托福听力official10 The word “instigated” in the passage is closest in meaning to 答案解析

instigate: 教唆，鼓动，激起。A是改进；B是研究，调查；C是缩窄；D是引起，使…发生。所以D的cause引起正确，注意不要被investigate迷惑，只是长得像而已。对应原文：So admired were these pieces that they encouraged the development of earthenware made in imitation of porcelain and instigated research into the method of their manufacture. 原句说那些陶器非常惹人喜爱，促进了earthenware的发展，也instigate了制陶方法的研究，instigate与原文的encourage并列，所以应该是鼓励之意。A提升改善B调查C变窄均不正确。