Things before us and things

behind us are all tiny

compared to things within
us.

Lesson 4: TOEFL Reading

Shizheng Zhang

2016
LessonFeb.12,
4: Reading

TOEFL Reading Question Types

Vocabulary Question
Reference Question
Sentence Simplification
Question
Insert Text Question
Inference Question
Prose Summary Question
Purpose Question
Details & Facts Question
Negative Facts Question

Insert Text Question

STEP2
STEP2
STEP
STEP 11

Pay attention to
Grammar:
1. Opinion/s
2. Cause & efect
3. transition
4. This, that, these
5. Pronouns

Sentence before
sentence after share
similar information/
topic

Insert Text Question

Example
1. The final important advantage of home-schooling lies in the
socialization children are able to receive. [] Home-schooled children
are less subject to the stresses and pressures experienced by
conventional students who spend six, seven, or eight hours a day with
their peers. [] They are less likely to become involved with gangs or
drugs. [] On the other hand, home-schooled children spend much more
time in the company of appropriate role models: parents, other adults,
and older siblings. In this environment, they are better able to learn
from actual life situations, and how to interact with people of all ages.
[] In particular, home-schooling fosters healthy family relationships
because both children and their parents are able to play larger and more
complete roles in one anothers lives.
Look at the four squares [] that indicate where the following sentence
could be added to the passage?

In contrast to the idea that many people have about homeschooled children, they do not actually suffer from less
interaction with children their own age.

Insert Text Question

Example
2. Watt's steam engine soon showed what it could do. It liberated
industry from dependence on running water The engine eliminated
water in the mines by driving efficient pumps, which made possible
deeper and deeper mining. The ready availability of coal inspired
William Murdoch during the 1790s to develop the first new form of
nighttime illumination to be discovered in a millennium and a half.

Look at the four squares [] that indicate where the following sentence
could be added to the passage
The factories did not have to go to the streams when power
could come to the factories
Where would the sentence best fit?

Insert Text Question

Example
3. On the other hand, trains hold very real advantages in safety. [] In
the United States alone, more than 40,000 people die every year in car
accidents, and hundreds of thousands more sufer personal and financial
injury. [] By contrast, rail fatalities seldom number more than a few
hundred per year worldwide. [] On a train, one needs never to worry
whether the approaching driver is intoxicated or sidetracked by his
cellular phone, nor does one need to worry about falling asleep at the
wheel, striking a deer crossing the road, or any of the other myriad
hazards that face automobile drivers on a daily basis. [] One would
think such a safety record would attract more enthusiasm from potential
passengers.
Look at the four squares [ ] that indicate where the following sentence
could be added to the passage.
In fact, car accidents are one of the leading causes of death in
the United States.
Where would the sentence best fit? Click on a square to add the
sentence to the passage.

Insert Text Question

Example
4. What keeps the black-tailed deer a lived in the harsher seasons of
plant decay and dormancy? One compensation for not hibernating is the
built- in urge to migrate. Deer may move from high-elevation browse
areas in summer down to the lowland areas in late fall. Even with
snow on the ground, the high bushy understory is exposed; also snow
and wind bring down leafy branches of cedar, hemlock, red alder, and
other arboreal fodder.
The numbers of deer have fluctuated markedly since the entry of
Europeans into Puget Sound country. The early explorers and settlers
told of abundant deer in the early 1800s and yet almost in the same
breath bemoaned the lack of this succulent game animal.
Look at the four squares [] that indicate where the following sentence
could be added to the passage.
Their food is available and accessible throughout the winter.

Insert Text Question

Example
5. Scientists have known for some time that certain plants, called
hyperaccumulators, can concentrate minerals at levels a hundredfold or
greater than normal. A survey of known hyperaccumulators identified
that 75 percent of them amassed nickel, cobalt, copper, zinc,
manganese, lead, and cadmium are other minerals of choice.
Hyperaccumulators run the entire range of the plant world. They may
be herbs, shrubs, or trees. Many members of the mustard family,
spurge family, legume family, and grass family are top
hyperaccumulators. Many are found in tropical and subtropical areas of
the world, where accumulation of high concentrations of metals may
aford some protection against plant-eating insects and microbial
pathogens.
Look at the four squares [ ] that indicate where the following sentence
could be added to the passage.
Certain minerals are more likely to be accumulated in large
quantities than others.
Where would the sentence best fit? Click on a square to add the

Insert Text Question

Example
6. [] Because they are always swimming, tunas simply have to open
their mouths and water is forced in and over their gills. [] Accordingly,
they have lost most of the muscles that other fishes use to suck in water
and push it past the gills. [] In fact, tunas must swim to breathe. []
They must also keep swimming to keep from sinking, since most have
largely or completely lost the swim bladder, the gas-filled sac that helps
most other fish remain buoyant.
Look at the four squares [] that indicate where the following sentence
could be added to the passage.
Consequently, tunas do not need to suck in water.

Insert Text Question

Example
7. What do you remember about your life before you were three? Few
people can remember anything that happened to them in their early
years Adults' memories of the next few years also tend to be
scanty Most people remember only a few events--usually ones that
were meaningful and distinctive such as being hospitalized or a
siblings birth.

Look at the four squares[]that indicate where the following sentence

could be added to the passage
Other important occasions are school graduations and
weddings.
Where would the sentence best fit?

Insert Text Question

Example
8. Speculation on the origin of these Pacific islanders began as soon as
outsiders encountered them, in the absence of solid linguistic,
archaeological, and biological data, many fanciful and mutually
exclusive theories were devised. Pacific islanders were variously thought
to have come from North America, South America, Egypt, Israel, and
India, as well as Southeast Asia. Many older theories implicitly
deprecated the navigational abilities and overall cultural creativity of the
Pacific islanders. For example, British anthropologists G. Elliot Smith
and W. J. Perry assumed that only Egyptians would have been skilled
enough to navigate and colonize the Pacific. They inferred that the
Egyptians even crossed the Pacific to found the great civilizations of the
New World (North and South America). In 1947 Norwegian adventurer
Thor Heyerdahl drifted on a balsa-log raft westward with the winds and
currents across the Pacific from South America to prove his theory that
Pacific Islanders were Native Americans (also called American Indians).
Look at the four squares [] that indicate where the following sentence
could be added to the passage.
Later theories concentrated on journeys in the other
direction.

Insert Text Question

Example
9. [] Exhibitors, however, wanted to maximize their profits, which they
could do more readily by projecting a handful of films to hundreds of
customers at a time (rather than one at a time) and by charging 25 to
50 cents admission. [] About a year after the opening of the first
Kinetoscope parlor in 1894, showmen such as Louis and Auguste
Lumiere, Thomas Armat and Charles Francis Jenkins, and Orville and
Woodville Latham (with the assistance of Edisons former assistant,
William Dickson) perfected projection devices. [] These early
projection devices were used in vaudeville theaters, legitimate theaters,
local town halls, makeshift storefront theaters, fairgrounds, and
amusement parks to show films to a mass audience. []

Look at the four squares [] that indicate where the following sentence
could be added to the passage.
When this widespread use of projection technology began to
hurt his Kinetoscope business, Edison acquired a projector
developed by Armat and introduced it as Edisons latest
marvel, the Vitascope.

Insert Text Question

Example
10. Not only could Smith identify rock strata by the fossils they
contained, he could also see a pattern emerging certain fossils always
appear in more ancient sediments, while others begin to be seen as the
strata become more recent. By following the fossils Smith was able
to put all the strata of England's earth into relative temporal sequence.
About the same time, Georges Cuvier made the same discovery while
studying the rocks around Paris. Soon it was realized that this principle
of faunal(animal)succession was valid not only in England or France but
virtually everywhere. It was actually a principle of floral succession as
well, because plants showed the same transformation through time as
did fauna.
13.Look at the four squares[]that indicate where the following
sentence could be added to the passage
The findings of these geologists inspired others to examine
the rock and fossil records in different parts of the world

Insert Text Question

Example
11. Continued sedimentationthe process of deposits' settling on
the sea bottomburies the organic matter and subjects it to higher
temperatures and pressures, which convert the organic matter to oil and
gas. As muddy sediments are pressed together, the gas and small
droplets of oil may be squeezed out of the mud and may move into
sandy layers nearby. Over long periods of time (millions of years),
accumulations of gas and oil can collect in the sandy layers. Both oil
and gas are less dense than water, so they generally tend to rise upward
through water-saturated rock and sediment.

Look at the four squares [] that indicate where the following sentence
could be added to the passage.
Unless something acts to halt this migration, these natural
resources will eventually reach the surface.

Insert Text Question

Example
12. One interpretation regarding the absence of fossils during this
important 100-million-year period is that early animals were soft bodied
and simply did not fossilize. Fossilization of soft-bodied animals is less
likely than fossilization of hard-bodied animals, but it does occur.
Conditions that promote fossilization of soft-bodied animals include very
rapid covering by sediments that create an environment that
discourages decomposition. In fact, fossil beds containing soft-bodied
animals have been known for many years.
Look at the four squares [] that indicate where the following sentence
could be added to the passage?

It is relatively rare because the fossilization of soft-bodied

animals requires a special environment.

Where would the sentence best fit? Click on a square to add the
sentence to the passage.

Insert Text Question

Example
13. Another explanation for the focus on animals might be that these
people sought to improve their luck at hunting. This theory is
suggested by evidence of chips in the painted figures, perhaps made by
spears thrown at the drawings. But if improving their hunting luck was
the chief motivation for the paintings, it is difficult to explain why only a
few show signs of having been speared. Perhaps the paintings were
inspired by the need to increase the supply of animals. Cave art seems
to have reached a peak toward the end of the Upper Paleolithic period,
when the herds of game were decreasing.

Look at the four squares [] that indicate where the following sentence
could be added to the passage.
Therefore, if the paintings were connected with hunting, some
other explanation is needed.

Insert Text Question

Example
14. Children normally desire to vent aggressive impulses on other
people, including their parents, because even the most attentive parents
cannot gratify all of their demands immediately. [] Yet children, also
fearing their parents punishment and the loss of parental love, come to
repress most aggressive impulses. [] The Freudian perspective, in a
sense, sees us as steam engines. [] By holding in rather than venting
steam, we set the stage for future explosions. [] Pent-up aggressive
impulses demand outlets. They may be expressed toward parents in
indirect ways such as destroying furniture, or they may be expressed
toward strangers later in life.
Look at the four squares [] that indicate where the following sentence
could be added to the passage.
According to Freud, however, impulses that have been
repressed continue to
exist and demand expression.
Where would the sentence best fit?

15. Activities on the Railroad reached a peak in the last few decades
before the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861.The great political
tension created by the institution of slavery was already tearing the
country apart. Whites in the South generally felt that slavery was an
indispensable part of their culture. Their economy certainly depended on
it, and moreover, they resented being dictated to from the North and
from Washington. Those in the North, on the other hand, could only see
the brutality in slavery, and the hypocrisy it meant in a country claiming
to be founded on the principle of freedom and equality for all mankind.
Though terribly destructive, the Civil War ultimately settled the question,
and with the ratification of the 13th amendment to the U.S. Constitution
on December 18, 1865, it became law what neither slavery nor
involuntary servitudeshall exist in the United States.
In paragraph 6 of the passage, why does the author mention of
the differences in opinion about slavery?
(A) To explain how growing hostility between two parts of America led to
war
(B) To describe the general atmosphere during the Civil War
(C) To compare the economy of the North with the economy of the South
(D) To give an example of a result of the great political tension that was
tearing the country apart

16. Each project begins with an idea both Christo and Jeanne-Claude
feel passionate about. First, they render their idea in sketches and
collages, and then bring in consultants such as engineers, architects,
and environmental specialists to help them turn the plans into reality.
Once they have determined how to make their concept tangible, they
embark on a long process of gaining the necessary permission from
public officials or private landowners to build their vision. One cannot
wrap the German Reichstag, blanket the Japanese countryside in blue
umbrellas, or encase a Parisian bridge in sheets of golden fabric without
encountering a certain bureaucratic resistance. In one case, Christo and
Jeanne-Claude endured thirty-two years of refusals from officials before
finally gaining permission to cover trees in a Swiss park with transparent
sheeting.
According to the passage, making sketches and collages of their
ideas is
(A) a process that takes place after Christo and Jeanne-Claude bring in
consultants to help them
(B) something both Christo and Jeanne-Claude feel passionate about
(C) the most important part of Christo and Jeanne-Claudes projects

17. Each project begins with an idea both Christo and Jeanne-Claude
feel passionate about. First, they render their idea in sketches and
collages, and then bring in consultants such as engineers, architects,
and environmental specialists to help them turn the plans into reality.
Once they have determined how to make their concept tangible, they
embark on a long process of gaining the necessary permission from
public officials or private landowners to build their vision. One cannot
wrap the German Reichstag, blanket the Japanese countryside in blue
umbrellas, or encase a Parisian bridge in sheets of golden fabric without
encountering a certain bureaucratic resistance. In one case, Christo and
Jeanne-Claude endured thirty-two years of refusals from officials before
finally gaining permission to cover trees in a Swiss park with transparent
sheeting.
Which of the following was a project that Christo and JeanneClaude worked on?
(A) A German Reichstag
(B) A park in Switzerland
(C) A large blue umbrella in Japan

18. The Whigs viewed government power positively. They believed

that it should be used to protect individual rights and public liberty, and
that it had a special role where individual efort was inefective. By
regulating the economy and competition, the government could ensure
equal opportunity. Indeed, for Whigs the concept of government
promoting the general welfare went beyond the economy. In particular,
Whigs in the northern sections of the United States also believed that
government power should be used to foster the moral welfare of the
country. They were much more likely to favor social-reform legislation
and aid to education.
Which of the following can be inferred from paragraph about
variations in political beliefs within the Whig Party?
(A) They were focused on issues of public liberty.
(B) They caused some members to leave the Whig party.
(C) They were unimportant to most Whigs.
(D) They reflected regional interests.

19. Have you ever used a bottle opener? Raised a flag to the top of a
pole? Ridden a bicycle up a hill? If so, you have made use of an
important category of human tools: simple machines. All simple
machines have two common features: first, they must be structurally
basic---it must be impossible to remove any component from the
machine without destroying it---and second, they all do work by
changing the direction, magnitude, or travel accomplishes is called its
load. Though simple machines vary in size and form, all of them can be
placed into one of three categories: levers, inclined planes, or pulley.
According to the paragraph 1, inclined planes are considered
simple machines because
(A) they can be used to accomplish the same tasks as levers
(B) they accomplish work by distributing efort across distance traveled
(C) their size allows for easy use and maximum mobility
(D) their simple design minimizes the efort needed to produce work

How to Dig out

Opinions Verb: suggest, indicate, show,
believe

Persuasion & Evaluation

Conclusion
Absolute, Probable, Possible
Definition
Example, List
Question

How to Dig out

Opinions

5.

1.
2.
3.
4.
4.

Evaluation
Evaluation
Persuasion
Persuasion

importance
comparative
degree
range all, every, any
only, solely,
exclusively, uniquely
primary, largely
mainly, major

Should
Must
Ought to

How to Dig out

Opinions

In fact/efect, indeed,
the fact/truth/reality is,
as a matter of fact,
In general

Conclusion
Conclusion
1.Cause and efect
2.This, that, these, those

Conclusion
Conclusion

How to Dig out

Opinions

Absolute
always

Probable
almost

never
certainly
undoubtedly

probably
obviously
no wonder
no doubt

Possible
may/mayb
e
apparently
likely
perhaps
possibly

How to Dig out

Opinions

Tansition
Tansition
Listing
Listing

But, Yet, However,

Nevertheless
Nonetheless

Parallelism
e.g. also, further

Inference Question in TOEFL

Inference Question
Example

During the nineteenth century, exciting technical

changes were inspired by such composer-violinists as
Vivaldi and Tartini. These changes made violins sound
more brilliant and they could withstand the larger
tensions.
What can be inferred about the violin before
19th century?
(A) It produced softer tones.
(B) It broke down more easily.
(C) It was easier to play.
(D) It was heavier.

Inference Question
Example

The nineteenth century brought with it a burst of new discoveries

and inventions that revolutionized the candle industry and made
lighting available to all. In the early-to-mid-nineteenth century, a
process was developed to refine tallow (fat from animals) with
alkali and sulfuric acid. The result was a product called stearin.
Stearin is harder and burns longer than unrefined tallow. This
breakthrough meant that it was possible to make tallow candles
that would not produce the usual smoke and rancid odor. Stearins
were also derived from palm oils, so vegetable waxes as well as
animal fats could be used to make candles .
Which of the following can be inferred from paragraph 1
about candles before the nineteenth century?
(A) They did not smoke when they were burned.
(B) They produced a pleasant odor as they burned.
(C) They were not available to all.
(D) They contained sulfuric acid.

Inference Question
Example

The Native American peoples of the north Pacific Coast created a

highly complex maritime culture as they invented modes of
production unique to their special environment. In addition to
their sophisticated technical culture, they also attained one of the
most complex social organizations of any nonagricultural people
in the world.
It can be inferred from the passage that the social
organization of many agricultural peoples is
(A) More complex than that of nonagricultural people.
(B) Less efficient than that of nonagricultural.
(C) More widespread than that of nonagricultural.
(D) Better documented than that of hunters and foragers.

Inference Question
Example

Although leaders are often thought to be people with unusual

personal ability, decades of research have failed to produce
consistent evidence that there is any category of natural
leaders. It seems that there is no set of personal qualities that all
leaders have in common; rather, virtually any person may be
recognized as a leader if the person has qualities that meet the
needs of that particular group.
Which of the following statements about leadership can
be inferred from the paragraph 2?
(A) A person who is an efective leader of a particular group may
not be an efective leader in another group.
(B) Few people succeed in sharing a leadership role with another
person.
(C) A person can best learn how to be an efective leader by
studying research on leadership.
(D) Most people desire to be leaders but can produce little
evidence of their qualification.

Inference Question
Example

If the basketry materials used by the Pomo people were limited,

the designs were amazingly varied. Every Pomo basket-maker
knew how to produce from fifteen to twenty distinct patterns that
could be combined in a number of diferent ways.
Which of the following statements about Pomo baskets
can be best inferred from the paragraph?
(A) Baskets produced by other Native Americans were less varied
in design than those of the Pomo people.
(B) Baskets produced by Pomo weavers were primarily for
ceremonial purposes.
(C) There were a very limited number of basket-making materials
available to the Pomo people.
(D) The basket-making production of the Pomo people has
increased over the years.

Inference Question
Example

Superficially, college graduates in 1982 resemble college

graduates of 1964; they are fairly conservative, well dressed, and
interested in tradition; they respect their parents. But there is a
deep-seated diference: a majority of the members of the class of
1982 who were surveyed in their freshman year stated that
making a good income was an important reason for their decision
to go to college.
It can be inferred from the passage above that the author
believes that.
(A) The concerns of college graduates of 1964 were superficial
compared to the financial worries of college graduates of 1982.
(B) Fewer than half the students of the class of 1964 declared as
freshmen that they entered college in order to increase their
earning potential.
(C) Educational background did not play as significant a part in
determining income in 1964 as it does in 1982.
(D) A majority of the members of the class of 1964 revised their
reasons for attending college between their freshman year and

Inference Question
Example

Womens work has changed considerably in the past 200 years,

moving from the household to the office or the factory, and later
becoming mostly white-collar instead of blue-collar work.
Fundamentally, however, the conditions under which women
work have changed little since before the Industrial Revolution:
the segregation of occupations by gender, lower pay for women
as a group, jobs that require relatively low levels of skill and ofer
women little opportunity for advancement all persist, while
womens household labor remains demanding.
It can be inferred from the passage that the author would
consider which of the following to be an indication of a
fundamental alteration in the conditions of womens
work?
(A) Statistics showing that the majority of women now occupy
white-collar positions.
(B) Interviews with married men indicating that they are now
doing some household tasks.
(C) Surveys of the labor market documenting the recent creation
of a new class of jobs in electronics in which women workers

Inference Question
Example
Nearly any kind of plant of the forest understory can be part of a deer's diet.
Where the forest inhibits the growth of grass and other meadow plants, the
black-tailed deer browses on huckleberry, salad, dogwood, and almost any
other shrub or herb. But this is fair-weather feeding. What keeps the blacktailed deer alive in the harsher seasons of plant decay and dormancy? One
compensation for not hibernating is the built-in urge to migrate. Deer may
move from high-elevation browse areas in summer down to the lowland areas
in late fall. Even with snow on the ground, the high bushy understory is
exposed; also snow and wind bring down leafy branches of cedar, hemlock,
red alder, and other arboreal fodder.

It can be inferred from the discussion in paragraph 2 that winter

conditions
Cause some deer to hibernate
Make food unavailable in the highlands for deer
Make it easier for deer to locate understory plants
Prevent deer from migrating during the winter

Inference Question
Example
Oil pools are valuable underground accumulations of oil, and oil fields are
regions underlain by one or more oil pools. When an oil pool or field has been
discovered, wells are drilled into the ground. Permanent towers, called
derricks, used to be built to handle the long sections of drilling pipe. Now
portable drilling machines are set up and are then dismantled and removed.
When the well reaches a pool, oil usually rises up the well because of its
density diference with water beneath it or because of the pressure of
expanding gas trapped above it. Although this rise of oil is almost always
carefully controlled today, spouts of oil, or gushers, were common in the past.
Gas pressure gradually dies out, and oil is pumped from the well. Water or
steam may be pumped down adjacent wells to help push the oil out. At a
refinery, the crude oil from underground is separated into natural gas,
gasoline, kerosene, and various oils. Petrochemicals such as dyes, fertilizer,
and plastic are also manufactured from the petroleum.
Which of the following can be inferred from paragraph 3 about
gushers?
They make bringing the oil to the surface easier.
They signal the presence of huge oil reserves.
They waste more oil than they collect.
They are unlikely to occur nowadays.

Inference Question
Example
This was before the steam locomotive, and canal building was at its height.
The companies building the canals to transport coal needed surveyors to help
them find the coal deposits worth mining as well as to determine the best
courses for the canals. This job gave Smith an opportunity to study the fresh
rock outcrops created by the newly dug canal. He later worked on similar jobs
across the length and breadth of England all the while studying the newly
revealed strata and collecting all the fossils he could find Smith used mail
coaches to travel as much as 10000 miles per year In 1815 he published
the first modern geological map A Map of the Strata of England and Wales
with a Part of Scotland, map so meticulously researched that it can still be
used today

Which of the following can be inferred from paragraph 2 about canal

building?
Canals were built primarily in the south of England rather than in other
regions
Canal building decreased after the steam locomotive was invented
Canal building made it difficult to study rock strata which often became
damaged in the process
Canal builders hired surveyors like Smith to examine exposed rock strata

Inference Question
Example
Only recently have investigators considered using these plants to clean
up soil and waste sites that have been contaminated by toxic levels of heavy
metalsan environmentally friendly approach known as phytoremediation.
This scenario begins with the planting of hyperaccumulating species in the
target area, such as an abandoned mine or an irrigation pond contaminated
by runof. Toxic minerals would first be absorbed by roots but later relocated
to the stem and leaves. A harvest of the shoots would remove the toxic
compounds of site to be burned or composted to recover the metal for
industrial uses. After several years of cultivation and harvest, the site would
be restored at a cost much lower than the price of excavation and reburial,
the standard practice for remediation of contaminated soils. For example, in
field trials, the plant alpine pennycress removed zinc and cadmium from soils
near a zinc smelter, and Indian mustard, native to Pakistan and India, has
been efective in reducing levels of selenium salts by 50 percent in
contaminated soils.
It can be inferred from paragraph 6 that compared with standard practices for
remediation of contaminated soils, phytoremediation
O does not allow for the use of the removed minerals for industrial purposes
O can be faster to implement
O is equally friendly to the environment
O is less suitable for soils that need to be used within a short period of time

Inference Question
Example
Speculation on the origin of these Pacific islanders began as soon as
outsiders encountered them, in the absence of solid linguistic, archaeological,
and biological data, many fanciful and mutually exclusive theories were
devised. Pacific islanders were variously thought to have come from North
America, South America, Egypt, Israel, and India, as well as Southeast Asia.
Many older theories implicitly deprecated the navigational abilities and
overall cultural creativity of the Pacific islanders. For example, British
anthropologists G. Elliot Smith and W. J. Perry assumed that only Egyptians
would have been skilled enough to navigate and colonize the Pacific. They
inferred that the Egyptians even crossed the Pacific to found the great
civilizations of the New World (North and South America). In 1947 Norwegian
adventurer Thor Heyerdahl drifted on a balsa-log raft westward with the
winds and currents across the Pacific from South America to prove his theory
that Pacific Islanders were Native Americans (also called American Indians).
Later Heyerdahl suggested that the Pacific was peopled by three migrations
by Native Americans from the Pacific Northwest of North America drifting to
Hawaii, by Peruvians drifting to Easter Island, and by Melanesians. In 1969 he
crossed the Atlantic in an Egyptian-style reed boat to prove Egyptian
influences in the Americas. Contrary to these theorists, the overwhelming
evidence of physical anthropology, linguistics, and archaeology shows that
the Pacific islanders came from Southeast Asia and were skilled enough as
navigators to sail against the prevailing winds and currents.

Inference Question
Example

Which of the following can be inferred from

paragraph 2 about early theories of where the first
inhabitants of the Pacific islands came from?
O They were generally based on solid evidence.
O They tried to account for the origin of the
characteristic features of the languages spoken by
Pacific islanders.
O They assumed that the peoples living in
Southeast Asia did not have the skills needed to
sail to the Pacific islands.
O They questioned the ideas of G. Elliot Smith and
W. J. Perry.

Inference Question
Example
Fossil formations like the Burgess Shale show that evolution cannot
always be thought of as a slow progression. The Cambrian explosion involved
rapid evolutionary diversification, followed by the extinction of many unique
animals. Why as this evolution so rapid? No one really knows. Many
zoologists believe that it was because so many ecological niches were
available with virtually no competition from existing species. Will zoologists
ever know the evolutionary sequences in the Cambrian explosion? Perhaps
another ancient fossil bed of soft-bodied animals from 600-million-year-old
seas is awaiting discovery.
What can be inferred from paragraph 7 about why the Cambrian explosion is
so unusual?
O It generated new ecological niches through the extinction of many unique
animals.
O It was a period of rapid evolution, and evolution is often thought of as a
slow process.
O It is a period whose evolutionary sequences are clearly marked.
O It generated a very large number of ancient fossil beds containing softbodied animals.

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