Soal TOEFL Reading dan Pembahasannya

SECTION 3

READING COMPREHENSION

Time-55 minutes

(including the reading of the directions)

Now set your clock for 55 minutes.

This section is designed to measure the ability to read and understand short passages similar in topic and style to those found in North American universities and colleges.

Directions: In this section you will read several passages. Each one is followed by a number of questions about it. You are to choose the one best answer, A, B, C or D, to each question. Then, on your answer sheet, find the number of the question and fill in the space that corresponds to the letter of the answer you have chosen.

Answer all questions about the information in a passage on the basis of what is stated or implied in that passage.

Read the following passage:

John Quincy Adams, who served as the sixth president of the United States from 1825 to 1829, is today recognized for his masterful statesmanship and diplomacy. He dedicated his life to public service, both in the presidency and in the various other political offices that he held. Throughout his political career he demonstrated his unswerving belief in freedom of speech, the antislavery cause, and the right of Americans to be free from European and Asian domination.

Example I

To what did John Quincy Adams devote his life?

(A) Improving his personal life
(B) Serving the public
(C) Increasing his fortune
(D) Working on his private business

According to the passage, John Quincy Adams “dedicated his life to public service.” Therefore, you should choose (B).

Example II

In line 4, the word “unswerving” is closest in meaning to

(A) movable
(B) insignificant
(C) unchanging
(D) diplomatic

The passage states that John Quincy Adams demonstrated his unswerving belief “throughout his career.” This implies that the belief did not change. Therefore, you should choose (C).

Now begin work on the questions.

Questions 1-9

Carbon tetrachloride is a colorless and inflammable liquid that can be produced by combining carbon disulfide and chlorine. This compound is widely used in industry today because of its effectiveness as a solvent as well as its use in the production of propellants.

Despite its widespread use in industry, carbon tetrachloride has been banned for home use. In the past, carbon tetrachloride was a common ingredient in cleaning compounds that were used throughout the home, but it was found to be dangerous: when heated, it changes into a poisonous gas that can cause severe illness and even death if it is inhaled. Because of this dangerous characteristic, the United States revoked permission for the home use of carbon tetrachloride in 1970. The United States has taken similar action with various other chemical compounds.

1. The main point of this passage is that

2. The word “widely” in line 2 could most easily be replaced by

3. The word “banned” in line 4 is closest in meaning to

4. According to the passage, before 1970 carbon tetrachloride was

5. It is stated in the passage that when carbon tetrachloride is heated, it becomes

6. The word “inhaled” in line 7 is closest in meaning to

The word “revoked” in line 8 could most easily be replaced by

8. It can be inferred from the passage that one role of the U.S. government is to

9. The paragraph following the passage most likely discusses

Questions 10-19
The next artist in this survey of American artist is James Whistler; he is included in this survey of American artist because he was born in the United States, although the majority of his artwork was completed in Europe. Whistler was born in Massachusetts in 1834, but nine years later his father moved the family to St. Petersburg, Russia, to work on the construction of a railroad. The family returned to the United States in 1849. Two years later Whistler entered the U.S. military academy at West Point, but he was unable to graduate. At the age of twenty-one Whistler went to Europe to study art despite familial objections, and he remained in Europe until his death.

Whistler worked in various art forms, including etchings and lithographs. However, he is most famous for his paintings, particularly Arrangement in Gray and Black No. 1: Portrait of the Artist’s Mother or Whistler’s Mother, as it is more commonly known. This painting shows a side view of Whistler’s mother, dressed I black and posing against a gray wall. The asymmetrical nature of the portrait, with his mother seated off-center, is highly characteristic of Whistler’s work.

10. The paragraph preceding this passage most likely discusses

Which of the following best describes the information in the passage?

12. Whistler is considered an American artist because

13. The world “majority” in line 2 is closest in meaning to

14. It is implied in the passage that Whistler’s family was

15. The word “objections” in line 7 is closest in meaning to

16. In line 8, the “etchings” are

17. The word “asymmetrical” in line 11 is closest in meaning to

18. Which of the following is NOT true according to the passsage?

19. where in the passage does the author mention the types of artwork that Whistler was involved in?

Questions 20-30
The locations of stars in the sky relative to one another do not appear to the naked eye to change, and as a result stars are often considered to be fixed in position. Many unaware stargazers falsely assume that each star has its own permanent home in the nighttime sky.

In reality, though, stars are always moving, but because of the tremendous distances between stars themselves and from stars to Earth, the changes are barely perceptible here. An example of a rather fast-moving star demonstrates why this misconception prevails; it takes approximately 200 years for a relatively rapid star like Bernard’s star to move a distance in the skies equal to the diameter of the earth’s moon. When the apparently negligible movement of the stars is contrasted with the movement of the planets, the stars are seemingly unmoving.

20. Which of the following is the best title for this passage?

21. The expression”naked eye” in line 1 most probably refers to

22. According to the passage, the distances between the stars and Earth are

23. The word “perceptible” in line 5 is closest in meaning to which of the following?

24. In line 6, a “misconception” is closest in meaning to a (n)

25. The passage states that in 200 years Bernard’s star can move

26. The passage implies that from earth it appears that the planets

27. The word “negligible” in line 8 could most easily be replaced by

28. Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?

29. The paragraph following the passage most probably discusses

30. This passage would most probably be assigned reading in which course?

Questions 31-40
It has been noted that, traditionally, courts have granted divorces on fault grounds: one spouse is deemed to be at fault in causing the divorce. More and more today, however, divorces are being granted on a no-fault basis.

Proponents of no-fault divorces argue that when a marriage fails, it is rarely the case that one marriage partner is completely to blame and the other blameless. A failed marriage is much more often the result of mistakes by both partners.

Another argument in favor of no-fault divorce is that proving fault in court, in a public arena, is a destructive process that only serves to lengthen the divorce process and that dramatically increases the negative feelings present in a divorce. If a couple can reach a decision to divorce without first deciding which partner is to blame, the divorce settlement can be negotiated more easily and equitably and the postdivorce healing process can begin more rapidly.

31. What does the passage mainly discuss?

32. The word “spouse” in line 1 is closest in meaning to a

33. according to the passage, no-fault divorces

34. It is implied in the passage that

35. The word “proponents” in line 4 is closest in meaning to which of the following?

36. The passage states that a public trial to prove the fault of one spouse can

37. Which of the following is NOT listed in this passage as an argument in favor of no-fault divorce?

38. The word “present” in line 9 could most easily be replaced by

39. The word “settlement” in line 10 is closest in meaning to

40. The tone of this passage is

Questions 41-50
Whereas literature in the first half of the eighteenth century in America had been largely religious and moral in tone, by the latter half of the century the revolutionary fervor that was coming to life in the colonies began to be reflected in the literature of the time, which in turn served to further influence the population. Although not all writers of this period supported the Revolution, the two best-known and most influential writers, Ben Franklin and Thomas Paine, were both strongly supportive of that cause.

Ben Franklin first attained popular success through his writings in his brother’s newspaper, the New England Current. In these articles he used a simple style of language and common sense argumentation to defend the point of view of the farmer and the Leather Apron man. He continued with the same common sense practicality and appeal to the common man with his work on Poor Richard’s Almanac from 1733 until 1758. Firmly established in his popular acceptance by the people, Franklin wrote a variety of extremely effective articles and pamphlets about the colonist’s revolutionary cause against England.

Thomas Paine was an Englishman working as a magazine editor in Philadelphia at the time of the Revolution. His pamphlet Common Sense, which appeared in 1776, was a force in encouraging the colonists to declare their independence from England. Then throughout the long and desperate war years he published a series of Crisis papers (from 1776 until 1783) to encourage the colonists to continue on with the struggle. The effectiveness of his writing was probably due to his emotional yet oversimplified depiction of the cause of the colonists against England as a classic struggle of good and evil.

41. The paragraph preceding this passage most likely discusses

42. The word “fervor” in line 2 is closest in meaning to

43. The word “time” in line 3 could best be replaced by

44. It is implied in the passage that

45. The pronoun “he” in line 8 refers to

46. The expression “point of view” in line 9 could best be replaced by

47. According to the passage, the tone of Poor Richard’s Almanac is

48. The word “desperate” in line 16 could best be replaced by

49. Where in the passage does the author describe Thomas Paine’s style of writing?

50. The purpose of the passage is to