Toefl Reading Example

Reading Comprehension

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Question:

There are two basic types of glaciers, those that flow outward in all directions with little regard for any underlying terrain and those that are confined by terrain to a particular path.

The first category of glaciers includes those massive blankets that cover whole continents, appropriately called ice sheets. There must be over 50,000 square kilometers of land covered with ice for the glacier to qualify as an ice sheet. When portions of an ice sheet spread out over the ocean, they form ice shelves.

About 20,000 years ago the Cordilleran Ice Sheet covered nearly all the mountains in southern Alaska, western Canada, and the western United States. It was about 3 kilometers deep at its thickest point in northern Alberta. Now there are only two sheets left on Earth, those covering Greenland and Antarctica.

Any domelike body of ice that also flows out in all directions but covers less than 50,000 square kilometers is called an ice cap. Although ice caps are rare nowadays, there are a number in northeastern Canada, on Baffin Island, and on the Queen Elizabeth Islands.

The second category of glaciers includes those of a variety of shapes and sizes generally called mountain or alpine glaciers. Mountain glaciers are typically identified by the landform that controls their flow. One form of mountain glacier that resembles an ice cap in that it flows outward in several directions is called an ice field. The difference between an ice field and an ice cap is subtle. Essentially, the flow of an ice field is somewhat controlled by surrounding terrain and thus does not have the domelike shape of a cap. There are several ice fields in the Wrangell. St. Elias, and Chugach mountains of Alaska and northern British Columbia.

Less spectacular than large ice fields are the most common types of mountain glaciers: the cirque and valley glaciers. Cirque glaciers are found in depressions in the surface of the land and have a characteristic circular shape. The ice of valley glaciers, bound by terrain, flows down valleys, curves around their corners, and falls over cliffs.

1. What does the passage mainly discuss?

(A)  Where major glaciers are located

(B)  How glaciers shape the land

(C)  How glaciers are formed

(D)  The different kinds of glaciers

Jawab  : D → The different kinds of glaciers

Pembahasan : Ide pokok teks di atas dapat ditemukan pada paragraf pertama kalimat pertama yang menjelaskan dua jenis gletser yang berbeda dan selanjutnya masing-masing dijelaskan lebih lanjut pada paragraf berikutnya.

2. It can be inferred that ice sheets are so named for which of the following reasons?

(A)  They are confined to mountain valleys.

(B)  They cover large areas of land.

(C)  They are thicker in some areas than in others.

(D)  They have a characteristic circular shape.

Jawab  : B → They cover large areas of land.

Pembahasan : Frasa whole continents pada kalimat those massive blankets that cover whole continents appropriately called ice sheet menunjukkan bahwa daratan yang tertutup gletser mencakup wilayah yang sangat luas, hampir keseluruhan daratan.

3. According to the passage, ice shelves can be found

(A)  covering an entire continent

(B)  buried within the mountains

(C)  spreading into the ocean

(D)  filling deep valleys

Jawab :  C → spreading into the ocean

Pembahasan :  Jawaban dapat ditemukan pada kalimat terakhir paragraf kedua bahwa jika ice sheet tersebar (spread out) di lautan akan terbentuk ice shelves.

4. According to the passage, where was the Cordilleran Ice Sheet thickest?

(A)  Alaska

(B)  Greenland

(C)  Alberta

(D)  Antarctica

Jawab : C → Alberta

Pembahasan : Jawaban dapat ditemukan pada baris ke-8: it was about 3 kilometers deep at its thickest point in northern Alberta.

5. The word “rare” in line 12 is closest in meaning to

(A)  small

(B)  unusual

(C)  valuable

(D)  widespread

Jawab  :  B → unusual

Pembahasan :  Rare berarti jarang atau tidak biasa ditemukan sehingga jawaban yang paling mendekati arti dari rare adalah unusual.

6. According to the passage (paragraph 5), ice fields resemble ice caps in which of the following ways?

(A)  Their shape

(B)  Their flow

(C)  Their texture

(D)  Their location

Jawab : B → Their flow

Pembahasan : Kalimat Mountain glaciers are typically identified by the landform that controls their flow dan dijelaskan lebih lanjut pada kalimat One form of mountain glacier that resembles an ice cap in that it flows outward in several directions is called an ice field menunjukkan bahwa pembentukan ice caps dipengaruhi oleh alirannya (their flow).

7. The word “it” in line 16 refers to

(A)  glacier

(B)  cap

(C)  difference

(D)  terrain

Jawab  :  A → glacier

Pembahasan :  It pada kalimat di atas merujuk pada mountain glacier atau gletser.

8. The word “subtle” in line 17 is closest in meaning to

(A)  slight

(B)  common

(C)  important

(D)  measurable

Jawab  :  A → slight

Pembahasan :  Padanan kata subtle adalah slight yang keduanya memiliki arti “tipis, halus, atau sedikit”.

9. All of the following are alpine glaciers EXCEPT

(A)  cirque glaciers

(B)  ice caps

(C)  valley glaciers

(D)  ice fields

Jawab :  B → ice caps

Pembahasan :  Jenis alpine/mountain glacier adalah ice fields, cirque glaciers dan valley glaciers yang semuanya dipengaruhi oleh aliran dan tidak memiliki domelike cap seperti ice caps.

10. Which of the following types of glaciers does the author use to illustrate the two basic types of glaciers mentioned in line 1?

(A)  Ice fields and cirques

(B)  Cirques and alpine glaciers

(C)  Ice sheets and ice shelves

(D)  Ice sheets and mountain glaciers

Jawab : D → Ice sheets and mountain glaciers

Pembahasan : Ada dua jenis gletser yaitu ice sheet yang mengalir keluar ke segala arah dan mountain glacier yang arah alirannya terbatas hanya di aliran tertentu.

Reference :

http://www.geniustoefl.com/artikel-ilmu-kunci-toefl/artikel/reading-comprehension/contoh-soal-pembahasan-reading-comprehension-tes-toefl

TOEFL STRATEGIES: STRUCTURE & WRITTEN EXPRESSION

STRUCTURE : 15 Questions, Sentence Completion, Multiple Choice

WRITTEN EXPRESSION : 25 Questions, Error Identification

A. Structure

 

 General Strategies:

1. Study the sentence, Determine  what  is  needed  to  complete  thesentence correctly .

2. Study each answer based on how well it completes the sentence, Eliminate  answers  that  do  not  complete  the sentence correctly .

3. Do not try to eliminate incorrect answers by looking only at the answers, The  incorrect  answers  are  generally  incorrect  only when used to complete the sentence.

4. Never leave any answers blank

5. Do not spend too much time on the Structure questions, Be  sure  to  leave  adequate  time  for  the Written Expression questions.

6. Questions  in  Structure  have  some  patterns which are tested regularly .

7. Time is essential here.

B. Written Expression

  

 

General Strategies:

1.Do not pay attention to the directions (because they are all the same)

2.Look at the underlined word or groups of words, Spot which  of the four  answer choices is not correct.

3.If  you  have  been  unable  to  find  the  error  bylooking  only  at  the  four  underlined  expressions, then read the complete sentence. Pay attention that a sentence must have a subject and a verb (predicate).

4.Questions in Written Expression have some patterns which are tested regularly.

5.Time is essential.

6.Never leave any answers blank

EXAMPLE QUESTIONS

A. Structure

 

1. During the Daytona 500, the lead car ___________, leaving the others far behind.

A. forwarded rapidly

B. advanced rapidly

C. advanced forward rapidly

D. advanced in a rapidly manner

Answer : B

 

2. Geysers have often been compared to volcanoes _______ they both emit hot liquids from below the Earth's surface.

A. due to

B. because

C. in spite of

D. regardless of

Answer : B

3. During the early period of ocean navigation, ________ any need for sophisticated instruments and techniques.

A. so that hardly

B. where there hardly was

C. hardly was

D. there was hardly

Answer : D

4. The North Pole___________ a latitude of 90 degrees north.

A. it has

B. is having

C. which is having

D. has

Answer : D

5. The city of Beverly Hills is surrounded on ________ the city of Los Angeles.

A. its sides

B. the sides are

C. it is the side of

D. all sides by

Answer : D

6. ________ greyhound, can achieve speeds up to thirty-six miles per hour.

A. The

B. The fastest

C. The fastest dog

D. The fastest dog, the

Answer : B

7. Marmots spend their time foraging among meadow plants and flowers or ________ on rocky cliffs.

A. gets sun

B. sunning

C. the sun

D. sunny

Answer : C

8. The greenhouse effect occurs ________ heat radiated from the Sun.

A. when does the Earth’s atmosphere trap

B. does the Earth’s atmosphere trap

C. when the Earth’s atmosphere traps

D. the Earth’s atmosphere traps

Answer : C

9. The Rose Bowl, ________ place on New Year’s Day, is the oldest postseason collegiate football game in the United States.

A. takes

B. it takes

C. which takes

D. took

Answer : A

10. Experiments ________ represent a giant step into the medicine of the future.

A. using gene therapy

B. use gene therapy

C. they use

D. gene therapy uses

Answer : A

11. ________ off the Hawaiian coastline are living, others are dead.

A. While some types of coral reefs

B. Some types of coral reefs

C. There are many types of coral reefs

D. Coral reefs

Answer : B

12. Nimbostratus clouds are thick, dark gray clouds ________ forecast rain.

A. what

B. which

C. what they

D. which they

Answer : C

13. Some economists now suggest that home equity loans are merely a new trap to push consumers beyond ________.

A. they can afford

B. they can afford it

C. what is affordable

D. able to afford

Answer : A

14. People who reverse the letters of words ________ to read suffer from dyslexia.

A. when trying

B. if they tried

C. when tried

D. if he tries

Answer : A

15. Featured at the Henry Ford Museum ________ of antique cars dating from 1865.

A. is an exhibit

B. an exhibit

C. an exhibit is

D. which is an exhibit

Answer : D

 

B. Written Expression

1. In the united states, there are much holidays throughout the year.

        A                         B             C                                  D        

Answer : C

2. Tomatoes grows all year long in Florida

           A          B   C                D

Answer : B

3. Guppies are sometimes call rainbow fish because of the males' bright colors

                                          A                   B        C                            D  

Answer : A

4. On the floor of the Pacific Ocean is hundreds of flat-topped mountains more than a mile 

                  A                                        B                            C                                   D                                                           

beneath sea level.

Answer : B

5. Because of the flourish with which John Hancock signed the Declaration of Independence,

                                                     A                                                                                                           

 his name become synonymous with signature.

 B                  C                D                                                                                                                                 

Answer : C

6. Segregation in public schools was declare unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1954.

                                A                        B                   C                                                         D       

 Answer : B                              

7. Sirius, the Dog Star, is the most brightest star in the sky with an absolute magnitude about

                                                        A                                                     B                                                             

twenty-three times that of the Sun.

           B                  D                                                                                                                                       

Answer : A

8. Killer whales tend to wander in family clusters that hunt, play, and resting together.

                              A       B                                                                              C       D                                                     

Answer : C

9. Some of the most useful resistor material are carbon, metals, and metallic alloys.

           A                         B                    C                                                 D                                                           

Answer : C

10. The community of Bethesda, Maryland, was previous known as Darcy's Store.

               A                                                                    B            C   D                                                                         

Answer : B

11. Alloys of gold and copper have been widely using in various types of coins.

                                                      A               B       C                 D                                             

 Answer :  C                               

12. J. H. Pratt used group therapy early in this century when he brought tuberculosis patients

                                  A                     B                              C                                                                                   

together to discuss its disease.

                                D                                                                                                                                       

Answer : D

13. The United States has import all carpet wools in recent years because domestic wools are

                                             A        B                                                  C                                                                 

too fine and soft for carpets.

      D                                                                                                                                                               

Answer : A

14. Irving Berlin wrote "Oh How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning" while serving in a U.S. Army

                            A                                                                                 B                 C                                           

during World War 1.

    D                                                                                                                                                                 

Answer : C

15. Banks are rushing to merge because consolidations enable them to slash theirs costs

                    A                                                                              B                        C                                                   

and expand.

            D                                                                                                                                                         

Answer : C

 

Reference:

www.ukrida.ac.id

http://berita-english.blogspot.co.id/2014/01/soal-toefl-structure-and-written-expression-beserta-jawaban-pembahasan.html