TOEFL Reading Comprehension Section

Questions 6-10 refer to the following letter in a school newspaper. This is my first year attending Wilson Middle School. Last year I went to a different middle school. Over the summer my father got a new job, so our whole family moved. Now I go to Wilson. I want to make some comments based on my unique perspective as someone who has attended two different middle schools. For example, I was surprised by all the complaints that the students at Wilson make about the food in the cafeteria. Either they don’t like it, or they want more choices. But I like the food. The dishes are pretty tasty. And as for choices, at the school I went to last year there were never more than two lunch options each day. Sometimes there was only one! However, I don’t want anyone to think that I have a negative opinion of the Wilson students. Actually, I have been impressed with how involved the students here are. I plan to participate in some of the special clubs here that are organized by students, like the photography club and the hiking club. At my last school, students were not as actively involved in forming clubs.

Questions 11-17 are about the following story. Cricket—how I detested this game when I was young! My family would spend hours and hours watching it on television while I angrily waited for it to end. Every game seemed the same. Yes, one team won and the other one lost, but it was always the same game—some men pitching a ball, some running back and forth. Then something happened. I became old enough to start playing cricket myself with the other kids in my neighborhood. We found a place to play wherever we could put up a wicket. We played on the street, in the backyard—even on the tops of buildings, believe it or not! I can recall so clearly the sounds of the ball hitting the bat and the quick running feet. I can still feel the sun on my face as I played and the bruises and scratches from falling down. I can still see the blue sky fading to darkness behind the buildings as our games continued into the night. It became my favorite thing in the world. Now I watch it not with anger, but with fond memories of the endless days and nights spent playing the game.

Questions 18-23 are about the following story. Edward rang the Millers’ doorbell. Mr. and Mrs. Miller had moved into the neighborhood last month. They had a five-year-old son, and they had asked Edward to watch him that evening while they went out. “Hello, Edward,” Mrs. Miller said as she opened the door. Mr. Miller stood behind her with a boy at his side. “This is Lucas,” Mr. Miller said. “Lucas, this is Edward. He will watch you tonight while Mom and I are out.” The little boy waved shyly to Edward. The Millers asked Edward to entertain Lucas for an hour and then put him in bed. After Lucas’s parents left, Edward went with the boy to his room. They played some games and built a tower out of wooden blocks. “It’s time for you to go to sleep now,” Edward said. Lucas looked disappointed, but he changed into his pajamas and got into bed. “Will you read me a story?” he asked Edward. Edward took a picture book from the shelf and read it to Lucas. When he finished reading the book to Lucas, he turned out the light and said good night. But as soon as Edward left the room, Lucas called out to him. “What’s wrong?” Edward asked. “I’m afraid of the dark,” Lucas explained. Edward turned on the small light by Lucas’s bed. “Good night,” Edward said again. Five minutes later, Lucas cried out again. “What’s wrong now?” Edward asked. “I thought I heard a sound,” Lucas said. “I think there might be a monster under my bed.” Edward explained that there was no monster under the bed, but Lucas was still afraid. Finally, Edward went to the kitchen and found a flashlight. He shined the flashlight under Lucas’s bed. “See?” he said. “No monster.” “Will you stay with me in case one comes?” Lucas begged. Edward could see that the little boy was frightened. He agreed to sit in the chair by Lucas’s bed, with the flashlight in his hand. Edward sat in the chair, waiting for Lucas to fall asleep. The dim light in the room and the soft chair made Edward feel tired, too. He closed his eyes. The next thing he knew someone was shaking him gently. Edward opened his eyes and saw Mr. and Mrs. Miller. “We’re home,” Mrs. Miller whispered. “Thank you for taking care of Lucas. We had a wonderful evening.” Edward shook himself in amazement. Was the evening over already?

Questions 24-31 are about the following newspaper article.

Marina Hills High School is fighting pollution in an unusual way. It’s planting trees! In an effort to fight pollution and help the environment, the Marina Hills Ecology Club offers free trees to institutions willing to plant them on their grounds. Among those that took advantage of the offer was Marina Hills High School. After consulting with his teachers on where to plant the trees, Principal Max Webb contacted the Ecology Club. But when the seedlings arrived, Webb had an idea. Instead of planting the young trees in front of the school, he thought it would be better to put them behind the school, where the sun gets very hot in the afternoon. “It gets so hot inside the building that the students start to sweat during their afternoon classes,” said Webb. “Now the shade from our trees will bring them some relief.” “There was no argument from the teachers,” he added. “When I proposed the idea, everyone said, ‘Now why didn’t I think of that!’” The relief won’t come until the trees grow taller, but the school will not have to wait long because it requested two species of trees that grow quickly. “Time is key, and we wanted our trees to get big fast,” said Webb. “We were given a wide choice, from shrubs to fruit trees. We requested eucalyptus and willow trees.” Webb said he is also looking forward to finally seeing some wildlife in the school yard at Marina Hills High School. “If all you have is a grass lawn with no trees, you can’t expect the local birds to come and visit,” said Webb. “They have no place to make their nests. Now that will change, and we’ll be able to see birds from our classroom windows.”

Questions 32-42 are about the following passage. Being able to land safely is a critically important skill for all flying animals. Whereas terrestrial animals face no particular challenge when they need to stop running or crawling, flying animals move at much higher speeds, and they must be careful about how they land. Hitting the ground, or even water, at full flight speed would be quite dangerous. Before touching down, they must decrease their speed in order to land safely. Both bats and birds have mastered the skill of landing, but these two types of flyers go about it quite differently. In the past it was believed that, in terms of flying mechanics, there was little difference between bats and birds. This belief was based only on assumption, however, because for years nobody had actually studied in graphic detail how bats move their wings. In recent years, though, researchers have discovered a number of interesting facts about bat flight. Bats are built differently from birds, and their wings incorporate both their front and hind limbs. This makes coordinating their limbs more difficult for bats and, as a result, they are not very good at flying over longer distances. However, they are much better at maneuverability: a bat can quickly change its direction of flight or completely reverse it, something a bird cannot easily do. Another interesting characteristic of bat flight is the way in which bats land—upside down! Unlike birds, which touch down on the ground or on tree branches, bats can be observed flying around and then suddenly hanging upside down from an object overhead. How do they do it? A group of researchers recently used video cameras to film bats landing on nets suspended from the ceiling of their laboratory and studied the recordings in slow motion. They painted spots on the bats’ wings to see in detail what happens to the wings in flight and during touchdown. It turns out that the bats flew in a straight line up to the net and then quickly flipped over and attached themselves to it upside down. One downside to this landing routine is that the bats often slam into their landing spot with some force, which probably causes pain. However, not all bats hit their landing spots with the same speed and force; these will vary depending on the area where a bat species makes its home. For example, a cave bat, which regularly perches on a hard stone ceiling, is more careful about its landing preparation than a bat more accustomed to landing in leafy treetops.