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    Toefl Exercise

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    Rebeca Borges
    The passage discusses the spread of agriculture and ironworking in Africa from neighboring regions starting prior to 3000 BC. Population growth driven by climate changes pushed peoples south, where they began practicing agriculture using crops introduced from West Asia. Livestock and later the domesticated camel also arrived from outside Africa, improving transportation across the Sahara desert and allowing for new political systems. The introduction of ironworking had widespread social impacts in West Africa, as metalworkers gained influence. These technological changes may have driven the expansion of Bantu-speaking peoples throughout the continent.

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    Toefl Exercise

    Uploaded by

    Rebeca Borges
    506 views6 pages
    The passage discusses the spread of agriculture and ironworking in Africa from neighboring regions starting prior to 3000 BC. Population growth driven by climate changes pushed peoples south, where they began practicing agriculture using crops introduced from West Asia. Livestock and later the domesticated camel also arrived from outside Africa, improving transportation across the Sahara desert and allowing for new political systems. The introduction of ironworking had widespread social impacts in West Africa, as metalworkers gained influence. These technological changes may have driven the expansion of Bantu-speaking peoples throughout the continent.

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    TOEFL EXERCISE

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    The passage discusses the spread of agriculture and ironworking in Africa from neighboring regions starting prior to 3000 BC. Population growth driven by climate changes pushed peoples south, where they began practicing agriculture using crops introduced from West Asia. Livestock and later the domesticated camel also arrived from outside Africa, improving transportation across the Sahara desert and allowing for new political systems. The introduction of ironworking had widespread social impacts in West Africa, as metalworkers gained influence. These technological changes may have driven the expansion of Bantu-speaking peoples throughout the continent.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    506 views6 pages

    Toefl Exercise

    Uploaded by

    Rebeca Borges
    The passage discusses the spread of agriculture and ironworking in Africa from neighboring regions starting prior to 3000 BC. Population growth driven by climate changes pushed peoples south, where they began practicing agriculture using crops introduced from West Asia. Livestock and later the domesticated camel also arrived from outside Africa, improving transportation across the Sahara desert and allowing for new political systems. The introduction of ironworking had widespread social impacts in West Africa, as metalworkers gained influence. These technological changes may have driven the expansion of Bantu-speaking peoples throughout the continent.

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    Reading Practice Set 1

    Agriculture, Iron, and the Bantu Peoples

    1. There is evidence of agriculture in Africa prior to 3000 B.C. It may have


    developed independently, but many scholars believe that the spread of agriculture
    and iron throughout Africa linked it to the major centers of the Near East and
    Mediterranean world. The drying up of what is now the Sahara desert had pushed
    many peoples to the south into sub-Saharan Africa. These peoples settled at first in
    scattered hunting-and-gathering bands, although in some places near lakes and
    rivers, people who fished, with a more secure food supply, lived in larger
    population concentrations. Agriculture seems to have reached these people from
    the Near East, since the first domesticated crops were millets and sorghums whose
    origins are not African but West Asian. Once the idea of planting diffused, Africans
    began to develop their own crops, such as certain varieties of rice, and they
    demonstrated a continued receptiveness to new imports. The proposed areas of
    the domestication of African crops lie in a band that extends from Ethiopia across
    southern Sudan to West Africa. Subsequently, other crops, such as bananas, were
    introduced from Southeast Asia.

    2. Livestock also came from outside Africa. Cattle were introduced from Asia, as
    probably were domestic sheep and goats. Horses were apparently introduced by
    the Hyksos invaders of Egypt (1780–1560 B.C.) and then spread across the Sudan
    to West Africa. Rock paintings in the Sahara indicate that horses and chariots were
    used to traverse the desert and that by 300–200 B.C., there were trade routes
    across the Sahara. Horses were adopted by peoples of the West African savannah,
    and later their powerful cavalry forces allowed them to carve out large empires.
    Finally, the camel was introduced around the first century A.D. This was an
    important innovation, because the camel’s ability to thrive in harsh desert
    conditions and to carry large loads cheaply made it an effective and efficient means
    of transportation. The camel transformed the desert from a barrier into a still
    difficult, but more accessible, route of trade and communication.

    3. Iron came from West Asia, although its routes of diffusion were somewhat
    different than those of agriculture. Most of Africa presents a curious case in which
    societies moved directly from a technology of stone to iron without passing
    through the intermediate stage of copper or bronze metallurgy, although some
    early copper-working sites have been found in West Africa. Knowledge of iron
    making penetrated into the forests and savannahs of West Africa at roughly the
    same time that iron making was reaching Europe. Evidence of iron making has
    been found in Nigeria, Ghana, and Mali.

    4. This technological shift caused profound changes in the complexity of African


    societies. Iron represented power. In West Africa the blacksmith who made tools
    and weapons had an important place in society, often with special religious powers
    and functions. Iron hoes, which made the land more productive, and iron weapons,
    which made the warrior more powerful, had symbolic meaning in a number of
    West African societies. Those who knew the secrets of making iron gained ritual
    and sometimes political power.
    5. Unlike in the Americas, where metallurgy was a very late and limited
    development, Africans had iron from a relatively early date, developing
    ingenious furnaces to produce the high heat needed for production and to
    control the amount of air that reached the carbon and iron ore necessary for
    making iron. Much of Africa moved right into the Iron Age, taking the basic
    technology and adapting it to local conditions and resources.

    6. The diffusion of agriculture and later of iron was accompanied by a great


    movement of people who may have carried these innovations. These people
    probably originated in eastern Nigeria. Their migration may have been set in
    motion by an increase in population caused by a movement of peoples fleeing the
    desiccation, or drying up, of the Sahara. They spoke a language, proto-Bantu
    (“bantu” means “the people”), which is the parent tongue of a large number of
    Bantu languages still spoken throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Why and how these
    people spread out into central and southern Africa remains a mystery, but
    archaeologists believe that their iron weapons allowed them to conquer their
    hunting-gathering opponents, who still used stone implements. Still, the process is
    uncertain, and peaceful migration—or simply rapid demographic growth—may
    have also caused the Bantu explosion.

    Now answer the questions.


    1. According to paragraph 1, why do researchers doubt that agriculture
    developed independently in Africa?

    (A) African lakes and rivers already provided enough food for people to survive
    without agriculture.

    (B) The earliest examples of cultivated plants discovered in Africa are native to
    Asia.

    (C) Africa’s native plants are very difficult to domesticate.

    (D) African communities were not large enough to support agriculture.

    2. In paragraph 1, what does the author imply about changes in the African
    environment during this time period?

    (A) The climate was becoming milder, allowing for a greater variety of crops to be
    grown.

    (B) Although periods of drying forced people south, they returned once their food
    supply was secure.

    (C) Population growth along rivers and lakes was dramatically decreasing the
    availability of fish.

    (D) A region that had once supported many people was becoming a desert where
    few could survive.

    3. According to paragraph 2, camels were important because they


    (A) were the first domesticated animal to be introduced to Africa.

    (B) allowed the people of the West African savannahs to carve out large empires.

    (C) helped African peoples defend themselves against Egyptian invaders.

    (D) made it cheaper and easier to cross the Sahara.

    4. The word “profound” in the passage is closest in meaning to

    (A) fascinating
    (B) far-reaching
    (C) necessary
    (D) temporary

    5. The word “ritual” in the passage is closest in meaning to

    (A) military
    (B) physical
    (C) ceremonial
    (D) permanent

    6. According to paragraph 4, all of the following were social effects of the new
    metal technology in Africa EXCEPT:

    (A) Access to metal tools and weapons created greater social equality.

    (B) Metal weapons increased the power of warriors.

    (C) Iron tools helped increase the food supply.

    (D) Technical knowledge gave religious power to its holders.

    7. Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in


    the highlighted sentence in the passage? Incorrect choices change the
    meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.

    (A) While American iron makers developed the latest furnaces, African iron
    makers continued using earlier techniques.

    (B) Africans produced iron much earlier than Americans, inventing technologically
    sophisticated heating systems.

    (C) Iron making developed earlier in Africa than in the Americas because of the
    ready availability of carbon and iron ore.

    (D) Both Africa and the Americas developed the capacity for making iron early, but
    African metallurgy developed at a slower rate.

    8. Paragraph 6 mentions all of the following as possible causes of the “Bantu


    explosion” EXCEPT

    (A) superior weapons


    (B) better hunting skills
    (C) peaceful migration
    (D) increased population

    9. In the paragraph below, there is a missing sentence. Look at the paragraph


    and indicate (A, B, C and D) where the following sentence could be added to
    the passage.

    These people had a significant linguistic impact on the continent as well.

    Where would the sentence best fit?

    The diffusion of agriculture and later of iron was accompanied by a great


    movement of people who may have carried these innovations. These people
    probably originated in eastern Nigeria. (A) Their migration may have been set in
    motion by an increase in population caused by a movement of peoples fleeing the
    desiccation, or drying up, of the Sahara. (B) They spoke a language, proto-Bantu
    (“bantu” means “the people”), which is the parent tongue of a large number of
    Bantu languages still spoken throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Why and how these
    people spread out into central and southern Africa remains a mystery, but
    archaeologists believe that their iron weapons allowed them to conquer their
    hunting-gathering opponents, who still used stone implements. (C) Still, the
    process is uncertain, and peaceful migration—or simply rapid demographic
    growth—may have also caused the Bantu explosion. (D)

    (A) Option A
    (B) Option B
    (C) Option C
    (D) Option D

    10. Directions: An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage


    is provided below. Complete the summary by choosing the THREE answer
    choices that express the most important ideas in the passage. Some
    sentences do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are
    not presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage. This question
    is worth 2 points. Write your answer choices in the spaces where they
    belong. You can either write the letter of your answer choice, or you can copy
    the sentence.

    Agriculture and iron working probably spread to Africa from neighboring


    regions.
    •
    •
    •

    Answer Choices

    (A) Once Africans developed their own native crops, they no longer borrowed from
    other regions.

    (B) The harshness of the African climate meant that agriculture could not develop
    until after the introduction of iron tools.
    (C) The use of livestock improved transportation and trade and allowed for new
    forms of political control.

    (D) As the Sahara expanded, the camel gained in importance, eventually coming to
    have religious significance.

    (E) The spread of iron working had farreaching effects on social, economic, and
    political organization in Africa.

    (F) Today’s Bantu-speaking peoples are descended from a technologically


    advanced people who spread throughout Africa.

    VOCABULARY BUILDER

    DIRECTIONS: Try to get the meaning of the underlined word from its context in
    the following sentences. Choose the correct synonym. If you cannot figure it out,
    look the word up in your dictionary.

    1. It is inevitable that smoking will damage your health.


    (a) invading
    (b) unhealthy
    (c) unavoidable
    (d) intriguing

    2. What you need after a hard week’s work is a little frivolity over the
    weekend.
    (a) luxury
    (b) harmony
    (c) fireworks
    (d) triviality

    3. The general planned a new stratagem to conquer the rebels forces.


    (a) strafing
    (b) scheme
    (c) bomb
    (d) headquarters

    4. Only a quack would recommend a lettuce diet to an athlete.


    (a) charlatan
    (b) duck
    (c) coach
    (d) doctor

    5. The expression “out of the frying pan and into the fire” means to go from
    one dilemma to a worse one.
    (a) situation
    (b) predicament
    (c) embarrassment
    (d) aura

    6. He made one last futile effort to convince her and left the house.
    (a) difficult
    (b) favorable
    (c) firm
    (d) ineffectual

    7. After climbing to the zenith, he slowly worked his way down the mountain.
    (a) zero
    (b) top
    (c) cabin
    (d) mountain

    8. A glib answer will not serve for a serious question.


    (a) gross
    (b) capable
    (c) facile
    (d) ignorant

    9. Mary set off on her vacation with the intention of finding a tall, dark,
    handsome, debonair companion.
    (a) doleful
    (b) decent
    (c) urbane
    (d) mercenary

    10. Ponce de Leon searched in vain for a means of rejuvenating the aged.
    (a) making young again
    (b) making weary again
    (c) making wealthy
    (d) making merry again

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