PETERSON TOEFL PBT PRACTICE TEST 3 PART 7 READING

PETERSON TOEFL PBT

PRACTICE TEST 3 PART 7

READING

QUESTION 24-36

Visitors to Prince Edward Island, Canada, delight in the “unspoiled” scenery-the well-kept farms and peaceful hamlets of the island’s central core and the rougher terrain of the east and west. In reality, the Island ecosystems are almost entirely artificial.

Islanders have been tempering with the natural environment since the eighteenth century and long ago broke down the Island’s natural forest cover to exploit its timber and clear land for agriculture. By 1990, 80 percent of the forest had been cut down and much of what remained had been destroyed by disease. Since then, however, some farmland has been abandoned and has returned to forest through the invasion of opportunist species, notably spruce. Few examples of the original climax forest, which consisted mostly of broadleaved trees such as maple, birch, and oak, survive today.

Apart from a few stands of native forest, the only authentic habitats on Prince Edward Island are its sand dunes and salt marshes. The dunes are formed from sand washed ashore by waves and then dried and blown by the wind to the land beyond the beach. The sand is prevented from spreading farther by marram grass, a tall, long-rooted species that grows with the dunes and keeps them remarkably stable. Marram grass acts as a windbreak and allows others plants such as beach pea and bayberry to take hold. On dunes where marram grass is broken down – for instance, when it is trampled – the dunes may spread inland and inundate agricultural lands or silt up fishing harbors. The white dunes of the north coast are the most impressive. There are also white dunes on the east and west coasts. Only in the south are there red dunes, created when the soft sandstone cliffs crumble into the sea and subsequently wash ashore as red sand. The dunes were once used as cattle pasture but were abandoned as the early settlers moved inland.

Salt marshes are the second remaining authentic habitat. These bogs are the result of the flooding of low coastal areas during unusually high tides. In the intervals between tides, a marsh area remains and plants take root, notably cord grass, the “marsh hay” used by the early settlers as winter forage for their livestock. Like the dunes, though, the marshes were soon dismissed as wasteland and escaped development

24.       On what aspect of Prince Edward Island does the author focus?

A.                  Its tourist industry

B.                  Its beaches

C.                  Its natural habitats

D.                 Its agriculture

25.       Why does the author use quotation marks around the word unspoiled in line 1?

A.                  He is quoting from another author.

B.                  The scenery is not as attractive as it once was.

C.                  The scenery looks unspoiled but is not.

D.                 He disagrees with the ideas in this paragraph.

26.       The word hamlets in line 2 is closest in meaning to

A.                  villages

B.                  forests

C.                  rivers

D.                 pastures

27.       The phrase tempering with in line 4 is closest in meaning to

A.                  preserving

B.                  interfering with

C.                  remembering

D.                 dealing with

28.       What can be inferred about Prince Edward Island’s forest?

A.                  Only a few small stands of trees still exist.

B.                  They are more extensive than they were in 1900.

C.                  They are virtually the same as they were in the eighteenth century.

D.                 About 80 percent of the island is covered by them.

29.      Which of the following type of tree is most common in the forests of Prince Edward Island today?

A.                  Oak

B.                  Birch

C.                  Spruce

D.                 Maple

30.       What does the author say about beach pea and bayberry?

A.                  They have become commercially important plants.

B.                  They grow on dunes after marram grass is established.

C.                  They were once an important food crop for early settlers.

D.                 They are spreading across the Island, destroying important crops.

31.       According to the passage, what effect does the destruction of marram grass have?

A.                  It permits the sand dunes to cover farmland.

B.                  It creates better conditions for fishing.

C.                  It allows seawater to flood agricultural land.

D.                 It lets the sand ash into the sea.

32.       The word trampled in line 17 is closest in meaning to

A.                  ripped up

B.                  flooded

C.                  stepped on

D.                 burned

33.      Which of the following words in paragraph 4 is given as synonym for the word marshes (line 24)?

A.                  Tides

B.                  Plants

C.                  Bogs

D.                 Settlers

34.      According to the passage, in which part of Prince Edward Island are red sand dunes found?

A.                  The north

B.                  The east

C.                  The south

D.                 The west

35.    What conclusion can be drawn from the passage about both the sand dunes and salt marshes of Prince Edward Island?

A.                  They have never been used.

B.                  They were once used but have long since been abandoned.

C.                  They have been used continuously since the island was first settled.

D.                 They were long unused but have recently been exploited.

36.         In which of these paragraphs does the author discuss the destruction of an ecosystem?

A.                  The first

B.                  The second

C.                  The third

D.                 The fourth

ANSWER KEY

24.         C

The focus of the passage is on Prince Edward Island’s two main remaining natural habitats, sand dunes and salt marshes.

25.         C

The quotation marks are used because the scenery looks unspoiled to visitors but has actually been tempered with since the eighteenth century.

26.         A

The word hamlets is closest in meaning to villages.

27.         B

The phrase tampering with is closest in meaning to interfering with.

28.         B

The second paragraph states that 80 percent of the trees had been cut down by 1900 to clear the land for farming and that more had been killed off by disease. However, the paragraph goes on to say that some of the farmland has been abandoned and returned to forest, so there must be more forest now than there was in 1900.

29.         C

Maple, birch, and oak are given as examples of the original climax forest “opportunist species,” especially spruce (line 9) replaced these trees and would be more likely to be seen today.

30.         B

According to lines 14-15, beach pea and bayberry take root after marram grass stabilizes the dunes.

31.         A

According to lines 16-17, when marram grass is broken down, “the dunes may spread inland and inundate agricultural lands …”

32.         C

The word trampled is closest in meaning to stepped on.

33.         C

The word bogs is given as a synonym of the word marshes in line 24.

34.         C

According to line 20, “in the south are red dunes.”

35.         B

Lines 21-23 state that “the dunes were once used as cattle pasture but were abandoned.” Lines 27-28 state that marsh hay grown in the salt marshes was “used by the early settlers” but that “like the dunes, though, the marshes were soon dismissed as wasteland and escaped development” (lines 27-28).

36.         B

The author describes the destruction of one ecosystem – the original forest cover – in paragraph 2