托福阅读常考话题及练习题推荐二：农业（3）

1托福阅读常考话题：农业练习题

Paragraph 5: The Dutch battle against the sea is legendary. Noorderkwartier in Holland, with its numerous lakes and stretches of water, was particularly suitable for land reclamation and one of the biggest projects undertaken there was the draining of the Beemster lake which began in 1608. The richest merchants in Amsterdam contributed money to reclaim a good 7,100 hectares of land. Forty-three windmills powered the drainage pumps so that they were able to lease the reclamation to farmers as early as 1612, with the investors receiving annual leasing payments at an interest rate of 17 percent. Land reclamation continued, and between 1590 and 1665, almost 100,000 hectares were reclaimed from the wetland areas of Holland, Zeeland, and Friesland. However, land reclamation decreased significantly after the middle of the seventeenth century because the price of agricultural products began to fall, making land reclamation far less profitable in the second part of the century.

8. The word “they” in the passage refers to

A. merchants

B. hectares

C. windmills

D. drainage pumps

9. According to paragraph 5, which of the following was an important reason why land-reclamation projects in the first half of the seventeenth century proceeded rapidly?

A. Windmills became powerful enough to run drainage pumps efficiently.

B. Merchants invested large amounts of money in reclamation.

C. High interest rates discouraged people from buying land already available.

D. Reclaimed land was much more suitable for agriculture than the existing land.

10. The word “legendary” in the passage is closest in meaning to

A. continuous

B. well documented

C. famous

D. expensive

Paragraph 6: Dutch agriculture was finally affected by the general agricultural crisis in Europe during the last two decades of the seventeenth century. However, what is astonishing about this is not that Dutch agriculture was affected by critical phenomena such as a decrease in sales and production, but the fact that the crisis appeared only relatively late in Dutch agriculture. In Europe as a whole, the exceptional reduction in the population and the related fall in demand for grain since the beginning of the seventeenth century had caused the price of agricultural products to fall. Dutch peasants were able to remain unaffected by this crisis for a long time because they had specialized in dairy farming industrial crops, and horticulture. However, toward the end of the seventeenth century, they too were overtaken by the general agricultural crisis.

11. The word “astonishing” in the passage is closest in meaning to

A. incredible

B. Unfortunate

C. predicted

D. evident

12. Which of the following best describes the organization of the passage?

A. A presentation of a theory and the evidence in favor of it

B. A general statement followed by examples and relevant details

C. A analysis of a problem and its solution

D. A series of statements leading to a conclusion

Paragraph 3: In addition to dairy farming and cultivating industrial crops, a third sector of the Dutch economy reflected the way in which agriculture was being modernized-horticulture. ■ In the sixteenth century, fruit and vegetables were to be found only in gardens belonging to wealthy people. ■This changed in the early part of the seventeenth century when horticulture became accepted as an agricultural sector. ■Whole villages began to cultivate fruit and vegetables. ■The produce was then transported by water to markets in the cities, where the consumption of fruit and vegetables was no longer restricted to the wealthy.

13. Look at the four squares [■] that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage. Where would the sentence best fit?

Some villages specialized in growing cabbages and carrots; others grew onions, mustard, and coriander; and still others produced fruit and cultivated trees in nurseries.

14. 【Direction】An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provides below. Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer choices that express the most important ideas in the passage. Some sentences presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage. This question is worth 2 points.Agriculture formed one of the primary sectors of the economy in seventeenth-century Netherlands.

Answer Choices

A. The Baltic region produced large quantities of grain for export to other regions, including the Netherlands.

B. The richest people grew enough fruits and vegetables to supply the entire country with fresh produce.

C. An agricultural crisis that began in Europe did not affect Dutch land-reclamation projects.

D. Specialization in dairy farming, industrial crops, and horticulture allowed the Dutch to be more productive than some other regions in Europe.

E. Land reclamation and improvement allowed the Dutch to meet demands for their agricultural products.

F. Because the Dutch had specialized their agricultural output they were less susceptible to the crisis that Europe experienced from the beginning of the century.