UNIVERSIDAD PRIVADA FRANZ TAMAYO
FACULTAD DE INGENIERÍA
CARRERA INGENIERÍA DE SISTEMAS
TOEFL Reading PRACTICE
NOMBRES:
Rossy Mar Adriana Chino Calle
MATERIA:
Ingles IV
DOCENTE:
Lic. Juan Marcelo Usnayo Montes
El Alto – Bolivia
2021
TOEFL READING PRACTICE
READING 4 (Numero asignado del document Excel)
Question 31 – 38
The ability of falling cats to right themselves in midair and land on their feet has
been a source of wonder for ages. Biologists long regarded it as an example of
adaptation by natural selection, but for physicists it bordered on the miraculous.
Newton's laws of motion assume that the total amount of spin of a body cannot change
unless an external torque speeds it up or slows it down. If a cat has no spin when it is
released and experiences no external torque, it ought not to be able to twist around as it
falls.
In the speed of its execution, the righting of a tumbling cat resembles a magician's
trick. The gyrations of the cat in midair are too fast for the human eye to follow, so the
process is obscured. Either the eye must be speeded up, or the cat's fall slowed down
for the phenomenon to be observed. A century ago the former was accomplished by
means of high-speed photography using equipment now available in any pharmacy.
But in the nineteenth century the capture on film of a falling cat constituted a scientific
experiment.
The experiment was described in a paper presented to the Paris Academy in 1894.
Two sequences of twenty photographs each, one from the side and one from behind,
show a white cat in the act of righting itself. Grainy and quaint though they are, the
photos show that the cat was dropped upside down, with no initial spin, and still landed
on its feet. Careful analysis of the photos reveals the secret ; As the cat rotates the front
of its body clockwise, the rear and tail twist counterclockwise, so that the total spin
remains zero, in perfect accord with Newton's laws. Halfway down, the cat pulls in its
legs before reversing its twist and then extends them again, with the desired end result.
The explanation was that while nobody can acquire spin without torque, a flexible one
can readily change its orientation, or phase. Cats know this instinctively, but scientists
could not be sure how it happened until they increased the speed of their perceptions a
thousandfold.
31. What does the passage mainly discuss?
(A) The explanation of an interesting phenomenon
(B) Miracles in modern science
(C) Procedures in scientific investigation
(D) The differences between biology and physics
32. The word “process”in line 10 refers to
(A) the righting of a tumbling cat
(B) the cat's fall slowed down
(C) high-speed photography
(D) a scientific experiment
33. Why are the photographs mentioned in line 16 referred to as an “experiment”?
(A) The photographs were not very clear.
(B) The purpose of the photographs was to explain the process.
(C) The photographer used inferior equipment.
(D) The photographer thought the cat might be injured.
34. Which of the following can be inferred about high-speed photography in
the late 1800's ?
(A) It was a relatively new technology.
(B) The necessary equipment was easy to obtain.
(C) The resulting photographs are difficult to interpret.
(D) It was not fast enough to provide new information.
35. The word “rotates” in line 19 is closest in meaning to
(A) drops
(B) turns
(C) controls
(D) touches
36. According to the passage, a cat is able to right itself in midair because it is
(A) frightened
(B) small
(C) intelligent
(D) flexible
37. The word “readily”in line 24 is closest in meaning to
(A) only
(B) easily
(C) slowly
(D) certainly
38. How did scientists increase “the speed of their perceptions a
thousandfold”(lines 25-26)?
(A) By analyzing photographs
(B) By observing a white cat in a dark room
(C) By dropping a cat from a greater height
(D) By studying Newton's laws of motion
READING 6 (Numero escogido por preferencia)
Question 1 – 8
It is commonly believed in the United States that school is where people go to get
an education. Nevertheless, it has been said that today children interrupt their education
to go to school. The distinction between schooling and education implied by this remark
is important.
Education is much more open-ended and all-inclusive than schooling. Education
knows no bounds. It can take place anywhere, whether in the shower or on the job,
whether in a kitchen or on a tractor. It includes both the formal learning that takes place
in schools and the whole universe of informal learning. The agents of education can
range from a revered grandparent to the people debating politics on the radio, from a
child to a distinguished scientist. Whereas schooling has a certain predictability,
education quite often produces surprises. A chance conversation with a stranger may
lead a person to discover how little is known of other religions. People are engaged in
education from infancy on. Education, then, is a very broad, inclusive term. It is a
lifelong process, a process that starts long before the start of school, and one that
should be an integral part of one's entire life.
Schooling, on the other hand, is a specific, formalized process, whose general
pattern varies little from one setting to the next. Throughout a country, children arrive
at school at approximately the same time, take assigned seats, are taught by an adult,
use similar textbooks, do homework, take exams, and so on. The slices of reality that
are to be learned, whether they are the alphabet or an understanding of the workings of
government, have usually been limited by the boundaries of the subject being taught.
For example, high school students know that they are not likely to find out in their
classes the truth about political problems in their communities or what the newest
filmmakers are experimenting with. There are definite conditions surrounding the
formalized process of schooling.
1. What does the author probably mean by using the expression “children interrupt
their education to go to school” (lines 2-3) ?
(A) Going to several different schools is educationally beneficial.
(B) School vacations interrupt the continuity of the school year.
(C) Summer school makes the school year too long.
(D) All of life is an education.
2. The word “bounds”in line 6 is closest in meaning to
(A) rules
(B) experience
(C) limits
(D) exceptions
3. The word “chance” in line 11 is closest in meaning to
(A) unplanned
(B) unusual
(C) lengthy
(D) lively
4. The word “an integral” in line 15 is closest in meaning to
(A) an equitable
(B) a profitable
(C) a pleasant
(D) an essential
5. The word “they” in line 20 refers to
(A) slices of reality
(B) similar textbooks
(C) boundaries
(D) seats
6. The phrase “For example,” line 22, introduces a sentence that gives
examples of
(A) similar textbooks
(B) the results of schooling
(C) the workings of a government
(D) the boundaries of classroom subjects
7. The passage supports which of the following conclusions?
(A) Without formal education, people would remain ignorant.
(B) Education systems need to be radically reformed.
(C) Going to school is only part of how people become educated.
(D) Education involves many years of professional training.
8. The passage is organized by
(A) listing and discussing several educational problems
(B) contrasting the meanings of two related words
(C) narrating a story about excellent teachers
(D) giving examples of different kinds of schools
