READING DRILL #1

I. C This is a vocabulary in cont~t question. Go back co the passage and read a few lines before the shaded
word to try to come up with your own word to replace the one in the question. The passage tells us
that
Through her published research. she was the first to direct public attention to the
environmental damage caused by the indiscriminate use of pesticides in agriculture.
She is thus regarded as the public figure who the environmentalist
movement.
The due is that she was the "first co direct public anenrion to the environmentalist movement." Thus, a
good word for the blank would be srarttd or began. Here's why the other answer choices are incorrect.
o There is no evidence for choice (B), "reorganized ," so eliminate it.
o Although it is crue that she was a science writer, the passage doesn't say she "wrote about"
the environmenraiJst movement, so (A) is incorrect.
o Similarly, although she researched scientific issues, she didn't research the movement itself.
so choice (D) is wrong as well.

2. A Q uestion 2 is another vocabulary in conttxt question. Return to the passage and read a few lines be-
fore and after the word in question.
Upon enrolling in college, Carson had initially intended to major in English and
become a journalist or novelist. Her attentiveness to presentation allowed her to
convey even rather __ facts in a11 evocative prose style that held the attention of
the general reader.
In this case, the clues are that Carson cou ld write in a way that "held the attention of the general
reader." The words tvm rnthtr mean that the facts do not usually hold the attention of people. So our
word for the blank may be boring or unintuming. Here's why the other answer choices are incorrecr.
o There is no support for answer choice (B): The sentences do not ralk about mari ne life.
o Additionally, the lines ralk about Carson's abi lity to write, not explain, so choice (C)
should be eliminated.
o Finally, no mention is made of other scientists, so eliminare answer c.hoice (0).

3. D This is a parnplmur question. Remember to trim the fat on these questions. Here's the sentence we
have to work with.
Wedded to her extensive academic training in biology, Carson's talent for expressive
wriling positioned her ideally to bring scientific findings about ecology to a mass
audience.
Let's get rid of some of the modifiers.

Wedeled te tier e>cteflsive aeaeleffiie traifliflg ifl bi6l6gy, Carson's talent l6r el<pressive
writiflg positioned her ideally to bring scientific findings abeut eeelegy to a mass
audience.

So the sentence is stating basically that Carson had the talent to bring science to a large audience.
Here,s why the other aoswer choices arc incorrect.

24 2 I Cracking the TOEfliBT

 • Answer choice (A) says Carson had to ch~ between being a writer and a scientist, but
that is not stated at all in this sentence.
• Choice (B) is about how people rtacuJ to her findings, not Carson's ability tO bring science
to the people so diminate this choice.
• Finally, choice (0 nates that Carson found it hard to write for a mass audience, but this
sentence states the oppositt.

Remember to answer questions of this type during your second pass, especially if you're having trou-
ble undemanding the sentence.

4. A Here we have another vocabulary in comtxt question. This one asks about a ph rose instead of a single
word, but our approach is sdll the same. Let's look at a few lines from the passage.
The Sea Around Us made Rachel Carson - - --,--
It became not only a best-seller but also a National Book Award winner.
The sen=cc tdls us that the book was a best-seller and an award winner. What son of word would
make sense in the blank? Even if you are unable to come up with a good word for the blank, you
can often figure out if the word should be positive or negadve. In this case, we need a positive word.
Here's why the other answer choices are incorrecc.
• We can eliminate answers (B) and (C) because these choices are not very positive.
• That leaves us with either (A) or (0). Because there is no information about C.1rson plan-
ni ng her next book, (D) shou ld be eliminated.

5. 0 Here's another vocabulary in ronuxr question, and this one is kind of rough. However, we can sti ll use
Proc.:ss of Elimination (POE) to help us out. Let's look at the following lines from the passage.
The last book in the trilogy was The Edge of the Sea, in which Carson her
writerly and scientific gaze on the shoreline of the East Coast to examine the
endangered organisms that populated it.
It seems as if the blank is referring tO Carson's "gaze.• According to the scmcncc, what did she do
with her gozc? She focused it on the shoreline. So we wam a \\'Ord that means something like jocUStd.
Of the choi"~• only "aimed" is close. Here's why the other answer choices are incorrect.
• Even if you were unable to come up wirh a word for the sentence, you should Still be able to
eliminate choice (A). Nothing in the semence says she "questioned" anything.
• Choice (0 can be eliminated for the same reason. There is nothing in the sentence to sug-
gest that she "reviewed" something.
• That leaves you with choices (B) and (D). Answer (B) is a good trap answer bcc<tusc srudltd
is very close to the word txamint, wh ich does appear in the sentence. However. if you arc
going to guess on the TOEFL, it's a good strotcgy to avoid answers that seem too easy or
obvious.

6. B This question is a tkrai/ quesdon. Make sure you rephrase the question first so you know what you're
looking for in the passage. A good paraphrase of this question would be
What inRucnced Carson to write Siknt Spring?
The question helpfully told us that the answer is somewhere in paragroph 3, so let's go back and look
for it.

Reading Practice Answers and Explanations I 24 3

 She began to examine data on the effects of agricultural pesticides. spurred in part
by a letter from two friends who owned a farm in Massachusetts and expressed
concern that sprayed pesticides were causing harm to local wildlife. Carson's
research convinced her that high exposure to pesticides such as DDT threatened
not only beneficial insects and birds but also people. She put her conclusions in a
landmark fourth scientific volume, Silent Spring.
Try to answer in your own words before rerurning to the choices. Accord ing tO these lines, what in-
Rucnccd Carson? It appears that the letter from two friends impacted her. "This information should
lead us to answer choice (B). Here's why the other answer choices are incorrect.
• C hoice (A) is wrong because it srates rhar Carson observed pesticides at " her" farm, bm rhe
passage srates that the farm belongs to her friends.
• Elimi nate choice (C) because it talks about public reaction, but that topic doesn't appear in
this paragraph.
• Choice (D) is incorrect because the passage does not srate that Carson was sick .

7. C Question 7 asks us to make an inference about DDT. Use DDT as your lead word and return to the
passage. There arc two places in the passage that refer to DDT. Here's the first.
Carson's research convinced her that high exposure to pesticides such as DDT
threatened not only beneficial insects and birds but also people. She put her
conclusions in a landmark fourth scientific volume, Silent Spring.
However, this pan of the passage doesn't answer the question of why DDT is especially dangerous. If
you arc unable to answer the question in your own words after readi ng a portion of the passage, look
for another part of rhe passage rhat also comai ns the lead word . DDT is mentioned again in the fol-
lowing paragrnph:
Through her influence. she assisted in bringing about far stricter controls on toxic
chemicals such as DDT, which deteriorates slowly and thus remains in soil and
groundwater for very long periods of time.
This parr of the passage seems to be more helpful. It states that DDT deterioraces "slowly and thus re-
mains in soil ... for very long periods of cime," which matehes answer choice (C). Here's why che other
answer choices are incorrcc[.
• \Vatch out for answer choice (A). wh ich states that DDT is the "most" used pesticide. That
is an ex creme answer and should be elim inated on an inference question.
• There is M mention of the information in choices (B) or (D).

8. C Here we have a rtformu question. If we reph rase this one, it osks the following:
To whac docs the phrase siknr spring refer?
O nce again, we'll use a lead word to help us find our answer. Go back to che passage and look for the
phrnse sil~nr spring. Look at th is part of the passage.
She put her conclusions in a landmark fourth scientific volume. Silent Spring . In the
famous image that gave the book its title , Carson hypothesized about an ecosystem
in which the calling of birds had been silenced by poison in soil and groundwater.
Thus, based on these lines, (C) is the best answer. Here's why the ocher answer choices are incorrect.

244 I Cracking the TOEFLIBT

 • 'lbc information menrioned in choice (A) appears earlier in the passage, but it is nor related
tO this question.
• C hoie< (B) may seem robe common sense, bur rhere is no support for ir i11 the passage .
• C hoice (D) is wrong as well; there is no mention of"h iddcn" dangers in reference to rhe
ride of Carson's book.

9. B Here's another vocabulary in &01/UX/ qllesrion. Let's go back to the passage and nnd some d ues. Take a
look at the following lines:
Carson that the regulations governing use of these chemicals were
inadequate, though her positions were not as extreme as they are sometimes now
characterized. She did not support the outright banning of pesticides.
1hcse li nes talk abour Carson's "positions" and state that she did "nor support" ba.nning pesticides.
Therefore, we need a word for the blank that is rel ated co these words. You may have come up wirh
a word such as btlitvtd or 1bougb1. Looking at the answer choices. only choice (B) is close ro these
words. Here's why the other answer choices are incorrect.
• Based on the sentence a nd the rest of the passage ar which we've looked , it's dear rhar Car·
son is in no position ro make a ru ling, so (A) is out as well.
• There is no evidence that Carson disproved anything, so eliminate choice (C) .
• She did not li mit something. so (D) must )x, wrong.

10. B O n some vocabulary in conux t questions, you' ll see that the author does you a f.1vor by actually de·
nning a word for you. Usually, when this occurs, the definition will )x, set ofT by commas and come
directly after the word in question. The lines lxlow a re an exa mple.
She did not support the outright banning of pesticides. Rather, she objected
to "indiscriminate" use. which is to say, use without any thought for caution and
moderation.
Notice how the de6nition follows right after rhe highlighted word. In this conre><t, indiscrimi11a1c
means "wirhout any thought for caution and moderation." Of course, if you're srill unsure, POE is
very helpful. Here's how POE can hdp you idcm.ify why the other answer choices arc incorrect.
• 1here are no words about the effectiveness of the pesticides, so choice (A) can't be righr.
• You may be tempted to pick (C), bur remember to always find proof for you t answer. No·
where does it say that using pcsricides arc agai nst the law.
• Likewise. nowhere does the passage mention spending money for pesticides, so diminare
(0).

II. 0 Remember for an EXCEPT/NOT/LEAST question to go through the answer choices one by one and
see if you n nd evidence for them in the passage. If you ca n nnd evidence, chen mark the answer as
• true.•
(A) True: "She also tesrined before Congress."
(B) True: "President John F. Kennedy's Science Advisory CommirK-e solicited her advice on
how to improve rules about pesticide use."
(C) True: "... thac book is still frequently cited in environmental policy recom mendations by
a nalysts a nd regulators."
(D) False: 'There is no evidence of this in the passage.

Reading Ptactice Answers and Explanations I 245

 12. This final summary question requires you to work with the main idea of the pa=ge. As we've lea rned,
the main idea appears throughout the passage; use the active reading strategies discussed earlier to
find it. For this type of question, avoid picking answers that refer to specific details. Here are the cor-
rect answers.
Rachel Carson was a pioneering environmentalist who helped draw public attention to
the effects of human activity on wildlife.
• Carson's three books abour ocean ecology increasingly focused on the dangers humans
posed ro marine life.
• The book Silmt Spring has had both immediate and long-term iJlfluence on
environmentalism.
• The government considered Carson a valued expert and invited her input on ecological
policy.

Each of the correct answers is somehow related to the initial boldfaced sta tement. The first correct re-
sponse refers tO the effects of"huma n acdviry on wild life," and rhe second and third refer to Carson's
environmental inAuence.

For this question, it is helpful to look at the wrong answers. Here's the first one that we eliminated.
Carson at first considered majoring in English and becoming a nonscientific writer.
This is a detail mentioned in the paragraph, but it is not related to the summary, which focuses on
Carson as a "pioneering environmentalist who helped draw public attention to the effects of human
activity on wildlife.•

Let's look at another incorrect answer choice.

Many scientists doubted Carson's conclusions, causing her to write more books to
support them.
This choice mentions scientists doubting Carson's conclusions, which doesn't match the summary.
Look ro eliminate answers that are opposite of the tone of the summary.
Here's chc lasr incorrect answer choice.
Carson did much of her research by talking to people with everyday experience
using pesticides.
Once again, we have a specific detail. Eliminate this choice because it doesn't touch on rhe main
themes of environmentalism or drawing people's attention to the problem. Instead, it focuses on re-
search methods.

READING DRILL #2
I. C Our first question is a derail question. Return ro the first paragraph and look for the information
about the "design of the typical Hag.•
The traditional flag of fabric is still used to mark buildings, ships, and diplomatic
caravans by national affiliation, but its visual design makes it adaptable for other
roles as well.

246 I Cracking lhe TOEFL IBT