2020-02-26 TOEFL: reading inference, listening function

Greg Malivuk
gmalivuk@staffordhouse.com
http://www.pastebin.com/u/gmalivuk - notes from all classes
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Homework: finish passages 2 and 3 from exercise 3.2 (optionally, finish the exercise)
6 B - The law predicted a planet in a particular place, so it must be about the positions of planets.
7 C - He was “another astronomer”, meaning he wasn’t one of the ones already mentioned.
8 A
9 A
10 B - The ones with a common origin have a more specific name (Hiruzama asteroids).
11 B
12 A
13 D - The number before a (permanently) named asteroid is the order of discovery, not the year. (Eros is a male mythological character.)
14 A - “Even after these names were used up” means they weren’t all mythological, but they were all feminine until 334 Chicago.
15 C - You should be able to eliminate the other choices one by one.
	https://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/lists/MPNames.html
16 B
17 A - If there are 300 in the Basin and 700 in Yellowstone, there must be at least 400 that are in Yellowstone but not the Upper Geyser Basin.
18 A
19 D - This is the only answer choice that is one of the four necessary conditions for geysers.
20 C - Yellowstone’s plumbing is “relatively simple”, which means other geysers are more complex.
21 B
22 A
23 D - Old Faithful is a columnar geyser, while ones with pools of water are fountain geysers.
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Listening Question Types:
- detail/fact
- inference
- purpose/method/organization
- prediction
- main idea
- complete a chart or table
- attitude
- function/replay
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Function questions require you to recognize things like sarcasm and rhetorical questions, as well as idioms and expressions we use in conversations. They often ask about things speakers say indirectly.
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Cengage 12.1 - Decide if each statement is true or false.
1 T
2 F - She thinks he’ll love it because it’s so ridiculous.
3 T - “seldom” means “rarely”
4 T
5 F - He should take the time to make sure the apartment is “spick and span”.
6 T
7 T
8 F
9 T
10 F
11 T
12 F - Some of them were much too long.
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BREAK
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exercise 12.2 - Listen to parts of conversations and answer the questions about them.
1 A - “I’ll just have to take my chances.”
2 A - “It turned out to be a complete bust.”
3 B - “I guess you could call it art.” (She implies that she doesn’t really think it’s art.)
4 B - The children’s style has “rubbed off on her”.
5 D - “That’s right up my alley.”
6 A
7 D - “I really hate to say this, but…”
8 C - “Don’t even get me started.”
9 A - “Okay okay, you’ve sold me.”
10 C - “A rock’s a rock, isn’t it?” - She doesn’t understand that there are differences.
11 D
12 C
13 B - “I get the picture.”
“The cat’s out of the bag.” - Whatever will happen, will happen. It’s too late to stop it or keep it secret.
“That ship has sailed.” - It’s too late to change what’s happening.
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12.3 - Do the same for lectures and discussions.
1 D
2 B
3 D - “I guess the kindest word I could use would be ‘questionable’.”
4 A - “To put it in a nutshell.”
5 C
6 B - “I probably don’t have to tell you this.”
7 D
8 C - “In theory it’s simple.” - We often contrast theory with actual practice.
9 A - “I just don’t get it.”
10 B - “That’s an easy one.”
11 A - “I haven’t got a clue.”
12 D - “It’s an uphill battle.” - It’s difficult.
13 B - “I’m going to jump in here” - Let me interrupt.
14 B - “Today, I’m going to drop the other shoe.” - The “other shoe” dropping is an inevitable event that follows something that’s already happened. Often we talk about “waiting for the other shoe to drop”.
15 C - “It shouldn’t take you long” because the poems themselves are fairly short.
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co-operate / coöperate / cooperate (normally “coop” would be one syllable)
Zoë, Chloë, naïve - the two dots indicate that the second vowel is a separate syllable
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Rhetorical questions are any questions a speaker (or writer) asks that aren’t intended to get answers from the audience.
“Why would anyone do that?” - This might mean the speaker doesn’t think anyone would do that.
- Maybe the speaker answers their own question after asking it.
- Maybe the speaker just wants the listeners to think about the topic.
- Maybe the speaker thinks the listeners will agree on the obvious answer.
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It can be helpful if you remember the original larger context of the part you hear again.