Tài liệu Cracking the toefl IBT 2009 edition part 18 pdf

Part III Cracking Each Section of the TOEFL 6 Cracking the Reading Section 7 Reading Practice Drills 8 Reading Practice Answers and Explanations 9 Cracking the Listening Section 10

Part III

Cracking Each Section

of the TOEFL

6 Cracking the Reading Section

7 Reading Practice Drills

8 Reading Practice Answers and Explanations

9 Cracking the Listening Section

10 Listening Practice Drills

11 Listening Practice Answers and Explanations

12 Cracking the Speaking Section

13 Speaking Practice Drills

14 Speaking Practice Answers and Explanations

15 Cracking the Writing Section

16 Writing Practice Drills

17 Writing Answers and Explanations

Chapter 6 Cracking the Reading Section

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Fa paso Se Se

‘The TOEFL Reading section consists of

‘Three to five passages, each approximately 550 to 700 words long + Each passage is followed by about 12 to 14 questions

* You will have 60 to 100 minutes to complete the entire section

‘As mentioned in the introduction, many of the questions are multiple choice and worth one point each, but some questions are worth two or more points Typically,

questions that are worth more appear at the end of the section

Some of the words and phrases in the reading passages are underlined in blue on the screen; if you click on these phrases, a definition is provided The screen looks like this:

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> Although Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann discovered the process of nuclear fission

in 1938, it took another year for scientists

to truly understand the process During this process, a uranium isotope is split by firing neutrons at it When the neutron strikes the

isotope, it ejects neutrons of its own, which

in turn strike other uranium atoms This sets

off a chain reaction, with each split atom

causing another atom to break up as well When controlled, this type of chain reaction can be harnessed to produce useful nuclear energy But if the reaction is not controlled, the result is far more devastating: a nuclear explosion,

>Shortly after the discovery of the potential destructiveness of nuclear power, President Franklin Roosevelt set up a committee

to investigate the feasibility of a nuclear weapon Although initial progress was slow, the program was reorganized in 1942 under the moniker the Manhattan Engineer District,

or simply the Manhattan Project The project was headed by Robert Oppenheimer and was authorized to call on the full resources

of the government and military to achieve its goal

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In this case, if you click on the words uranium isotope ot moniker, you will see a definition of the word in question You'll also notice that some of the words ap- pear in gray boxes ‘These words have a special type of question associated with them, which we'll look at soon,

Remember, if you prefer, you are free to skip questions within this section; simply click on the “Next” button on the top right-hand side of the screen You can return

to questions you've skipped when you are ready You can also click the “Review” burton to see a display of all the questions you've answered and left blank You can return to any question from this screen

CRACKING THE READING SECTION: BASIC PRINCIPLES

Basic Principle #1: It's in There!

“The first and most important principle to the Reading section is a simple one,

‘The answer to every single question is found in the passage!

“That's right The answer to each question is right there in front of you This prin- ciple is simple enough, but it is one that is often either forgotten or misunderstood

by test takers

On the TOEFL Reading section, you are nor expected to give your interpretation

of what you've read You are not required to analyze what you've read All you're asked to do is simply find the answer to the question in the passage or, in some cases, infer what must be true based on information provided in the passage

Of course, this is very different from what you are used to doing in a more aca- demic setting The Reading section can be difficult for test takers who think too much beyond what is written in the passage When completing the reading exer- cises in this book, pay careful attention to the approach used and the explanation for why the correct answer is correct

Basic Principle #2: The Two-Pass System

‘Time is one of the largest barriers to your success on the TOEFL Reading sec-

tion You have only 60 minutes to read three passages and answer 39 questions

And although the majority of the questions are worth one point each, the ques-

tions are not equally difficult, Some question types are inherently faster or easier,

whereas others are more difficult and will rake more time

Because your only goal is to get as many points as possible, it makes no sense to

spend time on difficult questions when an easier question may be a click away

When we discuss the question types later in this chapter, we'll et you know which

types tend to be easier In addition, as you practice, you'll get a feel for the types

of questions you can do most quickly Make sure to seek these questions out Do

them first, and save the killer questions for later

Basic Principle #3: Process of Elimination

POE: Part!

Even though the right answer is found somewhere in the text, the TOEFL Read-

ing section is still very difficult Why? Because the other answer choices are often

very tempting Many questions include trap answers—answer choices that look

correct but are actually incorrect

“To do well on the Reading section, you must use Process of Elimination, or POE

Simply put, POE involves comparing answer choices and finding reasons to elimi-

nate one or more POE requires you to be aggressive and get rid of many of the

answer choices! Because the majority of the questions have only four choices, elim-

inating even one answer greatly increases your odds of getting a question correct

if you are forced to guess When using POE, make sure you examine each answer

choice carefully Never blindly pick the first answer that stands out or seems good,

because it may be a trap!

Let's look at a sample question and sce an example of how to use POE

1 The word feasibility as used in the passage is

closest in meaning to

appropriateness reasonableness possibility

viability

‘This question is based on an earlier reading passage, but that is actually not impor-

tant right now We are only concerned with the answer choices When using POE,

make a mark next to each answer, based on your impression of it Some possibili-

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‘Symbol

For the example above, we may mark our scrap paper in the following way:

1, The word feasibility as used in the passage is

closest in meaning to

X * appropriateness

~ + reasonableness

¥ + possibility

So in this case, even if we can't decide which answer is the “best” one, we can see

that one of the choices is definitely out And because we like the third answer, we

may as well eliminate the “weak” answer too That leaves us with the third and fourth answer choices In this case, the third choice looks OK, whereas the fourth choice is a bit of a mystery

On the TOEEL, there will be times when you're unsure of a choice The answer may contain difficult vocabulary words or be hard to follow Never eliminate an answer just because you don't understand it Instead, mark it as “unknown,” and check the other choices If the remaining choices are no good, then the “unknown” choice must be correct If one of the other choices seems more likely, then go with that one,

‘We'll alk more about what to do when you are stuck or down to two choices when

we look at the different question types

POE: Part II

‘The second part of POE is the ability co recognize the types of wrong answers

found on the TOEFL The wrong answers have to be tempting enough for you

to want to pick them, bur not right enough to be the best answer In general,

the wrong answers on the TOEFL Reading section fall into one of the following

categories:

+ Not mentioned: ‘This category consists of information that is not

found in the passage Often, the answer makes common sense of may

be true in the real world However, on the TOEEL, every correct

answer must be found in the passage

Extreme: These answer choices use wording that is too strong or

absolute ‘These choices usually include words such as all, always, im-

possible, must, never, or none, Correct answers on the TOEFL do not

generally contain such strong language

Right answer, wrong question: These choices contain information

that is mentioned in the passage; however, the information doesn't

answer the question

Verbatim: Many wrong answers repeat parts of the passage word

for word Unfortunately, the choices use these words in the wrong

context or incorrectly These answers can be especially tempting

Beyond the information: Choices in this category are based on

information in the passage, but they go beyond the given informa

tion For example, if the passage states “some species of chimpanzees

make crude tools out of branches,” the answer choice may read “many

animals can make tools.” This answer goes beyond the information

by changing “some species of chimpanzees” to “many animals.”

‘When you are preparing for the TOEFL, make sure you review all the questions,

even the ones you've gotten right Read each wrong answer choice, and see if you

‘can figure out what makes it wrong Becoming familiar with the wrong answers is

almost as important as finding the right answers

CRACKING THE READING SECTION: BASIC

APPROACH

When approaching the Reading section of the TOEEL, follow these steps

Actively read the passage, looking for the purpose, structure,

and main idea

Attack the questions based on question type

Find the answer to the question in the passage

Use POE to eliminate bad answers

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Step 1: Actively Read the Passage One of the biggest mistakes you can make on the TOEFL is to attempt to read

and understand every single word of the passage There are many problems with this approach One is that you simply do not have enough time to read the entire

passage and accurately answer all of the questions A second problem is that there

is far more information in the passage than you will ever need to know to answer

the questions The more of the passage that you read, the more likely you are to become confused or distracted Finally, remember that you get points for answer-

ing questions, not reading passages You want to spend your time answering ques-

tions and earning points, not reading

Instead of reading the entire passage, use the active reading strategies described in Core Concept: Reading Don't spend too much time on this step, and don’t try to understand all the details in che passage Read the passage, looking for the major points:

1 Thepurpose

2 The main idea

3 The structure

Here's a passage similar to one you would find on the TOEFL It should look

familiar to you We used it to introduce you to the look of the test in Chapter 1

‘Take a few moments to actively read it

TOEFL Reading

D

The Exoskeleton of the Arthropod

There are more arthropods alive on Earth than there are members of any other phylum

of animals Given that not only insects and spiders but also shrimp, crabs, centipedes, and their numerous relatives are arthropods, this fact should not oceasion surprise For all their diversity, arthropods of any type share two defining characteristics: jointed legs (from which the phylum takes its name) and

an exoskeleton (the recognizable hard outer shell)

>Though the shell itself is made of dead tissue like that of human hair and fingernails, itis dotted with sensory cells These

give the arthropod information about its surroundings, much as the nerve endings

in human skin do Also like human skin, the shell protects fragile internal organs from potentially hazardous contact with the environment It seals in precious moisture that would otherwise evaporate but permits the exchange of gases

Its primary component is chitin, a natural polymer that contains calcium and is very similar in structure to the cellulose in wood

Chitin and proteins are secreted in the epidermis, the living tissue just below the shell, after which they bond to form a thin sheet Each new sheet is produced so that its chitin fibers are not parallel with those directly above, which increases their combined strength

The result is the endocuticle, a mesh of molecules that forms the lowest layer of the shell The endocuticle is not quite tough enough for daily wear and tear Over time, however, its molecules continue to lock together As the endocuticle is pushed upward by the formation of new sheets

by the epidermis, it becomes the middle shell layer called the exocuticle With its

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