Twelfth Meeting

Reading Session

Reading Comprehension-TOEFL Session 1

Directions : In this section you will read several passages. Each one is followed by a number
of questions about it. You are to choose the one best answer, (A), (B), (C), or (D), to each
questions. Then, on your answer sheet, find the number of the question and fill in the space
that corresponds to the letter of the answer you have chosen. Answer all questions about the
information in a passage on the basis of what is started or implied in that passage.

Read the following passage :

Because Egyptian believed in life after death, the mummified the body to preserve it grom
decay. The ancients left no written accounts as to the execution of this process, so scientific
have had to examine mummies and establish their own theories. The embalming process
might have taken up to seventy days for nobles and only a few for the poor. Certain
compounds of salts, spices, and resins were used to preserve the corpse, which was later
wrapped in a fine linen cloth and then used in wooden box before being placed in a
sarcophagus.

Example I Sample Answer

How did you would explain the embalming process?

A. Lengthy and complicated A

B. Short and simple B

C. Strict and unfaltering C

D. Wild and terrifying D

According to the passage, the embalming process “might have taken up seventy days” and
has “certain compounds.” Therefore, you should choose (A)

Example II Sample Answer

In line 5, the word “examine” is closest in meaning to A

A. Experience B

B. Inform C

C. Observe D

D. Execute
The passage talks the curiosity of the scientists about the mummy phenomena since “the
ancients left no written accounts as to the executions of this process.” Therefore, you should
choose (C)

Now begin work on the questions

Question no.1-11

Across East Africa, thousand of farmers are planting weeds in their maize fields.
Bizarre as sounds, their technique is actually raising yields by giving the insect pests
something else to chew on besides maize. “it’s better than pesticides, and a lot cheaper,” said
Ziadin Khan, whose idea it is, as he showed me round his demonstration plots at the Mbita
Point research station on the shores of lake Victoria in Kenya. “And it has raised farm yields
round here by 60 to 70 per cent.”

His novel way of fighting pests is one of a host of low-tech innovations boostings
production by 100 per cent or more on millions of poor Third World farms in the past decade.
This “sustainable agriculture” just happens to be the biggest movement in Third World
farming today, dwarfing the tentative forays into genetic manipulation.

1. Which of the following is closest in meaning to “bizarre” in line 1?

A. Strange B. Strong C. Impossible D. Important

2. The passage indicates that

A. Insect pests can be used to replace weeds

B. Pesticides are can be cheaper than planting weeds

C. Pesticides can be replaced by insect pests

D. Maize field must be planted with maize

3. The passage indicates that by using insect pests the harvest of maize could be

A. Poor B. Increasing C. Deteriorating D. Cheaper

4. According to the passage, Ziadin Khan could probably best defines as

A. A novelist B. A farmer C. An informant D.A researcher

5. The word “it” in line 5 refers to

A. Mbita Point research station C. Lake Victoria

B. Demonstration plots D. Insects pests

6. Which of the following is implied in the passage?

 A. Ziadin Khan writes his work in a novel

B. The usage of insect pets is becoming wider in Third Word farming

C. This innovation produces more than millions farmers become poorer

D. 100 per cent of agricultural system in Third Word countries use genetic
manipulation

7. The word “novel” in line 6 is best understood as

A. Khan’s way of giving story is like a story in a novel

B. Khan reports in research findings in a novel way of writing

C. Khan’s work on insect pests is inspired by a novel

D. Khan’s way on research like a fiction but it is a truly matter

8. The word “showed” in line 4 is closets in meaning to

A. Demonstrated B. Tested C. Examined D. Asked

9. The term “sustainable agricultures” as described in the passage can be related to

A. Planting weeds C. Genetic manipulation

B. Farming innovations D. Giving insect pets

10. Where in the passage does the author describe the benefits of applying insect pets?

A. Line 1-3 C. Line 1-3 and Line 5-7

B. Line 5-7 D. Line 7-9

11. The writer most probably wants to highlight?

A. The dangerous effect of pesticides

B. The vitally importance of manipulating genetic

C. Suistainable agriculture is asuccess example in farming research

D. Cultivating maize should include insect pets

Questions 12-20

The exhibition in summer of 1995 illustrated how Westminster Abbey has been
transformed over the past nine centuries. Both its structure and its contents have been
changed and changed about, but the identity of the building has never been lost. This process
of change deserves chronicling as a subject in its own right, not as an apologetic footnote
explaining why certain original features have been modified. For those of the Gothic Revival,
such as William Morris, even by the 1890s the exterior of the Abbey had been ‘damaged so
vitally……..that we nothing left us but a mere outline, a ghost’. The ‘ghost’ has proved
remarkably robust, the latest century of its history encompassing both aerial attack and
painstaking restoration. This is a story worth telling.

Restoration, according to the meaning we give it today as a self-conscious process of

repair and reinstatement of earlier features, only come to the Abbey at the end of the
seventeenth century, with the campaign of comprehensive repair devised and carried out by
Christopher Wren and his successors. This program of work, covering the entire building
both inside and out and setting out deliberately to respect the style of the original structure,
was exceptional for its date, not only in England but also anywhere in Europe.

12. What does the passage mainly discuss?

A. The 1995 Summer Exhibition

B. Gothic Revival

C. The exterior building of Westminster Abbey

D. The restoration of Westminster Abbey

13. Which of the following has the Abbey retained through centuries of change?

A. Structure and contents C. Identity

B. Original features D. Outline

14. The word “lost” in line 3 is closest in meaning to

A. Appear B. Found C. Fade D. Exist

15. At the end of the seventeenth century the Abbey was

A. Thoroughly repaired C. Designed by Sir Christoper Wren

B. Conscientiously repaired D. Unusual for buildings of the time

16. The “this program work” in line 12 refers to?

A. Campaign of self-consciousness

B. Campaign of total restoration

C. Campaign of maintaining the original structure

D. Campaign in around the Europe

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

 A. Experiencing B. Experimenting C. Including D. Influencing

18. The word “ghost” in line 7 indicates that

A. The building contains a lot of ghosts

B. The building is scaring

C. The building is unwell-structured

D. The building is horrifying

19. Which of the following is NOT true

A. The Abbey has experienced changes over the past 900 years

B. The changes made the building had been damaged

C. The changes of the Abbey need to record

D. The Abbey remain maintain its identity

20. The word “painstaking” in line 8 can be best replaced by

A. Wholly B. Partly C. Moderately D. Fairly

Questions 21-30

Today, few scientists doubt the atmosphere is warming. Most also agree that the rate
of heating is accelerating and that the consequences of this temperature change could become
increasingly disruptive. Even high-school students can recite some projected outcomes : the
oceans will warm, and glaciers will melt, causing sea levels to rise and salt water to inundate
low-lying coasts. Yet less familiar effects could be equally detrimental. Notably, computer
model indicate that global warming, and other climate alterations it includes, will expand the
incidence and distribution of many serious medical disorder.

Heating of the atmosphere can influence health through several routes. Most directly,
it can generate more, stronger, and hotter treacherous if the evenings fail to bring cooling
relief. Global warming can also threaten human well-being profoundly, if somewhat less
directly, by revising weather patterns-particularly by increasing the frequency and intensity of
floods and droughts and by causing rapid swings in the weather. Aside from causing death by
drowning or starvation, these disasters promote by various means the emergence, resurgence
and spread of infectious disease. The prospect is deeply troubling, because infectious illness
may kill fewer people in one fell swoop than a ranging flood or an extended drought, but
once it takes root in a community, it often defies eradication and can invade other areas.

Diseases relayed by mosquitoes-such as malaria, dengue fever, yellow fever and

several kinds of encephalitis-are among those eliciting the greatest concern as the world
warms. Mosquito-borne disorders are projected to become increasingly prevalent because
their insect carries, or “vectors”, are very sensitive to meteorological conditions. Cold be a
friend to humans, because it limits mosquitoes to seasons and regions where temperatures
stay above certain minimums. Winter freezing kills many eggs, larvae and adults outright.

21. Which of the following best describes the topic of this passage?

A. Detrimental effect of global warming on health

B. The scientists doubt about global warming

C. The effect of global warming in temperature alteration

D. Global warming increases the intensity and frequency of floods

22. According to the passage, which is NOT caused by global warming?

A. The increasing level of sea warming

B. The melting glaciers

C. The rapid changing in the weather

D. The descending of sea levels

23. Why does global warming is dangerous to human health less directly?

A. It creates cooling relief in the evening

B. It promotes the spread of infectious disease

C. It fixes the weather patterns

D. It brings killing illness

24. According to the passage, when does the number of mosquito’s egg decrease
dramatically?

A. When temperature above certain minimums

B. When the level of heat increase

C. During the summer season

D. During the winter season

25. The word “alteration” in line 6 could be best replaced by

A. Remained B. Stabled C. Change D. Uncertain

26. The word “profoundly” in line 10 is closest in meaning to which of the following?

A. Overwhelmingly B. Insignificantly C. Especially D. Particularly

 27. The word “eradication” in line 16 is closest in meaning to

A. Proliferation B. Abolition C. Unification D. Intensification

28. The word “vector” in line 20 can be understood as

A. Mosquito’s egg C. Dengue fever

B. Larvae D. Media carrying diseases relayed by mosquitoes

29. The information in the passage

A. Lists a cause followed by an effect C. Is in chronological order

B. Moves from general to specific ideas D. In spatial order

30. It is implied in the passage that the author believes that global warming

A. Is not a threat to human-beings

B. Is harmful to human health

C. Is necessarily a matter of dangerous thing

D. Is a natural order

Questions 31-40

According to statistics, it is becoming increasingly rare in many Western countries

for families to eat together. It seems people no longer have time to enjoy a meal, let alone buy
and prepare the ingredients. Meanwhile, fast food outlets are proliferating. Further evidence
of the effects of the increasing pace of life can be seen an all sides. Motorists drum their
fingers impatiently at stoplights. Tempers flare impatiently at stoplights. Tempers flare in
supermarket queues. Saddest of all is the success of an American series of books called “One
Minute Bedtime Stories”. What, one has to ask, do parents do with the time thus saved?

According to Barton Sparagon,M.D., medical director of the Meyer Friedman

Institute in San Fransisco, and an expert on stress-related illness, the above are all symptoms
of a modern epidemic called “hurry sickness” the term was coined nearly 40 years ago by a
prominent cardiologist, who noticed that all of his heart disease patients had common
behavioral characteristics, the most obvious being that they were in a chronic rush. Hurry
sickness has been an issue in our culture ever since, but the problem is escalating in degree
and intensity, leading to rudeness, short-tempered behavior and even violence, alongside a
range of physical ills.

31. The word “proliferating” in line 3 could most easily be replaced by

 A. Increasing B. Reducing C. Reproducing D.
Deteriorating

32. According to the passage, what makes families in Western is becoming rare to eat
together?

A. They don’t know how to prepare the ingredients of meals

B. They don’t enjoy a self-prepared meal

C. They spend their time to other activities

D. They don’t enjoy a fast food meal

33. The word “meanwhile” in line 3 is closest in meaning to which of the following?

A. Likewise B. However C. Moreover D. Therefore

34. According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true about hurry sickness?

A. It was invented by a well known cardiologist 40 years ago

B. It has related to certain behavioral characteristics

C. It firstly found in heart disease patients

D. It is a product of broken home family

35. The word “coined” in line 10 is closest in meaning to

A. Invented B. Coin money C. Currency D.

Diagnosed

36. Based on the passage, which of the following CAN NOT be included in hurry
sickness symptoms?

A. Haven’t enough time to gather with a family’s dinner

B. Impatient to queue in a supermarket

C. Read a series books in one minute

D. The proliferating trend of fast food outlets in anywhere

37. According to the passage, Barton Sparagon is a

A. Medical director in a hospital in San Fransisco

B. Specialist on stress-related illness

C. Prominent cardiologist

D. The author of well-known a book series in America

 38. According word “alongside” in line 14 can be best replaced by

A. Along line B. Together with C. And D. Also

39. The main purpose of this passage is to

A. Explain why people queue in the supermarket

B. Describe the escalating problem so-called “hurry sickness”

C. Suggest the development of new culture

D. Give an example of impatient behavior among society

40. It can be inferred from the passage that “hurry sickness”

A. Leads to physical danger

B. Causes odd behavioral characteristics

C. Is not a matter of social problem

D. Doesn’t related to societal culture

Questions 41-50

Psychologist are united in one belief that music speaks to the heart. What is more,
the evidence that music elicits emotion is startlingly direct. A Cornell University study
showed recently that certain pieces of music induce psychological changes in the body that
correspond to certain emotions. “Sad” pieces caused the pulse to slacken, the blood pressure
to rise and the temperature to drop, which is exactly what happens when a sense of sadness
sets in. “Happy” songs did the opposite, including a cheery feeling. Somehow, music can tap
into sensitive emotion circuits.

Geoffrey Miller, a scientist at University College, London, thinks it is clear that

music has all the hallmarks of an adaptive behavior, meaning it was a factor selecting a mate.
“It is universal across culture, and kids are motivated spontaneously to learn how to play
music around the age of puberty”, says Dr Miller. He recently conducted an intriguing study
of 3,000 jazz albums. The peak age of the performers was 30, and there were ten male
performers for every one female. That’s the same age at which other cultural displays peak,
such as painting, poetry, and philosophy,” Dr. Miller points out.

Musical talent, he says, can indicate many desirable qualities in a mate : the mental
competence to learn notes and lyrics; the social intelligence required to be part of an
orchestra and co-operate, literally harmoniously, with other people; creatively and energy.
But just because musical competence many have once signaled a good mate doesn’t
necessarily mean that every modern women is searching for that quality-human beings have
come to differ in their preference.

41. The word “evidence” in line 2 could most easily be replaced by

A. Experience B. Proof C. Inspiration D. Inexperienced

42. According to the passage, what happens when blood temperature is decreasing?

A. Happy B. Angry C. Bored D. Sad

43. According to the passage, Dr. Miller attempts to link between music and pattern of

A. Cross culture C. Choosing a friend

B. Motivation D. Universal culture

44. Dr. Millers point out that the comparison between the male and female player is

A. 3,0000 : 1 C. 10 : 1

B. 30 : 1 D. Not given

45. The word “to slacken” in line 4 means

A. To drop B. To increase C. To rise D. Too fast

46. According to the passage, these following spheres have closely related with the peak
age of music players, EXCEPT

A. Painting B. Philosophy C. Poems D. Sport

47. Which of the following is implied in the passage?

A. Music enhances social intelligence

B. Every woman are willing to learn music

C. Music talent reflects creativity

D. Human beings have different talent in music

48. The word “intriguing” in line 11 could be best replaced by

A. Fascinating B. Uninteresting C. Boring D. Useful

49. The main purpose of this passage is to

A. Give example of the development of music in history

B. Describe the various sort of music

C. Strengthen the importance role of music

 D. Explain the result of research on music

50. This passage would most probably be assigned reading in which of the following
course?

A. Biology B. Physiology C. Sociology D. Psychology