托福阅读常考话题及练习题推荐三：希腊与罗马（3）

1  托福阅读常考话题-希腊与罗马练习题

Paragraph 4: Cleisthenes' principal contribution to the creation of democracy at Athens was to complete the long process of weakening family and clan structures, especially among the aristocrats, and to set in their place locality-based corporations called demes, which became the point of entry for all civic and most religious life in Athens. Out of the demes were created 10 artificial tribes of roughly equal population. From the demes, by either election or selection, came 500 members of a new council, 6,000 jurors for the courts, 10 generals, and hundreds of commissioners. The assembly was sovereign in all matters but in practice delegated its power to subordinate bodies such as the council, which prepared the agenda for the meetings of the assembly, and courts, which took care of most judicial matters. Various committees acted as an executive branch, implementing policies of the assembly and supervising, for instance, the food and water supplies and public buildings. This wide-scale participation by the citizenry in the government distinguished the democratic form of the Athenian polis from other, less liberal forms.

9. According to paragraph 4, one effect of making the demes the point of entry for civic life was to

A. ensure that every region had the same number of commissioners

B. distribute the population more equally throughout the Athens region

C. limit the number of aristocratic clans

D. reduce the importance of family connections

10. According to paragraph 4, one role of the new council was to

A. determine what issues came before the assembly

B. prepare the agenda for the courts

C. carry out the assembly’s policies

D. oversee the distribution of food and water

Paragraph 5: The effect of Cleisthenes’ reforms was to establish the superiority of the Athenian community as a whole over local institutions without destroying them. National politics rather than local or deme politics became the focal point. At the same time, entry into national politics began at the deme level and gave local loyalty a new focus: Athens itself. Over the next two centuries the implications of Cleisthenes’ reforms were fully exploited.

11. The word “exploited” in the paragraph is closest in meaning to

A. separated

B. understood

C. utilized

D. exported

Paragraph 6: During the fifth century B. C. the council of 500 was extremely influential in shaping policy. ■ In the next century, however, it was the mature assembly that took on decision-making responsibility. ■By any measure other than that of the aristocrats, who had been upstaged by the supposedly inferior "people," the Athenian democracy was a stunning success. Never before, or since, have so many people been involved in the serious business of self-governance. ■It was precisely this opportunity to participate in public life that provided a stimulus for the brilliant unfolding of classical Greek culture. ■

12. The word “stunning” in the paragraph is closest in meaning to

A. popular

B. universal

C. impressive

D. continuing

13. Look at the four squares [■] that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the paragraph.

Indeed, at the height of Athenian democracy there was no government separate from its citizenry.

Where does the sentence best fit?

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

Between 600 B.C. and 450 B.C., Athens changed the distribution of political power between the aristocracy and ordinary citizens.

Answer Choices

A. The rise of the city-state put enormous pressure on the aristocracy to change its traditional way of life to make it appear more in harmony with the values of classical Athenian culture.

B. The aristocrats staged elaborate festivals that focused attention on Athens instead of the surrounding villages.

C. Cleisthenes' reforms reduced aristocratic power by reorganizing the citizen body and changing the entry points to civic life so that political power did not rely on traditional family and clan structures.

D. The aristocracy’s monopoly on political power ended with Solon’s reforms, and its political influence was further eroded by the centralization of administration under the tyrants.

E. Cleisthenes gave each tribe an equal number of council members, jurors, generals, and commissioners.

F. Over time, as the all-citizen assembly took on more and more of the actual exercise of political power, ordinary citizens participated in public life more fully than ever before.