While many other observers and thinkers had laid the groundwork for science, Thales (circa 624 B.C.E-ca 547 B.C.E.), the best known of the earliest Greek philosophers, made the first steps toward a new, moreobjectiveapproachto finding out about the world. He posed a verybasicquestion: "What is the world made of?" Many others had asked the same question before him, but Thales based his answer strictly on what he had observed and what he could reason out-not on imaginative stories about the gods or the supernatural. He proposed water as the singlesubstancefrom which everything in the world was made and developed a model of theuniversewith Earth as a flat disk floating in water.

Like most of the great Greek philosophers, Thales had an influence on others around him. His two best-known followers, though there were undoubtedly others who attained lessrenown, were Anaximander and Anaximenes. Both were also from Miletus (located on the southerncoastof present-dayTurkey) and so, like Thales, were members of the Milesian School. Much more is known about Anaximander than about Anaximenes, probably because Anaximander, who was born sometime around 610 B.C.E, ambitiously attempted to write acomprehensivehistoryof theuniverse. As would later happen between another teacher-student pair of philosophers, Plato and Aristotle, Anaximander disagreed with his teacher despite hisrespectfor him. He doubted that the world and all its contents could be made of water and proposedinsteada formless and unobservablesubstancehe called "apeiron" that was thesourceof all matter.

Anaximander's most important contributions, though, were in other areas. Although he did not accept that water was theprimeelement, he did believe that all life originated in the sea, and he was thus one of the first toconceiveof this important idea. Anaximander is credited with drawing up the first world map of the Greeks and also with recognizing that Earth's surface was curved. He believed, though, that theshapeof Earth was that of acylinderrather than thespherethat later Greek philosophers would conjecture. Anaximander, observing the motions of the heavens around the polestar, was probably the first of the Greek philosophers to picture the sky asspherecompletely surrounding Earth-an idea that, elaborated upon later, wouldprevailuntil theadventof theScientificRevolutionin the seventeenthcentury.

Unfortunately, most of Anaximander's writtenhistoryof theuniversewas lost, and only a few fragmentssurvivetoday. Little is known about his other ideas. Unfortunately, too, most of the written work for Anaximenes, who may have been Anaximander's pupil, has also been lost. All we can say for certain about Anaximenes, who was probably born around 560 BCE, is that following in the tradition of Anaximander, he also disagreed with his mentor. The world, according to Anaximenes, was not composed of either water or apeiron, but air itself was thefundamentalelementof theuniverse. Compressed, it became water and earth, and when rarefied or thinned out, it heated up to become fire. Anaximenes may have also been the first to study rainbows andspeculateupon their natural rather than supernatural cause.

With the door opened by Thales and the other early philosophers of Milestus, Greek thinkers began tospeculateabout the nature of theuniverse. Thisexcitingburst ofintellectualactivitywas for the most part purelycreative. The Greeks, from Thales to Plato and Aristotle, were philosophers and not scientists in today'ssense. It is possible for anyone to create "ideas" about the nature and structure of theuniverse, forinstance, and many times these ideas can be soconsistentandelaboratelystructured, or just so apparentlyobvious, that they can bepersuasiveto many people. Ascientifictheoryabout theuniverse, however, demands much more than the various observations and analogies that were woven together to form systems of reasoning, carefully constructed as they were, that wouldeventuallyculminatein Aristotle's model of the world and theuniverse. Without experimentation andobjective,criticaltesting of their theories, the best these thinkers could hope to achieve was some internallyconsistentspeculation that covered all the bases and satisfied the demands of reason.

Questions:
question_stem: Why does the author discuss the question "What is the world made of?" posed by Thales?
choices: tag: A
text: To help explain how Thales differed from earlier Greek thinkers.

tag: B
text: To trace the origin of the question through ancient history.

tag: C
text: To emphasize that the answer to the question proposed by Thales was the first correct solution.

tag: D
text: To suggest why the question remained unanswered for so long.
answer_key: A
explanation: 【题目翻译】为什么作者要讨论“世界是由什么构成的？”由泰利斯拍摄？
A：帮助解释泰利斯与早期希腊思想家的不同之处。
B：通过古代历史来追溯这个问题的起源。
C：强调泰雷兹提出的问题的答案是第一个正确的答案。
D：说明为什么这个问题这么长时间没有得到回答。

【判定题型】：根据题干问法“why …… discuss”，题目询问“xxxxxx”(文章引用内容)的修辞目的，可以判断本题为修辞目的题。

【关键词定位】本题根据题干 What is the world made of?定位到第一段这一句：He posed a very basic question: "What is the world made of ? " Many others had asked the same question before him, but Thales based his answer strictly on what he had observed and what he could reason out-not on imaginative stories about the gods or the supernatural.

【引用内容分析】本句大意是说明其他人在 Thales 之前也提出过相同的问题，但是 Thales 是把他的理论基于观察到的现象和推理上，而不是想象中的关于神和超自然的故事。所以这段话是主要说明 Thales 这个人的观点和前人观点有何不同。

【选项分析】
A.符合，正确
B.选项 B 说追溯问题的源头。不符，错误
C.选项 C 是说这个问题是第一个正确的问题。不符，错误
D.选项 D 说解释为什么这个问题一直没有人解答。不符，错误

question_stem: The word "renown" in the passage is closest in meaning to
choices: tag: A
text: power

tag: B
text: fame

tag: C
text: wealth

tag: D
text: wisdom
answer_key: B
explanation: 【题目翻译】单词“renown”与下列哪一个意思最相近？
选项 A 是力量，
项 B 是名声，
选项 C 是财富，
选项 D 是智慧。

【判定题型】：题目要求选出与高亮单词意思最接近的选项，故判断本题为词汇题。

【关键词定位】：根据关键词“renown”,定位到原句 His two best-known followers, though there were undoubtedly others who attained less renown, were Anaximander and Anaximenes. 

【词汇解析】：词汇“renown”的意思是“声誉，名声”,带入到原句中，原句的意思是“他的两个最著名的跟随者/徒弟是 Anaximander 和 Anaximenes，尽管还有很多其他的跟随者并不出名。

【选项分析】
选项 A 是力量，不符，错误
项 B 是名声，同义替换，正确
选项 C 是财富，不符，错误
选项 D 是智慧。不符，错误

question_stem: The word "comprehensive" in the passage is closest in meaning to
choices: tag: A
text: complete

tag: B
text: true

tag: C
text: short

tag: D
text: academic
answer_key: A
explanation: 【题目翻译】单词“comprehensive”与下列哪一个意思最相近？
选项 A 是完全的，
选项 B 是真实的，
选项 C 是短的，
选项 D 是学术的。

【判定题型】：题目要求选出与高亮单词意思最接近的选项，故判断本题为词汇题。

【关键词定位】：根据关键词“comprehensive”,定位到原句 Much more is known about Anaximander than about Anaximenes, probably because Anaximander, who was born sometime around 610 BCE, ambitiously attempted to write a comprehensive history of the universe. 。

【词汇解析】：词汇“comprehensive”的意思是“全面的”,带入到原句中，原句的意思是“世人对于 Anaximander 的了解比 Anaximenes 多，可能是因为前者出生于公元前610年，他很有雄心壮志地尝试去写一部宇宙全史”。

【选项分析】
选项 A 是完全的，同义替换，正确
选项 B 是真实的，不符，错误
选项 C 是短的，不符，错误
选项 D 是学术的。不符，错误

question_stem: Paragraph 2 implies which of the following about Thales?
choices: tag: A
text: His students tended to closely follow his views.

tag: B
text: He was born sometimes around 600 BCE.

tag: C
text: Little is known about most of his followers.

tag: D
text: His influence was largely limited to the town of Miletus.
answer_key: C
explanation: 【题目翻译】第2段暗示了以下关于泰雷兹的哪些内容？
A：他的学生倾向于密切关注他的观点。
B：他有时在公元前600年左右出生。
C：关于他的大多数追随者，我们知之甚少。
D：他的影响很大程度上局限于米勒托斯镇。

【判定题型】：根据题干中出现的关键词“imply”/“infer”/“suggest”等其他表示推断的词，判定本题为推理题。

【关键词定位】本题的答题依据分散在整个第四段里。

【逻辑分析】第2段主要说了泰勒斯和他最著名的两个徒弟 Anaximander 和 Anaximenes。

【选项分析】
选项 A 的依据是 Anaximander disagreed with his teacher，他的学生并没有同意 Thales 的观点，选项 A 错误；
选项 B 的依据是 Anaximander, who was born sometime around 610 BCE，不是选项里的600 BCE，选项 B 错误；
选项 C 的依据是 though there were undoubtedly others who attained less renown，他的大多数徒弟都是不为世人所熟知的，正确；选择 C。 
选项 D 在原文中没提到，错误。

question_stem: The highlighted word "him" in paragraph 2 refers to
choices: tag: A
text: Thales

tag: B
text: Anaximander

tag: C
text: Anaximenes

tag: D
text: Plato
answer_key: A
explanation: 【题目翻译】第2段中突出显示的“他”是指
A：泰勒斯
B：Anaximander
C：Anaximenes
D：Plato

【判定题型】：根据题干中出现的关键词“refer to”，判定本题为指代题。

【关键词定位】：根据题干中的关键词“him”，找到该词所在的整句句子，以及上下文相关的句子“Anaximander disagreed with his teacher despite his respect for him.”。

【分析句子语法】Anaximander 尽管很尊敬他的老师，但是并不同意他的观点。

【选项分析】
这里的 him 指代的就是 Anaximander 的老师 Thales。选择 A。

question_stem: According to paragraph 3, some Greek philosophers who came after Anaximander did not share his belief that
choices: tag: A
text: the world was made of something other than water.

tag: B
text: all life originated in the sea.

tag: C
text: the sky was a sphere surrounding Earth.

tag: D
text: Earth was cylindrical in shape.
answer_key: D
explanation: 【题目翻译】根据第3段，一些追随阿纳西曼德的希腊哲学家并不认同他的观点
A：世界是由水以外的东西构成的。
B：所有的生命都起源于海洋。
C：天空是一个环绕地球的球体。
D：地球是圆柱形的。

【判定题型】：题目问的是文章中的具体细节信息，故根据题目问法可以判断本题为事实信息题。

【关键词定位】本题根据 Greek philosopher 和 Anaximander 定位回原文中这一句：He believed, though, that the shape of Earth was that of a cylinder rather than the sphere that later Greek philosophers would conjecture. 意思是“Anaximander 相信地球是圆的，尽管后来的希腊哲学家认为地球是另一种形状”。

【逻辑分析】：结合题目问法和出题句，进行逻辑分析。

【选项分析】
A.文章：他不接受水是物质本源的说法，他还是相信生命发源于大海的。故选项错误。
B.文章未说他认为所以生命都起源于海洋。故选项错误。
C.他认为：他相信地球的形状是更类似于圆筒而不是后来的希腊哲学家推测出来的球形。故选项错误。
D.选项 D 正确。

question_stem: The phrase "elaborated upon" in the passage is closest in meaning to
choices: tag: A
text: proved wrong

tag: B
text: misunderstood

tag: C
text: repeated

tag: D
text: Further developed
answer_key: D
explanation: 【题目翻译】文章中“elaborated”与下列哪一个意思最相近？
选项 A 的意思是证明错误
选项 B 的意思是误解
选项 C 的意思是重复
选项 D 的意思是进一步发展

【判定题型】：题目要求选出与高亮单词意思最接近的选项，故判断本题为词汇题。

【关键词定位】：根据关键词“elaborated”,定位到原句“Anaximander, observing the motions of the heavens around the polestar, was probably the first of the Greek philosophers to picture the sky as sphere completely surrounding Earth-an idea that, elaborated upon later, would prevail until the advent of the Scientific Revolution in the seventeenth century.”。

【词汇解析】：词汇“elaborated”的意思是“证明错误”,带入到原句中，原句的意思是“Anaximander 是第一位把地球天空描绘成完全包裹地球的样子的人。这个观点后来被人再次加工发展细化，在17世纪的科学革命以前是压倒性的观点”。

【选项分析】
选项 A 的意思是证明错误。不符，错误
选项 B 的意思是误解。不符，错误
选项 C 的意思是重复。不符，错误
选项 D 的意思是进一步发展。同义替换，正确

question_stem: Why does the author refer to "the Scientific Revolution in the seventeenth century" ?
choices: tag: A
text: To identify the time when Anaximander's theory was first considered seriously.

tag: B
text: To introduce the evidence that helped to develop Anaximander's ideas.

tag: C
text: To indicate how long one of Anaximander's ideas remained influential.

tag: D
text: To give an example of the many unsuccessful attempts to discredit Anaximander's ideas.
answer_key: C
explanation: 【题目翻译】为什么作者提到“十七世纪的科学革命”？
A：确定阿纳西曼德理论最初被认真考虑的时间。
B：介绍有助于阿纳西曼德思想发展的证据。
C：说明阿纳西曼德的一个思想影响了多久。
D：举一个例子，许多不成功的企图都是为了诋毁阿纳西曼德的思想。

【判定题型】：根据题干问法“why ……  refer to ”，题目询问“xxxxxx”(文章引用内容)的修辞目的，可以判断本题为修辞目的题。

【关键词定位】：根据关键词“the seventeenth century”,定位到 Passage 3 最后一句，原句为“Anaximander, observing the motions of the heavens around the polestar, was probably the first of the Greek philosophers to picture the sky as sphere completely surrounding Earth-an idea that, elaborated upon later, would prevail until the advent of the Scientific Revolution in the seventeenth century. ”。

【引用内容分析】最后强调到17世纪这个观点才停止作为压倒性的观点，就是为了说明这个观点一直被人认同，到现代科学出现之前，它都是被认为有道理。

【选项分析】
选项 A 说是为了说明这个理论第一次被认真考虑的时间点，不符，错误
选项 B 说是为了告诉我们帮助发展这个观点的证据，不符，错误
选项 C 是说这个观点具有长久的影响力，选项 C 最符合题意。选择 C。
选项 D 是说为了说明很多不成功的想去推翻这个观点的尝试。不符，错误

question_stem: Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in the passage? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.
choices: tag: A
text: Like Anaximander, Anaximenes disagreed with his mentor.

tag: B
text: Traditionally, philosophers born after Anaximenes tended to disagree with their own mentors.

tag: C
text: Historians have been able to determine that Anaximenes was born in 560 B.C.E and that he followed in the tradition of Anaximander.

tag: D
text: Even though Anaximenes was Anaximander's follower, he disagreed with his mentor.
answer_key: A
explanation: 【题目翻译】下面哪句话最能表达文章中突出显示的句子中的基本信息？错误的选择会以重要的方式改变意义，或者遗漏重要的信息。
A：和阿纳西曼德一样，阿纳西曼德不同意他的导师。
B：传统上，阿纳西门人之后出生的哲学家往往不同意他们自己的导师。
C：历史学家已经能够确定阿纳西门人出生于公元前560年，他遵循了阿纳西门人的传统。
D：尽管阿纳西门斯是阿纳西门德的追随者，但他不同意他的导师。

【判定题型】：根据题目问法，题目要求选择和高亮句意思逻辑都最为接近的句子，故判断本题为句子简化题。

【句子分析】本题让我们先找到高亮的句子：All we can say for certain about Anaximenes, who was probably born around 560 BCE, is that following in the tradition of Anaximander, he also disagreed with his mentor. 删去 who 后面那个定语从句，再删去 following in the tradition of Anaximander 这个非谓语修饰成分，句子的主干就是 Anaximenes also disagree with his mentor. 

【选项分析】
A.符合文章，故正确。
B.选项 B 说在他们之后哲学家都倾向于不赞同自己的老师，过于扩大化了；
C.选项 C 是说 Anaximenes 出生于公元前560，这个属于无关信息；
D.选项 D,even though 让步关系不存在，错误。

question_stem: According to paragraph 4, Anaximenes believed that
choices: tag: A
text: when water was heated up, it became apeiron.

tag: B
text: Earth was made of compressed air.

tag: C
text: the heat from a fire caused the air to become thinner.

tag: D
text: Rainbows had both natural and supernatural causes.
answer_key: B
explanation: 【题目翻译】根据第4段，阿纳西门斯认为
A：当水被加热时，它变成了 apeiron。
B：地球是由压缩空气制成的。
C：火的热量使空气变稀薄了。
D：彩虹有自然和超自然的原因。

【判定题型】：题目问的是文章中的具体细节信息，故根据题目问法可以判断本题为事实信息题。

3、【关键词定位】：根据关键词“Anaximenes”,本题定位回第四段后半部分：The world, according to Anaximenes, was not composed of either water or apeiron, but air itself was the fundamental element of the universe. Compressed, it became water and earth, and when rarefied or thinned out, it heated up to become fire.”，意思是“根据 Anaximenes 的观点，世界既不是水做的，也不是 apeiron 做的，而是空气做的。空气被压缩变成水和土地，空气被稀薄化，加热变成火焰”。

【逻辑分析】地球是空气组成的。空气压缩后变成水和土地，加热变成火。

【选项分析】
A.文章未提到水被加热，故选项错误。
B.符合文意，正确。
C.空气被压缩后被稀薄化。故选项错误。
D.未提及有自然和超自然之分。故选项错误。

question_stem: Paragraph 5 suggests that, in speculating about the nature of the universe, Milesian thinkers
choices: tag: A
text: made careful use of reasoning

tag: B
text: studied the universe scientifically

tag: C
text: tested their theories critically

tag: D
text: kept their theories simple
answer_key: A
explanation: 【题目翻译】第5段表明，在推测宇宙的性质时，米利西亚的思想家
A：仔细运用推理
B：科学地研究宇宙
C：批判性地检验了他们的理论
D：保持他们的理论简单

【判定题型】：题目问的是文章中的具体细节信息，故根据题目问法可以判断本题为事实信息题。

【关键词定位】本题根据 Milesian thinkers 去回到原文中定位，发现出题点分布在第五段。第五段的意思是：泰勒斯和其他米力都的哲学家开启了探索之门后，希腊思想家们开始推测宇宙的本源。@@@@这场激动人心的头脑大爆发在很多方面都是创新的。@@@@从泰勒斯到柏拉图再到亚里士多德的希腊人，在今天看来，他们不是科学家，而是哲学家。@@@@任何一个人都可以对自然或者宇宙组成的本源提出自己的想法，很多时候这些想法是一致的且精心架构的，或者只是太明显以至于对于很多人都有说服力。@@@@一个精心构建的关于宇宙的科学理论，不论它需要多少多于各种各样观察和类比来形成推理的系统，最终会在亚里士多德的世界宇宙模型里达到成熟。@@@@没有实验和客观的、批判性的对于理论的测试，这些思想家可以期待做到最好的是一些内部一致的推测，这些推测涵盖了所有的基础，并满足了推理的要求。

【逻辑分析】本段说了希腊思想家们推测宇宙的本源。

【选项分析】
选项 A 来自 that were woven together to form systems of reasoning, carefully constructed as they were,的确是来自谨慎的推理，正确；选择 A。
选项 B 和 C 来自 Without experimentation and objective, critical testing of their theories，这个结论并没有实验研究支撑，也没有客观的批判的检验，选项 B 和 C 都是错误的；
选项 D 来自 these ideas can be so consistent and elaborately structured，这个观点是精细的，不是 simple 的，选项 D 错误。

question_stem: The word "culminate" in the passage is closest in meaning to
choices: tag: A
text: be included

tag: B
text: combine

tag: C
text: reach completion

tag: D
text: be rejected
answer_key: C
explanation: 【题目翻译】单词“culminate”与下列哪一个意思最相近？
选项 A 的意思是被包含
选项 B 的意思是结合
选项 C 的意思是达到完善
选项 D 的意思是被拒绝

【判定题型】：题目要求选出与高亮单词意思最接近的选项，故判断本题为词汇题。

【关键词定位】：根据关键词“culminate”,定位到原句“：A scientific theory about the universe, however demands much more than the various observations and analogies that were woven together to form systems of reasoning, carefully constructed as they were, that would eventually culminate in Aristotle's model of the world and the universe.”。

【词汇解析】：词汇“culminate”的意思是“达到顶点，强调一个慢慢攀升最终到最佳的过程”,带入到原句中，原句的意思是“这一个科学的宇宙理论来自于系统的推理和谨慎的构造，最终在 Aristotle 的地球和宇宙模型里达到最盛”。

【选项分析】
选项 A 的意思是被包含，不符，错误
选项 B 的意思是结合，不符，错误
选项 C 的意思是达到完善，同义替换，正确
选项 D 的意思是被拒绝，不符，错误