TOEFL iBT Practice Test 1

Directions: This section measures your ability to understand academic passages in English.

The Reading section is divided into separately timed parts.

Most questions are worth 1 point, but the last question for each passages is worth more than 1 point. The directions for the last question indicate how many points you may receive.

You will now begin the Reading section. There are three passengers in the section. You should allow 20 minutes to read each passage and answer the questions about it. You should allow 60 minutes to complete the entire section.

At the end of this Practice Test, you will find an answer key, information to help you determine your score, and explanations of the answers.

NINETEENTH CENTURY POLITICS IN THE UNITED NATIONS 

The  development of the modern presidency in the United Nations began with Andrew Jackson, who swept to power in 1829 at the head of the Democratic Party and served until 1837. During his administration he immeasurably enlarged the power of the presidency. The President is the direct representative of the American people, he lectured the Senate when it opposed him. "He was elected by the people, and is responsible to them". With this declaration, Jackson redefined the character of the presidential office and its relationship to the people.
During Jackson's second term, his opponents had gradually come together to form the Whigs and Democrats held different attitudes toward the changes brought about by the market, banks, and commerce. The Democrats tended to view society as a continuing conflict between "the people"- farmers, planters, and workers- and a set of greedy aristocrats. This "paper money aristocracy" of bankers and investors manipulated the banking system for their own profit, Democrats claimed, and sapped the nation's virtue by encouraging speculation and the desire for sudden, unearned wealth. The Democrats wanted the rewards of the market without sacrificing the features of a simple agrarian republic. They  wanted the wealth tha the market offered without the competitive, changing society; the complex dealing; the dominance of urban centers; and the loss of independence that came with it.  

Whigs, on the other hand, were more comfortable with the market. For them, commerce and economic development were agents of civilization. Nor did the Whigs, envision any conflict in society between farmers and workers on the one hand and businesspeople and bankers on the other. Economic growth would benefit everyone by rising national income and expanding opportunity. The government's responsibility was to provide a well-regulated economy that guaranteed opportunity for citizens of ability.

 

TOEFL Reading Practice Set 1

The Origin of Cetaceans

It should be obvious that cetaceans - whales, porpoises, and dolphins - are mammals. They breathe through lungs, not through gills, and give birth to live young. Their streamlined bodies, the absence of hinds legs, and the presence of a fluke and blowhole cannot disguise their affinities with land-dwelling mammals. However, unlike the cases of sea otters and pinnipeds (seals, sea lions, and walruses, whose limbs are functional both on land and at sea) , it is not easy to envision what the first whales looked like. Extinct but already marine cetaceans are known from the fossil record. How was the gap between a walking mammal and a swimming whale bridged? Missing until recently were fossils clearly intermediate, or transitional, between land mammals and cetaceans.

Very exciting discoveries have finally allowed scientists to reconstruct the most likely origins of cetaceans. In 1979, a team looking for fossils in northern Pakistan found what proved to be the oldest fossils whale. The fossil was officially named Pakicetus in honor of the country here the discovery was made. Pakicetus was found embedded in rocks formed from river deposits that were 52 million years old. The river that formed these deposits was actually not far from an ancient ocean known as the Tethys Sea.

The fossil consists of a complete skull of an archaeocyte, an  extinct group of ancestors of modern cetaceans. Although limited to a skull, the Pakicetus fossil provides precious details on the origins of cetaceans. The skull is cetacean-like but its jawbones sound in modern whales. Pakicetus prvavly detected sound through the ear open ocean. It probably bred and gave birth on land.

 Another major discovery was made in Egypt in 1989. Several skeletons of another early whale, Basilosaurs, were found in sediments left by the Tethys Sea and now exposed in the Sahara desert. This whale lived around 40 millions years ago, 12 millions years after Pakicetus. Many incomplete skeletons were found but they included, for the first time in an archaeocyte, a complete hind leg that features a foot with three tiny toes . Such legs would have been far too small to have supported the 50-feet-long Basilosaurus on land. Basilosaurus was undoubtedly a fully marine whale with possibly nonfunctional, or vestigial, hind legs.

An even more exciting find was reported in 1994, also from Pakistan. The now extinct whale Amculoetus natans ("thr walking whale that swam") lived in the Tethys Sea 49 million years ago. It lived around 3 million years after  Pakicetus but 9 million years before Basilsaurius. The fossil luckily includes a good portion of the hind legs. The legs wre strong and ended in long feet very much like those of a modern pinniped.The les were certainly functional both on the land and at sea. The whale retained a tail and lacked a fluke, the major means of locomotion in mokern-cetaceans. The structure of the backbone shows, however, that Ambulocetus swam like modern whales by moving the rear portion of its body up and down, even though a fluke was missing. The large hind legs were used for propulsion in water. On land , where it probably vred and gave birth, Ambulocetus may have moved around very much like a modern swa lion. It was undoubtedly a whale that linked life at sea.

Directions: Mark your answer by filling in the oval next to your choice.

1. In paragraph 1, what does the author say about the presence of a blowhole in cetaceans ?

• It clearly indicates that cetaceans are mammals. 
• It cannot conceal the fact that cetaceans are mammals.
• It is the main difference between cetaceans and land-dwelling mammals.
• It cannot yield clues about the origins of cetaceans.

2. Which of the following can be inferred from paragraph 1 about early sea otters?

• It is not to imagine what they looked like.
• There were great numbers of them.
• They lived in the sea only.
• They did not leave many fossil remains.

3. In paragraph 3, The word "precious" is closest in meaning to-

• exact
• scarce
• valuable
• initial

4. In paragraph 3, Pakicetus and modern cetaceans have similar-

• hearing structures
• adaptations for diving
• skull shapes
• breeding locations 

5. In paragraph 3, The word "It" refers to-

• Pakicetus
• fish
• life
• cetacean

6. In paragraph 4,The word "exposed" is closest in meaning to-

• explained
• visible
• identified
• located

7. In paragraph 4, The hind leg of Basilosaurus was a significant find because it showed that Basilosarus

• lived later than Ambulocetus natans 
• lived at the same time as Pakicetus 
• was able to swim well
• could not have walked on land

8. In paragraph 4, it can be inferred that Basilosaurus bred and gave birth in which of the following locations.

• on land
• both on land and at sea
• in shallow water
• in a marine environment

9. In paragraph 5, why does the author use the word "luckily" in mentioning that the Ambulocetus natans fossil included hind legs?

• Fossil are legs of early whales are a rare find.
• The legs provided important information about the evolution of cetaceans. 
• The discovery allowed scientists to reconstruct a complete a skeleton of the whale.
• Until that time, only the front legs of early whales had been discovered.

10. In paragraph 5, Which of the sentences below best expresses  the essential information in the highlighted sentence in the passage? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.

• Even through Ambulocetus swam by moving its body up and down, it did not have a backbone.
• The backbone of Ambulocetus had which allowed it to swim, provides evidence of its missing fluke.
• Although Ambulocetus had no fluke, its backbone structure shows that it swam like modern whales. 
• By moving the rear parts of their bodies up and down, modern whales swim in a different way from the way  Ambulocetus swam.