『新东方在线托福阅读』为托福考生准备了ETS托福TPO/Official 48 Passage 1阅读练习：The word “constant” in the passage is closest in meaning to真题题目及答案解析，TPO/Official 48 Passage 1阅读原文范文音频翻译

托福TPO/Official 48 Passage 1阅读原文The word “constant” in the passage is closest in meaning to题目答案及解析-新东方托福官方网校手机版

人口的增加通常伴随（实际上是促进了）贸易的增加。

Increases in population have usually been accompanied (indeed facilitated) by an increase in trade.

在西方的经验中，商业为工业化的开始提供了条件，而工业化反过来又促进了科学、技术、工业、交通、通讯、社会变革等领域的发展，我们把这些领域统称为“发展”。

In the Western experience, commerce provided the conditions that allowed industrialization to get started, which in turn led to growth in science, technology, industry, transport, communications, social change, and the like that we group under the broad term of “development.”

然而，欧洲人口的大量增长最初被归因于18世纪开始的工业化，与此同时，中国也出现了人口增长，尽管当时还没有类似的工业化。

However, the massive increase in population that in Europe was at first attributed to industrialization starting in the eighteenth century occurred also and at the same period in China, even though there was no comparable industrialization.

据估计，到1600年，中国人口接近1.5亿。

It is estimated that the Chinese population by 1600 was close to 150 million.

人口数量在明清时期（17世纪）之间的过渡阶段可能有所减少，但是从1741年到1851年，每年的数字稳定而惊人地增长，可能是从1.43亿开始，到4.32亿结束。

The transition between the Ming and Qing dynasties (the seventeenth century) may have seen a decline, but from 1741 to 1851 the annual figures rose steadily and spectacularly, perhaps beginning with 143 million and ending with 432 million.

如果我们接受这些总数，我们就面临一种情况：即从1790年到1840年的50年中，中国人口翻了一番。

If we accept these totals, we are confronted with a situation in which the Chinese population doubled in the 50 years from 1790 to 1840.

如果我们更加谨慎地假设，18世纪初的总人数较低，而且在1850年只有4亿，那么我们仍然面临一个惊人的事实：在这个世纪进行西方交流、对外贸易和工业化之前，中国的人口翻一番这样的事情，本应该产生很大影响。

If, with greater caution, we assume lower totals in the early eighteenth century and only 400 million in 1850, we still face a startling fact: something like a doubling of the vast Chinese population in the century before Western contact, foreign trade, and industrialization could have had much effect.

为了解释这种突然增加，我们不能将其归结于中国社会中持续存在的因素，而必须找到在这一时期新生效的条件或因素的组合。

To explain this sudden increase we cannot point to factors constant in Chinese society but must find conditions or a combination of factors that were newly effective in this period.

其中包括18世纪在满族统治下维持的几乎完整的内部和平。

Among these is the almost complete internal peace maintained under Manchu rule during the eighteenth century.

通过广州（中国南部）的对外贸易也有所增加，帝国的交通也有所改善。

There was also an increase in foreign trade through Guangzhou (southern China) and some improvement of transportation within the empire.

控制疾病，例如通过天花接种抑制天花，可能已经很重要。

Control of disease, like the checking of smallpox by variolation may have been important.

但是最关键的是食物供应的重要性。

But of most critical importance was the food supply.

面对大量不可靠的数据，经济学家们将人口记录与自1368年以来6个世纪的耕地面积和粮食生产总量进行了比较。

Confronted with a multitude of unreliable figures, economists have compared the population records with the aggregate data for cultivated land area and grain production in the six centuries since 1368.

假设1400年中国人口约为8000万，经济学家德怀特·珀金斯得出结论，20世纪60年代中国人口增长到7亿或更多是由于粮食供应的稳步增加，粮食供应在1400年至1800年期间明显增长了五六倍，在1800年至1965年期间又增长了50%。

Assuming that China’s population in 1400 was about 80 million, the economist Dwight Perkins concludes that its growth to 700 million or more in the 1960s was made possible by a steady increase in the grain supply, which evidently grew five or six times between 1400 and 1800 and rose another 50 percent between 1800 and 1965.

粮食供应的增加可能一半归功于耕地面积的增加，特别是中部和西部省份的迁徙和定居，另一半归因于生产力的提高—农民成功地在每单位土地上种植了更多农作物。

This increase of food supply was due perhaps half to the increase of cultivated area, particularly by migration and settlement in the central and western provinces, and half to greater  productivity—the farmers’ success in raising more crops per unit of land.

这一技术进步有多种形式：一种是从南部不断引进较早成熟的水稻品种，这使得双季种植成为可能（每年从一个田地获得两个收成）。

This technological advance took many forms: one was the continual introduction from the south of earlier-ripening varieties of rice, which made possible double-cropping (the production of two harvests per year from one field).

从美洲引进了玉米和红薯，以及花生和烟草等新作物。

New crops such as corn (maize) and sweet potatoes as well as peanuts and tobacco were introduced from the Americas.

举例来说，玉米可以种植在中国北方的干燥土壤和边缘丘陵地带，作为食物，燃料和饲料，其提供的能量约占该地区食物能量的七分之一。

Corn, for instance, can be grown on the dry soil and marginal hill land of North China, where it is used for food, fuel, and fodder and provides something like one-seventh of the food energy available in the area.

红薯生长在沙质土壤中，比其他农作物提供的单位土地食物能量更多，成为华南大部分稻区穷人的主要食物。

The sweet potato, growing in sandy soil and providing more food energy per unit of land than other crops, became the main food of the poor in much of the South China rice area.

农业生产力也通过资本投资得到提高，首先是在灌溉方面。

Productivity in agriculture was also improved by capital investments, first of all in irrigation.

从1400年到1900年，灌溉土地的总面积似乎增加了近三倍。

From 1400 to 1900 the total of irrigated land seems to have increased almost three times.

农业工具、牲畜和肥料也有了增长，更不用说人口增长本身了，人口增长速度是耕地面积增长速度的一半，因此每单位土地上可用的人手的比例也增加了。

There was also a gain in farm tools, draft animals, and fertilizer, to say nothing of the population growth itself, which increased half again as fast as cultivated land area and so increased the ratio of human hands available per unit of land.

因此，人口的增长是由更加集约化的农业支撑的，他们为土地增加了劳动力和肥料。

Thus the rising population was fed by a more intensive agriculture, applying more labor and fertilizer to the land.

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.

The word “attributed” in the passage is closest in meaning to

According to paragraphs 1 and 2, which of the following is true of Chinese population growth between 1741 and 1851?

According to paragraph 2, the estimated population of China in the mid 1700s was around

The word “constant” in the passage is closest in meaning to

Paragraph 3 supports all of the following statements about eighteenth-century Chinese society EXCEPT:

Paragraph 4 answers which of the following questions about China’s population growth between 1400 and 1965?

The word “aggregate” in the passage is closest in meaning to

What can be inferred from paragraph 5 about the introduction of corn and sweet potatoes in China?

The word “ratio” in the passage is closest in meaning to

Which of the following is NOT mentioned in paragraphs 5 and 6 as one of the strategies the Chinese applied in agriculture?

What purpose does paragraph 5 serve in the larger discussion about China’s population growth?

Look at the four squares  that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage. Other developments addressed the problems of dry and sandy areas unsuitable for growing China’s native crops.  Where would the sentence best fit? Click on a square  to add the sentence to the passage.

Directions: An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided below. Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer choices that express the most important ideas in the passage. Some sentences do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are not presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage. This question is worth 2 points.

Chinese Population Growth Increases in population have usually been accompanied (indeed facilitated) by an increase in trade. In the Western experience, commerce provided the conditions that allowed industrialization to get started, which in turn led to growth in science, technology, industry, transport, communications, social change, and the like that we group under the broad term of “development.” However, the massive increase in population that in Europe was at first attributed to industrialization starting in the eighteenth century occurred also and at the same period in China, even though there was no comparable industrialization. It is estimated that the Chinese population by 1600 was close to 150 million. The transition between the Ming and Qing dynasties (the seventeenth century) may have seen a decline, but from 1741 to 1851 the annual figures rose steadily and spectacularly, perhaps beginning with 143 million and ending with 432 million. If we accept these totals, we are confronted with a situation in which the Chinese population doubled in the 50 years from 1790 to 1840. If, with greater caution, we assume lower totals in the early eighteenth century and only 400 million in 1850, we still face a startling fact: something like a doubling of the vast Chinese population in the century before Western contact, foreign trade, and industrialization could have had much effect. To explain this sudden increase we cannot point to factors constant in Chinese society but must find conditions or a combination of factors that were newly effective in this period. Among these is the almost complete internal peace maintained under Manchu rule during the eighteenth century. There was also an increase in foreign trade through Guangzhou (southern China) and some improvement of transportation within the empire. Control of disease, like the checking of smallpox by variolation may have been important. But of most critical importance was the food supply. Confronted with a multitude of unreliable figures, economists have compared the population records with the aggregate data for cultivated land area and grain production in the six centuries since 1368. Assuming that China’s population in 1400 was about 80 million, the economist Dwight Perkins concludes that its growth to 700 million or more in the 1960s was made possible by a steady increase in the grain supply, which evidently grew five or six times between 1400 and 1800 and rose another 50 percent between 1800 and 1965. This increase of food supply was due perhaps half to the increase of cultivated area, particularly by migration and settlement in the central and western provinces, and half to greater productivity—the farmers’ success in raising more crops per unit of land. This technological advance took many forms: one was the continual introduction from the south of earlier-ripening varieties of rice, which made possible double-cropping (the production of two harvests per year from one field).  New crops such as corn (maize) and sweet potatoes as well as peanuts and tobacco were introduced from the Americas.  Corn, for instance, can be grown on the dry soil and marginal hill land of North China, where it is used for food, fuel, and fodder and provides something like one-seventh of the food energy available in the area.  The sweet potato, growing in sandy soil and providing more food energy per unit of land than other crops, became the main food of the poor in much of the South China rice area.  Productivity in agriculture was also improved by capital investments, first of all in irrigation. From 1400 to 1900 the total of irrigated land seems to have increased almost three times. There was also a gain in farm tools, draft animals, and fertilizer, to say nothing of the population growth itself, which increased half again as fast as cultivated land area and so increased the ratio of human hands available per unit of land. Thus the rising population was fed by a more intensive agriculture, applying more labor and fertilizer to the land.