2017-03-10 TOEFL: reading vocab, listening detail

Greg Malivuk
[email protected]
http://www.pastebin.com/u/gmalivuk - notes from all classes
---
If you want detailed corrections on your writing, send me an email with your own self-evaluation. If you’ve written for me before, what do you think you did better or worse this time than last time? For everyone, what are some things you will try to work on improving for the next time you write?
---
http://ed.ted.com/on/2UqYYfzC - Daylight Saving Time (clocks jump ahead this weekend)
“spring forward” - clocks move forward (from 2am to 3am) in the spring
“fall back” - clocks move back (from 2am to 1am) in the fall
---
Handout (Longman) p. 13 - Take 2 minutes to answer these very easy vocabulary questions.
1 B
2 C
3 D (“argued” is another common meaning for “contested”, but not in this context)
4 A
5 B
6 D
7 A
(You win, lose, or tie a game. After many games, you can count your wins, losses, and ties.)
p. 15 - Take 4 minutes for this one.
15 A
16 D
17 B
18 A (in the colloquial sense) or B
19 C
20 C
21 D
---
Math vocabulary:
Small numerical fractions use ordinal numbers for the denominator (the number on the bottom):
⅗ = three-fifths
7/16 = seven-sixteenths
Larger numbers and variables and equations are referred to by name, and division is “over”:
a/b = a over b
m1/(m1+m2) = m-one over m-one plus m-two
1672/8092 = sixteen hundred seventy-two over eight thousand ninety-two
Exponents 2 and 3 are “squared” and “cubed”, others are referred to with “to the”
a2 = a^2 = a-squared
31.6 = 3^1.6 = three to the one-point-six
xy = x^y = x to the y
Integer powers are often ordinals:
1070 = 10^70 = ten to the seventieth
---
Take 5 minutes to do the other (?) p. 13 and 15 from the handout. (Smog and Parasitic Plants)
Check your answers with your partner. Find context clues to support your own answer if you disagree.
1 B
2 D
3 C
4 A
5 B
11 C (You might recognize the root “umbra” from words like “umbrella”, but you should also make the connection to shade from “Because they do not need sunlight to survive” and “rather than in areas exposed to direct sunlight”.)
12 A (B and C are similar, and there’s no clue in the reading to differentiate between seeds and fruit (which usually contain seeds). This usually means that both answers are incorrect. Parasites attach themselves by means of haustoria, which doesn’t make sense if haustoria are types of food.)
13 B
14 D
15 A
---
p. 16 (Edna Ferber) - Without looking at the answer choices, work with your partner to explain each of the highlighted words or phrases in your own words.
embarked on = started (especially with a journey of some kind)
break = opportunity or chance
places = puts
repudiates = refuses to accept
protagonist = main character (who works against an antagonist)
take great pains = work very carefully (this also gives the adjective “painstaking”)
endured = lasted (especially through some difficulty)
epic = emotionally romantic, large-scale
centering on = focusing on / being about
---
BREAK
---
Listening Section: second section, after reading
- 2-3 sets of 3 listening passages each, 60-90 minutes total
- You have 10 minutes for each set to choose answers. (This does not include the time it takes to listen to the passage or to listen to each question.)
Question types:
- detail/fact (includes category questions)
- main idea or gist questions
- purpose
- function
- inference
- attitude
- prediction
- organization
---
Detail questions - These will ask about specific information about the topic of the conversation or lecture.
Handout (Cambridge) p. 275 - Listen to the statements and choose the restatement that has the same meaning. (The TOEFL won’t use exactly the same words as the audio to ask these questions, so it’s important to recognize when one statement is an accurate restatement of another.)
1 B
2 A - first manned flight, not first hot-air balloon
3 B - it’s the word for a particular beautiful bird (the quetzal), but it’s not the word for (meaning) the phrase, “beautiful bird”
4 B - The 22 men were Mao’s men, and the escape route was for Mao’s other forces.
5 A - The areas didn’t set up centers, centers were set up (by other people) in those areas, to help the people there.
6 B - Nothing recent (except a time machine) can change the human past, but it could change our concept of the past.
7 B - Recent explorers have been unable to locate the island. The island was mentioned in a captain’s log from 1783.
8 A
---
Switching between active and passive is a very common way passages differ from questions and answer choices (both in reading and listening).
---
Cengage p. 282 - Listen to the conversation and take notes. (This one is between two women, but you should still take notes in two columns.)
1 A
2 D
3 C
4 B
Do the same on p. 284 for another conversation.
5 C
6 D
7 A
8 B C
What is the difference between child-like and childish?
---
Cambridge p. 282 - Listen to the discussion and take notes. Then answer the detail questions.
1 yes, no, yes, no, no (The other things are mentioned, but they are not steps in the process of ozone depletion. B and D are causes and E is a consequence.)
2 A
3 D
4 A B
p. 283-284 - Listen to the lecture and take notes. Then answer the questions.
---
Homework (optional): send me a self-evaluation of your writing from yesterday, and complete the parts we didn’t do of the vocabulary question handout from the first part of class