Tài liệu The complete guide to the toefl IBT reading part 5 docx

Passage 1 1 Pigeons have been taught to recognize human facial expressions, upsetting long-held beliefs that only humans have evolved the sophisticated nervous systems needed to perform

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Lesson 2: Vocabulary Questions 61

32 The word £

©) fears

©) failures

33 The word ii

©) illogical

in the passage is closest in meaning to

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Passage 5

1 Canadian researchers have discovered a set of genes tha

lifespan of the common nematode This finding §

process that may allow science to eventually delay the : process of

aging

2 By Ulatiig the newly discovered genes, the team at McGill University

in Montreal was able to increase the lifespan of the nematode fivefold Altering

the genes apparently caused the metabolism of the worms to operate at a |

ly pace This caused the DNA effects thought to bring about aging to accumulate at a reduced rate Of course the causes of aging in humans are

more | | than those in nematodes However, researchers are confident that

these discoveries will provide invaluable mysterious

process

34 The word

35 Which of the following is closest in meaning to the phrase}

in the passage?

©) contradicts what is know about

©) provides more information about

36 The word int

ng

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37

38

39

40

41

What is meant by the word

©) discovering

©) destroying The phras

Which of the following is closest in meaning to the word

©) discoveries The word

n the passage is closest in meaning to

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y LESSON 3

INFERENCE QUESTIONS

Some of the questions about the Reading passages require you to make inferences

The answers to these questions are not directly provided in the passage—you have

to “read between the lines” to answer them

Inference questions can be written in a number of ways Many times the questions contain some form of the words infer or imply

Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?

It can be inferred from the information in paragraph _ that

In paragraph , the author implies that Which of the following does the passage imply?

Which of the following would be the most reasonable guess about 2 The author suggests that

It is probable that

It can be concluded from the information in paragraph that

Here is a section of one of the passages in the Reading Preview Test and an inference question about it

Sample

What constitutes barriers depends on the species and its method of dispersal

Some are physical barriers For land animals, bodies of water, chains of mountains, or deserts are effective For example, the American bison spread throughout the open grasslands of North America, but in the southern part of the continent there are deserts, so the bison could not spread there For aquatic

creatures, strong currents, differences in salinity, or land areas may serve as barriers

What does the author suggest about American bison?

In this paragraph, the author gives the American bison as an example of land animals that are blocked by physical barriers The passage tells us that the American bison spread through the open grasslands of North America, but could not spread to the south because of a desert Therefore, bison must need open grasslands to survive This idea is not directly stated anywhere in the passage, but it can be inferred

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EXERCISE 3.1

Focus: Identifying valid inferences based on sentences or short passages

Directions: Read each sentence or short passage and mark the answer choice that

is a valid inference based on the information that you read

1

2

4

5

6

If a metalworker from 3,000 years ago could somehow travel forward in time,

he would recognize virtually every step of the lost-wax process that today is used to cast titanium for jet engines

A Titanium has been forged for thousands of years

B The lost-wax method of casting metal is very old

C Metalworking has changed very little in 3,000 years

When apple growers talk about new varieties of apples, they don’t mean some- thing developed last month, last year, or even in the last decade

A Apple growers have not developed any new varieties in recent decades

B Some varieties of apples can be developed in a short time, but others take a long time

C New varieties of apples take a long time to develop

High levels of serum cholesterol used to be thought of as a problem only for adults

A High levels of serum cholesterol are no longer a problem for adults

B Only children have a problem with high levels of serum cholesterol

C High serum cholesterol affects both adults and children

Alpha Centauri, one of the closest stars to Earth, is just 4.3 light years away It can be seen only from the Southern Hemisphere However, the closest star (other than our own Sun, of course) is a tiny red star, Proxima Centauri, which

is not visible without a telescope

A Proxima Centauri is the closest star to Earth

B Alpha Centauri is invisible from Earth without a telescope

C Proxima Centauri is closer than 4.3 light years from the Earth

Compared with the rest of its brain, the visual area of a turtle’s brain is quite small, since turtles, like all other reptiles, depend mainly on senses other than sight

A No reptile uses sight as its primary sense

B Animals that depend on sight all have larger visual areas in their brain than turtles do

C The visual area of other reptiles’ brains is smaller than that of turtles

An old but still useful proverb says, “Beware of oak, it draws the stroke.” In gen- eral, trees with deep roots that tap into groundwater attract more lightning than do trees with shallow, dry roots Oaks are fifty times more likely to be struck than beeches Pines are not as safe as beeches but are still much safer than oaks

A The roots of oaks are fifty times deeper than those of beeches

B Pines’ roots are deeper than beeches’, but not as deep as those of oaks

C The deeper the root, the safer the tree

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Lesson 3: Inference Questions 65

7 Itlegible handwriting does not indicate weakness of character, as even a quick

glance at the penmanship of Franklin D Roosevelt or John E Kennedy reveals

A Roosevelt and Kennedy both had handwriting that was difficult to read

— — B Roosevelt’s handwriting was more illegible than that of Kennedy

—_ C The author believes both Roosevelt and Kennedy had weak characters

8 Jack London spent only a year prospecting for gold in Alaska However, nearly

half of his forty books are set there

A London was successful in his search for gold in Alaska

— B Although London worked in Alaska for only a short time, he wrote almost

twenty books while he lived there

— — C London's experiences in Alaska had a strong influence on his writing

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9 Most fish take on the coloration of their natural surroundings to a certain

degree It’s not surprising, therefore, that fish inhabiting the warm, shallow

waters around tropical reefs are colored all the brilliant hues of the rainbow

_ A Tropical fish are unlike other fish because they take on the coloration of

their environment

— B._ Tropical reefs are brightly colored environments

C Tropical fish are brightly colored because they inhabit warm waters

10 Although sheep herding is an older and more beloved occupation, shepherds

never caught the attention of filmmakers the way cowboys did

— A There have been more films about cowboys than about shepherds

——— B Films about shepherds are older and more beloved than films about

cowboys

— C Cowboys are generally younger than shepherds

11 The Okefenokee Swamp is a fascinating realm that both confirms and contra-

dicts popular notions of a swamp Along with huge cypresses, dangerous

quagmires, and dim waterways, the Okefenokee has sandy pine islands, sunlit

prairies, and clear lakes

_._ A Although most swamps are not very interesting, the Okefenokee is an

exception

B The Okefenokee has features that are not commonly associated with

swamps

C Unlike most swamps, the Okefenokee does not have huge cypresses, dan-

gerous quagmires, or dim waterways

12 Thomas Jefferson preferred the Roman style of architecture, as seen in the

buildings at the University of Virginia, to the English style favored by Charles

Bullfinch

A The architecture of the University of Virginia was influenced by the Roman

style

— B._ Bullfinch was an English architect

. C Jefferson preferred to build in the English style of architecture

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13 In all cultures, gestures are used as a form of communication, but the same gestures may have very different meanings in different cultures

—— A No two cultures use the same gestures

——~ B One gesture almost never has the same meaning in two cultures

~—— © Aperson from one culture may misunderstand the gestures used by a person from another

14, Even spiders that do not build webs from silk use it for a variety of purposes, such as constructing egg sacs and nursery tents

—— A All spiders build webs

—— B Spiders that build webs don’t build egg sacs or nursery tents

—_— C Silkis used by all spiders

15 In theory, a good screwdriver should last a lifetime, but it seldom does, usually because it is used as a substitute for other tools

—— A Using a screwdriver for purposes other than those for which it was

intended can shorten its life

——_— B All screwdrivers, if they are really good, last a lifetime

—— C Ifyou want a screwdriver to last a lifetime, use other tools to substitute for it

EXERCISE 3.2

Focus: Answering inference questions based on passages

Directions: Read the following passages and the inference questions about them Mark the choice that best answers each question

Passage 1

1 Pigeons have been taught to recognize human facial expressions, upsetting

long-held beliefs that only humans have evolved the sophisticated nervous systems needed to perform such a feat In recent experiments at the University

of lowa, eight trained pigeons were shown photographs of people displaying emotions of happiness, anger, surprise, and disgust The birds learned to distinguish between these expressions Not only that, but they were able to correctly identify the same expressions on photographs of unfamiliar faces Their achievement does not suggest, of course, that the pigeons had any idea what the human expressions meant

2 Some psychologists had theorized that, because facial expression is vital to human communication, humans have developed special nervous systems capa- ble of recognizing subtle differences between expressions Now the pigeons have cast doubt on that idea

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in fact, the ability to recognize facial expressions of emotion is not necessar-

ily innate even in human babies, but may have to be learned in much the same

way that pigeons learn In experiments conducted several years ago at the

University of lowa, it was found that pigeons organize images of things into

many of the same logical categories that humans do

None of these results would come as any surprise to Charles Darwin, who

long ago wrote about the continuity of mental development from animals to

humans

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1 From the information in paragraph 1, it can be inferred that pigeons

©) show more emotions than people thought they could

disgust

©) can identify only the expressions of people that they are familiar with

2 The author probably believes that the psychologists mentioned in paragraph 2

3 In paragraph 3, the author suggests that, at birth, human babies

4, What can be inferred about the experiments that were conducted several years

ago at the University of Iowa?

They were completely contradicted by more recent experiments

They supported the idea that pigeons and humans share certain mental abilities

They were conducted by scientists on human babies

They proved that animals other than pigeons could recognize human expressions

5 If Charles Darwin could have seen the results of this experiment, his most

probable reaction would have been one of

rejection surprise agreement amusement

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Passage 2

The Titus-Bode Law predicted that there would be a fifth planet between Mars and Jupiter In 1800, a group of astronomers nicknamed the “celestial police” was organized to search for the missing planet Before the plan could be put in

effect, another astronomer, G Piazzi, discovered 1 Ceres, the largest asteroid, in

this position in space on New Year’s Day, 1801 While trying to locate Ceres

again, the astronomer H Olbers discovered 2 Pallas in 1802 J Harding discovered 3 Juno in 1804 H Olbers also discovered 4 Vesta, the brightest asteroid, in

1807 It was not until 1836 that a fifth asteroid, 5 Astrea, was added to the list

At first, many nineteenth-century astronomers did not find asteroids of much interest One even called them “the vermin of the sky.” In 1891, Max Wolf pioneered the use of astrophotography to detect asteroids Then Wolf went on

to discover 248 asteroids, beginning with 323 Bruscia At present, around

150,000 asteroids have been discovered Most are spotted today by automated systems that pair telescopes with computers

Asteroids vary in size from Ceres, with a diameter of 570 miles, to tiny bodies that are only the size of pebbles Only the four largest—Ceres, Palas, Vesta, and Juno—are spherical Most are elongated or irregular Asteroids are not uniformly distributed through space Many occur in clusters called groups,

or in even tighter clusters called families Families of asteroids with similar characteristics, indicating a common origin, are called Hiruzama asteroids

H Olbers advanced the theory that asteroids are the remnants of a large planet that exploded Other astronomers suggested that the asteroids were originally moons of Jupiter that broke away and then disintegrated The most commonly accepted theory among astronomers today is that they occupy a place in the solar system where a sizeable planet could have formed but was prevented from doing so by the disruptive gravity field of nearby Jupiter

Originally, perhaps, there were only a few dozen asteroids These were eventually fragmented by mutual collisions to produce the present population of asteroids

When new asteroids are discovered, they are given a temporary six-character name The first four numbers correspond to the year of discovery The first of the two letters corresponds to the half-month period in which the asteroid was dis-

covered, and the second to the sequence in which the asteroid was discovered in that half-month For example, the asteroid 2006 AC was the third asteroid (C) to

be discovered in the first half of January (A) in 2006 After the orbit of an asteroid has been calculated, asteroids receive a number that corresponds to the order of discovery (currently from 1 Ceres to 95959 Covadonga) The first several hun- dred asteroids were named for female characters from mythology (Ceres, for example, is the Roman goddess of the harvest.) Even after these names were used up, the convention of giving asteroids female names continued up until 334 Chicago A person who discovers an asteroid may submit a name to the

International Astronomical Union Some are named for places or for things Some are named to honor famous scientists, painters, writers, or even pop stars, such

as musicians and actors Some are named after colleagues, family members, and

even pets Discoverers may not, however, name asteroids after themselves Of the 150,000 known asteroids, only about 10% have names

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Most asteroids are found in the Main Asteroid Belt between Mars and

Jupiter Some have highly eccentric orbits, such as 3200 Phaeton, which swings

close to the Sun Some asteroids, called Near Earth Asteroids (NEAs), pass close

to Earth It is feared that one day an asteroid may hit Earth and cause a great

deal of damage In fact, most scientists believe that a collision between an aster-

oid and the earth made dinosaurs extinct

In June of 2002, without warning, a medium-sized asteroid called 2002 MN

passed relatively close to Earth It was not observed until three days after it had

passed This was the closest an asteroid had come to Earth since 1994 XM That

asteroid missed the Earth by only 64,000 miles However, the one in 2002 was

much larger than 1994 XN and potentially much more destructive Other near

misses involved 1989 FC and 433 Eros in 1975 While there are programs to

watch for Near Earth Asteroids, 2002 MN proved that these programs are not

completely effective Some people believe that there should be a much larger

worldwide program to detect and possibly destroy asteroids that are heading

towards our planet

Glossary

vermin: small, unwanted, destructive animals, usually insects or mammals

6 It can be inferred from the information in paragraph 1 that the Titus-Bode Law

deals with which of the following?

7 What does the author imply about G Piazzi in paragraph 1?

8 It can be inferred from the information in paragraph 1 that H Olbers

9 The author implies that the nineteenth-century astronomers mentioned in

paragraph 1 believed that

astronomers should work on projects other than asteroids astrophotography was a valuable tool

more time should be spent searching for asteroids asteroids were dangerous because they might strike Earth

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10 It can be inferred from the information in paragraph 2 that asteroids in a family

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What can be inferred from the information in paragraph 6 about the asteroid named 2002 MN?

What can be inferred from the information in paragraph 6 about the asteroid named 433 Eros?

It can be inferred that the first 333 asteroids to be discovered

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