25 TOEFL Questions About Reading Comprehension

Questions 1 - 4

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.

1. The passage primarily discusses the pipeline's

(a) operating costs
(b) employees
(c) consumers
(d) construction

2. According to the passage, 84 million gallons of oil can travel through the pipeline each

(a) day
(b) week
(c) month
(d) year

3. The author mentions all of the following as important in determining the pipeline's route EXCEPT the

(a) climate
(b) lay of the land itself
(c) local vegetation
(d) kind of soil and rock

4. Which of the following determined what percentage of the construction costs each member of the consortium would pay?

(a) How much oil field land each company owned

(b) How long each company had owned land in the oil fields

(c) How many people worked for each company

(d) How many oil wells were located on the company's land

Questions 5 - 15

      The work of the railroad pioneers in America became the basis for a great surge of railroad building halfway through the nineteenth century that linked the nation together as never before. Railroads eventually became the nation’s number one transportation system and remained so until the construction of the interstate highway system halfway through the twentieth century. They were of crucial importance in stimulating economic expansion, but their influence reached beyond the economy and was pervasive in American society at large.

      By 1804, English, as well as American inventors, had experimented with steam engines for moving land vehicles. In 1920, John Stevens ran a locomotive and cars around in a circular track on his New Jersey estate, which the public saw as an amusing toy. And in 1825, after opening a short length of a track, the Stockton to Darlington Railroad in England became the first line to carry general traffic. American businesspeople, especially those in the Atlantic coastal region who looked for better communication with the West, quickly became interested in the English experiment. The first company in America to begin actual operations was the Baltimore and Ohio, which opened a thirteen- mile length of track in 1830. It used a team of horses to pull a train of passenger carriages and freight wagons along the track. Steam locomotive power didn’t come into regular service until two years later.

      However, for the first decade or more, there was not yet a true railroad system. Even the longest of the lines were relatively short in the 1830’s, and most of them served simply to connect water routes to each other, not to link one railroad to another. Even when two lines did connect, the tracks often differed in width, so cars from one line couldn’t fit onto tracks of the next line. Schedules were unreliable and wrecks were frequent. Significantly, however, some important developments during the 1830’s and 1840’s included the introduction of heavier iron rails, more flexible and powerful locomotives, and passenger cars were redesigned to become more stable, comfortable, and larger. By the end of 1830 only 23 miles of track had been laid in the country. But by 1936, more than 1,000 miles of track had been laid in eleven States, and within the decade, almost 3,000 miles had been constructed. By that early age, the United States had already surpassed Great Britain in railroad construction, and particularly from the mid-1860’s, the late nineteenth century belonged to the railroads.

5. The word “stimulating” in line 5 is closest in meaning to

(a) helping
(b) changing
(c) promoting
(d) influencing

6. The word “their” in line 6 refers to

(a) railroad pioneers
(b) railroads
(c) the interstate highway system
(d) American society

7. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?

(a) The United States regarded Great Britain as a competitor in developing the most efficient railroad system

(b) Steam locomotive power was first used in 1832

(c) American businessmen saw railroads as a threat to established businesses

(d) Steam locomotives replaced horses because of the distances across the country

8. The author concludes that for the first decade or more, there was not yet a true railroad system because

(a) passenger cars were not stable, comfortable or large

(b) locomotives were not powerful enough

(c) schedules were unreliable and wrecks were frequent

(d) lines were relatively short and not usually linked

9. The word “schedules” in line 23 is closest in meaning to:

(a) safety procedures
(b) employees
(c) timetables
(d) railroad tracks

10. Which of the following is NOT true about the 1830’s and 1840’s (line 24)

(a) passenger cars became larger
(b) schedules were reliable
(c) locomotives became more powerful
(d) tracks were heavier

11. The word “stable” in line 26 is closest in meaning to

(a) fixed
(b) supportive
(c) reliable
(d) sound

12. By what time had almost 3,000 miles of track been laid?

(a) 1830
(b) 1836
(c) 1840
(d) mid-1860s

13. The word “surpassed” in line 29 is closest in meaning to

(a) exceeded
(b) beaten
(c) overtaken
(d) equaled

14. Where in the passage does the author outline the main conclusions about the importance of railroads in America?

(a) Lines 3-7
(b) Lines 14-18
(c) Lines 19-21
(d) Lines 29-31

15. Why does the author include details about Great Britain in the passage?

(a) To compare developments in both the United States and Great Britain

(b) To illustrate the competitiveness between the two countries

(c) To show where Americans got their ideas and technology from

(d) To provide a complete historical context

Questions 16 - 25

Although management principles have been implemented since ancient times, most management scholars trace the beginning of modern management thought back to the early 1900s, beginning with the pioneering work of Frederick Taylor (1856-1915). Taylor was the first person to study work scientifically. He is most famous for introducing techniques of time and motion study, differential piece rate systems, and for systematically specializing the work of operating employees and managers. Along with other pioneers such as Frank and Lillian Gilbreth, Taylor set the stage, labeling his philosophy and methods “scientific management’. At that time, his philosophy, which was concerned with productivity, but which was often misinterpreted as promoting worker interests at the expense of management, was in marked contrast to the prevailing industrial norms of worker exploitation.

      The time and motion study concepts were popularized by Frank and Lillian Gilbreth. The Gilbreths had 12 children. By analyzing his children’s dishwashing and bedmaking chores, this pioneer efficiency expert, Frank Gilbreth, hit on principles whereby workers could eliminate waste motion. He was memorialized by two of his children in their 1949 book called “Cheaper by the Dozen”.

      The Gilbreth methods included using stop watches to time worker movements and special tools (cameras and special clocks) to monitor and study worker performance, and also involved identification of “therbligs” (Gilbreth spelled backwards) – basic motions used in production jobs. Many of these motions and accompanying times have been used to determine how long it should take a skilled worker to perform a given job. In this way an industrial engineer can get a handle on the approximate time it should take to produce a product or provide a service. However, use of work analysis in this way is unlikely to lead to useful results unless all five work dimensions are considered: physical, psychological, social, cultural, and power.

16. What is the passage primarily about?

(a) The limitations of pioneering studies in understanding human behavior

(b) How time and motion studies were first developed

(c) The first applications of a scientific approach to understanding human behavior

(d) The beginnings of modern management theory

17. The word “ which” in line 9 refers to

(a) scientific management
(b) philosophy
(c) productivity
(d) time and motion study

18. It can be inferred from the first paragraph that

(a) workers welcomed the application of scientific management

(b) Talor’s philosophy is different from the industrial norms

(c) by the early 1900s science had reached a stage where it could be applied to the workplace

(d) workers were no longer exploited after the introduction of scientific management.

19. The word “prevailing” in line 10 is closest in meaning to

(a) predominant
(b) broadly accepted
(c) prevalent
(d) common

20. According to the passage, Frank Gilbreth discovered how workers could eliminate waste motion by

(a) using special tools such as cameras and clocks

(b) using stop watches

(c) applying scientific management principles

(d) watching his children do their chores

21. The basic motions used in production jobs were given which one of following names by Frank Gilbreth?

(a) dimensions
(b) gilreths
(c) therbligs
(d) monitors

22. According to the passage, the time it takes a skilled worker to perform the motion of a given job can be measured by using:

(a) stop watches
(b) all 5 work dimensions
(c) special tools
(d) therbligs

23. The word “motions” in line 20 is closest in meaning to

(a) stop watches
(b) habits
(c) actions
(d) special tools

24. The word “ dimensions” in line 24 is closest in meaning to

(a) sizes
(b) extents
(c) aspects
(d) standards

25. All of the following are true except

(a) scientific management was concerned with productivity.

(b) the beginnings of modern management thought commenced in the 19th century.

(c) Frank Gilbreth’s fame was enhanced by two of his children writing a book.

(d) analyzing work to increase productivity is not likely to be used unless all of the dimensions are considered.

Sumber :

https://www.etsglobal.org/Tests-Preparation/The-TOEFL-Family-of-Assessments/TOEFL-Sample-Tests/TOEFL-ITP-Sample-Test-Questions/Section-3-Reading-Comprehension

https://www.google.co.id/amp/toefl-ibt.online/toefl-reading-01/amp/

https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-score-well-in-the-TOEFL-reading-section

https://magoosh.com/toefl/2014/common-toefl-reading-difficulties/