托福阅读是托福考试当中相对比较容易的科目，也是比较容易拿分的科目，同学们要在这方面多加努力，尽力拿到更好的分数。下面小编给大家带来美国历史类托福TPO阅读分析。
美国历史类托福TPO阅读分析
历史背景：美国殖民历史和西进运动
独立战争结束后，美国掀起了长达一个世纪的西迁，出于不同的目的，大批移民从西部原殖民洲迁入东部。西进运动既是适应自由经济的发展需要，又得益于政策的支持和交通技术的发展。TPO 20的这篇阅读就以农业发展为切入点讨论了West Migration的发展条件。
原文A段节选
The story of the westward movement of population in the United States is, in the main, the story of the expansion of American agriculture—of the development of new areas for the raising of livestock and the cultivation of wheat, corn, tobacco, and cotton. After 1815 improved transportation enabled more and more western farmers to escape a self-sufficient way of life and enter a national market economy.
分析：全文分析第一句话是一个典型的长难句，如果我们抓住主干，可以简化为：the story is the story. 两个story的定语关键词分别是west movement 和 American agriculture。句子主体意思就可以概括为：美国西进运动的故事即美国农业的故事。
次句提出了一个新的要点：交通。这一点将会在后面的段落展开去讲。另外，农业扩张的结果是农民走出自给自足的生活方式，进入全国性市场经济(运动的结果)。
原文B段节选
Why were these hundreds of thousands of settlers—most of them farmers, some of them artisans—drawn away from the cleared fields and established cities and villages of the East? Certain characteristics of American society help to explain this remarkable migration.
分析：B段设问句承上(farmers; drawn away)启下(why). 次句交代本段主旨：美国社会因素
原文C段节选
The West had plenty of attractions: the alluvial river bottoms, the fecund soils of the rolling forest lands, the black loams of the prairies were tempting to New England farmers...
分析：这一段讲西部自身的吸引力
原文D段节选：
Transportation was becoming less of a problem for those who wished to move west and for those who hand farm surpluses to send to market.
分析：这一段讲农民西迁的技术因素—交通的发展。
原文E段节选：
Two other developments presaged the end of the era of turnpikes and started a transportation revolution that resulted in increased regional specialization and the growth of a national market economy.
分析：是对上一段的拓展，关键词transportation revolution。进一步讲交通发展促发了全国性农业经济的出现。
全文结构梳理：
A 西进运动的历史是农业扩张的历史
B 农业扩张的条件一：美国社会因素
C 农业扩张的条件二：西部吸引力
D&E 农业扩张的条件三：交通运输发展(分陆上和水路交通两方面)
我们还可以看到，在DE两段中出现了关键词market economy，这一点是农业西迁的结果，也是首段中曾经出现过的。所以我们在阅读首段时，要圈划关键词，并在后面段落中有意地去注意这些关键词的复现。这对我们把握全文主旨和脉络是非常有帮助的。
必备词汇：
westward 朝西的，向西的
migration 移民
cultivation 种植
livestock 牲畜
attraction 吸引力
surplus 盈余
presage 预示
regional 地区的
specialization 专业化
托福阅读练习题：文艺复兴类
The medieval artists didn’t know about perspective; they didn’t want to make their people look like real， individual people in a real， individual scene. They wanted to show the truth， the eternal quality of their religious stories. So these artists didn’t need to know about perspective.
In the European Renaissance period， artists wanted to show the importance of the individual person and his or her possessions and surroundings. A flat medieval style couldn’t show this level of reality and the artists needed a new technique. It was the Italian artist Brunelleschi who discovered the technique of perspective drawing. At first the artists of the Renaissance only had single-point perspective. Later they realized that they could have two-pointed perspective and still later multi-point perspective.
With two-point perspective they could turn an object (like a building) at an angle to the picture and draw two sides of it. The technique of perspective which seems so natural to us now is an invented technique， a part of the “grammar of painting”. Like all bits of grammar there are exceptions about perspective. For example， only vertical and horizontal surfaces seem to meet on eye level. Sloping roof tops don’t meet on eye level.
For 500 years， artists in Europe made use of perspective drawing in their pictures. Nevertheless， there are a range of priorities that artists in displaying individual styles. Crivelli wanted to show depth in his picture and he used a simple single-point perspective. Cezanne always talked about space and volume. Van Gogh， like some of the other painters of the Impressionist period， was interested in Japanese prints. And Japanese artists until this century were always very strong designers of “flat” pictures. Picasso certainly made pictures which have volume and depth. However， he wanted to keep our eyes on the surface and to remind us that his paintings are paintings and not illusions.
It is technically easy to give an illusion of depth. However， a strong two dimensional design is just as important as a feeling of depth， and perhaps more important.
1 The passage mainly discusses
(a) the difference between medieval and Renaissance art
(b) how the technique of perspective influenced the modern art
(c) the discovery of the technique of perspective
(d) the contribution of Renaissance artists
2 The word “eternal” in line 3 is closest in meaning to
(a) timeless
(b) infinite
(c) frequent
(d) constant
3 According to the passage， which is the main concern for medieval artists?
(a) the individual person and his/her possessions and surroundings
(b) real people， real scenes
(c) eternal timeless truth of the earth
(d) themes of religious stories
4 The discovery of perspective was the result of
(a) Renaissance artists’ to prove that the medieval artists could show level of reality
(b) the need to turn an object at an angle and draw more than one side of it
(c) the subject being shifted from religious stories to individual person and surroundings.
(d) natural evolution of human senses
5 The word “it” in line 12 refers to
(a) the picture
(b) perspective
(c) angle
(d) the object
6 The word “Grammar ” in line 13 is closest in meaning to
(a) construction
(b) grammatical rules
(c) rules and regulations
(d) tones and volume
7 The author’s purpose to give the example in line14-15 is to
(a) explain how perspective work in painting
(b) support two-pointed perspective
(c) illustrate that there are exceptions about perspective
(d) point out that the technique of perspective though seems so natural is an invented technique
8 The following artists’ priorities in style shift away from perspective except
(a) Crivelli
(b) Cezanne
(c) Japanese artists
(d) Brunelleschi
9 The word ”Illusion” in line 25 is closest in meaning to
(a) deception
(b) photograph
(c) decoration
(d) illustration
10 It can be inferred from the passage that Renaissance artists
(a) embraced the medieval style of eternal truth
(b) needed to develop a new approach towards painting to show a new level of reality
(c) were inspired by vertical and horizontal surfaces in inventing the technique of perspective
(d) saw two dimensional design more important than a feeling of depth