2019年8月10日托福阅读真题+题目+答案：The Roman Road System of Britain

2019年8月10日托福阅读真题+题目+答案：The Roman Road System of Britain

During its occupation of Britain (A.D. 43-410), the Roman Empire built an extensive network of roads. The Roman government recognized four categories of roads ranging in order from the most important to the least: public roads funded by the state: military roads built at the army’s expense but also used by the public; local roads on which less engineering effort was expended; and private roads that were built and maintained by their owners. The latter two categories encompassed roads and tracks of varying quality. Before the Romans built roads, the ancient trackways of Britain had followed the natural terrain, seeking the easiest ground to traverse. Such tracks often detoured around marshy areas, hills, or ravines. Romans did not like to waste effort building long, meandering roads, so they ignored the older routes, preferring instead to move in the straightest line possible except where major obstacles in the landscape left no choice. Since Roman roads usually connected such new places of military importance as forts, towns, and administrative centers, the old trackways often did not take the desired direction. There were a few exceptions. Silchester was one of the pre-Roman centers of British activity reused by the Romans. There, the old native roads connected to the new road system.

Laying roads the shortest distance by going through obstacles required a great investment of labor. If a hill stood in the way, earth was hauled away until the land was leveled. If a wetland needed to be crossed, earth was moved in to build a causeway (raised road). Construction was systematic. A dependable road required a solid foundation. Roman roads were constructed with thick layers of tightly packed stones and gravel sorted for size. The larger stones formed the bottom layer, while layers of progressively smaller gravel filled in and leveled the roadbed. The final 。。。。。。。。。。余下托福阅读真题省略！

1.According to paragraph 1, Romans usually preferred to build their own roads rather than use Britain’s ancient roads for which of the following reasons?

A Ancient British roads were often privately owned and were maintained by their owners.

B Ancient British roads often went through land that was too marshy or hilly.

C Ancient British roads usually did not follow the most direct route from place to place.

D Ancient British roads connected towns and administrative centers but not military forts.

2.According to paragraph 1, Silchester is an example of an area where

A ancient British roadways met the needs of the Romans

B the Romans built a new road system to replace the old native roads

C Roman roads connected new places of military importance

D major obstacles in the landscape forced the Romans to construct meandering roads

3.Why does the author point out that “If a wetland needed to be crossed; earth was moved in to build a causeway (raised road)”?

A To indicate that land in Britain at that time was not suitable for extensive road construction

B To explain how Romans made roads dependable

C To demonstrate how skilled the Romans were at building roads

D To illustrate how much work was needed to build roads along the most direct route

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