The complete guide to the toefl IBT reading part 12

The wings of these three types of animals all derive from different embryological structures, but they all perform the same function.. Passage 2 Dragons are found in the myths of

Notes on Main Topics:

Georgia O’Keeffe was one of the most important U.S artists of the twentieth century

A Sometimes O’Keeffe worked intensely on her art, and sometimes she didn't work for days

B O’Keeffe painted cityscapes and mysterious flowers in her own distinctive style

C A visit to New Mexico changed her life and the style and subjects of her paintings

D O’Keeffe received an important award from the president of the United States for her artwork

E After studying art in school and teaching art, O’Keeffe had a show in New York City and became a full-time painter

F Stieglitz was one of the most important photographers of his time

EXERCISE 8.2 Focus: Completing charts (“schematic tables”) about passages

Directions: Match the phrases in the answer choices on the left side of the chart to the correct category or concept on the right side of the chart by writing the letter of the choice in the blank next to the bullet point In each question, two answer choices will not be used

On an actual exam, five-answer questions are worth three points and seven- answer questions are worth four points

Passage 1

say The concepts of analogy and homology are probably easier to exemplify than to

define When the structures of different species are compared, certain features

can be described as either analogous or homologous For example, flight

requires certain aeronautical principles of design, yet eagles, bats, and houseflies

all have the ability to fly The wings of these three types of animals all derive

from different embryological structures, but they all perform the same function

The flight organs of these three creatures can be said to be analogous The

emphasis in analogy, then, is on function

In contrast, features that arise from the same structures in the embryo but are

used in different functions are said to be homologous A famous example is the

forelimb of mammals Among different species, forelimbs look completely different

They may have changed proportions, fused parts, or lost parts They have adapted

to serve many functions The forelimbs of a horse are adopted for running, those

of a dolphin for swimming, those of a bat for flying, those of a monkey for climb-

ing trees, and those of a mole for digging However, all come from the same

embryological structures and all trace back to the same evolutionary structures: the

wings of birds and the forelimbs of mammals all evolved from the fins of fish

3 As recently as the nineteenth century, some biologists classified animals

according to analogy In 1847 the German biologist Lorenz Oken created a

system of classification based on similar functions In his system, there were four

main classes of animals: intestinal animals (jellyfish, coral, and anemones); vascular

animals (clams and snails); respiratory animals (insects and worms); and nerve-and-

muscle animals (fish, birds, and mammals) Using analogy to classify animals is a

little like classifying postage stamps according to their color instead of according

to their country of origin Today, of course, classification is based on homology

Glossary

embryological: related to an embryo, an organism in its earliest stages of development,

before it reaches its distinctive form; among mammals, it refers to unborn animals

mole: a mammal that digs tunnels in the earth

A Emphasis is put on the function of animal structures | *®

B The emphasis is on appearance, not function °

C The current system of classification is based on this °

concept

D Animal structures have very different functions, but

all evolved from the same structure Analogy

E Lorenz Oken’s system of classification is based on

E Structures in various animals look very different but

are all related to the same structure in the embryos

of these animals

G This concept can be applied only to mammals

Passage 2

Dragons are found in the myths of many cultures and appear in many forms

The name comes from the Greek word drakon, meaning “snake.” Generally,

dragons are portrayed as large, scaly, winged serpents or reptiles with sharp claws

In European myths, dragons are usually carnivorous reptiles with fiery breath They are generally considered evil and dangerous European (or Western) dragons are said to live in caves or swamps or on mountaintops, where they often guard treasures Two of the most famous dragons in European literature are the dragon that St George killed and the dragon that killed Beowulf There are also many stories about medieval knights fighting dragons There are several types of European dragons The guivre has no legs or wings It is a large serpent with a wedge-shaped head The /indworm has one pair of legs but no wings The amphiptere is basically a flying snake with wings but no legs The wyvern—a particularly bloodthirsty type of dragon—has two legs and two wings and a barbed tail Heraldic dragons have four legs and two wings Many noble European families chose this dragon as their symbol

The Asian (or Eastern) dragon was also a reptile but often displayed charac-

teristics of other animals, such as camels, deer, lions, eagles, and bulls Asian

dragons have serpentine bodies, do not usually breathe fire, and generally have

no wings Many have a “lion’s mane” around their neck and a beard on their chin They have two antlers coming from their head and two long whiskers coming from their faces Asian dragons have 117 scales, 81 infused with yang, the principle of good, and 36 infused with yin, the principle of evil Their favorite food is roasted swallows Asian dragons symbolize power and unlike European dragons, are generally pictured as good, kind, and intelligent

There are three families of Asian dragons: three-toed, four-toed, and five-

toed Three-toed dragons are native to Japan Four-toed dragons are from Indonesia or Korea Some Chinese dragons also have four toes, but the

“Imperial dragons” of China have five Asian dragons come in five colors: blue,

white, black, red, and yellow Red and black dragons are powerful, but the yel-

low dragon is the strongest of all Asian dragons are often pictured with a pearl

in their mouths, under their chins, or in their claws The dragon is thought to

draw its strength from this pearl

Many cultures outside of Europe and Asia also have legends of dragons In

fact, it is hard to find a culture that does not have a dragon myth The Piasa

(“storm bird”) was a dragon known to the Illini, a Native American group that

lived by the Mississippi River It had the head of a bear, large teeth, the antlers

of an elk, the scaly body of a fish, and a bear’s legs ending in eagle’s claws The

tail was fifty feet (15 meters) long and was tipped with a spearhead It lived in a

cave in the cliffs overlooking the river For many years, the Piasa only hunted

buffalos Then, it captured an Illini warrior and after that, it developed a taste for

humans and began attacking villages The Illini chief Ouatoga used himself as

“bait” to lure the beast from its cave When the dragon stormed out to attack

him, his warriors killed it with a shower of arrows In Ethiopia, there are stories

about a four-winged dragon, the Ethiopian Dream Snake These creatures ate

poisonous plants to make their bite and scratches poisonous They were big

enough to kill elephants Once four of them wove together a raft and sailed to

Arabia, where they thought the hunting would be better Then there is the Rukh

of Madagascar, the Anka of Arabia, the Vekher (“wind demon”) of Russia, the

Demaj of Persia, and the Kukulkan of the Aztecs

The fact that so many cultures have dragon stories in common has led peo-

ple to wonder if dragons really existed up to the time of the Middle Ages, when

they were hunted into extinction Some people have even wondered if dragons

were the last surviving dinosaurs Scientists, however, have dismissed this theory

as highly unlikely since there is no fossil evidence to indicate that any dinosaurs

lived past the end of the Mesozoic era, 65 million years ago

Glossary

St George: a fourth-century warrior and saint who, according to a story called “the

Golden Legend,” killed a dragon

Beowulf: a legendary sixth-century Scandinavian king who, according to an eleventh-

century poem, killed several monsters but then was killed by a dragon

knights: medieval soldiers who wore armor and fought on horseback

elk: a large member of the deer family

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European (Western)

Answer Choices Dragons

A The Piasa and Ethiopian Dream Snake are examples

B Are reptilian but also have features of other animals | ¢

C Can be classified in part according to the number of | *®

D Are generally considered evil and dangerous

E Are featured in myths and legends in which they Asian (Eastern)

E Can be categorized according to the number of °

G According to fossil records, lived during the ° Mesozoic Era

H Are generally pictured as meat-eating reptiles that breathe fire

I Are generally considered powerful, smart, and benevolent

Passage 3

1 Luther Burbank and George Washington Carver drastically changed the face of

American agriculture, and were close friends besides They shared the belief that

human ingenuity could improve the productivity of nature However, in their backgrounds and work methods, they could hardly have been more dissimilar

2 Born in 1849 on a farm near Lancaster, Massachusetts, Burbank was the thir-

teenth of fifteen children His formal education stopped just after high school

when his father died He was always an avid reader, however, and was inspired

by the works of Charles Darwin He began raising and selling fruits and vegeta- bles to support his family He became particularly interested in breeding plants

to create hybrids His first “plant creation” was the Russet Burbank potato, bet-

ter known as the Idaho potato This was soon exported to help Ireland recover from the devastating potato famine of 1840-60 After moving to California in

1875, Burbank devised a stream of creations, earning himself the nickname “the plant wizard.” One of his less successful creations was a spineless cactus to be

used as cattle food, which he hoped would transform deserts into productive

cattle lands However, he successfully developed hundreds of new versions of

fruit, vegetables, flowers, and other plants, many of which are the ancestors of

the ones grown today Moreover, he opened the public’s eyes to the productive possibilities of plant breeding

3 George Washington Carver was born a slave in 1864 in Mississippi He was a curious, intelligent child who became fascinated by plants at an early age Too poor to afford books, he taught himself about plants by wandering through the fields and forests near his home Even as a child, he was called “the plant doc- tor.” Carver attended high school in Kansas and studied botany, chemistry, and other subjects at Simpson College in lowa He received a master’s degree from

lowa State College He then accepted an invitation from Booker T Washington to

join the faculty at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama While Burbank concentrated on

developing new types of plants, Carver found new uses for existing plants In the

late nineteenth and early twentieth century, cotton was still “king” of southern

agriculture However, cotton removes nitrogen from soil, and when it is grown

year after year, the soil becomes very poor Through his research he knew that

growing peanuts would return nitrogen to the soil and restore its fertility

Therefore, he tried to find new uses for the peanut in order to make peanut

farming profitable He found ways to make soap, cooking oil, shaving cream,

glue, paper, and printers’ ink from peanuts He also discovered many new uses

for sweet potatoes, soybeans, and pecans, which also restored nitrogen to the

soil By doing so, he helped free southern agriculture from the tyranny of cotton

Burbank’s work as a plant breeder was based mainly on instinct He did have

remarkable instincts He always seemed to know which few plants out of the

thousands that he grew should be saved for future breeding Sometimes he

might keep just one plant out of ten thousand! Burbank spent most of his work

time checking his many acres of plants However, the value of his contributions

was somewhat diminished by his research methods Although he kept notes and

took photographs of his creations, his records were only for his own use This

made it difficult for other scientists to reproduce and contribute to his

achievements

Carver, on the other hand, was a thorough, meticulous scientist He

depended more on careful experimentation than on instinct, and he spent more

of his time in the laboratory than out in the field He kept detailed records so

that others could duplicate his experiments He established the George

Washington Carver Foundation for Agricultural Research at Tuskegee Institute

and encouraged other researchers there to continue his work In fact, in 1940,

he donated his entire life savings of $33,000 to the Institute

Burbank and Carver have one thing in common: there are popular miscon-

ceptions about both of them Most people assume that the city of Burbank,

California, was named for Luther Burbank In fact, it was named for David

Burbank, a Los Angeles dentist And it is widely believed that Carver invented

peanut butter Carver did develop over 400 products from peanuts, but peanut

butter is not one of them Peanut butter was invented by a St Louis doctor

named Ambrose Straub

Glossary

Charles Darwin: a British naturalist who formulated the Theory of Evolution

Booker T Washington: a black educator who founded the Tuskegee Institute in

Alabama, the first U.S college for African Americans

peanut butter: a spread made from peanuts that is often eaten on bread

or crackers

A Because of his techniques, made it difficult for ° researchers who wanted to continue his work °

B Worked more in the field than in the laboratory °

C Created alternatives to cotton growing e

D Was jealous and resentful of the other’s success

E Focused on creating new types of plants George Washington

F Kept careful notes about his experiments Carver

H Concentrated primarily on finding new uses for °

I Invented peanut butter

Passage 4

| Fog is a cloud in contact with or just above the surface of the land or the sea

Fog consists of particles of water or ice suspended in the air It can be a major environmental hazard Fog on busy highways can cause chain-reaction accidents involving dozens, or sometimes even hundreds, of cars Delays and shutdowns

at airports can cause economic losses for airlines and inconvenience thousands

of travelers Fog at sea has always been a danger to navigation Today, with supertankers carrying vast quantities of oil, fog increases the possibility of cata- strophic oil spills Even though planes and ships are equipped with radar that can “see” through fog, accidents are still more common in foggy weather than

on clear days

2 Radiation fog, the type of fog most often seen around the world, forms on

clear nights when moist air near the ground loses warmth through radiation

This type of fog often occurs in valleys, such as California’s San Joaquin Valley, and then spreads outward from the valleys It is most common in the autumn

Another common type, advection fog, results from the movement of warm, wet air over cold ground It is most common during winter warm-ups and spring thaws This type of fog occurs along ocean coasts and along the shores of large lakes It generally forms at night, when the wind is blowing lightly If the wind blows too hard, it will break the fog up Advection fogs also form when air asso- ciated with a warm ocean current flows across the surface of a cold current The thick “pea soup” fogs of the Grand Banks, off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, are largely of this origin, because this is where the cold Labrador Current meets the warm Gulf Stream

3 Other types of fog are less common Steam fog is the most localized type of fog Steam fog appears when cold air picks up moisture by moving over warmer water It is common over seas and over deeper and larger lakes in late autumn

and early winter When it forms over sea, steam fog is also called sea smoke

Upslope fog is common along high hills and mountains It forms when winds blow up the side of a hill or mountain, cooling the air Frontal fog occurs when

two fronts of different temperatures meet and rain from the warm front falls into

the colder one Ice fog is any kind of fog in which the droplets have frozen into

extremely small ice crystals in midair Generally this requires temperatures well

below the freezing point, making it common only in and near the Arctic and

Antarctic regions

Although fog can be dangerous, it also has positive environmental effects

For example, advection fog plays an important role in the life of California red-

wood trees Redwood trees have very shallow roots They depend on water from

sources other than water deep underground What the trees do not get from

rain, they get from fog Advection fog deposits moisture on the tree’s needles

which then drips to the ground and is absorbed by the roots

A Involves tiny crystals of ice hanging in the air °

C Often forms in valleys and then spreads outward

D Forms in one way over the shore and in another way

F Forms on breezy nights when the weather is °

G Is also known as “sea smoke.”

Passage 5

Cooperation is the common endeavor of two or more people to perform a

task or reach a jointly cherished goal Like competition and conflict, there are

different forms of cooperation, based on group organization and attitudes

In primary cooperation, group and individual fuse The group consumes

nearly all of each individual's life The rewards of the group’s work are shared

with every member There is an interlocking identity of individual, group, and

task performed Means and goals become one because cooperation itself is

prized

While primary cooperation is most often characteristic of preliterate soci-

eties, secondary cooperation is characteristic of many contemporary societies In

secondary cooperation, individuals devote only part of their lives to the group

Cooperation itself is not a value Most members of the group feel loyalty, but

the welfare of the group is not their first consideration Members perform tasks

so that they can separately enjoy the fruits of their cooperation in the form of

salary, prestige, or power Business firms and athletic teams are examples of

secondary cooperation

In tertiary cooperation, or accommodation, latent conflict underlies the

shared work The attitudes of the cooperating parties are purely opportunistic

The organization is loose and fragile Cooperation ceases when the parties have

achieved some limited mutual goal or when cooperation no longer seems the best method of achieving these goals One example would be two rival political parties that unite in order to defeat a third party Another is a criminal who helps the police find another criminal in order to get some favor from the police This is not, strictly speaking, cooperation at all, and hence the somewhat contradictory term “antagonistic cooperation” is sometimes used for this

relationship

B

Answer Choices

A If cooperation is narrowly defined, this would not be considered cooperation

This is most common among groups that do not read or write

Members of the cooperating group enjoy the rewards of their cooperation individually

This type is further broken down into several types

Group members value cooperation for its own sake

This will stop when the cooperating parties reach their goal

Cooperating parties are loyal to the group, but group welfare is not the primary consideration

The organization and the individual join into a single entity

This type is no longer practiced today

Primary Cooperation

Secondary Cooperation

Tertiary Cooperation

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READING REVIEW TEST

This section tests your ability to comprehend academic reading passages It con-

sists of three reading passages (two passages in one set and one passage in the

other) and questions about the passages All of the questions are worth one point

except for the last question about each passage Special directions for the last

question will tell you how many points it is worth

You will have sixty minutes to complete this section of the test

In the passages, some words or phrases are underlined Definitions or

explanations for these words are provided at the end of the passage On the actual

test, these words will be underlined in blue and you can click on them to get the

definition or explanation

As soon as you have finished one question, you may move on to the next one

(On the actual test, you will click on Next to move to the next question.) You may

skip questions and come back to them later, and you can change your answers if

you wish (On the actual test, you will click on Back to return to a previous

question.)

As soon as you have read these directions, go on to the first passage

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