Reading Practice (TOEFL)
Now begin work on the questions.
PRACTICE PASSAGE
The Alaska pipeline starts at the frozen edge of the Arctic Ocean.
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It stretches southward across the largest and northernmost state in
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the United States, ending at a remote ice-free seaport village nearly
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Line
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800 miles from where it begins. It is massive in size and extremely
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(5)
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complicated to operate.
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The steel pipe crosses windswept plains and endless miles of
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delicate tundra that tops the frozen ground. It weaves through
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crooked canyons, climbs sheer mountains, plunges over rocky
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crags, makes its way through thick forests, and passes over or
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(10)
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under hundreds of rivers and streams. The pipe is 4 feet in diameter,
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and up to 2 million barrels (or 84 million gallons) of crude oil can
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be pumped through it daily.
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Resting on H-shaped steel racks called “bents,” long sections of
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the pipeline follow a zigzag course high above the frozen earth.
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(15)
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Other long sections drop out of sight beneath spongy or rocky
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ground and return to the surface later on. The pattern of the
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pipeline’s up-and-down route is determined by the often harsh
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demands of the arctic and subarctic climate, the tortuous lay of the
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land, and the varied compositions of soil, rock, or permafrost
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(20)
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(permanently frozen ground). A little more than half of the pipeline
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is elevated above the ground. The remainder is buried anywhere
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from 3 to 12 feet, depending largely upon the type of terrain and
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the properties of the soil.
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One of the largest in the world, the pipeline cost approximately
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(25)
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$8 billion and is by far the biggest and most expensive construction
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project ever undertaken by private industry. In fact, no single
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business could raise that much money, so 8 major oil companies
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formed a consortium in order to share the costs. Each company
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controlled oil rights to particular shares of land in the oil fields and
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(30)
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paid into the pipeline-construction fund according to the size of its
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holdings. Today, despite enormous problems of climate, supply
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shortages, equipment breakdowns, labor disagreements, treacherous
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terrain, a certain amount of mismanagement, and even theft, the
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Alaska pipeline has been completed and is operating.
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PRACTICE QUESTIONS
- The passage primarily discusses the pipeline’s
- operating costs
- employees
- consumers
- construction
- The word “it” in line 4 refers to
- pipeline
- ocean
- state
- village
- According to the passage, 84 million gallons of oil can travel through the pipeline each
- day
- week
- month
- year
- The phrase “Resting on” in line 13 is closest in meaning to
- Consisting of
- Supported by
- Passing under
- Protected with
- The author mentions all of the following as important in determining the pipeline’s route EXCEPT the
- climate
- lay of the land itself
- local vegetation
- kind of soil and rock
- The word “undertaken” in line 26 is closest in meaning to
- removed
- selected
- transported
- attempted
- How many companies shared the costs of constructing the pipeline?
- 3
- 4
- 8
- 12
- The word “particular” in line 29 is closest in meaning to
- peculiar
- specific
- exceptional
- equal
- Which of the following determined what percentage of the construction costs each member of the consortium would pay?
- How much oil field land each company owned
- How long each company had owned land in the oil fields
- How many people worked for each company
- How many oil wells were located on the company’s land
- Where in the passage does the author provide a term for an earth covering that always remains frozen?
- Line 3
- Line 13
- Line 19
- Line 32
Jawaban Soal Toefl Reading Practice
- D
- A
- A
- B
- C
- D
- C
- B
- A
- C
Sumber: ets.org