A friend from Taipei
Yesterday, I took the TOEFL exam. I finally finished it. Happy.
I would like to share the questions I had on the test with you guys.
A. In the listening session, there were three lectures.
1. Economic Inequity
The economic inequity happened in Pennsylvania.
At the beginning, all of the settlers were equal. They had the same amount of land.
Some people became richer because they had the new comers to help them cultivate
crops. At the same time, the Europeans imported wheat from America or equipment
got improved. (I am not sure which one. -_- But basically, there were two reasons that
some people became richer. The first one is for sure. )
2. Shakers in Pennsylvania (!!! The most difficult one)
The lecture mainly discussed shakers’ artifact: chairs & other furniture.
There are three questions
(1) Which part of a chair influenced American furniture design?
(2) Which part of a table represents Shakers’ design?
(3) Which two fields were influenced by Shakers’ artworks?
I don’t remember the lecture, so I went to Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakers
The link includes a lot of useful information. You can take a look.
3. Hawaiian Squids (a conversation between two students) – three questions
One of the test-prep materials I have includes this lecture and it is really similar to the “authentic” one. I typed it in for you.
………..bioluminescence is probably not most often used as a means of helping animals to see. One marine creature, a species of squid, actually uses one kind of bacteria as a form of camouflage (!!!One question). In other words, they use the generation of light as way to stay hidden (!!!another question)….The squid spends the daylight hours hidden at the middle depths, but comes the surface at night to feed. At the surface on a moon night, it could easily seen as a shadow by predator below. The squid overcomes this by generating its own light, which eliminates the shadow and renders the squid invisible from below.
(The following is what I heard) How does the squid get bacteria? It has two "hands" (I’m not really sure if ETS used this word). The squid uses its two hands to capture the bacteria. And then these two hands disappear. How did scientists prove it? Scientists found out squids which live in bacteria-free areas still have their two hands. (!!! the other question)
B. Vocabulary:
1. while= either “during” or “although”….I chose “although”
2. subsequent= later
3. delighted= pleased
4. bulk= majority
Some suggestions I want to give whoever are going to take the CBT or IBT:
1. Listen to English online radio stations.
As we know, the first part of the listening comprehension session is not easy. Because we didn’t grow up in an English environment, it is understandable that we can’t fully understand conversational English. I think the best strategy to be familiar with “American accent” is by getting used to the way they talk.
There are three websites I highly recommend.
a. http://video.msn.com/v/us/v.htm?f=msnhome
It is an online TV broadcast founded by MSN & NBC.
One of my favorite programs, NBC today, is on the list.
This webpage includes up-to-date American news & events.
I think watching it not only helps you with the TOEFL but also
is good for you to get to know about the states because
eventaully you are going to study in the united states.
b. http://www.wcbe.org/WCBEInterHomepage.html
If you like to know about news, I suggest this website.
It is an Ohio local radio station, but it broadcasts BBC & local news.
c. http://www.1049theriver.com/index.html
This is a Christian website where you can listen to Christian songs.
Taking the TOEFL or GRE exam is a long journey. What we need isn’t just studying test-prep materials, but we also need emotional support and encouragement. I really got encouraged by listening to this broadcast station.
2. Read newspapers
a. New York Times: http:// www.nytimes.com
b. International Herald Tribune: http://www.iht.com/
I hope my suggestions are helpful and hope everyone gets good scores.
God blesses us. : )
A friend from Taipei  |