老托福阅读试题的核心价值，在于老托阅读是最贴进去试题的阅读思维方式。

　　而托福阅读的思维方式就是托福阅读的出题方式，只有掌握了这种思维方式，才有可能在做题之前，预测到新托福阅读题的出题形式和特点，为找答案节省时间。

　　而且老托福阅读试题比新托福IBT阅读文章要短，比较容易适应。这也是大家在复习准备托福阅读的时候非常重要的一点。因为前期的入手如果能从容易的开始，就会形成一个循序渐进的过程方式，让大家的练习有一个提高的过程，给大家时间。

　　既然老托福阅读试题有这样的效果，那我们如何利用那有限的试题来达到锻炼自己的目的呢?事实上这就一个办法，就是坚持。

　　新东方网每日推荐一篇老托福阅读的试题，附有原文及答案，本期：PASSAGE 42，希望对托福考生备考有所帮助。

　　Railroads reshaped the North American environment and reoriented North American behavior. "In a quarter of a century", claimed the Omaha Daily Republican in 1883, "they have made the people of the United States homogeneous, breaking through the peculiarities and provincialisms which marked separate and unmingling sections."

　　The railroad simultaneously stripped the landscape of the natural resources, made velocity of transport and economy of scale necessary parts of industrial production, and carried consumer goods to households; it dispatched immigrants to unsettled places, drew emigrants away from farms and villages to cities, and sent men and guns to battle. It standardized time and travel, seeking to annihilate distance and space by allowing movement at any time and in any season or type of weather. In its grand and impressive terminals and stations, architects recreated historic Roman temples and public baths, French chateaus and Italian bell towers — edifices that people used as stages for many of everyday life's high emotions: meeting and parting, waiting and worrying, planning new starts or coming home.

　　Passenger terminals, like the luxury express trains that hurled people over spots, spotlight the romance of railroading. (The twentieth-Century Limited sped between Chicago and New York in twenty hours by 1915). Equally important to everyday life were the slow freight trans chugging through industrial zones, the morning and evening commuter locals shuttling back ions and urban terminals, and the incessant comings and goings that occurred in the classifications, or switching, yards. Moreover, in addition to its being a transportation pathway equipped with a mammoth physical plant of tracks signals, crossings, bridges, and junctions, plus telegraph and telephone lines the railroad nurtured factory complexes, coat piles, warehouses, and generating stations, forming along its right-of-way what has aptly been called "the metropolitan corridor" of the American landscape.

　　1. What does the passage mainly discuss?

　　(A) The influence of ancient architecture on the design of railroad terminals

　　(B) The importance of natural resources in the development of railroads

　　(C) The railroad's impact on daily life in the United States in the nineteenth century

　　(D) Technological improvements in the area of communication in the nineteenth century

　　2. It can be inferred from the quote from the Omaha Daily Republican (line 2-4) that railroads

　　(A) made all sections of the nation much wealthier

　　(B) brought more unity to what had been a fragmented nation

　　(C) reduced dependence on natural resources

　　(D) had no effect on the environment of the United States

　　3. The word "it" in line 7 refers to

　　(A) transport

　　(B) scale

　　(C) production

　　(D) railroad

　　4. The word "drew" in line 8 is closest

　　(A) obliged

　　(B) designed

　　(C) helped

　　(D) attracted

　　5. The word "annihilate" in line 9 is closest in meaning to

　　(A) conquer

　　(B) utilize

　　(C) separate

　　(D) mechanize

　　6. The word "Moreover" in line 20 is closest in meaning to

　　(A) consequently

　　(B) furthermore

　　(C) although

　　(D) because

　　7. All of the following were true of impressive passenger terminals EXCEPT:

　　(A) Their architecture was influenced by the architecture of Europe.

　　(B) Luxury express trains traveled between them.

　　(C) They were usually located in small towns.

　　(D) They were important to many commuters.

　　8. According to the passage , which type of development lined the area along the metropolitan corridor?

　　(A) Stores and shopping areas

　　(B) Recreational areas

　　(C) Industrial

　　(D) Agricultural

　　9. The word "aptly" in line 24 is closest in meaning to

　　(A) appropriately

　　(B) virtually

　　(C) consistently

　　(D) incessantly

　　10. The author mentions the Twentieth-Century Limited as an example of

　　(A) a freight train

　　(B) a commuter train

　　(C) a luxury train

　　(D) an underground train

　　11. The author gives a synonym for which of the following words?

　　(A) homogeneous (line 3)

　　(B) standardized (line 9)

　　(C) temples (line 11)

　　(D) classification(line 20)