1997年10月托福考试阅读理解全真试题
When the Continental Congress fled there from Philadelphia in 1776， it commissioned Ms. Goddard to print the first official version of the Declaration of Independence in January 1777. After printing the documents， she herself paid the post riders to deliver the Declaration throughout the colonies.
During the American Revolution， Mary Goddard continued to publish Baltimore s only newspaper， which one historian claimed was "second to none among the colonies". She was also the city s postmaster from 1775 to 1789 - appointed by Benjamin Franklin - and is considered to be the first woman to hold a federal position.
32.With which of the following subjects is the passage mainly concerned？
（A） The accomplishments of a female publisher
（B） The weakness of the newspaper industry
（C） The rights of a female publisher
（D） The publishing system in colonial America
33.Mary Goddard s name appears on the Declaration of Independence because
（A） she helped write the original document
（B） she published the document
（C） she paid to have the document printed
（D） her brother was in prison
34.The word "heralded" in line 7 is closest in meaning to
（A） influenced
（B） announced
（C） rejected
（D） ignored
35.According to the passage， Mary Goddard first became involved in publishing when she
（A） was appointed by Benjamin Franklin
（B） signed the Declaration of Independence.
（C） took over her brother s printing shop
（D） moved to Baltimore
36.The word "there" in line 23 refers to
（A） the colonies
（B） the print shop
（C） Baltimore
（D） Providence
37.It can be inferred from the passage that Mary Goddard was
（A） an accomplished businesswoman
（B） extremely wealthy
（C） a member of the Continental Congress
（D） a famous writer
38.The word "position" in line 33 is closest in meaning to
（A） job
（B） election
（C） document
（D） location
Question 39-50
Galaxies are the major building blocks of the universe. A galaxy is giant family of many millions of stars， and it is held together by its own gravitational field. Most of the material universe is organized into galaxies of stars together with gas and dust.
There are three main types of galaxy： spiral， elliptical，and irregular. The Milky Way is a spiral galaxy， a flattish disc of stars with two spiral arms emerging from its central nucleus. About one-quarter of all galaxies have this shape. Spiral galaxies are well supplied with the interstellar gas in which new stars form： as the rotating spiral pattern sweeps around the galaxy it compresses gas and dust， triggering the formation of bright young stars and in its arms. The elliptical galaxies have a symmetrical elliptical or spheroidal shape with no obvious structure. Most of their member stars are very old and since ellipticals are devoid of interstellar gas， no new stars are forming in them. The biggest and brightest galaxies in the universe are ellipticals with masses of about 1013 times that of the Sun，these giants may frequently be sources of strong radio emission， in which case they are called radio galaxies. About two- thirds of all galaxies are elliptical. Irregular galaxies comprise about one-tenth of all galaxies and they come in many subclasses.
Measurement in space is quite different from measure- ment on Earth. Some terrestrial distances can be expressed as intervals of time， the time to fly from one continent to another or the time it takes to drive to work， for example. By comparison with these familiar yardsticks， the distances to the galaxies are incomprehensibly large， but they too are made more manageable by using a time calibration， in this case the distance that light travels in one year. On such a scale the nearest giant spiral galaxy， the Andromeda galaxy， is two million light years away. The most distant luminous objects seen by telescopes are probably ten thousand million light years away. Their light was already halfway here before the Earth even formed. The light from the nearby Virgo galaxy set out when reptiles still dominated the animal world.
39.The word "major" in line 1 is closest in meaning to
（A） intense
（B） principal
（C） huge