托福阅读历年真题精选1

2002年1月

Questions 1-9

In 1903 the members of the governing board of the University of Washington. in

Seattle. engaged a firm of landscape architects, specialists in the design of outdoor

environments--OImsted Brothers of Brookline, Massachusetts-to advise them on an

Line appropriate layout for the university grounds. The plan impressed the university officials,

(5)  and in time many of its recommendations were implemented. City officials in Seattle, the largest city in the northwestern United States, were also impressed, for they employed the same organization to study Seattle's public park needs. John Olmsted did the investigation

and subsequent report on Seattle's parks. He and his brothers believed that parks should

be adapted to the local topography, utilize the area's trees and shrubs, and be available to

(10) the entire community. They especially emphasized the need for natural, serene settings

where hurried urban dwellers could periodically escape from the city. The essence of the

Olmsted park plan was to develop a continuous driveway, twenty miles long, that would

tie together a whole series of parks, playgrounds, and parkways. There would be local

parks and squares, too, but all of this was meant to supplement the major driveway,

(15) which was to remain the unifying factor for the entire system.

In November of 1903 the city council of Seattle adopted the Olmsted Report, and

it automatically became the master plan for the city's park system. Prior to this report,

Seattle's park development was very limited and funding meager. All this changed

after the report. Between 1907 and 1913, city voters approved special funding measures

(20) amounting to $4,000,000. With such unparalleled sums at their disposal, with the Olmsted guidelines to follow, and with the added incentive of wanting to have the city at its best for the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition of 1909, the Parks Board bought aggressively.

By 1913 Seattle had 25 parks amounting to 1,400 acres, as well as 400 acres in

playgrounds, pathways, boulevards, and triangles. More lands would be added in the

(25) future, but for all practical purposes it was the great land surge of 1907-1913 that

established Seattle's park system.

1. What does the passage mainly discuss?

(A) The planned development of Seattle's public park system

(B) The organization of the Seattle city government

(C) The history of the OImsted Brothers architectural firm

(D) The design and building of the University of Washington campus

2. The word "engaged" in line 2 is closest in meaning to

(A) trained

(B) hired

(C) described

(D) evaluated