccurate, sampling error might appear. A researcher conducted an experiment to calculate the amount of fish of different sizes - big fish, middle-sized fish and small fish. Because it was impossible to calculate every fish in the pond, the researcher just scooped out the fish with a fi
28、shing net and obtained one net of fish as his statistic samples. It turned out that there were only big fish and middle-sized fish in his net, which made him wonder why there werent any small fish in the pond. After observing that some small fish did exist in the pond, he started to search why he co
29、uld not obtain one sample of small fish. Finally, he figured out that this was because small fish had escaped from his big-mesh net. You see, ineffective research tools can cause sampling errors during our statistics studies.5.Question: Briefly summarize the problem and two possible solutions. Then
30、state which solution you recommend and explain why.（分数：5.00）_正确答案：()解析：The woman was worried about the seminar to be held the next day. The professor they had invited just called to inform he would not be there and the woman had no idea how to handle the accident. The man offered two solutions: one
31、was to invite another professor and the other was to play some videos. If I were the woman bothered with the problem, I would try to contact Professor Johnson, who has done some researches in the same field. I fully believe that he would understand me and agree to come. In contrast, the video sessio
32、n will disappoint the students because it will be boring and no interaction can be done without the presence of a professor. 听力原文 M: Hows everything going on? Have you got prepared for our tomorrows seminar? W: I have done everything for the preparation; however, I was just informed that Professor M
33、iller wouldnt come to the class tomorrow. Im a little pissed about that. M: Professor Miller? I heard that hes quite accomplished. W: Yeah, I know. I think it is unfair to give us such short notice. Now we dont have any ideas as for how to kill the time, and some students will be very disappointed f
34、or coming in vain. M: Hmm . thats too bad. But do you know Pro. Johnson? He is from a local university. I know he have done some researches on Lake Environment before. I think hes good and he should be happy to come as long as he is available. W: Are you sure that he can come tomorrow? Is it possibl
35、e to inform him at the last minute? M: Well, theres another solution; maybe you can play some video lectures on Lake Environment in class, and that will also be informative. W: It is a not-bad idea, but Im afraid that the students would be upset. It will be quite different from listening to one prof
36、essors lecture on the scene, and without those interactions with the professor; it will be really boring.6.Question: summarize the lecture and explain the difference of mental ability between mother mammals and non-mother mammals.（分数：5.00）_正确答案：()解析：The lecture talks about a comparison between the m
37、ental ability of mother mammals and non-mother mammals. Researchers in the US conducted an experiment to test the difference of mental ability between mother rats and non-mother rats. The rats were forced to find the target food and mother rats turned out to have better memory and made fewer mistake
38、s. Another study found that female primates with offspring have better spatial abilities than those without kids. Scientists concluded that the mental ability of human females would also develop in similar condition. This is against the popular saying that pregnant women are not as smart as other wo
39、men. 听力原文 W: Researchers in the US found that on contrary to the popular view that having children would reduce a womans brainpower, it actually can improve her lifelong mental ability. Researches show that mother animals are supposed to have a relatively stronger mental ability than non-mother anim
40、als. An experiment was conducted to test this theory. The research was carried out by Dr. Craig Kinsley, professor of Neuroscience at the University of Richmond, Virginia. A group of mother rats and a group of non-mother rats were set into a maze to find out the only way to the food at the end. It t
41、urned out that mother rats had a stronger memory, and they did not repeat turns or make mistakes on the way. In addition, they were faster than non-mother rats. The researchers also studied primates and compared the brains and skills of females with and without offspring. The study found that female
42、s with offspring were braver: they could find food up to five times more quickly, and they had better spatial ability than those without offspring. Although most studies like this one are done on animals, said Kinsley, its likely that human females would also have similar benefits because the same regions of the brain are used in maternal behaviors.
