Tài liệu The complete guide to the toefl IBT reading part 4 docx

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46 Section 1 Guide to Reading

Gradually, most land-grant universities moved away from the narrow func- tions that were first assigned to them Eventually they came to offer a full range of academic offerings, from anthropology to zoology There are today 105 land- grant institutions in all fifty states and in the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands About one in five college students in the United States attends land-grant schools 34 35 36 37 38 39 According to the passage, when the Morrill Act was signed, its sponsor was © a general © asenator ©) acongressman © an engineer

What did the Morrill Act say about the land that was given to the states? © It had to be used by farmers

©) Universities had to be built on it © It had to be sold

According to the passage, the amount of land that each state received depended on

©) the number of senators and representatives © the number of college students who lived there © the condition of existing colleges

One of the “radical ideas about education” introduced by the Morrill Act was that

According to the passage, the greatest number of states spent the money that they received from the Morrill Act on

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Lesson 1: Factual and Negative Factual Questions 47

Who objected to the way that the Connecticut legislature initially decided to spend its funds?

According to the passage, one effect of the Hatch Act was to © create more land-grant schools

©) provide advisors for farmers ©) strengthen engineering programs © establish agricultural research stations Today, most land-grant colleges

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- LESSON 2

VOCABULARY QUESTIONS

Vocabulary questions ask about the meaning of words or phrases in the passage You have to decide which of four words or phrases is closest in meaning to the word from the passage Most vocabulary questions ask about single words (usually nouns, verbs, or adjectives) Some ask about phrases involving several words There will generally be two to four vocabulary questions about each of the three passages

(six to ten per Reading Section)

You can often use other words in the same sentence or in nearby sentences as clues to get an idea of the meaning of the expression you are being asked about These surrounding words are called the context

Synonyms

The first state to institute Fy education was Massachusetts, which made it mandatory for students to attend school twelve weeks a year

The word mandatory is a synonym for the word compulsory If it is mandatory to attend school twelve weeks a year, then compulsory education must mean “mandatory,” “required,” “necessary.”

Examples

Many gardeners use some kind of muleA, such as chopped leaves, peat moss, grass clippings, pine needles, or wood chips, in order to stop the growth of weeds and to hold in water

From all the examples given, it is clear that mulch means “material from plants.” Contrast

In the 1820's, the Southern states supported improvements in the national trans- portation system, but the Northern states Be q

Because the Southern states supported improvements, and because a word is used that indicates contrast between the first part of the sentence and the second part (bud), then the word balked must have a meaning that is basically the opposite of supported In other words, the Northern states must have “refused to support” improvements, or “been against” improvements

Word Analysis

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Lesson 2: Vocabulary Questions 49

= General Context

In a desert, vegetation is so S€anty that it is incapable of supporting any large human population

As is generally known, deserts contain little vegetation, so clearly the word scanty must mean “scarce” or “barely sufficient.”

You can use any of these techniques to help you answer vocabulary questions about the passages

These are the steps that you should follow when you answer vocabulary

questions: = es a

1 Look at the highlighted word or phrase and the four answer choices If you are familiar with the word, guess which answer is correct, but don’t click on the answer yet

2 - Read the sentence in which the word appears (The word will be highlighted so it will be easy to find.) See if context clues in the sentence or in the sentences before or after help you guess the correct meaning

3 Ifcontext clues do not help you guess the meaning of the word, use word analysis In other words, see if the prefix, root, or suffix can help you understand the word

4 Ifyou still are not sure which answer is correct, read the sentence to yourself with each of the four answer choices in place Does one seem more logical, given the context of the sentence, than the other three? If not, do any seem illogical? If so, you can eliminate those

5 Ifyou are still not sure, make the best guess that you can and go on If you have time, come back to this question later

Here is part of a passage from the Reading Preview Test and a vocabulary question about it

Sample

Virtually all living things have some way of getting from here to there Animals may walk, swim, or fly Plants and their seeds drift on wind or water or are carried by animals Therefore, it is reasonable to expect that, in time, all species might spread to every place on Earth where favorable conditions occur Indeed, there are some tan species A good example is the housefly, found almost everywhere on Earth However, such broad distribution is the rare exception Just as barbed wire fences prevent cattle from leaving their pasture, biological barriers prevent the dispersal of many species

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50 Section 1 Guide to Reading The wor © worldwide © useful © well-known © ancient

n the passage is closest in meaning to

There are two clues to help you find the meaning of the highlighted word The first is in the preceding sentence, where the author says “all species might spread to every place on Earth where favorable conditions occur.” The author then says that there really are some of these cosmopolitan species—species that spread everywhere in the world Then, in the following sentence, the author gives the example of the housefly, which is found “almost everywhere on Earth,” again indicating that a cosmopolitan species must be one that lives all over the world This information should help you choose worldwide as being closest in meaning to cosmopolitan Notice that if you put the three incorrect answer choices—useful, well-known, and ancient—into the passage in place of cosmopolitan, the sentence does not make sense in the passage

At the end of the Reading Section of this book, there is a special tutorial called “Vocabulary Building.” This section contains lists of words that may appear in vocabulary questions and that are useful to learn to develop your academic vocabulary The exercises will help you practice using context to guess the meaning of words

EXERCISE 2.1

Focus: Using context to guess the meaning of words in short passages Directions: Read the passages and then guess the meaning of the highlighted expressions in the passage Write one or two synonyms or a definition on the lines next to the expressions The first item is done for you

Passage 1

Everyday life in the British Colonies of North America may seem glamorous, especially as reflected in antique shops But judged by today’s standards, it was

idfab and harsh existence For most people, the labor was hard and

it from morning to dusk

iéhitary comforts now taken for granted were lacking Public buildings

were often not heated at all Drafty homes were heated only by inefficient fire- places There was no running water or indoor plumbing The faint light of candles and whale oil lamps provided inadequate illumination There was no

efse; instead, it was consumed by long-snouted

sanitation service to dispose of refuse;

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drab uninteresting, dull constant dusk rudimentary faint refuse NO 7 PF Bw NM roam NI(V1 Passage 2

When Charles W Eliot t€ ÿ§Ÿ as president of Harvard in 1869, he broke with the traditional €u A The usual course of studies at U.S universities at the time emphasized classical languages, mathematics, rhetoric, and ethics Eliot pioneered a system under which most required courses were dropped in favor

é courses The university increased its offerings and stressed physical and social sciences, the fine arts, and modern languages Soon other universities

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32 Section 1 Guide to Reading Passage 3

1 The Pleiades, named after the Seven Sisters of Greek mythology, is a

of stars in the constellation Taurus It is among the nearest to Earth of all star clusters, probably the best known, and certainly the most beautiful The cluster has been known to humans since antiquity, and is mentioned in Homer's Odyssey It appears as a dipper-shaped group of stars high overhead on autumn evenings It is so young (only a few million years old) that many of its stars

appear to be surrounded by a blue fist This ldmineue haze is actually starlight

from the hot blue stars that dominate the cluster reflecting off the interstellar dust and iS that was left over after the stars were formed Our own sun’s stellar neighborhood probably looked much like this just after its formation 2 Despite its name, the cluster is actually composed of about 250 stars, only

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—~ Lesson 2: Vocabulary Questions 53 Passage 4

Interior designers may claim that a goldfish displayed in a glass bowl makes a Striking minimalist fashion statement, but according to a team of British researchers, goldfish learn from each other and are better off in groups than alone In one experiment, two groups of goldfish were released into a large

aquarium separated by a tans) € panel On one side, fish food was hidden ed for the food while the fish on

in various locations The fish 1 on that side

the other side of the clear panel watched When released into the feeding area, these observant fish hunted for the food exactly in the proper locations Other experiments showed that fish raised in a group are less fearful than fish raised

alone And not only are they less fH, but they are also better a

enemies in the event of actual attack 18 solitary 19 striking 20 transparent 21 foraged 22 skittish 23 eluding J Passage 5

Although business partnerships enjoy certain advantages over sole proprietor- ships, there are a KS as well One problem that partnerships face is the fact that each general partner is lidbblé for the debts of any other partner

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Passage 6

1 Some 2,400 years ago, the Greek philosophers Democritus and Leucippus first proposed the idea of the atom They suggested that if you SH€@ an item, such as a loaf of bread, in half, and then in half again and again until you could cut it no longer, then you would reach the ñffifiãf£ building block They called it an atom

2 Today we know that an atom is even more ifif than that To Grasp the scale of the atom, look at the dot over the letter 7, Magnify this dot a million times through an electron microscope and you will see an array of a million ink molecules If you could somehow Ệ p this image a million times, you would see the fUzzZy image of the largest atoms And as tiny as atoms are, they are composed of still tinier subatomic particles 29 slice 30 ultimate 31 infinitesimal 32 grasp 33 blow up 34 fuzzy EXERCISE 2.2

Focus: Answering multiple-choice vocabulary questions in short passages

Directions: Read the passages and then answer the questions about the vocabulary in the passages by marking the oval next to the correct answer, Passage 1

' The Civil War created févérish manufacturing activity to supply Efffiểấf

material, especially in the Northern states When the fighting was over,

dẻ for dramatic economic growth Wartime taxes on production

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The federal overnment's position towards economic expansion was noth-

ing if not secon j The government established tariff barriers, provided

loans and grants to bui d a transcontinental railroad, and assumed a studied position of nonintervention in private enterprise The Social Darwinism of British philosopher Herbert Spencer and American econo ist Willi m Graham Summer The theory was that business, if left ices, would eliminate the weak and | š the strong As business ‘expanded, the rivalry heated up In the 1880's, five railroads operating between New York and Chicago Vied for passengers and freight traffic, and two more were under construction As a result of the rivalry, the fare between the cities de sed at one point to one dollar Petroleum companies likewise competed | ith each other, and many of them failed Glossary

Social Darwinism: The belief that the strongest individual or business will survive

and rule weaker people or businesses 1 The word © sickly and slow © extremely rapid © very dangerous © unexpected 'in the passage is closest in meaning to 2 Which of the following is closest in meaning to the word © industrial ©) serious © crucial © impressive 3 The phrase t i a in the passage is closest in meaning to which of the following?

4, The phrase féal

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56 Section 1 ovr Guide to Reading 6 The word closest in meaning to © persistent © indifferent ©) balanced ©) influenced ©) succeeded ©) premiered © evolved

8 The phrase left t 6S in the passage is closest in meaning to

© forced to do additional work © allowed to do as it pleased © made to change its plans © encouraged to produce more 9 Which of the following is closest in meaning to the word the passage? © take care of © pay attention to © feel sorry for ©) watch out for

10 The phrase Miéd for in the passage is closest in meaning to © competed for © gained ©) searched for © restricted 11 Which of the following could best be substituted for the wor n the passage? ©) fiercely © suddenly © surprisingly © genuinely Passage 2

All birds have feathers, and feathers are birds No other major group of animals is so easy to egotize All birds have wings, too, but there are other winged creatures, such as bats and certain insects

Many adaptations are found in both feathers and wings Feathers form the

soft down of goose and ducks, the § plumes of ostriches and egrets, and

the strong flight feathers of eagles and condors Wings vary from the short, broad ones of chickens, which seldom fly, to the long, slim ones of albatrosses, which spend almost all their lives soaring on air currents In penguins, wings

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Lat

have been modified into flippers and feathers into a waterproof covering In kiwis, the wings are almost impossible to :

mong birds is not as striking ¿ as it is among mammals The difference between a hummingbird and an emu is great, but as dramatic as that between a bat and a whale It is variations in details rather than in

ị Í patterns that have been important in the adaptation of birds to many kinds of ecosystems Glossary

down: soft, short feathers found under the outer feathers of water birds that keep these birds warm 12 In the passage, the phrase closest in meaning to © necessary for ©) important to © symbolic of © unique to 13 The word €ategori: © appreciate © comprehend © classify © visualize jin the passage is closest in meaning to 14 The word © ornamental © powerful © pale © graceful

the passage is closest in meaning to

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58 Section 1 Guide to Reading 1 2 18 Which of the following could best be substituted for the word fin the passage? © basic © shifting © predictable © complicated Passage 3

Manufactured in the New England town of Concord, New Hampshire, the famous Concord Coach came to §y the Old West Its ï

and a suspension system made of leather straps could handle the har: rough roads A journalist describing a railroad shipment of thirty coaches 6

Wells, Fargo and Company wrote, “They are ‘ decorated the bodies red and the running parts yellow Each door is painted, mostly with

landscapes, and no two coaches are exactly alike.”

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n the passage is closest in meaning to

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Passage 4

1 To the Hopi people of Arizona, the institutions of family and religion are of

i importance The Hopi believe in a existence that

makes the self-sacrificing individual the ideal The Hopi individual is trained from birth to feel that his or her highest responsibility is to and for the Peaceful People—the Hopi’s own term for themselves Fighting, and attempting to surpass others bring an automatic from the community

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