2025年11月8日上午场托福写作完整版答案及解析（含范文）

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　主题：whether Iceberg and the Alaskan white orca are actually two different individuals

　　First, although all the photographs made during the sightings show very light-colored animals, the orca seen in Alaska appears to be just slightly darker than iceberg. Such differences in coloration suggest that these were two distinct animals that were independently sighted in the norther Pacific.

　　For one thing, the exact color of an orca skin can change a bit from season to season. The reason for this is algae. Algae are small plant organisms that grow on whale skin. During some parts of the year, algae growth would make white skin look a bit darker. The Alaskan sighting occurred during a different season than the Russian sighting. So if we take into account the seasonal variation in algae growth, it could have been the same whale seen both times. Only one time it was covered with more algae than the other time.

　　Second, the sightings were very far apart. The Alaskan orca was seen near the central Aleutian Islands, a long string of islands that extends westward from the mainland of Alaska. Iceberg was seen near the Commander Islands, off the coast of Russia. More than 1,500 kilometers separate the two locations. Typically orcas tend to stay near the mainland coast and not travel such long distances.

　　Second, about the distance www.problem.it's important to know that orcas live in groups that have different lifestyles. Some groups hunt mammals while other groups hunt fish. The mammal eating orcas tend to stay near coastlines and not migrate far. Just like the reading said, however, scientists have determined that iceberg belongs to a fish hunting group, fish hunting. Orcas follow migrating fish and can travel over 2000 kilometers in the open ocean, so it wouldn't have been unusual for iceberg to travel between Alaska and Russia.

　　Third, when scientists saw the Alaskan white orca in 2000, they estimated that it was around twenty years old, based on the size of its dorsal (back) fin. When researchers saw iceberg, their estimate of its age, based on the fin size, was also around twenty years; but that was in 2010, when the Alaskan orca would have been thirty! The estimates again suggest quite strongly that these are two different individuals.

　　Third, age estimates based on the size of the dorsal fin are not necessarily accurate. You see, after an Oracle reaches twenty years of age, its dorsal fin doesn't grow anymore. So when scientists see an orca with a fully grown dorsal fin, that orca could be twenty years old. But it could also be 25 or thirty years old, so iceberg could easily have been older than the scientists estimated, which means it could have been the same organ as the one seen in Alaska earlier.

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　主题：the origin of the Etruscans

　　First, the scholars cite writings of Herodotus, a famous ancient historian who lived during the time of the Etruscans. According to Herodotus, the Etruscans had come from an ancient kingdom located in western Turkey. When the kingdom experienced eighteen years of famine, part of its people decided to leave and look for a new place to settle. Led by the king's son, they left Turkey in ships and eventually reached the coast of ltaly, where they founded the Etruscan kingdom.

　　Let's start with the historian Herodotus. Although his writings can sometimes be useful, they're not always reliable. Let me give you one example, in one of his books, he wrote that in a certain distant country there live giant insects, insects so big that they could eat people. Well, that really sounds just like a story someone made up, doesn't it? The point is, if Herodotus included stories like that in his books, how can we be sure that what he wrote about the Etruscans was true.

　　Second, the Etruscan language belongs to a family of related languages called Tyrrhenian. Traces of inscriptions in another Tyrrhenian language have been found on an island that is located near Turkey. Since people speaking related languages often come from the same area, the findings of Tyrrhenian inscriptions near Turkey suggest that Etruscans had originally lived in that region.

　　Second, about finding those inscriptions in a language similar to the Etruscan language on an island near Turkey. Well, that doesn't mean that at Etruscans came from that island or the surrounding area, it could be just the opposite. It's possible that some Etruscans who as we know are great seafarers sailed from Italy and settled on that island near Turkey. In other words, the language on the island could have come from Italy rather than the other way around.

　　Third, the types of cows once bred by Etruscans can still be found in norther ltaly today. Genetic analysis of these old Etruscan cow breeds has revealed that they are different from the rest of the cows found in ltaly and at the same time closely related to cows traditionally bred in Turkey and surrounding regions. This again suggests that the Etruscans had originally come from Turkey and brought their cows with them.

　　Third, the genetic evidence about the Etruscan cows doesn't prove anything about their owners. Sure, it's quite likely that the cows originally came from Turkey. But remember, the Etruscans were important traders, so it's quite possible that the Etruscans use their trading connections to import certain products, including farm animals, into Italy. From abroad, they could have easily imported some cows from Turkey, and because the imported cows flourished in Italy, they started breeding them.