托福綜合寫作(Integrated Writing)長期以來都是托福考試的難點之一，全面考察考生快速閱讀、聽取關鍵信息和原文復述的能力。由于閱讀和聽力實力較弱導致綜合寫作失分嚴重，想要提升卻不得其法。從傳統備考思路看提升閱讀和聽力固然沒錯，但如何在有限的時間內加強針對性、高效提分才是關鍵。下面就為大家帶來托福綜合寫作的閱讀材料，希望在練習中能不斷提升大家的托福綜合寫作能力。

托福綜合寫作閱讀材料：

As early as the twelfth century A.D., thesettlements of Chaco Canyon in New Mexico in the American Southwest werenotable for their “great houses,” massive stone buildings that contain hundredsof rooms and often stand three or four stories high. Archaeologists have beentrying to determine how the buildings were used. While there is still nouniversally agreed upon explanation, there are three competing theories.

早在12世紀，美國西南部墨西哥地區查科峽谷的居民就以他們的“巨屋”而聞名。這種石質材料建成的“巨屋”包好有數百個房間，而且通常有三到四層高。很多考古學家都試圖解釋這些建筑的用途。盡管業界尚未達成一致，但現在有三個比較有競爭力的理論。

One theory holds that the Chaco structureswere purely residential, with each housing hundreds of people. Supporters ofthis theory have interpreted Chaco great houses as earlier versions of the architectureseen in more recent Southwest societies. In particular, the Chaco houses appearstrikingly similar to the large, well-known “apartment buildings” at Taos, NewMexico, in which many people have been living for centuries.

一個理論認為這些巨屋是單純用來居住的，每個可以容納數百人。持有這種理論的人解釋說查科巨屋同時間較近的一些西南族群早期建筑的雛形。尤其值得一提的是，查科的這些建筑同新墨西哥陶斯鎮著名的“寓所式建筑”非常相似。這些寓所式建筑供很多人居住了數個世紀。

A second theory contends that the Chacostructures were used to store food supplies. One of the main crops of the Chacopeople was grain maize, which could be stored for long periods of time withoutspoiling and could serve as long-lasting supply of food. The supplies of maizehad to be stored somewhere, and the size of the great houses would make themvery suitable for the purpose.

第二個理論認為查科建筑是用來儲存食物的。查科人的主食之一是玉米。玉米可以不宜變質，可長期儲存，因此可以作為長期的食物來源。這些玉米一定是要儲存在某個地方的。而巨屋的規模非常適合作為儲存地。

A third theory proposes that houses wereused as ceremonial centers. Close to one house, called Pueblo Alto,archaeologists identified an enormous mound formed by a pile of old material. Excavationsof the mound revealed deposits containing a surprisingly large number of brokenpots. This finding has been interpreted as evidence that people gathered atPueblo Alto for special ceremonies. At the ceremonies, they ate festive mealsand then discarded the pots in which the meals had been prepared or served.Such ceremonies have been documented for other Native American cultures.

第三個理論認為這些房屋是用來作祭司中心的。離一個巨屋不遠的地方有個阿爾托村莊，考古學家在那里發現了一個由古代材料堆積成的山包。對這個山包挖掘后發現了大量破碎罐子。這個發現佐證了人們聚集到巨屋是為了某種祭祀。在祭祀中他們使用節日佳肴，然后把做飯和盛食物的器皿拋棄。而這樣的祭祀活動在其他美洲土著文化中有所記載。

托福綜合寫作閱讀部分需要提取的觀點是：

這篇文章從結構和內容上看，都比較和諧。但是，考古學的內容可能比較陌生，但是，更多是心理戰的成分。

- Main point: 查科峽谷巨屋的用途

- Sub point 1:居住

- Sub point 2:儲存玉米

- Sub point 3:祭祀

托福綜合寫作聽力觀點：

在聽力部分，我們可以預測到的就是這三個理論都不成立，那么究竟是什么原因不成立呢?我們來聽聽：

Unfortunately none of the arguments aboutwhat the Chaco great houses were used for is convincing.

很遺憾，關于查科峽谷巨屋用途的三個理論，都不具有說服力。

First, sure, from the outside, the greathouses look like later and Native American apartment buildings. But the insideof the great houses casts serious doubt on the idea that many people lived there.I’ll explain. If hundreds of people were living in the great houses, then therewould have to be many fireplaces, where each family did its daily cooking, butthere are very few fireplaces. In one of the largest great houses, there werefireplaces for only around ten families. Yet there were enough rooms in thegreat house for more than a hundred families, so the primary function of the housescouldn’t have been residential.

首先，當然從外部卡萊，這些巨屋同之后出現的美洲土著居住建筑很相似。但是巨屋的內部構造卻反駁著居住說觀點。我來解釋一下。如果真有數百人居住與此，那么一定有很多灶火坑以便每家都可以用來做飯。但事實上巨屋里只有很少很少的灶火坑。在其中最大的一個巨屋里，存在的灶火坑只夠十家人使用。然而，存在的空間卻可以供一百家人居住。所以，巨屋的主要功能不可能是居住。

Second, the idea that the great houses wereused to store grain maize is unsupported by evidence. It may sound plausiblethat large empty rooms were used for storage, but excavations of the great houseshave not uncovered manytraces of maize or maize containers. If the great houseswere used for storage, why isn’t there more spilled maize on the floor? Whyaren’t there more remains of big containers?

第二，證據也不支持巨屋用來儲存玉米的說法。巨大的空屋子用來儲存物品，這樣的說法聽起來挺合理的。但是對巨屋挖掘后卻沒有發現太多的玉米以及容器的痕跡。如果巨屋真的是用來儲存的，為什么沒有在地上發現更多的散落的玉米呢?為什么沒有更多大號容器的痕跡呢?

Third, the idea that the great houses wereceremonial centers isn’t well supported either. You know that mound at PuebloAlto? It contains lots of other materials besides broken pots, stuff you wouldn’texpect from ceremonies. For example, there are large quantities of buildingmaterials, sands, stones, even construction tools. This suggests that the moundis just a trash heap of construction material, stuff that was thrown away ornot used up when a house was being built. The pots in the pile could be regulartrash too, leftover from the meals of the construction workers. So the PuebloAlto mound is not good evidence that the great houses were used for special ceremonies.

第三，祭祀中心的說法同樣也站不住腳。大家知道阿爾托村莊嗎?在那里，除了破碎罐子之外還有很多發現，這這些東西是不會出現在祭祀中的。比如，有很多建筑材料、沙子、石頭還有建筑工具。這說明這個山包知識一個建筑材料垃圾堆，都是一些用后拋棄或者在建筑過程中沒有用完的材料。這些罐子也是屬于垃圾，是建筑工人吃飯的容器。所以，阿爾托村莊的這個山包不能作為證據支持祭祀說。

托福綜合寫作聽力筆記：

Main point: none, convincing

Sub point one: fireplaces, ten families, ahundred families

Sub point two: not, maize, containers

Sub point three: would not for ceremonies,trash, meals

本篇范文可以借鑒的模板

The author of the reading passage proposesthree theories as likely explanations of__________.

The lecturer, however, points to theinaccuracies in each of these theories.

The lecturer argues that_________________.The reading, however, ____________ in support of

the__________ theory.

The second theory, that ________________,is also rejected by the lecturer. He explains that

___________________. This proves that the“________ theory” is unlikely.

Finally, regarding the third theory, the“_______ theory”, the lecturer contends that__________.

He argues that___________________.

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