Tài liệu Cracking the toefl IBT 2009 edition part 3 pptx

Although the TOEFL test writers attempe to simulate the type of reading you will do at a school or graduate program, the reading skills required on the test are very different from the s

The Week Before the Test

You should allow yourself about four to six weeks of preparation before you take

the TOEFL You cannot cram for the TOEFL, but there are some things you can

do in the final week before the test,

Review strategies: Look back over the strategies in this book

Make sure you are comfortable with them

Review tasks: Before the test, review the four different tasks

on the TOEFL (Reading, Listening, Speaking, and Writing)

Familiarize yourself with the format and the question types

you'll sce on test day

Know the directions: Don’t waste time on test day reading

the directions for each task Learn the directions ahead of

time

Warm-up questions: Look back at the questions you've com-

pleted Review how you approached each one, Note any trap

answers and question types that were particularly difficult for

ake sure you know the format for your speak- ing and writing tasks Review the structure of your responses

Test Day

On the night before the test, put your practice materials aside and give yourself a

break Make sure you know where your test center is, and plan to arrive at least 30

minutes before your scheduled test time, Be sure to dress comfortably and bring

a valid photo ID, such as a passport, to the test center You should also bring two

pencils to rake notes, although many centers will provide pencils You may not

take anything into the testing center, so do not bring food, backpacks, suitcases,

cell phones, or laptops

Introduction 15

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PS Foe

Part II Core Concepts

Core Concept: Reading

Core Concept: Listening Core Concept: Speaking Core Concept: Writing

Chapter 2

Core Concept:

Reading

20 | Cracking the TOEFL BT

‘The TOEFL is an integrated exam, which means that each task may measure more than one skill Buc the TOEFL is also a standardized test, which means that it consists of definite patterns Your goal when taking the TOEEL is to make sure your responses conform to the patterns present on the test

“The reading selections in this chapter will form the foundation for your listening and writing goals Likewise, the skills needed to perform well in listening, speak- ing, and writing are closely intertwined You'll find that mastering the core con- cepts of one section will also help you on other sections of the test

READING ON THE TOEFL

“There are three to five reading passages on the TOEFL, each between 550 and 700 words Although the TOEFL test writers attempe to simulate the type of reading you will do at a school or graduate program, the reading skills required on the test are very different from the skills used in an academic environment Lets take a look at a passage

Scientists at Michigan State University are asking a most challenging question Can a computer program be considered

alive? The members of the Digital Evolution Laboratory say yes

Computer scientists at the laboratory have created a program

called Avida that has intrigued not only scientists and engineers

but biologists and philosophers as well The Avida project began in the late 1990s, when Chris Adami,

a physicist, sought to create a computer program that could evolve to do simple addition problems The digital “organisms”

he created replicated themselves, and each time they replicated, they had a chance to mutate and thus evolve Initially, the digital creations were unable to process numbers in any way But Adami designed the program to reward programs that were able to work with the numbers in some way The digital organisms that could process numbers were allowed to reproduce in higher numbers In only six short months, the primitive program had evolved a number

of mechanisms to perform addition And, most surprisingly, not all

of the digital creatures performed addition in the same way

The Avida program now resides at Michigan State University, where it has been growing and changing for years The digital creatures number in the billions and have colonized more than two hundred computers Each digital organism consists of a pattern

of code The organisms compete with one another for resources, and the most successful ones are able to make more copies of themselves Just like a living creature, the digital entities also undergo mutations Mutations that are beneficial ensure greater reproduction; harmful mutations have the opposite effect

According to the director of the Avida project, the processes

undergone by the digital creatures are the same as those

experienced by biological organisms The only difference is that

biological entities are based on strings of DNA, whereas the digital

creations from Avida are based on strings of ones and zeros In

alliving creature, different sequences of DNA instruct cells to

create certain proteins In one of the Avida creations, different

sequences of computer code instruct the program to perform

certain functions In both cases, the reproduction of the organisms

is subject to forces such as competition and mutation

Now, some biologists are maintaining that the programs in

the Avida project are alive The programs live, die, reproduce,

compete, cooperate, and evolve—activities that many biologists

consider the hallmarks of life One prominent biologist says, "They

don't have a metabolism—at least not yet But otherwise, they're

alive."

Of course, not everyone agrees that the program's creations are

alive One difficulty is that biologists do not even agree on the

definition of life The diversity of life on Earth constantly surprises

scientists, and there are simply too many characteristics and

qualities to provide one simple definition of life

Despite these misgivings, the directors of the Avida program

remain optimistic that their program, even if not considered alive,

is leading to a greater understanding of life in all its forms It may

even facilitate future searches for life on other planets, According

to one member of the Avida team, “The problem that we have now

is that we are focused on looking for DNA-based life But there

may be other kinds of life out there that we have never dreamed

of.” The Avida program may provide biologists with another

avenue to explore

“This passage is typical of the passages on the TOEEL, It’s about 550 words long,

which means it’s on the shorter side for a TOEFL passage, and it discusses an

academic topic It contains some challenging vocabulary words and requires you

to read about a topic in which you may have no interest or knowledge Although

you may end up reading passages such as this at a university or graduate program,

your approach for the TOEFL should be very different For example, in a college

course, you would need to read this passage very carefully, paying close attention

to the details and facts presented in it However, that type of close reading is nei-

Core Concept: Reading | 21

22 | Cracking the TOEFL iBT

Working on Active Rea

You will have to face many challenges in the Reading section You've already seen

an example of the level of content and vocabulary you may encounter Perhaps the greatest challenge, however, is to attempt to both read the passages and answer

the questions in the limited time provided You have only about a minute and a

half per question, and that’s without allowing any time for actually reading the

passage!

Icis clear, then, that the reading skills necessary for the TOEFL really are different from other types of reading that you do Therefore, to do well on the TOEFL, you have to work on active reading

Instead of attempting to retain all of the information in the passage, we are going

to focus on the big picture Active reading accomplishes three major tasks:

1 Finding the purpose: This involves figuring out why the author wrote

the piece

2 Understanding the structure: Mapping the passage to find out where key

information is

3 Finding the main idea: Stating what the passage is about

By mastering the skill of active reading, you'll be able to not only find the most important information in a passage but also effectively answer the questions that follow After all, you gain no points on the TOEFL for simply reading the passages,

you only get points for answering the questions

STEP 1: FIND THE PURPOSE Writers write for many reasons Some write to entertain, whereas others write to inform If you know the purpose of a passage, then you know what the writer is trying to accomplish, and you can determine what is important and unimportant about the piece

“The majority of passages on the TOEFL will do one of the following:

+ Explain: The purpose of these passages is to present you with infor- mation on specific topics, and they contain mostly facts

+ Resolve: ‘The purpose of these passages is to find solutions for some sort of dilemma There is usually a debate or question that needs an answer

‘Convince: The purpose of these passages is to try to argue the validity

of a certain viewpoint or idea They give opinions and support them

with evidence

To find the purpose of the passage, we'll start with the introduction or the first

paragraph.

The Introduction Paragraph

Let's return to the sample passage in this chapter Here's the first paragraph again

Scientists at Michigan State University are asking a most

challenging question Can a computer program be considered

alive? The members of the Digital Evolution Laboratory say yes

Computer scientists at the laboratory have created a program

called Avida that has intrigued not only scientists and engineers

but biologists and philosophers as well

“The introduction paragraph is one of the most important paragraphs in the pas-

sage—it should give you a pretty good idea of what the author wants to accom-

plish Let's look at it sentence by sentence and identify clues that will help us find

the purpose

First, we have the opening sentence

Scientists at Michigan State University are asking a most

challenging question

Now, let's focus on the important stuff We do this by asking ourselves what and

why

“The first question is: What are we reading about? ‘This is the subject of the sentence

Write down the subject

Now we ask ourselves: What is the author writing about this? Write down what

you think che author wants us ro know about

So far, we are reading about the scientists And why are we reading about them?

Because they are asking a question If you are still unsure about this information

after reading the first sentence, then continue to the second sentence

In the second sentence we have

Can a computer program be considered alive?

‘This clarifies the first sentence Now we know that the passage is about scientists

and a computer program that may be considered alive Try to predict why the

author wrote this passage—to inform, to resolve, of to argue—and write it down

Core Concept: Reading | 23

24 | Cracking the TOEFLIBT

The Body Paragraphs

When looking for the purpose, don't get bogged down in the details Read the first sentence or two of each paragraph Here are the first three body paragraphs The Avida project began in the late 1990s, when Chris Adami,

a physicist, sought to create a computer program that could evolve to do simple addition problems The digital “organisms”

he created replicated themselves, and each time they replicated, they had a chance to mutate and thus evolve Initially, the digital creations were unable to process numbers in any way But Adami designed the program to reward programs that were able to work with the numbers in some way The digital organisms that could process numbers were allowed to reproduce in higher numbers In only six short months, the primitive program had evolved a number

‘of mechanisms to perform addition And, most surprisingly, not all

of the digital creatures performed addition in the same way

The Avida program now resides at Michigan State University, where it has been growing and changing for years The digital creatures number in the billions and have colonized more than two hundred computers Each digital organism consists of a pattern

of code The organisms compete with one another for resources, and the most successful ones are able to make more copies of themselves Just like a living creature, the digital entities also undergo mutations Mutations that are beneficial ensure greater reproduction; harmful mutations have the opposite effect

According to the director of the Avida project, the processes undergone by the digital creatures are the same as those experienced by biological organisms The only difference is that biological entities are based on strings of DNA, whereas the digital creations from Avida are based on strings of ones and zeros In

a living creature, different sequences of DNA instruct cells to create certain proteins In one of the Avida creations, different sequences of computer code instruct the program to perform certain functions In both cases, the reproduction of the organisms

is subject to forces such as competition and mutation

Now, we are going to read only the first sentence of each paragraph and ask what and why Look only at the first sentence of the first body paragraph Write down what the author's subject is and what you think the author is telling us about it What’

What about it?

Do the same for the other two paragraphs

What?

What about it?

What’,

What about i

Your answers should look something like this

What? Avida project

What about ie? To tell ushow it began

‘What? Avida program

What about it? It's been changing

What? Digital creatures 77777 77

What about it? They are similar to biological creatures

Check back on the prediction you made easlier Does this new information change

it? Let's look at the remaining body paragraphs

Now, some biologists are maintaining that the programs in

the Avida project are alive The programs live, die, reproduce,

compete, cooperate, and evolve—activities that many biologists

consider the hallmarks of life One prominent biologist says, “They

don't have a metabolism—at least not yet But otherwise, they're

alive.”

Of course, not everyone agrees that the program's creations are

alive One difficulty is that biologists do not even agree on the

definition of life The diversity of life on Earth constantly surprises

scientists, and there are simply too many characteristics and

qualities to provide one simple definition of life

Again, read only the first sentence ofeach paragraph and answer the questions

What?

What about i?

What?

What about i

Take a look at your responses Do they match the following?

26 | Cracking the TOEFL iBT

‘What about it? They don't agree with the biologists

By now, we should have a pretty good idea of why the author has written this pas- sage Write down your reason here

We'll check our final prediction in a moment, but before we do so, we have one more paragraph to review

The Conclusion

Here's the final paragraph, but for this paragraph, let's read the first and last sentence

Despite these misgivings, the directors of the Avida program

remain optimistic that their program, even if not considered alive,

is leading to a greater understanding of life in all its forms It may even facilitate future searches for life on other planets According

to one member of the Avida team, “The problem that we have now

is that we are focused on looking for DNA-based life But there may be other kinds of life out there that we have never dreamed of.” The Avida program may provide biologists with another avenue to explore

Now we'll answer our questions

Whar

‘What about it?

‘What?

What about ie?

Here are our answers

What? Directors of the program

‘What about it? The program is helping people understand life

‘What? The Avida program

‘What about it? ram gives bic l