TOEFL test: READING COMPREHENSION AND VOCABULARY 2 on-line test

SECTION III: READING COMPREHENSION AND VOCABULARY
60 Questions

Each sentence in Part A has a word or phrase underlined. Below each sentence are four other words or phrases. You are to choose the one word or phrase which would best keep the meaning of the original sentence if were substituted for the underlined word.

1. engrossed
2. obliged
3. enlivened
4. excelled

1. affable
2. wealthy
3. overpopulated
4. large

1. incorrect
2. biased
3. vague
4. dull

1. detest
2. regret
3. nullify
4. negate

1. alerted
2. admonished
3. atoned
4. astounded

1. cruelty
2. wealth
3. warning
4. avarice

1. small number
2. select group
3. huge crowd
4. large herd

1. five sided
2. sex sided
3. seven sided
4. eight sided

1. skeptic
2. defect
3. imposition
4. aspect

1. eloquent
2. unprepared
3. technical
4. unbiased

1. calisthenics
2. severity
3. march
4. cleanliness

1. carefully
2. carelessly
3. indiscriminately
4. thoughtfully

1. overruled
2. preceded
3. followed
4. assisted

1. expedition
2. opening
3. landing
4. closure

1. accumulation
2. achievement
3. defeat
4. job

1. insatiated
2. extirpated
3. implanted
4. extracted

1. dubious
2. unobtainable
3. lucrative
4. vague

1. incapable
2. impulsive
3. clever
4. greedy

1. paralyzed
2. hypnotized
3. nauseated
4. reverberated

1. unplanted
2. plowed
3. watered
4. seeded

1. marinated
2. fresh
3. rotten
4. uncooked

1. almanac
2. myth
3. history
4. record

1. slowly
2. momentarily
3. suddenly
4. graciously

1. embargo
2. trade
3. stagnation
4. schooling

1. a distorter
2. a copier
3. an originator
4. a burglar

1. initiated
2. supported
3. quashed
4. reinstated

1. owned
2. sequestrated
3. bartered
4. sold

1. arid
2. miniscule
3. enormous
4. damp

1. harassed
2. modulated
3. probated
4. flooded

1. image
2. bone
3. imagination
4. leash

In Part B, the questions are based on variety of reading material (single sentences, paragraphs, advertisements, and the like). You are to choose the one best answer, (1), (2), (3), or (4), to each question. Then, on your answer sheet, find the number of the problem and mark your answer. Answer all questions following a passage on the basis of what is stated or implied in that passage. Napoleon Bonaparet`s ambition to control all the area around the Mediterranean Sea led him and his French soldiers to Egypt. After losing a naval battle, they were forced to remain there for three years. In 1799, while constructing a fort, a soldier discovered a piece of stele (stone pillar bearing an inscription) known as the Rosetta stone. This famous stone, which would eventually lead to the deciphering of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics dating to 3100 b.c., was written in three languages: hieroglyphics (picture writing), demotic (a shorthand version of hieroglyphics), and Greek. Scientists discovered that the characters, unlike those in English, could be written from right to left and in other directions as well. Twenty-three years after discovery of the Rosetta stone, Jean Francois Champollion, a French philologist, fluent in several languages, was able to decipher the first word-Ptolemy- name of an Egyptian ruler. This name was written inside an oval called a "cartouche". Further investigation revealed that cartouches contained names of important people of that period. Champollion painstakingly continued his search and was able to increase his growing list of known phonetic signs. He and an Englishman, Thomas Young, worked independently of each other to unravel the deeply hidden mysteries of this strange language. Young believed that sound values could be assigned to the symbols, while Champollion insisted that the pictures represented words.

1. 1,301
2. 1,799
3. 3,100
4. 4,899

1. French
2. demolic
3. Greek
4. hieroglyphics

1. Cartouches contained names of prominent people of the period.
2. Champollion and Young worked together in an attempt to decipher the hieroglyphics.
3. One of Napoleon's soldiers discovered the Rosetta stone.
4. Thomas Young believed that sound values could be assigned to the symbols.

1. 3100BC
2. 1766
3. 1799
4. 1822

1. cartouche
2. Ptolemy
3. demotic
4. Champollion

1. They were celebrating a naval victory.
2. They were looking for the Rosetta stone.
3. They were waiting to continue their campaign.
4. They were trying to decipher the hieroglyphics.

1. Champollion
2. Young
3. Ptolemy
4. Napoleon

@-M6 Sequoyah was a young Cherokee Indian, son of a white trader and an Indian squaw. At an early age, he became fascinated by "the talking leaf", an expression that he used to describe the white man's written records. Although many believed this "talking leaf" to be a gift from the Great Spirit, Sequoyah refused to accept that theory. Like other Indians of the period, She was illiterate, but his determination to remedy the situation led to the invention of a unique 86-character alphabet based on the sound patterns that he heard. His family and friends thought him mad, but while recuperating from a hunting accident, he diligently and independently set out to create a form of communication for his own people as well as for other Indians. In 1821, after twelve years of work, he had successfully developed a written language that would enable thousands of Indians to read and write. Sequoyah's desire to preserve words and events for later generations has caused him to be remembered among the important inventors. The giant redwood trees of California, called "sequoias" in his honor, will further imprint his name in history.

1. California redwoods were named in his honor.
2. He was illiterate.
3. He created a unique alphabet.
4. He recovered from his madness and helped mankind.

1. They arranged for his hunting accident.
2. They thought he was crazy.
3. They decided to help him.
4. They asked him to teach them to read and write.

1. People were writing things about him that he couldn't read.
2. He wanted to become famous.
3. After his hunting accident, he needed something to keep him busy.
4. He wanted the history of his people preserved for future generations.

1. fierce
2. poor
3. abandoned
4. unable to read or write

1. determined
2. mad
3. backwards
4. meek

1. Sequoyah developed a form of writing with the people of the Cherokee tribe.
2. Sequoyah was a very observant young man.
3. Sequoyah spent twelve years developing his alphabet.
4. Sequoyah was honored by having some trees named after him.

@-M3 The mighty, warlike Aztec nation felt that its existence depended upon human sacrifices. The sun would not shine, the crops would not grow, and wars would not be won if the gods were not appeased. As brutal as the ceremonies were, the victims (usually taken from among captives from battles) accepted their fate passively, having been previously indoctrinated and heavily sedated.

1. They were cruel and inhuman.
2. They believed they had to pacify the gods.
3. They wanted to force the citizens to obey.
4. They wanted to deter crime.

1. tortured and harassed
2. fed and entertained
3. brainwashed and drugged
4. interrogated and drugged

1. submissively
2. rebelliously
3. violently
4. notoriously

@-M5 Petroleum products, such as gasoline, kerosine, home heating oil, residual fuel oil, and lubricating oils, come from one source - crude oil found below the earth`s surface, as well as under large bodies of water, from a few hundred feet below the surface to as deep as 25,000 feet into the earth's interior. Sometimes crude oil is secured by drilling a hole thorough the earth, but more dry holes are drilled than those producing oil. Pressure at the source or pumping forces crude oil to the surface. Grude oil wells flow at varying rates, from ten to thousands of barrels per hour. Petroleum products are always measured in 42-gallon barrels. Petroleum products vary greatly in physical appearance:thin, thick, transparent or opaque, but regardless, their chemical composition is made up of only two elements: carbon and hydrogen, which form compounds called hydrocarbons. Other chemical elements found in union with the hydrocarbons are few and are classified as impurities. Trace elements are also found, nut these are of such minute quantities that they are disregarded. The combination of carbon and hydrogen forms many thousands of compounds which are possible because of the various positions and joinings of these two atoms in the hydrocarbon molecule. The various petroleum products are refined from the crude oil by heating and condensing the vapors. These products are the so- called light oils, such as gasoline, kerosine, and distillate oil. The residue remaining after the light oils are distilled is known as heavy of residual fuel oil and is used mostly for burning under boilers. Additional complicated refining processes rearrange the chemical structure of the hydrocarbons to produce other products, some of which are used to upgrade and increase the octane ration of various types of gasolines.

1. Crude oil is found below land and water.
2. Crude oil is always found a few hundred feet below the surface.
3. Pumping and pressure force crude oil to the surface.
4. A variety of petroleum products is obtained from crude oil.

1. the petroleum products vary greatly in physical appearance
2. complicated refining processes rearrange the chemical structure
3. the two atoms in the molecule assume many positions
4. the pressure needed to force it to the surface causes molecular transformation

1. The various petroleum products are produced by filtration.
2. Heating and condensation produce the various products.
3. Chemical separation is used to produce the various products.
4. Mechanical means such as the centrifuges are used to produce the various products.

1. expansion of the hydrocarbons
2. pressure and pumping
3. vacuum created in the drilling pipe
4. expansion and contraction of the earth`s surface

1. distillate oil
2. gasoline
3. lubrication oil
4. kerosine

@-M6 An election year is one in which all four numbers are evenly divisible by four (1944, 1948, etc.) Since 1840, American presidents elected in years ending in zero have been destined to die in office. William H.Harrison, the man who served the shortest term, died of pneumonia several weeks after his inauguration. Abraham Lincoln was one of four presidents who were assassinated. He was elected in 1860, and his untimely death came just five years later. James A.Garfield, a former Union army general from Ohio, was shot during his first year in office (1881) by a man to whom he wouldn`t give a job. While in his second term of office (1901, William MeKinley, another Ohioan, attended the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo, New York. During the reception, he was assassinated while shaking hands with some of the guests. Three years after his election in 1920, Waffen G.Harding died in office. Although it was never proved, many believe he was poisoned. Franklin D.Roosevelt had been elected four times (1932, 1936, 1940, and 1944), the only man to serve so long a term. He had contracted polio in 1921 and died of the illness in 1945. John F.Kennedy, the last of the line, was assassinated in 1963, only three years after his election. Will 1980`s candidate suffer the same fate?

1. 1960
2. 1930
3. 1888
4. 1824

53. Which president served the shortest term in office? Abraham Lincoln William MeKinley Warren G.Harding William H.Harrison

1. All presidents elected in years ending in zero have died in office.
2. Only presidents from Ohio have died in office.
3. Franklin D.Roosevelt completed four terms as president.
4. Four American presidents have been assassinated.

1. 7
2. 5
3. 4
4. 3

1. election
2. acceptance speech
3. swearing-in ceremonies
4. campaign

1. John F.Kennedy
2. Franklin D.Roosevelt
3. Abraham Lincoln
4. James A.Garfield

@-M3 For each of these questions, choose the answer that is closest in meaning to the original sentence. Note that several of the choices may be factually correct, but you should choose the one that is the closest restatement of the given statement.

1. Unintentionally the poor are supporting a movement to squeeze the middle class out of some cities.
2. The middle class in some cities is unfortunately squeezing out the support of the poor.
3. In some cities, the middle class is forcing the poor to support them.
4. By being forced to support the poor, the middle class is unintentionally being squeezed out of some cities.

1. Although it appeared dangerous, the current had a beauty that was only black and mindless.
2. The current was black and mindless but not as dangerous as it seemed.
3. Although the current was black and mindless, its beauty nearly disguised the danger.
4. Despite its danger, the blackness and mindlessness of the current made it more beautiful.

STOP. THIS IS THE END OF THE EXAMINATION. IF YOU FINISH BEFORE TIME IS UP,CHECK YOUR WORK ON PARTS A AND B OF THE READING COMPREHENSION AND VOCABULARY SECTION ONLY. DO NOT RETURN TO ANY OTHER SECTION OF THE TEST.