Peterson’s master toefl reading skills part 16 ppsx

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PART III: TOEFL Reading Review
7. Why did the dinosaur disappear?
(A) It was undernourished.
(B) It was a reptile.
(C) No one knows.
(D) Large birds killed it.
8. What must demise mean?
(A) Death
(B) Appearance
(C) Change
(D) Evolution
Answers
1. The correct answer is (C).
2. The correct answer is (C).
3. The correct answer is (C).
4. The correct answer is (B).
5. The correct answer is (B).
6. The correct answer is (D).
7. The correct answer is (C).
8. The correct answer is (A).
Sample Reading Passage 23
Earthquakes are the most lethal of all natural disasters. What causes them?
Geologists explain them in terms of a theory known as plate tectonics. Continents
are floating apart from each other; this is referred to as the continental drift. About
sixty miles below the surface of the sea, there is a semimolten bed of rock over
which plates, or slabs, carry continents and sea floors at a rate of several inches
a year. As the plates separate from each other, a new sea floor is formed by the
molten matter that was formerly beneath. Volcanic islands and large mountain
ranges are created by this type of movement. The collision of plates causes

geological instability such as that in California called the San Andreas Fault,
located between the Pacific and North American plates. The plates there are
constantly pushing and pulling adjacent plates, thereby creating constant tremors
and a potential for earthquakes in the area.
Geologists would like to be able to predict earthquakes accurately. Using laser
beams, seismographs, gravity-measuring devices, and radio telescopes, they are
presently studying the San Andreas Fault to determine the rate of strain and the
amount of ground slippage. Calculations indicate that sometime in the future,
California will be struck by a major earthquake.
In spite of the geologists’ theory of plate tectonics, there are still gaps in man’s
understanding and knowledge of the causes of earthquakes. Powerful earth-
(5)
(10)
(15)
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Chapter 3: Developing Reading Comprehension Skills
quakes have occurred in places where plate boundaries are hundreds of miles
away. In the 1800s New Madrid, Missouri, and Charleston, South Carolina, were
shaken by earthquakes that no one had foreseen.
Certain areas of the world are quake prone. Italy, Yugoslavia, and Algeria have
experienced many quakes. In November 1980, Naples was struck by an especially
devastating quake. China and Japan have also been hit by horrendous quakes. In
1923, Tokyo and Yokohama were reduced to rubble by gigantic tremors that were
followed by fires, tornadoes, and finally a thirty-four-foot tsunami, or tidal wave,
which was caused by the earth’s drop into the waters of Tokyo Bay.
What effects have geologists’ predictions of earthquakes had? The Chinese in
Haicheng in 1974 were warned that an earthquake might occur within the next
year or two. With the help of amateur seismologists’ observations of animal

behavior and the rise and fall of water in wells and measurements of quantities of
radioactive gas in water, professional geologists were able, in January 1975, to
predict an earthquake within the next six months. On February 4, Haicheng was
destroyed, but because its residents had been evacuated, very few people were
killed. In California, where earthquake is an ever-present menace, building codes
now require quakeproof structures, and Civil Defense units have intensified their
training in how to deal with disaster should it strike or, perhaps more accurately,
when it strikes.
1. Continental drift is the concept that
(A) continents are drawing nearer to each other
(B) continents are separating
(C) continents are 60 miles apart from each other
(D) new continents are developing beneath the sea
2. Geologists are using modern technology to
(A) help predict earthquakes
(B) enhance their reputations
(C) measure the accuracy of earthquakes
(D) control ground slippage
3. An earthquake may be followed by
(A) wind, fire, and tidal waves
(B) predictions
(C) radioactive gas
(D) strange behavior by animals
4. The Chinese predicted an earthquake by
(A) employing amateur seismologists
(B) observing professional geologists
(C) watching animals, wells, and radioactive gas
(D) evacuating the population
(20)
(25)

(30)
(35)
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PART III: TOEFL Reading Review
5. Californians are preparing for an earthquake by
(A) saving their property
(B) building stronger houses and practicing techniques to handle
emergencies
(C) ignoring the San Andreas Fault
(D) moving to another state
6. No one had foreseen quakes in Missouri because
(A) the area is not quake prone
(B) geologists do not understand the area
(C) there are gaps in the area
(D) the theory of plate tectonics is incorrect
7. Geologists have been able to predict an earthquake
(A) with unerring accuracy
(B) within months
(C) by measuring tremors
(D) by knowing about continental drift
8. Volcanic islands are formed by
(A) the separation of plates and the consequent uncovering of the
molten sea floor beneath them
(B) the constant pushing and pulling of adjacent plates
(C) constant tremors
(D) huge mountain ranges
Answers
1. The correct answer is (B).

2. The correct answer is (A).
3. The correct answer is (A).
4. The correct answer is (C).
5. The correct answer is (B).
6. The correct answer is (A).
7. The correct answer is (B).
8. The correct answer is (A).
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exercises
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Chapter 3: Developing Reading Comprehension Skills
EXERCISES: INTERPRETING SCIENTIFIC READING MATERIAL
Directions: The passages below are followed by questions based on their content.
Answer the questions on the basis of what is stated or implied in the passages.
QUESTIONS 1–6 ARE BASED ON THE
FOLLOWING PASSAGE.
The Federal Surface Mining Act was
passed in 1977 for the laudable purpose
of protecting the environment from the
ravages of strip-mining of coal. For many
years environmentalists had fought to
get the bill passed. Strip-mining men-
aces the habitat of wildlife and causes
incalculable damage to the environment.
The law is explicit on such matters as
where strip-mining is prohibited, the
disposal of toxic waste, the placement of
power lines, and the rights of the public
to take part in the control of strip-min-

ing. However, the Secretary of the Inte-
rior has recently incurred the wrath of
environmentalists by advocating numer-
ous proposals that repudiate the exist-
ing law.
According to the law, strip-mining is
prohibited in national forests, national
wildlife refuges, public parks, historic
places, and within a specified number of
feet from roads, cemeteries, parks,
houses, and schools. The exception to
this prohibition is stated in the words
valid existing rights, referring to those
miners who had rights in protected lands
before the law was passed. By redefin-
ing “valid existing rights,” the local gov-
ernment could infringe upon the law by
opening over a million acres of national
forest and wildlife refuges to strip-min-
ing. Naturally, the National Wildlife Fed-
eration is appalled. This proposal does
not augur well for wildlife, which will be
destroyed by such latent killers as power
lines and tainted ponds near strip-mines.
It doesn’t require a sage to foresee the
wrangle that is forthcoming between
proponents of conservation and the gov-
ernment. The consensus among envi-
ronmentalists is that unless they
obstruct the regulations, this land will

be ravaged and our wildlife severely
maimed by strip-mining companies for
the sake of a few pennies’ profit.
1. From the context of the passage, the mean-
ing of strip-mining is
(A) the mining of coal on public lands
(B) surface mining
(C) shaft mining
(D) illegal mining
2. The Federal Surface Mining Act
(A) limits coal production
(B) prohibits strip-mining
(C) restricts strip-mining to specific loca-
tions
(D) menaces wildlife
3. The expression existing valid rights re-
fers to
(A) mining rights in existence before 1977
(B) miners’ rights that cannot be violated
(C) the right to mine coal any place in the
United States
(D) the right to mine on protected land
4. Wildlife is endangered by
(A) coal mining
(B) the Secretary of the Interior
(C) toxic waste in bodies of water
(D) migration paths
5. The proposed regulations will
(A) curtail the rights of environmentalists
(B) increase the area of strip-mining

(C) help clean up the environment
(D) cost miners a lot of money
(5)
(10)
(15)
(20)
(25)
(30)
(35)
(40)
(45)
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PART III: TOEFL Reading Review
6. The main idea of this passage is that
(A) changes in the present law would be
detrimental to the environment
(B) a powerful government official can
change laws
(C) environmentalists protect our land
(D) laws are made to be broken
QUESTIONS 7–11 ARE BASED ON THE
FOLLOWING PASSAGE.
The nuclear industry is beset by con-
troversy and mischance. Partially con-
structed plants have been closed down
for several reasons. Construction costs
have escalated, the demand for power
has decreased, and the number of an-

tagonists to nuclear plants has increased
tremendously. Nuclear energy, once
hailed with hope for a future with cheap,
plentiful power, has reached an impasse.
The major cause of the deterioration in
the nuclear industry is the fiasco at
Three Mile Island in 1979. Ordinary
machines break down, and humans are
prone to error, but a nuclear power plant
accident can cause widespread catastro-
phe. The most significant factor about
the accident is, however, that it has
jeopardized the whole future of nuclear
energy. Public dissent, present though
dormant when the first nuclear plants
were constructed, has solidified after
the deplorable chaos at Three Mile Is-
land.
Nevertheless, the nuclear plants built
earlier continue to operate safely and
economically. Smaller than more re-
cently built plants, they have produced
power that is consistently less expen-
sive than power from coal or oil.
The investigaton of the Three Mile
Island accident revealed that supervi-
sors and management alike were inad-
equately trained to cope with a crucial
mechanical failure in the nuclear sys-
tem. Training programs today are de-

veloped more precisely. Now, prospective
operators take years of classroom work
and spend months under supervision in
a control room and more months at the
simulator, a computer programmed to
recreate the Three Mile Island disaster,
before returning to additional months in
the classroom. The Nuclear Regulatory
Commission administers oral and writ-
ten exams before licensing new opera-
tors. Every six weeks compulsory
refresher courses are given. Presum-
ably, more scrupulous training requi-
sites will reduce the chances of another
Three Mile Island debacle.
7. What is the public’s biggest objection to
nuclear plants?
(A) Their cost
(B) The length of time it takes to con-
struct them
(C) The amount of electricity they generate
(D) Their danger
8. Why has construction on new nuclear
plants been stopped?
(A) They cost too much to build.
(B) People are using less electricity.
(C) The plants are potentially unsafe.
(D) All of the above.
9. Why has the Three Mile Island accident
jeopardized the future of nuclear energy?

(A) The public saw the potential danger
of nuclear plants and has united to
protest their use.
(B) It cost more than a billion dollars to
clean up the debris.
(C) It took twenty years to get the plant
running again.
(D) Nuclear energy is too expensive.
(5)
(10)
(15)
(20)
(25)
(30)
(35)
(40)
(45)
(50)
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Chapter 3: Developing Reading Comprehension Skills
10. Why are the older plants still in operation?
(A) They were built twenty years ago.
(B) They have better supervision than
the new plants.
(C) They are cheap to operate.
(D) They are relatively safe, produce
cheap electricity, and have efficient

personnel.
11. What must the United States do before
nuclear plants can be considered accept-
able to their antagonists?
(A) Nuclear plants must be nationalized.
(B) Nuclear plants must be less expen-
sive to build.
(C) Waste disposal and safety must be
assured.
(D) Antinuclear groups must conceal their
fears.
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PART III: TOEFL Reading Review
ANSWER KEY
1. B 5. B 9. A
2. C 6. A 10. D
3. A 7. D 11. C
4. C 8. D
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