托福阅读真题+题目+答案：New Farm Technology and the Horse

托福阅读真题+题目+答案：New Farm Technology and the Horse

During the medieval period in Europe (the fifth to the fifteenth centuries), the horse became important in farming. Farmers in ancient times relied on a team of two oxen to pull a plow and created a yoke so that animals could pull either a plow or a cart. Oxen were among the first animals used as a power source; their use dates to between 4000 and 3000 B.C. Horses, on the other hand, were first harnessed some 2,000 years later. The equipment required to harness oxen was relatively simple: a wooden yoke was placed around the animal’s neck. Here anatomy plays a role in technological development. The spine of an ox is quite bony and the area between the protrusions was a natural location for a yoke. Oxen were then used as side-by-side pairs with the plow attached by a shaft between them. However, horses have greater endurance than oxen and can work on average two hours longer per day. █ As the historian John Langdon points out, the replacement of oxen by horses in farming was a great technological innovation, even though one animal simply replaced another.

1. According to paragraph 1, what was one way in which oxen were less desirable as a source of power than horses were?

A) Oxen have a relatively bony spine.

B) Oxen had to be used as side-by-side pairs.

C) Oxen more quickly been too tired to work.

D) Oxen had to be harnessed using a wooden yoke.

2. 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) An important respect in which horses differ from oxen is that horses have a much longer, more easily constricted neck.

B) The fact that a rigid yoke does not work the same way on horses as on oxen makes it obvious that the two animals are very different.

C) The rigid ox yoke worked effectively only on those oxen that had shorter necks than horses.

D) The rigid ox yoke would not work effectively on horses became of the physical differences in the necks of the two animals.

█Horses are obviously not oxen, and a rigid yoke that worked on an ox would not work with the same effectiveness on a horse; indeed, the ox yoke would constrict the longer neck of a horse. █ Horses have smooth backs and an upright neck that was better exploited by some variety of collar than by a throat-and-girth harness (a harness held in place by one strap circling the neck and another circling the middle of the body). █The drawback with the throat-and-girth harness was that the straps often shifted position as the horse moved and could potentially choke the animal. The invention of the rigid collar solved this problem; it was placed over the horse’s head and rested on its shoulders. This permitted unobstructed breathing and placed the weight of the plow or wagon where the horse could best support it. The new collar was introduced in Europe around the eighth century but the earliest depiction of this innovation is seen in the famed Bayeux Tapestry, created in the eleventh century. There was a steady increase in the number of horses used for farming, and by the fifteenth century horses accounted for around 30 percent of animals used to pull plows and other heavy hauling tasks.

3. The word “potentially” in the passage is closest in meaning to

A) quickly

B) accidentally

C) possibly

D) essentially

4. The word “depiction” in the passage is closest in meaning to

A) recognition

B) illustration

C) benefit

D) product

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