TOEFEL Traning Kit - Part 2

[Samuel]

Question 21 – 30
 
Anyone who has handled a fossilized bone knows that it is usually not exactly like its modern counterpart, the most obvious difference being that it is often much heavier. Fossils often have the quality of stone rather than of organic materials, and this has led to the use of the term "petrifaction" (to bring about rock). The implication is that bone, and other tissues, have somehow been turned into stone, and this is certainly the explanation given in some texts. But it is wrong interpretation; fossils are frequently so dense because the pores and other spaces in the bone have become filled with minerals taken up from the surrounding sediments. Some fossil bones have all the interstitial spaces filled with foreign minerals, including the marrow cavity, if there is one, while others have taken up but little from their surroundings. Probably all of the minerals deposited within the bone have been recrystallized from solution by the action of water percolating thru them. The degree of mineralization appears to be determined by the nature of the environment in which the bone was deposited and not by the antiquity of the bone. For example, the black fossil bones that are so common in many parts of Florida are heavily mineralized, but they are only about 20,000 years old, whereas many of the dinosaur bones from western Canada, which are about 75 million years old, are only partially filled in. Under optimum conditions the process of mineralization probably takes thousands rather than millions of years, perhaps considerably less.
       
       The amount of change that has occurred in fossil bone, even in bone as old as that of dinosaurs, is often remarkably small. We are therefore usually able to see the  microscopic structures of the bone, including such fine details as the lacunae where the living bone cells once resided. The natural bone mineral, the hydroxyapatite, is virtually unaltered too – it has the same crystal structure as that of modern bone. Although nothing remains of the original collagen, some of its component amino acids are usually still detectable, together with amino acids of the noncollagen proteins of bone.
 
21. What does the passage mainly discuss?
      (A) The location of fossils in North America
      (B) The composition of fossils
      (C) Determining the size and weight of fossils
      (D) Procedures for analyzing fossils
 
22. The word "counterpart" in line 2 is closest in meaning to
      (A) species
      (B) version
      (C) change
      (D) material

23. Why is fossilized bone heavier than ordinary bone?
      (A) Bone tissue solidifies with age.
      (B) The marrow cavity gradually fills with water
      (C) The organic materials turn to stone
      (D) Spaces within the bone fill with minerals.
 
24. The word "pores" in line 7 is closest in meaning to:
     (A) joints
     (B) tissues
     (C) lines
     (D) holes
 
25. What can be inferred about a fossil with a high degree of mineralization?
     (A) It was exposed to large amounts of mineral-laden water throughout time.
     (B) Mineralization was complete within one year of the animal's death.
     (C) Many colorful crystals can be found in such a fossil.
     (D) It was discovered in western Canada.
 
26. Which of the following factors is most important in determining the extent of mineralization in fossil bones?
     (A) The age of fossil
     (B) Environmental conditions
     (C) The location of the bone in the animal's body.
     (D) The type of animal the bone came from
 
27. Why does the author compare fossils found in western Canada to those found in Florida?
     (A) To prove that a fossil's age cannot be determined by the amount of mineralization.
     (B) To discuss the large quantity of fossils found in both places
     (C) To suggest that fossils found in both places were the same age.
     (D) To explain why scientists are especially interested in Canadian fossils
 
28. The word "it" in line 24 refers to   
      (A) hydroxyapatite
      (B) microscopic structure
      (C) crystal structure
      (D) modern bone
 
29. The word "detectable" in line 26 is closest in meaning to
      (A) sizable
      (B) active
      (C) moist
      (D) apparent
 
30. Which of the following does NOT survive in fossils?
      (A) Noncollagen proteins
      (B) Hydroxyapatite
      (C) Collagen
      (D) Amino acidLine

Question 31 – 40

    In the last third of the nineteenth century a new housing form was quietly being developed. In 1869 the Stuyvesant, considered New York's first apartment house was built on East Eighteenth Street. The building was financed by the developer Rutherfurd Stuyvesant and designed by Richard Morris Hunt, the first American architect to graduate from the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. Each man had lived in Paris,  and each understood the economics and social potential of this Parisian housing form. But the Stuyvesant was at best a limited success. In spite of Hunt 's inviting façade, the living space was awkwardly arranged. Those who could afford them were quite content to remain in the more sumptuous, single-family homes, leaving the Stuyvesant to young married couples and bachelors.

    The fundamental problem with  the Stuyvesant and the other early apartment buildings that quickly followed, in the 1870's and early 1880's was that they were confined to the typical New York building lot. That lot was a rectangular area 25 feet wide by 100 feet deep – a shape perfectly suited for a row house. The lot could also accommodate a rectangular tenement, though it could not yield the square, well-lighted, and logically arranged rooms that great apartment buildings require. But even with the awkward interior configurations of the early apartment buildings, the idea caught on. It met the needs of a large and growing population that wanted something better than tenements but could not afford or did not want row houses.

    So while the city 's newly emerging social leadership commissioned their mansions, apartment houses and hotels began to sprout in multiple lots, thus breaking the initial space constraints. In the closing decades of the nineteenth century, large apartment houses began dotting the developed portions of New York City, and by the opening decades of the twentieth century, spacious buildings, such as the Dakota and the Ansonia finally transcended the tight confinement of row house building lots. From there it was  only a small step to building luxury apartment houses on the newly created Park Avenue, right next to the fashionable Fifth Avenue shopping area. 
 
31. The new housing form discussed in the passage refers to
      (A) single-family homes
      (B) apartment buildings
      (C) row houses
      (D) hotels
 
32. The word "inviting" in line 7 is closest in meaning to
      (A) open
      (B) encouraging
      (C) attractive
      (D) asking
 
33. Why was the Stuyvesant a limited success?
      (A) The arrangement of the rooms was not convenient.
      (B) Most people could not afford to live there.
      (C) There were no shopping areas nearby.
      (D) It was in a crowded neighborhood.

34. The word "sumptuous" in line 9 is closest in meaning to
      (A) luxurious
      (B) unique
      (C) modern
      (D) distant
 
35. It can be inferred that the majority of people who lived in New York's first apartments were
     (A) highly educated
     (B) unemployed
     (C) wealthy
     (D) young
 
37. It can be inferred that a New York apartment building in the 1870's and 1880's had all of the following characteristics   
      EXCEPT:
      (A) Its room arrangement was not logical.
      (B) It was rectangular.
      (C) It was spacious inside.
      (D) It had limited light.
 
38. The word "yield" in line 15 is closest in meaning to
     (A) harvest
     (B) surrender
     (C) amount
     (D) provide
 
39. Why did the idea of living in an apartment become popular in the late 1800's?
     (A) Large families needed housing with sufficient space.
     (B) Apartments were preferable to tenements and cheaper than row houses
     (C) The city officials of New York wanted housing that was centrally located.
     (D) The shape of early apartments could accommodate a variety of interior designs.
 
40. The author mentions the Dakota and the Ansonia in line 24 because
     (A) they are examples of large, well-designed apartment buildings
     (B) their design is similar to that of row houses
     (C) they were built on a single building lot
     (D) they are famous hotelsLine

Question 41 – 50

    A snowfall consists of myriads of minute ice crystals that fall to  the ground in the form of frozen precipitation. The formation of snow begins with these ice crystals in the subfreezing strata of the middle and upper atmosphere when there is an adequate supply of moisture present. At the core of every ice crystal is a minuscule nucleus, a solid particle of matter around which moisture condenses and freezes. Liquid water droplets floating in the supercooled atmosphere and free ice crystals cannot coexist within the same cloud, since the vapor pressure of ice is less than that of water. This enables the ice crystals to rob the liquid droplets of their moisture and grow continuously. The process can be very rapid, quickly creating sizable ice crystals, some of which adhere to each other to create a cluster of ice crystals or a snowflake. Simple flakes possess a variety of beautiful forms, usually hexagonal, though the symmetrical shapes reproduced in most microscope photography of snowflakes are not usually found in actual snowfalls. Typically, snowflakes in actual snowfall consists of broken fragments and clusters of adhering ice crystals.   

    For a snowfall to continue once it starts, there must be  a constant inflow of moisture to supply the nuclei. This moisture is supplied by  the passage of an airstream over a water surface and its subsequent lifting to higher regions of the atmosphere. The Pacific Ocean is the source of moisture for most snowfalls west of the Rocky Mountains, while the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean feed water vapor into the air currents over the central and eastern sections of the United States. Other geographical features also can be the source of moisture for some snowstorms. For example, areas adjacent to the Great Lakes experience their own unique lake-effect storms, employing a variation of the process on a local scale. In addition, mountainous section or rising terrain can initiate snowfalls by the geographical lifting of a moist airstream.   
 
41. Which of the following questions does the author answer in the first paragraph?
     (A) Why are snowflakes hexagonal?
     (B) What is the optimum temperature for snow?
     (C) In which months does most snow fall?
     (D) How are snowflakes formed?
 
42. The word "minute" in line 1 is closest in meaning to
      (A) tiny
      (B) quick
      (C) clear
      (D) sharp

43. What is at the center of an ice crystal?
      (A) A small snowflake
      (B) A nucleus
      (C) A drop of water
      (D) A hexagon
 
44. The word "adhere" in line 10 is closest in meaning to
      (A) belong
      (B) relate
      (C) stick
      (D) speed
 
45. What is the main topic of the second paragraph?
      (A) How ice crystals form
      (B) How moisture affects temperature
      (C) What happens when ice crystals melt
      (D) Where the moisture to supply the nuclei comes from
 
46. The word "it" in line 15 refers to
     (A) snowfall
     (B) snowflake
     (C) cluster
     (D) moisture
 
47. What is necessary for a snowfall to persist?
      (A) A decrease in the number of snowflakes
      (B) Lowered vapor pressure in ice crystals
      (C) A continuous infusion of moisture
      (D) A change in the direction of the airstream

48. How do lake-effect snowstorms form?
     (A) Water temperature drop below freezing.
     (B) Moisture rises from a lake into the airstream.
     (C) Large quantities of wet air come off a nearby mountain.
     (D) Millions of ice crystals form on the surface of a large lake.
 
49. The word "initiate" in line 24 is closest in meaning to
      (A) enhance
      (B) alter
      (C) increase
      (D) begin
 
50. Which of the following could account for the lack of snowfall in a geographical location close to mountains and a major   
      water source?
      (A) Ground temperatures below the freezing point
      (B) Too much moisture in the air
      (C) Too much wind off the mountains
      (D) Atmospheric temperatures above the freezing point.