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30th June 2016, 05:45 PM
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Join Date: Aug 2012
Re: Sample TOEFL Reading

The practice passage and the question with regards to the passage as well as their solution for the TOEFL examination has been given below:

Practice Passage
The Alaska pipeline starts at the frozen edge of the
Arctic Ocean. It stretches southward across the largest
and northernmost state in the United States, ending at
a remote ice-free seaport village nearly 800 miles from
where it begins. It is massive in size and extremely
complicated to operate.
The steel pipe crosses windswept plains and endless
miles of delicate tundra that tops the frozen ground. It
weaves through crooked canyons, climbs sheer
mountains, plunges over rocky crags, makes its way
through thick forests, and passes over or under hundreds
of rivers and streams. The pipe is 4 feet in diameter, and
up to 2 million barrels (or 84 million gallons) of crude
oil can be pumped through it daily.
Resting on H-shaped steel racks called "bents," long
sections of the pipeline follow a zigzag course high
above the frozen earth. Other long sections drop out of
sight beneath spongy or rocky ground and return to the
surface later on. The pattern of the pipeline's up-and-
down route is determined by the often harsh demands
of the arctic and subarctic climate, the tortuous lay of
the land, and the varied compositions of soil, rock, or
permafrost (permanently frozen ground). A little more
than half of the pipeline is elevated above the ground.
The remainder is buried anywhere from 3 to 12 feet,
depending largely upon the type of terrain and the
properties of the soil.
One of the largest in the world, the pipeline cost
approximately $8 billion and is by far the biggest
and most expensive construction project ever
undertaken by private industry. In fact, no single
business could raise that much money, so eight major oil
companies formed a consortium in order to share
the costs. Each company controlled oil rights to
particular shares of land in the oil fields and paid
into the pipeline-construction fund according to the
size of its holdings. Today, despite enormous
problems of climate, supply shortages, equipment
breakdowns, labor disagreements, treacherous
terrain, a certain amount of mismanagement, and
even theft, the Alaska pipeline has been completed
and is operating.

Practice Questions

The passage primarily discusses the pipeline's
operating costs
employees
consumers
construction

The word "it" in line 5 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 15 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 31 is closest in meaning to
removed
selected
transported
attempted

How many companies shared the costs of constructing the pipeline?
three
four
eight
twelve

The word "particular" in line 35 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?


Answer Key for TOEFL ITP Reading Comprehension

D
A
A
B
C
D
C
B
A
C


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