11/17/18年托福阅读真题+题目+答案解析:Crown of Thorns Starfish and Coral Reefs

Crown of Thorns Starfish and Coral Reefs

本片托福阅读真题于2011年11月8日首次考过，2017年11月18日和2018年1月28日又再次重考，具体托福阅读真题如下：

The crown of thorns starfish, Acanthaster Tlanci, is large, twenty-five to thirty-five centimeters in diameter, and has seven to twenty-one arms that are covered in spines. It feeds primarily on coral and is found from the Indian Ocean to the west coast of Central America, usually at quite low population densities. Since the mid-1950s, population outbreaks at densities four to six times greater than normal have occurred at the same time in places such as Hawaii, Tahiti, Panama, and the Great Barrier Reef. The result has often been the loss of a fifty percent to nearly one hundred percent of the coral cover over large areas.

1. According to paragraph 1 all of the following statements about the crown of thorns starfish are true EXCEPT

A、Crown of thorns starfish usually have several arms covered in spines.

B、Crown of thorns starfish's main food is coral.

C、Crown of thorns starfish normally live in high population densities.

D、Crown of thorns starfish have caused a significant reduction in coral cover over large areas.

2. The word "outbreak" in the passage is closest in meaning to

A、brief appearance

B、sudden increase

C、exposure

D、observation
 

A single Acanthaster can consume five to six square meters of coral polyps per year, and dense populations can destroy up to six square kilometers per year and move on rapidly. Acanthasters show a preference for branching corals, especially Acroporids. After an outbreak in a particular area, it is common to find that Acroporids have been selectively removed, leaving a mosaic of living and dead corals. In places where Acroporids previously dominated the community devastation can be almost complete, and local areas of reefs have collapsed.

3. What can be inferred from paragraph 2 about a coral reef that has a small number of Acroporids

A、It will collapse completely after Acanthaster consumes the Acroporids.

B、It will lose the Acroporids before the other corals when Acanthaster attack it.

C、It will have a mixture of living and dead Acroporids after an Acanthaster attack.

D、It will have a dense population of Acanthaster for several years.
 

Areas of dead coral are usually colonized rapidly by algae and often are later colonized by sponges and soft corals. Increases in abundance of plant-eating fish and decreases in abundance of coral-feeding fish accompany these changes. Coral larvae settle among the algae and eventually establish flourishing coral colonies. In ten to fifteen years the reefs often return to about the same percentage of coral cover as before. Development of a four-species diversity takes about twenty years.

4. The word "accompany" in the passage is closest in meaning to

A、occur along with

B、speed up

C、precede

D、end

5. Which of the following is NOT mentioned in paragraph 3 as a consequence of the destruction of an area of a coral by Acanthaster

A、Algae colonize the dead area.

B、Plant-eating fish increase in number.

C、Coral larvae disappear.

D、Species diversity recovers fully over time.


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