TOEFL IBT Practice Test 30 from Official TOEFL iBT Test

Geology

Directions: Now answer the questions.

29.What aspect of the Earth 750 million years ago is the lecture mainly about?

  • The changes in locations of the continents
  • The effect of greenhouse gases on the atmosphere
  • Factors that influenced the ocean currents
  • Factors that contributed to a global freeze

30.According to the professor, how do geologists interpret the presence of erratics in the tropics?

  • It indicates that carbon-dioxide levels were once higher there.
  • It is evidence of global glaciation.
  • It indicates that the Earth may cool off at some point in the future.
  • It is evidence that some glaciers originated there.

31.What is the ice-albedo effect?

  • Global warming is balanced by carbon dioxide in the oceans.
  • Solar radiation retained in the atmosphere melts ice.
  • Large amounts of carbon dioxide are removed from the atmosphere.
  • Reflection of heat by glaciers contributes to their growth.

32.What is the relationship between carbon dioxide and silicate rocks?

  • Silicate rocks are largely composed of carbon dioxide.
  • Silicate rocks contribute to the creation of carbon dioxide.
  • The erosion of silicate rocks reduces carbon-dioxide levels in the atmosphere.
  • The formation of silicate rocks removes carbon dioxide from the oceans.

 

TASK II: GAP-FILLING

TRACK 63 TRANSCRIPT:

Narrator

Listen to a conversation between a student and an employee in the campus computer center.

Computer center employee

Hi, what can I help you with today?

Student

Hi, um, I wanted to—you see, the thing is, I don’t know much about computers, so I was wondering if, uh, if there’s a class or something … so I can learn how to use computers, like to write papers for my classes.

Computer center employee

Oh, I see … um, we don’t really offer a course for beginners, since most students already have

computing [……………………………. ]. But all the computers in our labs have a general

[…………………………. ]installed on them. You could just go there and run it.

Student

And the tutorial explains everything? I mean, it might sound [……………………………………. ]but I’ve never

used a computer.

Computer center employee

Well, all the computer labs on […………………………………….. ]are staffed with student

[…………………………. ], and I’m sure that any one of them would be more than willing to get you

started.

Student

Yeah? That sounds good. But is it expensive?

Computer center employee

No, in fact, it won’t cost anything; it’s one of the [……………………………… ]of the computer center.

Student

That’s great. How do they—I mean, how do I get in touch with the student assistants? Should I just go to a [  …………………………….. ] […………………………………………… ]and ask whoever’s there?

Computer center employee

Sure, you could do that, or I can let you have a list of names of the students who are assistants in the labs. You might know one of them.

Student

Actually, I think I’d prefer someone I don’t know, um, so I can ask [ ……………………………..]questions .

Is there anyone you’d recommend?

Computer center employee

All of our student assistants are really [………………………………. ]about computers. I mean, they have

to be, in order to work in the computer labs … It doesn’t mean that they’re

[………………………… ]good at teaching beginners … but you probably won’t be a beginner for

very long.

Student

Hope not.

Computer center employee

And I just thought of something else. The bookstore has a lot of books on computers—there might be one for people like you, I mean, people who don’t have a lot of

[………………………… ]with computers. I actually bought one for my father so he could learn how

to use […………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ], basic word [ ], that sort of thing—and it worked

pretty well for him.

Student

OK, I’ll try that, too. And if the bookstore doesn’t have it, they can just order it for me?

Computer center employee

Right. Now is there anything else I can help you with today?

Student

Uh, just the list of names and the times they’re working. I’d like to get going on this as soon as

[…………………………. ].

Computer center employee Right. Good luck.

TRACK 64 TRANSCRIPT:

Narrator

Listen to part of a lecture in an economics class.

Professor

When [ ]to understand international trade, some things seem so

[…………………………. ]that they can hardly be [……………………………….. ], and other points that are

important are [………………………………… ]unless you’ve thought about the subject carefully.

Consider the following: if there’s an increase in imports, let’s say, um, let’s say imports of

furniture, and the […………………………………. ]producers of furniture find this new competition very

difficult and are cutting                  production and employment, then it seems obvious and            easy to

understand and many people [……………………………… from this that increasing imports will cause

generally greater […………………………… ]at home.

What is not so obvious        is that how much we import and how much we [………………………………… ]…

those are [……………………………………. ]and you can’t understand the one without the other.          But the

exports that are generated are not easily [………………………………….. ], so   most people  don’t   see them.

They see only the imports of furniture rising and employment    in      domestic

[…………………………. ]production falling.

So as a result, many people argue that we ought to protect jobs by limiting imports— either by

[…………………………. ], quotas, regulations, or whatever—without [………………………………… ]that this

also has the effect of reducing [……………………………. future exports to the rest of the world, things

that we can produce   very, very … cost effectively and therefore [……………………………… ].

The [………………………….. ]proposition in international economics is          that it makes sense   to import

those things that we … that can be produced more [……………………………….. ]abroad than at home and

export things to the rest of the world that we can produce more cost [……………………………………… ]than

produced [………………………….. ]in the world. Therefore, if we limit imports we put ourselves in

danger of not being able to export.

The details of this [……………………………………. ]will take much longer to explain than I can fully go into

now but the point of the matter is that gains—the benefits of gains—from international trade

result from being able to get things [……………………………….. ]by buying them abroad than you can

make them at home. Now there’re some things that we can make at home that are .. . that we can do more economically than they can do […………………………………………………………… ].

In the case of the United States, typically [………………………………… ]products, uh . .. are things that

Americans have [ ]in and started firms doing that sort of thing at which they do very well. Whereas goods that produce … that use a lot of relatively low skill labor, like

furniture production, cotton production, [……………………………………. ]production … those are things that

are […………………………………….. ]made more inexpensively in places where [………………………… ]rates

are low and the cost of using [……………………………. ]is very high.

However, in Florida they produce a lot of sugar, but the costs are so high, if we didn’t have

[………………………… Restrictions on imports of sugar, the output of sugar would decline

[………………………… ]. But the sugar industry in  the U.S. doesn’t produce

[………………………… ljobs, it uses resources in [……………………… ]ways and it blocks the

import of more cost-effectively produced sugar. It, it’s a very bad […………………………………….. ]for the

people in the United States to want to protect low-paying jobs thereby […………………………………… ]the

growth of world trading and international… uh, more international [……………………………………….. ]. It

would be better to remove [……………………………….. ]on imports and allow other countries in the

world … countries that can produce them more cheaply … let them specialize in producing those products.

Now, I agree that people who are directly [……………………………… ]by imports, what they focus on …

is, is that their […………………………… ]… their job prospects are being reduced, and their economic

[………………………… ]are getting worse. And that’s a relevant problem          and an    important problem;

what isn’t so obvious is … that by […………………………………….. ]and […………………………….. ]people to

places and industries where jobs are expanding rather than contracting, we can make the whole economy function more effectively and productively than by trying to [  ]imports.

Um, what is interesting to note is that, even if there were no international trade

[………………………… ], like imports, any changes that occur in a country’s economy—any new

technology, change in […………………………….. ], change in regulations or whatever—will lead to

“[……………………….. ]” that lead some sectors of the economy to decline and others to

[………………………… ].

And that’s what we have to figure out, and that’s a hard problem to deal with in

[………………………… ], is howto […………………………………… ]people adjusting from sectors where their

job prospects are not so good, and in particular where real wages aren’t so high, to acquire skills

that will […………………………… ]them to move into higher-paying jobs in other parts of the

economy either by retraining or relocating. Helping pay for the relocation of these people would

be very [……………………………. ], but trying to block the changes is really [……………………………….. ]. It

makes people in our country poorer, and it makes people elsewhere in the world [ ……………………………….. ]as well.