TOEFL IBT Listening Practice Test 08 From Delta’s Key TOEFL Test Solution & Explanation
Listening (p. 50)
1. D
The man needs to replace his identification card. He says Excuse me. Is this where I can get a student ID?; I need to, um, replace my old one. (2.1)
2. C
The man’s dog destroyed his student ID card. The man says I need to, um, replace my old one. You ’ll never believe it, but my dog ate it. (2.3)
3. B
The man wants to replace his student ID card. He says So, I thought I’d better get a new one so I can keep riding the bus for free. You can infer that there is no bus fare if you have a student ID. (2.4)
4. A The woman says If you want an unofficial transcript, you can use the computers in the information center to get a printout; Unofficial is free. (2.2)
5. A, D
The man wants a new student ID card, so you can predict that he will have his picture taken.
The woman says .. .you take your receipt down to the photo shop, and they ’ll take your picture and make your new card. You can also predict that the man will request an official copy of his transcript. He says I’m applying for a scholarship, so could I have the form for an official transcript? (2.4)
6. C
The professor’s purpose is to state that Wilson first proposed the theory of plate tectonics. The professor says This theory is called plate tectonics. It was first put forth in 1963 by a Canadian geophysicist by the name of Tuzo Wilson. (2.3)
7. A
The professor says Most of the world s earthquakes and volcanoes occur at plate boundaries; …because plate boundaries are where a great deal of friction and stress occur. (2.2)
8. C
The professor says This process of rock being “swallowed ’’ or forced back into the earth’s mantle is called subduction. (2.2)
9. D
The professor says …rock is melted and forced back into the mantle—at trenches. This process of rock being “swallowed” or forced back into the earth s mantle is called subduction; … lava that rises and spreads from the oceanic ridges sinks again elsewhere in subduction zones, which are nearly identical with the ocean trenches. (2.2)
10. D
The professor’s purpose is to introduce a phenomenon that he intends to explain. After the professor asks the question, he answers by saying Sea floor spreading doesn’t cause an increase in the earth s surface. And why not? Because the lava that rises and spreads from the oceanic ridges sinks again elsewhere in subduction zones, which are nearly identical with the ocean trenches. (2.3)
11. B, C
Chains of volcanic islands are associated with subduction zones: Subduction zones…are usually associated with the rows of volcanic islands that accompany the oceanic trenches. The sliding of one plate under another occurs at subduction zones: This is where a subducted plate is thought to have disappeared beneath the North American plate…. (2.2)
12. C
The main purpose of the talk is to trace the evolution of home design. Key phrases: The human habit of building homes has a long history.
Anthropologists think home building began……the first solid dwellings probably evolved; The box shape was a major development in home construction. (2.3)
13. C-A-D-B
The professor says (I) …home building began with very simple round huts… …tree branches were leaned up against one another… then the frame was covered with leaves…; (2) Round huts progressed from being temporary shelters…into stronger, more permanent structures built of stone; (3) The box shape was a major development in home construction. By making the sides of the house rectangular, and then covering the four walls with a roof…; (4) After the room came the multi-unit dwelling; the apartment house. (2.6)
14. D
The professor says By making the sides of the house rectangular, and then covering the four walls with a roof, it was possible to place structures next to one another, and to join them with doorways. Thus, the room was invented. (2.2)
15. B, C
The outer boundary still exists in the homes of today: The homes of today still contain some ancient features. Around the house itself there’s an outer perimeter—the symbolic boundary of the ancient home territory. The garden exists in the homes of today: Inside the boundary, we find… the garden, where we—like our ancestors—grow a few fruits and vegetables. (2.2)
16. B
The professor’s purpose is to explain how walls determine who may enter a room. Walls are boundaries that divide the home into public and private spaces. The professor says Each room you come to becomes more private and less available to outsiders. (2.3)
17. C
The professor implies that the rooms inside the homes of today are arranged to progress from public to private. The professor says Each room you come to becomes more private and less available to outsiders. Guests are allowed to enter the living room. Closer friends can go farther; …somewhere less accessible in our home—this is where we find the bedrooms and bathrooms, the most private rooms of our home. (2.4)
18. C
The students mainly discuss a major epidemic of influenza. The woman says OK, so we ’re going to look at the influenza epidemic of 1918 and, uh, probably its effects, like how many people got the flu. (2.1)
19. C
The woman mentions her great-grandfather because he was affected by the 1918 epidemic. The woman says My great-grandfather could remember the flu epidemic. He was born in 1910, so he was eight years old at the time. He remembered that there were a lot of funerals. His baby sister and his best friend died of the flu, and that made an impression on him. (2.3)
20. B
The man says What I found out was, it was the army that first noticed large numbers of men getting sick, and it was the army that first started reporting statistics about how many people were affected. (2.2)
21. A, D
You can predict that the students will include statistics on other major disease epidemics.
The man says I wonder how the flu statistics compare with the statistics for other major epidemics, you know, like AIDS and tuberculosis or other flu epidemics. The woman replies I don’t know, but I’ll try to find out.
That might be good to include in our report. You can also predict that they will include the connection between World War I and influenza. The man says I think we should also talk about the connection between the flu and World War I. The woman replies I like what you re saying about focusing on the war and the global aspects. (2.4)
22. B
The students agree to meet again to discuss their research. The woman says Why don’t we meet again and talk about what we have? Can you meet again on Thursday? The man replies .. .yeah, sure, that’s fine with me. (2.2)
23. B
The class mainly discusses the regulation of business by government. The professor says The economic role of the government has grown tremendously over the past century, as more and more corporate activities have come under regulation; These are all reasons why we have government regulation of business; …a whole set of industries has come under government regulation…. (2.1)
24. C
The students’ purpose is to give reasons why governments regulate corporations. The professor asks The economic role of the government has grown tremendously over the past century, as more and more corporate activities have come under regidation. Why has this happened? The students respond to the professor’s question. (2.3)
25. A, C
Governments influence economic activity through taxation and spending: Taxes encourage or discourage certain kinds of economic activity; Government spending— the government gives business incentives to produce certain goods or services;
Governments intervene in economic activity through taxation and spending. (2.2)
26. D
The professor’s purpose is to explain the origins of government regulation. Key phrases: Beginning in the late 1800s…; The government started to use its power…; One of the first things the government did…. (2.3)
27. B
The professor says There are a number of laws regulating food and cosmetics; …laws that protect all of society… regulations for air and water pollution, and for storage and disposal of hazardous materials like nuclear waste; …safety standards for automobiles and consumer products…; All of these are forms of social regulation. (2.2)
28. A
The professor says The general public has come to accept—and even expect—these limits on capitalism. You can infer that many people agree that the government should regulate business. (2.4)
29. D
The professor compares cardiac muscle and skeletal muscle. The professor says …skeletal muscle controls body movements, and cardiac muscle controls the body s blood flow. Skeletal muscle is found throughout the body, but cardiac muscle is found only in one place—the heart; Like skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle is striated; Cardiac muscle cells can generate impulses without any input from the nervous system. In contrast to this, skeletal muscles don’t contract unless the nervous system tells them to. (2.1)
30. A
The professor’s purpose is to introduce the topic of cardiac muscle, which the rest of the lecture develops. The professor answers her own question by saying It’s possible because of the specialized type of muscle—cardiac muscle—that makes up the heart tissue…. (2.3)
31. C
The professor’s purpose is to review material the class has already studied. The professor says …let’s back up a bit, indicating that what she says next will review something that they have already discussed. (2.3)
32.
* Skeletal muscle: These muscles are connected to the bones, which move when the muscles contract: Skeletal muscles are attached to the bones, and they the bones by contracting.
* Cardiac muscle: When this type of muscle contracts, blood moves throughout the body: …a series of contractions in the cardiac muscle. When the heart’s walls contract, they force blood out of the chambers and into the next chamber or the large blood vessels that lead to the rest of your body,
* Skeletal muscle: To contract, this type of muscle must be stimulated by a motor neuron: A skeletal muscle contracts only when it s stimulated by a motor neuron,
* Cardiac muscle: These muscle cells can generate electrical impulses without input from the nervous system: Cardiac muscle cells can generate impulses on their own, without any input from the nervous system.
* Cardiac muscle: This muscle cannot stop to rest without serious consequences for the body: …your cardiac muscle can never stop and take a rest. If your heart stops beating, you have very little time— only a matter of minutes—for it to start up again before all your other body systems are permanently damaged or stop functioning altogether. (2.5)
33. D
The professor says …an electrical impulse generated in one part of the heart will spread to all the cardiac muscle cells. Thus, the whole heart will contract. (2.2)
34. B
The professor says Electrically, they’re set up so, so that sodium and calcium—positive ions—change places with potassium—a negative ion—across the cell membrane; When sodium, calcium, and potassium ions move into or out of a cardiac cell, it causes the muscle to contract. You can infer that the contraction of cardiac muscle depends on the action of sodium, calcium, and potassium. (2.4)
TOEFL IBT Listening Practice Test 08 From Delta’s Key TOEFL Test Solution & Transcripts
Questions 1 through 5.
Listen to a conversation in a college office.
M: Excuse me. Is this where I can get a student ID?
W: Yes, we do make ID cards here actually downstairs in the photo shop but this is where you start.
M: I need to, um, replace my old one. You’ll never believe it, but my dog ate it.
W: You’re kidding! I’ve never heard that one before! Usually dogs prefer homework.
M: Well, not my dog. He’s particular about his food.
W: I hope it didn’t hurt him. Did he swallow it whole?
M: Nah, he’s all right. He just chewed it up. So, I thought I’d better get a new one so I can keep riding the bus for free.
W: There’s a twenty–dollar fee for a replacement ID.
M: OK. Where do I pay?
W: At the cashier’s office. But first you need to fill out this form. And I need to see your driver’s license or some other form of ID.
M: OK, so I just fill out this form and give it back to you?
W: Yeah, and then I have to check your status in the database so I can order the ID. It only takes a minute or so. Then you go up to the cashier to pay. After that, you take your receipt down to the photo shop, and they’ll take your picture and make your new card.
M: OK. Oh, by the way, is it possible to get a copy of my transcript?
W: Sure. If you want an unofficial transcript, you can use the computers in the information center to get a printout. You could also do that through our Web site. But if you want an official transcript, you need to fill out a request form and pay five dollars for each copy you want. It takes about five days to process your request.
M: What’s the difference between official and unofficial?
W: An unofficial transcript is, like, if you just wanted it for your own use, or if it doesn’t have to be in a sealed envelope. Unofficial is free. An official transcript is in a sealed envelope with the college seal. If you need a transcript to transfer to another school, or to, uh, apply for a scholarship, then you need an official transcript.
M: I’m applying for a scholarship, so could I have the form for an official transcript? Looks like I’d better fill that out, too.
W: Here you go.
M: Thanks.
Question 6 through 11
We currently believe that the earth’s crust the rocky part of the earth is composed of several large, rigid plates. These plates are being created at some edges and being destroyed at others. They’re also moving across the earth. This theory is called plate tectonics. It was first put forth in 1963 by a Canadian geophysicist by the name of Tuzo Wilson.
Tuzo Wilson was instrumental in advancing the theory of plate tectonics. He suggested that the Hawaiian and other volcanic island chains might have formed as a result of the movement of a plate over a motionless “hotspot” in the earth’s mantle. Hundreds of studies have proved that Wilson was right. However, in the early 1960s, his idea was considered so radical that his “hotspot” manuscript was initially rejected by all the major international scientific journals.
Basically, plates are areas of the earth’s crust that move as a unit. At the present time, there are eight large plates, as well as a similar number of smaller plates.
According to the theory of plate tectonics, a plate has three kinds of boundaries with other plates: oceanic ridges, oceanic trenches, and transform faults. Most of the world’s earthquakes and volcanoes occur at plate boundaries. This is what you’d expect because plate boundaries are where a great deal of friction and stress occur.
At plate boundaries, a couple of things can happen. One is that rock is forced up from the mantle in molten form as lava at ridges. Another is that rock is melted and forced back into the mantle at trenches. This process of rock being “swallowed” or forced back into the earth’s mantle is called subduction. During subduction, as a plate dives into the depths, we think part of it finds its way back to the surface in the form of volcanoes.
The theory of plate tectonics and the discovery of sea floor spreading have confirmed the theory of continental drift, the movement of continents. Sea floor spreading was discovered in the North Atlantic, and soon afterward in all other oceans.
What we found is that in the areas around oceanic ridges the deep sea floor is formed by rising lava, which then spreads out sideways in both directions.
So, does the spreading of the ocean floor mean that the surface of the earth is increasing? No, not in the least. Sea floor spreading doesn’t cause an increase in the earth’s surface. And why not? Because the lava that rises and spreads from the oceanic ridges sinks again elsewhere in subduction zones, which are nearly identical with the ocean trenches.
Subduction zones are areas of frequent earthquakes and are usually associated with the rows of volcanic islands that accompany the oceanic trenches. Subduction is currently happening beneath island arcs, like Japan. Subduction is also taking place on the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America, beyond the end of the San Andreas Fault. This is where a subducted plate is thought to have disappeared beneath the North American plate in recent geological time, leaving the volcanoes of the Cascade Range as evidence of its past existence.
Questions 12 through 17.
Listen to part of a talk in an anthropology class.
Human beings, like all animals, are territorial. The center of our territory is the home. Think about it. The home is where we spend most of our time. We begin and end our day there.
We eat and sleep and bathe … and relax … and play with our children there … and are most comfortable there. We keep our possessions there. We furnish our homes as an expression of our taste. We say and generally believe that “There’s no place like home” and “Home is where the heart is.”
The human habit of building homes has a long history. Anthropologists think home building began with very simple round huts, similar to the shelters still built in parts of Africa today. Round huts probably started out like this: tree branches were leaned up against one another like the ribs of an umbrella; then the frame was covered with leaves or animal skins.
It’s from these round, tent–like structures that the first solid dwellings probably evolved. As the tents became larger and more elaborate, they became the center of family life, and the place where the family’s possessions could be kept. In other words, these structures became home, the heart of the human territory. Round huts progressed from being temporary shelters, made of wood and skins and leaves, into stronger, more permanent structures built of stone.
But even though stone structures were stronger, there was still a problem: the round shape made it difficult to combine it with other structures. This difficulty was overcome with the development of the cube, or box shape. The box shape was a major development in home construction. By making the sides of the house rectangular, and then covering the four walls with a roof, it was possible to place structures next to one another, and to join them with doorways. Thus, the room was invented.
After the room came the multi-unit dwelling: the apartment house. Nearly ten thousand years ago, this method of building led to the construction of clusters of rectangular buildings that made up the first complex human settlements. Today the box shape not only survives but also remains the basis of our domestic dwellings.
The homes of today still contain some ancient features. Around the house itself there’s an outer perimeter the symbolic boundary of the ancient home territory. Today the boundary is often marked by a barrier, like a fence, a wall, or a hedge. Inside the boundary, we find the yard where we keep our dogs and the garden, where we like our ancestors grow a few fruits and vegetables. We surround our home with a grass lawn, like our ancestors surrounded theirs with pastures for their livestock.
Today, humans are more sociable than in ancient times, and so we allow others to enter the home territory, especially the outer boundary. For example, we let people bring letters and packages to our door. Sometimes we let outsiders enter the first of the private areas, the hallway, which is inside the solid wall of the home itself. But beyond the hallway, there are more boundaries. Each room you come to becomes more private and less available to outsiders.
Guests are allowed to enter the living room. Closer friends can go farther. We tell our closest friends to “make yourself at home” and allow them into the rooms where we cook and eat and pursue our hobbies. But … up the stairs … or down the hall … somewhere less accessible in our home this is where we find the bedrooms and bathrooms, the most private rooms of our home. These rooms are where we, the owners of the territory, feel most secure. This is where we retreat, like any animal to its den, whenever we are at our most vulnerable for example, when we’re sleeping, bathing, or when we’re sick.
Questions 18 through 22.
Listen to part of a conversation between two students. They are planning an oral report for their history class
W: OK, so we’re going to look at the influenza epidcmic of 1918 and, uh, probably its effects, like how many people got the flu.
M: The numbers should be fairly easy to find.
W: Actually, I have some numbers already. Let me sc« … OK. From spring 1918 to winter 1919, 25 perccnt of Americans one out of every four people contracted the flu … and about 3 percent of the people who got the flu died from it.
M: Wow. One-fourth of the population got sick. That’s a lot. It must’ve had a pretty bad effect on the workforce and productivity. Imagine if one-fourth of the people didn’t show up for work. Doctors and hospitals must have been overwhelmed.
W: Here’s some more interesting numbers: 675,000 Americans died from influenza, but only 116,000 died in World War I. That means that the war killed only about… what… about one-sixth of the people who died of the flu.
M: I wonder how the flu statistics compare with the statistics for other major epidemics, you know, like AIDS and tuberculosis … or other flu epidemics. I think there were other flu epidemics later, after 1918.
W: Hmm. I don’t know, but I’ll try to find out. That might be good to include in our report.
M: So, we can talk about the flu and its effects on society and the economy, you know, and … uh compare it to other epidemics. What else should we do?
W: I think we should tell stories about its effects on real people. My great-grandfather could remember the flu epidemic. He was bom in 1910, so he was eight years old at the time. He remembered that there were a lot of funerals. His baby sister and his best friend died of the flu, and that made an impression on him.
M: Wow. Did your great grandfather get the flu?
W: You know. I’m not really sure …he never said if he got sick. Well, I mean, if he did, he survived it and lived to be 91.
M: You could tell the story about your great-grandfather. You know … that might be a great way to start our presentation.
W: Yeah? Maybe. It might get our audience’s attention.
M: I think we should also talk about the connection between the flu and World War 1. That was the first global war, and it was the first global epidemic in recorded history. I’ve done some reading about that What I found out was. it was the army that first noticed large numbers of men getting sick, and it was the army that first started reporting statistics about how many people were affected. You can imagine how fast influenza spread among soldiers living in close quarters, and traveling to other countries.
W: Wow, OK … ah … we’ve got some pretty good ideas. I like what you’re saying about focusing on the war and the global aspects.
M: I’ll do a little more research and see what else I can find.
W: Good. 1 will, too. I’ll look for stuff about other
epidemics. Why don’t we meet again and talk about what we have? Can you meet again on Thursday?
M: Uh … yeah, sure, that’s fine with me.
Questions 23 through 28.
Listen to part of a discussion in an economics class,
Ml: The large economic unit called the “corporation” has come to define business activity in a modem industrial-service economy. Even a mid–sized corporation employs thousands of people, serves hundreds of thousands of customers, and controls assets and does business amounting to several million dollars. The growing power of corporations has brought increased intervention by the only body with sufficient strength and scope to match corporate power. And what body is this? What has enough power to control the corporation?
W: The government.
M1: Yes. The federal government. The economic role of the government has grown tremendously over the past century, as more and more corporate activities have come under regulation. Why has this happened?
M2: Well, to prevent fraud against stockholders, for one thing. Also, to protect customers from fraud, like false advertising,
W: To protect the workers. For example, laws against child labor… and unsafe working conditions.
MI: Yes. These are all reasons why we have government regulation of business. Not just in this country, but in most advanced industrial and service economies, governments have taken on an increasing role in economic affairs. Let’s take a minute to review what we talked about last time What are the methods that governments use to influence economic activities? Elizabeth?
W: Taxes. Taxes encourage or discourage certain kinds of economic activity. Taxes are also a way for the government to get money to spend on programs.
MI: That’s right. So … OK. there’s taxes and .. what else? Joshua?
M2: Government spending the government gives business incentives to produce certain goods or services. Also … uh … spending could take the form of a tax break, or it could be a direct payment, tike a government contract, or a grant or a subsidy.
Ml: Yes, that’s right. Governments intervene in economic activity through taxation and spending, A third method, of course, what we’ve just been talking about: regulation. There’s been a tremendous increase in the laws and regulations governing the economic affairs of complex societies like ours. Beginning in the late 1800s, our political leaders rejected the idea that “government governs best which governs least.” The government started to use its power to police the economic system. One of the first things the government did was to limit the exercise of monopoly power by regulating railroads and public utilities. After that, the government began regulating utility rates costs for telephone, electricity, fuel, and so on. Since then, a whole set of industries has come under government regulation: financial markets, the airlines, trucking, barge and water traffic, oil and natural gas pipelines, and so on. Also, in recent decades there’s been a rapid growth of social regulation. What do 1 mean by social regulation?
W: Uh ,,. things like … like laws that require a food package to list all the ingredients?
M1: Yes, that’s a good example, There are a number of laws regulating food and cosmetics. Social regulation also includes the laws that were first passed to protect workers in mines, and then workers in general. Now there are laws that protect all of society for example, regulations for air and water pollution, and for storage and disposal of hazardous materials like nuclear waste. There ate also safety standards for automobiles and consumer products, such as car scats for babies. All of these are forms of social regulation. We’ve come a long way since the days of laissez faire capitalism, when business ran free and unchecked by government. When the political leaders of the nineteenth century first started proposing regulation of business, this was considered a radical idea. However, with the passage of time, the radical ideas of that era became the accepted convictions of today The general public has come to accept and even expect these limits on capitalism.
Questions 29 through 34.
Listen to part of a lecture in a biology class. The professor is talking about cardiac muscle.
Every minute of every day, blood flows through every comer of your body. The flow of blood brings oxygen and other nutrients to your tissues, Then it loads up the waste products of your metabolism and carries them away. This system of nutrient exchange is what keeps your organs and tissues alive. It’s made possible only because of the steady beating of your heart the driving force of your circulatory system.
How can your heart keep beating and beating, never stopping, and rarely getting out of sync? It’s possible because of the specialized type of muscle cardiac muscle that makes up the heart tissue, and also because of the action of specialized electrical pathways that run through the heart’s walls.
Before I go into cardiac muscle, let’s back up a bit. You may recall from last time that the action of a muscle is always to contract. Muscles can extend only passively. They extend as they relax between contractions. You’ll also recall that the human body has different types of muscles. For example, skeletal muscle controls body movements, and cardiac muscle controls the body’s blood flow. Skeletal muscle is found throughout the body, but cardiac muscle is found only in one place the heart.
Skeletal muscles get their name from the fact that their movement is based on the contraction of muscles working against the skeleton. Skeletal máseles are attached to the bones, and they move the bones by contracting.
A skeletal muscle consists of a bundle of long fibers running the length of the muscle. The bundles of fibers are arranged in a regular pattern a repeating pattern of light and dark bunds. This pattern is called striation, and skeletal muscle is also known as striated muscle. When a muscle contracts, the length of each bundle is reduced. A skeletal muscle contracts only when it’s stimulated by a motor neuron.
Cardiac muscle, on the other hand, contracts rhythmically all on its own Cardiac muscle cells can generate impulses on their own, without any input from the nervous system. They can do this because of complex chemical and elcctrical changes involving sodium, calcium, and potassium, each of which carries an electrical charge.
Like skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle is striated. However, the membranes between cardiac muscle cells contain specialized regions that provide direct electrical contact among cells. What this means is, an electrical impulse generated in one part of the heart will spread to all the cardiac muscle cells. Thus, the whole heart will contract. Cardiac muscle cells can generate impulses without any input from the nervous system.
In contrast to this, skeletal muscles don’t contract unless the nervous system tells them to.
A single cardiac muscle cell will “beat” even when it’s isolated from the heart and placed in cell culture in the laboratory. If you removed a little piece of muscle from your heart and put it in a dish, you would see it continue to contract. That’s because cardiac muscle cells have something called an action potential. Electrically, they’re set up so, so that sodium and calcium positive ions change places with potassium a negative ion across the cell membrane. This happens automatically, over and over again When sodium, calcium, and potassium ions mov e into or out of a cardiac cell, it causes the muscle to contract.
What we think of as a heartbeat is really a series of contractions in the cardiac muscle When the heart’s walls contract, they force blood out of the chambers and into the next chamber or the large blood vessels that lead to the rest of your body. Every day, your heart contracts 100,000 times or more, pumping more than 2,000 gallons of blood.