READING (33) BUILDING SKILLS CAMBRIDGE PREPARATION FOR THE TOEFL® IBT TEST

 

CAMBRIDGE PREPARATION FOR THE TOEFL® IBT TEST BUILDING SKILLS READING (33)

 

Exercises R15-R21 Use Exercises R15-R21 to build your skills in making inferences and drawing conclusions in reading passages. EXERCISE R19 Making inferences Read the passage and the question that follows it. Then choose the letter of the best answer based on the information given.   1 Erosion of America’s farmland by wind and water has been a problem since settlers first put the prairies and grasslands under the plow in the nineteenth century. By the 1930s, more than 282 million acres of farmland were damaged by erosion. After decades of conservation efforts, soil erosion has accelerated due to new demands placed on the land by heavy crop production. In the years ahead, soil erosion and the pollution problems it causes are likely to replace petroleum scarcity as the nation’s most critical natural resource problem. Why does the author mention ‘petroleum scarcity’? A To show that petroleum scarcity will become the most critical natural resource problem. B To prove that petroleum is causing heavy soil erosion and pollution problems. C To indicate that soil erosion has caused humans to place new demands on heavy crop production. D To emphasize the fact that soil erosion will become the most critical problem the nation faces.

ANSWER KEYS AND EXPLANATION